What do we think? The OC obviously don't have that much option, but can still help.

I think we need to take a mining station or two first, then attemt at the forge world.
:unsure:

I'm not sure we need to take the Mining stations at all. We could just bypass them and perform a huge assault onto Serrax, then mop up the rest of the system. If we did attack the Mining stations, I would suggest using drop troops and other units with similar experience in free-fall and other such zero-g conditions.

Vanguard and I both agree that the mining stations should be checked out.

Another concern are the moons..

In an earlier conversation with Lithonius he mentioned the moon's "orbital" defenses being capable of hitting the surface of Serraxx. The two populated moons should be taken out and captured before we move on Serrax itself. It is likely that commando work will be required to infiltrate the moon bases and disarm the main laser defenses before more conventional forces can be safely dropped.

So gimme the specials and I'll get on with it!
The stations do have defences and enemies on board remember...

yes, its speculated by intelligence that a Corps sized formation holds each moon.

My idea is that commando/drop forces infiltrate the bases and disable the orbital defenses so that large ships can come in and deploy conventional infantry to overcome the defenders of the bases. With luck we can capture the orbital defense weapons and use them to our advantage.

That sounds like a perfect mission for the Mad sallys. Or the Talasan Para-commando. I knew I had a good reason for making them!

I'll just volunteer my regiment for the initial drop to disable and cause havoc.

we could aim them at serrax to make an LZ or take out heavy fortifications.

I request to personally check alpha and rescue any survivors and maybye check circle around the system to catch chaos in the rear cutting of retreats cuased by the main force.

Why waste forces. We could destroy or disable the moons(not the whole moon, just the defences) with the fleet and make drops on the planets themselves. Capturing the moons would serve no strategic purpose, and would tie up forces that will be needed for the drop on Serrax.

you don't realy get it time is not against us we'd better suround serrax and than bombard them with the moons orbital weapons. and than drop in to wipe out the rest. Plus I will let no Serraxxian citizens fall under the will of Chaos. I must check Alpha!

We should attack as fast as we can to gain the element of surprise. Cassualties will be much lighter if the enemy are not fully prepared for an attack. While the orbital defence stations on the moons might be useful, there is no assurence that Chaos will not destroy it themselves. Plus it will take several days, if not weeks to reorganize the forces and attack Serrax. If we attack fast and hard we can make a major landing sight with the drop troops, and then will be able to ferry the rest of our forces.

noted but what if chaos utlizes the colonies to get the mainforce in the rear. or they could call for re-emforcements to cut us off from the Empire. I think we should just put them In a good death-lock and move in on serraxx with everything we got. they're not going anywhere or anything. it is also of great importance to destroy chaos scouts first or capture the ships and take alook around. we can't let anyone escape.

That is why the fleet destros the stations.

wait? we're gonna just destroy the colonies?

look, the element of suprise is a non-issue, they have a fleet that will know of our arrival in system and have reported us well before we make any sort of actual drops, remember it would realisticly take a day or two just to burn in-system from the outer belt.

the small mining stations can be burned, i'll agree with that, but we should try to keep our fleet massed while we engage their stations and battle groups one at a time.

when we force landings on Serrax we have to do something about the moons, and no offense to the fellow in charge of the fleet, but i don't trust the navy to be that precise in their bombardment, so we can either try dropping one or two drop regiments on each to seize any orbital guns and the drop another corps or so on each to finish the job, or we just try to use meat shields to force LZ's and get enough men on the moons to wip out whatever they've got. then the moment we take hold of the defenses or destroy them, we force landings on Serrax with the remaining drop troops to secure drop sites to bring in our really heavy stuff and the titans have to go down as soon as possible because if it's a forge world that probably means it has its own titans and more than likely (with our luck anyway) they deffected along with most of the world's population... but the intel reports just say its and industrial world, they didn't say anything about adeptus mechanicus cults or such, but OOC my guess is, if he let us have titans, it's safe to assume they've got titans.

personally, i say we torch all the mining stations, obliterate one moon and use one of the drop corps, probably the special one to seize the other's defenses and then use everything else to take Serrax. we of course leave some guys, a corps or two as reenforcements that can be dropped right where we need them, or if the guys on the moon need help holding the defense canons. while we're doing this, the navy maintains most of their fleet above the planet and sends a battle group to check on prime if we think it's safe, but the radiation is supposed to be pretty harsh so maybe not, maybe just smash the planet from long-range to be sure? after we win a decisive victory on Serrax we shuttle some of our regiments up to the moons to help secure the rest of the moon we already dropped troops on and to do a sweep of the moon we just smashed from orbit.

and remember thrax, intel suggests alot of the locals support the traitors, so this isn't a mercy mission, purge and cleanse commrade.

see you at the table.

