SDN Worlds 4 Commentary Thread VI

[Mayabird]

"We will burn your calories."

Nice one.

Your stealth ships, assuming they stay stealthy, would also be useful for intel. It would be nice for everyone to know ahead of time what forces are where and so on. Everybody IC is running off estimates and bits of data gleaned off this and that, I'm guessing.

[RogueIce]

"We will burn your calories."

Nice one.

Your stealth ships, assuming they stay stealthy, would also be useful for intel. It would be nice for everyone to know ahead of time what forces are where and so on. Everybody IC is running off estimates and bits of data gleaned off this and that, I'm guessing.

Well, there are stealth ships running around. Tianguo has some, and is definately sharing the intel with us. And then there were the Chamarrans who I think shared their intel with Tianguo (if I remember that story correctly) who in turn shared it with us; and on that note there may be additional exchanges of backchannel information shared between myself and the Kitties, since we have that understanding of ours.

And of course the Umerians have their stealth ships, but since knowledge of them even existing is a closely guarded secret, I'm not sure how Simon is handling relaying that. Maybe just saying anonymous sources? I don't know.

Oh, and if maybe the Centrality asks very nicely, we may discuss with our coalition partners whether they could be included in any way, now that our intentions are public knowledge. Maybe. Can't speak for the whole coalition on that matter.

[Simon_Jester]

I honestly haven't decided if a Umerian stealth cutter unit is in the neighborhood of the MEH- or if I did, I've forgotten the decision.

If they are, they're operating in very limited strength, and probably won't tell all that much of what they find out- much of which would be redundant anyway from other people's perspective. Odds are, information the Umerians gather would be officially presented to other powers as "scanty and we're not sure we really know what's going on because our sources are limited," which is in a real sense true.

[Agent Sorchus]

Yeah we had a list of all the stealth ships operating in the Meh and nearby territory. Lots of ships on the whole of it, from a Byzantine recon frigate flyby to a brand new Tianguo stealth carrier, some Kitty prowlers, and a squadron of 14 Eoghan Heavy Frigates. We'll have plenty of Reconnaissance data at the end of the day.

[RogueIce]

I honestly haven't decided if a Umerian stealth cutter unit is in the neighborhood of the MEH- or if I did, I've forgotten the decision.

If they are, they're operating in very limited strength, and probably won't tell all that much of what they find out- much of which would be redundant anyway from other people's perspective. Odds are, information the Umerians gather would be officially presented to other powers as "scanty and we're not sure we really know what's going on because our sources are limited," which is in a real sense true.

It would appear that you did not as of 31 December 3400. Whether or not you would change that at all since the war warning "went public" I haven't seen you post about.

[Simon_Jester]

Sorry, Rogue; I've been preoccupied and the buildup for the War on MEH has been slow enough that I felt I could take my time.

To summarize, OOC:

Umeria is committing a small fleet to the operation: a dreadnought division and a (reduced) intervention task force totalling roughly 2500-3000 points. This isn't much, but it's far and away the largest-scale long range expeditionary commitment in the nation's history; it is in many ways an experiment in logistics to see if we can do it at all. Expeditionary warfare is not one of the Space Security Force's strong suits.

We are going to send one of the best admirals we can find to command the thing, and are hoping to base out of Klavostani space so far as possible. Fleet train is going to be a problem.

Large-scale commitment of ground troops would still be under consideration- we have at least limited preparation for that in the form of Intervention troops, which are more or less organized for the expeditionary role, but the ground contingent would be relatively small- at most enough to occupy one MEH planet out of something like two dozen.



Now, knowing that to be the case...

First, bear in mind that the only reason I had Umeria have anything on station for the great Stealth Fail incident in Sector C-6 was because of the presence of the nearby Commune. While I'm not sure how much would have come out of the negotiations we were supposed to enter in March 3400, I felt justified in saying that the Commune would permit Umerian reconnaissance assets to operate out of their space on a small scale, and the Technocracy will certainly return the favor should the Communards be so inclined.

Since we have no such longstanding relationship with any of the powers immediately near MEHspace, I doubt any of our limited stealth assets are permanently based nearby.

That said, the Umerians might detach a stealth tender (with stealth cutter wing, of course) down to MEHspace after the decision to participate in the war is made by the Technocracy some time in Q1 of 3401, after Shinra quietly approaches them but before the public announcement.

The problem is that while stealth cutters are much better suited to long range detached operation than the SpaceSec fleet as a whole, they have limits, and MEHspace is really fucking far away. It would take a long time to get there from any place where we do have a stealth tender permanently on station. My honest inclination is to say the Umeria has no reconnaissance assets down there at the moment, and is relying on their coalition partners who are better placed and equipped for the job. Even if that's not the case, the Umerian stealth contingent would be so small that they would be very unlikely to learn anything that wasn't already known by everyone else involved.

