Author Topic: The Federated Sun's Reborn  (Read 254368 times)

Billy Boy Mark II

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #1200 on: 11 December 2019, 06:32:16 »
"You chose ... poorly" </lastcrusadememe>

So not really hostility per se towards the Lyran Alliance (well, for the most part, but I'm sure there is still at least a BIT of salt over them blindly choosing the usurper Katherine over Victor, ****** over the Federated Suns by breaking the FedCom...) but just a 'like hell we're turning over the best House Lord in history!'.

Victor is probably going to have to play the kingmaker though.

Probably can't help but shake out the shock. Although until they can do something about the WOB warships running around their space, they're going to be strategically paralyzed.

Oh there is some definite "you screwed us" resentment in a lot of Federated Suns citizens and members of the AFFS but most of the background is merely "You made your bed, lie in it" when it comes to rulers. Success for the FedSuns however has removed a lot of the sting of that - many are even prepared to go so far as to say it was a good thing because if "freed" the FedSuns to take their own path. Now that the Lyrans want Victor back though... Nope. Not a popular idea with the average Feddie.

You are right Victor is going to have to take a hand. It just depends to what extent he gets involved.

I'm surprised no one picked up on the fact that Peter's son came out healthy this time. Unlike in canon where he was harmed during the long birthing process and came out mentally handicapped.

I did wonder if anyone would notice...!

Adventwolf

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #1201 on: 11 December 2019, 06:59:27 »
Well you did make it pretty clear that not only was he not handicapped but that he seemed to be the opposite in fact. Possibly being a genius.
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Billy Boy Mark II

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #1202 on: 11 December 2019, 12:06:34 »
3070 - May - Operation Ajax IV

The crumbling situation within the Benjamin Military District didn't seem to be improving for the Draconis Combine. With the fall of Proserpina a large number of front line AFFS formations had now been released to attack other worlds and most projections were that they were going to strike out from their initial conquests towards Iruzun and Junction. If those 2 worlds fell it was only a matter of time before Benjamin itself would face attack. Large scale deployments of conventional forces both regular and militia were ordered to Junction and Iruzun. When Junction fell in mid-May almost without a fight the panic caused within the DCMS command posts on Benjamin was almost tangible. Hurried orders were sent out to forces en-route to Junction to redeploy to Umijiri and Hagiwawa. The world of Sadalbari and Homan, by now almost totally indefensible and left in a pocket near the border, in particular were stripped of almost every man and woman who could hold a rifle with any skill and who could be loaded into dropships. This stripping of these border planets of almost their entire militia's led to widespread social unrest and anti-Kurita riots.

Tannil

The 3rd Crucis Lancers RCT landed on the world of Tannil with it's aerospace brigade already hammering the local militia's positions. With almost a full reinforced regiment of battlemech's supported by almost full strength conventional forces facing them and the loss of air superiority the Tannil Militia knew that any defence was likely doomed. Conventional wisdom would have been to simply dig in and hold out for as long as possible in the probably vain hope of reinforcements arriving but instead the old school commanding officer of the militia (who had last been a serving DCMS officer during the reign of the current Coordinator's father) ordered banzai style wave attacks on the Crucis Lancers in the hope of breaking their spirit. After nearly 60% of the mostly infantry regiments had thrown themselves into the meat grinder of the Lancer's superior firepower and equipment while being bombed and strafed from above the morale of the militia broke. With the militia falling back in total disarray the 3rd's 4 battlemech battalions each supported by a full regiment of armour slashed forward to complete the rout. By the end of May the world's remaining military forces had surrendered in disgrace and the civilian government requested terms to join the FedSun's. The disgraced commanding officer of the militia committed suicide to atone for his failure as the 3rd Crucis's 2nd battalion closed in on his command post.

Donenac

Marshal Edwin May continued his grinding down of the 9th Benjamin Regulars throughout the month of May. While a few of the younger officers within the 1st and 5th Avalon Hussars's called for a more aggressive approach to the planetary invasion both New Avalon and Robinson sent not only support and additional supplies to help the conquest but also clear indications of support for his methodical tactics.

Over May the AFFS forces on planet reduce a further 4 cities garrisons. Massed artillery strikes and the massed firepower of nearly 10:1 odds during each battle continues to keep AFFS casualties to a minimum and reduces any chance of a break out by the doomed garrisons. Morale within the remaining 3 companies of 9th Benjamin Regulars plummets to somewhere below that of rock bottom. However the surviving 3 companies can only await their fate as any attempt to break out would face overwhelming AFFS forces deployed around the cities they are garrisoning. On the 29th of May the 3rd company of the 2nd battalion, the garrison of the city of Harper's Gorge, surrenders to the picketing troops of the 1st Avalon Hussars when they begin to see signs of additional AFFS forces arriving and realise they are next. The remaining 2 companies Tai-i's hurriedly assure each other via buried communication lines that they will not follow their traitorous fellow officers example and will hold to the last man!

Ludwig

The 24th Benjamin Regulars start May well, managing to avoid being pinned down and destroyed and even manage to attack a conventional mixed battalion of AFFS troops which had garrisoned one of the world's minor cities before being forced to disengage as more powerful AFFS forces barrel down upon them. However by mid month their CO's lack of forethought in preparing supply depots for a guerrilla campaign begins to tell. Running low on ammunition, spare parts, fuel for their vehicles, medical supplies and even food they are forced to begin raiding the AFFS supply lines and the captured DCMS supply depots to survive. As soon as the AFFS realise this they heavily reinforce the garrisons at these locations and begin setting ambushes around them.

By the end of the month the Regulars are in a bad way. They have lost over half their remaining strength in often fruitless attacks in order to gain basic supplies to continue fighting. Worse with little gain for these raids they are facing constant problems to just keep themselves in the field. Their raids and attacks have additionally given the AFFS solid intelligence as to what areas they are operating out off and now the noose is tightening. To make a bad situation worse they have had to begin "requisitioning" food and medical supplies from the local population in the rural areas and now those people are beginning to turn against them. Local guides are now operating with the AFFS troops to help hunt down the "bandits".

Matar

The returning remnants of the 25th Benjamin Regulars are horrified as they approach their garrison posting to see AFFS assault dropships and dropship carriers in orbit. With almost no fighter cover the Tai-i in command of the remaining 25th Benjamin Regulars realises his unit is doomed when 2 almost full strength AFFS aerospace regiments spill forth from the 10th Deneb Light Cavalry's Vengeance class carriers. He hurriedly orders the commanding officer of the dropship transport flotilla to broadcast their surrender. They land on the planet they once held for the Dragon as prisoners and march out under the massed guns of the 10th Deneb's battlemech and conventional forces. The High Command inform the 10th Deneb Light Cavalry RCT that they are authorised to keep the 2 companies of battlemechs they have captured and use them to begin forming a 4th battalion.

Junction

Even as the DCMS is rapidly sending orders to rush forces to Junction to reinforce the planet in preparation for the impending Davion attack that very attack arrives. Before more than a handful of conventional forces have arrived to bolster the garrison. Leading the way is the 1st Davion Guards RCT which is supported by the 1st Kathil Uhlans, 41st Avalon Hussars RCT and 6th Robinson Rangers RCT along with 2 fresh brigades of mixed conventional troops. The 1st Cruiser Squadron is also acting as escorts. Defending the planet against them is the 1st Ghost. The 1st Ghost had already withdrawn from Fellanin II when faced with 3:1 odds. Now they are facing even worse odds on Junction.

After a great deal of soul searching Tai-sa Kasigi decides he can no sense in throwing away one of the few veteran units left at full strength on the border merely to satisfy "honour". Despite knowing the accusations of cowardice he will face he orders his troops back aboard their dropships and flees the planet with as many of the conventional forces attached to the garrison as he can fit into his dropships. He refuses orders from the local Oyabun to evacuate the leadership of the local Yakuza and prioritises infantry and armour crews over the wealthy and influential both legitimate and criminal. While a handful of his dropships are damaged in the retreat by long range Davion fighter strikes he manages to evacuate his command almost entirely intact. He heads for Hagiwawa with his own regiment as well as nearly a dozen regiments of conventional troops.

