Group Design Challenge: WarShip Arms Race

[Alsadius]

One of the reasons I specified a particular construction tool was to make these debates less important. Even if the Google Docs spreadsheet isn't accurately representing BT rules, it's still correct for the purposes of our game.

That said, a quick test suggests that the sheet uses near-identical costs for a primitive-drive ship with 15LY range as a compact-core ship with 30LY range. The difference on a test ship was $200k out of $10B total cost(due to differences in free heat sinks and K-F tankage costs). Only the mass changes between the two, really.

Who created these ships, and what tool did they use?

[marcussmythe]

I created them, different spreadsheet (that apparently used the pre-errata costs for cores).  Ill switch over to the other one to avoid problems in the future, and have already offered to cover the cost difference of those ships out of next turns budget.

[Lagrange]

On the flip, given that the cost is the same, it will at least give him full up warships!

That's a good point.  Double range to 30 light years and you free up 4.75k tons.   Maybe even make it a full refit to take advantage of the extra tonnage.

[truetanker]

Wait... I have free tonnage?

I'll pay for the cost, as it was my design originally. Just tell me what is needed and I'll put it into play as for the extra open tonnage... cargo would be nice.

TT

[Lagrange]

Any status update on the turn?

One thought: Is it possible to farm out individual battles to 3rd parties?

[Alsadius]

Yeah, it's time for an update. Long story short, I've made some progress, but Thanksgiving kicked my ass with two separate family get-togethers, my wife's birthday is tomorrow, and work is still crazy. Given how atrociously long this turn has taken, I'm going to start farming out some of the writing and cutting the filler content. I should be able to do better than this in the long run(2-3 weeks ought to be attainable), but clearly that hasn't worked out this time.

If you're willing to write a scene, please let me know. It won't involve anything meaningful happening to your own country or any of your neighbours, but I see no reason why we couldn't have, for example, Kiviar writing a LC-FWL battle. Please only volunteer if you can have it finished by this coming Saturday, the 13th.

I'll have next turn posted by this coming weekend, no matter what is or isn't finished, just so we can move on. Even if it means battle reports with nothing but a loss list, it'll be up. Sorry again for the delays.

[marcussmythe]

Given that you tell me the outcome (and ideally some idea why the outcome is the outcome) I'm willing to take a swing at anything.  I reckon about 72 Hrs turnaround just to be safe.

[truetanker]

Are we still in limbo?

TT

[Kiviar]

No Alsadius is just busy editing my tale of melodrama, betrayal, illegal dumping and dropped calls in to something coherent.

[Alsadius]

Are we still in limbo?

As promised, I'll be posting something before I go to bed tonight. There may be a few gaps, but it'll be a basically-complete turn. I'm editing the segments other people gave me right now, and then I have a battle and a half to write up(briefly).

No Alsadius is just busy editing my tale of melodrama, betrayal, illegal dumping and dropped calls in to something coherent.

Pretty much this. Did you have to name everyone X, though? Battletech isn't a 60s radical group, it's an 80s anime, get it right :P .

[Alsadius]

Turn 6: 2400-2409

Previous turn: 2390-2399

Player Turns:
Lyran Commonwealth: Budget $107B.
Draconis Combine: Budget $116B.
Federated Suns: Budget $101B.
Capellan Confederation: Budget $96B.
Marian Hegemony: Budget $14B.
Taurian Concordat: Budget $13B.

NPC Turns:
Terran Hegemony: Budget $770B.
Free Worlds League: Budget $105B.
United Hindu Collective: Budget $25B.
Rim Worlds Republic: Budget $28B.

2400:
Frustrated with the fact that so much combat had been happening in recent years and none of it had involved the Combine, Robert Kurita decided to launch his own war. Wanting to prove himself against an unwounded foe, he decided to attack the Lyrans with the grandest possible attack - a dual pincer, with one stroke landing near the Hegemony border and the other through the Tukayyid area. The goal was for the two pincers to meet near Arcturus, and slice off dozens of Lyran worlds to be digested at leisure.

Nearly the whole fleet was used in the attack, as it was expected that the Suns would pose no threat due to their recent combat against the Capellans(results of which had arrived about a month prior). The elderly Kutai and Fubuki-class ships were held back for internal security, but nine Atago cruisers, nine Minekaze destroyers, and six Tate escorts were available. Two thirds of the fleet struck at Vega, intending to draw the main Lyran fleet in, while the remaining third would be used to cover the invading forces through Tukayyid, which would be launching roughly a month later. Facing this, the Lyrans had a fleet totalling nine each of their Heimdaller II escort carriers, Tyr gun cruisers, and Walkurie fleet carriers, but a third of this fleet was needed to guard the Marik border(and was too far away for easy redeployment in any case).

As with most major combined-operations invasions, the initial attack faced minimal resistance, with border worlds falling as the necessary defensive forces formed up - guerrilla war continued once the WarShips left, but no major combat formations could withstand serious orbital bombardment. Four worlds had fallen, and the Draconis fleet was burning towards the regional capital of Kannon, when the Lyran fleet arrived in force. Eager to protect another world from falling, they moved to intercept near the planet.

The Combine fleet arrived first, and began landing troops and trying to create a fait accompli on the ground before the Lyrans could interfere(as well as protecting their valuable, and vulnerable, invasion forces). In the interests of attempting to give their fighters a chance to make two strikes against the Draconis fleet, the Lyran ships pulled up short of the planet and launched their fighters. Almost five thousand fighters. Both sides were well-equipped with advanced sensor systems, so this was not an effort to totally evade detection, merely to give the Kurita fleet as little warning as practical. Instead, they tried to avoid a Tikonov-style raid on the fighter wing by virtue of equipping a quarter of their number with Barracudas and using them as a screen. The Draconis fleet was estimated to have perhaps 800 fighters, so 1200 of the elite Lyran pilots were deemed sufficient to protect the balance of the force. In the end this was mostly unnecessary - the Draconis fighters stayed to protect their fleet, and so the Lyrans approached to firing range unmolested.

Lyran doctrine emphasized the protection of the fleet over the protection of individual fighters, and so instead of trying to launch an extreme-range attack to preserve their own craft from outside the range of the Kurita naval lasers, they drove inwards. Their closing speed was substantial, so the defenders didn't have long to shoot them down - not all batteries even got off a second shot. But eight hundred fighters, four hundred lasers, over a hundred DropShips, and almost a thousand light autocannons can still leave a mark. 4920 fighters flew towards the Kurita fleet, but less than 3500 flew out again. However, in that brief orgy of violence, the survivors launched over 5000 missiles. Some missed, and excellent point-defence work shot down almost half of those that didn't, but far too many got through.

The primary targets were the heavy Atago-class cruisers, and the Atagos suffered badly in the attack. Two died outright, one was too crippled to keep fighting, and the remaining three all suffered various levels of damage. The suppressing fire and anti-fighter missiles also killed one Tate, over a dozen DropShips, and hundreds of small craft and fighters. Conversely, the fire of the surviving ships against the passing fighters killed hundreds more Lyran pilots after their missiles were launched, even despite their dramatically improved evasion.

Despite the thinned ranks of Lyran pilots, the cramped hangar decks of the Walkuries would still make it an extended process to turn around the fighter wings. And the slow speed of the Lyran ships, combined with the momentum that the Kuritas had built up during the fighter attack, meant that the Steiner fighter forces could not be reloaded in sufficient numbers to launch a second devastating attack on the oncoming gunships. Instead, the batteries of the Tyr-class heavy cruisers would need to protect the fleet, backed up by whatever force the exhausted fighter pilots could still muster after close to a day strapped into their cockpits.

