- Location
- Somewhere in the stacks
- Pronouns
- She/Her
War and looting are one thing. Slave raids are entirely another.
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You Are: A sector admiral of a strained imperium.
- Thread starter Packrat
- Start date
- Original Sci-Fi
War and looting are one thing. Slave raids are entirely another.
- Location
- va
[X] Demand Tribute. Demand that the local citizens surrender then pay tribute, loading all available shipping with high value manufactured goods before sending them up into space with sacrificial crews. (Time taken and yield variable, depending upon Diplomacy and Subterfuge rolls, in the range of 5-75 Wealth)
[X] Return Home. You have achieved your goals, return home with your prizes and/or loot.
[X] Return Home. You have achieved your goals, return home with your prizes and/or loot.
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
Guys, long-term thinking here. Stop zeroing in on the maximum Wealth option and think strategically. If we want to break this system, make it incapable of properly acting, we need to go with Slave Raid. It doesn't just give us a chance at good PC gain and plenty of Wealth, it gives us the means to enforce a degree of submission from the system. Leverage is a vital commodity with a battleship squadron coming back to glare at us. All the 'spirit' in the world won't matter if we have enough high-skill or connected indivduals that we can hang out as hostages against good behaviour.
Or, y'know. Bait.
Or, y'know. Bait.
- Location
- Derna
[X] Demand Tribute. Demand that the local citizens surrender then pay tribute, loading all available shipping with high value manufactured goods before sending them up into space with sacrificial crews. (Time taken and yield variable, depending upon Diplomacy and Subterfuge rolls, in the range of 5-75 Wealth)
[X] Return Home. You have achieved your goals, return home with your prizes and/or loot.
No thanks on the slavery, I'll pass.
[X] Return Home. You have achieved your goals, return home with your prizes and/or loot.
No thanks on the slavery, I'll pass.
Forgothrax
Not Going Gently
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Demand Tribute. Demand that the local citizens surrender then pay tribute, loading all available shipping with high value manufactured goods before sending them up into space with sacrificial crews. (Time taken and yield variable, depending upon Diplomacy and Subterfuge rolls, in the range of 5-75 Wealth)
[X] Press The Attack. Send your two cruisers into the teeth of the planetary defences and their handful of likely ill crewed vessels, go for the big prize.
I'm not personally comfortable with taking slaves. Can't in good conscience vote for it even if it's strategically the right option.
But I'm not going home without that monitor.
[X] Press The Attack. Send your two cruisers into the teeth of the planetary defences and their handful of likely ill crewed vessels, go for the big prize.
I'm not personally comfortable with taking slaves. Can't in good conscience vote for it even if it's strategically the right option.
But I'm not going home without that monitor.
Well... Both Loot or Slave Raid options are bad.
Because they: a) Tie us up at one place for indeterminate time, and b) Rid us of our marine complements.
That means that, should enemy commander decide to engage us, we would be forced to avoid boarding actions, and be forced to engage unless we're willing to leave our marines to the tender mercies of NASP.
As to the pressing the attack... We could probably find a way to do defeat in detail on the remnants of the fleet, even with their defences in place.
And if we don't find such a way, Reinhard is intelligent enough to disengage.
Because they: a) Tie us up at one place for indeterminate time, and b) Rid us of our marine complements.
That means that, should enemy commander decide to engage us, we would be forced to avoid boarding actions, and be forced to engage unless we're willing to leave our marines to the tender mercies of NASP.
As to the pressing the attack... We could probably find a way to do defeat in detail on the remnants of the fleet, even with their defences in place.
And if we don't find such a way, Reinhard is intelligent enough to disengage.
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- Location
- Back in Cali
We aren't taking people to be worked to death. We are taking those that have very useful skills the skills that get people out of the debt. This helps us and hurts them. Also they have been literally abandoned by their government which is a direct democracy (mob rule).
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
It's war and they did far worse to our own on Imhotep. Respectfully, if you're going to be squeamish about this, you're probably in the wrong quest universe. Consider that the people taken would be in the Imperium's benefit to treat well, we need to do so to devalue the propaganda of the NASP. More importantly, we need them alive and in good health for the hostage leverage to work. It's not so much a slave raid - I feel this term was poorly chosen on the part of our QM, tbh - as it is a raid to acquire strategically valuable hostages to ensure future good behaviour. If done right, this could let us neutralise their battleships without firing a shot.
- Location
- Nova Scotia, Canada
We can take the gas giant pretty easily at this point and we'll win one of two ways. Either they'll send out the monitor and we can take it down or they'll abandon some of their own colonies and will have serious political problems which will weaken them in future.
Edit: Sorry, read the update and posted before noticing the thread continued on to another update. My bad.
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- Location
- Back in Cali
We are past this all ready.
- Location
- Somewhere in the stacks
- Pronouns
- She/Her
After we eviscerated their local military forces, yes. Their commander knows their limitations.
I'll be as squeamish as I want thanks. There's no need to be pointlessly cruel and ruthless either.
- Location
- Denmark
[X] Slave Raid. Use the threat of your cruiser's guns and your marines to force tens of thousands of people in high value professions to board confiscated civilian vessels then take them back to the empire as serfs, both extremely valuable and hostages to the system's further behaviour. (Time taken variable, will require Diplomacy and Subterfuge rolls, will give 10-40 Political Capital and 10-60 Wealth).
[X] Return Home. You have achieved your goals, return home with your prizes and/or loot.
[X] Return Home. You have achieved your goals, return home with your prizes and/or loot.
