Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

The Codexian Saga LP

Azira

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Nov 3, 2004
Messages
8,521
Location
Copenhagen, Denmark
Codex 2012
The Barbarian said:
Winner = BB

Oh bother... That means at least 2 years before our fleet is shielded, probably longer.

Ah well, if I gave up the fight now, I could've just as well quit on it on page 10.. ;)
 

The Barbarian

Liturgist
Joined
Mar 21, 2010
Messages
599
Location
Melbourne, Australia
A Fell Moon

Caution was the name of the game. Though the Schiltstrom and its sister ships presented a quantum leap in Codexian military technology, the Marianite leadership prudently chose to hold back on implementing the shields widely. As they saw it, it was a matter of money and the maintenance of combat readiness. The Codexians were unwilling to excessively draw upon their reserves of either. And as the Hin'in War stretched into April of 357AU, the number of shielded vessels in the Space fleet remained very low.

Meanwhile, in the Raumen territories, the high intensity battle for supremacy teetered on a knife's edge. The Hin'in were masterful, consummate warriors. Time and again, they had proven it beyond any doubt. But the Raumeni were resourceful, brave and disciplined, in their own right. With the majority of their strength tied down in fighting the mysterious Bron, the Hin'in could not tilt the balance decisively. The ongoing give-and-take of the campaign, post the Battle of Amau'rie, surprised many human observers, who had expected the Raumeni to collapse in short order. Somehow, the fiercely independent insectoids continued to cling to hope with a strength borne of desperation.

Slowly, and far too prematurely, the Codexian war leaders began to breathe a sigh of relief. Looking at the xenoform belligerents, they saw only weakness. The inferior alien heathen was showing exactly why the adherents of Marianism were destined to rule the stars, in perpetuity. Perhaps it should not have been so surprising, therefore, that the agents of disaster would once again be fellow humans, after all. When the Commonwealth struck up and down the shared frontier on 15 May 357AU, the Codexians were caught flatfooted. They had been hoodwinked classically. Once upon a time, the ancient Soviets had called it 'maskirovka'. The art of military deception, in practice. And the Marianites had bought it, hook, line and sinker. In early April, they had withdrawn from Sonata, removing a significant combat grouping from contested Commonwealth space. They had also helpfully concentrated the majority of their forces across the frontier belt, facing the Raumen territories.

The first few weeks of this deadly new phase of a seemingly ever-escalating conflict told a tale of absolute woe. Some three hundred Commonwealth ships were thrown into the action immediately, with at least another fifty in an operational reserve. Codexia's token patrol forces were swept aside without much fuss or fanfare. Initially, it appeared as if the Commos could pull off a coup-de-grace, as they advanced across a massively broad front against extremely limited resistance. But it was not to be. Hamstrung as they were, the Marianites were not entirely without resources. Over a hundred ships were deployed successively against the onrushing Commos - twenty of them equipped with the new shielding systems. The confident, experienced Codexians engaged the Commos with a high rate of success. They utilized every tactical trick in the book to keep the fight honest. And the shielded vessels performed according to expectation. The Schiltstrom, for example, was lost with all hands on 7 June 357AU - but not before it managed to destroy several corvettes and an escort, having absorbed the fire of a full support squadron in the interim.

The Codexian people were bewildered by the brazen assault. Had not Codexia mere months previously helped the Commo stay on its feet against the hated alien foe? What could possibly warrant such an attack, at a time like this? Truth be told, the common people were not the only ones confused by this turn of events. The Marianite leadership, too, wanted to understand what had transpired, in order to bring about this flabbergasting, new war. Eventually, the mystery was cleared up when the propaganda the Commonwealth was using on its people to justify the war against Codexia was finally made generally available. They called it a 'pre-emptive strike', against an 'enemy' who might very well soon be 'invincible'. In other words, they had found out about the shields, and considered them an existential threat. Clearly, the only answer they could find was to strike the Venerable Respublica down, before it could outfit its forces with this breakthrough technology.

