Ambition and Ambiguity. X3:AP DiD

[Poseidon]

Shield regen is derived from Reactor size. I thought Eclipse had everyone skunked there. On phone, can't check at the moment.

Limitations on the sacrificial ship are based on what I can buy from a shipyard currently, since the Lynx can currently be purchased from a shipyard. That means no xenon, kha'ak, or Yaki. Also, M3 -> M3. No hybrid ship classes (yet?).

[Song Of Obsidian]

Eclipse shield regen is 1250. Medusa is 1300.

Not sure what you mean by hybrid ship classes though.

[Poseidon]

I totally missed that. Good catch.

All I meant was no M6 parts on an M3 ship.

[Poseidon]

Current Vote Status:

• 1) Increased Shields: 1
  2) Increased Shield Regen: 1

Voting ends 7/9/13 11am EST. If we have a tie, I'll roll dice using http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/, and post the results. Thank you for playing.

[Poseidon]

I rolled out of bed the next morning, and put on my game face.

A quick trip around the training centers, and I had another few marines ready for live combat. I also went through the roster, and pulled out some soldiers for the Elite team (100 fighting). They wouldn't be going with us today. That brought our total to 26 for today.

I decided to work my way down to Maelstrom from Grand Exchange, and clear any potential hostiles along the way. The last thing I needed was someone surprising me from behind.

With Taranis parked at the Miltary Base in Merchant Haven, I started my sweep. The first half of the day was much the same as before... small wings of fighters off to harass one sector or another. At first I didn't move to engage, but they attacked me on sight, so as the day wore on I began taking the initiative. Aside from one run-in with a wing of six Novas sporting PBGs, it was uneventful. A quick trip back to the Teladi Shipyard in Grand Exchange repaired the minor hull damage from that fight.

I was growing frustrated, and was giving thought to moving through the West gate into Mercenaries' Rift, when a ship came through the gate.

"Hey Jackson... what do you think of our odds against a Brigantine?"

"No sir. Not today."

Another ship jumped in behind it.

"Understood. What about a Galleon?"

Jackson coughed. "Seems a little reckless, sir."

Another ship jumped in.

"So... a Carrack?"

...

"That'll be fine, sir. A bit tough, but I think we can manage."

"Sounds good. I'll try to draw it away from the other capital ships. Be ready to jump in on my command."

"Pardon me for asking, sir, but... you're going to do this personally? Don't you have a fighter fleet for this?"

I stared at the commlink. You know... that would be a really good idea, wouldn't it? What the hell am I doing?

"I owe you another bottle of Whiskey, Jackson. I have a fighter wing of Springblossoms, but the last time I attempted to deploy them, one of them exploded while trying to negotiate a Warp Gate. I have no confidence in them, and I had forgotten to come up with an alternative. I'll take care of today personally, and we'll talk about fighter wing later."

"Roger. We'll be waiting, sir."

I hopped back to the Lobby, and loaded up on 100 Poltergeists and 20 Spectre missiles. I made sure all my turrets were set up, missiles loaded, energy cells adequate.... then I jumped to the West gate of Maelstrom.

All hell broke loose.

Between the frigate and the two capital ships, one a carrier, there were over 30 fighters in the air, and they were all converging on me. I circled around behind the gate, and started dropping Poltergeists as fast as they'd reload. The cloud of Terran Swarm Missiles flocked from fighter to fighter, destroying everything it targeted... until they all converged on the Brigantine. Not a dent.

I dove into the fight, finishing off the fighters that I could, and using the capital ships as cover. I saw the pilot of another Pirate Blastclaw Prototype bail, but I was in no position to claim it presently. Eventually, I broke free to the south, with the Carrack on hot pursuit... at least, as hot as 100m/s can be. The remaining five or so escort fighters had chosen to re-dock at the Galleon.

I circled wide and made towards the North gate. Before long, it was just the two of us... which was good, because I had no idea of the Carrack's capabilities. Recognizing this deficit of information, I turned to do a fly-by scan. As I approached, a projectile darted towards me, then there was a rumbling explosion. Cluster Flak Array. Or as I'd heard the marines say, Cluster Fsck Array. Not a good time.

