Slow But Fine (A Historia Quest)

[DaLintyGuy]

Such was the length of the previous era of peace and plenty that only the best scholars feel confident in trying to describe not only when it began but also what came before. Great and mighty are the works Humanity has wrought on a universe of uncaring matter and great and terrible was the fall thereof. Was it the hubris of Mankind or some merely physical event? Either way, the heart of modern civilization has been ripped out and the unlimited energy that allowed for interstellar travel and a post-scarcity society has disappeared.

You will take control of the chosen guardian of one of the pockets of survivors that have been blessed with a power source capable of powering a fabrication bay. But with only the barest idea of how to fight back against an increasingly hostile world a military has been synthesized from the records of nations, states, and fantasies of ages past. Balance energy and manpower allocations and ensure your people are protected from the threats that Humanity has tried to forget existed while you look for answers about the disaster that befell your homeland.

 

[DaLintyGuy]

Looking across the increasingly frigid plains toward the artificial mountain beyond brings forth a renewed sense of respect for the engineers and artisans who crafted the Central Artani Arcology. Perhaps, if you were feeling generous, even the ones who had set the project in motion back when Humanity was still new to this celestial body. For any other failings they may have possessed as individuals they had not suffered from a lack of vision.

Of course, the arcology had been a more impressive spectacle back when the dimensional taps still worked. Unlimited power had been put to use all along the sturdy flanks of the megacity in displays of advertisement and culture. With the wellspring gone dry it was left as dead stone once more.

Footsteps sounded behind you. The plush carpets that would have muffled the noise had been stripped out to make bedding once it became clear that the power service interruption was something more serious than a damaged conduit and so you could hear them coming from a good distance away.

"I can still picture that stupid drawing that school stubbornly refused to change for as long as I can remember." The assistant sent to fetch you says wistfully. Like you, they were remembering better times. Perhaps in expectation of another great change in your routine.

"The whale done in red and green crayon?" You ask softly, before taking a fortifying breath and turning for the door.

"Yeah." A hand on the shoulder arrests your motion to let the assistant give you a conflicted look. "Are you sure you want to go through with this? From what we can hear from other holdouts-"

"They can't guarantee I will be the same person afterward." You state the truth evenly. "And yet without it how will we survive the winter? There are already Entech thugs looking to take our ability to grow food."

"Entech." The assistant spits (in a fine display for someone who would be making use of the provided methodology to imprint a synthetic engram in your head) but allows you to continue your abortive journey to the impromptu medical lab in the guts of the repurposed resort you call home.

By all expectations you should be sickened by anything that promised to make you a better killer. Despite your firm statement, you still were. Simple things like "need" did not simply wash away a lifetime of experience of violence being the inferior path. But you knew people had done worse for their homes. Were, even, as synthetic armies distilled from the regrettable fantasies of the past were formed, marshaled, and even used. Staying as you were would just get your precious generator "requisitioned" and the mix of vacationers and refugees you called home discarded. At worst, outright killed by a bad Entech install for some fictional reason taken literally.

So you would do as you must to preserve your people. Even if it meant smiling as you went under the knife to get a killer's disposition inserted into your head.


=====

FACTION SELECT
War has become a nearly lost art to Humanity. Where it is practiced it is kept well out of sight, and performed by a very few who have something to gain from it. Rather than spending the lives, time, and resources to relearn old lessons the means to create new armies has been provided by some mysterious source: take the forms and organizations of past militaries and adopt them for your own use by implanting the knowledge and will to use it into a volunteer. However, it will be some time before you can second guess your implanted engram in order to modify designs. Worse, you start with minimal knowledge in the field of making war and so regardless of what your chosen universe has you are limited by the engineering knowledge of how to make the weapons that are ultimately placed in the hands or other appendages of your manufactured and/or vat grown units.


[ ] Terrans (Starcraft)
[ ] United Nations Space Command (Halo)
[ ] Imperial Guard (WH40k)
[ ] Tytanids (WH40k)
[ ] BattleTech
[ ] Galactic Empire (Star Wars)
[ ] Weird War (Alt-Hist/Dieselpunk WW2)

[ ] Write In
-Can be from almost anything, but as we are focusing on low level ground combat it would behoove you to pick something with an actual and somewhat to very fleshed out army. So no TEC (SoaSE) for example. Similarly, you do not start with access to the technologies that can recreate the look of outright magic.

 

[DaLintyGuy]

Locations:
Gehenna Nature Preserve Refugee and Community Center
-Backup Fusion Core [20 Power per Strategic Turn]
-Capacitor Stack [Stores 6 Power]
-Small Fabrication Bay




Contacts and Relations:
"Motorists" (Brigands)
-Template: Command and Conquer
-Known locations: Near-ish Gehenna
-Known units: 1x Technicals (recruits), 1x Nod Buggies, 1x MCV-alike (mobile workshop?)

Alien Commander (Unknown)
-Template: Starcraft Zerg
-Known locations: Wellspring Growing Plots

Wellspring Cooperative (Uneasy Peace)
-Template: Leviathan series French Republic
-Locations: Wellspring Region
-Known Units: 1x Biter (chimeric wolves), 1x Infantry (Great War infantry)

Polar Battery Exterior Security Force (Hypervigilant Security)
-Template: Battletech
-Locations: South Polar Approach Battery
-Known Units: 1x Mechanized Infantry (recruits)

 

[DaLintyGuy]

Gehenna Defense Force

1st Infantry Company (217/220)
-CO: Miyasu Musashi
-Conscript Infantry (decreased quality, doubled quantity)(197/200)
-Field Hospital (allows for casualty trickleback in the field)(20/20)
-Shaken Trained

2nd Infantry Company (102/126)
-CO: Hiyomata Ankira
-Mechanized Infantry (83/100)
-Antitank Platoon (6x 37mm, 2x 50mm, 19/26)
-Confident Green

3rd Infantry Company (100/100)
-CO:
-Motorized Sapper Infantry (demolitions trained and prepared for rapid fortification) (100/100)
-Confident Green

4th Infantry Company (100/100)
-CO:
-Line Infantry (100/100)
-Confident Green

1st Cavalry Company (100/100)
-CO: Catherine Quinzel
-Cavalry (100/100)
-Communications Specialty (increased coherence)
-Confident Green

2nd Cavalry Company (100/100)
-CO:
-Cavalry (100/100)
-CQB Specialty (melee and short ranged weapons are common rather than the exception)
-Confident Green

1st Armored Company (12/12 Medium Armor, 80/80)
-CO: Masaharu Okamura
-Medium Armor (12/12 Medium Armor, 48/48)
-Support Personnel (32/32)
-Confident Green

