MHui 421: trying to come up with new and exciting ways to take out shepnukistan
9:18:59 PM MarshalPurnell: STGOD?
9:19:04 PM MHui 421: yes
9:19:31 PM JerisFlame: Isn't that like poking an angry bull with a pointy stick?
9:19:33 PM MHui 421: so far my plans include ortillery, nuclear armed ballistic missiles
9:19:45 PM MHui 421: hypersonic glide vehicles
9:19:48 PM JerisFlame: While the bull has access to a large nuclear arsenal?
9:20:02 PM JerisFlame: And very little compunction against using them?
9:20:04 PM MHui 421: the problem is that the bull is poking us
9:22:25 PM MarshalPurnell: I suppose the only way to deal with Shepnukistan is toss nukes at it until it dies.
9:22:38 PM MarshalPurnell: The problem being, that he will be doing the same to you.
9:22:41 PM MHui 421: actually, the plan is to do a nuclear first strike
9:23:16 PM MHui 421: and hope we can take out enough of his C3 to prevent him from counter striking
9:24:30 PM MarshalPurnell: I expect he has most of the angles there covered, though.
9:25:31 PM MarshalPurnell: Stealthy cruise missiles, stealth bombers, smuggle the nuke inside the port, that sort of thing might be marginally effective.
9:26:02 PM MHui 421: he's shep... he's not going the stealth route, but rather the high and fast route
9:26:15 PM MarshalPurnell: Doesn't mean you can't.
9:26:55 PM MHui 421: well, there's always arming F-35Cs with nuclear free fall bombs...
9:26:57 PM MarshalPurnell: The problem is that I just don't see any way you can get a strike off on him, that he can't retaliate against.
9:27:19 PM MHui 421: strike him hard and fast enough that he can't
9:27:32 PM MHui 421: that's the point of the ortillery, BTW
9:28:04 PM MarshalPurnell: Artillery has, at best, an 80km range with a Bull-style base-bleed artillery ammunition.
9:28:22 PM MHui 421: orbital kinetic weaponry, not artillery
9:32:55 PM MarshalPurnell: Ah.
9:33:05 PM MarshalPurnell: Best used for precision strikes on C3 nodes.
9:33:27 PM MarshalPurnell: Simeltaneous with stealth attacks on his airbases, and any missile silos he has.
9:34:17 PM MHui 421: the kinetic weaponry has a energy yield of about 60 kT
9:37:15 PM JerisFlame: If we're talking about Shep, he probably has plans for this.
9:37:22 PM JerisFlame: In detail.
9:38:35 PM MHui 421: well, shep has the misapprehension that orbital kinetic weaponry is not as useful as it is for me... in part due to another kinetic system existing in the STGOD, but being equipped differently, such that it's much less power
9:39:36 PM MHui 421: shep also has many, many more targets to service than his opposition does
9:40:09 PM JerisFlame: True, but he's also probably totally prepared to do a Global Thermonuclear War.
9:40:30 PM MHui 421: almost certainly
9:40:33 PM JerisFlame: This is Shep we're talking about.
9:41:15 PM MHui 421: but he's based most of his strategic deterrant around bombers, being the SAC nut he is
9:41:31 PM MHui 421: and world he's in doesn't give much reaction time
9:42:03 PM MHui 421: the previously mentioned ortillery would give him 3 minutes to get birds into the air
9:42:41 PM MarshalPurnell: Which may very well mean launch on warning.
9:42:58 PM MarshalPurnell: Which is insane, but necessary with that little reaction time.
9:42:58 PM MHui 421: which means we can't give him warning
9:43:02 PM Svetlana Luchenko: Back.
9:43:16 PM MarshalPurnell: No, I mean, when his radars pick up the ortillery, he lets everything fly.
9:43:45 PM MHui 421: it's orbitting. his radars are always going to be picking up the ortillery
9:44:00 PM MarshalPurnell: Their descent will be rather obvious, if shortly.
9:44:23 PM Svetlana Luchenko: They may very well have orders to launch when they see the guns being manned, Beo.
9:44:24 PM MarshalPurnell: Which means maybe just enough time to get a message off to the NCA and authorize them to launch in a snap decision.
9:44:27 PM Svetlana Luchenko: If they have that little time.
9:44:31 PM Svetlana Luchenko: Worse, Chris.
9:44:36 PM Svetlana Luchenko: he might have it on local authority.
9:44:36 PM MHui 421: and even then, he wouldn't necessarily be able to get his orders out before the impactors hit
9:44:42 PM MarshalPurnell: Or, a local authority.
9:44:43 PM Svetlana Luchenko: i.e., national commander orders are not required.
9:44:53 PM Svetlana Luchenko: Which would be insane, but perfectly in line with Shep.
9:44:57 PM MarshalPurnell: Which is insane, but what else can you do with 3 minutes warning time?
9:45:03 PM MHui 421: i've been doing a bit of disinformation to keep him from believing that he has that little time as well
9:45:32 PM MarshalPurnell: Well, that's something his nuclear structure would either accomodate already, or wouldn't.
