Thread 6322850

It has been millennia since humanity became a star faring race. Enough time for stellar regimes to have risen and fallen, for technologies to be forgotten and relearned and for a diaspora of life; both human and alien to spread across the galaxy.

The Raihan Empire is but one splinter of the human diaspora. At its height the Empire spanned eight star systems but eventually corruption and decay set in. The Empire collapsed, its great works crumbled, its worlds became isolated. For a thousand years it was so…

Until a new warlord arose on Raiha, one that managed to quell the disparate factions fighting over the Throne world. When all his enemies were vanquished he marched upon the palace district where the remnants of the Imperial family cowered. However, instead of seizing the throne for himself Arcturus Garan pledged himself and his army to the service of the remaining Empress and took the title of Lord Commander.

Together the Empress and Lord Commander began the process of rebuilding the Empire, first securing the home system, then bringing each of the wayward colonies back into the fold.

Five out of the original eight colonies have been absorbed back into the resurgent Empire. Only the systems of Noto, Higg and Kornen actively resist annexation. Together they have formed the NKH Defence Pact, or simply the Pact.

Now the Pact must guard its independence against the growing might of the New Raihan Empire. The odds are not in their favour, they are outnumbered and outgunned, but the Imperial Forces have not yet regained their full power and the war is not over yet…

((This quest is an indirect sequel to Space shipyard quest, knowledge of previous threads is not required but it will do much to add context. Previous threads can be found here: https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?searchall=space+shipyard))

>>6322850 (OP)
You are Harris Glasner; the best starship engineer that nobody’s ever heard of and you are in a liminal state on the edge of consciousness.

“...entire R&D division!? How did the Imperials breach our defence cordon!?”

You are vaguely aware of two people arguing in front of you… and pain, lots of pain, but it was all so far away.

“...not the Imperials… last guy…old enemies…”

The pain and the voices were starting to get closer now.

“...what now?...HIM!?”

“...only survivor…no one else qualified.”

The pain was right next to you now, no it was coming from you, you were in pain, you were painfully conscious of your pain… and the fact you were in a medical capsule. Ow.

Outside the capsule stood two people who you recognised as Lord Yarin, the ruler of Higg and High Admiral Ruhi; overall commander of the Pact fleet.

“It seems he’s awake.”

Ruhi pinched her nose in exasperation. “I supposed we should tell him.”

Yarin nodded and turned to you.

“Harris Glasner, the top echelon of our starship R&D division has been wiped out in a covert strike. You are the highest ranking survivor, as of now you are the acting Director of R&D.”

Oh FUCK YES!

>cont

>>6322853
It had been a few days since you had been discharged from the medical station. Now you were on a shuttle returning to the Boson Halo Yard; a small ship yard recently constructed in one of the outer orbits of the Higg system.

From the view port you could see a maze of scaffolding covering the side of the shipyard where a tactical nuclear strike had assassinated your predecessor, almost killed you and nearly destroyed the yard itself. For now it would be sometime until ship building capability was restored; an acceptable delay seeing as you didn’t really have any ships to build.

Lord Yarin had charged you with developing new ship designs to aid the Pact war effort against the Imperials. Whatever you and your team came up with would be proto-typed here then sent to the Kornen system for mass production.

After disembarking the shuttle you were ushered into a hastily renovated store room to meet with your new staff. Inside a well built man and a stiff looking woman waited for you.

“Glasner,” the man said coldly while eying you with cool disdain.

“Solei,” you answer, matching his dismissive attitude.

Merik Solei was another engineer, only slightly more junior than you. The man was taciturn, and utterly devoid of imagination. In short; a total kill joy and now he was your deputy.

“I’m surprised they didn’t make you the new head of R&D, your obsession with…” simplistic, boring, uninspired? “...rugged efficiency would have no doubt produced something agreeable to the Fleet.”

Merik’s eyes narrowed at your damning praise but the woman interrupted him before he could reply.

“Lord Yarin felt we needed someone with a more innovative mindset to build the weapons that will win us the war. Sub-Director Solei will serve to keep you grounded.”

You turned to the woman, she was slightly shorter than you and dressed in a well fitted if unadorned uniform. She exuded the kind of no nonsense attitude that was typical of military types. If you weren’t terminally devoted to your craft you might have found her fetching.

“Lieutenant Ferris Gale,” she bowed slightly, no salute for you; you weren’t military. “I will be your main liaison to the Pact fleet. I will relay the Fleets requirements and update you with any relevant intelligence as it becomes available. I look forward to working with you, Acting Director Glasner.”

“Acting Director? Do the powers that be have such little faith in me?”

“You were hardly anyone’s first choice,” her tone was free of judgement, as if she was just stating a fact, but fact or no it still stung. Why couldn’t anyone truly recognise your genius!? Well you’d show them! You’d show them ALL! -”although if we need to replace you, we will likely be on the verge of losing the war, so really it’s a moot point.”

Gee thanks…

>cont

>>6322858
“Allow me to brief you on the current situation.” Gale summoned a map of the region on the AR display, small pop-ups detailing fleet dispositions appeared as she spoke.

“Currently our fleet has engaged the main Imperial force in the Noto system. We have managed to keep them at bay for the time being, but if current trends continue we will eventually lose. High Command tried to draw away Imperial forces by hiring pirates and mercenaries to strike at Shima, but the attack failed. The local garrison proved more tenacious than anticipated.”

The map shrunk and ship models started filling the display. “I’m sure you’re aware that the Old Empire could field some truly fearsome warships, but much of its capacity to build them was lost during the previous collapse. As such both sides have been reduced to using older human diaspora designs which are easier to build with a limited technology base. However recently the Imperials have started fielding more advanced designs.”

A medium sized cruiser filled the display, it had a wide stern with three large drives and a bulbous prow sporting a prominent laser turret. “This is the Ryu class. The first of its kind is the flagship of the Imperial Fleet, subsequent ships are often assigned as command vessels for individual battlegroups. It has excellent long range capabilities, and enough maneuverability to avoid being flanked by our own capital ships. Its supporting fire has been a decisive factor at breaking stalemates.”

Gale switched to an image of some kind of carrier vessel. It had a long rectangular hull and a prominent railgun turret mounted under its prow. The resolution of the image was too blurry to make out further details. “This is the Subjugator class, it was designed for planetary assault so the Imperials don’t really send them to major fleet actions. It is however, powerful enough to take on frigates. Supposedly a single one of these ships was responsible for a decapitation strike on Shima’s government just as they were about to side with us. Our planetary defences have been improved since then but even so Command constantly worries about one of these slipping through our pickets and raiding our planetary installations

>>6322861
“High Command’s objectives are two fold: Push the Imperials out of Noto and gain a foothold in Shima. Right now they are open to new strategies so you are free to develop anything that you think would help achieve these objectives.”