The large AFFS task force arrives on Junction to face only minimal resistance from the few conventional troops and militia forces which haven't fled with the 1st Ghost. Within a week the last of the resistance have been mopped up and the world conquered for the Federated Suns. With the fall of Junction the Davion task force begins preparing for their jump towards Benjamin...

Waddesdon

Back from the border the world of Waddesdon is defended by a handful of second line militia units and a small number of nobles personal guards. Which are totally outclassed when the 6th FedSun's Dragoons RCT jumps into the system alongside an over strength brigade of conventional infantry. With no aerospace fighter assets available and only civilian dropships the defending forces can do little to prevent the Davion troops landing. Once landed the 6th Dragoons begin hunting down the organised resistance while the conventional brigade spread out behind them to take up garrisoning positions. By the end of May the locals are still resisting, but unless relieved will have to surrender soon.

Kitalpha

Knowing that the 1st Argyle Lancers and the 1st Revenant Guards RCT were both hovering at around 60% strength the High Command ordered them brigaded together with an additional independent armoured regiment and short brigade of infantry in order to seize Kitalpha. While the world's garrison was as sparse as Waddesdon's the High Command didn't want to take any chances and decided that these 2 elite units even under strength reinforced by conventional troops could handle the conquest as well as holding up any counter attack long enough for additional units to be rushed forward.

The situation for the militia defenders had been made catastrophically worse due to the fact that their single conventional armour regiment and 2 of their best infantry regiments had been ordered sent to Junction just 2 weeks before the AFFS forces arrived (where they would be evacuated by the 1st Ghost having barely set foot on the planet) leaving only the second line formations to face the invasion. With a scratch battalion of armour and 3 militia infantry regiments none of which had any real heavy weapons the planet likely couldn't have resisted the conventional forces the High Command had attached to the 1st Argyle Lancers and 1st Revenant Guards. Let alone 2 elite battlemech equipped formations with their own supporting assets.

The 1st Argyle takes the lead in the conquest, using their famed manoeuvrability to totally outclass and outflank the foot rifle infantry companies of the garrison. With the Lancers breaking deep into their rear and cutting them into easily digestible portions the defending militia are forced to surrender as the heavy and assault battlemech's and tanks of the Revenant Guards attack the isolated pockets they've been broken into. With the defeat of the last of the defenders the planet surrenders to the FedSuns on the 27th of May.

Kurhah

Almost as an afterthought the 21st Rim Worlds regiment of the Blue Star Irregulars were ordered to seize the world of Kurhah to protect the flanks of the drive on Benjamin. Still integrating the troops which had been forwarded to the regiment from the Avatars of Painful Death the unit's Colonel, Hank Hatfield-McCoy, deploys his heavy battlemech forces in a shock and awe campaign that smashes any resistance in battalion sized deployments. Of particular note in these hurried battles is the commendable actions of the 3rd battalion under Major Zachary Busch. While Colonel Hatfield-McCoy doesn't reverse his decision to have his XO be 1st battalion's Major Whitcock he does begin to listen more and more to his 3rd battalion's CO. By the end of the month the militia are still holding out in isolated pockets but the arrival of a veteran mixed conventional brigade from the League March merely swings the odds even more in favour of the Davion sponsored mercenaries...

PsihoKekec

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #1203 on: 11 December 2019, 13:24:27 »
Nomming continues, but eventually they will have to stop and consolidate.
Shoot first, laugh later.

Billy Boy Mark II

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #1204 on: 11 December 2019, 13:33:53 »
Nomming continues, but eventually they will have to stop and consolidate.

So far almost all the worlds they've taken have been border worlds. But now they are starting to get a bit deeper your right. They are basically hoping to get deep enough that they can seize some key worlds before they have to pause/stop. Few amongst the High Command think they can take Galedon or Benjamin - but if they can get them on the front lines that might be enough to make the Dragon sue for peace rather than risk losing them in a long war.

Chris OFarrell

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #1205 on: 11 December 2019, 15:39:08 »
Honestly if I was Victor after taking the initial key worlds, I would have reinforced and then sent out seek-and-destroy task forces rather than look to take over planets per se. Find the biggest concentrations of enemy units, fallback points and so on and hit them. Not even bothering to take control of the planets but just looking to obliterate as much of the DCMS as possible over the first half a year of war.

THEN, you can regroup, resupply and rotate units and sweep up entire theaters of worlds at your leisure because there is nothing there to defend them anymore. Rather than trying to take and hold planets in the traditional style.

With that said, Victor probably still see's this as a great crusade against evil and that his primary goal is as much to liberate the Combine as defeat them.
"I, the Baron of Strang, care not for your new names. Clans? Jade Falcons? I call you by your true name: Scum of the Star League, traitors of free will, persecutors of the Periphery come back to lord it over freedom-loving people. Come ahead, you steel-eyed robots! Come ahead and taste what a million like-minded people think of you and your damn Clans!"

-Baron Stepan Von Strang

Adventwolf

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #1206 on: 11 December 2019, 16:15:39 »
Honestly if I was Victor after taking the initial key worlds, I would have reinforced and then sent out seek-and-destroy task forces rather than look to take over planets per se. Find the biggest concentrations of enemy units, fallback points and so on and hit them. Not even bothering to take control of the planets but just looking to obliterate as much of the DCMS as possible over the first half a year of war.

THEN, you can regroup, resupply and rotate units and sweep up entire theaters of worlds at your leisure because there is nothing there to defend them anymore. Rather than trying to take and hold planets in the traditional style.

With that said, Victor probably still see's this as a great crusade against evil and that his primary goal is as much to liberate the Combine as defeat them.
Victor needs to take enough systems to make the war worth it to the people of the FedSuns. So he needs to take over a certain amount of worlds. He isn't looking to liberate or take over the Combine since that would shift certain factions against him instead of neutral or against the Combine.
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Kujo

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #1207 on: 11 December 2019, 20:45:42 »
Billy Boy MkII

Never seen a story quite like this, and that's a good thing!  Lots of reports and not whole lot of 'the hammer and thud of an auto-cannon'  battle descriptions.  definitely an interesting method and story, thank you!
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pete879

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #1208 on: 12 December 2019, 01:55:46 »
Wow, the Draconis Combine is in deep trouble.

With it being carved up this way, I can't see the Ghost Bears standing idly by for much longer...
« Last Edit: 12 December 2019, 02:02:05 by pete879 »

Chris OFarrell

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #1209 on: 12 December 2019, 04:18:58 »
Victor needs to take enough systems to make the war worth it to the people of the FedSuns. So he needs to take over a certain amount of worlds. He isn't looking to liberate or take over the Combine since that would shift certain factions against him instead of neutral or against the Combine.

Not what I meant; I was saying that he should look at taking planets later. Next year or the year after perhaps. His goal right now is to crush the Combines units as fast as possible as much as possible, meaning he shouldn't marry the ground right now. Once he's eliminated a huge chunk of the DCMS, then he can sweep back at his leisure and put troops down.

But that's not the way Victor is playing it, he seems determined to thrust straight at Galedon and Benjamin, which is a very aggressive choice. But then, it also concentrates his naval forces and simplifies his logistics while exploiting the HPG blackout with maximum agression, so it had definite advantages. But I really wouldn't be surprised if he simply hits them with heavy raids that destroy the defenders utterly, loot anything not tied down then pulls out. Trying to hold multiple deep salients would be a logistics nightmare.

