Author Topic: What's going on in your empire/planet/battlefield?  (Read 263556 times)

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Offline Haji

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Re: What's going on in your empire/planet/battlefield?
« Reply #675 on: June 25, 2014, 04:36:34 PM »
From Freepeedia, the Communal Encyclopedia

The Pacific Campaign (sometimes referred to as Third Battle of Pacific) was a series of battles that took place in the Pacific and Lianluo dian systems between Chinese and Centauri naval forces. The campaign opened with Imperial forces successfully breaking through the Lianluo dian – Pacific jump point, but thanks to risky tactics by the Alliance commander, Tsutaya Seki, it ended with a crushing Chinese defeat.

Background

   The Chinese Empire attempted to force entry into the Pacific system twice in 2632 and 2637 with both attempts being unsuccessful, especially the second one when the Imperial Navy suffered particularly heavy loses for little return.
   Due to lack of contact between the two nations very little is know about Chinese preparations between 2637 and 2650. What little is known comes from direct observation during battle. In particular the Empire have designed a battlecruiser with very larger and powerful jump drive and missile equipped assault cruisers with multiple launchers and heavy armor. They also seem to have built a significant number of new warships, which on average were usually larger than Centauri vessels.
   The Alliance forces were almost completely committed to the defense of the jump point, but due to the missile and mineral shortages the backbone of the defence consisted of twenty thousand tonnes monitors armed exclusively with lasers, rather than missile armed battleships which has proven themselves much more effective in the jump point defensive role. The Alliance carriers, their wings and escorts have also not been upgraded, nor were they increased in number. Due to the need for overhauls and shore leave, usually about sixty percent of the entire Alliance navy was present in the system at any given time.

The Chinese entry

   The Imperial assault forces made their jump at six o'clock on 29 November 2650 with a total of forty five vessels split into five separate groups. The largest one, dubbed 'Main Body' used the jump gate on Lianluo dian side of the jump point to make a mass transit. Two groups of three vessels emerged less than thirty thousand kilometers from the jump point and two more groups, each of five warships, emerged fifty thousand and two hundred thousand kilometers, respectively, from the jump point.
   The immediate Alliance defenses consisted of fifteen monitors, two battleships standing right on top of the jump point and three missile battleships waiting a little further out. The combination of missiles and laser fire was very successful in the initial stages of the battle, but the enemy had simply too many missiles. As soon as the ten assault cruisers recovered from the transit effect, they have launched an overwhelming wave of missiles that annihilated the defenders in less than twenty seconds.
   This phase of the campaign was highly successful for the Chinese. While in tonnage terms they have lost more than the Alliance, their loses were not crippling and for the first time they have managed to get access to the Pacific system. In addition the two carrier groups standing a hundred and fifty million kilometers away could not possibly hope to get through defenses of the remaining ships and begun to retreat. And while it is true that the Imperial forces have lost a significant number of ships with point defense – their assault cruisers, which have survived mostly intact, were pure missile platforms – they still had enough to deal with the fighter strikes.
   Fortunately for the Alliance, they have used a large number of missiles and due to their dependence on box launchers some of their ships were forced to return to base to re-arm, and four ships were damaged heavily enough to be sent to yards for repairs. However, any hope of launching a counter attack at the remaining force was squashed as fourteen more cruisers have reinforced the warships guarding the jump point.

The Alliance reinforcements

   Once the Alliance government heard about the Imperial break into the Pacific system, they begun sending all they had to the system in hope of repelling the follow up attack that was sure to come. Already in the system were one heavy and one light carrier groups, which represented half of the Centauri fighter strength, but everyone agreed that this was not enough. Immediately available in the Alpha Centauri was a picket group of five monitors that have recently completed an overhaul reinforced by four more ships of the class from new construction. Another heavy carrier group centered around the carriers Kilimanjaro and Mount Fuji and under the command of Vice Admiral Tsutaya Seki (who will later take command of the campaign) was also sent. However, several other ships, including battleship Apollo and entire Eisenhower light carrier group were in the middle of an overhaul and the latter would not be available for a month.

