Fwurg

[Mercury]

((OOC: This thread is used for the battle of Adii Nasla.

I should have already opened this thread earlier this turn, and I don't want to force Brend to make a very late turn change to his actions. Therefore my proposal is to start Round 1 in turn 290, and Brend can declare his fleet actions for round 0 (Turn 289) when it is convenient for him. Brend can thus fill in his actions as he sees fit (including picking his attack for this turn since he would have normally declared this last turn). The Slave Rebellion Fleet 7 is currently in Standard Formation.

Present:

• Union
  
  • Veolian Imperial Fleet
  • First Shebi Fleet
• Slave Rebellion
  
  • Slave Rebellion Fleet 7

The Praetorian Primary Fleet and the Astrian Colonial Navy First Fleet will arrive in turn 290 and can post here in that turn to let us know which defensive action it will take, and it can then attack in turn 291, if I interpret the fleet rules correctly.

Note: I have thought up a cool idea to make this battle somewhat more interesting! So yay on that, though beware something unconventional may happen (it should not cause too much havoc). I'll award some bonus and possibly other stuff for cool manoeuvres!))

Slave Rebellion Fleet 7 consisted of a very large number of ships - far more than even the two Veolian fleets combined. The quality of the ships was much worse than the Veolian ships, however, many of the retrofitted civilian ships, or even two hulls of destroyed vessels literally welded together to make a new, barely functioning ship.

They did seem determined however, and many had spikes welded onto them, and iconography with sharp teeth and eyes, as if each ship was a monster, ready to attack!

The position of their primary capital ships above the Veolian Colony on Aneka posed some limitations on the arch of fire, as excessively destructive weapons might cause fallout on the world below, though there were Slave Rebellion ships all over the system, ready to jump to one another in aid.

[Chriz]

((OOC: waiting for Brend to post first.))

[Veolian Commonwealth]

((OOC: Apologies for the late reply ~_~

@Interpretation of Fleet Battle rules: Join Battle fleet order is ambiguous: seeing how the rules are ambiguous on this point, there's no reason not to use Mercury's interpretation for this battle.

@Checks: The Fleet checks in this post are based on Battle Actions rules. Since no Jedi is attached, these checks are rather simplistic.))

The commanders of the two veolian fleets — fleet admiral Saman Machal of Veolian Imperial Fleet and fleet admiral Shebi Naupaat of the First Shebi Fleet — already discussed battle strategy during the flight through hyperspace. They had poured over the detailed intelligence reports they had received from the Ministry of Defence, and determined that the best course of action would be to feel out the enemy first and to determine the veracity of the highly detailed report.

As the two fleets drop out of hyperspace, the Veolian Imperial Fleet takes up a forward position, while the First Shebi Fleet hangs back. Scouting vessels in both fleets have orders to immediately start scanning for known energy signaturse and if possible to track hyperspace signatures.

((Combat, round 0: Veolian Imperial Fleet → Skirmish Formation, First Shebi Fleet → Barrage Formation))

With the hyperspace scanning vessels of the Shebi fleet quickly picking up all hyperspace signatures, they start to maintain a real-time model of the battle. This model is enhanced with the information on structural weaknesses and energy signatures from the Remunzian intelligence report.

Taking note of the position of the Slave Rebellion's primary capital ships above Aneka. Since Aneka is a zero-population colony with only a few recently developed industrial zones, Saman Machal deems it unnecessary to restrain heavy weapons fire in the direction of the planet­ — without any delay he issues the order to "Box in the capital ships, and try not to hit any friendly surface structures if at all convenient."

The two fleets start a tactical maneuvre: the Veolian Imperial Fleet closes to skirmish range on the Slave Rebellion's capital ships from "above", making sure to keep the capital ships between their carriers and the planet. At the same time, the First Shebi Fleet aligns their capital ships and artillery support groups opens up a barrage of long-range fire around the edges of the imperial fleet. Effectively, the two fleets box in the Slave Rebellion's capital ships between the Veolian Imperial Fleet, the planet itself, and the curtain of long-range fire from the First Shebi Fleet.

