Author Topic: (8) Operation Bait - 1907  (Read 4574 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Garfunkel (OP)

  • Registered
  • Admiral of the Fleet
  • ***********
  • Posts: 2914
  • Thanked: 1169 times
(8) Operation Bait - 1907
« on: May 06, 2020, 10:00:42 PM »
Operation Bait

The game has been updated to the 1.9.5 version.

1907

Red telephones ring in capitals across the world as astronomers confirm that the fairly large, but so far passive, object in Mars orbit has activated. Recognizing the similarities between it and human shipyards, there can be no other explanation but that the destruction of the frigate caused some sort of build program to slowly start and it had now advanced to the point where ship construction had started.

Mars was 252 million kilometers from Earth but there was no time to waste. Operation Bait was a go.

Japan, Iberia, and Rim Pact had no ships, though the last one had built a tiny recon satellite which now turned its sensor on. The A-H fleet was undergoing repairs and overhaul and could not move immediately. This still left a fairly impressive number of ships departing Earth orbit on 4 January and heading towards Mars.


Progress of fleets after 24 hours, the situation as seen in the German War Room.

At 05:00 the Italia Fleet, being the fastest as Germans were slowed down by their Blucher-class corvettes, were in the lead as they received an urgent telegram from Earth - the Menace Void Ships were moving. The Italians gave it another hour before turning around, which was also the signal for all the other ships to head back to Earth.

40 minutes past midnight, so very early on 6 January, Royal Navy was the first to enter Earth orbit. Now the question was would the Menace Void Ships continue pursuit once the other human ships did the same.

At 05:00 on 6 June, the American 1st Fleet was the last to enter Earth orbit. And to the relief of the planners and the leaders, the Menace kept coming. The crews of the corvettes braced themselves as the gunners down on the ground prepared their weapons.

Between 09:00 and 11:00, the human ships acquired the Menace ships on their active sensors and could confirm that the battleships were 10,982 tons and the frigates were 4,777 tons. Combined, the Menace Void Ships massed 55,403 tons.


CONSTRUCTION FACILITIES DETECTED...
DESTROY...
ACTIVATE BOARDING UNITS...
DESTROY...


At 13:07 The Menace Void Ships passed inside Lunar orbit and kept coming towards the human ships. They were still too far to be shot at.

At 13:08 the human ships re-engaged their engines and headed towards Luna, currently on the other side from Earth in regards to the Menace.

They had left it too late.

However, even for the Martians, the range was extreme. Spears of concentrated light missed their targets in all but one case - the unlucky ship being HMS Aconite. Yet the long-range also dissipated most of the destructive potential of the laser beam, only knocking out an engine on the Vanguard-class, instead of outright destroying it.

At 13:09 SMS Agate took a hit that destroyed the Troop Transport Bay on it. Luckily it was empty. The powers with transports had gambled that with their engines turned off and never having left Earth, the Menace would overlook them. Clearly this was not the case. In a hurry, they were ordered to depart for Luna as well but that would take time - time that they did not have. First to go was HMS Avenger, quickly followed by HMS Bachaquero. Then the Germans felt laser fire as SMS Abalone and SMS Amber exploded. They were merely the first as transport after transport disintegrated.

Not that the Martians focused only on the transports - HMS Acacia was stabbed lethally by two beams, cutting the little corvette into three pieces. HMS Aconite, already damaged, turned into an expanding cloud of debris, as did HMS Alisma and HMS Battler.

AT 13:10 the Russians got their first share of the mayhem as one of their Kirov-class transports was blasted away together with the Austrian corvette SMS Graz and the French Acteé. More ships followed as the humans had to take the beating, in order to lure the Menace closer and closer.

