Turn 34 - Winter 2182/3032
WCDC Defense Council:
[] Forwards Operation Base Circinus: active
Time: 4 turns, Chance of success: 50%
Roll 1 of 4, Roll 1d100: 87 - Success
Roll 2 of 4, Roll 1d100: 87 - Success
Slowly the 3rd and 4th WCDC Expeditionary Regiment were transported to Circinus, while local contractors were hired for the construction of a more permanent base ten kilometers outside of Clayborne Remembered. Most of the barracks were built from local woods, with conventional concrete employed for foundations and Macadam for the construction of streets and various fields. Hangars for vehicles and mechs were constructed from advanced reinforced microbial nanoconcrete for increased stability and protection, while modern polymer concrete was used for ammo dumps.
An additional landing area of almost three square kilometers near FOB Circinus was set up to land the various Undessa Batallion Landing Craft, carrying the additional Expeditionary Batallions, as well as several planetary defense squadrons, with the various service buildings nearby. To fuel the spacecraft, large water ponds were set up to provide propellant, while a small refinery would produce deuterium and tank batteries holding helium-3.
The entire base and its automated defenses would be supplied with energy by a 1GW fusion reactor, which supplied its surplus to Claymore Remembered and the slowly growing native industry.
active for 2 more turns
[] Project Indigo Putter: active
Time: 4 turns, Chance of success: 70%
Roll 1 of 4, Roll 1d100: 41 - Success
Roll 2 of 4, Roll 1d100: 48+5 = 53 - Success (Recent Pirate Attack)
The failed attempt to intercept the attack on Santa Alvarez, drove home the need to improve the defenses, with the majority of systems involved in Indigo Putter changing their tune to welcome the installation of WCDC surveillance satellites in their systems.
Slowly, the first modified Ternary Ansible Nodes are installed in various systems, which include the system to observe the system in question with optical and electro magnetic detectors, with a specialized ALI responsible for collating the data and sending flash messages through the network to the nearest patrol squadron.
active for 2 more turns
Singular Event
For forgetting the Internal and External Trade Bonuses for more than ten turns
[] Project Hunter Killer:
50% chance of AI controlled compact mechs, Roll 1d100: 58 - Success
Without any prompting or being contracted to deliver a product, a Project Team of Boston Dynamics approached the Military Apropriation Office in the Rocky Mountain Arcology with a new autonomous combat system in tow, the Hunter Killer Autonomous Combat System.
This advanced Combat System included three autonomous 'drones' set into a team of twelve, around a single central controlling unit, the Handler, a humanoid 5 meter tall compact mech, shaped like an overly large Heavy Power Armor, controlled by a volunteer AGI, who would observe a battle field or engagement zone and reach decisions to be shared with the 'combat drones'.
These 'combat drones' came in two versions, the Gracilis and the Fatalis, both shaped like over sized felines of the extinct genus Smilodon, with the Gracilis standing 1.5 meters at the shoulder, while the Fatalis stood 2 meters. Both systems were controlled by ALI that was designed to straddle the line to AGI as closely as possible, with the ability to develop their own personality, while remaining on an animalistic level of general intelligence. While these 'drones' were equipped with tungsten carbide claws and teeth, they were additionally equipped with 30 mm mortars and other compact kinetic weapons for long range engagement.
Their armor was designed along the line of modern ballistic fabrics with ceramic inserts, designed to survive high velocity impacts as well as laser burns, while being coated in a semi holographic camouflage material that would allow the 'drone' to reach its intended target quickly and relatively unseen, and strike from ambush.
The Team was given the opportunity to officially test the Hunter Killer System, against actual military targets during a training exercise, where the System showed its excellent potential as patrol and ambush system, as all three component 'drones' were autonomously equipped with nano fusion reactors and super conducting batteries for long duration operations.
Result: Hunter Killer Autonomous Combat System avaiable for deployment
WCDC Survey Office:
[] Deep Cover Intelligence: active
Time: 10 turns, Chance of Success: 60%
Roll 1 of 10, Roll 1d100: 93+10 = 103 - Success (Permanent Squadrons)
Roll 2 of 10, Roll 1d100: 62+10 = 73 - Success
Roll 3 of 10, Roll 1d100: 69+10 = 79 - Success
Roll 4 of 10, Roll 1d100: 20+10 = 30 - Failure
Roll 5 of 10, Roll 1d100: 37+10 = 47 - Success
Roll 6 of 10, Roll 1d100: 61+10 = 71 - Success
Roll 7 of 10, Roll 1d100: 31+10 = 41 - Success
Roll 8 of 10, Roll 1d100: 21+10 = 31 - Failure
Roll 9 of 10, Roll 1d100: 86+10 = 91 - Success
Roll 10 of 10, Roll 1d100: 40+10 = 50 - Success
Combined: 62 - Success
Roll 1d100 for Intel Network: 27 - Failure
After some jumps through Cavanaugh II, Timbiqui and Poulsbo, the crew of A Ship With A View finally jumped into Circinus, expecting an opposed entry. Or at least a warm welcome. Instead, they were intercepted by 4th Squadron of Task Force Market Garden. This led to some confusion on the part of the crew, even though it was a welcome one. They were informed the HPG had been destroyed during the initial invasion of the planet, which meant that the majority of messanges during the past year had not been received.
