Poor Earth AAR

[Garfunkel]

Keep it up!

[CharonJr (OP)]

1891
Completed techs: Active Grav Sensor 12, Fire Control Speed 2000km/s, 12cm Railgun
New techs being researched: Construction Rate 14, Thermal Sensor 8, Active Grav Sensor 16, Reduced Size Launcher 0.5 Size / 5x Reload, Gravitational Survey Sensors


At the end of January a new scientist graduates from the academy, Karina von Glauber has specialized in the field of Construction and Production (10%) and is able to coordinate work in up to 15 labs. She starts to look into improved ways for construction. With the “old” Humboldt Shuttle MK2s getting close to their intended deployment time they will be scrapped and replaced when they return to Earth next.

In mid-May the population on Mars reaches 120m people and it is decided that for now no more colonists will be allowed to move to Mars on a large scale.

At the end of November Jump Point Theory research is completed and Grav Sensor 16 research is dropped in favor of Gravitational Survey Sensors. Leaving the Solar system seems like the only way to find good sized mineral deposits. A future Grav Survey vessel will be most likely based on a fighter chassis as well. Dang, those are construction brigades, not battalions, well, time to build one additional troop transport and modify the others to 5 transport modules.

1892
Completed techs: Railgun Velocity 2, Mining Rate 14, Gravitational Survey Sensors, Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor Tech
New techs being researched: Railgun Velocity 3, Research Rate 280, Jump Drive Efficiency 4, Ion Drive Tech

After completion of the conversion of conventional industries construction of a Spaceport is started. And after a construction time of just 2 months it is completed and should help with the turn-around of goods (and troops?) on Earth. The freed up capacities are split between research labs and conversion into automines.

In June the Gravitational Survey Sensors are ready and a new ship is designed. It is called the Kopernikus Shuttle and just swaps the Humboldt’s GeoSensor for a GravSensor.

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Kopernikus Shuttle class Gravitational Survey Vessel    500 tons     14 Crew     144.4 BP      TCS 10  TH 8  EM 0
800 km/s     Armour 1-5     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/1/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 0
Maint Life 9.79 Years     MSP 90    AFR 4%    IFR 0.1%    1YR 2    5YR 26    Max Repair 100 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 45 months    Spare Berths 0   

EPx1.0 FCx0.9 1HS 8 EP Nuclear Pulse Engine (1)    Power 8    Fuel Use 89.1%    Signature 8    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 80 000 Litres    Range 32.3 billion km   (467 days at full power)

Gravitational Survey Sensors (1)   1 Survey Points Per Hour

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes

Research into Active Grav Sensor 16 is taken up again. By mid-July the Soruim reserves on Earth have been exhausted. 8 additional construction brigades and their HQs start training. In August the first Kopernikus Shuttle is completed and starts its survey. 100 automines are send to the comet Temple-1 mainly for Mercassium (Neutronium 42kt @0.6, Corbomite 40kt @0.6, Tritanium 52kt @0.5, Mercassium 117kt @0.8 and Gallicite 10kt @0.9 ) and a mining output is established, a Mass Driver is send shortly afterwards.

On September 25th, the first Jump Point is found in the Sol System, it was at the first of the locations the scientists marked. Overall they marked 30 locations. The theory is proven to be true. Fregattenkapitän Christine Ballack is awarded the Explorer Medal for this feat. The JP is located about another Sun to Earth distance outside the orbit of Saturn at about 95°.

Scientists are already working on a Jump Drive, but it will take at least 2 more years before it is completed at the moment, but more resources will be allocated to its research now. In October a second Kopernikus Shuttle is completed with a third and fourth under construction.

By mid-December the GeoSurvey program starts to wind down, there are only 2 objects left to be surveyed, but both are out of reach for the current shuttles. There are high hopes the Ion Drives will be able to remedy this problem.

1893
Completed techs: Thermal Sensor 8, Active Grav Sensors 16, Salvage Module 500
New techs being researched: Beam Fire Control Range 16kkm, Fire Control Speed 3000km/s, Additional Maintenance Storage, Fuel Production 48k liters

A second Jump Point is found very close to the orbit of Jupiter, at about 300° in January.

In July the 50th research lab is established, but the lack of construction/production specialists is still hampering basic booster technologies. In preparation for exploring outside of the Sol System 2 new naval shipyards are under construction. Higher speeds and more endurance will be needed by the new survey vessels and while large ships are still considered too big and expensive for the potential dangers fighter based ships are deemed too small. Ships with a tonnage below 1kt might provide the answer, but it will have to be seen what can be achieved with the new Ion Drives when they are ready. In addition a fighter chassis is too small to have enough supplies to repair the sensors.

In August a 3rd Jump Point is found beyond the orbit of Neptune, at about 175°. On October 3rd Tatiana von Still graduates from the academy, she has specialized on Construction/Production (20%) and has a great talent of work organization (admin 5). She is assigned the prestigious project to look into ways to improve research output (280).

That’s it for today…

[Garfunkel]

Let's see if your First Contact happens in the very first system you jump into! 

[CharonJr (OP)]

Well, there is 40% chance if there is a viable planet


1894
Completed techs: Beam Fire Control Range 16kkm, Ion Drive Techs, Additional Maintenance Storage, Construction Rate 14, Engine Power Modifier x1.5, Jump Drive Efficiency 4, Flag Bridge, Beam Fire Control Range 24kkm, Fire Control Speed 3000km/s, Tech Research Rate 280
New techs being researched: Beam Fire Control Range 24kkm, Flag Bridge, Shipyard Operations, 5% Time/Cost Savings, Jump Drive Efficiency 4, Max Jump Squad Size 3, Max Squad Jump Radius 50k, Hangar Deck, EM Sensor Sensitivity 11, Active Grav Sensor 21, Jump Gate Construction 180

By the end of March Ion Drive Tech is completed. A number of prototype drives are build and tests for a new generation of vessels are started.

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Kopernikus FAC class Gravitational Survey Vessel    1 000 tons     24 Crew     216.5 BP      TCS 20  TH 84  EM 0
4200 km/s     Armour 1-8     Shields 0-0     Sensors 8/1/1/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 0
Maint Life 8.27 Years     MSP 101    AFR 10%    IFR 0.1%    1YR 3    5YR 39    Max Repair 100 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 83 months    Spare Berths 0   

EP1 FC 08 1HS 12 EP Ion Drive (7)    Power 12    Fuel Use 79.2%    Signature 12    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 130 000 Litres    Range 29.5 billion km   (81 days at full power)

Thermal Sensor TH1-8 (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  8m km
Gravitational Survey Sensors (1)   1 Survey Points Per Hour

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes


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Humboldt FAC class Geological Survey Vessel    1 000 tons     24 Crew     216.5 BP      TCS 20  TH 84  EM 0
4200 km/s     Armour 1-8     Shields 0-0     Sensors 8/1/0/1     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 0
Maint Life 8.27 Years     MSP 101    AFR 10%    IFR 0.1%    1YR 3    5YR 39    Max Repair 100 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 83 months    Spare Berths 0   

EP1 FC 08 1HS 12 EP Ion Drive (7)    Power 12    Fuel Use 79.2%    Signature 12    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 130 000 Litres    Range 29.5 billion km   (81 days at full power)

Thermal Sensor TH1-8 (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  8m km
Geological Survey Sensors (1)   1 Survey Points Per Hour

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes


At the end of April a larger civilian Ion Engine prototype is completed and tested.


