Stars, Players and Immortals

Chapter 86 [National Event: Joint Military Exercise on Mars]

After leaving the far-lunar side of the orbit, the Mars escort fleet will enter the Mars receiving orbit through the designated return window.

The First and Third Fleets maintained their escort formation until the entire transport convoy entered the receiving sequence at the outer orbital port of Tharsis. Only then did the heavy cruisers and destroyers on the perimeter gradually decommission and return to their positions.

Cargo ships were towed into the cargo berths of the Propylene orbital port, and the sealed cargo holds were opened one after another. Civilian consumer goods from Busan were transferred to the warehousing chain of the Mars Central Logistics Agency.

The waiting stevedores and unmanned loading vehicles immediately took over the containers and delivered the first batch of civilian consumer goods to the three distribution lines: Tharsis, Mariner Valley, and Olympus.

Inside the Olympus Hub, Zhang Nanhai submitted an operational briefing to Zhang Qiming via an encrypted military communication link. The briefing included the fleet's deployment scale, lunar-side training exercises, Terra fleet contact status, and a risk assessment of the entire return journey of the transport convoy.

Zhang Qiming highly approved of Zhang Nanhai's frontline command and, in his capacity as commander-in-chief, expressed his appreciation to all officers. He then ordered the fleet to rest and reorganize, with further combat readiness arrangements to be announced later.

The shortage of civilian supplies has finally been temporarily filled.

As long as Terra Busan continues to maintain stable production in accordance with the agreement, Mars can use precision components to establish a stable supply line for people's livelihood.

In the short term, grassroots factories, prosthetic body maintenance stations, medical supply windows, and household machinery repair chains can all recover, and the Tianqu government will no longer need to grit its teeth and squeeze civilian quotas out of military production capacity.

This Far Moon military exercise also brought him an unexpected gain.

Zhang Qiming raised his hand to summon the Gaia Alaya Integrated System. His gaze swept over the four ongoing situational missions in the mission bar, finally landing on the newly refreshed entry at the very bottom of the [Intelligence Log].

[National Events - Joint Military Exercises]

[Exercise Result: B—]

This joint military exercise has now concluded. The First Fleet and the Third Fleet completed escort operations in the lunar-side common shipping lanes.

Basic operations such as replenishment, formation maneuvering, electronic reconnaissance, and counter-reconnaissance performed steadily overall, and the fleet's coordination capabilities withstood the pressure of close-range surveillance by the Terra fleet.

Although some ships experienced brief communication delays in the complex navigation environment on the far side of the moon, and there were slight delays in the formation switching between the transport convoy and the escort ships, the participating fleet still completed its established objectives and successfully escorted the first batch of strategic supplies back to Mars.

This exercise demonstrates to the outside world that the Mars fleet has the capability to conduct long-range escort and resupply operations along the outer edge of the Tyrian shipping route. Enemies may need to reassess the costs they would incur before attempting to intercept the Martian transport convoy.

[Exercise Bonus: All fleets gain +10% rate of fire for 12 months]

[Subsequent exercises will use the current rating of B- as a benchmark for determining similar national events.]

[If subsequent military exercises achieve results exceeding the current record, the duration will be refreshed, and there is a chance to increase the exercise bonus.]

[When the result is equivalent to the current record, only the existing bonus period will be maintained.]

[If the result falls below the current record, it will trigger a drop in exercise confidence, and existing bonuses will be reduced according to the score difference. Severe failures will terminate the bonus prematurely.]

Wow, there's an unexpected surprise!

Lao Zhang originally only used the guise of training exercises to escort goods and incidentally exert some strategic pressure on Terra. The so-called national incident was merely a byproduct.

He hadn't expected that the Gaia system would directly calculate the entire fleet's firing rate bonus, with an effective period of up to twelve months.

What Mars lacks most right now is military strength.

The Fourth Fleet is still rapidly being filled, and the standardized destroyer templates have just been finalized. The First, Second, and Third Fleets are also waiting for the first round of hull upgrades.