A Blank Slate? Brilliant! Now you could finally make… ah shit your mind was going blank; the eternal curse of creative folk everywhere.

Seeing the look on your face Solei decided to step in. “Acting Director, may I suggest modifying an existing design? It would be the easiest and quickest way to improve the current fleet.”

It would also be the most boring…

“Speaking of existing designs, I can try digging up some Old Imperial schematics, alas we would likely be incapable of building it to the original spec but it could prove a useful starting point.”

Reviving something from the Old Empire did have a certain allure, but there was a part of you that railed against merely creating a pale imitation, no matter how formidable it would be by contemporary standards.

>Well, you had to start somewhere, and as much as you hated to admit it, Solei was right. (Modify an existing design.)

>At its height the Empire had possessed ships that were more powerful than anything either side was fielding. Try and dig up an old Imperial design and adapt it for your use.

>You don’t need “inspiration”, design your own ship from scratch! (Write-In)

>>6322863
>Write-In
This but a spaceship

>>6322863
>You don’t need “inspiration”, design your own ship from scratch! (Write-In)
The key to victory is adaptability. The ability to confront the enemy ships with disadvantageous matchups. We can't build or refit ships on a moment's notice, but strike craft is a different matter. As such, we'll design a cheap light carrier and a complement of drones for different specializations.

>>6322885
We already have a carrier, remember? If the idea is to make it repurposable, we'd be better off modifying it.

>>6322888
Do we? I only see two basic drone schematics.

>>6322891
The Subjugator is a carrier too.

>>6322893
It's an imperial design though. Do we even have access to it?

>>6322888
>>6322891
>>6322893
>>6322894

Just to clarify: Imperial Designs are exclusive to the enemy. Right now neither side has a proper carrier. The basic drones are often deployed out of space stations and planetary bases.

>>6322895
Seems weird to include designs you don't have on your design sheet...

But if that's the case, then we know what must be done.
>You don’t need “inspiration”, design your own ship from scratch! (Write-In)
Carrier Time!

>>6322896
>Seems weird to include designs you don't have on your design sheet
It's so you know what you're up against. As you create your own ships, Pact exclusive designs will appear on the other side of the sheet.

If you find it confusing though, maybe I'll just post info on enemy ships in a separate image. Going forward you wouldn't have such detailed info on their new stuff anyway.

>>6322899
No, I get it now.

>>6322863
>You don’t need “inspiration”, design your own ship from scratch! (Write-In)
The Raihans are a proud, despotic empire. What we need is a decapitation strike against the enemy flagships. Like a chicken, if we cut off the head and the rest will go scrambling off, directionless, as easy pickings. The Shimans and perhaps others conscripted to their empire may even defect.
What we need is giant hot dogs, I mean, ballistic missile trucks but in space. We can save costs by having FTL-capable ships tow a bunch of them to battle. Neither of their command nor assault cruisers have much point defense so the ships will maneuver around the flagship and destroy it with giant missiles.
The surviving trucks can take potshots or whatever.
See the attached pic for a demonstration.
>>6322899
We're so back.
Could you add a size scale onto future ship charts? I remember Imperial ships on the left being like 3 times the size of the generic ships.

>>6322850 (OP)
What happened to the previous protags?

>>6322912
>The surviving trucks can take potshots or whatever.
In addition, since the giant missile is like half the mass of the ship, once it's fired the leftover ship would become significantly faster and more maneuverable. If it mounted with some light weapons it can act in both a point defense and a flanking role for the rest of the battle. The ships should be bigger than a strike craft and smaller than frigate, so more like a gunboat.

>>6322912
>>6322939
This feels like an overly complicated way to make a carrier just because you want the epic meme hotdogs.

>>6322940
I disagree. Carriers are the complicated ones. This is just a cheap gunboat with a missile strapped on.

>>6322932
They're still around, selling ships and suffering through a constant stream of bad random events.

>>6322951
FTL Tugs and cheap disposable gunboats with missiles are a lot more complicated and a lot less scalable than a carrier. Once they wise up it's over.

A carrier, however, you can just upgrade the fighters and it's good as new.

>>6322955
I recall that wake jumping already exists in-universe so FTL tugs should be easy. FTL tugs should be even more scalable than a carrier, where you are limited to the space inside the hull. Gunboats are also simpler than a carrier, we just need to mass-produce fast ships with a simple gun and a big missile. A carrier needs fancy radar and sensory arrays to coordinate all the fighters and drones as well as repair bays, and large ships are more complicated than small ones.
You are proposing a straight carrier vs carrier fight, which I believe will go poorly for us. Look at the Raihan roster from the Battle of Shima. They already have a carrier, and I highly doubt our society is samurai-larping enough to have super-elite mechs, unlike the real Raihans. Also much of their fleet seems to be Raihan Patrol Frigates who can "easily dispatch low to mid level strike craft," so it wouldn't be that much trouble for their point defense to upgrade if we decide to go strike craft-heavy.
The war is already going poorly for us, so what we need is a brief but significant advantage to turn the tide around, and my proposal is surely both faster to field and better poised for to give us that breathing room to work on fancier ships later on. In contrast, a carrier attrition duel right now will just let the Raihans bring their stronger economy (5 to 3 planets and access to Union and Saurian trade) to bear.

>>6322969
If FTL Tugs were that easy to make, we would have seen it.

>>6322975
Only the QM will know.
>>6322954
QM, tech check please?
If FTL tugs are literally impossible instead, docking clamps in front of each gunboat so they clamp together into 1 long "ship", hauled into battle by a utility wake jumping ship should work too.
If we prefect a tug or clamp or whatever, gunboats are even more scalable than carriers. You can replace the giant missile with different types of missiles or other weapon batteries, and they're not limited to the size of the carrier's hangar.

>>6323027
>clamps
At that point, you might as well just take a fuckin' cargo tanker and have it ferry said gunships instead

>>6323035
Yeah that's the point, any random ftl ship to haul a bunch of gunboats over.

>>6323027
FTL tugs using advanced hyper drives are possible but don't scale well for large numbers of small craft. You currently do not have access to that technology.

>>6322896
This guy was a prisoner temporarily made head of R&D at our yards from the previous threads, then got let go. Seems like he understandably went to go work for the guys our last character was fighting against, and took some info of what they'd been up to.


>You don’t need “inspiration”, design your own ship from scratch!

Remembering this character and his designs, assumption of his own genius to produce some magnificently niche boondoggle is the only fitting answer.

