Lex Sedet In Vertice: A Supervillain in the DCU CK2 quest

[Simon_Jester]

50/50 is pretty decent when the return is so good.

Click to shrink...

There are a lot of other ways for us to have nearly 100% certainty of a payoff on an action. And we have like 600 action options.

How exactly are you confident that specifically the choice of having Lennart research a DC 89 action with his +25 bonus stack alone is a better choice than any of those other things we could be doing with an action point?

I'd say Moon and Karl on Bone Growth is better than Moon on something random.

Click to shrink...

I actually agree.

Jinx is also a sorceress. And can help on an action.

Click to shrink...

Jinx is untrained; if you want Jinx to be effective as a magic researcher we need to take an action to train her.

[Also I want Jinx to get a decent education, not just help us perform tasks. She'll be more useful ten years down the line if she's got an education]

And a sorceress isn't needed to take a magic action. I was actually hoping to put Lex on one tbh. Maybe Cassy with him.

Click to shrink...

I mean. Yes, we could- but then Lex isn't doing some other high-DC Learning action. Personally I'm hoping to put Lex+Cass on "Teach Cassandra language." Now that she's got the interface device to act as a Rosetta Stone, I suspect the DC has dropped to something manageable, and a +66 on the die roll gives us a good chance for an exploding crit followed up by that +45 bonus from 'Father-Daughter Bond.'

That's been a significant agenda item for us for many turns, and one that will significantly reduce the degree to which Cassandra is nerfed by her upbringing. And finally, for once, we'll be able to check something off our list!

Plus my vote isn't the literal plan, I voted for more than 16 things. It was approval voting.

Click to shrink...

Well yeah but if you argue it that way, then scattershotting your approval over like 25 learning actions and very little else isn't such a good move. Realistically, our success will involve a balance of actions in different categories, and prioritizing specific actions you wish to promote over random actions in the 'background radiation' of Shit We Could Do is important when we have so many choices.

If Moon has to work solo, I'd recommend we put him on the corpses' of Whale's men once we get them.

Click to shrink...

The problem with that approach is that Moon doesn't really have a special fondness for working with corpses. He has a fondness for the bizarre. The bone growth formula is a lot more bizarre than just autopsying Whale's men... and frankly, Whale's men don't seem to have had much in the way of scientific interest to them. They just had some tech, and it was kind of shitty tech anyway.

 

[Black King]

Well yeah but if you argue it that way, then scattershotting your approval over like 25 learning actions and very little else isn't such a good move. Realistically, our success will involve a balance of actions in different categories, and prioritizing specific actions you wish to promote over random actions in the 'background radiation' of Shit We Could Do is important when we have so many choices.

Click to shrink...

There were other actions...barely. But basically I was just giving a boost to everything I saw as relevant/pertinent to do.

 

[Simon_Jester]

There were other actions...barely. But basically I was just giving a boost to everything I saw as relevant/pertinent to do.

Click to shrink...

If your list of pertinent actions is like 80-90% Learning actions, you may be neglecting a lot of other pertinent actions. Just sitting around and passively turning LexCorp into an R&D organization that isn't particularly active in the world may not be an ideal playstyle for us.

And that's the logical conclusion of spending 80-90% of our resources on Learning actions. We'd basically be S.T.A.R. Labs or something.

 

[Black King]

If your list of pertinent actions is like 80-90% Learning actions, you may be neglecting a lot of other pertinent actions. Just sitting around and passively turning LexCorp into an R&D organization that isn't particularly active in the world may not be an ideal playstyle for us.

And that's the logical conclusion of spending 80-90% of our resources on Learning actions. We'd basically be S.T.A.R. Labs or something.

Click to shrink...

Not really. I'm just trying to put us on equal footing/above others and the only way for Lex to do that is with Learning. Once he gets a Captain Atom or magic or a really big thing going, then other actions can be taken. It's just right now, to me, the best actions are Learning. We are Lex after all.

 

[Simon_Jester]

Not really. I'm just trying to put us on equal footing/above others and the only way for Lex to do that is with Learning. Once he gets a Captain Atom or magic or a really big thing going, then other actions can be taken. It's just right now, to me, the best actions are Learning. We are Lex after all.

Click to shrink...

The thing is, Lex isn't only powerful because of his science. He's powerful because he has connections, he's powerful because he has vast resources to throw around.

The difference between Lex and someone like Dr. Ivo is that Dr. Ivo doesn't have a giant corporation and worldwide access to the best of everything. He's no less brilliant as a scientist, but he's just plain not as capable of shaking the world outside his own unique specialization of "build terrifying robot."

If we want to take advantage of that leverage, we need to take other kinds of actions. Otherwise we (like Dr. Ivo but on a larger scale) would just end up subordinated to other powers that want to use our tech for their own goals. And that will remain true even if Lex doesn't have a Superman-tier powerhouse on his side.

 

[Negation]

We don't have to be the best in everything, we just have to gather those better than us in various fields and throw money at them to profit.

Our job is to make connections and give direction.

 

[Comic616]

[X] Crush all criminals
[X] Assist the US Government with the war effort in Santa Prisca

[X] Meet with Count Vertigo
[X] Campaign to get the achievements of one of your workers recognized- Nobel Prize in Physics for Dr. Ivo

[X] Build a space building
[X] Purchase real estate
[X] Hire Ex-Cons
[X] Begin producing computers
[X] Offer LexCorp's services as an ISP

[X] Investigate inside the company
[X] Plug the leaks
[X] Investigate the unknown individual

[X] Improve phones
[X] Improve bone growth formula
[X] Create the automobile of tomorrow
[X] The A.M.A.Z.O. project

[X] [Comp] Have your supercomputer gather information on the unknown individual

 

[Simon_Jester]

We don't have to be the best in everything, we just have to gather those better than us in various fields and throw money at them to profit.

Our job is to make connections and give direction.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, and that, again, revolves around us being able to take the appropriate actions in areas outside Learning.

 

[King crimson]

So the vote will be closing at 9 pm PST

 

[Black King]

The thing is, Lex isn't only powerful because of his science. He's powerful because he has connections, he's powerful because he has vast resources to throw around.

Click to shrink...

That's debatable tbh. The main reason Lex can compete with the big boys is his science.

The business/connections are...well because of his science. They're also far below a top reason why he's so fearsome.

Plus...we have the business/connections already. What we don't have, is the thing I'm trying to get. And like...a lot of those learning actions help him get money anyways.

 

[Simon_Jester]

That's debatable tbh. The main reason Lex can compete with the big boys is his science.

The business/connections are...well because of his science. They're also far below a top reason why he's so fearsome.

Plus...we have the business/connections already. What we don't have, is the thing I'm trying to get. And like...a lot of those learning actions help him get money anyways.

Click to shrink...

I think your viewpoint on this is overly simplistic and ignores a lot of the things we need to do in order to remain in power.

 

[Black King]

I think your viewpoint on this is overly simplistic and ignores a lot of the things we need to do in order to remain in power.

Click to shrink...

I mean...this is only one to a few turns I'm going for. I just think we need something Superman level to remain in power in the DC Universe. And I'm up for taking other actions btw. And a lot of the learning actions will elevate our power tbh.

 

[Erumpet]

so how are we planning to distribute our hero units for this turn? one thing I would really want to do this turn is either get Cass used to death or teach her how to talk

 

[Simon_Jester]

The Metropolitan Clan, Interlude:
The Overland Campaign, Part 1​

In March 1864, Lincoln, in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, gave Grant overall command of all Union armies fighting the Confederacy, promoting him to lieutenant-general, a rank never before held by any U.S. military commander except George Washington. Previously, each general and army had acted independently, subject only to the War Department's civilian oversight and presidential authority. Now, Grant would set overall strategy for the combined efforts of all the armies.

Grant's war strategy was broadly along the lines described in Winfield Scott's "Anaconda Plan" from the beginning of the war. The Union had consistently leveraged its naval advantage and superior transportation network to force 'wedges' into the Confederacy at key points both inland and along the coast. The conclusion of the 1863 campaign had left Union armies in a good position to drive these wedges home, attempting to permanently shatter the Confederate war economy and hopefully capture the Confederate capital at Richmond.