As the Imperial Fleets closes into skirmish range, it starts launching fighter squadrons from all carriers. Each squadron has been given specific targets, to try and make the most effective use of the structural weaknesses detailed by the intelligence report.

((Combat, round 1: Veolian Imperial Fleet: Attack Slave Rebellion Fleet 7, taking Offensive Advantage Action, ((Check: 5 = 3 Base Rating + 2 Inner Attack -- boxing in enemy capital ships))
Attack: 1 / 4 / 3 - Skirmish Formation attack
Defence: 2 / 5 / 3 - Skirmish Formation defence

• First Round Penalty (-2 attack)

))

((Combat, round 1: First Shebi Fleet: Attack Slave Rebellion Fleet 7, taking Offensive Advantage Action, ((Check: 5 = 3 Base Rating + 2 Outer Attack -- boxing in enemy capital ships))
Attack: 3 / 1 / 0 - Barrage Formation attack
Defence: 4 / 2 / 3 - Barrage Formation defence

• First Round Penalty (-2 attack)

))

((OOC: I'm trying to confirm the veracity of the intelligence in Round 0, and start using the detailed vulnerability and tracking information in Round 1; since I have no clue what kind of benefits this gives me, I have not taken the intelligence into account in any rating.))

[Lady-Fleet Admiral Lythia Nethorius]

Shortly after the Veolian Fleets started their battle with the Slave Rebellion Fleet, the Veolian scanning vessels detected multiple vessels in hyperspace on an approach vector. A moment later the commanding officers from the Veolian Imperial Fleet and the First Shebi Fleet received a communication from the approaching vessels.

"Astrian Colonial Navy First Fleet to Veolian Fleets. Be advised, we are inbound and ready to assist. Repeat, check your fire, friendlies inbound."

The scanning vessels confirmed it was indeed the ACN First Fleet on approach.

The numbers of the Astrian Fleet seemed a little low. Slightly lower then either Veolian Fleets. What they lacked in numbers though would probably be made up for in individual ship strength.

A moment later the ACN First Fleet dropped out of hyperspace. They dropped out in perfect formation. Capital ships, corvettes and a few carriers. No fighters were detected yet as they dropped out of FTL. The moment they had fighters started to appear from the carriers and the capitol ships by the dozens.

The fighters and corvettes stuck close to the capital ships, the carriers sticking behind. As the Fleet approached the battle, points of light started appearing on the hulls of the ACNs capital ships.

((Combat, round 0: Astrian Colonial Navy First Fleet → Barrage Formation))

[Veolian Commonwealth]

"Veolian Imperial to ACA First. Welcome to the fray. Be advised, Aneka's surface hosts friendly civilian unmanned structures. Try to miss them if at all convenient." came the first reply.

A second reply quickly followed: "Shebi First to ACA First. We will begin relaying real-time battle data stream from hyperspace scanning vessels in 3... 2... 1...", and the simple message stream cut out into a continuous stream of detailed ship positions and headings based on Union Military data transfer protocols. Along with positions and bearings, the stream also contains tactical information on projected friendly squadron movement to reduce friendly fire by long-range batteries.

[Praetorian Empire]

Only moments later after the arrival of the Astrian Navy multiple hyperspace windows opened on the opposite side of the system. Multiple capital ships, destroyers, carriers and their escort dropped out of hyperspace.

A message was sent on a secure military channel to the Veolian Fleet and Astrian Colonial Navy First Fleet. "This is admiral Tiberios Fimbria from the Sword of the Stars, we are here to assist the Veolian Imperial Fleet once more."

The Praetorian Primary Fleet launched a few fighter squadrons in a defensive formation. All capital ships and destroyers lined up for a barrage.

((Combat, round 0: Praetorian Primary Fleet → Barrage Formation))

[Veolian Commonwealth]

"This is fleet admiral Saman Machal from the Invincible Fury of the Dawn. Welcome to the fray admiral Tiberios Fimbria. Be advised, Aneka's surface hosts friendly unmanned civilian structures, please control fire arcs towards those areas if at all convenient."

