The Codexian Saga LP

[laclongquan]

As some Brit ever said "Never prevent enemy from keep on making mistakes". You make deadly mistakes and you keep on wanting to make more? You all have a deathwish, you cutting addict goth wannabes.

 

[The Barbarian]

Sensors it is.

Update forthcoming.

 

[Jack]

As some Brit ever said "Never prevent enemy from keep on making mistakes". You make deadly mistakes and you keep on wanting to make more? You all have a deathwish, you cutting addict goth wannabes.

We can't surrender now, what about all the men, women and trannies that have given their lives for the cause?
We have reached the point of no return.

If we shall perish, let it be with honor.

 

[Angthoron]

An all-out war by a "nation" that hasn't known major wars (or at least none were mentioned) for centuries is bound to take a beating. Good choice with the sensors, though, chances to even the scales, and if nothing else, at least to know who the hell is killing off the 'dexia. I suspect it's the sneaky Biowareans.

 

[laclongquan]

Ah, Jack! You read too much DnD paladin and Knight novels.

Honor is such a pretty word when your star system looted, destroyed,your citizens either killed or enslaved, your fleets useless lumps of metal in space.

You start the stupid course of go to war without preprations. And if you make peace now, that course would have been shown as stupid and wrong. Never mind the lives that been spent, you really rather spent all the rest than admit that, would you?

Moral and face is for statemen.
Allseeing Gods dont have such pretty options.

 

[The Barbarian]

The Barbarian apologizes for the length of this update.

The War of the Penis Ring; Continued

In the worst days of the war, it seemed as if Codexianity itself would burn at hubris' funeral pyre. The alien threat was mighty, and its forces legion. The finest crews and vessels of war were blown away like so much chaff, time and again. It was a terrible period in our history. After the Battle of Proxima Star, the war appeared lost. The Second Fleet - the World State's strongest - was smashed in a pitched engagement that put to bed any hope of our ability to stand up to the foe by the available means. In response, other means had to be sought. The greatest problem posed by the alien threat identified by the strategists boiled down to a matter of KNOWLEDGE. The enemy had it; Codexianity suffered from its lack. A remedy was frantically sought. Codexianity's finest minds were put to the ultimate test.

The result was a high-end echo-locator sensor array, capable of detecting the elusive extra-terrestrial vessels, as well as their emissions. It was to be many months, before the technological marvel would prove its true worth. Slowly, however, nuggets of invaluable information were gleaned from the sadly continuing battlefield defeats. The enemy finally had a name: the Raumen (a Codexian phonetic approximation of their actual name - nothing else was learned about this mysterious race, during this time). And we learned that they did not travel as we did. The faster-than-light drives that they used enabled unparalleled tactical mobility. They could virtually dance around our lumbering fleets, weaving a deadly web of destruction all-the-while. To this, there was no answer in the short-term. However, Grand Admiral Laclong Quan saw the opportunity amidst the ruin.

He saw that FTL-drives offered staggering advantages, in exchange for two very significant and exploitable drawbacks. The first was that the tactical mobility offered by FTL was offset by the strategic mobility offered by wyrmhole travel. The enemy had mounted no strategic campaign because it chose not to concentrate the forces necessary to do so. He instead intended to bleed Codexia to death slowly, via a thousand cuts. The second, corollary drawback was that FTL slipstreams were easier to track, once the techies had figured out what to look for. The residue those engines left as they accelerated away from Codexian space 'painted' their staging areas with a high degree of accuracy. Perhaps even their homeworld(s). All that the bedraggled humans needed was the initiative, in order to use this knowledge with some effectiveness.

But how are we to take that initiatve?

Do you... ramp up industrial production and introduce general conscription in order to produce a strategic reserve with which to act offensively?

OR

Do you... strike immediately, with existing forces, hoping that your audacity will put the enemy off his stride?

OR

Do you... attempt to engage the enemy on a more even footing using your new sensors, hoping to wear down his strength and, perhaps, his willpower to continue the war?

STATE OF THE UNION

Government

Codexia is a realm more than two-hundred lightyears in diameter, centred on a Class-M yellow star known by the same name. It is ruled by a democratic, federal regime, wherein all decisions pass through a Senate composed of representatives from various regions of the Codexian sphere. The executive branch of the government is fairly centralized, and directs the administration of the burgeoning state from Unity Megalopolis, on Codexia itself, though the legislative branch remains diffused. It is considered to be a moderately successful and stable regime, and faces little domestic opposition. Currently, it is engaged in a medium-intensity conflict with the Raumen, which it is losing.