The Chinese advance

   Early evening on the 22 December 2650 the listening post on Pacific I detected transit of five Imperial vessels. Shorty after the entire force begun moving towards the inner system, detectable by their thermal and EM emissions. While all Alliance reinforcements – save Eisenhower carrier group and the battleship Apollo – were in the system, they were not yet concentrated. However, considering the Imperial strength and their ability to launch enormous waves of missiles, as well as their heavy anti-missile defenses Vice Admiral Tsutaya Seki did not believe she could fight the enemy in a standard missile duel. As such, she decided to run the enemy out of ordnance to clear a path for the nine monitors, as the enemy was relatively light in energy weapon armament.
   Between 25 December 2650 and 12 January 2651 a total of seven fighter strikes were launched, forcing the Chinese forces to expend all their anti-missiles in defense. The strikes achieved little, damaging four battlecruisers but not enough to slow them down. In addition the attacking warships were drown close to the Alpha Centauri jump point, which was on the other side of the system from their entry point, which ensured that they could not escape quickly or easily.

The destruction of the escort force

   With the Chinese out of anti-missiles, the Alliance escorts charged the enemy en masse. The carriers remained behind, as they had no point defense and no missile armament, which meant they would be unable to contribute to the engagement. Their ability to attack enemy without being under threat, thanks to the fighters, was also considered far too valuable to be risked.
   The battle took place late in the evening on 12 January 2651. In an interview later, Vice Admiral Tsutaya said she expected heavy loses, but she also believed that the long range anti-missile sensors mounted by the Alliance vessel will give her forces enough advantage for at least some ships to survive. However, she was proven wrong, as the entire force was annihilated eighty million kilometers from the Imperial cruisers. Later analysis have shown that the Chinese launched forty percent more missiles than they had to, indicating a severe overkill on their part.
   However the Imperial forces had used all their ordnance and begun retreating towards the jump point, most likely with the intention of temporarily returning to their base for re-armament.
   
The destruction of the Imperial attack force

   With the enemy out of munitions, Vice Admiral Tsutaya has given order for the monitors to attack. On 14 January 2651 the nine Alliance monitors and the twenty nine cruisers and battlecruisers of the Imperial Navy begun to exchange fire. While the Chinese built their main combatants with variety of weapons, designed to be able to face any situation, nine of their warships were either jump or assault ships. In addition, being multi-role, their energy armament was relatively light. The monitors on the other hand were specifically designed for close combat and had the speed advantage. While the battle was relatively long, lasting close to twenty minutes, there was never much doubt about the outcome. In the end every single Chinese vessel has been destroyed, in return for only one monitor, although four more had to return home for repairs.
   While this was a decisive victory for the Alliance, they were unable to fully capitalize on it, as there was no jump gate on their side of the jump point and they had no jump ships capable of escorting monitors or the larger carriers through the jump points. In addition, an enormous number of fighter missiles have been used, leaving very little for future operations.

The Lianluo dian raid

   Despite the dangers, the Alliance government has decided that such a decisive battle left little for the Chinese to guard their systems. On 2 February 2651 the Eisenhower carrier group was ordered to enter the enemy system. This was the first time an Alliance ship have sailed into Imperial territory.
   There were no defenses on the other side and the Centauri vessels begun to scan the local space. The Lianluo dian system was known thanks to the interrogation of Chinese prisoners, but the information was uncertain and lacking in details – such as a precise location of the jump points.
   Lianluo dian had a very fortunate astrography for the Alliance, as it was a brown dwarf with all jump points close to each other. Two such points were detected very early thanks to the Imperial commercial vessels with transponder codes using them.
   At first the Centauri forces were content to watch, hoping to catch a large convoy unaware. However, it was becoming quickly obvious that most of the traffic was in the form of a privately owned single vessels. Because of that on 25 February 2651 the Alliance forces decided to cut off the system, by destroying relay vessels on the jump points and intercepting any and all commercial traffic entering the system.
   On 2 March 2651 a command ship, equipped with powerful sensors, was sent to the enemy system believed to be the source of the attacks. The assumption was proven correct as Dabrowski emerged in the Bessel's Star system, which was known to be the Chinese capital. There was no immediate response from the Empire and over the next weeks the Alliance forces intercepted and destroyed a number of commercial vessels.
   On 28 March, 2651 five Imperial vessels were detected approaching jump point, prompting Alliance vessels to begin evacuation. The last of them returned to Pacific on 2 April 2651 officially ending what has become known as the Pacific Campaign.

