JPCHEWY - Capital Ship Simulation

[Santoro]

It was morning on Csilla- 0600 to be exact. Most beings would be waking soon to prepare for their morning commute- the members of the Military of the Chiss Ascendancy were not most beings. At this ungodly hour the High Command would have been on duty for hours and dressed for much longer- one such commander had been there much earlier. It was the third and last day of military testing for officers, a random and intensive series of exams that aimed to weed out the weaker commanders of the military to make room for the strong.

Officer Prard'ora'nuruodo would have an especially tough exam this day. He had progressed well through the written and mental exams- now, he would have to demonstrate his raw tactical knowledge and instinct... Unfortunately, he would have to test it against the Head Admiral himself- widely accepted as one of the greatest living tacticians, and certainly the greatest Naval commander in the Ascendancy. Prard'ora'nurudo would have been waiting for only two full minutes before his examiner arrived, appearing at the other end of a large circular chamber lined with holoprojectors.

"Good morning, officer- Doran, I assume. I am Head Admiral Malas Prewett- Head Admiral will do just fine." The voice was strong and deep- the face of the Head Admiral Malas Prewett bathed in the low crimson light of the battle simulator. He was unlike most of the Ascendancy's High Command- a Hapan by birth and later assimilated into Chiss culture. Clearly, his rank was testament to his skill and loyalty, and he made sure to correct those who thought otherwise.

"Although I'm sure you have received sufficient documentation about the Simulator's operations, the instructions are quite simple. Your station is linked to dozens of pilots in similar simulators, filling out their roles as pilots, as gunners, as starfighter commanders. Your voice will reach both living tissue and artificial intelligence- the commands will be executed similar to in a real battle. This means the Simulator may account for a Captain's mistake, a pilot's heavy triggerfinger. Count on it." The Hapan smiled, his chiseled jawline and genetically-perfected eyes a sharp contrast to the typical Chiss. It was unsettling to see him with such high rank insignia.

"If there are no further questions, we will begin with a simple deployment strategy." The Simulator lit up, projecting sixteen blue vessels in front of Prard'ora'nurudo- two heavy capital ships, four medium capital ships, six light capital ships, two starfighter and troop carriers, and two blank templates.

"Before you is the skeleton for a standard heavy line of the Ascendancy. You have two empty slots which you may fill with any type of vessel you wish, using the following types: heavy warship, medium warship, light warship, and carrier." The ship types had been vastly condensed for this session and no specifics on the ship class were given.

"Pick your two and then tell your commanders how to deploy."


((OOC: In your response, tell me which type of ships you'd like and then a detailed description on how you would deploy them, meaning formations, positions, roles, etc. If you're unsure of what each ship type is used for I can clarify- this is a learning experience after all. Good luck!))

 

[jpchewy01]

After a moment of thought, Prard'ora'nuruodo answered the Head Admiral, "I would like to add a starfighter carrier and a heavy warship. As for the positions and roles of each ship, they will be as follows: The light carriers will be split into two groups of three. The groups will be in wedge formation with each group "stacked" on top of the other in order to make a three dimensional wedge. The four medium capital ships will form in a wedge behind them. Two of the three heavy capital ships will be situated on each flank of the medium capital ship wedge. The final capital ship will be in the rear and flanked by the two carriers. The carriers will loose all of their fighters to protect the first wave of light capital ships from enemy fighters. The medium ships will move into weapons range and fire off their salvos while the heavy ships use their long range weapons at a safe distance. And might I add, it surprises me to see a non-Chiss in such a high rank."

"And, quite frankly, it disgusts me," Prard'ora'nuruodo added under his breath.

 

[Santoro]

The Chiss were a careful culture- every scrap of information was critical to their decision making, every facial moment betrayed one’s secrets- an enemy was to be examined as carefully as the rest. To High Admiral Prewett everyone was an enemy, so naturally he heard every uttered word from the Chiss.

His first thought was to bust the xenophobe down so harshly in rank that he’d wish he was cleaning toilets. The second was to call security and have the man executed by cause of treason, but this idea was discarded as quickly as the first. Within the span of a second, the High Admiral’s laughter had reached Prard’ora’nurudo’s ears.

“Clever, trying to throw in the third dimension as if you understand its implications.” Malas leaned towards the keypad and started pushing buttons as he spoke.

