I don't agree that it's pointless to upgrade our land stuff, but if our air stuff is the best we've got then let's make sure to keep that quality edge as much we can, and Carriers should be a gamechanger and we need one of those. As well, it's probably better to design the Carrier first, before we design our next generation land vehicles, so said army will be designed to work with the carrier.
I'm going to state for the record that, so long as you don't completely ignore your military upgrades, it is entirely possible to bring your forces to at least parity with the Gaalsein.
keep in mind, you have ten years of 'grace period' before you will start getting 'are the Gaalsein ready for their invasion' checks, and each year contains four turns- in other words, the soonest the Gaalsein invasion can begin, assuming you are both highly unlucky and completely fail to cause them any setbacks- even unintentionally- is in forty turns.
that said, keep in mind that right now, you only have four weapon and two propulsion options, those being Guns/Cannons/Missiles/Rockets and Wheels/tracks respectively. that will limit your unit selection options, but you don't actually have to commit to any selections until you want to, and developing, for instance, Railguns, will allow you to make additional unit choices.
on the flipside, you still need to actually build your new units, which will take time, so dithering too long over selection might cause you problems.
We might be able to match them technologically, but it wouldn't matter if wouldn't have the industrial capability and manpower to match them. It's the difference between an instant folding and a slow crumble. Focusing on air power gives us the capability to cover huge areas and do lots of damage while risking little. We'd be constantly losing ground as we retreat to stay out of engagement range, but facing them head on would've seen our smaller force be crushed by the most likely much larger enemy fleet. This way we can prevent that huge loss of life and resources and slow them down, giving us some time to somehow unite a few of the other Kiiths (Soban and S'jet being the critical ones) into a counter attack. That's the only way I can see us winning this that doesn't rely heavily on luck.
We don't have the time to match them in every field and even them it wouldn't win us the war, we need to have at least one powerful advantage. I believe our aircraft are that edge, it's already not bad (it's in a way better state than our other forces atleast) but we need to sharpen it as much as we can.
When the enemy is good at everything, you become excellent at one thing. Specialization is the way to go imo.
uh. no. the Northern Kiithid outnumber the Gaalsein in personal considerably. "we thought there was a lot fewer of them than there actually are"=/="there's more of them than us."
what they have on you right now is a considerable tech advantage, because, essentially, prior to only three or four years previously, everyone thought the Gaalsein had trashed their econ (remember, these guys are basically the Fremen as far as most projections went, the northern kiith thought they didn't have the will, industry and manpower to try again after the fairly brutal maiming they got last time they tried to invade) and as a result there's been very little effort put into military buildup. instead, it's all gone to infrastructure and things like keeping the desert out of the farmland.
the Gaalsein have two main advantages: first, the northern kiith know somewhere between 'very little' and 'shit-all' about their positioning, industry, city locations, etc, while the reverse is decidedly not true.
the second is the current performance gap between their military equipment and yours, which you have forty turns minimum to rectify and produce examples of.
I'm going to tell you straight-up that failing to upgrade a sector of your army will cause you problems, of the 'oops we let them sack Tiir' level, unless you REALLY luck out somehow in your rolls on the unit charts.
for a comparison, imagine trying to fight a full-up Late Cold War army with gear dating to just after WWI. that's where you're at, techwise.
the difference is you're army's at that gear level because your predecessor put all his points into Diplomancing and infrastructure, and combined with S'jetii Scientists Are Bullshit will let you rapidly close that gap.
and that was before you got some fairly good rolls for your Advisers and the absolute broken bullshit that is your Science officer.
seriously guys your Science officer is BOOOLSHEEET.
Huh, I'd kinda assumed the worst and I'd also thought that we'd get a turn per year. Hmm, changing a few things but I still stand on upgrading our airforce first.
yeah, no. giving you only ten turns to overhaul a superstate's military would be cruel and unusual punishment, even if PDA tech lets you churn things out once you get them.
as for upgrading the air force: that's not the worst place to start, really. just be aware you haven't seen everything the Gaalsein have up their sleeves either.
also you'll be able to get new units if you discover certain game-changing technologies (like, for instance, the Contra-Grav hover drives the Canon!Gaalsein had) but upgrading your existing forces may be costly at that point.
I just want to get Carriers first, before we do anything else, so that when we do the other stuff they can be designed to work with Carriers from the start. Air Power seems a good second thing to work because it seems to be what we are otherwise best at, so upgrading it should hopefully help get us an advantage in that area. As well, if we want to launch, like, spoiler raids on Gaalsein staging points or even just go find said staging points in the desert air power will probably work better then any ground unit we make because the Gaalsein and their walker tech seem to be focusing on mobility, and we are 'canonically' the slow but brute force faction. And that makes me suspect that, specially with our current last generation designs, any ground scouts we send out will get slaughtered.
So air power is also probably the best way to get a better idea of what the enemy has, which will make it easier to design stuff to defeat them instead of just guessing.
well reasoned.
do keep in mind however, that there's additional propulsion options available, including some that can largely negate the Gaalsein's current mobility advantage. to say nothing of just, youknow, flat out plagiarizing them and developing walkers of your own, though you might need to capture some Gaalsein hardware intact for that.
and I'll warn you in advance, as I'm in a nice mood: the Gaalseinii aren't the only things stalking the desert. their current Sa has been... let's say, less than cautious about poking wreckage with a stick than perhaps is wise. there are certain areas in the desert now where even the mightiest war machines bearing the Gaalsein seal dare not venture, places which are guarded by forces far more powerful than any Kiith's armies and weapons.
it is quite fortunate that the ones that would be inclined to spread fare quite poorly in the blazing heat, pervasive dust, and raging sandstorms of Kharak's Great Desert, no?
Well, yes, new discoveries could change things, but it's hardly likely that we'd be putting out hover tanks if we took that action now. Those shiny special movement modes aren't even a current research option, and given that the fastest research option we currently have will take 4 turns to do, I find it unlikely that our 'initial anti-invasion generation' is likely to have any of those sorts of specials even if we did the 'Exotic propulsion' military action this turn. Unless the new unit design is going to take a lot longer then I expect, which, well, could very well happen even if it'd likely leave more then half of our forces out of date at any given time.
