1st January 2016
Simeon and Tver, the final two Sovremenny IIAs, are launched from the St Ekatarina shipyards. Both ships are dispatched to join Kiev and four other Sovremennys on training manoeuvres in the outer Romanov system.
6th January 2016
The fleet of twelve Kotlin class terraformers is still working on the atmosphere of Anastasia and have increased the temperature to -5C, which gives the planet a colony cost of only 0.07. However, many of the ships are falling apart through lack of maintenance and some haven?t been overhauled in over ten years. Sharing spare parts between the ships has kept them on station as long as possible but failures are now imminent so Star Marshal Alexeyev has pulled the fleet back to St. Ekatarina where the planet?s maintenance facilities can keep them from falling apart until they can be scheduled for overhauls. Two newer Kotlin IIs remain in Anastasia orbit and will be joined by the Kotlins as they complete their overhauls.
16th January 2016
Novorossiysk return to Romanov, along with the colony ship. Captain-Lieutenant Ignatov reports the small colony has been established on Bessabaria, the archaeological team was safely delivered to Bessabaria C-II and the four older warships were escorted into Bratsk system so they could picket the Saransk jump point.
13th February 2016
Tagansky and Kitai-Gorod return to Romanov with news of their scouting mission to Saransk. They entered the system on December 16th 2015 and split up, with Kitai-Gorod in the lead and Tagansky holding back to observe. Their first task was to explore the third jump point, which led to Aldan, an unremarkable binary with a red M9-V primary, orbited by three gas giants, a toxic high pressure world and a planetless brown dwarf at only 225m km. Kitai-Gorod re-entered Saransk and began moving toward the alien population, gradually decreasing speed as she approached. She confirmed the previous EM reading of 9300 and on January 9th picked up a thermal signature of 2600 (St. Ekatarina: 12,000). With no sign of hostile vessels, she decreased speed to 100 km/s and crept within fifteen million kilometers of the planet before switching on her active sensors. Four ships were detected in orbit, three of which were identified as the ships that pursued Gorshkov and a fourth that appeared to be the same class. The aliens obviously detected Kitai-Gorod?s sensor emissions as they immediately gave chase. Both scouts easily outran their pursuers and headed for home.
One lesson to be learned from this mission is that a planet is vulnerable to hostile scout ships getting in close unless it has powerful active sensors. Unfortunately, those same sensors would announce the presence of the population to anyone in the inner system. Our two ancient Yaroslav class planetary defence centres only have the same active sensors as the Kiev series and Moskva II class scouts so Star Marshal Alexeyev decides we should build a new PDC type with much larger active sensors than those carried by our ships. This will have to be a future project though as the larger sensors will have to be developed first.
The good news from the scout mission is that this alien population appears much smaller than St. Ekatarina, so if this is indeed the alien homeworld it should not present a serious threat to our survival, although the alien warships could prove a problem if they leave Saransk and begin attacking our ships away from Romanov. Therefore Star Marshal Alexeyev orders his staff to begin planning a military expedition to neutralise any such threat before it can materialise. In the meantime, Tagansky is sent back to Saransk to picket the jump point to Bratsk.
27th February 2016
A couple of shortages are starting to worry the Tsar?s economic advisers. After being plentiful for many years, the supply of Duranium is no longer meeting demand, due to our expanding economy, and the stockpile is becoming dangerously low. In addition, although we have 8.6 million litres of fuel stockpiled on St. Ekatarina, that has fallen by two million litres in just over a year. We will either have to reduce fuel use or build more refineries to convert our growing stockpile of Sorium ore. Unfortunately, refineries are built primarily from Duranium and reducing fuel use would probably involve halting the vital training exercises taking place in Romanov.
6th March 2016
The Moskva II class scout Zelenograd arrives in Romanov with news from Bessabaria. Two weeks ago, the Bessabarians agreed to purchase improved mining technology from us for 3000 megaroubles and have also asked us to sell them either mining complexes or Duranium. Apparently they are also suffering an acute Duranium shortage. Captain-Lieutenant Konstantin Petrov, commanding the Zelenograd, reports that there is growing unrest on the Bessabarian planet, primarily because the recent contact with the Imperium has created fear among the population that they are defenceless against alien invasion and they are demanding more warships to protect them. Although we do not have access to any Bessabarian military information, the sensor readings from the Moskva combined with reports on the Bessabarian news channels lead Imperial Intelligence to believe the Bessabarians have only three spacecraft in service. Two are 4600 ton ?Cosmic Liberty? class cruisers and the third is a ?Lennon Karma? class geological survey ship. Their weapon and electronic systems capabilities are unknown.