In May the GravSurvey of the Sol System is completed, overall 3 jump points were found, but Humanity currently still lacks the means to use jump points, but research into the two last missing components in under way and expected to be completed by the end of February 1895.

In June construction of the two new naval shipyards is completed and expansion of the number of slipways to 2 is started. Despite a full construction corps (4 x 4 battalions) working on financial industries on Mars only 2 are completed by the end of the year. Currently there is no need at all for better finances, but with close to 22k construction capacity allocated to new labs at the moment (research is the highest priority) this will change sooner or later.

1895
Completed techs: Shipyard Operations 5% Time/Cost Savings, Max Jump Squad Size 3, Max Squad Jump Radius 50k, Engine Power Modifier x1.5, Jump Gate Construction 180
New techs being researched: Shipyard Operations 10% Time/Cost Savings, Capacitor Recharge 3, Reduced Launcher Size x0.33, Stellerator Fusion Tech, Mining Production 16

By the end of February are components for a jump drive are researched and design of the actual drive is started (military since all relevant ships will be military for now). I can not remember if “self only” will still allow single ships to use a jump ship as a “mobile jump gate”, but will give it a shot anyway. Yes, it does

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Kepler class Jump Ship    1 000 tons     17 Crew     113.5 BP      TCS 20  TH 60  EM 0
3000 km/s    JR 1-50     Armour 1-8     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 0
Maint Life 3.57 Years     MSP 18    AFR 32%    IFR 0.4%    1YR 2    5YR 33    Max Repair 10 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 43 months    Spare Berths 0   

J1000(1-50) Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 1000 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 1
EP1 FC 08 1HS 12 EP Ion Drive (5)    Power 12    Fuel Use 79.2%    Signature 12    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 350 000 Litres    Range 79.5 billion km   (306 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

In June Tritanium supplies on Earth have been exhausted, but the stockpile is still at 105kt and there are still supplies on 3 colonies currently being mined.

At August 19th, Humanities first Jump Ship, SMS Kepler has been completed and starts to move towards Jump Point #1. Kapitän zur See Werner Clausen commands the Kepler. A second Kepler class is ordered. At August 23rd the first jump into a new system has been completed, Humanity is making large steps in becoming an interstellar race. The new system is called Berlin, after the capital of Germany. It consists of two stars, an orange K-class (60% mass of the Sun) and a brown T-class (3% mass of the Sun) with just a single planet with a surface temperature of about 63 degrees orbiting the K-class. With the first new Humboldt FAC about to be completed SMS Kepler jumps back to Sol and waits. Kapitän Werner Clausen is awarded the Explorer Medal for the first successful jump.

The newly constructed SMS Humboldt is tasked with exploring the sole planet in the Berlin system. On August 30th, the jump was successfully completed. Proving that a small jump ship can serve as a mobile jump gate for other ships. Sadly Berlin A-I turns out to be a fairly unremarkable terrestrial planet with a gravity of 0.2, only has traces of atmosphere and no magnetic field. A very inhospitable planet for life. Humboldt heads back to Sol.

With Jump Gate tech being available a short time later the first Jump Gate Construction Ship is designed. Construction of the first Kronos-class is started.

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Kronos class Construction Ship    70 000 tons     233 Crew     2394.2 BP      TCS 1400  TH 1500  EM 0
1071 km/s     Armour 1-151     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 2     PPV 0
MSP 53    Max Repair 37.5 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 120 months    Spare Berths 0   
Jump Gate Construction Ship: 180 days

EP05 FC 08 25HS 150 EP Commercial Ion Drive (10)    Power 150    Fuel Use 10.61%    Signature 150    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 4 960 000 Litres    Range 120.2 billion km   (1298 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes


That’s it for today…

[CharonJr (OP)]

Completed techs: Active Grav Sensor 21, Hangar Deck, EM Sensor Sensitivity 11, Shipyard Operations 10% Time/Cost Savings

New techs being researched: Improved Geo Survey, Engineering Section Fighter, Electronic Warfare, Spinal Mount, Sorium Harvester

Jump Point #2 leads to the Hamburg system which consists of a double sun as well, a yellow G-class nearly the same size as the sun which is orbited by 4 planets, 2 Gas Giants, 1 Dwarf and 1 Terrestrial, none of them look very habitable at first sight. One of Hamburg A-IV – Gas Giant – moons looks better, but only a GeoSurvey will reveal more details. The jump point back to Sol is located outside the orbit of Hamburg B, a L-class red dwarf and at an angle of about 290°.  After refueling from the Kepler and waiting for a couple of minutes for the jump drive to reload Humboldt starts the survey of Hamburg. In the meantime Kepler heads to jump point #3.


1896
Completed techs: Capacitor Recharge Rate 3, Electronic Warfare, Size5 Resolution 100 Active Sensor, Size5 Resolution 1 Active Sensor, Improved Geo Sensors

New techs being researched: Fuel Consumption 0.7 liters, Size5 Resolution 100 Active Sensor, Size5 Resolution 1 Active Sensor, Improved Grav Sensors, EM Sensor Sensitivity 14


JP3 leads to the Hannover system. It consists of a single orange K-class sun (0.5 sun masses) with 12 planets, about 90 moons and 610 asteroids. The jump point back to Earth is located just outside the orbit of Hannover A-VIII, a terrestrial planet 2.6bkm away from the sun and at an angle of 200°. Only 4 bodies with atmospheres are present, 2 planets with Carbon Dioxide/Sulphur (very close to the sun and very hot), 1 planet with Helium/Hydrogen (fairly far from the sun and cold) and 1 moon with Nitrogen/Carbon Dioxide/Oxygen in the habitable area. The moon will be surveyed first since it looks like a fairly promising candidate for a colony. Colony costs in this AAR will only be known once the GeoSurvey has taken place.

After this first look into Hannover Kepler heads back to the Hamburg jump point in order to provide fuel for the Humboldt working there. In the meantime a mothership for the survey craft has been designed, the Kondor-class, at 14.5kt the largest ship of Earth’s space navy and larger than any blue water ship build in recent times. Retooling of Zeppelin-Werke is started. A Flag Bridge is installed to help with exploration and potential alien contacts.

