1st January 2030
The speed of space exploration and exploitation seems to increase geometrically. The total Martian population is now eighty two million, about sixteen times bigger than a mere ten years earlier, with a well going terraformation. It is also now colonised by all six powers. Four of those powers are also engaged in a serious military build-up, although only two – Russia and the Commonwealth – actually have ships at the time.
The civilian sector is also building up. Several civilian mining colonies have been established in the Solar System, and there are total of seven ships owned by five different companies from five different powers.
And of course three of those powers are working on faster-than-light travel. The other half is not.
The Alliance is unwilling to spend that much money on something so ridiculous. Being capitalists first, they are very wary of high-risk investments, and the theory is seen as one.
The Federation, or at least India, is preparing for dealings, maybe even war, with Russia, and as such they don't have resources to spare.
And the Russian Empire is simply too conservative. Dictatorships aren't known for their support for independent thinking and imagination after all.
But the space expansion will have to speed up even more as the Earth resources continue to diminish. By now continued exploitation made duraniun less accessible on Earth than it is on Mars and it's only a matter of time until majority of mining will be moved off-Earth.
14th April 2030
The Commonwealth develops a jump gate construction ship. While many call this premature, a shipyard have begun retooling.
9th July 2030
The Commonwealth completes their new shipbuilding expansion program. In the last three years, three new yards have been constructed – one naval and two civilian. No one have as much shipbuilding capability as the Commonwealth.
15th September 2030
The Confederation launches three gravitational survey vessels. Officially, they are on a deep space research mission – which is partly true. Since everyone knows that the Confederation develops various technologies no one else is interested in, their explanation is accepted.
While some in the Japanese and Polish intelligence point out, that the ships seem to be heading towards gravitational survey points, others point out that the Confederation is so far behind technologically that it's unlikely they would develop jump point theory.
14th October 2030
The Confederation finds their first two jump points. One is located about the same distance as Uranus, while the second one is between the orbits of the two outermost gas giants.
17th October 2030
Another jump point have been found, this time inside the orbit of Mercury.
12th November 2030
The Confederation develops it's first jump drive and designs a new gravitational survey ship capable of exploring those phenomena. There is no decision as of yet if the non-jump capable ships will be scrapped after the introduction of the new ones, or if they will be used together.
Meanwhile a fourth jump point is found even closer to Sol than the previous one.
19th November 2030
The Commonwealth begins moving mass drivers and mines to Mars, the first nation to begin actual industrialisation of the planet. The Alliance have similar plans, but they want to complete moving their newly-built infrastructure first.
18th January 2031
Kopernik, Heweliusz and Brudzewski enter service and immediately begin survey of the Sol system. The official Commonwealth story is that those are experimental warships designed for long deployment away from port now on a training/evaluation cruise.
The Commonwealth also laid down three geological survey ships which are identical to Kopernik, but have goesurvey sensors instead of gravsurvey ones.
Also, the first hundred mines begin operation in the Commonwealth Mars colony. However, the current population of twenty one million can't support many more. Fortunately, there is some new infrastructure on Earth that can be transported, so the colony will likely experience a rapid growth in the following months.
The planet is still several years – at least – from being terraformed, so it's unlikely it will be turned into truly massive mining operation any time soon.
10th February 2031
The Commonwealth lays down the three construction ships – all that are planned – although it will take nearly two years for them to be built.
4th March 2031
The Federation completes their work on nuclear pulse drives. A straight-up drive upgrades are designed for all their ships.
2nd April 2031
The Japanese Empire have completed preliminary research into energy weapons. Unfortunately, they have only one naval yard which means they can't build warships and survey ships at the same time – they have to chose one.
Since there seems to be no immediate threat to the Empire, they decide to build exploration vessels first, while refining energy weapons technology before laying down ships.
However, what they don't know is that the Russians are contemplating attacking them. They have massive superiority in ground combat units and a navy. Fortunately for the Japanese, there is a very good chance that the Commonwealth and Federation will intervene once more, which is why there is no war.
Yet.
15th May 2031
The first three Russian Kiev class warships are complete. For now, they are the largest military vessels constructed.
This causes come concern in the Commonwealth, but for now they believe themselves to be safe. The decision is made to wait for the new research before beginning new construction.
Meanwhile, the ice sheet on Mars melted thanks to terraforming, rising the temperature up to minus twenty four degrees Celsius.
8th June 2031
The Confederation completes the survey of the Sol system, finding a total of six jump points. While two of them are very conveniently placed, the other four are all located between orbits of Uranus and Neptune.
Also Atlantic Alliance begins transporting mines to Mars. The Commonwealth have already duranium shortages, but they managed to buy seven thousand tonnes of the mineral in exchange for nuclear pulse drive from the Confederation, who actually have a small stockpile.
16th July 2031
The Commonwealth discovers their first jump point, very close to the Sol itself. Since it may be within sensor range of Earth's passive sensors, there will be no transit for now.
9th August 2031
The Federation develops mod B of it's Monga missile. Unlike the previous mod, it is using new, nuclear pulse drive, giving it much greater speed – and thus better chance to hit.
In addition, after the ever rising opposition to such big military build-up, the India finally have to step back and agree for the Federation to begin developing some of the civilian technologies instead of continuing to refine their missile tech.
