Ture but keep in mind they are hevaly replacing the loses in this sector (to the tune of 30+ ships) and we will not be here any more.
Still the attention we have forced on this area will have major strategic effect across the intiere border.
But that's the key thing. They're replacing, not reinforcing.
We destroyed or captured about 27 NASP ships of all sizes, from cutters to battleships, in a little over a year.
And that doesn't count the literal navy's worth of officers and crew we have captured or killed, from lieutenants to a vice admiral, the cream of their crop. And the multiple divisions of soldiers trapped in the ground at Imhotep.
And they will be now facing a much larger opposition force, with the pirate problem now on their side of the border, and their very own version of Imhotep in the mess we made at Chang Mu. They can't afford to act as blatantly as they used to, until and unless they can build up the same sort of force superiority they used to have.
Which could remain... Or could go elsewhere.
Let me remind we, we only got our hands on SoD and 2 strike cruisers due to emergency, and our 3 BBs & 5 LCs were left to us due to this whole Arslan business only.
And if NASP learns of our reassignment at least somewhat promptly, they would doubtlessly try to take advantage of the fact - and since NASP smugglers in particular we didn't intercept all that much (General pirates and our own nobles we did get, though), they would be well-set for it.
If your argument is that the ships could go elsewhere?
I don't know why that is what you think is likely after we literally had a planetary invasion by NASP capital ships and multiple divisions of troops.They are more likely to be reinforced instead.
Not necessarily a lot of capital ships, which may be scarce, but Rimward HQ is going to drag up a bunch more CLs and corvettes at a minimum. The events at Imhotep change the calculus, and you are not going to be able to justify drawing down the naval forces here.
Reinhard outright stated that the normal force allocation for Mimir Sector is half a dozen battleships, and the Army are going to need a covering force for the millions of troops and supply lines they are going to need to pacify Imhotep again.
So no, don't expect a drawdown. More a buildup. A second battleship, a bunch of light cruisers and corvettes. More cutters.
Enough heavy metal to give the NASP pause while we're away.
So still working on the update given the scale of transitioning from Mimir Sector Command to your new (stolen) fleet. This includes new junior officers for the battleships and cruisers.
Some of them you might not be happy with but others? Check out the Hohot:
Apparently Adald pulled some strings because his marine commander is as killy as Ranca. His 2nd officer is also really, really good.
Edit: For contrast here is the captain of the light cruiser Mianyang:
Captain Baron Amid Wardez (Diplomacy 8, Strategy 8, Tactics 5, Prowess 14, Subterfuge 5) Loyalty 12
He knows only sword. But is not as good at is as Amuel.
A Shareholder member of the Imperial House was only able to get his Marine complement up to 2/10.
Just supplying the remaining 8/10 would cost us 32 Political Capital, almost the same cost as a light cruiser.
Roughly 11% of our PC. For only 1 BB.
I am really grateful that we took the option to wait and fully staff our ships. This would have gotten ugly otherwise.
This is like one of the best duellists in the Sector, if not the Empire. And his Subterfuge is as good as Sones and Scolly.
Ranca is going to be either very thrilled to have a peer to practice against, or threatened.
This should be fun.
A Shareholder member of the Imperial House was only able to get his Marine complement up to 2/10.
Just supplying the remaining 8/10 would cost us 32 Political Capital, almost the same cost as a light cruiser.
Roughly 11% of our PC. For only 1 BB.
To clarify on this, Adald put his efforts toward getting badass officers. I rolled up all of the officers joining to fill the empty slots then he got the best ones. I kind of assume he is planning to top up on marines upon arrival at the capital, 2/10 is the current marine status of all of your battleships. I am also slightly weirded out by how super prowess people seem to keep also rolling really high Subterfuge, Amuel rolled max for both stats. (Marine colonels are base 12 Prowess but get some penalties elsewhere and cannot command ships).
75% Readiness is the maximum for any of your captured ships though with a fair few of the others much lower due to having been damaged before they were captured.
Also Loyalty values are very much people's loyalty regarding you and a few of the more interesting ones do have superior loyalties. Do not expect say, Loyalty 14 Adald to support you in a coup against the Imperial House because his Loyalty there is probably more like 18-20.