>"A Ship... that is a Plasma-Knife! Forget all that mucking around with calibrating long-range weapon systems; let's just make a prow that's one gigantic plasma-cutter, and strap it to the fastest engine we can find and as much armour as it can take, then drive into enemy ships and through them in repeated mechanised stabbings."

The Pact Fleet didn’t need an incremental improvement and it didn’t need to restore past glory. No… what it needed was a corvette that carried an enormous torpedo like device tipped with a plasma cutter! After a day or two spent in the savant’s trance you present Project Hot Dog to a very skeptical Solei and Gale.

“Glasner, before I even comment on the practicality of the design, how are we even going to get this thing to the AO without an FTL drive?”

“That’s Director Glasner to you Solei and to answer your question: we will give it clamps that allow it to stick to our cruiser hulls, at least until a purpose built carrier is developed.”

Gale frowned at the ship representation on the holo display.

“Without carrier support, deployment will be very uncomfortable for the crew; they will be confined to the ship for the duration of the mission.”

“We can make it a drone craft.”

“That would require the parent ship to have a drone control system.”

“The existing Glory class cruisers can be jury rigged with such a system, either that or we can use the craft exclusively for short missions and develop options for long term deployment later.”

“All that aside, you’re proposing we build a corvette whose sole purpose is to carry an oversized torpedo. How is this better than the existing pike class frigates?”

“Pike Frigates are fragile and their torpedoes are easily shot down by point defence systems. The W13N-3R super heavy torpedo is far more durable. The corvette hull itself will also be heavily armoured. As a bonus: while still connected to the main hull the torpedo can act as a source of supplementary power and propulsion. After launch the overall mass of the craft will be reduced, allowing it to maintain the same level of maneuverability with just the thruster arrays, it can then continue combat in an anti-strikecraft role!”

Solei let out an exasperated sigh.

“This seems needlessly convoluted. I advise creating two different specialised craft or even just upgrading our standard torpedoes with this plasma cutter warhead.”

“And that is why you are only Sub-Director. I have already drawn up plans, begin prototyping immediately!”

How should we handle the deployment issues?

>Make it manned. (Easier to put into production, but can only be sent on short missions until a dedicated carrier is built.)

>Make it unmanned. (Will require a refit of at least one cruiser with a drone control system. It will take longer to get it to the frontline, but will not suffer the drawbacks of being manned.)

>Make a manned and unmanned model and perform comparative trials. (More likely to make a final product that will please Fleet Command, but will take even more precious time.)

>Also roll me 6d10s, one anon can roll em all or you can take turns idk.

Rolled 10, 2 = 12 (2d10)

>>6323321
>Make it unmanned. (Will require a refit of at least one cruiser with a drone control system. It will take longer to get it to the frontline, but will not suffer the drawbacks of being manned.)
Normally I'd be supportive of a carrier, but by the time we get it the enemy may already have a counter. Easier to just refit a ship with a drone control system so we can put it in good use while we do something more permanent

I'll roll 2 out of those 6 dice, you anons do the rest.

>>6323332
>10, 2
Hmm, I'm assuming there's no such thing as crits here.

Rolled 6, 5 = 11 (2d10)

>>6323321
>Make it unmanned. (Will require a refit of at least one cruiser with a drone control system. It will take longer to get it to the frontline, but will not suffer the drawbacks of being manned.)

Coming to a Cognis' quest with a lulz vote was not a good decision, anons.

Alright, we're finally back. Anyone else gonna roll?

Rolled 10, 5 = 15 (2d10)

>>6323321
>Make it unmanned. (Will require a refit of at least one cruiser with a drone control system. It will take longer to get it to the frontline, but will not suffer the drawbacks of being manned.)

>>6323332
>>6323348
>>6323421
>10, 2, 6, 5, 10, 5
I mean, that's pretty good, isn't it? Only one roll below 5. I should hope it's good.

>>6323321
>Make it unmanned. (Will require a refit of at least one cruiser with a drone control system. It will take longer to get it to the frontline, but will not suffer the drawbacks of being manned.)
It really is a strike craft strapped to an anti-capital ship torpedo, which might be crazy enough to work?

>>6323332
>>6323348
>>6323421
>>6323433

In the end you decided to make the Hot Dog corvette an unmanned model. Lt. Gale wasn’t happy as it meant the Pact fleet would have to take a cruiser off the battleline to be refitted with a drone control system. Fortunately there was a damaged vessel undergoing repairs at Kornen, it wouldn’t be too much of a drain to include the refit with its repairs but it would still be delayed from returning to combat in order to complete field tests with the prototype.

As for the prototype itself, you had another flash of inspiration half way through construction: What if you added an additional plasma projector array to the corvettes hull that could shape the plasma emitted by the W13N-3R warhead into a protective shield? Then the corvette could have additional protection while closing with its target. Mounting the projector on the corvette hull instead of the torpedo itself would also mean the cost of the more expendable torpedo component would not increase!

Tests in a lab environment proved promising, but the first time you mounted the projector on the new corvette hull the plasma cutter almost melted the front thruster array. Only a timely shutdown and swift response by emergency crews prevented a potentially disastrous chain reaction.

>cont

>>6323924
“What the hell went wrong!? All the lab tests went fine!”

Solei was impassive as usual, but you swore he had the shadow of a smirk on his face. “After reviewing the way the test was conducted we surmise that it could either be improper calibration of the plasma projector or a slight error in the torpedo pylons which altered the expected refraction angles.”

“Meaning what exactly?” asked Ferris.
“Glasner’s design has multiple points of failure. Unless all components are properly mounted and precisely calibrated, activation of the forward plasma shield could cause the destruction of the vessel.”

Ferris frowned. “That’s not good, a ship like this will be constantly reloaded and repaired. Under battlefield conditions, maintenance crews may not be able to guarantee a perfect job every single time.”

You wave your hand dismissively. “An acceptable price for the advantages the new design offers. I’m sure you can simply tighten maintenance protocols, or rotate the ships out of battle for an overhaul once the wear and tear become too much.”

“War will not always give us such a luxury Acting Director. With respect I think you are trying to accomplish too much. I would much prefer we stick to the original design. The dual power-grid connecting both the torpedo and main hull is going to be bad enough for the Fleet Engineering Corps to deal with.”

“I believe the Directors idea has merit, but I agree with Lt. Gale: the separation of the torpedo and ship complicates the design immensely. This would be more workable if we committed to making a pure plasma ram ship rather than a dual purpose launch platform.”

“So the design has some kinks, they always do. With just a bit more time I can fix these flaws.”

Ferris glares at you.

