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Author Topic: Mechanized Warfare: Embral Thread / Final Phase, 1941 Cold Season  (Read 23435 times)

Strider03

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Re: Mechanized Warfare: Embral Thread / Revision Phase, 1939 Cold Season
« Reply #180 on: February 10, 2020, 11:57:42 am »


Quote from: MopeyBoy
Wellshrubbery: (5) Madman, TFF, NUKE9.13, SC777, Strider
Carpet Moss: (0)

Kill Dave: (4) Madman, TFF, NUKE9.13, SC777
Kill Amanvir: (1) Strider
Logged
Within that world, she was God. But here, outside of it, her name was Yoake o-Shiri. That was unimportant. She was a Godslayer. That too was unimportant. But what was important, was that she had a motherfucking boat.
And by God, was she going to use it.

"But deceleration is for pansies. We're headed for the stars. Bye, Burnsie. Bye, Mission Control. Bye, Sol. See you at heat death" -Blindsight

Man of Paper

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Mechanized Warfare: Embral Thread / Strategy Phase, 1939 Cold Season
« Reply #181 on: February 10, 2020, 05:09:13 pm »

Revision Phase, Cold Season 1939 AC

Proposal: Wellshrubbery
Quote
After the successful employment of Wellmoss in the warship-sort-of-repair role, a new use was realized for the material: the reshaping of battlefield terrain. By employing a species of Wellmoss that grows into something more accurately described as "Wellshrubberies", we can grow bushes and similar natural-looking concealment overnight or even faster given the success of Wellmoss. The ingredients are simple: Water, seeds, and, of course, noise. This noise can be provided by something like a vehicle engine or a Sikari flute (if you don't mind scaring the life out of anyone in the vicinity who isn't wearing their earplugs), or the children's noisemaking toy that comes with the short list of instructions, entitled "How Not To Be Seen", in the Grow Your Own Concealment kit.

Use cases include: Obstructing sightlines, providing obvious places in which one might hide (where we would of course not be hiding) which we can rig with LIES to make the hiding place into a high explosive lie, providing less obvious places in which to hide (where we might sometimes be hiding, but not always, so as to confuse our opponents), and providing a flammable wall of shrubbery which could at any point just totally spontaneously burst into flames.

Difficulty: Hard
Result: (3+1)-1=3, Buggy Mess


Wellshrubbery was certainly a novel idea, and with the successes of the introduction of Wellmoss to our fleet we expected to see it's use on land reach the bar set by it's predecessor. That was not the case.

Wellshrubbery is "successful" in that we can make Wellmoss grow on land, but the growths are short-lived. With less than near-total submersion and sound carried at a weaker level through air, the nutrient- and (sound?)-hungry material is not sustained for long. Testing in wetter environments sees the Wellshrubbery from the Grow Your Own Concealment kit grow to about waist-height and shoulder-length before withering away and dying out a couple hours later. In dryer environments, however, Wellshrubbery is practically useless, capable of growing out as little more than peach fuzz before rapidly turning into brown dust. Wellshrubberies also do not root, meaning they can be toppled with extreme ease. This includes the heavy winds in more turbulent areas.

The packets themselves are used by tearing them open, spilling out the seeds, and upending one's canteen over them while making a lot of noise.

Unfortunately, breeding wellmoss into wellshrubbery and harvesting enough seeds to put into a single packet proves to be time, labor, and resource-intensive, making the Wellshrubbery Concealment Kit (VERY EXPENSIVE) with a cost of 5 Wellmaterials.

----------------

It's time to decide what two lanes to attack on, what resource you will deploy and where, if you'll use an Attack to strike a Pact facility instead of Inithar, the deployment of your National Effort(s), and what your final decision on who lives and who dies will be. The future of the expedition, and indeed all of Embral, is in your hands now more than ever!

IT IS NOW THE STRATEGY PHASE!


Spoiler: Land Territories (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Sea Territories (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Resources (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Embrallish Armory (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Credits (click to show/hide)

Logged

Madman198237

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Re: Mechanized Warfare: Embral Thread / Revision Phase, 1939 Cold Season
« Reply #182 on: February 10, 2020, 08:42:19 pm »

Quote from: Murder Box
Attacks
Badlands Gavrillium Node: (1) Madman
Eastern Lane (Mudflats): (1) Madman

Deploy The Leviathan (it's our only NE):
Eastern Maelstrom: (1) Madman

Kill Dave: (4) Madman, TFF, NUKE9.13, SC777
Kill Amanvir: (1) Strider
Logged
We shall make the highest quality of quality quantities of soldiers with quantities of quality.