The Draconis gunships were still more numerous and powerful than the Lyran gunships, as well as having a speed advantage, but total firepower was biased towards the Lyrans due to the immense numbers of missile tubes the ships carried. Admiral Kurosawa's primary goal was to get the Lyrans to waste their very limited missile magazines at extreme range, without taking so much time that their fighters would be able to reload in large quantities. In this, he was mostly successful - his superior mobility allowed him to stay at extreme gun range and threaten to whittle down the Lyran gunships, and after it became clear that his gunnery crews were hitting more of their targets than the Lyrans and were likely to win a gun duel, the missile batteries opened up before waiting to lose any ships.

At extreme range, the Draconis ECM managed to spoof large numbers of the Lyran missiles, and their machine guns dealt with many of the stragglers. However, the Barracuda-heavy armament of the Lyran fleet meant that the smaller Combine ships suffered badly - their already-brutalized fighter wing lost most of its remaining strength, and the DropShips that were thickening up the fleet's defences also suffered. The main fleet got off comparatively light, however - between the gunfire and missiles, one of the damaged Atagoes died, and another was badly wounded. In the same time, the Draconis guns managed to badly damage one Tyr and wreck half its turrets, as well as opening a few small breaches in three of the others.

With the Lyran missiles seemingly exhausted, the Kuritas began closing the range. Their advantage in gunnery skill held true, and between that and their advantage in numbers of guns, they landed over half again as many hits as the Tyrs. The Lyrans tried to turn the tide by launching their fighters on strafing runs against damaged sections of the Draconis ships, and it was an effective tactic, but one that resulted in substantial losses to the defending ships.

Regrouping for a final attack run, the Lyrans were beginning to worry more about escape than about victory. Their gun line was faltering, and the slow speed of their carriers would mean their doom if the Kurita force was strong enough to give chase. As such, they began to focus their fire on engines, hoping to slow the Draconis ships enough to allow their fleet to withdraw. The approach was not entirely successful, but the Lyrans had one final trick up their sleeve. While they had fired their missile mounts dry on most facings, the aft magazines were still full, and the missile transfer tubes had been busy. Firing the last few husbanded missiles, along with the fighters it had been possible to re-arm, the Lyrans launched one last missile strike. It was much smaller than their prior attack, but it was almost totally unexpected, and it came in at a time when the Draconis defensive systems were focused almost entirely on the swarming fighters.

The timing of the attack wasn't perfect, but it was enough to do the job. Four of the big Kurita gunships lost large parts of their engine power, and one was destroyed outright by a fighter squadron getting an immensely lucky shot against an exposed reactor. The Lyrans turned to withdraw immediately, scooping up their exhausted fighter pilots as soon as they left gun range, and the equally exhausted Draconis fleet let them go, preferring to head back to Kannon and mop up the world's defenders.

While the materiel losses were somewhat to the Commonwealth's advantage overall, the strategic effect of the operation was a resounding victory for the Combine. The Tukayyid fleet was nearly unopposed and mopped up six worlds before the Lyran fleet regrouped to challenge them, and the five invaded by the Vega arm of the attack were all flying the dragon's flag as well. The grand dream of a pincer attack slicing off whole regions of the Commonwealth was not realized, but the loss of eleven worlds was still a shocking result. Lyran counter-attacks retook two in fairly short order, and even snapped up the poorly defended Draconis border world of Sendai. But Robert Kurita was still crowing about his victory for years to come, and began to set his sights on his next target.

Losses:
Draconis Combine: 3x Atago, 1x Minekaze, 1x Tate. 27 DropShip, 81 small craft, 714 fighters. Repair costs = $24B
Lyran Commonwealth: 3x Tyr, 1x Heimdaller II. 43 small craft, 2525 fighters. Repair costs = $12B

2401: (Special thanks to Sarna.net for writing this  :-[ )
In mid 2401, Marie Davion suffered what appeared to be a series of strokes and died at the age of 54. Simon, her preferred successor, was just 24, and his training in governmental affairs was still in the early stages. While there were rumors that Marie had been poisoned and that the publicly-declared cause of death was a cover-up, the military and political situation in the Federated Suns made Edmund Davion her inevitable successor.

Despite a number of calls for Marie's remains to be tested after her death, the Davion family seems unlikely to authorize a new autopsy. Marie's death provided ample fodder for conspiracy theorists, who pointed out the convenience of Marie, a woman with no significant medical problems or indicators of ill health suddenly succumbing to a stroke and then dying from complications caused by that stroke. Alert but unable to communicate after a brief period on life support, Marie's medical records indicated that her doctors believed she had a good chance to recovery before taking a sudden turn for the worse, falling into a coma and dying without regaining consciousness. Edward was a mediocre politician at best, largely propped up by Marion Michaels-Davion, whilst Simon was rapidly proving himself a highly capable individual. Rumors persist that elements of Marie's journal indicate that at the time of her death, she was close to confirming Simon as her successor, removing Etien's successors permanently from the line of succession.

2402:
Buoyed by the capture of several planets two years prior, and with the damages from that campaign mostly repaired, the Draconis Combine again decided to launch an ambitious attack on one of its neighbours. Eschewing the traditional approach of simply grabbing a few border worlds before defenders can respond, Robert Kurita kept pushing his admirals for more ambitious options until they came up with a plan that met his approval. An old staff exercise had led to a complex multi-pronged plan of attack against the Robinson area of the Federated Suns, and it was entirely to Kurita's liking.

The original plan called for substantially larger forces than were actually available, but the fleet hurried to make adjustments to have the plan fit the forces originally available. 33 modern capital ships were originally planned for the operation, while only 20 were actually active within the fleet. Of those 20, a meaningful force needed to be held for use against the Lyran border, and a final force of 14 ships was available for the attack. However, the Admiralty judged this to be sufficient for the operation, albeit with very little room for error.

A large concentration of force, 8 ships in all, was sent to Robinson by the fastest available path(via New Ivaasrsen and Lucerne), with the expectation that it would be spotted and draw off all available forces for a traditional battle. Sure enough, this force was spotted, and the AFFS began to gather its naval assets to repel the invasion. The Kurita fleet proceeded at a somewhat leisurely pace, and by the time they actually reached Robinson's jump point, three large Davion fleets were closing in. The Delevan fleet was waiting one jump away at Blandinsville for reinforcements, where the Kentares fleet had just arrived and started recharging, giving them a combined total of 12 hulls. The Fairfax fleet was two jumps away at Sauk City with an additional 5 ships.

The heavy merchant traffic around Robinson gave the Suns fleet excellent coverage of what was happening in Robinson, and the unusual fleet composition was immediately apparent. It was clear that this was no invasion, as there were no JumpShips and very few DropShips, and it was also equally clear that this was not an attempt to fight a decisive naval battle, as the forces in Robinson were less than half of the Kurita fleet. Admiral Robert Sortek's first thought was that it was a diversion, but he made the conscious decision to simply ignore it and smash the invading fleet, as no plausible target could carry a price higher than he was willing to pay to destroy 40% of the Draconis fleet.

As the Draconis fleet was burning towards the planet of Robinson, news came from the Galtor region - Galtor III, Marduk, and Cussar were all under attack, though there was no word of naval forces attached to the invading fleets. The attacking forces were substantial - estimated at perhaps half a dozen regiments per world - and the defenders were hard-pressed to hold their ground. Admiral Sortek decided to attack the fleet that was in his hand before attempting to clear out the invading forces, and again ignored the attack to smash the diversion.

Sure enough, the diversionary force was in trouble. They had arrived at Robinson and spent some time demolishing the planet's orbital industry and the light fortifications around the planet, but they did not resort to substantial planetary bombardment, and they had no ground element to attack the surface. Rather than trying to hold ground, they decided to head out to the jump limit and reunite with their other forces. Before they could, the Kentares fleet was ready to jump, and twelve ships attacked eight. The astrogator on the Crucis-class FSS Comet had found a fleeting pirate point that would be available very close to the invaders' trajectory, and the fleet made the difficult jump without incident. Once the battle was joined, it seemed almost a foregone conclusion - the four Crucis-class battleships alone massed as much as the entire Kurita force, and with the eight escorts added to the fight it was a foregone conclusion.

