Acting on the Ultimatum
Some would call it a yucky, rainy day. Berëzan culture held overcast weather in completely opposite regard, and it brightened the spirits of the colossal fleet that, as some joked, raised the water level of the Eastern Berëzan Sea a few centimeters. Only the high command staff knew exactly how much was in the fleet of transports and warships, and the soldiers could only take wild guesses. A million? 10 million? Who knows? Some wondered if the formation could be seen from space. It was certainly too large to be seen wholly from one spot on earth.
And it was only one of several. The rest were in bases in Kormanthor, an as-yet-neutral nation that was physically much closer to Belem than Berëza was. But this one was the one to actually begin the attack. Again, only the command staff knew exactly what was in it, but the group obviously had the usual mix of mechanized infantry, Razvedka (on-foot recon, belonging to the Spetzsili, the Berëzan special forces), armor, fire support (though less than usual, because this group was only to establish a beachhead, and couldn't use artillery), airborne (heliborne and paratroopers that would attack right after the main force), plenty of air support, and plenty of naval gun support. The designated landing place, declared when the force was only an hour from landing, was a small, isolated sector of beach, with (relatively) thin defenses. The most vulnerable part of an invasion is the initial landing battle, when there is nowhere to dig in. And this one would be especially difficult, given the rather thick defenses, and the infamous wall.
The first shot of what some were calling a world war was fired on November 29, 2 hours from dusk. The shot was an 8-inch naval shell that came from the left gun on the front turret of the NFB Ferz', one of Berëza's many Fantom-class cruisers. A nervous young sailor, Aleksandra Kopfhaus, was selected to aim and fire it as her first shot. The captain had the shoulderboards of the rank above hers in his hand. What seemed like half of the ship was watching her as she peered into the gunsight, and shouted for the first time in a shaky voice, "Loaded?" "Loaded," came the reply from the loading crew, as the room grew silent and tense. Her voice grew more confident. "Armed?" "Armed." A pause. "2 minutes, 30 seconds left, 30 seconds up," she commanded. A soft whirr rotated the entire turret, and picked up the gun. "Two thirty left, 30 up," came the reply. Another pause. "Fire in the hole," as she pulled the large green lever on her left. The silence only amplified the roar of the gun as the entire ship pitched a few degrees, throwing everybody off balance. A few seconds later, the flash of a hit shone in the large gunsight. The room erupted in cheering as the captain pinned the new shoulderboards on her coat. The room suddenly silenced in awe as it saw a much larger flash in the gunsight, followed by a few more. She not only hit the beach, but hit something that exploded quite dramatically, maybe some land mines. "Battle stations!" yelled the captain, as everyone got back to wherever they were supposed to be. "Keep firing," he told Aleksandra. Meanwhile, the order came from the lead ship of the fleet, the NFB Skorpion, to fire at will. The 8-inch gun's roar seemed quite pathetic in comarison to what came. 5-inch, 8-inch, 12-inch, 16-inch, 18-inch, and even the Skorpion's main guns, 23.5-inch monsters, let loose their fury on the shore. The smaller guns were too inaccurate at this range - some 6 miles, to be aimed at specific targets, but the bigger ones, particularly the Skorpion's, had targets. The primary targets were the 22-inch and 16-inch gun emplacements on a 12-mile strip of beach. Those would cause the most damage to the fleet, and were to be pounded until destroyed. Next were the anti-ship missile batteries. Anything larger than a Fantom-class cruiser was pretty much immune to most anti-ship missiles, but the smaller ships could suffer. Medium-sized guns were to aim a little higher, in hopes of demolishing the wall, the machine gun bunkers, perhaps exposing the AA guns behind it and taking them out, making as much of a mess of the defending troops as possible, and generally laying waste to any structure nearby. The smaller guns were to take out the land and sea mines, the explosive dragons teeth, and demolish some barbed wire. Once the AA and Phalanx systems were mostly gone, Berëzan heavy bombers, heavily escorted, would come in, followed by close-support planes and maybe some gunships. Once the wall had a large breach, the sea mines destroyed, and mostly everything around it gone or incapacitated, the helo-borne troopers, and then the marines (Razvedka first, then the regular MechIn) would attack.
An hour into the bombardment, it was pretty obvious that the sea and land mines were gone, the wall was beginning to crumble, and at least 2 (and probably more) of the 10 22-inch & 7 of the 16-inch guns were destroyed. The 22-inch gun batteries' armor was giving all but the Skorpion's guns a hard time, and the Belem guns were definitely responding - 2 destroyers and a frigate were sunk, a gun cruiser crippled but floating (sort of), and numerous ships had minor or moderate damage.
....
