Author Topic: From the Ashes - part 24  (Read 2571 times)

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Offline Haji (OP)

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From the Ashes - part 24
« on: February 28, 2017, 09:11:18 AM »
10th February 2401

   The new Commune cruiser, named Sleipnir, has been designed, incorporating results of the recent analysis and several new technologies. It has better armour, power plants and sensors than Harpy, carries more anti-missiles and will be equipped with a hundred and eighty launchers for the new Longbow shipkillers. As some noted however while the number of missiles was increased by fifty percent, there are half as large which means the new cruiser will actually have less long range destructive potential than Harpy. However there was little choice in the matter – the designers had to include increased number of fire controls and ECCM systems for the additional launchers and improved defences have also taken some additional space. Even so as the Sleipnir can fire larger salvoes, more missiles should be getting through point defence so the drop in armament shouldn't be pronounced.
   Another controversial decision was the energy armament which was changed from combination of large and small calibre railguns to a single humongous laser and several medium sized ones. The laser is incredibly powerful and the smaller devices have good balance of range, power and recharge time but the setup is for all instances and purposes experimental. The designers point out however that so far there has been very few 'proper' short range energy battles, so there is no empirical proof which setup is better. This way, by having numerous ships with different weapons, they will be able to see in the field which configuration is superior.
   For the time being the Sleipnir will be teamed up with the Apollo class jump cruisers, as there are still several of them available and unassigned.

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Sleipnir class Cruiser    25,000 tons     571 Crew     10609.6 BP      TCS 500  TH 6900  EM 0
13800 km/s     Armour 14-76     Shields 0-0     Sensors 128/128/0/0     Damage Control Rating 19     PPV 127.84
Maint Life 4.01 Years     MSP 5040    AFR 263%    IFR 3.7%    1YR 501    5YR 7513    Max Repair 969 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 36 months    Spare Berths 1   
Magazine 688   

Tugurlan Marine High Power Naval SCAM Drive Mk2 (10)    Power 690    Fuel Use 24.11%    Signature 690    Exp 11%
Fuel Capacity 2,500,000 Litres    Range 74.7 billion km   (62 days at full power)

Basuki-Yulianto 750mm Far X-Ray Laser (1)    Range 480,000km     TS: 13800 km/s     Power 147-10     RM 8    ROF 75        147 147 147 147 147 147 147 147 130 117
Single Warda Manufacturing Gauss Cannon Mk2 Turret (2x5)    Range 40,000km     TS: 32000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 4    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Orozco-Barrientos 300mm Railgun (2x4)    Range 480,000km     TS: 13800 km/s     Power 21-10     RM 8    ROF 10        7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 6 5
Iordache Engineering Company Railgun Fire Control Mk3 (1)    Max Range: 480,000 km   TS: 16000 km/s     98 96 94 92 90 88 85 83 81 79
Hansson Dynamics Point Defence Fire Control (1)    Max Range: 120,000 km   TS: 32000 km/s     92 83 75 67 58 50 42 33 25 17
Janiec Aircraft Engine Co SCAM Reactor (2)     Total Power Output 32    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Jurga -Bakowski Anti - Missile Launcher Mk2 (16)    Missile Size 1    Rate of Fire 5
Pangratiu Systems Small Box Launcher (180)    Missile Size 2    Hangar Reload 15 minutes    MF Reload 2.5 hours
Sudiro & Sjukur Anti-Missile Fire Control (2)     Range 92.2m km    Resolution 1
Ilica-Silivasi Missile Fire Control (6)     Range 223.1m km    Resolution 60
Spear VI (328)  Speed: 156,000 km/s   End: 2.4m    Range: 22.8m km   WH: 1    Size: 1    TH: 2340/1404/702
Longbow (180)  Speed: 93,600 km/s   End: 37.1m    Range: 208.2m km   WH: 6    Size: 2    TH: 312/187/93