I tried to whittle down the shields as I goaded the ship north, but the weapons loadout was exceptionally effective. When I got too greedy, I'd lose over 50% of my shields, sometimes while only doing a couple percent in return. Fortunately, the Springblossom has a ridiculous Shield Reactor, but it wasn't fast enough. During one dive, my shields were stripped entirely, and I was suddenly looking at 92% Hull. The Carrack still had 40% shields.

"Jackson, get in here. We're just about ready."

"On our way."

I turned towards the Carrack, and began a heavy horizontal strafe, pumping out a swarm of Poltergeists as I approached the frigate. At 500m, I switched to Spectre missiles, dropping 3 as I screamed by, then slammed the Turbo Booster. I saw the flash of one of the Spectres, then the crash of Cluster Flak tearing through my shields.

74% Hull. 0% Shields. The Carrack? 22% Shields.

Goddamnit.

The Taranis jumped in about 25km away.

"Jackson, load up and launch all but 5 marines."

"Sir, their shields are still up, and your ship looks to be in a bad way. We should call this off."

"It's about time I experienced the same risk I ask of my Marines. Lock and Load. I'll take care of the shields."

Jackson's hesitated. "Yes sir. Give 'em hell, sir."

I turned towards the Pirate Frigate and swung wide, pulling up the Scan results. Ion Shard on the front... not Cluster Flak. Hrm.

"Boarding Pods away, sir."

The broadside of the Carrack was facing me. I mimicked my earlier strafe and launch Poltergeist technique, but this time I circled until I was staring down the Bridge. Time to play some Chicken. At 2km, I mashed the Turbo Boost, and switched to Spectre Missiles. My hand worked every trigger on the control stick as I buzzed the bridge. I pulsed the Turbo Booster, and made some distance.

35% hull, 0% Shields. Carrack? 88% Hull, 0% Shields.

"Boarding Pods have made Hull contact."

I used Poltergeist missiles to keep the shields low. 4 decks, and an Advanced Firewall later, and I was the proud owner of a Pirate Carrack. All 21 marines survived.

It was a good day.

[Idleking]

Maddy will be... mad..

Better don't tell her

[Poseidon]

Heh. I'm fairly certain she knows I'm taking risks at this point. The real question is, am I taking the right ones? I should have bugged out, repaired, and made a couple more passes. I got lucky, this time at least...

-----

The marines were on their way home for the day. They'd done good work today, and deserved the rest of the day off for recovery. Tomorrow was going to be more of the same.

The Springblossom had held up well, but there were plenty of aspects where it could be improved. My plans for the Stoma were essentially refinements of the Lynx, plus some compatibility engineering. It'd make for an interesting fighter, but it wasn't cut out to be my personal ship. I would need an M6 for that.

I hit the Cortex, scanning what was available. Nothing jumped out at me. Irritatingly, the Teladi Heavy Osprey had the best turret coverage and weapon accessibility, but I'd be damned if I waddled into combat in one of those. Since I wasn't willing to steal the Hyperion, I was stuck without a docking bay. That left the Skiron... which was fairly close to the best the Commonwealth had to offer.

I looked over at the Springblossom. If the Terrans had managed to do this with an M6...

I guess I needed to finish that complex for Tomes; I needed access to Terran Corvette subsystem designs.

[Poseidon]

Since there was a tie, I rolled some dice.
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4124228/

Shield Regen won, 24-19.

I've ordered a Medusa to cannibalize.

[Poseidon]

Sidhe Ships v3

Raw Mod
http://diffpair.com/misc/SidheShips-V0.3-7.9.2013.zip

Plugin Manager Mod
http://diffpair.com/misc/SidheShips-V0.3-7.9.2013.spk

Lynx v1, v2, and v3 available for purchase at OTAS Shipyard. The script buy.sidhe.ship.stoma creates 1 Stoma at OTAS Shipyard for 16.5M credits.