Aftermath

   Little is known for certain about the Empire, due to lack of communication. However, considering their slow response to the Alliance presence in Lianluo dian many analysts believes that the Chinese forces have suffered much heavier loses, proportionally, than Centauri ones. However, there was no way to capitalize on that due to the lack of jump gate on the Pacific side of the jump point.
   The consequences for the Alliance were enormous. First, it has been proven that their main combatants were obsolete and the concepts on which they were based were simply not working. The inability of the fighter strikes to penetrate the Chinese defenses was also a shock to the Centauri forces. Finally, the lack of large jump vessel has proven to be a significant shortcoming, one that might have stopped the Alliance from ending the war after the Pacific campaign. A jump gate will not be built, as during the first two Imperial incursion several Chinese ships have to be abandoned as they had no way home. As such not having a jump gate is considered a significant advantage for the defenders.
 

Offline OAM47

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Re: What's going on in your empire/planet/battlefield?
« Reply #676 on: July 02, 2014, 09:46:29 PM »
Heh, long time no see guys.  Been quite busy.

Anywho, started a new game on the new version (after deciding a multi-Earth start was too much for me, so second on new version).  Despite setting NPRs high, the galaxy has been extremely quite so far.  Also went for a TN start for a change with a fleet setup I really like.  Getting to the current action, though, I just made first contact with everyone's favorite everybody's favorite spoiler race ( precursors )  I was surveying the system beyond Sol's furthest JP and having a decent go at it, had about 6-7 dots scanned, but had totally ignored the small planetary system as, while it had one or two cost 7 colony sites, I had at least 30 places higher in the list to colonize first and I was just getting out the Solar door so to speak.

This turned out to be a big mistake.  The curve of the survey locations took my survey ships around the real estate on the first pass.  They went home to refuel and overhaul, but discovered a new JP on the way back.  The next survey ship coming off overhaul I thus sent to check it out.  The path took it through the planetary system, and thus it was intercepted because I hadn't bothered to check out what was in there.

Three things worked in my favor, however.  1)  The attacking force appears to be only 2 1000 ton FACs.  They fire 3 missiles each, and have enough to reload a few times, but the warheads are strength 5, and thus they do not do much damage.  2)  I actually armored my survey ships for a change.  3)  I actually put CIWS on my survey ships for a change.

Thus, my ship actually survived!  First time ever surviving a hostile first contact.  Only lost one engine (for 3 causalities).  The commander was one of two I'd actually named as characters, so as soon as she got back to Sol a nice big shiny Silver Star for her, and my navy is definitely more than capable of taking out the threat, especially as for a change I know where the silly base is at.
 

Offline Viridia

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Re: What's going on in your empire/planet/battlefield?
« Reply #677 on: July 03, 2014, 07:58:32 AM »
Figured I'd chime in here.   So far, I've scrapped all civilian ships I operate in favour of letting the civvies do the work for me.   Out of two Jump Points in Sol, one led to Epsilon Eridani which after a month or two of surveying was found to be completely barren.   No minerals on the planets, none of the survey points were Jump Points.   It's a literal backwater, but I still intend to drop geological and xenological teams on the various planets on the off-chance something useful is hidden away. 