Victors ideal 'win' scenario here (IMO) will be holding Dieron with some degree of depth around it to more firmly link the Lyran Alliance and Federated Suns. Also holding Proserpina and Al Na'ir dito, with a cleaned up border (including every single Federated Suns world EVER lost, naturally) as a 'stop line'. With deeper strikes against key worlds like Galedon and Benjamin in the HPG darkness to hit critical strategic targets and cripple the enemy.
"I, the Baron of Strang, care not for your new names. Clans? Jade Falcons? I call you by your true name: Scum of the Star League, traitors of free will, persecutors of the Periphery come back to lord it over freedom-loving people. Come ahead, you steel-eyed robots! Come ahead and taste what a million like-minded people think of you and your damn Clans!"

-Baron Stepan Von Strang

Billy Boy Mark II

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #1210 on: 12 December 2019, 14:24:48 »
Billy Boy MkII

Never seen a story quite like this, and that's a good thing!  Lots of reports and not whole lot of 'the hammer and thud of an auto-cannon'  battle descriptions.  definitely an interesting method and story, thank you!

Why thank you! I'm going for the more strategic view!

Billy Boy Mark II

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #1211 on: 12 December 2019, 16:31:16 »
3070 - May - Operation Agamemnon IV

The Galedon Military District had began to really suffer during May. Warlord Li Dok To was hurriedly shuffling troops around but struggled due to a lack of functional HPG's available to him. Forced to fall back on the Kurita version of the Black Boxes he was limited in the complexity of orders he could send and the information that could be fed back to him. Jumpship network of "pony express" ships provided greater information and ability to send more complicated orders but were not only expensive to set up but also vulnerable to raiding Davion fighter wings and ships. At the end of the month the Warlord is however in receipt of good news when he is informed that the Ryuken-roku and the 13th and 14th Pesht Regulars have arrived from the Pesht Military District at New Samarkand.

New Aberdeen

At the start of May Marshal Jon Davion unleashed the 4th Robinson Rangers RCT upon the faltering Ryuken-nana. The core of the 4th Rangers were members of the former Fighting Uruk-hai regiments and they had recieved word of the losses inflicted upon the Demestri's Sluggers regiment of their old command at the end of April - and more importantly how the 46th Dieron Regulars had taken no prisoners. Although under stern orders that they would not descend to this level of barbarity both from their own commanding officers and also Marshal Jon Davion himself, they do at least get to unleash their rage upon the by now half strength Ryuken-nana. Catching the 2 remaining companies of the regiment's 3rd battalion isolated they bring the whole weight of their RCT down upon them and crush them in a matter of hours - although they do take a handful of prisoners.

Even as reports are filtering into the rest of the Ryuken-nana of their 3rd battalions total destruction the Davion Heavy Guards conduct a short combat "hop" using their dropships while the 6th Crucis Lancers move up to drive them into the guns of the Heavy Guards. A handful of Ryuken-nana battlemech forces and some conventional troops manage to disengage from the 2 day battle but they are effectively destroyed as a formed military unit. These survivors will form the core of the resistance to Davion rule on New Aberdeen moving forward.

Marlowe's Rift

With a civilian government set up and the 1st Ceti Hussars continuing to reduce the hold outs the world of Marlowe's Rift is formally accepted into the Federated Suns during May. The 1st Ceti Hussars RCT will remain on planet, tasked with finishing off the last of the pockets of resistance and also beginning to train a new Planetary Guard loyal to the Federated Suns.

Capra

With the fall of the capital the AFFS forces on planet concentrate on hunting down the 12th Galedon Regulars. Outnumbered 5:1 and with almost no additional support left beyond their own regiment the 12th Galedon finds itself being harried and driven back deeper and deeper into the wilder parts of Capra. Despite their skill they are now facing overwhelming numbers and equally skilled opponents who have total control of the airspace of the planet. It is a credit to the 12th's officers that they manage to keep the unit fighting throughout May, but the steady losses have reduced them to a little over 4 companies of battlemechs and proportionate conventional forces, while they've managed to inflict only light losses on the AFFS formations.

Marshal Stromp decides at the end of May to leave the 8th Deneb Light Cavalry RCT as well as the 2nd Lexington Combat Guards to finish of the surviving 12th Galedon's troops (leaving effectively 3 and a half times the forces remaining to the 12th Galedon Regulars), while the rest of her task force prepares for their next strike. However just to hedge her bets she arranges for a mixed conventional brigade to be brought up to bolster the 2nd Lexington Combat Guards, effectively "raising" them to a RCT.

Igualada

Leaving the 3rd Syrtis Fusiliers RCT behind to garrison Harpster the 1st Crucis Lancers RCT and the 4th Syrtis Fusiliers RCT jump through a number of dead systems and hit the world of Igualada on the 22nd of May. With all DCMS efforts going to fortifying Matsuida for the no doubt impending Davion invasion the few remaining second or third rate militia formations on the planet stand little chance. After a single conventional mixed battalion that attempts to contest the 4th Fusilier's landing is destroyed almost to the last man the remaining troops decide that discretion is the better part of valour and surrender unconditionally.

An Ting

At the same time that the 1st Crucis Lancers and 4th Syrtis Fusiliers are being dispatched to seize Igualada a larger task force is hitting the heavily defended world of An Ting. The 4th Federated Sun's Armoured Cavalry as well as Clan Sun Jaguar's Alpha, Beta and Delta Galaxies lead the way escorted by the 3rd Destroyer Squadron, while just a day behind them are the 2nd and 4th Ceti Hussars RCT's.

Facing off against this force is the 7th An Ting and the 3rd and 7th Ghost regiments. The 7th An Ting is a new formation and is still under strength, counting only 2 battalion's worth of battlemech's for it's troops but for the defence of the planet the local academy's cadets and instructors bring it up to full strength with machines drawn from the academy's training forces. The 3rd Ghost is at full strength but the elite 7th is at roughly the same strength as their numerical twin in the An Ting Legions. These regular formations are also backed up by the An Ting Civilian Guidance Corp. Where the defenders really fall down however is in aerospace assets and as soon as the AFFS formations arrive in orbit they are forced into a defensive battle to at least deny air superiority to the Davion's for as long as possible.

Landing at a safe distance from the cities the 4th FSAC's CO free's the Sun Jaguar Galaxies to do what they do best. Strike hard and fast at the enemy. While Delta manoeuvres and ties up the 3rd Ghost from intervening the Khan herself leads the Alpha and Beta Galaxies directly into combat with the best of the defenders. Well trained in anti-Clan tactics the 7th Ghost still finds itself facing constant attacks from an enemy which refuses to back off or attack along predictable lines of advance. While the Clan units are all massively under strength they make up for this with skill. The 7th Ghost manages to hold it's own but when the Khan's own Alpha Galaxy suddenly and with no warning shift to AFFS tactics and throw massive combined firepower at their lines the 7th's defences crack. At which time Delta Galaxy, disengaging from the 3rd sweeps in and joins their Alpha comrades in driving deep into the 7th's rear areas - while the newly arrived 2nd Ceti Hussars RCT takes over screening the 3rd. By the end of May the 7th Ghost has been shattered as a fighting regiment and although inflicting heavy losses on the Sun Jaguar troops has been effectively wiped out.

While the 2 Ghost regiments are facing off against the Clan troops the 4th FSAC divert's it's attentions to the green 7th An Ting. Equipped with an abundance of heavy and assault class battlemech's the 4th FSAC struggles to use the fast moving cavalry tactics of a traditional Federated Suns Armoured Cavalry formation, but resorts to sledgehammer style attacks on the 7th's lines - although does at least manage to usually strike from unexpected directions. When the 4th Ceti Hussars RCT joins the 4th FSAC the 7th An Ting is forced to fall back into the capital city of Cerant and the An Ting University grounds to make it's stand.

