- Location
- Australia
So so far this campaign has claimed 3 Officer pts, 10 Enlisted pts, 10 Technician pts from the Ked Paddah. Or over a thousand people, give or take.
To Boldly Go... (a Starfleet quest)
- Thread starter OneirosTheWriter
- Start date
- Sci-Fi
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lbmaian
a thirsty squirrel
- Location
- USA
Geez these fucking mines.
@OneirosTheWriter, can we get TF2 involved, or at least its explorers and cruisers? At their location between Gammon and Ixaria, it shouldn't take them long for them to reach Ixaria at max warp. We could use them to help intercept any Arcadian reinforcements, or just to help out directly.
Unless Eaton is planning to strike Gammon right now, this is the only prudent course of action for her. Ixaria is way too juicy of a target now.
@OneirosTheWriter, can we get TF2 involved, or at least its explorers and cruisers? At their location between Gammon and Ixaria, it shouldn't take them long for them to reach Ixaria at max warp. We could use them to help intercept any Arcadian reinforcements, or just to help out directly.
Unless Eaton is planning to strike Gammon right now, this is the only prudent course of action for her. Ixaria is way too juicy of a target now.
aledeth
The Flesh is Weak
- Pronouns
- He/Him
As awful as that is, it's a whole lot less than the ground troops will end up suffering, even with orbital control.
Random Member
Gardener of Human Happiness
- Location
- Behind You
You do realise you're talking to the QM, right? If he says no, it's no.
If we can call in ka'Sharren we can likely scare of the Imperials, even if it's maneuver warfare in the system until TF2 arrives.
The problem is how needed TF2 is for other things.
The problem is how needed TF2 is for other things.
lbmaian
a thirsty squirrel
- Location
- USA
Well... at least it's not incurring war support costs with us. Ked Paddah is likely more enured against the loses by now in the half decade of war they've been fighting in.
Night_stalker
Slava Ukraini!
- Pronouns
- He/Him
So out of idle curosity, what do the mines use to sense their targets? Because if we have that wreck, we could just send it on in ahead with all sorts of devices set to attract as many mines as possible...
- Location
- Australia
It uses dice.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
To be clear, the statement of mine that you're responding to was me saying "if we split up our forces and hit Iron Hail with part of our fleet, then arriving Imperial reinforcements will be able to trounce either of the 'split' parts of our fleet separately.
If we're going to try to gamble on escorting the auxiliaries in under long range missile fire, we're going to have to do that with the whole fleet. If we're going to try to punch out Iron Hail, we're going to need to do that with the whole fleet. It's extremely unsafe for us to divide the combat fleet and leave part in one place and part in the other. That is all.
Thank you!
Seriously, I appreciate prompt and vigorous enforcement of this rule.
We'd have had to contend with long range missile barrages hitting our transports on the way in, we would have no chance of seeing Imperial reinforcements coming, we might have had navigational problems even reaching the planet in formation to fight a battle, and we'd have had the solar research station (Iron Fist? Fist of Ixaria?) free to work its bad juju on us from long ranges at which we could not reply.
Given how much of the losses we took was the result of sheer random chance and minefields, I hesitate to say "if we'd done X the outcome would have been Y." We'd be watching a random number generator proc differently, different ships would get hit by mines, we might end up with fewer crippled ships overall but I'm not sure.
Mines and critical hits make it a lot harder to talk about counterfactuals in the game now, because the butterfly effect is more powerful
Odds are, this will simply attract one mine, which will explode and disintegrate the wrecked ship. The problem is, how many more mines does that leave? We don't know, because if we could count the mines we could see them, and if we could see them we could shoot them.
It's kind of like trying to clear a minefield by driving a herd of cattle across it- it sort of works if the minefield isn't too deep and everything goes right, but it isn't a very practical tactic in real life.
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KnightDisciple
Love God. Do Right. Fear No Man.
