|
By popular demand posted:So that's at least two nukes in close proximity to each other, operation GLASS BOWL is a go. Oh yeah, if you crank the settings right up, you get what happened to Earth. No one's at quite that level... yet.
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2021 05:55
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 8, 2024 20:20 |
|
|
By popular demand posted:Do WMD's leave lasting damage to the biosphere in game? Only if you intentionally go for that. That's called Armageddon bombardment stance and it will straight up convert a planet into a Tomb World. There are also certain other edge cases which I'm not going to talk about, because we haven't seen them yet. Also, players don't get them, unless you count the Colossus as a WMD and to be frank that really deserves to be in its own category. Outside of that, though, no, mechanically speaking there's no consequence to repeated bombardment of a planet at least in the core game. For one thing, most of the game's bombardment options AREN'T nuclear. Only the level 1 and level 2 Missiles are. Which, uh, isn't to say that higher grade missiles aren't utterly devastating, because they use poo poo like antimatter explosions or quantum energy for ridiculous grades of destructive power, but they don't have the specific cultural legacy of a nuke. That and the level 2 Missiles are fusion-based anyway, which would look different. And beyond missiles, well, the Kinetic options are just "rods of God" anyway so apart from kicked-up dust clouds and introducing a lot more tungsten into an environment that'd have limited overall biosphere effect, and Energy weapons' problem would mostly be introducing excess heat into a closed system. Stellaris' bombardment options are surprisingly tame in terms of how much long-term damage they can cause unless that's explicitly what you want.
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2021 06:05
|
|
|
It also bears mentioning that the nuclear bomb craters and such that can turn up as part of world generation are things that Stellaris civilisations can clean up by default with a suitable investment of time and energy Presumably any bombardment short of apocalyptic simply doesn’t bear mentioning and the pops mop it up as part of general devastation recovery
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2021 06:44
|
|
|
Pingcode posted:It also bears mentioning that the nuclear bomb craters and such that can turn up as part of world generation are things that Stellaris civilisations can clean up by default with a suitable investment of time and energy Like, before getting terraforming? Cause the UN did just terraform Venus. As alarmed as I was about the orbital bombardment, setting things to rights would be like more of a victory lap than a major project.
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2021 07:12
|
|
|
Phy posted:Like, before getting terraforming? Cause the UN did just terraform Venus. As alarmed as I was about the orbital bombardment, setting things to rights would be like more of a victory lap than a major project. Yep. Nuclear bomb craters and vast swathes of radiation are able to be cleared from game start with Energy. This is more localized than restoring a planet from a Total Biome Kill, which is what the terraforming investment of a Tomb World represents (and which is always more expensive than terraforming other planet types, basically the same as starting from a dead rock in space). Fixing a TBK requires not only Terrestrial Sculpting, the terraforming tech, but also one specifically for the purpose called Climate Restoration, which is much farther down the tree (and loves to not show up when you're looking for it, I swear.). All of which... still is all discussions in the wake of horrifying destruction and loss of life. Stellaris does a very poor job of representing individual experiences, but that's basically unavoidable for a game at its scope and scale. When you're trying to represent entire planets, often extreme amounts of abstraction are needed. Each individual Stellaris pop represents something like two to three hundred million people (Crisis went with three for this narrative, I usually think of it more as two, which sets the average starting population for a Stellaris empire at about six billion from 28-30 pops). It can be hard to remember the individual suffering in any grand strategy or 4X game simply because of the abstraction needed to approach working at the scopes used. Stellaris is probably the worst about this but, again, given that this is a genre where Star Wars is a key inspiration, you're going to see that kind of baked in. Sci-fi often deals with horrific levels of violence due to simply trying to take familiar narratives and scale them up. Having said that, now that you've thought about that, take that thought and shove it in the drat storage closet, because you do not want to be having it lurking around all the time when you're reading sci-fi. It'll suck the joy out of a lot of things, and there's not enough joy in this world anyway. Redeye Flight fucked around with this message at 07:32 on Aug 12, 2021 |
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2021 07:28
|
|
|