Edit: For contrast here is the captain of the light cruiser Mianyang:
Captain Baron Amid Wardez (Diplomacy 8, Strategy 8, Tactics 5, Prowess 14, Subterfuge 5) Loyalty 12
He knows only sword. But is not as good at is as Amuel.
AAAAAAAAAAAH! The fuck?!?
Dude doesn't even have the Diplomacy or Subterfuge to be a good staff officer. I have to wonder if Rimward Fleet is deliberately getting rid of shit officers they couldn't cashier by dumping them on us.
To clarify on this, Adald put his efforts toward getting badass officers. I rolled up all of the officers joining to fill the empty slots then he got the best ones. I kind of assume he is planning to top up on marines upon arrival at the capital, 2/10 is the current marine status of all of your battleships. I am also slightly weirded out by how super prowess people seem to keep also rolling really high Subterfuge, Amuel rolled max for both stats. (Marine colonels are base 12 Prowess but get some penalties elsewhere and cannot command ships).
75% Readiness is the maximum for any of your captured ships though with a fair few of the others much lower due to having been damaged before they were captured. Also Loyalty values are very much people's loyalty regarding you and a few of the more interesting ones do have superior loyalties. Do not expect say, Loyalty 14 Adald to support you in a coup against the Imperial House because his Loyalty there is probably more like 18-20.
I am also slightly weirded out by how super prowess people seem to keep also rolling really high Subterfuge, Amuel rolled max for both stats. (Marine colonels are base 12 Prowess but get some penalties elsewhere and cannot command ships).
Makes sense to me - Prowess means they're good at stabbing people. Admittedly, stabbing them in the front during duels and battles - but it fits that some of the skillset crosses-over to Subterfuge, which often involves stabbings of a different sort.
I think we have to shuffle Wardez onto our flagship.
He would be good enough in boarding actions, and we'll be able to get him up to par in a few engagements.
We can train trash captains after we leave the capital like we got the option here hopefully and that should help alot from our light cruisers if they suck enough or whatever else we pick up.
Or we get a turn or two to train our new fleet before actions.
I think we have to shuffle Wardez onto our flagship.
He would be good enough in boarding actions, and we'll be able to get him up to par in a few engagements.
He's a Captain, so literally the only job that wouldnt be a demotion on our flagship would be XO.
And he's a Baron, so demoting him would be fuckoff expensive.
We might be able to transfer him to XO of a capital ship, if there are any vacancies. Maybe.
Let's see if he's trainable first. But Strategy 8 Tactics 5 would be bad for a corvette, let alone a light cruiser.
And unlike Scolly, he doesn't have high enough Subterfuge to blackmail his way into a ship.
Someone has a patron.
Not necessarily; he is a baron, after all, and a light cruiser isn't THAT much of a ship. He may well be able to outright buy a light cruiser, and anyone able to do that can easily swing a captaincy through bribery. I'd expect Wardez to be the sort of person who wants a captaincy under his belt to support his future ambitions, but since he's young and inexperienced, he thinks he's a lot more competent than he is, and doesn't quite realize how badly he's outmatched in every field except the field of honour.
Makes sense to me - Prowess means they're good at stabbing people. Admittedly, stabbing them in the front during duels and battles - but it fits that some of the skillset crosses-over to Subterfuge, which often involves stabbings of a different sort.
Not necessarily; he is a baron, after all, and a light cruiser isn't THAT much of a ship. He may well be able to outright buy a light cruiser, and anyone able to do that can easily swing a captaincy through bribery. I'd expect Wardez to be the sort of person who wants a captaincy under his belt to support his future ambitions, but since he's young and inexperienced, he thinks he's a lot more competent than he is, and doesn't quite realize how badly he's outmatched in every field except the field of honour.
It'd be unusual if he couldn't buy and support a light cruiser; we can nearly support a Battlecruiser via investments and aren't that far from the norm for Barons.
