30th June, 2052
The Donnhovians have finished designing a jump capable survey cruiser. High command has deemed jump drives to be too inefficient to properly bring through Navy ships until its efficiency is improved, so the cruiser can only open a jump horizon for itself.
Guderian class Survey Cruiser 2,800 tons 87 Crew 468.5 BP TCS 56 TH 80 EM 0
1428 km/s JR 1-50 Armour 1-17 Shields 0-0 Sensors 10/1/1/1 Damage Control Rating 2 PPV 0
Maint Life 5.56 Years MSP 209 AFR 31% IFR 0.4% 1YR 11 5YR 171 Max Repair 100 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months Spare Berths 1
J2800(1-50) Military Jump Drive Max Ship Size 2800 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 1
40 EP Nuclear Pulse Engine (2) Power 40 Fuel Use 95% Signature 40 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres Range 16.9 billion km (137 days at full power)
Active Search Sensor MR30-R100 (1) GPS 6000 Range 30.0m km Resolution 100
Thermal Sensor TH2-10 (1) Sensitivity 10 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 10m km
Gravitational Survey Sensors (1) 1 Survey Points Per Hour
Geological Survey Sensors (1) 1 Survey Points Per Hour
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Meanwhile, the Terrans have designed civilian freighters, colony ships will require more research on cryo storage technology, something the Donnhovians take for granted is not at all common in the New Earth Republic.
1st September, 2052
The Donnhovians have begun researching Ion engine technology, which will make the two survey ships scheduled to be finished early 2054 obsolete. Construction will still carry on however. A large expansion to the academy, tripling it in size has been started, in the hopes of attracting new scientists to bolster their thin ranks with.
3rd November, 2052
Scientists on Earth have finished the last piece needed to build jump drives. Their approach is to build much smaller jump capable survey ships with only a jump drive, gravitational sensor and the required crew and lifesupport.
Edward VII class Gravitational Survey Vessel 1,300 tons 39 Crew 215.4 BP TCS 26 TH 40 EM 0
1538 km/s JR 1-50 Armour 1-10 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/1/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
Maint Life 7.37 Years MSP 104 AFR 13% IFR 0.2% 1YR 3 5YR 50 Max Repair 100 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 6 months Spare Berths 2
J1400(1-50) Military Jump Drive Max Ship Size 1400 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 1
40 EP Nuclear Pulse Engine (1) Power 40 Fuel Use 85.5% Signature 40 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres Range 32.4 billion km (243 days at full power)
Gravitational Survey Sensors (1) 1 Survey Points Per Hour
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
With this minimalistic design, it will take just under a year to build one of these, and it can be built in the smallest shipyard in orbit around Earth. With the burden taken off researching jump drives, the terrans have opted to start work on a salvage module, to take advantage of the Sargon ship graveyard in orbit of Jupiter.
4th September 2053
The Terrans have completed their first gravitational survey ship, before the Donnhovians. It appears that they were underestimated, the humans, while their technology is low-tech still, are catching up to the Donnhovians far faster than they predicted.
11th November 2053
The Donnhovians have finished their work on Ion Drive engines. The Peoples Council is gathering to design new next-generation warships, and are only waiting on shields and improved lasers.
28th December, 2053
The first jump point in Sol has been discovered by the New Earth Republic, and the first 50,000 colonists have arrived at Mars. The survey ship will scan the remaining grav sites before exploring the jump points.
9th April, 2054
The Donnhovian Navy has released two new survey cruisers from their shipyards. They are to immediately start scanning for jump points. The humans haven’t found any more jump points other than the first one.
13th May, 2054
The Terrans have found a 2nd jump point in the system, boosting the morale of the crew; many thought that there was only one jump point in the entire system.
28th May, 2054
The Donnhovians have found the first jump point discovered by the Terrans, much faster than the Terrans themselves did.
14th June, 2054
The Terrans have discovered yet another jump point, bringing the system total up to three.