Excerpt from Big Thoughts, a Writers' Syndicate hypernet publication dedicated to longform questions. = = = = = Question from Abdul al-Aziz, metalsmith, LoM Hephaestus, Tharsis City, Mars Why aren't hyperdrives weaponized? Wouldn't a lightspeed ram be incredibly destructive? - - - - - - - Answer from Dr. Jean-Armand Deschamps, physicist, Syndicate of Scientists, Bastion Institute of Astrophysics It would, but hyperdrives couldn't do that because of fundamental rules of how they work. An object in motion builds up energy, known as kinetic energy. I won't get into the exact equations because they get funky (to use the technical term) when you approach the speed of light, but as a general rule, kinetic energy is equal to the amount of work needed to put an object at speed from rest. If I throw a baseball at you, then the baseball will hit you with the same amount of force that I needed to throw it (without accounting for air friction, gravity, etc.). This is the principle behind every ballistic weapon since the first thrown stone, from catapults to cannonballs to modern railguns, a category now broadly referred to as “kinetics”. Dropping a tungsten rod from orbit can produce as much destructive power as an atomic bomb, because it gains speed on the way down and all that speed has to go somewhere when it hits the ground. Thus, something as big as a starship moving at near or beyond lightspeed should have tremendous kinetic energy. And it does – but it's not that simple, because hyperdrives don't obey the rules. The Albright-Sampoerna Hyperspace Drive (or hyperdrive, either or) has been improved upon but, basically, never completely changed since it was invented in 2195. “Underneath” real space is a sort of sub-dimension known as “hyperspace”, which connects the gravity wells of various large objects in space (which is to say, stars). The exact nature of hyperspace is still poorly understood – it's very hard to study – but physics as we understand them function somewhat differently in hyperspace. In particular, the amount of energy it takes to reach speeds is dramatically lower, and thus top speeds are higher. The ASH Drive uses what's still a tremendous amount of energy to “breach” into hyperspace, sliding its ship (or, rather, anything within a defined area around itself, usually the same as the ship's shield “bubble”) into the sub-dimension. The ship's otherwise sublight thrusters can then propel it to speeds well past lightspeed, running along the gravitational “currents” to travel from star to star. As soon as the ship leaves hyperspace, normal physics reasserts itself and the ship decelerates, returning to its usual movement speed. The trick is that this momentum only works in hyperspace. A ship leaving hyperspace will decelerate almost instantaneously, with what should otherwise be unthinkable amounts of kinetic energy “left behind” inside hyperspace. Why? How? Your guess is as good as ours. If this weren't the case, then ships leaving hyperspace would either have to spend weeks decelerating, or instantly pulverize themselves each time. However, modern ASH Drives actually use a fair amount of this energy for the “breaching” back out of hyperspace at the end, which has made them much more efficient. ASH Drives are preprogrammed to bring their ship to a complete stop after a jump anyway, but even without that programming, ships leaving hyperspace do not keep as much energy as they “should”. You CAN ram things with a ship leaving hyperspace, and it's certainly not pretty – we've found archaeological evidence of that happening in the form of huge craters on space rocks – but it isn't remotely as destructive as it “should” be. Always remember this: the one constant rule in physics is that rules are things WE have invented to try to understand reality, not actual hard guidelines for how reality works. The universe loves throwing curveballs at scientists who think they understand it. And as one final note, NONE of this applies to the Lance of Irassia's “jump drive”. While the Lance has a “conventional” (and very advanced) hyperdrive in there that works, near as we can tell, on the same rules as an ASH Drive, the jump it does with the blue light and the otherworldly chorus functions completely differently in ways that we absolutely don't understand yet. It doesn't even appear to use hyperspace at all. How does it actually work? We have absolutely no idea, but it sure does work. Which is basically a summary of the universe. Follow-up answer from Phan Ba Giap, shipfitter, Union of Shipwrights, Manila, Bastion The other reason is that ships are crazy expensive. Any madman could take a ship and turn it into a giant orbital weapon just with its thrusters – it's always possible, one of those nasty things we never want to think about. But it's pretty much never worth it. Even a corvette takes at least three months and thousands of tons of military-grade alloys to build, even with modern technology! And that corvette can do much more damage in those three months with its weapons than it would by crashing on a planet. Both civilian and military ships are also very hard to actually aim at a planet – it's built into their engine systems. The guidance and control system is constantly checking to make sure it's not about to drop uncontrollably down a gravity well, and will override manual control to avoid that if it has to. Hypothetically you could turn it off, but not without destroying the entire thruster-control system, at which point you've gone back, like, over three hundred years in terms of trying to fly your spaceship. I sure wouldn't want to try it. There's easier ways to do damage than that, even for fanatics. Redeye Flight fucked around with this message at 08:44 on Aug 12, 2021 |
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2021 08:26
|
|
|
That is a beautiful piece of worldbuilding Redeye Flight.
