SD.Net World Redux Comment Thread V

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Next, every torpedo must be inscribed with every verse in the Quran for added holyness!

[Shroom Man 777]

Torpedoes of Allah! A man with a dozen of those could rule all of Velaria('s seas)!



Captain A'shadieeyah Mohammad better be as cunning as a Fedayeen with a doctorate of cunning from Osama bin Laden's cleverly-disguised Afghanistan terror camps.

[Steve]

As a note, I'm assuming further Pan-Pacific Conference posts will take place in elapsed time and that my IC self has already left, as he only intended to attend the first week or so of meetings given he has an election to get to.

Depending on what terms Zoria and Serenity have been supporting, it's entirely possible part of any failure to reach an agreement has come from a steadfast Cascadian refusal to commit to any military cooperation beyond inter-service training for humanitarian operations and on the issue of how to deal with the various countries' Velerian interests.

[phongn]

The IRT's position should be reasonably obvious: we want to make money on our investment (granted, it's a very long term investment). We also hope to secure supplies of various strategic resources, and eventually make certain nations entirely part of the IRT's sphere of influence.

OOC: Hence, we're going to be mucking around south of Rangatara, since we have certain interests in certain leadership there.

[Shinn Langley Soryu]

While I'm waiting for my aircraft carrier to be refitted so I can finally take it home, I might as well put in the orders for my air wing. Just how much would new-build A-6F Intruders and their variants cost, anyway?

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

While I'm waiting for my aircraft carrier to be refitted so I can finally take it home, I might as well put in the orders for my air wing. Just how much would new-build A-6F Intruders and their variants cost, anyway?

Why not go with an all F/A-18E/F/G flight wing or F-14E? Then throw in some air tankers and E-2D aircraft

[phongn]

What the hell? He has money for top-of-the-line fighter aircraft? A full carrier?

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

What the hell? He has money for top-of-the-line fighter aircraft? A full carrier?

A used carrier though.

What would you suggest then? Even the latest A-6 aircraft had pretty decent avionics.

[phongn]

He has a GDP in the half-trillion range. Assuming 10% GDP is spent on defense (a spectacularly high number!) that's $500M a year. A full-size conventional carrier costs over $120M a year to operate(!) He'll be spending a huge proportion of his spending just on that one carrier alone.

EDIT: Ignore this, I was tired

[RogueIce]

He has a GDP in the half-trillion range. Assuming 10% GDP is spent on defense (a spectacularly high number!) that's $500M a year. A full-size conventional carrier costs over $120M a year to operate(!) He'll be spending a huge proportion of his spending just on that one carrier alone.

I'm going to take what is probably a page from the IRT playbook and say that I don't care if he bankrupts himself trying to run it or even buying it; I got paid, I'm perfectly happy.

But it all depends on the rest of his military and what he's doing with it, of course. I'm too lazy to go look at his OOB, though.

[Shinn Langley Soryu]

Wait, $500 million? That would mean I have a GDP of only $5 billion as opposed to the roughly $350-400 billion I actually have. I do spend 10% of my GDP on defense, though; taking the low GDP estimate of $350 billion and assuming a 60-40 split between maintenance and acquisition/R&D, I have at least $21 billion to spend on upkeep costs. I can probably afford to maintain that carrier and its associated air wing, but then again, I also have 28 frigates, 16 submarines, and over 500 planes in my air force to worry about as well.

[PeZook]

Yeah, phong just can't calculate 500*0.1

[phongn]

Yeah, phong just can't calculate 500*0.1

Yeah, I was tired and screwed that up terribly.

[CmdrWilkens]

Hey Seige your accuracy is probably a bit more than crazy good. For the speed and newness of the weapon having a CEP like that is pretty impressive so I just want to know how many billions you threw into either getting up a seperate GPS constellation or really good inertial/laser guidance weapons. Not saying bombs from space aren't ready to start happening but for the first generation this seems awfully accurate.