It also meant the attempt to set up an intelligence network in the Lyran Commonwealth had failed, as the agents did not have a convenient way to inform Berlin about their information.
Jureck's Jaegers were informed about the actual mission of A Ship With A View as an intelligence gathering operation and were offered a contract with the WCDC on Circinus, reinforcing the defense of the world with additional mechs. They might also be employed to crash the budding pirate heaven at Clayborne II.
Meanwhile, A Ship With A View continued on towards the Three Systems and 61 Virginis, where a dock had been set up near the Zenit Point to service and resupply the jump ship. The crew returned to Sol, to be debriefed and given leave for rest and recuperation after the nearly two and a half years of operation within the Lyran Commonwealth.
The information gathered by the A Ship With A View certainly was going to be of use, informing the WCDC Council about their neighbors. For one, the Lyran Commonwealth was identified as a highly mercantile nation, with a strong economy, even though the actual observation showed the economy was spread thin, compared to the actual size of the star nation. While the economic information needed to be revised, it was noted the Lyran Commonwealth still had the potential to massively hurt the local economy of the Three Worlds and by extension the WCDC.
On the military side, it was noted the Lyrans were mostly focusing their view on the Draconis Combine and to a smaller degree the Free Worlds League. However, some information showed that most of the military command staff were 'Social Officers', rather than actual career military, and that any conflict with them should take this into account for psychological warfare.
In the end, the suggestion was made to officially open diplomatic contact with the Lyran Commonwealth as the first major Inner Sphere nation, as they would be more interested in business deals than military operations against the WCDC at the moment.
Reward: Information about the Lyran Commonwealth
[] Abandoned Settlements: active
Time: 3 turns, Chance of Success: 60%
Roll 1 of 3, Roll 1d100: 94+10 = 104 - Success (Permanent Squadrons)
Roll 2 of 3, Roll 1d100: 80+10 = 90
Landings on the various abandoned worlds were successful, even though at least one landing craft was damaged when the ground beneath it caved in from an abandoned cellar underneath.
Archeologists were soon employed to dig for the remains of settlements, attempting to find usable data, while biologists studied potential biological causes. In one case they were successful relatively quickly, as a survey team discovered some enormous predators in the forest around the main settlement that apparently had developed a liking for humans as a food source, with a thick hide protecting them from conventional weapons. This resulted in the world being written off as uninhabitable for the time being.
active for 1 more turn
Deep Space Signal Intelligence Network
[] Base Operations: - 6 votes active
Time: 4 turns, Chance of success: 60%
Roll 1 of 4, Roll 1d100: 90 - Success
So far FOB Pine Gap has+d performed well since its construction. With the implementation of the new Ansible backed real time observation, the importance of the station as a base for the analysis of intelligence data and rapid reaction away from Berlin diminished. As such, the decision was made to extend the stations' role in the region. For one, the station's docking arrangements were to be extended to allow docking of up to three Sqadrons at a time, with two Squadrons worth of specialized surveillance craft being prepared to ship out to the station to work on the extension of the Real Time Onservation Network, with new surveillance enabled Ternary Ansible Nodes.
To reduce the need to ship these Nodes to FOB Pine Gap the construction of asteroid mining bases was approved, together with the fabricator capacity to produce up to five of the new Surveillance Ansible Nodes per week.
active for 3 more turns
WCDC Diplomatic Corps:
[] Long Range Diplomacy - Illyrian Palatinate: active
Time: 6 turns, Chance of success: 50%
Roll 1 of 6, Roll 1d100: 51 - Success
Roll 2 of 6, Roll 1d100: 20 - Failure
Roll 3 of 6, Roll 1d100: 87 - Success
Roll 4 of 6, Roll 1d100: 77 - Success
Roll 5 of 6, Roll 1d100: 41 - Failure
Roll 6 of 6, Roll 1d100: 98 - Crit Success
Combined: 62 - Success
While the diplomatic relations had been soured by the recent 'temper tantrum' by the Illyrian government, the diplomatic talks continued well for the remaining weeks of the initial diplomatic talks, with the government falling over itself once it became clear that their worlds would be included into the Limited Bandwidth Ansible Network that had been set up for the surveillance satellites in the area, offering one of the oldest and most prestigious buildings in the capital city, not used by the government, as an embassy.