Jilladilla

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Re: Mechanized Warfare: Embral Thread / Revision Phase, 1939 Cold Season
« Reply #183 on: February 10, 2020, 08:51:16 pm »

Going to Strongly Disagree here a bit; we have no useful land development, so pushing the Mudflats isn't likely to give us a positive result.
However, attacking the Eastern Sea; where we do have an advancement, a quite good one at that, is one more likely to bear fruit. If we succeed we cut down on their naval support a bit.

And finally, Fuck Dave. Enough said.

Quote from: Murder Box
Attacks
Badlands Gavrillium Node: (1) Madman
Eastern Lane (Mudflats): (1) Madman
Eastern Maelstrom: (1) Nemonole

Deploy The Leviathan (it's our only NE):
Eastern Maelstrom: (2) Madman, Nemonole

Kill Dave: (5) Madman, TFF, NUKE9.13, SC777, Nemonole
Kill Amanvir: (1) Strider
Logged

Glory to United Forenia!

If you see a 'Nemonole' on the internet elsewhere, it's probably me

Madman198237

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Re: Mechanized Warfare: Embral Thread / Revision Phase, 1939 Cold Season
« Reply #184 on: February 10, 2020, 09:24:33 pm »

Quote from: Murder Box
Attacks (vote for 2)
Badlands Gavrillium Node: (1) Madman
Eastern Lane (Mudflats): (0)
Eastern Maelstrom: (2) Nemonole, Madman

Deploy The Leviathan (it's our only NE):
Eastern Maelstrom: (2) Madman, Nemonole

Kill Dave: (5) Madman, TFF, NUKE9.13, SC777, Nemonole
Kill Amanvir: (1) Strider
Logged
We shall make the highest quality of quality quantities of soldiers with quantities of quality.

Jilladilla

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Re: Mechanized Warfare: Embral Thread / Revision Phase, 1939 Cold Season
« Reply #185 on: February 10, 2020, 09:44:56 pm »

Don't we have a resource to assign?...

Quote from: Murder Box
Attacks (vote for 2)
Badlands Gavrillium Node: (2) Madman, Nemonole
Eastern Lane (Mudflats): (0)
Eastern Maelstrom: (2) Nemonole, Madman

Deploy The Leviathan (it's our only NE):
Eastern Maelstrom: (2) Madman, Nemonole

Kill Dave: (5) Madman, TFF, NUKE9.13, SC777, Nemonole
Kill Amanvir: (1) Strider
Logged

Glory to United Forenia!

If you see a 'Nemonole' on the internet elsewhere, it's probably me

Shadowclaw777

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Re: Mechanized Warfare: Embral Thread / Revision Phase, 1939 Cold Season
« Reply #186 on: February 10, 2020, 09:57:37 pm »

we also have an espionage credit that could possibly use to weaken the Pact Base for our assault.

Quote from: Murder Box
Attacks (vote for 2)
Badlands Gavrillium Node: (3) Madman, Nemonole, SC777
Eastern Lane (Mudflats): (0)
Eastern Maelstrom: (3) Nemonole, Madman, SC777

Deploy The Leviathan (it's our only NE):
Eastern Maelstrom: (3) Madman, Nemonole, SC777

Resource:
(1) Wellmaterial in Badlands

Kill Dave: (4) Madman, TFF, NUKE9.13, Nemonole
Kill Amanvir: (2) Strider, SC777
Logged

NUKE9.13

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Re: Mechanized Warfare: Embral Thread / Revision Phase, 1939 Cold Season
« Reply #187 on: February 11, 2020, 03:42:24 pm »

Alright, so. I can get behind probing the Pact's defences (slash beginning the process of wearing down their defences in an area). But I don't think we should use an EC to weaken their defences, as even with such an advantage, I really don't think we'd make any progress. I mean, we just don't have the sort of guns you need to take out a dude in flying power armour. Using an EC to weaken the Pact's defences down the line (when we have a more developed armoury) would be a good idea, though.

As for the other stuff, it all makes sense. I haven't looked at what will get cheaper from another Well, but I assume it'll be relevant. 



E: Madman pointed out that more Wells will make our entire navy cheaper, pretty much, which combined with the new (Cheap) destroyer will drastically shift things at sea in our favour (I'm assuming that Inithar worked on something to hold the Mudflats this turn, since navally they were doing good last turn).
To quote the last BR: "We suspect that there would have been gains [in the North Peaks] this time around if the sea situation had stayed similar to last season's."
Taking advantage of our sudden spike in naval power to gain a foothold in the North Peaks would be a good move. It's not a sure thing- whatever Inithar made this turn could well bolster their defensive power in the peaks, in which case even improving the naval situation might not be enough. But it's worth a try over a, let's be honest, futile attempt to take a Pact facility.

