Imperium/Full Thrust Campaign game (long)

This weekend we started (and finished) our first war of the
Imperium/Full
Thrust campaign we've been working on.

We took Don Hawthorne's excellent "Integration Pack 001" (which can be
found at:) 

<http://www.wizard.net/~caw/intpackets.htm>

as our starting point and used Fleet Book FSE and NSL designs for the
Vilani Imperium and the Terran Confederation, respectively.  Our order
of
battle for the first war can be found at:

<http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~jwlyon/FT/imperium/1stwarOB.txt>

Since we still haven't quite worked out the details of integrating
planetary defenses and ground combat yet, we had to revert to the
Imperium
game mechanics whenever these issues came up.  In general, this was
rather
unsatisfactory but got the job done.

The Terrans began hostilities by launching a probing mission at the
Vilani
outpost of Agidda (please see map at:)

<http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~jwlyon/FT/imperium/1stwar.jpg>

They also sent an expedition to Mirablis, established a picket at
Procyon
and placed an outpost at Ember.

The Vilani picket at Agidda got close enough to obtain sensor readings
of
the Terran fleet and then withdrew to the Nusku/Dushaam binary system.
(Note: we are using "bogey" movement on the strategic level)  The
Terrans
chose not to risk their handful of warships against even the meager
defenses of an outpost.

Having received confirmation that all of the Terran's larger warships
(such
as they are; ie, a Kronprinz Wilhelm light cruiser, a Waldberg/M missile
destroyer and two Ehrenhold frigates) were at Agidda, the Vilani Admiral
sent almost his entire fleet against the Terran picket at Procyon, which
identified the number and classes of the enemy and withdrew to Junction.

In a desperate move to re-establish his supply lines to the new outpost
at
Mirablis, the Terran Admiral threw his entire fleet against the Vilani
force at Procyon.

Each fleet had two commanders; the Terran Admiral commanded the KP
Wilhelm,
the Waldberg/M and one or two of the scouts.  The Terran vice admiral
commanded both frigates and the remainder of the scout fleet.  The
Vilani
Admiral commanded a Jerez heavy cruiser and two Suffren light cruisers.
The Vilani vice admiral commanded the four Ibiza frigates.

Both fleets came in at high speeds (18 & 24 respectively) and there was
effectively only one round of firing.  The Terrans executed an curious
maneuver described by their admiral after the battle as "a mad
scramble."
The glorious Vilani fleet executed their maneuvers perfectly; the
frigate
squadron moved into close range and launched a tremendous volley of
submunitions packs which destroyed and crippled several smaller Terran
ships.	

The cruiser wing launched their salvo missiles and then executed a high
thrust maneuver to keep the range open, deftly avoiding a salvo of
Terran
missiles.  (This led to loud protests by the vice admiral that he and
his
ships had been sacrificed without support; clearly a sign that he failed
to
grasp the greater strategic necessities of the Imperium. <g>)

Unfortunately, the cruiser squadron's brilliance in maneuvering was not
matching by similar competence in fire control.  Of the 24 salvo
missiles
hurled at the Terran barbarians, only 2 came in range of the Terran
flagship (or anything else for that matter) and those were casually
swatted
aside by the marginally competent Terran point defense gunners.  (Which
led
to a well deserved, "I told you so" from the Vilani vice admiral
regarding
the placement of the salvoes. <g>)

Overall, the outcome of the battle was indecisive in material terms; the
Imperium lost two frigates, the Terrans lost a frigate, a scout.  In
strategic terms, the battle was a decisive victory for the Imperium. 
They
continued to hold the nodal system of Procyon and had so severely
damaged
the surviving Terran ships that they did not dare engage in combat again
until after their next maintenance phase.

The Imperium then began their strategic turn.  No significant events
occurred within the Imperium.  The district governor sent the vice
admiral
(who rolls better) to appeal to the central government.  His mission was
a
brilliant success, leading to a 4 RU (100 FT points) per turn budget
increase for the district.  The governor wisely chose to invest the
funds
in outposts and fighter squadrons.

Deciding to play it cautious, the Vilani decided to retain the bulk of
their forces on-station at Procyon.  A frigate was dispatched to chase
the
Terran picket out of Agidda.  The Terrans responded with their entire
fleet, forcing the destroyer to withdraw and regaining space superiority
once more.

The Vilani governor then chose to attempt no further adventures against
the
Terrans at this time; he redistributed his pickets, kept the fleet on
station at Procyon and recalled the frigate from the Agidda front.

