Royal Imperial Admiralty

Unlike the Commonwealth's approach to command their naval units in space, the **Royal Admiralty** of the Eternal Empire is an extremely important military institution consisting of several high ranking naval officers responsible for making critical decisions and voicing their own minds to military matters. Being formally created in the Pre-exodus years of 1856, during a time of constant growing tensions with the Eastern Commonwealth, its role to assist commanding the Royal Navy faired throughout many centuries, serving with loyalty and dedication to the Queen and her British dominions in the many conflicts the Empire endured. The Admiralty possesses the Lord Admiral as its primary leadership, but it also presents several seats for Admirals and Vice Admirals alike serving within the Sovereign Armadas and the Royal Navy.

Upon facing a conflict, commissioning a new vessel, scrapping an old warship and even enacting fleet movement orders, the Admiralty is gathered and a certain number of officers are called to join a meeting and voice their opinions. Depending on the situation or the matter of the issue, meetings of the Admiralty can be enacted in virtual conferences to preserve time and distance of Admirals, however most reunions are kept inside walls of Spaceports or below the waters in Imperial Submerged Command Groups as a way to keep matters safe from spying and hacking attempts.

As a war begins and the Lord Admiral is summoned to command the Navy throughout the conflict, the Admiralty falls in command of the Lord Regent, who, as a consequence, can accept or refuse requests signed by members of the Admiralty engaged in the conflict and take decisions formally only allowed by the Lord Admiral himself.

## **Moderation & Fanaticism; An Eternal Struggle**

Ever since the arrival of man in the new Galaxy, the Empire and its navy leaders have both been separated by a division between **fanaticism** and **moderation**; One group seeking prosperity through means of peace or more political means, whilst other vowed for victory through war, destruction and pride. For hundreds of years, both sides have controlled and executed their agendas at times, gathering support from hands of the Lord Regents, the Empress and even with the overwhelming majority of the naval staff, backing actions that swiftly put one group in charge over the Royal Navy and consequentially the Empire as a whole.

As for the actions the moderationists or the fanatics take, it much depends on the political and military context of the time and the need for quick action. Their polar opposition, however, does not mean that both groups are always detrimental and battling one another, as the Great Northern War was a conflict backed by fanatics, but architected mostly by the group seeking moderation. During times of crisis, and great political uproar, however, one side can completely overwhelm the other, exerting its full influence through to the Imperial Court and the Lord Regent himself, once the conditions allow for it. This can be seen in few gaps through the history of the Empire, let it be during the emergy war period as the Dyss enacted their counter-attack or the slow yet effective rise to power of the warmongers during the early 2300s.

Such an event, marked during the later portion of Empress Victoria VIII’s reign, started to become a reality with constant news of all-around threats during the initial years fo the troubles. The confidence in victory fueled by past engagements, along with the groundbreaking discovery that the Empire’s sworn enemy, the Commonwealth, was still functional and disputing for total status-quo of the Galaxy, forced more radical figures to take the helm and convince, one by one, that the right path to take was to declare total war against their enemies and ensure, for the time being at the very least, that they could contain other incoming threats whenever they arrived. Such talks broke the rivalry set by both groups and empowered the fanatics led by Darius Ney at front of operations as the overall Lord Admiral in chief for the campaign for Ortus. The previous Lord Admiral, Achilles Foster, losing support year after year from key figures such as even the sceptical Daniel Lavoie, resigned and signalled the change of another guard once more, as he returned defeated to public life. Since after that, the Empire was headed by a group of aggressive militaristic figures, who would need an entire conflict to get rid off once the dust had settled.

After the Ancestral War and the end of the first regency of the Empire, Daniel Lavoie used much of both groups to his favour, disposing of whoever stepped out of line regardless of their ideology or alignment. By 2350, Lavoie had controlled the rivalry very well, all with the support of skilled loyal admirals who made quick work of all those daring to confront his absolute power. Though never-ending, the silent struggle in the Court between both groups became pretty much unhearable once the new emperor came into power.

