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Let's see if I can sneak a RADAR probe onto the moon of the Modron's home world.

Since it isn't aimed at anything in particular, it's possible that they might ignore it.

Not likely, though. I expect them to shoot it down.

sc-3622.jpg


sc-3623.jpg
 
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sc-3624.jpg
 
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A quarter of a million km to go...

sc-3625.jpg




Awesome!

sc-3626.jpg


sc-3627.jpg


The Modrons destroyed the probe the instant it flipped on its RADAR... but too late! We got the RADAR snap-shot that we wanted!

Shipyard Complex, check!
Ground forces, check!
Eight orbital fortresses, with PD fire coming from the Allier class.

... and we learned that Red 13 (the stack of a dozen 20,000 kps FACs) is NOT currently present at the planet.

A very successful probe recon, despite the fact that it was destroyed almost instantly.
 
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Situation, Mechanus star system, August 30th, 2033. 09:14 AM.

sc-3628.jpg
 
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Other than that...

We are still accumulating Tugs at the Neutral Zone => Mechanus jump point.

Once we have eight or ten of them available, we will PURSUE the enemy with our FORTRESS!

Probably the LAST thing the Modrons expected.
 
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Perhaps they are trying to leave the party your started?

Actually, you might be on to something there. Maybe they think our fleet is too scary and decided to leg it.

A quarter of a million km to go...

View attachment 1330471



Awesome!

View attachment 1330472

View attachment 1330473

The Modrons destroyed the probe the instant it flipped on its RADAR... but too late! We got the RADAR snap-shot that we wanted!

Shipyard Complex, check!
Ground forces, check!
Eight orbital fortresses, with PD fire coming from the Allier class.

... and we learned that Red 13 (the stack of a dozen 20,000 kps FACs) is NOT currently present at the planet.

A very successful probe recon, despite the fact that it was destroyed almost instantly.

4 beam PD orbitals (the Allier) and 4 unknown.
243.000 tons(?) worth of shipyards.
Just out of curiosity, what is the tonnage of our current earth shipyards?

526.000 tons of ground combat units, including the presumably present STO.

What kind of terrain is that planet? With a bit of research into how much that affects signature size and with an educated guess at their fortification level we should be able to guess how big their ground army really is. At a glance, 5 million tons would not be a strange guess.

Edit: See

Detection formula: https://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=8495.msg110371#msg110371

Terrain fortification modifier:
https://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=13369.msg166544#msg166544

Unit fortification level: https://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=8495.msg110539#msg110539
 
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I updated the above post with some rule background.

The short version is that with a full infantry army ( max fortification level 6) in the worst terrain (jungle mountain, terrain modifier 3) that signature could be concealing an army up to 18 times bigger than the detected signature.

With less insane terrain modifiers and a bit more heavy units a x5 modifier would still not be weird though. But our army should be able to handle that.
 
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A quarter of a million km to go...

View attachment 1330471



Awesome!

View attachment 1330472

View attachment 1330473

The Modrons destroyed the probe the instant it flipped on its RADAR... but too late! We got the RADAR snap-shot that we wanted!

Shipyard Complex, check!
Ground forces, check!
Eight orbital fortresses, with PD fire coming from the Allier class.

... and we learned that Red 13 (the stack of a dozen 20,000 kps FACs) is NOT currently present at the planet.

A very successful probe recon, despite the fact that it was destroyed almost instantly.
How do we know its fortifications and not ships?
 
I updated the above post with some rule background.

The short version is that with a full infantry army ( max fortification level 6) in the worst terrain (jungle mountain, terrain modifier 3) that signature could be concealing an army up to 18 times bigger than the detected signature.

With less insane terrain modifiers and a bit more heavy units a x5 modifier would still not be weird though. But our army should be able to handle that.
So at most 10 mil.
 
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How do we know its fortifications and not ships?
We don't.

Although we already snuck a Thermal/EM scout in to 120 million km from the planet, and it detected no signature from them.

My guess is orbital fortresses. Ships are possible, though.
 
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My guess is orbital fortresses. Ships are possible, though.

Zero engine signature and no reason to keep them stationary if they did have engines. And entirely new ship classes we haven't seen before.

If those aren't space stations I'd eat my boots.
 
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One of our Geo-scouts has arrived in Phi Arietis.

sc-3629.jpg


He can search for Modron mining colonies. Not likely, though, since we've seen no Freighters except the ones headed to the Abhorrent star system.
 
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526.000 tons of ground combat units, including the presumably present STO.

What kind of terrain is that planet? With a bit of research into how much that affects signature size and with an educated guess at their fortification level we should be able to guess how big their ground army really is. At a glance, 5 million tons would not be a strange guess.

Edit: See

Detection formula: https://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=8495.msg110371#msg110371

Terrain fortification modifier:
https://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=13369.msg166544#msg166544

Unit fortification level: https://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=8495.msg110539#msg110539

sc-3630.jpg


sc-3631.jpg


Coniferous forest. That's not much worse than open terrain. A modifier of x1.25

A self-fortification limit of 3 and a 1.25 multiplier makes it look like we're facing about 2 million tons of ground troops if they have no Engineers present to dig them in, or about double that amount if they do have Engineers.

About 4 million tons maximum. Does that look right?
 
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Couple of pages of this:

sc-3632.jpg


... and a couple of pages of this:

sc-3633.jpg


Looks like 83 Freighters.
 
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Maybe the Modron fleets were rushing over to protect those Freighters?
 
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View attachment 1330898

View attachment 1330899

Coniferous forest. That's not much worse than open terrain. A modifier of x1.25

A self-fortification limit of 3 and a 1.25 multiplier makes it look like we're facing about 2 million tons of ground troops if they have no Engineers present to dig them in, or about double that amount if they do have Engineers.

About 4 million tons maximum. Does that look right?

I was assuming they'd be able to fortify using construction vehicles but.. I have no idea. I was assuming some of the army would not be infantry so the level would be lower than 6.

So 526.000 * 1.25 * 6 .. yeah, 4 million as the absolute max. It's probably lower than that.

Couple of pages of this:

View attachment 1330900

... and a couple of pages of this:

View attachment 1330901

Looks like 83 Freighters.

Yup
 
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He can search for Modron mining colonies. Not likely, though, since we've seen no Freighters except the ones headed to the Abhorrent star system.

NPRs cheat. They teleport their minerals home. No freighters needed.

So I'm a bit less confident about this.
 
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