Kami Squadron
-Great War Scout Biplanes (11/12)
-Support personnel
-Confident Green


Home Guard

Roughly division strength militia formation

 

[DaLintyGuy]

North/Close: Artani Central Arcology
Not just heavily urbanized but often one contiguous building only occasionally broken up by internal parks and heavy transit lines.
Points of Interest Unknown

West/Close: Wellspring Agricultural Exploitation Region
Built in the canyon and on the banks of what was once and now is beginning to once more be a major river. Total exploitation of the river is beginning to revert due to damage.
-Bulk Growing Plots: Fields and greenhouses in the Wellspring basin. Known Alien Commander presence. (Secure food source)
Further Points of Interest Unknown

East/Close: Coastal Forest, East Artani Arcology
Gengineered trees of a dozen stripes grow here. Some are dying out due to the climate shifts from the orbital mirror/parasol pairs falling out of alignment but some are adapting with engineered speed. Before the Collapse there was a major shipping port in the region.
Points of Interest Unknown

South/Close: Rural Paradise
On the near side of a number of archipelagos, island chains, and large atolls from the early terraforming lies rolling hills, coastal lowlands, and a growing arid region.
-Before the Collapse this was the location of the Polar Approach Control complex. Possessing a number of mass drivers the battery was most often used for light spacelift rather than ensuring tolls were paid. The installation is still under the control of the original complement who are attempting to treat everything as if nothing was wrong and thus claim the region as under their protection. [BattleTech Entech Commander present]
-The Wreck of the Altherschiffen: A behemoth cargo voidcruiser that fell out of the sky onto the coast. (Energy, high tech parts)
Further Points of Interest Unknown

 

[DaLintyGuy]

It is the Great War, the World War, the War to End All Wars, the War of Worlds. It is all of these and more, stretched out throughout time in reimaginings and new angles. With every iteration comes new war machines and ways of dealing ever more terrible deaths. From rapid fire ballistics and poisons on the surface of France to high energy collimated gamma ray beams over Jove the battles between Allies, Axis, Tripartite, and Entente have raged in every corner of existence and in more than a few fantastic realms.

"We need to stick with what we need."

Tracked vehicles and walkers advanced alongside infantry. Sometimes before, sometimes behind, for reasons that are deceptively simple once known. Constructs ranging in scale from mobile mountains down to single man conveyances in the air, on the ground, or within the sea trade shells above the heads of unarmored conscripts and powered armored elites on a dozen killing fields. The smell of diesel exhaust mixes with the tang of hot metal and blood and reveals the true costs of industrial warfare.

"Alright, that's probably good. Even without it being fully translated it's making me concerned for the well being of our volunteer..."

=====

The biggest concession made to comfort over sustainability in the main resort complex was in the medical bay. Before the Collapse it had been accepted that some of the activities available in the Preserve could be dangerous and so this one part of the resort had been fitted with growth vats for rapid repair of injured visitors and thus required a space for recovery. These original beds, with aerogel foam and minor antigrav emitters, had been carefully nursed along rather than torn apart for parts to maintain other, more important systems. After all, convalescence was a serious matter and no one would claim that the injured needed the resources less than they did.

This had only gotten more prevalent as animal attacks and even gunshot wounds had become more common. And as you were only recovering, rather than needing tending to ensure tissue acceptance, you awoke in a side room set aside for your privacy.

You soon came to the conclusion after awaking that having two clashing sets of experiences was very disorienting. It wasn't quite to the level of cognitive dissonance, thankfully, but having two opinions grapple with each other every time there was a stimulus. Hearing voices that were familiar and speaking in a strange manner, for example. Or marveling over the medical bed you had been laid in despite having done so before. Things like that.

Eventually you marshaled some semblance of order in your thoughts and decided that you had been laying about long enough. There was work to be done and you hadn't gone through the academy without learning the benefit of doing things now and getting up early. After a slightly embarrassing length of time spent hunting for the controls you deflated the bed and swung your legs off of the rapidly firming surface. You were feeling reasonably good, as you should be given there was no structural stress involved in the procedure you had volunteered for, which also managed to make being in the medical bay an alien experience.

A notepad had been left on the adjoining table and you flipped through the tabs on it with a faint sense of approval for how easy the ubiquitous and well understood piece of technology was to use. It's contents consisted of a pair of personnel files with instructions to fill them out, one for you to check for any unforeseen effects and one for an "alter ego" to better ease the integration of the engram, and an itinerary for the rest of your morning. Meetings with your engineering head (the individual who was in charge of running the fabrication bays and growth vats, as well as integrating recovered technology into your databanks), your command staff (a number of artificial soldiers produced for the task of relaying orders, sorting information, and so on), the department heads (the civilian leadership of the Gehenna Preserve), and a descending number of minutiae focused around building morale and otherwise establishing your position as the head of the hierarchy.

That thought makes you pause as it is recognizably from the experiences you had downloaded. Taking action to centralize power for yourself? Why would you do that rather than come to a tasteful compromise that gets everyone what they..? Right. Some times, you would have to make far reaching choices without the time to talk with all involved. Like each of your soldiers. Or demanding more energy from the civilian council to create a reserve or blocking force before something spawned in the blackest pit crawled into the camps under your jurisdiction.

...You turn your attention away from that mess and back to filling out the provided forms.

=====

This vote will be done by section (that is to say, a Personal vote and a Nation vote) rather than by plan. As for why this is such a small vote, items in the nation generation process will be decided on as they become relevant.

[ ] Personal (deciding who you are)
-[ ] Name (write in)
-[ ] "Are you a boy or girl?"


[ ] National (mostly for flavor/appearances)
-[ ] Imperial Russia
-[ ] United States
-[ ] Japan
-[ ] France
-[ ] English Empire/Commonwealth
-[ ] Ottoman Empire
-[ ] Soviet Russia



Voting will be open for at least twenty hours. No discussion period needed.

 

[DaLintyGuy]

Going through your morning routine after checking for any obvious gaps in your memory was like relaxing a muscle you had been using for too long. The stretches and katas memorized over years of practice also lent themselves well to a meditative position, which was nice. A way of preparing for the day ahead and looking back on what you had lost, perhaps.

As a son of Humanity you had not had much in the way of experience to prepare you for this impulsive decision. Decades of working with computers and mechanical principles for amateur projects did not come with an appreciation for what risks to take or the fortitude gained by having well and truly failed before. Nor had you survived by making use of crude force like so many of those under your protection had been forced to to make it to this pocket of stability in the face of animals or... Worse.

