RTS System in the Apocalypse: New World

"Current force organization."

Hans pulled it closer.

The first page contained the two formations Matilda had been assembling while Ironford’s recovery and construction work continued.

First Mobile Company.

Second Mobile Company.

Five platoons each.

During the previous several days, the Barracks at the Main Base and northern Ironford FOB had divided the new infantry queues between them. The additional War Factory handled part of the armored production, while the older facility continued from the northwest.

Enough personnel and vehicles now existed to keep both companies intact without stripping the permanent positions behind them.

Hans reached the garrison section.

Max-promoted squads still occupied the Main Base, Site Three, Route One, the Airfields, Strategic Facilities, and both Ironford FOBs. The difference was that those positions no longer needed every veteran the army had.

The two Ironford bases already had their permanent defenses. Pillboxes covered the main roads, Garrison Posts anchored the heavier approaches, and Watch Towers overlooked the outer lanes. Surviving warehouses and industrial fencing filled much of the perimeter that would otherwise have required more Walls.

Once enough squads were assigned to the checkpoints, patrol routes, and defensive structures, additional veterans became more useful with the mobile formations.

"It’s about time," Hans muttered.

Matilda took the chair across from him.

"You were the one who removed them from the active rotation."

"That was when pulling a veteran squad out left another position short."

"It doesn’t anymore."

Hans continued reading.

Matilda had distributed the returning veterans between the two companies instead of concentrating them into one formation. Every platoon now carried experienced squads beside newer ones, allowing the fresh soldiers to keep earning promotions without making an entire platoon depend on them.

Hans looked at the two company summaries.

Each company carried the same organization.

Five platoons.

Twenty-five Standard Infantry Squads.

Five Mechanized APC Squads.

Thirty Guardian APCs.

Twenty Vanguards.

The ten Hellhammers remained outside both company structures as a shared artillery group that Matilda could assign according to the operation.

That brought the two companies to sixty Guardian APCs and forty Vanguards between them.

Six additional Guardian APCs and four Vanguards remained outside both formations as armored reserve. The artillery group had expanded to twelve Hellhammers, enough for six two-vehicle sections that Matilda could divide between separate operations.

Two independent companies, and neither one required Hans to empty the reserve just to keep moving.

Hans turned another page. The aircraft expansion followed.

The original Airfield had been full for some time, so another Airfield Base had been completed nearby inside the expanded secured aviation zone.

The two facilities now shared Flight Operations and the surrounding defensive perimeter.

The current aircraft roster read:

------

[ Air Operations ]

Raptor Air Superiority Fighters: 14

Striker / Apache Heavy Attack Helicopters: 16

Falcon Utility Helicopters: 8

------

Thirty combat aircraft and eight utility transports now sat on the roster.

Hans remembered when one Falcon had been enough to change what his army could reach in a single day.

Now Flight Operations could support two ground companies without assigning the entire air force to whichever one happened to be moving.

Hans checked the Gold record beside the report.

The number was considerably smaller than it had been immediately after Ironford’s recovery. Looking outside the office explained why.

------

[ Ironford Expansion Summary ]

[ Infantry ]

25 Standard Infantry Squads

5 Mechanized APC Squads

Personnel Added: 360

Infantry Cost: 283,000 Gold

[ Ground Vehicles ]

19 Guardian APCs

16 Vanguard Main Battle Tanks

2 HMT-90 Hellhammer Artillery Tanks

Machinery Workshop: -10%

Heavy Manufacturing Complex: -10%

Ground Vehicle Cost: 278,400 Gold

[ Aircraft ]

6 Raptor Air Superiority Fighters

6 Apache Heavy Attack Helicopters

2 Falcon Utility Helicopters

Heavy Manufacturing Complex: -10%

Aircraft Cost: 206,100 Gold

[ Base Expansion ]

5 Power Plants

1 Barracks

1 War Factory

1 Physical Radar Facility

1 Airfield Base

Structure Cost: 112,500 Gold

[ Ironford Fortifications ]

16 Pillboxes

5 Garrison Posts

8 Watch Towers

48 Wall Segments

Heavy Manufacturing Complex: -10%

Fortification Cost: 113,400 Gold

[ Total Expansion Cost: 993,400 Gold ]

[ Ironford Recovery: +1,200,000 Gold ]

[ Strategic Facility Income: +4,400 Gold ]

[ Gold: 71,282 => 282,282 ]

[ Energy: 4,013 / 4,400 units ]

------

A few months earlier, losing more than a million Gold in several days would have sounded insane.

