NationStates

The Ctan wrote:Hey, I'm basically away for the next two weeks with Xmas stuff, I'll try and be around a little bit. I'll take the liberty of fielding the Menel/Ctan tech question though.

Excidium Planetis wrote:And Menelmacar, what exactly is the nature and purpose of the gravitic field you are projecting around my carrier as soon as it is dumped off?

Nature: space-time manipulation, rather than real gravity, to exert a force on the target. Purpose: Well as it says 'tractors' I'm assuming to keep them there. A Star Trek/Lensman/Star Wars/Space Opera of choice tractor beam. But Menelmacar might correct that.

Well, tractors in this case is just saying 'grab it with the gravitics'. So it'd be yet another application of the same systems that are used for a jillion other things by the Menelmacari, ranging from drives to shields to weapons. Not that it ultimately matters, now.

Allanea wrote:Just to be clear:

1. The Piercing Descent is gone, right?

2. There are no more Excidian ships left operational in the system, correct?

1. Probably. It really depends on how strong your own gravitic field was and how fast you could modify it to stop the jump.

2. If Piercing Descent is gone, yes. A few Bolts may have been left behind, but they'd be in the upper atmosphere. Additionally, there are a few space-capable craft left on the planet, but nothing major. Just a few shuttles and dropships.

Finally got my Chri-irah post up.

Singy, OMGeverynameistaken, you guys are up. Try not to get blown up.

Alright, well I'll probably send most everything but the SD to track the rogue carrier. Mentally calling the 3 Destroyers and 4 Cruisers "The Lucky Seven".

just confirming im still alive

Well...

Should we attempt to continue this along, with me posting an IC update on what exactly has happened and all surviving parties continuing from there? Or should we all just agree on a conclusion?

OMGeverynameistaken has CTEd. So, going forward or concluding, I'm going to step in and say that the Russian mercs, despite some losses thanks to mines and determined Birrin resistance, succeeded in taking the Kaybor Gate.

On my post that was never actually made, all Excidian troops near the Nipton base were killed by Allanean air assault, but not before three AIMF rounds were fired at one of the leading ships.

I don't remember what the status on the air battle over Nipton was, last I recall I was waiting for C'tan to respond to Industrial Coalition fighter reinforcements engaging the C'tani fighters as they were turned away.

Fuck, didn't even get to unload my balkan goodness. Maybe it's time to stop trying to force Roki down people's throats in FT.

I'm cool with either continuing or agreeing on a conclusion as long as that conclusion would be in character for everyone involved. Probably we'd want to be largely in control of the planet (where by 'in control' what we really mean is it's largely under our protection), presumably the Excidians would be able to get the Tenzeni to support their remaining there at least, or fake doing so, so you wouldn't be forced entirely off the planet.

Were we continuing, which again I'm fine to do, the next Menelmacari steps probably would've been, with orbital supremacy secured, to bring in the transports and freighters that were mentioned in the original ORBAT. Brief talks would've been held with the Kaybor and Chey coalitions securing certain policy changes and trade concessions for support, but we wouldn't have driven particularly hard bargains beyond 'slavery's bad, 'mkay?'. Actual Menelmacari forces on the ground would be comparatively minimal (with a few notable exceptions that I really shouldn't go into now if we aren't sure about continuing) with a lot of training, logistical, and infrastructural support to the Birrin. Orbital strikes would be avoided wherever possible.

The ideal outcome from a Menelmacari perspective is that the Excidians are removed from the planet, which would be placed under coalition protection, and all local nations also abandon slavery. What's more likely both from an IC and OOC perspective, as I see it, is the Excidians retaining a foothold in Tenzeni, whether because Tenzeni actually wants them there or the Excidians fake some sort of election or referendum via their various tentacles of corruption and influence there. Some sort of arrangement could be come to, to that end.

What are your thoughts?

We would have probably dragged Piercing Descent back to the planet by jumping to the Void and slowly decelerating it there. Exidium and I discussed the mechanics of this over PM, and it would take about fifty days from the perspective of the ship to get there if I am not mistaken (I have yet to do the calculations myself, however). Though, due to the effects of the Void, this would take less than a second from the perspective of everyone else.

For Excidium, would the crew of the vessel try anything while in transit? And for Menmelmarcar, what would you do once we did bring the ship back?

Finally, if we are going with the whole "Belligerent Victory" outcome, the land that Aeiouia bought was obviously not actually needed by us, so we completely abandoned it. Also, we most likely stole one of the Mare-Class Battlestations as part of our whole preperation for a Stormwrathian attack on our worlds that will never actually happen. In order to weasel around the WA International Salvage Laws, we would wait until the area was claimed by Menmelmacar, and therefore is not considered to be international "Waters". Additionally, we would try to cover the whole incident up by replacing the stolen station with a non-holographic decoy.

What are all of your thoughts on this as well?