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2021 09:10
|
|
|
[[[Classified AV-log - Analyzed and classified by PYTHIA - Artificial Intelligence, Mars Sovereign Soviet Republic]]] [[[Subjects: Citizen's Commisioner Emma Volth. Citizen Syndic Ronya Adelaide Coldstone.]]] [[[Location: Tarsus Light Manufacturing Syndicate, Governing Hall]]] EV: "Hello Ronnie. Working late again? RAC: "Yeah. Our glorious revolution may have been a successful and comparatively bloodless affair here, but with the half of UN space under occupation by old guard naval fucks who want our heads on pikes and the old regime back..." EV: "Yeah, I get it. So you're getting lots of orders." RAC: "We're going to have to take on more people, if we can find them. The Syndicate will have to expand. Again. Or we'll have to make an alliance with some of the other groups." EV: "How bad is it?" RAC: "Oh, not nearly as bad as it could be; The vote to extend the shifts for the duration of the crisis went through with a lot of shouting but no real acrimony. The expansion-vote was hairier, and I lost out on a couple of suggested amendments thanks to HR loving us for that little pension plan I snuck past'em last time. But we're officially on a war-footing now." <laughter> "That was what you wanted to hear, right commissar?" EV: "Oh, stop it. gently caress the syndicate politics. I want to know how bad it is for you, not the organization." RAC: "Worried I'll keel over dead on you, are you?" EV: "Actually, kind of, yeah! You've been working real late hours, lately, Ronnie. It's not good for you. You're not your great-granddad-" RAC: "-and thank gently caress for that, or I'd question your tastes more than I do-" EV: "Quiet, you!" <thump> RAC: "Ow!" EV: "You're going to listen to me for once, Ronnie. I get you want to prove yourself and show that you're committed, despite your family. Fine. Good. Great. But what we don't need, Ronnie, is an elected Syndic, Ronnie, flaking out and making mistakes, because she's worked herself half to death, Ronnie. Am I making myself clear?! RAC: "... yes ma'am." EV: "Okay, good. Also, I can't be arsed to cook, so we're going out for dinner tonight." RAC: "Right you are." EV: "Are you trying to mollify me by agreeing with me?" RAC: "Wouldn't dream of it, love." EV: "Good. Ah! By the way, I took the liberty of checking, and since your weekend's clear, we're finally introducing you to mom and momma this Saturday." RAC: "Hgk!" EV: "Oh stop it, it won't kill you." RAC: "Just you wait until your mom finds out who I am!" EV: "She hasn't worked it out yet." RAC: "When she does, I'm loving dead and you know it." EV: "Nonsense. I'll handle her." RAC: "I have doubts." EV: "Trust me." RAC: "Remind me, what happened the last time you said that?" EV: "Let's not be pedantic now."
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2021 11:09
|
|
|
Phy posted:Like, before getting terraforming? Cause the UN did just terraform Venus. As alarmed as I was about the orbital bombardment, setting things to rights would be like more of a victory lap than a major project. In standard unmodded stellaris earth and other homeworld planets start with several tile blockers which represent centuries of industrial pollution and ecological damage. You can fix each one for a cool 300 energy and 120 days worth of effort.
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2021 16:28
|
|
|
Telsa Cola posted:In standard unmodded stellaris earth and other homeworld planets start with several tile blockers which represent centuries of industrial pollution and ecological damage. You can fix each one for a cool 300 energy and 120 days worth of effort. Even better are the 'sprawling slum' (etc) blockers which I guess are supposed to reflect how your world-government just bootstrapped itself into existence and hasn't yet gotten around to addressing historically dysfunctional/neglected regions, and the cost is probably supposed to represent state-driven programs to end world poverty (in 3 months lmao) to make room for FTL-age progress and also create a productive population unit, but another way to interpret the game mechanic is bulldozing marginalized people off their land and forcing them to live and work where/how your empire says they will.
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2021 17:51
|
|
|
silentsnack posted:the cost is probably supposed to represent state-driven programs to end world poverty (in 3 months lmao) to make room for FTL-age progress and also create a productive population unit, but another way to interpret the game mechanic is bulldozing marginalized people off their land and forcing them to live and work where/how your empire says they will. ¿porque no los dos?
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2021 18:22
|
|
|
 ambient music for the update 2354 - 2357 Somewhere in the Asteroid Belt Nazar Hanim had once been an engineer aboard the cruiser UN-Hercules, he served in the Battle of Azha - and like a large swath of the UNN after the conclusion of the three year battle he took the early-retirement offered to him for the unprecedented and undue hardship the battle had brought for UNN servicemen. Even twenty years on he still had nightmares about being back aboard that cruiser as supplies ran low and every waking moment was spent expecting the blare of the incoming-fire alarm and another missile from the prowling New American ships. Upon returning to the Bastion he ended up falling in with the Martial Supremacy Alliance after other crew-members of his old cruiser convinced him to join, and he eventually became closer and closer to Cross until being appointed his personal bodyguard and eventually closest confidant. He hastily erased the message on his personal terminal and tucked it under his arm as he made his way down the corridor of the spaceship hidden in the Asteroid Belt and entered the room where Cross and co was waiting. Cross was sat on the worn brown suede couch in the captain's quarters of the MV Sight For Sore Eyes (a former-Standard Dynamics comms and navigation support ship), head in one hand, a mostly empty glass of bourbon in the other as he looked to the large screen on the opposite wall, his aides and advisors all stood or sat around as they too looked on in disbelief.  "Anyone mind telling me how the hell this has happened? The Socialist Alternative Committee was practically a joke, and my candidacy to General-Secretary even more so." Cross was almost angry looking on at the Bastion Broadcast Cooperative news report, a frazzled looking news anchor stood in front of the Deuxième-Versailles. "Well sir, from the Bastion you received 0.5% of the vote, but from the UN over all - the UN still loyal to the Bastion that is - you received 37% of the vote" Nazar began, looking down at his terminal and looking over the publicly released stats of the election "and considering there was a dozen candidates all vying for GS you beat them all by far, only the commander of the Bastion Fleet was anywhere near close. We predict that United Nationals living on Cardiff, Phoenix, even Mars and Venus aren't yet fully aware of just what went down aboard the Bastion or the uh.. actions you undertook and were willing to undertake had the PeeGees not shown up." "Supporters of the Martial Supremacy Alliance were rather more abundant on planets outside of Sol - many out west in fact but now they fall under the purview of the Drummers. Plus there is still quite a large public perception of you winning the First Frontier war for the UN, and perhaps many think you can finally bring an end to the Second one - which has been raging for three decades now." Another of Cross' aides chimed in. "You are in a pretty good position to enact all you had wanted five years ago now, it must be said, Sir" Nazar glanced to the other advisors and back to Cross "And start a second uprising? While we're fighting a three-front war?" Cross rubbed his temple and quickly finished off the last of his drink "I could have let Vance do his stupid reforms and been elected regardless" He sighed "No, what's done is done. The people have spoken. And their desire for socialism and ours to unite the galaxy are hardly in opposition. If we frame this right way we can still see our United Empire. But we have more pressing issues, we can't very well united the stars if we can't even keep the UN in one piece" "The Drummers would probably be willing to negotiate, the United States of Pontianak may be a little harder, the systems out east have always resented being dictated by Sol." "Negotiate? I'll only see peace with them once they are destroyed and in no position to disrupt things further. Admiral Curtis seeks to do what exactly? There's no corps to restore 'order' in the Bastion, they're all huddled on Pontianak and no amount of coercion will let the Lowers fall back beneath corporate rule." "Curtis is likely just bitter that the last thirty years of service to the corps amounted to nothing when the Lowers toppled them." Another aide remarked rather abrasively and chuckled. "She'd probably put the Navy in charge, considering there's no suitable figure of the old regime to huddle around - you showed yourself to be quite the iconoclast - and the Drummers assassinated the USP's ambassador, it's obvious Curtis won't allow the people to lead, nor any corporation that isn't willing to act merely as a puppet for the Navy." "Tell the helmsman to take us back to the Bastion. We've spent long enough cowering here in The Belt. I was rather looking forward to the schemes and plots we were all divising together" Cross chuckled "I must warn you sir, I'm not sure you're exactly going to receive a warm welcome at the Jakarta Docks. There is a sizable protest already underway and it's likely only to intensify once you're back on the habitat" Nazar warned, tapping a few prompts on his personal terminal and changing the main screen to show the huge demonstrations being held in the streets of Paris-on-Bastion. "Have we any C-SOB operatives still aboard the Bastion?" "None that we can reach, anyone still loyal to Bozos fled towards the Voiceless Nightmare after the PeeGees showed up, they're apparently trying to reconolidate on a planet that wrangled from the falling United African Empire."  "The Bastion Security Forces are gone - they've opted for some kind of.. 'citizen's militia' now. They'll be a lot less likely to crack some heads when those heads belong to their neighbours and friends." "We can swap where each of these militias are operating, so they'll be in unfamiliar surroundings, up against people they don't know. And perhaps a few well placed provocateurs in the crowd can give us the push we need to shut them down by force" Cross just sighed and shook his head "No" he uttered much to the puzzlement of his aides "Order the authorities to observe and keep bystanders safe - do nothing to incite the people. We can't really afford that" He stood from his seat, adjusting his casual suit as he glanced at the screen once more "Suppose I should make a speech or something. Tell the engineers to dismantle whatever mancave they constructed out of the old broadcast room and get us in contact with the BBC to do a vid-conference." "Very good sir." Nazar tapped away at his terminal and hurried behind the centenarian who was still surprisingly spry given his age, but he could not stop asking questions along the way. "Will you be rolling back any of Blair's reforms, Sir? So many died trying to stop what he was enacting on the Bastion" "No. Nothing that will incite the people on the Bastion. I can't quite say I'd agree with absolute universal healthcare and education, I don't see why those who don't provide should be aided, if you pay your tax you get your aid, I have little time for frivolous 'compassion' for those who do not contribute. That goes for Uppers too y'know. A century of living among those hedonists and trust fund babies.... it's enough to make a man mad." "Are you going to do anything to curtail the syndicates?" "No?" Cross narrowed his gaze at his bodyguard and confident probing questions "They've proven themselves to be possibly more productive than the old corps. Their workers get what they want, and we get what we want. I see no reason to disturb that. To be honest I'm rather looking forward to meeting the leaders of these syndicates - I do admire the ambitious go-getters that the generations of hardship the Lowers endured had helped foster'' The broadcast room aboard the Sight-For-Sore-Eyes had at one time been intended for internal-corporate messages and conference-calls inside Standard Dynamics, it had also played host to a number of commercials made for