The Kurita fleet's morale was low from being so obviously out-gunned, though they at least trusted that they could punch through the Davions and escape to safety. The fleets clashed at tremendous speed, and in the blink of an eye three Kurita ships were expanding balls of gas and plasma. The FSS Comet nearly died with them, as her hull buckled from the relativistic autocannon shells, but the execrable gunnery of the Draconis fleet seemed to have saved her. Post-battle analysis revealed her survival was even luckier than previously imagined - two of the better-aimed autocannon shells had impacted escorting fighters, with one detonating prematurely and the other being deflected clear of Comet's hull. Given the state of the Comet as she streamed a flaming tail of debris through Robinson's inner solar system, those two fighters had likely made the difference between life and death for their ship.

Unfortunately for the battered survivors of the Draconis fleet, the force from Fairfax had been given information on where and when the survivors would reach the jump limit, and were ordered by Sortek to intercept them for another attack. Unfortunately for Sortek, however, the merchant JumpShip conveying the message had made a transposition error in relaying the estimated travel times of the fleets involved, and the five ships jumped to intercept a day after the survivors had fled the system. A disgruntled Sortek reorganized his forces, and moved to intercept the invading fleets in the Galtor area.

While this took place, the third force was making its move. Creeping through uninhabited systems, the six ships that had set out from Proserpina were making their move. The shipyards at Layover had been left with no mobile defenders, and the fixed defenses in system were limited to one Northumberland-Barghest group with a token force of fighters in support. The defences lasted for only a few minutes once the fleet came into range, and fewer than a quarter of their crews made it to the escape pods in time. With the system's defences crushed, the Kurita fleet tore apart the shipyards at leisure. Some of the support installations were in built-up urban areas that the Draconis fleet declined to attack, and the skilled crews in the shipyards had sufficient time to evacuate to safety, but the shipyards themselves were shattered.

Back in Galtor, the invading forces were hanging out on a limb far more precarious than they knew. Their JumpShips and DropShips were completely unprotected, and as soon as a serious Davion force arrived they could be crushed. In the end, the self-aware insanity of their attack was what saved them from disaster - Colonel Shōda, commanding the JumpShips at Marduk, had ordered his ships to scatter around the jump limit to avoid presenting any form of concentrated target. Conversely, Sortek kept his forces concentrated to ensure military superiority in the event of fleet combat. The fleet managed to run down a pair of isolated JumpShips and a few DropShips, but the rest of the force was evacuated safely. In the end, the fleeing ships rallied to the attack of Galtor III, which was rapidly taken with the new reinforcements. However, the attacks on Cussar and Marduk were abandoned with heavy losses in the process.

The final drama of this operation took place on the retreat back to Draconis space. One of the surviving Minekaze-class destroyers from Robinson suffered total loss of jump capability en route back home, when damage caused by the battle combined with the stresses of her jumps finally proved too much for the drive to endure. No repair was possible from the limited stock of on-board spare parts, so the rest of the fleet took on her crew and scuttled the ship to avoid capture.

Losses:
Federated Suns: 2x Federation, 1x Northumberland, 5x Barghest, 3x DropShip, 11x small craft, 157x fighter.  Layover shipyard reduced from 3/2 to 1. Repairs = $12B ($9B for 1x Crucis)
Draconis Combine: 1x Atago, 2x Minekaze, 1x Tate, 2x JumpShip, 9x DropShip, 43x small craft, 191x fighter. Repairs = $11B.

2403:
A decade after Echohawk's coup, Richard Cameron is still the titular Director-General of the Terran Hegemony. Almost 15 years old, Cameron is the only close heir of the old regime left. While he obviously has no real power, he's an important symbol for any usurper who wants to be seen as legitimate. So it wasn't a total surprise when General Lee attempted to kidnap young Richard as the opening stage of her own coup.

Striking from surprise while he was being convoyed home from school, the attacking forces destroyed the leading and following cars almost instantly, and several guards perished in the attack. Unknown to the attackers, new security arrangements were being tested at the time, and Cameron had actually been in the rear vehicle, not the central one. The rest of the bodyguards(and most of the attackers) died before the truth was discovered, but the attacking forces were left empty-handed, having obviously failed in their attempt. Their despair was to last only moments, however - a fighter wing nearby heard the distress calls, and managed to pulverize the attackers with their built-in weaponry - not one soldier, attacking or defending, ultimately survived the attack.

The rest of the coup was even more of a shambles. Few forces moved, and no serious efforts were made to strike home anywhere - it was as if the attack on Cameron had taken all the courage out of them, and what few attackers did make token efforts rapidly fled, generally before they could even be identified.

A visibly despairing Langdon Echohawk appeared on a special Terran-wide broadcast shortly after the attack. He explained that the guilty party was General Lee of the Fourth Terran Division, a known adversary of his, and that she had already been shot resisting arrest. With no Cameron left to take over the reins of government, he announced his intention to officially name himself Director-General, and asked the High Council to formally accord him this title to ensure the safety and good order of the Hegemony.

The move was not well-received across the board. On one hand, the inner planets and the lower classes had mostly been friendly to Echohawk's government for years, due to his generous spending. The Army, who thought little more of Lee than Echohawk himself had, was surprisingly content with one of their own receiving the blame that she did. However, the outer planets and the upper classes were more restive. Some dark murmurs about the true nature of Cameron's attackers began circulating, and a petition to leave the Hegemony and join the Free Worlds League even started circulating on Connaught(though nothing came of it in the end save a few arrests for seditious behaviour).

2404:
I was going to have a filler event here, but I'm cutting it for now.

2405: (Special thanks to Smegish for writing this)
After the successful assault on Lothario some years earlier, the Hegemony's gaze has moved to their other small neighbour: Illyria. The Illyrians have known it was coming, and have had far more time to prepare their defences. Unfortunately for them, without the small mountain of germanium that the Marians possess, they simply lack the budget to build or purchase WarShips of their own, and have to make do with smaller craft while they beg borrow or steal whatever they can to shore up their defences.

Finally in 2405 the attack came, with the six ships of the Marian I Fleet (including their newly purchased Kutai-class corvette) conducting the assault. Thanks to some successful intelligence gathering from the Q-ship MHS Trojan in previous weeks, the Marians were able to make use of the pirate point between Illyria and its moon, but upon arrival the Marian admiral immediately wished he hadn't after his Sensors Officer reported the presence of the Vittoria-class destroyer RWS Wade Rowe in high orbit over Illyria.

His blood pressure recovered however, when the Rim Worlds ship hailed him to report that they were there to escort a diplomatic mission, and if the Marians would hold off their attack for a few hours they would retrieve their VIPs and start their return journey to Apollo, an offer the Marians gladly accepted. Despite the desperate pleading of the Illyrian ruler, the Rim Worlds ship had specific orders to not engage the Marians unless fired upon, and so they quickly cancelled the trade talks (which they didn't think were lucrative enough to be worth going to war over), evacuated their personnel, and burned for the zenith point. Without the Wade Rowe to assist, the Illyrians knew a successful defense of their world relied entirely on preventing the Hegemony from landing their forces. Therefore, all their energy was spent on destroying the MHS Alphard, as the one Scapha II carried the bulk of the Marian invasion force.