- Location
- Midwest, USA
FWIW I've had what amounts to a creative logjam in my head for weeks (imagine a river with a big random pile of logs at a chokepoint; once one log goes the others should too, but until then...), so I can sympathize.
If/when said quest happens, would you mind terribly tagging me about/for it?
Night_stalker
Slava Ukraini!
- Pronouns
- He/Him
So strapping on all sorts of emitters and just hoping they draw all the mines towards it is a no-go? Aw man.
My instinct is we go after Iron Hail and Iron Dome, then see what reinforcements actually show up. Remember, 50%+ chance the reinforcements don't show up next phase.
- Location
- USA
Also with sufficient destruction of assets here they may not try to force the system, more so if tf 2 can be right behind them.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
With our reduced science abilities, I'm leaning a little towards only targeting Iron Hail, though that could well mean committing to a retreat if reinforcements turn up.
ClawClawBite
Mad Engineering!
- Location
- Seattle, WA
I think Iron Hail, then leave makes sense. We are trying to wear down their will, not conquer them. Planetary occupation may not get Morshadd to the negotiating table more effectively, and not doing so may be good for trying to get positive reaction from the other noble factions we are trying to cultivate.
Thank you for highlighting why the Federation Council does not, in fact, allow Starfleet a free hand to act as it pleases.
The Arcadian Empire is not in fact an existential, unreasoning threat to the Federation and its people. The Biophage was. Because of this, destroying the Biophage utterly to the point of destroying planets was a necessity.
Unless the Arcadian Empire starts pulling planetary sterilizations by design or accident they will never reach the point where the Council will feel that General Order 24 may need to be performed in this State of Emergency.
Information: Hi Everybody!
- Location
- Australia
hi everybody!
"Hi Dr Oneiros!"
Today we're going to Not Talk About General Order 24 Or Anything Else That Smells Like A War Crime anymore!
Today we're going to Not Talk About General Order 24 Or Anything Else That Smells Like A War Crime anymore!
- Location
- USA
Leaving though let's them rebuild the stations that made attacking here painful and this seems to be one of the houses with the most reckless mentats
lbmaian
a thirsty squirrel
- Location
- USA
Alright, strategically, it's better for us to stay in the system.
If Licori reinforcements don't arrive, well it's pretty much victory for us as we can clean out and invade the system at our leisure.
If Licori reinforcements do arrive, they will at best achieve a Pyrrhic victory forcing us to retreat. And with the huge force and industrial disparity against them, they can't afford such victories, even if our war support would be hit hard by such a defeat. They need their fleet as intact as possible. Their static defenses may be scary, but the problem is that they're static; they can't move to reinforce other defenses or all the other things mobile ships can do. They'll be sitting ducks, giving Starfleet and Ked Paddah huge operational freedom.
And that's a best case scenario for them (excluding fluking a huge casualty-light victory). Worst case scenario is if TF2 gets involved, and I give that decent odds (Oneiros is being really cagey here
)
Now, regardless of whether TF2 gets involved, the most important thing to do for our fleet is to remain together for any operations, the minimize risk of being jumped by reinforcements, and to maximize detection of mines (more ships seems to help with this, or at least reduce the risk to the expensive capital ships via sacrificial frigates). Remaining in orbit around Ixaria Prime is secondary to that, despite mentat flight risks. Well, assuming the fleet does depart orbit to take on research stations, we could perhaps leave a frigate behind to intercept any escaping mentats from the surface, but that ship would need to be primed to retreat upon any significant threat, or we just acknowledge the risk.
If the reinforcements will arrive, it's probably worth the minefield risk to hit stations that could help such reinforcements since those stations are so powerful (buffing stations and Iron Hail). So I say we hit the research stations with the vast majority (if not whole) fleet one-by-one, and keep the auxiliaries safely tucked away until the situation with Iron Hail and any Licori reinforcements is settled.