And I want to do Powerplants first anyway, because better powerplants should benefit railguns and any exotic hover type stuff we come up with anyway, and probably would even help walkers by letting us lower the weight through getting the currently needed power from smaller and lighter power plants then we can do right now.
Well, yes, new discoveries could change things, but it's hardly likely that we'd be putting out hover tanks if we took that action now. Those shiny special movement modes aren't even a current research option, and given that the fastest research option we currently have will take 4 turns to do, I find it unlikely that our 'initial anti-invasion generation' is likely to have any of those sorts of specials even if we did the 'Exotic propulsion' military action this turn. Unless the new unit design is going to take a lot longer then I expect, which, well, could very well happen even if it'd likely leave more then half of our forces out of date at any given time.
And I want to do Powerplants first anyway, because better powerplants should benefit railguns and any exotic hover type stuff we come up with anyway, and probably would even help walkers by letting us lower the weight through getting the currently needed power from smaller and lighter power plants then we can do right now.
most of the unit selections are basically a two-turn action- first you look at what's available, then you get an action to pick a certain number of them. note that you don't have to pick anything right away, you can look at what's currently available, then spend some time doing upgrades through either Martial actions, which is basically having your people poke around and see what's available right now, and research actions, which are inventing entirely new systems or improving the ones you already have, to unlock more options.
now, some of those unit selections may have attendant IU or RU costs, which represent either buying the design from whatever Kiith developed it, getting your own labs to finalize a design for mass-production, or both. others will be things you already have 'in inventory' and weren't produced for one reason or another, which won't incur costs to put into production.
the nice thing about PAA-based manufacturing is not having to worry about silly little things like 'retooling production lines' and 'building new factories for specialized parts.'
also, a lot that fancy tech like grav-based hover systems? originally, you would have needed to find an Artifact to succeed at the development rolls. because your science officer is ridiculous, however, it's actually possible for you to develop a lot of that stuff in-house now, since she can throw legendary skill bonuses at things. which means she's going to auto-succeed a lot of basic science checks, and the Instant Expert perk lets her pick up new Science skills at high level ludicrously fast. seriously she can pick up rank six skills from rank two checks.
and a lot of science checks this early are going to be in the 4-6 rank range, which means that she's getting between +7 and +5 on her rolls on a D10.
you guys are going to have a lot of crit-successes until the Science checks get a bit harder
right, updated the codex and mechanics posts a bit. also if anyone knows how to make those tabs expand to fit their contents that would be nice. the current setup is mildly facepalm-inducing and silliness like nested accordions is silly.
codex now contains propulsion systems and production availability information. added 102: Zones to Mechanics.
Added more codex stuff, including data on Reactors and weapon modifiers, added Mechanics 102: Gear to mechanics post. still got a few of these to clean up from semi-disjointed notes across four different documents before they're ready for posting.
added Mechanics 102: Unit Production, Garrisons, Forces, and Available Unit Pool and Mechanics 201: Defending your Holdings and Mechanics 201: Advanced Combat Tactics: Massed Fire to Mechanics post. that last one ought to ease the minds of those worrying about nigh-invincible Superheavy-armor units being impossible to destroy, not actually so, just needs really absurd amounts of firepower.
fortunately, Superheavy units are incredibly frigging expensive. like, for example, that Gaalsein Assault Cruiser takes six turns and a total of Two thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight IUs to build.
one. to build one of those things would cost you just under your ENTIRE INCOME for something like two-thirds of a year. and you have a great big industrial city feeding you IUs.
yeah, superheavy stuff is high-end and valuable.
edit: compare that with, say, one of the LAVs you might get, which churn out in twenty-two unit batches per turn at a cost of 23 IU a batch, making the actual cost of the unit something like one point zero five IUs each. of course, on the flip side, you'd need nearly 700 of said LAV all firing at once to actually even damage said cruiser, so you can likely do the math from there.
edit2: for a comparison, imagine trying to sink an Iowa-class battleship with nothing but HMG-armed speedboats, while said battleship is shooting at you*. you could do it, eventually, but you'd need a lot of boats and a lot of time, and would be taking horrific casualties all the while. *and also assuming you both have infinite ammunition, or at least functionally so, because PAAs.
Structures are the main upgrade system for Holdings. Each Structure takes either one or two turns and a small amount of IUs to construct, and will provide a bonus of some kind.
Note that each Structure will increase a Holding's Garrison size, so pace your building carefully!
Civil
Civil structures will improve your income, allow new actions, or provide bonuses to certain rolls, as well as unit production.
Mines provide raw resources to feed your industry, and are one of the most basic income structures. Mines provide an additional 50 IUs per turn each. Mines cost 30 IUs and take one turn to build.
These structures produce various civilian goods for later sale. They provide an income based on the number of mines you have. Factories provide 40 IUs a turn for each Mine you own. Factories cost 20 IUs and take one turn to build.
These buildings manage your goods and ensure things move smoothly, with minimal wastage. This can greatly increase your income! For each mine and factory at a holding with a Distribution Center, add 5% to that holding's total IU income. You may only construct one Distribution Center per holding. Distribution Centers cost 50 IUs and require two turns to build.
These dedicated power generators can greatly boost your industry, providing more power to all areas. For each power plant at a holding, add 2% to that holding's total IU and RU income. Power Plants cost 50 IUS and require one turn to build.
Small labs conduct research projects and generate RU income. They are the least expensive but also least effective Lab type. Small Labs require one turn to build, cost 10 IUs, and generate 5 RUs per turn.
Basic Labs conduct research and generate RU income. While more expensive than Small Labs, Basic Labs generate more income. Basic Labs cost 25 IUs, require one turn to construct, and generate 20 RUs per turn.