“Your wedge formation is a penetration only formation, and while well organized incorrectly deployed. You do not yet know how the enemy would deploy and already you’ve picked a central direction for your forces.” A light came up showing the predicted movement of the arrowlike cluster of blue lights.

“You’re now vulnerable from the rear, top, bottom, and sides. Although your ships focus in a single direction, you can not bring the full force of your guns to bear in any direction- ships are blocking lines of fire and the wedge forces you to charge the enemy before your rear ships can reach optimum range. “ Lines of fire were drawn crisscrossing ships and demonstrating their maximum range.

“Your starfighter deployment is sloppy and wasteful- the heart of the Ascendancy Navy relies on starfighter and light ship warfare, both of which you have neglected. Finally, should they be deployed in any arc but the forward-level arc, you would need to turn each ship a minimum of 45 degrees and more than fifty percent of the time you would need to turn over 90 degrees- a time consuming and potentially deadly maneuver that exposes more than one arc to laserfire. Let’s hope your shield techs are paying attention.” The lights faded and reappeared in the center.

“Using your chosen vessels- Six light, four medium, three heavy, and three carriers, an acceptable formation would be a flat disk tilted thirty degrees with the lowest angle forward, the three carriers in the middle with the three heavy warships, surrounded by the medium warships, surrounded by the light. Even if the enemy entered the battlefield at one of the weak points in the formation,” he paused to add a condescending tone to his voice,

“Which are the flat sides if you haven’t caught on,” he smiled and made sure Doran made eye contact. “then the disk can simply rotate and the light vessels can close in to protect the starfighter carriers, which deploy their fighters in an offensive manner. While you can never reach optimum firing in this formation, this was not the purpose. There’s no need to fire if you don’t have an enemy, though if there was an enemy the ships could fire with a maximum of a 45 degree turn.” The lights faded.

“I’ve trained lots of commanders in my lifetime, both Chiss and non-Chiss. Even a Captain of the Empire would not make such a critical error- shall we review third dimension deployment, or will you try to make an effort?”

 

[jpchewy01]

Prard'ora'nuruodo stared hard at the non-Chiss across from him. He began to hate the man. He hated him with a burning passion. He was so arrogant, strutting around like he knew everything. But the Chiss were the greatest race in the galaxy, and Doran would prove it. He replied to the man, "You're forgetting, Head Admiral, that I have studied Mitth'raw'nuruodo religiously. But, of course, you would know him as Thrawn. You see some of my tactical choices as mistakes when you simply do not approve of them or understand them. But what can I expect from a non-Chiss. Assimilation has its disadvantages, namely in this occasion narrow mindedness."

The Chiss smiled devilishly towards the Head Admiral, "Are we going to begin or continue to argue about naval tactics?"

 

[Santoro]

"Thrawn, Mitth'raw'nuruodo... You speak of him as if he were a god. Thrawn was a mortal, and Thrawn was defeated. Idolizing him is your second foolish remark today and the second time you would have embarrassed him- I have studied his battles as well, and they gave me the tools I needed but not the strategy. You merely have the tools.
I fully understood your formation and if you would like, can demonstrate further why you would, at best, lose two capital ships from any deployment angle other than optimal. That's a 1 in 18 chance you'll come out unscathed- good luck." Malas looked up to the recording units lining the room and raised his voice, full of formality.

"Two strikes on the young officer's record, please. Disrespect to an officer." It was a serious blow- marks on an Officer's record could potentially hold him from a command and almost certainly keep him out of High Command. He turned once more towards the Officer.

"Narrowmindedness is a Chiss trait. If you had learned ANYTHING about me before this training it's that I was Hapan- the Hapans have the courage to draw on sources that are not their own. Learn to accept the lesson or leave without it- I don't care. You can remain a nothing in the Ascendancy, or you can drop the attitude, behave as a military man should, and maybe, just maybe you'll improve enough as to where I feel I can deploy you." He smiled and leaned forward fully on the console, preparing the next mission.

"Those marks are very real- three and you're up for 'position review'. Drop the attitude and drop the mightier-than-thou approach. I've heard it all before, and I've sent many of them to die." His commlink beeped, and he pressed a button to activate the audio dampeners- his conversation could not be overheard. After a long moment of discussion, the Head Admiral returned.

"It seems we'll be joined with another hopeful momentarily. Normally we would not have more than one per simulator, but desperate times call for desperate measures, I assume."

