War with Morgan

[Modo44]

We made it.

A minute of silence for those, that were lost.

[Snoddasmannen]

Originally posted by Googlie
With my stupidity re: the Mercury, the GeneralTacticus is vulnerable to probe action. I suggest we hitail it for the nearest port and get a second escort to it asap. Morgan has 2 'Gator boats out and about and a third building

Yes I was also concerned about this. It will be very vulnerable during its return. I suppose there's no way to give it a friend to come out and meet it half way?

More mental tally:

• Due to drone riots and stuff, Morgan income dropped from 526 to 364 this year (tripled due to solar flares). Not bad
• Those 5 colony pods won't have a 2 extra population, so we stripped them of 10 pop points!
• We actually only spent 240 on upgrading the rovers in the raid.

Should we notifity the Morgans of our success? I don't think so, not until they get the turn. The Angels maybe? We could post a snide remark in the turn thread, something about tourism on the west beaches of Morgania

[sentry33]

Originally posted by Snoddasmannen
Should we notifity the Morgans of our success? I don't think so, not until they get the turn. The Angels maybe? We could post a snide remark in the turn thread, something about tourism on the west beaches of Morgania

How about some quotes from Apocalypse now? My favs are of Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore:

" We do a lot of surfing here. I like to finish operations early."

" Charlie (Morgan?) don't surf ! "

[Snoddasmannen]

For those too tired to read through the entire logs, here are some of the highlights

Initial reaction

Colonel Googlie: Ok - turn open - they've seen us
Colonel Googlie: they have a probe right on the shoreline
Snoddasmannen: So we can't land there?
Zeiter: You mean, right where our landing spot was supposed to be?
Colonel Googlie: and they've moved 2 foremrs into Industries
Snoddasmannen: Crap!
Snoddasmannen: I mean, egads!

Despair

Colonel Googlie: they have the whole road to MI blocked by crawlers
Snoddasmannen: Well done Morgan
Snoddasmannen: We won't be able to get MI this turn for sure
Cap Vishniac: Too bad we can't upgrade a rover to amphibious and use it in the same turn

Or can we?

Colonel Googlie: it'd cost 200 ec's to upgrade our 5 Impact Speeders to amphibious (we have 248 ec;s in the kitty)
Colonel Googlie: I'll try it in the sim

Hope!

Googlie: OK - we can still do it!!!!!
Zeite: I don't think we can upgrade and attack in the same turn, though
Snoddasmannen: Do what Googlie?
Googlie: upgrade to amphi
Zeiter: It's against the rules, is it not?
Modo: Talk. 8]
Snoddasmannen: Can somebody please verify that amph units can attack in SMAX too first tho?
Googlie: from the ship, take out the synth defender and the probe
Googlie: Just done it with the sim - captured MI and destroyed the PTS
Snoddasmannen: Wow!

Tough decision time

Maniac: I'd also go for taking our chances...
Snoddasmannen: With impact rovers?
Maniac: yep
Snoddasmannen: We're up to roughly 70-75% success according to calculations.

Not a bad idea Maniac

Maniac: there's of course gatling ;-)

Optimistic calculations?

Snoddasmannen: So we need to be successful in either a 73.3% or a 59% (thanks)
Maniac: Some 80-90% chance for the whole raid then, no?
Snoddasmannen: The odds of neither of that happening is 26.7%*41% =
Snoddasmannen: Yup, 90%
Snoddasmannen: But I remind you, this is all assuming my contraption is actually working
Maniac: That's paying 100c extra for reducing the chance of failure by three

Googlie tries it out in his sim

Googlie IV: Gatling works a charm

Were we nervous or what?

Googlie IV: I say we go for it - sell the Hab complex, upgrade to gatling, and proceed
Zeiter: I say we go for it too
Snoddasmannen: I agree

Relief

Googlie: THE PTS IS OURS !!!!!
Snoddasmannen: YES!!!!
Zeiter: Woohoooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Trying to look at things from the bright side

Googlie: ****!!
Maniac: Isn't there a sensor under Argi Narnia IIRC?
Snoddasmannen: Don't do that Googlie!
Zeiter: They're going to know that it was us anyways, right?
Snoddasmannen: They might suspect
Googlie: I used the activate self distruct with the last rover intending to take out the Morgan Mussels
base and it destroyed the Mercury and the Chiron Knights
Snoddasmannen: Now they can't see us at least.

[Modo44]

Since they apparently saw it coming, they probably discovered our ships as suspected. I think it is safe to assume they will know who did this raid.

Maybe put something like this in the Embassy:
"Your stalling tactics in negotiations and your numerous transgressions against Sparta, have been recognized as a direct threat. We have deemed it necessary to use pro-active defeses and strike first. Enjoy."

And, of course, a new Phalanx issue is in order.

[Googlie]

I'd go ahead right now - even while we still have the turn - and put out a press release (not a full Phalanx) with this, or a close equivalent:

Just before dawn, amphibious elements and Marines of the 1st Army conducted a daring raid into the Corporation’s heartland.

Although surprised at being expected, our brave troops fought overwhelming odds and reached their objective – Morgan Industries itself.

The Base was captured, then the Planetary Transit System – that hated symbol of Morgan’s degeneracy and quest for untrammelled growth and of their shameless pursuit of wealth at all costs – was rigged with explosives and destroyed, unfortunately taking the base with it. We regret the loss of so many civilians, but in the context of the greater good of Chiron’s masses, the stellar sacrifice of those few will not go unremembered.

Their mission accomplished, our stalwart troops withdrew, suffering minor inconsequential losses to materiel and equipment, but the elite Spartan officers and crewmen reached the safety of our waiting navy offshore.

The Junta remains at all times willing to discuss peace terms with the Directors of the Corporation. After their senseless mind-controlling of the SCC Hunter we said that our memories - and our reach - were long. How long, they have just found out.

After all, a little gloating is in order, even if the price was high

[Kassiopeia]

I think it'd be simplest if I just posted a The Phalanx SE #4 with my article leading it and the press release following that, straight away.

[Googlie]

I agree - I edited that press release just a tad

[Snoddasmannen]

Me, I wouldn't say that we used amphibious elements. Let's keep the Morgans guessing as to how we pulled it off. I'm thinking they will be very surprised.

[Modo44]

They will know. Or how else could we have destroyed full-hp units from the sea?

[Kassiopeia]

A cruise missile maybe?

[Snoddasmannen]

Well, why not needlejets launched from Arcadia?

[Modo44]

Right, great ideas. Well, if you wish to conceal obvious facts, I can live with that.

[Googlie]

I see no harm in revealing what we did.

They saw the Mercury with its 4 Impact Rovers there (that's why they blocked every landing area) - and they know we have Doc Init with its amphi capability, so they can put 2 and 2 together themselves

A subliminal message it gives them is that we are economically secure enough to effect a battlefield upgrade as well as to willingly forgo ten years' worth of commerce income

If they overestimate our strength, so much the better, as they'll then spend an inordinant amount on defensive units

[Kassiopeia]

I see no comments on what to post in the DG forum, and since our turn will be due in ~16 hours, I will release The Phalanx Special Edition #4 tonight before I retire, in a few hours. I'll also send a PM to Chaos Theory with the same press release we have sent to the Angels.

How about our false offer of peace? Modo has suggested some numbers for them - they sound fine by me, and even if they agree to them, there are still many ways to drag feet.