Turn 116 - Walk This Way
<Combat Report - RN1>
A sufficient gap is blasted into the lone habitable planet's surface-to-orbit defenses to permit a landing three weeks after orbital supremacy is achieved. While it still is not possible to engage in proper orbital fire support for ground operations, it does mean an actual landing is possible.
The initial wave consists of a pair of Pathfinder Divisions followed by a Heavy Regimental Combat Team Division. The defended forces fight fiercely but are poorly coordinated, relying on weight of numbers rather than any real tactical or strategic acumen. The mobility of the Pathfinder Divisions enables them to avoid getting stuck in to a meatgrinder, however the Heavy Regimental Combat Team Division is soon heavily engaged in the operational equivalent of one of the ‘zombie invasion’ OpPlans.
Wave 2, including your daughter, is landed early due to the sheer intensity of the battle, two Regimental Combat Team Divisions and an Armored Division joining the fray. In addition the 10th Legion lands in support. According to initial reports, casualties are exceptionally heavy among the Rouges Noir as they make use of literal human wave tactics in an effort to simply drown your forces in bodies as wave after wave of infantry, supported by light vehicles and rather weak mechs simply swarm against the defensive lines surrounding the LZ.
According to reports, it resembles nothing so much as what you’d see if you kicked over a particularly aggressive anthill.
<Combat Report - RN2>
One of the major challenges in planning a landing zone is that there is absolutely no differentiation in architecture or city layout to indicate where important structures or command and control elements are located. The cities are made up of absolutely identical apartment blocks, with literally no visual differences between them. Industrial blocks are interspersed evenly among the apartment blocks, and there are absolutely no ‘commercial’ structures visible. There are no apparent government buildings, no central squares or entertainment districts, no sign of any parks or recreation areas at all. Signal analysis is of little use, since the Rouges Noir seem to use landlines for everything and they are rather well shielded.
The LZ for the sole habitable world in the RN2 system is therefore selected not for any proximity to ‘important targets’ but rather purely with defensive considerations in mind. As such, when the Rouges Noir begin to use the same tactics seen in RN1 against the LZ, swarming it with light infantry, vehicles, and militia-grade mechs, they are forced to cross open ground with the landing force operating out of relative cover.
The second wave here is brought in early as well, mostly to get the Armored Division into play, however the fields ringing the LZ are soon carpeted with the dead as the Rouges Noir stubbornly continue feeding men and women into the meat grinder with absolutely no apparent regard for their ability to actually accomplish anything.
<Combat Report - RN3>
Unlike RN2, initial landings at RN3 are directly in the center of the largest urban region on the planet, taking advantage of the massive craters blasted out by the strikes needed to destroy the surface-to-orbit defenses in the region. Fighting swiftly follows the same pattern of mass human wave attacks. The NRI Legions distinguish themselves here by interlocking their shields and forming an unbreakable defensive wall against the Rouges Noir, grimly making use of their swords as inexhaustible weapons to decimate repeated assaults. They finally are forced to fall back to rearm and refit, but their stubborn defensive tactics allow for the deployment of proper field fortifications behind them and the full deployment of Corps artillery, which begin blasting anything that moves within the killing field.
<Combat Report RN4>
The landings on both habitable worlds in this system are called off when the initial Pathfinders find themselves under chemical and bio weapon attack, mixed with nuclear shells. They break off, unfortunately not without suffering significant casualties, and return to orbit.
This may seem to be a defeat, but it quickly becomes apparent even from orbit that the Rouges Noir have not developed any countermeasures for their own biological agents as the dead from disease begin piling up in cities across the two planets.
The general in command immediately broadcasts an offer to assist with medical care, which is evidently accepted, although your leaders are highly suspicious. Sure enough, the moment the medical shuttles make reentry they are fired upon by Rouges Noir forces in an obvious ambush attempt. The shuttles had been remotely operated and completely empty apart from stacks of supplies, in anticipation of just such a despicable tactic.