Taking but a mere second to lament the lack of a real sword to have practiced with you don the provided uniform that you found in the room's closet: an eggshell white dress uniform with command grade rank tabs. The only command grade uniform to have been issued so far and thus, rather attention grabbing for soldiers and civilians alike. You would like to say that the stares and whispers when you began the walk to the industrial "sector" were in part due to some aspect of your personality, a stony face or such, but that would be something of a stretch. It might have partially been the honor guard of two artificial soldiers, but you did see a handful of carbine armed guards that had not come from your uploaded data standing about at more sensitive locations.


The central complex of the Gehenna Nature Preserve was built in an arc around the base of an artificial mountain, containing medical facilities, a sizable server farm, a great deal of housing, and a fabrication bay to support all of the visitors it should have had in all their activities. It also had a fusion generator and capacitor stack due to the distance from the Central Arcology and it's dimensional tap, allowing the Preserve to function through short term service interruptions. The fabricators, some of the garages, the generator, and the capacitor were safely out of sight of guests in the basement of the main building and so that was where the military side of things had begun to take shape: among the unused space and vital assets of the service tunnels.

Your arrival was greeted by the synchronized salute of the squad of artificial soldiers stationed at the elevator. Word then seemed to spread, even as you passed clusters of armed individuals wearing your uniform and stacks of rifles, carbines, and ammunition. A double handful of technicians were of the more cheeky sort and had adopted a number of foreign uniforms, proclaiming their allegiance to others of the Great Powers, but you could let it slide. So long as the job they did was sufficient for your purposes, what the civilians did was not your concern. Rather, it was the concern of your Head of Engineering, a woman who wore her age rather than maintain the appearance standard before the Collapse. After the introductions, Jurandi sat you down in her office and began bringing you up to the present with regards to what had been accomplished on the home front during your convalescence.

"The only reason I'm in charge down here is because I know how to handle people." She shakes her head. "Of course, that's all that was needed..."

Seizing the moment of her reminiscence you lean forward. "That is fine. It is the role of a leader to lead, not to work on the lines and in the fields. You must merely look to what you have accomplished."

Jurandi laughs slightly, before her tablet chimes and she absently begins reviewing whatever information or request it received. "I suppose you don't want to hear my life story just yet." A few taps and a slide on her screen and she sets the piece of technology aside once more in order to refocus on you. "Our first project was to establish a group for the protection and guidance of the outlying camps and settlements, both for the obvious reasons and to at least try and let our 'regular' forces look outward to recover technology and energy. As of now I believe you would recognize it as a division?"

"So many?" You marvel slightly. If artificial soldiers could be produced so cheaply-

"Ah." Jurandi interrupts your thoughts with a slight grimace. "The Home Guard was, is, a volunteer organization. We only had to produce weapons and uniforms for them, letting us stretch the budget."

"I see." Well, that was unfortunate. Any civilian troops would be unreliable at best, even on the defensive. At least physical fitness would not be any more of a problem than with the artificial soldiers. "What do I have available then?"

"Well, while you were integrating the engram we were monitoring you rather closely, so what we have should align reasonably close to what you want." She pushes a few pieces of paper (it's not actually paper but rather some polymer thing serving the same purpose) out of a stack and towards you for your perusal.

"And what's my budget going to look like going forward?" You ask as you accept the status report.

"Roughly? Ten percent of our generation capacity." She hedges, causing you to look up sharply. "We are already sharply rationing what our people can call on and with the climactic shifts we've already seen the farms, even the dirt ones, need to be covered in case of sudden arctic conditions. I simply can't call on anything more and we've already drained the storage in order to make what you do have."

You grumble but accept that for what it was: something outside of your control. You would either need to acquire external sources of power or become more visibly important to the running of the Preserve before you could do more.


======


Military forces will be a vital part of your efforts to build a viable nation in these trying times, what with the struggle to acquire existing energy sources, technology, and fabrication capacity in order to get more of all of the above.

In terms of gameplay, the current basic unit is the company. Bought in companies with a number of slots for support platoons (two) plus a Specialization (rather than adding anything these affect how things function, such as swapping riflemen in each squad to using SMGs for urban combat or clearing fortifications).

For this first army construction you have eighteen (18) Energy to spend. Your regular income will be two (2) Energy per turn until further energy resources are acquired. Securing better manufacturing facilities will provide discounts to certain unit types in exchange for some logistical wrangling/vulnerability.




Line Infantry Company (2 Energy): The common soldier, needed for holding territory and supporting every other kind of unit. Consists of three Rifle platoons, one command squad, and a platoon of rear echelon troops for the necessary logistical duties incurred by having a hundred men in the field.
-Motorization (1 Energy): Adds a heavy duty truck for each platoon for increased mobility out of combat.
-Mechanization (3 Energy): Adds an armored halftrack to each squad, providing both mobility and firepower support with machineguns.

Cavalry Company (2 Energy): Soldiers provided with some kind of mount, be it mechanical or animal. In your case you use vat-grown horses. Such mounts allow for easy travel over rough terrain without using precious energy resources, but do sharply limit the amount of heavy weapons the unit can carry.
-Mechanization (1 Energy): Trading in biological mounts for mechanical mounts comes with certain benefits. Not having to manage fatigue, damage is simpler to deal with, and increased weight capacity to name a few. It also comes with a few trade offs, such as a much more dramatic reliance on supply lines.


Light Tank Company (4 Energy): Small armored vehicles configured for speed and operational range, bringing light machineguns and field guns to combat. Useful against infantry, but vulnerable to any kind of anti-armor capability. Consists of four platoons of three vehicles, with a small number of trucks carrying supplies.

• Medium Leader (1 Energy): Add a medium command walker and an advanced officer-type vatform to direct the unit, providing a heavier unit to direct the rest and provide more firepower.

Medium Tank Company (6 Energy): Armored vehicles balancing firepower and mobility with heavier guns and plating than their light cousins. This comes at the cost of mobility due to their larger size and weight.

• Heavy leader (2 Energy): Add a heavy command walker and an advanced officer-type vatform to direct the unit and provide much heavier firepower as an armored unit.

Heavy Tank Company (8 Energy): Armored vehicles emphasizing the ability to take and give damage. Often considered dedicated breakthrough units, with low combat endurance due to large shells and fuel-guzzling engines to fulfill their main role. But in that role there are few better.


Light Walker Company (5 Energy): Like their more primitive kin, Light Walkers are adapted for speed and for outmatching infantry. Due to their motive system they are much better suited to rough terrain and can make maneuvers that tracks simply can not, making them more survivable in combat, though they only carry machineguns. Consists of four platoons of three vehicles.

Medium Walker Company (7 Energy): Larger walkers carrying respectable armor plating and field guns. Consists of four platoons of three walkers. A useful linebreaker unit combining a balance of speed, firepower, and survivability under fire that enables units to resist damages that break others.