Not necessarily; he is a baron, after all, and a light cruiser isn't THAT much of a ship. He may well be able to outright buy a light cruiser, and anyone able to do that can easily swing a captaincy through bribery. I'd expect Wardez to be the sort of person who wants a captaincy under his belt to support his future ambitions, but since he's young and inexperienced, he thinks he's a lot more competent than he is, and doesn't quite realize how badly he's outmatched in every field except the field of honour.
Scolly could only swing a corvette. She had the same noble rank, marginally worse Diplomacy, much better Subterfuge.
So unless the argument is that he's been getting by on his ability to shank anyone who criticises him, one has to assume the Navy has minimum standards even for Barons.
There are barons and then there are barons.
As of right now we know only 4 Duke-level names - Arril, Arslan, Wison & Jamoor. And there are three more, as of yet unknown.
There are barons and then there are barons.
As of right now we know only 4 Duke-level names - Arril, Arslan, Wison & Jamoor. And there are three more, as of yet unknown.
He's still someone who's rich, really expensive to demote or transfer away, and helps in boarding actions. Taking him under our wing will in short order give us a valuable Captain and gives us an LC slot to promote a promising Commander into.
This, pretty much. Boarding against the NASP is a great strategy, since they are bad at boarding and personal combat. Boarding against our fellow Imperials is going to be a lot harder, since they are, on average, just as good as we are. The Arslan fleet is not going to be the loot pinata that the NASP fleets were, and we'll probably wind up having to destroy a lot of their ships instead of boarding them, because we won't have the manpower to take them all.
That's not to say that we won't be able to create enough of an advantage to pull off successful boarding attacks; we almost certainly will. It just won't be anywhere near as easy as it has been.
This, pretty much. Boarding against the NASP is a great strategy, since they are bad at boarding and personal combat. Boarding against our fellow Imperials is going to be a lot harder, since they are, on average, just as good as we are. The Arslan fleet is not going to be the loot pinata that the NASP fleets were, and we'll probably wind up having to destroy a lot of their ships instead of boarding them, because we won't have the manpower to take them all.
That's not to say that we won't be able to create enough of an advantage to pull off successful boarding attacks; we almost certainly will. It just won't be anywhere near as easy as it has been.
Imperium.
We're more likely to see surrenders here than fights to the death. This isn't the Valinor Regency.
Given that a secondary goal is to add much of the Arslan fleet to the Imperial fleets, we're not likely to be blowing up very many ships intentionally either.
As for loot, this isn't an external war. I don't think normal loot rules apply to a police action.
[X] Schedule: Delay A Little. Right now your strike cruisers, especially the Huitzilopochtli, are not in the best of shape and the battleships still have very... Sloppy skeleton crews. Take advantage of your new absolute requisition priority and stop by Rimward Fleet Command on the way to the capital. Delay a few weeks to raid their squadrons for veteran crew and ensure your vessels are all refurbished to maximum shine before jumping for the Throne World. [X] Journey: Remorseless Training. This will not win you any favours with your senior officers but you are going to drill every ship ruthlessly during the journey. Constant drills, exercises and tests.
Organising the despatch of an entire fleet, let alone one crewed almost entirely by raw recruits and those fresh to their ships is never going to be easy, let alone for a journey across half of Imperial Space. Your flagship has been honed to a razors edge of utmost efficiency and both strike cruisers are properly manned but the flock of light cruisers and the battleships? Ideally you would want to keep them on shakedown for months but a this will work for a shakedown cruise and you intent to put them through their paces whilst not pressing their engines and reactors.
You have no faith they can properly maintain them.
Where you are pleasantly surprised is in the quality of some of the officers assigned to your new ships, Commander Sir Raige Linson used to serve on the Endeavour but you secure his promotion and placement upon the Hohhot, Baron Adald Clipaul Imperial's new command. He is one of the most talented junior officers you have had the pleasure of commanding as well as being a lethal duellist. Speaking of lethal duellists you are very surprised to hear that the Imperial baron has secured Marine Colonel Sir Amuel Sonels to command his battleship's marine compliment.
Colonel Sonels is one of the most dangerous men in the Empire, likely a match for Ranca, a giant even for a noble who accounted for victory in more than one capital ship boarding action during the war. He is also somewhat notorious for baiting people into duels though he is not as murderous as the Arril baroness.