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Kondor class Carrier    14 500 tons     210 Crew     1870.2 BP      TCS 290  TH 480  EM 0
1655 km/s     Armour 2-52     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 10     PPV 0
Maint Life 3.14 Years     MSP 806    AFR 168%    IFR 2.3%    1YR 123    5YR 1847    Max Repair 150 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 36 months    Flight Crew Berths 180   
Flag Bridge    Hangar Deck Capacity 6000 tons     

EP1 FC 08 1HS 12 EP Ion Drive (40)    Power 12    Fuel Use 79.2%    Signature 12    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 3 220 000 Litres    Range 50.5 billion km   (352 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
The Kondor is able to carry 5 survey FACs and 2 sensor fighters, one with a resolution 1 sensor (range about 11mkm) and a second one with a resolution 100 sensor (range about 115mkm). Design of the sensors will start when the next batch of labs is freed up.

At the end of January the first Kopernikus FAC is completed and heads towards Hamburg to start looking for new jump points. In February 6.2mt of Corundium @0.8 are found on the 4th moon of the gas giant Hamburg A-IV. Its colony cost is 5.3, -166 degrees and the wrong atmosphere (mainly hydrogen), but at a fairly low 0.33 pressure. So no real terraforming candidate in the short run, but a fair number of automines would solve all Corundium problems.

In March Corbomite supplies on Earth have been exhausted, stockpiles are good at 92kt and there are 4 currently mines sources for it in the Sol System. On Mai GeoSurvey of Hamburg is close to being completed and the second Kepler jumpship moves to the Hannover jump point to enable the survey of this system and especially the interesting looking moon.

At the end of July the GeoSurvey of the Hamburg System has been completed. Except for the 4th moon of Hamburg A-IV nothing significant has been found. The two remaining GeoSurvey ships head back to Earth to refuel and then move to the Hannover System. Meanwhile the GeoSurvey of the interesting looking moon – Hannover A-IV moon 8 has been completed and a fair number of metal deposits have been found (but with most being fairly hard to access except for 47mt of 0.6 Duranium). In addition to the fairly good Duranium source the moon is perfectly habitable. In order to speed up building of a jump gate stabilizer factories on Earth start to pre-build components. Kapitän zur See Florian Oggenfuss of the SMS Humboldt and Kapitän zur See Werner Clausen are both awarded the Explorer Medal for the participation in the survey of Moon 8 which is renamed New Berlin (second award for Werner Clausen).




In September a destroyed alien outpost is discovered on Hannover A-IV Moon 7. A Xenologist team lead by Norbert Doppler is send there to examine the ruins. In addition there seems to be an anomaly that might help with research there as well. A few days later a new jump point is found in the Hamburg System and the 3rd Kepler jumpship heads there to investigate.

SMS Kepler 3 arrives in the Munchen system, consisting of a yellow G-class sun (90% mass) and 12 planets. The jump point to Hamburg is located outside the orbit of Munchen A-VII a gas giant about 1.8bkm away from the sun and at an angle of 170°. 4 of the planets and a moon have an atmosphere. 1 Carbon Dioxide/Nitrogen Dioxide, 1 Nitrogen with traces of Oxygen and Argon, 1 Nitrogen/Methane/Ammonia, 1 Hydrogen/Helium and the small terrestrial moon with Helium/Hydrogen.

The two Nitrogen planets might turn out to be fairly habitable after a closer examination, except for the temperatures which seem to be fairly low which can be guessed from the extensive ice sheet. But most important of all is a stabilized jump gate leading back to Hamburg and 2 wrecks between the two nitrogen planets Munchen A-III and A-IV. As soon as the drive is back online Kepler 3 jumps back to Hamburg and relays its findings back to Earth via Kepler 2 still waiting on the jump point back to Sol.



Two recon fighters are designed and construction is started in order to take a closer look at the wrecks. In addition a salvage craft is designed and retooling of Otto Systems is started.

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Radar S100 class Recon Fighter    498 tons     14 Crew     143.9 BP      TCS 9.95  TH 24  EM 0
2412 km/s     Armour 1-5     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 0
Maint Life 4.75 Years     MSP 45    AFR 7%    IFR 0.1%    1YR 3    5YR 49    Max Repair 105 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 9 months    Spare Berths 0   

EP1 FC 08 1HS 12 EP Ion Drive (2)    Power 12    Fuel Use 79.2%    Signature 12    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 60 000 Litres    Range 27.4 billion km   (131 days at full power)

S5 Active Search Sensor MR115-R100 (1)     GPS 10500     Range 115.5m km    Resolution 100

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes


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Radar S1 class Recon Fighter    498 tons     14 Crew     143.9 BP      TCS 9.95  TH 24  EM 0
2412 km/s     Armour 1-5     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 0
Maint Life 4.75 Years     MSP 45    AFR 7%    IFR 0.1%    1YR 3    5YR 49    Max Repair 105 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 9 months    Spare Berths 0   

EP1 FC 08 1HS 12 EP Ion Drive (2)    Power 12    Fuel Use 79.2%    Signature 12    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 60 000 Litres    Range 27.4 billion km   (131 days at full power)

S5 Active Search Sensor MR11-R1 (1)     GPS 105     Range 11.6m km    MCR 1.3m km    Resolution 1

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes


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Geier class Salvager    20 000 tons     192 Crew     821.4 BP      TCS 400  TH 900  EM 0
2250 km/s     Armour 1-65     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 8     PPV 0
MSP 205    Max Repair 200 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 73 months    Spare Berths 0   
Salvager: 1 module(s) capable of salvaging 500 tons per day

EP05 FC 08 25HS 150 EP Commercial Ion Drive (6)    Power 150    Fuel Use 10.61%    Signature 150    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 750 000 Litres    Range 63.6 billion km   (327 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes

 
In November pre-construction of the 10 Commercial Ion Drives is completed and with Improved Geo Sensors having been developed pre-construction of 5 sensors is started. At the end of the year a 6th financial center has been constructed on Mars.

That’s it for today…

[Garfunkel]

It should be Neue Berlin if you're going with Deutsche flavour

Interesting idea, those recon fighters. Could have even built them without engines, and just have the carrier deploy them occasionally. But being able to move does give you more flexibility.

[CharonJr (OP)]

Neu-Berlin actually

Yeah, I always tend to send those kind of recon-craft with my carrier based bombers/fighters, but they are fairly handy for actively searching for aliens as well.

My main fleet will mostly just use passives and have another flight of recons still in the hangar together with a CAP. At least till fairly high tech levels when I simply use 3 gigantic active sensors on PD-ships.

[CharonJr (OP)]

1897

Completed techs: Mining Production 16 tons, Railgun Launch Velocity 3, Engineering Section Fighter, Ship Building Rate 560, Stellarator Fusion Reactor Tech, Improved GravSensors

New techs being researched: Construction Rate 16, Railgun Launch Velocity 4, Improved Cargo Handling Module, Research Rate 320, Magneto-plasma Drive Tech, Active Grav Sensor Strength 28

At the beginning of February the two recon fighters have been completed and they head out towards the Munchen System. I assign intel-officers to them, but am still not sure if they really help with sensor data. In the meantime Hannover A-I has been surveyed, showing huge mineral deposits, but sadly they will be next to impossible to mine. In Early March the GravSurvey of Hamburg has been completed, except for the one jump point into the interesting Munchen System there are no other jump points. The survey ships heads towards Earth to refuel and then continue to Hannover.