With 2 of their 6 DropShips still burning in-system from their guard stations at the zenith and nadir points, the remaining four, plus over 80 fighters (all 50-ton Wakizashi WAK-01 knockoffs bought cheaply from the Allied Conglomerates of Military Engineering company) all lifted off from Illyria in time to meet the Marians as they reached orbit. Sadly for the Illyrians they had not had the proper time to test their newly bought fighters and anti-ship missiles, and over half suffered malfunctions when they armed them just prior to entering firing range. Some immediately separated from the launching fighter with the rocket engine firing, others instantly fired their rocket engines and refused to separate from the fighter carrying it, launching it towards the Hegemony fleet ahead of its brethren. The two dozen fighters thus afflicted blew through the Hegemony's fighter screen without any resistance, as none of the Marians knew what was going on, but none made it past the Kutai-class MHS Neapolis at the head of the Hegemony flotilla, with its triple A dealing with them easily.

The Marians did not have it all their own way, however. The missile volley from the remaining Illyrian fighters still armed with them was all aimed at a single Scapha vessel. Sadly for the Illyrians it was not the Alphard, but instead the Scapha I-class MHS Spica, and due to the extreme range they were forced to fire from many missed or were shot down. Of the few missiles that did penetrate the Marian defensive screen, one penetrated the armour right beside one of the Naval Autocannon mounts, detonating the ammunition loaded in said cannon (but fortunately not the rest of the magazine), destroying the gun mount entirely and leaving a gaping hole in the fore quarter of the Spica. But covering fire from the rest of the fleets AAA cleared away the Illyrian fighters, while the Illyrian DropShips were wiped out well before entering weapon range, obliterated by a mix of naval autocannons and Killer Whale missiles.

With the death of the Illyrian fleet, such as it was the Hegemony fleet settled into orbit, and began dropping their forces around the Dalmatia, the only major city. Only token resistance was offered before the government surrendered, with most of the Illyrian army running to the hills to wage a guerrilla campaign.

Losses:
Marian Hegemony: 20x Fighter. 1x Scapha I crippled (800m repair bill).
Illyrian Palatinate: Total (6 x Dropships, 12 x Small Craft, 108 x Fighters)

[Alsadius]

2406: (Special thanks to Lagrange for writing this)
In the year 2406, the Terran Hegemony sent their Second Fleet on a well-advertised tour of their borderworlds showing off their revamped fleet with excellent anti-fighter weapons and generally reassuring unsettled worlds of the Hegemony that all is well.  If this enormous fleet reminded other nations of the economic and military might of the Terran Hegemony, that was a fine outcome as well.

In the Lyran Commonwealth contradictory intelligence reports suggested this was (or was not) a ruse for the invasion an unspecified realm. These reports were viewed with significant alarm, resulting in Marsden ordering some "naval exercises" around Skye when 2nd fleet passed nearby.

Unbeknownst to the Lyran intelligence community, the reports were poisoned by suborned agents working on behalf of the Draconis Combine. The Combine successfully acquired secret route plans in advance, discovering that the Lyran portion of the border was the last visited. Sensing an opportunity, they injected false intelligence into the Lyran pipeline suggesting that one of the houses was in for a "demonstration" from Second Fleet.  As the tour progressed, the tension in the Commonwealth steadily ratcheted up with attention heavily focused on the large renewed warship fleet at the Terran Hegemony border.

In the meantime, with almost a year's advance warning of where the Lyran fleet was going to be, the Combine operated a planetary conquest plan focused on the worlds of Lovinac, Rodigo, and Unzmarkt. The plan avoided any overt movement of the Combine warfleet while marshaling a total of 23 regiments from all corners of the Combine. No more than a single regiment from any world was used to avoid notice.  These regimental movements were all timed to converge on New Oslo in a single week.

Upon discovering a fleet of 50 jumpships marshalling near their border, the Lyran planetary governors immediately realized they had a serious problem - their planets could be invaded before a message even reached the Lyran warfleet.  Relief from that quarter was clearly months away.  What to do?

Each border governor immediately invoked mutual protection clauses, but naturally nearby systems were reluctant to strip significant supporting garrison forces in the face of an imminent invasion. 

The governor of Lovinac, Pieter Kurzen, the wealthy scion of a merchant family, new exactly what to do: hire help.  He immediately offered enormous bounties backed by his family fortune for the capture or destruction of Draconis forces in Lyran systems.

The Combine's mustering process faced some unpleasant delays due to the extremely diverse set of starting locations and several Onsen waystations becoming overloaded by the scale of the transiting forces. Altogether, commander Nagoya Abe tolerated only an extra month's delay before moving ahead with the 20 regiments that were assembled.  Splitting his forces into 7, 7, and 6 regiments, a jump invasion was launched.

At Unzmarkt, the invasion fleet jumped en masse into the nadir jump point and DropShips immediately embarked for the planet.  The planetary governor was an aerospace fighter fan and had assembled a small fleet of 36 fighters aboard 3 cargo DropShips with a JumpShip at the zenith.  Finding themselves misplaced, the JumpShip made an intra-system transit a day later to the Nadir.  Without their DropShip escorts (which were headed in-system) the conscripted JumpShip captains were forced to surrender to the (very slowly deployed) fighter fleet.  The Combine DropShips turned around, presenting an overwhelming force against the Lyrans 4 days later. While the Combine could easily destroy the Lyrans, the Lyrans could easily destroy the JumpShips leading to a tense standoff.   After a week of tense negotiations individual JumpShips loaded with DropShips were allowed to depart the system one at a time for scattered locations.

At Rodigo, the single garrison regiment was reinforced by another regiment's worth of armor from deeper worlds.  They dug in, and fought hard, but it was only a matter of time against the 7 incoming regiments. 

At Lovinac, Pieter's call was heard with forces scrambling from all over the near sector, including even forces from Black Nebulae industries of the Rim Worlds Republic.  Using pirate jump points 4 regiments of governmental and mercenary units were assembled by the time 6 regiments of Combine armor attacked what was assumed to be the least defended world.  Given the homeworld advantage this was a fair fight that went steadily downhill for the Combine as each week another regiment of mercenaries arrived.  This clearly wasn't working, so Abe pulled out after 3 weeks with only half of his original forces in fighting order.

Several of the mercenary regiments hadn't managed much bounty, so 3 of them promptly re-boarded DropShips.  A brilliant astrogator by the name of David Snee managed to find a direct pirate-to-pirate jump solution which all JumpShips used in a 20 minute window.  The last forces to board DropShips were on Rodigo about 6 hours later, leading to more than one joke about the commute.

The governmental forces on Rodigo, down to 2 Battalions, were in their final redoubt when the mercenary regiments executed a hot drop on the Combine staging areas led by the Black Nebulae industries security group.  This was overenthusiastic given their training, but amongst the 20 units that turned into a fireball, 3 of them directly struck and destroyed DropShips. With the Combine staging area overrun, the Combine fighting forces racing to counter, and the pyrotechnics of failed drops all around a grand melee resulted in massive destruction to all sides.  When the dust settled it was clear the Combine could no longer exert effective control over the world leading inevitably to a decision to retreat.

In the ensuing year Pieter tried to avoid payment for all combat on Rodigo, claiming that "the contract was only for Lovinac in context". However, the courts upheld the claims, bankrupting the Kurzen family.

2407:
This was intended to be a background fluff event for the UHC. Unfortunately, Marcus has apparently been ill and unable to write this. I'll bump it to next turn so he has time to recover.

2408: (Special thanks to Kiviar for writing this)
Prelude
On November 8th 2407 the cargo-DropShip ‘Occurrence Border’ flying under the flag of the Lyran Commonwealth experienced a catastrophic drive failure en route to the Free Worlds League world Amity. Despite the best efforts of its crew, the ship’s engines were too damaged to be repaired, and no League ships were close enough to either rescue or deflect the out of control DropShip. The captain of the Occurrence Border, Cassandra Mayweather, decided that any further risk to her crew was unwarranted and that after contacting the planetary government, the ship would be abandoned to burn up in Amity's atmosphere.