Heavy Walker Company (9 Energy): Heavy Walkers differ somewhat from their tracked relatives in that they are built to take punishment and move fast rather than slug it out with the best the enemy has to offer, typically utilizing quad or hexapodal movement for their larger chassis in order to squeeze through lesser protected portions of the enemy line to turn their flank.


Scout Aircraft Squadron (1 Energy): Lightweight scout biplanes built for reconnaissance and surveying of territory, built out of treated wood and canvas in a very cost efficient manner. For self defense they are reliant on the spotter and whatever they bring up with them.

Light Fighter Wing (Interbellum) (4 Energy): A fighter wing of aircraft built for engaging other aircraft or harassing enemy ground troops with light bombs and machine gun fire. Three squadrons of twelve fighters, plus associated ground support teams.

Light Bomber Wing (Interbellum) (4 Energy): A wing of three squadrons of twelve light bombers, capable of payload drops of bombs and other ordinance onto battlespaces. While their accuracy is limited by their technology, the ability to provide fire support without bringing vulnerable artillery pieces to the battlefield can be invaluable in the right circumstances.





Support: Various kinds of supporting troops that can be attached to a field formation. Max two per Company.
-Heavy Weapon Platoon (1 Energy): A general support formation with a few mortars, anti-tank rocket teams, and machineguns. Provides additional heavy weapons and indirect fire support. (Infantry)
-Antitank Platoon (1 Energy): A mix of low to moderate caliber antitank guns for infantry use.
-Super Heavy Machine Gun Platoon (1 Energy): Adds a number of crew served small autocannon to the unit for the range and stopping power in excess of typical HMGs.
-Field Hospital (1 Energy): A doctor and team of medical staff, utilizing basic tools and medicine to treat field wounds rather than merely stabilize the patient or slow their death until they can be moved to the rear. Primitive medicine, but capable of operating in the present unpowered environment.
-Logistics (2 Energy): Additional trucks and labor troops to strengthen the logistical support train of the unit.
-Exoskeleton Infantry (2 Energy): The power of a small vehicle in the hands of a single soldier, the ideal for many a nation and military. Absolutely devastating against enemy infantry, even in most cases when they are equipped with personal AT, and their enhanced close combat potential allows for an answer to vat-grown monsters other factions may use without being reliant on a limited number of vehicles. Can also serve as tank riders for armored units.
-Reinforced (1 Energy): Two additional platoons of infantry are attached to the formation as basic riflemen. Can serve as tank riders in armored companies.




Specialization

• CQB: A greater emphasis on close quarters combat and capability. Replacing some rifles with submachineguns, substituting some shells with canister shot, adding some melee combat training, changing a number of cannon to flamethrowers, etc.
• Long Range: Adding long guns and improved propellants, sniper rifles and scopes, giving the unit indirect fire capability. This comes at expense to close-action capability due to diversion of troops and functionality.
• Sapper: Additional engineering kit and explosive experts are added at the squad level, with vehicles given engineering and mine equipment replacing some secondary weapons. Useful for creating and bringing down obstacles.
• Trench Warfare: Additional sandbags, trenching shovels and skillpatches are given to each soldier to engage in static warfare, while vehicles are built to siege warfare specs. Sacrificing mobility to improve survivability given enough prep time to fortify and dig in.
• Assault: Lighter equipment and emphasis on shock tactics to achieve rapid aggressive attacks rushing at the enemy. The unit becomes offensive-oriented with fewer options defensively.
• Communications: Additional comms gear and specialists are added to the unit, improving coordination between components and with other units.
• Conscripts: Deliberately using low-grade vatforms and equipment quality to field more troops. Doubles unit size at a cost to quality.
• Elites: Cutting unit size to allow for more growth and development time for the vatform troops. Improved neural implants, skill downloads, and equipment gives a sizable bonus to quality at the cost of decreasing the unit size by a third and increasing dependence on the supply line.

Player Prompt: Officers in the Ranks

The bulk of your force will be made of vat-grown cloned troops, led by similarly cloned officers. These officers benefit from additional engrams above their rank and file grunts, providing both improved skills and a limited personality based on the simulations the engrams are based off of. Platoons are led by lieutenants, companies by captains. Who are the possible personalities in the ranks of this new military?
(As a reminder, this is Dieselpunk and Alternate History, as well as a bit of a rush job. It is possible to have officers who have fought in locales other than Earth and against strange foes in their memories.)

 

[DaLintyGuy]

Was there any other way to introduce the new era than by a military review? Ideally you would be able to show it off to your opponents as well in order to make them understand that moving against you would be a poor choice, but you had to make do with showing the civilians the results of their sacrifices. And in that respect you seemed to be doing well.

As a command grade officer you walk down the rows of men and weapons, making small observations and giving out praise to the officers in front of their formations. The Conscript tagged 1st Infantry Company continues to unnerve you slightly however. Not for anything they have done, of course, but because they are distinctly young in appearance compared to your modern experiences. Your implanted knowledge tells you that it is perfectly normal to have formations made of "18 year olds", whatever that means precisely, taken off the fields around their homes and put into combat.

After them are the handful of Alligator halftracks and their organic infantry complements, proudly standing behind their attached guns. Where the focus of the Conscript troops was to get numbers out the door as quickly as possible, the vat-grown infantry of the 2nd had been given a budget of fuel (as primitive as it was, chemical fuels were the best you could do without retrieving controlled schematics of superconducting solenoids) and ammunition in order to run simple exercises.

A squadron of tracked armor formed the centerpiece of your current forces, their crews disembarked in front of their machines and distinct from their rear echelon support in their tanker caps. For these your technicians had gone with a quite basic design, a high velocity 60mm main gun on a dorsal turret and machine guns in the coaxial and forward positions, whose general layout featured prominently in your implanted knowledge. While not your only answer to enemy armor, with all infantry squads carrying AT grenades and the guns of the 2nd Infantry, they will feature prominently in attacking any enemy defenses.

Finally were the quite novel forms of the self named "Kami Squadron". While their biplanes did make use of an in-line engine rather then the radial, or worse, a rotary, engine it "should" have had, they were not the sleek and aerodynamic forms that characterized amateur fliers the world over. The pilots were similar, dressed in truly archaic leather and wool that still carried it's own distinct style. Having aerial scouts was a large upgrade over sending ground vehicles in many ways, but with the likely size of combat units in the immediate future it was uncertain of how well they would serve.

And, of course, everywhere are the undisciplined troops of the Home Guard with their undersized rifles. You can't say many things bad about them as they will be your main garrison force but still.
Militia with no understanding of what they have been called to do.

=====

Civil Affairs

With your knowledge of what is needed during this emergency you have a degree of influence in civil affairs. It would behoove you to use that for your benefit.
You can spend Power to increase effects of these actions.