[Mercury]

The Veolian barrage was fierce and the first volley already managed to destroy a large number of Slave Rebellion vessels. In fact, it seemed like it was basically target practice out there, as some ships exploded even after only minimal damage. Was this really the best the Slave Rebellion had to offer?

Coordination amongst the slave rebellion ships was abysmal as well. Some attacked, some retreated, there were even some crashing into one another. It was chaos out there.

Yet despite ships exploding and general chaos, the Slave Rebellion fleet held its ground - there were just so many of them and whomever was in charge - if anyone was - didn't seem to care how many ships were destroyed - or even to cover the bigger ships from fire.

The chaos was helping against the Imperial skirmishers though - coordinating in the mealstrom of ships was hard enough, but the pilots couldn't even be sure that Slave Rebellion ships wouldn't crash into one another. Also, they were outnumbered at least twenty to one in terms of the smaller ships.

Not that those numbers held the same weight as one might think - the experienced veolian fighterpilots easily blasted their way through the much slower and worse equipped Slave Rebellion vessels.

Intelligence from the engaging ships was quickly compiled in the Veolian command centers revealing that not only were the scans of the Slave Rebellion ships accurate, they could be used to great effect! The battle was on in full force now, and it would be some time before it would conclude.

((OOC: The combined attack rating of the two Veolian fleets is 3/4/3, though I'm not entirely sure how you got to 4 on the middle ring attack with the Veolian Imperial Fleet. Perhaps you missed the -2 attack here? I will proceed under the presumption that your calculation is correct.

In either case, 3/4/3 does not defeat any defense rings (defence has primacy) against 4/4/4 defences, meaning no significant damage is caused this round.

The Slave Rebellion Fleet comes to 0/0/0 with the first round penalty, so their counter attack so far is excessively ineffective.

Since you are using intelligence from the Remunzians, you will from now on get a free +1 on all attack rings - this goes for all Union fleets.

I was in doubt about the advantage actions you are claiming - despite having more fleets, the Slave Rebellion fleet has the larger number of ships, by sheer virtue of all of them being crap, making it very hard to surround them all. However, I will allow it in the understanding you are boxing in the primary capital ships only, rather than their entire fleet. Your checks are therefore approved, and you gain the desired advantages!))

[Veolian Commonwealth]

((OOC: I'm reasonably sure that I end up with a 3 / 4 / 3 attack because I'm not forgetting to add the bonusses from my Battle Formations. Unlike you, it seems :P

Based on the information available to me (in future battle threads, it's nice to repeat the stats of fleets at the start of the combat thread — it saves everyone from looking up the stats all the time), the Slave Rebellion Fleet has base stats of:

• 2 / 2 / 2 attack, and
• 4 / 4 / 4 defence.

Together with their Standard Formation (which gives them +1 / +1 / +1 attack) and the -2 first round penalty, that would bring their attack to 1 / 1 / 1 in this first round, for as far as I am aware of their bonuses and penalties.

You also seem to omit any declaration of defence formation in your post, nor do you add any Formation bonus to the Slave Rebellion's defence rings; am I correct in assuming that they use Standard Formation for defense as well? If so, their defence would be +2 higher all over the board due to the Standard Formation's +2 / +2 / +2 defence... Which would net them a defence of 6 / 6 / 6. (I'm reasonably sure that this is an oversight: declaring formations is kinda the core of the parry mechanism, since their defence formation from round N is their attack formation in round N+1.)

Of course, I might be completly off due to you as an ST having some secret plan that you didn't let the other players in on. But if you changed the way combat ratings are calculated, I think it's better if you tell us — I'll hold of on a counter-post until you have confirmed new rules or updated the situation ^_^

About the advantage action: my whole plan was based on boxing in the capital ships only. I had no intention of boxing their whole fleet since there are so many ships. You made a whole point about the core capital ships being neatly clustered and all, so they seemed a prime target for boxing and squashing. So we are of the same understanding with regards to that :)

EDIT: Formatted copied stats so everyone can quickly read them for future reference.))

[Mercury]

((OOC: Ah yes, that's what I missed - the formation. The slave rebellion fleet maintains Standard Formation at this time!))

