2)Acting against a person =/=acting against their House.
Else the whole tradition of honor duels would never have gotten off the ground. Nor would professional duellists be a thing.
I've a feeling that we're going to regret not training up our fleet mucho if we can't sack the Imperial Viscountess. I still don't understand the point of hunting pirates fam. Is 15-20 PC and some Wealth worth missing the chance to give our officers +1/2 to Strat/Tact?
Another easier alternative to removing some of these terrible senior officers would be to assign them extremely competent XO's and then have quiet chats with them about how they should really just let the XO do most of the work for them. Not as effective as actually replacing them probably, but still much more plausible, especially if we can let them save face and take credit for anything they want.
And again, it doesn't need to be that much of a boost as long as we can get them somewhere within range of average.
Sadly no chance of an update today, probably not until the weekend because work is kicking my ass, but note that the awful Viscountess Commodore does have a Tactics 13 captain for her battlecruiser flagship, though nothing was specified about their Strategy. Actually almost her entire squadron has good captains.
Fairly decent odds that she is already coasting off the ability of a subordinate.
Or she could be micro managing entirely competent subordinates and driving them to utter frustration and ruin.
[X] Plan Pirate Booty and Political Capital
-[X] Cutters: Full Patrol.
-[X] Fleet: Hunt Down The Pirates.
-[X] Intel Funding: Lavish Funding.
-[X] Invest 291 Wealth: 190 in Safe Investments, 100 in Risky Investments, 1 Wealth for Family.
-[X] [Transfer] Captain Waltin Sones (D14/S13/T10/P13/S15/ L20) from CO Endeavor to 2nd Officer Flagship
-[X] [Transfer] Captain Lady Stephua Rosson Maner (D13/S9/T12/P9/SA8/L14) From CO Huitzilopochtli to CO Endeavor CA
-[X] [Transfer] Captain Dame Thera Phardson (D13/ S9/T12/P14/S14/L15) From CO Mianyiang to executive officer BB Hohhot(Clipauld)
-[X] [Transfer] Captain Baroness Kathra Ared Scolly (D6/S10/T7/P9/SA15/L14): From XO Huitzilopochtli strike cruiser to XO Xining BB (Wison)
-[X] [Transfer] Commander Sir Atthell Ason Perra(D12/S10/T9/P10/S15/L11) From CO Cirrus to CO Peregrin light cruiser
-[X] [Transfer] Commander Dame Carea Rosson(D13/S10/T13/P9/SA10/L NA): From XO Falkor(Arslan) to CO Cirrus
-[X] [Transfer] Commander Lyna Ryante(D7/S10/T13/P11/SA14/L6): From CO Settler corvette to XO Huitzilopochtli
-[X] [Transfer] Commander Lord Grigoz(D11/S13/T8/P10/SA9/L11): Remain patrol flotilla commander
-[X] [Transfer] Commander Baronet Joyce Rownett (D11/S12/T13/P12/SA10/L9): From CO corvette to 3rd Officer Flagship.
-[X][Transfer] Commander Anen Jenker(D9/S12/T13/P9/SA10/L8): From CO corvette to Staff Officer
-[X] [Assign] Captain Dame Rynie Sarea Hompsand(D11/S15/T16/P9/S13/L16): Assign to CO Huitzilopochtli strike cruiser
-[X][Assign] Captain Lord Jeffry Monson(D15,S6,T15, P14, S12, L15): Assign to executive officer BB Qiqihar (Ranca)
-[X][Assign] Commander Bertson(D9/S8/T12/P8/SA11/L13): From Unassigned to Staff Officer
-[X][Assign] Randomized officers to the remaining Corvettes
-[X][Assign] Randomized officers to the Hawk, Peregrin, Harpy and Mianyiang
-[X] Expedited Repairs: 12 Wealth Huitzilopochtli(20%) + 6 Wealth Perun(10%) = 18 Wealth
-[X] Repair/Reserve: Endeavour + all light cruisers + Whippet corvette + Cirrus corvette
-[X] Deploy: Sword of Democracy + remaining corvettes + cutters
-[X] Officer Reinforcements: Captain Lord Jeffry Monson + Captain Dame Rynie Sarea Hompsand = 60 PC
-[X] Ship Reinforcements: +4 patrol cutters = 40 PC
-[X] Marine Reinforcements:Total = 32 PC
--[X] 2 pts Sword of Democracy(8 PC) + 2 pts Endeavor(4PC)
--[X] 2 pts Huitzilopochtli (4PC) + 6 points light cruisers (12PC) + 2 points corvettes (4PC)
When you arrive over Imhotep, you have a great deal of work to do, your location does place you slightly further away from the heart of the empire and thus add further decision loop but with your headquarters having been stripped to crew your battlecruiser? You do not have any better place to command than from the bridge of what is after all a capital vessel designed to function as a flagship.