Current Specifications for the Lynx v3:

Code: Select all

Class: M3 
Shields: 4 x 25MJ 
Reactor: 1300 MW 
Hull: 11,200 
Speed: 78 m/s to 312 m/s  
Steering: 19 to 48 rpm  
Acceleration: 16 m/s to 65 m/s 
Wep Energy: 9,000 J 
Wep Recharge: 225 J/second 
Max Capacity: 140 units 
Containers: Large (L) 
Purchasable: Yes, OTAS Shipyard 
Price: ~20M credits

Current Specifications for the Stoma:

Code: Select all

Class: M3 
Shields: 4 x 25MJ 
Reactor: 715 MW 
Hull: 14,400 
Speed: 57 m/s to 228 m/s  
Steering: 22 to 55 rpm  
Acceleration: 13 m/s to 52 m/s 
Wep Energy: 9,000 J 
Wep Recharge: 180 J/second 
Max Capacity: 520 units 
Containers: Large (L) 
Purchasable: No, script buy.sidhe.ship.stoma
Price: 16.5M credits

[Poseidon]

I just lost a 2k word post due to a browser glitch. There is much rage. Will update later.

[Poseidon]

Finishing the weapons complex for Tomes was trivial. Once the three missing stations were in place, the fabs kicked into gear using the stockpiled energy, food, and ore. I sent an encrypted message with only the word 'Done'. A few minutes later, I received another meeting request, but I delayed my response. I was busy.

I took the latest iteration of the Lynx out for a spin, and it is excellent. 70 seconds to recharge a shield from dead to full. I conveyed my enthusiasm to Atilio, and ask for him to migrate the improvements to the Stoma. He grunted something that sounded like 'Already on it'. I probably need to give him a break soon.

I'd given the marines the rest of the day off, and it appears things were going to come to a head with Tomes soon, so I spent the evening buying and placing stations for the Sidhe Archology. I made it through 44 of the remaining 139 stations before I cracked and called it a night.

The next morning, I made a circuit around my properties, and restocked on missiles... 200 Poltergeists this time, and 20 Spectres. A quick hop back to Maelstrom, and we were ready for Round 3.

In the West corner, we had our old friends the Brigantine and Galleon, along with a new arrival... a Carrack with 26% hull. That wasn't my doing.

I wasn't in the mood to play games today, so I dumped a bunch of Poltergeists into the fighter swarm, and dove in. The Springblossom is a wonderful ship for clearing fighter wings. I also spent a little extra time putting the Carrack out of its misery. Then I buzzed the Galleon, and started baiting it towards the North gate.

It was a long, boring trap. Every once in a while, the Galleon would get distracted or bored, and I'd have to go back and get its attention again. I started whittling down the shields at regular intervals; it was down to 40% when we reached 30km from the North gate.

A Carrier with an empty docking bay is still perfectly capable to killing you. Fortunately, it didn't get the chance today. The persistent swarm of missiles kept it preoccupied enough that I could strip the shields mostly unharassed, and the boarding pods landed without hindrance. 21 marines in, 21 marines out. Now I owned a Galleon.

The really good news... the point of these operations... was that a number of my marines finished their combat certification on that Op. I called in Geisha (the Boron Angel) to return them to leave, and deliver recruits that still needed combat training.

"Hey boss," Jackson said over the commlink. "Good Op, although... I can't help but notice you're still flying solo. Where's the fighter wing?"

"I couldn't get it fully armed in time, so I took care of this one myself. They'll be here for the next Op."

"When it that?"

"Now. The Brigantine is next."

I jumped out, restocked on missiles yet again, then ordered my support ships to follow me into the sector. Red Wing was composed of Four Springblossoms, and a Marlin Bomber followed close behind.

"That's more like it," Jackson informed me of his approval.

No matter how you look at it, a Destroyer is a problem. It had all these pointy bits and plasma bits and a ridiculous amount of shields. You needed to outmaneuver it, and overwhelm it with numbers. So I gave all the Springblossoms a bunch of Poltergeists with orders to fire them very, very frequently.

I started towards the West gate.

"It's very odd, sir."

"Pardon?"

"Well, you'd think they'd learn."

"How so?"

"Every ship that's chased you to the North gate has never come back."

I thought for a few moments. "I guess they honestly don't believe they can lose. Some sort of Buccaneer Biggest Dick contest. They can't back down, or they lose face."

"'Big Dick Buccaneer' is the name of my 'They Might Be Giants' cover band. Sir."

/facepalm

"Alright, I'm gonna go kick a hornets nest in its giant dick. Back in a few."

"Yes sir. Use protection, sir."

"Enough Jackson."

He tried to keep a straight face. He failed.