With the mauled 7th An Ting falling back and their sister regiment effectively destroyed the 3rd Ghost makes a break for their dropships, sweeping up the survivors of the 7th Ghost as they fall back. Using both sets of dropships (as well as a number of the 7th An Ting's dropships much to the fury of the trapped An Ting troops) the 3rd Ghost attempts to flee the world. With nearly 3 regiments worth of transports they scatter wildly and run the Davion warship's blockade. The initial burn from the planet is the worst as the Davion Admiral in charge has deployed 2 Davion III destroyers almost directly over the capital's starport. Nearly half of the fleeing ships are destroyed before they can effectively scatter and of the ones who escape that initial phase nearly another half are destroyed before they can rendezvous with jumpships. Even after folding the 7th's survivors and a handful of An Ting militia into their ranks the 3rd escapes with barely half their effective force. They flee to nearby Matsuida to join the garrison there.

With the flight of the Ghost regiments the remaining AFFS troops move in on the besieged 7th An Ting and prepare to finish them off. The Clan Sun Jaguar Galaxies stand down to refit their mostly damaged and crippled battlemechs - with fresh machines arriving through lengthy supply lines back home and from AFFS depots.

Kaznejoy

The desert world of Kaznejoy, once a veritable garden world during the Star League, is a barren desert world with little to offer it now that it's most productive mines have been exhausted. Still as a prefecture capital world it is a key command hub that the AFFS seek to seize. The 5th Davion Guards RCT, 3rd Tikonov Cossack's and the mercenary Hansen's Roughriders are joined in the invasion by a large conventional force of an armoured brigade and 3 infantry brigades along with 2 independent aerospace fighter regiments and the 4th Cruiser Squadron.

To face them the garrison has 2 green units of the Galedon Regulars - the 43rd and 45th and the veteran 11th Ghost regiment as well as strong conventional regular and militia formations. The defenders concentrate their forces in and around Gondovia, but are surprised when the Davion troops instead land at the ruined Fort Darwin. While Hansen Roughriders deploy to the desert's to screen the AFFS positions, the 5th Davion Guards as well as the 3rd Tikonov Cossack's take up strong defensive positions while the engineers attached to the infantry brigades hurriedly begin renovating the fortress and repairing it while also building several large airbases for the attached aerospace assets of the attacking force. By the time the Kurita units realise what is happening and attempt to push across the desert to attack the Davion positions are almost impenetrable and their attack is driven off and harried back to Gondovia by the Roughriders. While the Davion forces continue to raid and patrol while continually building up their base on Kaznejoy it is swiftly obvious that they are awaiting further troops before making their attack...

Valentina

The 19th Galedon Regulars had barely arrived back at their garrison postings when the sensors indicated a large formation of AFFS jumpships arriving at the Nadir jump point. The Screaming Eagles mercenary formation and the 1st Conroe Borderer's have arrived to pay them back for their attack on Niles. The attached fighter wing of the Screaming Eagles and the under strength fighter wings of the Conroe Borderer's are enough to secure their landing zones, but for once the defending DCMS units don't find themselves hammered from the air.

Knowing the skill of the 19th Galedon Regulars at defensive operations the Screaming Eagles deploy in an extended front and begin slowly pushing towards the defensive lines of the Regulars. Using their superior numbers and high end equipment they begin slowly grinding them down, all the while waiting for the "signature" drive of the 19th Galedon. In order to counter this they keep the entire 1st Conroe Borderer's in reserve to rush any breach the 19th makes in the Screaming Eagles lines. The war of attrition on Niles has now been carried to Valentina, but with the sides switched...

Adventwolf

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #1212 on: 12 December 2019, 17:14:30 »
Good to see that the Sun Jaguars are adapting to the new reality. The fact that they won a major battle against a force designed and trained to beat Clan units will be a major morale boost but the fact that they won by using AFFS tactics will be a major reinforcement of the changes that have been implemented. This will also make them much easier to work with by the rest of the FedSuns. Since this shows that the new Jaguars have cast off their old ways for a new and better path with the FedSuns. It will also serve as a good indication to the Nova Cats of just what they could gain by joining the FedSuns instead of dying for the Combine.
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Billy Boy Mark II

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #1213 on: 13 December 2019, 09:45:33 »
3070 - May - The Wolves gather

With the grinding war on the Draconis Front continuing the High Command was of course largely preoccupied with either managing the active battles or planning for the next wave. In particular The High Command was extremely keen to not only wipe out any DCMS formations it could to avoid giving them time to rebuild or counter attack but now that the initial gains had been secured thought was being given to a more defensible border in the event of victory. Plans were drawn up to secure the Sadalbari and Thestria pockets while also securing additional gains to secure Dieron against any possible counter attack. The more aggressive elements of the Davion High Command were also pushing for attacks on Benjamin and Galedon to as it were drive home the point to Theodore Kurita that his realm was at the mercy of House Davion and that he had to come to the peace table as soon as possible. More than a few however, including the Marshal of Armies Jackson Davion felt that attacking and seizing 2 additional Military District capital worlds would not only dangerously overextend the AFFS but also result in the total dissolution of the Draconis Combine. Losing Dieron was going to be a humiliating enough pill for House Kurita to swallow let alone losing Galedon and Benjamin! If the AFFS managed to seize those 2 worlds it was likely that the Combine would fracture and descend into a civil war or might then become totally obsessed with their return and prove a longer term threat to the Federated Suns. That wasn't to say that the Marshal of Armies was entirely against a strike against those worlds to prove that the AFFS could if it so wished attack so deeply, but he wasn't convinced that occupying them was a good long term solution.

Fleet Admiral Buchwald also obtained permission in May for a plan involving the 4th and 7th Corvette Flotilla's. Labelled as Operation Caesar it would involve the forward deployment of no less than 20 Fox class corvettes - all of them upgraded block II ships. One addition that the rest of the High Command did insist upon was the involvement of the 2nd Destroyer Squadron as backup in case they ran into anything they couldn't handle. He also received word for the long planned Operation Paris to be launched at the same time. Also a large number of warships that are in the League, Capellan and Crucis Marches are tasked with Operation Nightfire.

On the 22nd of May Duke Roger Sanromea-Davion alongside First Prince Victor Davion and Marshal of the Armies Jackson Davion announces that he is forming a new unit which he is gifting to the AFFS on behalf of the people of El Dorado. He takes obvious pride in the fact that the unit will be formed from elements of his own Ducal Guard unit, the Planetary Guard of El Dorado and various other odds and ends that he has been able to put together. The 1st El Dorado Tercio is to eventually consist of a full reinforced RCT, however it is to be organised in a rather unique manner. Instead of the usual command company plus 4 battalions of battlemech's and 3-4 armoured regiments and 5-6 infantry formations as well as 3 aerospace wings the 1st Tercio will consist of a command combined arms battalion and 3 LCT style sub commands. Each of the LCT style command swill consist of 4 battlemech companies, 1 aerospace wing, 4 various battalions of armour and a battle armour regiment - as well as a reinforced support battalion combining 2 artillery companies, an engineering company and a VTOL company. These units will be trained to operate as part of a greater whole - the 1st Tercio - or as individual LCT style formations. Allowing the new unit to hit 3 targets at once or combine into an armoured fist as was required. One thing that was not announced at the press conference deliberately at this time was that each of the LCT formations would be functionally identical to the others in equipment, to make it harder for enemies to know which of the formations they were facing - as well as being organised by companies of the same design in the manner of the old SLDF. The 1st El Dorado was also to entirely consist of omnimechs, omnifighters and omnitanks as much as was possible. For instance each of the battlemech formations would consist of 1 company of Templar-O, 1 company of Thanatos-O, 1 company of Dervish-O and a final company of Javelin-O. These were deliberately chosen not only to all be Federated Sun's signature designs but also from 4 separate industrial companies. If this model of organisation is a success it is intended to roll it out to other commands such as the Davion Brigade of Guards, Crucis Lancers and Avalon Hussars to ease supply issues. At the current time roughly 2 LCT commands are being assembled on El Dorado.

