Turn 112 - Master of Puppets
The motor racing events have always been among your favorites, and this year’s Olympics doesn’t disappoint. The racing is fast, skilled, and very entertaining. As has become almost expected, Team Griffon dominates the track, but that doesn’t mean that the other teams are simply rolling over and letting them win. The Rasalhaguians manage a very respectable performance on their way to a solid silver finish, while the Romans are just a half step behind in Bronze.
There have been no further disruptions, and while it is obviously present, the heightened security manages to be unobtrusive and respectful enough so as to not cause any undue issues. You do get reports that another Rouges Noir cell had been intercepted and taken down, again due to several members of the cell having ‘gone native’ and turning their fellows in when they discovered what they had planned.
There have been a number of intercepted raids on the newly settled cordon around the Rouges Noir that you have established, again with relatively primitive
Jolly Rogers. Nothing that your jump point defenses aren’t able to easily handle. Likewise you are getting reports out of Bourbon space of increased Rouges Noir strikes against them, with the fighting no longer following the nearly ritualized manner it had been for centuries.
You have been able to get basic astrographical information from the Bourbons about the systems claimed by the Rouges Noir, good enough for general navigational purposes although completely insufficient for things like pirate points and such. Unfortunately they have almost no data on what sort of defenses the Rouges Noir might have in place.
Planning is well underway for the strike against the terrorists, however there are several different options on the table.
First is a simultaneous strike on all four systems claimed by the Rouges Noir with full invasion forces and sufficient task forces from the Expeditionary Fleet to overwhelm any prospective space defenses. This has the enormous advantage of leveraging your sheer size and numerical supremacy over the enemy while preventing the enemy from having any points to regroup and reinvigorate their defenses. The downside is that this will take the longest to actually initiate, because it will require the most substantial investment in logistics and force.
The second option is to strike at the one system from which the Rouges Noir is staging attacks against the Bourbons, cutting them off from their current adversary, then systematically rolling them up from there. The third option is to do the same from the opposite direction, starting with the system furthest from the Bourbons and crushing them against the Bourbon anvil. Both of these options can be started earlier than the first, but would take substantially longer thus leaving you more vulnerable to Black Steel strikes.
- Invasion of the Rouges Noir Scenarios
- Operation: Wrecking Ball
- Simultaneous strike on all four systems
- Forces Required
- Naval
- 16 Jean Bart-class Battlecruisers
- 30 Algérie-class Heavy Cruisers
- 60 De Grasse-class Light Cruisers
- 120 Destroyers, mix of Fubuki and Battle
- 8 Potemkin Troop Cruisers
- 160 Windjammer-class Jumpships
- Ground
- 4 Corps HQ Divisions
- 8 Armored Divisions
- 8 Pathfinder Divisions
- 16 Infantry Divisions
- 8 Light Combat Team Divisions
- 8 Regimental Combat Team Divisions
- 8 Heavy Combat Team Divisions
- 8 Battlemech Divisions
- Estimated Duration
- Space Phase
- 2 Years to fully secure Rouges Noir space
- Ground Phase
- 3 Years to fully secure Rouges Noir planets
- Operation: Oak Tree
- Cut off Rouges Noir from Bourbon space then roll them up from there
- Forces Required
- Naval
- 8 Jean Bart-class Battlecruisers
- 10 Algérie-class Heavy Cruisers
- 20 De Grasse-class Light Cruiser
- 40 Destroyers (mix of Fubuki and Battle)
- 2 Potemkin-class Troop Cruisers
- 40 Windjammer-class Jumpships
- Ground
- 1 Corps HQ Division
- 1 Imperial Guard Division
- 1 Rapid Reaction Division
- 4 Infantry Divisions
- 4 Armored Divisions
- 2 Light Combat Team Divisions
- 2 Regimental Combat Team Divisions
- 2 Heavy Combat Team Divisions
- Estimated Duration
- Space Phase
- 8 years to fully secure Rouges Noir space
- Ground Phase
- 16 years to fully secure Rouges Noir space
- Operation: Feature Length
- Uses the Bourbons as an anvil to grind the Rouges Noir against.
- Force requirements and estimated duration as per Operation: Oak Tree
[] | Action | Argument | Result |
[] | Option 1 | A simultaneous strike prevents the enemy from reinforcing any given location. We have the ability to bring overwhelming force to bear, doing so will be the best chance we have to win this quickly and potentially save any victims of the Rouges Noir before the terrorists can liquidate them. |
- Authorizes Operation: Wrecking Ball
|
[] | Option 2 | The Bourbons have been dealing with this for an extremely long time, by relieving them we will build enormous good will on their part. We can then proceed to strangle the Rouges Noir at our leisure. |
- Authorizes Operation: Oak Tree
|
[] | Option 3 | The Bourbons will likely appreciate being in on the final kill, they’ve been victimized by the Rouges Noir for a long time and thus deserve to be in on the final destruction. |
- Authorizes Operation: Feature Length
|
It is now time for the budget meetings, being held remotely this year since you are on New Port Royal for the Olympics. Which means you’ll miss some of the shenanigans, but that’s a small price to pay.
Amaunet is up first, looking appropriately smug in the video pickup as she is running the physical meeting on your behalf. “Padrone, the Army has completed their refit cycle, right in time too. We still need to keep our feet on the gas, and will need to consider expanding our production capacity in order to fully meet our requirements.”
