[ooc]Well my will power saving throws were made more or less, I hope to get the rest of the turn done today for the RM but the Confederation is done. I spot that deckbuilder thing and will be heading there...I just love the freedom to choose what my character will do. Now if they can only get the gear manager to work properly it will be the bomb. Uhm...me and explosives don't mix I am finding out. As far as the wheel of distraction goes, 5 more AP into blades for martial discipline and self heal, a further 2 AP into pistols for a nice AOE heal, and then loads into fist weapons so I can get some better heals for my chaotic healing deck.[/ooc]
Month 171, Shanir
The Theban Empire's diplomatic envoy dropped a massive surprise on the Confederation Parliment when the proposal was read. They were willing to transfer several systems to the Confederation for no cost, explaining that the distance and degree of interconectivity to the Confederations species made thse systems less interesting to them. The Confederation Parliment conveened for a special session and quickly agreed to the exchange. The data revealed itself to be quite a "Gift Horse" as a number of until that point and time unknown connections were found. That area of space also connected to the newly discovered trading partners who call themselves the Thing of Odin, and who have been trading with the Drakes for quite some time. The question of what to do about the connection between Frontier zone 1 and Frontier zone 2 is also finally showing signs of reaching a conclusion. The current form of the report recommends transfering the Treveri-Rubicon chain plus all systems after the Treveri-Heracles warp point to FZ2. This will stabilize the otherwise confusing situation but it is now making it harder to determine which system should be the designated Frontier Zone Capital. The world Portal in the Vesuvius system is currently the front runner but there is ongoing evaluations.
Ongoing for some months now has been a join colonization program with the Drakes. The planets Everchill in the Crossroads system and Blizzard in the Babylon system were the first two test sites. Everchill's Drake population is now well in excess of the original Shanirian colonists, while Blizzard's Drake population is still at the outpost stage. So far the program can be deemed sucessful. Discussions are still ongoing on how to divide up the moons for resource extraction purposes. Military matters are even more unclear but proponents of the idea say that the first step has been passed in that both populations are present and co-existing peacefully. High level negotiations are proceeding between the SCN and the High Council to determine how a joint patrol schedule can be best facilitated. In particular for the Crossroads system with its connection to the Thing of Odin and its closeness to what is considered a major Drake Transit System. As the Drakes trade with the Thing of Odin, in the past through the Londonium system, it makes sense that Everchill is better and more direct trade connection to their homeworld for the Drakes. What sort of economic impact this will have on the businesses in the New Expanses is not clear since we are unsure of any details about the Thing of Odin's internal connections.
The map attached to this report shows the newly added territory. Exploration has been slow by all three of the Confederations species. The Shanirian exploration groups are currently busy expanding the frontier or else about to push down the unexplored warp chains from Tarentum. The primary issue is distance to the homeworld. Colonization costs are now firmly driven by the distance and time each freighter must spend on the journey. Discussions are also going on about to what extent the ships of the survey forces should be updated. There have been substantial changes in the technological map since they were last refit. The only issue is that would increase their maintenance needs and thus restrict somewhat their time on station. As two good sized freighters are part of each survey group though this argument is loosing its support and it is likely only a matter of time before the refit plans hit the review board. The Drakes and Squids are exploring steadily if not speedily. The Drakes are limited by having only 2 groups, while the design of the Squids survey ship also hampers them. The Squids are also reaching the end of their logistics reach and have desided to build Packmule class freighters to increase their survey groups logistics.
In terms of yard capacity over all the SCN is pleased with the expansion. Three stations orbit Shanir, with 6 repair bays and 38 yard docks between them. Exapansion of the newest station is ongoing and in under two years it will be complete and the total capacity will stand at 42 yard docks and 6 repair bays. There is some serious discusion now starting to add an additional 8 repair bays in either a new station or else to the existing 3 space stations. The utility of the repair bays with respect to their size makes them welcomed when it is time to refit the fleet. As well two reapir stations are under assembly or in operation in Tarentum and Nova Vox systems. This gives Tarentum 6 yard docks and 6 repair bays, and Nova Vox will soon have a similiar amount. A pre-fabricated support base has just started its journey to Portal and will be operational inside of 6 months. Five mobile construction groups are in existance and are fully occupied with tasks throughout Shanirian space, with a sixth being built in Sea. This will give two groups of the large yard ships, two groups of the small yard ships, and two groups of repair ships.
The SCN has been able to prototype a new hull for some time. Tentatively titled the Dreadnaught this would be a ship with a usable internal volume approximately 25% greater than the Battleships forming the heavy core of the SCNs 1st Fleet. There is a clear advantage in combat and most importantly in warp point assaults from such a ship but there is no way to move it around the Confederation easily. The large number of warppoints that allow only a battleship or smaller hull through make its deployment virtually impossible. A ship of that size would not be able to get from the core worlds to the frontier as inevitably an insufficiently sized warp point shows up. In the light of this the SCN military review decided to not proceed with the prototype phase and simply to channel the money and resources into other projects. Due to the combat effectiveness difference, the SCN review pannel recommended increased numbers of Battleships to compensate for their individual lack in size. The review pannel concluded that fixed defences were more cost effective then a ship that did the same job.