The strategic situation was now an exceedingly ugly one for the Codexians. Three hundred ships, with additional reinforcements, were now bearing down on their core worlds - opposed by fewer than one hundred vessels of all types. The bulk of Space's strength was on the frontier, waiting for the Hin'in. It would take weeks to redeploy these forces. In the meantime, the Commos could wreak untold havoc upon Codexian property, interests and infrastructure.

Choices remain to be made...

Do you... disperse your available forces, hoping to slow down the Commos and buy enough time to redeploy your fleets on the frontier? Their forces are superior for the moment. Let us follow the teachings of the great Sun Tzu, and yield territory, but maintain constant defensive pressure on the enemy all across the front. With any luck, they will spend more time chasing shadows than engaging in attacks on our assets.

OR

Do you... maintain a fleet-in-being, instead? A hundred ships with a shielded cadre is a potent force. Let us concentrate them, and offer set-piece battle to our erstwhile foe. We cannot lose. If they ignore the armada and attack our planets and installations, we will manoeuvre and destroy them in detail. If they, in turn, concentrate and attempt to destroy the armada, we will have bought plenty of time to bring our boys back from the xeno front.
 

taplonaplo

Scholar
Joined
Aug 8, 2008
Messages
628
Iit's rather fishy that they would find out about super secret shield project yet we would not hear about their plans.
I haven't made up my mind yet, but i'll be definitely support the option which will lead to the purge of the Commonwealth faster.
 

treave

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jul 6, 2008
Messages
11,370
Codex 2012
We should not have shown weakness to the Commonwealth scum.

They have the mindset of an alien, depraved and opportunistic.

And they will prove to be as weak as alien scum once we show them our full frontal honor.

Option B. Let's take them head on!
 
Self-Ejected

Ulminati

Kamelåså!
Patron
Joined
Jun 18, 2010
Messages
20,317
Location
DiNMRK
Not quite certain wether to go with A or B yet. But one thing is definately decided. It has become painfully clear that the commies are not our human brothers as we mistakenly thought. They are alien to us, and as aliens, must be purged. I propose we sterilize every commonwealth planet and stem the spread of their corrupted genes.

And by sterilize, I mean massive orbital nuclear bombardment.
 

Radech

Augur
Joined
Sep 1, 2007
Messages
508
did not see that coming...

oh well on to the question at hand, Option A seems to prioritize territory over ships, while B is the other way around, So A is the long term and B is the short term, B also seems to put us in a better position to counter-attack. If they bloody the nose of some of our planets maybe even burn a few, There will be no doubters left if we repay in kind++. Though if they are adept at avoiding our ships B would also pose greater risks(i assume they have acces to stealth as well), even though a good old decisive strike into commo heartland would probably dissuade them

So B seems superior for now, economy is rolling fine and can take a little setback, so we should attempt to purge the commo asap so we can get back to worrying about the xeno-scum

vote B
 

Azira

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Nov 3, 2004
Messages
8,521
Location
Copenhagen, Denmark
Codex 2012
Option A.

The old geezer Sun Tzu was on to something here. Lets lure them in, play cat and mouse with them until we've got our ships back from the frontline.
 
Joined
Dec 31, 2009
Messages
6,933
Good thing we didn't send 40 % of our fleet to be refitted, huh.

Voting A. If B, they might simply ignore our fleet in being and go directly for Terra. We cant risk that.

Edit: flip-flop to B.
 
Self-Ejected

Ulminati

Kamelåså!
Patron
Joined
Jun 18, 2010
Messages
20,317
Location
DiNMRK
Ah hell... Sun Tzu usually knows what he's talking about.

Option A

...I want to see the commies bleed and die.
 

laclongquan

Arcane
Joined
Jan 10, 2007
Messages
1,870,153
Location
Searching for my kidnapped sister
Sheesh! May the gods bugger all those decadent Commonwealth prettyboys!

My fellow councillors, this event is not unexpected. We forget, for a moment, that our ambitions are wellknown. we forget, for a moment, that our strength is superior. we forget, for a moment, that desperation can drive strategy and tactics.