Large Labs are the biggest available research structure, and generate considerable RU income, as well as allowing an additional Research General Action. Each holding may support up to three Large Labs. Large Labs require two turns, 100 IUs, and 30 RUs to build, and generate 80 RUs per turn. You may take an additional research action in General Actions for each Large Lab you own, or assign multiple labs to one project in order to complete it sooner.
Unit Factories allow Civil Holdings to produce Units below Cruiser size. Unit Factories require 250 IUs and one turn to build. Unit Factories may produce up to four batches of units of size 5 (Very Heavy) or below per turn.
These immense facilities are designed for building the largest craft you can field. Shipyards require two turns to build, and cost 300 IUs and 100 RUs to build. Shipyards may build up to two batches of any unit of size 6 (Extremely Heavy) or above per turn.
Martial
Most Martial structures will have to do with unit production, command-and-control, or large-scale area defense.
This structure allows mass-production of light units at a rapid pace. Light Production Bays require 40 IUs and one turn to construct, and may produce up to three batches of Light or Very Light units per turn.
These structures are designed to mass-produce larger units quickly. Heavy Production Bays require 50 IUs and one turn to construct, and may produce up to two batches of Medium or Heavy units per turn.
This large facility is designed to produce the heaviest units in your arsenal, and do it well. Cruiser Bays may produce one batch of Extremely Heavy, or Superheavy units per turn, OR up to two batches of Very Heavy units per turn.
Cruiser Bays require two turns to complete and cost 120 IUs.
Command Posts are required to coordinate forces successfully. Each Command Post allows up to two additional Forces to be active at a time. Command Posts cost one turn and 30 IUs to construct.
The Command Post's bigger brother, the Command Center can coordinate large numbers of units at once, but are larger and more expensive. Command Centers cost 65 IUs and two turns to construct, and allow up to six additional active Forces. Each Martial Holding may support two Command Centers.
These structures allow you to create special Air Raid and Combat Air Patrol Forces. Air Control Towers cost 45 IUs to construct and take two turns. Each Control Tower may support up to three Air Raids or Combat Air Patrols at a time. Each Martial Holding may support three Control Towers.
This large sensor array can help detect enemy movements. A network of such sensors can even pinpoint an enemy long before they can assault your holdings! Sensor Arrays cost 150 IUs and 25 RUs to build and require one turn. For each sensor array, gain a background roll to detect attacking enemy forces a number of turns in advance equal of the number of sensor arrays at a holding.
These heavy artillery cannons are far too large to be mounted on any unit, but can dial-in on any unit trying to pass through a huge area. Area Defense Batteries take 200 IUs to and two turns to construct, and require an additional 25 IUs per turn in maintenance once constructed. Forces that are detected on approach to holdings with Area Defense Batteries must roll casualty counts each turn as the battery will shell them with heavy ordnance.
Tactical Missile Silos can strike specific targets with ordnance too large to mount to a mobile platform. The high precision of Missiles allows the targeting of specific enemies within their range. Tactical Missile Silos cost 250 IUs and 15 RUs to construct, take two turns to finish, and require an additional 50 IUs per turn in maintenance once constructed. Once per turn, you may launch a missile to destroy or heavily damage one specific target in a detected Force that is approaching the Holding that contains the Silo.
Defenses are special structures that may be built at any holding. Defenses will reduce a Holding's Garrison requirements, often considerably, freeing your units to pursue other functions. Note, however, that Defenses will incur maintenance costs in IUs, so be sure to balance your income and any defensive maintenance!
These small, hardened defensive structures mount a variety of weapons systems behind their heavy armor. Small Bunkers cost 120 RUs to build, take one turn to finish, and require 15 RUs per turn in maintenance. Small bunkers slightly reduce all garrison requirements by 5%.
This network of gun turrets can protect your structures against most lighter combatants. Gun Turrets require 200 IUs and one turn to build and require 25 IUs in maintenance per turn thereafter. Gun Turrets reduce the Medium and Light garrison requirements by 10%
Cannon Turrets are largely effective against heavier units. Cannon Turrets cost 250 IUs and one turn to build. Cannon Turrets require 40 IUs per turn in maintenance. Cannon Turrets reduce Heavy and Medium Garrison requirements by 12%
These quad-barrel anti-air cannons can defend your holdings from air attack. AA Turrets cost 150 IUs, take one turn to build, and require 18 IUs per turn in maintenance. AA Batteries reduce AA Garrison requirements by 10%
These defensive towers mount large-caliber chainguns that can tear through aircraft and light units with equal ease. Vulcan Turrets take two turns to build, cost 300 RUs, and require 30 RUs in maintenance. Vulcan Turrets reduce Light and Anti-Air garrison requirements by 20%
These heavy cannons are designed to engage only the largest units. Heavy Cannon Batteries take two turns to build, cost 325 IUs, and require 48 IUs per turn in maintenance. Heavy Cannon Batteries reduce the Heavy unit requirements of Garrisons by 20% and reduce the Cruiser requirement of Garrisons by one.
These heavy artillery cannons can shell an enemy into submission in short order. Artillery Batteries cost 280 IUs to build, take two turns to finish, and require 35 IUs per turn in maintenance. Artillery Batteries reduce all ground garrison requirements by 25%
These heavy defense structures are small artificial hills of armor protecting a plethora of defensive weapons. Large Bunkers cost two turns and 350 IUs to construct, and require 32 IUs per turn in matenece thereafter. Large Bunkers reduce all garrison requirements by 25%
These structures coordinate defensive fire for maximum effect across entire battlefields. Control Posts cost two turns and 235 IUs to construct, and require 50 IUs per turn in maintenance. Control Posts improve all defensive rolls by 25% for the holding in which they are constructed. You may only build one of this defense in each holding.
Alright, I think I should have everything you'll need to make educated decisions when you get General Actions next turn collated, proofread, and posted by tomorrow. once that's done, I can either give people until Friday to make any last-minute votes or plan alterations, or just close the vote and start on the update (though depending on how long it takes me to get all this info done, it may not get posted until Friday anyways.) since I can do either, which would you folks prefer?