Quote from: Murder Box
Attacks (vote for 2)
Badlands Gavrillium Node: (3) Madman, Nemonole, SC777
Eastern Lane (Mudflats): (0)
Eastern Maelstrom: (3) Nemonole, Madman, SC777
Western Maelstrom: (1) NUKE9.13
Western Lane (North Peaks): (1) NUKE9.13

Deploy The Leviathan (it's our only NE):
Eastern Maelstrom: (3) Madman, Nemonole, SC777
Western Maelstrom: (1) NUKE9.13

Resource:
Wellmaterial in Badlands: (2) SC777, NUKE9.13

Kill Dave: (4) Madman, TFF, NUKE9.13, Nemonole
Kill Amanvir: (2) Strider, SC777
« Last Edit: February 12, 2020, 07:57:24 am by NUKE9.13 »
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Long Live United Forenia!

Madman198237

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Re: Mechanized Warfare: Embral Thread / Revision Phase, 1939 Cold Season
« Reply #188 on: February 12, 2020, 09:59:11 am »

Quote from: Murder Box
Attacks (vote for 2)
Badlands Gavrillium Node: (2) Nemonole, SC777
Eastern Lane (Mudflats): (0)
Eastern Maelstrom: (2) Nemonole, SC777
Western Maelstrom: (2) NUKE9.13, Madman
Western Lane (North Peaks): (2) NUKE9.13, Madman

Deploy The Leviathan (it's our only NE):
Eastern Maelstrom: (2) Nemonole, SC777
Western Maelstrom: (2) NUKE9.13, Madman

Resource:
Wellmaterial in Badlands: (3) SC777, NUKE9.13, Madman

Kill Dave: (4) Madman, TFF, NUKE9.13, Nemonole
Kill Amanvir: (2) Strider, SC777

Taking the Pact facility will *probably* not be futile; I'd assume their numbers will be low enough for the first few facilities. After that, though, it's undoubtedly going to be ugly.
« Last Edit: February 12, 2020, 10:20:58 am by Madman198237 »
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We shall make the highest quality of quality quantities of soldiers with quantities of quality.

Jilladilla

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Re: Mechanized Warfare: Embral Thread / Revision Phase, 1939 Cold Season
« Reply #189 on: February 12, 2020, 11:08:05 am »

Very well, shall we do this then?

Quote from: Murder Box
Attacks (vote for 2)
Badlands Gavrillium Node: (1) SC777
Eastern Lane (Mudflats): (0)
Eastern Maelstrom: (1) SC777
Western Maelstrom: (3) NUKE9.13, Madman, Nemonole
Western Lane (North Peaks): (3) NUKE9.13, Madman, Nemonole

Deploy The Leviathan (it's our only NE):
Eastern Maelstrom: (1) SC777
Western Maelstrom: (3) NUKE9.13, Madman, Nemonole

Resource:
Wellmaterial in Badlands: (4) SC777, NUKE9.13, Madman, Nemonole

Kill Dave: (4) Madman, TFF, NUKE9.13, Nemonole
Kill Amanvir: (2) Strider, SC777
Logged

Glory to United Forenia!

If you see a 'Nemonole' on the internet elsewhere, it's probably me

Strider03

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Re: Mechanized Warfare: Embral Thread / Revision Phase, 1939 Cold Season
« Reply #190 on: February 14, 2020, 09:50:52 am »

Quote from: Murder Box
Attacks (vote for 2)
Badlands Gavrillium Node: (2) SC777, Strider03
Eastern Lane (Mudflats): (0)
Eastern Maelstrom: (1) SC777
Western Maelstrom: (4) NUKE9.13, Madman, Nemonole, Strider03
Western Lane (North Peaks): (3) NUKE9.13, Madman, Nemonole

Deploy The Leviathan (it's our only NE):
Eastern Maelstrom: (1) SC777
Western Maelstrom: (4) NUKE9.13, Madman, Nemonole, Strider03

Resource:
Wellmaterial in Badlands: (5) SC777, NUKE9.13, Madman, Nemonole, Strider03

Kill Dave: (4) Madman, TFF, NUKE9.13, Nemonole
Kill Amanvir: (2) Strider, SC777
Logged
Within that world, she was God. But here, outside of it, her name was Yoake o-Shiri. That was unimportant. She was a Godslayer. That too was unimportant. But what was important, was that she had a motherfucking boat.
And by God, was she going to use it.