We could also try to continue this, but since many of the players have probably lost interest by now, it might not be successful.

Okay, given that enough players have expressed continued interest in this, I feel we should attempt to continue to RP this out. Decided outcomes always seemed less natural to me than actually coming to the conclusion of a roleplay, 'following the story' if you will.

Aeiouia: if you can make a duplicate station that would actually fool us, why do you need one of the stations? They're basically scrap, it'd literally be easier to build new than refurbish one. If you want one for studying Stormwrath's construction capabilities, just ask, they're a navigation hazard as it is, it'll save us some effort if you haul one home.

As a rule one gets further with the Menelmacari via honesty than deception and this would be public knowledge. If the Aeiouians are AI's they'd certainly figure this out.

Excidium: I'm cool with continuing, I'd just rather this not be a thread where the other guy drops off the face of the earth. Will you be sticking around?

Also Apophan has also CTE'ed so unless he pops up again I'll presume his folks got rounded up without much fuss.

Menelmacar wrote:Aeiouia: if you can make a duplicate station that would actually fool us, why do you need one of the stations? They're basically scrap, it'd literally be easier to build new than refurbish one. If you want one for studying Stormwrath's construction capabilities, just ask, they're a navigation hazard as it is, it'll save us some effort if you haul one home.

Actually, we would not be trying to fool you, only the Excidian corporations. We would only care about setting it up for Excidium for when they come to recover the wrecks of the stations so that they do not think that one is missing. The reason why we want to steal it is that we erroneously think that Stormwrath is at war with us, and we are looking to reverse-engineer whatever is left of the weapon systems on board the stations in order to develop countermeasures to them.

If we were to co-operate with you, we would probably give the station back afterwards. If we did not need to, the station would be converted into a Demigod weapon.

Fair enough! Long as we're in on the prank. Or alternatively we could just tell them we're already dismantling them, if they ask.

Menelmacar wrote:Also Apophan has also CTE'ed so unless he pops up again I'll presume his folks got rounded up without much fuss.

He's the puppet of a long-standing nation of space Egyptian gods, Acheronis, holding countless more puppets of the same name...just tg his owner about it

We'd probably be satisfied with salvaging operations, and whatever the additional end game for the Menelmacari would be. Honestly though, if no one tells us, the seven ships can travel for about a decade without refuel.

At any rate we are patiently awaiting your post, Excidium.

Post up. There will likely be more in the Chri-irah post, and I may have missed things in the Excidium Post.

What are those epxerimental missiles?

Allanea wrote:What are those epxerimental missiles?

The AIMF rounds were earlier fired at the Nipton Base set up by Hobbiest Republic. They are small nuclear explosives, laser guided and somewhat larger than a .50 caliber bullet. Explosive yield is roughly the same as a fuel air bomb.

Alright, this is my last attempt to revive this before I settle on a determined conclusion.

Okay, what the shit?

I anticipated the possibility of this sort of response months ago, which is exactly why I have, consistently and repeatedly, explicitly both ordered our forces to avoid hitting the planet, and referred to ships specifically lining up shots so they can't hit the planet. Literally nobody in orbit is using the planet as a backstop. So please tell me how in the name of the deity of your choice anything is hitting the planet? Nothing whatsoever is being fired in such a way as to possibly hit the planet, period.

The only thing I used on the planet's surface were... regular conventional aviation bombs, possibly using some future-tech explosive, but at any rate not SPACECRAFT-GRADE GIGATON-LEVEL CANNON ENDANGERING THE WHOLE PLANET.

Menelmacar wrote:Okay, what the shit?

I anticipated the possibility of this sort of response months ago, which is exactly why I have, consistently and repeatedly, explicitly both ordered our forces to avoid hitting the planet, and referred to ships specifically lining up shots so they can't hit the planet. Literally nobody in orbit is using the planet as a backstop. So please tell me how in the name of the deity of your choice anything is hitting the planet? Nothing whatsoever is being fired in such a way as to possibly hit the planet, period.

I stated multiple times in my posts where the Carrier was attempting to escape that it had entered Chri-irah's atmosphere. Assuming an Earthlike planet, the atmosphere would extend 9 kilometers to 17 kilometers, which on a planet upwards of 12,000 kilometers wide makes for a shot needing to be close to tangential to the planet's surfac to not hit the surface. The evasive maneuver of entering the atmosphere was specifically calculated to make the planet into a back drop. Allanea fired everything possible at the carrier, so logically some of it would shell the planet. Your forces may have taken care, but did Allanea's? I don't think so.

My forces were under Menelmacar's orders.

Allanea wrote:My forces were under Menelmacar's orders.

True, but unless you mean to tell me that all available firepower was at an angle that would allow kinetic projectiles to miss the planet completely - despite coming within ~12 kilometers of it, then I don't see how there wouldn't be some of the fire hitting the surface.