Pro Patria (Valkyria Chronicles)

[chriswriter90]

Vote Tally:

Last chance to change votes…

[11] Read the stupid letter later.
Notmi, Chriswriter90, khoa36, Faceless Goon, okais, Yun, permeakra, SirLagginton, Night_Stalker, FelSpite, Xkeizer,

[2] Dispose of it after she leaves without reading it.
Eurocop, llA-Acer,


[13] Have Surena talk to Vorbeck into accepting your order. What do you lose?
Eurocop, Notmi, Chriswriter90, llA-Acer, khoa36, Faceless Goon, okais, Yun, permeakra, SirLagginton, Night_Stalker, Felspite, Xkeizer,
- [3] Ask Surena to note in the talk, that this is an army and a sloppy or excessively independent officer may face fatal consequences, especially at war.
permeakra, okais, Chriswriter90,


[13] Tell a half-truth
Eurocop, Notmi, Chriswriter90, llA-Acer, khoa36, Faceless Goon, okais, Yun, permeakra, SirLagginton, Night_Stalker, Felspite, Xkeizer,
- [2] Though try to make it part of the truth, not a half-lie.
permeakra, Chriswriter90,

 

[Emdeman]

Oh right, I forgot to lock the votes. The updates almost done, should be out in 30 minutes or so.

 

[Emdeman]

[x] Half-truth
[X] Have Surena talk to Vorbeck into accepting your order. What do you lose?

You can't just baldly state your reasons straight to her face. Interesting as it might be you're more tactful than that. You also can't just lie to her either, she seems sharp enough to pick up something like that.

"No, nothing you've done until recently has offended me in any way", you reply with a straight face, technically correct was the best kind of correct. "I'm sorry I've given you that impression. I've done my best to hide it but you remind me of someone that hurt me greatly, I apologise that perception has bled over".

Surena's normally good-natured expression goes solemn as she contemplates your response. After a few moments of rapid thought she responds in her usual tone, "Well then, I'll just have to prove myself to be an able subordinate and overcome the bad introduction, won't I?"

You get the feeling she knows you're withholding information but doesn't want to press you. You curiously wonder how she would have reacted to your real reasons. You decide to change the subject.

"Good luck with Vorbeck, I'm trusting you to come through here," a tone of dismissal clear in your voice. You don't like depending on someone like this, making it become a common occurrence could damage your authority. Though at least this instance seems to have occurred behind closed doors.

Surena turns to leave but turns her head to make one last comment, "By the way I'm glad to know you're safe and unhurt from yesterday's incident with the Merovians". With that the major quickly hurries out without giving you a chance to reply.

Unhurt? you grumble to yourself, these bruises and sore muscles certainly make you uninjured. Perhaps she's mocking you, or perhaps she just has terrible phrasing.

[x] Read the stupid letter later

You leave that letter for last, reading the other three first. Giselle's and the old lady's letters are full of concern over your wellbeing, how you've been doing and the latest gossip, along with some suggestive innuendo in the formers letter. Mr Hartmann still seems to think you're an enlisted or junior officer. Thats right you didn't tell him about the sudden promotion. His letter is a plethora of mundane details and tips about the common soldiers life from his experiences in the first war. Its helpful in understanding the life of the common trooper.

Finally you turn to the last letter. You thought you had made your views on her clear in previous interactions and letters. Maybe a new governess is expecting her to write to her heroic brother fighting on the front.

The letter is full of dull details on the uneventful happenings in her life and attentive questions on your military life that nevertheless come across as insincere to you.

She dutifully reminds you that she is turning fifteen soon and quickly reassures you that there is no need to go to the trouble of getting a present for her since it would "impede you from doing your patriotic duty".

Ha, as if thats going to stop you. Still you're kind of impressed at the subtle barbs she managed to get in under the watchful eye of the governess. She's grown up so much, you've been a good step brother. She's probably hoping you die in the fighting, you'll do your best to disappoint her.

You should remember to send her a perfectly mundane present for her fifteenth birthday just to mess with her head. So that she'll spend half the time fretting over whether it has any unpleasant surprises and not enjoying her party.

Granted you focused your struggle more on her older sisters when you were younger but there was always a special spot reserved just for her. She symbolised the disloyalty and infidelity of your old man. It didn't matter that you two shared a parent, she would always be a step-sibling to you. She couldn't overcome the other half of her treacherous parentage.