Grant recognized, perhaps more fully than any other commander of the war, that the Union's material advantages made it worthwhile to continue to exert pressure on the enemy at all times. Furthermore, Grant had learned from the numerous failures in Northern Virginia throughout 1862 and '63. Specifically, he had learned that it was nearly pointless to try to capture Richmond and neutralize the Confederate capital, without first neutralizing the army that defended the capital. '

Lee was gifted at maneuver warfare, and on the defensive his troops had many natural advantages; these advantages had always allowed him to outmaneuver enemies who tried to work their way past him or force him into a trap. By contrast, the simple meeting engagement at Gettysburg had proven far more decisive. Lee hadn't been entrapped, and could in theory have avoided battle at the cost of calling off his plans to capture Washington, D.C. But despite all this, Gettysburg had so badly mauled the Army of Northern Virginia that Lee had avoided further large-scale pitched battles for months, settling for a war of maneuver and skirmish against Meade even when the latter invaded Virginia once again in October 1863.

From this, Grant concluded that the main priority of his campaign against Lee was simply to remain in contact with Confederate forces as long as possible, rotating his men and ensuring the heaviest possible resupply, so that Lee's troops would be worn out and gradually destroyed by attrition.

Grant prepared for the campaign carefully. Meade's Army of the Potomac would be coordinated with other armies operating under other generals in the area, and the overall thrust of the campaign in Virginia would be coordinated with actions by others attacking the Confederacy in entirely different theaters of war, chief among them Sherman's invasion of Georgia.

Lee, meanwhile, had resolved never to attack Union forces across an open field for fear of the Luthor gun, and wherever possible to use terrain and defensive tactics to limit the effectiveness of the weapon. Some Confederate regiments had even trained sharpshooter teams to specifically target Luthor gun crews; it was fortunate for the machine gun batteries that the new methods of deploying their weapons made it easier for them to set up behind cover and to avoid being so easily spotted by the enemy before opening fire.

The Battle of the Wilderness

Grant pressed the attack by crossing the Rapidan River on May 4th, 1864, with the intent of forcing Lee to come out of his fortifications at Mine Run to meet the Union in battle. This Lee did- as usual, more quickly than his enemy had expected. Lee's rapid approach let him catch the Union forces while they were still tangled up in a dense region of second-growth forest and brush thickets called The Wilderness. Here, long lines of sight were few and far between, and the Union advantage in artillery and machine guns would be greatly reduced. This allowed Lee to fight what was, in effect, almost a pure infantry battle.

Given the primitive communications of the time, this was a serious threat to an ambitious or offensive-minded commander. During the Battle of Chancellorsville, General Hooker had been badly hampered by the difficulty of deploying in the Wilderness. Similar problems further west had completely incapacitated Rosecrans at Chickamauga and resulted in one of the most humiliating military defeats in the history of the North American continent.

But Ulysses S. Grant was made of sterner stuff. To be sure, Union and Confederate soldiers began clashing at close range, mingling together, and even fighting in hand-to-hand combat in the darkness as Confederate troops rushed forwards and attempted to capture the Union cannons and machine guns that had been brought up to support offensive pushes. But Grant remained calm and steady. Famed for his horsemanship, the general would saddle up at any time of the day or night to deal with emergencies or Confederate attacks, relocating as necessary.

For three days the armies grappled in the Wilderness, and Grant ably shifted troops to maintain strong positions with at least some ability to support one another. It was said of him that he had "four o'clock in the morning courage-" that rare ability to react in a stable, orderly fashion to sudden bad news, even when it came upon him by surprise or at the worst possible moment.

Finally, Grant decided that even given his own belief that prolonged combat would wear Lee down and win the war, it would be better to fight Lee on more advantageous terrain, where his heavy weapons could help with the wearing-down process. In previous campaigns, moving would require the Union commander to fall back from Lee's army and give them a chance to recover. Grant was under no such limitations; he had a larger army. He simply took advantage of his greater numbers to extend his forces to the southeast, threatening to get into a position between Lee's army and Richmond.

This would be repeated throughout the coming campaign. Time and time again, Grant pinned down each corps of Lee's army with attacks by a corps of his own, then exploited his greater manpower to send a "spare" corps curling around the Confederate flank to force them out of a position and inflict losses on the retreating forces. The strategy was to prove quite effective.

Race to the South

To avoid being cut off from the capital, Lee would have to shift his troops out of the close terrain of the Wilderness and into a confrontation in the vicinity of the major crossroads at Spotsylvania Court House. This move ran into obstruction from the Union cavalry. Grant's cavalry screen was weakened in numbers by raiding losses and detached duty forces, but their firepower compensated on May 7th, as they strove to push the enemy away from the Brock Road and permit the main body of the Army of the Potomac to advance the following night.

Elements of Gregg's cavalry division pushed forward quickly, routing a substantial Confederate cavalry force at the Battle of Corbin's Bridge and forcing a crossing of the Po River under covering fire from machine gun batteries. By nightfall, they threatened not only to secure the Union line of advance, but to cut the Confederate line of retreat.

But Lee had learned his lesson from Gettysburg, and knew from the fighting in the Wilderness that the Union machine guns were no less deadly on the defensive now than they had been ten months ago. Now, even a small Union force armed with the portable Luthor guns could badly delay a large Confederate unit, if it got into position first and held out until reinforcements could arrive. This exact scenario was unfolding on May 7th in the terrain southeast of the Wilderness as the Union cavalry advanced.

As was his usual style, Lee countered his enemy's superior firepower with decisive action and quick movement. As soon as he caught hints that Grant intended to break contact and shift position, he ordered Richard Anderson (commanding Longstreet's corps after Longstreet had been wounded during the battle) to lead his troops southeast as fast as possible. Eager to leave the burning, blood-soaked forests of the Wilderness, Anderson's men moved quickly, and reached the scene of the cavalry battle around nightfall, even as the southern cavalry were collapsing entirely.

Anderson's columns appeared barely in time to avert a total disaster for the Army of Northern Virginia. By decisive action, beginning the process of infiltrating forward for a night attack, Anderson threatened the Union cavalry badly. They now faced close combat against overwhelming numbers of enemy infantry, largely neutralizing their superior firepower. Regretfully, the cavalry were forced to fall back far enough that the Confederates now held a secure road. This would allow Lee to withdraw from the Wilderness and make it to Spotsylvania Court House, facing only moderate harassment from Sheridan's cavalry. Here, a delay of even a few more hours might have spelled the beginning of the end for Lee's army.

But the moment of maximum danger had passed, and Lee was able to move his infantry to Spotsylvania Court House to face Grant once again.

 

[King crimson]

The vote is now closed. Expect an update in a bit (computer is acting a bit strange right now when opening new tabs which will slow down the tallying process)

 

[King crimson]

The Metropolitan Clan, Interlude:
The Overland Campaign, Part 1​

In March 1864, Lincoln, in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, gave Grant overall command of all Union armies fighting the Confederacy, promoting him to lieutenant-general, a rank never before held by any U.S. military commander except George Washington. Previously, each general and army had acted independently, subject only to the War Department's civilian oversight and presidential authority. Now, Grant would set overall strategy for the combined efforts of all the armies.

Grant's war strategy was broadly along the lines described in Winfield Scott's "Anaconda Plan" from the beginning of the war. The Union had consistently leveraged its naval advantage and superior transportation network to force 'wedges' into the Confederacy at key points both inland and along the coast. The conclusion of the 1863 campaign had left Union armies in a good position to drive these wedges home, attempting to permanently shatter the Confederate war economy and hopefully capture the Confederate capital at Richmond.

Grant recognized, perhaps more fully than any other commander of the war, that the Union's material advantages made it worthwhile to continue to exert pressure on the enemy at all times. Furthermore, Grant had learned from the numerous failures in Northern Virginia throughout 1862 and '63. Specifically, he had learned that it was nearly pointless to try to capture Richmond and neutralize the Confederate capital, without first neutralizing the army that defended the capital. '

Lee was gifted at maneuver warfare, and on the defensive his troops had many natural advantages; these advantages had always allowed him to outmaneuver enemies who tried to work their way past him or force him into a trap. By contrast, the simple meeting engagement at Gettysburg had proven far more decisive. Lee hadn't been entrapped, and could in theory have avoided battle at the cost of calling off his plans to capture Washington, D.C. But despite all this, Gettysburg had so badly mauled the Army of Northern Virginia that Lee had avoided further large-scale pitched battles for months, settling for a war of maneuver and skirmish against Meade even when the latter invaded Virginia once again in October 1863.

