SDN Worlds 4 Commentary Thread I

[PeZook]

I meant more in the sense of the areas where most time is wasted - that is, logistical planning, target assignments, etc.

You can have the fleets run excercises together, while a bunch of experts figure out interface solutions acceptale to everyone. In the meantime, AIs take all the mundane, trivial data about the target and spit out ready-made operational plans, assignments, simulations and wargames for all variants, etc.

You know, the total gruntwork that 90% of all operational planning is composed of - the reason why it takes so damn long to prepare any large operation.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Free Genetic material?

It's not like Bragulans are hard to come by or anything

EDIT: Also, Oliver Gill learns his mission might be less glorious than he thinks...

Since when did the Collectors quibble about small technicalities?

[Simon_Jester]

I meant more in the sense of the areas where most time is wasted - that is, logistical planning, target assignments, etc.

You can have the fleets run excercises together, while a bunch of experts figure out interface solutions acceptale to everyone. In the meantime, AIs take all the mundane, trivial data about the target and spit out ready-made operational plans, assignments, simulations and wargames for all variants, etc.

You know, the total gruntwork that 90% of all operational planning is composed of - the reason why it takes so damn long to prepare any large operation.

True, enough so to be helpful. I'm still a bit dubious of all this being done (starting with the original order to assemble the fleet and culminating in the fleet's departure for Pendleton) in less than thirty days, and if we are going to do it that fast I'd like to see some consequences in the writing for art's sake.

[Steve]

This is hardly Desert Freaking Storm, though, and part of the entire point of the setup is that the precautions that would be taken for dealing with a proper interstellar state will be ignored for a shithole like Pendleton.

Also, New Anglia has been planning this, for months before game, soon after the Tantalizer was boarded. What's basically happening is the New Anglian battle plan is being slightly altered to account for more forces, and even then this is the reason why we only want the contingents from the Ascendancy, the NenAlt... Akhlut's dino-people, Altacar, and Gotham to partake (I believe I also left the opening for a couple Shepistani Lights) in the actual invasion; everyone else is being left at Bannerman to blockade the gap.

Ultimately the operational plan will be fairly rough, but nobody expects Pendleton to be capable of putting up a fight that would demand better planning.

Naturally their opinion would be different if they knew the Collectors were around. But, of course, they don't.

[Steve]

Until it glows in the dark, shoot all the Araynists in the dark, and steal all their oil.

So a Collector ship will be arriving in Pendleton, eh? Hrm... the IBGV might keep a close lookout for it.

...how would the Bragulans look out for it when it's about ten sectors away?

[Simon_Jester]

...how would the Bragulans look out for it when it's about ten sectors away?

Steve, these are Bragulans. They're perfectly capable of keeping a vigilant watch for something that isn't there, wasn't coming there, won't be coming there, and in fact isn't even within several hundred light years of "there."

This is hardly Desert Freaking Storm, though, and part of the entire point of the setup is that the precautions that would be taken for dealing with a proper interstellar state will be ignored for a shithole like Pendleton.

Well, all right, this is true. You can hammer together a joint operational plan pretty quick if all you do is say "you guys attack from over here, you guys attack from over there, you guys stay over here and guard the flank," and have each force operate more or less as if the others did not exist.

Though even against a weak enemy command this will have some disadvantages, as long as the enemy command is unified; against a strong enemy it's a disaster waiting to happen.

Good thing we don't have to worry about a strong enemy, eh?

Also, New Anglia has been planning this, for months before game, soon after the Tantalizer was boarded.

Ah, I see. Got mixed up about that.

[Coyote]

Also, would it not make sense that, given the history and proximity, that Anglia would have a few off-the-shelf contingency plans already drawn up for dealing with a troublesome Pendleton? Dust them off and modify them to suit recent developments and off you go.

[Simon_Jester]

Also true.

I'm conviced. I still intend to put in a bit about the ad hoc nature of the Coalition forces (not the New Anglian core) causing operational problems, if we're going to do it that way. But any concern I have about the plausibility of the operation being completed that fast is addressed.

Though that still doesn't touch my question about the pace of in-game events relative to the pace of warship construction...

[PeZook]

You know, Chamarrans are not very nice people themselves

[Pollux]

Sorry I haven't been able to dedicate much time to this in the past few days. I've been feeling like crap, as my sleep schedule is totally jacked up, and generally quite un-diabolical in general.

Rest assured, things will get interesting... oh yes, they shall...

[Grif]

You know, Chamarrans are not very nice people themselves

And how would you know that? Have you been kidnapping some more of them Chamarrans?

[A-Wing_Slash]

Sorry its been a while between posts, its been a busy last few days for me, but I should be more regular going forward. Just to clarify my last post, the ESR's expeditionary forces are assembling, and fixing up their hyperdrives to run the Gap without trouble, at their own naval base a little ways south of Lochley's Retreat before they head out and join the New Anglians and friends. Given the number of people who've signed up for the Pendleton affair, how is the coordination of who's sending what when going to work?

[Shroom Man 777]

Until it glows in the dark, shoot all the Araynists in the dark, and steal all their oil.

So a Collector ship will be arriving in Pendleton, eh? Hrm... the IBGV might keep a close lookout for it.