 

[Travis]

Meistrin was given the go ahead by a petty officer to enter the room. He offered a crisp salute to the High Admiral before saying, "Lieutenant Felm'eistri'nurudo reporting as ordered, sir." He was ready for the battle simulation and eagerly awaited its start.

For weeks now, he and others he knew were preparing for various tests and drills all revolving around naval combat. These were not simply exercises designed to make sure they could scout a system most effectively or knew the best and quickest supply routes, but how to fight in an all out war. It was exciting for him since this was why he joined up. This was an opportunity to display his skills before none other than a High Admiral. Even if this was a non-Chiss, Meistrin was able to respect the rank even if he couldn't respect the species. Until this human did something otherwise, he would have to rely on the judgment of other Chiss that this one was worthy of his rank.

 

[jpchewy01]

Prard'ora'nuruodo took a look at the man who walked in the room. He knew who it would be, but he didn't want it to be him. That preppy boy from the bar yesterday was going to be running a simulation with him? And after he showed his tactical prowess, this kid was just going to piggyback on his success? Besides, Doran wanted to prove his worth without help. Whose idea was this anyways? But he needed to keep his cool. If he had another outburst, it would be back to square one. He wasn't going to let this non-Chiss have the pleasure of demoting him, so he would have to play this game by his rules.

Doran put on a smile and said, "I remember you. We met at the bar yesterday."

 

[Santoro]

((This hasn't been forgotten- a post will come Sunday. Sorry for the delay.))

 

[Santoro]

The Head Admiral nodded at the newcomer's entrance- Meistrin.

"Welcome to the Simulator. I've been informed you're familiar with the simulator, so I won't spend time on its operation." He turned back to the Simulator and waved his hand across the interface, clearing the board.

"I understand most instructors have been assigning their students in competitive battles to find the 'better commander'. In the old days it was typical for there to be a star commander- a role model for an entire fleet, a poster boy that a society could rally around. Those days are gone. Today, we are faced with new threats and powerful enemies, and a single commander cannot fight alone. Therefore, your grading will be heavily based on our co-operative mission that I've designed myself."

The Simulator lit up to display an array of eight vessels stacked in the "South"-most portion of the field- the rest of the simulator's screen showed a light asteroid belt.

"You will command two lines between yourselves, four ships each. Doran, since you seem to have an interest for heavier ships, you will command two of our medium cruisers and two starfighter carriers with a total of ten starfighter squadrons. Meistrin, you will command one light cruiser and three corvettes, with a total of five starfighter squadrons." Malas waited as the data appeared on the commander's screens.

"The scenario: after a battle with the Galactic Republic, the Chiss have chased survivors into an asteroid field. The survivors have received intel on our newest starfighter designs which can not fall into GFFA hands- therefore, the survivors must be eliminated. Their force strength is unknown, although your damage IS known. Doran- one of your heavy vessels may not fire due to a damaged generator. Meistrin, one of your corvettes is without shields and your light cruiser has sustained structural damage, limiting maneuverability. Enemy positions are unknown, though engine trails make it clear they have headed to an asteroid field- potentially to a hidden base. Please, issue your orders."

 

[jpchewy01]

((OOC: I've got some IRL business to attend to so I won't be able to post for a few days.))

 

[Santoro]

((OOC: I've got some IRL business to attend to so I won't be able to post for a few days.))

((OOC: Travis, take control of all the ships for this round.))

 

[Travis]

Meistrin saluted and went over to the simulation console to go over the scenario. After a minute, he began inputting commands to his simulated fleet. It didn't matter if his force took losses, he was to destroy the enemy at all costs to prevent even greater losses in the future. It was not a scenario he enjoyed, but one he felt he knew how to deal with.

The first thing he did was order all starfighter squadrons to deploy and form up near the rest of the fleet. He ordered the two carriers into hyperspace with a destination five light minutes away and with instructions to prepare to jump back at any moment. He didn't want to have to worry about protecting them should his fleet be forced to split up. It was better to lose their entire complement of fighters should disaster strike than to lose the carriers, and he could recover some of those squadrons in the other ships as they took losses.

He ordered the weaponless medium cruiser to be abandoned of all but the most bare of necessities. It would lower all blast and vacuum doors to minimize the need for damage control teams and would devote its remaining efforts into shields and sensors. It would serve as a magnet to draw away enemy fire as well as play the sacrificial lamb should he need to draw out their enemy.