From this, Grant concluded that the main priority of his campaign against Lee was simply to remain in contact with Confederate forces as long as possible, rotating his men and ensuring the heaviest possible resupply, so that Lee's troops would be worn out and gradually destroyed by attrition.

Grant prepared for the campaign carefully. Meade's Army of the Potomac would be coordinated with other armies operating under other generals in the area, and the overall thrust of the campaign in Virginia would be coordinated with actions by others attacking the Confederacy in entirely different theaters of war, chief among them Sherman's invasion of Georgia.

Lee, meanwhile, had resolved never to attack Union forces across an open field for fear of the Luthor gun, and wherever possible to use terrain and defensive tactics to limit the effectiveness of the weapon. Some Confederate regiments had even trained sharpshooter teams to specifically target Luthor gun crews; it was fortunate for the machine gun batteries that the new methods of deploying their weapons made it easier for them to set up behind cover and to avoid being so easily spotted by the enemy before opening fire.

The Battle of the Wilderness

Grant pressed the attack by crossing the Rapidan River on May 4th, 1864, with the intent of forcing Lee to come out of his fortifications at Mine Run to meet the Union in battle. This Lee did- as usual, more quickly than his enemy had expected. Lee's rapid approach let him catch the Union forces while they were still tangled up in a dense region of second-growth forest and brush thickets called The Wilderness. Here, long lines of sight were few and far between, and the Union advantage in artillery and machine guns would be greatly reduced. This allowed Lee to fight what was, in effect, almost a pure infantry battle.

Given the primitive communications of the time, this was a serious threat to an ambitious or offensive-minded commander. During the Battle of Chancellorsville, General Hooker had been badly hampered by the difficulty of deploying in the Wilderness. Similar problems further west had completely incapacitated Rosecrans at Chickamauga and resulted in one of the most humiliating military defeats in the history of the North American continent.

But Ulysses S. Grant was made of sterner stuff. To be sure, Union and Confederate soldiers began clashing at close range, mingling together, and even fighting in hand-to-hand combat in the darkness as Confederate troops rushed forwards and attempted to capture the Union cannons and machine guns that had been brought up to support offensive pushes. But Grant remained calm and steady. Famed for his horsemanship, the general would saddle up at any time of the day or night to deal with emergencies or Confederate attacks, relocating as necessary.

For three days the armies grappled in the Wilderness, and Grant ably shifted troops to maintain strong positions with at least some ability to support one another. It was said of him that he had "four o'clock in the morning courage-" that rare ability to react in a stable, orderly fashion to sudden bad news, even when it came upon him by surprise or at the worst possible moment.

Finally, Grant decided that even given his own belief that prolonged combat would wear Lee down and win the war, it would be better to fight Lee on more advantageous terrain, where his heavy weapons could help with the wearing-down process. In previous campaigns, moving would require the Union commander to fall back from Lee's army and give them a chance to recover. Grant was under no such limitations; he had a larger army. He simply took advantage of his greater numbers to extend his forces to the southeast, threatening to get into a position between Lee's army and Richmond.

This would be repeated throughout the coming campaign. Time and time again, Grant pinned down each corps of Lee's army with attacks by a corps of his own, then exploited his greater manpower to send a "spare" corps curling around the Confederate flank to force them out of a position and inflict losses on the retreating forces. The strategy was to prove quite effective.

Race to the South

To avoid being cut off from the capital, Lee would have to shift his troops out of the close terrain of the Wilderness and into a confrontation in the vicinity of the major crossroads at Spotsylvania Court House. This move ran into obstruction from the Union cavalry. Grant's cavalry screen was weakened in numbers by raiding losses and detached duty forces, but their firepower compensated on May 7th, as they strove to push the enemy away from the Brock Road and permit the main body of the Army of the Potomac to advance the following night.

Elements of Gregg's cavalry division pushed forward quickly, routing a substantial Confederate cavalry force at the Battle of Corbin's Bridge and forcing a crossing of the Po River under covering fire from machine gun batteries. By nightfall, they threatened not only to secure the Union line of advance, but to cut the Confederate line of retreat.

But Lee had learned his lesson from Gettysburg, and knew from the fighting in the Wilderness that the Union machine guns were no less deadly on the defensive now than they had been ten months ago. Now, even a small Union force armed with the portable Luthor guns could badly delay a large Confederate unit, if it got into position first and held out until reinforcements could arrive. This exact scenario was unfolding on May 7th in the terrain southeast of the Wilderness as the Union cavalry advanced.

As was his usual style, Lee countered his enemy's superior firepower with decisive action and quick movement. As soon as he caught hints that Grant intended to break contact and shift position, he ordered Richard Anderson (commanding Longstreet's corps after Longstreet had been wounded during the battle) to lead his troops southeast as fast as possible. Eager to leave the burning, blood-soaked forests of the Wilderness, Anderson's men moved quickly, and reached the scene of the cavalry battle around nightfall, even as the southern cavalry were collapsing entirely.

Anderson's columns appeared barely in time to avert a total disaster for the Army of Northern Virginia. By decisive action, beginning the process of infiltrating forward for a night attack, Anderson threatened the Union cavalry badly. They now faced close combat against overwhelming numbers of enemy infantry, largely neutralizing their superior firepower. Regretfully, the cavalry were forced to fall back far enough that the Confederates now held a secure road. This would allow Lee to withdraw from the Wilderness and make it to Spotsylvania Court House, facing only moderate harassment from Sheridan's cavalry. Here, a delay of even a few more hours might have spelled the beginning of the end for Lee's army.

But the moment of maximum danger had passed, and Lee was able to move his infantry to Spotsylvania Court House to face Grant once again.

Click to shrink...

Once again the Metropolitan Clan delivers an excellent omake. The real strength of this omake is in the ability to make the tactics employed easy to understand. I come from the background of having read a good amount of B.H. Liddell Hart's books so it was nice to get a similar if greatly simplified feel from this explanation of both Lee and Grant's maneuvers.

Once again 500 exp has been earned

 

[Simon_Jester]

I mean...this is only one to a few turns I'm going for. I just think we need something Superman level to remain in power in the DC Universe. And I'm up for taking other actions btw. And a lot of the learning actions will elevate our power tbh.

Click to shrink...

Not if we're not taking other actions to (for instance):

1) Prevent others from spying on us and stealing our tech
2) Create the infrastructure to mass-produce whatever weapons and technologies we devise
3) Maintaining our good reputation so that we're not constantly mobbed by superheroes and pounded down into jelly by the sheer volume and diversity of threats raising our hands against us
4) Recruit hero units and expand our AP/turn base so that we can undertake more and greater projects.

I'm not saying our superior knowledge and science isn't the key to our success. I'm saying that if all you have is a key, you don't have very much. Especially if you haven't got the strength to reach the door, or the tools to use the things you find inside the room it unlocks.

so how are we planning to distribute our hero units for this turn? one thing I would really want to do this turn is either get Cass used to death or teach her how to talk

Click to shrink...

Ditto.

Hmm, something like...

[] Crush all criminals
-Pamela, Katherine, Mercy
bonus +21+(1.2*17)+19+10 = +71 versus DC 21 plus probable enemy hero units

[] Assist the US Government with the war effort in Santa Prisca
-Rose
bonus +17 versus DC 20

[] Meet with Count Vertigo
-Oswald
bonus: +24 versus DC 12, may have positive results with the young queen.

[] Campaign to get the achievements of one of your workers recognized- Nobel Prize in Physics for Dr. Ivo
bonus versus DC 25-ish?

[] Build a space building
-Carol
bonus: +14 versus DC 18, or possibly DC 3

[] Purchase real estate
DC 0

[] Hire Ex-Cons
-Leonard
bonus: +8 versus DC 11, increased chance of hiring Flash villains like Heat Wave and Weather Wizard.