"But deceleration is for pansies. We're headed for the stars. Bye, Burnsie. Bye, Mission Control. Bye, Sol. See you at heat death" -Blindsight

Shadowclaw777

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Re: Mechanized Warfare: Embral Thread / Revision Phase, 1939 Cold Season
« Reply #191 on: February 14, 2020, 03:14:39 pm »

Quote from: Murder Box
Attacks (vote for 2)
Badlands Gavrillium Node: (1) Strider03
Eastern Lane (Mudflats): (0)
Eastern Maelstrom: (1) SC777
Western Maelstrom: (4) NUKE9.13, Madman, Nemonole, Strider03
Western Lane (North Peaks): (4) NUKE9.13, Madman, Nemonole, SC777

Deploy The Leviathan (it's our only NE):
Eastern Maelstrom: (0)
Western Maelstrom: (5) NUKE9.13, Madman, Nemonole, Strider03, SC777

Resource:
Wellmaterial in Badlands: (5) SC777, NUKE9.13, Madman, Nemonole, Strider03

Kill Dave: (4) Madman, TFF, NUKE9.13, Nemonole
Kill Amanvir: (2) Strider, SC777
Logged

Man of Paper

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Mechanized Warfare: Embral Thread / Design Phase, 1940 Hot Season
« Reply #192 on: March 06, 2020, 10:39:08 am »

Strategy Phase, Cold Season 1939 AC

Over the course of this season we built up our industrial strength with the introduction of a Wellmaterial extraction facility in the Badlands, bringing our access to Wellmaterials to Three(3).

This has resulted in the following changes to our armory:

Sikari Mask Mk.III becomes (CHEAP)
Strings of Motion become (EXPENSIVE)
'Mamkirali' Naval Lander becomes (CHEAP)
Hetham-Class Submarine becomes (CHEAP)
Silada-Class Destroyer becomes (CHEAP)
Mukebaza-Class Heavy Cruiser becomes (CHEAP)

The Wellshrubbery Concealment Kit had it's cost mislabeled at 5 Wellmaterials. It has been properly adjusted to 6 to be in line with the intended (VERY EXPENSIVE) cost compared to starting Wellmaterial amounts, though the new Wellmaterial resource makes it (EXPENSIVE).

----------------

Two shots ring out in rapid succession, deafening each of you in the enclosed space. Dave hits the ground as the gun used to kill him hits the table. Everything happened so fast, you're not sure who fired the shot. Amanvir's eyes, squeezed tight from fright, slowly open as she realizes she hasn't been shot. Dave gurgles as blood flows freely from the hole in his neck. Amanvir looks down and watches silently while Dave holds both hands over the wound in a failing attempt to stop the bleeding, his mouth opening and closing silently not unlike a fish being held out of water. After a few moments his grip on his throat relaxes, his mouth stops moving, and his body goes entirely limp. Amanvir stands and kicks Dave's corpse in the chest with a sickening thump and the crack of a few ribs.


"A glorified fucking assassin," Amanvir says more to Dave's body than anyone else before looking to each of you, "I appreciate your decision. It was certainly not a choice to be taken lightly in such a short time, but it was the right one. We cannot sell ourselves to our enemies. They've already begun encroaching on our homeland, have initiated the slaughter of our people, and have begun extraction and use of resources found in our Wells. We stand on a razor's edge, as we always have, and the Sau-Cihare are the only ones capable of keeping us from slipping into our utter annihilation. But we cannot accomplish this task alone, and the forces at home require aid. With Wellmaterials being pushed to the front by our enemies, our largest advantage throughout history has been turned against us, and we need to bring forth something new. I'd originally made my way here to contact our dead agent and get filled in on why no shipments have left Harren, but I now understand you are in an entirely new war over here, with new and completely unprecedented threats. I will inform our circle that your success here necessitates the use of Harren's own materials, but know that if you acquire Gavrillium or Caelium you can send it home and we'll supplement your resource stockpiles with what we have available." [This will make the resource from the node unavailable to you for use, but will give you a Resource Credit to attain a nonHarren Resource with.]

"In time we will hunt down these Traitors, and those Loyal to the Empire will flourish once more."

----------------

Combat Phase, Cold Season 1939 AC

The Western Front

The Leviathan, finally, was at the head of a combat fleet worthy of it's presence. The new Silada-Class Destroyers and our more numerous Mukebazas made quite the imposing sight as they moved into the Maelstrom's perpetual storm. Hethams loitering all across the sector had set themselves up to observe enemy fleet actions. The Kona had been spotted, no doubt organizing patrols, but there was a significant lack of Initharian aggressiveness in their movements. No doubt they had become complacent after their victories at sea.