First of all you are mindful of the scope of the reinforcements that have been rushed to the border opposite you and of no mind to further instigate the NASP to war, you refrain from further raids as you instead send your cutters and handful of corvettes to patrol the sector. Your cruisers you keep in refit which does rather limit your available forces when it comes to hunting down pirates. With only two corvettes there will be plenty of unescorted convoys even with the additional patrol cutters you request to reinforce your squadron.
House Arril Smuggling: 18
House Jamoor Smuggling: 22
NASP Smuggling: 29
Independent Smuggling: 18
Success vs Arril and Independent smugglers, minor success vs Jamoor smugglers, failure vs NASP smuggling. 55% Coverage.
Lord Commander Jeffry Asim Grigonz is not able to give the same report of unmitigated success he was a few months ago, while he has certainly caught a great deal of traffic and has more ships than before, the most obvious smugglers have already been caught and those who remain are being a great deal more cautious.
Worryingly he also reports having caught barely any ships sneaking in from NASP space though Imperial Intelligence certainly reports that insurgent groups have been provoked and armed by foreign agents across a swathe of worlds.
+11 Personal Wealth from caught smuggler ships and cargo, +8 Political Capital
Governor General gets +2 Wealth from catching smugglers. He is moderately happy.
Failure to suppress NASP infiltration, -10 Political Capital
Houses Arril and Jamoor seem to have both massively decreased efforts to evade taxation and the minimal results from their shipping are rolled into the general summary without significant political impact.
Lord Commander Jeffry Asim Grigonz increases from Strategy 13 to 14.
Your corvette escorts, both admittedly commanded by lieutenant commanders newly raised to command and awaiting promotion, are ineffective and fail to do more than dissuade a few pirate raids, though fortunately few actual pirates remain. Still it is disheartening and the damage significant even with only a few raiders remaining around Obull. The independent raiders using converted merchant vessels appear to have either left the sector or their poor choice of profession.
Successful Pirate Raids: -5 Political Capital
More worrying is that a trio of cruisers push across the border from Pandora II rimward of Obull, pushing into the Imperial held system there and beginning systematic reduction of the planetary defenses. They are not running transponders and refuse to answer hails but are a trio of current generation warships and probably superior to the navy most independent worlds might be able to field.
Fortunately one of your patrolling cutters arrives within a day of their attack beginning, more fortunately she is then able to reach you in the Sword of Democracy in time.
Some days later you feel the lurch in reality as your flagship exits hyperspace far too close to a gravity well, below you is Mori's World, a half habitable, barely terraformed rock with a population of about three hundred million who live within deep valleys across the tectonicly active surface, the only places with dense enough atmosphere to survive. They were primitive savages until the introduction of the hyper drive then too poor for anyone to consider worth conquering until the Empire arrived in the final weeks of the NASP war.
Now they are under the rule of an Imperial governor and the raid from these three cruisers threatens what progress has been made toward industrialisation, already much of the fledgling orbital infrastructure looks to have been destroyed or looted, but the enemy cruisers are still in high orbit as they exchange fire with and deplete the surface based defenses.