“How much time exactly? While I understand that you cannot conjure new ships for us overnight, time is an increasingly scare and valuable resource for our fleet. Is the advantage Project: Hot Dog will bring truly worth it?”

Hrrm…

((Since the dice rolls have three results of 6 or more something good happens, but since they also have three results which are 5 or less something bad also happens.))

>Push the Hot Dog into production right now. (The enhanced design will grant greater combat performance but will be unreliable.)

>Just go with the original design. (No benefits, no downsides)

>Redesign it as a pure melee ship. (Minor time cost, capabilities will change but the final product will be reliable.)

>Take the time to iron out the flaws. (Major time cost, no downsides to the final design.)

>>6323925
Melee ship? That doesn't seem..particularly effective me, given the kind of thing we're facing.

I guess the "ideal" way would be to push the original design into production while we iron out the flaws into the background for a "Mark II" version. This would also allow us to use field data to see what issues it has in action. Would that be possible?

>>6323928
Yes.

This would effectively be a vote for going with the original design. Working on a "Mark 2" design would be a future decision.

While it would be much easier than developing a new technology or hull from scratch, it would still take a none trivial amount of time. Plus the enemy would have time to adjust their tactics and/or come up with a counter. (Although right now they would not know that the Mark 2 will be upgraded with a shield so their response could turn out to be ineffective.) Either way it is a future decision point.

You're inspiration has also unlocked the potential for shielding technology that can be developed further for future designs so no matter what you have already gained something from this project.

>>6323925
>Just go with the original design
We'll get the benefit of field performance data while developing Mark 2

>>6323930
Well, we might have to add more than just the Shields, but field data is very valuable.

>>6323925
>Just go with the original design. (No benefits, no downsides)

>>6323925
>Redesign it as a pure melee ship. (Minor time cost, capabilities will change but the final product will be reliable.)
I'd call this a happy accident. The plasma shield turns the tough corvette into a powerhouse that can cut down a ship several times its size and asks for seconds. And it's reliable to boot!

>>6323925
>>Take the time to iron out the flaws. (Major time cost, no downsides to the final design.)

>>6323925
>Redesign it as a pure melee ship. (Minor time cost, capabilities will change but the final product will be reliable.)

Rolled 2 (1d2)

Original Design
>>6323932
>>6323933

Melee Ship
>>6323968
>>6324200

Iron out flaws:
>>6324178

Rollin a d2 to break the tie.

>>6324293
>melee ship
Welp, way to waste our design..now our ship becomes completely useless the moment they add point defense.

Rolled 3, 5, 3, 7, 8 = 26 (5d10)

As much as you hated to admit it Solei’s idea for a ram ship tickled your fancy, that it would be a more stable and cost effective design was incidental.

Fully integrating the torpedo propulsion and plasma cutter gave you a wider margin for error, and removal of the explosive warhead gave you some extra mass to play with. During the refit you worked with Solei to find optimal configurations for the plasma projectors; now a maintenance crew would simply ensure the projector could transition between shield and cut mode. Failsafes built into the software also meant there was no risk of the ship cutting off it’s own prow: if the system detected invalid projector alignment, it would simply shut off the plasma stream.

Live fire testing showed the Hot Dog was capable of cutting a frigate hull in two, and boring a hole through a cruiser hull; easily enough to cripple the vessel… provided it could get within range. Preliminary testing suggested that the shield could negate point defence fire and survive several seconds of sustained hits from medium anti-frigate guns. However there would be a brief period of vulnerability when the plasma projector was switched from shield to cut mode.

Three more ships were made before the refitted cruiser arrived; enough to make a viable fighting unit. Fleet Command was… not that happy to hear you had basically made them a battering ram after giving you carte blanche to create a weapon that would win them the war, but these were desperate times…

The Top 3 System:
A system for two parties to contest each other. Each party rolls a number of d10s determined by various factors. The top three results are compared. In each comparison the higher value grants a win to one side, the side with the most wins… wins. Additional modifiers can be applied based on various factors.

Roll for the performance of the Hot Dog in its first battle:

>Imperial Dice:
>Base: 3
>You brought a knife to a gun fight: +1 die
>Superior Firepower: +1 die
>Command Vessels: This side wins ties.

>Pact Dice:
>Base: 3
>They weren’t expecting space weiner mobiles of death: +2 dice
>Plasma Shields: +1 die

>Roll me 6d10s.

Rolled 3, 1 = 4 (2d10)

>>6324312

Rolled 6, 4 = 10 (2d10)

>>6324312
We're cooked like wieners

>>6324316
Well, we won...ONE of the checks...let's see if we can win another.

Rolled 1, 8 = 9 (2d10)

>>6324312
Dice Gods please be nice today...

>>6324334
Well, we got an 8. With the 6, that should be enough to beat the 5 nd the 7, right?

>>6324315
>>6324316
>>6324317
>>6324334

Imperial 3 Highest:
8,7,5

vs

Your Highest:
8,6,4

Enemy wins ties due to presence of command vessels... you have lost.

>>6324343
Told you people that melee ships were fucking stupid

Not a single win is just bad

Fleet Command deploys the modified cruiser (already nicknamed the Hot Dog Stand among the strategic planners) to attack an isolated battlegroup already being harassed by your own frigates.

Deployment of the Hot Dogs goes smoothly and panic ensues amongst the enemy as your creations plough through enemy patrol frigates. Said frigates are powerless to defend themselves as their return fire is absorbed by your plasma shields.

Unfortunately a lucky hit from the enemy command cruiser knocks out your drone control module before the Hot Dogs can close with the enemy capital ships. Without guidance from a human commander the unmanned corvettes default to simple programmed behavior patterns; either attempting to return to base or blindly attacking the nearest enemy.

From there it is a simple matter for the Raihan escorts to out maneuver the corvettes and shoot them in their unprotected rears. The Hot Dog Stand is destroyed in an artillery duel with the enemy Ryu class. Only a handful of Pact frigates managed to escape the battle.

>cont

>>6324369
You slump deeper into your chair in the conference room after having to sit through a recorded message of High Admiral Ruhi expressing how very dissappointed she was over the outcome of your designs disastrous first battle. Bad luck, that’s all it had been. Blasted Ryu class had knocked out the drone controller with a cheap shot, if those idiots manning the cruiser could have held out for just a little longer the Hot Dogs would have annihilated the Imperial battlegroup!

“Acting Director?”

You blink and look up. Naturally Lt. Ferris and Solei had sat in on the message and now looked to you for the next course of action.

“Hrmph… we were so close. That cheap shot from the enemy flagship was such BULLSHIT!”

“Whether from a lack of luck or skill, a loss is a loss.”