A pair of enemy Ho'oulas briefly skirmished with a Silada caught out on it's own by the terribly fast ships while it was probing ahead of the fleet. The Ho'oulas were quick to try to pincer the Silada between them and all three ships opened fire at once. The Silada's guns thundered as shells splashed in the water nearby, spraying the crew on the deck with frigid seawater. Water gushed towards the air in the distance as the Silada's shells fell in the wake of the Ho'oula it was focused on. More shells landed near the Silada, which pushed forward even as the pincer began to close on it. The Initharian's drew first blood as a pair of shell penetrated the hull at the waterline. As the sea washed into the compartments the Wellmoss sandwiched between the hull and armor expanded and slowly began to fill the new openings. She listed slightly, but the rush of water was steadily slowed as the engagement wore on.

A salvo fired from the Silada struck true in almost the same moment. Knowing the fragility of the Ho'oulas the captain of the Silada had been using HE rounds, and the effect was devastating as the ship was penetrated near the bow. The shell detonated a moment later, tearing a massive hole in the side of the ship. It rapidly listed and capsized. The second ship disengaged and hurriedly broke contact. A bright flash in the distance was accompanied by a delayed low boom as a Hetham's torpedo met it's mark.

Engagements at sea this season were dramatically different from the past couple years. With a sizeable, well-rounded fleet finally available, we were able to draw manpower from Initharian sub hunting operations, dramatically increasing the effectiveness of our submersible fleet. The presence of the enemy Kona gave the Initharians a more coordinated defense, but they soon realized their destroyers were outclassed by our own in an all-out brawl, and their Kaipo'u-Class Battleships were dramatically outnumbered by our Mukebazas (although plunging fire through the deck was the only reliable means of damaging one with the Mukebaza's guns, and made a very juicy target for our Hethams on the occasion that an opening was granted during a surface battle. Not to mention the capability of our Siladas to utilize torpedoes against the increasingly harassed battleships.

As the season pressed on, our fleet noted the absence of the Kona. With immense pressure from our fleet, and having a history of taking damage from our ships without much in the way of retaliation, the ship had pulled back to prevent being sent to the seabed. With a well-rounded, everpresent fleet of various warships and submarines, combined with Inithar's lack of significant pressure in the sector, we reduced their fleet to relying on raiding tactics and were thusly able to press our own advantages. As a result we were able to completely reverse the situation at sea, wrenching control from the Initharian's in a massive upset.

Embral attains Light Control of the West Maelstrom.

----------------

Later in the season, once our fleet had diminished enemy numbers and properly identified a number of minefields (before obliterating their control towers), they were joined by a mass of Mamkirali landing craft. We'd observed the enemy massing on their shores, likely preparing for an invasion of their own, but we'd gotten prepared and shoved off before they could, and so their force was resigned to trying to hold their mountains yet again.

Enemy ships moved to intercept our landing fleet, but were turned back a number of times by our effective screen of durable destroyers and stealthy submarines. While a few transport groups were hit by distant enemy ships in the hit-and-run attacks that the cowards had adopted, we were able to get more troops safely across the strait than any past attempt.

The night before, however, was when our naval supremacy, however slight it may have been, proved itself.

----------------

Three out of the four SEAL DPR/Vs assigned to the sector "Gujarat Beach" made it ashore in relatively close proximity. Xilmal Jagpal was the unlucky fourth.

Her SEAL's controls had stuck, sending her off-course and three landing areas down to "Talwar Beach". She'd managed to get lucky enough to hit a long-forgotten sheep trail tucked out of sight of the Initharians when the most likely option was being dashed against rocks or a cliff. It was some well deserved luck after being "volunteered" to infiltrate Initharian lines with nothing but a knife, then getting stuck with a SEAL with a fault that had been mostly eliminated. Xilmal dismounted her torpedo as it crossed parallel to the small rocky beach and kicked it out towards the ocean.

Well, that's it, she thought to herself. Not only was the SEAL a one-way trip, but she was now stuck behind enemy lines for hours before the invasion began, and even then her survival relied on the success of the landing. She wasn't confident.

Xilmal made her way up the steep winding sheep trail which took her further and further from the beach proper and eventually deposited her at the top of a sheer cliff overlooking the West Maelstrom. An Initharian soldier was there, pissing off the edge of the world. He was alone but armed, an M1 'Nima' resting on the ground behind him. The rain striking the ground covered the sound of Xilmal's approach, and she managed to get her hands on the rifle as the Initharian tucked himself in his pants and turned around. Xilmal fired the rifle - it was an odd feeling, there was almost no recoil. The 8mm round caught the Initharian in the head and he began to fall backward and over the cliff. Xilmal shot forward and grabbed his collar, pulling him back onto the cliff and dropping him to the ground unceremoniously. She took a few extra magazines from the corpse as well as his boots, M1 'Hau Kai' gas mask, and coat before finally kicking him off the cliff.