Society

Codexians are a relatively peaceful people, who only recently were stirred into action by shameful alien attacks on Codexian lives and property. Their passions have been stirred, but their previously high morale has been drained away by a steady stream of battlefield reverses. War weariness is accumulating considerably. Hitherto, government attempts to control access to information have been successful, and the people are unaware as to the true, sad state of the war-effort.

Economy

The economy of Pax Codexiana was booming until the onset of the terrible war against the Raumen. Government capital expenditure on new vessels of war and other materiel has been absolutely staggering. War taxes are forcing people to tighten their belts beyond any previous such experience of their lifetimes. Prices are rising and inflation is nearing critical levels. Domestic consumption is falling, though the war effort keeps the jobless rate at two percent (practically, full employment).

Technology

The Codexian technological base remains much as it was around the time of Unification, excepting certain high-technology items such as the wyrmhole drive. These items remain prohibitively expensive. Most people continue to drive vehicles using hybrid combustion engines, and the most common weapons of war remain traditional needlers for the infantry and solid/liquid fuel missiles for the space forces. The greatest advances continue to develop in the fields of computing and medicine - though neither has experienced a quantum leap in recent times, merely incremental upgrades.

***

 

[Jack]

Ah, Jack! You read too much DnD paladin and Knight novels.

Honor is such a pretty word when your star system looted, destroyed,your citizens either killed or enslaved, your fleets useless lumps of metal in space.

You start the stupid course of go to war without preprations. And if you make peace now, that course would have been shown as stupid and wrong. Never mind the lives that been spent, you really rather spent all the rest than admit that, would you?

Moral and face is for statemen.
Allseeing Gods dont have such pretty options.

We really have no idea what we are facing.
Who knows if it is even possible to communicate with them.

I'd say we have a better chance focusing all our efforts on fighting them.


EDIT:
We need to gather an army strong enough to endure the invasion of their homeworld.

A.

 

[Angthoron]

We need to in secret ramp up our rates of production, building up our military might not merely for one momentary counter-attack that's not only uncertain but also unsustainable, but for a mighty, decisive, crushing blow that will send our foes running back with their tails between their legs - or whatever the appendages they are using!

We must trick them into thinking that they are still an enemy unknown to us, that their tactics are a mystery and that their might is unmatched. For this, perhaps, we ought to send out retired ships manned by patriotically-minded prisoners or droids on patrols, pretending we have not yet learned our lesson.

And when the time comes, when our mighty armies have swelled up in power and numbers once more, we will strike! Their defeat will be absolute! We will drive them back to their home system and make them pay for every Codexian life that was lost!

So A.

This small delay may even help perfect the scanning technologies - and if the enemy finds out that we know their tactics, they'll merely change them and be decisive instead of trying to bleed Codexia. It is us that should bring the crushing blow, not them!

 

[taplonaplo]

Option C - It's not like we have reliable intel to engage all our forces in a possibly fatal battle. We don't even now how useful these sensors are in combat.

 

[Ashery]

If I'm reading this correctly...

D: Use the information gained from the sensors and mount quick and brutal raids on their outer colonies and get the fuck out before they can manage a decent response.

Failing, or even in conjunction with that, A.

Angthoron's idea also works.

 

[laclongquan]

A of course.

We are depleted in strategic offensive capability AND strategic reserves. Our strongest tool has just been smashed recently. The fact that even if we want to attack immediately we dont have the means to do so effectively. Beside, in worse cases, we may have to conduct strategic withdrawals should enemy switch to full scale invasions.

During the rebuild of our fleets, the new sensors will allow more Intel, both as to their homeworlds, their strategic bases (that deploy raiding squadrons), and tactical data.

By concentrate new fleets in critical system we will survive for a period of time, since Thousand Cut strategy cant finish off a defensive opponent.

The CounterOffensive will begin when we have a strong enough fleet to knock off enemy's raiding bases, whose locations been divined from FTL tactical data.

 

[The Barbarian]

To summarize:

Four votes for A.

One vote for B.

One vote for C.

The Barbarian will give it another two hours, or so, to see if anyone else chimes in.

And to give his worn down little hands time to recuperate.

Then we continue, as we must.

 

[laclongquan]

And I want to emphasize that fake more defeats is a disastrous strategy. We are in a weaker position, if we show more weakness, they may be tempted into a full scale invasion of our critical systems. Or a full siege situation, in which they send numerous raiding squadron to paralyze our commerce and resupply. Hell, a bold raid into one critical is nothing to sneeze about.