A second press announcement followed shortly after the formation of the 1st Tercio on the 24th, this time by Duchess Isis Davion. She informed the various press officials that she and her husband had been reading with great concern the reports from the world of Benet III and the "Death Mists" which had killed or incapacitated so many of it's brave defenders as well as proving a permanent threat to the civilian population. As such she and her husband were directing the various scientific institutions within the Federated Suns to look into some form of terraforming technology or air filtration units that could prevent the steadily worsening situation on that planet becoming untenable. Any technological gains made during this research could hopefully then be rolled out to other "tainted" worlds throughout the Federated Suns.

Knowing that the LAAF's supply lines will be strained by the siege on Hesperus the High Command also begins assembling a number of supply convoys to send to their former comrades - largely with older but still serviceable battlemechs and tanks and a large quantity of spare part. Most of these machines are potentially only useful within the Federated Suns as rear area security militia level equipment but they will at least help keep the LAAF operational if Hesperus falls.

Following the Lyran Alliance Estates-General voting again and this time in favour of inviting "Former Archon-Prince Victor Steiner-Davion" to Tharkad to discuss the succession. The First Prince in a carefully worded reply explains that he cannot do so due to the war, but that he is sending a representative to Tharkad to speak on his behalf. The newly appointed Princes's Champion Galen Cox - a Lyran native no less. Princes's Champion Cox will have full powers to negotiate on the First Princes's behalf.

On Dieron the Osaka Heavy Metric's plant is reformed into the Draconis March Heavy Industrial Mech Company. Government funding and support is rushed through to not only refurbish and expand the plant but also to open a second plant on Deneb Kaitos to produce the extremely useful Kiso construction industrial mech.

Also on Dieron the LAW facility to build Grand Dragons and refit other battlemech's is listed for sale to the existing military-industrial companies of the Federated Suns. Bids will be taken during May and June.

Similarly the Bulldog industrial plant on Proserpina has executives arrive from the Northwind plant and begin to put it back into production - concentrating on the Schiltron omni-artillery tank. They are hoping to return this facility to production by the end of the year. Other lines are also under repair although not to the same level of effort.

Within the Lyran Alliance the fighting on Hesperus drags on. The defenders are heartened with promises of aid being prepared but know they will have to continue to hold out for some time. They are slightly reinforced when the 7th Donegal Guards regiment arriving in system with LAS Carlisle and LAS Hamilton running escorting duties at a pirate point. The 2 Fox class corvettes are massively outclassed by the WoBS Invincible, 2 Suffren class destroyers and 3 Zechetinu II corvettes that are in orbit, but they do manage to hold off the warships from gutting the 7th Donegal Guards as they burn for the planet. The LAS Carlisle dies doing so while the LAS Hamilton limps away heavily damaged. They do manage to destroy a single Zechetinu corvette with nuclear missiles. The 7th lands on Hesperus and through heavily defended back doors rush into the factory to reinforce the defenders. Nearly 70% of the unit make it into the DefHes plant and join in fighting in the tunnels below.

Throughout the rest of the Lyran Alliance raids by WOB forces seem to spread like a rash. However the worst news comes from the Clan border where the Wolf Clan cross the border in strength. Striking out from the former Clan Jade Falcon worlds of La Grave and Orkney they hit Ballymure, Pandora, Crimmond, Tomans, Raselgathi and Fort Loudon. Leading the way is the Tamar Galaxy alongside more traditional Wolf Galaxies.

On Bolan the defending 4th Alliance Guards RCT and 1st Bolan Jaegers find their situation getting worse when the 11th Atrean Dragoons join the invaders. Without the heavily mountainous terrain they would already have been overrun. With FWLN ships in orbit they stand no chance of withdrawing and send word requesting reinforcements urgently.

Invaded now on 3 sides the Lyran Alliance is struggling to respond. While the First Princes's reply to their invitation is disappointing, with how bad the situation is for the LAAF they are forced to accede and welcome the dispatch of the new Princes's Champion. General of the Armies Adam Steiner is forced to privately send word to New Avalon requesting that the Princes's Champion bring with him a task force of AFFS troops...

Iron Grenadier

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #1214 on: 13 December 2019, 10:24:13 »
Yeah I would think seizing worlds like Galedon and Benjamin would have an affect not unlike Kentares did to the Davions during the 1st Succession War.

The damage to the Kurita pride would just be immense.

Billy Boy Mark II

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #1215 on: 13 December 2019, 11:43:11 »
Unit Profile - 1st El Dorado Tercio

1st El Dorado Tercio: Golden Guard


Founded in May 3070 the 1st El Dorado Tercio was something of a trial unit. On paper the unit is to be formed as 3 full LCT's which are deliberately planned to be identical. Each of the LCT that make up the unit will consist of a company each of Templar-O's, Thanatos-O, Dervish-O and Javelin-O's. The armoured units assigned to the LCT's are also designed around omnivehicles as much as possible and again they are designed to be formed from entire battalions of the same design and to be identical to each other. This new table of equipment for the unit is the brainchild of Marshal of the Armies Jackson Davion. Based on the old SLDF idea of having entire units of the same battlemech and vehicles to ease supply problems, this new/old idea is to be tested out on the 1st El Dorado Tercio, if it is successful it will be rolled out into the rest of the AFFS as time, funds and material allows. In order to support this intent the finest technical staff and support force is assembled.

The plan also involves the 1st Tercio being effectively a formation that can either be deployed en-mass or instead broken into it's constituent elements and dispatched to hold or attack 3 worlds at a time. In some regards this is an emulation of the Ceti Hussar's formations who can be broken into 3 combat commands if need be, but without the full integration of these formations.

Most of the officers and troops of the new unit are El Dorado natives, with only a handful from other worlds being brought in for key specialist roles. When formed only 2 of the LCT's are actually formed with the 3rd effectively existing only on paper. The 1st LCT of the Tercio is drawn largely from the Sanromea-Davion Ducal Guard, a formerly battalion sized formation of mostly heavy and assault battlemechs, with some transfers in from the regular AFFS. While the 2nd LCT is drawn from the El Dorado Planetary Guard with again a handful of AFFS regulars for leavening. The most obvious example of this is Leftenant Melissa Sanromea-Davion who is assigned to the 2nd LCT's 1st company of the new unit for the time being from the Planetary Guard, at her father's own request with a brand new Templar-O for a ride.

Formed on their homeworld of El Dorado the "Golden Guards" immedietly begins training extensively with their new equipment and comrades. Particularly the members of the Planetary Guard but even those from the Ducal Guard saw a substantial upgrade to their equipment when they find their battlemech's replaced by omnimechs. Even the incredibly rich world of El Dorado and the Sanromea-Davion's who rule it were unable to equip their militia and household troops with omnimechs after all! Each LCT trains not only as an individual unit but also together. Plans are rushed forward that additional troops will be sourced from again the Planetary Guard and local training facilities and also the NAIS and New Albion Academy to form up the 3rd LCT as soon as possible. As soon as the 3rd LCT is formed up the plan is to transfer the unit to a world with a Combat Training Centre as a priority. For now the unit has no specific speciality but the intent from the officers of the unit and the High Command is to specialise in offensive operations - in particular using the flexibility of their omnimechs to overwhelm their opponents.

Officers

Although an incredibly junior officer Leftenant Melissa Sanromea-Davion is probably the most prominent officer in the unit. While she is considered an excellent mechwarrior who performs extremely well in almost every single combat simulation where she is fighting on her own, it is soon noticed that she seems to struggle to command any unit larger than a lance and in particular at personal interactions between herself and subordinates. Major General Vincent Rasmussen (recalled from retirement having previously commanded the 2nd Albion Training Cadre specifically due to his experience at training new units) takes a personal interest in her, knowing that she has a great deal of potential and given her connections is likely to be pushed for promotion, and begins working with her on both weaknesses.

