A semi-Planquest in which you are but one person, slamming their head into nine thousand, nine hundred, nine and ninety players in order to get out of a death game. Most of the time, they'd need a Chosen Hero, but this time, there's something far more terrifying than a dragon to fight: Logistics.
LU QRF rolled 7, -1 for under-organized, total 6. QRF sucedes.
Logistics Stage
LU Logi Regiment 1 rolled 5, -1 for under-organized, total 4. Logi 1 fails, 1x stack of Out of Supply incurred.
LU Logi Regiment 2 rolled 4, -1 for under-organized , total 3. Logi 2 fails, 2x stack of Out of Supply incurred.
Total: two stacks of Out of Supply, -2 to all Combat Arms rolls.
Combat Arms Stage
LU Inf. Regiment 1 rolled 10, -1 for under-organized, -2 for Out of Supply, total 7. Success of +1
LU Inf. Regiment 2 rolled 8, -1 for under-organized, -2 for Out of Supply, total 5. Failure of -1
LU Inf. Regiment 3 rolled 5, -1 for under-organized, -2 for Out of Supply, total 2. Failure of -4
LU Inf. Regiment 4 rolled 3, -1 for under-organized, -2 for Out of Supply,, total 0. Failure of -6
LU Inf. Regiment 5 rolled 5, -1 for under-organized, -2 for Out of Supply, total 2. Failure of -4
Operation Conclusion
1/5 regiments achieve goals. Remaining four regiments disposition as follows: 1 regiment supporting successfully, two regimental collapses, one regimental annihilation.
End Result
There is now a narrow Warden salient into The Nevish Line at Unruly, holding the Relic Base against steady enemy pressure.
Alright, I said I'd do it before your operation, so now's as good a time as any.
WAR BUREAU OPENING ACTIONS IN MORGEN'S CROSSING.
Buffs/nerfs
+1 Good Planning
-1 for Marines units involved in naval invasion
Calculations
QRF
QRF fails, barely. -1 to supply corps.
Supply
Freighters make it through, all other logi is supplied for operations. Remember, freighter logi can sustain 5 regiments plus self, not 3 including self.
1/2 last leg water logi makes it through, so Marines take a -1 to their op. Normally this would only take 1x dedicated water supply unit, but I allocated 2x so they could build a BB and operate without penalties later. Pains of not having White Whales, right here.
All other logi passes.
Combat Arms
11 Infantry shits the bed, surrender your onions and cheese at the depot please.
1 Infantry does an amazing job, drinks are on Hooker, bravo. +1 rollover to next unit.
45 Infantry also does an amazing job, magic is happening here, +2 rollover to next unit.
13 Naval Infantry does a bit of a meh-bad job. Good Planning and Naval Invasion cancel each other out, success rollover brings them up to 5/6 needed. They aren't achieving mission objectives, but they're not getting their shit rolled.
27 Naval Infantry does much better, setting up their bunker base and manning the defensive lines. The Naval Invasion doesn't bounce.
Conclusions
11 Infantry: Cannot prosecute push, is paralyzed in the Rapid Decay Zone.
1 Infantry: Pierces defenses, advances into strong forward positions, engages in defensive building.
45 Infantry: Pierces defenses, overtakes bonus objective, moves up and fortifies key terrain.
13 Naval Infantry: Fails objectives without severe losses
27 Naval Infantry: Completes main objective, secures and fortifies key terrain while withstanding enemy attempts to interrupt with forces.
Summary
Big, massive gains in the north, Fort Echo and Fort India decimated, Eversus taken, North Resupply Route entirely cut. 1 Inf is now pressuring Fort Yankee, fort Alpha is still holding out very strong. At Inchon, there is sufficient infrastructure to hold the line, but the salient is looking damn ugly: 13 Marine could not suppress Fort Oscar, and 27 Marine is keeping Fort Golf from sending reinforcements
Buffs/Nerfs
+2 Good Planning
+1 Light Artillery for 64 & 62 Infantry
+1 Prototype Supplies for 163 Uhlans
-1 Poor Officers
QRF
163 Uhlans: 4, +2 for planning, +1 for protos, -1 for officers. Passes.
Supply
9 Sustainment: 4, +2 from planning, -1 from officers. Sum 5, fails. -1 Out Of Supply, -2 to supported regiment.
87 Teamsters: 6, +2 from planning, -1 from officers. Sum 7, passes.
13 Sustainment: 8, +2 from planning, -1 from officers. Sum 9, passes.
One stack of Out of Supply generated. One stack of Ammo Shortage generated.
Combat Arms
15 Flying Artillery: 7, +2 from planning, +1 from Light Artillery, -1 from officers, -2 from Ammo Shortage. Sum 6, passes. Grants Light Artillery to the next two regiments.
64 Infantry: 9, +2 planning, +1 light arty, -1 officers, -1 OoS. Sum 10, passes, +1 critical rollover
62 Infantry: 3, +2 planning, +1 light arty, +1 rollover, -1 officers, -1 OoS. Sum 5, failure.
99 Jaegers: 4, +2 planning, -1 officers, -1 OoS. Sum 4, failure
Conclusions
15 Flying Artillery: Provides continual fire support as shells are avaliable, but ammunition shortages prevent continual fires past high value targets. Infantry is forced into engaging garrison houses w/ saps and parallels.