ASM-S3R30 Monga B
Missile Size: 3 MSP (0.15 HS) Warhead: 3 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 10
Speed: 14700 km/s Endurance: 34 minutes Range: 30.1m km
Cost Per Missile: 1.4833
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 147% 3k km/s 40% 5k km/s 29.4% 10k km/s 14.7%
Materials Required: 0.75x Tritanium 0.4833x Gallicite Fuel x1000
17th October 2031
The Commonwealth finds two more jump points, bringing the total number to four. Unlike the first two those are far enough from Earth that it's very unlikely their transit can be detected. As such, the nearest ship is instructed to explore what lies beyond.
21st October 2031
While the planet is going on on their business, the upper echelons of Commonwealth government are all focused on the historic first jump point transit.
At 11:37 the Kopernik engages her jump drive and emerges a moment later in Lalande 21185 system, a small red dwarf located close to the Sol. The system have ten planets fifty moons and two asteroid belts – but no habitable real estate. The most promising object is a moon of one of the gas giants that have acceptable gravity – barely – no atmosphere and temperature of minus hundred and fifty Celsius. With a lot of effort, the moon could be made habitable, but it isn't in any danger to be rushed over by competing human powers.
The ship heads back to report and explore another jump point.
While many in the government are disappointed, the King is in a pretty good mood. As he points out, there was never any guarantee that the jump points lead to other systems – they could as well lead to deep space or black holes. Now they know there is something of interest on the other side of those points.
2nd November 2031
The Kopernik arrives in Sirius, the brightest star in the sky as seen from Sol. It is located very close to Sol – eight light years – and some begin to speculate that the jump points are all relatively short ranged.
The system is pretty barren. Six planets, twenty moons and an asteroid belt, but not one candidate for terraforming. The ship heads back to Sol to report and then join the survey of the Sol system.
6th November 2031
The Russian Empire completes transporting ten of their terraforming installations to Mars, completing their part of the Martian treaty. The last power to do so is the Confederation, who are already operating five such facilities, with the other five completing construction in three more years at most.
1st December 2031
The Federation completes their first three cruisers. This becomes something of a concern to the Russian Empire as that means both of their principal enemies now have space fleet. Unbeknownst to them, the Federation does not yet have missiles for all of their ships, although they are working on solving that problem.
The news are very welcome in the Commonwealth however. The recent Russian build-up had everyone worried, especially since the need for survey vessels meant that no more warships could be built, and some begun fearing this will give Russia the opening they need to attack.
The Federation have laid down three more of their cruisers.
11th January 2032
Once again being the nearest ship Kopernik transits newly discovered jump point and arrives in the Alpha Centauri system. That system is quite a different proposition than previous ones.
One small planet near the B component have already acceptable temperature, but no atmosphere. On the other hand, Mars almost didn't have one either. Similarly, the first planet of the A component have no atmosphere and a temperature of over a hundred degree Celsius, but it could be terraformed with about the same amount of work as Mars. Unfortunately, both of those planets are small.
One other planet in the B component on the other hand, have size similar to that of Earth and a thin – about point two bar – nitrogen-carbon dioxide atmosphere. The temperature is even lower than there was on Mars, so there will likely be quite a lot of terraformation needed.
One last planet have long-term terraforming potential. Alpha Centauri B-V have a thin atmosphere and acceptable gravity, but is very far away with low temperature.
There are two problems however. First, the system have very few bodies. Six planets, five moon and only one sparse asteroid belt with fifty bodies of significance – there is little chance for significant mineral deposits in that system.
Second, the jump points are far from Earth or the A component of AC system. While the B component is currently quite close – one point five billion kilometres – it's orbit is taking it further and further away.
The travel times may very well be a deal killer as far as colonisation goes.
27th January 2032
The Alliance launches Washington, London and Paris, their first three City class destroyers. As soon as those ships clear the yards, three more are laid down, The USA is pushing hard for increased naval spending, feeling they are falling behind other powers. The Commonwealth have eighteen warships (although three of them are survey ships, which the Alliance does not know), Russia have twelve and the Federation three. Not only that but some of those ships are bigger than the City class, which implies them to be more effective.
5th February 2032
The Empire of Japan designs their first jump-capable gravitational survey vessel. Retooling begun at their naval yard.
9th March 2032
The supply of neutronium on Earth have been exhausted, the first mineral to not be available on the homeworld any more – but not the last.
17th April 2032
Russia develops a mod B of their Shmel missiles, which is a straight-up engine replacement.
ASM-NPP-S3 Shmel-B
Missile Size: 3 MSP (0.15 HS) Warhead: 6 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 10
Speed: 8700 km/s Endurance: 40 minutes Range: 21.1m km
Cost Per Missile: 1.9333
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 87% 3k km/s 20% 5k km/s 17.4% 10k km/s 8.7%
Materials Required: 1.5x Tritanium 0.1833x Gallicite Fuel x875
21st April 2032
The Commonwealth commissions three Domeyko-B class jump capable geological survey vessels. They will be sent to Alpha Centauri to begin their survey work. Since those ships are nearly identical to the Kopernik class, the same excuse for their departure to the deep space is used. A decision is now needed as to what to build next.
One faction within the government proposes building more of the Grunwald class ships. However, with the duranium shortages looming close the King is hesitant. He also points out that with the Federation building up their own naval force, they no longer need to match Russians toe-to-toe. Not only that, but the Commonwealth is in the process of developing a whole new generation of missile combat, albeit some fear that will merely bring them into line with what Russians already have.
In the end the decision is made to wait, primary because of the duranium. Once the Mars is terraformed, that will – hopefully – no longer be a problem, but for now the Commonwealth have to be cautious.
For now the Poles will establish a small automated mining operation on Titania which possesses some easily accessible duranium deposits and other key elements that are lacking on Mars.