Right, Last Call folks, if you want to have a sudden deluge of votes, fiddle with your plans, ask some questions, whatever, you've got, uh (checks time) four hours or so. after that, I'm closing the vote and getting started on writing out the (long) update, which will be posted Friday (HOPEFULLY) morning.
note that you now are getting General Actions to play with. fair warning: there's a lot of them. mostly because you can take several at the same time.
... seriously don't be afraid to ask questions, point out if I've missed something (though please do read the Codex and Mechanics entries first, I try to explain how things work so you can make educated decisions) or even nitpick my Gud speelng and flawless grammar. seriously this is the eighth time I've posted in this thread without anyone else saying a peep, I'd welcome a "when's the update" at this point.
"You really need to work on actually capitalizing the start of sentences. Almost all your info posts have between one and 'a lot' of incidences of you going 'end of old sentence. lets not capitalize the next sentence' which makes them far more annoying to read then they actually should be."
There, is this enough of a post for you? (Also I meant it about the capitalization issue.)
Yeah, that's one of my bad habits from using Openoffice. Which has a most excellent auto-capitalization function, compared to google docs, which is the only real word-processor I have access to now, whose autocaps are much more finicky and unreliable.
And it's even worse when I just write stuff directly in SV's text interface, which has no autocapper at all
First World problems amiright?
Noreena Soban has been a soldier for her entire life, and has long-since learned that when scientists and engineers make grand promises about 'reshaping the face of the battlefield' they often are exaggerating at best.
So when the massive vehicle, over twice the size of a Cruiser, rumbles out from behind the dunes, then proceeds to disgorge a dozen tanks from its forward hatch, revealing the telltale scaffold of an Assembly Array large enough to build even a lighter cruiser, she can be forgiven for a slight widening of eyes.
When a simulated attack using dronecraft in both air and ground variants appears, and the immense craft blazes with anti-aircraft fire from multiple recessed mounts and throws a pair of heavy missiles into the mass of ground drones, immolating them with artillery warheads, she wonders if this is what falling in love is like.
One of the engineers notices her awestruck expression, and elbows another.
"Pay up, Kal. I told you a Sobani would like it."
New Units are now available:
This enormous vehicle is a command post, resource processor, and factory rolled into a single mobile package, able to operate with minimal support and form the nexus of a new doctrine.
While its armor is relatively poor for its size, the designers went for greater firepower to compensate, mounting numerous guns and a heavy missile system for defense.
With the roaring success of the Carrier, expectations are high for the new aircraft. And they manage to impress, though the Carrier definitely stole the show here.
The first to show is a trio of sleek-looking gunships with three very obvious heavy guns, two hung in wing-turrets and a third along its belly. The gunships split up, and demonstrate their firepower- first, precice shots from their wing cannons demolish individual medium targets, then a roaring THUD of a heavy gun punches a huge hole in simulation heavy armor.
The Hawk most definitely impresses.
Armed with two medium cannons and a single heavy gun, the Hawk is a superb strafe-orbiter that can put the hurt to most non-capital units.
The second gunship on trial today is anything but subtle- ten of the small craft come screaming into the testing range at high speed, barely feet above the dunes, and a torrent of bullets washes over the range targets as the new craft open up with their chainguns. Then they pull an incredible ascent-turn, rocketing upwards on howling turbines, and Noreena almost thinks they've overstressed something when the craft's sides are enveloped in clouds of smoke, before dozens of firefly rockets streak down and explosions envelop the testing range. The Locust is definitely a contender.
The Locust, unlike the Hawk's high-precision strategy, favores area-attack. It is armed with two medium MRLS pods and a single light chaingun, a combination that allows it to devastate large numbers of lighter units.
Next, targets for the only pure fighter on show today are launched, the drone craft beginning a simple patrol pattern. There's a few seconds of silent anticipation, then a glint of light gives way to a hail of heavy slugs as a trio of compact and deadly fighters knife though the drone formation, machineguns blazing as they expertly scatter and systematically butcher the unfortunate target drones. The Razor definitely lives up to its nickname.
This small but powerful aircraft is intended solely to strike at other aircraft. To that end it mounts twin Heavy machineguns configured for Anti-air work.
The next target also gets a squadron of drones, but unlike the previous entry, the next pair of craft come in more like bombers, lureing in the drone fighters, before gunning their turbines and screaming into attack turns. The odd, asymmetrical layout suddenly makes sense, as two heavy anti-air cannon roar, and down half the drones in a colossal flack burst. The rest meet a different fate as the seemingly empty second mount blazes with fire, revealing a trio of machineguns set in a shielded housing.
The best is yet to come however- the two large airframes bank leisurely around, and begin their attack run- rockets leap from rails, heavy cannons thunder, and finally a good dozen heavy bombs whistle down and scatter targets like toys. The Broadsword is clearly about as subtle as its namesake.
This medium-sized craft mounts both capable anti-air weapons and a number of ground-attack bombs and rockets, allowing it to engage ground and air targets with equal ease.
The next craft are only visible for a few seconds, streaking over the range in a single pass. Their presence, however, is undeniable, as the range is engulfed in dozens of detonations as heavy bombs find their targets.
This bomber's distinctive, pointed profile is instantly recognisable. While it carries only a small number of munitions, it is very inexpensive to build and operate.
The last craft on display today is also the largest, and its sleek, predatory lines are only made more impressive when bombs begin to fall in its wake. Dozens of bombs, a seemingly endless deluge, march a steady line of detonations across the testing ground, as the large black-pained airframe seems to stroll over the range. It's nickname being 'wrath,' however, isn't obvious until the second plane roars over the testing ground, dropping a single, enormous canister from its bomb-bay. The canister is suddenly hidden in a whitish cloud, and for an instant Noreena things it is some sort of aerosolized acid or poison gas weapon. Then there's a quiet pop followed by an earth-shaking explosion as the cloud ignites into a massive fireball, scatting even the heavy range targets like cast-tin children's toys.