Ilica-Silivasi Active Search Sensor (1)     GPS 14400     Range 515.2m km    Resolution 80
Sudiro & Sjukur Missile Detection System (1)     GPS 270     Range 86.4m km    MCR 9.4m km    Resolution 1
Laksono Heavy Industries Thermal Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 128     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  128m km
Laksono Heavy Industries EM Detection Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 128     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  128m km

Compact ECCM-5 (6)         ECM 50

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

   As the government looked over the design they noted a large number of small upgrades making them wonder while those weren't included in newer warships and making the Force explain their upgrade practices.
   They begun by explaining, somewhat defensively, that all of their decisions regarding shipbuilding were made with the knowledge and consent of the Administrator, the Defence Overseer and the Space Force Secondary Overseer. For that matter many of those decisions included the Industrial Overseer. All of those people believed there was no need to bring the issue to the entire Committee, as it already had a lot on its plate.
   Having said that the Force sees only two upgrades as truly critical, requiring at the very least new designs and preferably upgrades, although that wasn't always possible. Those are engines and energy weapon fire controls. The former is very important due to the sheer size of the Commune and its strategy of fast response. The second one is a little less obvious, so the officers explain that since missiles are capable of manoeuvring and have their own on board sensors, albeit very limited sometimes, there is essentially no limit on missile ranges. As such a technologically inferior force may compete with technologically superior one by building larger missiles and larger fire controls. Last but not least missiles can be defended against.
   None of this is true for energy weapons. As those cannot manoeuvre there is an absolute celling on the precision of any given fire control system, which means there is an effective hard limit on weapon range. Worse you cannot defend against energy weapons. As such a force with superior speed and range will be able to win without any loses whatsoever. This makes range absolutely critical for any ship equipped with any short range weapon. Last but not least tracking speed is the most defining characteristic for point defence accuracy.
   The last part that requires explaining is the cost of upgrades. As refits require to take out a systems and then putting new ones, the cost is higher than building something from scratch. In particular anything that has different size than original, requiring changing internal structure of the ship is extremely expensive. Due to all of this it is entirely possible for refit to be much more costly than construction of a new ship, which is what the Intelligence believes happened to one of the Republican escorts. As such when upgrading a ship only a limited number of systems is being replaced, which is why there are no new versions of the current vessels.
   This of course leaves the question why new vessels have not been designed, but the answer to it is very simple – the Commune has budgetary issues. New, improved warships would be more costly and retooling of the shipyards would significantly drain the current financial reserves much quicker. The Committee agreed with that, which is why they suspended production of new supporting space stations, and they took the excuse to stop working on gunboats as soon as the Piranhas got their latest upgrades, leaving two whole shipyards completely empty. This has recently changed, due to the battle of Rampart, but the fact remained that at the current spending rates, the nation would begin to suffer a financial crisis twelve to eighteen months from now. The issue is being worked on, of course, but it takes time to grow population, economy and new financial institutions. For this reason the Force intended to introduce new vessels when new energy weapons fire control become available, which should happen in about seven years, by which time the Commune economy should have been healthy enough to support those new warships.
   After rather lengthy discussion the Committee agrees with all the decisions. However also propose that the Force should begin working on new warships sooner, assuming the economy will begin improving in less than a couple of years.
   It should be noted that as the Biskupin shipyards has to retool periodically to switch between cruisers and escort cruisers for the battlecruiser divisions, it should be possible to develop a successor to the Shenbrunn class. However as that vessel has enough ammunition for twenty seven salvoes of anti-missiles, the Force felt there was no need for an updated design until general, fleet wide upgrades begin.

28th June 2401

   All Traveller wrecks in the Rampart system has been salvaged, but it will take time for all the components to be delivered to the appropriate research colonies.

24th September 2401

   The Commune research establishment on Eden has completed their study of the recovered Traveller electronic systems, allowing them to develop the next level of ECCM, critical against the Destroyer. Unfortunately the national budget is still far from healthy so those will not be used until next generation of warships is designed.
   Breakthroughs in gravitic and EM sensors has also been achieved and advances in other areas have been made, which will make it easier for the humans to reach Traveller level of technical sophistication, but it will still require quite some time of development.