Her uninteresting letter was probably an attempt to provoke an irate response or just be ignored so she didn't have to keep writing. Too bad for her that you understand her so well. The two of you shall have a perfectly normal correspondence.

You will send a completely ordinary reply with no hidden insults at all. It'll make her governess put pressure on her to do something she probably despises, write to you. It makes you grin.

You take out your fountain pen and begin composing a reply.

Dear Amethyst

Your concern is touching. I am doing well and am in perfectly good health. How is Mina, has she returned from her studies at the institute? Life here is quite interesting and engaging, did you know that a brigade requires 4 tons of...

Finishing your utterly unremarkable reply to your half step-sister you get up and decide what to do in the little time you have left before the offensive begins.

Pick Two
[] Go and train your artillery crews so they're not inept. (removes the penalty from artillery rolls)
[] Go and ask (read beg) the artillery corp for more ammunition (moderate difficulty roll) and some more trained crews (somewhat difficult roll)
[] Be seen out among the troops, get a personal feel of their measure. Drill them, train them more, push them to the limit (increased morale)
[] Go to the logistics corp and request more advanced equipment and supplies (low difficulty roll).
[] Get to know your majors more:
- [] Surena
- [] Raeder
- [] Giraud
- [] Nivelle
- [] Vorbeck
- [] Mueller

 

[notmi]

[X] Go and train your artillery crews so they're not inept. (removes the penalty from artillery rolls)
[X] Go to the logistics corp and request more advanced equipment and supplies (low difficulty roll).

Get rid of our penalty and actually use our contact in the supply group.

[X] Go and train your artillery crews so they're not inept. (removes the penalty from artillery rolls)
[X] Go to the logistics corp and request more advanced equipment and supplies (low difficulty roll).

 

[chriswriter90]

The first choice is obviously artillery.

Next, it's a contest between logistics and smoothing relations with the resident firebug.

 

[Emdeman]

[X] Go to the logistics corp and request more advanced equipment and supplies (low difficulty roll).

Get rid of our penalty and actually use our contact in the supply group.

Click to shrink...

You already used up the contact with Frenzel at this time period. This is just you going to the army's logistics branch and using your authority to get more advanced supplies. Not the common stuff Frenzel got before.

Also remember that you don't exactly have a plentiful amount of shells and rockets for the artillery. That vote synergies well the training one, at the cost of not being able to do anything else.

 

[chriswriter90]

*Poke*

Click to shrink...

I did some reading on Wikipedia and Brigades are usually lead by a Brigadier. Colonels like Rudolf don't command Brigades unless the Brigadier is incapacitated or killed like our predecessor.

The Empire will likely give Rudolf a promotion after the Merovia campaign or during the Caucasia campaign to make his position 'official' for lack of a better word. Or if we do poorly, they'll have us relived and place someone else in charge.

[X] Go and train your artillery crews so they're not inept. (removes the penalty from artillery rolls)
[X] Go and ask (read beg) the artillery corp for more ammunition (moderate difficulty roll) and some more trained crews (somewhat difficult roll)

 

[kelllogo]

[X] Be seen out among the troops, get a personal feel of their measure. Drill them, train them more, push them to the limit (increased morale)
[X] Go to the logistics corp and request more advanced equipment and supplies (low difficulty roll).
Lets see if we can get some wireless for our cavalry and let our troops know we ain't dead.

 

[chriswriter90]

Lets see if we can get some wireless for our cavalry and let our troops know we ain't dead.

Click to shrink...

We don't have horse cavalry; That's Akhlin Azhgle's Brigade.

You're curious about the other colonels but you're a busy man these days. So you detail an assistant to find out details about the colonels you know.

Akhlin Azhgle's brigade
3rd Avar Rangers
7th Avar Rangers
8th Avar Rangers
12th Avar Rangers
23rd Andalusian (horse) cavalry
44th Saruhan (horse) cavalry

Wow… a very unconventional brigade, you don't think you've seen any like it before. A pure light infantry brigade with old fashioned horse cavalry as well! Like something out of the last century. Why would the general assign her the honour of leading the invasion? Hmm thinking back on that modern historical warfare elective you did on impulse perhaps some of the horses could tow light artillery like antiquated 'flying artillery' of old. Most of those cavalrymen should be dragoons. On further thought you think that the main purpose is to act as a fast moving reconnaissance force whose primary function is intel gathering and not picking fights with enemy strongpoints. Like a sea of water, going around tough foes and out manoeuvring them while soaking up intelligence like a maid's sponge.