old StanDy products - so it was perfectly suited for the first democratically elected leader of the United Nations to make his acceptance speech. His third wife (and one he had stayed with the longest) Jennifer Seabrook, was waiting for him outside the studio door. "Is it true, Patrick? What unspeakable things did you do to make this possible, hm?" "Dear, I wish I had the machiavellian prowess to pull this off. No, this is merely... democracy in action!" He smirked and offered a kiss on his wife's cheek before making his way onto the studio floor, Nazar giving a cursory 'Mrs Cross' as he followed behind the new General-Secretary and took up position behind him as technicians handled cameras and terminals and after ten minutes they were set up and had began broadcasting, live to the BBC and by extension being bounced to every news syndicate across the UN. Cross stood in front of a giant UN logo that they had managed to find somewhere on the ship that didn't also have Standard Dynamics plastered over it, his suit made up and his appearance as presentable as possible after being on a ship in hiding for five years. The broadcast started and he stared down the center camera, his characteristic dry smirk but as he opened his mouth the only sound was a single deafening gunshot that blared like thunder inside the small spaceship's studio. Nazar had drawn his old service pistol, firing a single shot into the back of Cross' head, before the General-Secretary had even hit the ground, the bodyguard was redirecting his aim to the next nearest member of Cross' entourage and former friends of the past decade. "UNN!" was all he managed to bellow before a dozen different firearms fired back at him in response, and the broadcast feed cut out abruptly.  ____________________________________ While the Lance of Irassia and her support fleet remain stationed above Pontianak, the Bastion Fleet continues it's advance across rebel space, recapturing UN-space stations one by one.  Meanwhile back on the Bastion the sudden shocking death of Cross has caused a mixed reaction to say the least. Many are not exactly sad to see Cross' demise, but the evidence of just how extensive and pervasive the Drumbeat of Victory's reach has become is alarming, when ever the closest personnel of some of the most powerful people in the UN could potentially be spies, saboteurs or would-be-assassins. the Bastion Control Syndicate begins an extensive campaign of fear and raising public awareness about the dangers of 'crypto-capitalism' and imperialist elements that may be hiding still within UN society.   Jennifer Seabrook, now widow to Patrick Cross, had herself been a prominent member of the scientific community before the revolution, with what little sway she had left she assumed power of the General-Secretary while new elections are called, and in the one week journey from the Asteroid Belt back to Bastion was able to initiate the creation of the Syndicate of United Nations Security or 'The SUNS'. It is planned to be overseen not by any human, but by an immense super-intelligence akin to LOIS that will be infalible and incorruptible, that will hold the security and wellbeing of the people of the United Nations in the highest regard. Reception to this development is extremely mixed. And while The SUNS will still have many human (or Grammich or Endurga or any other alien) employees it would majorly be staffed by new the new synths developed by the UN. Including dedicated internal security squads (nicknamed 'Lares') assigned to each syndicate to ensure capitalist influences cannot seep back in. (And these would just be the overt personnel, many more would assume the role and persona of regular workers, acting as secret automated police)  As the MV Sight For Sore Eyes docks in Jakarta, there is still an immense demonstration being held by disgruntled and concerned people over the fact Cross was able to be elected at all - or now that his wife has assumed control. The moment the docking bridge makes contact with the sleek Standard Dynamics ship an enormous explosion rocks the dockyards.  ____________________________________ On the frontlines with the NAF and UNN, the Mirach and Alderamin space stations (more like space fortresses) have thankfully been able to hold their own against the enemy onslaught. After seeing the success of the huge Lisbon fighter squadrons against the NAF in the Battle of Jorarnrir almost all UN space stations had been outfitted with extensive fighter bays and repair and manufacturing facilities to host their own mini-fleets of spaceships for defence. In Mirach, as the Washington Fleet diminishes greatly in the face of their own once great defence station before they lost it the UN in the First Frontier War, a single immense signal is detected, simply bearing the signature Battleship Missouri.   The New Americans have rapidly caught up with UN spaceship tech after witnessing the power of The Just Good Business in the final weeks of the Battle of Azha. The Missouri is easily twice as large and powerful as the Just Good Business was, it seems designed solely for hunting and destroying the largest of the UN ships and undoubtedly in the eyes of New Colorado to hopefully slay the 'Demon of Subra' - The Lance of Irassia.  The Missouri links up with the dwindling forces of the Washington Fleet and assists in the siege of Mirach. The thousands of UN fighters don't shirk away from their duty in the face of this new behemoth and continue taking the fight to the NAF invaders.   ____________________________________ A fortnite after the bombing in the Jakarta docks, a shuttle arrives from the east, aboard is the commander of the Bastion Fleet - Tan Haneul, who requests to take control of the United Nations with emergency powers given to her. Twenty-two out of the twenty-four syndicates aboard the Bastion concede and Commander Haneul becomes the new General-Secretary.  In her stead, Captain McMillian of the UN-Bazargan is made the new commander of the Bastion Fleet. It has now entered Delta Pavonis, resistance is minimal, with the Omaha and Lagos loyalty to the Pontianak cause already faltering, though they have little desire to continue serving beneath the Bastion they have even less desire to be subservient to Pontianak who have always been their biggest rival out here in the east of the UN.  ____________________________________ 61 Cygni Above Pontianak, Admiral White continues to oversee the siege of the rebel capital. While she does her best to ensure only the most critical of military targets are bombed, there is only so much collateral damage that can be offset when it's nuclear weapons you are using. Figures will differ depending which side of the conflict you ask, but by LOIS' own calculations 400,000 Pontianaks have lost their lives thus far in the seige, while Grand Marshall Blake makes the much bolder claim that 14 million Pontianaks have been "murdered at UN hands".  A strike on a Republic of Magura nuclear silo Beneath United Mining's authority, various nation-states had been allowed to form across the surface of Pontianak - born from various cultures of old Earth that persisted on the Bastion before they reached the planet. They always had a huge deal of autonomy - on Pontianak, but no right to operate or neogate with the UN as a whole or other planets, that always fell under the purview of United Mining or UNICA. But one of Grand Marshall Blake's and United Mining CEO Gene McCreary's promises has been the reformation of Pontianak's political structure after the successful separation from the UN - wherein each of Pontianak's states will be allowed to act as their own independent power, and the United States of Pontianak will become a confederation. This is likely one of the reasons the people of Pontianak fight so fervently and repelled the initial UN invasion with such force.   USP anti-UN propaganda ____________________________________ Despite initially being seen to have assumed power, Tan Haneul soon enjoys widespread support from the people of the Bastion, for her actions in the revolution, in the fight against the rebels and now trying to ensure the safety and security of the Bastion in the face of the intense UNN / Drummers insurrection. She decides to go ahead with Seabrook's plan for The SUNS and soon both android police begin to be seen on the streets of the Bastion and many human-looking synths - who infiltrate every level of UN society to weed out subversives and imperialist agitators.   There are many that raise concerns about surrendering the UN's new found freedom so willingly to the vast AI-hordes of SUNS, and calls from GS Haneul and many of the other major syndicate-representatives that the leadership and operatives of SUNS only seek what's best for the people of the UN and to protect the revolution often fall on deaf ears. The most ardent opponents to the UN's new security measures are funnily enough all supporters of the Drumbeat of Victory party and believe the UN ought to surrender to the UNN. After a number of prominent Drummers are arrested on sedition charges, riots begin to break out in areas with the highest concentration of their supporters, the local Bastion Citizen Militias doing everything they can to maintain order.  ____________________________________ Since the fall of the United Nations Marine Corps after the failed inital invasion of Pontianak, the monumental conscription drive has seen the (new) United Nations military swell to around ten million personnel - be that front line infantry or the huge support network. It has been two years since the final fate of the old UNMC and the new transport fleets are already departing for 61 Cygni. Many of the new soldiers are veterans of the revolution, whole units are organized around individuals from the same community, who know each other and fought alongside one another against the Imperialists and their corp-allies. But with an entirely new military under the new socialist regime there has been a call for an entirely new way of operating and structuring of the military - many have maybe quite rightly raised the point that while the UN and it's citizens enjoy a new found sense of freedom, it's military is still bogged down with an authoritarian command structure which has been utilized by militaries for centuries entirely regardless of whatever ideology or political ethos their surrounding state held. Whether it be a military with an entirely flat hierarchy such as Patria Grande uses, or maybe with elected officers from the ranks of the privates who inturn elect their own superior officers or some other method still being theorized, GS-Haneul has at least been receptive of the idea, though there are fears of officers raising through the ranks thanks to popularity alone with their peers and not passed on their skill or merit. - The point was raised that many officers throughout history were widely incompetant and only gained that position through their wealth or class - and that if indeed the military should become democratized then hopefully soldiers would know better than to put an ill-fitting person in a position of power over themselves seeing as it is they who would suffer. The new UN Ground Forces is split into four - each army group consisting of two and a half million soldiers. Varangian / Immortal / Spartan / Zulu. A number of support units have been allocated for the second invasion from both the UN's allies and syndicates from the Bastion. After all the new invasion armies has amassed in Alpha Centauri then the first 3 UN army groups will move into 61 Cygni (with the Varangian taking Reykjavik, and Immortal / Spartan taking the greatly defended Pontianak itself), while Zulu will lead the Allied forces through to 40 Eridani, to capture any and all USP space installations and minor-habitats along the way and invade Busan. Where upon the successful operations they will reconvene at the edge of the Delta Pavonis system where the Lance of Irassia will have already relocated and commenced bombardments of Omaha and Lagos where necessary.  ____________________________________ The huge conscription drive and shift from a small highly specialized and professional military once used to protect UN-corporate assets and conduct surgical strikes, into a mass army of the people has seen a huge number of military academies open across the Bastion, Mars, Venus, Cardiff and Phoenix (The Grammich it must be said - while ambivalent about their former corporate overlords and were content to tend to the planet Phoenix are now fervently in favour of the new regime, hoping that after putting the UN back together Grammich soldiers may lead the charge into the New American Federation so they may see their homeworld liberated from the New Colorado regime)  The Research Institute of Bastion now operates as part of the United Nations Board of Education, but continues to contribute a great deal to the UN's research and technological development. The (temporary) loss of the Great Plains Research Facility has dampened progress only marginally, but all the researchers and scientists of the Vance Blair Wing of the RIB have more than picked up the slack. Antimatter reactors and one step closer to understanding and hopefully harnessing the power of blackholes themselves to power UN ships and infrastructure. And speaking of ships, while the Terra, Pinnacle and now Bastion class battleships are all invaluable as mobile fortresses, speed is still an essential element and the new prototype Strike Cruisers being devised promise to be some of the fastest ships the UN has yet fielded.   All those not conscripted, or supporting the army are expected to contribute in some manner no matter how small to the war effort, it is an unfortunate necessity from being trapped in a three-front conflict, though the General-Secretary does everything to ensure personal freedoms are not impeded (ignoring the previously mentioned invasion of piracy that the SUNS commits). Huge renovation and upgrade projects for all of the UN's space stations commence, offering work to millions and giving the syndicates something to focus on.  Despite the increasing stresses of the three-way conflict and the expectations put on the people they remain committed to the war effort and the desire to keep the spirit of the revolution alive. They work not because an executive or Upper tells them but because they know it's contributing to a better tomorrow.  The huge surplus stockpiles of special and exotic resources the old UN has amassed at put to use, with special ammunition, fuel and naval supplies manufactured and shipped out to the Bastion Fleet, Lance of Irassia and along with the United Nations Ground Forces.  But with so much focus given the last few years on the creation of the new army care is taken to not neglect the navy, without which the army or any UN transport, cargo or mining ship would never get far.  ____________________________________ With the recapture of the Delta Pavonis station, the remnants of the old United Stations Navy along with a handful of hastily cobbled together ships from the surface of Busan are detected moving back toward 61 Cygni, and the Bastion Fleet quickly relocates to intercept, having little time to fully secure the Delta Pavonis system.  Aboard the Sherman Station in orbit around star Rastaban deep inside New American space, BasCon agents working in conjunction with their NAF-inside man Geoffrey Leadbetter (as well as a newly appointed SUNS synth who is making it incredibly easy to infiltrate NAF high security areas) manage to make contact with a privateer. While there are the Grammich and Lucalfian aliens residing within the New American Federation there are also a number of very small minority species, some numbering only a few tens of thousands, living in cordoned-off sections of the major citieis or on their own ships and victim to stringent taxes and much discrimination at NAF hands. The Laachax are an ancient peoples, whose time as a space-faring empire came and went thousands of years ago, they do not even know where their people's homeworld even is any more. They have been reduced to a few nomadic ships, forced to steal and scrounge resources where they can and refusing to submit to the authority of any that demand it. They make a perfect candidate to fund and arm to wage a guerrilla war against the NAF deep inside their own territory and draw the American fleets away from UN space while it contends with the civil war(s).  ____________________________________ The remnants of the USP's fleet barely escapes from Fomalhaut as the Bastion Fleet closes in behind it, picking up a few stray corvettes left behind to act as a diversion. The heavily damaged and under-equipped cruisers and a battleship still surge toward Pontianak regardless, in an almost suicidal attack against the Lance of Irassia.  The skies above Pontianak are lit up with the as the USP makes a last ditch effort to save their capital, or at least forestall it's demise by just a few short months.  The Lance destroys the cruiser Corsair   And by the time the Bastion Fleet arrives in-system any hope of resistance is put down as the last USP ship is destroyed.  It is summer 2357 and the huge United Nations Ground Forces (UNGF) have convened in Alpha Centauri and are already enroute to their target planets.  Aboard the ships are soldiers from all across the UN, as well as many volunteer non-humans who have come to call the UN their home.  ____________________________________ The UNN is bested by one of the very space stations it once relied on, as Alderamin manages to fend off the rebellious fleet which makes a hasty retreat after being cut down to half its size, including the loss of two battleships which the UNN is seemingly now capable of producing themselves, it is likely they have made the already incredibly militarized systems around Jorarnrir even more so.  And a little over a month later, more good news comes as the renewed NAF assault has been repelled. The loss of the NAF Missouri must surely have dealt a major blow to New American morale, and the usefulness of small but incredibly numerous strike craft being to punch way above their weight has been shown. The NAF has been in a constant state of catch-up with the UN ever since the Second Frontier War started, there's no doubt they are already figuring out ways to counter our new fighter fleets situated in almost every UN station - or a way to utilize them themselves. And unfortunately despite the victory, there are always perpetually more NAF fleets on the way. 
Crisis Now fucked around with this message at 11:37 on Aug 16, 2021 |
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2021 11:20
|
|
|
The whole Bastion loves Patrick Cross, a lovely socialist that loves socialism! *5 seconds later* We regret to inform you that Cross is dead.
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2021 11:42
|
|
|
Honestly that was the best way for him to go: betrayed from within while in sight of his goals.