"Well, so much for Soviet Haaregrad," lamented Junior Starshina Oksana Sosnova, commenting on SH's failure to deliver the 7 Berëzan Spetznaz some hot pizza and vodka. They would have to keep surviving by dressing up as Belem civilians and buying food (or when their money had run out, by breaking into stores at night), and at least they still had ammo. The group was resting in their 4th mobile base, little more than a pile of backpacks, that day, performing their never-ending task of deep recon in Belem proper. The Belem military presence in past weeks had resembled a rudely awakened cat - it was now puffed-up, hissing, and very alert. It meant that they had to be extra-careful, and that they could do little but observe - the risks of any sort of attack by such a small, however well-armed and elite group, was too great. The assistant commander, Lieutenant Poitr Garem, was about to comment when the explosions some kilometers away reminded them that there was a war about to begin. Apparently it had, and by chance, it had begun quite near the Spetznaz position. The group had mixed feelings about the Black Army's invading here. On one hand, the group would undoubtedly be reinforced when it joined up with the main force (which they figured was bound to break in). On the other hand, an invasion meant that a huge part of the Belem Defense Force would be rushed to the scene, which increased the chances of the group's being caught and killed (they would not be taken alive) to an uncomfortable level. They grabbed their bags and weapons, and snuck away from the camp to another part of the forest, leaving it just as they found it.
....
Senior Private Stefan Beliy, the last of a platoon of helo-borne troops, had finally shown his face during line-up, late from brushing his teeth. "Where you been, asshole?" shouted another trooper, Nadia Schaffer, annoyed that the group had to wait for him. Yet again. He was always late for lineup, the last to get in the chopper, the last to leave, and the last to get back in after a battle. Pleasant, good-looking, and a damn good shot, but lazy, absentminded, and with no comprehension of the concept of time and how to be on it. And the idiot was wearing his regular green beret, too. Someone should've guessed that he would forget that the entire division had been promoted to the title of Shock Airborne Division (as opposed to just Airborne Division), a step of 1337-ness up from regular. He was to wear either a red beret, or a regular helmet (or no headgear, as was sometimes done). "Yeah, yeah. I'm here." "Where's yer gun?" "Damn. I knew I felt a little light." "You might still have time before we have to go in there," she pointed to the flashing beach, "Run, or you'll have to use your pistols again." That wouldn't've been so bad, he thought, sprinting down the stairs of the helicarrier ship, near the back of the fleet. All Berëzan soldiers were given two sidearms (they could pick between a weak 9mm, a powerful silver-plated 9mm, a .50 desert eagle, the full-auto APS Stetchkin, or the very powerful 13mm Gvozd'emët), and trained to use both simultaneously. Beliy's talent was just that, but this was a battle that would require a lot more firepower than even two Gvozd'emëts.
this is a (mostly) closed RP. only Berëza, Belem, Qaaolchoura, Soviet Trasa, Roania, KAG, and Buka Makalu may post. others need permission from both myself and belem. either TM one of us, or better yet, post in the thread linked below.
so far, forces are as follows - [Berëza, Qaaolchoura, KAG, Nights Whisper, Yuke no Yume] vs. [Belem, Soviet Trasa, Roania, Buka Makalu, buka's friend whose name i forgot, starts with a K, and bits and pieces of other nations].
http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=94692&highlight=
OOC: how many ships are off my coast?
ooo...good question. not including transports, my entire military fleet is - 11 fleet carriers, 33 battleships, 92 light, medium, heavy, battlecruisers, 130 destroyers, 78 attack subs, 46 missile subs, 519 special/support ships.
most of that (less carriers, more heavy gun ships), not including transports, is off your coast. including transports...well, it's about a million troops (mechin, armor, and airborne), and about half of them are in landing craft, the rest in ships that will load onto the landing craft for a second landing...i really don't know. but if you count landing craft, well into the thousands.
they're arranged in a lopsided circle, with the transports and carriers (including helicarriers) in the middle, most of the warships on the near side of the circle around them, and some warships and most of the subs on the far end.
OOC: ok so they have to be about 15 miles off the coast to be in gun range.
IC: As soon as the first shot was fired from the enemy gun coastal defenses went up immediatelly.
Edit(thought ur first post said a 2 mile beach have to fix in range cannons):200 gun batteries(each battery has 3 guns each) open fire on the enemy fleet 20 of those batteries are 16 inchers and 20 are 22 inchers.
From the sections of the coastline within range 600 Javelin anti ship missiles are fired. They are directed only towards the enemy warships ignoring the troop transports.
3 fleets stationed 600 miles away in a neutral port set full sail for the rear of the Berezan fleet their objective is to get 200 miles behind the fleet.
Each fleet has roughly 160 surface ships. Ill post exact numbers in the next post.
From the two nearest cities 10 squadrons of PT boats each depart a squadron is 12 boats. ETA is 15 RL minutes they are headed towards the flanks of the enemy fleet.