Click to shrink...

This is our Brigade:

[] Learn more about your brigade's order of battle, who commands what, what states they were levied from etc.

You decide to avoid meeting your underlings for now and decide examining the brigade paperwork instead is a good idea. Everything seems orderly under the last colonel until the record-keeping becomes patchy recently under the temporary command of a Major Nivelle. You think he may have had difficulty running the brigade due to being first among equals or it could be something else.

Looking at the order of battle reveals where each battalion was levied from and who commands them. From an outsiders perspective these troops would look identical in their battle dress and standard equipment but a smarter person can learn quite a lot from the nuances and quirks.

Order of battle

Battalion Type	Battalion Name	Battalion CO
Light Infantry	Auvergne's 33rd​ Chasseur battalion Luneberg's 17th​ Jaeger battalion	Francis Giraud (29) Maurice Nivelle (44)
Heavy Infantry	Niederbayern's 11th​ Grenadier Battalion Limousin's 24th​ Fusilier Battalion Anhalt's 82nd​ Line battalion​	Frieda Vorbeck (35) Alexis Surena (24) Aloysius Raeder (36)​
Armour	Neumark's 7th​ Cuirassier Battalion	Lars Mueller (31)

Some interesting thing you note:
- The ethnic mix of the enlisted seems to be mostly Franks and Goths, with a smattering of Avars and Gepids.
- Most of the battalions were raised relatively recently, less than a year ago. Most of the enlisted will be a bit green with small groups of veteran survivors folded in from disbanded battalions.
- The commanding officers are all older than you by at least several years if not decades, with the exception of Major Surena who is only two years older than you.
- Surena and Vorbeck are women, the other four are men, though in your opinion two of them may still be boys.
- Nivelle fought in the last war, the entire duration of the war as an enlisted. Vorbeck and Raeder also fought, but only in the last year of the war.
- Nivelle has been recently called up from the reserves less than a year ago
- Mueller and Vorbeck has some relatively recent experience pacifying primitives in the east.
- Giraud has been stationed on the western border for the past few years, that region has always been tense with minor skirmishes even before full-blown war broke out.
- Raeder has been previously stationed on the northern border, you don't have much experience about that region. Though judging from simply looking at the map and seeing the tiny federation holdings up there it should have been a cushy posting for any officer.
- Surena doesn't seem to have much history as an officer. You suspect she's inexperienced and got the rank through connections, though you personally can't really say much on that front either. Oddly enough her battalion runs smoothly enough so she probably has good administrative skills or natural talent like yourself.
- You are now responsible for the lives of 4872 soldiers.

Click to shrink...

Details

Chosen Brigade: Heavy Foot
Order of Battle: 2 light battalions, 3 heavy battalions, 1 armoured battalion

Light battalions: Generally filled with recon elements that focus on intelligence gathering and marksmanship. Brigades that focus on these battalions are fast moving, gather intel on enemy positions easily and most importantly take less resources to supply. However they possess less anti-tank capability than other battalions and little in the way of armored assets. Quite good for wooded terrain and decent on urban terrain.

Most common unit types: Scout, Sniper
Less common unit types: Shock Trooper, Light Tank
Very Rare unit types: Lancer, Engineer, Medium Tank

---

Heavy battalions: Commonly filled assault troops and anti-tank personnel. Specialise in storming fortified positions and can fight enemy tanks adequately. Has an assortment of light to medium tanks. Though relatively quick moving, these troops are more suitable for actual fighting than recon. Brigades focusing on these battalions require more resources than a light troop but less than a tank battalion. Quite good for urban fighting.

Most common unit types: Shock Trooper, Lancer, Light tank
Less common unit types: Scout, Medium Tank
Very Rare unit types: Sniper, Heavy tank, Engineer

---

Armored battalions: Spearheads of many offensives in current doctrine, they contain heavy firepower. Focus primarily on armour, carry all types of tanks. Requires flat ground for maximum effectiveness, reduced capability on broken ground (hilly & mountainous terrain). Cavalry brigades require heavy resources to maintain and operate less effectively when undersupplied. The numerous heavier tanks slow the speed of the battalion down. Intelligence gathering capabilities are minimal, the enemy will hear you before you see them. However, it's still a tank army, just roll over your enemies.