Geological report: Titania
Duranium 693,922 Acc: 0.9
Corbomite 591,455 Acc: 0.9
Boronide 92,478 Acc: 1
Mercassium 61,380 Acc: 0.9
Vendarite 444,784 Acc: 0.7
Uridium 264,757 Acc: 0.9
Gallicite 383,528 Acc: 0.7
18th June 2032
The Kopernik arrives in the system of Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Sun. It is huge, with the outermost planet located two hundred seventy billion kilometres from the local star. Ten planets, fifty moons and over three hundred asteroids in three belts – and no terraforming potentials.
To be exact, there is one planet, very similar to Mercury. Hot, without atmosphere and relatively small, but the amount of work required makes it a very poor prospect.
22nd June 2032
The Federation establishes automated mining operation on Titania.
16th September 2032
The Commonwealth officially completes the survey of the Sol system. After a heated discussion, a decision is made regarding how to proceed.
While discovering six jump points seems perfect – each power block can claim one – it is far from it. First, the systems are not equal – the Sirius for example have no terraformable planet – and no one knows how the jump points are placed in those systems. It may be very well that some of them are dead-ends. If the Commonwealth tries to claim one system for themselves, it is too likely they'll face stern, untied opposition from the other nations.
The King decided that the best way to proceed is to announce the discovery, explore the two closest jump points and increase the scope of the Stockholm Agreement – regarding free passage – to the nearest systems. Effectively Sol and the six systems connected to it will become international, free-transit space.
But only those systems. With any luck, there will be enough stars two jumps from Earth that each power block could claim one. And with the Commonwealth advantage, they will likely be able to pick the system they want instead of one handed to them.
But that will happen in the near future. For now the survey ships will return to Earth to refuel and resupply in preparation of exploration of the two jump points inside the orbit of Mercury.
5th October 2032
The Commonwealth once again is faced with duranium shortage. They trade increased construction efficiency to the Federation in exchange for seven thousand tonnes of the mineral. The Federation have substantial reserves of the mineral, although it may not last long as they continue to upgrade their economy.
13th October 2032
The Confederation completes it's three Zerco class exploration vessels. Since the nearest two jump points are likely to be within sensor range of some of the powers, the government calls press conference and announces all they know about jump points and it's intent to explore them with the new ship.
The world is literally stunned. And then, before they can even grasp the potential consequences, on the hastily called press conference the Commonwealth announces they have been working on the same technology and they even explored four of the jump points. And then the Japanese confirm they are building their own ships.
The public reacts differently depending on nation. The Commonwealth citizens are mildly annoyed, but they understand the need for secrecy and are overjoyed that their nation is once again at the forefront of the exploration and pushing the boundaries of science and knowledge. The Confederation citizens are stunned how advanced their nation seems to be – they are used to think of themselves as the lowest of the low after all, not as direct competitors to such powers as the Commonwealth. But they are also slightly disappointed how close they came to actually being one step ahead. The Japanese take this all with calm. Maybe they are trailing behind – again – but at least they are getting there, unlike the Alliance who didn't even consider the possibility.
The moods are much different in the other three nations. After their defeat at the war the Imperial citizens no longer believed their government's propaganda about Russian greatness and destiny to rule. Now they felt this more than ever, as the Commonwealth was reaching stars, something Russia won't be able to do for years to come. The Emperor was also furious that no information about the possibility reached him and he executed his science adviser.
The US president begun public circus pushing all the blame on his own science adviser, citing the advice he got from him. He also begun pounding various intelligence agencies for not catching something that significant, calling for reformations. He succeeded in pushing blame away from him, but that didn't change the fact, that the Alliance citizens felt left behind. Some even begun saying that the five nations that left the Alliance for the Commonwealth were smart to do so.
The Federation government didn't really care, or at least Indian one didn't. The fact that even such powerful block like the Alliance missed the opportunity made their citizens accept the facts with cold detachment.
Very soon the Commonwealth King also put his proposal of the “free-transit” policy on the table. It soon become obvious that one way or the other the agreement will be signed. There was however a problem about how big the “international space” should be. The Commonwealth wanted only Sol and adjacent systems, but some of the others felt it should be more than that.
After several weeks of negotiations, a new, expanded Stockholm agreement was signed, designating Sol and the adjacent systems open to transit and colonisation to all Earth nations.
14th October 2032
Three billion people watch Confederation ship on approach to the unexplored – as yet – jump points. While they all know this have happened before, this is the first time the people of Earth can watch the discovery of a new system as it happens.
The ship emerges in Luyten 726-8 system, a binary of two red dwarfs. There are only very few planets and moons, but one of those have thin nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere, albeit at a very low temperature.
15th October 2032
The second of the inner jump points is explored. It leads to Ross 154, a small, planetless red dwarf.
After some discussion the Confederation decides to send their survey ships to Alpha Centauri. The Commonwealth on the other hand will survey Ross. They want a system for themselves, which means one at least two jump points from Earth. Ross is very close – meaning short transit times – and the small star should be easy to survey.
27th November 2032
The Commonwealth completes geological survey of Alpha Centauri. There are no minerals there. They will now survey Lalande 21185.
While many in the three nations are pushing for development of the jump drive system, the governments decide to complete current research before looking into jump point theory.
22nd December 2032
The Commonwealth have completed their construction ships, however for the time being they won't build any gates. Aside from the fact, that they still don't know direction of their expansion, they hope to use the ships as a leverage to make other powers recognise their claims to whichever star system they choose to develop.