“A ram ship might not have been the best way to counter our adversaries capabilities.”

“Are you admitting that you made a bad call Merik?”

“No, when I suggested the ram ship concept I was merely trying to make the best of a bad idea.”

“But it almost worked!”

“It was cringe Glasner…”

“You’re opinion has been noted Sub-Director!”

“CRIIINGE!”

“Ahem,” coughed Ferris. “Moving on. Despite the High Admirals displeasure there are many among Fleet Command that are intrigued by the possibilities of the plasma shield. Perhaps we could build on that?”

“It would be feasible to upgrade our existing Glory Class cruisers with shield projectors. This would increase their survivability.” Another simplistic idea from Solei, typical.

“Pfft! As long as they retain their short ranged batteries and handle like bricks, giving them a shield would just delay the inevitable.”

Ferris, scrolled back through the battle report. “The long range firepower of the Ryu class combined with its command and control capabilities proved decisive. If only we could find a way to counter or at least match them it would help tip the scales in our favour.”

“I’m telling you, the Hot Dog will turn the tide! It just needs… refining.”

>Work on the Mark II Hot Dog. (How will you improve it? Quick project although more extreme changes might take longer.)
>Create shield upgrade packages for your existing capital ships. (Quick project.)
>Design a counter to the Ryu. (Write-In, this will be a longer project.)
>Back to the drawing board. (Build something completely different, Write-In)
>Acquire or develop better technologies. (Will move onto a new decision.)

Can we just make the gunship idea? That one might have actually worked. This one is retarded.

>>6324374
That would a vote for the Mark II with the "improvement" being reverting to the torpedo launcher concept. Although this time you will have solved the original reliability issue with the plasma projectors.

>>6324371
>Create shield upgrade packages for your existing capital ships. (Quick project.)
Not only can we upgrade alt of the existing ships - if we put the shield on the drone controller, Mark I Hot Dogs may become a good weapon

>>6324385
No it won't. They're still gonna get blown the fuck up. Melee ships are still retarded. The only reason we didn't roll at a disadvantage was the surprise factor.

>>6324371
>>Create shield upgrade packages for your existing capital ships. (Quick project.)
We already know the shield works, might as well.

>>6324371
>Work on the Mark II Hot Dog. (Torpedo Design)
Almost forgot to vote on that.

I mean, it seems like anons want to vote for the option that won't actually solve any problems but still.

>>6324371
I would like to change >>6324396 to
>Back to the drawing board. Instead focus on the Glory class and create a refit that incorporates the new plasma shield and changes the armament to something to match or exceed the range of the Ryu.

>>6322850 (OP)
What happened to the quest where we were playing as the Japanese woman? It just cut off in the final battle

>>6322850 (OP)
>It lives.
Based. Based. Based.
>Glasner
Gigabased.
I love you OP.

>Create shield upgrade packages for your existing capital ships. (Quick project.)

>>6324371
>Work on the Mark II Hot Dog. (Torpedo Design, Manned)
The shield upgrade does not fundamentally solve our problems of being both outmanouvered and outgunned.
The drone control is a critical weakness and should be replaced with a manned system. We need to refit a cruiser with drone control if we wanted to continue using hot dogs anyway, so instead we should refit a Gloria or something else with a simple hangar bay replacing its originally useless torpedo launchers. The gunboat hulls will continue to be clamped to the hull as before, and the giant torpedoes to be stored externally, but the crew get to sleep inside the mothership. We need to make a new flagship design later anyways, this will give the Gloria at least some more use for a bit. Finally, the gunboats will launch before battle is met to so they don't have to do a contested deployment.
Using the weight savings from not needing crew quarters or a drone computer, the Hot Dog's turret should be upgunned to an autocannon so it can do drive-by shootings as a actual gunboat instead of just being a armored fighter after the torpedo is launched. Our main battlefleet has low tactical mobility so we need the hot dogs to flank.

>>6324371
>>Create shield upgrade packages for your existing capital ships. (Quick project.)

>>6324432
OP was a faggot and just dropped it.

>>6324450
>>6324397
Glasner bro! The-rest-of-the-playerbase-are-stupid bro! Great to see you again!

No Update today guys, instead I'll leave you with something else.

>>6324432
Ok, jokes aside I burned out badly on that quest. So here's a little something to give you closure.

Shima Battle Report
Every now and again your mind wandered back to your homeworld of Shima. After the Imperials had taken over the Empress handed over the star system to Lady Shirin of House Shimada. Just because a large number of your peers had been loyalists to the old government Lady Shirin had seen fit to imprison you and sent off to be used as common labour in her sister's shipyard. It was a miserable time; having rations extorted by the common thugs, beatings by the guards and insipid anti-aristocracy rhetoric whispered by clownish ideologues on the lower bunks as you desperately tried to get some sleep. Oh the indignities you’d suffered.

Fortunately Mayumi Shimada had seen fit to separate you from the common rabble and for a brief moment you were finally allowed to shine.

You didn’t care for politics and you would have gladly continued crafting ships for Horned Princess Shipyards but then you were replaced with an AI. Such things were taboo in Raiha and you were surprised Lady Shimada would stoop so low being of the Nobility… then again you’d heard rumours that she’d had sex with her own brother.

The Pact had enacted a plan to cripple Shima’s economy but that had failed. You had the clearance now so you accessed the data, curious to see how things played out.

Hmm… so the plan was to distract the system’s garrison with privateers while the famed mercenary Galatan Starwind unleashed a giant space crab on the orbital command centre. And Fleet Command thought your ideas were stupid.

The crab was killed by a precision strike from a previously unknown type of strikecraft. Starwind himself was engaged by House Shimada’s flagship and their sole knight frame. The flagship sustained heavy damage and the knight had been shot down, but Starwind’s own ship and infamous “Harem Squadron” had taken their share of hits. Once Shimada’s own mercenary cruiser moved in to assist Starwind was forced to retreat without having destroyed anything of strategic importance.

What really piqued your interest was the presence of several ship designs that had not been observed in the wider Imperial Fleet. It would seem House Shimada had personal access to technologies that the Raihan Navy did not. Curious…

Shield Upgrade
>>6324385
>>6324588

MK2 Hotdog
>>6324397
>>6324504

Back to the Drawing Board
>>6324431

It would seem we have a tire but since the Drawing board write in is very similar to the shield upgrade package vote I'm going to rule in favour of making the next project an upgrade to the Glory Class.

Roll me 6d10s.

Rolled 8, 8 = 16 (2d10)

>>6325334
Wow, another useless upgrade that doesn't actually solve any of our issues...man, anons really are trying to sink us huh.