9:45:50 PM MHui 421: i've got him convinced that orbital kinetic weaponry is useless
9:46:00 PM MarshalPurnell: If he's set it up that NCA authorization is necessary, it's too late to delegate to local authority.
9:47:21 PM MHui 421: he's also made no move to give himself ballistic missile early warning
9:47:45 PM MHui 421: such as space based infrared systems
9:47:54 PM MarshalPurnell: Sounds like he's left himself wide open then.
9:48:13 PM MarshalPurnell: Don't you just need really big radars?
9:48:35 PM JerisFlame: He's probably counting on people not wanting to risk his birds launching.
9:48:47 PM MHui 421: sure that'd work, except he's got a potentially hostile country within artillery range
9:48:52 PM MarshalPurnell: He probably assumes any satellites would be taken out by ASAT weapons priority to launch.
9:48:53 PM Svetlana Luchenko: Or he simply plans to attack first.
9:48:58 PM Svetlana Luchenko: We can't ignore that.
9:49:10 PM Svetlana Luchenko: He may simply attack first during any potential crisis
9:49:13 PM Svetlana Luchenko: before you can escalate.
9:49:35 PM MHui 421: which is why the MESS is currently planning a nuclear first strike, in the absence of a crisis
9:49:43 PM MHui 421: which is completely insane
9:49:56 PM MHui 421: but seems to have the best chance of success
9:50:00 PM MarshalPurnell: So, use the orbital weapons to take out his NCA and follow it up with conventional counter-force strukes.
9:50:23 PM MarshalPurnell: Unless he delegated authority to launch for local commanders, that should work.
9:50:39 PM Svetlana Luchenko: Nuclear Pearl Harbour!
9:50:47 PM MHui 421: yes
9:50:51 PM MarshalPurnell: Because no one will be able to authorize launch in between wiping out his leadership and following it up with cruise missiles and IRBMs.
9:50:59 PM Svetlana Luchenko: He probably has designated authority to local commanders.
9:51:35 PM MarshalPurnell: If he has, there's not really much you could do except maybe build more orbital weapons, a lot more, and try to use those for a counterforce strike.
9:51:45 PM MHui 421: which is why i'm going to be putting up enough orbital weaponry to take out his airfields and silos
9:51:51 PM MarshalPurnell: If he put all his eggs in bombers you might be able to catch them on the ground.
9:52:08 PM MHui 421: he's got some crazy silo based bomber
9:52:10 PM MarshalPurnell: Though I doubt you could stop his ICBMs from launching in that case.
9:52:37 PM MHui 421: basically an armed version of dynasoar
9:52:56 PM MarshalPurnell: Need to be able to bust those silos, then.
9:53:05 PM MarshalPurnell: 60kt probably won't come close.
9:53:06 PM MHui 421: 60 kT impactors

9:53:35 PM MarshalPurnell: Need something in the hundreds of kt unless those impactors are hyper-accurate.
9:53:48 PM MHui 421: they're probably only hardened against blast, not direct impact
9:53:56 PM Svetlana Luchenko: Not sure about that.
9:54:02 PM MHui 421: GPS/INS guided
9:54:04 PM Svetlana Luchenko: It IS possible to harden against direct impact.
9:54:57 PM MHui 421: well, yes, it's possible. but it's doubtful he believes that the silos need to be hardened to the degree that they'd have to be
9:56:15 PM JerisFlame: Have you got Skimmer covered too?
9:56:38 PM MHui 421: i'm planning on putting up nearly a thousand kinetic impactors
9:56:54 PM Svetlana Luchenko: 65,000 psi was achieved in the 1980s
9:56:54 PM JerisFlame: That's not going to sound any alarm bells.
9:56:59 PM Svetlana Luchenko: with concrete for the proposed Peacekeeper
9:57:02 PM Svetlana Luchenko: Silos that were never built.
9:57:17 PM Svetlana Luchenko: That's probably capable of resisting even a direct nuclear impactor.
9:57:27 PM Svetlana Luchenko: Of that small of size.
9:57:34 PM MHui 421: it should be enough to roughly paste all of both countries C3 centers
9:57:49 PM MHui 421: it's a 4 ton impactor moving at 360 km/s
9:58:14 PM Svetlana Luchenko: Ahh. Hmm.
9:58:38 PM MHui 421: (roughly... depends on where in the orbit the engine fires)
10:04:13 PM MHui 421: i'm nearly certain i've got shep convinced that i think orbital kinetic weaponry is useless, so he won't suspect that I'm actually putting up kinetic impactors
10:04:30 PM MarshalPurnell: Eh well, should be fun either way.
10:04:42 PM MarshalPurnell: Weee-haw!
10:04:58 PM MHui 421: probably be a august when we pull off the attack
10:05:25 PM MHui 421: various allies need to be able to realistically get things into play before we do it
10:05:27 PM MarshalPurnell: I suppose you want everything in place.
10:06:12 PM MHui 421: it may be september, because that gives us even more stuff to put into play
10:06:29 PM MHui 421: and shep did manage to give himself a plot where he had a nuclear civil war
10:06:40 PM MHui 421: so his economy shouldn't be in very good shape
10:06:48 PM MarshalPurnell: Rather not.