What does the Commo desire? They desire peace and security, the two commodities they shall not have as long as the Marianites hold power. Their only hope that a blitz war will bring us to our knees, so that they can force a total change in politics resulted from unconditional surrender. Their targets are all coreworlds, with its massive populations and centres of politics. They can only force regime changes on such systems.

Obviously, Tactic A fall right into their hands. They will not chase after scattered forces. After all, even if they inflict heavy losses, we still can recover. No, they will ignore all those mobile target and move straight to coreworlds.

Tactics B offer a straight solution: we stand our force right across their movement. They will have to crush that onehundredstrong fleet to have a prayer of capture targets. We bet our experienced fleet, our superior techs, and our willingness to die, to win.

Although my dislike of the current regime is wellknown, I still hesitate before defeats and changes. After all, no reason to think the Commo can do better than the Marianites. And upheavals during this period is simply too dangerous for the security of humanity.

No, if they are better than us, they must prove it by blood and sweat, by straight up victories. If they cant even manage that with straight odds 3 on 1 they have no chance at all to manage humanity's mandate of heaven.

I propose we concentrate our force and slug them hard.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Tactic B also has the consistency of our trademark: we always concentrate our force and rely on our strength to win battles.
 

treave

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jul 6, 2008
Messages
11,370
Codex 2012
Our MORAL SUPERIORITY and FIGHTING SPIRIT will win this war for us!

Our brave hundred will break the backbone of the Commonwealth invaders in one brilliant battle, and next we will proceed to bring the Scorching Torch(TM) of Marianism to their planets!

Hurrah! Hurrah!
 

Nickless

Educated
Joined
Dec 16, 2009
Messages
960
I don't know, if their target was the coreworlds, why didn't they concentrate their forces and strike hard and fast instead of on a broad frontier? laclongquan does make a convincing argument for B however. It now seems that BA was the best option, as Sonata provided a system where defensive forces could be concentrated. Alas. I can see the merits of both choices. Are superior reinforcements coming from the frontier? If so, I would think A would be the best option, however if they aren't, or they are not superior in size to the Commonwealth, then B.

Also, can we please hang the fools that gossiped about the new shield tech?
 

Radech

Augur
Joined
Sep 1, 2007
Messages
508
furthermore, with option B not only will we win the war(both options should be sufficient unless we get attacked on other fronts), but we will also win the battles. By concentrating our forces all the commos will succeed in is terrorizing civilians, while we will be victorious in all military skirmishes, once again proving to both populaces that marianism gets shit done...
 

laclongquan

Arcane
Joined
Jan 10, 2007
Messages
1,870,153
Location
Searching for my kidnapped sister
The leak? Well, any repressive regimes got its own innate Achilles Heel. You can NOT fix that. You choose theological tyranny, you have intel leaks, hidden fury, and fake smiles. Cest lavie!

Do note that we dont have much leaks from the Commo, or during the time of Old Republic.

Anyway, we are talking about Commo offensive. Them bois got some choice: they will concentrate in a single force, or at least a 2/3 of their total offensive, to defeat our fleet, or they divide into 3 unit of 100-vessel fleets to do the multiprong attack. They cant divide more because we will eat one or two such small fleets without loss ('defeated in details' as it were). And we are pretty sure of 1on1 battle (we defeat Hiin, they lost). If they concentrate into massive fleet to defeat us they cant move much elsewhere because the targets are stationary (coreworld systems). So tactic B force them to a setpiece battle for a certainty.

Last comment before bed: The Commo are too scared to conduct wisely. They just suffer heavy loss and now throw all their strength on this desperate gamble. If we somehow stall the war a bit and the aliens bite their asses the Commo will be total, what is the word... ah yeah, double-fucked. YOu know, double penetrated. No way I throw my card like that.
 