As the sensor readings flood in you recognise the vessels immediately. These are Angel Class Cruisers of the Valinor Regency, essentially pocket battlecruisers commanded by 'War Bishops' and crewed by fanatics. They are very fast, well armed enough to generally handle light cruisers without issue and with enough marines to threaten a heavy cruiser. Worse, their lunatic crews tend to be both capable in hand to hand combat and completely willing to detonate their fusion torpedo warheads if they look about to lose.
You lost more than a few colleagues to the Valinor Regency during the war, incinerated aboard battleships that were boarded then suicide bombed. Actually that is also how Duke Arslan lost his eldest child. You are not sure how the Valinor Regency afford to produce these and other ships in such numbers but suspect it is a combination of some kind of puritanical war economy and outside funding to use them as a buffer against the Empire.
Medium Cruiser Zephon
Angel Class Cruiser:
Speed 8, Firepower 4, Durability 3, Marines 4. Durability 30/30. Crew: Experienced (+1)
War Cardinal Eulalius (Strategy 13, Tactics 14, Prowess 12)
Medium Cruiser Kerubiel
Angel Class Cruiser:
Speed 8, Firepower 4, Durability 3, Marines 4. Durability 30/30. Crew: Veteran (+2)
War Bishop Marinus (Strategy 8, Tactics 14, Prowess 11)
Medium Cruiser Rabdos
Angel Class Cruiser:
Speed 8, Firepower 4, Durability 3, Marines 4. Durability 30/30. Crew: Experienced (+1)
War Bishop Honorius (Strategy 10, Tactics 11, Prowess 15)
You have however positioned your jump perfectly and catch the trio of cruisers as they orbit away from you, above them and deep space, ensuring that despite their best efforts they continue to move further from your battlecruiser as they burn and will be in no position to attempt boarding for some time especially given that your ship matches theirs in speed.
They respond quickly though and your initial volley fails to catch the enemy flagship unprepared, one torpedo slipping past defensive fire to detonate in her shields but failing to achieve anything significant.
They then continue to be well handled as they turn and begin accelerating toward you, much of the Sword's turrets forced to concentrate on defensive fire even. But not all, as the Valinor Regency cruisers close the heavy railguns of your flagships main batteries begin to speak and the armour of even a large cruiser like those you face is nothing compared to them. Hits begin to tell, the lead enemy ship starts to fall back, falters, then explodes as she is cored bow to stern.
The Sword is still untouched but you now have two cruisers of equal speed trying to close on you. They would be no threat in a conventional boarding action but you are fairly certain that if one latches onto your hull it will be a desperate battle to break their grappling lines before they decide there is no hope of victory and detonate their magazines.
[] Evade. Keep your distance and shoot both of them to pieces. While neither enemy vessel is incompetently handled they have no speed advantage and you are far superior to either. [] Coup de Main. Evade, blow one of them apart, then cripple the other before launching an assault using marine shuttles where you try to seize their ship before they are able to suicide. They will be much less eager to blow themselves up without a capital ship alongside to trade for. Almost nobody has actually captured a Valinor Regency warship before and these medium cruisers are extremely potent. Prestigious and valuable. [] Leave. The chances of them managing to do anything to the Sword are remote but you do not want to risk yourself and your flagship to deal with a pair of medium cruisers. With their own commander dead and no damage to your vessel? They might well just leave. Or you can come back and do this again in a day or so.
I have not yet updated any of the 'front page' stuff to take into account the rest of the strategic turn choices, or changes from this update, the rest of the Strategic Turn calculations and the status updates will follow. Mostly because there is a very real risk of death here. You should trounce these guys but if they suicide bomb your flagship? That is it, dead.
[X] Coup de Main. Evade, blow one of them apart, then cripple the other before launching an assault using marine shuttles where you try to seize their ship before they are able to suicide. They will be much less eager to blow themselves up without a capital ship alongside to trade for. Almost nobody has actually captured a Valinor Regency warship before and these medium cruisers are extremely potent. Prestigious and valuable.