15th March 2402

   The analysis of recovered Travellers components is complete. Aside from already mentioned breakthroughs in sensors it allowed the Commune to develop faster reloading missile launchers and better weapon capacitors. This led to the Force attempting to design a new, upgraded version of  Sleipnir, but two issues came up.
   The first was the sensor range. After the battle in the Rampart system there were numerous voices demanding increase in the number of anti-missiles per available launcher, but the analysis made by the Force showed that it was not really necessary. However while the missile speeds remained the same the detection and engagement range for interceptors has risen from around seven million kilometres for Harpy class cruisers and other warships designed after the battle with the Destroyer to nearly ten million for Sleipnir to potentially fifteen million for the new warships. This effectively doubled the number of potential anti-missile launches against incoming munitions. In the end the designers and the upper echelons of the military had no choice but to agree that the increase in magazine size, in proportion to the number of launchers, was necessary with the current target being thirty to forty possible salvoes of interceptors.
   The other issue was much larger however. With the increase in magazine space, the Force decided to take a closer look at the armament mix of the Sleipnir to see if it could actually kill another ship of the same class with missiles. The officers discovered to their shock that not only the cruiser could intercept nearly nearly all shipkillers from two equivalent warships, the Spear anti-missiles had nearly seventy percent interception chance against the Longbows. As the recently designed munitions all had the same speed, it meant an enemy on the same technological level could very easily and cheaply intercept enormous amounts of Commune shipkillers. For all instances and purposes a whole new line of offensive missiles had to be designed. Unfortunately the only way to increase evasion chance of a munition was to increase it speed which meant larger, more powerful engine. Coupled with the need to squeeze the sensor in it resulted in missiles with rather weak warheads. In fact the equivalent of the Longbow had only two thirds of its predecessor destructive power, which was on the weak side already. In fact the munition was about as destructive as the Arrows II used against the Destroyer nearly thirty years ago. To add insult to injury the Spears would still have almost fifty percent chance of intercepting it.
   Unfortunately no one has seen any way around it. In the end it didn't matter how powerful a warhead was if it couldn't hit the target. In addition as the missile had somewhat lower range than either Longbot or Mistletoe and to ease logistics the government and the Force decided to build only one type of shipkiller for their vessels armed with small launchers, like gunboats or the new cruisers. The missile was named Jevelin.

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Jevelin

Missile Size: 2 MSP  (0.1 HS)     Warhead: 4    Armour: 0     Manoeuvre Rating: 10
Speed: 144000 km/s    Engine Endurance: 18 minutes   Range: 156.4m km
Active Sensor Strength: 0.12   Sensitivity Modifier: 400%
Resolution: 120    Maximum Range vs 6000 ton object (or larger): 520,000 km
Cost Per Missile: 4.792
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 1440%   3k km/s 480%   5k km/s 288%   10k km/s 144%
Materials Required:    1x Tritanium   0.072x Boronide   0.12x Uridium   3.6x Gallicite   Fuel x1015

   Due to many warships and missile bases still using larger launchers for the Trebuchets, an equivalent shipkiller had to be designed as well. The new munition, named Satyr is something of an experimental design. It has the exact same warhead and speed as Jevelin, but lower range and poorer sensors. It also has however an ablative armour that should increase its chances of bypassing enemy active defences. As the Commune is abandoning larger launchers anyway and many Trebuchets remain in storage, such an experiment was thought to be reasonable at this time.