A well-worn path led down the cliff towards a set of dimly lit steps and a steel door leading, presumably, into a bunker or tunnel through the mountain. Xilmal cautiously began to descend when the door opened up and an Initharian soldier stepped out. She had no cover.

"Haku?" he called out, babbling in his alien language as he held a hand over his eyes to block the light of the bulb above him, "Haku?"

Xilmal was far enough away that the soldier only noticed a rifle was aimed at him once it was too late. She put two bullets in his chest practically in the same hole, gaining a different level of appreciation for the nearly recoilless rifles than most of her brethren would have. The Initharian slumped and Xilmal dashed to the open door. Nobody else came through. Xilmal pulled the corpse inside and closed the door behind her then bolting it shut. The corridor went ahead a couple meters before splitting to the left and right. Old rusted metal plates bolted to the walls labeled the paths using an image of stairs and the profile of a bunker with arrows pointing to the left and right. The poorly lit hall was empty. Xilmal could see her breath in the air as she slowly made her way right to the bunker. The door was slightly ajar and some voices carried through the crack towards Xilmal. She pressed herself against the wall on the side of the door's hinges and crept forward. She could see someone's back in the opening of the door. Something was said, and there was a laugh before the back turned around and the door began to open inward. Xilmal was close enough to dash forward and ram the heavy steel door with her shoulder. Something popped, but the door flung open and the Initharian pulling on it was sent onto his ass. Two more Initharians were in the bunker. One was seated at a table covered in documents and the other was looking out of the bunker. The seated one stood up fast enough to rocket the chair backward and the one standing already went for her rifle, but Xilmal put a round into the wall centimeters from her hand and stopped the Initharian in her tracks.

Xilmal, with her left arm hanging from the socket, thrust the rifle held loosely in her right hand at all three Initharians and gestured to the corner furthest from their guns and away from the firing slit. After a brief moment of thought, Xilmal made the difficult decision to simply gun all three down.

Clackclackclackclackclackclackclack tinktinktink

They were unarmed, sure, but they were a threat if left alive regardless of whether she hunkered down here or left to go elsewhere. And with the sky beginning to lighten, Xilmal was going to be holing up where she was. Her shoulder felt like it was being jabbed with an icy needle, and pain shot down to her fingertips when she tried to move it. She struggled but was eventually successful in closing and bolting the bunker door with her good arm before peeking outside.

Laid out before her, far ahead and below, was a network of trenches and bunkers, and beyond that, Talwar Beach. Xilmal had managed to stumble across an observation post, and when she understood this she immediately turned to the table the one Initharian was sat at and rifled through the papers. They looked to be maps of the defenses in the area of the beach. Xilmal noted, however, that they were written on in one of those Initharian color languages. It didn't matter much, as she had no way to relay this information while it would be useful.

Which would be soon, as the first shells from the naval bombardment began to strike Initharian defenses. Xilmal could see Initharians moving along the defenses laid out ahead of her bunker. She looked back at the bodies in the corner - they'd left her plenty of ammo. It was really just a matter of how much damage she could cause with one good arm before the Initharians got through the door behind her. Or friendly fire took out her bunker...

----------------

The introduction of their M1 'Hau Kai' gas masks proved fairly effective, when present, in minimizing the toxic side effects of LIE weapons, and the coverings placed over the ears blocked out a significant amount of wellwhistle noise from our Sikari Masks. The Initharian's long-standing use of nonverbal communications allowed the Initharian's to effectively communicate while masks were on so long as there was visual contact. While both methods of dislodging defenders had suffered a hit to effectiveness, we were able to get more men off the landing zones and into hard cover. Previous attempts at penetrating the mountainous defenses left us with some amount of knowledge of the terrain, and we were able to outmaneuver and encircle a number of Initharian-occupied underground complexes. Our explosives aided breaching efforts, and with our bolstered numbers we were able to more thoroughly secure our gains. Initharians launched countless ambushes as they fell back, but they did indeed fall back to a second large-scale mountain complex. Scouts also report a Pact stronghold in a mine complex within the mountains here. Fighting in this area may see us...acquire information on Pact equipment.

Thanks to continued efforts, Embral successfully attacked the North Peaks, gaining control of an empty Resource Node in the process.

----------------

The Eastern Front

The Initharians used their foothold in The Mudflats to set up a front within the vast network of trenches that crossed the entirety of the sector. The mud this season was already a well-known issue among our forces, but the Initharians were experiencing it for the first time. Their Wikiwiki and Alanui, for all their speed, had to be careful lest they drive over a patch of mud that looks just like the rest but would swallow anything heavier than a rat. The task of funneling enemy vehicles was simple enough, and their attempts at assaulting our line to force a breakthrough met with focused fire and resulted in disaster.

