Moderator: Thanas
Um, we struck first. Our ships began their strikes before you were mobilized. Of course we struck first. As you've pointed out- you were screwed.Besides, are you saying that you can get two attacks in on the Alliance in the time it takes the Alliance to get in one back?
In other words, they left their slips when our vessels were arriving on your borders., but they got started soon after the opening moves of the war;
Long enough that we should really probably have it out.SirNitram wrote:How long since the assaults started?
And this promise means exactly how much?Thirdfain wrote:That'd be me, and I've promised to destroy the Programmer when this is over.
Actually don't we both control it? Because I assure you we would not have let that thing out of our sight...Thirdfain wrote:That'd be me, and I've promised to destroy the Programmer when this is over.
So I know that a bad-ass fleet came out of ftl next door, and will know if they leave, cool, that's what I needed to know.Beowulf wrote:Um... 2.5 light years is roughly consistant with 20 minute warning and travel speeds.
Accuracy at long ranges depends on whether your using guided or unguided munitions. If it's guided, you have a much longer reach, because inherant inaccuracies matter less.
Yes. You would have easily seen a group of warships coming, coming, coming.. Not there no more.consequences wrote:Long enough that we should really probably have it out.SirNitram wrote:How long since the assaults started?
couple of questions though:
Is fifteen light-hours out consistent with ftl detection ranges given the twenty minute warning time and normal travel speeds?
I'm assuming you have planetary shields, like, oh, every power, and that I can stop the bombardment in such a way that just enough will hit to bring down the shield with minimal spillage. It's a tactic of bloody intimidation.Are you just hitting one of the twelve colonies that I started the game with that I haven't detailed in any way? Because if so, given the force you have bombarding me, you may have just commited the indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, depending on how long you maintain the bombardment.
Given that we have computers we stole from the Overseer... I imagine hitting a godsdamn planet isn't hard. Not when, you know, modern-day Earth has been doing it for forty some years(The various outsystem probes).How long does the range have to get before minute variances in firing conditions can cause someone to miss a planet? If there is a cumulative 1 meter per LS variance in exact shot placement on an immobile target, then you have to get to a range of somewhere around three light-months before you might as well not bother. On the other hand, if weapons are only accurate to within a two kilometer circle at one LS, then at two light-minutes you are only going to hit by luck. Of course, my math is probably worthless, since I have no idea by what formula the error radius actually increases.
No shit. Here I am anyways.And as a completely OOC note, you do realise that if you let whoever has the Master Programmer make you their bitch now, you are going to be their bitch until your military is dead and they can just move in anyway.
If your fleet left its location by ftl, we would know the approximate direction you headed off in, at least until you got 19.5 minutes away, and we only know you are still in the general area. Or we could know that you are sitting in the outer system, in a big honking area that could hold your fleet slowly drifting in, or waiting nearby in ambush. Of course, tracking down your people will be obnoxiously difficult if you don't want to be found.SirNitram wrote:Yes. You would have easily seen a group of warships coming, coming, coming.. Not there no more.
Assumptions that the enemy is competent can be damaging in remarkably unexpected ways. Presuming I was willing to sacrifice a large number of people, the Alliance could pull ahead pretty quickly in the propaganda sweepstakes. Of course, I am not that callous( with my own peoples lives anyway). In any case, the sustained bombardment by four dreadnought hull equivalents would be enough to eventually reduce even a major world's defenses. And for the record, my people walk outside their bunkers(three feet outside them), and eat popcorn and watch the fireworks(while carefully listening to the current evacuation warnings).SirNitram wrote:I'm assuming you have planetary shields, like, oh, every power, and that I can stop the bombardment in such a way that just enough will hit to bring down the shield with minimal spillage. It's a tactic of bloody intimidation.
Woo, we're really advanced, that doesn't mean you get to fire an unguided projectile and expect it to hit three years later exactly where you planned it. Fifteen light-hours I can buy for randomly shooting up a planet, especially since the ships you are using are specifically designed for planetary bombardment. However, this capability doesn't extapolate into infinity, at least until you can map every bit of space dust in your projectiles path, and calculate the exact vector changes that would result from them being vaporised en-passant, while firing a perfectly stable round. As side note, Earth's rockets were capable of at least minor course corrections, a capability I have yet to hear attributed to your railgun rounds.SirNitram wrote:Given that we have computers we stole from the Overseer... I imagine hitting a godsdamn planet isn't hard. Not when, you know, modern-day Earth has been doing it for forty some years(The various outsystem probes).
So your people are that afraid of one little robot? After surviving the onslaught of the Overseer and however many Programmers it had for so many years?*goes off to find some paper mache and red lightbulbs*SirNitram wrote:No shit. Here I am anyways.
And I don't. I'm playing modern land artillery rules.consequences wrote:If your fleet left its location by ftl, we would know the approximate direction you headed off in, at least until you got 19.5 minutes away, and we only know you are still in the general area. Or we could know that you are sitting in the outer system, in a big honking area that could hold your fleet slowly drifting in, or waiting nearby in ambush. Of course, tracking down your people will be obnoxiously difficult if you don't want to be found.SirNitram wrote:Yes. You would have easily seen a group of warships coming, coming, coming.. Not there no more.