25 thousand troops are sent from Imperial Center on the march towards the attacked beach(these troops are a diversion force for sat recon and such). *Secret* Whereas the main set up over 75 thousand reinforcements is being sent through underground rail bullet train to within 1 mile of the beseiged wall.
Over half the Belem airforce is hot on the runways waiting for orders.
The beach itself has 1 division of Belem defenders and 50 thousand alliance troops. With 1500 tanks as support.
Note: javelin missiles are mach 4-6 sea skimmers
the fleets consist of:
4 Intrepid Carriers
4 Fiery Avenger Missile Ships
4 Shield AA ships
4 Tracker ASW ships
20 Iowa Battleships
30 Ticonderoga cruisers
40 Perry Frigates
60 Burke destroyers
5 LA attack subs
5 Virginia attack subs.
OOC: have to edit something in my first post i misread the beach landing estimate.
Belem? Kaderba has granted permission for YOU to control his Troops (About 10 mill troopers and 20,000 tanks by my estimate).
i shall control my own.
EDIT - taken back
i call godmod on the mach 4-6 figure on the missiles. it's virtually impossible for any large projectile to travel faster than mach 2 (and even that's pushing it) at sea level - air resistance is way too great. even at high altitude (below 80k feet), it's extremely difficult. besides air resistance, they'd be going way too fast to be able to turn within 6 miles. anyway, we'll say that half of them manage to get past the CIWS.
i'm also expressing concern over 75k soldiers arriving via bullet train. not a full call of godmod, but i would like some explanation. besides that, my intelligence (which recieves 60% of the funding and 35% of the personnel of the entire military) would've picked up something. or if you insist that they couldn't've, then i'll just put most of their personnel and funding into the army and pretty much double its strength.
also, i'd prefer we didn't use RL time for IC events.
400 miles at a maximum of 40 miles per hour (probably a lot less, but i'll be leniant) means 10 hours. IC - recon subs have detected the fleet's movements, and have radioed back the information.
....
One hour after dusk, the rain had lessened somewhat, though the sky was still cloudy. The Black Army made its first mistake - it wanted to attack after dusk, because the Belem defenses would have a harder time seeing individual attackers in the dark, while the Berëzans knew where the defenders were, as well as their spotlights (which i'm assuming they have?). The problem was that the shore bombardment destroyed not only a large section of the wall, but all bunkers and spotlights and actually anything useful over quite a large area. The darkness would cause a lot of chaos, but probably more for the defenders than the attackers.
The shore bombardment worked better than expected in some places, and worse in others. All heavy gun batteries had been silenced, and there was barely anything left in range of the beach - certainly no machine guns or Phalanx systems. Some AA guns remained, but they were quickly silenced by Berëzan tanks. Missile batteries were mostly gone as well, though not before causing more damage than was expected - 8 warships sunk, 3 crippled, over 100 with minor damage. The gun batteries had also succeeded in sinking 4 landing craft, and rendering their contents useless for the duration.
The first wave of landing craft discovered where the bombardment had partially failed - sea mines took down 14 of them before the craft wisened up, and had the soldiers inside shoot anything that looked like a mine with small arms fire. It worked. The 14 sunk (the troops inside still managing to swim/wade ashore, though the tanks were sunk) were quickly replaced by others, and about 1000 landing craft, each carrying either 6 APC's and 60 soldiers, or 4 tanks, landed on the 1-mile strip of blasted beach. In the darkness, they could see that the beach was a mess - craters everywhere, some huge, the wall was little more than charred rubble, the dragons teeth were nowhere to be found, bits of barbed wire didn't stop the vehicles and foot soldiers in the slightest, and nothing shot at them until they started to climb over the remains of the wall. By then, they had arranged into neat clusters of battle formations, most soldiers had left their APC's in favor of the great cover around, and some trench mortars were in place near the shoreline.