The government quickly agreed to the captain’s assessment of the situation and began an evacuation of the suspected crash zone. Unfortunately what the crew had not told the planetary government was that they were hauling a significant amount of illegal radioactive material, and, when the Occurrence Border’s hull ruptured and the ship exploded as it deorbited, it spread radioactive fallout across much of Amity's major continent.

In the aftermath of what the media was now calling “The Amity Incident”, Mayweather and her crew were arrested and held on numerous charges including illegal transportation of a hazardous material, falsifying cargo manifests, lying to a government official and illegal dumping. However the people of the FWL were not satisfied at the prospect of mere jail-time, and violent protests erupted across League space demanding the government force the Lyrans to pay.

The Commonwealth refused any discussion without the immediate and unconditional return of Captain Mayweather and her crew to Lyran Space. This proved to further enrage the FWL population who continued to demand “justice for Amity”, and in a closed session of Parliament, the FWL government decided that in the absence of any hint of cooperation from the Lyran government that the League would be forced to take matters into its own hands.

It was decided that the Navy would launch a series of patrols in to the border region of the Lyran Commonwealth which would stop and inspect every LC flagged drop and jumpship they encountered. On December 29th of 2407 the FWLN’s 4th fleet under the command of Admiral Tomasi crossed the border into Lyran Commonwealth territory.

Battle over Ford
After struggling in vain to intercept the League patrols harassing their citizens for over three months, on March 27 2408 a squadron under the command of Leutnant-Kommodore Weir finally managed to arrive in the Ford system in time to find the Heracles-class battlecruiser Hector and Phalanx-class corvette Spatha still 1 day out from the jump point her squadron had just arrived in.

While Weir's squadron of the Tyr-class cruiser Asgard and Heimdaller II-class escort-carrier Bifrost, was roughly equal to the FWL force in terms of tonnage and firepower, it was at a significant disadvantage in terms of speed and had little chance of bringing the League force to battle, meaning it would have to settle on a single high-speed pass before the enemy was able to flee the system. With this in mind Weir dispensed with the usual fighter screen for such a maneuver and had every aerospace fighter under her commanded loaded with as many anti-ship missiles as they could carry, and formed up in close proximity to her two warships.

The following battle was brutal and short. The League commander, suspecting his opponent would try to shelter her aerospace assets for one massive strike, took advantage of the lack of proper fighter cover and launched a devastating fighter strike of his own before the warships arrived. Within 10 seconds, 46 of the lyran fighters were either destroyed or crippled, and despite a staggering amount of return fire from the 120 barracuda tubes of the two Lyran warships, only 17 League fighters were lost.

Despite such heavy losses to her fighter wing, Leutnant-Kommodore Weir was unphased. While the League’s fighters had just bloodied her fleet and escaped nearly unscathed, they had also taken themselves out of the battle entirely. At a full-burn pass, it would be minutes before they could turn around and accelerate back to combat range, and by then the battle would be long over.

With both warship forces now entering the extreme ranges of their armament it was the Lyran’s turn to respond. Hoping to get at least two volleys in before the fleets passed Weir ordered her warships to open fire at the very edge of their effective range. Within seconds a blizzard of 200 anti-ship missiles was hurtling off towards the two rapidly growing stars in the distance. Unlike the previous volley, this one found its mark and both of the Hector’s escort DropShips were destroyed and significant damage was dealt to the Spatha. With the League fleet’s anti-missile defenses crippled, the next volley, combined with the killer-whales from the aerospace wing and naval autocannon fire wrecked even more havoc to the League ships. The Nose of the Spatha was in ruins, and she was venting atmosphere from several major breaches along her starboard side, and the Hector had received significant damage both its nose and port gun-batteries. The League’s reply however was equally deadly, and despite their superior anti-missile cover, heavy damage was dealt to the Asgard while the (Heimdaller II) was raked badly by the Hector’s class-30 autocannons.

Despite the savaging both fleets received, neither managed to inflict any critical damage. Like knights of old they charged with absolute ferocity, but only succeeded in shattering their lances on each other’s shield.

Red Friday
With the savaging Commodore Munroe's squadron received at the battle of Ford the FWLM command decided that any further adventurism on the Lyran border would only prove a drain on the Navy. The 4th fleet was recalled to League space and Parliament hoped that now negotiations could start.

The Commonwealth instead viewed this as an opportunity to capitalize on their success in the Ford system, and launched a series of raids in to FWL space. With the 4th fleet preocupied with reorganizing and resuppling after their retreat from Lyran space, in an ironic reversal the navy was forced to spread the 2nd fleet across the coreward border in hopes of intercepting the Lyran raiders.

Unlike the lyrans, the League met with success far earlier, and on April 24th reports from a fleeing merchant-class jumpship reached he FWLS Oedipus commanded by Captain Mercutio Princip. The merchantman claimed that a lone Tyr-class cruiser had just jumped in system and was  currently burning towards the system’s sole habitable planet. Hoping to cut the lyrans off before they reached the planet and destroyed its valuable orbital installations captain Princip ordered his ship to jump immediately.

Upon entering the (system Z) system, to their horror it turned out that the merchantman’s report had been incorrect and not only was the Tyr-class cruiser not burning sunward, it was also accompanied by 2 Heimdaller II-class escort carriers. As Captain Princip scrambled to turn his ship and escape certain destruction the first waves of lyran fighters arrived pelting the Oedipus with capital-class missiles as she desperately tried to flee sunward to whatever help (planet Z) could muster. Unfortunately the Lyran’s opening salvo had damaged the Oedipus's engines and she was unable to open any significant distance from the Lyran fleet as she fled sunward. After 24 hours of constant skirmishes the Oedipus was at the breaking point. The ship’s aerospace wing had lost nearly half its of its strength, and significant damage and been dealt to the ship’s stern and port. The final blow came at T+26h31m when a killer-whale missile managed to slip through the Oedipus's defensive fire and impacted the ship’s Number 3 nozzle further crippling her engines.

It was then that Captain Princip decided that whatever honour there was in continuing the battle was not worth the lives of his men and offered his ship’s surrender.

No reply came from the Lyran fleet.

Fearing the Lyrans didn’t hear his first offer, the captain ordered the transmission rebroadcast on all channels, but, once again there was no response from the Lyran fleet. As the crew of the Oedipus scrambled to figure out why the enemy was not responding to their surrender a fresh wave of lyran fighters and the three enemy warships moved in for the kill.

As the ship shuddered under fury of the Tyr’s tremendous missile barrage, the CIC of the Oedipus was in a state of pandemonium and Captain Princip had come to a horrifying realization. His ship was dying around him, and he and his crew would soon be dead. If the Lyrans were ignoring his surrender they would most likely fire on escape pods, which left the captain with one last horrifying option. Like most FWLN ships the Oedipus was equipped with a limited number of nuclear-armed missiles, which, by the strictest rules of the Navy were only to be used with the explicit permission of Parliament in times of war.

With no other options left to him, and in the face of such utter barbarism, Captain Princip ordered the launch of the ship’s entire complement of nuclear-tipped Barracuda missiles. Despite their own misgivings that their lives might not be worth the heavy price the galaxy will pay for this, the crew carried out the Captain’s orders without complaint, and with the flip of a few buttons the missiles were away.

The violence of the impact was as brutal as it was sudden, and within the blink of an eye the Lyran fleet erupted in blinding light. When the fireballs faded and electromagnetic interference subsided the crew of the Oedipus saw their grim handiwork. One of the carriers had entirely vanished, and the other was drifting dead in space. The Tyr appeared undamaged by the onslaught, but was rotating to begin braking maneuvers. With her work done, and the Lyran fleet ending their pursuit the FWLS Oedipus limped sunward to safety.