The big cat looks off camera, and General Bradley comes to the podium. “Your Majesty, Amaunet slightly understates the situation. We will most certainly need to expand our conventional military factory capacity for optimal results. With the resumption of new construction, we will be catching up the backlog on Infantry Divisions, as well as procuring the first of the new Light Mech Divisions.”
- Imperial Griffon Army
- Production
- Conventional Military Factories (5 Each)
- Glorreich
- New Port Royal
- Griffon
- Calliope
- Okusawa
- Procurement
- Conventional
- Battlemech
- Garrison
- 20 Garrison Divisions
- 20 Militia Divisions
General Romanov is not present, as she is working on the early phases of the Aerospace Forces refit cycle. No procurement is requested for this year as a consequence of this.
Admiral Fisher is, therefore, up next. He still looks far more stressed and… elemental… then you are fully comfortable with it. He reminds you far too much of your grandfather for your own peace of mind to be honest.
“OK, despite the best hopes of the wild-eyed optimists the Black Steel are still out there, we are hoping that they don’t decide to shift their line of attack. Add in that we are having to divert forces to deal with the Rouges Noir and we are up the crack.” He glares around a bit. “So we need to double down on building up even more production capacity. We will be deploying our refitted
Lyr-class corvettes as tripwire forces to vulnerable systems.” He manages to look even more fey at that. “We expect they’ll take hideous losses, but they’ll also slow the bastards down enough for the Grand Fleet to get there. We need to build up fast enough so that those men and women won’t have to hold the line with their asses hanging in the breeze any longer than absolutely critical.”
He brings up the display showing the production requests for this year. “As much as I don’t want to step on anybody's toes. If the choice is between giving General Bradley more toys to play with in the mud and more escort yards, we need the damn escort yards a helluva lot more.” He appears to be having a glare off with his Army colleague at that before the screen shifts to just show the procurement and production requests.
- Imperial Griffon Navy
- Production
- Orbital Shipyards
- Expand All Orbital Shipyards
- Refit & Repair Yards
- Expand All Refit & Repair Yards
- Escort Yards
- Nuova Puglia
- Nuovo Abruzzo
- Nuova Lombardia
- Stenen Tuin
- New Algiers
- New Clew Bay
- New Libertalia
- Nuova Tripoli
- Bellaterra
- Landprettig
- Neuthüringen
- Nowe Mazowsze
- Platzregensburg
- Nouvelle Bourgogne
- Nyū Shikoku
- Neubayern
- Neuhessen
- Small Warship Yards
- Pieklo
- New Phoenix
- Okusawa
- New Castor
- New Port Royal
- Nowy Wrocław
- Bari
- Nowy Slask
- Chuma
- Large Warship Yards
- Griffon
- Calliope
- New Pollux
- Nowy Warszawa
- Procurement
- Standard Dropships
- 200 Shimakaze-class Parasite Destroyers
- 150 Spruance-class Parasite Destroyers
- 42 Trenton-class Transports
- Large Dropships
- 110 Mikasa-class Parasite Battleships
- 100 Charleston-class Transports
- Jumpships
- 7 Windjammer-class Jumpships
- Escorts
- 10 Battle-class Destroyers
- 100 Lyr-class Corvettes
- Small Warships
- 30 Dido-class Light Cruisers
- 10 Guiseppe Garibaldi-class Light Cruisers
- 20 De Grasse-class Light Cruisers
- 2 Hosho-class Light Carriers
- Medium Warships
- 10 Prinz Eugen-class Heavy Cruisers
- 10 Algérie-class Heavy Cruisers
- Large Warships
- 8 Dreadnought-class Battleships
- Fortress Command
- Black Tower
- Nowy Śląsk
- Edelsteine
- Nowy Wrocław
- Catachan
- Nya Köpenhamn
The old admiral sits down then, as Elizabeth takes over the podium.
“It goes without saying that we’re ready to support any production needed, Your Majesty.” She says, a bit gamely. “In addition we have the following recommendations.”
- Economic Focus & Investment
- Economic Focus
- Major Investment
- Investment
- Infrastructure & Industrial Zones
- Arvum
- Nouvelle Bourgogne
- Nuovo Abruzzo
- Landprettig
- Nuova Puglia
“In addition, we have 3 DoME teams in need of something productive to do other than assisting Periphery Studies with making giant match volcanos.” That gets a bit of a chuckle as everybody remembers the last time that happened.
- DoME
- Expand Shin Tōkyō Arcologies
- Terraforming
Dr Kamoto is currently engaged in several meetings with his counterparts here at the games.
Tiberius, on the other hand, is somehow managing to look completely serious. “Your Majesty, we have two requests for you this year. An expansion to the Colonial Office and expanding the overall Civil Service as well.”
You are waiting for the shenanigans, but there seem not to be any. Until the camera pans over to the cardboard cutout labeled ‘Grace Has Left The Building’. Considering that you know that all the R&D teams are currently busy you’d not expect her to be at the meeting, but that has Tiberius’ fingerprints all over it.
General Messerschmidt is working with the security forces, he did send you a memo noting that there is nothing significant required budget wise, as his normal operating budget is sufficient to handle the contingencies that are ongoing.
Martina is the final one up. “Your Majesty, we have a few years until we strictly speaking need to worry about re-optimizing our legal codes, however I would like to recommend we get on top of it this year rather than waiting.”