[] Begin producing computers
-Mari
bonus: +16 versus DC 7

[] Offer LexCorp's services as an ISP
-Felicity
bonus +21 versus DC 23

[] Investigate inside the company
-Samuel, Marie
bonus 17+(1.2*15) = +35, versus DC 45

[] Plug the leaks
-Carl, Roxanne
bonus +17+(1.4*13) = +35 versus DC 42

[] Investigate the unknown individual
-Cerise, Nygma, Lisa
bonus 17+(0.8*16)+(1.4*13) = +49, possibly with +20 and +5 as extra bonuses, versus DC 43

[] Improve phones
versus DC 17

[] Improve bone growth formula
-Moon, Karl
bonus +18+(1.1*17) = +37 versus DC 45

[] Create the automobile of tomorrow

[] The A.M.A.Z.O. project
-Ivo
bonus +33+7 versus DC 105

[] [Comp] Have your supercomputer gather information on the unknown individual
-Lex
bonus +23 versus DC ???

[] [Cass] Teach Cassandra language
-Lex, Cassandra, Rebecca
bonuses +36+(2*(15-5))+(0.9*19)+10+45 = +74+55 versus DC ???
(the +55 doesn't apply to exploding crits)

[] [Jinx] (some educational action or other)

...
...
Not sure this is the BEST lineup, but it's passable, I think.

 

[Reader of all]

I honestly want to let ivo continue working on his experiment and once he is only one success away kill him I do not want the man anywhere inside a fully powered amazo.

 

[Simon_Jester]

I honestly want to let ivo continue working on his experiment and once he is only one success away kill him I do not want the man anywhere inside a fully powered amazo.

Click to shrink...

That's a valid choice for us.

The catch is that given the nature of the project, he's not going to be making slow and steady progress, but rather advancing the project in bursts. We may not be able to predict or control his progress unless we stop it WELL short of completion. Remember that when we had him study alien technology he gained seven points of A.M.A.Z.O. progress in a single action, and that one of his early-game crits gained five points or some such.

So I want to be prepared.

 

[King crimson]

SV's formatting is the real villain of this quest. I fixed my computers problem with new tabs only to develop a new issue. Now whenever I copy past something that is from Sufficient Velocity it adds 4 times the amount of enters I hit in the original document to the spacing between them. This means if I hit enter twice to insert a single line of spacing between two pieces of text when I copy it Sufficient Velocity adds 8 more lines of blank space I need to delete. This all adds up fast and I end up needing to delete like 200 lines of blank space. Seriously why is that a thing Sufficient Velocity does to me know? Cause it makes it more time consuming to copy paste simple things then just rewriting everything from scratch which is just incredibly annoying and counterintuitive. Sorry for the off topic rant I just needed to vent.

A lot of stuff will be popping up in the results update (kryptonite batteries come into production and your new branch in Japan gets built). Furthermore you've got some interesting decisions to make. Tomorrow I will be updating the other encountered character's page which is very out of date. For now enjoy the update.

Turn 17 Hero Vote
Please select the heroes you would like to assign to an action. Remember that all votes in non-plan format will be rejected and that there is a 1 hour moratorium on voting. If a hero unit is not assigned to a task then they act independently of all the available actions. You can also attempt to assign Jarret and Emily to an action (although it isn't guaranteed they will do it). Also if you want to use the pheromone spray please indicate on who and how in your plan. You can assign any one hero to the supercomputer special action on top of assigning them to a normal action. The supercomputer special action is the action marked [Comp].


Martial
[ ] Assist the US Government with the war effort in Santa Prisca
DC 20

[ ] Crush all criminals
DC 21

Diplomacy
[ ] Meet with Count Vertigo
DC 10

[ ] Campaign to get the achievements of one of your workers recognized- Nobel Prize in Physics for Dr. Ivo
DC 25

Stewardship
[ ] Offer LexCorp's services as an ISP
DC 53 (DC 23 if Felicity is assigned)

[ ] Build a space building
DC 18

[ ] Hire Ex-Cons
DC 11

[ ] Begin producing computers
DC 7

[ ] Purchase real estate
DC 0

Intrigue
[ ] Plug the leaks
DC 42

[ ] Investigate the unknown individual
DC 43

[ ] Investigate inside the company
DC 45

[ ] [Comp] Have your supercomputer gather information on the unknown individual
DC ???

Learning
[ ] Improve bone growth formula
DC 65 (DC 45 if Helfern assigned)

[ ] Improve phones
DC 17

[ ] Create the automobile of tomorrow
DC 19

[ ] The A.M.A.Z.O. project
DC 180 (DC 105 if Ivo assigned)

Important notes
Edward Nygma can be assigned to any job that involves investigation, hiding things or acquiring a material

Emily Rice can be involved in any action that involves teaching Jinx and will attempt to take them of her own accord whenever possible

Jarret Parker can be involved in any action that involves mental health


Cassandra Unique actions subvote
One of these actions can be undertaken during this turn but it doesn't have to be taken. Most of these options require assigning Cassandra to the option. These actions do not have to be taken but they will provide Cassandra with improvements as she grows. In order for any of these actions to be taken a hero must be assigned to it. Please include the Cassandra unique option in your plan if you want to use it. Certain actions can be overlapped with Jinx Unique actions. If an action is overlapped then it counts as one action rather than two.

[ ] [Cass] Hire a martial arts instructor for Cassandra
DC 50 (Stewardship) Cassandra Luthor is a martial arts prodigy. Hiring an instructor to teach her might be difficult due to how skilled Cassandra already is but could prove to be well worth it to get Cassandra to the next level and get a skilled fighter on your payroll.

[ ] [Cass] Hire a scholastic tutor for Cassandra
DC 13 (Stewardship) You have no intention of allowing your adopted daughters education to suffer. Hiring tutors will make it easier to ensure Cassandra has the intelligence expected from a member of your family.

[ ] [Cass] Hire an art tutor for the Cassandra
DC 10 (Stewardship) Drawing could prove an excellent non-violent action for Cassandra and could serve as a viable alternate means for her to communicate with others while she still doesn't understand language. You aren't an artist yourself but you are sure you could hire someone to teach Cassandra the necessary skills (Can be overlapped and apply to both children)

[ ] [Cass] Hire a caretaker
DC 166 (Stewardship) You are a busy man there is no shame in admitting that. Still someone needs to take care of Cassandra's day to day needs. You'll have to find a thoroughly vetted expert (nothing but the best for your child) but it could prove a decent investment

[ ] [Cass] Buy Cassandra a pet
DC 4 (Stewardship) A pet of some kind might help Cassandra learn to become less dependent on human body language and will help socialize her to an extent.

[ ] [Cain] Teach Cassandra how to handle weaponry
DC 2 (Cassandra must be assigned to this option for it to be taken) (Martial) Cassandra Cain is a skilled fighter but doesn't have much training in the use of weaponry like guns. Teaching her could prove very useful for rounding out her skills as an assassin (Can be overlapped with teaching Jinx to handle weaponry. If overlapped Jinx must be assigned to either this or her equivalent).

[ ] [Cass] Desensitize Cassandra to death
DC 44 (Cassandra Cain must be assigned to this option for it to be taken) (Intrigue) David Cain did not take the final step in teaching his daughter to become a weapon by teaching her how to deal with death. Death is a natural part of life and you have no intention of letting the child in your care be traumatized by something as meaningless as it. Finishing her training as an assassin and removing a weakness seems like a good idea to you but it must be handled carefully

[ ] [Cass] Educate Cassandra on science
DC 68 (Cassandra must be assigned to this option for it to be taken) (Learning) You have no intention of allowing Cassandra Cain to remain ignorant as to science. While you don't expect her to be as smart as you as your daughter there are standards she must reach

[ ] [Cass] Have Cassandra learn to invent
DC 80 (Cassandra must be assigned to this option for it to be taken) (Learning) Cassandra has a basic grasp of the fundamentals of most things in science. Now all that is left is to teach her how to do these things in the real world in a practical setting.