The 'Wrath' heavy bomber is a high-endurance, long-distance craft that can deliver large quantities of ordnance to a target with impunity.
SPECIAL: may carry Fuel-Air Bombs instead of regular ordnance- FABs are trans-superheavy artillery bombs that can level small towns in a single blast, and instantly destroy anything below Size Rank 5 in their considerable area of effect.
Intel:
Check Intel (Civil); challenge rating 8, vs Skill Intel (Civil) rating 7
Check roll 9 VS skill roll 8, -1 malus from lower rank, +2 skill bonus. Final Skill roll: 9 Success
Check Intel (Gaalsein); challenge rating 8, vs Skill Intel (Gaalsein) rating 5
Check roll 7 VS skill roll 10, -3 malus from lower rank, +2 skill bonus. Final skill roll: 9 Success
Results: Success, Success, Verdigris Skill Intel (Gaalsein) rating increased to 6
Completion of 'Intel, Gaalsein Research efforts at 100/?
Verdigris reports that large-scale efforts to locate the Gaalsein research apparatus are now underway. There's still no real information to report yet, his analysts are currently pouring over decades of intel reports trying to find a pattern to their development that might indicate where their research centers are located.
Check Science (Construction); challenge rating 4 vs Skill Science (General) rating 10
Check Roll 5 vs Skill Roll 6, +7 Rank Bonus, +1 General Skill bonus. Final skill roll: 14 Critical Success.
Results: Critical Success, research time halved. Advanced Lab Complex will now complete in two more turns.
"This was even simpler than I thought it would be. Which is impressive." Advanced Lab Complexs research will now complete in two turns.
Check Civil (Infrastructure); challenge rating 4 (reduced from 5, Perk: Somtaaw Knowhow) vs Skill Civil (Infrastructure) rating 8
Check Roll 5 vs Skill Roll 4, +2 Skill Bonus, +4 Rank Bonus. Final skill roll: 10 Critical Success
Results: Defenses actually in better shape than originally thought, upgrades simple and negligible in cost. Holdings now have active defenses.
Jazda is actually impressed- the crews responsible for maintaining the Kiith's defenses have, despite their previous shoestring budget and position as a 'dead-end' job, managed to keep the networks of bunkers and defense towers largely functional. Much of the equipment is old, but very well-maintained and kept at full readiness. Upgrading them to modern standards is a matter of only a few days work, especially with Jazda's expert help coordinating the influx of new weapons and materials and upgrade teams. Holding defenses now active, see Holdings in status report.
Check Diplomatic (Kiithid, S'jet); challenge rating 4 VS Skill Diplomatic (Kiithid, General) rating 7
Check roll 10 vs Skill roll 6, +3 Rank bonus, +1 Skill bonus. Final skill roll: 10 Success
Results: Improve S'jet relations 200/2000 to next rank
The meeting with the S'jet goes quite well, the scientific Kiith already well-disposed to you. Teriim reports he believes that, with a little more work, and perhaps a few favorable research grants, the S'jet can be brought on board to your own Kiith's plans for a united front- first in the face of the Gaalsein, then in that of Kharak itself.
Check Diplomatic (Kiithid, Soban); challenge rating 4 VS Skill Diplomatic (Kiithid, General) rating 7
Check Roll 2 vs Skill roll 10, +3 Rank Bonus, +1 Skill Bonus. Final skill roll: 14 Critical Success
Results: Kiith Soban relations 500/1000 to next rank
Skill Diplomatic (Kiithid, Soban) rank 2 learned by Teriim Nabaal and PC.
If anything, the meeting with the Sobani goes even better, if you can believe it. Your Kiith has, under the last few Sas, largely regarded military matters as the business of other Kiithid, and had developed an attitude for 'peace over security' as one of the Sobani representatives puts it.
Your own focus and drive to update your Kiith's aging military, not simply to defend you holdings, but also to actually attack the Gaalseinii- even if that means pursuing them into the deadly and hellish Deep Desert- impresses the warrior Kiith's delegation.
Meanwhile, the conversation offers both you and Teriim new insight to Kharak's most famous Warrior Kiith, which could greatly aid in further negotiations, especially if you take some time to further it. You have gained a new Skill!
Teriim has gained a new Skill!
General Actions are now available!
New Units are available for selection!
New Research Projects are available!
New Structures are available!
Most general actions are tied to the development of your holdings, the state of your armies, and the majority of your research complex. Each action may be taken a variable number of times, depending on different factors. Note that some actions may be duplicated in your Advisor's actions, allowing you to take more that the supposed 'maximum' number of actions in a turn. This will occur most often with Civil and Science actions, but also may appear with the other types occasionally. Note that some Advisor actions may complete more quickly or take longer than their General Action counterparts, or cost more or less resources, or otherwise be slightly different.
Construction Options: You may choose up to two construction option types per turn. You may take as many of those options as are available to you, but may not, for example, start a martial structure, a civil structure, AND a unit batch at the same time.
[] Build Unit/s (type) You have three available general production lines.
[] Build Civil Structure (what and where) You may construct up to two structures at each of your Civil holdings.
[] Build Martial Structure (what and where) You may construct up to two structures at each of your Martial holdings.
[] Build Defenses (what and where) You may construct one Defense at each of your holdings.
Research Projects: You may conduct three research projects at this time. Build Labs to increase the number of simultaneous projects.
[] Improved Mine: improving Mines allows you greater income. This project improves the Mine Structure and the base income of your Civil Holdings.
Cost: 10 RU per turn over eight turns
Rewards: Mines upgraded to Improved Mines (which generate greater IU output), base IU income of Civil holdings increased by 20%
[] Improved Small Lab: Expanding the capabilities of Small Labs allows more research to be done at these facilities. This project will improve the base RU income of your holdings and the Small Lab Structure.
Cost: 20 RU per turn over six turns
Rewards: Small Labs upgraded to Improved Small Labs (which generate more RUs), base RU income of your Civil holdings increased by 15%
[] Improved Lab: upgrading your Basic Labs to proper research complexes will allow large amounts of research at once. This project improves the Basic Lab structure.
