Turn 55 - Spring 2188/3038
Confederated Forces:
[] Operation Doolittle:
active
Time: 4 turns, Chance of success: 65%
Roll 1 of 4, Roll 1d100: 39+15 = 54 - Success (All military actions)
Roll 2 of 4. Roll 1d100: 50+15 = 65 - Success
Roll 3 of 4, Roll 1d100: 84+15 = 99 - Artificial Crit
With the overwhelming success of the operation against Luyten 68-28, the Confederated Forces Central Command decided it would be a good idea to follow up with an operation against Ross 248, as that system contained more vessels than Luyten. As there was no chance of information about the operation at Luyten was likely to be getting out before the operation at Ross, Task Force Dolittle made the short range jump into the Kuiper Belt of Ross, where they met up with
OCPS John le Carré for an intelligence update.
Ross had two habited worlds, though apparently the population was living in sealed habitats on the surface. Initially one HPG was detected, located in the anchorage in orbit around Mergelée. Protected by several forts, there appeared to be two WarShips already active, aside from the two Faslane class yard ships, one vessel appeared to be a variant on the Lola III, while the other was the remaining Dante class vessel,
CSV Narbonne.
Some longer observation showed that the Lola III, which remained unidentified, also was equipped with an HPG, but the transmissions coming from the vessel were strange, brief burst messages that seemed to come from 'Capt'n Crunch'.
The plan for the engagement was relatively simple, utilizing Class V KKVs to destroy any defensive platforms, as well as the HPGs, before destroying the jump ships in the system's jump points and a direct attack on both anchorages.
Code:
Comstar Defenders, Roll 1d100: 59-10-5 = 44 (Surprise, Untrained)
TF Dolittle, Roll 1d100: 52+10+15+5+10+25+20 = 137 (Surprise, All Military Actions, engagements against dropships, all squadrons with an AutoWar, AutoWar exclusive squadrons, WarShip inclusion
44 vs 137 = Overwhelming Victory
Comstar Vessels taken, Roll 1d8: 8
Again, the KKVs hit their targets dead on, destroying any defensive station and the HPGs in the system, cutting off any contact to the outside galaxy and preventing anyone from realizing what had happened, while the light combat craft, after being pulled from the jump points of Luyten, attacked the jumpships in the Ross Jump Points, disabling or destroying them.
This was followed by the direct attack by the rest of Task Force Dolittle, with
Belisarius leading the attack on the Mergelée Anchorage. During the approach, radio messages were directed towards the Lola III variant, calling for 'Capt'n Crunch' to support the attack on Comstar to deprive them of their space combat assets, which would in turn help destroy the First Circuit. The reaction was almost instantaneous, as the Lola III fired all its weapons directly into the unprotected back of
Narbonne destroying the last of the Dantes with two salvos at point-blank range.
This was followed by the destruction of the two Faslane class yard ships with Class IV and III missiles from long range, as their defense systems were saturated. Their destruction damaged the remaining spacecraft to some degree, but nothing that could not be repaired relatively easily. Again the large Combat Craft reached the undefended vessels and docked with their docking collars to directly assault the vessels and take them, before anyone could decide to activate the vessel's self-destruct systems.
This time around, all seven of the mothballed spacecraft could be taken by the Espatiers, adding them to the prizes taken by the OCP Space Forces. They were one Black Lion class vessel,
CSV Blake's Strength, two Lola IIIs,
CSV Blake's Vision and
Ranger, one Volga,
CSV Enlightened Path, one Essex,
CSV Defender of Versailles, and finally two Vincent class,
CSV Resilience and
Determination. The Lola III variant, home to 'Capt'n Crunch', in turn used to be named
CSV Blake Acendent, which turned out to be an AI controlled WarShip, a Caspar M-5 Capital Drone, which had developed sapience sometime between the fall of the Star League and at least fifty years back.
The AI had been lying low, while being used as a largely automated vessel with a small crew, which was completely locked out of the controls, the moment 'Capt'n Crunch' took over to attack the
Narbonne. Following the defeat of the AI named itself John Draper and its vessel the
Tech Model Railroad Club, and showed his willingness to support the OCP with further operations against Comstar, even going as far as suggesting a direct raid on Terra to destroy Hilton Head, the Headquarters of Comstar.