Rolled 5 (1d10)

>>6325334
Don't want to hug all of the rolls so i'll be on the safe side and roll 1.

Rolled 7 (1d10)

>>6325334

>>6325336
It boosts the general competence of procured assets with the resources already used up for development. It will give us more breathing room and time before the shimadas do us in.

>>6325342
That's not how battles actually work, though. This just slightly increases their lifetime in battle. It doesn't actually help us win. An actual torpedo boat would have helped us win, but anons decided they wanted to vote for a literal fucking melee ship. During the space age.

Rolled 1, 10 = 11 (2d10)

>>6325334
Surely we can fit a command suite in the new Glory too.

>>6325344
We already have a torpedo boat. The Pike Torpedo Frigate already fills the role. A long-range and anti-capital ship weapons refit to the Glory class would create a sort of light-battleship when neither side seems to have any battleship. Especially if this shield upgrade works.

>>6325336
>>6325339
>>6325340
>>6325350
>8,8,5,7,1,10
Now if only those rolls were spent on a real project..

>>6325351
>We already have a torpedo boat
Boats which can't do shit because they get obliterated by their long-range guns. That's the issue. A torpedo gunship would have been able to dodge the fire.

>>6325352
So just put a shield on the Pike and call it a day. It would still do the same role, but with higher survivability.

>>6325362
It's not nearly small or fast enough for that.

>>6325363
Then why make a torpedo gunship and not a bomber of some kind?

>>6325367
The description for the Raihan Patrol Frigate says
>it's triple auto-cannons can easily dispatch low to mid level strike craft
Moreover, the Tile Bomber can only
>threaten frigate hulls and capital sub-systems
So a new heavy strike craft, even with a heavy bomb load, probably still won't be able to destroy the enemy's flagships.

>>6325372
Ok. I still think the hotdog idea is stupid and a weapons upgrade to the Glory is a better idea.

>>6325374
The Ryu is simply too good a ship for a mere upgrade to the glory to be enough. It's long range anti-capital. The glory would get shredded before it even got close enough.

>>6325378
Nah, replace all the shitty weapons and put an anti-capital long range armament on the Glory and it will win against the Ryu every time. It has higher firepower and durability and now a shield. The only reason it's a big threat right now is because we have nothing that can match it's range. Also, with it being a command ship it should stay out of combat if we can match/exceed it at range.

>>6325384
Replacing the entire weapons system with something else entirely like a long range anti-capital gun would probably be well beyond a mere refit. You'd be basically creating a whole new ship.

>>6325384
>it should stay out of combat if we can match/exceed it at range.
Let's say our new flagship does get a longer-ranged weapon than the Ryu. Basing it on the Glory (tactical mobility: 1) will mean it still much slower than the Ryu (tactical mobility: 5). The Ryu is FASTER than the Kestrel LIGHT CRUISER (tactical mobility: 4). Good luck staying out of combat and not being flanked. If it's a "simple" refit (replacing the kinetic batteries with heavy laser turrets) our range won't be much greater than the Ryu's, and if we did a spinal railgun, we're very vulnerable to being flanked based on how SLOW the Glory is.
>The only reason it's a big threat right now is because we have nothing that can match it's range.
Hot dogs were fast enough to fly up to and dodge Ryu shots if the drone control wasn't destroyed. If they landed a hit we would have wooooon.

>>6325393
They wouldn't have *needed* to fly so close if they were torpedo ships instead of some dumb flying knife.

>>6325396
I know, I proposed the torpedo hot dog and missed that vote...

>>6325387
It'd be cheaper and take less time to build than a new ship
>>6325393
It wouldn't be doing much flanking seeing as it's a command ship. It does the best in a group with all the other ships. And even if it does, it shouldn't be able to get out of range fast enough to not take return fire, which is a trade it loses. It's also not stealthy so any flanking it does do can be seen and responded to, even at Tac Speed 1. You're allowed to be the slowest thing on the battlefield if you can kill everything in range and aren't out-ranged.

“Acting Director, I would advise you to build something that would improve the High Admiral’s faith in you. Fixating on personal obsessions will not win you support nor will it win us the war.”

You grit your teeth and exhale slowly.

“Fine. Solei, bring up the schematic for the Glory class cruiser.”

An image of a large boxy ship appeared on the AR display.

“The Glory Class Heavy Cruiser,” intoned Solei. “Predates most known human stellar nations. Easily maintained, and manufacturable with even a primitive technology base. No wonder it has stood the test of time.” You could hear the admiration in Solei’s voice.

“It’s an obsolete piece of shit,” you spit. “Even without the technology of the Old Empire we can do better than this, I can do better than this!”

You start pulling apart the design.

“Heavy chem-propellant kinetics; useless! First gen capital torpedoes? Might as well send in a Pike!”

You start to rapidly add new modules. In the end you had added shield projectors, replaced the kinetic batteries with single heavy lasers and beefed up the power output.

“And finally!”

You replaced the engines with an array of something you called the Glasner resonance drive.
Solei squinted at the new design.

“Glasner these new engines will be much harder to maintain and unless precisely calibrated will cause control issues.”

“They provide more thrust than conventional drives, and this is a design I have worked with before, I can mitigate those issues with built in diagnostic routines. As long as the engineering crews are properly retrained it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Even so, this will cause friction to the widespread adoption of this design across the fleet.”

“This new design has less overall firepower than the original, even if it does have greater range, precision and durability,” said Lt. Gale.

“And what good did all that firepower do when you couldn’t even bring it to bear?”

“Do not misunderstand; I believe this design is a definite improvement, but I would be remiss if I did not point out its flaws.”

“I agree with Lt. Gale’s assessment,” said Solei “however I feel the addition of your resonance drive is too much. The shield and armament upgrades alone will provide enough benefit to the Fleet in a shorter time frame.”

>Add shields and change the weapons only. (Quick upgrade)
>Do all changes including the engines. (Takes longer, greater performance, small chance of reliability issues.)

>>6325403
>Do all changes including the engines. (Takes longer, greater performance, small chance of reliability issues.)
The other changes are fucking worthless at that speed.

>>6325403
>>Do all changes including the engines. (Takes longer, greater performance, small chance of reliability issues.)
ahh fuck it. It'd take longer to upgrade it later.

>>6325403
>Do all changes including the engines. (Takes longer, greater performance, small chance of reliability issues.)
Even if the mechanics grumble, the fleet surely will appreciate the higher average speed.

