I am just about to attack my evil neighbor. For that purpose I have assembled a fleet on his doorstep, ie. the jump point leading to his system. Together with the fleet is a squadron of 4 assault shuttles, each holding 1 Marine Company, with orders to attack and seize any enemy ship that looses its engines during the battle.
They have all just arrived after a 9 days voyage. And now I get this message:
"Due to the period of time that 112th Marine Company has been held in a combat-ready state on board Harley 002, its morale has fallen to 85".
WTF?!? Nine days, and they are already complaining; has marines become some sort of sissies or what? It is not that they have sat and waited for ages or anything, I took special care to make sure that embarking the marines was the very last thing I did before the fleet was sent on its way. They all have officers, the next to last thing I did was making sure that everybody that was going to join the battle had the proper officers.
Okay, there is a possibility that I did something wrong. Here is the shuttle design:
Harley class Assault Shuttle 1,000 tons 21 Crew 170.8 BP TCS 20 TH 160 EM 0
8000 km/s Armour 1-8 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
Maint Life 11.2 Years MSP 107 AFR 8% IFR 0.1% 1YR 2 5YR 23 Max Repair 40 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months Spare Berths 3
Drop Capacity: 1 Company
80 EP Magneto-plasma Drive (2) Power 80 Fuel Use 57% Signature 80 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres Range 63.2 billion km (91 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Did I forget anything?
If not, and if this behavior on the part of the marines are wad, meant to force me to use my Troop Transports and do the final embarking in open space close to the battlefield, then my question is:
How long time will a marine stay in an assault shuttle before he gets homesick?
edit: Another complication now is that the marines will not disembark. I returned them to Earth to get them out of the shuttles and on board my Troop Transports, and now I get these messages:
"Cannot unload 110th Marine Company as it is prepped for a combat drop.
"AST Assault Shuttle TG has failed to UnloadAll Ground Units from Transport Bay Earth. Any additional order will be on hold etc."
They are complaining over lack of comfy quarters, but nonetheless they refuse to leave the ship. I guess I will have to combat drop them on Earth then. Hopefully they don't break anything in the process. Sissies.