The shieldless corvette received the same treatment. Without the need to maintain fighter bays, it would require even less crew. Guns were put on automatic and the crew was lowered to the absolute minimum. It would stay back at the rear of the formation to serve a specific purpose if needed. If his fleet was attacked, it may be able to get some unanswered shots in while the enemy was focusing on the other ships. Otherwise, it would be near useless as its armor was too light to withstand much firepower and its weapons were not heavy enough to warrant the risk.

The less maneuverable light cruiser would have to do its best to keep up. Unless this turned into a race, he would keep it with the rest of the fleet. If things changed and speed or maneuverability was required, it would be left on its own to fend for itself.

That left him with a fully functional medium cruiser, a slowed light cruiser, and three functional corvettes with fifteen squadrons of fighters as a conventional fighting force. He wished he could have bombers, but that was not what he had been given and he would work with what he had. He arranged his fleet with the cruisers forming an inverted triangle with the weaponless cruiser at the back. The three corvettes served as an close frontal screen for the two larger ships. The shieldless corvette brought up the rear.

He sent four squadrons of fighters in pairs to scout the asteroid field. They were try to blend in with the asteroids and maintain secrecy and were not to engage the enemy even if engaged. Their purpose was to find the enemy and report both strength and location before trying to find more. With so many floating objects, it was impossible to simply scan for mass and energy sensors would only work at a limited range and only if the enemy's ships were powered up.

The remaining eleven squadrons were deployed inside the general formation and on specific lanes of fire for the larger ships. He wanted the larger ships to be able to freely fire at any approaching enemy ship or asteroid without risk of hitting their own fighters. Enemy fighters would need to weather a barrage of fire that would be both directly lethal and indirectly deadly as they shattered nearby asteroids. Once the enemy fighters got closer, his own fighters would serve as a screen using the sensor data from the weaponless cruiser to attain their initial locks.

As his fleet sprang into action, Meistrin could do nothing but wait for the scout squadrons to locate their enemy. He wouldn't risk his fleet going into an asteroid field that just might hold various traps and that would definitely inhibit him from pursuing an enemy into hyperspace should they attempt to do so. Fighters could navigate asteroid fields far better than larger ships and should be able to catch up should they need to before such a jump. He hoped it didn't come to that, though, but he had to be prepared for a far more powerful enemy fleet with heavy defenses since they choose this battlefield.

 

[Santoro]

Forty-eight blips left the now organized fleet and began probing the asteroid field in careful search patterns typical of Chiss fleets. Data began filling Meistrin's display- lines upon lines of trivial data such as fuel usage, capacitor health, S/U speed, energy sensor readings, relay delays... Trivial to most commanders, but not those of the Ascendancy.

It is said that the best of the Chiss could read the battlefield from these displays, fully aware of positions and movement and use them to their advantage. Of particular use in this scenario was the energy sensor readings- a typically unreliable tool in an asteroid field due to heavy gravitational interference. Pilots nine and ten in Orange Squadron would receive a specific spike on an unusual frequency- once again a typical flux that would be overlooked had Silver three and four not received the same spike milliseconds earlier, and Red one and two shortly after that.

On a separate part of the battlefield, another phenomena was occurring- this one more overt. A definite ion trail had been located near the edge of an asteroid- heat signatures detected impact on the side of the asteroid with enough floating debris to assume a crash. However, the crash was slightly out of visual range and would need to be investigated.

Even more strangeness- an unexplainable energy stutter "above" and in front of the formation, behind the deployed starfighter squadrons. Sensors read momentarily of a ship's emergence from hyperspace, though no ships emerged and no traces of engine were detected.

"Please, state aloud explanations for your movements."


((OOC: This one's going to be a little different. The success of your maneuvers is going to depend on the quality of your posts- length is not particularly a factor as I'm much more interested in your logic. A key to the image below:
Blue is your forces.
Yellow marks the hyperspace anomaly.
Red marks the impact site.
Purple marks the area of the signal, but not necessarily the source.))

 

[Travis]

Things began happening across the board and it was now his turn to deal with it. Meistrin did not hesitate, but began issuing orders. In compliance with his orders, he spoke aloud his reasoning.

"Deploy a flight of fighters to investigate the crash site. One wing pair will go in close to investigate, the other will stay back and cover them. Order them to be wary of ambushes. I want to know what, if anything, crashed there as soon as possible. Keep in constant contact.