In the end, the Illyrian Government was given to understand that traders would eventually arrive to prepare business deals similar to those that were offered to the Lothian League.
Reward: Diplomatic Contact with the Illyrian Palatinate
[] Circinus Uplift: active
Time: 4 turns, Chance of Success: 60%
Roll 1 of 4, Roll 1d100: 80 - Success
Roll 2 of 4, Roll 1d100: 28 - Failure
Roll 3 of 4, Roll 1d100: 99 - Crit Success
With the theft of vehicles and fabricators, military police was brought in on the case and met with success fast, tracking down the still missing vehicles and fabricators to several cells of supporters of the old regime, who appeared to have been backed by a deep cover agent, possibly ROM. For the most part, the theft of the vehicles had been meant to obstruct the view at the theft of the fabricators, so that the agent could eventually move off world with his/her prise and return to Comstar.
Through diligent use of Smart Dust, surveillance drones and enhanced interrogation (use of special drugs) on the culprits, it was possible to tack down the agent in question and try to apprehend them. However, they committed suicide, rather than be taken by WCDC military police.
Meanwhile, the communication constellation available with the Planetary Settment Kits were put into orbit around Circinus, while several Fabricator Compex Sites were constructed near the largest cities of Circinus, while the Prometheus Foundation imported additional trainers and teachers to help the population gain the skills needed to operate WCDC machinery and technology.
Already this low commitment into the Circinan economy and social order was giving dividends in support of the population for the Military Governor.
active for 1 more turn
WCDC Trade Organization:
[] Combat Vehicle Development: active
Time: 3 turns, Chance of success: 70%
Roll 1 of 3, Roll 1d100: 100+10+10+10+10 = 140 - Crit Success (Military-Industrial Complex, Stronger Economy, Economic Ties, Interstellar Communication Network)
Roll 2 of 3, Roll 1d100: 92+10+10+10+10 = 132 - Success
Again, much like it happened with the earlier MBT and Mech development programs, the contractors flooded the WCDCTO and Military with designs within a relatively short time frame. For one, MIL-STD-102343 allowed the development of vehicles without the need to already integrate weapon systems, merely needing to provide weapon bays for various standardized sizes of weapons and other systems.
It was of note the various contractors appeared to have standardized around certain powerplants, like the Tomokino 200MW Microfusion* reactor, used in the Karakal II and the Fisilier, but also smaller Warech 150MW* and Sul'arde 100MW Nanofusion* reactors, as well as certain Milspec Computer and communication systems.
active for 1 more turn
[] Von Neuman: - 5 votes active
Time: 6 turns, Chance of success: 40%
Roll 1 of 6, Roll 1d100: 88+10+10+10+10 = 128 - Success (Scientific-Industrial Complex, Stronger Economy, Economic Ties, Interstellar Communication Network)
Plans to create autonomous space craft capable o fabricating copies of itself had been in the public mind for a long time, from many of the species of the WCDC. For the most part, the negative example of the Onouch'l Automatons that had destroyed at least three civilizations over three thousand years ago had held back the idea from being implemented.
The need to improve the livelihood of a growing number of worlds, as well as potentially setting up additional settlements as well as substantial amounts of orbital infrastructure, was limited by the availability of fabrication and transport, so it was deemed to be better to build a mobile fabrication and refinement vessel that could, if need be, copy itself and provide a growing number of mobile industrial complexes.
As such, several contractors were asked to design a Von Neumann space craft, to be controlled by an ASI and equipped with the ability to mine raw materials and fabricate everything saved to its databases.
active for 5 more turns
WCDC Office for Science and Development:
[] Superliminal Wave Detector: active
Time: 5 turns, Chance of success: 55%
Roll 1 of 5, Roll 1d100: 47+10+10 = 67 - Success (Research Center Sol, Interstellar Communication Network)
Roll 2 of 5, Roll 1d100: 8+10+10 = 28 - Failure
The team developing the Superliminal Wave Detector quickly ran into a huge block that stood in the way of their success, as they attempted to develop the sensor needed to detect the specific sort of hyper wave created by the entry and exit events of both the jump drive and the Heim-Feyman Event Gernerator, as the waves of either FTL propulsion system were vastly different .
active for 3 more turns
[] Project Blue Danube: active
Time: 3 turns, Chance of success: 75%
Roll 1 of 3, Roll 1d100: 57+10+10 = 77 - Success (Research Center Sol, Interstellar Communication Network)
Roll 2 of 3, Roll 1d100: 86+10+10 = 106 - Success
The three vessels selected for the test of the HFE Generator system together with a jump drive, Size Isn't Everything, Just Testing and No Pirate Life For Me, were moved to a new dock yard created near the Sol Nadir Point, where they were prepared to receive their new HFE Generators.