[ ] [Cass] Educate Cassandra more on Mathematics
DC 42 (Cassandra must be assigned to this option for it to be taken) (Learning) Cassandra has already learned the basics of math. You hope that by further expanding her abilities to do math you will set her up nicely in the future. After all the language of math is nearly universal

[ ] [Cass] Educate Cassandra on behavior and diplomacy
DC 13 (Cassandra must be assigned to this option for it to be taken (Learning)) As your adopted daughter Cassandra Cain will be thrust into the spotlight when the media learns of her. You have no intention of leaving her to be exploited by those vultures. Teaching Cassandra how to act in set situations will increase her ability to deal with others and will teach her the ever important trait of manipulation. Being able to twist others to your own ends is something you excel at and it will open up doors for Cassandra later in life.

[ ] [Cass] Teach Cassandra language
DC ??? (Cassandra Luthor must be assigned to this option for it to be taken) (Learning) Cassandra is currently mute and unable to talk to others or read letters. You aren't sure what it'll take to fix the damage David Cain has done to her but attempting to fix it will leave Cassandra so much more well adjusted

[ ] [Cass] Teach Cassandra to draw
DC 26 (Cassandra Luthor must be assigned to this option for it to be taken) (Learning) Alternatively if you cannot solve the language problem teaching Cassandra how to draw could prove useful. She can recognize images so being able to draw while slow will allow her to communicate with others without speaking.

[ ] [Cass] Teach Cassandra more about basic biology
DC 10 (Cassandra Luthor must be assigned to this option for it to be taken) (Learning) Assassination and surgery have a lot of overlap in the knowledge needed and the skills that are valuable. Cassandra could prove to be quite the talented surgeon in the future. Teaching her some basic biology should ensure that you cover any gaps in her knowledge of anatomy before you can set her on the path of becoming a world renowned surgeon.

[ ] [Cass] Teach Cassandra ballet
DC 34 (Cassandra Luthor must be assign to this option for it to be taken) (Learning) Ballet is an excellent way to help teach Cassandra coordination and would give her a positive social outlet and would allow her to refine her skillset. Teaching her how to go through the forms might be a bit tricky but you are sure she can handle it.

[ ] [Cass] Socialize Cassandra with children
DC ??? (Cassandra Luthor must be assigned to this option for it to be taken) (Diplomacy) Isolation has not been good for Cassandra's mental health. Allowing her to interact with peers her age might give her a bit more of a normal childhood and help her adjust from thinking of herself as nothing but a weapon to thinking of herself as a person.

[ ] [Cass] Socialize Cassandra with adults
DC ??? (Cassandra Luthor must be assigned to this option for it to be taken) (Diplomacy) Children are beneath both you and your daughter. You intend for her to learn amongst adults how to behave and interact. While it will be more difficult for her it will get her to understand the position she is in and hopefully teach her to start thinking like a Luthor

[ ] [Cass] Debut Cassandra to the public
DC 0 (Cassandra Luthor must be assigned to this option for it to be taken) (Diplomacy) Debuting Cassandra Cain to the public will allow you to take control of whatever narrative forms around her. It will keep her firmly in the spotlight and ensure she never gets to experience a "normal" childhood but if she can withstand the pressure she will grow stronger for it and her introduction to the world will be marked free of scandal

[ ] [Cass] Teach Cassandra to fly a plane
DC 48 (Cassandra Luthor must be assigned to this action for it to be taken) (Learning) Teaching your daughter some kind of talent might be useful in the short term and something like flying a plane would give her a highly versatile skill to use later on in life.

[ ] [Cass] Teach Cassandra more about chess
DC 18 (Cassandra must be assigned to this action for it to be taken) (Learning) Cassandra Luthor has proven to be quite a talented chess player in your games to teach her the weight of obligations. Perhaps there is the spark of a potential grandmaster in your daughter. Nurturing this talent could earn her more prestige in certain circles and it would help develop her strategic thinking

[ ] [Cass] Learn to read a cat's body language
DC ??? (Cassandra must be assigned to this action for it to be taken) (Learning) Cassandra has spent a lot of time playing with Janus. As time passes she has grown better and better at reading Janus' body language. Perhaps given enough time she can apply her knowledge of body language to non-human creatures eventually concluding in her being able to read all animals body language. For now you'll stick to cats but this could be the first step to a very interesting development

Jinx Unique actions
One of these actions can be undertaken during this turn but doesn't require it to be taken. Jinx must be assigned to some of these actions. A hero unit must be assigned to the action for it to be undertaken. Please include the Jinx unique action in your plan if you want to take it. Some actions can be overlapped with Cassandra Cain's unique actions. If this occurs it will be counted as a single action rather than two different ones.

[ ] [Jinx] Hire a martial arts instructor for Jinx
DC 24 (Stewardship) Jinx lacks much in the way of physical development. She can run decently fast but relies on her power too much for combat. If you wish to cultivate her as an asset it may be best to shore up that gap in the girls knowledge

[ ] [Jinx] Enroll Jinx in a school
DC 0 (Stewardship) Alternatively you could enroll Jinx in a school of some kind. Not only will this ensure that Jinx gets taught but it will also help Jinx learn to socialize with peers in her age group.

[ ] [Jinx] Train Jinx on more effectively utilizing her powers
DC ??? (Learning) (Jinx must be assigned to this option) Jinx originally caught your eye because of her powers. Having her learn to more effectively utilize them will make her into a more valuable asset later on down the line.

[ ] [Jinx] Buy Jinx a pet
DC 2 (Stewardship) While you aren't overly fond of Jinx buying her a pet of some kind could cause her to become more closely endeared to you. And a loyal minion is far more useful than a resentful minion

[ ] [Jinx] Teach Jinx how to handle weaponry
DC 2 (Martial) (Jinx must be assigned to this option) Teaching Jinx how to use weaponry could improve her combat capabilities to make her even more dangerous (This action can be overlapped with teaching Cassandra how to handle weaponry.)

[ ] [Jinx] Desensitize Jinx to death
DC 32 (Intrigue) (Jinx must be assigned to this option) Teaching Jinx to overcome death could prove a valuable lesson for her. Making her resistant to phycological trauma will make her so much more useful as a weapon later on down the line

[ ] [Jinx] Teach Jinx LexCorp propaganda
DC 25 (Intrigue) (Jinx must be assigned to this option) Children are easily molded and for all of Jinx's differences from the norm she is still a child. Using this critical period of development to mold the girl to your liking is an excellent long term investment.

[ ] [Jinx] Educate Jinx about science
DC 30 (Learning) (Jinx must be assigned to this option) Jinx is still a child and can still learn a thing or two about science. The more you teach her the more useful she will become.

[ ] [Jinx] Educate Jinx about writing and literature
DC 23 (Learning) (Jinx must be assigned to this option) Jinx has enjoyed learning about writing and literature and is actively attempting to expand her mind on such subjects. As such you may want to foster this trait in her.

[ ] [Jinx] Educate Jinx on acting
DC 23 (Learning) (Jinx must be assigned to this action) Teaching Jinx how to act and by extension how to lie effectively will give her a creative outlet and will make her a more useful tool later on down the line

[ ] [Jinx] Educate Jinx on etiquette
DC 79 (Learning) (Jinx must be assigned to this action) Jinx is stubborn and likes to flout social norms but given that she is a LexCorp ward a certain level of decorum is necessary. Ensuring that she knows how not to embarrass your company in public could prove necessary

[ ] [Jinx] Teach Jinx magic
DC ??? (DC 13 if Rebecca is assigned, DC 10 if Cerise is assigned) (Learning) (Jinx must be assigned to this action) Rebecca is a more mature and powerful magic user than Jinx. Perhaps Jinx could learn a thing or two from Rebecca. More powerful people indebted to you seems like it can only be beneficial

[ ] [Jinx] Teach Jinx leadership
DC 46 (Learning) (Jinx must be assigned to this action) Jinx has shown some basic talent for leadership. Expanding upon this could prove beneficial in the long run even if you are unsure of how the girl will take to instruction

[ ] [Jinx] Influence Jinx to become Cassandra's right hand woman
DC 53 (Diplomacy) (Jinx must be assigned to this action) Mercy has proven an absolute godsend for you throughout your life as your one true confidante for most of your life. Raising an equivalent right hand for your daughter might enable her to succeed very well. Jinx has all the makings of a very useful second in command. Perhaps you ought to start guiding her down the path that will best ensure Cassandra's success