[Lady-Fleet Admiral Lythia Nethorius]

((OOC: Isn't the combat tag also meant to be used by the enemy NPC? At the very least that is how I remember it from the Jedi combat system, which was the basis of the fleet combat system. You're free to continue doing it like this, but I think it would be more clear what exactly is going on.))

The ACN First Fleet kept its distance from the enemy. Staggering their lines the Astrian vessels turned starboard. From there they made a wide flanking manoeuvre. The Astrian Fleet was clearly being cautious, no doubt weary of the Slave Rebelions numbers. Not surprising, considering their relatively low numbers.

What made Lady-Fleet Admiral Nethorius more cautious though, was the apparent disorder of the enemy fleet. She didn't know much about the war between the Hutts and the Rebellion, but to her it seemed unlikely the Slave Rebellion could have hold out so long just by throwing sheer numbers at the Hutts. She needed to know more about the enemy ships, unfortunately the sensors on the Astrian warships were designed for combat and not much else.

"Lady-Fleet Admiral Nethorius to Shebi First Fleet. Can your scanning vessels determine if there are any life signs onboard the enemy ships or any unusual readings?"

As she waited for a response, she ordered her own fleet to open fire.

The ACN First Fleet started firing, targeting a part of the enemy fleet clear of friendlies and of Aneka. The most forward ship fired first, followed by the next one and then the next. Travelling down the line like this, combined with the positioning of each capital ship, created a small but deadly wall of capital ship fire heading straight for the enemy.

((Combat, round 2: Attack Slave Rebellion Fleet 7, taking Offensive Advantage Action((Check: 5 = 3 Base Rating + 2 Outer Attack -- Flanking Slave Rebellion Fleet 7))
Attack: 4 / 4 / 2 - Barrage Formation
Defence: 4 / 4 / 3 - Barrage Formation

• First Round Penalty (-2 attack)
• Union Intelligence Report (+1/+1/+1 to attack)

))

((OOC: Note: I adjusted the combat round to give the global combat round, not the combat round of my fleet.
Edit: added Union Intelligence Report to combat ratings))

[Veolian Commonwealth]

((OOC: Sorry for the late reply, my evenings are very busy this week. I'll have time to post on saturday.))

[Veolian Commonwealth]

((OOC: @ACA: Note that you get a +1/+1/+1 to all offense rings due to Intelligence report.

@Mercury: Clarification request: I took "not only were the scans of the Slave Rebellion ships accurate" to mean that the intelligence report was accurately verified. Seeing how the report includes personell data, I assumed that this has been verified as well. Was my assumption correct?))

The Veolian fleets continued their assault on the Slave Rebellion capital ships. The original hope was to disable the command vessels, but at the moment it seems that there is no central command structure to the Slave Rebellion's 7th. Regardless, with the capital ships boxed in, it would be a waste not to press the advantage.

When lady-fleet admiral Nethorius requested an additional scan the radio officer quickly reported up the command-chain. The first responsible officer gave the order to relay the already confirmed findings, but that order was overruled by Shebi Jharanā, the commander of First Shebi Fleet's vanguard. From her command ship, the battlecruiser Cascade of Cutting Terror, she replied directly:

"Admiral Shebi Jharanā to Lady-Fleet Admiral Nethorius. Our scans have confirmed intelligence report accurate, the report includes personell records which appear to be correct. We will rescan a sample of enemy vessels to confirm auxilliary readings."

The First Shebi Fleet retasked half of it's scanning vessels to rescan a sample of Slave Rebellion vessels to check for life signs and unusualy readings. As the scanning vessels were partially retasked, the main body of the fleet continued it's barrage.

The Veolian Imperial Fleet, forming the ceiling of the "box", slowly starts to close in on the capital ships. Using their significant technological advantage to go on the offensive — trusting the natural telepathy of their hemet fighter pilots to increase defensive situational awareness — the fighter wings of the fleet aim to remove as much smaller vessels from the "box", so they can focus on the capital ships without getting crashed into at random.