- Location
- New York
One thing that pisses democracies off more than anything else is an ideological threat. If all the people get motivated about who is the bad guy, then they are a lot stronger than dictatorships, since everyone is working for victory. That is why I am against the slave raid and bombing them. Demanding tribute from the wealthy will make the poor happy. There will be votes on restitution, which will give more hardship for the NASP than slaving or bombing them will. Let's try to have a moral high ground so we are perceived as the devil incarnate, just a very good military leader. Demand tribute is the best risk/reward I see. Even if we only get ~30 wealth, with our current victories that is already quite a bit.
[X] Demand Tribute. Demand that the local citizens surrender then pay tribute, loading all available shipping with high value manufactured goods before sending them up into space with sacrificial crews. (Time taken and yield variable, depending upon Diplomacy and Subterfuge rolls, in the range of 5-75 Wealth)
[X] Return Home. You have achieved your goals, return home with your prizes and/or loot.
[X] Demand Tribute. Demand that the local citizens surrender then pay tribute, loading all available shipping with high value manufactured goods before sending them up into space with sacrificial crews. (Time taken and yield variable, depending upon Diplomacy and Subterfuge rolls, in the range of 5-75 Wealth)
[X] Return Home. You have achieved your goals, return home with your prizes and/or loot.
Forgothrax
Not Going Gently
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Demand Tribute. Demand that the local citizens surrender then pay tribute, loading all available shipping with high value manufactured goods before sending them up into space with sacrificial crews. (Time taken and yield variable, depending upon Diplomacy and Subterfuge rolls, in the range of 5-75 Wealth)
[X] Press The Attack. Send your two cruisers into the teeth of the planetary defences and their handful of likely ill crewed vessels, go for the big prize.
[X] Press The Attack. Send your two cruisers into the teeth of the planetary defences and their handful of likely ill crewed vessels, go for the big prize.
[X] Demand Tribute. Demand that the local citizens surrender then pay tribute, loading all available shipping with high value manufactured goods before sending them up into space with sacrificial crews. (Time taken and yield variable, depending upon Diplomacy and Subterfuge rolls, in the range of 5-75 Wealth)
[X] Return Home. You have achieved your goals, return home with your prizes and/or loot.
[X] Return Home. You have achieved your goals, return home with your prizes and/or loot.
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
Acquiring functional leverage over the richest border system we have to currently deal with, potentially paralyzing their forces from acting against the Imperium.
Pointless.
Pick one.
You're dressing this action up in clothing that doesn't fit to justify throwing away an opportunity that could not just make things hugely easier on a strategic basis, but also drive a wedge between the population and their military high command in a way that won't be going away for decades on the basis of pathos. War isn't won by pathos.
- Location
- Back in Cali
This makes it even worse since it's going against the the will of the government. In a Republic this is ok since decisions are made by representatives and appointed personnel but a direct democracy is literally every person chooses the an action. Since they voted to attack us this is this is a complete betrayal.
- Location
- United Kingdom
[X] Demand Tribute. Demand that the local citizens surrender then pay tribute, loading all available shipping with high value manufactured goods before sending them up into space with sacrificial crews. (Time taken and yield variable, depending upon Diplomacy and Subterfuge rolls, in the range of 5-75 Wealth)
[X] Press The Attack. Send your two cruisers into the teeth of the planetary defences and their handful of likely ill crewed vessels, go for the big prize
[X] Press The Attack. Send your two cruisers into the teeth of the planetary defences and their handful of likely ill crewed vessels, go for the big prize
- Location
- Florida
[X] Loot Them. You have almost three battalions of power armoured marines backed by the guns of your cruisers. Storm the starports, seize civilian shipping, load everything of value you can confiscate over the course of a week. (Will take about 7 days, will grant Wealth depending upon Strategy rolls, in the range of 10-50).
[X] Return Home. You have achieved your goals, return home with your prizes and/or loot.
[X] Return Home. You have achieved your goals, return home with your prizes and/or loot.
- Location
- New York
I agree with you that a hard stance is necessary. But we basically took their military and spanked them like a naughty kid. If we bomb or enslave them, then they can sweep the loss under the rug. Demanding tribute will force a much more nuanced conversation in their population. I get it is a direct democracy, well when people lose their wealth and livelihoods, they will vote the other way hopefully.
Forgothrax
Not Going Gently
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Can you Hard Men Making Hard Decisions any harder while you're at it?
A) Taking slaves won't give us useful PR in NASP.
B) Taking slaves leaves us vulnerable to locals jumping in 0 and unloading magazines, with us unable to board due to marines being absent.
While your reasons do adress long-term plans somewhat well, short-term this course of actions is risky.
At the very least, we should deal with remnants of their fleet first.
- Location
- Somewhere in the stacks
- Pronouns
- She/Her
On the other hand it might galvanise them to fight even harder and be less likely to surrender or cooperate in the future. If they're willing to sacrifice those hostages, we have no leverage.
- Location
- Nova Scotia, Canada
[X] Demand Tribute. Demand that the local citizens surrender then pay tribute, loading all available shipping with high value manufactured goods before sending them up into space with sacrificial crews. (Time taken and yield variable, depending upon Diplomacy and Subterfuge rolls, in the range of 5-75 Wealth)
[X] Return Home. You have achieved your goals, return home with your prizes and/or loot.
Let's just take their money and go. We have what we needed to get out of this raid.
[X] Return Home. You have achieved your goals, return home with your prizes and/or loot.
Let's just take their money and go. We have what we needed to get out of this raid.