...how would the Bragulans look out for it when it's about ten sectors away?

Not in terms of ships or fleet deployments. Just IBGV agents who've been operating in Pendleton for some time, because due to the Pendletons' possession of human slaves, the IBGV would've sent agents there to purchase those slaves for intelligence-gathering purposes. IBGV guys buy slaves from Pendleton, ship them back to the BSE or to some extraterritorial blacksite for processing, any slave that knows something interesting gets kept, and other slaves that aren't worth anything are returned to Pendleton for a refund. Or thrown out of an airlock.

So when the Collector ship comes, the IBGV agents might decide to rig up a civilian ship with sensors to observe the Collector ship. From a safe distance.

[Simon_Jester]

So, the Bragulans are crashing the naval review, then?

[Kartr_Kana]

Apparently they didn't read the "No Space Bears Allowed" part. I see a fragtastic misunderstanding that leads to a display of firepower unrivaled that may or may not turn into a number of shooting wars. Maybe we'll get lucky though and only the Space Teddy's will get hurt.

[Shinn Langley Soryu]

So, the Bragulans are crashing the naval review, then?

I also noticed the dig at Prime Minister Smith's iffy spelling. Ironic that the Bragulans would be more literate in a language that they deem to be below them.

I think the Byzantine Imperium should crash the review as well; a full-sized Astartes Legion led by a Battle Barge would certainly be nice.

[Shroom Man 777]

To be fair, I initially thought that he was including the Brags in the invite. Then I read it again and realized that he said "EXCEPT the Byzantines, Brags, Karlacks, Orks and Pfhor". But I decided to post it anyway, since it seemed funny.

EDIT:

It is also doubly hilarious that one of the first nations who replied to his invite is the one he was NOT inviting.

EDIT 2:

BLAH! Other people replied before me! Urgh!

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

So, the Bragulans are crashing the naval review, then?

I also noticed the dig at Prime Minister Smith's iffy spelling. Ironic that the Bragulans would be more literate in a language that they deem to be below them.

I think the Byzantine Imperium should crash the review as well; a full-sized Astartes Legion led by a Battle Barge would certainly be nice.

Meh... If I wanted to be an asshole, I would hold my own naval review at the same time as Zor's.

But, I don't have time to indulge in silliness. We have our own huge Victory Day to celebrate...

[PeZook]

Ha! SHROOM!

Agent Spozavik, the Bragulan spy, receives an enconded message from his handler. The message reads: "Comrade, congratulations! Your wife gave birth to octuplets!"

Spozavik resigns himself to melancholy... it's been a long three years since he left Bragule.

YOU USED THAT JOKE!

Yet...you said you didn't get it!

ARGH! BRAGULAN TREACHERY!

[Shroom Man 777]

Give me more to Bragulanize.

[PeZook]

Give me more to Bragulanize.

The Joke Thread is full of them

Information about Brezhnyev's death was first given by the state TV...during a weather announcement.

"In Moscow, minus one"

Grocery store, the 80s

"Do you have potatoes?"

"Yes"

"For God's sake, don't joke like that!"

The government is discussing whether to increase funding for preschools or prisons. One of the Party bigwigs suddendly gets up and says, "Comrades! We won't go back to preschool!"

So they decided to fund prisons.

A guy comes back from the interrogation at the KGB. His wife, worried, asks, "So? What did they ask you?!"

"Oh, nothing much. They wanted to know if I was an onanist in my youth."

"And? What did you say?!"

"That I was only and forever a communist."

"Dumbass! What if the onanists get into power?!"

A militsiaman grabs a young man by the collar and screams at him, "Are you a student?!"

"No! Just sa vandal!"

"Oh, then I'm terribly sorry, sir."

"Our glorious farm is completely automated!", a proud PGR director brags to inspectors from Warsaw, "See, all I have to do is press this button here, and ten employees with pitchforks run to work immediately!"

A student asks his teacher, "Sir, what are getting in exchange for coal exports to the USSR?"

"The cold", the teacher answers

"We constantly think about your well-being!", a Russian officer says to his Polish colleague, "All we want is your best!"

"I know, but we'd like to keep our best to ourselves"

Two priests meet during the Pope's visit to Poland. One of them seems confused and asks, "Do I know you, father?"

"Of course you do, we work at the 5th Precinct together!"

After entering Poland in 1945, the Red Army is trying to recruit Poles, under the argument that they should reciprocate their liberators by helping them defeat the Nazis.

A peasant listens to the fiery speech by a Russian recruiter and asks him a question, "Did you ever see two dogs fight over a bone?"

"Well, yes, plenty of times", the recruites answers, rather confused

"And did you ever see a bone that took part in that fight?"

Want more?

[Lonestar]

Jesus those jokes are so very European.

[PeZook]

They're suitably Bragulan

[Lonestar]

EAST European.

I bet you watch some weirdo show like "Orlaf is a poor peasant: He only has one wife".

[PeZook]

I bet you watch some weirdo show like "Orlaf is a poor peasant: He only has one wife".

Not really, we usually watch reimagined American sitcoms.

...and at least Orlaf's wife is not overweight