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Satyr

Missile Size: 4 MSP  (0.2 HS)     Warhead: 4    Armour: 0.75     Manoeuvre Rating: 10
Speed: 144000 km/s    Engine Endurance: 18 minutes   Range: 153.4m km
Active Sensor Strength: 0.04   Sensitivity Modifier: 400%
Resolution: 160    Maximum Range vs 8000 ton object (or larger): 200,000 km
Cost Per Missile: 8.4515
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 1440%   3k km/s 480%   5k km/s 288%   10k km/s 144%
Materials Required:    1.1875x Tritanium   0.024x Boronide   0.04x Uridium   7.2x Gallicite   Fuel x1240

   As soon as that was done, the Oversight Committee begun asking the most important question: how could the governing AI, capable of processing near infinite amount of information, miss that issue? The Administrator answered immediately: he did notice the issue. However, the Destroyers have shown that even their point blank defences had a hundred percent interception chance against Commune anti-missiles and while the human technology have advanced considerably, those particular aliens are still far ahead. As this means their defences will likely be able to intercept human shipkillers with perfect accuracy anyway it was more important to focus on the destructiveness as any attempts to increase the penetration of the missiles will likely be pointless and divert valuable space from warheads to increased engines which in this scenario would provide no benefit at all.
   The Committee was furious that such an important piece of analysis was kept away from them, but before they can flat out accuse the Administrator of betrayal, the Defence Overseer says he was kept completely apprised and aware of the situation. However with the way the government is set up, it was up to him to decide whether or not to bring this before the entire Committee and he decided not to, as he was concerned how much the humans focus on the Hegemony instead of the Destroyers. The Overseer feared the Force will be redesigned to counter the wrong threat.
   This leads to significant arguing within the Committee with some accusing the Defence Overseer of treason and others wondering whether or not the AI malfunctioned. Finally the Administrator Overseer speaks up.
   Unlike the other Overseers, who review specific decisions made by the governing AI, the Administrator Overseer is tasked with keeping an eye on the AI and nothing else. Her primary job is the analysis of the behaviour of the Administrator to watch for unanticipated shifts in logic and priority. Because of that she is the only one with authority to reprogram the Commune governor and she can refuse to do so even at the request of the entire Committee. The only ones who can force her to reprogram the AI – or prevent her form doing so on her own initiative – are the citizens of the nation, and even then a two thirds supermajority is needed to overrule her judgement. She also have high degrees in various fields of psychology, a necessity for her position.
   As something of an outsider to the rest of the Committee she points out that the issue isn't with the AI, the Defence Overseer or the workings of the government itself; it's the problem with the governing council.
   She begins by recapping certain facts about the AI. It was programmed with a list of priorities, but items higher on the list did not override the lower ones – they were merely given more consideration. In addition the Administrator itself, being a self-evolving program, could modify that list. In terms of practical decision she gave a very simple example. The AI did not propose to unify humanity under its rule for efficiency, as despite the survival of the human race was on the top of its priority list, self-determination was very high as well.
   Nonetheless said list of priorities meant the Destroyers took the central stage to the Administrators thinking with all other threats being secondary, but not irrelevant. In short the AI was so focused on that particular threat it was perfectly willing to run acceptable risks when it came to other issues – like the Hegemony.
   The problem was that humans saw things differently. The Destroyers were part of their lives from the very beginning. Children at early school learned about the near extinction of the human race. The threat was known, but it was emotionally distant and the extremely infrequent visits by those particular alien made them seem less urgent as well.
   But the Hegemony was a much more emotional issue for it attacked the Commune twice already, and filled the space with hateful propaganda. Not only are they a much more emotionally charged enemy, they are right next to the Commune with new information coming in daily, making them seem much more immediate. As a result while intellectually everyone knows the Destroyer is the greater threat, emotionally the entire nation is focused on the Hegemony.
   That however is only one reason for the current discord between the Committee and the AI. The other reason is much more problematic – unlike in the past the current governing council expects much more power and control. The founders intended to give up governance fully to the Administrator, with the Committee serving as little more than an observer and an insurance. But the current councillors want actual power, make actual decisions. Some in fact want to relegate the AI to nothing more than an advisor. This difference in expectations and established precedences creates significant friction.
   The explanation finally calms down the humans, with some of them even being ashamed of their actions, but they also point out that no matter the precedences and the intentions of the founders, times change and so the governing rules. The Administrator Overseer agrees, but she also points out that the Commune citizens have put their faith in the AI, not the humans. If the rest of the Committee intends to wrestle control from the Administrator, they have to gain the support of the population, which they are currently lacking.
   This finally more or less ends the discussion, but nonetheless the vast majority of the Committee is of the opinion that however secondary it may be, the threat of the Hegemony cannot be discounted. As such while the gunboats will continue to use the new missiles, with older ones still being in storage, a new, more capable shipkiller will have to be designed, one better suited to penetrating modern defences which will be used primarily by heavier units like cruisers. The Force already had some ideas in this direction and presented three possibilities. The first was to use the newly designed Jevelin, as its combination of small size and high speed gave it reasonable cost effectiveness, if not quite as high as missiles had in the past. The second option was to create large shipkiller with heavier armour, essentially an expanded version of the Satyr. The third option was to create a multi-warhead missile. The last two proposals are presented below.

