Page 129: ¨Deep Jump

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icekatze
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Re: Page 129: ¨Deep Jump

Post by icekatze »

hi hi

I really don't think Alex is talking about the eight divisions currently present in the system. Rather the clearly stated diversionary attacks that happened elsewhere, that kept strike groups tied up for days prior, like in Naam.

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man_of_foul_tofu
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Re: Page 129: ¨Deep Jump

Post by man_of_foul_tofu »

So pleased to see a new page and this page just drips with anticipation and excitement. Very very pleased.

I used to play an online game, similar to Masters of Orion - it dealt very superficially with the arrival and departure of fleets in starspanning battles - this looks like the excitement of those games, with technical details of getting in and out of systems kind fleshed out.

I dread to see a number of pages blocking up the plot unfolding showing wave after wave of ships, but I also would be really excited to see the plot unfolding with wave after wave of ships attacking and meleeing.

Like others, I don't quite get the tactical implications of this last incursion. But I am prepared to think and wait on it.

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Re: Page 129: ¨Deep Jump

Post by orion1836 »

From the Insider, a deep jump is a very risky move. I find it interesting that the Umiak knew ahead of time that such a jump would be needed to cut off redeployment of Loroi forces *inside* the system. Either:

a) the move was pre-planned based on a guess as to the position of Loroi forces from their movements prior to entering the system (which the Umiak could roughly plot based on prior engagements).

b) the move was pre-planned based on direct intel of Loroi positions in-system prior to the initial jump (a scary prospect).

c) the move was ordered on the fly based on reports from the lead echelons of the Umiak forces (a scarier prospect, requiring a ship to either to jump out very quickly after arrival, or requiring the Umiak to have found a way to communicate between systems without jumping).

Then again, a pincer-like deep jump could be a common tactic for the "we have reserves" -oriented Umiak when on the offensive. If you don't care how many ships you lose, sacrificing some to get *any* force into a flanking or rear position would be worth it for the maneuver advantage.

One thing I really like about this comic is the obviously deep level of thought Arioch put into the tactics of large-scale space warfare. A lot of sci-fi either hand-waves it or gets it laughably wrong (e.g. Star Trek having ships with non-warp engines capable of 0.5c engage each other within visual range). The science may definitely be fiction here, but at least the rules are consistently applied.

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icekatze
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Re: Page 129: ¨Deep Jump

Post by icekatze »

hi hi

Although I suspect the reason for the deep jump will become clear in the next few pages, I wonder if this is their new standard operating procedure for eliminating the early warning checkpoints. Perhaps they've been sending a deep jump group in for the last several jumps, just to be sure.

I think we know from forum posts and the insider that the Umiak used to hold this region of space, early on in the war. So they probably have detailed star charts, at least for this region. Perhaps one of their tricks is a new way of more accurately calculating jumps?

It is possible that the Umiak have developed their own farseers, but I don't think that would give them the positions in system of various fleets, unless they have a much different type of farseeing device than the Loroi have.

My best guess at present is that (a) is the most likely. The Loroi have been using the same farseer based defense strategy for ages, so the Umiak are probably very familiar with how they move ships around.

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SVlad
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Re: Page 129: ¨Deep Jump

Post by SVlad »

Umiaks somehow path through outposts. The only way to do it is to destroy courier vessels before they jump. So they had to do deep jumps during this offence.
Also they must not destroy the outpost station itself, so farseers wouldn't detect the vanish of station crew.
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Gorbash
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Re: Page 129: ¨Deep Jump

Post by Gorbash »

I was going to support the "double-jump" idea -- where they've figured out how to skip over starsystems on a particular hyperspace path, possibly by literally "skipping" (or "doinking" as per the FTL tech page) -- but I just noticed something that supports the "automated ships" theory.

The Umiak are basing their "deep jump" strategy off of being able to quickly assault forces within a system. This can include what they did to prevent the outposts from sending word of an incursion, but definitely includes their current strategy of deep-jumping a large force close to the star.

What makes that particularly impressive is, as the FTL tech page notes, Umiak issues with jump sickness make them generally ineffective for up to an hour after a jump.

They *could* just be risking greater casualties in exchange for better odds at preventing the message from getting out(because they can certainly afford that), but if they can now "ignore" their issues with grogginess post-jump (such as by using heavily automated ships), this action suddenly makes better tactical sense. And could be extremely effective.