27th December 2032
The Confederation begins to experience duranium shortages, but their Mars colony is too small to support mining operation.
16th February 2033
The Confederation trades Assault Infantry Battalion technology to the Federation in exchange for five thousand tonnes of duranium.
7th March 3033
The Confederation explores the first system two jumps away from Earth, via Alpha Centauri system. Lacaille 8760 have eight planets almost ninety moons and an asteroid belt. However, while two of those planets could be terraformed, they would require enormous work to do so, much more than Mars.
4th June 2033
The Ross system have been surveyed. It is dead end. The Commonwealth will now survey the Lyuten system.
10th November 2033
The Empire of Japan launches their first three gravitational survey ship. While general information about discovered systems is usually released to the public, the exact position of the jump points is not. As such the Empire will have to conduct survey of the system by themselves.
Meanwhile the Alliance establishes automated mining colony on Titania.
28th November 2033
The Commonwealth discovers the system of Epsilon Eridani. Four planets, twenty moons and an asteroid belt may not seem like much, but one of those planets actually have a breathable atmosphere – albeit the temperature is very low, minus ninety degrees Celsius. Two more of the objects can be terraformed in the long run, albeit at great expense.
Not only that, but the jump point to the system is located on the other side of the Luyten system from the Sol one, which translates to over four billion kilometres of distance. However, considering all other jump points in Sol are over two billion kilometres from the star, it's unlikely that the Commonwealth could find any system more conveniently placed.
Meanwhile the Confederation discovered the system of Bernard's Star, a small dwarf star about five light years from Earth. There are only few rocky planets there, including one that could be terraformed in the far future.
17th December 2033
The addition of greenhouse gases on Mars have been completed. The average planetary temperature is now ten degrees Celsius. However, the relative oxygen content is still too high and the atmosphere is still rather thin – about point thirty six bars. As such, the planet is not yet habitable, and nitrogen will now be added.
28th February 2034
The Confederation completes transporting the terraforming installations to Mars. With thatm by Martian treatym all powers now have rights to colonise and develop the planet.
19th April 2034
The Commonwealth completes the survey of the Luyten system with the discovery of Wolf 359 system. Orbiting the red dwarf are two unremarkable planets – the system is worthless.
Rather than claim Epsilon Eridani – the only system of any value, although one much poorer than Sol system nonetheless – the Commonwealth will first survey Proxima Centauri. Being a red dwarf star, the survey shouldn't take long.
16th May 2034
The Confederation officially completed survey of Alpha Centauri system. They will now concentrate their efforts on Lalande 21185. The system have a much better chance becoming the hub of Earth's out-solar colonisation due to having large deposits of various minerals. While terraforming of the only candidate would be a long one, the facilities already on Mars could be used to start the process.
17th December 2034
The Commonwealth completes the survey of Proxima Centauri, finding three new jump points. One leads to Epsilon Indi, a red dwarf orbited by a pair of brown giants – and nothing else. Another leads to Lacaille 9352 orbited by three planets and one moon, none of which have any value. The last one leads to AZ Aquari a trinary of red dwarfs. The C component is simply too far away for exploitation, despite being the only star in the system with an asteroid belt. The A and B component are orbited by few planets, but none are of interest and the low number of bodies mean the likelihood of finding TN elements there are very low.
It seems that the universe is a very barren place.
The Commonwealth will survey Lalande system, after which a decision will be made regarding claiming a star. Sirius and Alpha Centauri, being massive stars, would take quite long to survey, although the decision is not yet final.
There are other problems however. Since the Commonwealth have been sharing general characteristics of newly discovered systems with the public, the scarcity of useful stars makes some politicians across the nations to state that maybe the “international space” should also include systems two jump points away from Earth.
It is yet unknown how big a problem they will be.
22nd December 2034
The Japanese complete survey of the Sol system. The Emperor now have an important decision to make. Some suggest the Empire now surveys the Luyten system to find a path to the Epsilon Eridani – after which the Japanese could claim that system. However it is something of an open secret that the Commonwealth have their eyes on that star, and the Japanese have no navy. And if they can't back up their claim, then survey of Luyten would be a colossal waste of time.
After some discussion the government decides to survey Sirius – the only star so far left alone.
7th January 2035
The duranium shortage is spreading. Practically all nations are affected now, and the governments are waiting with a bathed breath for completion of Mars terraforming. Even if they wanted to, they couldn't increase Martian population since necessary infrastructure requires the very mineral that is lacking.
13th May 2035
The Japanese discover their first system via Sirius, the Kapteyns Star. Orbiting the red dwarf primary are ten planets, nearly a hundred moons and two hundred asteroids. Of particular interest is the innermost planet that already have thin nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere and acceptable temperature – but just barely. Even so, the planet would require almost as much work as Mars.
Unlike the Commonwealth and the Confederation the Japanese do not share this data.
26th June 2035
The Confederation have completed the survey of the Lalande system, finding new jump points. One leads to DX Cancri a system with only two planets and nothing else – not even moons. The other one leads to LHS 292 a moderately interesting system with five planets, over thirty moons and an asteroid belt. Most importantly perhaps the innermost planet have dense nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere, although the sulphur dioxide makes said atmosphere not breathable and the temperature is even lower than on Mars. Still, a very good candidate for terraforming.
The general data is of course released to the public. After a rather lengthy discussion, the Commonwealth decides to go ahead and claim Epsilon Eridani. During press conference they also announce that they will build jump gates in all Sol jump points, starting with Lalande system as a token of good will, and they will share geological date of that system as well as providing gravitational data of the Sol system.