Bane Special Actions
By continuing to take actions that assist the US government's war effort in Santa Prisca you can take Bane special actions. Up to two Bane special actions can be taken per turn although no hero units can be assigned to them (Bane and the hero units under him will assign themselves to the actions as they see fit). Please include the two Bane special actions you wish to take in your plan

[ ] [Bane] Sell Venom to the US government
DC 15 Having Bane sell the compound he already has could give the US military a new in and potentially ingratiate you to them for allowing them to acquire it somewhat covertly

[ ] [Bane] Sell Venom to LexCorp
DC 20 You could always take Venom, which is a fascinating chemical, for yourself although you would have to be discrete about it

[ ] [Bane] Give captured Intergang weapons to the US government
DC 5 Bane cares little for Intergang weapons he has and will happily sell them to the US government and act as a proxy for them to take them

[ ] [Bane] Wipe out villages in search of Intergang
DC 7 Bane is already ruthlessly doing this now you'll merely direct him to be a little more efficient about it

[ ] [Bane] Burn down fields to starve the Santa Priscan army
DC 18 In exchange for rations Bane is happy to let the whole country starve which will make winning any conflict there far easier

[ ] [Bane] Search for Metahumans amongst the Santa Priscan population
DC ??? Bane is unaware of Metahumans but he is quite happy to search for any unusual individuals he comes across and then turn them over to someone who will pay him for it

[ ] [Bane] Capture and torture government officials and pass on information to the US military
DC ??? Bane can act as an excellent way to gather information about what is going on in a deniable way. The man has no compunctions against torture and is quite happy to sell out the country that locked him up

[ ] [Bane] Search for secret bunkers
DC 60 Santa Prisca has secret bunkers and as a local Bane can cut some time on the search down by narrowing the areas they could be in while the US military concentrates on winning the war

[ ] [Bane] Sack the capitol
DC 100 The capitol is defended but Bane knows ways around it. He could sack the capitol of Santa Prisca. Admittedly such an action is risky and would put him on the world's radar making him no longer as covert as he once was but he does claim he could do it

[ ] [Bane] Unleash chemical weapons on Santa Priscan cities to force Intergang out into the open
DC 60 Bane has chemical weapons at his disposal and he knows how to use them. He will not use them unless he receives and assurance that he will not be prosecuted for war crimes and someone else will be blamed. The moment he acquires those he is quite happy to do the dirty work to ensure a swifter victory

[ ] [Bane] Attack the PMC Sire, Hopsob and Iemdso
DC ??? This PMC with an unusual name has been causing the US military a lot of problems. Bane can go behind enemy lines and attempt to wipe them all off the face of the earth.

[ ] [Bane] Look for secret weapons
DC 53 Intergang may be hiding secret weapons in the country. Bane is more than happy to go looking for any such objects.

[ ] [Bane] Test experimental technology on captured Santa Priscan soldiers
DC 18 You, Bane and Eiling all have obtained experimental tech derived from Intergang's devices. Bane is more than happy to test these devices on a few "volunteers" he can round up from the men he captures instead of killing.

Restructuring LexCorp
This is a subvote on if you want to move around and/or change some of your hero units official titles and positions. Some hero units will react highly aversely to having their position and title changed. This vote will then trigger yet another subvote if you do want to mess with things. The current positions and titles are as follows

• Lex Luthor: Head of LexCorp, CEO of LexCorp, CFO of LexCorp, Chief PR Rep for LexCorp
• Mercy Graves: Head of LexCorp Security, Lex Luthor's Personal Bodyguard, Lex Luthor's Personal Assistant
• Cassandra Luthor: Holds no official title or position
• Pamela Isley: Head of Botanical Research at LexCorp, Head of LexCorp's Green Initiative
• Professor Ivo: Senior Scientist, Head of the A.M.A.Z.O. project
• Katherine Kane: Head of an elite squad of LexCorp security forces
• Rebecca Carstairs: Head of Extranormal research, LexCorp Representative
• Roxanne Sutton: Official Ferris Aerospace Test Pilot, LexCorp Representative
• Carol Ferris: Head of Ferris Aerospace
• Mari McCabe: Head of McCabe Fashion
• Karl Helfern: Head of Medical Research
• Oswald Loomis: Head of television programming at Lightspeed Entertainment
• Jinx: No official title, is a LexCorp ward
• Carl Draper: Construction Specialist
• Felicity Smoak: Computer Specialist
• Marie Louise Dahl: PR Representative
• Edward Nygma: Freelance Investigator and Acquisitions Expert
• Rose Wilson: Assistant to the Head of LexCorp Security
• Cerise Orielle: Consultant on supernatural and historical matters
• Dr. Moon: LexCorp Medical Researcher
• Lisa Snart: Lightyear Entertainment Actress, Human Relations consultant for LexCorp
• Leonard Snart: LexCorp security force Captain
• Samuel Scudder: LexCorp security force specialist
• Janus the two-headed lion cub: Mascot

[ ] [Jobs] Keep titles and positions the same
[ ] [Jobs] Change some titles and positions

 

[Negation]

[] [Jobs] Change some titles and positions

Carl Draper: Chief Architect
Felicity Smoak: Head Computer Development

 

[King crimson]

[X] [Jobs] Change some titles and positions

Carl Draper: Chief Architect
Felicity Smoak: Head Computer Development

Click to shrink...

You got thirty more minutes to wait and the vote should be in plan format.

 

[Negation]

You got thirty more minutes to wait and the vote should be in plan format.

Click to shrink...

Ah. Right. Sorry.

 

[Simon_Jester]

The Metropolitan Clan, Interlude:
The Overland Campaign, Part 2​

Danger From All Sides

With Anderson's corps having narrowly made it into the area around Spotsylvania Court House before Union cavalry could block them off, Lee was able to shift his army into position to defend the key road junction against Grant. On the morning of May 8th, the arriving Union troops, aware that a Confederate army corps was in the area and had taken up positions along Laurel Ridge, launched probing attacks. Anderson's lead divisions were exhausted from a long day's march followed by a night battle, even if the Union cavalry had retreated rather than fight heavily- but they managed to exert themselves on the defensive well enough. Though Meade ordered Warren's V Corps to push at Anderson's positions vigorously, Laurel Ridge was very defensible. Finally, Warren was forced to pull back and entrench, awaiting reinforcements.

Union cavalry managed to cut around behind the Laurel Ridge position and moved to hit it from behind, smashing aside another Confederate cavalry regiment to do so, but Anderson's rear division under General Kershaw acted as a fortunately placed reserve force. Kershaw's men, less fatigued and having not participated in the night battle, were able to repel the cavalry, saving the Confederate vanguard from encirclement. The Union cavalry corps commander, Philip Sheridan, though, was becoming increasingly optimistic about his men's performance on the field. Meade and Grant broadly agreed, and when Sheridan told Meade that he could "whip Jeb Stuart" if let off the leash, there was little hesitation about letting him make his attempt.

Ten thousand cavalry under Sheridan mobilized and rode off, descending upon J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry command at the Battle of Yellow Tavern on May 11th. The battle would rage for several days, and would have results unsurprising given the performance of the heavily armed U.S. Cavalry earlier in the campaign. However, the decision cut both ways. While Lee would gain no aid from his longtime comrade Stuart, Meade and Grant would get little help from Sheridan, either.

This left both sides' infantry in a position to operate more freely, and to march closer to the enemy without being forced to deploy by skirmishes with opposing horsemen.

Pitched Battle

On May 8th, division after division of gray-clad Confederate troops marched into the vicinity of Spotsylvania Court House, staking out a zone two to three miles on a side. The Confederate position formed an inverted V shape more than four miles in total length, with the point aimed northwards. The town and crossroads themselves stood just south of the eastern end of the V. Lee's engineers entrenched rapidly, and soon strong field fortification lines sprung up, with well-sited artillery positions prepared to smash advancing Union forces with enfilade fire.