Bombarding the moon bases with the fleet will not work, they are too heavily fortified. It will require a landing and probably a sabotage mission to disable the orbital defenses. If we don't secure these moon bases our invasion of Serraxx will be hindered by their weapons.

As for civilian populations... if they aren't active in some kind of resistance they should be assumed to be corrupted by chaos and purged.

so.. some kind of Overall Mission Agenda

1) Sweep and secure outlying system, Celerus belt, and all three mining stations.

1.5) use our main fleet elements to hunt down and destroy as much of the chaos fleet as possible. Staying away from Serraxx and its orbital defenses.

2) Once the chaos fleet is located and engaged we move our troops in to Serrax. Secure and disable the moon bases first. Covertly if possible. Then land on Serraxx itself and begin that massive landwar.

3) after Serraxx is overcome we can begin the cleanup phase of the operation. Hunting down the last chaos fleet elements, checking out Thraxx Prime, etc.

I like Erkyde's plan. Not only is it a good plan, but he's my superior, so sucking up might help (despite the fact the Gaia doesn't suck up, I do). The mining stations are an oddity. We may just want to nuke em and not waste troops and time trying to take them, but nuking should be an extreme last resort. Only to be used if the intel projections think it's a better idea to torch them than take them. But, as I said, Erkyde's plan seems sound, despite being a bit broad. An excellent overall plan, so I'll get behind it and push.

well, even though what i say is mostly meaningless, i still am a proponent of wasting the outer stations with the fleet, a mining station on an asteroid shouldn't be too dificult to vaporize, although i'm not even sure what our fleet assets are...

anyway, if its decided to hunt down all traitor ships and orbitals before we make a landing on serrax... i guess i don't need to check in again for like... 2 three weeks at the least.

see you at the table.

With respect gentlemen, I command the fleet, which, I might add, you happen to be standing on. To be blunt, you go where my ships take you. The Navy will be investigating the mining colonies and hopefully one of you folks will even volunteer to use your forces to investigate/liberate them, with whatever Navy support you require. Furthermore, I want more intel on the Chaos fleet before we look at attacking our main target. Additionally, if the moons can fire on the planet we should aim to capture them. It would be possible to obliterate them with the fleet via Nova Cannon and such but an attack by the Guard may prove better. What the Imperial Guard can and cannot do is, however, your department.

- Fleet Admiral Dacus

Sorry, we just got carried away planning on what we thought should happen. You do, of course, have over-all command, but I would think it unwise to ignore the counsel of the Captain-Generals at the least, if not some of the Brig. Generals. Just my $0.02. I'm just kinda supporting the spirit of cooperation here, as per page 109 of the revered Codex Astartes. :rolleyes:

actually... does anyone have over all command of the operation?

I reckon the order of conquest could resemble:

1) Mining Stations - or at least investigate them properly.

2) Moons: Make our landing a whole lot safer, we can turn its weapons on the planet as well as the orbital defences.

3) The planet itself.

I don't think anyone has official overall command. But as long as your troops, and you personally, are flying in space on Navy ships...

Not sure.

The mining colonies need to be re-taken (if the enemy holds them) to allow Imperial mining operations to begin again and ease the strain on the current facilities.

The moons also need to be taken before the main assault upon the planet begins (remember Starship Troopers anyone :P) so that we have solid bases to strike from and retreat to, as well as no worries of orbital bombardment.

Volunteers for each location are not only required but expected. The Emperor's soldiers should be willing to fight upon any world at any time. As such we expect a hard decision with all the forces volunteering for each location.

We don't need to wait for the entire chaos fleet to be destroyed before we begin ground operations. I just want them located and watched, because I don't want a chaos fleet showing up unannounced while my forces are making planetfall.


In OOC terms of "real time" it shouldn't take more than a couple updates to sweep the outer portions of the system including the mining stations. We should definately consider recapturing those outer system mining operations. The goal here is to return the system and its resources to Imperium control, not set the whole place to the flame.

the mining colonies need to get plastered... they can build new ones but we probably won't be able to replace the men lost taking them.

come on, just let the navy boy nova cannon the mining bases. no one likes mines anyway. seriously, they're as uncool as mimes... and not just cause they sound kinda alike...

see you at the table.

well, that "you're on a navy ship so eat it" attitude is cool and all, but i just don't understand why we wouldn''t have someone who is actually in charge of the entire operation...

lets vote! :D

but seriously, if the chain of command is only two levels, then why have one, we could have just let everyone have a couple of corps and achieved the same level of chaos...

see you at the table.