When reinforcements from the 2nd Fleet arrived two weeks later and learned the horrendous story of the battle, Admiral Burlew ordered Captain Princip arrested. Unfortunately the remains of the Lyran fleet had long since fled the system and brought news of their foe’s depravity.

The Solaris Catastrophe
The actions of Captain Princip had escalated the conflict far beyond what either side had anticipated. The League refused to accept the Commonwealth’s claims that they never received any offer of surrender, and the Lyrans were unwilling to believe any evidence that Captain Princip did in fact send the message. With room for neither negotiation nor compromise both nations were now teetering on the precipice of all out war, and, with the nearly the entire might of both nation’s navies hurtling towards the border it appeared that, like Kentares IV and Echohawk’s rebellion, the Inner Sphere would once again see a new and terrifying expansion of violence.

However, no one could have possibly imagined what would happen when the two grand fleets did finally meet.

In retrospect it was obvious that the strategically vital world of Solaris would be be both the primary staging point for the FWLN as well as primary target of the LCN, and it should have been no surprise then when the Lyran Commonwealth’s high-space fleet jumped in system on the 28th of June, 2408. However it was quite the surprise when the massive fleet of 7 carriers, 5 cruisers, and 4 escort-carriers jumped in, mostly because the FWLN’s Grand Fleet had, at the same jump point, only arrived moments before.

The ensuing catastrophe erupted immediately as the Walkurie-class carrier LCN Sigrun phased in on top of the Phalanx-class FWLS Pilum rupturing her fusion reactor and annihilating both ships without a shot fired. Lyran commander Admiral Thurston Gibbons died instantly. Seconds later the Tyr-class cruiser LCN Asgard phased in within meters of the FWLN DropShip Danube, which subsequently exploded savaging both the Asgard and nearby Heracles-class battlecruiser Lycurgus. As panic began to grip the FWL fleet, the battlecruiser Jason attempted to extricate herself from the growing melee and fired up her engines for an emergency burn. Seconds later when her engines had spooled up to their full 2.5g the ship collided with the newly materialized escort-carrier LCN Vindler, hitting directly amidships and snapping the diminutive ship’s spine.

As every subsequent Lyran ship jumped in, the chaos of the battle grew. Admiral Tomasi tried his best to organize his fleet in the growing melee, but his attempt to put forth some sort of coherent counterattack was cut short when a class-20 naval autocannon shell ripped through the CIC of the FSN Theseus. With both fleets leaderless, confused and terrified that the other side would resort to using nuclear weapons at any moment, a call retreat was issued by both fleets nearly simultaneously.

And so, within 15 minutes of joining battle, the fleets of two of the most powerful nations to ever exist limped away from each other, bloodied and battered, neither willing to continue the senseless slaughter.

The catastrophe at Solaris had cooled both nation’s bloodlust considerably and with their fleets battered and other, more pressing, threats demanding their attention, an uneasy calm settled over the League/Commonwealth border. Neither nation was willing to let the transgressions of the past seven months go, but, neither were they willing to step back to the precipice of mutual annihilation.

Ultimately, the League tried and convicted Captain Mayweather and her crew, Captain Princip was stripped of his commission and dishonourably discharged from the Navy. Conversely, the Lyran Commonwealth never apologized or offered any reparations for the Amity Incident, and never offered any credible evidence that they had not received Princip’s surrender.

“If the galaxy can find it in their hearts to forgive the Federated Suns when that bastion of justice and nobility decides to bomb her own citizens for disagreeing with their wonderful little princelings, then what right does it have to question the lengths I take to ensure the lives of my men. What perversions of justice do they believe in when I cannot use whatever tools I have to defend my brothers and sisters from the same barbarism they claim to oppose?”

-Mercutio Princip

Losses:
Free Worlds League: 1x Heracles 2x Phalanx 12x lt DropShip, 398x Fighter - 4b in repairs
Lyran Commonwealth: 1x Heimdaller II 1x Walkurie 1240x Fighters - 9b in repairs

2409:
After the madness of the recent battles, and the terrifying re-introduction of high-yield nuclear weaponry to active warfare, many leaders seemed to hold their breath for a moment. The first to react openly was Aleisha Liao. Worried by the fact that it had been the FWL who first used nuclear weapons - the same FWL her nation had so often been at war with - but not suffering from the same public-relations disaster as the Lyrans, she decided to advance a potential set of new laws of war, designed to reduce the barbarism of combat. While she was willing to campaign hard to bring her dream to fruition, the nuclear genie being released was enough to open doors. Within two months, word had come back from every foreign capital agreeing to hear out her terms at a conference to be held at the luxurious New Olympia resort on the planet of Ares. The conference was scheduled for early 2410, and capitals across the Inner Sphere were abuzz with strategy sessions and meetings with military leaders over what would be acceptable.

Action Item: The Ares Conventions are being debated. On the agenda are a variety of civilian protection laws, rules for parley and proper treatment of prisoners of war, proper conduct of espionage, and the centerpiece, a ban on nuclear weapons in warfare. Your task is to advise your leadership on what you want from the Conventions and what you don't want. As with the jointly-owned worlds proposal, you don't have final say here, but you do have influence. However, in this case, there will be direct communication between military representatives, so feel free to have in-character negotiations. (I might chime in for the NPC nations here and there, depending how it goes). If everyone agrees to a treaty, it'll be implemented as-is, and if not I'll find a compromise and see who signs. Canonically, most nations signed - the two exceptions were the UHC, who stayed out for fear that it'd legitimize war, and the TC, who felt that the Capellans were being grossly hypocritical given some of their own atrocities.

Research
DC: $2,032m
FS: $116m
CC: $50m
TC: $130m

TH: $3,706m
FWL: $854m
RWR: $714m
UHC: $839m

TOTAL: $8,441m

The winner is the Draconis Combine, getting Mech-sized lasers (small, medium, and large). All nations now have access to LRMs.

Important Change: We'll be switching to the tech system outlined above, with slight modifications:
- All past techs, and this turn's discovery of lasers, still operate under the old system.
- Technologies beyond the present level are split into three fields: miniaturization, strengthening, and advancement.
- Each billion dollars spent on a tech field gives a 1/4 chance to discover a tech in that field. Any of the next three techs you haven't yet discovered are available, with an equal chance of each.
- If you get multiple successes, you'll get the least advanced tech you roll, to avoid the TH jumping too far ahead.
- A tech possessed by one or more neighbours has a 1/4 chance of spreading to you each turn. This process does not cost money - think of it as being funded by the intelligence agency and civilian interests. Heck, even those fools in the Army might stumble across something once in a while.
- Clarification: In addition to the obvious borders between the TH and the big five, the following pairs of nations are considered adjacent: FS-UHC, FS-TC, UHC-TC, CC-TC, FWL-MH, LC-RWR, and MH-RWR. (The MH-RWR adjacency is a bit of a stretch, but it gives each of them a second neighbour.)
- If you salvage examples of a technology in combat, you will get an extra 1/4 chance to discover it by spread. This is again free.

Budgets
Instead of coming up with a Periphery bonus on tech, I decided to just give them more money. The TC, MH, and RWR all get +10B/turn to increase their capacity to build interesting designs, and help them adjust to the new tech system. The UHC does not, as they don't really need it given their lack of a Navy.
CC: $98B
DC: $117B
FS: $103B
LC: $112B, as post-Marsden growth slows down
MH: $24B, due to Periphery rebalance
TC: $23B, due to Periphery rebalance

TH: $775B
FWL: $107B
UHC: $26B
RWR: $38B, due to Periphery rebalance

[truetanker]

HOT DAMN! >> Here is where I Snafu'd should be turn 7 not 6th <<

Losses:
Marian Hegemony: 20x Fighter. 1x Scapha I crippled (800m repair bill).