Union corps arrived one after another, taking up positions opposite their Confederate counterparts. However, through his utmost exertions, Lee had narrowly managed to reach Spotsylvania Court House ahead of Grant. Union forces could not prepare to storm the Confederate lines faster than the rebels could entrench. By the morning of May 9th, the battle lines were drawn, most of the troops on both sides were in position or coming soon, and both sides were cautiously probing the other's position and strength.

Some misestimations were made.

Ambrose Burnside, still a corps commander despite his disastrous mishandling of the army at Fredericksburg, held the flanking position northeast of the Confederate lines. After establishing that forces under Jubal Early were truly dug in north of Spotsylvania Court House, Burnside pulled back to entrench rather than try to outflank the enemy. This was arguably a miscalculation, but perhaps not the greatest one of the day.

It was also on May 9th that General Sedgwick, commanding the Union VI Corps, uttered some of the most famous last words in history. Attempting to reassure his men that Confederate snipers were no great threat owing to the long range of the action, he leapt up in full view of the enemy, gesturing grandly, and cried out: "Don't worry, boys, they couldn't hit an elephant at this dist-" Sadly, he never got a chance to finish his sentence. Sedgwick's death would be a heavy blow to the army, as he was a widely beloved commander. But the Army of the Potomac would go on.

Meanwhile, General Hancock and II Corps were probing the west flank of Lee's army, pushing across the Po River into the site of the early cavalry battles. Grant, noting Burnside's report that strong forces were dug in on the east side of Lee's army, and that the troops in the Confederate center who had killed Sedgwick were similarly strong, correctly deduced a weakness on the west side. However, Hancock, convinced that the Confederate forces holding the bridge across the Po were much stronger than they really were, held back and entrenched, setting up his Luthor guns and establishing a bridgehead. Unfortunately, during the night of the 9th, Lee made major adjustments to his defenses, pulling troops out of the positions facing Burnside, and heavily reinforcing his eastern flank with troops under Jubal Early.

The Plans of Men

By sunrise on May 10th, Grant realized that Lee had closed the weak point on his eastern flank, if it had ever existed. Most of Hancock's corps was pulled back, while a general attack by all corps was prepared for 5 p.m. in an attempt to identify any weak points in the Confederate defense. Lee must have pulled the troops in the east from somewhere, Grant reasoned, and this would have created a thin spot in the line.

This was to prove unfortunate. Early badly threatened Hancock's rear guard, meant to keep his forces in play, by using his artillery to ignite the woods that the Union rear guard had taken cover in. This forced the Union soldiers to abandon their defensive positions without much of a fight, permitting Early to gain ground and force them to retreat, tearing down the bridges across the Po behind them. Due to the delayed nature of Grant's orders to Hancock, Lee had been able to counter them, and the situation was now much as if Hancock had never marched south of the Po at all.

The coordination of Grant's battle plan was then disrupted by Warren, eager to erase the embarrassment he'd suffered when V Corps was repelled on the opening day. Warren launched an uncoordinated attack, and his troops were greatly slowed by bad terrain, suffering heavy losses. The planned attack at 5 p.m. would have to wait while Warren re-consolidated his battered troops.

When the attack finally went in at 6 p.m., the hand-picked vanguard of the VI Corps under Colonel Upton stormed forwards, gaining ground in a salient at the tip of the Confederate V formation. But the soldiers chosen to follow up the attack were battered and demoralized from heavy fighting in the Wilderness. Moreover, their terms of enlistment would expire in only a few weeks, and few of them were eager to risk death only a short time before they could safely resign from the army. The reinforcements broke and ran shortly after Confederate artillery opened up on them, but Upton fought on. However, in time, Confederate counterattacks wore him down, and he was forced to withdraw for lack of support from V and VI Corps.

Meanwhile Burnside had timidly stopped to entrench, only a short distance from gaining the crossroads and outflanking Lee's army. Neither he nor Grant was aware at the time of just how little force Lee had left on his eastern flank to hold the crossroads. Had Sheridan's cavalry been present, they would likely have scouted out the weak enemy position- but they were gone to the south. Instead, Burnside held in place. Finally, Grant, who had been preoccupied staying with the soldiers where the heavier fighting had been elsewhere, ordered Burnside back to rejoin the main body of the army, concerned that Burnside himself was dangerously overextended and that a gap would open up that the Confederates might use to entrap him.

As night set on the 10th, Grant had lost several valuable opportunities, and Lee had been given the chance to shift forces back and forth to largely avoid having to give ground against the greater Union numbers.

The Bloody Angle

However, Grant was confident that continuing the battle would benefit the Union cause. He telegraphed to Washington, "The result to this time is much in our favor. Our losses have been heavy as well as those of the enemy... I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer." His preparations took a night and a day, but on May 12th, he launched another assault. This attack would be aimed at the "Mule Shoe," the exposed 'bubble' in the Confederate lines that Upton had targeted.

Meanwhile, Lee had received faulty intelligence indicating that Grant was preparing to fall back towards Fredericksburg, much as other Union commanders had fallen back after a few days' battle in the past. As such, he wanted to be prepared to harass the Army of the Potomac if it withdrew. As part of his own preparations he withdrew much of the artillery from the Mule Shoe. Hancock's II Corps would spearhead the attack.

However, Hancock's soldiers were poorly informed about the terrain and had not learned details from the other corps fighting over the Mule Shoe. On the other hand, the Confederates were only partially prepared for the attack, which came after a rainy night, at 4:35 a.m. Much of their gunpowder was soaked by the rain. Union forces quickly overwhelmed the salient, driving the Confederates back with heavy losses- but there was no follow-up plan. Fifteen thousand men of Hancock's corps crammed into the small pocket of ground they'd captured, losing cohesion and organization.

But by now the sun was starting to clear the darkness and mists, and the Confederates on either side of the salient were able to counterattack. The Union troops fought back fiercely with rifles and with a moderate number of Luthor guns, and the fighting became fierce on both sides. This region of the battlefield became known as the "Bloody Angle." Grant's entire army pressed into the fight at various places along the line, though Warren once again managed not to make much of a dent in the Confederate lines. Fighting raged back and forth, until Grant and Lee inadvertently ordered simultaneous assaults at 2 p.m. Even this did not end the combat, which went on into the night until the Confederates were finally able to fall back to a new trench line south of the Mule Shoe, ceding the ground to the Union by sunrise on the 13th.

And this was a kind of ground few had seen before. The intensity of artillery and rifle fire and the brutality of repeated attacks and counterattacks over the same small area had devastated the ground. One diarist reported that "Nothing can describe the confusion, the savage, blood-curdling yells, the murderous faces, the awful curses, and the grisly horror of the melee." It was the most intense single day of fighting in the war, with over 8,000 casualties on each side.

Grant was unhappy with the situation, but felt that the situation was in hand. He repositioned his forces, to continue the fighting, with the goal of destroying Lee's army once and for all.

 

[King crimson]

The Metropolitan Clan, Interlude:
The Overland Campaign, Part 2​

Danger From All Sides

With Anderson's corps having narrowly made it into the area around Spotsylvania Court House before Union cavalry could block them off, Lee was able to shift his army into position to defend the key road junction against Grant. On the morning of May 8th, the arriving Union troops, aware that a Confederate army corps was in the area and had taken up positions along Laurel Ridge, launched probing attacks. Anderson's lead divisions were exhausted from a long day's march followed by a night battle, even if the Union cavalry had retreated rather than fight heavily- but they managed to exert themselves on the defensive well enough. Though Meade ordered Warren's V Corps to push at Anderson's positions vigorously, Laurel Ridge was very defensible. Finally, Warren was forced to pull back and entrench, awaiting reinforcements.

Union cavalry managed to cut around behind the Laurel Ridge position and moved to hit it from behind, smashing aside another Confederate cavalry regiment to do so, but Anderson's rear division under General Kershaw acted as a fortunately placed reserve force. Kershaw's men, less fatigued and having not participated in the night battle, were able to repel the cavalry, saving the Confederate vanguard from encirclement. The Union cavalry corps commander, Philip Sheridan, though, was becoming increasingly optimistic about his men's performance on the field. Meade and Grant broadly agreed, and when Sheridan told Meade that he could "whip Jeb Stuart" if let off the leash, there was little hesitation about letting him make his attempt.