Thousand Cut strategy is based on the thinking of UNcertainty on their part. If they are certain that we're weak, nothing prevent a massive fleet FTL straight into Codexia.

And sacrifice ships and manpowers in such fake defeats? It may come back and bite you in the ass in no time flat. Dont get seduce by such cunning tactics because in the end it's not that cunning. Beside, should they invade, we gonna need every swinging dicks and their barges to commit on defense.

 

[Jack]

You are a very talented individual, The Barbarian.
Your work is very much appreciated.

 

[Angthoron]

I refer to the decommissioned ships, not fully functional ones. Old colony craft and such - the aliens shouldn't know much about the actual fleet and may not know that they're in fact flying trash.

Using the actual fleet to pretend weakness is stupid. Using derelicts to distract them and confuse their knowledge of actual state of things isn't. Additionally if there's a period of space inactivity and planet-side activity in terms of rapidly building up another fleet, wouldn't you think the aliens might feel tempted to come in and bomb the living crap out of the factories? I know I would if I was using a thousand cuts approach. Sacrifice a few bomber-types but take out the production facilities. Existing fleets should continue appearing largely staffed so they would want to bleed those rather than the planets.

 

[Orgasm]

"strike immediately, with existing forces, hoping that your audacity will put the enemy off his stride"

Right now every option leads to the next option. Doesnt matter what you pick. Story only ends when OP gets tired of it.
Story needs something to make the reader care. A character for example. But a character kinda interferes with the structure...

 

[Angthoron]

A character can only work for a few "turns" during conflicts and such, otherwise the story often skips years and characters and their grandchildren might die off within two turns from old age.

Unless there was a God Emperor...

But nah. We have mini-character cameos popping up here and there, which is neat enough. The C&C and the 4X stuff don't really need more, in my opinion.

Besides, nobody's being stopped from FA(R)Ping (Forum Action Role-Playing), so if people want characters, I'm sure Barbarian won't mind if they themselves create such in-between the turns.

 

[wjw]

Something went horrible wrong in this post.

 

[juggernaut]

Hmm, option A out of those, but really option D: build bigger guns!

minor nitpick: class M stars are red, not yellow

 

[ghostdog]

(A) = We will crush them.

 

[lightbane]

A of course, the enemies of the Emperor must be crushed no matter the cost, and if all we die we'll just have to reincarnate into more powerful beings. War will never end until the lats xenos of the galaxy is purified and purged and executed!

 

[wjw]

We need a larger production! Let them think we are weak, while in fact we are producing... the ION CANNON. Or whatever. We'll crush those Raumen!

 

[treave]

A. Production first. Don't play our hand in letting the enemy realize we are now able to track their movements, but gather our strength and bury them in a one decisive campaign.

But we need more information. In a stand up fight, what are our chances of victory? Are their ships so technologically advanced that Codexian vessels would be unable to scratch their paint? Have we managed to salvage any enemy vessels for research, or has this lopsided war only resulted in casualties on our end?

At any rate, jumping into what may or may not be their home world, and merely a staging area, is suicidal. We need to be able to estimate the strength of the enemy, and then preferably the location of their home worlds. Even if we do not have the strength to defeat them in military engagements, there are surely other more... drastic... methods of obtaining victory, given our advancements in wormhole technology.

 

[The Barbarian]

Right now every option leads to the next option. Doesnt matter what you pick. Story only ends when OP gets tired of it.

The Barbarian will respond to this, because it raises a pertinent point. Each choice bears a fairly significant set of consequences. There are options that can lead to the End Game. In this very juncture, one of the three choices available leaves the voting body about two steps away from 'the End', and one away from outright defeat. Colloquially, Conan has labeled such options 'Bad Ideas'.

Though the Barbarian is loathe to kill off the game with a 'bad' choice, or two - especially this early - such is the nature of choice and consequence. Later on, there will be a natural end to the proceedings, and an epilogue.

Bottom line: Yes, there are choices that will End the game. There is a structure.

Characters (at least, recurring characters) will not be introduced. Grand space opera takes place over proverbial epochs, rather than moments in time. However, the Barbarian would claim that Codexia itself is the 'player character'. One that your decisions have, and will continue to shape.