A single escort exercise in the far moon region now grants the entire fleet a year's worth of rate-of-fire boost. For the inevitable war of unification, this boost is far more valuable in actual combat than a whole shipload of civilian supplies.

Even Zhang Qiming couldn't help but have other ideas.

Should we have Zhang Nanhai take his fleet to wander outside the Taiyue Channel every now and then?

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, they conduct escort and training exercises on the far side of the moon; on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, they conduct long-range deployment exercises for shipborne SA (Satellite Armor) systems; and on Sundays, they patrol along the waterway to make their presence felt.

The main theme is that every visit is a friendly visit and every military exercise is a peaceful exercise, which incidentally drives Terra's blood pressure to the limit.

However, this thought only passed through my mind once.

Military exercises, if done occasionally, can be called strategic deterrence, but if they are done continuously, they will become war rehearsals.

Once Terra understands Mars's rhythm, it will turn the temporary alert into a regular deployment, and move the Terran home fleet, the inner solar system mobile fleet, and the strategic reserve fleet back to key shipping lanes in advance.

The diplomatic department will also take the opportunity to launch a public opinion campaign, portraying Mars as a military threat that is constantly provoking the security order of the Thai moon.

What's more troublesome is that frequent military exercises keep the junior captains and fire control officers on both sides under constant pressure.

The fleet maneuvers close to the enemy's warning line every day, radars illuminate each other every day, and electronic reconnaissance probes back and forth every day. Sooner or later, some young officer will mistake a misjudgment for a prelude to an attack. At that time, the first shot will no longer be under the control of the highest level.

Therefore, military exercises must be conducted in a rhythmic manner. It's not that military exercises cannot be conducted, but rather that they need to be conducted slowly, carefully, and with a good pace, in a rhythmic and orderly manner.

Let the fleets that are fully prepared for combat go first, and let the subjects with clear benefits be trained first. We cannot blindly rush into doing things indiscriminately. We must do it in a precise, efficient and strategic manner.

You need to get the system bonuses, but you can't push Terra to the point of flipping the table.

Zhang Qiming then transferred the report on the Yuanyue side training exercise to the Tianqu Central Archives, and requested the Joint Staff Office to use this operation as a model to formulate two or three more prudent large-scale military exercise plans when the time is right.

The fact that military exercises can bring national event bonuses shows that this path is valuable, but Mars is not yet strong enough to stroll along the outer edge of the Taiyue Channel every day, so future military exercises must be based on mature plans in advance.

After the meeting, Zhang Qiming turned his attention back to the Martian homeland.

Half of the six-month period has already passed.

Next, he will push the Martian military industry, fleet, government affairs, and player system into a wartime state.

Once the maintenance period ends, players will return in large numbers, and Mars must prepare the corresponding faction quests and equipment system.

His next two priorities became clear: the mission to become the Philosopher King and the integration of the fleet.

Of the four tasks in the intelligence log, the one that is easiest to advance is the Philosopher King. He is confident that he can complete this key task within six months.

The same applies to the other fleet integration. In addition to the established fleet replenishment and hull upgrades, he also needs to allocate several small production lines from the existing military industrial capacity to specifically manufacture small interstellar ships that players can pilot.

These small boats do not need to be equipped with high-end features; they only need to meet the core requirements of short-distance cross-rail navigation and tactical squad delivery.

Its true significance lies in driving the core gameplay of players from surface missions to deep space missions, allowing these fourth calamities to officially step out of the planetary boundaries and touch the stage of the vast stars.

At the same time, a comprehensive center for players will also be built at the Olympus Hub.

This will be the official main interface for the Fourth Calamity on Mars. From the release of main quests and the exchange of military merits and equipment, to the binding of resurrection points, the upgrading and modification of cybernetic bodies, the registration of faction identities, and even the beginner's guide, all core functions related to players will be concentrated here.

He needs to sharpen this Fourth Calamity blade even further, and he also needs to forge a scabbard for it. He will not give this Fourth Calamity blade to anyone!

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