One new technological development, the datalink capable point defence suite also caused an uproar. The analysis of its effectiveness showed clearly that it was a must have system, in particular for smaller ships, but that would require both major funding changes to the maintenance budget and also a round of refits on a shorter than anticipated schedule. It took a compromise where not all point defences were swaped out for the new version to get it through the budget committee. Still it has led to new designs for all major combat vessels, and dramatic improvements in their overall antimissile defence capacity.
WARBOOK UPDATE SECLEVEL PRIMUSLEGIONAIR MOD 1 class BBP AM 20 XO Racks 100 Hull TL 7
[3] S0x22Aix20ZHRc(III)H(BbM)Q(III)?1RcMgED(III)RcETiQDRcMgEDM4DzC!1XrLhQEDz(III)(III) [5]
100 RCP 50 MCP Trg:5 Bmp +2 Tem -1 Cost = 2124/ 318.6
HTK 86 S0x22 Aix20 Dzx2 Dx3 Ex4 Rcx4 Tix1 Mgx2
120x CM, 24x CM LT1, 10x CAM (Mg), 10x EDM (Mg), 10x ADM (Mg)
ARBALIST MOD 2 class BCG AM 16 XO Racks 80 Hull TL 7
[3] S0x22Aix6ZH(III)Q(BbM)(II)?1RcDRc(III)RcMgM3!1RcDMg(II)RcMgDzXrLhQEDz(III)(II) [6]
80 RCP 20 MCP Trg:4 Bmp +2 Tem -1 Cost = 1655/ 248.3
HTK 66 S0x22 Aix6 Dzx2 Dx2 Ex1 Rcx5 Mgx3
200x CM, 40x CM LT1, 8x CAM (Mg), 10x EDM (Mg), 8x ADM (Mg)
HASTA MOD 2 class BCP AM 16 XO Racks 80 Hull TL 7
[3] S0x18Aix12ZH(III)RaQRa(II)?1RaQ(BbM)ED(III)RaMg!1M3!1ED(II)EDzXrLhQEDz(III)(II) [6]
80 RCP 70 MCP Trg:4 Bmp +2 Tem -1 Cost = 1720/ 258
HTK 70 S0x18 Aix12 Dzx2 Dx2 Ex4 Rax4 Mgx1
140x SM, 10x CM, 8x CAM (Mg), 4x EDM (Mg)
SPATHA MOD 3 class CAP AM 12 XO Racks 60 Hull TL 7
[2] S0x12Aix12ZH(BbM)Q(II)Ra(II)?1RaRa(II)RaM2!1MgE(II)XrDQLhDzE(II)(II) [6]
60 RCP 40 MCP Trg:3 Bmp +2 Tem -1 Cost = 1187/ 178.1
HTK 55 S0x12 Aix12 Dzx1 Dx1 Ex2 Rax4 Mgx1
136x SM, 12x CM, 10x EDM (Mg)
GLADIUS MOD 5 class CLP AM 9 XO Racks 45 Hull TL 7
[2] S0x12Aix10ZH(BbS)(II)(I)?1Ra(II)Ra(I)!1RaM2Mg(II)DLhQDzE(I) [6]
45 RCP 5 MCP Trg:3 Bmp +2 Tem -1 Cost = 862.5/ 129.4
HTK 46 S0x12 Aix10 Dzx1 Dx1 Ex1 Rax3 Mgx1
150x SM, 6x CM, 10x EDM (Mg)
LANCEA MOD 6 class DDP (AC) AM 6 XO Racks 30 Hull TL 7
[2] S0x6Aix3ZHs(BbS)(I)Qs(I)?1(I)(I)RaRaM2Mg(I)(I)QsDzE(I) [7]
30 RCP 20 MCP Trg:3 Bmp +2 Cost = 614/ 92.1
HTK 28 S0x6 Aix3 Dzx1 Ex1 Rax2 Mgx1
120x SM, 6x CM, 6x CAM (Mg), 4x EDM (Mg), 2x ADM (Mg)
Additionally two new classes of ship were designed and both have or are just about to enter into service.
PRINCIPII class BBA AM 20 XO Racks 100 Hull TL 7
[3] S0x38Aix30ZH(BbM)(III)?1(III)DGDQDGD(III)TiDGDMgDGDM3GMg!1DXrCLhQD(III)(III) [5]
100 RCP Trg:4 Bmp +2 Tem -1 Cost = 2049/ 307.4
HTK 112 S0x38 Aix30 Dx10 Gx5 Tix1 Mgx2
140x GM, 10x CM, 18x CAM (Mg), 8x EDM (Mg)
Notes: The SCN Assault Fleet's heavy combat ship. It is intended to enter contested warp point and sweep paths through minefields while still putting out a substantial close in fire power. The SCN design board stuck with the gun launcher due to its well tested nature. [ooc]Also because in the future I can launch anti-minefield missiles from them.[/ooc]
SCUTEM class DDE AM 6 XO Racks 30 Hull TL 7
[2] S0x8Aix3Z(I)HsTiQs(I)?1Dz(I)Dz(I)Dz(I)DzM2XrsQsDz(I)(I) [7]
30 RCP 20 MCP Trg:3 Bmp +2 Cost = 729/ 109.4
HTK 31 S0x8 Aix3 Dzx5 Tix1
Notes: This is a dedicated anti-missile escort vessel. It is planned to escort the fleet flagship with a pair of them, but they can be detached to thicken any other units defences. As they are a highly specialized ship they will be limited in number compared to the ubiquous Lancea.
(To be continued...and likely a bit of editing will occur to the above, editing did occur)