Ten thousand cavalry under Sheridan mobilized and rode off, descending upon J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry command at the Battle of Yellow Tavern on May 11th. The battle would rage for several days, and would have results unsurprising given the performance of the heavily armed U.S. Cavalry earlier in the campaign. However, the decision cut both ways. While Lee would gain no aid from his longtime comrade Stuart, Meade and Grant would get little help from Sheridan, either.

This left both sides' infantry in a position to operate more freely, and to march closer to the enemy without being forced to deploy by skirmishes with opposing horsemen.

Pitched Battle

On May 8th, division after division of gray-clad Confederate troops marched into the vicinity of Spotsylvania Court House, staking out a zone two to three miles on a side. The Confederate position formed an inverted V shape more than four miles in total length, with the point aimed northwards. The town and crossroads themselves stood just south of the eastern end of the V. Lee's engineers entrenched rapidly, and soon strong field fortification lines sprung up, with well-sited artillery positions prepared to smash advancing Union forces with enfilade fire.

Union corps arrived one after another, taking up positions opposite their Confederate counterparts. However, through his utmost exertions, Lee had narrowly managed to reach Spotsylvania Court House ahead of Grant. Union forces could not prepare to storm the Confederate lines faster than the rebels could entrench. By the morning of May 9th, the battle lines were drawn, most of the troops on both sides were in position or coming soon, and both sides were cautiously probing the other's position and strength.

Some misestimations were made.

Ambrose Burnside, still a corps commander despite his disastrous mishandling of the army at Fredericksburg, held the flanking position northeast of the Confederate lines. After establishing that forces under Jubal Early were truly dug in north of Spotsylvania Court House, Burnside pulled back to entrench rather than try to outflank the enemy. This was arguably a miscalculation, but perhaps not the greatest one of the day.

It was also on May 9th that General Sedgwick, commanding the Union VI Corps, uttered some of the most famous last words in history. Attempting to reassure his men that Confederate snipers were no great threat owing to the long range of the action, he leapt up in full view of the enemy, gesturing grandly, and cried out: "Don't worry, boys, they couldn't hit an elephant at this dist-" Sadly, he never got a chance to finish his sentence. Sedgwick's death would be a heavy blow to the army, as he was a widely beloved commander. But the Army of the Potomac would go on.

Meanwhile, General Hancock and II Corps were probing the west flank of Lee's army, pushing across the Po River into the site of the early cavalry battles. Grant, noting Burnside's report that strong forces were dug in on the east side of Lee's army, and that the troops in the Confederate center who had killed Sedgwick were similarly strong, correctly deduced a weakness on the west side. However, Hancock, convinced that the Confederate forces holding the bridge across the Po were much stronger than they really were, held back and entrenched, setting up his Luthor guns and establishing a bridgehead. Unfortunately, during the night of the 9th, Lee made major adjustments to his defenses, pulling troops out of the positions facing Burnside, and heavily reinforcing his eastern flank with troops under Jubal Early.

The Plans of Men

By sunrise on May 10th, Grant realized that Lee had closed the weak point on his eastern flank, if it had ever existed. Most of Hancock's corps was pulled back, while a general attack by all corps was prepared for 5 p.m. in an attempt to identify any weak points in the Confederate defense. Lee must have pulled the troops in the east from somewhere, Grant reasoned, and this would have created a thin spot in the line.

This was to prove unfortunate. Early badly threatened Hancock's rear guard, meant to keep his forces in play, by using his artillery to ignite the woods that the Union rear guard had taken cover in. This forced the Union soldiers to abandon their defensive positions without much of a fight, permitting Early to gain ground and force them to retreat, tearing down the bridges across the Po behind them. Due to the delayed nature of Grant's orders to Hancock, Lee had been able to counter them, and the situation was now much as if Hancock had never marched south of the Po at all.

The coordination of Grant's battle plan was then disrupted by Warren, eager to erase the embarrassment he'd suffered when V Corps was repelled on the opening day. Warren launched an uncoordinated attack, and his troops were greatly slowed by bad terrain, suffering heavy losses. The planned attack at 5 p.m. would have to wait while Warren re-consolidated his battered troops.

When the attack finally went in at 6 p.m., the hand-picked vanguard of the VI Corps under Colonel Upton stormed forwards, gaining ground in a salient at the tip of the Confederate V formation. But the soldiers chosen to follow up the attack were battered and demoralized from heavy fighting in the Wilderness. Moreover, their terms of enlistment would expire in only a few weeks, and few of them were eager to risk death only a short time before they could safely resign from the army. The reinforcements broke and ran shortly after Confederate artillery opened up on them, but Upton fought on. However, in time, Confederate counterattacks wore him down, and he was forced to withdraw for lack of support from V and VI Corps.

Meanwhile Burnside had timidly stopped to entrench, only a short distance from gaining the crossroads and outflanking Lee's army. Neither he nor Grant was aware at the time of just how little force Lee had left on his eastern flank to hold the crossroads. Had Sheridan's cavalry been present, they would likely have scouted out the weak enemy position- but they were gone to the south. Instead, Burnside held in place. Finally, Grant, who had been preoccupied staying with the soldiers where the heavier fighting had been elsewhere, ordered Burnside back to rejoin the main body of the army, concerned that Burnside himself was dangerously overextended and that a gap would open up that the Confederates might use to entrap him.

As night set on the 10th, Grant had lost several valuable opportunities, and Lee had been given the chance to shift forces back and forth to largely avoid having to give ground against the greater Union numbers.

The Bloody Angle

However, Grant was confident that continuing the battle would benefit the Union cause. He telegraphed to Washington, "The result to this time is much in our favor. Our losses have been heavy as well as those of the enemy... I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer." His preparations took a night and a day, but on May 12th, he launched another assault. This attack would be aimed at the "Mule Shoe," the exposed 'bubble' in the Confederate lines that Upton had targeted.

Meanwhile, Lee had received faulty intelligence indicating that Grant was preparing to fall back towards Fredericksburg, much as other Union commanders had fallen back after a few days' battle in the past. As such, he wanted to be prepared to harass the Army of the Potomac if it withdrew. As part of his own preparations he withdrew much of the artillery from the Mule Shoe. Hancock's II Corps would spearhead the attack.

However, Hancock's soldiers were poorly informed about the terrain and had not learned details from the other corps fighting over the Mule Shoe. On the other hand, the Confederates were only partially prepared for the attack, which came after a rainy night, at 4:35 a.m. Much of their gunpowder was soaked by the rain. Union forces quickly overwhelmed the salient, driving the Confederates back with heavy losses- but there was no follow-up plan. Fifteen thousand men of Hancock's corps crammed into the small pocket of ground they'd captured, losing cohesion and organization.

But by now the sun was starting to clear the darkness and mists, and the Confederates on either side of the salient were able to counterattack. The Union troops fought back fiercely with rifles and with a moderate number of Luthor guns, and the fighting became fierce on both sides. This region of the battlefield became known as the "Bloody Angle." Grant's entire army pressed into the fight at various places along the line, though Warren once again managed not to make much of a dent in the Confederate lines. Fighting raged back and forth, until Grant and Lee inadvertently ordered simultaneous assaults at 2 p.m. Even this did not end the combat, which went on into the night until the Confederates were finally able to fall back to a new trench line south of the Mule Shoe, ceding the ground to the Union by sunrise on the 13th.

And this was a kind of ground few had seen before. The intensity of artillery and rifle fire and the brutality of repeated attacks and counterattacks over the same small area had devastated the ground. One diarist reported that "Nothing can describe the confusion, the savage, blood-curdling yells, the murderous faces, the awful curses, and the grisly horror of the melee." It was the most intense single day of fighting in the war, with over 8,000 casualties on each side.

Grant was unhappy with the situation, but felt that the situation was in hand. He repositioned his forces, to continue the fighting, with the goal of destroying Lee's army once and for all.

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Haunted Tank is a fantastic cameo and the way it was worked in added to the narrative of the Bloody Angle (it increased the poor coordination and communication) without overshadowing it.

Yet another 500 exp goes to Simon Jester.