On March, 21st the recon fighters arrive in Munchen and start to move towards the two wrecks, both sensors are activated. On April 1st they arrive at the wrecks without having detected anything and continue towards the planets close to the wrecks – Munchen A-III and A-IV, but eventually planning to scan all planets close to their route back out of the system. By April 10th the six innermost planets have been scanned, but no sign of life or spacecraft have been found. It remains a mystery what or who has destroyed the two wrecks. The recon fighters head back towards Earth.

There seems to be a large number of large mineral deposits in Hannover, together with the habitable planet Hannover A-IV it seems like the perfect alternative to Earth. Maybe a GeoSurvey team is able to improve the accessability of some minerals.



In June a jump point is found in Hannover, it lies beyond all planetary orbits at the beginning of the asteroid field, about 5.7bkm from the sun at 180°. In July retooling of the Zeppelin-Werke for the Kondor-class carrier is completed and construction is started. At the same time construction of a second slipway for Zeppelin-Werke is started.

At the end of July the new Hannover jump point is explored. It leads to the Bonn System, a trinary of very small M- and L-class suns. Planets are detected around Bonn-B, but it is 570bkm away, ot seems unlikely that it will ever be explored. Kepler 1 returns to Hannover. With the fairly frequent refueling needed now a dedicated tanker design is next on the to-do list., but currently all shipyards are busy.

In September retooling for the Geier-class salvager is completed and construction of 3 Geiers is started. A few days later a new jump point is found in Hannover. This one right in the orbit of Hannover A-VI, about 540mkm from the sun at an angle of 100°. Kepler 2 is send to investigate. It leads to the Bremen System, and as with Munchen there is a jump gate already established on the Bremen side of the gate. Bremen is a binary of two G-class stars close to the same size as Sol with Bremen-B orbiting A at about 6bkm. The JP is about 1bkm and 40° from Bremen-A. Bremen-B has 6 planets, about 20 moons and 30 asteroids. At first glance nothing seems to stands out and Kepler 2 jumps back to Hannover.

In October research into Improved GravSensors is completed and 3 of them are build for upgrading the survey ships later in. Humboldt 1 heads back to Earth and gets refitted with an improved GeoSensor. The slipways for the Kopernikus-class are refitted as well for an improved GravSensor. With Mercassium starting to get low and stockpiles piling up on Temple-1 and Wolf an additional Mass Driver is send to each mining colony.

1898

Completed techs: Fighter Production Rate 12, Construction Rate 16, Railgun Launch Velocity 4

New techs being researched: Fighter Production Rate 14, Shipbuilding Rate 750, Railgun Launch Velocity 4

In early January SMS Kronos is completed, the first Jump Gate Construction ship. It heads towards the Hannover jump point to establish a gate there. A second Kronos is ordered and will be completed in about 1 year, the prefabricated construction module helps to lower the time. A couple of days later the expansion of Sector Command is completed. Once New Berlin is colonized the Hannover System will be covered as well. Construction of a third commercial shipyard is ordered



In May a new jump point was found in the Berlin System, it is located inside Berlin-B’s orbit, about 1.7bkm from Berlin-A at an angle of 185°. Since Kepler 2 has to refuel anyway it is ordered to move from Hannover – were it served as a tanker for the GeoSurvey – back to Earth and then continue on to the new Berlin JP.

The JP leads to the Essen System. Except for a single yellow G-class star about 8% larger than Sol the system is empty. Kepler 2 will remain on station to enable to GravSurvey ships currently still working in Berlin to head to Essen next.

In July the first permanent jump gate build by Humanity has been completed. It leads from Sol to Hannover. The counterpart is Hannover is started right next. In August 2 additional Keplers are completed both as jump ships and ersatz-tankers. Shortly afterwards the GravSurvey of Berlin is completed, except for the JP leading to Essen nothing was found.

In October SMS Geier is completed, the first salvager. But without any jump ships large enough to move a Geier salvaging the wrecks will have to wait till jump gates have been constructed to Hamburg and Munchen. 2 additional Kronos gate builders are already under construction. In addition a new commercial shipyard – Sommer Marine Group – has been completed. A 10kt tanker is designed, the Seekuh-class and construction is started at the new yard and another slipway is started as well.

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Seekuh class Tanker    10 000 tons     55 Crew     772.8 BP      TCS 200  TH 600  EM 0
3000 km/s     Armour 2-41     Shields 0-0     Sensors 8/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 0
MSP 48    Max Repair 37.5 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 55 months    Spare Berths 0   

EP05 FC 08 25HS 150 EP Commercial Ion Drive (4)    Power 150    Fuel Use 10.61%    Signature 150    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 4 000 000 Litres    Range 678.6 billion km   (2618 days at full power)

Thermal Sensor TH1-8 (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  8m km

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes

On December, 5th SMS Kronos completes the counterpart of the Sol/Hannover gate. Colonists are encouraged to move to Hannover A-IV/New Berlin. The Kronos move to the Sol/Hamburg JP in order to construct a gate there.

And here they come…


That’s it for today…

[Garfunkel]

That civilian spam is always lovely to see 

[CharonJr (OP)]

1899

Completed techs: Magneto-Plasma Drive Tech, Reduced Size Launcher 0.33, EM Sensor Sensitivity 14, Active Grav Sensor 28, Improved Cargo Handling, new res 1 and res 100 sensor, Jump Drive Efficiency 5, Spinal Mount, Shipbuilding Rate 750, Research Rate 320, Orbital Habitat Module, Terraforming Rate 0.002 atm

New techs being researched: Reduced Size Launcher 0.25, Jump Drive Efficiency 5, Thermal Sensor Sensitivity 11, new res 1 and 100 sensors, Orbital Habitat Module, Fire Control Speed Rating 4kkm/s, Jump Drive Efficiency 6, Advanced Spinal Mount, Mining Rate 20, Shipyard Operations 20% Time/Cost, Salvage Module 750, Terraforming Rate 0.0025 atm

At the end of January the second Kronos-class gate builder is completed and is tasked with building a gate on the Hannover/Bremen jump point. For some reason the game will not assign “good” officers to construction and salvage ships. They benefit from factory production bonus, but the game will happily assign crew training officers to them, so remember to change them.

At the beginning of February Magneto-Plasma Drive Tech is completed and after some testing a couple of engines are designed. Two military drives (1HS and 5HS) and a 25HS commercial engine. Based on tests with the survey FACs a speed increase about 30% is expected.