Cost: 14 RU per turn over four turns
Rewards: Basic Lab upgraded to Improved Lab (2x RU generation for only 1.5 times the price!)
[] Magnetic Rail Driver: Gaalsein scientists have developed a powerful anti-armor weapon in the Railgun- the immense speed of the sabots fired by railguns can punch right through armor that would ignore other weapons of similar size, hit targets with significant accuracy, and deal significant damage when it does so. The only weapons that can even partially match Railguns in your own arsenal are Rockets, which are imprecise at best. Developing Railguns of your own is the best way to counter that advantage.
Cost: 15 RU per turn over four turns
Rewards: Develop Railguns.
[] Anti-sand Casing: modern wheel systems are notoriously difficult to sand-harden, drive shafts and differentials especially. Recently, however, a scientist proposed building multiple, smaller motors for each wheel and installing them in sealed cases, which would bypass the issue entirely. It'll take some work to get it to the point of costing the same as a standard drive system for the same power, but initial results are very promising.
Cost: 20 RUs per turn for three turns
Rewards: Wheel Desert Hardening improved, allowing operations in Near Zones with no penalties. Further Hardening research for Wheels.
[] Dune Track: this improved track design allows even the heaviest vehicles to operate on loose sand, improving their ability to transverse the open desert- though whether the other systems involved can handle the extreme conditions of the Deep Desert is uncertain.
Cost: 16 RU per turn over six turns
Rewards: Track Desert Hardening improved, allowing operation in Deep Desert zones at a significant penalty and with Hazard Rolls. Further Track Hardening research.
[]Bipedal Propulsion: The Gaalsein have deployed numerous bipedal war machines in their raids recently. These units are agile, fast, and extremely well-suited to the desert environment which makes up most of the renegade Kiith's territory. Developing your own equivalent may remove that edge, or even turn it to your side… the only problem is, without any captured examples, your science teams have no idea how the Gaalsein have overcome the problems involved in producing that performance. Your own attempts at such things can barely move under their own weight, much less match the nearly unbelievable performance of the Gaalseinii machines. Still, it obviously IS possible, so they can still take a crack at it.
Cost: 10-20 RU per turn over ???? turns
Rewards: Develop viable Bipedal legs propulsion. New units and research options. Note: capturing some Gaalsein hardware or data will significantly impact this project.
[] Sandblaster Turbine: a scientist has recently proposed a novel turbine design that looks to be considerably better than current-generation engines at handling sand and dust intake, reducing the weight and cost of mounting them to aircraft. If results pan out, it could considerably reduce the cost of aircraft… or allow them to carry more weapons, armor, and gear at the same cost.
Cost: 25 RUs per turn over four turns
Rewards: aircraft cost reduced, heavy aircraft options available, new research options.
Assignment: You may assign units to Forces and reinforce Garrisons freely. However, activating new Forces or conducting Missions require dedicated actions.
[]Activate Force (what kind?) You may have up to six active Forces at this time. Construct Command structures to increase the number of Forces you can operate at one time.
[]Mission: Carrier Combat Trials: Carriers are the newest addition to your arsenal, but actually using them in battle is still untested. Conducting a series of combat trials will allow you to see what may need upgrading and how best to use them.
Required: Carrier (1x), Light unit (30x), Medium unit (25x), Heavy Unit (20x), Air unit (15x)
Rewards: Carrier improvement options
Special, Unit Selection: New units are available to add to your arsenal! Note that you will only be able to maintain four types of aircraft, six Very Light to Medium units, six Heavy or Very Heavy units, and four Extremely Heavy or Superheavy units, and one carrier and Support/Production Cruiser type at a time- if all those slots are filled, you must decommission an existing unit. While this will not remove units already produced or stop batches currently in production, Decommissioned units are not available for further production. It is therefore recommended only to do so when the unit you are gaining offers a substantial improvement over those you already possess.
You may select one Gunship:
[] Hawk
Gunship armed with two Medium Cannons and one Heavy Gun. moderate armor and cost, and good at striking single hard targets, but fares poorly against swarms of lighter units.
[] Locust
Gunship armed with a single Medium chaingun and two Light MRLS. cheap and lightly armored, extremely adept at massacring lighter units but not particularly useful against hard targets except in large numbers.
You may select one fighter or fighter-bomber.
[] Razor
Fighter armed with Twin Heavy AA Machineguns. Very middle-of-the-road in terms of cost and armor, but has superior dodge ability due to small size. Absolutely destroys other aircraft, but cannot contribute to ground battles.
[] Broadsword
Fighter-bomber armed with a single Heavy Dual-mode Cannon, Triplet Medium AA Machineguns, four Medium Missiles and eight Medium bombs. Expensive and much less agile than a dedicated fighter, but brings a fair amount of hurt for ground battles and some fairly significant pain for air units as well.
You may select one bomber.
[] Needlenose
Bomber with eight Very Heavy bombs. Fairly cheap for a bomber, but low, low endurance. You'll need a lot of these to bomb an entire task force into submission. On the plus side, the few bombs they do have are great, big nasty ones that can make even a Cruiser feel the pain.
[] Wrath
Bomber with 40 Medium Bombs OR 1 Fuel-Air Bomb (special trans-superheavy munition.) these things are expensive, huge and about as maneuverable as a semi truck, but can carry LOTS of bang, either in the high-endurance Medium type or the FAB varent, which may only get one bomb, but oh what a bomb.
Character actions:
you may pick up to two actions.
[] Tanks, but no Tanks: Your armored forces are horribly outmatched by the Gaalsien, too slow and too lightly armored to be a real threat. A new line of armored vehicles is needed for your front-line troops, one with greater speed, better armor, and superior guns. Some of this may be available in-house, but it might be good to look at some of the other Kiith too.