I punched the SETA, and made haste towards the M2. Once I arrived, it took a couple passes to piss it off, but eventually I had an angry Destroyer following me back to the North gate... at 48m/s.

I took a nap.

The autopilot woke me when I was about 40km from the North gate. I stretched, and started issuing orders. "Red Wing, strip the shields. Musket, barrage 10 Tomahawks. Taranis, close the distance and prepare to launch boarding pods, but wait for my order."

I swung around, and proceeded to implement my previous Poltergiest Strafe tactic. My entire first wave of missiles disintegrated.

Huh.

Scan.

Cluster Flak, IBLs and Gauss Cannons. Wonderful.

Fortunately, the swarm from the other Springblossoms were distracting it slightly. I ordered another 10 Tomahawk barrage, and set to work plowing down the shields with my SSCs. It was slow work, and the chaos of dozens of missiles swarming all over the damn place didn't help.

I swung in exceptionally low, and popped off a few Spectre missiles, then hit the Turbo and continued spamming Poltergeists. The shields on the Brigantine fell away, along with 20% of the hull. Whatever.

"Boarding Pods, launch. We'll keep up the missile cover." I did as I said I would.

"Hull contact. This hull is thicker than normal."

Damn. How had I missed that?

"We're inside. Weapons free."

Deck 1...
Deck 2...
Deck 3...
Deck 4...
Deck 5... ?!?!

"This is a new encryption algorithm. Working on it."

"The ship is ours."

I sighed, and looked around. Space was very quiet. The Brigantine was at 63% Hull. Also, I noticed there were no spacewalking marines to pick up.

"Jackson, how bad is it?"

"We lost the Marlin and all of Red Wing. 4 marines KIA, sir."

"Alright. Pack it up. We're done for today. Good work everyone.”

[Song Of Obsidian]

"We lost the Marlin and all of Red Wing. 4 marines KIA, sir."

Expensive training. Expensive destroyer...especially one that isn't all that great to begin with. Not going to comment on the Big Dick jokes. Though I might snicker.

[Poseidon]

A snicker is about all they deserve.

Ship costs are meaningless to me... I've got about 800M in cash floating around. The marine cost though... Dead is Dead. Sometimes people get killed. I'm still learning the nuances of boarding, and aside from training the marines, I needed to train myself on what to expect from an M2 Op. Now I know, and can plan better contingencies in the future. Marine training can continue on M7s from now on.

[Idleking]

[..]"We lost the Marlin and all of Red Wing. 4 marines KIA, sir."

"Alright. Pack it up. We're done for today. Good work everyone.”

Springblossoms are excelptionally awful in the hands of the AI. They are just too fast for their maneuvrability and usually just crash into everything.
Either don't max out their speed or use more heavy fighters with decent ranged weaponry such as HEPTs or PRGs.
Fighter drones.
These guys are nastly little things if deployed in numbers. And from what I've seen even Flak Cannons need 2-5 shots to actually hit them because they're so small and fast.

[Poseidon]

Agreed. Springblossoms feel like they were designed to be a Player-Exclusive ship. They held up pretty well at first, but I won't be doing that again.

I was debating between Fighters Drones and a wing of Lynx. The Fighter Drones are very appealing at this point, and while the Lynx is a good ship on paper, I have concerns about how the AI will handle it... especially at 20M a pop. Frankly, the Lynx is a good early-game ship, but doesn't stand a chance this late in the game. It makes me sad.

[Poseidon]

I heard the rapid chatter of a firing mechanism as I entered the familiar restaurant at the Saturn Research Station.

Evidently Tomes was not pleased with me.

On the table in front of him lay a Mass Driver assembly along with a bunch of batteries and wires, pointed towards the door. Towards me. I walked forward, smiling.

"Ammunition. Where is it?" he asked pointedly.

"The factory is being loaded on a TL as we speak, and will be installed in the next hour, barring any unforeseen circumstances," I replied smoothly.

I began to take a seat, but he shook his head. "Don't bother. This won't be a long discussion. Your pattern is evident, so let's get this over with. Who was next?"

"Paranid."

"Fine. Fragmentation Bomb Launcher, Phased Shockwave Generator, and Hornet and Hurricane Missiles. In exchange, I offer access to M7C designs."