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2021 13:21
|
|
|
Synthbuttrange posted:The whole Bastion loves Patrick Cross, a lovely socialist that loves socialism! *5 seconds later* We regret to inform you that Cross is dead. Fascist killed by the idiocy of fascism, news at 11. I couldn't stop laughing.
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2021 13:32
|
|
|
how many assassinations in how many years has that been? At some point, the next General Secretary better be someone with a healthy, non-zero amount of paranoia. It was pleasing to see that even Cross was confused at his own election, though. "What do you mean I won?"
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2021 13:56
|
|
|
lol lmao
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2021 14:11
|
|
|
NullBlack posted:how many assassinations in how many years has that been? At some point, the next General Secretary better be someone with a healthy, non-zero amount of paranoia. 2345 - Secretary-General Vance Blair 2346 - Leader of the Upper Resident's Association Malcolm Spurgeon 2348 - Chairwoman of the Bastion Stock Exchange Victoria Conroy 2351 - Ambassador to the United States of Pontianak Joshua Kane 2354 - General-Secretary Olivia Gardner 2354 - General-Secretary Patrick Cross 2354 - Interim Generl-Secretary Jennifer Seabrook Cross really opened the door on assassination.
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2021 14:15
|
|
|
Real crisis of the third century vibes floating around right now
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2021 15:14
|
|
|
The Year Of Four General Secretaries
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2021 16:35
|
|
|
If we're going for historical comparisons, it might be "government-by-assassination" hours
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2021 16:49
|
|
|
The artwork is nothing short of stunning.
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2021 21:42
|
|
|
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2021 22:41
|
|
|
   ...What are the fascists even doing?!
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2021 23:34
|
|
|
Viola the Mad posted:
That's an appropriate reaction to many different threads on the forums right now.
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2021 23:46
|
|
|
Viola the Mad posted:
killers gonna kill v  v
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2021 23:47
|
|
|
Deadmeat5150 posted:The artwork is nothing short of stunning. 
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2021 23:58
|
|
|
Viola the Mad posted:
Well there seems to be two different strains of fascism as well - The burn-it-all-down and forge a new empire from the ashes folks led by Cross, who probably are falling apart now without his leadership. And the incredibly stringent reactionaries and guardians of the old way led by the (old) UN Navy. And they seem to hate each other possibly more than the new regime. 
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2021 00:09
|
|
|
Wow this thread is amazing and.. Okay also hilarious. Will anyone wanna /be/ the General Secretary now?
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2021 00:20
|
|
|
wedgekree posted:Wow this thread is amazing and.. Okay also hilarious. Will anyone wanna /be/ the General Secretary now? Is there anyone even left!? This playthrough has been killing named characters like it's freaking Game of Thrones!
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2021 00:26
|
|
|
wedgekree posted:Wow this thread is amazing and.. Okay also hilarious. Will anyone wanna /be/ the General Secretary now? Some poor patsy is begging as they throw a uniform on him and put him in front of the cameras for an electoral campaign. "But I don't want to be General Secretary-"
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2021 00:53
|
|
|
Dr. Snark posted:Is there anyone even left!? This playthrough has been killing named characters like it's freaking Game of Thrones! The UN, 2375: and who has a better story than LOIS?
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2021 01:16
|
|
|
Soup du Jour posted:The UN, 2375: and who has a better story than LOIS? I unironically want this.
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2021 01:43
|
|
|
Can't wait for the inevitable LOIS versus SUNS fight.
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2021 02:06
|
|
|
I now want nation-states AI's of SHODAN and Durandal.
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2021 02:28
|
|
|
RIP Patrick, the best boi destroyed by the RNG Oh well here comes the Robot Space Stasi. Fully Automated Luxury Gay Space Stalinism! Gridlocked fucked around with this message at 03:35 on Aug 17, 2021 |
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2021 03:28
|
|
|
Crisis Now posted:2345 - Secretary-General Vance Blair Richard the Lionheart embracing crossbows.
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2021 03:44
|
|
|
NullBlack posted:It was pleasing to see that even Cross was confused at his own election, though. "What do you mean I won?" I'm not having an easy time finding it but there's a picture taken in Trump's campaign office right when the election was called in his favor Everyone around him is jubilant and he's sitting there glowering like a big sad baby, I assume because now he actually has to be seen to perform tasks completely alien to him, like "do work" and "produce results" The Cross assassination clearly saved the UN several years of more-blatant-than-usual nepotism, cronyism and big showy signings of completely blank documents
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2021 04:26
|
|
|
[Laughs and laughs and laughs in Kaltenstein] Seriously, though, this entire thing is so messy and bonkers that it's just... perfect. This is the most fun I've had with just following an LP in ages.
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2021 07:02
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 8, 2024 20:20 |
|
|
Kangxi posted:Some poor patsy is begging as they throw a uniform on him and put him in front of the cameras for an electoral campaign. "But I don't want to be General Secretary-"
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2021 14:22
|
|