Other officers you are... Less than pleased with, two of the captains assigned to your captured cruisers are outright incompetents who seem to know less about ship handling than a properly trained lieutenant but both hold multiple Shares. Baronet Riany Wryante apparently also has her own son as her executive officer, somehow, that is not quite illegal but certainly difficult to arrange.
Baron Amid Wardez by contrast seems to have reached his rank through the medium of duelling superiors who gave him bad assessments and bribing those who promoted him. This has apparently been very successful, the man does not know how to handle a ship but is a captain aged twenty four. There are also at least three Imperial Captains in his wake with prosthetic or replacement limbs.
Despite the pains of raw crews and in many cases useless officers you do get the fleet underway, four capital ships, seven cruisers, it is a week before you are able to have them all formed in space for the first jump. Then for the first time in over a year you leave the Mimir Sector. You arrived in a shuttle to a gutted and minimal fleet, you are departing with probably the fourth most powerful fleet in the Imperial Navy under your flag with every vessel having been captured during your tenure.
Whilst your battleships do all have capable senior officers they are going to set the pace as you direct your vessels in formation toward Rimward Fleet Command and the Alfheim system. You expect it will take roughly two weeks to arrive and during these weeks? You set a ruthless schedule of exercises and training for both crews and officers.
Crews and officers who are both new to their postings and looking forward to a triumphant procession through friendly space on the way to be capital where they will be feited as heroes. They are... Not happy.
Most of your officers accept that that there is good reason for this, especially with fresh crews, others grumble, loudly, they protest, they register official complaints and you know your popularity has dropped amongst those captains and executive officers who were already least happy with you being in command.
You run through simulated battle drills, fleet manoeuvrers, trying to work your ramshackle fleet into something worthy of the name. This is the first cruise for most of your ships and crews and you do notice significant improvement over most of your vessels with a few even improving readiness on route as final refits are carried out underway as damage control exercises.
It is also an excellent opportunity to coach many of your new officers and there are widespread signs of improvement though the Light Cruiser Lanzhou's raw crew does strain her drives and inflict light damage at one point. She remains entirely space-worthy.
It ends up being over two weeks of deep space exercises and training before you arrive at Alfheim and emerge from jump deep in the defences of Rimward Fleet Command.
Light Cruiser Xi'an
Captain Lord Markenn Johnson +1 Strategy (Now 10), +1 Tactics (Now 10)
Light Cruiser Samning
Crew grade increases to Green (-2)
Captain Lord Andos Lezal Rownett +1 Strategy (Now 12), -1 Loyalty (Now 9)
Commander Sir Keve Wardson +1 Tactics (Now 7)
Light Cruiser Putian
Crew grade increases to Green (-2)
Readiness increases to 65%
Captain Jeana Guezal +1 Tactics (Now 10)
Commander Dame Rewalt Terson +1 Strategy (Now 11)
Light Cruiser Mianyang
Crew grade increases to Green (-2)
Readiness increases to 30%
Alfheim itself is a planet often described as a paradise, the entire planet dedicated to fabulous estates and hunting grounds for the richest nobles of the Imperial House, whilst the system is a hive of industry, domed colonies, asteroid mines and orbital factories. The defences are second only to those of New Atlanta and there are six squadrons of capital ships stationed as the nodal reserve to counter any invasion across the NASP border. A response that you have rendered unneeded by capturing everything.
Your arrival has been heralded by patrol cutter but even so as soon as you emerge from jump you broadcast both your identification and your Imperial Priority.
Your message is acknowledged by Vice Admiral Euglas Neson Ramorg. You recognise that name, Admiral Remorg held command of the Mimir Sector prior to your arrival when it was still a Rear Admiral's posting and was responsible for stripping the sector of ships and experienced crew before your arrival.
Some of it was policy, you are aware that the Endeavour was not his flagship, he was detached back to the Alfheim Sector along with two heavy cruisers as part of a broader drawdown of frontier pickets even before the sector fleet was stripped of ships to try to help you fail, raiding every remaining ship of experienced NCOs and promising junior officers was a very deliberate act though.
You have Imperial Priority, you have a whole lot of ships that need supplies and parts, you have an even more desperate need for marines and experienced crew. How are you going to pitch this?