***

War Pigs

The General Staff of the Codexian Armed Forces took days to reach a decision, in that infamous meeting. By its end, punches and shoes had been thrown, shirts had been torn and tears had been shed. Not all were convinced that it would work, to put it mildly. Finally, Grand Admiral Laclong Quan and Field Marshal Angthoron made their presentation to the World State's Consul and, thereafter, the Senate. Codexia was to undergo total mobilization, and to undertake a strategic build-up of forces with which to crush the Raumen. The people, of course, were less than amused when the twelve hour workday was introduced for industrial laborers, machinists, technicians and all other essential service specialists. They became outright hostile when it became apparent that the new strategy would not yield immediate results.

Meanwhile, word of heavy civilian losses continued to pour in. First Jack's World, then Neo-Codexia were raided and sacked by alien forces. Physical descriptions of the Raumen became available for the first time. Spindly, four-legged blue insectoids with complex, delicate manipulators. This was the bug-eyed face of the enemy. Codexian troops, fighting with fervor borne of the arachnoid response, had some success during the vicious ground combat. There was some good news, amidst the bad, at least. And the bad got worse, before it got better. While the Strategic Reserve was forming up over the first six months of 154AU, the Regular Fleet was decimated - whittled away by fighting in the outer reaches of the Colonial Expanse; protecting every colonial possession as best it could, and suffering ghastly casualties, in return. And the Raumen, for their part, were getting cockier, readier to stick around after a fight. Public morale plummeted. The economy wilted under the immense pressures exerted by the war. Codexia approached the brink.

Oh, to be sure, there were isolated victories, here and there. Necessity had always been the mother of invention, and the Codexians were no slouches. The Regular Fleet and its Ships-of-the-Line mustered every technical resource in evening the odds. The Raumen were by no means invincible. Although the 'exchange rate' remained painful, the men and women of Codexia destroyed an increasing number of their sleek, green vessels. Salvaging them proved largely useless; nuclear detonations seldom left an intact superstructure, and the Raumen often came looking for the broken husks of their losses. The materials that were being recovered might have borne fruit down the line, but there was no time. Never enough time. The savage fighting continued without respite.

For the General Staff, the war was becoming an exercise in watching casualty reports with gritted teeth, and keeping a vigilant eye on the rapidly expanding Reserve. It was becoming a mighty force. Soon, thereafter, it was deemed ready for offensive action. The first targets of the Grand Counter-Offensive were selected. Timetables were established. Crews were readied, and families were informed of what awaited their loved ones in uniform.

The attack was launched on 7 August 154AU. Two major Raumen bases were selected for the honor of receiving the long-awaited Codexian riposte. And it was a thing of beauty, it was. The bugs were taken by complete surprise. The strategic mobility of wyrmhole travel was something they understood - but in no way were they prepared for the scale and force of the Codexian counter-offensive. Hundreds of ships participated in those first jumps. Though scores would find their destruction on the other end of the journey, it was to be considered a heroic sacrifice in a glorious victory. The Battles of Proxima Centauri-B and Cerces Star were to be recorded as the first major Codexian victories of the war. The Raumen losses were both catastrophic, and well cataloged.

Morale received the shot in the arm it had needed for more than a year.

For the first time, Codexians could speak of possible victory.

Do you... press on with the Counter-Offensive and attempt to smash the insectoid threat decisively?

OR

Do you... try to communicate with these creatures from a position of strength?

OR

Do you... dig in, replace your losses and gird yourselves for the next phase of the war effort?

 

[treave]

I think it is time to communicate. If we can manage a truce, the government will be able to spin it as both a moral and physical victory.

[propaganda] We have burnt down their bases and have them at our mercy. Now that we have shown our superiority, our greater ability to adapt in the face of adversity, our strength in the face of an enemy who indulges in cowardly tactics and would not be able to defeat us face to face; we shall show humanity's grand and noble nature, and suffer them to live at our pleasure. [/propaganda]

B. Attempt to communicate.

But that does not mean we can let our guard down. Continuous mobilization needs to occur for as long needs be, as long as there is no peace. In all honesty I do not believe Codexia has the industrial capacity nor the technological advantage to continue prosecuting this war - and we do not have the time to address those issues. If our Counter-Offensive fails, we will be in an even more precarious situation than we have before, having committed the bulk of our forces on the attack. There is nothing lost by attempting diplomacy at this point.

Though the Barbarian is loathe to kill off the game with a 'bad' choice, or two - especially this early - such is the nature of choice and consequence.

A good idea. It encourages people to be more serious about the choices they pick, and not just for the lulz.