22nd July, 2054
A second Gravitational Survey Vessel has been built on Earth, and the 2nd JP discovered by the Donnhovians.
19th October, 2054
A fourth jump point has been discovered, and GEV 001 is returning to Earth to exchange crew, their 6 month contract being pushed over, and morale failing due to that.
Research wise, the New Earth Republic has finished development on Levitated Pit Warheads and small jump gate construction modules, while the Donnhovians have finished up 20cm laser focusing crystals, and basic meson cannons.
The Donnhovian council intends to honor the wishes of their populace, by designing a orbital bombardment frigate armed with meson cannons capable of precision strikes that can penetrate the atmosphere of Ganymede, unlike the siege lasers.
Tribune class Bombardment Frigate 1,800 tons 92 Crew 238 BP TCS 36 TH 60 EM 0
1666 km/s Armour 1-13 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 12
Maint Life 5.62 Years MSP 83 AFR 25% IFR 0.4% 1YR 4 5YR 67 Max Repair 60 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months Spare Berths 1
60 EP Ion Drive (1) Power 60 Fuel Use 85.5% Signature 60 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 150,000 Litres Range 17.5 billion km (121 days at full power)
R3/C3 Meson Cannon (4) Range 21,760km TS: 1666 km/s Power 3-3 RM 3 ROF 5 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Gauss PD Control 10k .34 (1) Max Range: 21,760 km TS: 1250 km/s 54 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor Technology PB-1 (1) Total Power Output 13.5 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Active Search Sensor MR30-R100 (1) GPS 6000 Range 30.0m km Resolution 100
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
15th April, 2055
The Terran GEV 002 has been assigned to start traveling through jump points and mapping nearby solar systems.
22nd April, 2055
GEV 002 transits through JP 1, into Wolf-359, a unremarkable red dwarf with one terrestrial world, though it has a super pressurized toxic atmosphere and is about 1300 degrees hot. There are two gas giants and a dwarf planet with a chunk moon orbiting it, there is no possibility for colonization in this system perhaps only for sorium mining from the gas giants.
25th April, 2055
GEV 002 transits back to Sol, and then transits through JP 2, which happens to lead to Sirius, a binary system with five planets orbiting Sirius A, more than 45 moons; 9 of which have acceptable gravity, and a particular moon with a 57 degree surface temperature and a good candidate for colonization, having only a cost of 2.0. The B counterpart has 3 planets with 37 moons and about 40 asteroids. One moon has a colony cost of 2.08 and the remnants of a atmosphere, most of which is methane.
10th May, 2055
GEV 002 has transited to Alpha Centauri, the closest system to Sol. It’s a binary, with both stars nearly as massive and bright as Sol. While the B part only has a single uninhabitable terrestrial world, the A part has 9 planets, around 50 moons, and a near habitable Nitrogen-Methane atmosphere planet, with a cold but acceptable -9 Celcius average temperature.
Strangely enough, as the survey ship entered the system, the other side of the jump point had a jump gate, similar to the ones that the New Earth Republic was doing research on. This may pose a threat because any ship could enter Sol regardless of a jump drive.
17th May, 2055
The fourth and last discovered jump point leads to Luyten 726-8, a binary composed of 2 red dwarves 20% the size of Sol. The A component has 4 gas giants, a dwarf planet with a neutral 0 Celcius temperature and acceptable gravity, plus a few more planets and moons. The B component has a huge 300 asteroid belt, two gas giants with 27 moons, a dwarf planet and terrestrial with a freezing Nitrogen-Methane atmosphere.
With all of Sols neighboring systems mapped, many candidates for terraforming have been unlocked, along with mining and fuel harvesting. Improved co-operation with the Donnhovian government will both help the colonization effort and better protect eachother in the event of meeting any hostile species. Negotiations with the Donnhovian Socialist Republic will be starting soon to decide the fate of these new solar systems.