>>6325403
This is my first time checking out this series of quests, and I'm digging it. I can't wait to see where it goes.
>Do all changes including the engines. (Takes longer, greater performance, small chance of reliability issues.)
Time is money. If we don't invest it right, it's worthless. The Glory is a fine ship but too slow and inaccurate for a modern battlefield. This doesn't fix that but it does help bridge the gap. If it performs well, hopefully Fleet Command will cut us more slack to develop a proper counter.

>>6325403
>Do all changes including the engines. (Takes longer, greater performance, small chance of reliability issues.)

>>6325403
>Do all changes including the engines. (Takes longer, greater performance, small chance of reliability issues.)

Rolled 2, 5, 5, 4 = 16 (4d10)

>>6325410
Glad you're enjoying it.

Given my limited player base and the fact that this isn't really a high stakes choice I think we can call it now.

Roll to see how the new design works out.:

>Imperial Dice:
>Base: 3
>Greater Numbers: +1 die
>Command Vessels: This side wins ties.

>Pact Dice:
>Base: 3
>Plasma Shields: +1 die
>Tough Capitals: +1 to the third highest result.
>Engine mishap: Rolling triples will randomly grant +1 to one of the enemy’s top 3.

>Roll me 4d10s.

Rolled 8 (1d10)

>>632542

Rolled 4 (1d10)

>>6325424

Rolled 6 (1d10)

>>6325424

>>6325425
Well, at least we won one.

Rolled 5 (1d10)

>>6325424
C'mon!

>>6325425
>>6325427
>>6325432
8, 6, 6 vs 5,5,4

Finally, an victory. This should buy us enough trust to be able to do a real project..like a torpedo gunship.

>>6325425
>>6325426
>>6325427
>>6325432

Imperial Highest:
5,5,4

vs

Pact Highest:
8,6,(5+1)

Pact wins

Writing...

In the end you decided to go “all in” so to speak. The Glory Class needed all the help it could get. The Fleet was already laying down two new Glory hulls at Kornen, after Lt. Gale petitioned Command they agreed to build the new ships according to your design. All you needed to do was build the new components and ship them off to Kornen.

It was a bit of a risk to have the new ships assembled without your oversight but this was a mere upgrade package not a complete reimagining. You would never admit this to Solei but it was a testament to the Glory’s ruggedness that all your upgrades were installed without issue. The new ship type was designated the Glory-B.

—---

“This is Commodore Dyre, Battlegroup Sovereign to any Pact ships out there, we need back up! The Imperials are picking us off!”

“PDS Fireknife and Lumen[i/] responding, We hear you Sovereign. We’re heading straight in, regroup around us.”

Captain Holloway sealed her vacsuit and sank into a data trance. The call to battlestations went out across the ships nooshpere and PA. Looks like they had arrived just in time.

Holloway had been both annoyed and cautiously grateful to find the Glory class earmarked for her command was being “upgraded” to an experimental variant. As a veteran commander she was already well acquainted with the capabilities of the venerable heavy cruiser; she knew what it could and couldn’t do.

One thing it couldn’t do was make it to Sovereign’s position before the Imperials wiped them out. Holloway was pleasantly surprised by the speed of this new design. A warning came in through the noosphere that the engines were redlining but was suppressed by the Chief Engineer. Holloway trusted him to do his job and focussed on the on coming battle.

Battlegroup Sovereign was made up mostly of the old Glory Cruisers, escorted by patrol frigates and some Kestrels. The Imperials were coming in with a fast squadron of their own Kestrels centred around two Ryu class cruisers. The Imperial Kestrels were picking off the frigates while Ryus were slowly wearing down the Glories with precision laser strikes.

>cont

>>6325740
It was pretty obvious that the Raihans didn’t care about their arrival, probably thought they could just play keep away and out range them like they always did. Holloway could already see the firing solutions in the noosphere.

“Main battery, target the Ryu harassing the Commodore’s flagship. Lumen move in and raise shields.”

A pair of laser beams lanced out into the void. The mid section of a Ryu flared and melted, right where the primary heat sinks were. It had always been such an obvious target, but nobody had ever had the range to hit it, until now.

The Imperial Kestrels immediately converged on the Fireknife trying to knock out its laser turrets. Holloway already had the shields up and the incoming gauss slugs splattered harmlessly across the hull, all power and precision compromised by the dense plasma field enveloping the front and mid section of the ship.

Some of the Imperials had the bright idea to try hitting them in the rear, but Sovereigns own ships were already forming up behind Holloway and their heavy kinetics shredded any Kestrels trying to out flank them.

The Ryus tried to dance around and take pot shots but this was no longer a dance; it was a straight up endurance match. In the end the Imperials could neither break nor pick apart the Pact formation. After losing multiple ships including a Ryu class, their remaining ships turned tail and ran.

Holloway breathed a sigh of relief.

>Quest will continue later

The latest message from High Admiral Ruhi expressed a muted thanks for the Glory upgrade. The new hull type was becoming an anchor for Pact formations; allowing them to trade fire with any Ryu class vessels and prevent the battle line from being picked apart. It was only delaying the inevitable though. Raiha’s superior numbers meant it was only a matter of time before the Pact fleet was ground into the dust.

Fleet Command was expressing competing desires. Some wanted an upgrade package rolled out for the Kestrel, others wanted a command vessel that surpassed the Ryu and yet another desired a stealth frigate.

What to do next?

>Upgrade the Kestrel (Quick, specify upgrades)

>Develop a command ship.

>Develop a stealth frigate.

>Build something they didn’t even know that they wanted. (Write-In)

>>6325955
>>Develop a stealth frigate.

>>6325955
>>Develop a stealth frigate.
Being outnumbered is a pretty big deal so let's go fix that by making it nuclear capable and meant to directly attack their industry. If stealth for some reason doesn't work then just make it so fast nothing can catch it. Or both fast and stealthy if possible.

>>6325955
>Develop a stealth frigate.
Hear me out guys- a topheavy, semi-sneaky torpedo frigate otherwise designed with the bare minimum needed to avoid suicidal exposure. Cheap, dirty, punches like a dagger in the back. If it turns out we can't cram our newfangled shield design onboard without sacrificing maximum firepower, we can dispense with most of the less subtle auxiliaries and recommend every crewman be given a preemptive purple heart.

>>6325955
>Develop a stealth frigate.
Maybe we could make it modular for different missions e.g. torpedo launchers for destroying ships, a bomb bay for destroying space stations and electronics for reconnaissance.

>>6325955
>Build something they didn’t even know that they wanted. (Write-In)

A stealth Frigate? Sure. But let's not faff about at the edges trading slaps with their fleet. Let's build a stealth INSERTION frigate, and prepare to deploy commando teams directly against the Raihan Empress herself in her capitol to capture/kill.