The Russian Empire and Atlantic Alliance officially protest this move, claiming that there are simply too few viable systems for any one nation to just claim one. The Asian Federation and the Japanese are willing to accept the Commonwealth claims in exchange for the Commonwealth building jump gates to the system of their choosing, assuming those two powers won't develop such ships themselves sooner. Despite hoping for more, the Confederation agrees on the same terms.
The Russians still protest, but they have no choice now, but to accept.
The Confederate ships will now survey Sirius, while all Commonwealth survey assets – gravitational and geological – will now concentrate on Epsilon Eridani and systems beyond.
5th February 2036
The Japanese develop a series of Ion Engine drives and begin designing upgraded designs for their freighters and colony ships. They are now possessing the fastest engines – at least until the Alliance catches up with their already ongoing project. That is necessary however, as the Japanese will build beam armed ships, which will require proper engines.
12th May 2036
Mars have become habitable. The pressure is about half of that on Earth and the temperature is on average thirteen degrees Celsius. However, more gasses – nitrogen in particular – will be added to make the planet more comfortable.
All nations are planning to move a bulk of their mining operations there. The Commonwealth and the Alliance launch huge PR campaigns to increase the colonisation speed, now that no more infrastructure is needed. The Confederation and the Federation, which have many rather poor citizens don't really have a problem – if there is work on Mars, people will move there. The Japanese and Russians have even less problems – they don't have to ask their subjugated nations if they want to work in Martian mines. They will just send them.
The current population of Mars is one hundred eighty two millions.
In addition, the Commonwealth completes geological survey of the Epsilon Eridani. Of particular interest is sixteen million tonnes of accessibility point five duranium. The system also possesses many other minerals, but by no means all of them.
For now those two ships will go back to Earth to await new system to be found in the Eridani chain for them to survey.
28th August 2036
The Federation develops jump drive capable gravitational survey ship. However, due to Indian's insistence for now the Navy's expansion will be continued. Since they have only one naval yard, that means there is nowhere to build those survey ships.
26th September 2036
The Commonwealth have completed survey of Epsilon Eridani, finding only one new jump point, leading to 40 Eridani. That trinary system have only three uninteresting planets orbiting a distant C component. It will be surveyed next.
10th October 2036
The Alliance completes the development of Ion Engines and begun upgrade program for their ships.
21st November 2036
The Federation have developed basic shields, the first power to experiment with such technology.
14th December 2036
The Empire of Japan completes their survey of Sirius system. Aside from the Kapteyns star they discover three more systems. Procyon is a hot star with white dwarf companion, two venusian planets and some asteroids. Ross 47 is a red dwarf with moderately developed planetary system, of which the innermost planet have some long-term terraforming potential. Luytens Star have eleven planets and over a hundred moons but only one, sparse asteroid belt and one planet, that may be terraformed, at a considerable cost.
In the end, the Japanese claim the Kapteyns Star for themselves and ask the Commonwealth for a gate construction ship, which will be made available as soon as possible – which will be in a year or so. They also release the general information about the system to the public. The hope is that once the other powers see the system isn't unique in any way, they will be more willing to allow the Empire to claim it.
While the Commonwealth doesn't exactly care one way or the other, the Alliance protests this the same way they protested Polish claim. This time there is nothing that could convince them. However, with Japanese pointing out that the Alliance doesn't even have jump-capable survey ships the general opinion in Russia, Confederation and the Commonwealth is that Japanese are the ones who have the rights to that system.
The Asian Federation is similarly unhappy. There are talks about challenging Japanese claim.
The Confederation on the other hand begins to realise they have to claim a system for themselves as soon as possible. There are two candidates at the moment. LHS have a nice terraforming prospect and well developed system. Lacaille 8760 have even more real estate, including two prospect for future habitation, but both of them would require much more work than the LHS planet.
The problem is, that they couldn't hope to hold that system. Because of this, they approach the Alliance. They propose to give them all the data needed to build jump drives and back their claim to LHS 292. In exchange the Alliance will transfer designs for improved production and mining and back the Confederation's claim to the Lacaille 8760 system, with military force if necessary. The Alliance agrees.
Both Japanese and the Commonwealth back both claims. The Japanese hope that with a system of their own – which is more or less as good as that of the Empire – the Alliance will no longer bother them. However, that does mean that the Federation and the Russians are left with scraps.
The Japanese will now survey their new system. Similarly, the Confeds suspend the survey of Sirius and set course to Lacaille 8760.
28th December 2036
The Polish construction ship have completed the first pair of gates made by mankind on the Sol-Luyten 726-8 jump point. The ship will now build another pair of gates on the Sirius jump point.
1st January 2037
The Alliance shipyard have been retooled to build upgraded version of the City destroyer – the straight engine replacement. Since they already have a system claimed, they decided to upgrade their old ships first, and then lay three more before building survey ships. In the meantime, they will develop improved efficiency for their jump drives.
Also, in the last several weeks the colonists recruitment have dropped sharply in the Alliance and the Commonwealth, as pretty much everyone willing to leave already did so. The Atlantic population on Mars is now ninety one million, while Commonwealth have a colony of seventy four million. It remains to be seen whether or not that is enough to support the ever growing mining operation.
Of course, the small scale immigration will still occur, via the privately owned ships, and the population growth rate is quite good, so even if the problems do exist, they will likely be only temporary.