Now most of it was parked outside with guns. He had never felt much satisfaction before. Yet he knew that this was not enough to fully conquer Grefort.

Matilda placed a city map beside the force report.

"The other step is to decide what they will be doing, Commander."

Hans shifted his chair closer.

Ironford occupied the central north. Westgate remained northwest, with Highcross farther south and Kingswell toward the inner commercial belt. The city core sat beyond them, surrounded by districts Hans had barely touched.

To Ironford’s northeast, another district extended toward the northern approaches.

Farther east, the city became increasingly residential with apartment compounds, schools, hospitals, and the like.

Earlier reconnaissance and recovery reports had already marked survivor enclaves throughout that side of Grefort. Some occupied only a few buildings. Others controlled entire compounds.

South of the Core, Grefort became less consistent. The city’s expansion had still been underway when the apocalypse began, leaving newer roads and developed blocks broken apart by areas that had never been filled in. The districts there existed on the map, but they never reached the density of the northern industrial belt or the inner city.

Pandora remained the exception farther southeast. It had already existed before the latest expansion and developed around its own private utilities, security, and infrastructure, leaving it separated from much of what grew around it later.

Hans placed a finger near the center. He traced the blocks south of Ironford, then toward the denser inner districts.

"First Company will push toward the Core."

Matilda followed the route. "That will take a while, Commander."

"The closer they get to the Core, the worse the density becomes. They don’t have to forcefully take it yet. Clear the approaches, destroy exposed concentrations, and keep reducing the infected numbers."

Matilda nodded.

"A pressure front."

"Something like that."

Trying to storm central Grefort immediately would achieve very little beyond giving every infected concentration inside the densest part of the city something to converge on.

Hans had enough firepower to destroy a large concentration.

He did not need to deliberately gather the entire center into one.

His finger moved northeast.

"Second Company takes this side."

The route continued through the northeastern district before turning into the eastern residential belt.

Matilda studied it. Several markers remained from the earlier Raptor reconnaissance.

Hans had delayed contact because he did not have a secure ground route to any of them. That excuse no longer existed.

"Clear toward them first. Once the roads are safe, contact each enclave separately."

"Should we evacuate them?"

"If they want it, or if it’s necessary. Do not force your way through."

Hans moved one of the eastern markers aside so he could see the road underneath it.

"If they can hold their own position and don’t want to move, I’m not forcing them into the Colony. Give them a safe route, tell them where our checkpoints are, and move on."

Some would probably leave immediately. Others had survived because they already had food, water, defensible buildings, or people they refused to abandon.

Hans did not need every survivor in Grefort behind the same Wall. He needed to know where they were before artillery, aircraft, or another large infected movement reached the area.

Matilda marked the eastern route.

"And the Nuclear Power Station?"

Hans looked north. The old exclusion marker still remained on the map.

Before, the place had been too dangerous to approach casually.

The former Ironford Hive site lay east of the route, while the Nuclear Power Station’s automated defenses were still active. If those defenses turned on his men, the fighting alone could draw infected from the surrounding area and bury the facility beneath another mass.

Hans could not afford that to happen.

The plant itself was too valuable to destroy, and back then, he had not possessed enough forces to secure the approaches while dealing with whatever remained inside.

That was no longer the situation.

"Prepare a small force with two DASF squads as the main element. You and Specter will lead the operation. Anton and Sabine can handle the two companies while you’re gone."

A rare smile flashed across Matilda’s face. Hans had not seen one from her in a while.

"Anton takes First Company. Sabine takes Second. They can handle both fronts while you’re gone. You have three days to prepare. Have the task force ready by then."

"Three days is enough, Commander."

"Good. You may take your leave."

Hans leaned back and looked across both company routes.

One company would begin pushing toward the center. The other would open the northeast and eastern districts.

Matilda’s task force would handle the Nuclear Power Station separately.

For the first time, Hans could run three operations without emptying one front to reinforce another.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!