Most common unit types: Light Tank, Medium Tank,
Less common unit types: Scout, Shock Trooper, Engineer, Heavy tank
Very Rare unit types: Lancer, Sniper

Click to shrink...

 

[SirLagginton]

[X] Go and train your artillery crews so they're not inept. (removes the penalty from artillery rolls)
[X] Go and ask (read beg) the artillery corp for more ammunition (moderate difficulty roll) and some more trained crews (somewhat difficult roll)

Remember, to train with artillery we need to spend shells to do so.

 

[chriswriter90]

[] Go and train your artillery crews so they're not inept. (removes the penalty from artillery rolls)
[] Go to the logistics corp and request more advanced equipment and supplies (low difficulty roll).

Remember, to train with artillery we need to spend shells to do so.

Click to shrink...

Asking for Artillery ammo is:
[] Go and ask (read beg) the artillery corp for more ammunition (moderate difficulty roll) and some more trained crews (somewhat difficult roll)

You're voting for asking for tanks or something. Whatever 'advanced equipment' is.

 

[SirLagginton]

Asking for Artillery ammo is:
[] Go and ask (read beg) the artillery corp for more ammunition (moderate difficulty roll) and some more trained crews (somewhat difficult roll)

You're voting for asking for tanks or something. Whatever 'advanced equipment' is.

Click to shrink...

Whoops, skimmed over that, fixed.

 

[kelllogo]

We don't have horse cavalry; That's Akhlin Azhgle's Brigade.

Click to shrink...

The bit about horses stuck with me.
I still want to ask for radios though - being on the offensive makes them very valuable for reducing defender's advantage. (we aren't going to get radios are we?) And who knows what else we might be able to bully logistics into giving us.

 

[chriswriter90]

I still want to ask for radios though - being on the offensive makes them very valuable for reducing defender's advantage. (we aren't going to get radios are we?) And who knows what else we might be able to bully logistics into giving us.

Click to shrink...

The only (military) radio in the entire army group belongs to the General Hall. We'd have to contact the capital if we want more radios.

 

[okais]

[X] Go and train your artillery crews so they're not inept. (removes the penalty from artillery rolls)
[X] Get to know your majors more:
[X] Vorbeck

 

[Emdeman]

I did some reading on Wikipedia and Brigades are usually lead by a Brigadier. Colonels like Rudolf don't command Brigades unless the Brigadier is incapacitated or killed like our predecessor.

The Empire will likely give Rudolf a promotion after the Merovia campaign or during the Caucasia campaign to make his position 'official' for lack of a better word. Or if we do poorly, they'll have us relived and place someone else in charge.

Click to shrink...

I checked Wikipedia during my research as well. I'm using the American terminology, where colonels command brigades. It only occurred to me after I started the quest that its natural to assume a brigadier would command a brigade.

So in this quest the structure of an imperial army goes; general (army), colonel (brigade), major (battalion), captain (company), lieutenant (platoon), then 2nd lieutanant (squad).

Needless to the say the Federation has different ranks though somewhat similar formations.

 

[permeakra]

Question: What about field medics? Sure, wounded may be out of comission for several years or even permanently, but having good medical division is good for morale, and generally it is a right thing to do. So I think we should care about it.

 

[Faceless Goon]

[X] Go and train your artillery crews so they're not inept. (removes the penalty from artillery rolls)
[X] Go and ask (read beg) the artillery corp for more ammunition (moderate difficulty roll) and some more trained crews (somewhat difficult roll)

 

[FelSpite]

[X] Go and train your artillery crews so they're not inept. (removes the penalty from artillery rolls)
[X] Go and ask (read beg) the artillery corp for more ammunition (moderate difficulty roll) and some more trained crews (somewhat difficult roll)

 

[Eurocorp]

[X] Go and train your artillery crews so they're not inept. (removes the penalty from artillery rolls)
[X] Go to the logistics corp and request more advanced equipment and supplies (low difficulty roll).

Perhaps we might even get a few radios.

 

[Emdeman]

Current vote count

Train artillery: 7
Go to artillery corp: 4
Go to logistics: 3
See the troops: 1
See Vorbeck: 1

Anyone care to speculate on the dynamics of Rudolf's personal life? In case anyone hasn't noticed, Rudolf isn't very rational towards anything concerning his stepmother. Unfortunately some factors continue to fuel this, the clues are all still there though. No ones seemed to have found them, or at least commented on them.

You're voting for asking for tanks or something. Whatever 'advanced equipment' is.