...And now I'm really wondering if any Farseers in the Loroi fleet can detect these ships. If they can't, or can only barely detect them, that would be another good reason for the Umiak to want to prevent the word getting out.

And just to go off on a wild crazy idea -- one way the Umiak could "automate" their ships would be via enslaved Historian AIs. I bet that would be a fun little problem.

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Re: Page 129: ¨Deep Jump

Post by cacambo43 »

Gorbash wrote: And just to go off on a wild crazy idea -- one way the Umiak could "automate" their ships would be via enslaved Historian AIs. I bet that would be a fun little problem.
..or NOT enslaved, which is a different fun little problem!

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Re: Page 129: ¨Deep Jump

Post by cacambo43 »

Of course, a bigger concern (that has been touched upon by us arm-chair web-comic authors) is what if a Scout Corp ship made Umiak contact much earlier than Bellarmine's encounter, and a decision to ally with them has been made and the Umiak found out how to leverage humans to block the Farseers? That would make Alex a true Outsider, even from his own people!

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Re: Page 129: ¨Deep Jump

Post by entity2636 »

Heavily automated ships not necessarily, let's consider this for a moment:

We see the umiak force of 8 divisions jump into Leido and, within what appears to be minutes, split into four task forces and begin motoring towards the 4 exit vectors from Leido. Then, after some more minutes, a 5th task force jumps deep into the system.

So far I do not see anything that an autopilot couldn't do on it's own while the umiak crews recover from jump sickness. It will take them at least an hour, maybe more, to make contact with SG51 and even longer for the other groups to reach their respective jump zones. I don't recall this being mentioned, so - do only Umiak serve in the Hierarchy's Navy, or other client races do aswell? If we don't like the autopilot idea so much, we could consider that the ships in question are at least piloted by non-Umiak pilots. Said pilots being humans - implausible due to how much time has passed in-universe since the First Contact mission began (three months tops, it took the Bellarmine two months to reach Naam).

The group that deep-jumped into Leido (to ~1AU from the star) is probably meant to surround SG51, known to be docked at Leido-Sala outpost, not to prevent couriers from jumping deeper into Union space. The loroi have a courier outpost at the Gora jump zone and the Tizaba Depot at the Enedd jump zone, so unless someone is not paying attention, word of the invasion has already spread. How much intel Stillstorm forwarded remains to be seen. You can jump short, you can jump deep, you can also over-jump/skip a system (successfully or not we do not officially know yet), but you can't jump into a system past the star on your vector - you'll materialize inside the star or enter Negative Hyperspace (Subspace?).

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Re: Page 129: ¨Deep Jump

Post by CrimsonFALKE »

Well its off to Custer's last stand for these ladies!

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Re: Page 129: ¨Deep Jump

Post by Suederwind »

The group that deep-jumped into Leido (to ~1AU from the star) is probably meant to surround SG51
How could they have know that, I wonder...
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Re: Page 129: ¨Deep Jump

Post by entity2636 »

@Suederwind - it's kind of obvious, since a) SG51 disengaged Kikitik-27's fleet at Naam and retreated, Kikitik has been following them one jump behind. He knows how Stillstorm thinks, they have fought a few times already. To be honest, I think Stillstorm in typical Loroi arrogance seriously underestimates Kikitik and the Umiaks in general. b) the Steppes systems have changed hands multiple times and both sides have carried out raids into the Steppes and few systems past, so it is, at least in my mind, safe to say, that the Umiak know at least roughly where the Loroi have their bases and which systems are strategically important or make sense to have bases in. c) Kikitik's fleet isn't the only one in the Steppes at the moment and, seeing what's going on, I'm getting the impression that the fleets are communicating with each other.

Also, such deep jumping doesn't help the Umiaks in intercepting any Union couriers at other jump vectors since these vectors are opposite the star and you can't jump into a system over a star. With the information available, logic dictates, that this maneuver is intended to surround any enemy forces present in Leido. One could stretch it a little and say, that this second fleet is meant to intercept Ashrain's squadron on their way to Enedd, but that would require the Umiak reserves, presumably at Rallis, to have real time intel on Loroi fleet movements in Leido, which, as far as we know, is technically impossible. Impossible unless they have farseers of their own....