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Missile Size: 6 MSP  (0.3 HS)     Warhead: 6    Armour: 2     Manoeuvre Rating: 10
Speed: 120000 km/s    Engine Endurance: 16 minutes   Range: 115.2m km
Active Sensor Strength: 0.04   Sensitivity Modifier: 400%
Resolution: 160    Maximum Range vs 8000 ton object (or larger): 200,000 km
Cost Per Missile: 11.064
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 1200%   3k km/s 400%   5k km/s 240%   10k km/s 120%
Materials Required:    2x Tritanium   0.024x Boronide   0.04x Uridium   9x Gallicite   Fuel x1200


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Missile Size: 6 MSP  (0.3 HS)     Warhead: 0    Armour: 0     Manoeuvre Rating: 10
Speed: 23300 km/s    Engine Endurance: 129 minutes   Range: 179.6m km
Cost Per Missile: 13.206
Second Stage: Stinger x4
Second Stage Separation Range: 20,000,000 km
Overall Endurance: 2 hours   Overall Range: 203.5m km
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 233%   3k km/s 70%   5k km/s 46.6%   10k km/s 23.3%
Materials Required:    4x Tritanium   0.096x Boronide   0.16x Uridium   8.95x Gallicite   Fuel x3710

Missile Size: 1.004 MSP  (0.0502 HS)     Warhead: 4    Armour: 0     Manoeuvre Rating: 10
Speed: 143400 km/s    Engine Endurance: 3 minutes   Range: 23.9m km
Active Sensor Strength: 0.04   Sensitivity Modifier: 400%
Resolution: 160    Maximum Range vs 8000 ton object (or larger): 200,000 km
Cost Per Missile: 2.864
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 1434%   3k km/s 470%   5k km/s 286.8%   10k km/s 143.4%
Materials Required:    1x Tritanium   0.024x Boronide   0.04x Uridium   1.8x Gallicite   Fuel x125

   The armoured missile is quite large and has only fifty percent heavier warhead than Jevelin but the interception chance for the newest Spears should be reduced to around twenty percent. Its still high, considering how large and expensive shipkiller it is and the lower speed means it could not be fired together with the other munitions, but it is still the best design the Force could come up with. In addition, while it is true that in terms of space interceptors will be superior, in terms of actual cost (and building speed) the new missile would have an advantage.
   The second presented design was much more interesting. While the main bus was slow, possibly slower than proper Destroyer warships, it was more than sufficient against other human opponents. Being the same size as the previous shipkillers, it was only fifty percent larger than Trebuchet or Satyr and had four submunitions, each as destructive as Jevelin with just as high speed but poorer sensors. Overall it had better range, larger destructive potential and much better penetration chance than the Jevelin with the only downside being low speed of the main bus.
   Both the Committee and the Force favour the second design, as the armour is still very much experimental. The missile itself is named Hydra and the submunition is named Stinger. A new cruiser, which likely be quite different from Sleipnir, will be designed. Most of the work has already been done, as it was the catalyst for the recent discoveries and discussion, so it should be ready soon.