Choose One
[ ] Industrial Specialization: In normal circumstances ensuring every camp was entirely self sufficient would be a good thing. However, it would limit the availability of a number of valuable things that could be used to augment your limited fabricator time. Salvaged polymers, wood, canvas, cotton, and so on. As of now these would be more akin to guilds rather than the industrial plants you are used to seeing in your dreams but it would still be an improvement and cause a flow of materials in your territory. Perhaps more valuably, it would reduce dependence on the fabricators for any kind of skilled labor. (3 Turns)

[ ] Aerodrome Facilities: In order to use anything better than light Interwar aircraft even once you get the technology to build them you are going to need the infrastructure to do so. And your current group of flyers would appreciate operating out of wooden buildings, earthen revetments, and from a distinct runway rather than tarps and grass. (1 Turn)

[ ] Decentralized Power 1: You have a very limited source of power generation suitable for military production so it would benefit you and the civilians alike if they were not completely reliant on it. Printing out a number of flexible solar cells, simple wind turbines, and primitive power storage using the civilian budget would let a number of luxuries no longer demand strategic resources to fulfill. (2 Turns)

=====

Military Production

Current Power: 0 Stored + 0 Salvaged + 2 Production= 2

Current Production List
Write In (ask the GM and he'll get back to you)

=====

Military Affairs

To be blunt your knowledge of your surroundings is woefully out of date. The only thing you really know is that there in an Entech commander nearby using some kind of android as their basic infantry that asked, somewhat politely, for your fusion plant. The second time they asked they tossed insults and "ham" at each other until the robots left. More concerning is the demographics of your population. The number of refugees arriving who navigated by the roads and tracks as compared to roughing it over the countryside is far less than one would expect...

Assign one or more Companies to each mission you want to take:

Spoiler

Local Countryside Taming
A search and destroy mission to reduce and remove dangerous organisms from your area, ranging from somewhat harmless herbivore megafauna to feral canids and felids to vat-grown monstrosities that must have gotten loose from here or there for whatever reasons. You'll have to ask for one of the accurately named "swear toads" to put it into a terrarium in your office...

Local Network Cleansing
Push out detrimental elements near the transit routes within the Preserve, set up outposts and communications infrastructure, and turn it over to the Home Guard to ensure freedom of movement within your territory.
Note: A number of seemingly intentionally ramshackle vehicles have been seen doing unneighborly things, like enforcing irregular tolls of food on travelers.

Secure Transit: North
In order to exploit points of interest within the Artani Central Arcology it will be vital to have secure lines of communication and transit in order to push civilian engineering, research, and diplomatic teams into the region.
Note: Disappearances are noted among travelling refugees along this route in particular.

Secure Transit: East
The coastal forest was a marvel of engineering, and now those engineered creatures and plants have reverted to natural selection at the frenzied pace demanded by their genetics. To clear a route to the Eastern Arcology and its nearby port district will require a dedicated military response and that itself will require secure lines of supplies.

Secure Transit: West
The agricultural basin that fed the Central Arcology, the Wellspring would be a tempting target for any Entech commander. Not only does it have large scale if limited growth vats and hydroponics but it also was powered to a large degree by a number of hydroelectric plants that monopolized the river that gave the region it's name.

Secure Transit: South
Whether the polar approach battery is active or not, regular contact and/or exploitation will require a secure route.

Scout
-Pick One: North, West, East, South
Send a unit to explore a region, picking up salvage, finding points of interest, and brushing against the locals.

Reserve
Sometimes you don't want to send out a unit because it would incur an upkeep cost. Or maybe it took losses. Regardless, you don't have to field everything every turn. As a bonus units not assigned to an action can try to support others who have encountered unexpected troubles.

=====

Diplomatic Affairs

You are in contact with no organized groups.

=====

Voting will be done by plan.

 

[DaLintyGuy]

Spoiler: Winning Plan

[X] An Army Marches on it's Stomach
-[X] Civilian
--[X] Decentralized Power 1
-[X] Military Production
--[X] Line Infantry Company (2 Energy)
---[X] Specialization : Sapper
-[X] Military Affairs
--[X] Local Network Cleansing
---[X] Mechanized Line Infantry Company
--[X] Secure Transit: West
---[X] Conscripted Line Infantry Company
--[X] Scout : West
---[X] Communications Cavalry Company.
--[X] Scout : North
---[X] Kami Squadron
--[X] Reserve
---[X] Medium Tank Company

--[X] Local Network Cleansing
---[X] Mechanized Line Infantry Company

Part of why the Gehenna Nature Preserve Refugee and Community Center had grown as large as it had was by absorbing smaller communities in the face of an ever harsher world. The men of the 2nd Infantry Company were unfamiliar with the people of the current era, product as they were of unthinkable technology and ancient society, but could well understand the desire for safety and food security. Both items coming neatly together as an example of mammalian megafauna was slowly cycled over a fire by a dozen hopeful cooks.

With the degrading quality of the seasons as the orbital mirrors decayed, food was a vital and moderately difficult resource to acquire for the refugees of the Central Arcology. While the aggressive fauna took the spotlight in the rumor mills (of which the new soldiers were both featured heavily in and deeply involved in furthering) it was more deadly to lose one's crop to the new herbivores the various biology preserves were turning out as the moderating influence of the scientists faltered and withdrew.

In between sweeps of the road network (itself a patchwork, comprising a handful of heavy transit lines and dirt or gravel roads) to allow successful harvests to be shared with those less fortunate Hiyomata Ankira had acceded to the requests of the camps they stopped at, detaching elements of his command to work alongside the local Home Guard members in watching over the fields. Leading to the impromptu feast when an AT gun a driver hadn't wanted to draw along on patrol had been used to fell the large beast with a single blow rather than having the Home Guard fire into the air to scare it off again.

So he had recalled most of the company to join the festivities, celebrating their good work, long hours on the road, and playing nice with the natives.

The Captain leaned away from the half hearted game of cards the soldiers were teaching the civilians and looked at the sound of an approaching halftrack grinding gravel beneath it's treads. The community leaders watched with undisguised curiosity as a sergeant approached, saluted, and extended a written communique for Ankira's perusal.

"What's that about?" One of the civvies asked with a gesture at the paper Ankira was shoving into a pocket.

"Nothing much." He replied offhandedly, and furrowed his brows when the assembled civilians shrugged and left it at that. Another cultural difference between his men of War and those they had to protect.

At least now they had some ideas about where their local rivals were operating out of.

[Local convoys and stopover points established. Actions to locate and engage rival factions in the area now available.]