Click to shrink...

To elaborate on the logistics vote, Frenzel only got you some common items. Like food, ammo, medicine, some fuel. She was just giving you some stuff on the side (it was also a partial success) so you missed out on stuff. This vote is going to the people in charge of supplying the troops and going saying "Look I'm a Colonel, one of a handful of the highest ranking officers here, just give me whatever good stuff you have".

The "advanced equipment" I was talking about earlier was stuff like spare parts for the tanks, lots of fuel, special ammo & weapons, maybe some supply trucks assigned to you etc. On a sidenote the reason why I had a lot of the supply convoys be old fashioned wagons and porters was because I was inspired by some WW2 examples. The heavily mechanised German army still relied heavily on wheeled carts drawn by animals for a lot of their supplies, especially in the east, And thats not mentioning the Soviets even with lend lease trucks. The British empire used native porters whenever they could in Asia.

And no you're not going to get radios anytime soon. Part of this is also a gameplay decision. The lack of radios mean the colonels have a lot more autonomy since they or a major are usually the highest ranked officer around. I was inspired by stories of the French army in early-WW2 where they relied almost totally on horse-bound messengers for relaying orders or communication. Though you will get radios eventually.

Question: What about field medics? Sure, wounded may be out of comission for several years or even permanently, but having good medical division is good for morale, and generally it is a right thing to do. So I think we should care about it.

Click to shrink...

That stuff is handled by support elements attached to the battalions. You don't need to manage them apart from making sure they get medical supplies. Doylist reason is that I don't want to micromanage that so I'll just say its happening offscreen by people your subordinates command.

I'm taking a harder approach to losses in this quest than in the games. No ragnaid miraculously fixing any and every injury like a health pack. You will lose quite a few troops.

The casualty system which is going to be introduced soon will go a bit like this. I roll a die, the result will be the number of dead and wounded you take during the course of that update (or the last 2-3 updates) so hope you roll low! The more dangerous the situation, the higher sided dice I use. Remember the 4.6k number I mentioned back in the brigade overview update? That will be your starting number of troops.

Every few updates you will get reinforcements to replace some losses, they will either be fresh platoons from the general headquarters or some of your wounded recovering sufficiently enough to return to combat duties.

The following paragraph is pretty insignificant so feel free to ignore it if you don't want nitty gritty details.

The latter will be determined by taking the earlier casualty die roll and rerolling a new die with the same number of sides as the result of the casualty roll. If the result is lower than a designated threshold (say 40-50% of the original casualty roll) then you get those soldiers back. If its higher than the result will be multiplied by a decimal number (e.g. 0.6) until it gets below. Expect the total numbers here to be pretty marginal. This is meant to simulate how the wounded often outnumber the dead. The troops you lose permanently are the deceased and the too seriously wounded to return to duty.

The casualty system is preliminary and subject to change. Though since you're going into active combat don't expect reinforcements to be more than casualties, expect a net deficit in troops.

 

[permeakra]

Nice, thx

[x] Tain artillery
[x] Go to logistics

 

[chriswriter90]

To elaborate on the logistics vote, Frenzel only got you some common items. Like food, ammo, medicine, some fuel. She was just giving you some stuff on the side (it was also a partial success) so you missed out on stuff. This vote is going to the people in charge of supplying the troops and going saying "Look I'm a Colonel, one of a handful of the highest ranking officers here, just give me whatever good stuff you have".

The "advanced equipment" I was talking about earlier was stuff like spare parts for the tanks, lots of fuel, special ammo & weapons, maybe some supply trucks assigned to you etc. On a sidenote the reason why I had a lot of the supply convoys be old fashioned wagons and porters was because I was inspired by some WW2 examples. The heavily mechanised German army still relied heavily on wheeled carts drawn by animals for a lot of their supplies, especially in the east, And thats not mentioning the Soviets even with lend lease trucks. The British empire used native porters whenever they could in Asia.

Click to shrink...

So, both this and the other option gets us artillery ammo? What's the point of talking to the artillery corps then?

 

[Night_stalker]

[X] Go and train your artillery crews so they're not inept. (removes the penalty from artillery rolls)
[X] Go to the logistics corp and request more advanced equipment and supplies (low difficulty roll).

 

[Yun]

[X] Go and train your artillery crews so they're not inept. (removes the penalty from artillery rolls)
[X] Go to the logistics corp and request more advanced equipment and supplies (low difficulty roll).