## **Fleet Stratagems, Doctrine & Tactics**

> *"The destruction or paralysis of the hostile fleet is most paramount to victory; if this cannot be achieved then the survival of the fleet in being is of the highest strategic value"*
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For reasons that shall be explained in another article, and lightly touched upon here, the Eternal Empire boasts the largest Armada in the galaxy (barring extradimensional Unbidden fleets). As such, fleet battle tactics have come to embrace and play to this numerical advantage.

> *"While our technology rests on an equivalent field to most xeno, our industrious spirit brings our Navy leagues ahead of the backward nations that surround us"*
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### **Stratagems**

#### **Stratagem - The 'Fleet in Being'**

The long-story-short of this strategy is to always hold a fleet of substantial power; The very existence of the fleet impedes most oppositions actions, invasions cannot be undertaken and no dominance established while the threat of the fleet exists. So at all times, it is absolutely importance that at least one fleet of power is a present threat to the enemy; even if it is inferior to the enemy, for the fleet can remain stationed in a defensive position, ready to strike at the first mistake committed by a hostile force. This strategy focuses mainly in defensive tactics, but can be used with great results to also lure the enemy into a disadvantageous engagement, such as the Dyss attempt at destroying the Eternal Empire, at the Miracle of New Sol.

#### **Stratagem - Decentralized Ship Industry**

A new concept of space warfare is that the vessels constructed for space warfare are also built entirely in space, the very plane of combat that the conflict takes place, whilst this is true for land warfare as well; but warfare on these two fronts is fundamentally different, in land warfare it is possible to produce fighting units anywhere even without industrial capacity but in space all things come from the spaceports.

The shipwrights are vulnerable to attack in space; the sole production points of military space vessels, for many nations this does not truly matter as a single decisive conflict is often the only battle truly fought in space, once one side is victorious over the other there is not enough time for the industry to replace the loses. However the boundaries of the Eternal Empire are vast and have many shipwrights; the loss of half the entire armada could be resolved in a matter of weeks or less, as such the enemy will likely aim to destroy these factories, so protecting them is key. The sources of production are thus heavily guarded with static defences that aim to cost opposing fleets dearly for any aggression; the ideal outcome is that invading fleets wear themselves down destroying these factories and smaller Royal fleets (which are replaced by still working shipwrights) until they are weak to a decisive strike.

#### **Stratagem - Successive Strikes**

This stratagem was created solely to combat the technologically superior nations such as the Commonwealth. A pitched battle between the two fleets would likely result in a Commonwealth victory; the power of their fleets might even outmatch the entire Armada, so single fleets are dispatched to assault the enemy fleet, this fleet undoubtedly loses to the foe but ideally damaged it. With an industrial powerhouse at its disposal a new fleet is quickly constructed and assaults the damaged foe; all the while a larger or at least equally sized fleet remains in a defensive position that would be suicidal for the foe to assault. This continues until the enemy fleet is weak to an all out assault. Even if the battle is then lost, the opposition is too damaged to take advantage of the victory, giving time for a new Armada to be constructed.

As you have likely ascertained; the overall strategy is to make the enemy pay dearly for invading Eternal space whilst also making them weaker and weaker over time if the enemy does not attack them. Over time the empire should assert massive numerical advantages, thus achieving parity against any foe in the Cluster.

### **Doctrines**

#### **Doctrine – Streamlined Armaments**

By limiting variation of vessel weaponry, the effective positions of military warships are universal to all vessels of their type; this reduced the need for tactical finesse as effectively managing 30 ships with 4 variations of weaponry is demanding, more so when in reality there are more than 30 and combat is in progress. By limiting variation, a fleet can better co-ordinate itself in combat; strategists of the Empire are not ignorant to the advantage of combined arms or variation of weaponry and admit that it would be more advantageous to wield a wider variation of weaponry if it were not for the loss of coordination. This doctrine was implemented sometime around 2270 to resolve the ungainly and ‘clumsy’ maneuverers and was hoped to some day be repealed in favour of a ‘Combined Arms’ Doctrine, preferably when commissioned Royal Navy A.I. would be powerful enough to manage the increased management required. Nowadays, the doctrine has been though a metamorphosis, integrating multiple combined arms tactics into smaller squadrons and flotillas, whilst applying the force of numbers within greater armadas. The original concept of "Streamlined Armaments" is considered to be outdated, yet can still be seen followed by old guards across the Empire in 2350.