64 Infantry: Neutralizes Fort Zulu under heavy artillery fire, before engaging in engineering duties.
62 Infantry: Pushes up, but cannot engage in saps of sufficient density to enter city in meaningful numbers. Unit spreads out to prevent infiltration and to secure enemy combat lines.
99 Jaegers: Pushes up, but cannot enter Allsight in sufficient density. Unit is paralyzed outside of town.
Summary
Fort Zulu nullified, Colonial lines broken. Infantry units are advancing piecemeal into Allsight, but cannot yet bring sufficient firepower to neutralize Garrison Houses. Progress is slow, resistance is fierce.
(QM note: It's not victory, it's not defeat. Actions taken in tactical turns will determine success or failure)
15 Flying Artillery: Flawless demonstration of cavalry artillery: units fire quickly, rotating back to the supply dump to exchange for loaded weapons systems to continue persecuting fixed defenses. Non-concrete fieldworks broken, concrete fieldworks damaged and becoming cut off.
64 Chasseures a Char: With supporting structures on the flanks broken, the 64e does not "go nuts" so much as wrap up large amounts of the fortification, taking advantage of fragile pattern construction and a lack of internal redabouts and blind spots. Armor runs rampant, while attached infantry secure lines of retreat to allow refuel, resupply, and most importantly, re-entry. This allows the 64e to completely leapfrog the advance past the Border Decay Zone.
62 Infantry: Moving through the rubble of the initial defensive lines, the 62 Infantry are less responsable for conducting assault actions as they are for catching and defending against the multitude of Colonial counter-advances. With their advanced positions, the artillery and headquarters units can start clearing Rapid Decay, and begin bombarding The Weathering Halls directly.
1/11 Infantry: With the majority of the fortifications handled, it falls to the 11e to directly assault into the defenses at Weathering Halls. This goes fairly well for an urban assault, and doctrinally-provided for busses and regular decay allows them to cleanly operate despite massive casualties as expected from an urban engagement. Supporting artillery fires and armored efforts to prohibit resupply and to destroy mortar houses and garrison houses ensure the assault goes well, with both Safe House and Town Hall being cracked fairly easily.
Summary
Forts Albert, Emile, Izod, destroyed in total. Weathering Halls captured. Forts Oscar and Ulysses under fire. Shattered Advance under fire. Fort Yves under fire. Defensive line drawn and begining to be be fortified at Weathering Halls Tile Border. Transportation is normal, and semi-permanent bunker bases are going down. 42e Sustainment requests more busses and a hospital section to reduce traffic to and from the border base, which will expire soon.
So! Since this seems to be the first time for most readers going into one of my quests, congrats! Welcome to the freedom to fall flat on your face. There are going to be bad vote options. There are even going to be, le gasp, trap vote options- although most of those are going to be more in terms of "we just pissed that chunk of action economy away" than "we bad-ended the quest", because I'm not that heartless. Sometimes, though, you'll need to call back to previous updates, and remember pieces key information that have been handed out previously. Now, I know this is difficult over a 100k+ word quest, but most of the time if you need something to cross-reference, it'll be in Informational, or in the last few chapters of the update.
Edit: I recommend people join the discord server(s) 7734/Tabac has one and there is also a more active channel on PoptartProdigy's occasionally there are 'spoilers' such as 'you fucked up' and 'this is no new plan but worse'.
And I recommend the people on the Discord server actually use their brains and do some community outreach into the thread. There are no Discord-specific items I'm not willing to also post in thread: but the fact is, people talk there more than here, so that's where the information comes out at. I do respond to questions in a fairly straightforward manner, and frankly most of the spoilers are things like "so this is what that roll meant" and "yeah Zairman's not going to be able to hack it as a brigade level officer"; the sorts of things players can probably puzzle out on their own.
I'm pissed as hell at thread and taking a break from it, might quit entirely when stupid recklessness that I nearly participated in fucked this much up.
Considering you're actually active in thread and mostly have your head screwed on straight, that'd be a net loss for everyone else. Remember: nearly only counts in horseshoes and Bomastones. You didn't get on the bad idea train, and that's important.
The post-Foxhole arc is still quite a good bit off: I've got things roughly outlined to end at Chapter 8 at earliest (if you achieve Secret Victory Condition), to Chapter 15 at latest (you get a traditional 32 VP win) with the potential of ending at a number of points between the two. As I've said before: this is primarily an SAO quest that just borrows some Metal Gear elements to make up of the age of the franchise.
I don't really vote in quests or follow posts other then threadmarks but I thought sticking to the plan was the best plan or at least trying to call hooker to abandon the plan was the second best idea... I am surprised the near suicide option got picked. I mean the last update made it pretty clear how stretched everyone else was.
Listen, simple rule here guys. Quests work on votes. If you don't vote, as far as I'm concerned, you don't get to say shit. This vote went for the bad idea by a total of two votes; if it had been a tie I'd have extended for another 24hr. I'm not giving Rockhound shit, he voted. I'm not giving Dreamer shit, they voted. Might have fallen for the bait, but you know what? They at least put their money where their mouth was. Y'all didn't vote then, y'all ain't voting now. Either fix that, provide an actual commentary with analysis, or shut up. This isn't a bad end, this isn't a doom spiral, this is you making a wee little fuckup because fundamentally the player character is a sixteen year old girl in over her head. Unlike some writers, I do not take this to mean she instantly gets to be hypercompetent. Orr can and will make mistakes, separate of the thread's decision to make her pratfall. If you don't like that, well, tough luck: door's over there if you want to go.