[phongn]

Yeah, accurately de-orbiting systems to the needed precision requires a lot of expensive development. I did mention that I was conducting extensive ICBM tests - at incredible cost - just to get data needed for building RVs.

[Shinn Langley Soryu]

So, regarding the pricing for those A-6s, Wikipedia states that the regular A-6E Intruder at is priced US$43 million, albeit in 1998 dollars; the EA-6B Prowler is priced at US$52 million, though the Wiki article doesn't state what fiscal year that was. Would the A-6F series be priced similarly?

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Well, you should buy both the EW version and the standard version at the same time. I'm not sure who produces that now.

[Zor]

And the next chapter in the Muballi storyline unfolds.

Zor

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

And the next chapter in the Muballi storyline unfolds.

Zor

Hmm.... a lot of fire to let loose soon. Hmm...

BTW, they aren't in Hadabara. They went for the TOnkin border.

[Steve]

Tonkin border? In Veleria?

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Tonkin border? In Veleria?

Tonkin-friendly nation's border, to be more precise.

[Steve]

Tonkin border? In Veleria?

Tonkin-friendly nation's border, to be more precise.

Ah, Rangatara. Le Kanh Province is the part nearest the main conflict zone in the Dragonsnake River Basin.

[Steve]

Uh, Zor? Where is Muballi getting the resources, the materials, to violently expand so successfully against a well-trained (not "fanatical, but unorginized") Jihadi force backed financially by the oil money of Arabia and Syria as well as any opposing tribes and government troops?

Seriously, your posts are so damned hard to read sometimes because A) you don't break your paragraphs up enough and B) it always seems to be one side utterly dominating the other, and mostly for the benefit of Zoria.

[Zor]

Uh, Zor? Where is Muballi getting the resources, the materials, to violently expand so successfully against a well-trained (not "fanatical, but unorginized") Jihadi force backed financially by the oil money of Arabia and Syria as well as any opposing tribes and government troops?

First off, Goverment troops are going to be at best a footnote given the failed state aspect of the nation. Secondly, not all the Jihadis are going to be the elite insurgent kind and Syria's backing is a more recent development in this conflict.

Muballi has a geographically isolated Valley area under his control with deposits of fairly high quality coal (a fairly valuable resource even in areas with little to no industrialization) and is a member of a weathy family with some assets elsewere. Second he has spent the last few decades stabilizing and building up said area, including bringing in machine tools and such officially to help with coal production and setting up a few small scale industries such as textiles and a few more military things. He has been gradually (and covertly) producing, buying and stockpiling weapons and equipment while generally keeping a low profile as far as the world is conserned and setting about with propaganda and education to put the locals in line. The Jihadis did not see the attack comming simply because they did not think that Muballi had what he had nor did they see him as agressive. Their was little consideration of a massive threat like the one Muballi threw their way and they had other priorities to fill out.

Zor

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

First off, Goverment troops are going to be at best a footnote given the failed state aspect of the nation. Secondly, not all the Jihadis are going to be the elite insurgent kind and Syria's backing is a more recent development in this conflict.

Muballi has a geographically isolated Valley area under his control with deposits of fairly high quality coal (a fairly valuable resource even in areas with little to no industrialization) and is a member of a weathy family with some assets elsewere. Second he has spent the last few decades stabilizing and building up said area, including bringing in machine tools and such officially to help with coal production and setting up a few small scale industries such as textiles and a few more military things. He has been gradually (and covertly) producing, buying and stockpiling weapons and equipment while generally keeping a low profile as far as the world is conserned and setting about with propaganda and education to put the locals in line. The Jihadis did not see the attack comming simply because they did not think that Muballi had what he had nor did they see him as agressive. Their was little consideration of a massive threat like the one Muballi threw their way and they had other priorities to fill out.

Zor

Zor, did you not read? The bulk of the Jihadis already packed their bags and headed north out of the country. You love to misread right?

And covertly producing? Where did that come from? YOu handwishing it out of thin air? Scale it back. The country has the economic development of Papua New Guinea aand that means it has virtually no industries beyond mineral extraction.