#### **Doctrine – Ships of the Line**

A doctrine that plays to the industrial power of the Empire and one of cultural tradition; battleships are not designed to be long-range weapon platforms but full on ‘battle’-ships. Besides rarer battleships; weaponry and armaments are built into the sides of the vessels so that as when the side is presented to the enemy, rather than being a weak-point, the enemy is presented with a full broadside of weaponry that eviscerates smaller crafts and can easily create a mass panic both within a larger vessel and a fleet as a whole. This doctrine is the source of many battle tactics that will be explained below. Overall this doctrine is industrially expensive as many large vessels are damaged or lost due to the tactics bred from this line of thinking. As the use of void carriers becomes something more and more present throughout the Galaxy, the use of battleships as lines of short-range artillery turn into older and older doctrines, as stressed by newer Lord Admirals in recent years...

#### **Doctrine - Imperial Trade Interdiction**

After the Great Northern War with the Dyss menace close by, the Empire had bled and mourned its losses all across, but it also took many notes from the books of its enemy. Employing several raiding vessels, flotillas and squadrons throughout several foreign territories in times of peace, these not only disrupt many civilian and military activities throughout an entire sector but also provide much needed scouting and information gathering for the main bulk of the Imperial Armadas. Once in times of peace, when the Royal Navy has its attention shifted towards another target, the raiding forces come to act in their own accords, oftentimes leaving no Xeno survivors after their daring and elaborate raids in multitudes of systems. This kind of warfare was much utilized by the Empire against the Dyss in later years of the 23rd. Century, relying on several raids at the borders to cripple the supply lines of their enemies if another invasion was to come in a few years.

#### **Doctrine - Asymmetric Carrier Warfare**

Recently developed as a standardized style of warfare by the Eternal Empire. The use of massed carrier-based strikes against enemy forces can be effective once said forces lack point defence, void flak, or any type of fighting ability to counter light crafts; yet such luxury has become something of a rarity, and the Eternal Empire's pilot forces have already been proven how ineffective to be when strained, after great blows to its experienced Pilot's Corps. Therefore, revolutionary minds such as Lord Admiral Isla Nelson have greatly vowed to refit and change the strategies behind the implementation of carrier-based crafts during engagements. Using newly developed technologies to enhance stealth and confuse enemy targeting, the fighters and bombers of the Royal Navy are not only more susceptible to achieve their missions without interceptions, but also to return alive as a whole. Carriers are precious, and so are its pilots. Replenishing a Carrier task force is not only more expensive, but considerably more time consuming, as the Empire lacks the cunning to use fully developed A.I. to man its strike craft. By using smaller, more flexible Carrier formations, each captain is able to accomplish more, retreat from the threat of battle, and retain less casualties from returning pilots in sorties. For as long as Imperial stealth technology is at edge against its enemies, this doctrine shall remain pivotal to carrier warfare.

#### **Doctrine – Concentrated Firepower**

No matter the strength of a shield or the durability of armour, concentrated firepower overcomes more effectively than the sum of individual weapons would alone; a technologically superior shield is still worthless after it is spent, armour becomes redundant when just one hole is made. By focusing firepower on select ships, enemy shields fall much sooner, when the shield is down most fleets divert fire to another vessel while one or two Royal vessels continue to assault the enemy craft. This increases the effective firepower of an already numerically superior fleet and gives an advantage to the Empire’s vessels in their micro-battles; this is where most attention is given by Captains and Admirals, rather than on positioning multiple variations of the same ship. Overall these doctrines focus on reducing ‘brainpower’ needed for coordinating movement and instead focus on maximizing firepower; as the Royal fleets contain many ships that are too difficult to manage on a variant basis. The heart of these doctrines though, is the battleships. As you will see below in the tactics section.

### **Tactics**

#### **Tactic – Line Ships**

Stemming directly from the ‘Ship of the line’ doctrine, the tactic involves battleships moving deep into enemy ranks and forming a line which then turns to present broadsides at the greatest concentration of enemy vessels; using side mounted weaponry these battleships subvert oppositions’ expectation that the side of a vessel is the most optimal front to attack (a side view of a vessel leaves all internal components viable to attack). These ‘optimal’ targets attract the enemy to position themselves in the direct firing zone of the broadsides, as the large distance between the opposing vessels has now been closed by the battleships, the raw firepower of the broadsides chew through smaller vessels that are unable to dodge shots from such close range. The raw destruction and ensuing chaos amongst enemy ranks is a spectacle to behold from the bridge of these battleships. This tactic is the spine of void combat; all tactics revolve around these battleships, which are heavily damaged if not outright destroyed in these manoeuvres… it is the industrial capacity at the Empire’s disposal that makes this tactic viable.

#### **Tactic – Foot Through the Door**

When jumping into a heavily defended system the frontline Capital ships lead the way; at the front of the fleet they quickly turn to use their sides as a shield to protect the rest of the fleet, using a strange technology the shields of these vessel ‘interlock’ and produce more power than the sum of their parts (shields interlocking add together and operate at 65% increased efficiency overall, the effect stacks cumulatively with each battleship) whilst interlocked the battleships cannot fire any weaponry making them vulnerable to enemy torpedoes and bombers. This drawback is countered by Corvettes, Destroyers and many of the overall screen runners which destroy these threats; Yet this is all temporary, as these manoeuvres always find themselves followed up with the appearance of the enigmatic Vindicator Fast Battleships… These vessels are always surrounded by several frigate-sized warships that seem to have the sole purpose of blocking all scans of this ship, having the singular role of being used in such engagements, always withdrawing from systems that aliens jump into (even when other fleets are present). The Vindicator-class Fast Battleships have inbuilt weaponry that is solely front-facing or prow mounted, quite similar to the bow disintegrator utilized by the Retribution-class; This ship, upon emerging from behind the shield screen, targets the defensive stations and eviscerates them from long-range, smaller prow weaponry targets any present enemy battleships… with the defenders smashed and the ‘Foot Through the Door’ the battleships disengage their locked shields and the fleet plough through the remaining opposition with the main fleet…

Vindicators, however, turn back and jump out of the system, not to be seen again until the next stalwart bastion needs smashing...

#### **Tactic – Grand Battery**

Whilst the battleships brawl within the ranks of the enemy the cruisers maintain mid-range distance, far enough to use primary batteries yet also close enough to use secondary weaponry, from here they target the oppositions most ‘tactical assets’ whilst whittling down less important yet more numerous small vessels. As the battleships sow chaos and draw fire from the enemy the cruiser should operate almost free of enemy attention (most nations believe staunchly that the elimination of battleships are key to victory, so the fact that they fly deep into their own ranks is chaotic but believed to be a tactical error on the Empire’s side) so while these mighty vessels soak damage from the enemy fleet, the rest of the Royal vessels either sit at a distance and fire without concern for evasive movement or move around the main conflict and hit the opponents lightly defended battleships, often causing significant damage at a small cost of their own.

#### **Tactic – Go Around Them Perhaps?**

A tactic that has gained its own idiom; while the majority of the enemy fleet (including their corvettes, destroyers & cruisers) is focused on destroying the Empire’s battleships, a flotilla of destroyers moves around the main battle and with the aid of a cruiser destroy the lightly defended battleships sitting at the back of the conflict. Such a tactic has gained some attention in recent years, and has adapted to include smaller carriers to aid with the screening of the fleets in the attack.

#### **Tactic – Locust Assault**

It is established that battleships brawl deep in the enemy fleet while cruisers coordinate long-range fire from a distance; while this occurs, a flotilla moves around and hits the back lines. In the midst of this though are numerous corvettes and destroyers that follow the battleships into the fray; after the first broadsides of the great vessels they are exposed to raking return fire, enter the ‘Locusts’, boosting themselves straight into close-range combat. These small vessels are built for absolute tooth n’ nail CQC, they tie down the enemy with superior numbers and absolute dominance in close range combat, equip with mid-weight armour these small ships can withstand the beating of other small vessels for some time… except there’s also 2 of them for every 1 enemy ship, and great battleships using full broadsides at close range. Usually, the enemy would disengage, but distracted with the hopes of destroying a battleship they are ordered to stay and fight. Such close fighting tactics are extremely effective against smaller, less advanced, foes, yet lack the initial punch to effectively cripple larger navies of more developed states.

***Overall:** The Eternal Empire relies on closing the distance between fleets and swamping the enemy with small vessels while the great battleships draw in the enemy and eviscerate them; any fleets that attempt to stay a distance from the Empire’s fleet is taken aback by the speed of these battleships, equipped with reserves of special "fuel" that increase ship speed by 300% for a short time. Once engaged in conflict the Eternal Empire’s fleets sink their teeth deep and don’t let go… disengaging from a space battle is near suicidal as sub-space retreat presents engines to the foe, warp jumping out is equally risky as damaged craft are usually destroyed and simple equipment malfunctions can ether prohibit warp jumping or also destroy the vessel. Such a decision is frowned upon, but may be necessary if it means preserving forces for another critical battle in the near future...*

### **Oblique tactics**

> *"Our tactics are tried, tested and true; but the xeno think in subversive ways, devising and plotting solely on our downfall. But whatever treacherous trickery or malevolent manoeuvres they pull from their nefarious minds, our Eternal Empress will outmatch them tenfold"*
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Sometimes the Eternal Empire has seen fit to use… strange, tactics. Varying from outlandish to complete suicide.

#### **Oblique Tactic – “INTO THE BREACH”**

Used against the invasive Dyss Ravagers during the stalwart defence of New Earth. It appears that somehow the Dyss outsmarted the Empire and launched their fleet straight into the capital system. At the time only one fully assembled fleet was close enough to respond but it to was inferior to the Dyss Purification Armada.

The tactic seems to involve concentrating all firepower towards the centre of the enemy fleet, regardless of losses, even wreckage is purposefully targeted; during the Dyss attack the Empire was numerically outnumbered and lacking firepower so this tactic at first seemed of little concern to the Dyss… then across all comms the chanting started.

> *“The enemy blind our strike is true, into the breach, into breach…*
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> *“The enemy deaf our strike is swift, into the breach, into the breach…*
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> *“The enemy dumb they lie in wait, into the breach, into the breach, breach breach BREACH!”*
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At the climax of the feverous chant, the Royal fleet warped straight into the hole of the enemy fleet, with no opportunity to wear the fleet down as it approached (as it had literally jumped into their position) the fleet had gained it range of expertise (close range) for no cost. Battleships ploughed full speed through smaller vessels as smaller Royal corvettes picked apart unprotected cruisers… the wholesale slaughter of the Dyss ensued. This tactic is seldom used by any nation as jumping into the middle of a fleet is a sure-fire way to ‘kerfuckle’ your own fleet as they fail to rematerialize properly when jumping into crowed space; however, the powerful sensors from defensive stations and removal of the many ships from the centre of the Dyss fleet cleared enough room to usefully jump the Royal fleet in with only 35% casualties… a favourable outcome indeed.

#### **Oblique Tactic – Broken Sword**

When a defensive fleet is set to lose a battle of strategic importance, and dealing as much damage as possible against the enemy is the main priority, they may send a single message back to Imperial High Command; “*The sword is broken*”. Upon receiving the message the ships respond with a coded message that overloads all functional reactors, the surviving Royal vessels ram into the closest enemy vessel before exploding. Seldom used as the wrecks of both Royal and Xeno warships are completely unsalvageable.