Initharian forces landed on the shores to the east and threatened the flank, but once they were out of range for support from their naval guns, their push lost momentum. One final massive assault was prefaced by days of bombardment from our end, without so much as a grenade thrown by the Initharians. Our mortars and artillery weakened the enemy and they proved quite easy to break after they finally launched their attack. The enemy Alanui, for as devastating as it's refocyte shells could be, was the only form of fire support they had to strike hardened positions. This made it remarkably easy to turn them away from the positions we occupied that the Salviosi had built decades ago. A couple breakthroughs did occur, but there was absolutely no way for them to sustain their assault when we had troops in reserve absolutely unthreatened by indirect fire and ready to move forward. Counter-attacks occurred as soon as a position was overrun, with fresh troops swooping in on exhausted Initharians. The slaughter lasted for ninety minutes before Inithar pulled back, giving up their coastal gains and returning to their line to the north. Inithar was going to be hard-pressed to take any more land here without some sort of support.

Embral successfully defended The Mudflats.

-----------------

While the war certainly took a turn for the best this season, it was by no means guaranteed, and the enemy is bound to test themselves against us again soon. We can try to cement ourselves on top even further by earning a Research Credit! You're tasked with creating something to represent Xilmal during or after the invasion. This could be anything from a first person narrative, a story from a passer-by's point of view, a drawing, a song, or maybe even you could commission one of them dumbass Initharian squiggle arts. You'll vote for one to make official and I'll be posting the victor in the core thread. On top of the Research Credit just for voting for a lore proposal, the team who's final submission is deemed "better", whatever that ends up meaning, will get an Espionage Credit[/i].

AND HEY BECAUSE ITS A TREND THAT I THINK I LIKE YOU NOW HAVE MORE FUNDING FROM LIKE HOME OR WHATEVER AND GET TWO DESIGNS A TURN.

IT IS NOW THE DESIGN PHASE. 

Spoiler: Land Territories (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Sea Territories (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Resources (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Embrallish Armory (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Credits (click to show/hide)

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Madman198237

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Re: Mechanized Warfare: Embral Thread / Design Phase, 1940 Hot Season
« Reply #193 on: March 06, 2020, 01:20:27 pm »

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Earsplitter Sonic Grenade
In some Wells, the very walls will respond to sound. This Wellstone will, when shattered, produce an incredibly loud and high-pitched sound that is very, very dangerous. It is in fact powerful enough to cause damage to walls and kill people too close to the source, if enough of the stone shatters. The effect only lasts for a second or two, normally. We've made use of this stone to produce a variable-yield grenade. Inside the metal casing, there is a set of stone chips surrounding a central casing, holding the detonator and explosive filler, which shatters the stone into shards and produces the absolutely horrifying sound. The yield can be altered by altering the amount of explosive filler, which can be done reasonably easily as the explosive in contained in a set of little packets.

The detonator is either a timed fuse from the pin or a contact detonator. An adapter is issued that puts a small rod on the bottom of the grenade, to be put inside an unmodified Samarata barrel and fired with a blank rifle cartridge, with range settings based on how far into the rifle the grenade is inserted.

The end result is a high-power sonic grenade that can either be debilitating or lethal, as necessary, and is widely available to soldiers as both a hand grenade and a rifle grenade.
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We shall make the highest quality of quality quantities of soldiers with quantities of quality.

NUKE9.13

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Re: Mechanized Warfare: Embral Thread / Design Phase, 1940 Hot Season
« Reply #194 on: March 06, 2020, 01:52:51 pm »

Xilmal story first draft. Suggestions for improvements/additions please.
E: added some more.
E2: had misunderstood prompt, changed to (hopefully) be valid. 
Spoiler: Past and Present (click to show/hide)



Anyway, designs. Madman mentioned potentially wanting to do the ASH. I agree it's a cool design written by an intelligent and handsome individual, although I feel it may have some problems. Still, here it is:
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Autoresonant Siege Horn:
The Siege Horn is something that Embralish engineers have tried many times over the years, but they generally ran into problems: while the principle is sound- blasting a target with noise that matches its resonant frequency, causing it to shake itself apart despite a relatively low energy input-, they found that it was impractical due to the need to tune the horn to match the resonant frequency of the target, which takes time that is not often available. Industrial-era engineering saw the development of autoresonant instruments (in which the frequency played is modulated over a range, until the characteristic feedback of resonance is detected, locking in the frequency), but these proved impractical to mass-produce with the technology of the time.
Well, technology has moved on. The cost of precision engineering has dropped, and the use of advanced electronics (why, I saw a vacuum tube radio the other day that could fit in a woman's handbag!) simplifies the tuning mechanism, to the point where we are fairly certain that the Autoresonant Siege Horn is finally practical.