The first tank rumbled through the side of a shell crater, only to be greeted with something like 3 missiles and a dozen tank shells. For the first time since it was introduced years ago, a T-64* was hit with enemy fire. And for the first time, it showed the skeptics that its armor, seemingly designed by a crack addict who happened to be doing LSD at the time, actually worked just as it was supposed to. 2 missile hits to its front armor plate (one missile missed) left scorch marks, while only one of the tank shells, apparently from a more powerful gun than the rest, dented the armor enough to cause internal damage - some equipment that was attached to the front turret flew off and shattered inside. Minor damage. The T-64* responded in kind. Its two 125mm cannons, one with a HE shell, one with a sabot round, swung towards whatever it could find. The night-vision system found much - a well-dug in force of 75000 troops and 1500 tanks. Apparently, the troops were using AT guns. Realizing that the BDF couldn't do much to hurt the '64, the commander, Major Kat'a Veiss, looked for a good armored target before firing. She found one of the few tanks. Pushing the red button on her joystick, she made it burn. The HE shell was also fired at it in hopes of taking out whatever was around the tank. The smoke was too much to confirm collateral damage. Unfortunately, the gun that dented the tank before fired again, this time hitting the thinner hull armor and penetrating. The shell hit a bunch of stuff inside, including an oiling assembly for the turret ring, which caused a small fire and a lot of smoke, burning the gunner's neck, and disabling the right gun. The lack of clangs on the hull indicated that it was smoking enough that the BDF thought it was gone. Unable to breathe in the opaque smoke, Kat'a opened the large rear hatch to air out the turret, and was greeted with two soldiers on the hull. "You hurt?" asked one, his thick accent giving away that he was one of the LRR-donated marines. She leaned out the hatch, and coughing fiercly, she replied, "Yeah. We got hit. We're still fighting, though. Thanks." The marine hopped off, the turret aired out, and the tank moved on. The line of BDF troopers extended too far to surround them, so the tanks and troops did little but dig in and slowly advance. Leaving the gunning to the gunner, Kat'a radioed to her platoon to use machine guns, and herself opened the top hatch, picked up her chair, and got behind the BP-42 (MG-42). Though not nearly as intimidating as the Sokolov, the machine gun's very rapid fire, sounding like ripping canvas, spat tracers at the sandbags and trenches and makeshift bunkers, the latter being demolished one by one, and at any Belem or Alliance trooper that decided to get out from the cover. The MechIn, meanwhile, slowly charged the fortified line with rifle fire, machine gun fire, grenades, flamethrowers, and some even with nothing but knives. Before long, the line was burned, blown up, and shot up, and the few isolated pockets of defenders were being slowly worn down by the sheer volume of fire, then blasted out with grenades or tank fire.
By the time the BDF positions had Berëzan troops cleaning up bodies and weapons, about half of the force had landed, and the ones that fought that first battle already had a clear impression of what they thought battles would be like. All thought that Belem soldiers were way too good shots, and were well-armed, but lacked effective anti-tank weapons (and their tank numbers were much smaller than Berëzan ones, saying nothing of their lack of quality). The Alliance soldiers, on the other hand, were cowards - they were the ones who jumped and ran away when shot at enough, only to be gunned down in the sprint. Not a single Belem soldier was seen running away (some did surrender, but only when it was quite obviously the only thing left to do), and quite a few had charged the attackers in small groups. Few died while not still firing, and the number that surrendered (3700) was unexpectedly low.
The good marksmanship and cohesion of the Belem soldiers took its toll. 9500 dead - nearly a division - and some 32000 wounded. Nights Whisper's medical troops would have a lot of work. 90 tanks were destroyed, as were 136 APC's ('twould've been more, but they mostly stayed behind with ammo). BDF casualties were unconfirmed due to many being burned or exploded beyond recognition, and many non-Belem soldiers deserting. 3700 Belem troops, and about 15000 Alliance troops were taken prisoner. There was definitely no planned retreat, so the battle was called a success.
***
The entire force had landed and established a beachhead. The fleet had regrouped to form a defensive half-circle around the transports near the shore, and sat waiting for the Belem naval response. Two forces of Berëzan aircraft were dispatched. 1000 strategic bombers, 1500 ground attack planes, and 2000 fighters to the landing forces, and 1500 attack planes and 250 fighters to the fleet. All were launched from Kormanthor, and would definitely get there no later than the Belem fleet would. Hopefully, they'd get there in time to stave off the Belem Air Force response as well. For extra urgency, 25 NI-19 interceptors (stealth, very unmaneuverable, mach 3.8 at high altitude, mach 3.0 at normal altitude) were launched at full speed towards the ground force.
*our T-64 is nothing like the real-world T-64. the latter is a soviet-era tub with a gun and a diesel engine and not much else. ours has modern fire computers and detection electronics, two main 125mm guns, an AA missile pod, and a hydrogen engine. its main feature is high-tech laminated armor that, as you can see above, is average against kinetic projectiles but virtually impervious to HEAT warheads. otherwise sturdy and reliable, its weakness is its hit-me-i'm-so-damn-huge-that-you-can't-possibly-miss size, delicate insides, and it used to have an unreliable computer system (as all Berëzan computers did). Genworks fixed that. now, the only thing unreliable about its electronics is that they don't stand up to gunfire well. it looks like the red alert heavy tank.
EDIT - taken back
if you think my posts are too long-winded, let me know.
and it's 9am ET and i'm off to sleep. i'll be up around 9pm. of course, you can post while i'm off in la-la land, just don't assume i'll answer quickly, and don't make them "real-time", either.
OOC: you cant post my losses.