Rewards: Medium and Heavy unit options
[] Need For Speed: the Gaalseinii have developed a highly mobile force that also mounts considerable armor. While your faster light vehicles can keep up with the slowest of them, they lack the weapon power to actually cause damage. Updating your Light forces is almost as important as our heavier units.
Rewards: Light unit options
[] Rolling Thunder: Cruisers have always been the the other Kiithid's ace against the Gaalseinii, these massive armored vehicles unmatched by anything the Gaalseinii had save massed firepower... until now. reports of Gaalsein cruisers have been confirmed, and even worse, they mount devastating firepower unmatched by your own, and seemingly impregnable armor that is superior to your own cruisers! Obviously, updating your most impressive and heaviest armored units should be done as soon as possible.
Rewards: Cruiser Options
[] Production Cruiser: Production Cruisers are cruiser-sized mobile production facilities, based on those in the larger Carrier. While only lightly armored and poorly armed at best, they allow tactical and strategic replacement of field losses without expending IUs that may be needed elsewhere. This is more useful if you rely on more expensive, higher-quality units with lower batch sizes or high IU costs, or are using masses of expendable combatants where in-situ replacement is a must. Production cruisers may build any ground unit up to Heavy in class. You may select Production Cruisers OR Support Cruisers, but not both.
Rewards: Production Cruiser selections
[] Support Cruiser: Support cruisers are more suited to a player that prioritizes loss minimization. Support Cruisers have extremely limited production facilities, typically only able to build a few lighter units, but are heavily armored, at least moderately armed, and carry advanced battlefield repair systems that restore the HP of nearby units. Support Cruisers may produce any one type of Medium unit and any two types of Light or Very Light craft. You may select Production Cruisers OR Support Cruisers, but not both.
Rewards: Support Cruiser selections
[] Exotic propulsion: wheels and tracks have been the staples of ground propulsion for decades, but the Gaalsein have introduced a new wrinkle: legs. Their new lines of bipedal machines are faster on the desert than your own units, and give them maneuverability than has to be seen to be believed. Maybe looking into some non-traditional propulsion of your own could help counter that.
rewards: Research projects related to new propulsion systems.
[] Oversee a General Action (what): allows you to apply skill checks to general actions, generally recommended for actions specifically noted as being able to benefit, otherwise, apply common sense.
Reward: Variable.
You may pick up to two actions, or a single action twice.
[] Testing the waterssands: While you have a general idea of most of the modern Kiith Gaalsein forces, getting better data on their full capabilities and whatever other units they might field is likely a good idea.
Rewards: Better intel on Gaalsein capabilities.
[] Where do they get all these wonderful toys?: Kiith Gaalsein has gone from technology that was inferior to our own of four decades ago to factually superior to even our cutting-edge in certain areas, in less than a decade. the question is, how was this accomplished? where did they acquire the resources? and how can we disrupt or preempt them?
rewards: intel on Gaalsein research, industry, or resource operations. Note: Research at 100/?, Industry at 0/?, ResourseOps at 0/?. When you actually know how much more there is left to do, these will split into dedicated projects.
[] Oversee a General Action (what): allows you to apply skill checks to general actions, generally recommended for actions specifically noted as being able to benefit, otherwise, apply common sense.
Reward: Variable.
You may pick up to two actions, or a single action twice.
ALERT. Action Locked. You may pick one Action.
[] Better powerplants: Improving your current powerplants is the best way to get more out of any new machines- and bring the tech gap down.
cost: 6 RU/turn, 4 turns.
rewards: better power plants, allowing you to get more out of the same tonnage.
ACTION LOCKED:[X] Advanced Lab complex: These facilities would greatly increase your ability to do research, if properly constructed anyway.
cost: 8 RU/turn, Two Turns remaining.
rewards: Advanced Lab Complex available.
[] Metalloceramics: current-gen Gaalsein units use a novel metalloceramic compound that is substantially stronger per ton than your own armor. Duplicating it would improve your own armor considerably.
cost: 7 RU/turn, 6 turns
rewards: Ceramosteel armor, lighter and cheaper than your current composites.
[] Magnetic Rail Driver: Gaalsein Railguns are superior to your own cannons and other weapons by a considerable margin. Learning how to create railguns of your own is likely a good idea.
cost: 5 RU/turn, 6 turns
[] Oversee a General Action (what): allows you to apply skill checks to general actions, generally recommended for actions specifically noted as being able to benefit, otherwise, apply common sense.
Reward: Variable.
You may pick up to two actions, or a single action twice.
[] Survey facilities: While you have a general idea of your holdings, a more detailed audit couldn't hurt.
Reward: Variable.
[] Build Defenses (what and where): Overseeing the construction of additional defenses is a good use of Jazda's talents, allowing a holding to be reinforced more quickly.
Reward: Begin construction of a single defense at a holding of your choice, regardless of General Action build limits.
[]Build Structure (what and where): making sure your infrastructure is up to feeding your projects can be difficult to do quickly. Sending Jazda to manage construction can rapidly improve things though.
Reward: Begin construction of up to two Structures at a holding of your choice, ignoring General Action build limits.
[] Improve distribution: distributing food and water to people is always a challenge. maybe you can improve the process somehow?
Reward: Slight IU income boost
[] Oversee a General Action (what): allows you to apply skill checks to general actions, generally recommended for actions specifically noted as being able to benefit, otherwise, apply common sense.
Reward: Variable.
You may pick up to two actions, or a single action twice
[] S'jet Science: Not for nothing are Kiith S'jet considered the best scientists on Kharak. strengthening our ties with Kiith S'jet could prove very useful indeed.
reward: stronger S'jet relations. Kiith S'jet relations at 200/2000 to next rank.
[] Siidim Security: The other half of the Heresy Wars are not well-liked, in no small part due to a general arrogant attitude, but you'll need the support of every Great Kiith to succeed in your ambitions.
Reward: better relationship with Kiith Siidim
[] Wanderer's Promise: Getting Manaani to commit to anything can be like pulling teeth, but after they lost a Cruiser last year you believe there's no better time to get the Wanderers on-side.