It was, of course, at this point that the Imperium lost the initiative
to
the Terrans.  During their next turn, the Terrans maintained and
repaired
all of their ships and began production of a Mothership class Light
Carrier
(ie, a crate with engines; makes the NAC Inflexible class look butch).
They then threw everything they had in a "full court press" against the
Nusku/Dushaam binary system (bypassing the garrison at Agidda).  

This is where we became aware of the less-than-satisfactory nature of
the
ground combat system in Imperium and the need to come up with an
alternative.  The Terrans jump troops effortlessly slipped past the
planetary defense network of Nusku and once on the ground proceded to
acheive an automatic +4 kill against the defenses.  

(Amusing fact: in the ground combat system for Imperium at a +3 combat
factor differential there is a 6/6 chance of acheiving a kill against
the
target.  The chart very helpfully provides the combat results all the
way
up to +7 which is, unsuprisingly, also a 6/6 chance of acheiving a kill.
 <g>)

It was at this point that the Vilani governors glory index plummeted to
zero.

It was also at this point that he realized there wasn't jack he could do
about it during his reaction movement phase.

The Terran fleet then moved on to Apishal (to gain a buffer zone) and
sent
his division of jump troops (the "John Wayne Clones") and some regulars
to
try and dislodge the garrison at Agidda.  Apparently, that little
outpost
had some REALLY good planetary defense gunners, because both units (and
the
transport carrying the regulars) were blown to flaming debris.

During the next Vilani phase, the governor HAD to recapture Nusku or
lose
the war.  Leaving a frigate behind to discourage any casual probes which
might interfere with construction of outposts in the Procyon system and
at
Markhashi, the Vilani admiral led everything else in a drive to
recapture
Nusku.	The Terran fleet fled before him (grudgingly) and the Vilani
achieved space superiority over Nusku.

The Vilani sent their jump troops and two units of regulars against
Nusku.
In a stunning "instant replay" of the battle of Agidda, the jump troops
and
one of the regulars were vaporized by the emplaced Terran outpost on
Nusku.
 The last unit of regulars, however, should have been able to destroy
the
undefended outpost with ease.  At a +2/-2 differential, the Vilani
troops
would kill the Terrans on anything but a "6" and would survive any die
roll
but a "1" by the Terrans.  To make a long, sad, comedy of errors
complete:
the improbable, of course occurred; the valiant clerks of the Nusku
outpost
utterly destroyed the Vilani division (whose name and number will be
stricken in disgrace from the annals of the Imperium).

Thus the first Terran/Vilani war ended.  The district governor was
recalled
in disgrace and a hasty truce was negotiated.  The besieged Terran
division
at Mirablis was disbanded and its personnel allowed passage home.  Their
ill-fated based was abandoned.	Because the Terrans had failed to secure
Agidda and because the Imperium failed to destroy the outpost on Nusku,
BOTH outposts were ruled untenable and abandoned.  Thus Nusku was freed
of
the Terran occupation forces and returned to the Imperium.

A short peace ensued, characterized by a scramble to rearm for the
inevitable coming conflict.  New bases were established by both sides.
Agidda was ceded to the victorious Terrans.  The Imperium built new
planetary defense networks at both Nusku and Procyon.  Both sides lost a
planetary defense to peacetime budget cuts (Alpha Centauri A and
Gashidda,
respectively).	Budget cuts also forced the district governor to scrap
the
old "Roma" class monitor which was based at Gashidda.  (Although
commentators remarked that he did not seem particularly heartbroken over
the money to be saved in maintenance costs.)  The Imperium also had a
squadron of newly-built fighters cancelled by the central government's
bureaucrats due to the "peace dividend."

The Terran Ministry of Defense spent the short peace building up its
in-system defenses at Junction and the new base of Midway with the
production of two new "Richtofen" class monitors.  The Terrans also
began
recruiting a new division
of regular troops to replace those lost in the war.

The latest intelligence on enemy forces and dispositions can be found
at:

<http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~jwlyon/FT/imperium/2ndwar.jpg>

<http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~jwlyon/FT/imperium/2ndwarOB.txt>

With the breakdown of negotiations on both sides, it is predicted that
the
next war will begin before the end of the week.  It is also predicted
that
new tactics will change the way in which ground combat is conducted.
Observers feel that the new style of ground combat may be characterized
by
smaller, more independent formations of armor and infantry, which
tactical
fire support from aerospace fighters and orbital weapons fire.

Jeff