The Autoresonant Siege Horn is an infantry weapon, about 1.4 meters long- basically a long metal tube with a flared muzzle. It is made of lightweight materials for convenience, weighing less than five kilos. The majority of the weapon is taken up by the 'horn' part, which creates a highly-focused extreme-intensity blast of noise when 'played'. The horn is not played by the user blowing into it, but rather the ASH uses cartridges of compressed gas that are screwed into the end of the weapon, and unscrewed when spent (each cartridge weighing around 400g). As mentioned, the noise blast initially cycles rapidly through frequencies, until a microphone mounted towards the front of the weapon detects a sufficiently strong resonance feedback, at which point the cycling stops, and the frequency is automatically honed in for optimal destructiveness (to the returning resonant frequency, obviously).
The ASH has a moderately short effective range, with effects dropping off quickly when exceeding this range. However, within range, the effects can be devastating; it usually takes less than a second for the autoresonance to hone in (including the time it takes for the sound to get from the horn to the target and back again- the most distant of targets take more than a second for this reason), after which the destructive effects will be felt, growing in intensity as the attack continues (which can last up to 8 seconds, though most targets will only require 4-5 to be destroyed). The weapon can shake down concrete walls, shatter armoured vehicles (even if the armour itself survives, the more delicate internal machinery will be hopelessly damaged), and generally wreak havoc on any solid structure. More flexible objects- such as human beings- are less vulnerable, so the ASH is not recommended for anti-personnel use, but in a pinch, it can knock people unconscious (and leave them permanently deaf).
Operators are obviously provided with potent ear protection, as even though the blast is highly constrained into a narrow cone, there is still a somewhat dangerous amount of 'splashback' noise.

Several kinds of Well-materials are used to achieve the intense effects, including small amounts of Wellbronze in the sensor, and a variety of Wellwoods in the horn.

Compared to more conventional explosive solutions (eg a Bazooka), the ASH is, on the one hand: lighter, and more thorough in its destructiveness; and on the other has a shorter max range (though the effective range is only slightly less) and longer firing time.

I'd definitely like to do something armour-piercing this turn, because I think we'll need such tech if we want to successfully attack the Pact (which we should get around to doing). I'd also like to make use of our new bonus to give our forces another option when it comes to firearms. An SMG, perhaps:
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Miraca SMG MkII:
The Samarata 1902 is a quality piece of kit. However, the rate of fire is... not great, which can be a problem when getting up close and personal. The intensifying trench/bunker warfare calls for a close-quarters weapon with a high rate of fire, preferably a highly portable one. The Miraca SMG has therefore been dusted off and greenlit for production in Harren, with some minor modifications.

The Miraca is a compact, lightweight piece of kit, made primarily out of machined steel components- with our industry as it is, we do not anticipate significant difficulty producing them in sufficient quantities. It is, of course, fully automatic, with a respectable RoF of 600 rounds/minute (there is no selector to change the mode of fire, although there is a safety). The effective range is around 150 meters. The 9x19mm ammunition is provided in 36-round clipazines, that slot into the underside of the weapon, serving as a forwards grip for two-hand use. The rear pistol-esque grip allows the weapon to be used one-handed if long-range accuracy is not a major concern. A folding stock is used to reduce the size of the weapon, while still allowing for greater stability when needed.
The Miraca MkII has two main modifications. First, in deference to the conditions of Harren, we've ensured it is totally waterproof, and resistant to mud and sand (easy to clean)- it is more important that the weapon be reliable than that it be extremely powerful/long-ranged. Second, an optional Wellresin 'silencer' has been created, drastically reducing the noise generated by firing.

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Espionage Credit - Steal Pact SMG
The Pact's weapon technology far exceeds that of both Embral and Inithar. And they ain't sharing.
Voluntarily, that is.
If one were so inclined, it would be possible for a handful of highly-trained operatives to approach one of their outposts under cover of darkness, having scouted the area from a distance for weeks in advance, such that the patrol routes have been memorised and all entrances charted. These hypothetical infiltrators could then break in to the camp, flitting from shadow to shadow as the patrols pass by none the wiser. As guards are called away to deal with a nearby distraction, they could theoretically acquire a few of the Pact's submachine-guns (having determined their storage location thanks to the aforementioned meticulous long-term observation), and carefully make their way back out of the camp, leaving the Pact none the wiser. Of course, this would only be feasible if the operatives were experts at stealth, like if they came from a nation with over a thousand years of history using such tactics.
« Last Edit: March 18, 2020, 03:47:09 pm by NUKE9.13 »
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