While talks with John Draper were underway, all OCP vessels, the prizes and
Tech Model Railroad Club moves to the rendezvous point in deep space.
active for 1 more turns
[] Project Green Bracket:
active
Time: 4 turns, Chance of success: 65%
Roll 1 of 4, Roll 1d100: 59+5+5+10 = 79 - Success (Ground Weapon Development, All R&D, Artillery R&D)
Roll 2 of 4, Roll 1d100: 19+5+5+10 = 39 - Success
Development of various artillery systems and accompanying vehicles to carry them continued, with some interesting developments in the area of self-propelled artillery and some strange outliers, like artillery carrying mechs.
active for 2 more turns
WCDC Survey Office:
[] Organization of Confederated Planets Intelligence:
active
Time: 2 turns, Chance of success: 75%
Roll 1 of 2, Roll 1d100: 99 - Crit Success
Roll 2 of 2, Roll 1d100: 84 - Success
Combined: 91 - Success
Slowly the reorganization took a concrete shape as the various old and new divisions within the Survey Office were formed and moved to their new headquarters.
Almost the entirety of the actual Survey Squadrons and its offices and management were, as a whole, moved to Tempelhof, where they could directly operate their landing craft and get into orbit without having to wait much for aerospace traffic control and could then directly meet with the higher management. Additionally, Survey got several of the natively built heavy JumpShips to support smaller survey forces for longer ranged operations. Survey was also given funds to set up forwards bases, using modified station designs to allow for operations in deep space for survey purposes.
The DSSINOO was curtailed and, as many within the DSSINOO believed, 'exiled' to
FOB Pine Gap, though funds were prepared to allow the extension of the base in the Pine Gap system into an immense forwards base, where several smaller survey forces were stationed.
Finally, the OSI was given the headquarters of the Teufelsberg in Berlin, where they would operate from, with several discrete spacecraft and the entirety of the modified Invader II fleet, including its dropships, to operate within the Inner Sphere for intelligence gathering operations. Plans were already drawn up to buy several smaller jumpships for modification and solely to use to insert agents in various places.
Finally, the management and leadership of the new and improved OCP Survey Office would remain within the Stadtschloss of Berlin, presenting the civilian survey part of the operation to the outside world.
Result: Centralized OCP Intelligence, +15 to all intelligence operations, Survey becomes passive operation, DSSINO gets disbanded and DSSIN extension becomes passive operation
[] Strategic Intelligence: - 7 votes
active
Time: 5 turns, Chance of success: 55%
Roll 1 of 5, Roll 1d100: 6 - Failure
One of the first projects that was worked on by the OSI, was to set up plans how to use agents and the Deep Cover vessels already operating within the inner sphere to gather more data about the five Successor States, following the fall of Comstar. However, the project was off to a bad start, as most people involved in the project were needed to monitor and analyze the situation with Comstar.
active for 4 more turns
Deep Space Signal Intelligence Network
[] HumInt:
active
Time: 3 turns, Chance of success: 40%
Roll 1 of 3, Roll 1d100: 19+10 = 29 - Failure (to all DSSINOO operations)
Roll 2 of 3, Roll 1d100: 57+10 = 67 - Success
As work continued on the reentry method of inserting agents on a world, some of the people in the project discovered an old early space age concept called MOOSE, Man Out Of Space Easiest, involving a relatively simple envelope covered with an ablative heat shield, inflated by a plastic foam that protects an astronaut from the reentry heat. After reentry, the heat shield would be discarded and the astronaut return to Earth with a conventional parachute.
