Sparta Air Command

[Googlie]

We can instabuild an airforce of five noodles (B-6's), by putting five in builds and using crawlers to complete prototypes for all five:

Fort Soup (stalled crawler there)
Olympus Academy (crawler waiting for orders)
Rio Grande (idem)
Santiago Citadel (idem)
Fort Buster (by returning the crawler that was en-route to Gythium Harbour)

Do we want to do this - for an instant, credible, air force?

[Modo44]

Were those Crawlers not supposed to help with the CDF or something? Sure, prototype one unit on the spot, but would it take that long to build the others?

[Snoddasmannen]

Originally posted by Modo44
Were those Crawlers not supposed to help with the CDF or something? Sure, prototype one unit on the spot, but would it take that long to build the others?

I think we've got the CDF covered with the two supercrawlers.

I like the idea of having 5 noodles in the air all within one turn, but using 5 crawlers is quite a commitment. What are we going to use the needlejets for exactly?

We could launch a raid on Vander Eudaimonics. Take out the defenders and maybe even roll in a transport and capture/destroy it with some land unit (not that we have a transport in the vicinity). Or maybe we should save the element of surprise and give them a good ol' whoopin'. Only it'd have to be before they get Doc Air...

[Modo44]

Originally posted by Snoddasmannen
I think we've got the CDF covered with the two supercrawlers.

Ahh, in that case we can do it.

An air force will be something very powerful, so definately worth it. Somebody has nothing to command lately. Perhaps he would like switch to Air Cavalry? What do you guys think?

[vishniac]

Will the jets have enough radius to support an invasion of Morgania or should we build a Sea colony Pod and install a base between us end them?

[Snoddasmannen]

Originally posted by Modo44
An air force will be something very powerful, so definately worth it. Somebody has nothing to command lately. Perhaps he would like switch to Air Cavalry? What do you guys think?

Oh hey, it sounds like that guy is in the same position as me
Unless the position of Air Force Commander is taken, I'd be more than happy to fill it.

[Snoddasmannen]

Originally posted by vishniac
Will the jets have enough radius to support an invasion of Morgania or should we build a Sea colony Pod and install a base between us end them?

Well, needlejets have 8 moves.

From Craterwest (our most westernly base) we can reach one Morgan base. I'll post a screenie of what it looks like from Arcadia in just a minute.

[Snoddasmannen]

And from Gagarin memorial in the east, things are not much better.

[Googlie]

I thought that Maniac had put dibs on it (megalomaniac?)

But I think right now we should crawler-proto at least 4 noodles, and use 2 to patrol the oceans looking for Morgan probefoils, and send the other 2 to the Hive front to snuff out those units advancing towards MT through the fungus

(And as we'll have a surplus of minerals in a couple of bases - OA and FB (6 ec's light) do we want to make those noodles in those 2 bases into X-noodles (never know when X-gas will come in handy)

So we'd have XB-6's completed at OA and FB, and regular B-6's at RG and SC2

[Googlie]

But rather than attacking bases directly - and killing a probe defender - why not their infrastructure (crawlers, forests, solar panels?)

[sentry33]

Needlejets have 10 moves, elite ones even more
SAM fighters have base move of 8.

Perhaps we can build aerospace complex in the Sector Craterwest?
# It will boost morale and range of our airforce (elite - better range/speed/strenght),
# It will give our garrison troops x2 defense against air attacks - elite plasma will have 9, with sensor - 11.25! This is enough to shoot down disciplined x-needlejet

Another thought about air defences:
- Mind Worms negates the x-ability, very useful for defending large bases against kamikaze gas attacks.

[Googlie]

I'll hang on doing anything re XB's or regular B's until Maniac has had a chance to look at things. Meanwhile the up-to-date turn is on the 2161 thread (incl the stalled crawler)

[sentry33]

Use of the airforce - either for harassing morgan or as a part of the invasion to come.

If we can take over one or two borgan bases (Vander Eudaimonic, City of ZZT), we can use them as a staging area for the invasion.

Needlejets would either provide escort for our land forces, ( SAM units are needed to even initiate the assault against such stack ) attack garrisons, or form blockades to cut out Morgan's reinforcements (as per Vel's strategy guide)

Questions to answer:
- what forces we will need (and when we can have them available),
- how we can protect the captured base(s) (pillaging roads around? Needlejet blockades?)

just some loose ideas

[Modo44]

With this kind of power (especially the mobility), do we want to quickly shut Yang down, by securing the choke point?

[Googlie]

I certainly think that one of the Air Force's priorities, while we mull over the next invasion plan, should be to get flying over that fungus around and to the southwest of Minas Tirith and take out any Hive units we see there.

And when the hermes has done her probe transport stuff, we can send that Amphimissile unit with a Crypteia to take one of Yang's bases after the noodles have softened it up

(I'm taking it as a general concensus that we go ahead and invest the 4 crawlers in an insta-airforce)