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Re: Page 129: ¨Deep Jump

Post by icekatze »

hi hi
entity2636 wrote:...it's kind of obvious...
I don't think that analysis is accurate, unless the Umiak possess a technology that we, as an audience, don't know about.

Clicky-27 may have followed Stillstorm, but they're still a ways behind and engaged with the Loroi defenses in Sala 101. The deep jumping forces came from the Rallis vector, not the Sala 101 vector. Even if Clicky-27 could have sent information to the Rallis system, which doesn't seem likely since any courier would have needed to advance three systems in the time it took Strike Group 51 to advance one, they would have no way of knowing that Stillstorm was stopping in Leido rather than going to Azimol or even Enedd or Sala 128, since the last branching point comes before that jump.

Edit: Personally, I don't think Stillstorm is going to fall back. I think she might even try to follow the main force through the Enedd jump and attempt her own version of the Battle of the Tasinei Ways.

(Also, I'm not sure what kind of supplies the Umiak have on hand, but I wonder if it would be tactically sound to send the strike group through the Rallis jump and try to hunt down the main force's supply line.)

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Re: Page 129: ¨Deep Jump

Post by entity2636 »

My analysis may not be accurate, but it's the explanation that makes most sense to me. I don't see a tactical benefit of the deep jumping group other than surrounding Loroi forces at the Leido-Sala post. They are only overtaking their main invasion force on the vector from Rallis and they can't intercept any couriers at the Enedd and Gora jump zones. That's why I said that I'm getting the impression the Umiak forces are actively communicating between each other, or are being fed up to date intel from somewhere else.

As for Stillstorm's battle plan, I think she wants to 1) keep the Enedd jump zone clear for as long as possible or hinder the main Umiak force from jumping to Enedd, thus securing a retreat path for SG51 and SG20 and 2) prevent the Umiak squadron headed towards the Sala jump zone from jumping into Sala-101 and surrounding SG20, thus securing a retreat path for SG20. SG20 can escape from Sala-101 only towards Leido, because Sala-128 is already crawling with Umiaks, and the other path (towards a star named "Z") leads to Obd and Rallis and into the Wastelands.

Seriously, she has 20-odd ships at her disposal against 8 divisions plus the ones just arriving, so it's suicide trying to fight them. I think it would be a mistake if she were to connect with SG20, assuming they make it out of Sala-101, and jump into Rallis to go after Umiak supply lines, she'd a) lead ships away from Enedd that could instead be used to reinforce the base's defenses and b) possibly jump blindly into more Umiak forces, get surrounded and annihilated.

*edit* I'm perhaps overly careful, but I prefer to not pick fights I'm not 110% sure I'll win

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Re: Page 129: ¨Deep Jump

Post by icekatze »

hi hi

I suspect that if the Umiak wanted, they could wipe out Strike Group 51 with a massive torpedo launch. If one division launching torpedoes pushed their point defense, then eight divisions launching torpedoes might overwhelm them. I doubt that the Umiak want to waste munitions like that, when there are much bigger targets yet to come, though.

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Re: Page 129: ¨Deep Jump

Post by GeoModder »

icekatze wrote:hi hi

I suspect that if the Umiak wanted, they could wipe out Strike Group 51 with a massive torpedo launch. If one division launching torpedoes pushed their point defense, then eight divisions launching torpedoes might overwhelm them. I doubt that the Umiak want to waste munitions like that, when there are much bigger targets yet to come, though.
Could still happen though. They're still not within firing range.
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Re: Page 129: ¨Deep Jump

Post by Absalom »

entity2636 wrote:By the way, wonder what is Tempo up to while all of this is going on next door? Blissfully asleep or listening to everything telepathically? The way and tempo (pun intended) in which the situation is developing should be of interest to her...
A thought that occurs to me is that Loroi FTL comms don't work by a Farseer sending a message, but instead by a Farseer receiving a message from a properly trained Mizol, because they are capable of targeting a recipient more accurately than most Loroi.

icekatze wrote:Perhaps the Umiak got past the checkpoints by using deep jump tactics. But I'm not sure that they would be able to intercept a courier with just a deep jump. It is still at least 2 AU from jump point to courier location, probably more, and they're not necessarily jumping in on the correct vector. Will we find out that they have a new interceptor force that can close that kind of distance in time? Maybe some extra long range torpedoes?

I think it is a safe bet that Alex's observation about the diversionary tactics is important. I'm just not sure how yet. :P

Using diversionary tactics might just be a good idea regardless, since the Umiak don't necessarily know the size of the Loroi reserves. But if it were a totally obvious reason like that, then he probably wouldn't have mentioned it. Perhaps they are building a farseer hidden base(s) is the steppes and needed to keep the Loroi from stumbling across it by accident?
My first thought on seeing that was that the larger force was carrying some sort of gravity projectors to forcibly "shape" the jump-zone to improve it's landing characteristics, and more such jumps will be made, each closer to the exit-zones, allowing them to cut-off couriers before they even have a chance to leave their stations.

In some ways, that would be scarier than Farseer blocking.

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Re: Page 129: ¨Deep Jump

Post by icekatze »

hi hi
Absalom wrote:A thought that occurs to me is that Loroi FTL comms don't work by a Farseer sending a message, but instead by a Farseer receiving a message from a properly trained Mizol, because they are capable of targeting a recipient more accurately than most Loroi.
That would be a surprise twist, everyone onboard the highland seven suddenly becomes as telepathically deaf as Alex is, because Tempo burned out their telepathy with an overpowered shout.

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Re: Page 129: ¨Deep Jump

Post by Krulle »

Absalom wrote:
icekatze wrote:I think it is a safe bet that Alex's observation about the diversionary tactics is important. I'm just not sure how yet. :P

Using diversionary tactics might just be a good idea regardless, since the Umiak don't necessarily know the size of the Loroi reserves. But if it were a totally obvious reason like that, then he probably wouldn't have mentioned it. Perhaps they are building a farseer hidden base(s) is the steppes and needed to keep the Loroi from stumbling across it by accident?
My first thought on seeing that was that the larger force was carrying some sort of gravity projectors to forcibly "shape" the jump-zone to improve it's landing characteristics, and more such jumps will be made, each closer to the exit-zones, allowing them to cut-off couriers before they even have a chance to leave their stations.

In some ways, that would be scarier than Farseer blocking.
And would require to notably increase the mass of the target star by a measurable amount.
Which would require dismantling several jupiters to get the mass necessary to build starships....
IF gravforce projectors were a technology working in Outsiderverse while not actually increasing the solar system mass, it would have to interact with hyperspace, despite realspace/truespace and hyperspace not interacting...

edit: sorry, due to toothache not in a mood to rephrase and sound more understandable.
Hope you cans till make sense of my ramblings...
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charred steppes, borders of territories: page 59,
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System view Leido Crossroads: page 123, after the battle page 195

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Re: Page 129: ¨Deep Jump

Post by Absalom »

Bit late, but here goes.
icekatze wrote:hi hi
Absalom wrote:A thought that occurs to me is that Loroi FTL comms don't work by a Farseer sending a message, but instead by a Farseer receiving a message from a properly trained Mizol, because they are capable of targeting a recipient more accurately than most Loroi.
That would be a surprise twist, everyone onboard the highland seven suddenly becomes as telepathically deaf as Alex is, because Tempo burned out their telepathy with an overpowered shout.
Huh? No, I believe that Arioch originally said that, apparently it involves accuracy to replace strength, I was just responding to a question of what Tempo might be doing.

Krulle wrote:
Absalom wrote:My first thought on seeing that was that the larger force was carrying some sort of gravity projectors to forcibly "shape" the jump-zone to improve it's landing characteristics, and more such jumps will be made, each closer to the exit-zones, allowing them to cut-off couriers before they even have a chance to leave their stations.

In some ways, that would be scarier than Farseer blocking.
And would require to notably increase the mass of the target star by a measurable amount.
Which would require dismantling several jupiters to get the mass necessary to build starships....
IF gravforce projectors were a technology working in Outsiderverse while not actually increasing the solar system mass, it would have to interact with hyperspace, despite realspace/truespace and hyperspace not interacting...
I'm pretty sure that gravity wells in realspace do interact with jumpspace, hence why jumpspace vectors have any relation at all to realspace stars.

And if grav projectors were a real thing, I bet that they'd still be really energy expensive, and presumably have some sort of focusing problem akin to photons.

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