14th April 2037
The Commonwealth ship Brudzewski enters Gliese 205 for the first time, during it's survey of 40 Eridani. Despite orbiting small, dim red dwarf the system is huge. Nine planets, seventy moons and over five hundred asteroids. Also, one of the moons is a good candidate for terraforming.
And there is unknown wreck, most likely alien. Not only that, but using long range telescope it's obvious that the ship have multiple breaches – which means it was almost certainly attacked. Since there are no jump gates nearby, the Brudzewski sets course to Luyten system to deliver the message about the discovery.
27th May 2037
the Commonwealth lays down four Ogrodnik class terraformers. In the future all planetary manipulation will be done from ships, not ground installations.
2nd June 2037
The Commonwealth government receives the news about alien derelict. The first – and easy – decision is to make the system off-limits until a jump gate can be constructed and naval force sent to protect any scouting force.
The second decision is a more difficult one. Should the Commonwealth announce the discovery? The knowledge that humanity is not alone among the stars, may be the most important piece of discovery ever made. The immediate response is to announce it.
But then the government realises, that if they do that, they will never be trusted with sharing all they discovered. That all the other blocks will demand access to the Epsilon chain, putting their military ships there, demanding rights for bases – because someone might have destroyed that ship, and if that's the case humanity will need as much naval forces as possible in the Eridani to protect the inner systems. And the Commonwealth will loose sovereignty over several systems, with all other semi-vaiable picks already taken.
Which is why that knowledge have to stay secret.
The general data on the system will be released. Announcement will be made that the system is too far for colonisation at this time. Gravitational survey will continue in the chain, but with the exclusion of the system, which won't be explained.
15th August 2037
Russia develops a series of ion engines and designs modifications of existing designs using those. While military wants to now concentrate on new missile drives, the need for gravitational survey vessel is becoming greater with each passing month, which is why the letter will be developed.
28th November 2037
The Commonwealth completes the survey of 40 Eridani. Aside from Gliese 205 two more systems have been found. V577 Monoceri is a binary of red dwarfs. The secondary component is barren, but the primary is orbited by several planets and moons, of which one have thin oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere making it a good prospect for colonisation. Giclas 99-49 is another red dwarf system orbited by eight planets and very few moons of asteroids. One planet is a candidate for a very long term terraforming.
The survey group will now move to V577 system.
20th December 2037
The Federation develops a fifteen thousand tonnes cruiser. This will be the first human ship to use shields.
Brahmaputra class Cruiser 15,000 tons 1476 Crew 1971.2 BP TCS 300 TH 600 EM 1800
2000 km/s Armour 5-54 Shields 60-300 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 18 PPV 60
Maint Life 12.22 Years MSP 1478 AFR 100% IFR 1.4% 1YR 18 5YR 274 Max Repair 100 MSP
Magazine 780
Bharat Heavy Electronics Military Nuclear Pulse Engine (15) Power 40 Fuel Use 80% Signature 40 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 600,000 Litres Range 90.0 billion km (520 days at full power)
Gamma R300/16 Shields (30) Total Fuel Cost 480 Litres per day
Size 3 Missile Launcher (20) Missile Size 3 Rate of Fire 30
Missile Fire Control FC45-R100 (2) Range 45.0m km Resolution 100
ASM-S3R30 Monga (170) Speed: 9,200 km/s End: 54.5m Range: 30.1m km WH: 3 Size: 3 TH: 30 / 18 / 9
Active Search Sensor MR50-R100 (1) GPS 10000 Range 50.0m km Resolution 100
Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
20th January 2038
The Japanese develop their first warship. It have both anti-ship and anti-missile weapons and is probably the fastest warship used by any power. It is also one of the largest, as big as the newest – and yet unlaid – Federation ship. Retooling begun at their naval yard.
Taiho class Cruiser 15,000 tons 1611 Crew 2339.8 BP TCS 300 TH 1500 EM 0
5000 km/s Armour 6-54 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 8 PPV 82.26
Maint Life 3.52 Years MSP 780 AFR 225% IFR 3.1% 1YR 97 5YR 1449 Max Repair 130 MSP
Mitsubishi ME0.8 Ion Engine (25) Power 60 Fuel Use 80% Signature 60 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 400,000 Litres Range 60.0 billion km (138 days at full power)
20cm C4 Ultraviolet Laser (6) Range 192,000km TS: 5000 km/s Power 10-4 RM 4 ROF 15 10 10 10 10 8 6 5 5 4 4
Twin 10cm C4 Ultraviolet Laser Turret (6x2) Range 120,000km TS: 12000 km/s Power 6-8 RM 4 ROF 5 3 3 3 3 2 2 1 1 1 1
Fire Control S08 96-6000 (1) Max Range: 192,000 km TS: 6000 km/s 95 90 84 79 74 69 64 58 53 48
Anti-Missile Fire Control S12 72-12000 (1) Max Range: 144,000 km TS: 12000 km/s 93 86 79 72 65 58 51 44 37 31
Active Search Sensor MR2-R1 (1) GPS 48 Range 2.9m km Resolution 1
Active Search Sensor MR28-R100 (1) GPS 4800 Range 28.8m km Resolution 100
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
21st February 2038
The newly discovered jump point in V577 system already have a jump gate. However, there is no other sign of any alien presence in the system. Brudzewski have been dispatched to explore that gate.
Also, the gate network to Epsilon Eridani is complete. The construction ship will now build a jump gate on Sol-Alpha Centauri and then AC-Lacaille system.
22nd February 2038
Brudzewski emerges in Ross 619, a red dwarf orbited by two venusian planets. There is also jump gate on the jump point, but no other sign of alien presence.