OOC: also for the mach 4-6 missiles they did tests on mach 6 missiles already that managed to keep their speed on descent. And since we are at max 2010 tech its theoritically possible that they could have a sea skimmer by then. The missiles dont have to turn much considering a ship wont be able to move out of range so in the first few seconds of flight at a slower speed the missile will be able to get its bearings.
Also with the bullet train the military is pretty secret about using the line and its only used in times of emergency.
OOC: basically we have to do this play by play.
for example those P.T. boats I sent should be the next thing that happens you get first attack because they are on approach.
then u have to post how many landing craft are being sent to the beach and how long the bombardment lasted. I post damage from bombardment and resistance to the landing. then u post landing then we have a beach battle.
eh...i'm still not buying that any large object can travel that fast at sea level. and you're saying that it starts out flying slower so it can aim, and then speeds up to mach 6?
ok, in that case...either
1. rewind to 2 hours after the bombardment began, or
2. assume that the 2-hour bombardment knocked out the main gun batteries (which, given the volume and duration of fire, and that the guns can't move or take cover, sounds plausible to me) and a large section of the wall, and rewind to when the marines have arranged themselves in a line facing your troops (which are in a line?), and that particular firefight is about mid-way. what the berëzans are doing is basically suppression-firing at your guys with support weapons (mortars, tank fire, and MGs), while smaller numbers of them are crawling forward in the thick cover (from shellholes and the dark and rain) and attacking with mostly grenades and flamethrowers.
the suppression thing also sounds plausible because though we're outnumbered, we have a lot more tanks than you do, not counting the air support that's on its way, and the navy that...ok, the navy can't fire (the marines and your guys are too close).
---Post deleted by NationStates Moderators---
When the missile is launched from its silo its only going like 100 miles per hour and it lines up with the target and then speeds up which is pretty much how most supersonic missiles acquire targets. Ever see the video of the F-14 launching the phoenix? THe missile drops down for about a second before engaging its thrusters and it doesnt really speed up for about 2 seconds.
ill describe the damage from the wall. the batteries in the 12 mile section you are bombing will be taken. but for atleast another 10 outside of that I still have batteries that are in range of your fleet. Lots of the wall is heavily damaged and broken the only thing is my troops arent just sitting there waiting for the bombardment to stop. After a section gets destroyed troops would be sent to put up sandbags to reinforce the defense.
Also I have 3000 tanks and 20 thousand infantry about 15 miles to the north and south(divided in half so 1500 and 10 respectively) waiting for orders to move down once the troop transports start to move.
Your right that most of the heavy weapons and about 10-15 thousand casualities in the 12 mile section would be expected but my troops are equipped with nightvision goggles. They also have LAWS and such for the anti tank weaponary. And as soon as your troops debarked the transports(like in Saving Private Ryan) the fire would open up with things like mortars opening up before hand on the transports and air support being called in. Then they have to run across 50 yards of beach on a position that would be getting reinforcements.
Also assuming your troop transports can go 60 MPH(extremely fast only a few in RL can past 40) it would take 10 minutes for them to arrive and within abother 30-40s minutes my tanks in those two support divisions could be in a support positions and within another 15 minutes making for a very very bloody battle.
Ill accept rewinding it to the initial landing but it would be better to rewind it to approach of the troop transports so I can post air defenses getting deployed and such.
When the missile is launched...and it doesnt really speed up for about 2 seconds.
yeah, but to accelerate to mach 6 at sea level within 6 miles is really pushing the limits of realistic physics.
the batteries in the 12 mile section you are bombing will be taken. but for atleast another 10 outside of that I still have batteries that are in range of your fleet.
actually, a 20 mile section. the idea is that my 23.5" guns have about the same range as your 22" (makes sense, right?), and therefore can and do knock out almost all of the large batteries within range of the beach.
After a section gets destroyed troops would be sent to put up sandbags to reinforce the defense.
you're sending out construction crews into an area that's getting heavily shelled? the shelling is continuing until the transports are about a quarter mile from shore. shelling of targets inland (not nearly as intensive and hence not as effective) continues until the stuff has disembarked.
my troops are equipped with nightvision goggles. They also have LAWS and such for the anti tank weaponary. And as soon as your troops debarked the transports(like in Saving Private Ryan) the fire would open up with things like mortars opening up before hand on the transports and air support being called in. Then they have to run across 50 yards of beach on a position that would be getting reinforcements.
fair enough. so we've rewinded to when the marines are unloading. not like private ryan, though. first, they're not running, they're driving in APC's (most of them). the ones that aren't - they have cover (shell craters, darkness, the rain), and they have lots of cover fire from the 1 tank per 1.5 APC's. they're both covered and supported, so not exactly machinegun or mortar fodder.
Also assuming your troop transports can go 60 MPH(extremely fast only a few in RL can past 40) it would take 10 minutes for them to arrive and within abother 30-40s minutes my tanks in those two support divisions could be in a support positions and within another 15 minutes making for a very very bloody battle.
no, they go at more like 20mph. 40mph is way too fast. again, the shelling continues until they're 1/4 mile, or about 1 minute from landing.