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Humboldt FAC Mk3 class Geological Survey Vessel    1 000 tons     22 Crew     279 BP      TCS 20  TH 112  EM 0
5600 km/s     Armour 1-8     Shields 0-0     Sensors 8/1/0/2     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 0
Maint Life 5.04 Years     MSP 87    AFR 16%    IFR 0.2%    1YR 6    5YR 86    Max Repair 150 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 68 months    Spare Berths 0   

EP1 FC08 1HS 16 EP Magneto-plasma Drive (7)    Power 16    Fuel Use 79.2%    Signature 16    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 160 000 Litres    Range 36.4 billion km   (75 days at full power)

Thermal Sensor TH1-8 (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  8m km
Improved Geological Sensors (1)   2 Survey Points Per Hour

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes


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Kopernikus FAC Mk3 class Gravitational Survey Vessel    1 000 tons     22 Crew     279 BP      TCS 20  TH 112  EM 0
5600 km/s     Armour 1-8     Shields 0-0     Sensors 8/1/2/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 0
Maint Life 5.04 Years     MSP 87    AFR 16%    IFR 0.2%    1YR 6    5YR 86    Max Repair 150 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 68 months    Spare Berths 0   

EP1 FC08 1HS 16 EP Magneto-plasma Drive (7)    Power 16    Fuel Use 79.2%    Signature 16    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 160 000 Litres    Range 36.4 billion km   (75 days at full power)

Thermal Sensor TH1-8 (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  8m km
Improved Gravitational Sensors (1)   2 Survey Points Per Hour

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

On February 13th, Norbert Doppler Xeno team working on New Berlin’s 7th moon were able to identify the alien ruins as belonging to a race calling themselves the Ningpo Alliance. 6 abandoned installations were found which might be recovered by a construction brigade. From what was learned during the investigation the Ningpo technology is considered more advanced than Earth’s. 2 construction brigades and their HQs are moved from mars to New Berlin together with 1 garrison battalion.

By the end of February the commercial engine design is completed. The currently useless Geier salvage ships are the first who are scheduled for a refit.

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Geier Mk2 class Salvager    20 000 tons     192 Crew     896.4 BP      TCS 400  TH 1200  EM 0
3000 km/s     Armour 1-65     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 8     PPV 0
MSP 224    Max Repair 200 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 73 months    Spare Berths 0   
Salvager: 1 module(s) capable of salvaging 500 tons per day

EP05 FC 08 25HS 200 EP Commercial Magneto-plasma Drive (6)    Power 200    Fuel Use 10.61%    Signature 200    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 750 000 Litres    Range 63.6 billion km   (245 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes

In March Humanities first carrier, the SMS Kondor is completed and send right back to the shipyard in order to refit better engines – at least once the second slipway and retooling are completed. The Kepler-class jump ships will be refitted as well. In addition to their own shipyard the FAC-shipyards will work for this.

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Kondor Mk2 class Carrier    14 500 tons     190 Crew     1933.2 BP      TCS 290  TH 640  EM 0
2206 km/s     Armour 2-52     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 6     PPV 0
Maint Life 3.18 Years     MSP 500    AFR 280%    IFR 3.9%    1YR 75    5YR 1118    Max Repair 150 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 36 months    Flight Crew Berths 180   
Flag Bridge    Hangar Deck Capacity 6000 tons     

EP10 FC 08 25HS 80 EP Magneto-plasma Drive (8)    Power 80    Fuel Use 76%    Signature 80    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 3 490 000 Litres    Range 57.0 billion km   (298 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes


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Kepler Mk2 class Jump Ship    1 000 tons     17 Crew     123.5 BP      TCS 20  TH 80  EM 0
4000 km/s    JR 1-50     Armour 1-8     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 0
Maint Life 3.51 Years     MSP 19    AFR 32%    IFR 0.4%    1YR 2    5YR 36    Max Repair 10 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 43 months    Spare Berths 0   

J1000(1-50) Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 1000 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 1
EP1 FC08 1HS 16 EP Magneto-plasma Drive (5)    Power 16    Fuel Use 79.2%    Signature 16    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 350 000 Litres    Range 79.5 billion km   (230 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes


Shortly afterwards the GravSurvey of Essen is completed, there are no jump point except the one leading back to Berlin. A bit later new sensor technology is completed and new resolution 1 and 100 sensors are designed, improving the range by about 30% (res 100) and 80% (res 1). And at the end of March the Heidi Baum GeoSurvey Team arrives on New Berlin and start their survey. With Duranium stockpiles on Earth starting to run very low 160 automines and 2 mass drivers are send to Ceres (475 kt @1.0).

The Kranich-class troops transport needs some redesign-love as well, they are still nuclear pulse based which was somehow overseen when they were tasked with moving troops to New Berlin’s moon.

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Kranich Mk2 class Troop Transport    20 000 tons     121 Crew     762.4 BP      TCS 400  TH 800  EM 0
2000 km/s     Armour 1-65     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 2     PPV 0
MSP 60    Max Repair 50 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 18 months    Spare Berths 1   
Troop Capacity: 5 Battalions    Cargo Handling Multiplier 10   

EP05 FC 08 25HS 200 EP Commercial Magneto-plasma Drive (4)    Power 200    Fuel Use 10.61%    Signature 200    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 1 410 000 Litres    Range 119.6 billion km   (692 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes

In June the third Kronos-class gate builder is completed and heads to the soon to be completed Sol/Hamburg jump gate in order to establish a Hamburg/Munchen gate. Kronos 1 completes the Sol/Hamburg gate a few days later and starts building the Hamburg/Sol counterpart. By the end of June the troops finally arrive at New Berlin’s 7th moon are start to try recovering the alien structures. By the end of the year 1 Construction Factory, 240 infrastructure, 2 automines and 1 mine have been recovered.


With the completion of the new sensors designs recon fighters of the next generation are designed and constructed.

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Radar S1 Mk2 class Recon Fighter    498 tons     14 Crew     182.9 BP      TCS 9.95  TH 32  EM 0
3216 km/s     Armour 1-5     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 0
Maint Life 4.61 Years     MSP 57    AFR 7%    IFR 0.1%    1YR 4    5YR 65    Max Repair 140 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 9 months    Spare Berths 0   

EP1 FC08 1HS 16 EP Magneto-plasma Drive (2)    Power 16    Fuel Use 79.2%    Signature 16    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 60 000 Litres    Range 27.4 billion km   (98 days at full power)

Active Search Sensor MR19-R1 (1)     GPS 140     Range 19.6m km    MCR 2.1m km    Resolution 1

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes


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Radar S100 Mk2 class Recon Fighter    498 tons     14 Crew     182.9 BP      TCS 9.95  TH 32  EM 0
3216 km/s     Armour 1-5     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 0
Maint Life 4.61 Years     MSP 57    AFR 7%    IFR 0.1%    1YR 4    5YR 65    Max Repair 140 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 9 months    Spare Berths 0   

EP1 FC08 1HS 16 EP Magneto-plasma Drive (2)    Power 16    Fuel Use 79.2%    Signature 16    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 60 000 Litres    Range 27.4 billion km   (98 days at full power)

Active Search Sensor MR196-R100 (1)     GPS 14000     Range 196.0m km    Resolution 100

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes


In September retooling for Kronos and Seekuh is completed. But all 3 Kronos-class gate builders are currently busy and the first and only Seekuh-tanker is still under construction. 1 additional Kronos (Mk2) is ordered.