4th April 2402

   The Commune Space Force have completed their design of two new cruisers, the Kraken and the Bellerophon. The former will replace the Elathas, Harpies and Slepnirs as the next generation multi-role medium warship while the latter will replace the Shonbrunn class escort cruisers.
   The Kraken is somewhat similar to his predecessor but incorporates the recent lessons, replacing its small missile launchers with larger ones capable of handling the Hydra multi warhead munitions. It also has fewer anti-missile tubes, but more actual interceptors, allowing it to fire a total of forty salvoes. Last but not least the two supporting railguns have been replaced with lasers. As it happens while certain calibre railguns would be faster firing and more damaging than the newly developed two hundred millimetres guns, those would be unable to utilise full range of the available fire controls, even more so when the next generation hardware becomes available in several years. The new lasers on the other hand can utilise said range while being smaller and faster firing, offsetting their overall lower damage output.

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Kraken class Cruiser    25,000 tons     540 Crew     11385.6 BP      TCS 500  TH 6900  EM 0
13800 km/s     Armour 14-76     Shields 0-0     Sensors 128/160/0/0     Damage Control Rating 18     PPV 124.84
Maint Life 3.27 Years     MSP 5124    AFR 277%    IFR 3.9%    1YR 722    5YR 10828    Max Repair 1163 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 36 months    Spare Berths 0   
Magazine 820   

Tugurlan Marine High Power Naval SCAM Drive Mk2 (10)    Power 690    Fuel Use 24.11%    Signature 690    Exp 11%
Fuel Capacity 2,500,000 Litres    Range 74.7 billion km   (62 days at full power)

Montemayor Cybernetics 200mm Laser (2)    Range 480,000km     TS: 13800 km/s     Power 10-12     RM 8    ROF 5        10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 8 8
Montemayor Cybernetics Advanced 750mm Laser (1)    Range 480,000km     TS: 13800 km/s     Power 147-12     RM 8    ROF 65        147 147 147 147 147 147 147 147 130 117
Single Warda Manufacturing Gauss Cannon Mk2 Turret (2x5)    Range 40,000km     TS: 32000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 4    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Hansson Dynamics Long Range Railgun Fire Control (1)    Max Range: 480,000 km   TS: 12000 km/s     98 96 94 92 90 88 85 83 81 79
Hansson Dynamics Point Defence Fire Control (1)    Max Range: 120,000 km   TS: 32000 km/s     92 83 75 67 58 50 42 33 25 17
Janiec Aircraft Engine Co SCAM Reactor (3)     Total Power Output 48    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Jurga -Bakowski Anti - Missile Launcher Mk2 (10)    Missile Size 1    Rate of Fire 5
Parra & Banuelos Large Missile Cell (70)    Missile Size 6    Hangar Reload 45 minutes    MF Reload 7.5 hours
Goransson-Nilsson Anti-Missile Fire Control (2)     Range 153.6m km    Resolution 1
Wozniak Research Inc Missile Fire Control (7)     Range 223.1m km    Resolution 60
Spear VI (400)  Speed: 156,000 km/s   End: 2.4m    Range: 22.8m km   WH: 1    Size: 1    TH: 2340/1404/702
Hydra (70)  Speed: 23,300 km/s   End: 128.5m    Range: 199.6m km   WH: 0    Size: 6    TH: 77/46/23

Martinsson Dynamics Medium Resolution Active Search Sensor (1)     GPS 1200     Range 214.7m km    Resolution 5
Martinsson Dynamics Low Resolution Active Search Sensor (1)     GPS 16000     Range 452.5m km    Resolution 200
Goransson-Nilsson Missile Detection System (1)     GPS 380     Range 152.0m km    MCR 16.6m km    Resolution 1
Laksono Heavy Industries Thermal Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 128     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  128m km
Budiarto-Sugiantoro EM Detection Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 160     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  160m km