Extensive modeling of the interaction between the super conducting rings of the HFEG and the equally super conducting Jump Core, as well as the potentially docked spacecraft already equipped with an HFEG system, had shown that the HFEG system for a jump ship would be different from a conventional FTL spacecraft. There would not only be the need for a single dual superconducting ring system, but three for the larger spacecraft and two for smaller ones, as to overcome the interference of the other super conducting materials. However, those super conductors supported the magnetic fields of the HFEG to a considerable degree, reducing the size of the superconducting rings by such a margin that they could easily be tucked away inside the general hull of a jump ship, with the exterior unchanged. This would allow for 'stealth' use of HFEG equipped jump ships for recon missions.
active for 1 more turn
Deep Space Signal Intelligence Network Report:
Lothian League:
It appears most of the new FTL communication traffic in the Lothian League happens to be attempts of Grand Mistress Logan attempting to micromanage the local planetary governments, which is currently leading to a bit of backlash against her rule. However, most of that backlash consists mainly of messages of 'Leave us alone, we got things in hand' for the most part.
Illyrian Palatinate:
There is little of note to say.
Circinus Federation:
The raids sent out by Clayborne II return, while the pirate band that has raided Santa Alvarez arrives at the planet to fence off their ill-gotten gains.
Marian Hegemony:
All we can tell is the Legions moved into the area closest to the Lothian League and the Illyrian Palatinate appear to run constant drills, which might point towards an impending attack against the Lothians and/or the Illyrians.
Inner Sphere:
Lyran Commonwealth:
Nothing out of the ordinary as far as can be decerned.
Federated Suns:
Nothing out of the ordinary as far as can be decerned.
Draconis Combine:
Nothing out of the ordinary as far as can be decerned.
Free Worlds League:
Dutchy of Andurien:
The Free Worlds League declares war on the Dutchy of Andurien, though it is couched in terms of 'reunification', and many of the attacks are directed into formerly Capellan space, where the defensive preparations of Andurien have officially been weakest. However, many of the attacked worlds have surrendered to Andurien out of their own volition and retained their defensive capabilities, enabling them to hold out in the conflict, with some mercenary forces, some of them formerly employed by the Federated Suns, strengthening the defense.
In turn, Adurien attack forces cross the border to attack worlds near it, though even here, there are worlds friendlier to Andurien, who are not putting up considerable resistance, with some garrisons remaining in their bases, while Andurien troops gain the governmental buildings. Additionally, several smaller systems away from the Andurien border rebel against the Free Worlds League and attempt to secede, which are brutally suppressed by the FWL Military, inciting more revolts, which forces the FWLM to pull forces from the front lines.
Comstar:
Currently, there is no new information avaiable about Comstar, aside from potential additional agents on Circinus.
Expansion and Suggestions:
Attempts should be made to find a way to directly intercept HPG messages with the use of the Extended Range Secure HPG.
Random Event - Refugees
In late winter, several jump ships arrived at Circinus and were stopped by the 4th and 5th Squadron of Task Force Market Garden. It had been possible to track these jumpships over some distance with the Deep Space Signal Intelligence Network, identifying some regions of the Free Worlds League as the origin point of the jump ships.
As it turned out, the various dropships carried by the jump ships contained about five thousand rebel refugees from the planet of Bismarck, where one of the revolts against the Free Worlds League had been brutally beaten down. They had heard rumors, from an unknown source, that a new powerful and free nation had arisen past the Circinus Federation, and they intended to fleet towards this nation.
It was unknown where those rumors had originated, but it was decided, after some political wrangling, to accept those refugees. However, it was believed this refugee column might be used to insert agents of various intelligence agencies, like ROM and the currently unknown Free Worlds League intelligence, and it was decided, after communication with the refugee leaders, to land them on Circinus, where the refugees might be of use during the rebuilding of the planet, while they could be vetted by counter-espionage specialists of the Survey Office and various other national intelligence agencies.
-----------------------
* Tomokino 200MW Microfusion = 240 rated Fusion + Superconducting Batteries
Warech 150MW Microfusion = 180 rated Fusion + Superconducting Batteries
Sul'arde 100MW Nanofusion = 120 rated Fusion + Superconducting Batteries