Well, we can destroy three Regency unique Cruisers, that's... I guess it's not a total loss, then. More PC for us. Which is good since we just lost 7. I'll also note there was two Round 2s.
[X] Evade. Keep your distance and shoot both of them to pieces. While neither enemy vessel is incompetently handled they have no speed advantage and you are far superior to either.
Kerubiel is a threat. Speed equal, crew equal, +4 Multi-Attack, -7 Tactics. If both our enemies attempt boarding operations then we'll only be rolling at a +3. That is quite the narrow margin, I won't lie. However, if we're lucky then Evade will include Strategy Rolls to stay our of boarding range, and we have an exponentially greater edge with those.
[X] Coup de Main. Evade, blow one of them apart, then cripple the other before launching an assault using marine shuttles where you try to seize their ship before they are able to suicide. They will be much less eager to blow themselves up without a capital ship alongside to trade for. Almost nobody has actually captured a Valinor Regency warship before and these medium cruisers are extremely potent. Prestigious and valuable.
Suddenly I fear these guys more than NASP. A tenacious enemy indeed.
[X] Coup de Main. Evade, blow one of them apart, then cripple the other before launching an assault using marine shuttles where you try to seize their ship before they are able to suicide. They will be much less eager to blow themselves up without a capital ship alongside to trade for. Almost nobody has actually captured a Valinor Regency warship before and these medium cruisers are extremely potent. Prestigious and valuable.
Not worth the risk frankly let's just destroy them. [X] Evade. Keep your distance and shoot both of them to pieces. While neither enemy vessel is incompetently handled they have no speed advantage and you are far superior to either.
[X] Evade. Keep your distance and shoot both of them to pieces. While neither enemy vessel is incompetently handled they have no speed advantage and you are far superior to either.
I don't think this is worth losing crew over as I think they would still suicide themselves if they can take some enemys with them.
Also Rabdos has a prowess 15 captain and I am not keen on getting up against that one with the 50/50 chance of which ship we would kill and which we would cripple.
[X] Coup de Main. Evade, blow one of them apart, then cripple the other before launching an assault using marine shuttles where you try to seize their ship before they are able to suicide. They will be much less eager to blow themselves up without a capital ship alongside to trade for. Almost nobody has actually captured a Valinor Regency warship before and these medium cruisers are extremely potent. Prestigious and valuable.
This sounds like the best option... if we can pull it off. We are, by the grace of the Empress, Commodore Lord Reinhard Strauss. A better commander cannot be found in this galaxy, and a better ship for this engagement is unlikely to be found outside the Earth Sphere. So yes, we can pull it off.
We really should had went for fleet training, as hunting down pirates has proved itself to be a worthless action that caused us to lose PC and didn't help our captains and XOs get better at Tactics and Strategy.
[X] Coup de Main. Evade, blow one of them apart, then cripple the other before launching an assault using marine shuttles where you try to seize their ship before they are able to suicide. They will be much less eager to blow themselves up without a capital ship alongside to trade for. Almost nobody has actually captured a Valinor Regency warship before and these medium cruisers are extremely potent. Prestigious and valuable.
Cardinal Eulalius.
Strategy 13, Tactics 14. Has to have been one of their best.
Dead now with the Zephon.
[X] Coup de Main. Evade, blow one of them apart, then cripple the other before launching an assault using marine shuttles where you try to seize their ship before they are able to suicide. They will be much less eager to blow themselves up without a capital ship alongside to trade for. Almost nobody has actually captured a Valinor Regency warship before and these medium cruisers are extremely potent. Prestigious and valuable.
We really should had went for fleet training, as hunting down pirates has proved itself to be a worthless action that caused us to lose PC and didn't help our captains and XOs get better at Tactics and Strategy.
[X] Coup de Main. Evade, blow one of them apart, then cripple the other before launching an assault using marine shuttles where you try to seize their ship before they are able to suicide. They will be much less eager to blow themselves up without a capital ship alongside to trade for. Almost nobody has actually captured a Valinor Regency warship before and these medium cruisers are extremely potent. Prestigious and valuable.
