SDN Worlds 4 Commentary Thread IV

[Steve]

No, actually, your troops don't have anti-matter grenade launchers, and if you try any more posts long the lines of that one, proclaiming some wanked up piece of uber-tech or another for yourself, I'm going to start HoSing your posts.

Actually, I'm going to start HoSing any OOC post you make that isn't a genuine question about the rules or a good OOC observation on things. Anything else - sniping at people, proclaiming wanked out tech you supposedly have, jabbering about how awesome this or that is in your state - gets HoSed.

[Dark Hellion]

Would a STGOD bullshit thread be an acceptable thing to have alongside the OoC thread? I kinda like the tongue in cheek snipes at other peoples factions (factions not people, although I will admit to being guilty of the later) and random shit from Shroom but I understand that it does tend to bloat these OoC threads with pages of non-contributing banter.

Also a question on space combat. It seems that if an attacker stays outside of a system proper they have a lot of discretion about when and where to attack where as the defender must either be able to get a big enough fleet together to chase it down or the attacker would be able to slowly bounce from system to system with their main fleet, taking out interdiction platforms and the smaller defense fleets through simple weight and defeat through detail. Is this an accurate assessment? While an attacker may not be able to directly engage a planetary body because of the logistics tail required with enough patience they could eventually achieve total naval dominance if they have a similar sized fleet and sufficient motivation. Am I correct to assume that as long as the attacker isn't trying to take planets that the defender is effectively "under siege" and needs to either outlast the opponent's political will or get outside help?

[PeZook]

Or try and hunt the fleet down and force it into a decisive battle. It's how naval combat between roughly equal opponents pretty much always worked: 99% of the time the fleets were used for sea denial and shipping interdiction, rather than to engage and destroy enemy fleets. The rule held pretty much always, from the first crude sail-and-oar warships, through the age of sail up to modern times, with the only things differing being tactical and operational rules. Only when advantage is gained (or enjoyed from the start) does a fleet become involved in hitting enemy territorry via support of invasions.

Thing is, a huge concentrated fleet can't go anywhere it pleases. Even if it did cruise around doing interdiction, that means the enemy heavy-hitters can hit your own territorry unopposed. So I guess war between equal enemies would involve a lot of jockeying for an opening during which to strike and cripple the enemy's ability to deploy his own fleets, gain superiority and thus become able to support invasion.

At least that's my take on the whole thing.

[PeZook]

Holy shit man, a robot rebellion against their robotic creator!

[fgalkin]

Oh, wow, looks like the uber-fundie robots are not so uber-fundie after all.

Oh, and M. BYZON! URA!

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Simon_Jester]

Would a STGOD bullshit thread be an acceptable thing to have alongside the OoC thread? I kinda like the tongue in cheek snipes at other peoples factions (factions not people, although I will admit to being guilty of the later) and random shit from Shroom but I understand that it does tend to bloat these OoC threads with pages of non-contributing banter.

Normal conversations are all well and good, I think.

But CN in particular has spent a great deal of his time strutting and beating his chest and stating his intention to do things that break the rules. I can very easily understand why Steve is imposing a moderator judgement on him; others who have contributed more to the enjoyment of the story and less to random strutting and posturing aren't in quite the same position.

Also a question on space combat. It seems that if an attacker stays outside of a system proper they have a lot of discretion about when and where to attack where as the defender must either be able to get a big enough fleet together to chase it down or the attacker would be able to slowly bounce from system to system with their main fleet, taking out interdiction platforms and the smaller defense fleets through simple weight and defeat through detail. Is this an accurate assessment? While an attacker may not be able to directly engage a planetary body because of the logistics tail required with enough patience they could eventually achieve total naval dominance if they have a similar sized fleet and sufficient motivation. Am I correct to assume that as long as the attacker isn't trying to take planets that the defender is effectively "under siege" and needs to either outlast the opponent's political will or get outside help?

I agree with PeZook.

Much of the critical infrastructure inside a star system will be under the umbrella of the system's fixed defenses. If you stay away from fixed defenses entirely, it's hard to achieve superiority because you can't break anything they can't afford to lose.

If you stay concentrated they won't be able to destroy your attack fleet as it runs around their space, but you'll also be in only one place at a time, and vulnerable to being drawn into a trap. If you disperse, the enemy may well mass heavier forces against your dispersed formations.

Trying to achieve naval superiority without destroying the enemy ships is an extremely difficult proposition, especially in an environment where you can't outright blockade the enemy because there's no chokepoints to keep them in, such as a harbor entrance.