Because this is a grand experiment - we've never done anything on this scale before so we're trying it out. We can always re-shuffle halfway through the game if it works.

I just thought of something. We do have supporting space marines, right? They would be perfectly suited for taking out the moons.

uhh...Nooo. We don't have Space Marines here. Only highly elite guard regiments, and other guard regiments. So no easy way out for us on the moons. I would say that the 15th Raddigan and 5th Para-Commando could do an adequate job of taking on the moon bases. The 15th Raddigan are insane. They volunteer for things that Space Marines or specialist heavy assault Stormtrooper regiments would be need for, and they take 'em on and win. Add in the 5th Talasan Para-Commando, a highly specialized commando/terrorist unit, designed for this kind of mission, and I'm pretty sure the moons aren't going to be a significant problem.

Stratigo, Akritedes: We do have supporting space marines... we have the Steel Dragons. Lithonius will fill you in further, of course... but the drop on the moons is the kind of action they're perfectly suited to. The regiments you've suggested (the Raddigan and the Talasan) could be used in support of the Steel Dragons, of course... allowing the Steel Dragons to do the dangerous jobs whilst the guard follow up and support them.

:o
We have Marines?

....
....
......

Figures.

I just hope they do better than they did in the Intro RP, they haven't done us a bit of good as far as I can tell. But you're right, they would be perfectly suited to whacking the moons. Maybe we can sic them on the Mining Stations as well? That would actually work fairly well...Hmmm, some interesting thoughts there...I assume they're under GM control?

Indeed we do have the marines and they are under GM control. One of the NPC's we deal with will be the leader of the Marines. That they will get along with us or do as we request (note, NOT order) is not to be assumed. I also think that some people are underestimating the challenge that will be presented by the moons. You might have elite forces... guess what... so do Chaos! and they are massively entrenched on those moons.

Vanguard, I need to talk to you on MSN when you get the chance.

For planning purposes or breach of forum etiquette? Either is possible. I am actually about to go interstate (I leave in 50 min) for a few days. Tuesday the 25th will be first opportunity (your Monday though).

Until then... the "you're on my ships" line is exessive, simply to let you know that you should not expect the Navy to do whatever you want. Once force selection is final (a few months by the look of it) then we can start to plan properly.

Fleet Admiral Dacus' objectives:

1) Investigate station Alpha
2) Concurrently, invade other station/s.
[I beleive we should capture these complexes, not destroy them. Not only is this better for the imperium the level of bombardment required to destroy them would likely take longer than a focused assault.
3) Gather intel on Chaos forces closer in.
4) Avoid, at all costs, a fleet engagement close to the planetary defences.

I feel that the moons should be invaded. The Guard will have a better idea of their ability to do this successfully than Dacus so advice will be listened to. Furthermore, speculation here is of limited use. If you read 'Intel Requests' Lith mentions unspecified "complications" with invading the moons so we don't know what we're talking about.

From an out of game perspective, I will try to keep the fleet stuff short. I am well aware that most of you are here for the ground pounding and a long Naval wander will only annoy and cause players to lose interest and drop out.

Breach of forum etiquette. It's just to get your go-ahead on something that I've discussed with Eman.

OK. Is it OK for Eman to pass along the message when I see him tomorrow?

I'll PM you on here to explain.

What's all this hush-hush stuff?

Anyhow, I reckon a nice methodical campaign would suit us nicely. Everything is conquered one bit after the other until we make our DZ/LZ on the forge world. There isn't much need for speed and we can drop anywhere we like on the planet with sufficient 'softening up' from the Navy and the Moon defences we'll be nicking off with. The only thing is that of course when we hit the system, chaos will be building up like crazy, churning out fresh tanks by the hundred from their factories. :unsure:

you know what; f it all; we got that ship with the virus bombs on it... if you got'em use'em.

"Check it out, independently targeting particle beam failings. Vwaap! Fry half a city with this puppy. We got phased plasma pulse rifles. We got Rpg's. We got sonic-electronic ball-breakers. We got nukes, we got knives, sharp sticks.

see you at the table.