Ill accept rewinding it to the initial landing but it would be better to rewind it to approach of the troop transports so I can post air defenses getting deployed and such.
ok, rewind to when the transports are about a minute from landing (2000 of them in a mile strip, with another wave a few minutes behind, each transport has 4 tanks or 6 APC's with 10 troopers in/on/around each), and the shelling has just stopped (shelling of targets further inland - your tanks and troops - is continuing). given that i've been shelling for 2 hours, i'll accept that you have airpower in the area - 2 hours is plenty to have it available. however, the warships have more than big guns and CIWS - they've got SAMs and AAA, and are causing at least a major distraction to any close-air-support aircraft.
your wall is gone. almost all heavy guns are gone. your AA is somewhat there. your ground forces are mostly intact, and can arrive at the beach at the same time as my transports (if they were already there, the shelling would've gotten them). artillery and mortars can begin firing immediately (keep in mind that in a really close-in battle, you can't use mortars/arty without killing your own guys. same goes for me). your air support is in the area. we have no planes in the area, but some that are on standby (ETA 10 minutes). we also have air defenses that are at least distracting your planes. all that ok with you?
bump(i'll be back later)
this is a closed RP. TM one of us, or post on the other thread if you wish to join.
OOC: since im too lazy to quote all that:
1.ok well say mach 3-4 then.
2. fair enough
3. Not construction crews just regular soldiers throwing sandbags into position to create defenses.
IC: Another 200 Javelin missiles are launched against the enemy fleet from the shore installations all are aimed at the enemy carriers.
The two groups of P.T. boats (120 in each group) come from the North and South towards the enemy fleet and are coming within 50 miles (since im on approach you get first attack.) Just remember the P.T. boats have a low sea clearance so missiles have problems hitting boats like these.
land battle
50 A-10s flying on the deck come up from the South preparing to strafe the enemy lines with their 30mm anti tank cannons. At 8 miles they will each launch 6 maverick missiles at enemy tanks and APCs. There other 6 hardpoints are filled with napalm bombs.
200 Viper interceptors and 100 F-15s are patrolling about 50 miles in land waiting for enemy fighter launch or the destruction of the carriers.
1000 tanks(half Crusader I and half Crusader II) are at the defense point and they open fire immediately on the enemy transports. Crusader IIs have 150 cannons and Crusader Is have 125. The main objective is to either neutralize the land craft or block the exitway for the rest of the troops and vechiles.
of the original 75 thousand 50 thousand remain and 40 thousand are within firing range of the main beach assault. They will open fire as soon as the gates open up.
20 thousand infantry and 1500 more tanks are a few minutes away from the front.
Another 50 allaince thousand troops are also on the march and two more Belem divisions are on the march.
-------------
Sea
The 3 fleets are moving 350 miles behind the Berezan fleet and are preparing to run attacks on Berezan supply lines. With the amount of troops you are trying to land you will need a huge supply convoy.
OOC: since im too lazy to quote all that:
1.ok well say mach 3-4 then.
2. fair enough
3. Not construction crews just regular soldiers throwing sandbags into position to create defenses.
IC: Another 200 Javelin missiles are launched against the enemy fleet from the shore installations all are aimed at the enemy carriers.
The two groups of P.T. boats (120 in each group) come from the North and South towards the enemy fleet and are coming within 50 miles (since im on approach you get first attack.) Just remember the P.T. boats have a low sea clearance so missiles have problems hitting boats like these.
land battle
50 A-10s flying on the deck come up from the South preparing to strafe the enemy lines with their 30mm anti tank cannons. At 8 miles they will each launch 6 maverick missiles at enemy tanks and APCs. There other 6 hardpoints are filled with napalm bombs.
200 Viper interceptors and 100 F-15s are patrolling about 50 miles in land waiting for enemy fighter launch or the destruction of the carriers.
1000 tanks(half Crusader I and half Crusader II) are at the defense point and they open fire immediately on the enemy transports. Crusader IIs have 150 cannons and Crusader Is have 125. The main objective is to either neutralize the land craft or block the exitway for the rest of the troops and vechiles.
of the original 75 thousand 50 thousand remain and 40 thousand are within firing range of the main beach assault. They will open fire as soon as the gates open up.
20 thousand infantry and 1500 more tanks are a few minutes away from the front.
Another 50 allaince thousand troops are also on the march and two more Belem divisions are on the march.
-------------
Sea
The 3 fleets are moving 350 miles behind the Berezan fleet and are preparing to run attacks on Berezan supply lines. With the amount of troops you are trying to land you will need a huge supply convoy.