Then the ground batteries opened fire and a rainbow of colors appeared in the skies as the Martian ships were struck by a multitude of different weapons. The corvettes turned around to return to Earth to bring their weapons to bear. The Martians showed no hesitation as their ships curved towards humans. The maelstrom of fire became impossible to follow as forces never before witnessed by humans were brought into play. Human ships were popping left and right while the Menace burst into them, hulls glowing from laser and plasma as kinetic shells bombarded them - yet they were shrugging the incoming fire off.

The situation was becoming truly grim as the number of corvettes was rapidly going down when, finally, the Martian battleship came to a halt. Ecstatic human gunners kept pouring fire on it and mere seconds later it exploded. Humanity had gained its first battle victory in space! The battle raged on with every second seeing a corvette pierced by a laser beam as the casualties kept climbing but the tide had been turned. One by one, the frigates were battered into silent husks.

But the Menace had one more ace up their sleeve. In the middle of the maelstrom, Achille Papa sent a panicked telegram to Rome announcing Martian assault drones breaking in through a hole in the hull. Admiral Finzi had wondered why his ships had been spared and now he had his answer.

Then there was only the second battleship left. It was still heading straight towards the British shipyards when the combined firepower of the surviving corvettes and the Earth batteries finally blasted it apart.

In a mere three minutes, human destiny was changed. But the battle wasn't over. Agostino Bertani reported that Martians had gained access. Then Alabarda did the same and finally Airone. Martians had mixed Heavy Assault Drones with the more common Assault Drones but luckily only on two ships and only one each. The other ships were powerless, watching the events unfolding - with nothing else to do, they started the process of collecting life pods.

However, the descendants of the Roman Legions would not give up without a fight! With the tenacity that had made the Bersaglieri famous, the Italian crews fought back. First Airone was declared clear of enemies, then the other two. But on Achille Papa, the presence of a Heavy Assault Drone meant doom for the crew. Ground batteries were ready and ripple-fired rail guns, particle beams, and plasma carronades. The badly damaged corvette was engulfed in fire and came apart near instantaneously.

The battle was over and the Grand Alliance was victorious. The cost had been heavy: k.u.k Raummarine and La Royale had been completely wiped out. US Space Force had only USS Albert T Harris intact with three badly damaged corvettes in need of shipyard repairs. Regia Marina had four damaged corvettes. Carskiy Mezhgalaktischeskiy Flot had 18 corvettes left though it had lost all of its transports. Royal Navy had twelve intact and one damaged corvette and the Kaiserliche Raummarine had six.



The USA decided to scrap their corvettes as the design had proven quite ineffective. The other powers repaired theirs by the end of February, aside from HMS Amaranthus that was so badly damaged it would take months longer to fix it up.

Meanwhile, the Grand Alliance would need to meet again. There were still numerous objects in Martian orbit, two of which had very strong sensors on them. And the human fleets were gutted. A new plan was needed, something that would take the fight against the Martian Menace.

« Last Edit: October 30, 2020, 05:24:04 PM by Garfunkel »
 
The following users thanked this post: xeryon, kks, Maladapted, Warer, DaedalusPrime

Offline Corvus

  • Leading Rate
  • *
  • C
  • Posts: 11
Re: (8) Operation Bait
« Reply #1 on: May 06, 2020, 11:34:17 PM »
Really enjoying this.   A costly victory, but a victory none the less.

So when do the various Earth nations start to turn on each other to claim the spoils of victory? :)
 

Offline Ehndras

  • Voidwalker
  • Warrant Officer, Class 1
  • *****
  • E
  • Posts: 90
  • Thanked: 10 times
Re: (8) Operation Bait
« Reply #2 on: May 06, 2020, 11:37:41 PM »
WOO! Now, who will get a functional salvage ship first, and how will the other nations react? How much technology will they share or keep secret, if they manage to understand it at all?]

Also.... XENO PODS. Very exciting!

(In retrospect, could've transported some STO to Luna as a forward fire support base.)
"Boop!" goes the thermonuclear missile salvo
 

Offline Vasious

  • Sub-Lieutenant
  • ******
  • V
  • Posts: 130
  • Thanked: 19 times
Re: (8) Operation Bait
« Reply #3 on: May 07, 2020, 01:09:40 AM »
Really enjoying this.   A costly victory, but a victory none the less.