((Combat, round 2: Veolian Imperial Fleet: Attack Slave Rebellion Fleet 7, Raid to Take offensive advantage action ((Check: 8 = 3 Base Rating + 2 Outer Attack + 1 Advantage + 1 Intelligence + 1 Raid -- Targeted strike at smaller vessels)) ((OOC: I'm not really sure about the advantage action. Raid normally, well, raids the target. In this case, I'm trying to model a targeted strike towards a specific goal, so this seemed the best approach to express that within the rules.))

Attack: 5 / 9 / 8 - Skirmish Formation attack
Defence: 2 / 5 / 3 - Skirmish Formation defence

• Offensive advantage action (boxing in)
• Union Intelligence Report (+1/+1/+1 to attack)
• Raid manoeuvre (+0 / +1 / +1)

))

((Combat, round 2: First Shebi Fleet: Attack Slave Rebellion Fleet 7, Re-scan randomly selected Slave rebellion ships for life signs (omitted check because I have no ratings for this)
Attack: 7 / 5 / 4 - Barrage Formation attack
Defence: 5 / 2 / 3 - Barrage Formation defence

• Offensive advantage action (boxing in)
• Union Intelligence Report (+1/+1/+1 to attack)

))

((OOC: Combined attack from Veolian forces: 7 / 9 / 8 ))

[Praetorian Empire]

The Praetorian Primary fleet synchronized with the ACN First Fleet and rotated around the Slave Rebellion Fleet in a flanking maneuvre ending up on the opposite side of the ACN First Fleet.

All Praetorian Capital Ships and destroyers aligned their long range weapons and waited for the order to open fire at the Slave Rebellion Capital Ships.

Seconds after the ACN First Fleet opened fire admiral Tiberios Fimbria gave the order. "Fire at will.". The captains on the individual Praetorian capital ships responded with "Full Broadside!" The Praetorian Fleet was perfectly synchronized and fired a large salvo at the same time. They only targeted 3 different enemy capital ships at this moment.

((Combat, round 2: Attack Slave Rebellion Fleet 7, taking Offensive Advantage Action((Check: 7 = 4 Base Rating + 2 Outer Attack + 1 Intelligence -- Flanking Slave Rebellion Fleet 7))
Attack: 5 / 4 / 0 - Barrage Formation
Defence: 4 / 3 / 1 - Barrage Formation

• First Round Penalty (-2 attack)
• Union Intelligence Report (+1/+1/+1 to attack)

))

[Chriz]

((OOC: This combat is now 1 turn behind on the turn reports. Shall we speed up and make 2 posts in the upcoming week?))

[Mercury]

Despite taking heavy fire, the Slave Rebellion fleet slowly started to get itself into fighting shape, ships making short range jumps to catch together. This led to more than one collision within their fleet, but overall they managed to get themselves organized and put up a firing line, formations - though rough - starting to form.

The fleets fire was concentrated on the Veolian Imperial Fleet, though that didn't stop individual captains from firing on whatever appeared to be an enemy.

((Combat, round 2: Attack Veolian Imperial Fleet, taking Defensive Advantage Action: pulling in reserves from all over the system
Attack: 3 / 3 / 3 - Standard Formation
Defence: 6 / 6 / 6 - Standard Formation ))

[Chriz]

((OOC: The Slave Rebellion fleet has been damaged by the veolians and should lose an effectiveness level.

@Mercury please add the actual advantage that they are using to get the defensive advantage in your post, since we need to know how long it lasts and what to do to cancel it out.))

[Veolian Commonwealth]

((OOC: @Chriz: I don't think Mercury is done with his post yet. So let's cut him some slack; I was realllllly late with my post (and so were you), and he is posting basically immediately.

I don't think we get to do anything against the advantage action, given that the current order of posts of a little out-of-whack (with the PCs all going before the NPC), whereas the traditional order is (Round X Start + NPC post → PC post #1 → PC post #N → Round resolution → ound X+1 Start → ... etc.). The only effect of this is that the NPCs have a slight edge over the PCs, by virtue of being able to take reactionary actions. It does limit the ability of PCs to interact with the opponent somewhat, but overall the effect isn't big.))