1st El Dorado Tercio Command Battalion
Reinforced Battalion/Green/Reliable
CO: Major General Vincent Rasmussen
Aide: Colonel Keith Davids
Aerospace Brigade: Rear Admiral Georgina Hasek-Zibler
The Command Battalion consists of a full company of omnimech's supported by an armoured company and battle armoured company. Although not in the original plans 2 additional aerospace wings are attached directly to the Command Battalion, the first of which is equipped almost entirely with Dagger-O aerospace fighters and is trained as an interceptor unit while the second is designated as a bomber formation and equipped accordingly. These are designated the 1st El Dorado Interceptors and 1st El Dorado Bombers respectively.



1st El Dorado Tercio LCT
Light Combat Team/Green/Reliable
CO: Leftenant General Dave Sanromea
Formed around the former Davion-Sanromea Ducal Guard unit the core of the 1st El Dorado Tercio LCT consists of a mixture of locally trained troops and veterans of the AFFS who had taken up postings to the Ducal Guard. With the starting point of the former Ducal Guard troops the LCT is soon coming together as a force and integrating it's various sub-units effectively. The battle armour regiment's support staff is largely drawn from the various technical support personnel dispatched by the AFFS to help the new unit get set up. The 1st El Dorado Attack Wing forms the air support of the unit.


2nd El Dorado Tercio LCT
Light Combat Team/Green/Reliable
CO: Leftenant General Joe Zibler
The 2nd Tercio LCT is formed largely from units of the El Dorado Planetary Guard. While the rich world of El Dorado maintains a number of battlemech equipped units as well as sizeable armour formations within it's Planetary Guard the unit's technical staff are really struggling to cope with the upgrade to omnimechs and omnitanks. Similarly the technicians assigned to the unit from the militia are having real difficulties adjusting to the large formations of battle armour troopers assigned to the LCT. With the bulk of the AFFS support troops assigned to the 1st LCT the 2nd is having major technical difficulties, to the point that Major General Vincent Rasmussen has requested aid in this area from the technicians of the Davion-GM-Kallon Cooperative plant on El Dorado at least for the omnimechs and omnitanks of the unit so that the few trained technicians can concentrate on the battle armour and omnifighters maintenance needs. The 2nd El Dorado Attack Wing forms the air support of the unit.

3rd El Dorado Tercio LCT
Light Combat Team/Green/Reliable
CO: Leftenant General Ian Wright
While officially the 3rd LCT exists only on paper Duke Roger Davion-Sanromea has managed to acquire a battalion's worth of armoured vehicles and 2 battalions of battle armour forces for the still forming 3rd LCT. He has also bought the unit a full lance of Wayland Mobile Bases from his own pocket and as a result Major General Rasmussen is cycling a number of El Dorado Planetary Guard technicians through the 3rd before assigning them to the 2 operational LCT's. The armoured battalion in particular rarely uses their omnitank's flexibility and for the time being equips them primarily in an anti-aircraft role which is then used to train the attack wings of the other formations in ground attack. The 3rd El Dorado Attack Wing is an entirely paper force without a single officer, pilot, ground staff crew member or omnifighter currently assigned to it.

Adventwolf

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #1216 on: 13 December 2019, 14:37:52 »
The new unit will be extremely helpful once it is up and running. Plus that will make the new class of RCT extremely robust and flexible. Sad we don't get a Warlord but what ever the El Dorado "Third" make a fine addition to the AFFS.

So we have three Naval Task Forces moving out. The Fox IIs and the Davion IIIs make up a good amount of firepower. Now the question is where are they going? They maybe going deep to hit Combine forces or they might appear near the borders with the OWA and Snow Ravens as a show of what the FedSuns can offer and spare to deal with them without hurting their strategic position.

The Task Force from the League March is obviously getting ready to move on the FWL/Lyran fight to relieve one side of the attacks. That along with task force the Prince's Champion will be bringing will help slow the attacks and those forces can be used to get Heph back under control.

The third operation I have no idea what they will do. Maybe this is the task force that will go to the other side of the Combine to open a new front. They will be useful either in spreading the DCMS even more or as a attack deterrent for the Wolves. Once again they should go to the FRR. That place has been building up and raising troops along with training with the ComGuard this entire time. And unlike in canon where they left the alliance with ComStar here they never did and have continued to get support.

And speaking of the Wolves of course they attack. Kat wouldn't let a moment like this pass. And we have the start of a Rebellion by those stupid or greedy enough to support Kat as well that will start soon. Unless the Lyran forces preemptively crush those worlds. The Arc Royal Defense Corridor will be in full alert now that the clans are attacking. It is time to talk to Ghost Bear about expansion into.the Combine and the Wolves occupation zone. That should keep the Clans busy for a few years fighting on two fronts. And Jade Falcon is still hurt from their last attempt so it should still be awhile before they attack.
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PsihoKekec

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #1217 on: 13 December 2019, 16:24:20 »
Bears are interested into former Ralshague worlds. I think they hold all that Combine used to control, but Wolves still control a considerable number...

Shoot first, laugh later.

Chris OFarrell

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #1218 on: 13 December 2019, 16:45:38 »
The Bears don't really have any reason to jump in - nor would it be in their nature to do so. Even in the Jhiad they stayed out of it until more or less tricked into joining up, despite the possibilities. They are conservative to a tee.

As for Victor and the Lyrans, Victors best bet to help them is with a naval sweep. Hopefully one of these operations about to launch includes a powerful strike force sweeping up and along the FWL/Lyran border. First crushing the WOB naval force at Hesperus to allow Lyran reinforcements to finally land and deal with the situation there.
Then continuing on to the Lyran worlds that the FWL have invaded and giving the attackers/occupiers one chance to pack up and pull back, while also repudiating Peters outright land grab at the same time. Given the fragile state of the FWL and the civil war looking like its about to go hot again, you can bet orders will come back to accept the outcome. Make it pointedly clear to Corrine Marik that she's had her fun, recovered the worlds Peters naked land grab took (and have Galen encourage any holdouts to pull back on the grounds that the Alliance needs them on other fronts NOW) ... but she needs to pull her forces and warships back. And if she doesn't, well, don't expect the WOB to replace the warships she is about to loose.

It's very much an offer I think Corrine Marik would not refuse. She still gets her win, she's made and point - and she CANNOT afford to loose her Corvettes and ground troops in a futile fight against a FedSuns carrier group or two as it would destroy all her political gains (and strategic gains for that matter).

Then, Galens troops can turn his attention North to dealing with the WOB raiding parties and Wolf invasion. While stopping to chat with Adam and the Estates Generals as Victor to everyone's surprise (after you know, being the hero in their darkest hour, again) turns down the Archonship in favor of his nephew and nominates Ceaser or Reinheart as regent, while assuring the Estates Generals that the Federated Suns will do what it can to support their family on the other side of the sphere...

ComStar meanwhile are overdue for launching THEIR attack on Terra. Or even just executing high-tempo raiding through the WOB 'protectorate' to systematically knock off as many isolated warships as possible to grind their fleet down. And perhaps even seek to lure out and ambush a reaction force from the WOB by taking a key world close to Terra as an obvious staging ground ... then when the WOB fleet arrives, the ComStar fleet swings around the other side of Endor and a horrified Gregory Zwick shouts 'IT'S A TRAP!' as the FULLY ARMED AND OPERATIONAL SDS SYSTEM opens fire-

...

Okay perhaps I need more sleep :D
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Tyler Jorgensson

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #1219 on: 13 December 2019, 17:00:02 »
The Bears should remind the Wolves what happens when they divide their attention, as well as probe a couple Trial/Raids across the border into DCMS space. Common sense says don’t but the Bears should consider heading towards Rasalhague Worlds with these probes before the AFFS can get them. Maybe even start talking with ComStar about the rest of the FRR.