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Kronos Mk2 class Construction Ship    70 000 tons     233 Crew     2519.2 BP      TCS 1400  TH 2000  EM 0
1428 km/s     Armour 1-151     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 2     PPV 0
MSP 56    Max Repair 50 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 120 months    Spare Berths 0   
Jump Gate Construction Ship: 180 days

EP05 FC 08 25HS 200 EP Commercial Magneto-plasma Drive (10)    Power 200    Fuel Use 10.61%    Signature 200    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 4 960 000 Litres    Range 120.2 billion km   (973 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes


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Seekuh Mk2 class Tanker    10 000 tons     55 Crew     822.8 BP      TCS 200  TH 800  EM 0
4000 km/s     Armour 2-41     Shields 0-0     Sensors 8/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 0
MSP 51    Max Repair 50 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 55 months    Spare Berths 0   

EP05 FC 08 25HS 200 EP Commercial Magneto-plasma Drive (4)    Power 200    Fuel Use 10.61%    Signature 200    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 4 000 000 Litres    Range 678.6 billion km   (1963 days at full power)

Thermal Sensor TH1-8 (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  8m km

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes


Also in September Kronos 2 finishes the Hannover/Bremen gate and with a ancient counterpart already in place the gate builder heads towards the Hannover/Bonn jump point to construct a gate there. With New Berlin’s population assumed to reach 10 million by the end of the year 100 mines are transported from Earth to New Berlin in October.

Still in October a new jump point has been found in Bremen, about 3bkm from Bremen-A at an angle of 115°. This jump point has an ancient gate as well. It seems more and more likely that there has been a time when this system was visited and maybe even settled by aliens. With 5 GeoSurvey ships already at work around Bremen-B it is too late to send in recon fighters before committing survey ships, but up to now nothing bad has happened.

Research into improved Research and Shipbuilding Rates was completed at the same time and due to the mineral situation all 30 freed up labs (out of 102 total) are allocated to research Mining Rate 20, the maximum number of labs the currently best CP specialist (20%) is able to handle. And with Kronos 1 having completed the Hamburg/Sol gate and no other urgent projects it heads back to Earth for a refit.

In November Kepler 3 finishes its overhaul and is send to investigate the new gated jump point in Bremen. Kepler 2 heads there as well as a ersatz-tanker. Two weeks later 2 new jump points are found in Bremen, both already gated as well. Kepler 2 is retasked with exploring the 3rd JP. A couple of days later the GeoSurvey craft have completed the survey of the 6 planets, 20 moons and 30 asteroids, nothing remarkable was found. They are ordered to refuel at Kepler 4 and wait for further orders. JP2 leads to the Köln System and there is already a gate in place there as well.

With a G-class sun, 7 planets (4 of them terrestrial), and 70 moons Koln looks like a likely source for the aliens who have build the gates. The 2 freshly constructed recon fighters are ordered to scan the system. In the meantime Kepler 3 will take a look at JP4 in Bremen.

By mid December Kepler 3 discovers the Dusseldorf System, again with a gate leading back to Bremen. With a F-class sun 50% larger than Sol, 6 planets (2 terrestrial) and 65 moons Dusseldorf might be the home system of the aliens as well. Especially since there are two wrecks right at orbit of Dusseldorf A-I, which might be a habitable world. Dusselfdorf becomes the new priority for the recon fighters.


No further investigation is ordered till there has been a recon sweep. In Hamburg Kronos 3 has completed its gate and with a alien gate already in place on the other side heads back to Earth for a refit. JP3 leads to the Frankfurt System which seems fairly unremarkable, a single G-class sun (85% mass) and just two planets that look very unlikely to be habitable. The only thing remarkable is the gate already in place, but this has become the norm with the Bremen jump points by now.

Bremen System at the end of the year



Galaxy Map


That’s it for today…

[Michael Sandy]

I have 2 main types of scout fighters, with very different jobs.

First, there is the jump pinnace, which are 200 tons (before efficiency 5 tech) or 250 ton and 500 ton (after efficiency 5 tech), with size 1, 2 and 3 sized engines respectively.  These are designed to be based on Earth, or later a colony world with a PDC CV, with 3 year endurance and 60+ billion km range.  Each is likely to probe every body in multiple systems before having to go back for fuel and maintenance.

Second, there are fast sprint scouts.  You can body check with fast scouts once you have carriers and jump tenders, it is safer, but uses a lot more fuel.  But 80 ton scouts don't use that much more fuel than 250 ton scouts over the same distance traveled.

But sprint scouts can't serve as pickets, cause they have no crew or maintenance endurance.

[CharonJr (OP)]

Yeah, I will have to (re)design some survey craft once the current situation is dealt with...


1900

Colonies


Earth


Minerals


Shipyards


Research



New Berlin will soon reach a population of 10 million and demand some form of protection. With the troop transports scheduled for refit and no military ships at all this will become a problem. The only alternative at the moment is a PDC which will be prefabricated on Earth and moved to New Berlin. The current design is more show than substance and nobody has to know that no missiles have been actually designed or build yet…

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Flak class Point Defence Base    5 000 tons     186 Crew     663 BP      TCS 100  TH 0  EM 0
Armour 6-26     Sensors 1/140     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 52
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months    Flight Crew Berths 1   
Hangar Deck Capacity 1000 tons     Magazine 52   

Fuel Capacity 430 000 Litres    Range N/A
PDC Size 1 Missile Launcher (52)    Missile Size 1    Rate of Fire 15
Missile Fire Control FC3-R1 (5)     Range 3.5m km    Resolution 1

Active Search Sensor MR19-R1 (1)     GPS 140     Range 19.6m km    MCR 2.1m km    Resolution 1


This design is classed as a Planetary Defence Centre and can be pre-fabricated in 2 sections


But the main problem is the Duranium crunch and while there are enough mines to deal with it in the long run it will be hard for a while. 54 automines will be moved from Wolf (Corundium) to Ceres (Duranium). It might get even harder considering the danger of meeting potentially hostile aliens. With the lack of minerals higher efficiency/tech are more important. Salvaging might help here – and with resources as well – but currently Humanity lacks a dedicated transport ship under direct control. There are two designs which should remedy this, but are partially limited by current shipyard capacity:

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Esel class Freighter    30 000 tons     52 Crew     416.4 BP      TCS 600  TH 600  EM 0
1000 km/s     Armour 1-86     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 0
MSP 1    Max Repair 50 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 36 months    Spare Berths 0   
Cargo 25000    Cargo Handling Multiplier 10   