[Chriz]

((OOC: I am not trying to criticize. I agree that we are kinda out of order. So be it.

What I meant about the advantage action is for next turn(s) this:

Advantage actions

"You can have at most three Advantages active at the same time. However you can use an advantage action to remove an advantage from an opponent, in this case the advantage actions does not grant you a bonus, but removes an advantage of the opponent. You cannot claim an advantage if you, or your target, already has it."

For this we need to know what the actual advantage is. Just Defensive advantage action is kinda hard to work with.))

[Veolian Commonwealth]

((OOC: Good point. I'll see what happens when Mercury finishes his post (of course, now his post-making is influenced by these messages, so I'm reasonably sure there will be something in there that explains the advantage :P)))

[Mercury]

The ACN fleets fire strafed over the Slave Rebellion lines, causing some damage, but not enough to significantly affect their cohesion - the wreckages of destroyed ships actually provided partial shielding for some of the other ships, and the difference in distance allowed the Slave Rebellion to make maximum use of this fact. Regardless, clear damage was being done.

((OOC: I was in serious doubt about the Flanking plan. The Slave Rebellion fleet is very large in number (but weak in strength of individual ships). You certainly can reach the side of their engagement with the Veolians, but I am concerned as to whether the fight there would have a significant impact to justify flanking. In the end I have decided to allow the advantage action, since you are coordinating this with the Praetorian Empire. However, I will make this link explicit: if the Slave Rebellion fleet makes action to remove your advantage action, it will also remove the advantage action gained by the Praetorian Empire.))

The Veolian Fleets continued their focussed fire on the lead capital ships as their fighters targeted the smaller vessels. The barrage was causing a lot of the fighters to fly through explosions, but their ships were designed to withstand fireballs and easily navigated to where the blast couldn't cause them significant damage.

((OOC: I would not normally allow the Raid, but since you have a Union Intelligence Report which gives detailed intel on the ships, and the check is high, I have decided to approve it!))

The Praetorians engaged on the opposite side of the ACN First Fleet, opening long range fire, a full scale broadside blasting into the enemy, easily blasting their targetting capital ships out of the sky, the hull of their remnants seeming to lose control of their course!

((OOC: The same comment on the flanking plan as with the ACA: I am allowing it, but both your and the ACA's advantage actions can be remove in the same manoeuvre))

The combined fire of the four fleets on the one were starting to have a significant impact, especially the concentrated fire of the Veolian Imperial Fleet, which was cutting capital ships down rather brutally.

((OOC: The combined statistics of your four fleets become 7 / 9 / 8, against the Slave Rebellion fleets 6 / 6 / 6. This surpasses all three rings and reduces the fleet by one effectiveness level! This does NOT put the fleet off balance and the effectiveness as of yet has no impact on their abilities.

Since this post was made within the week set, I suggest we continue with round 3 tomorrow.

PS: I was writing this post since the previous one, after being interrupted by other obligations so the OOC posts before this one but after my earlier one were not seen until after making this post. Will my proposal still work?))

[Veolian Commonwealth]

((OOC: Fine by me!

Clarification request: I am not clear on whether I get the advantage action I tried to claim. I see you approve the Raid as the method due to the intelligence report and the high check, but is the Raid successful in netting me an advantage?))

[Mercury]

((OOC: Clarification: yes, that is an approval for the advantage action))

[Veolian Commonwealth]

((OOC: Is there a different result from previous time when I scanned their vessels? (I took an explicit "rescan a sample of ships" action at the request of the ACA). I gave up my DCA or Advantage action option for the scan, so at the least I'd hoped for "Everything is fine, continue on firing!" ^_^

In realtion to this, the repeat of previous clarification request: I took "not only were the scans of the Slave Rebellion ships accurate" to mean that the intelligence report was accurately verified. Seeing how the report includes personell data, I assumed that this has been verified as well. Was my assumption correct?))

[Mercury]

((OOC: There are some minor differences between the number of people but nothing significant. For example, one ship may have a few extra people and another may have a few less, but nothing significant. No large unarmed armada's or stuff like that. As such, the intelligence report is accurate! Continue on firing.))