Can’t wait to see the chaos of KSD and her Wolf Galaxy tearing into Lyran space and the ‘Katherine’ loyalists that move to support her.

snakespinner

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #1220 on: 13 December 2019, 17:12:37 »
I don't see why the Bears don't attack the Wolves.
They are clan so keeping up the training of their warriors is so important. >:D
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pete879

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #1221 on: 14 December 2019, 03:10:04 »
I don't see why the Bears don't attack the Wolves.
They are clan so keeping up the training of their warriors is so important. >:D

Totally. And keep in mind the Bears are facing a strategic dilemma. While their territory is extensive looking at it from south to north, it is very narrow form east to west. In that the Bears lack strategic depth. With both the Wolves and the Combine currently preoccupied maybe now is the time to address that problem. So a little limited raiding and blooding the cubs can also serve as preliminary recon in force.

Dave Talley

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #1222 on: 14 December 2019, 08:49:43 »
Could be a great time to snatch up any remaining Rasalhague planets the wolves or drags hold
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TigerTiger74

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #1223 on: 14 December 2019, 10:09:26 »
I am assuming that the long awaited operation Paris is the one undertaken by the FSS Covenant and its two escorting Sian/Inazuma Corvettes.

Lone-Wolf

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #1224 on: 14 December 2019, 12:54:41 »
I am sorry to break the bad news.

On the one hand the Davions want the Dragon to sue for peace.
On the other hand they are celebrating that Comstar quit working for the Dragon.

Wouldn`t that imply that any message suing for peace will take more time then usual? Just saying.

And as Chris OFarrell and others mentioned Canned Sunshine:
Wasn`t it always said that while the Inner Sphere powers no longer used canned Sunshine casually it was informally known that when a power was threatened substantially that then canned sunshine would be back on the table?
Something like: Ok, we exchange a few planets down the century but if you cross the line at Dieron (for example) then the survival of the DC is threatend and then its sunshine time. And everybody knew about it and thats why certain borders were not crossed.
In the real timelime Comstar used this against the FS when they attacked Sarna during the 4th Succession War to stop them from totally demolishing the CC.

Can you imagine that one high ranking officer in command of a planet snaps after nearly all his forces are destroyed and then he sends out a message that the FS has crossed this informally known border and broken this non-written agreement and then orders his artillery to open fire?

David CGB

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #1225 on: 14 December 2019, 17:42:06 »
Could be a great time to snatch up any remaining Rasalhague planets the wolves or drags hold
As long as one does this smartly, aff
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Billy Boy Mark II

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #1226 on: 15 December 2019, 09:50:33 »
3070 - June - Naval Operations

In June the Federated Sun's Navy had it's turn to show what the billion's of c-bill investment in building it could do. In Operation Caesar 2 full flotilla's of Fox II corvettes and a squadron of Davion III along with every pocket warship, assault dropship, gunship, fighter wing, marine company and LF battery equipped Tramp class jumpship that the Admiral's could scrape together swept into action on the Draconis Front. Meanwhile the FSS Covenant and her 2 escorting corvettes initiated Operation Paris deep behind the enemy lines. At the same time a large number of heavier ships began assembling as part of Operation Nightfire and headed towards the Lyran Alliance.

Operation Caesar

With the 2nd Destroyer Squadron broken into 2 divisions each of 2 ships as backup the 4th and 7th Corvette Flotilla's began operations within the Draconis Combine. Each flotilla effectively scattered, each corvette forming the basis of a raider mini-flotilla of it's own, consisting of the corvette - carrying full fighter wings, a Vengeance class carrier dropship, 2 pocket warships and 2 assault dropships, 2-3 Tramp class jumpships all carrying a mix of marine transports, further assault and pocket warships and enough carrier dropships to add at least 1 more aerospace regiment to the force. Supply flotillas remained with the Davion III destroyers operating as backup, mostly consisting of Monolith and Star Lord class jumpships who would dispatch the remaining handful of Tramp class jumpships to rendezvous and resupply the raiding flotillas as required. It went without saying that in addition to the Davion III's the supply flotillas had large number of assault dropships and fighter wings of their own protecting them.

Each raider force scattered throughout the Combine's space. The 4th Corvette's ships scattered mostly throughout the Benjamin and Dieron Military Districts while the 7th concentrated it's efforts within the mostly still totally HPG-dark Galedon Military District. Their goal was simply - to capture or destroy every Combine registered jumpship and dropship that they possibly good. They were to avoid combat with enemy warships if at all possible, if not they were to summon the Davion III destroyers to hunt and destroy individual warships or summon additional raider flotillas to help as well if they ran into a major DCA presence. To avoid the chance of them being ambushed in turn they were ordered to avoid a number of key worlds.

Even avoiding district and prefecture capital worlds the raider flotilla's were soon cutting a swathe through the Combine. While the lesser worlds would rarely have many jumpships in system at any time the loss of every single hull was something that the Combine simply couldn't afford right now. During June the raider flotilla's managed to each raid on average 3 systems. Meaning that overall 63 systems received the attention of the raider flotillas across a huge range of the Combines rear areas. The Tabayama Prefecture was particularly hard hit with only the prefectures capital world not being raided and swept clean of jumpships.

In each case the Davion's operation was effectively the same. The raider flotilla would jump into a system and immedietly disgorge it's dropships and fighters. Jumpship's and jump stations would be ordered to stand down. Any that resisted or attempted to flee would then be attacked. The Fox corvettes would smash any assault or pocket warship dropship with the aid of their own and fighter wings while other assault dropships and fighters would escort marines with prize crews to take control of jumpships and dropships. When the raider flotilla jumped out they would take with them the captured vessels which would then make their way to the supply rendezvous and from there back into the Federated Suns.

There were of course running battles at many jump points and often these would give the Kurita jumpships time to jump away and escape - if they had a sufficient charge. However even when this happened it caused massive disruption to the Combines lines of supply and even communication - with jumpships assigned to certain routes and worlds now suddenly either gone or having emergency jumped to the wrong system or a dead system and so out of use for at least a week.

Within a week of the first strikes the Draconis Combine Admiralty were under screaming pressure to "do something". Of course given that the entirely Kurita warship fleet consisted of only 24 hulls, half of which were Inazuma class corvettes there was little they could do. The heavier vessels were concentrated at worlds like Pesht, Luthien, Galedon, New Samarkand and Benjamin along with most of the corvettes. The few corvettes not at capital worlds were often stationed at worlds with shipyards to protect them. The DCA knew that to dispatch single ships was to invite defeat in detail and so instead began to slowly strip a warship here, a fighter wing there to assemble a hunter killer group to hunt the raiders - but they knew that this would take time and worse they could only possibly assemble a single group without stripping the defences of key worlds bare.

Meanwhile the Davion raider flotilla's ran rampant...

Operation Paris

The FSS Covenant and the FSS Trickery and FSS Trickster jumped into the Midway system on the 7th of June - masquerading as the DCS Siriwan (which the AFFS knew to be heavily damaged in orbit over Benjamin) and 2 escorting Inazuma class corvettes. Artfully arranged false panels and an engine room that was being run in a way that was driving the ship's chief engineer to almost a mental breakdown gave the impression of a heavily damaged cruiser limping home, while IFF transponder codes stolen by ROM agents and given to the AFFS backed this up. While these codes were somewhat out of date - Midway's HPG had been particularly trashed and it's communication lines to the DCA on Luthien were almost non-existent.

The planet's primary garrison was the 17th Legion of Vega, but it's green fighter wing was planet side rather than at the shipyards. The yards themselves had a heavy assault dropship force (built around 4 Nekohono'o and 2 Excalibur class pocket warships) to protect them, as well as a strong marine contingent and a naval aerospace wing. As well as these forces the DCS Galedon Warrior was home ported in the system and 2 Inazuma class corvettes were completing at the yards and were theoretically available for defensive operations.