Ahem*

End Turn 5 Budget: 1 Billion, 637 Million
TAXES and Loot: 24 Billion

Beginning Turn 6: 25 Billion, 637 Million

Repair Bill: 800 Million ( Scapha I, MHS Spica

Periphery Aid Package:             1 Billion, helping the Illyrian Palatinate, rebuild
Maintenance:                             4 Billion ~ 120% ( or close to that )
Buying, Ribe Station, Steiner:      .175 Million ( x1 total ) Lothario
Buying, Onsen Station, Kurita:     .551 Million ( x1 total ) Alphard
Buying, Tenshi Station, Kurita:   5.256 Billion ( x12 total ) 2 Alphard, 4 Lothario, 3 each Lordinax and Leximon, ( orbital )
Buying, Small Craft:                     .600 Million ( 12 Small craft )
Buying, Jumpship:                      2 Billion ( x4 total )
Buying, Dropship:                       7.200 Billion ( x24 total )
Buying, Ala x 20 ( 10 asf each )  1 Billion ( 200 fighters ) < replacements and kitting out the new stations >

End Turn 5 Budget: 3 Billion, 855 Million

Story time...

Marian Action News Network ( MANN )
Vatnajökull, Lothario
Marian Hegemony Embassy

MANN Reporter:" I'm reporting from the Hegemony Embassy where just yesterday His Lordship, Imperator Pi, had just arrived for a diplomatic meeting with the Lotharian Senate about Parliament settings when word reached him about the surprise, but expected, swift attack on the Illyrian Palatinate defenses. He recruited senatorial help from both Senates to enact a Periphery Aid Program, such as the one for Lothario, citing new revenues for all. Exclaiming his " Service equals Citizenship " passage, he proclaims the Lotharians as ' Proud members of the Marian Hegemony, and so can you! ' Would you like more?

{Meanwhile over Illyria }

The Second Legio, lead by Perfect Judas O'Hara, continues to patrol the heavily dense surroundings in hope of finding the Illyrian rebels. Her General, Miles Tanner, had selected her training regime with care, while a Principes, she lead her Maniple victory in the Battle for Jax's Pass, a mountain point on Lothario. Now she commands a force made up of mostly Lotharians and is currently in the lead for Aquila rank.

FLEET ACTION:

First Fleet: aka Alpha, currently in route to Alphard for repairs
Alphard is a Scapha II, leadship Alphard Task Force
Spica is a Scapha I, Spike
Ignis is a Scapha I, Fire
Bellator is a Scapha I, Warrior *
Trojan is a Trojan II, Scout for ATF

Attached: MHS Neapolis is a Kuati-class on shakedown trails

Second Fleet: aka Beta, currently in route to Illyria for siege and pacification
Vi Unitatis Thru is a Scapha II, leadship of Vi Task Force
Letum is a Scapha I, Death *
Rana is a Scapha I, Frog *
Pompeii is a Trojan II, Scout for VTF

Lothario Fleet: aka Delta, currently in route carrying relief aid to Illyria
Pride of Lothario is a Scapha I
Frozen Myst is a civilian jumpship, commands Tenara 1

Fleet Tenders: aka Tenara 1 < Latin for Tender >
Using numbers... generic jumpers so Invader-like.

#2
#3
#4
#5 < all attached to Lothario Fleet >

Fleet Tenders: aka Tenara 2
Republic of Justice is a civilian jumpship, commands Tenara 2
#7
#8
#9< just bought will be attached to the Kuati, ex-DCS / TCS Neapolis  now MHS Neapolis when she returns to Alphard >

TT

* = Retcon'd, meaning they are temporarily un-built per instructions on how I could " pay " for a technical error. ( ...removing 3 Scapha I's, and their ASF and SC... I'll should be even, of course this means I'll need your approval (TT). ...seems like a reasonable solution to me. Go for it... (Alsadius) via PM ) So my Battle for Illyira would have had Pride of Lothario, Spica, Rana, Alphard, Neapolis and Trojan...

TT

[Smegish]

Will update the Master Sheet when the report is finished.

[marcussmythe]

Feeling better, and am working on my overdue writing homework. :)

Fun turn.  Its interesting how well all the difference authors writing styles mesh - or is that you, Alsadius?  Anyway, good stuff as always.  Once I get the butchers bill in toto, I'll figure out what I'm doing with my money.  Call it the 'Whole New Fleet Initiative'. :)

As for nuclear policy, desired outcome:

1.)  Ban ANY use as a war crime, subject to nuclear weapons free against the offending power, and enforced by the actions of ALL OTHER POWERS.  The violating house will have its surviving assets (if any) divided amongst the conquerors.

2.)  FWL is to pay reparations,  ((LC may not have much ability to make an issue on this one - if they lost as many ships as I THINK they did!))



RE:  Technology, some questions:

Order of Operations Question:

I.  Do we check for tech bleed/espionage/spoils spread BEFORE or AFTER the research rolls?
     a.  If Yes, does this allow you to gain mulitple technologies per turn?

II.  You indicated that if you win multiple rolls on research expenditures, you will roll the dice to see which tech you get, and then get ONLY the LOWEST tech result from those rolls?  Thus you gain AT MOST one tech in each category per turn via research?

[Alsadius]

Feeling better, and am working on my overdue writing homework. :)

Good to hear.

Fun turn.  Its interesting how well all the difference authors writing styles mesh - or is that you, Alsadius?  Anyway, good stuff as always.  Once I get the butchers bill in toto, I'll figure out what I'm doing with my money.  Call it the 'Whole New Fleet Initiative'. :)

I did some basic cleanup - fixed the odd typo, added a few names, re-worded a few sentences for clarity, and so on. The writing is theirs, though I suspect we're all taking inspiration from each other's work here. And yes, I owe three of you butcher's bills, so I'll get to work on that.

RE:  Technology, some questions:

Order of Operations Question:

I.  Do we check for tech bleed/espionage/spoils spread BEFORE or AFTER the research rolls?
     a.  If Yes, does this allow you to gain mulitple technologies per turn?

II.  You indicated that if you win multiple rolls on research expenditures, you will roll the dice to see which tech you get, and then get ONLY the LOWEST tech result from those rolls?  Thus you gain AT MOST one tech in each category per turn via research?

II: Correct. Only one tech per category per turn from research.

I: Probably before. I hadn't consciously considered this, but it makes sense to me that way.

I(a): Tech spread is in addition to research. If it wasn't, nobody could ever catch up.

[marcussmythe]

Thank you!

Really looking forward to seeing the rest of the LC/DC fight.  The future of carrier doctrine depends, ultimately, on whether the surviving ‘dry’ fighters can contribute significantly to the gun duel by exploiting any damaged ships, or suppressing enemy ships.

If they arent decisive here (having gone as far as massed fighter strikes can go, at the high water mark of fighter utility, against a tonnage-inferior force, and having given up mobility to get weight of fire) then their probably are a dead end.  Faster carriers would allow for reload/restrike, but they would cut the deckload at least in half - implying a more than 50% reduction in effect.  So thats probably futile other than for clubbing an outnumbered enemy, or when you dont care if you have to retreat.  Also - AMS is coming, good anti fighter weapons are here - better armor is coming.  Missiles are pretty much at their limit - they dont get lighter or hit harder - so fighter losses will go up, hit rates will drop, and effect of hits will drop.

Just where my head is right now.  Will know more when we know more, and maybe after DC/FS does their dance.  The other batreps arent really informative, other than ‘dont jump into a jump point, jump a bit outside it at a random location’ and ‘nukes flip the table mkay’  :)

[Lagrange]

A side question: Is the deep space highway in the TC seeing significant use by merchants? 