According to Captain-Lieutenant Petrov, there are strikes and civil disobedience in many Bessabarian cities and their industrial production has fallen by forty percent from its all-time high. The two warships, described as outdated by BNN, the main Bessabarian planet-wide news network, are not seen as a sufficient deterrent if the Imperium should turn hostile. A third Cosmic Liberty is being built in the Bessabarians? single shipyard but it has been on hold for several months due to resource shortages and industrial stoppages. The Bessabarian government is a theocracy, with religious leaders holding political power. This seemed to have been a very peaceful and benevolent rule that worked well until the first contact with the Imperium. Unfortunately the Church had preached that the Bessabarians were chosen by God as the supreme beings in the universe. Now that pillar of Bessabarian theology has been severely shaken, the clergy have lost some of their power to control the population. The last thing we need when confronting a new and probably hostile alien race is for our growing relationship with the Bessabarians to be ruined by civil unrest.
Star Marshal Alexeyev decides that despite our own problems, keeping the Bessabarian relationship intact is to our advantage. Therefore he orders the Cargo Fleet to transport 300 tons of Duranium, almost half our current stockpile, and a dozen mines to Bessabaria. In addition, Minsk is ordered to collect the two Azov-L frigates from their picket duty and escort them to Bessabaria with an offer to sell them to the Bessabarians. The two ships lack even shields and would likely die fast in any real combat. However, they may give the Bessabarian people a sense of security without ever having to fight a battle.
6th May 2016
Rear Admiral Stefan Kravchenko, commander of the Red Fleet, has been promoted to Vice Admiral. Since the retirement of Vice Admiral Ivanova seven years ago, there has been no officer of that rank in the Imperial Navy and only two higher ranked officers, Admiral Sokolov and Star Marshal Alexeyev. Admiral Sokolov is rarely seen but he is a second cousin of the Tsar and many people believe that this relationship, rather than his abilities, have propelled him to his position as the second highest ranking officer in the Fleet. His current assignment is head of all Romanov ground forces and is based at one of the Yaroslav Planetary Defence Centres. Vice Admiral Kravchenko has had a more varied career, commanding a PDC and two of the Kirov class frigates before taking over the Red Fleet after the retirement of Vice Admiral Ivanova in 2009. Captain 1st Rank Pavlik Grigorovich, one of the rising stars of the Imperial Navy, is promoted to Rear Admiral to replace Vice Admiral Kravchenko.
In 2002, Pavlik Grigorovich was promoted to Senior Lieutenant and took command of a Kalinin class freighter. Despite this lowly beginning, his exceptional command abilities were recognised early in his career and he was put on the fast track for promotion. In July 2003, he was promoted to Captain-Lieutenant and a year later advanced again, this time to Captain 3rd Rank. Shortly thereafter he took command of the Kirov class frigate Frunze. He commanded the ship for ten years, being promoted to Captain 2nd rank in 2007 and Captain 1st Rank in 2010, before moving to the Sovremenny class destroyer Constantine in April 2015. Even with his new rank, he retains control of the ship, serving as Vice Admiral Kravchenko?s senior ship commander and often commanding a group of several destroyers.
26th May 2016
The cargo fleet returns from its mission to Bessabaria. The Bessabarians were extremely grateful for the mines, the Duranium and the two ships and hope that it will turn the tide of their civil unrest. Of course, our generosity was not entirely philanthropic and the Bessabarians paid us the equivalent of 2650 megaroubles. A very reasonable price.
11th July 2016
Due to the rapidly expanding officer corps of the Imperial Navy, Captain 1st Rank Oleg Sidorov, commander of the First Survey Fleet for the last ten years, is promoted to Rear Admiral.
16th October 2016
The fuel situation over the last eight months has remained relatively stable, although colonization operations have been temporarily suspended. Twenty new refineries have been built and our researchers on Alexandria have just developed new technology that should boost our refinery output by twenty percent.