The question then is what research station to hit first. This is complicated, because:
a) We're at the point where by the time we take out Iron Hail and start invading Ixaria, any arriving reinforcements will have arrived by then. Which would indicate that the buffing stations could take priority.
b) Every research station that we hit has the potential to further weaken our force with their minefields, along with Iron Hail while its still active.
Given that the Iron Hail risk increases the longer the fleet stays in the system...
[X] Attack Stations
-[X] Iron Hail
-[X] But leave behind KPS Watchful and KPS Foresight (if latter hasn't retreated yet) in Ixaria Prime orbit
That last is because it's been proven that Ked Paddah frigates are absolute shit at detecting mines, so might as well leave it behind to intercept any escaping mentats.
edit: Included the crippled Ked Paddah frigate in Ixaria Prime orbit, in case it hasn't retreated yet
If Licori reinforcements don't arrive, well it's pretty much victory for us as we can clean out and invade the system at our leisure.
If Licori reinforcements do arrive, they will at best achieve a Pyrrhic victory forcing us to retreat. And with the huge force and industrial disparity against them, they can't afford such victories, even if our war support would be hit hard by such a defeat. They need their fleet as intact as possible. Their static defenses may be scary, but the problem is that they're static; they can't move to reinforce other defenses or all the other things mobile ships can do. They'll be sitting ducks, giving Starfleet and Ked Paddah huge operational freedom.
And that's a best case scenario for them (excluding fluking a huge casualty-light victory). Worst case scenario is if TF2 gets involved, and I give that decent odds (Oneiros is being really cagey here
)Now, regardless of whether TF2 gets involved, the most important thing to do for our fleet is to remain together for any operations, the minimize risk of being jumped by reinforcements, and to maximize detection of mines (more ships seems to help with this, or at least reduce the risk to the expensive capital ships via sacrificial frigates). Remaining in orbit around Ixaria Prime is secondary to that, despite mentat flight risks. Well, assuming the fleet does depart orbit to take on research stations, we could perhaps leave a frigate behind to intercept any escaping mentats from the surface, but that ship would need to be primed to retreat upon any significant threat, or we just acknowledge the risk.
If the reinforcements will arrive, it's probably worth the minefield risk to hit stations that could help such reinforcements since those stations are so powerful (buffing stations and Iron Hail). So I say we hit the research stations with the vast majority (if not whole) fleet one-by-one, and keep the auxiliaries safely tucked away until the situation with Iron Hail and any Licori reinforcements is settled.
The question then is what research station to hit first. This is complicated, because:
a) We're at the point where by the time we take out Iron Hail and start invading Ixaria, any arriving reinforcements will have arrived by then. Which would indicate that the buffing stations could take priority.
b) Every research station that we hit has the potential to further weaken our force with their minefields, along with Iron Hail while its still active.
Given that the Iron Hail risk increases the longer the fleet stays in the system...
[X] Attack Stations
-[X] Iron Hail
-[X] But leave behind KPS Watchful and KPS Foresight (if latter hasn't retreated yet) in Ixaria Prime orbit
That last is because it's been proven that Ked Paddah frigates are absolute shit at detecting mines, so might as well leave it behind to intercept any escaping mentats.
edit: Included the crippled Ked Paddah frigate in Ixaria Prime orbit, in case it hasn't retreated yet
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- Location
- Germany
- Pronouns
- He/Him
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Jenny
anonymous user
- Location
- maryland
- Pronouns
- She/Her
The shield boost doesn't seem to have worked?
Maybe Sarek and Torbriel science'd up a way to prevent it from taking effect; maybe the ships need time to charge up.
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Too Long I think. Days at least, an eternity in terms of combat.
I don't see a need to leave until we actually see some ships on their way in. Remember, we still have no confirmation that reinforcements are coming. They probably are, but we don't know for sure. There's always a chance internal politics or the fleet being way out position (maybe they were prepping for an attack on the Federation) has left them with nothing to send.
If we retreat and no Imperial reinforcements show up, we'd feel pretty dumb.