The second Jump Point led to Alpha Centauri, and here's where it paid off for me.   I surveyed the primary star and its planets, found good sorium deposits on two of the gas giants and some nice stockpiles of other minerals on A II and A IV.   I did admittedly cheat a bit by terraforming Mars in SM mode to be useful to me, so that's now got around 22 million colonists.   Meanwhile I think I've got the hang of using tankers and harvesters to get sorium from gas giants to colonies, so that's going well for me, and I constructed the only civilian ship TATO itself will own which is a jump-gate construction ship.   Gates have been built on both the Epsilon Eridani and the Alpha Centauri Jump Points, and the 1st Carrier Group is holding position on the Alpha-Centauri side of that Jump Point. 

Twenty in-game minutes ago, three alien ships massing 9500 tons each were detected around 100 million km's from the 1st Carrier Group.   The codeword programme on Earth has tentatively designated them as the 'Espora' and I've hailed them.   So far they seem to have ceased moving towards us, and I've launched an AWAC's to provide active sensor coverage just to make sure they're not trying anything funny.

Addendum; it appears I should not have ordered a message to be sent to them.  They waited until I was close enough, then hammered the Nimitz.  I've now lost half my carrier strength as well as well over half my strikecraft strength.  I came in peace, but I intend to send ET home in pieces.
« Last Edit: July 03, 2014, 08:10:05 AM by Viridia »
 

Offline Charlie Beeler

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Re: What's going on in your empire/planet/battlefield?
« Reply #678 on: July 03, 2014, 09:02:19 AM »
If you used the message order in task group orders it doesn't do what you want.  It is merely a function to insert a message in the events log and has no effect on diplomacy.  (ie it is a message to yourself only)
Amateurs study tactics, Professionals study logistics - paraphrase attributed to Gen Omar Bradley
 

Offline Viridia

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Re: What's going on in your empire/planet/battlefield?
« Reply #679 on: July 03, 2014, 09:49:21 AM »
Quote from: Charlie Beeler link=topic=3808. msg74380#msg74380 date=1404396139
If you used the message order in task group orders it doesn't do what you want.   It is merely a function to insert a message in the events log and has no effect on diplomacy.   (ie it is a message to yourself only)

Well that explains that.  I did try communicating via the intelligence/diplomacy screen and then SM View told me who I was playing against.  As of now, the entire Carrier Group 01 was destroyed yesterday with only one ship launching two salvoes of the 'Anaconda' AsHM's.  No damage done as far as known, and the cruiser Queen Elizabeth II was sent through the jump gate to rescue the lifepods which the enemy proceeded to pick up.  I ended up ordering the QEII to retreat back to Sol. . . and forgot I hadn't built a gate on that side.  As of now it is slowly charging the enemy with the intention of delivering some salvoes of railgun and particle beam fire.
 

Offline GodEmperor

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Re: What's going on in your empire/planet/battlefield?
« Reply #680 on: July 11, 2014, 10:19:12 AM »
As someone suffering from uncreable restartitis i started another game in brand new 6.4 ....

Conventional start with 40 mil ppl, 1 research lab, no shipyard, every spoiler race and no pregenerated NPR's ( i set up Earth to be very rich in TN minerals )... and holy frakk its slooooooooooooooow as hell  ;D ;D Im currently almost 80 years in and i only recently got my first Con/Prod scientist ( im trying to RP specialized research - outside of SM'ing base-TN tech ), i have 4 research lab, NO shipyards, no GU Training facilities and no deep space tracking capability of any kind  ;D Im trully frakked if any of the spoilers decide to visit Sol  ;D ;D
."I am Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt. I am known as a fair man, unless I am pushed.
You have just pushed me."
 