Compact ECCM-5 (8)         ECM 50

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


   The Bellerophon is a significant upgrade over the preceding class, although it has some controversial changes. The Shonbrunn was a pure defensive platform, with no offensive weaponry, but the new cruiser has a single four hundred millimetre laser. Also while it has better passive defences in absolute terms, it achieves it thanks to superior technology and uses comparatively lower portion of its mass for shields. While normally those, together with armour, would still be significant, the escort cruisers are supposed to work together with the battlecruisers to survive missile storms and close to energy weapon range.
   However thanks to the sacrifice of some shielding, which is still experimental and was never truly used in combat, the new warship carries more anti-missiles than her predecessor, although she also has fewer launch tubes, reflecting the recent change to a more sustained combat.

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Bellerophon class Escort Cruiser    25,000 tons     581 Crew     10062.4 BP      TCS 500  TH 6900  EM 6000
13800 km/s     Armour 12-76     Shields 200-300     Sensors 128/160/0/0     Damage Control Rating 20     PPV 67.68
Maint Life 3.96 Years     MSP 5157    AFR 243%    IFR 3.4%    1YR 525    5YR 7875    Max Repair 622 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 36 months    Spare Berths 0   
Magazine 960   

Tugurlan Marine High Power Naval SCAM Drive Mk2 (10)    Power 690    Fuel Use 24.11%    Signature 690    Exp 11%
Fuel Capacity 2,500,000 Litres    Range 74.7 billion km   (62 days at full power)
Xi Shields (40)   Total Fuel Cost  400 Litres per hour  (9,600 per day)

Sudiro-Yulianto 400mm Laser (1)    Range 480,000km     TS: 13800 km/s     Power 42-12     RM 8    ROF 20        42 42 42 42 42 42 42 42 37 33
Single Warda Manufacturing Gauss Cannon Mk2 Turret (4x5)    Range 40,000km     TS: 32000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 4    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Hansson Dynamics Point Defence Fire Control (2)    Max Range: 120,000 km   TS: 32000 km/s     92 83 75 67 58 50 42 33 25 17
Hansson Dynamics Long Range Railgun Fire Control (1)    Max Range: 480,000 km   TS: 12000 km/s     98 96 94 92 90 88 85 83 81 79
Janiec Aircraft Engine Co SCAM Reactor (1)     Total Power Output 16    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Jurga -Bakowski Anti - Missile Launcher Mk2 (24)    Missile Size 1    Rate of Fire 5
Goransson-Nilsson Anti-Missile Fire Control (4)     Range 153.6m km    Resolution 1
Spear VI (960)  Speed: 156,000 km/s   End: 2.4m    Range: 22.8m km   WH: 1    Size: 1    TH: 2340/1404/702

Goransson-Nilsson Missile Detection System (1)     GPS 380     Range 152.0m km    MCR 16.6m km    Resolution 1
Laksono Heavy Industries Thermal Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 128     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  128m km
Budiarto-Sugiantoro EM Detection Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 160     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  160m km

Compact ECCM-5 (3)         ECM 50

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

   As the new cruisers will be built immediately some within the Committee wonder why new version of other warships cannot be designed as well. The Force explains once again that new vessels, using more advanced technologies would be more expensive and the shipyard modifications could drain the current financial reserve quite quickly. However the Bogoescu Shipyard and Machinery Works above Biskupin is already switching between construction of cruisers and escort cruisers on a regular basis, so the modifications of this particular yard are already in the budget. Of course if the government is prepared to authorise higher spending there is nothing stopping development of new warships right away.
   The Committee actually begun to consider that option. The budget is still in red, but it was actually almost balanced until new developments on Emesh increased industrial efficiency – but without corresponding decrease in cost which resulted in new, higher deficiency. Even so the financial situation is improving steadily, but the Administrator cautions that this is deceptive. Over the past several years the Commune had made significant effort to increase its financial sector, to the point where it produces more budgetary income than direct taxation of the population. However to accomplish it practically every scrap of available manpower has been devoured leaving little room for further expansion. It specifically focuses the attention of humans on the Herrinering and New Trinidad colonies, both of which had no TN industry until recently but now are almost fully committed to construction and financing with very little spare manpower. The budget may be on its way to recovery, but whether or not it can continue to grow at a reasonable pace remains to be seen.
   The Force fully agrees and proposes that the cruisers should be put into production first and if the monetary situation allows it, new warships should be designed, one class at a time. The Committee agrees.