The project team believed that they might have something here, when combined with modern technology. Indeed, it might be potentially be used to insert special forces or infantry in a low orbital pass over a target.
active for 1 more turns
OCP Diplomatic Corps:
[] Charm Offensive IV:
active
Time: 4 turns, Chance of success: 60%
Roll 1 of 4, Roll 1d100: 58 - Success
Roll 2 of 4, Roll 1d100: 66 - Success
Roll 3 of 4, Roll 1d100: 87 - Success
The charme offensive continues to work like a charm.
active for 1 more turns
[] Lothiatio Conference
active
Time: 3 turns, Chance of success: 65%
Roll 1 of 3, Roll 1d100: 67 - Success
Roll 2 of 3, Roll 1d100: 50 - Success
As the diplomats arrive at Lothario for the conference, they are met by the leaders of the League and the Palatinate, who are anxious to close the deal with the OCP, now that the WCDC had pretty much become the most powerful single nation in the region. They are quick to point out that they would be willing to host some OCP military forces for faster reaction times, should either nation come under attack.
Meanwhile,
OCPS Chasslor and
OCPS Onsay arrive at Lothario in their maiden voyage, carrying twenty Unbdessa landing craft with the 1st Confederated Forces Expeditionary Division. The Illyrian Administrator and Grand Mistress Logan, were surprised about this, but Logan allowed the landing craft to touch down outside of Vatnajökull, the planet's capital.
active for 1 more turns
OCP Trade Organization:
[] Industrial Export:
active
Time: 4 turns, Chance of success: 60%
Roll 1 of 4, Roll 1d100: 50+10 = 60 - Success (External Trade)
Roll 2 of 4, Roll 1d100: 29+10 = 39 - Failure
Roll 3 of 4, Roll 1d100: 70+10 = 80 - Success
Roll 4 of 4, Roll 1d100: 26+10 = 36 - Failure
Combined: 54 - Success
Talks finally concluded with the various businesses and the government of the ANZAC Union, but the reaction of the public was not as positive as one should believe, considering the future creation of new jobs and the influx of modern technology into the society. The signing of the documents for the industrial cooperation did lead to massive protests within the native population, who regarded it as an attempt to colonize Woomera and Ohakune. It appeared that the population had a long historical memory as the main proponents of the protests compared the OCP to the British Empire at its height.
Still, the future for trade with the ANZAC Union seemed good.
Results: Reward: +10 to external trade with ANZAC Union, +10 to diplomacy with ANZAC Union
[] Heavy Warship: - 8 votes
active
Time: 3 turns, Chance of success: 60%
Roll 1of 3, Roll 1d100: 43+10+10+10+10 = 83 - Success (Stronger Economy, Economic Ties, Military-Industrial Complex, Interstellar Communication Network)
As the design and prototype construction of the new light WarShip had been completed, the Confederated Space Forces felt the need to have a natively designed WarShip class available, even though the Belisarius class was ready for construction. However, the basic design of the WarShip was several centuries old and did not take the design challenges and opportunities of modern weapons and defensive technologies into account.
As such, with the help of the OCPTO the Space Forces made a Request for Proposals, fully expecting not to see a prototype within the timeframe allotted to the design program.
active for 1 turns
OCP Office for Science and Development:
[] Hyperwave Local Area Mesh Network:
active
Time: 4 turns, Chance of success: 45%
Roll 1 of 4, Roll 1d100: 99+10+10 = 119 - Crit Success (Research Center Sol, Interstellar Communication Network)
Roll 2 of 4, Roll 1d100: 71+10+10 = 91 - Success
Roll 3 of 4, Roll 1d100: 89+10+10 = 109 - Artificial Crit
Roll 4 of 4, Roll 1d100: 17+10+10 = 37 - Failure
Combined: 89
While there were attempts to further shrink down the Hyperwave Mesh Tranceiver for future use, they failed, as did several tries of making the transceiver more efficient in energy use and data transfer speeds. With these failures on the 'home stretch' of the project, the work on the Hyperwave Local Area Mesh Network was finalized and published, allowing the OCP to begin using much faster local networks for communication and scanning uses.
Result: Hyperwave Local Area Mesh Network
[] Helm Datacore Analysis:
active
Time: 6 turns, Chance is success: 60%
Roll 1 of 6, Roll 1d100: 70+10+10 = 90 - Success (Research Center Sol, Interstellar Communication Network)
Roll 2 of 6, Roll 1d100: 13+10+10 = 33 - Failure
The various versions of the Helm Datacore transmitted by the
No Pirate Life For Me had successfully been compared and it turned out that there were little to no differences between the versions, aside from bit errors that could be corrected for.