Self-Ejected

Ulminati

Kamelåså!
Patron
Joined
Jun 18, 2010
Messages
20,317
Location
DiNMRK
I hereby submit a formal request to the Barbarian for a state of the union. Doubly nice if we can get some sort of sketch or map that gives us an idea of the size/shape/relative location of Marianite/Commo/Hi'in/Raumen/Phyyr etc. territories. I'd really love to get a better overview of our situation
 

taplonaplo

Scholar
Joined
Aug 8, 2008
Messages
628
Yeah, some kind of map would be nice. Especially in situatiins like this.
In any case, i'm fine with our coreworlds getting bombard if we are able to return the favor. I would imagine our people would just get even more zealous.
So option B it is.
 

Nickless

Educated
Joined
Dec 16, 2009
Messages
960
Do systems have their own non-mobile defenses? Like, orbital defense platforms, fighter bay squadrons, ground to space artillery or missile silos? Wouldn't they be able to defend against several ships trying to take over the sector? If that's the case, I'll change my vote to B
 
Joined
May 22, 2010
Messages
2,608
Location
Airstrip One
What the fuck were you doing instead of watching the Commonwealth? We already know that they were trecherous! We already knew that they were enemies of the glorious Respublica!

I ask The Barbarian one simple request; that the authority to execute these worthless advisers is mine alone to carry out. I promise you, their death shall be slow and painful, I will not fail Santi Maria.

B
 

RandomLurker

Scholar
Joined
Jul 8, 2005
Messages
137
There's a very good explaination for this sudden treachery - the Commos may be controlled by actual people on another forum. It would also explain the leak, as they could have a mole RIGHT IN THE RULING COUNCIL.

And now that i've sown some good ol' fashioned paranoia, back to lurking :lol:. Well, not before I congratulate The Barbarian for creating and maintaining this incredible thread.
 

Conkrete Knight

Educated
Joined
May 17, 2010
Messages
240
Location
Denmark
It was dawn.
The first rays of the sun pierced the thick layer of dust left in the atmosphere by the countless fires raging in the great brother-war, bathing the Petersplace in in an orange golden light.
Not much was left of Rome.
Like most metropoles it had not survived unscathed, even as the seat of the holy see.
This place, contrary to many other cities that had been abondend completely in favour for artificially planed habitats, had been rebuild, the traces of nuclear and chemical deterrent removed at great cost.
It was a matter of principle.
Even if the Marianites had little to nothing to do with the papacy that died in those fateful years, it should be known that religion was something no one should trifle with.
It was a symptom of that hard-headedness that had so often proved typical for the believers.
The crowd gathered remained silent, clad in black robes wearing a twenty sided die over their heart, signifying their placement in the upper echelon of Terran society.
Priests and military, often both.
They were waiting.
Earl Neumeier was going to hold one of his monthly speeches, in light of the recent attack moved forward by a few days.
When he finally appeared, it was clear that he could barely contain his rage.
“The difference between animals and men”, he started his eyes fixed at the horison “is choice”.
“One may hate the wolf for killing ones cattle, the moskito for stealing ones blood or the locust for ruining the harvest.”
“But one” he continued “can not blame them. T'his the way they have been made, their choice in the matter is as big as the waves to break or the winds to blow.”
“And as the animal, so is the Xeno. Our hate rings true, but we can, and do not, blame them.”
“Our animosity is as natural and pure as the rise and setting of the sun.”
“The commonwealth however stands for all of mankinds vices, their choice being their own”
“Betrayal, treachery, blasphemy, hedonism, cowardice”
“The list is to long to mention all of it. They dared to attack us, to stab us in the back minutes after we saved their sorry skin!”
“Like Kain they try to murder their bother, but WE are not as Abel. Our offering was one of STEEL! Our trade WARRIOR, not farmer!”
“Our patience has lasted long enough, IT IS TIME TO SKIN THE SNAKE!”
And with that he started an hour long tirade, containing elements not only from different religious scriptures, but also from Dantes and Gordon Ramseys works.
Oh, it was brotherwar alright.
Once again.

For choice B.
Laclongquan sums up my fears pretty much.

Those ships are going to be lost, but it is a sacrifice I am willing to make.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amcyqMpOq4g

Next up on the agenda: Stasi style Secret Service.
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom