Joking aside :p, I went and drafted up some numbers to try and explain where I'm coming from...
Xavier Brennan: 551 RP | 325 RP
Aldo Armistad: 275 RP | 250 RP
Ritter Novosad: 163 RP | 150 RP
Persephone Dawn: 498 RP | 75 RP
Alain Grace: 125 RP | 100 RP
Monday: 1612
Following Monday: 900
Total: 2512
Shopping List:
Jukon x 1 = 700
Jukon x 1 = 700
Gaw x 1 = 1250
Total = 2650
Expenditures:
2512 - 2650 = -138 RP
Zero, do you think you could contribute that 138 RP to Chris on Monday? If so, we've got three ships.
Now, let's assume Daniel joins TAF this weekend and Ryocha moves to help us.
Daniel = 450 RP | 125 income
Ferusha = 400 RP | 125 income
Monday: 850 RP
Following Monday: 300 RP
Total: 1150 RP
Daniel will probably spend his money on his own MS team, so let's wipe that from the record for the first week.
Total: 1150 - 450 = 700 RP
That 700 RP can go to fielding MS, buying personnel, and getting planes/marines for the various ships. Doesn't sound like a lot, and it isn't. However, let's factor in a couple things.
- 1) Could we buy a Gallop instead of a second Jukon? That'd be an extra 50 RP, and would give us a solid land presence. My apprehension about the Gallop is simply that we're in a heavily forested area, and I wouldn't want it to become a sitting duck.
- 2) We've got to stick our own PC suits into these ships as well, along with MS teams. So that'll take some of the ships' carrying capacity away.
- 3) I could switch to a Gallop tonight, unless I've misread the rules on switching in contested territory. I've got the "Ship Captain" specialization. I could move my two Doms from the MS team into a Gallop. That potentially gives us a fourth ship, or negates the need for purchasing a third, giving us an additional 700 RP.
- 4) We could wait another week. This would give us another pool of RP from which to draw (1200 + 750 = 1950 RP for MS and personnnel and planes). Because Chris is currently a cripple, we can't do a lot just yet anyways. It'd basically delay our attack on Southeast Asia HQ from the Thursday of next week (Nov 27, assuming we're running on Thanksgiving -- which is unlikely) to the Tuesday of the following week (December 1).
Speaking of the delay, let's consider something. Ketara will probably do one of four things during the week of Thanksgiving:
- 1) Pause the entire week. This doesn't affect us.
- 2) Run the entier week. This doesn't affect us.
- 2) Run for half the week and then pause Wednesday - Friday. If he doesn't pay us for this week, our plans aren't really shifted.
- 3) Run for half the week and then pause Wednesday - Friday. If he does pay us for this week, we get that 1200 RP basically for freebies.
Those are the numbers.
Again, I have to stress, the reason I'm in favor of this plan is it lets us do two things at once: 1) it allows us to defend Manila from another Federation onslaught; 2) while we're defending, we are building up our own forces that not only will contribute to Manila's defense, but can then be gathered and moved on the Southeast Asia HQ.
Of course, the major drawback is we'll be stuck in Manila. We can field this type of force with these types of numbers irregardless of where we're stationed. Again, one of the only benefits of being at Manila is that said force can also contribute to its defense during the buildup. Also, if we gather our people at Manila instead of letting them linger in the abyss alone, it prevents the Federation from running a train on any individual Zeon. However, we'd also be faced with the potential of having to break a Federation blockade of Manila to get our forces out. The Feddies in the region can muster up more RP than us, and amass a force capable of countering our efforts. Which isn't necessarily bad, because it'd still mean that RP isn't going towards countering our main offensive push in the Atlantic.
Honestly, I see Manila as a
Xanatos Gambit. We can either win both Manila and the Atlantic. Or we lose Manila, but at the expense of drawing a substantial number of Federation resources into East Asia while preventing them from hurting Trailblazer. Either way we win...
... unless Trailblazer falters, in which case we lose ^_^.
Goooooooooooooooo Matthew!
Usually last a lot longer, and operate at a higher level I believe. least I remember my character last game, his NPC stuck it out with him for some time. 