[truetanker]

* I'm watching that answer ... closely. *

Cause I have a - Non of your beeswax ! - solution to that!

TT

(  >:D )

[Smegish]

Aaaand still waiting on that update Mr GM sir if you please.

[Lagrange]

Really looking forward to seeing the rest of the LC/DC fight.  The future of carrier doctrine depends, ultimately, on whether the surviving ‘dry’ fighters can contribute significantly to the gun duel by exploiting any damaged ships, or suppressing enemy ships.

Some peanut gallery comments:

• The DC only has 32 military dropships, and only 12 collars on the warships involved.  The DC jump fleet is adequate to carry 100+ dropships though, so if there are more than 12, there is probably a fleet of vulnerable jumpships around somewhere.
• I'm a little unclear on fighter casualties.  It looks like a maximum of 180 NLs can be brought to bear against fighters in a single arc.  Plausibly they autokill any fighter they hit given the way we are treating capital damage, but they have a +3 penalty to hit even in AAA mode so they only hit semi-reliably at short ranges.  The broadside AC/5s, dropships, and defensive fighters (with 3 AC/5s each as per the Yari) might be able to kill 90 fighters if they always hit and focus fire perfectly in a round.  The defensive fighters and warships could be launching capital missiles, but the Lyran fighters should have enough onboard MGs to make that near pointless.   So, it's easy to see ~200 fighters killed/round.  Getting to 1400+ fighters killed requires lingering in the kill zone for 7 rounds which seems rather long.  Also, presumably the Lyran fighters would be using their own guns in that eventuality to wipe out the dropships and DC fighters if they are dogfighting, and they would destroy the entire fighter and dropship complement with about 3 rounds of fire.
  
• The antimissile fire is reasonable using the Yari baseline of 8MGs/fighter.  Even after accounting for a factor of 4 reduction in effectiveness for off-board MG fire, you get the equivalent of ~1800 MGs between all sources.  If 4000 missiles are on target at short range, knocking down 2000 is reasonable.
• The Atago's are tough ships, but 200 Killer Whale hits should destroy them.  With (maybe) 2000 missiles getting through defenses it seems surprising to see any of the 6 remain functional.  Maybe a particularly poor dispersion of fire?

Overall, I'm interested to see how this turns out as well.   Presumably Alsadius is busy with real life for now...

[Smegish]

Just an update, the Master Sheet has been updated for everyone except those that still have outstanding combat reports (Myself, Steiner and Feddies)

[UnLimiTeD]

As an (as of yet) outsider, reading the combat reports until now, would I be correct to assume that capital missiles are basically only useful when delivered by massed fighter strikes?

[Lagrange]

As an (as of yet) outsider, reading the combat reports until now, would I be correct to assume that capital missiles are basically only useful when delivered by massed fighter strikes?

Yes, but the Lyran navy has the best chance of being able to do something beyond this so we might see something when the current round is finished.  My understanding is that we are looking at a broadside of 390 Barracudas, 120 White Sharks, and 120 Killer Whales each round against a defense which is partly fractured by the initial fighter missile strike.

[marcussmythe]

May be a bit more than that... the GM is treating ship-mounted tubes as being capable of off-bore fire.  Of course, the tubes on my ships carry limited reloads, but thats still -a lot- of missiles.

[UnLimiTeD]

I just guessed that, since even on a fighter strike a lot of missiles are being shot down, regular ship fire would stand an even lower chance of success.
Then again, salvoes become harder to intercept the larger they are, so if a ship fired 15 killer whale missiles at once, that'd be harder to intercept than multiple squadrons of fighters shooting just 12?
If I calculated that correctly, such a salvo, under standard rules, would require at least 180 AMS working in conjunction to shoot down, or twice as many point defense weapons - and as far as I've gathered they are weaker here.
Just noted that I could read of multiple massive missile strikes, yet they were mostly delivered by fighters, and their results fell a bit short.

Also, looking at the construction rules (Are they actually mostly standard? Aka, could one just build warships in MML and port them over?), there is really no reason to build a small ship, is there?
Starting at 250k tons, bigger is better, carrying more armour and offering a better capability for the price. Or am I missing something?

[marcussmythe]

The GM had gone with a different paradigm for missile intercept - in essence, each MG/AMS gets to fire several times, but -cannot- fire at every incoming missile (the way they do in the RAW, which is why AMS can easily neuter an infinitely large missile salvo).

Now, fighters and ship-board launchers are still a huge investment, and their return on that investment is still being measured - especially here, when a maximum fighter load fleet, and one with heavy shipboard launchers as well, is fighting a force with some anti-fighter/anti-missile capability, but not a large one.

TLDR - the Lyran Force really cant get more missiles/fighters unless it rebuilds its gunships as -also- being carriers - which has huge drawbacks.  The DC force could easily raise its point defense carriage by several times over, perhaps an order of magnitude.  So theres a lot of anticipation to see if the fighter/missile paradigm works here, and how well.

[Lagrange]

May be a bit more than that... the GM is treating ship-mounted tubes as being capable of off-bore fire.  Of course, the tubes on my ships carry limited reloads, but thats still -a lot- of missiles.

Interesting---I'm still learning the rules.  In this case, we're looking at 1200 Barracudas, 240 White Sharks, and 240 Killer Whales per round.

W.r.t. construction, the cost of yards is quadratic in the yard's build tonnage so very large ships are particularly expensive to create the capacity to build.

W.r.t. construction rules, you should use the spreadsheet linked in the OP which has some variations and caveats
1) Crew and Passenger quarters have a cost.  Passengers quarters (and possibly crew quarters) are free in the standard rules.
2) Creating monitors (warships minus jump cores) is allowed by the spreadsheet but disallowed by the game.
3) The SI limit for slow warships was removed. (No one has used this yet.)
4) There is no rounding for max thrust.
5) Fractional thrust is allowed.  (No one has used this yet.)
6) Jumpships and Space Stations must use a station keeping drive rather than a fractional thrust maneuvering drive.
7) The set of technologies available (see other OP spreadsheet) is limited and growing over time.

[UnLimiTeD]

Aye, I've seen that.
Just, for quickly trying out designs, MML is far more practical, so I figured if there's no differences in tonnage involved, I could use that as a laboratory, and then, once I find something I like, check it into the spreadsheet to see what changes. Pity dropships are so useless - I still don't get why you guys can't use shuttle hangars.

(the way they do in the RAW, which is why AMS can easily neuter an infinitely large missile salvo).

Ah, I was under the impression that missile salvoes (which only roll for a crit once, after all), were calculated together, so a 4 capital hit against a KW salvo would only divert one missile and leave the rest unmolested. No idea where I gathered that, I didn't find it again.
I guess I mixed up some Tele-Op Info with the SOP rules.  Edit: Actually, where are the rules for missile intercepts?

Regarding, size, I just noted that once you have the yard, you tend to build as large as possible, as there's no reason not to, and that means nearly all designs tend to end on a multiple of 250k.

[Andras]

Aye, I've seen that.
Just, for quickly trying out designs, MML is far more practical, so I figured if there's no differences in tonnage involved, I could use that as a laboratory, and then, once I find something I like, check it into the spreadsheet to see what changes. Pity dropships are so useless - I still don't get why you guys can't use shuttle hangars. Ah, I was under the impression that missile salvoes (which only roll for a crit once, after all), were calculated together, so a 4 capital hit against a KW salvo would only divert one missile and leave the rest unmolested. No idea where I gathered that, I didn't find it again.
I guess I mixed up some Tele-Op Info with the SOP rules.

You might have seen this thread,
https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=5106

But here's the rule clarification three years later
https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=38671.0