The local command decides to hold off on landings for now, allowing the bio weapon to do its grisly work for them.
-----
Reading the reports and viewing the accompanying video is… sobering. The Rouges Noir seems to practice what they preach to a terrifying degree, their tactics make ‘human wave’ seem like a fancy elaborate operation. They simply swarm, utterly ignoring minor details like casualties, fields of fire, diversions, or anything else that evidently is ‘individualist error’. They make zero use of cover, no use of overwatch or movement by section. The best comparison you can find is the ancient tactic of ‘walking fire’, in which every single one of their infantrymen will march forward at a precisely measured pace, firing their weapon every time their left foot touches the ground whether or not there is a target for them to shoot at. They do not pause to aim and seem to have a mindlessly robotic lack of concern for their own lives.
They have no apparent officers, there are no insignias on their uniforms, which appear to be utterly identical to what their ‘civilians’ are wearing, and there appears to be absolutely no distinction between combatants and non-combatants. Your heart twists seeing children, barely old enough to walk for God’s sake, marching out alongside adults, firing pistols with the same mindless ferocity.
The Bourbons had warned you that the Rouges Noir overwhelmed their opponents with sheer numbers, you hadn’t realized just exactly what that meant in practice.
You can’t be bothered to watch the Olympics in the midst of this madness, even if the competition is exceptionally intense this year. Every Time you do so you just see visions of the endless swarms of Rouges Noir attacking with all of the lack of care for their own lives seen in certain hive minds.
So now it is a race to see which will crack first, your forces' willingness to kill the enemy, or the willingness of the Rouges Noir to stack bodies on top of bodies in an attempt to force you to run out of ammunition.
It is with this backdrop that you go in for the annual budget meeting.
Amaunet is looking calm as ever, although her claws are flexing just a bit. You know the signs of a very angry cat, and the images of children marching alongside adults is infuriating her.
“Padrone, the fighting is brutal, and I have already authorized hiring additional mental health professionals to deal with the inevitable PTSD from this abomination. That being said, the pure madness that is on display is something that we need to confront and destroy, root and branch. Civilization cannot exist alongside such fanatics.” The giant cat flares her whiskers, then forces herself to retract her claws.
General Bradley takes the stage then. “Our theater commanders are requesting additional forces, Your Majesty, in order to rotate out the troops we have engaged. We are adjusting our overall strategy for the operation, and would like to begin rotating forces out regularly to prevent too many mental issues from building up from such constant slaughter.” She takes a deep breath. “I’ve already authorized 6 additional Regimental Combat Team Divisions to be deployed in order to rotate out the current units that are engaged, and would like to establish a 4 on, 8 off schedule for all combat units engaged in that theater. On the other hand, we do not think that this is sustainable for the Rouges Noir for more than a year on the outside, simply due to the enormous casualties we are inflicting on them. If we can simply hold on, they’ll eventually run out of fanatics.”
She looks a bit sick as she brings up the budget requests, and you can’t blame her. These are sickening times for any civilized person.
- Imperial Griffon Army
- Production
- Conventional Factories (5 each)
- Neuhessen
- Iskra
- Shin Tōkyō
- Stenen Tuin
- New Libertalia
- Procurement
- Regular Forces
- 6 Heavy Combat Team Divisions
- 4 Infantry Divisions
- 2 Armored Divisions
- Garrison Forces
- 23 Garrison Divisions
- 23 Militia Divisions
General Perkins is up next. “Your Majesty, the
Goshawks of the Light Attack Wings are doing superbly in action against the Rouges Noir, however we feel it important to build up our forces against the Black Steel at this point. Our procurement requests this year reflect this shift in emphasis, focusing on aerospace supremacy birds as well as carrier wings.”
- Imperial Griffon Aerospace Force
- Procurement
- 100 Fighter Wings
- 25 Carrier Wings
Admiral Fisher is looking slightly less grumpy than usual as he stumps up to the podium. “The Expeditionary Fleet performed superbly, which has validated the design concepts used in it. This is good, but we still need to continue building things up. We will also want to increase our medium warship construction capacity in order to ensure a proper force balance.” He checks his notes then brings up the various budget requests.