--[X] Secure Transit: West
---[X] Conscripted Line Infantry Company

Dirt and plants flew as the Levied Legion and their civilian auxiliaries forged a new route to the Exploitation Region to the West. As might be expected, the pre-Collapse network of magnetic levitation surfaces did not directly link the Preserve and the Agricultural Region that monopolized the Wellspring. Instead the great shipments of organic compounds created in the Agricultural Region would go to the Central Arcology for use by the many people that once called it home and on to distribution to the many secondary sites frequented by those who resided within its surface. An efficiency increasing measure during the previous age but one that left Gehenna Preserve's Japanese Defense Force without easy access to the resources of the Wellspring. Growth vats meant to turn out entire animals, algae hydroponics to cheaply produce polymer precursors that could be included in warmachines as well as turned into chemical fuels, as well as aeroponic chambers to simply grow food for a growing population.

Of course, such a prize would embolden and tempt all on its own. Something the 1st Infantry Company (a term used somewhat loosely by the young men that made up the double strength formation) when a squad on security duty hauled back a curious prize: a canid with oversized ears, a set of teeth reminiscent of a shark, and fur distinctly resembling that of forest camouflage patterns. The discovery of an active and functional engram implant clarified matters.

Another set of survivors had made the decision to activate an Entech commander to either take or keep what they needed to survive the destabilizing climactic system. And they did not appreciate another military making preparations to be able to maintain operations in their territory.

The field doctors attached to the self named Legion quickly became accustomed to treating the distinctive gouges left by the quickly and accurately named "Biters" made by this "Chimeric Commander", left on Regular and Home Guard alike. Harassing attacks were largely, albeit not completely, blunted by simple precautions such as moving in groups and always keeping rifle, bayonet,and sword at hand. Without a way to break the increasingly jumpy armed cordon where the work was being done, and without human intelligence guiding every action, work was slowed but not stopped. A possibly critical issue if an operation was ongoing but manageable for mere preparations.

[A number of mild to moderate injuries, a few gruesome deaths among the 1st Infantry. A bargain for victory. Morale status changed to Shaken.]
[Hostile faction detected. Current designation: Chimeric Commander. Theme: includes biopunk.]
[Slowed work will cause a small malus to be applied for a portion of the next turn for operations in the Wellspring Region]


--[X] Scout : West
---[X] Communications Cavalry Company.

While the infantry do their work of dying in place to preserve more valuable assets the Cavalry was also in its element. Hard riding and far ranging, the once verdant flood plains gave little to no resistance to the passage of the mounted troops.

While the Collapse had hit the region harder than most as energy and materials were cannibalized in order to get even one more ton of food and organics to the arcologies, the local receiving stations and transshipment hubs still held a few solenoids carrying a charge. Incompatible with the massive rail convoys and their insatiable thirst for power the smaller harvesters and haulers had sometimes been left idle during the scramble to buy as much time as possible during the Collapse before starvation set in among the arcologies. Perhaps early on, in expectation of a quick return after the service interruption was resolved? Whatever the cause it was a source of easy energy to power vital systems back home.

To the surprise of the mounted troopers they were not the only ones active on the plains. Among the tracts of fallow land was a splotch of perfect green tended by vat-grown organisms of unknown types. Wide and low set worker types cutting down plants whole with oversized claws while watched by a handful of quadrupeds with dorsal claw arms and pronounced jaws.

A handful of warning shots served to discourage any approach by the locals and the troopers returned with their load of power cells replacing food and water on their pack animals.

[Point of Interest discovered: Plains Reservoir. Allows for the irrigation of many fields and growing houses utilizing soil substrate. A cheap alternative to hydroponics and one that comes already prepared with a climate mitigation factor.]
[New faction detected. Current designation: Alien Commander. Theme: Starcraft Zerg.]
[Salvage gained: +3 Energy]


--[X] Scout : North
---[X] Kami Squadron

When you debrief your pilots they are shaken, and understandably so. For some inconsiderate Commander has dragons flying about the arcology spires and are presumed to be the cause of one of your scout planes not returning to the barn.

In terms of useful data there are at least two major factions in the Central Arcology. One is whoever made and maintains the artificial megafauna of course, while the other uses colorful nonhuman soldiers seen patrolling among the lower levels. More interesting are the random armed bands with improvised and stolen weapons, and some remaining corporate security bots holding onto their last orders in defiance of the power outage around them..

[From above, the circumstances inside the Central Arcology are best described as "complicated". Multiple Entech factions, desperate survivors, pre-Collapse security are all active. And that's just what you can see.]
[No Points of Interest identified; next ground scouting action will identify 2 PoI instead of 1 because of gathered intelligence.]


--[X] Reserve
---[X] Medium Tank Company

There is a distinct lack of heavy metal moving this season. A combination of an unwillingness to spend the limited supply of primarily ethanol fuel as well as a lack of targets needing the attention of an armored fist. That isn't to say your crews are entirely idle of course. Gunnery practice is the name of the game and the thudding of machine gun and cannon is a regular sound every time a new lot of ammunition is delivered.


=====


"I have... Concerns." The woman in front of you admits, fidgeting slightly and glancing at the pair of light duty 1st Infantry troopers guarding the door off to the side of your desk. "About the priorities shown by our armed force."

"That is unfortunate." You reply neutrally, clasping your hands over your abdomen. "I will do what I can to alleviate the weight on your mind."

"The route to Central remains dangerous for those trying to escape it's confines." The camp coordinator explains after only a single false start. "Why have we not moved to clear the area?"

"My role is to serve our people." It is an uncomfortable truth, but still true. "Just as importantly we do not know what it is that is occurring. It could just be a growing settlement."

"Then why haven't we heard of it from those that did pass through?" She presses.

"That is the core: we do not know." You nod. "Meanwhile we know that a long period of winter-" It was actually spring by the reckoning of the scientists that built the world's ecosystem, but with the errors growing in the orbital mirrors temperatures could vary wildly with little warning. A few days of scorching heat as multiple arrays combined their energy, a few days of frost and snow when none were pointed your way... "-will destroy entire harvests and mandate our limited resources turn to producing nutrient blocks rather than the simple power sources being handed out now." You level a firm look across your desk, covered as it is in reports and the occasional study results of some piece of technology or other. In your position as Entech it is your remit to make these sort of priority calls and your visitor knows it.

[3rd Infantry Company worked up. "Sapper" Specialization applied: better able to destroy terrain features and quickly make temporary fortifications.]
[Decentralized Power I 1/2: personal power generation is being handed out. Strategic consequences minimal, but quality of life is set to increase and dependence on central power availability set to decrease.]