So yes, there's going to be a lot of maneuvering and attempts to fight a decisive battle that will weaken the enemy enough to give your side a significant margin of superiority.

[Force Lord]

Steve, I'll work up on how my agents will act regarding Shroom Fighter.

[Akhlut]

Damn, I want to do a sort of "slice-of-life" post for the average NenAltKik citizen (well, two of them, I suppose, since the lives of a moxi and a kipakt are going to be a bit different from each other), but I have no idea of how to pull this off well and keep it interesting.

[PeZook]

Have something blow up along the way

[Shroom Man 777]

Make it interesting by having them do weird dinosaurian stuff that to them are normal, like how the Moxli are oviraptors so they have sharpened wooden straws that they use to punch into protoceratops eggs so they can suck the egg yolks out. Their cattle are protoceratops! While a kipakt could be making soup and filling it in bowls the size of kiddie pools!

[Master_Baerne]

Hey, I'm gonna be in Paris for the next few days and probably won't be able to post. Should something come up that absolutely requires an Ascendant response, feel free to make one up on the condition that it not be absolutely insane.

[Ryan Thunder]

Hey, I'm gonna be in Paris for the next few days and probably won't be able to post. Should something come up that absolutely requires an Ascendant response, feel free to make one up on the condition that it not be absolutely insane.

Insanity is relative.

[fgalkin]

The actions of Leakydisks have not violated Solarian data-law. Information is free, and redistributing it makes humanity wealthier no matter who is distributing and no matter who is receiving. We do not recognize foreign infocurb laws, there are no penalties for releasing documents into the Datasphere

Except, of course, unless they are SOLARIAN documents. Then, the CEID fries your ass. But, technically, there is no prosecution, only persecution

EDIT: Oh, and it's LeakyDICKS.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Siege]

Exactly .

The gist of it is that if you don't want your secrets to come out, you better hold onto them tight. Because if someone leaks them, you're shit outta luck. This goes for government documents, patents, corporate secrets, whatever: once they're out they're out for good as there's no viable way of removing anything from the public Datasphere once it's on there.

[RogueIce]

There, the Doma Insurrection Plot is done. Granted I cheated massively by leaving the whole conclusion offscreen, but I'll pretend that's because it works better thematically to leave whatever Kefka's misdeeds were to the imagination, rather than showing them.

Yeah, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[Simon_Jester]

Heh.

I've been tempted to do that with Zebes...

...but no, I'm just getting to the good part finally.

[Chaotic Neutral]

One ship. Scary.

[Shroom Man 777]

One ship. Scary.

Actually two ships now. Math. Addition.

And

"Oy, an' go tell da other boyz dat we'z got a party 'ere with da MEH an' dey iz all invited! Dem MEH boyz wuz wantin' ta go 'round an' destroy uz? We'll show 'im wot orkz is made of! Waaaaaaaagh!"

[Chaotic Neutral]

What's the size of those ships, and how long does it take for them to travel 2 sectors? Can I just write the response now?

[Simon_Jester]

What's the size of those ships, and how long does it take for them to travel 2 sectors? Can I just write the response now?

The size of those ships is unknown and irrelevant, and it takes roughly two days to cross two sectors. As to the writing of responses... well, who knows?

[fgalkin]

What's the size of those ships, and how long does it take for them to travel 2 sectors? Can I just write the response now?

2 days, like everyone else? Ork ships vary in size, as you probably know.

And I'd suggest not writing a response if it involves your ships blowing them up. Because they won't even know they're there, since you have only 4 systems and no FTL monitoring nets outside, so you're pretty much blind to everything unless it's in the immediate neighboring systems.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Simon_Jester]

A search might be in order though, with as dense a patrol network as the MEHN can manage, if they actually want to catch these raiders.

[Chaotic Neutral]

A search might be in order though, with as dense a patrol network as the MEHN can manage, if they actually want to catch these raiders.

That's the plan.

...no FTL monitoring nets outside, so you're pretty much blind to everything unless it's in the immediate neighboring systems.

How much do those cost?

[Shroom Man 777]

What's the size of those ships, and how long does it take for them to travel 2 sectors? Can I just write the response now?

It's a looted ship, I haven't thought about the exact points of it since it's not particularly important. Since MEH space is one star system per sector, it's going to go play around in the vast empty regions between the inhabited star systems while assaulting MEH civilian traffic. As Badspork sez, "if we'z smart leik Gork we kan go 'round deir systems an' go ploinking der softie civie ships" while trying to avoid getting themselves blown up by big ships.

[Chaotic Neutral]

It doesn't seem very Orky to avoid a fight.