So when do the various Earth nations start to turn on each other to claim the spoils of victory? :)

There is still Mars Proper to worry about
 

Offline Gyrfalcon

  • Bug Moderators
  • Commander
  • ***
  • G
  • Posts: 337
  • Thanked: 204 times
Re: (8) Operation Bait
« Reply #4 on: May 07, 2020, 03:09:17 AM »
WOO! Now, who will get a functional salvage ship first, and how will the other nations react? How much technology will they share or keep secret, if they manage to understand it at all?]

Also.... XENO PODS. Very exciting!

(In retrospect, could've transported some STO to Luna as a forward fire support base.)

It's also very possible that Garfunkel will play them as machine units and ignore the lifepods, as we can't flag a player race to not have streaming atmosphere / lifepods.
 

Offline Garfunkel (OP)

  • Registered
  • Admiral of the Fleet
  • ***********
  • Posts: 2914
  • Thanked: 1169 times
Re: (8) Operation Bait
« Reply #5 on: May 07, 2020, 07:41:58 AM »
WOO! Now, who will get a functional salvage ship first, and how will the other nations react? How much technology will they share or keep secret, if they manage to understand it at all?]

Also.... XENO PODS. Very exciting!

(In retrospect, could've transported some STO to Luna as a forward fire support base.)

It's also very possible that Garfunkel will play them as machine units and ignore the lifepods, as we can't flag a player race to not have streaming atmosphere / lifepods.
Bingo!
 

Offline Vastrat

  • Warrant Officer, Class 2
  • ****
  • V
  • Posts: 66
  • Thanked: 18 times
Re: (8) Operation Bait
« Reply #6 on: May 07, 2020, 03:46:41 PM »
Pyrrhus would be proud.  :)
 

Offline Ektor

  • Lieutenant
  • *******
  • E
  • Posts: 191
  • Thanked: 103 times
Re: (8) Operation Bait
« Reply #7 on: May 11, 2020, 03:00:45 PM »
So when do the various Earth nations start to turn on each other to claim the spoils of victory? :)

Great War in Mars when?
 

Offline DFNewb

  • Captain
  • **********
  • D
  • Posts: 508
  • Thanked: 103 times
Re: (8) Operation Bait
« Reply #8 on: May 13, 2020, 12:57:39 AM »
Are there gonna be any inter-solar ICBM MIRV missiles? You can bomb very far away with them and launch them via box launcher 500ton and less platforms :)
 
The following users thanked this post: Warer

Offline hostergaard

  • Warrant Officer, Class 2
  • ****
  • h
  • Posts: 73
  • Thanked: 27 times
Re: (8) Operation Bait
« Reply #9 on: May 13, 2020, 04:21:16 AM »
We in the middle of a lockdown, you got plenty of time, lets see some more updates already!  ;D I kid, I kid, we all got stuff we need to do anyway, it's just that it's good stuff and I wanna see more already!

Anyway, I love the poor choices and strategic mistakes that are being made, it feels like how it would happen in real life. A good mix of idiots and geniuses pushed by various causes and political concerns, with fear and bravery as flavoring that causes the mess of good and bad decisions we see in real life. I could totally see the brits go "Britannia rules the waves! And space! We got a bigger navy that the rest of the of the world. Lets go deal with the damn natives already. Just a quick battle, in and out and back home for tea. Show all these upstarts what a bit of stiff upper lip can do!" And what a glorious victory it would have been. But then they got their face pushed in and had to limp back home and be like "I am not talking about this". And the we see what a bit of a stiff upper lip can do to push through the failure and to rebuild and learn enough to wait for the rest to be ready this time. A nice mix of stupid decisions and strength in failure.

But as scandinavian, I do hope we aren't gonna end up as the bottom bitch, we got viking blood dammit, Rim it to to win it! Rim for the win!
 