4th June 2402

   The first million colonists arrives at Malta in the Atlantic system. There is enough specialised infrastructure for two hundred thousand more people and a hundred construction factories are already waiting although many of them will be empty for long. Even so at the current production rates enough space for nearly two million people should be produced each year and the amount will be increasing as new colonists arrive and make better use of available installations.
   This reignites the discussion within the Capital Sector regarding possible expansion. The entire administrative unit consists of only two systems, Baltic and Malbork. The former has only orbital habitats above the gas giant Valhalla with total population of four hundred and fifty million which cannot be expanded. The other system has only a single habitable planet, with population of nearly four hundred million, but the body is small and tidally locked, severely limiting habitable area. Coupled with lack of reasonable mineral deposits, the sector has been losing significance for a long time.
   Before the Commune actually ventured into space, there was a significant discussion about how to deal with the looming lack of space. While two options were dominant – do nothing or expand among the stars again – two other options were also presented and discussed. The first one was to use genetic engineering to modify humans for lower gravity, allowing them to colonise and develop Mjolnir, which aside from gravity, is actually located in the liquid water zone of the Baltic star and has radius of forty six hundred kilometres. This option however was almost universally rejected. The true point of the orbital habitats was their low signature and distance from the star, making them hard to detect, possibly even invisible to Destroyer sensors. Colonising, terraforming and developing a planet in the inner system would be a very visible sign of habitation to everyone. In short it would leave the Commune exposed while providing only temporary solution, which is why the space expansion was favoured.
   The second option was to actually use the same specialised infrastructure recently used on Malta on some of the larger objects in the Baltic system. Vallaha for example is orbited by two moons with radius exceeding two thousand kilometres which could provide a lot of space and resources. However while those could expand once colonised, they could not solve the problem of population control in habitats, as the construction of new ground habitats would be very expensive and slow. In short this option would have allowed the Commune to expand, but only slowly and would not solve the overpopulation problem.
   But now with new technologies, much larger economy and access to specialised infantry construction units this could be practical and offer new trade opportunities while also allowing the Capital Sector to stay relevant. Many also point out that with the Odin habitat busy supporting new colonies the missile bases on Valkyrie and Mjolnir has not been expanded in a long time. A new, large industrial base on one of the Valhallan moons could take care of the problem by building, maintaining and supporting a whole new set of bases, increasing security of the heart of the nation.
   The Administrator is very opposed to this. The Commune strategic stance have shifted significantly towards mobility and static defences are for all instances and purposes a waste of time and money, except in specific situations, like frontier outposts. And while they aren't all that expensive by themselves, the amount of missiles needed to arm them is problematical to say the least which is why the central government has been preventing other planets from building too many such installations for their own defence. In addition establishing new colonies like this would require significant number of construction battalions, which would effectively halt the growth of the Commune ground forces for several years, maybe even more than a decade. Last but not least it would have next to no true effect, as due tot their very slow growth the new colonies would effectively not change the relevancy of the sector.
   However now that the option was proven practical it has gained enormous amount of support, not only from those living in the Capital sector, but also those living in other colonies, as they see the Baltic system as a symbol and they deeply regret its decreasing importance. As a result the Oversight Committee orders colonisation and development of Bothnia, the smaller of the two proposed bodies, but also the one located in a more innermost position, making it better option for a missile base. However as new construction brigades have to be trained first it will be years before the first habitats are ready.