The limping FSS Covenant approached the yards with pre-recorded messages being sent of heavy internal damage from fighting at Dieron. This ruse held up almost to extreme range but when the captain of the DCS Galedon Warrior saw the 9 dropships detaching from the incoming "friendlies" he smelt a rat and began a combat burn towards them to intercept them. Perhaps had he known of the existence of a Kirishima class vessel within the Federated Sun's Navy he might have caught on quicker, but that information had been heavily suppressed even within the DCA. The 2 Inazuma class vessels technically under his command were unable to join him, barely able to go to action stations and begin deploying away from the yards. He was however joined by the assault dropship force from the shipyard.

The FSS Covenant and her escort's 6 pocket warships - all Excalibur class - opened the fighting with a series of long range capital missile volleys at the charging DCS Galedon Warrior, while the other 3 dropships - all Vengeance class - began launching fighter wings that were heavily slewed towards anti-ship operations with 80 of the 120 fighters launched heavy weighted and outfitted with capital missiles/bombs on their hard points. The remaining 40 dropship launched fighters and all of the 24 launched from the warships themselves were amongst the finest interceptor designs and pilots the AFFS could produce.

Hit 3 times by missiles the DCS Galedon Warrior swung to port to fire heavier broadsides and was matched in this by the FSS Covenant. The FSS Trickster and FSS Trickery continued to drive forward firing at the DCS Galedon Warrior as best they could but also attempting to reach the shipyard before their 2 sister ships could become fully operational. The pocket warships stayed with the FSS Covenant and continued to pour missiles into the DCA warship as did more than half the fighters, while their DCA counterparts did the same.

The fight between the DCS Galedon Warrior and FSS Covenant was brutal and over much quicker than most naval engagement. By the end of it the DCS Galedon Warrior was destroyed along with all of it's accompanying dropships, while the FSS Covenant had suffered moderate damage and lost all but 1 of it's escorting dropships.

The FSS Trickster and FSS Trickery along with a full aerospace regiment had crashed down on the still working up DCS Divine and Beautiful Wind and DCS Cherry Blossom's Fall along with most of the DCA fighter wing. The 2 Kurita corvettes had stood little chance and been torn apart by the heavy fighters of the FedSun's Navy bomber wings - and then finished off by their Davion counterparts. While the DCS fighter wing survived longer and managed to inflict significant losses upon the 2 bomber wings which had crippled the 2 Kurita corvettes, they lost access to any chance to refuel or rearm when the FSS Trickery closed with the shipyards and began firing into their base station. When the surviving fighters from the FSS Covenant's fight joined their remaining comrades the numbers were simply too much for the Kurita fighters and they were destroyed.

With the enemy naval assets destroyed the 3 Federated Sun's warships made no effort to seize the shipyards or warships being constructed in them, but instead opened fire and with careful volleys crippling the yards over the course of 3 days. Not even the most optimistic plans of the AFFS High Command foresaw Midway joining the Federated Suns and as such it was more important to cripple the yards to prevent further Kurita warships being built. While the yards weren't outright destroyed and would be repairable, it would only be at huge cost and probably take years. Deliberately the shipyard slips capable of producing jumpships were less damaged, with the hope that this would force the Kurita's into prioritising jumpship production over warship production.

The 3 damaged Davion warships jumped out of the Midway system on the 28th of June leaving wreck and ruin in their wake, making the long way back via dead systems to the FedSun's to be refitted and repaired.

Operation Nightfire

The 1st, 2nd and 4th Carrier Battle Groups (albeit with the 2nd and 4th "Battle Groups" consisting only of their New Syrtis class carrier) formed the core of the forces assigned to Operation Nightfire. They were joined by the 1st Destroyer and 3rd Squadron, 1st Patrol Squadron and the 1st and 3rd Corvette Flotilla's. With 3 Carriers, 10 Destroyers, 4 Frigates and 20 Corvette's as well as a large number of jumpships and dropships of all kinds, the assembled fleet dwarfed any deployment of warships by the Federated Sun's since the 1st Succession War's Battle of Cholame. The fact that it was being launched at the same time as Operation Caesar spoke volumes as to the capabilities of the resurgent Federated Sun's Navy.

Using dead systems the massive fleet headed through the League March and into the Lyran Alliance. While Fleet Admiral Buchwald had been tempted to order it to strike at the WOB forces at New Earth, Thorin, etc or even perhaps Terra itself he had given strict orders. The Fleet was to hide it's presence until it could jump into Hesperus and liberate that world. For this purpose the 1st St Ives Cheveau-Legers, 1st Arcadians RCT, 1st Aragon Borderer's, 1st Kittery Borderer's, 2nd New Avalon Cavaliers and 5th FedSun's Dragoons RCT along with a substantial number of independent battle armour battalions and marine units had been attached to the Fleet for ground operations. Leading the ground elements was none other than former Princes's Champion Ardan Sortek himself, with the rank of Field Marshal. It was due to arrive in the Hesperus system sometime in July depending on it's progress and any potential delays. Consideration had been given to inform the ComGuards or LAAF so that they could assign units to Task Force Nightfire, but had been rejected as a security risk.

Adventwolf

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #1227 on: 15 December 2019, 11:44:56 »
Seems I was mostly wrong about what the operations were going to be. Only one I got right was that the one being assembled in the League March was going to Lyran space. Just missed the actual targets.

The Raiders are the most important part of this Naval War. By stripping the Combine of its Jumpships and adding them to the FesSuns it tips the logistics' game even more in favor of the FedSuns. Plus with the FedSuns own Jumpship production and the new shipyard in work the supply lines will get more reinforced. To support themselves better and to lower tensions on their border the FedSuns can look to buy more Jumpships from the Taurians and the Outworlds Alliance/Snow Ravens. That makes the FedSuns more profitable to the OWA/SR keeping them from choosing a side and it makes the Taurians more money to recover and expand. The FedSuns can spare several billion pounds to buy the ships easy. They can also provide billions more in funding to both of those periphery states for new shipyard complexes to be started. This way the periphery states make more resources and the SR no longer have a reason to join the Combine in their death spiral.
Fun quest that need more people:

Skywalker For Senator (Star Wars) - Q, Star Wars: Beyond the Republic, We Stand Against the Stars (Gundam/Macross) Crossover, Mobile Suit Gundam: Divided Federation (Civ Quest), The Lords of Ruin -- Battletech/Killzone Crossover, Star War Moff Quest: Lost in Space

cawest

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #1228 on: 15 December 2019, 11:47:52 »
wow.  if they took 60-100 jumpships out of the DC hands.  that would crushing on any supplies going anywhere.  can not wait for july's update.  But I would have let LC and ComStar know about the fleet building up.  I just would have told them that it was going to fight the clan (tell that that to comstar)  and I would stay that they were going to New Earth (tell that to the LC).  or something along those lines.  make a dozen different stories, if you wanted to. 

that would send any spies into tail spins.  it also would make their higher command not trust any other reports coming from those assets. 

Adventwolf

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Re: The Federated Sun's Reborn
« Reply #1229 on: 15 December 2019, 12:20:21 »
wow.  if they took 60-100 jumpships out of the DC hands.  that would crushing on any supplies going anywhere.  can not wait for july's update.  But I would have let LC and ComStar know about the fleet building up.  I just would have told them that it was going to fight the clan (tell that that to comstar)  and I would stay that they were going to New Earth (tell that to the LC).  or something along those lines.  make a dozen different stories, if you wanted to. 

that would send any spies into tail spins.  it also would make their higher command not trust any other reports coming from those assets.

It also would have put the two forces of the Lyrans and ComStar out of place expecting to fight in one area and being left to die. Not something an ally should do and would hurt relations.
Fun quest that need more people:

Skywalker For Senator (Star Wars) - Q, Star Wars: Beyond the Republic, We Stand Against the Stars (Gundam/Macross) Crossover, Mobile Suit Gundam: Divided Federation (Civ Quest), The Lords of Ruin -- Battletech/Killzone Crossover, Star War Moff Quest: Lost in Space

 

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