While the information about the system is released to the public, the knowledge about two alien jump gates is not.
29th February 2038
The Japenese complete survey of Kapteyns Star finding only one new jump point. 82 Eridani is a Sun like star surrounded by seven planets, nearly fifty moons and over three hundred asteroids. More importantly perhaps, three of those objects can be terraformed, two of them with only as much trouble as Mars.
7th August 2038
The Commonwealth develops Ion Drives. In addition, the Alliance completes the refit of their City class destroyers. They have laid down three more.
29th August 2038
The Confederation completes survey of Lacaille 8760 finding three new systems. Gliese 1 have a couple of planets, sparse asteroids belt and some comets. One of those planets is some prospect for long-term terraforming, but not more. Gliese 674 have eight planets and over sixty moons, but no asteroid belts. Again, there is one prospect for long-term terraforming. Harshel 5173 is a binary of two dwarfs. The system have six planets and thirty moons, but no asteroids. However, two of those bodies are good prospect for terraforming, requiring about as much work as Mars with a third body that could also be terraformed at considerably bigger effort. For now, Confederate survey will be done in this system.
5th September 2038
The Commonwealth completes survey of V557 system. Aside of the system with alien jump gate they discovered only Gliese 229 a barren red dwarf with two planets that can't be terraformed.
19th October 2038
First fifty thousand Commonwealth colonists have arrived in Epsilon Eridani A-III making it the first human extra-Solar colony. Also, while the infrastructure was moved mostly by state-owned ships, the colonists themselves charted private cryogenic ship for the trip.
Because of all this a name change was in order. Not only of the planet itself, but also of the system. While name 'Epsilon Eridani' wasn't as bad and uninspired like – for example – Gliese xyz it was still a designation, not a name. However, with such a diversity of cultures, philosophies, religions and histories as the Commonwealth enjoyed it wasn't easy to find a name that all parties could agree on.
In the end the name of the system was decided to be Minoa, named after Minoans who are considered to be the first literate European civilization, a foundation on which later ones – at least indirectly – were founded. Since the Commonwealth encompassed majority of Europe that was considered to be a fitting symbol.
The name of the planet was to be changed to Poniatowski, the de facto creator of the Commonwealth. He didn't just put the first constitution in place, he also initiated changes in status of many subjugated nations turning them from something of a second-class citizens to partners, giving the nation new strength necessary for the Three Wars.
24th February 2039
The first four Commonwealth terraforming ships are complete. They will be sent to Poniatowski, while four more will be laid down. Due to distances involved it's unlikely that a lot of infrastructure can be transported there in reasonable time, meaning that ground based terraforming stations are somewhat problematical. In addition, by using ships, the industry that would otherwise be needed to build those installations can be used for more pressing needs, like more research labs or mines.
Also, for the moment the original ten terraforming installations will stay on Mars, due to the Martian treaty which specified that the Red Planet have to be terraformed to “comfortable conditions” not minimal ones. At the moment Martian atmospheric pressure is two thirds that of Earth and more nitrogen is being added.
25th April 2039
The Commonwealth begun massive upgrade of it's Navy. The most important part of that program is perhaps the introduction of anti-missile and dedicated escort ship. Unfortunately, the Commonwealth technology isn't quite there yet, and the launchers for anti-missiles have reload time of ten seconds, instead of five that were ordered. In addition new anti-ship missile and destroyer equipped with it have also been design.
The Wisla class frigate is four thousand tonnes escort equipped with twelve launchers and with magazine space for nearly three hundred anti-missiles. Unfortunately, the small object detection sensors aren't quite good enough and can detect most missiles at slightly less then a million kilometres, despite the anti-missile itself having range of over two million. However it was impossible to fit better sensors into such a small hull. In addition, the shipyard that is supposed to be building those ships is still expanding to the four thousand tonnes capacity and it will be over a year before the first ships can be laid down. Twelve are planned.
The Grunwald B design is an upgrade for the Grunwald class. Aside from newer engines it have launchers with twenty five second reload time and better sensors necessary for the new missiles. This upgrade will be the first order of business for the Gdansk Yard, the principal naval shipbuilding installation for the Commonwealth.
There was some talk about what to do with the old Posnan class corvettes. In the end, they were deemed too old and too small to be a viable force. While they will stay in service for a little longer, no more upgrades will be made.
The Stockholm class destroyer will be the largest warship constructed by the Commonwealth so far, with a mass of nine thousand tonnes. As they enter service – after the Grunwald have been refitted – the old Posnan class will be scrapped. Nine are planned.
All ships are designed for the current fleet standard speed of three thousand kilometres per second.