If that's clearance to write up a post of what I do once the shield falls to this artillery fire, alrighty. If any of them are actually noticable to the Etern courier that's going to appear, he'll probably salute them for having balls the size of small planetoids.Assumptions that the enemy is competent can be damaging in remarkably unexpected ways. Presuming I was willing to sacrifice a large number of people, the Alliance could pull ahead pretty quickly in the propaganda sweepstakes. Of course, I am not that callous( with my own peoples lives anyway). In any case, the sustained bombardment by four dreadnought hull equivalents would be enough to eventually reduce even a major world's defenses. And for the record, my people walk outside their bunkers(three feet outside them), and eat popcorn and watch the fireworks(while carefully listening to the current evacuation warnings).SirNitram wrote:I'm assuming you have planetary shields, like, oh, every power, and that I can stop the bombardment in such a way that just enough will hit to bring down the shield with minimal spillage. It's a tactic of bloody intimidation.
Yes, but I just have to get them into a position where your world's gravity well will drag them down into it's shield. That's a remarkably big target, especially from the limited range I chose. Much further out and the time delay becomes prohibitive and the ranges are insane, too close in, of course, and you can effectively combat me while I'm playing shoot-n-scoot.Woo, we're really advanced, that doesn't mean you get to fire an unguided projectile and expect it to hit three years later exactly where you planned it. Fifteen light-hours I can buy for randomly shooting up a planet, especially since the ships you are using are specifically designed for planetary bombardment. However, this capability doesn't extapolate into infinity, at least until you can map every bit of space dust in your projectiles path, and calculate the exact vector changes that would result from them being vaporised en-passant, while firing a perfectly stable round. As side note, Earth's rockets were capable of at least minor course corrections, a capability I have yet to hear attributed to your railgun rounds.SirNitram wrote:Given that we have computers we stole from the Overseer... I imagine hitting a godsdamn planet isn't hard. Not when, you know, modern-day Earth has been doing it for forty some years(The various outsystem probes).
Piggybacking on the bigger ships, really, much like a proper fighter. I suppose in practice they're just really big, really well armed fighters. This makes it impossible for them to withdraw if I have to make a sudden exit.So your people are that afraid of one little robot? After surviving the onslaught of the Overseer and however many Programmers it had for so many years?*goes off to find some paper mache and red lightbulbs*SirNitram wrote:No shit. Here I am anyways.
A Master Programmer is dangerous mostly because it could, conceivably, uproot the Etern networks and enslave every man, woman, and child. There's also alot of superstition among the Etern around the Overseer... For one thing, they refuse to beleive the thing is dead.
Edit: and one other question that I forgot: how exactly do your gunboats get around, since they have it specified that they have no built-in ftl?
You could have them transported by some variety of armed fleet tender as well, if you don't want to sacrifice potential capability on your fleet. Tacking on that much mass to the exterior can't be good for speed, manueverability, or weapon arcs. Of course, such a tender would be pretty vulnerable if engaged.SirNitram wrote: Piggybacking on the bigger ships, really, much like a proper fighter. I suppose in practice they're just really big, really well armed fighters. This makes it impossible for them to withdraw if I have to make a sudden exit.
I really haven't detailed, but I'm not imagining proper bays; the Darts are big enough that you don't need to board and launch like a fighter. I literally imagined some hooks they latch onto while FTL. A modified tender or superfreighter could do it as well. The key point is the Dart is completely left behind if they must withdraw in a big rush.consequences wrote:You could have them transported by some variety of armed fleet tender as well, if you don't want to sacrifice potential capability on your fleet. Tacking on that much mass to the exterior can't be good for speed, manueverability, or weapon arcs. Of course, such a tender would be pretty vulnerable if engaged.SirNitram wrote: Piggybacking on the bigger ships, really, much like a proper fighter. I suppose in practice they're just really big, really well armed fighters. This makes it impossible for them to withdraw if I have to make a sudden exit.
Halfway through page one seventy one. Long range artillery: redefined.Rogue 9 wrote:What are you two blabbering about? I see no attack or approaching ships in Shi territory in the game thread.
Who else has Programmers, Rogue? I have oodles of em, Thirdfain has one. That's all I remember, seeing as how until the Unification campaign, we took to BDZing any Overseer world.Rogue 9 wrote:Might I point out that Thirdfain ain't the only one with Programmers?
Bugsby wrote:Who else has Programmers, Rogue? I have oodles of em, Thirdfain has one. That's all I remember, seeing as how until the Unification campaign, we took to BDZing any Overseer world.Rogue 9 wrote:Might I point out that Thirdfain ain't the only one with Programmers?
Why must people always forget what I do? Did I or did I not loot Gamma-3658 and haul all the salvage that I could carry back? You did. You're also a democracy which would promptly implode from political dissent if you did somethign as vile as ressurect the Overseer in any amount, or enslave an entire nation.Rogue 9 wrote:Bugsby wrote:Who else has Programmers, Rogue? I have oodles of em, Thirdfain has one. That's all I remember, seeing as how until the Unification campaign, we took to BDZing any Overseer world.Rogue 9 wrote:Might I point out that Thirdfain ain't the only one with Programmers?
As I said. You aren't that insane.Rogue 9 wrote:Mmm hmmmm. Should I ever get to the point where I want to actually turn on Overseer machinery and test it, it will have remotely detonated explosive charges attached all over it.