>>6325955
>Develop a stealth frigate.
Ah fuck it, stealth frigate it is. Normally I'd have hoped we just finally do that torpedo gunship but we're not gonna win a war with such material inferiority just by having some better ships. We need a way to deal with their production capacities, and making a ship capable of blowing up their yards and whatnot would be what is great for that.

>>6325955
>Develop a stealth frigate.
Cognis, our existing frigates do NOT have FTL and are wake-jumped into battle by the cruisers, right?
A scouting / flanking fleet support frigate doesn't need FTL, but a raiding one definitely does, and it better be reliable too, so anons I would like for you to think whether you want it to specialize in fleet support or raiding. Very different requirements!
>>6326090
No need for modules, a W31N-3R torpedo strap-on should work wonders against big ships and even better against stations, which are... stationary.

>>6326128
A stealth frigate almost definitely needs FTL.

>>6326128
Frigate class Eigen drives do exist. Wake jumping is something Horned Princess Shipworks has (Formerly JH Independant) and I doubt we can license it from them. And besides, we can design an FTL stealth frigate and then build some without the FTL drive if need be.

>>6326128
Oh that's a slight discrepancy there. Neither the Pact nor the Raihans use Hyper drives and thus don't wake jump anything.

>>6326187
As anon said frigate class Eigen Drives exist and many frigates do have them. I forgot to list them in the patrol frigate specials because patrol frigates were meant to be in system monitor ships. Of course any that are expected to fight outside their place of manufacture will be fitted with an FTL drive.

A ship with a hyper drive that's capable of wake jumping smaller vessels would be an idea for the "Build something they didn’t even know that they wanted." vote.

>>6326234
It would be a nice idea overall but a Stealth frigate works for our purposes better.

>>6326234
Ah, I see.
Let's just see what kind of stealth frigates Glasner can come up with.

((Overwhelming consensus for a Stealth Frigate))

In the end it was the request for a stealth frigate that intrigued you the most and so you informed the rest of your team that this would be the R&D divisions next project.

“I approve of this choice,” said Lt. Gale. “The Imperials have the material advantage, even with steady upgrades to our existing fleet we would only delay the inevitable. If we are to win the war we need a game changer; a stealth ship would be such a game changer.”

Solei rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

“But one does not simply develop stealth technology. It is in fact a group of technologies; one to hide the ship from each method of detection. It would not be feasible to develop everything from scratch.”
“I am aware,” you say. “And I am sure we have the means to acquire said technologies.”
You pull a small bottle of orangish liquid from your jacket. Except one couldn’t be sure it was orange or liquid. The longer one stared at it the more the colours twisted and changed, it was reminiscent of the storms on the surface of a gas giant.

Solei’s eyes narrowed. “Is that… sauce?”

“Acting Director you can’t be serious.”

“Glasner, the sauce is a potent psychoactive exotic matter compound. There is a 70% chance of ingestion resulting in death, 29% chance of insanity, 0.9% chance of useful insight and 0.1% chance of spontaneous ascension to a higher plane of existence.”

“I’m not suggesting trying to develop the technology by going on a sauce trip. This is a mere bargaining chip. I know of a certain… merchant who will accept this in exchange for the technology we need.”

“It’s Benny isn’t it?” said both Solei and Gale in unison.

You’re dumb struck for a second. “You know Benny?”

“They have a reputation,” said Solei.

“An unsavoury reputation,” said Lt. Gale.

“They are an Unbound, they have access to knowledge we can only dream of.”

“They are the Unbound equivalent of an intoxicated vagrant,” said Gale flatly. “There is no guarantee he can provide us with anything of value.”

>cont

>>6326562
“An intoxicated vagrant Unbound is still an Unbound. Things they consider junk could be technological artefacts of incalculable value to us!”

“Or they could be extreme threats,” intoned Solei. “The time they accidentally pulled a derelict infected with a self-replicating biomechanical nanophage out of hyperspace is well known.”

“Glasner please, there are better ways of doing this.”

“Such as?”

Gale brings up a map of the Higg system on the AR display. Several lines spiral outward from the Boson Halo Yard.

“The ship that damaged the Yard and killed your predecessor was clearly some kind of advanced stealth ship. We haven’t detected any unregistered FTL transitions so its highly likely the ship is still in system. We think it’s trying to coast into deep space on inertia. If we can deduce its exit vector, we can intercept it and study it.”

“We could also try searching the Old Imperial Bases on Higg. Records from the old regime whisper of black sites and secret projects sealed away during the collapse,” mused Solei.

“Even if we could find such a site, those tend to have traps and failsafes that will activate should anyone not of the Imperial bloodline attempt to access them.”

“There is one other option,” Gale glanced sideways warily. “The Solar Union have expressed interest in providing clandestine support to us in our war against the Raihan Throne. Pact Leadership is wary of getting entangled with one of the region's major powers, but they are desperate. If you were to push for it, there would be enough political will to broker a deal.”

Ugh, politics, you didn’t care about politics… then again; you didn’t care about politics.

>Benny Gatcha (Random Mystery Box)

>Get high on Sauce. (ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND!?)

>Track down the stealth ship. (Solve a puzzle)

>Search the Old Imperial Sites on Higg. (Take a risk)

>Get in bed with the Solar Union. (I sure hope this has no unforeseen consequences)

>>6326564
By 'Puzzle' it is an actual puzzle or something we have to roll for? I like puzzles.

>>6326565
Actual puzzle. It might not be very good though. Making puzzles is hard.

>>6326566
Well, I like'em.

I mean, the cheap answer would be to get in bed with the solar union. Unlike our good lad HORNER, I don't care much about the fate of the pact and I have to feel like Glasner doesn't care that much either.

BUT. Puzzles are cool.

>>6326564
>Track down the stealth ship. (Solve a puzzle)

>>6326564
>Track down the stealth ship. (Solve a puzzle)
I love puzzles

>>6326564
>>Benny Gatcha (Random Mystery Box)
MYSTERY BOX!

>Search old imperial sites

Who knows what treasures we could find

>>6326564
>Benny Gatcha (Random Mystery Box)
It's nice that nobody is going with the Union, those guys are cunts.

>>6326587
People never take those kinds of deals anyways. The other options are all based on chance. That is also why I didn't take the mystery box. Because there's a big chance you'll just get nothing useful.

>>6326564
>Track down the stealth ship. (Solve a puzzle)
>Benny Gatcha (Random Mystery Box)
Why not both? We should have a bacup plqn anyway in case the search is a bust, or the stealth ship's crew decides to nuke themselves to prevent capture.

>>6326564
>>Get high on Sauce. (ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND!?)
Have FAITH!