Hi.


While the historical meeting of the Alpha and Magellanic races came about dure to the efforts of Operation Unity against the Andromedans, I was wondering about what, conjecturally, could be enough of a proportionally-equivalent threat to face the Y-era Alpha and Magellanic powers, and stir them to launch an Early/Middle Years equivalent of Operation Unity.


And so, I turned to the Seltorians!


The logistical aspect of trans-galactic travel from M81 to the Milky Way Group would be a good way to set the kind of steps that could be laid out, in a conjectural Seltorian Invasion scenario.

However, as with the Andromedans, the Selts would most likely need to develop a kind of sedantary fleet infrastructure, should they wish to really push into full-on conquest - which I'll get back to in a moment.


The idea I have is as follows:

*The Seltorians, who have somehow learned about the Holdfast's arrival in the Milky Way, and set in motion a plan to both destroy their hated foes and plant the Seltorian flag in a distant galaxy, send one or more Nest and/or Hive ships to the Cloud - one of which carrying additional construction facilities in place of warships - arriving in what is generally referred to as the Neutral Worlds. (For this to work, one could presume that the Chomak, who had hitherto maintained a presence in the 'northern' Cloud, decided to withdraw prematurely to their home Cluster, leaving the Selts a relatively free hand.)

*Using the kind of ships that the Selts can carry on their hive and nest ships, they assault the Eneen, Uthiki and Baduvai - who still have to rely on their Y-era fleet (but could potentially be allowed to gradually introduce their earliest TL12 ships as the invasion progresses) to try and stem the tide. In this scenario, the Maghadim could either be left out (the turn of events which led the Maghadim to try and breach the Core could be said to have not happened in this timeline, and the Selts were in no rush to burst through) or become a wild card, depending on whether the Selts try to move itno the Core, or the Maghadim out towards Sleern.

*Assuming the Selts put the Magellanics on the defensive, they could initiate a long-term construction plan to build a Seltorian starbase over Sleern, and use it to facilitate construction of the larger hull classes (such as the Selt DN) - but with relatively few hive or Nest ships, the loss of even one of said ships would be enough to set the Selts' timetable back considerably.

*Eventually, the Selts win against the Eneen, Uthiki and Baduvai, whose surviving forces flee to the Fringe (and possibly the Core and/or to Chomak space) and use the Cloud's resources to build up enough of an armada to try for an assault on Alpha.

*Over in Alpha, the Y-era is proceeding as normal - until the Seltorians, fresh from their victory in the Cloud, launch an assault on the Alpha Octant, including the still-vulnerable Tholian Holdfast.

(Either the 312th can arrive at Tholia earlier, or not - if the former, perhaps only a handful of the Neo-Tholian ships made it in time to help out, leaving out the likes of the NDNs and maybe even the NCAs. If the latter, one might assume that while the Selts have enough ships to cause trouble for the regular Alphas, they are not yet ready to take on the sphere itself. Perhaps the Selts cannot initially afford to give up the vital production facilities aboard one of their few Nest ships to make the conversion to a Battlewagon...)

However, just as X-tech emerged in the regular timeline to aid the Alphas against the Amdromedans, the onset of the first TL12 starships in Alpha (such as the D6 and Fed CA) is enough to let the Alphas slowly turn the tide against the Selts, and gradually push them out of the octant.

However, perhaps the Alphas learn of the starbase being finished in the Cloud, and fearing the spectre of Seltorian DNs leading renewed assaults on the Alpha Octant, launch a joint expedition to reahc the Cloud and put the Selt starbase out of commission - working alongside the Magellanic holdouts in the process (who, again, may have taken the time to upgrade some or all of their surviving ships in exile to their TL12 editions).


And perhaps the Unity forces get there too late to stop the base from being operational - and find that the bugs are just about to complete one of their fearsome dreadnoughts...


So, sound like something worth trying out?

By Richard Wells (Rwwells) on Monday, June 23, 2008 - 11:06 pm: Edit

Have you played this out? The tech differentials seem to lead to rather boring fights.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Tuesday, June 24, 2008 - 07:55 am: Edit

Well, there are a few ways of mitigating this:


*Keep the numbers of Selt ships relatively low.

While an individual Andromedan ship is generally superior to a TL12 Alpha or Magellanic vessel of a similar size class, they are relatively few in number, and have deployment restrictions for ships with DisDevs.

Seltorians would, of course, work somewhat differently - but if a Nest Ship can carry only six ships, and a Hive eight, then keeping the number of factory ships low would serve to reduce the overall fleet presence of the Selts in the Cloud or Alpha.


*Set a similar limit on SC3 ships that Magellanic forces have.

Magellanic fleets must take three SC3 ships for every SC4 ship in the fleet, which makes them rely on their corvettes, frigates and destroyers to a greater extent than Alpha powers do - and in the case of the Selts, whose factory ships carry more smaller ships than larger ones (and can presumably build them more quickly) this restriction would keep them from trying to steamroller their opponents with CLs or CAs.


*Restrict the use of Milky Way-designed Selt hulls - or, perhaps, make it contingent on a Selt-Klingon alliance.

If the Seltorians cut a deal with the Klingon Empire when the invasion force hits Alpha - as in, the Klingons and Seltorians agree to ally against the Holdfast, and the Klingons regain Kalesta et al in exchange for an agreement not to impede the Selt invasion of the rest of the Octant - only then could they get the idea to build the DNL and other three-boom ships.

But if there is no deal, the Selts are stuck with the M81-designed hulls - which is still pretty useful, but less so once the Alphas get more TL12 ships built.


*Assume that the Magellanic and Alpha factions have already began to introduce their modern fleet - and as the invasion progresses, the proportion of middle years ships in production, and in service, would increase.

(One could see the newer ships being divided into two roles - either as flagships of Y-era fleets, or as dedicated 'M-squadrons' - an echo of how things went with TL13 ships against the Andros.)


*Keep the deployment of the Selt starbase, and SC2 Selt hulls, to the very end of the campaign - when the Unity forces are set to try and bring the War to an end.

At that stage, both the Alpha and Cloud factions would be more or less ready to field forces with a high proportion of new middle years ships, as well as refitted Y-era vessels - and thus have a chance at taking on the Selts before they reach the point where they can roll out the kind of full-on battle fleets they would have on hand back in M81.