Offline Vandermeer

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Re: What's going on in your empire/planet/battlefield?
« Reply #681 on: July 11, 2014, 07:42:34 PM »
;D Im trully frakked if any of the spoilers decide to visit Sol  ;D ;D
A little spoiler regarding your near future before flying through jump points (decide if you want to know or not):
Since you have no NPR race generated at start, you will never be visited by any threats from outside as long as you don't leave, so danger while waiting. Even after leaving it might only become possible if you actually find some opposition in some system, and they decide to explore. This is because there is no event that produces attackers in already generated systems, and since the only system generated here is your home system ...-save haven.
I exploited and do still exploit this quite a bit. I hate to cheat, but strangely I have nothing against exploits. :)
« Last Edit: July 11, 2014, 07:45:11 PM by Vandermeer »
playing Aurora as swarm fleet: Zen Nomadic Hive Fantasy
 

Offline JacenHan

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Re: What's going on in your empire/planet/battlefield?
« Reply #682 on: July 11, 2014, 08:02:16 PM »
Spoiler below.
Invaders, however, can spawn in any system via wormhole, and are a threat to most early-mid tech empires due to the quality and quantity of their ships.
 

Offline Vandermeer

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Re: What's going on in your empire/planet/battlefield?
« Reply #683 on: July 11, 2014, 08:48:46 PM »
Oha, I did not know that. Now I am frightened.
playing Aurora as swarm fleet: Zen Nomadic Hive Fantasy
 

Offline spoongoon

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Re: What's going on in your empire/planet/battlefield?
« Reply #684 on: July 16, 2014, 11:26:48 AM »
My first proper game.   I did a conventional start, It´s nearly 30 years into the game and i have barely left the solar system.   I was slow to start exploring because I didn´t want to be caught undefended.   Terran Federation has 10 warships, 16 patrol craft and a few dozen fighters, bulk of the defence comes from 12 Orbital weapons platforms defending Earth, Luna, Europa, Mars and Titan.   I had some good luck I´ve explored only about 20 star systems and I found 3 promising planets in different star systems, they each have high quality ruins and a research boosting anomaly (how does that work?), they will also become class 0 worlds with only minimal terraforming.   My biggest problem right now is Duranium, Earth is depleted and I´m only mining 10kt while consuming 20kt plus a year.   I can´t really expand anything now and those terraformers will have to wait. 
« Last Edit: July 16, 2014, 11:35:41 AM by spoongoon »
 

Offline Ostia

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Re: What's going on in your empire/planet/battlefield?
« Reply #685 on: July 16, 2014, 07:30:25 PM »
Quote from: spoongoon link=topic=3808. msg74706#msg74706 date=1405528008
they each have high quality ruins and a research boosting anomaly (how does that work?),

Just ditch some Labs on the planet.  The bonus applies for all topics in the appropriate field.  And it stacks with the normal 4x bonus for matching field/researcher.
 

Offline Icecoon

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Re: What's going on in your empire/planet/battlefield?
« Reply #686 on: July 21, 2014, 11:56:47 AM »
Yet another unworthy NPR was encountered by the forces of the Colonial Alliance(The first was the pathetic Resto Primi Federation). Despite having an EM signature of around 35000 and a thermal signature around 5000, the Empire of Cypra Mundi failed to produce any ships so far. Spoilers, where are you? ??? ;D
If it's stupid but it works, it isn't stupid.


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Offline JacenHan

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Re: What's going on in your empire/planet/battlefield?
« Reply #687 on: July 29, 2014, 07:47:56 PM »
My current game, shamelessly ripping backstory from this piece of fiction, is a 0rp transnewtonian start, and my ship design and battle tactics are based primarily around large, slow battleships that blow up anything within their area of influence. Jump Point Theory just started being researched after 15 years in-game, and the low-tech fleet I began with at the start of the game has kept the civilians in line, even if they're somewhat useless in combat. Hopefully I can find some aliens soon, so that the full wrath of the British Empire might descend upon them.
« Last Edit: July 30, 2014, 12:02:10 PM by JacenHan »
 