- Imperial Griffon Navy
- Production
- Orbital Shipyards
- Expand All Orbital Shipyards
- Refit & Repair Yards
- Expand All Refit & Repair Yards
- Escort Yards
- Neubayern
- Neuhessen
- Nouvelle Bourgogne
- Nuova Lombardia
- Nuova Puglia
- Nuovo Abruzzo
- Nyū Shikoku
- Stenen Tuin
- New Libertalia
- Nuova Tripoli
- Awha
- Catachan
- Feurstern
- Neuthüringen
- Nowe Mazowsze
- Nox
- Platzregensburg
- Iskra
- New Algiers
- New Clew Bay
- Nubifragio
- Bellaterra
- Bohren
- Landprettig
- Porto Milano
- Shin Tōkyō
- Small Warship Yards
- New Castor
- New Port Royal
- Nowy Wrocław
- Nowy Slask
- Chuma
- Medium Warship Yards
- Glorreich
- New Phoenix
- Okusawa
- Pieklo
- Bari
- Large Warship Yards
- Nya Kopenhamn
- Kainga
- Edelsteine
- New Capricorn
- Procurement
- Standard Dropships
- 200 Shimakaze-class Parasite Destroyers
- 200 Spruance-class Parasite Destroyers
- 55 Ensign-class Training Dropships
- Large Dropships
- 30 Saipan-class Parasite Carriers
- 90 Mikasa-class Parasite Battleships
- 90 Normandy-class Transports
- 1 Charleston-class Transport
- Jumpships
- 1 Windjammer-class Jumpship
- Escorts
- 100 Battle-class Destroyers
- 100 Lyr-class Corvettes
- Light Warships
- 40 Dido-class Light Cruisers
- 30 Guiseppe Garibaldi-class Light Cruisers
- Medium Warships
- 20 Prinz Eugen-class Heavy Cruisers
- Large Warships
- 10 Dreadnought-class Battleships
- 2 Saratoga-class Fleet Carriers
- Fortress Command
- Jump Point Defenses
- Oasis II
- Black Tower
- Iskra
- Raj
- Pinball
- Nox
- Olej
Amaunet chuffs slightly as the Admiral sits down. “Padrone, I’d also like to recommend renewing the contracts for strategic materials. This has allowed us to get into a more favorable position already, and should preserve our ability to produce advanced warfighting equipment in the quantities needed for our operations.”
[] | Action | Result |
[] | Continue the contracts |
- Continues the zero-action cost 1 each construct new strategic material orbital factory and 1 each expand strategic material orbital factory contracts at the same 10% discount for the next 10 years
|
[] | Terminate the contracts |
- Will have to pay full action and budget cost, but can build some or none in a given year
|
Elizabeth Lee then takes over. “I’m not going to say it.” Everybody immediately catches on and there’s a chorus of ‘The Interior Ministry is prepared to support the military construction programs.’ to general laughter. You needed that.
“We have two DoME teams available, we’d like one to continue arcology construction on Shin Tōkyō with the other assigned to terraform Steingarten.” She checks her notes. “We also have our economic analysis.”
She brings up the graphic showing recommendations for investment and such.
- Economic Foci, Major Investment & Infrastructure Expansion
- Economic Focus
- Major Investment
- Investment
- Infrastructure & Industrial Zones
- Arvum
- Nouvelle Bourgogne
- Bohren
- Landprettig
- Nuova Puglia
Agostina was off ‘showing the flag’ at the Olympics while you focus on the war, and generally Olympic years are quiet on the Foreign Ministry front regardless.
Tiberius has sent you a memo stating that he was recommending holding off on further civil service expansion for a few years in order to ensure sufficient budgetary room for other priorities.
Grace is also absent, but had sent you a memo recommending approval of the micro pulse laser project, on the grounds that if nothing else it would make for an interesting weapon on lighter power armor suits.