[] Crew: Ask For Nothing. You will train up your existing personnel on route. (+50 Political Capital, the admiral and captains will be grateful). [] Crew: Poach Veterans. You will use your priority to pull up service records then take a moderate but significant number of able spacers and mid ranking NCOs along with capable lieutenants (+1 Crew Grade to every ship. This will not please the admiral but he cannot actually blame you, he might even appreciate your restraint. But does he already hate you?). [] Crew: Heavy Recruitment. Open the gates to voluntary transfers from Rimward Fleet ships. All of the crew from your recent 'adventures' are now fantastically rich, you can expect tens of thousands of volunteers. Take the best of them but not too many. (+2 Crew Grade to every ship, annoy the admiral and all of the captains as you take their best crew). [] Crew: Press Gang The Fleet. You will use your priority to take everyone you want onto your ships, filling them with expert personnel combed from dozens of battleships. Ensure that all of your ships are entirely staffed with war veterans or experienced cruiser crew. (Raise every ship to Veteran (+2) grade at minimum, spending an extra week. -100 Political Capital, the admiral and every captain in the Rimward Fleet will hate you).
Note that increases to crew grade become much harder as crew grade increases, jumping every vessel to Veteran and those already at Veteran to Elite is the kind of thing that might take a year of combat under a capable officer who keeps winning under normal circumstances.
[] Marines: Take Them All. Completely fill the marine compliment of every vessel, this would involve ripping apart over two divisions worth of marines and... Actually not impact the number of marines kept at Rimward Fleet Command that much. There are a lot of battleships full of marines here as well as a significant garrison and one of the main training centres. (Refill all marine compliments. (Spend 30 Political Capital, normal cost 120 for this many marines, annoy the admiral.) [] Marines: Top Up. Be more moderate, take half that many marines, showing your moderation and restraint. (Raise Battleships to Marines 5, refill the Huitzilopochtli, raise each Light Cruiser to Marines 2. Fail to ruffle any feathers or need to shout at anyone).
This is one of the main places marines 'come from', so there is no point not going for at least the marine top up, this is where the '1 per strategic turn' trickle of free replacement marines you receive ship out from.
[] Ship Repairs: Replacement Parts. Just have your ships load up on every replacement part you can think of before carrying on to New Atlanta, they can refurbish on route. (+10% Readiness to every ship, nobody will be annoyed and you will only lose a week). [] Ship Repairs: Priority Yard Time. Put your less than fully ready vessels into the shipyards for two weeks and order absolute priority for their refurbishment. Two weeks would not normally be long enough to significantly impact things but you will have one of the best yards in the empire working triple shifts and Alfheim is able to outright build a heavy cruiser in a year. Also you will load up with parts to continue refits underway. (+20% Readiness to every ship, the admiral will be annoyed but this is the kind of thing your Imperial Priority is supposed to permit). [] Ship Repairs: Cannibal Time. You have orders to get these ships to the Throne World for the Empress to see. They need to be pristine, the nodal reserve at Rimward Fleet Command does not need to be pristine. Order maximum priority yard time for two weeks and if parts are not available? They will be made available even if this means stripping vessels undergoing refit or stealing yard workers to fly away aboard your vessels and continue work (+1 Crew Grade, +30% Readiness every vessel. Really antagonise the admiral and other senior officers. Will not make ships Elite grade. -50 Political Capital).
Regarding the results of the training? You will have about another two months worth but the first two weeks you carried out were especially impactful, do not expect another 4x this improvement before you arrive at New Atlanta even taking into account that 'leveled up' crews and officers find it harder to further improve. The rest of the trip will involve one more cycle of improvement rolls without the penalty that was applied to this one for short duration.
Also a four hour voting moratorium.
There are massive revisions to the setting/summary/stats posts incoming.
Imperium.
We're more likely to see surrenders here than fights to the death. This isn't the Valinor Regency.
Given that a secondary goal is to add much of the Arslan fleet to the Imperial fleets, we're not likely to be blowing up very many ships intentionally either.
As for loot, this isn't an external war. I don't think normal loot rules apply to a police action.