Offline MarcAFK

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Re: What's going on in your empire/planet/battlefield?
« Reply #688 on: July 31, 2014, 07:32:12 AM »
Finally started again after a hiatus since 6.3, I'm a little bummed about not finishing either my NASA-cold war playthrough or my other one which was meant to be played fast, but I'll console myself with a new theme I haven't tried before.
I shall roleplay the Daleks, peaceful diplomacy is illogical, extermination will be used against any resistant races, and terraforming is considered wasteful, only perfect 1.0 planets shall be considered fit for large populations of daleks (I'm roleplaying that despite the fact that daleks are well covered in complete enviroment suits, the 1.0 colony cost represents other needs of the dalek empire), not mere comfort considerations.
The Dalek fleet shall only only be equipped with energy weapons, the biggest slowest firing ones are preferable, but of course missile defence is desired, so I shall allow only lasers to be used for this. I figure mesons, particle beams, rail guns, gauss cannons, missiles, and CIWS to be totally alien designs that have no place in a dalek fleet, therefore Plasma carronade, Lasers, High Power microwave and eventually Plasma Torpedos shall be used.
The highest ECM, Thermal reduction and cloaking technology must be kept on all vessels, and I'm considering to keep ships standardised and as jack-of-all-trade as possible.
I find the idea of dalek commercial ships to be laughable so I guess multi megaton military ships must be used for even the most mundane tasks. Or possibly military-grade sleds should be used to tractor tow the most barebones infrastructure. Speed isn't nessicary for transportation, as daleks think in the long term so engine efficiency should still be very high.
Also, underground infrastructure might be handy with this somehow, perhaps to be a complete jerk to conqured populations I could move them off their homeworld into new hostile underground colonies where their population will stagnate and become inconsequential as the Dalek race conquers whats left of the galaxy.
« Last Edit: August 01, 2014, 10:20:29 AM by MarcAFK »
" Why is this godforsaken hellhole worth dying for? "
". . .  We know nothing about them, their language, their history or what they look like.  But we can assume this.  They stand for everything we don't stand for.  Also they told me you guys look like dorks. "
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Offline Beersatron

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Re: What's going on in your empire/planet/battlefield?
« Reply #689 on: July 31, 2014, 11:03:13 AM »
Finally picked started again after a hiatus since 6.3, I'm a little bummed about not finishing either my NASA-cold war playthrough or my other one which was meant to be played fast, but I'll console myself with a new theme I haven't tried before.
I shall roleplay the Daleks, peaceful diplomacy is illogical, extermination will be used against any resistant races, and terraforming is considered wasteful, only perfect 1.0 planets shall be considered fit for large populations of daleks (I'm roleplaying that despite the fact that daleks are well covered in complete enviroment suits, the 1.0 colony cost represents other needs of a dalek, not mere comfort considerations.
The Dalek fleet shall only only be equipped with energy weapons, the biggest slowest firing ones are preferable, but of course missile defence is desired, so I shall allow only lasers to be used for this. I figure mesons, particle beams, rail guns, gauss cannons, missiles, and CIWS to be totally alien designs that have no place in a dalek fleet, therefore Plasma carronade, Lasers, High Power microwave and eventually Plasma Torpedos shall be used.
The highest ECM, Thermal reduction and cloaking technology must be kept on all vessels, and I'm considering to keep ships standardised and as jack-of-all-trade as possible.
I find the idea of dalek commercial ships to be laughable so I guess multi megaton military ships must be used for even the most mundane tasks. Or possibly military-grade sleds should be used to tractor tow the most barebones infrastructure. Speed isn't nessicary for transportation, as daleks think in the long term so engine efficiency should still be very high.
Also, underground infrastructure might be handy with this somehow, perhaps to be a complete jerk to conqured populations I could move them off their homeworld into new hostile underground colonies where their population will stagnate and become inconsequential as the Dalek race (conquers whats left of)the galaxy.

*Jumps in the TARDIS and warms up the Sonic Screwdriver*