[Shinn Langley Soryu]

I just realized something after posting my FY 3401 expansion listing: The HSS Midori Kanda should actually still be in the yards right now! Maybe it was participating in the Sector N-19 exercises with a significantly reduced weapons and fighter loadout?

[Steve]

I still think the "Man-Tau" population is being inflated, in terms of those who want to stay that way. I mean, I can see some wanting to go to the Commonwealth only because they figure the Atlanteans might be able to revert them short of the potentially-fatal Byzantine cure, but I don't see anything more than a very tiny minority, microscopic statistically, actually wanting to remain Tau.

[Steve]

I suggest this: the ship was considered complete and commissioned ahead of schedule due to the builder using it as a test to see how well suited they were to a "24/7, wartime accelerated" construction schedule. The result is the ship was ready for said exercises. The downside? Said exercises, and further shakedown, will review various minor issues (including some that, over time, could become major) that will require the ship to spend an extended refit period in the yards during 3401.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

I still think the "Man-Tau" population is being inflated, in terms of those who want to stay that way. I mean, I can see some wanting to go to the Commonwealth only because they figure the Atlanteans might be able to revert them short of the potentially-fatal Byzantine cure, but I don't see anything more than a very tiny minority, microscopic statistically, actually wanting to remain Tau.

There's a better cure in store, but I haven't gotten around to write it up.

[Shinn Langley Soryu]

I suggest this: the ship was considered complete and commissioned ahead of schedule due to the builder using it as a test to see how well suited they were to a "24/7, wartime accelerated" construction schedule. The result is the ship was ready for said exercises. The downside? Said exercises, and further shakedown, will review various minor issues (including some that, over time, could become major) that will require the ship to spend an extended refit period in the yards during 3401.

What I had in mind was that the Kanda and her sister ships were rushed out of the yards sometime in February and made to undergo a shortened trial period (which includes the Sector N-19 exercises), largely with the intent of having them actually participate in the upcoming invasion of the MEH.

In theory, the eight ships of the Ushijima class will provide a significant boost to the SOS Imperial Armed Forces' fighting capability, particularly concerning planetary assault; the existing Lisa Ann Beley class assault ships are far too small to provide a meaningful assault capability. In practice, however, you are right in that there will be...issues; while certainly nothing on the scale of "disastrous failures of important systems at inopportune moments" that will befall a significant portion of the MEH fleet after its crash upgrade program, there will still be issues nonetheless.

That sound good, or do I have to think of something else?

While I'm at it, do look up who Midori Kanda is. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

[RogueIce]

While I'm at it, do look up who Midori Kanda is. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

An anime character who gets cosplayed a lot, from what I can infer via Google image search?

Somehow I'm not surprised.

[Shinn Langley Soryu]

While I'm at it, do look up who Midori Kanda is. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

An anime character who gets cosplayed a lot, from what I can infer via Google image search?

Somehow I'm not surprised.

The reverse, actually: A woman who really loves cosplay. Here's a handy archive of her pics.

And yeah, really shouldn't be too surprising.

[Dark Hellion]

I am still alive in this game... I have just been busy with school after my surgery and have been a little burnt out.

I do plan on staking out some territory for operation MEHstomp and doing some vicious and cruel things.

[Shroom Man 777]

Good. Will your kill-robot be at the Bragulan MEHstomp meeting at BEEEF? Mr. Robato? Or will it be a totally unexpected thing?

[Dark Hellion]

I'll meet at the BEEEF. I have some really mean plans but I'll need to run it by a few people first.

[Force Lord]

The Odyssey...IN SPAAAAAACE!

[Simon_Jester]

Actually, the inspiration for this, so far, is all out of the Iliad.

And Shroomy.

[White Haven]

Fucking priceless, Simon. Priceless. Without price.

[Shroom Man 777]

Gratuitous? This. Is. ELYSIUUUUM!

[Dark Hellion]

Man, I feel delightfully wicked with this latest move. Together the Emissaries and the Karlacks will be able to do such wonderful things.

[PeZook]

Smooth move. Either you two conquer the universe and thus will be able to engage your gods in the glourious final battle, or the universe will band together to defeat you and the karlacks and thus create a unified front that will be able to engage your gods in the glourious final battle.

[Shroom Man 777]

Except that, uh, Shady's dormant.

[White Haven]

Well, the Emissaries are a bit more bloodthirsty than they were the last time around. If only the aforementioned dormancy of Shady was, in point of fact, not actually the case, my borders might get 'interesting' very quickly.'

[Steve]

Smooth move. Either you two conquer the universe and thus will be able to engage your gods in the glourious final battle, or the universe will band together to defeat you and the karlacks and thus create a unified front that will be able to engage your gods in the glourious final battle.

Or Option C: Everything in B happens, but then with the common threat removed the unified front disintegrates and the entire Emissary win/win proposition collapses.