Another 200 Javelin missiles are launched against the enemy fleet from the shore installations all are aimed at the enemy carriers.
given that my carriers are to the rear of the gaggle, your missiles would have to fly high to not hit the other ships. as such, they aren't very accurate at that speed (they have to turn down to hit the carriers), and are more vulnerable to CIWS
The two groups of P.T. boats (120 in each group) come from the North and South towards the enemy fleet and are coming within 50 miles (since im on approach you get first attack.) Just remember the P.T. boats have a low sea clearance so missiles have problems hitting boats like these. no prob, that's why we have more guns than missiles.
200 Viper interceptors and 100 F-15s are patrolling about 50 miles in land waiting for enemy fighter launch or the destruction of the carriers.they're getting actively harrassed by SAMs from the fleet. some are bound to go down.
random question - just how big is a division? my divisions are 10k troops and 2000 APC's each, or 10k tank crews and 2500 tanks each. yours?
The 3 fleets are moving 350 miles behind the Berezan fleet and are preparing to run attacks on Berezan supply lines. With the amount of troops you are tring to land you will need a huge supply convoy.
indeed. there'll be more on this later. your navy still has a ways to go, and we'll wait at least one more "turn" before doing this battle.
Another succession of explosions and splashes, followed by high-pitched roars (since they're faster than sound, their noise comes after they do) signalled the arrival of another wave of Javelin missiles. Aboard the helicarrier NFB Kipelov, crews hit the deck as two of the missiles plowed into their ship. One hit the rear deck, the other the front hull. The first took out three helicopters, empty but being fueled, and started a mid-sized fire just below deck. The other penetrated the forecastle, and exploded somewhere between exiting on the other side of the hull and hitting the water. This one's damage was minor. "Get down!" screamed sailors as the helicopters and their jet fuel detonated. "Dammit! I thought our cruisers'd knocked out their missile batteries!" screamed a junior seaman, hauling a badly burned body away from the fire. "Yeah, I thought so too!" responded his commanding officer, shouting from the bridge's balcony. The latter stepped inside and grabbed the radio, dialing in the command ship NFB Skorpion. Before he could say a word, the imperious voice of the commander, Supreme Admiral Natalia Drakonova, declared to the entire fleet, "There were more missile batteries than previously estimated. Not to worry. All gun ships - immediately commence shelling of missile batteries outside of the landing site. I want them gone 5 minutes ago." Another helicopter near the fire detonated, sending scraps of metal and a couple of bodies flying. Red lights began blinking all over the Kipelov, while a fire crew got the fire under control. Positioning the carriers far from the front line proved to be a smart idea - Belem's missiles had to fly high to hit the carriers, and though horrendously fast, their high speed meant that they couldn't turn in time to effectively hit them. CIWS nailed 30 of them (no mean feat at that speed), while about 70 hit the water, and another 30 hit other ships. Probably due to its colossal size, the Skorpion itself took 7 hits, only one of them doing any significant damage (immobilizing the rear main gun turret). The missiles' high speed also meant that their warheads were fairly low-yield. Nevertheless, 30 ships, half of them helicarriers and one of them a fixed-wing carrier, were damaged to the point of temporary incapacity. What this meant was that airborne troops would not be able to arrive in significant numbers for at least another precious hour.
Shelling of the missile batteries resumed. This time, there was no way that any of them would remain operational long enough to fire another wave of missiles.
....
"Mozart 1, this is Haydn 1. We've got a lot of small, fast-movers inbound, ETA a little over an hour. Recommend advancing to engage. What do you say?" The Mozart group was the lead wolfpack of submarines on the north side of the fleet. Haydn was a subordinate group. "Gotcha. Haydn group, this is Mozart 1. Follow my lead. We're running loud, NT-4's armed. Bach, Debussy, and Tchaikovsky groups, follow suit. Copeland and Shostakovich groups, stay behind to guard the fleet." The attack subs, running on full power with little regard to stealth, sped off to engage the PT boats. "Skorpion, this is Mozart 1. We've got incoming. They look like PT boats to us. Recommend you get some destroyers on the north and south sides." After some static, "Mozart 1, this is Skorpion. Acknowledged." Just about all of the fleet's destroyers, previously positioned towards the front (call it west), moved to the north and south. Light cruisers joined them. On the south side, the Chopin group led Skriabin, Rachmaninov, Beethoven, and Dvořak groups, each with 4 full-capability nuclear attack submarines, to engage the PT boats as far away from the fleet as they could.
OOC: A division is 25 thousand troops(only 10 thousand are infantry) 1000 artillery pieces, 1500 tanks, 1000 APCs.
how spread out is your fleet? I need to calculate which missile batteries will be knocked out and which still be in range. Javelins have a 250-300 mile range depending on weather conditions. They have the long range because they are big about the size of a yahkohft which is about 20 feet long and they use a dual stage scramjet engine.