The following users thanked this post: Warer

Offline kks

  • Lieutenant
  • *******
  • Posts: 155
  • Thanked: 31 times
Re: (8) Operation Bait
« Reply #10 on: May 13, 2020, 10:28:36 AM »
Are there gonna be any inter-solar ICBM MIRV missiles? You can bomb very far away with them and launch them via box launcher 500ton and less platforms :)

Would be interesting, but doesn't really fit the theme, I think.

Garfunkel posted in the House Rules, that they will use no missiles:

Quote
No missiles. All Earth powers start with beam weapons and only battle experience will unlock the paradigm shift.
 

Offline the obelisk

  • Sub-Lieutenant
  • ******
  • t
  • Posts: 109
  • Thanked: 11 times
Re: (8) Operation Bait
« Reply #11 on: May 13, 2020, 11:05:19 AM »
Watching this with anticipation, can't wait for the next update, and wondering if I shouldn't try making a similar game to play myself.  The house rules are cool.
 

Offline Garfunkel (OP)

  • Registered
  • Admiral of the Fleet
  • ***********
  • Posts: 2914
  • Thanked: 1169 times
Re: (8) Operation Bait
« Reply #12 on: May 14, 2020, 07:39:48 AM »
Thanks for all the nice comments! I forgot that real-world deadlines still exist so that's why there hasn't been an update yet. I also have to consider the upcoming 1.10 update as it will not be DB compatible. I will continue this campaign in 1.10 but whether Mars will be conquered or not before that depends on how the campaign goes.

Watching this with anticipation, can't wait for the next update, and wondering if I shouldn't try making a similar game to play myself.  The house rules are cool.
With multiple nations/powers, house-rules can really help spice things up. You also need to figure out some RP-guidelines for each power as otherwise, they become carbon copies of each other and that gets boring fast. For example, several of them could already be at Nuclear Pulse or even Nuclear Thermal level but I wanted to keep the slow speed of conventional engines around for this first part of the campaign because the operational aspect changes radically if reaching Mars takes less than a day compared to few weeks.

But as scandinavian, I do hope we aren't gonna end up as the bottom bitch, we got viking blood dammit, Rim it to to win it! Rim for the win!
Hah, I do have a soft spot for the Rim but they aren't going to become Space Vikings. Read up on the Pacifist politicians and policies of the countries involved in the Rim Pact from the Interwar Era and you'll see why. Of course, in reality they never had to face a Martian invasion so things are going to change but it will be a tough job catching up with the other powers.

Are there gonna be any inter-solar ICBM MIRV missiles? You can bomb very far away with them and launch them via box launcher 500ton and less platforms :)
That is true but as kks pointed out, that wouldn't fit the theme I'm going for here. This first part is themed more like WW1 on Mars, followed by Scramble for Africa in Space. Inter-Planetary Ballistic Missiles with Multiple Independent Re-entry Vehicles are still far in the future. Remember, these guys thought it would be a great idea to shoot a massive cannon at Mars!

Great War in Mars when?
Going to take a little bit longer since everybody lost their transports!

Pyrrhus would be proud.  :)
Hahaha for sure!
 
The following users thanked this post: Warer

Offline Warer

  • Lieutenant
  • *******
  • Posts: 181
  • Thanked: 77 times
Re: (8) Operation Bait
« Reply #13 on: May 14, 2020, 10:15:54 AM »
RL always takes priority, take all the time you need and thank you for this wonderful story. :)
 

Offline liveware

  • Bug Moderators
  • Commodore
  • ***
  • Posts: 742
  • Thanked: 88 times
Re: (8) Operation Bait
« Reply #14 on: June 18, 2020, 11:08:39 PM »
I think Mr. Wells would also proud. Great storytelling Mr. Garfunkel!
Open the pod-bay doors HAL...
 
The following users thanked this post: Garfunkel, Warer