EP05 FC 08 25HS 200 EP Commercial Magneto-plasma Drive (3)    Power 200    Fuel Use 10.61%    Signature 200    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 430 000 Litres    Range 24.3 billion km   (281 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes


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Lastesel class Freighter    60 000 tons     103 Crew     784.8 BP      TCS 1200  TH 1200  EM 0
1000 km/s     Armour 1-136     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 0
MSP 1    Max Repair 50 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 36 months    Spare Berths 2   
Cargo 50000    Cargo Handling Multiplier 15   

EP05 FC 08 25HS 200 EP Commercial Magneto-plasma Drive (6)    Power 200    Fuel Use 10.61%    Signature 200    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 1 090 000 Litres    Range 30.8 billion km   (356 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes



Completed techs: Composite Armor, Fire Control Speed 4kkm/s, Reduced-size Launcher 0.25 Size, Planetary Sensor Strength 300, Implosion Fission Warhead: 3x MSP, Magazine Ejection System 70% Chance, Missile Agility per MSP 32, Railgun Launch Velocity 5, Levitated-Pit Implosion Warhead Strength 4, Planetary Sensors 400, Missile Agility per MSP 48, Magazine Feed System 75%, ECM 1, Fusion-boosted Fission Warhead Strength 5, Two-stage Thermonuclear Warhead Strength 6

New techs being researched: Ceramic Composite Armor, Planetary Sensor Strength 300, Implosion Fission Warhead: 3x MSP, Magazine Ejection System 70% Chance, Planetary Sensors 400, Beam Fire Control Range 32kkm, Missile Agility per MSP 32, Magazine Feed System 75%, Box Launcher Size 0.15, Levitated-Pit Implosion Warhead Strength 4, Missile Agility per MSP 48, ECM 1, Missile Launcher Reload Rate 2, Fusion-boosted Fission Warhead Strength 5, ECCM 1


After having been refueled by Kepler 3 the recon fighters start their scan of the Dusseldorf System and head towards the two wrecks detected in the orbit of Dusseldorf A-I, a potentially habitable planet. The journey into the inner system will take close to 23 days.

On January 21st at 08:56 the suspicions about Dusseldorf prove to be correct, there is a aliens presence here. 4 alien ships of 3 different classes massing 8.55kt each are detected by the active sensors at a distance of 196mkm. The recon fighters stop and try to keep the distance from the aliens while hailing them and stating their peaceful intentions.

Sensor data shows that the aliens move at a speed of 7.2kkm/s, more than twice the speed of the recon fighters. After having stopped for one hour and sending their hails the fighters start to retreat towards the jump point and Kepler 3 jumps out of the system. The recon fighters are ordered to ignore the jump point and try to move past it, but the aliens will reach them before reaching the jump point anyway.

Active sensor coming online in combination with the 2 wrecks already in system do not bode well…


At January 22nd, 20:50:46 the recon fighters are hit by 3 missiles. Based on their flight patterns they are theorized to be anti-ship missiles, but since they were launched at point blank range it is hard to say for sure. Each missile caused a strength 13 nuclear explosion. 15 crew make it to the lifepods and are stranded in Dusseldorf with no hope for rescue.


When news about the destruction of the recon fighters reaches Earth construction and research priorities are switched to war mode. Meyer Werft which has been building the gate builders is converted to the Lastesel-class heavy transport since wrecks might prove to treasure trove of important technologies and to move PDCs away from Earth.

All ships in Bremen are ordered into the Koln System to start surveys there, the most important point is trying to prevent the Hannover jump point from looking like the origin of Earth ships. Maybe the impression can be established that Humanity comes from the Koln System, even though it is very likely that the aliens have already surveyed Koln. Kepler 3 volunteers to stay at the Bremen/Dusseldorf jump point and look for an alien transit.

Due to the range advantage the Dusseldorf Aliens better sensors are a high priority. With improved sensor tech expected to be 3 years away from completion larger sensors seem to be the only way in the short term. A size 10 sensor able to spot 5kt ships would have a range of close to 400mkm and take about 3 month to develop. Improving the planetary sensor network would take about the same time. Both projects are started, but first research into better beam fire control tech will have to be completed in order to build a beam PD fighter/FAC.



Industrial capacity will be focused on Ordnance Production Factories and Fighter Production Factories for now. But currently missile technology is hardly known, this has to be remedied soon. In mid February all components for a railgun based fighter are completed and production of the Fokker R1 is started.

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Fokker R1 class Fighter    500 tons     17 Crew     96.6 BP      TCS 10  TH 64  EM 0
6400 km/s     Armour 1-5     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 3
Maint Life 3.59 Years     MSP 12    AFR 20%    IFR 0.3%    1YR 1    5YR 22    Max Repair 20 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 5 months    Spare Berths 0   

EP1 FC08 1HS 16 EP Magneto-plasma Drive (4)    Power 16    Fuel Use 79.2%    Signature 16    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 30 000 Litres    Range 13.6 billion km   (24 days at full power)

10cm Railgun V4/C3 (1x4)    Range 40 000km     TS: 6400 km/s     Power 3-3     RM 4    ROF 5        1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fire Control S00.5 48-2000 (FTR) (1)    Max Range: 96 000 km   TS: 8000 km/s     90 79 69 58 48 38 27 17 6 0
Stellarator Fusion Reactor Technology PB-1 (1)     Total Power Output 3    Armour 0    Exp 5%

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes

On March, 7th the Heidi Baum GeoTeam completes its survey of New Berlin, revealing additional Sorium desposists and a 14.8mt Corundium Deposit @0.9. Overall still sadly hard to mine the bulk of the minerals.

A couple of days later the first Fokker R1 is completed and heads heads towards New Berlin in order to provide some protection. Taskforce Carrier 1 is ordered there as well to provide some logistical support for the fighters.

On March, 19th a population of a new race of aliens is detected at Koln A-III, it has a thermal signature of 4.9k and an EM emission of 49k while Earth has 35k/170k. Either this civilization is fairly backwards or this is a minor colony. Newly established Diplomacy Team  Ulrich Bodendorf tries to establish communication.

Communication with the Koln aliens is established less than one week after initial contact. They identify themselves as the Iroquois Imperium and seem to be fairly peaceful, but it will take some time to work out a deeper translation of their language. At first sight they seem to be a race of heavily enhanced man-machines.



With the second Fokker arriving at New Berlin the population feel more secure, unrest is no longer rising. And construction on Earth is switched to Financial Industries, since those do not need any Duranium and might become useful later on.

In June the Duranium stpckpile has stabilized and is back above 1kt. The new FAC sensor ship is designed and a shipyard is retooled. In September Box-Launcher research is expected to be completed. A new FAC based on those launchers is planned. With the Dusseldorf aliens not having left their system there is some hope that it might be possible to bring the fight to them. Humanity still burns for revenge.