IC: 80 F-18s and 80 F-14s are launched from the fleet headed for the rear of the enemy fleet. They are headed for the rear of the enemy fleet at about 50-100 feet altitude. The F-18s carry 6 Javelin A missiles(half the size, half the range same payload) with there other 6 hardpoints loaded with short-medium range AA missiles. The F-14s are loaded with 2 JAs and 10 AA missiles.
how spread out? i really don't know. there are well over 1000 ships in the area, all fairly close to each other, and the gunships are on the sides. well, it doesn't matter much, anyway - i have missile cruisers (not as many as guns, but still a lot), and i can launch aircraft (that are actually on their way already). from afar, they'll miss more often, and will be much more vulnerable to CIWS, anyway.
Nicknamed "The Untouchable" not only for its superior combat flight capabilities, but for its sleek, black, high-flying, little-turning, stand-off demeanor, an NI-19 (Nevidimiy Istribitel' - "invisible [stealth] fighter/interceptor") streaked high overhead - 95,000 feet - to begin distracting whatever was attacking the fleet. Ordinarily, an NI-19 carries a single AP-43 cannon, 6-8 long-range AAMs in its internal bays, and nothing on the wings. For this mission, however, the 6 launched from the Mateo Base in Kormanthor also carried 8 medium-range missiles on wing pylons. First - their opponents were at least half a generation behind the usual F-22's and Su-37's. Second - there were way too many of them. The NI-19s were sent solely because of their speed, Mach 3.8 at 95,000 feet (though the wing missiles would take this down to 3.1 at best, and probably not over 2 at sea level, still much faster than most stuff), and because of their fairly good stealth capabilities (the idea being that by the time enemy radar got even half a lock, the '19 would've sped away). Otherwise, their delicate airframes and horrible maneuverability were poor choices for a close-in battle over a fleet.
At 95,000 feet, the air is far too thin to be launching ordinary missiles, so when the first sign of enemy jets came at 350km, the flight dropped down to 55k, a fairly safe range. To fire now and break up their little party, or to get in closer and do more damage? The lead pilot, Senior Colonel Arkadi Ritzarev, fiddled with the throttle lever, deciding. A gaggle of 160 planes wouldn't be able to do good evasive maneuvers, but 160 vs. 6 - even with a considerable one-on-one advantage - was going to be a tough fight. The other Berëzan fighters weren't far behind, though, and they not only had the 1-1 advantage, but grossly outnumbered the enemy jets. Besides, once the wing missiles were fired, the NI-19s would have their speed back. On his command, he and the other 5 pilots pushed the left blue button on their flight sticks, releasing 2 missiles each at 200km. VVR-16: double-seeker (IR/self-contained radar), high-shrapnel warhead, a maximum 250km and practical 150km range, rather large, and they almost never missed except when the flight computer crashed (which used to happen 1 out of 5 times). Now that the Genworks OS and guidance chip was installed, the pilots had high hopes that there would be some splashes pretty soon...
OOC: with the battle with the P.T. boats how many torpedos did your subs launch and whats the range on your cruisers guns?
IC: IR scanners detect the massive heat output(you cant mask that much heat). F-14s break formation and begin to climb to meet the attackers and they start to paint the targets using ADT radar. Phoenix missiles are hot and are waiting for range.
we haven't engaged the PT boats yet (next post).
ir scanners don't have nearly that range - 200km. the late mig-era ones could do 20km at best. my jets are pretty much invisible to radar at that range (the wing missiles hurt that somewhat), and all yours know is that there are missiles inbound, which get detected at some 150km.
2 more missiles from each NI-19, partly to increase speed and decrease RCS.
what is ADT?
OOC:Air Disturbance Technology basically its an integral part of Anti Steath Radar. Once you go mach+ steath losses its meaning. Basically they would of been detected anyway its just the massive heat signature from mach gave it away first. Any external hardpoint missile or disturbance in the airframe automatically defeats stealth. When the steath bomber opens it bombbay it instantly becomes visible to radar since its shape was disturbed.
IC: F-14s take evasive actions and deploy counter measures. 7 F-14s are destroyed from the head to head missile attack. 10 of the F-14s fire off 2 phoenix missiles each at the incoming targets.
F-18s hit afterburners and continue heading towards the fleet.
Fleet command begins launching the second wave of fighters. Same numbers as before.
Meanwhile Jets coming from deep inside Belem territory are about 150 miles west of the fleet preparing to hit the fleet from two sides.
composition of western attack: lead aircract 50 Viper Interceptors 50 Vuclan fighters. both are high speed mach 2
second wave about 5 miles behind the first wave is 150 F-15s (armed with 4 anti ship missiles each and 8 AA) and 75 F-22s with the same armament
Third wave- 50 B-52s about 30 miles behind. armed with 16 Javelin As