I laughed. "The Paranid has recently made significant improvements to the Hornet and Hurricane missiles, and your mini-carriers are worse than useless. No, you'll give me design access to the Skirnir."

Tomes smiled grimly. "I think not. I've made my offer; take it or leave it."

I let the pleasant facade fall from my face, and shrugged. "I'm leaving it. I'm certain the ATF will enjoy attempting to maintaining Earth Quarantine after I sell these weapons to the Terran Military." I turned and walked away.

I made it to the door before he called out. "Stop."

I looked at him over my shoulder, and waited.

"No design access. You'll have authority to purchase your own damn Skirnir, upon delivery of the ATF Paranid Research Station."

"A pleasure doing business with you," I lied.

We scowled at each other, and I left.

[Poseidon]

"Jackson, I need some help."

"What is it, boss?"

"My personnel records suggest I have ten marines other than yourself that have finished their Combat Mastery Certification. I need to kick up the pace of my personal training. Things are going to be coming to a head soon, and I'm not close to ready."

Jackson answered cautiously. "Well, your general fitness level has improved drastically. How much time do we have?"

"If we're lucky, 2 months. Or, things could go wrong next week."

Jackson winced. "This is going to hurt, sir. And I'm not certain how many will volunteer to cut their leave short, given your future plans for us."

"I had the same thought. I'll purchase, upgrade, and equip a ship for each volunteer. Any Transport Ship, or Military Class 6 or less."

"Yes sir. I'm certain that'll get their attention." He coughed. "Seeing as I've already been volunteered, am I included in this offer?"

I laughed. "Sure, why not. What do you want?"

His eyes sparkled. "Not sure yet, sir. I'll let you know."

[Poseidon]

"Dan? There Pirate Warships at the Farm." Maddy's concerned voice came from the commlink.

I looked over at the screen, and tried for my best reassuring smile. "It's ok, dear. They're mine."

"Yours..? I didn't know Pirate had Warships. How are they yours?"

"I stole them as part of a training exercise for my marines. They're at the Farm for their intimidation factor."

"Won't the Pirates want them back?" Maddy's concern persisted.

I shook my head. "Fortunately, I didn't take these from the Yaki. The ordinary pirate factions aren't organized enough to coordinate a counter-strike. Also, they'd have to find them, and the Farm is protected from pirates by two contested sectors."

Maddy went silent, obviously not happy with my answers. "Why are they here?"

"My espionage mission is getting ugly, and it's not unreasonable to expect my opponent to play dirty. He doesn't know about my OTAS connection, but I'd be surprised if he didn't know about you. You're all I've got, so you're the most obvious target. I hoped having a couple capital ships in the sector would give them pause, and keep you safe."

Her expression softened a bit. "Is it really getting that bad?"

I nodded grimly. "Yeah. I'm not certain how long we have left before this pretense of Truce completely disintegrates. It could be very, very soon."

Maddy began to fidget. "Can you come home soon?"

I smiled at her. "Tonight, after I make a couple more stops. Tomorrow is all yours."

Her face was radiant. "I love you. Be careful." Then the commlink flickered off.

[Poseidon]

"Hey Ops. It's Old Mac. Tarquin have time for a chat?"

"Mac! Good to hear from you!" Stacy replied with some enthusiasm. "He got called away for a couple weeks. Is it anything I can help with?"

"Probably, although I'm not certain of the details. It looks like I'll need to harvest soon."

She sobered up. "How soon?"

"I don't know. It could be a week; it could be a couple months. Thingy got a bit chilly, and I don't want to lose everything to an early frost."

"We'll be ready."

"Excellent. Also, I was wondering if I could stop by and pick up one of the orange shears."

Stacy chuckled. "We'll see. I need to make sure you know how to use it."

I nodded. "Of course. I'll let you know when I'm stopping by, and we can go over my certification. Thanks for passing on the message."

"See you soon, Mac."

So I guess I just scheduled a sparring session?

[Idleking]

Ooooohhhh... things will get ugly soon enough with this kind of atmosphere

[..]"No design access. You'll have authority to purchase your own damn Skirnir, upon delivery of the ATF Paranid Research Station."

"A pleasure doing business with you," I lied.

We scowled at each other, and I left.

Seems like you won't make him giving you a Tyr, one way or another...
Better give your R&D guys some extra payment for REing that Skirnir