[/code]

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Radar FAC R100 class Scout    1 000 tons     27 Crew     370.8 BP      TCS 20  TH 80  EM 0
4000 km/s     Armour 1-8     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 0
Maint Life 1.02 Years     MSP 46    AFR 40%    IFR 0.6%    1YR 44    5YR 667    Max Repair 280 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months    Spare Berths 0   

EP10 FC 08 25HS 80 EP Magneto-plasma Drive (1)    Power 80    Fuel Use 76%    Signature 80    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 140 000 Litres    Range 33.2 billion km   (95 days at full power)

Active Search Sensor MR392-R100 (1)     GPS 28000     Range 392.0m km    Resolution 100

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

In mid June an already established jump gate is found in Koln, it is located close to 5bkm from Koln-A at a angle of 310°. Kepler 5 heads there to investigate. A short time later the final GravSurvey is conducted and no further jump point was found. The first Seekuh tanker arrives at New Berlin from Earth, a second delivery is ordered, this will greatly cut down on the overhead needed to keep the survey ships in operation.

Kepler 5 jumps into the Nurnberg System, which consist of a small M-class sun (7% mass) and 2 planets. Due to the weak radiation from Nurnberg-A no life is possible there. The survey ships start to explore the system. And as expected, there is a gate at the Nurnberg-side as well. But it seems very unlikely that the Iroquois came from Nurnberg, most likely there is another gate in Nurnberg.

With the Duranium stockpile still rising retooling for the Kondor Mk2 carrier is started. At the beginning of August a ungated jump point is found in Nurnberg. It is located about 1.5bkm from Nurnberg-A at an angle of 350°. The JP leads into an equally boring system, Stuttgart. It consists of a single K-class sun and a single terrestrial planet orbiting it, due to the closeness to the sun the planet is very hot and seems uninhabitable. Another jump point is found in Nurnberg again without a gate, this one about 1.8bkm away from the sun at an angle of 135°. Kepler 3 heads there from New Berlin.

With no further jump points found in Nurnberg is seems very likely now that the Iroquois are not a very technically advanced race, which found fit in with the fairly low emissions from their planet and the lack of space ships or space stations as well.

The final Nurnberg jump point leads to the Mannheim System, consisting of 2 G-Class sun (around 90% mass) with Mannheim-B orbiting A at a distance of 0.1 lightyears. Mannheim-B has 6 planets with a fair number of moons, but due to the distance it is hard to make out any details. Mannheim-A has 9 planets with Mannheim A-III to V being in the habitable zone as well as being terrestrial planets. Further investigation might yield interesting results. In addition to the planets there are about 30 moons and 25 asteroids. With the JP more than 3bkm from the inner planets and due to the distances involved to reach Mannheim it will take some time before a large scale survey can be launched.

A missile fire control is tailor made for the Dusseldorf aliens (resolution 8kt for their 8.55kt ships) in addition to a size 6 box launcher. Speed is somewhat below what was seen from the aliens, but it is hoped that the missile range will be high enough to enable a timely retreat. A size 6 ASM is designed for the launcher/control combo as well. Since the enemy has been firing AAMs with a strength warhead the idea is using a large number of fairly small warheaded missiles from long range instead of large warheads. Retooling a shipyard and production of the missiles is begun. The next generation of carriers will have to incorporate magazins in order to reload the missile boats.

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Falke class Missile Boat    1 000 tons     12 Crew     151.2 BP      TCS 20  TH 144  EM 0
7200 km/s     Armour 1-8     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 8.1
Maint Life 1.52 Years     MSP 9    AFR 80%    IFR 1.1%    1YR 4    5YR 66    Max Repair 28 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 1.9 months    Spare Berths 0   
Magazine 54   

EP1 FC08 1HS 16 EP Magneto-plasma Drive (9)    Power 16    Fuel Use 79.2%    Signature 16    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 20 000 Litres    Range 4.5 billion km   (7 days at full power)

Size 6 Box Launcher (9)    Missile Size 6    Hangar Reload 45 minutes    MF Reload 7.5 hours
Missile Fire Control FC148-R160 (1)     Range 148.7m km    Resolution 160
Size 6 Anti-ship Missile (9)  Speed: 25 600 km/s   End: 89.6m    Range: 137.6m km   WH: 4    Size: 6    TH: 136/82/41

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

In November the first Lastesel transport is completed. Together with a Geier salvager it heads off into the Munchen system to salvage the 2 wrecks there. Followed shortly afterwards by another transport/salvager pair.

In early December a jump point is found in Stuttgart. It is located about 400mkm from the sun at an angle of 200°. Kepler 2 moves to investigate. The JP leads to the Dresden System, which has a single G-class sun (108% mass). There are 6 planets, about 60 moons and a couple of asteroids. There is one terrestrial planet inside the habitable zone which looks interesting.

A new jump point is found a Stuttgart a short while later. About 1bkm from the sun at 105°. Kepler 4 moves to investigate.

Map at the end of 1900



That’s it for today…

edit: Research table was from 10 years ago

[Michael Sandy]

There is a difference between scouting and forward observer role.  Scouting, you want to know if somebody is there without revealing yourself.  Ships and fighters with EM sensors are the most likely to detect an enemy very far out, because long ranged anti-ship sensors are noisy as hell.

The forward observer sacrifices endurance for speed, and is supposed to be able to make the system ring like a bell, and hopefully you can have a combination of size and sensor reach that fits a hole in the enemy sensor capabilities.

If they have a res 10 sensor, maybe your 200 ton scout (2 HS in engines, 1 HS in sensor) will have the edge.  If they have a res 1 sensor, maybe you want a 500 ton scout with a 3 HS sensor, as it will be detected at the same range, but be able to shadow the enemy from much further out.

I would consider it a very unfriendly act for someone new to my system to wander around with a forward observer active sensor, lighting up my fleet for whatever long ranged bombardment options they had.

I like my long endurance scout pinnaces for the job they have to do, to check if systems are safe for surveying.  They are cheapish, require little micro, and I don't need to pay much attention to them, except for noting on the Galactic map whether a given system has been body checked or not.  But if there are wrecks in a system, or a habitable body, that is a job for recon missiles and/or fleet scouts, after checking with an EM scout that the jump point isn't within active sensor range of anybody.

Ah well, every empire has to learn sometime.   Fortunately, it is REALLY easy to just come out with a new generation of fighter scouts, and the old ones still have some utility.

[Garfunkel]

Intended Deployment Time: 1.9 months

Was that to get nice round numbers and no extra crew berths?

And yeah, double contact! I do like how everything seems to evolve so organically in your game. Good luck with the aliens!

[CharonJr (OP)]

Intended Deployment Time: 1.9 months

Was that to get nice round numbers and no extra crew berths?

Yes, no extra berths was the idea. In addition it actually helps a little bit with extra endurance for jump point picket duty.