"This could be nothing more than a distraction, so I do not wish to devote significant resources, especially if it is an ambush. Losing four fighters is insignificant and if contact is broken, we know there is something out there and can collate that with other data to determine a response."

He addressed the sensor ping. "Triangulate with the various scout fighters and determine the origin of the signal. I want sensor analysts on all capital ships to independently analyze the signal and return their results to me. If it is a coded pulse, I want to know it. If it is an explosion or some other device, it will be critical to know before devoting our forces into what could also be an ambush. Deploy the nearest two scouting pairs to the area and as soon as an origin is pinpointed, send them there with the same instructions as the above flight."

On to the phenomena nearer to his fleet. "Alert all fighters with the fleet to begin visual searches. Look for visual distortions that would indicate a cloaked ship. Order the two nearest corvettes to keep alert for incoming fire seemingly from nowhere. Should that occur, both are to fire in a spread around the estimated origin. They will be supported by the medium cruiser should they be fired upon. Prepare shock nets on the cruiser. As soon as something is located, I want a net deployed, perhaps we will catch them unawares before they can drop their cloak and get a proper look around.

"Further, recall the closest fighter pair from the search. They are to search the area visibly and with sensors. If at any time, they encounter anything suspicious, I want it marked and investigated. Be prepared for the sudden presence of enemy fighters if it is a cloaked carrier. If that happens, all capital ships and corvettes will open fire on the incoming wave as planned until the enemy fighters get in closer and our fighter screen will deal with them. At that point, those ships will focus on the enemy carrier.

"Begin moving the fleet toward the disturbance at half speed. That will put us closer to the possible cloaked ship, the signal spike, and the wreckage in case one of those three are our target. Have the other scouts continue to search in case all are simply distractions."

Having finished his orders, Meistrin turned to the high admiral and reported, "Sir, one, none, or all of these anomalies could be some or all of the target forces or a trap. Therefore, until it is known which they are, it is best to slowly move the fleet equidistant from the two in the asteroid field so that if either turns out to be what we are looking for, we can respond in force. Otherwise, to commit to one would carry the risk of it only being a distraction and splitting my already small forces will risk the one that finds the enemy being overwhelmed before the other can arrive.

"Then there is the matter of the probable cloaked ship. Since we are not equipped with a crystal gravfield sensor, there is no surefire way to scan the region, especially due to the nearby asteroid field. Our best chance is to scan visually for the missing stars as a cloaked ship travels through the region. It is a long shot, but with forces looking in two directions, there is a chance. Even if they ambush us, the shock net may be able to disrupt them since they would have to run a complete scan of the region once coming out of cloak and will need to sort out fighters and ships as well as other incoming fire. Unless the ship is a heavy capital ship that outclasses my fleet anyway, it is likely it will be disabled or heavily damaged within a minute or less of dropping its cloak if it is anywhere near the fleet.

"They are unlikely to be a rescue force as they can neither navigate the asteroid field in the double blind cloaking field to reach their compatriots and enemy forces heading out of the asteroid field toward them would give away their location and give my fleet a chance to engage them.

"It is extremely unlikely that this is an allied ship. If it was, they wouldn't cloak since allies would be here to search for the Alliance forces and it is impossible to scan for them in cloak. If it does happen to be extremely misguided allies, then it is the fault of their commander if we fire upon them. The mission to destroy those with the intelligence is paramount and any ship that drops into cloak without identifying itself is a threat that must be dealt with. Even losing the allied ship would be acceptable losses as the mission overrides anything else.

"If this happens not to be a cloaked ship, then the fleet is losing nothing from the main search except two scout fighters. The fleet will also be heading in the general direction of both other anomalies as this third one is near equidistant from them."

 

[Santoro]

((Sorry for the delay, that durn work. My post is going to be brief because I want to get you to post again, but I don't have much time to write it out.))

The sensor ping: Starfighters swarmed into the area and sensors located the source of the disturbance- a highly-metallic asteroid that reflected an encoded audio transmission. It will take two rounds to decode the transmission, although the source is identified as deeper in the field.

The crash site: Upon closer investigation, the debris is reported to be not that of a starship. However, there are clear manmade elements and a slight ion efflux heading into the impact site- engine trails. Tell me what you think this means.

The anomaly: Despite visual and sensor scanning, no trace of a cloaked vessel is found. However, your weapons have been prepared and starfighters recalled- results of their visual sweep will be reported each round.

((Once again, sorry for the brevity. Post your analysis of each area and we'll get to the action.))