Persei-Aries War Resumes

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Project Entry by oriskany

Darkstar Three-Way Battle!

February 6, 2022

Tutoring 6

Skill 6

Idea 6

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More fiery combat burns across the stars with a three-player game of Darkstar, a “ménage à trois” of rail guns, plasma projectors, torpedoes, and electron particle cannons. This time it was Rasmus and his Japanese “Nobunaga” battlecruiser squadron up against Hegemongary’s Arab Leage carrier strike group and two cruisers from my own “Khar Khilizh” (Black Sabre) strike squadron. This was also a rather big one, a 497-point game involving 9 ships, including aerospace carriers loaded with missile and torpedoes.

The game is set in our old stomping grounds, the “Hercules Rim.” Here, we see Khaizan’s Haven (14 Hercules), a former star system of the Khitan-Tunguska Free State (Black Dragons) – won by the Arab League in the recent Third Hercules War. The Black Dragons have never really given up on this system, with picket ships and torpedo corvettes always lurking around the system’s outer debris belts and cometary halo. Yet when the Arab League launches a raid against the Japanese in the nearby Kyokko Bijin colonies (Zeta Hercules system) and find themselves hopelessly outmatched by the unexpected presence of a Japanese battlecruiser, Black Dragon warships emerge to … HELP the Arab League? Perhaps the Black Dragons hope to cut some kind of concession or deal with the Arab League, or perhaps they plan on stabbing the League in the back? At the moment it doesn’t matter, the Arab League needs the help.

Here are the forces in today’s game. The Japanese are under the command of Seizo Yamamoto aboard his Songuko-class battlecruiser IJN Nobunaga – enormous, fast, high-tech … packing the firepower of a small battleship and speed rivaling some cruisers. The flagship is escorted by the sleek, fast, beautiful Taihō-class light cruiser Sendai Byo and the scrappy little strike frigate IJN Urakaze. The Arab League’s flag flies from the Almanzor-class hybrid cruiser SHM adh-Dhiʼbayn, along with the light carrier ar-Raī and the Hattin-class frigates az-Zawraq and az-Zāwiyah. The Black Dragons, meanwhile, come in with the heavily-upgraded Shanxi-class heavy cruiser KTS Xunjiàn (Swift Sword) and Greater Xhia-class light missile cruiser Zhang Jia. The Zhang Jia in particular is an old veteran of mine, having racked up an impressive tally of Russian, American, Japanese, British kills in the Black Dragon War, XI Scorpio War, Scorpion’s Tail War, and Duchess Annabel’s War.

Battle is joined in orbit of Zuikawa, a Mercury-sized terrestrial world in the Zeta Hercules star system. The Japanese emerge from their low orbital zone station keeping trajectory, the Black Dragons using the planet’s gravity in a low-descent glide, keeping their velocity modest. They know their Arab League allies will need time to get all their aerospace strike craft launched, content to keep the Japanese bow-on for now in order to launch massive waves of Tsing Tao and Khurdan Jad (Swift Javelin) torpedoes. The Japanese, for their part, already have the enemy well within range of their deadly-accurate "Seiku" (Clear Sky) targeting and fire control systems, and the Nobunaga slings out her first EPC bolts, scorching across the bow of the Arab League carrier ar-Raī.

With their torpedoes away, the Black Dragons wait until their hulls are just starting to glow from friction with the Zuikawa atmosphere, turning away to swing their port broadsides toward the Japanese. They open fire on the Urakaze, but the Xunjiàn and the Zhang Jia don’t do enough damage to knock her out of action, especially with the resolute crew of the Urakaze quickly repairing the damaged sensors (the only system damaged so far). Long-range Japanese gunfire, meanwhile, really drills into the ar-Raī, her last two "Alnaazir" (Beholder) scouts launching JUST as Nobunaga’s EPC bolt sears through the hangar, exploding it behind the scouts. The ar-Raī’s magazine goes up, the bridge is hit … her commander surviving the strike but the ship slewing out of line and spinning adrift in space.

The Japanese keep tacking back to port, keeping the engagement range open, content to pick apart the Arab League battlegroup at range while keeping their distance from the heavy (but much less accurate) guns of the Black Dragon cruisers. Yamamoto switches his guns to the League’s flagship adh-Dhiʼbayn, smashing open her bow, knocking out maneuvering thrusters, hitting the magazine, and tearing one turret of 9-teravolt EPCs clean out of its housing. The League commander keeps her in the fight for now, returning fire as best he can with his forward guns. But the Japanese keep opening the range, their upgraded shielding is too powerful, the League guns just aren’t making a serious dent in the IJN Sendai. Clearly, the League battlegroup is a CARRIER force, the impending aerospace strike will make or break their participation in this battle. The Black Dragon guns, however, ARE making an impact at last, a second withering broadside smashing into the Urakaze from 2500 kilometers. The valiant crew manages to keep the central reactors and aft shields up … but it’s not enough to keep the ship operational. Power fails and Urakaze is set adrift out into interplanetary space.

At last, the moment comes. Black Dragon torpedoes have flown nearly 8000 kilometers … the distance from London to Las Vegas, but they finally catch up to the Japanese task force despite their “hit and fade” tactics. The Arab League “Mylekinir” (Fire Angel) and “Demkikham” (Vengeance) bombers are also finally in range, unleashing a swarm of torpedoes and missiles at the Japanese as well. The combined strike is well-coordinated, the Japanese are hit with a combined 99 warheads of various types (Tsing Tao Class IIs, Khurdan Jad Class IIIs, aerospace torpedoes, aerospace missiles). Japanese mass drivers reap a grim harvest, easily half these warheads are shot down in their final approach. Even their scouts shoot down a handful. The rest must then punch through the enhanced aft shields of the Sendai Byo, but the enhanced electronic warfare suites of the Xunjiàn and the Zhang Jia help suppress the Japanese ECM defenses. The Sendai Byo is hammered hard, one of the Arab League scouts even hits her starboard reactor with its small weapons. Internal explosions ripple through the Japanese light cruiser, the blasts kicking her on her side and sending her cartwheeling through space, her hull slinging off curtains of glowing molten metal. Two Tsing Taos even hit the battlecruiser Nobunaga, to little effect.

Now alone, the mighty Nobunaga turns to starboard, her broadside hammering the frigate az-Zawraq and practically shearing off the frigate’s bow … but she remains operational as the Arab League ships raise steam for flank speed and scatter out of the battlespace. This was a raid, after all, with the Sendai Byo crippled the League and the Black Dragons are content to break off the action. They have the velocity, thrust, and position to do it, and simply accelerate away. Balancing the forces destroyed or crippled by all sides, the game comes down to a respectable win for the Arab League and Black Dragons. At the same time, the Nobunaga has fended off the raid and protected the Zuikawa Jima colonies and orbital installation.

A few ships were heavily damaged in this battle, and more than one bridge took a direct hit. With judicious use of “Commander’s Luck” upgrade points, all ships will be recovered, all commanders on bridges that took hits will survive the day. Rasmus needs just ONE MORE campaign point to unlock “Fleet Command” for Commodore Siezo Yamamoto, thus unlocking a force cap of 501-1000 points, allowing him to bring back his frigate Sakito and heavy cruiser Kama. I feel that with this restored escort force, the Nobonaga battlecruiser will start to do better against faster, lighter cruiser squadrons and aerospace strike forces like we saw here. Let’s face it, against massed airpower, do unescorted battleships EVER do well? Congrats to everyone on a hard-fought game and especially to Hegemongary for helping win the day!