 

[DaLintyGuy]

Even with all the automated counting, accounting, filing, and computing systems... You were not prepared for the amount of work operating a military would be. Bouncing ideas off of the others of small collaboration groups did not compare to hundreds of people looking to you as the final arbiter of their problems. SOME of the inane details got filtered out below you of course but given that any sort of action involved the expenditure of strategic resources the decision to add new furniture to the Engineering break rooms using the military budget managed to reach your desk.

After that there were the status updates detailing the ammunition, readiness, and other status of your units. As well as some restrained gloating by your cavalry captain about the solenoids she brought back. Yes, you had some plans for that...

In terms of strategic impact, though, you could now begin looking for your local... Rivals? Annoyances? Minor factions in the form of the android bandits and the "enthusiastic motorists". The latter had stepped down their operations in the wake of encountering your patrols this last month in fact. Presumably, this meant "something".


You push back from your desk and swivel to look out the window of your office. A few small wind turbines could be seen sprouting from the nearest communities (villages, to use a different word) as the civil council worked to enact your suggestion. Immediately below your window were a few dozen Home Guard in their local field station. Occasionally a civilian would walk up or call in and a few would pick up their weapons and go to handle whatever it was.

Overall... You were satisfied with what you had done so far.

=====

Civil Affairs

With your knowledge of what is needed during this emergency you have a degree of influence in civil affairs. It would behoove you to use that for your benefit.
You can spend Power to increase effects of these actions.

Choose One
[ ] Industrial Specialization: In normal circumstances ensuring every camp was entirely self sufficient would be a good thing. However, it would limit the availability of a number of valuable things that could be used to augment your limited fabricator time. Salvaged polymers, wood, canvas, cotton, and so on. As of now these would be more akin to guilds rather than the industrial plants you are used to seeing in your dreams but it would still be an improvement and cause a flow of materials in your territory. Perhaps more valuably, it would reduce dependence on the fabricators for any kind of skilled labor. (3 Turns)

[ ] Aerodrome Facilities: In order to use anything better than light Interwar aircraft even once you get the technology to build them you are going to need the infrastructure to do so. And your current group of flyers would appreciate operating out of wooden buildings, earthen revetments, and from a distinct runway rather than tarps and grass. (1 Turn)

[ ] Decentralized Power 1: You have a very limited source of power generation suitable for military production so it would benefit you and the civilians alike if they were not completely reliant on it. Printing out a number of flexible solar cells, simple wind turbines, and primitive power storage using the civilian budget would let a number of luxuries no longer demand strategic resources to fulfill. (1/2 Turns)

=====

Military Production

Current Power: 0 Stored + 3 Salvaged + 2 Production= 5

Spoiler: The Great Book of Buildin' Fings

Line Infantry Company (2 Energy): The common soldier, needed for holding territory and supporting every other kind of unit. Consists of three Rifle platoons, one command squad, and a platoon of rear echelon troops for the necessary logistical duties incurred by having a hundred men in the field.
-Motorization (1 Energy): Adds a heavy duty truck for each platoon for increased mobility out of combat.
-Mechanization (3 Energy): Adds an armored halftrack to each squad, providing both mobility and firepower support with machineguns.

Exo-skeleton Company (8 Energy): The expense of so much precision equipment is only matched by the Shock value of a formation of powered armor. Extremely high offense in short bursts before needing to refit and resupply.

Cavalry Company (2 Energy): Soldiers provided with some kind of mount, be it mechanical or animal. In your case you use vat-grown horses. Such mounts allow for easy travel over rough terrain without using precious energy resources, but do sharply limit the amount of heavy weapons the unit can carry.
-Mechanization (1 Energy): Trading in biological mounts for mechanical mounts comes with certain benefits. Not having to manage fatigue, damage is simpler to deal with, and increased weight capacity to name a few. It also comes with a few trade offs, such as a much more dramatic reliance on supply lines.


Light Tank Company (4 Energy): Small armored vehicles configured for speed and operational range, bringing light machineguns and field guns to combat. Useful against infantry, but vulnerable to any kind of anti-armor capability. Consists of four platoons of three vehicles, with a small number of trucks carrying supplies.

• Medium Leader (1 Energy): Add a medium command walker and an advanced officer-type vatform to direct the unit, providing a heavier unit to direct the rest and provide more firepower.

Medium Tank Company (6 Energy): Armored vehicles balancing firepower and mobility with heavier guns and plating than their light cousins. This comes at the cost of mobility due to their larger size and weight.

• Heavy leader (2 Energy): Add a heavy command walker and an advanced officer-type vatform to direct the unit and provide much heavier firepower as an armored unit.

Heavy Tank Company (8 Energy): Armored vehicles emphasizing the ability to take and give damage. Often considered dedicated breakthrough units, with low combat endurance due to large shells and fuel-guzzling engines to fulfill their main role. But in that role there are few better.


Light Walker Company (5 Energy): Like their more primitive kin, Light Walkers are adapted for speed and for outmatching infantry. Due to their motive system they are much better suited to rough terrain and can make maneuvers that tracks simply can not, making them more survivable in combat, though they only carry machineguns. Consists of four platoons of three vehicles.

Medium Walker Company (7 Energy): Larger walkers carrying respectable armor plating and field guns. Consists of four platoons of three walkers. A useful linebreaker unit combining a balance of speed, firepower, and survivability under fire that enables units to resist damages that break others.

Heavy Walker Company (9 Energy): Heavy Walkers differ somewhat from their tracked relatives in that they are built to take punishment and move fast rather than slug it out with the best the enemy has to offer, typically utilizing quad or hexapodal movement for their larger chassis in order to squeeze through lesser protected portions of the enemy line to turn their flank.


Scout Aircraft Squadron (1 Energy): Lightweight scout biplanes built for reconnaissance and surveying of territory, built out of treated wood and canvas in a very cost efficient manner. For self defense they are reliant on the spotter and whatever they bring up with them.

Light Fighter Wing (Interbellum) (4 Energy): A fighter wing of aircraft built for engaging other aircraft or harassing enemy ground troops with light bombs and machine gun fire. Three squadrons of twelve fighters, plus associated ground support teams.

Light Bomber Wing (Interbellum) (4 Energy): A wing of three squadrons of twelve light bombers, capable of payload drops of bombs and other ordinance onto battlespaces. While their accuracy is limited by their technology, the ability to provide fire support without bringing vulnerable artillery pieces to the battlefield can be invaluable in the right circumstances.