RPO – NJ – 2 Strzala
Missile Size: 3 MSP (0.15 HS) Warhead: 4 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 10
Speed: 20000 km/s Endurance: 62 minutes Range: 75.0m km
Cost Per Missile: 2
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 200% 3k km/s 60% 5k km/s 40% 10k km/s 20%
Materials Required: 1x Tritanium 0.75x Gallicite Fuel x2500
RPR – NJ Tarcza
Missile Size: 1 MSP (0.05 HS) Warhead: 1 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 10
Speed: 44400 km/s Endurance: 1 minutes Range: 2.3m km
Cost Per Missile: 0.99
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 444% 3k km/s 140% 5k km/s 88.8% 10k km/s 44.4%
Materials Required: 0.25x Tritanium 0.49x Gallicite Fuel x25
Wisla class Frigate 4,000 tons 380 Crew 647.2 BP TCS 80 TH 240 EM 0
3000 km/s Armour 3-22 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 7 PPV 12
Maint Life 21.02 Years MSP 708 AFR 18% IFR 0.3% 1YR 3 5YR 46 Max Repair 84 MSP
Magazine 282
Kosmiczna Energia ME8 Ion Engine (4) Power 60 Fuel Use 80% Signature 60 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres Range 140.6 billion km (542 days at full power)
Size 1 Missile Launcher (12) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 10
Missile Fire Control FC6-R1 (2) Range 6.9m km Resolution 1
RPR - NJ Tarcza (282) Speed: 44,400 km/s End: 0.8m Range: 2.3m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 148 / 88 / 44
Active Search Sensor MR9-R1 (1) GPS 84 Range 9.2m km Resolution 1
Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Grunwald B class Frigate 5,000 tons 528 Crew 754.2 BP TCS 100 TH 300 EM 0
3000 km/s Armour 5-26 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 7 PPV 27
Maint Life 13.41 Years MSP 660 AFR 28% IFR 0.4% 1YR 7 5YR 102 Max Repair 84 MSP
Magazine 162
Kosmiczna Energia ME8 Ion Engine (5) Power 60 Fuel Use 80% Signature 60 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres Range 22.5 billion km (86 days at full power)
Size 3 Missile Launcher (9) Missile Size 3 Rate of Fire 25
Missile Fire Control FC75-R120 (1) Range 75.9m km Resolution 120
RPO - NJ - 2 Strzala (54) Speed: 20,000 km/s End: 62.5m Range: 75m km WH: 4 Size: 3 TH: 66 / 40 / 20
Active Search Sensor MR101-R120 (1) GPS 10080 Range 101.2m km Resolution 120
Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Stockholm class Destroyer 9,000 tons 917 Crew 1362.2 BP TCS 180 TH 540 EM 0
3000 km/s Armour 6-38 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 11 PPV 45
Maint Life 12.21 Years MSP 1041 AFR 58% IFR 0.8% 1YR 13 5YR 193 Max Repair 84 MSP
Magazine 495
Kosmiczna Energia ME8 Ion Engine (9) Power 60 Fuel Use 80% Signature 60 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 450,000 Litres Range 112.5 billion km (434 days at full power)
Size 3 Missile Launcher (15) Missile Size 3 Rate of Fire 25
Missile Fire Control FC75-R120 (2) Range 75.9m km Resolution 120
RPO - NJ - 2 Strzala (210) Speed: 20,000 km/s End: 62.5m Range: 75m km WH: 4 Size: 3 TH: 66 / 40 / 20
Active Search Sensor MR101-R120 (1) GPS 10080 Range 101.2m km Resolution 120
Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
6th July 2039
The Empire of Japan have a serious problem. The system of 82 Eridani is a dead end. Which means, that while they may colonise this system and Kapteyn's Star without interference, they will have nowhere to expend.
They wish to claim Procyon as well. The system have very little value, but it may have additional jump points. This presents an interesting problem, as the custom was that each power will take one chain with the rest becoming international space. Now – with what is admittedly a very good reason – one of those powers wants another chain.
The Alliance and the Federation do not recognise their right to claim Procyon. Both nations see the Japanese as an enemy and anything that can weaken them is in their favour. However, their position is somewhat undermined by the fact, that they haven't yet surveyed their systems – in fact Federation didn't even claim one – and if their systems also prove to be dead ends, they will end up in similar situation.
The Commonwealth is torn. On the one hand, they don't really care for Japanese due to their oppression and brutal rule over several nations, like Chinese or Filipinos, which is why they don't want to strengthen the Empire. On the other hand, this could be an opportunity for the Commonwealth to claim one more chain.
The Russian Empire would also welcome opportunity to claim two chains instead of one, which is why they are very much in support of this. The Confederation is undecided.
For the time being the Japanese do not try to claim the system officially and despite other nations, although they are making sure everyone knows they have an eye on that system. In fact, the current situation illustrates all to well the need for an Imperial Navy – which is coming, but it may be too late.
For now, the Japanese will survey Procyon.
It should also be noted, that there are better candidates for claiming. The Luyten 726-8 is much closer to Earth than Sirius, so expanding via it would be much easier. However, it would mean that the Japanese have two widely dispersed chains for potential defence which is why Procyon is preferred.
3rd August 2039
The first three Taiho class cruisers have been laid down in Osaka Bridge & Drydock Co. Ltd. However, it will be nearly three years before those are constructed.
2nd October 2039
It seems someone in the Commonwealth Naval Office of Shipbuilding did a serious error. The cost of refit for Grunwald turned out to be far too high. Worse yet, it's sensors and fire control are limited to less than thirty million kilometres – less than half of range of the modern missiles. It also have obsolete armour.
There are three options. Go ahead anyway, since it will still be cheaper than building new ships. Build from scratch a C model that aside from upgrades already installed also have armour up to date. Or build more of the Stockholm class destroyers and retire Grunwalds from service alongside Poznans.
After some serious deliberations, the third option is adopted.
14th October 2039
The Commonwealth completes the survey of Giclas 99-49. Only one new system have been discovered, EG 290. This hot star is orbited by an asteroid belt and a single, small planet.
21st December 2039
Another alien gate have been discovered by the Commonwealth, in a newly discovered Gliese 201 system, a red dwarf connected to EG 290. The star is orbited by only two planets and there is no sign of activity in the system.
24th December 2039
The Confederation completes the survey of Harshel 5173. It is a dead end system.