The decoding of the data however proved to be much harder than anticipated as the corrupted parts of the data appeared to contain data that was critical to finding the actual file system of the Datacore.
active for 4 more turns
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OCP Internal Events:
The first WarShips from Project Cerulean Goddess get completed in Sol, Beta Hydri and 61 Virginis,
OCPS Admiral Ushakov,
OCPS Angill and
OCPS Ath'achy. While the vessels are prepared for duty and their first deployment, the remaining four vessels of Project Cerulean Goddess are expected to be completed by Autumn of the year.
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Deep Space Signal Intelligence Network Report:
Marian Hegemony:
Marian Attack chance: 50%, Roll 1d6 (even - attack, odd - no attack): 1 - no attack
The Marian Forces on New Venice and Addhara continue to swell and by the end of Spring four Leagions have gathered, apparently ready for the attack.
Lothian League:
Illyrian Palatinate:
Military preparations to defend against the Marian Attack continue.
Inner Sphere:
Lyran Commonwealth:
Due to the Comstar Situation, there is little that can be disconcerned.
Federated Suns:
Due to the Comstar Situation, there is little that can be disconcerned.
Draconis Combine:
Due to the Comstar Situation, there is little that can be disconcerned.
Free Worlds League:
Due to the Comstar Situation, there is little that can be disconcerned.
Dutchy of Andurien:
Due to the Comstar Situation, there is little that can be disconcerned.
Comstar:
Chance of Comstar Shism: 31%, Roll 1d100: 83 - Its Shism Time!!!
It took a while for Comstar to realize that there was something going on at Luyten 68-28 and only when the OCP Jump Point Squadrons pulled back for the Ross 248 operation and Jump Ships were able to reach the system again. They confirmed the destruction of the fleet base and the disappearance of vast swathes of its WarShips, and by the looks of it, Waterly almost had a stroke, raging against the heavens and the OCP in a meeting with the First Circuit, before ordering increased defenses at Ross 248.
It was too late, however, as the Base there had already fallen to Operation Dolittle and all vessels had been pulled out. Around the same time, 'Guy Fawkes' and 'Capt'n Crunch' massively increased their operations, with both sides sending out videos and other documents concerning Operation Dolittle as well as the rage induced rants of Waterly against the OCP, a nation that had dared to defy Waterly and Comstar.
To make matters worse, for Comstar and especially ROM, 'Capt'n Crunch' had had access to some ROM documentation and was openly distributing the entirety of ROM's dirty underwear as well as the identity of 80 percent of all embedded ROM agents and their standing orders to kill all Comstar personal and the HPG itself, should it be threatened to be taken by anyone.
This proved to be the hair that broke the proverbial camel's neck, leading to a brief, but intense internal civil war of sorts, as HPG crews sought out the embedded ROM agents to kill them, before they in turn were killed. The HPG network fractured and the Inner Sphere houses, prepared or not, had to step in to take control over the HPGs in their space.
While the Federated Suns and the Lyran Commonwealth had a massive advantage and were able to take over and keep 70 percent of all HPGs in their space, the Free Worlds League in turn could take nearly 90 precent of all HPG stations. Andurien by contract only did take 65 percent. From documents later available, the Draconis Combine proved to be too eager to take the HPGs, while simultaneously having skimped on planning and orders. The HPG network in the Combine dwindled to 42 percent of its original size, as the troops executed crews taking the station and overly eager forces destroyed entire HPGs.
While the HPG network collapsed, First Primus Waterly on Terra was finally assassinated by supposed 'loyal ROM agents' and Anastasius Focht could ascend to be First Primus. However, he was only able to keep on power for three days before he was assassinated by a bomb, apparently strapped to the chest of an Acolyte that believed Comstar was doomed.
From information coming from the Terra Belters, Terra itself descended into a limited Civil War as several factions that formed from Comstar in the wake of the collapse attempted to take over the planet, and more than one jumpship with ROM and other Comstar personnel left for unknown targets.
Expansion and Suggestions:
The DSSI Network slowly continues to expand into the Inner Sphere.
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Random Event - Nothing happens