Support: Various kinds of supporting troops that can be attached to a field formation. Max two per Company.
-Heavy Weapon Platoon (1 Energy): A general support formation with a few mortars, anti-tank rocket teams, and machineguns. Provides additional heavy weapons and indirect fire support. (Infantry)
-Antitank Platoon (1 Energy): A mix of low to moderate caliber antitank guns for infantry use.
-Super Heavy Machine Gun Platoon (1 Energy): Adds a number of crew served small autocannon to the unit for the range and stopping power in excess of typical HMGs.
-Field Hospital (1 Energy): A doctor and team of medical staff, utilizing basic tools and medicine to treat field wounds rather than merely stabilize the patient or slow their death until they can be moved to the rear. Primitive medicine, but capable of operating in the present unpowered environment.
-Logistics (2 Energy): Additional trucks and labor troops to strengthen the logistical support train of the unit.
-Exoskeleton Infantry (2 Energy): The power of a small vehicle in the hands of a single soldier, the ideal for many a nation and military. While their numbers are lower than the "crunchies" they are absolutely devastating against enemy infantry, even in most cases when they are equipped with personal AT, and their enhanced close combat potential allows for an answer to vat-grown monsters other factions may use without being reliant on a limited number of vehicles. Can also serve as tank riders for armored units.
-Reinforced (1 Energy): Two additional platoons of infantry are attached to the formation as basic riflemen. Can serve as tank riders in armored companies.
-Cavalry Squadron (1 Energy): A platoon of rough riders to serve as scouts, mobile assets, and so on for a less mobile or much more obvious unit.




Specialization

• CQB: A greater emphasis on close quarters combat and capability. Replacing some rifles with submachineguns, substituting some shells with canister shot, adding some melee combat training, changing a number of cannon to flamethrowers, etc.
• Long Range: Adding long guns and improved propellants, sniper rifles and scopes, giving the unit indirect fire capability. This comes at expense to close-action capability due to diversion of troops and functionality.
• Sapper: Additional engineering kit and explosive experts are added at the squad level, with vehicles given engineering and mine equipment replacing some secondary weapons. Useful for creating and bringing down obstacles.
• Trench Warfare: Additional sandbags, trenching shovels and skillpatches are given to each soldier to engage in static warfare, while vehicles are built to siege warfare specs. Sacrificing mobility to improve survivability given enough prep time to fortify and dig in.
• Assault: Lighter equipment and emphasis on shock tactics to achieve rapid aggressive attacks rushing at the enemy. The unit becomes offensive-oriented with fewer options defensively.
• Communications: Additional comms gear and specialists are added to the unit, improving coordination between components and with other units.
• Conscripts: Deliberately using low-grade vatforms and equipment quality to field more troops. Doubles unit size at a cost to quality.
• Elites: Cutting unit size to allow for more growth and development time for the vatform troops. Improved neural implants, skill downloads, and equipment gives a sizable bonus to quality at the cost of decreasing the unit size by a third and increasing dependence on the supply line.

Write In: If you want something like a Skink (Sherman with quad 20mm in turret) or something else not on the list (specialist vehicle unit to be a fire brigade for infantry or to keep up with tanks), ask for pricing.

Engineering reports the occasional cackle of glee at the thought of copying the Biter corpses brought back by the Levies. This will probably trigger PTSD for those conscripts if attached.
Biter Handlers (2 Energy): A unit of fourteen handlers with two Biters each. While the Chimeric Commander relied on the natural instincts more than the implants the JDF specialists have made our "beasties" distinct from our foe's with overt cranial implants and integrated radios.

=====

Military Affairs

You now have a much better understanding of what is happening nearby. The Chimeric and Alien Commanders have left your road spur to the Wellspring alone as the thoroughly spooked and slightly traumatized civilian labor force finishes the planned transit route, the same with the android and motorist bands. Likely, they are all organizing in the face of the appearance of a credible threat.

Spoiler

Local Countryside Taming
A search and destroy mission to reduce and remove dangerous organisms from your area, ranging from seemingly harmless herbivore megafauna to feral canids and felids to vat-grown monstrosities that must have gotten loose from here or there for whatever reasons. You'll have to ask for one of the accurately named "swear toads" to put it into a terrarium in your office...

Spring Cleaning: Androids
As much as the spindly androids have been mostly ineffective, typically trading pointed words rather than bullets with the Home Guard and extorting small amounts of essential supplies and less essential materials from your people, they did still demand your fusion generator back before you were instated on pain of vague "consequences". Either they fall in line or get removed from the board.
-Expected OpFor: a Company(?) Of light infantry. Unknown probability of reserves and new builds.

Spring Cleaning: Motorists
With more eyes looking over the evidence, the location of this base is less certain. Either a new group has entered the area (entirely possible as a different style of vehicle has been seen nosing about) or the existing malcontents have changed the location they operate from. Either way they are a menace to our people and have ceded the initiative.
-Expected OpFor: a few to more than a few buggies, trucks, and other light vehicles. Unknown probability of reserves and new builds.

Secure Transit: North
In order to exploit points of interest within the Artani Central Arcology it will be vital to have secure lines of communication and transit in order to push civilian engineering, research, and diplomatic teams into the region.
Note: Disappearances are noted among travelling refugees along this route in particular.

Secure Transit: East
The coastal forest was a marvel of engineering, and now those engineered creatures and plants have reverted to natural selection at the frenzied pace demanded by their genetics. To clear a route to the Eastern Arcology and its nearby port district will require a dedicated military response and that itself will require secure lines of supplies.

Secure Transit: West (Finishes early this turn)
The agricultural basin that fed the Central Arcology, the Wellspring already holds at least two Entech commander. Not only does it have large scale if limited growth vats and hydroponics but it also was powered to a large degree by a number of hydroelectric plants that monopolized the river that gave the region it's name.

Secure Transit: South
Whether the polar approach battery is active or not, regular contact and/or exploitation will require a secure route.

Scout
-Pick One: North, West, East, South
Send a unit to explore a region, picking up salvage, finding points of interest, and brushing against the locals.

Attack
Choose a direction, one of it's known Points of Interest, and the Companies to execute the operation. If organized resistance is present, will often trigger a war turn. (Without a Secure Transit, will operate under significant penalties)

Reserve
Sometimes you don't want to send out a unit because it would incur an upkeep cost. Or maybe it took losses. Regardless, you don't have to field everything every turn. As a bonus units not assigned to an action can try to support others who have encountered unexpected troubles.

Training
Maybe you want to get two Companies used to working alongside each other for a future operation, or practice with a new piece of kit. Or they are just bad at their jobs and need to improve. (Upkeep costs, where applicable, are calculated as if the unit is in combat)

=====

Diplomacy

You know of other factions at least. Normalizing relations will be a task even for those you can speak with.

-Android Bandits: Self proclaiming their service to a "confederacy", these robots would likely take a message home at this point, if you want to ignore their masters for now or deliver an ultimatum.




AN: If I did a Dumb, tell me and I'll try to get back to you in a reasonable time frame. Just getting this out before going to work.