Reward: Better relationship with Kiith Manaan
[] Somtaaw's Struggle: the Somtaaw-Sa has been trying to bring his Kiith into prominence and recognition as the Great Kiith it really is for years. Perhaps a helping hand could get them involved in your crazy evacuate-the-planet plan?
reward: Somtaaw relations improved, Somtaaw resources improved.
[] The Hopeful Ones: Kiith Paktu may be behind the Northern Kiithid's level of industrialization, but they do control more land than any three northern Kiith put together. This might have to wait until there's a few less angry Gaalseinii between you, though.
rewards: More ties to Kiith Paktu.
[] Red Like Blood: Kiith Soban is the primer military Kiith on Kharak, devoted to military pursuits unlike any other Kiith. the Sobani are without doubt the greatest soldiers on the face of Kharak; and you'll need them to survive.
Rewards: Improved Kiith Soban relations. Kiith Soban Relations at 500/1000 to next rank.
[] Oversee a General Action (what): allows you to apply skill checks to general actions, generally recommended for actions specifically noted as being able to benefit, otherwise, apply common sense.
Reward: Variable.
You may select one personal action.
[] Train in a skill (write-in, must be a skill known to one of your advisers or contacts)
[] Visit the Daiamid (possible new contacts, possible intelligence, possible research projects)
[] Visit a holding (which), may result in any number of things.
[] Help on an Advisor project (which), adds your perks, bonus and skills to a project, potential for new skills.
[] Oversee a General Action (what): allows you to apply skill checks to general actions, potential for new skills.
[]write in
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A/n: Status Report incoming, please stand by…
VOTE IS NOT YET OPEN. Please wait for status report and codex updates, but feel free to discuss general plans in the meantime.
So exotic propulsion might get us hover tech, and no matter what railguns are going to be a big help, but then again upgrading our heavier arsenal of cruisers might be a good idea, especially if paired with railguns. Unfortunately railguns take six turns, Meanwhile generators would take less time and give similar benefits. So it might be a good idea to research generators now and when we get advanced research facilities build them to (hopefully) decrease the amount of time we would have to invest.
Also I think personally that we should go for the wrath as our bomber and the broadsword as our fighter, reason being that although we would be choosing the two more expensive options a coordinated first strike with a wave of broadsword fighterbombers screening a wave of wrath bombers loaded with fuel air bombers, followed by a second wave of fighter bombers and some gunships to clean up anything that survives the bombing.
You have three CIVIL holdings and six MARTIAL holdings.
CITY OF TIIR: Tiir is the Nabaali capital and the site of the Daiamid, and has become the sociopolitical center of Kharak. it provides you with great amounts of resources due to trade income.
Tiir generates 100 IUs and 25 RUs per turn.
Small Bunkers (2x) (30 IUs maintenance)
AA Battery (2x) (36 IUs maintenance)
CITY OF KHAAL Khaal is a relatively modern construction and is Kiith Nabaal's primary industrial site. the city's immense factories and mines provide the bulk of the Kiith's income.
Khaal generates 1000 IUs per turn.
Small Bunkers (2x) (30 IUs maintenance)
AA Battery (2x) (36 IUs maintenance)
CITY OF MAAT Maat is Kiith Nabaal's second city, and the site of most of its research laboratories and approximately half its population.
Maat generates 50 IUs and 50 RUs per turn.
Small Bunkers (2x) (30 IUs maintenance)
AA Battery (2x) (36 IUs maintenance)
DELTA BASE: this fortress blocks the only desert-facing entrance to Khaal, and maintains a strong garrison.
Cannon Turret (1x) (40 IUs maintenance)
Gun Turret (1x) (25 IUs maintenance)
AA Battery (1x) (18 IUs maintenance)
Heavy Cannon (1x) (48 IUs maintenance)
ALPHA BASE: this is Kiith Nabaal's primary airstrip on the edge of the desert. it supports all Nabaali craft that fly desert missions and maintains a large garrison force to prevent Gaalsein attacks.
AA Battery (1x) (18 IUs maintenance)
Large Bunker: (3x) (96 IUs maintenance)
Artillery Battery (1x) (35 IUs maintenance)
PERIMETER STATION CAAL-THRI: this outpost once served as part of a planned network of early warning posts devised after the first Gaalsein invasion, but only a handful were ever built. currently abandoned.
PERIMETER STATION KOL-TEL: this outpost once served as part of a planned network of early warning posts devised after the first Gaalsein invasion, but only a handful were ever built. currently abandoned.
PERIMETER STATION KEL-TAR: this outpost once served as part of a planned network of early warning posts devised after the first Gaalsein invasion, but only a handful were ever built. currently abandoned.
You have a net income of +587 IUs and +67 RUs/turn.
You have 3710 IUs and 187 RUs stored.
Your army strength is: Very Poor (1)
Empty
Carrier Kor-Pha: Kor-Pha Class Carrier [=ALERT=] Construction Locked until next turn [=ALERT=] Prototypes are a bit finicky.
Light Units: 0/40
Medium Units: 0/30
Heavy Units: 0/25
Cruisers: 0/6
Aircraft: 0/8
RESEARCH:
Advanced Lab Complex, two turns to completion, 8 RUs per turn.
CONSTRUCTION:
None.
Your diplomatic relations are as follows:
Gaalsein: [LOCKED] At War [LOCKED]
Siidim: Mediocre (3)
Somtaaw: Above Average (5)
Manaan: Average (4)
S'jet: Very Good (7), 200/2000 to rank 8
Paktu: Average (4)
Soban: Good (6), 500/1000 to rank 7
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A/n: Defenses give bonuses based on percentages of the garrison requirements, shown in brackets. Note that, while this does count to whether the garrison gets a defense penalty or not, it doesn't count against how many units a Garrison can hold without incurring maintenance costs. Yes, that means building four Large Bunkers completely removes the need for any garrison at all to make rolls without a bonus, and you can even get significant defense bonuses with enough defenses.
(Also I meant it about the capitalization issue.)
