RL kicking my ass...
The comment from Dartz about Jusenkyou in the Gauntlet thread (It was me AFAIK BTW) led me to work out some thoughs on the Boskone 4 situation. Take whatever follows with a pinch of salt.
Notes on Boskone 4 (a.k.a. Jusenkyou)
The first reason Boskone 4 was a tricky location was that it was in the centre of a ‘Briar Patch’, or a ‘Flock of Nargles’ according to the Wizards.
Normal procedure for an assault is to englobe (rather than encircle, space being a 3d environment) the target. The main issue is how close should you be? Too close and you can’t react fast enough to stop escapees, but more importantly attacks. Too far and escapees have large holes to get through.
Practice has the motherships anchoring the globe at 40,000KM, with fighter squadrons patrolling the space of the boundary.
Boskone 4 was the core of an asteroid family, and as such was surrounded by fragments in a cloud that precluded the standard englobement strategy. To cover the whole cloud would have been pretty much impractical without a far greater number of ships than was available. Thus the only way to attempt it would be to position the fleet inside the cloud. This led to constant distraction keeping an eye on the ship’s position.
However, the need to conserve forces forced them to take up positions outside the cloud.
(META: we need some bads to escape, so the ‘safer’ option was taken.)
The second reason Boskone 4 was a tricky location was it was the Boskonian R&D centre. It had a limited production capability, and the most advanced Boskonian tech available. This was where the first ‘warform’ biomods were encountered, as well as advanced Space Marines (based on captured Grey Knight systems), and Berserkers.
The average OGJ squad was about four times as effective as a typical Boskonian squad. With the advanced tech available to the Boskonians, they reached parity overall, but the individual elements were better. With the advantage of home ground, the Boskonians could theoretically successfully defend against the assault. This necessitated the deployment of the specialist OGJ forces to turn the tide, as long term siege tactics would have depleted active OGJ forces enough for the other Boskonians to regroup.
Making things even more difficult for the fleet were the drones hidden in the rock cloud. Records recovered showed that Boskone 4 was a captured rock, originally settled by Mil-Fen of various stripes trying to set up an advanced flight school. This explained the tightness of the cloud around Boskone 4, as the original owners had gathered the rocks back to the cloud. The Boskonians had merely added to it, as well as mining the bits to have more hidden hangers and secure labs around.
With those labs also established in the surrounding rocks it meant deploying the various teams around to secure them, which meant the Boskone 4 force was under strength. It barely held the known docks, allowing the occupants of Boskone 4 to arrange defences.
The comment from Dartz about Jusenkyou in the Gauntlet thread (It was me AFAIK BTW) led me to work out some thoughs on the Boskone 4 situation. Take whatever follows with a pinch of salt.
Notes on Boskone 4 (a.k.a. Jusenkyou)
The first reason Boskone 4 was a tricky location was that it was in the centre of a ‘Briar Patch’, or a ‘Flock of Nargles’ according to the Wizards.
Normal procedure for an assault is to englobe (rather than encircle, space being a 3d environment) the target. The main issue is how close should you be? Too close and you can’t react fast enough to stop escapees, but more importantly attacks. Too far and escapees have large holes to get through.
Practice has the motherships anchoring the globe at 40,000KM, with fighter squadrons patrolling the space of the boundary.
Boskone 4 was the core of an asteroid family, and as such was surrounded by fragments in a cloud that precluded the standard englobement strategy. To cover the whole cloud would have been pretty much impractical without a far greater number of ships than was available. Thus the only way to attempt it would be to position the fleet inside the cloud. This led to constant distraction keeping an eye on the ship’s position.
However, the need to conserve forces forced them to take up positions outside the cloud.
(META: we need some bads to escape, so the ‘safer’ option was taken.)
The second reason Boskone 4 was a tricky location was it was the Boskonian R&D centre. It had a limited production capability, and the most advanced Boskonian tech available. This was where the first ‘warform’ biomods were encountered, as well as advanced Space Marines (based on captured Grey Knight systems), and Berserkers.
The average OGJ squad was about four times as effective as a typical Boskonian squad. With the advanced tech available to the Boskonians, they reached parity overall, but the individual elements were better. With the advantage of home ground, the Boskonians could theoretically successfully defend against the assault. This necessitated the deployment of the specialist OGJ forces to turn the tide, as long term siege tactics would have depleted active OGJ forces enough for the other Boskonians to regroup.
Making things even more difficult for the fleet were the drones hidden in the rock cloud. Records recovered showed that Boskone 4 was a captured rock, originally settled by Mil-Fen of various stripes trying to set up an advanced flight school. This explained the tightness of the cloud around Boskone 4, as the original owners had gathered the rocks back to the cloud. The Boskonians had merely added to it, as well as mining the bits to have more hidden hangers and secure labs around.
With those labs also established in the surrounding rocks it meant deploying the various teams around to secure them, which meant the Boskone 4 force was under strength. It barely held the known docks, allowing the occupants of Boskone 4 to arrange defences.