11th November 2016
The Mikoyan M40 Missile Launcher has been developed. This has a forty second reload time compared to the fifty second reload time of the 05-50 Missile Launcher used on the Sovremenny series. Several officers propose that all eight Sovremennys should be refitted with the new launchers but that would take almost six months and interrupt the ongoing training programme. As it is nine months since Star Marshal Alexeyev asked for plans for a raid against the Saransk system, he is becoming frustrated with excuses about fuel shortages, training exercises and insufficient stockpiles of the latest SS-N-2 Scarab Anti-ship Missile. He gives his staff and subordinates until January 1st 2017 to assemble a strike force.
14th November 2016
Novorossiysk returns to Romanov after a mission escorting the recently re-assembled Second Survey Fleet. Her task has now been taken over by Sokol, the fourth Moskva II class scout, allowing Novorossiysk to return and report. The Second Survey Fleet was dispatched to Archangelsk, accessed via the outer jump point of Vorkuta, a system which connects to both Rostov-na-Donu and Romanov. Five new jump points were discovered in Archangelsk, one of which connected to the known Moskva system, also adjacent to Romanov. Although three of the other four systems were of little interest, the fourth contained the largest star ever discovered, a type M9-II red supergiant. The star at the heart of the Donetsk system is one point four billion kilometers in diameter, enough to encompass the first six planets in Romanov and the inner asteroid belt, and has a luminosity that rates at 16,200 according to the method used by the old human Empire. From what we can tell, this rating method is based on the luminosity of the primary of the mythical human homeworld. Our own Romanov-A rates only 1.53 on this scale, while Romanov-B is 0.79. The star has only one planet; a tiny chunk of rock orbiting at twenty-one billion kilometers. Because of the mass of the supergiant, approximately eighteen times greater than Romanov-A, any gravitational survey of this system will take considerable time. Therefore the second survey fleet is concentrating on the other systems adjacent to Archangelsk and will return home to refuel before taking on the supergiant.
12th December 2016
Zelenograd arrives at St Ekatarina carrying our archaeological team and bringing news that the ruins on Bessabaria-C II have been completely explored with no sign of any advanced technology.
1st January 2017
A Task Force under the overall command of Vice Admiral Kravchenko has been assembled for the raid on the aliens in the Saransk system. The organization of the Task Force is as follows:
Red Fleet ? Vice Admiral Kravchenko
Red Fleet Task Group One - Rear Admiral Pavlik Grigorovich
Kiev IV class: CJ Kiev (TF Flag)
Sovremenny IIA class DD: Alexander Nevsky, Constantine (TG Flag), Sovremenny, Tver
Moskva II class SC: Kitai-Gorod
Skory class CO: Skory
Red Fleet Task Group Two ? Captain 1st Rank Ivonne Vorokova
Kiev IV class: CJ Novorossiysk
Sovremenny IIA class DD: Dimitri, Simeon, Vladimir, Yuri (TG Flag)
Moskva II class SC: Zelenograd
Skory class CO: Ognevoy
Red Fleet Task Group Three ? Captain 3rd Rank Urie Kalinin
Kiev IV class: CJ Minsk
Kirov II class FF: Kirov, Frunze
Both Task Group One and Task Group Two are currently in orbit of St Ekatarina and have completed refuelling and rearming. Each of the eight Sovremenny IIA class destroyers is loaded with eighty SS-N-2 Scarab missiles and forty SS-N-1 Starbursts as the production of Scarabs has not yet caught up with demand. The two Skory class colliers carry an additional six hundred and forty SS-N-1 Starbursts between them, which means the Task Force is carrying our entire stock of ordnance. Not a single missile remains behind on St Ekatarina. The jump cruiser Minsk is at the Romanov ? Rostov-na-Donu jump point and will scout ahead for the other task groups before linking up with Kirov and Frunze at the Bratsk ? Saransk jump point. Once the Task Force is all in position, Task Group Three will remain to guard the jump point while Task Groups One and Two move against the alien planet. The only warship left at St Ekatarina is the Kirov class frigate Pyotr Velikiy, which is a gamble but Star Marshal Alexeyev intends to make the first strike decisive and then withdraw Task Group Two back to Romanov. His orders to Vice Admiral Kravchenko are to eliminate any possible threat from the aliens in Saransk.
6th February 2017
All three task groups of the Red Fleet are assembled at the Saransk ? Bratsk jump point and the Moskva II class scout Tagansky reports no activity near the Saransk side of the jump point. Vice Admiral Kravchenko orders his ships into the alien system and Tagansky joins Task Group Three to provide eyes and ears for the group assigned to watch the jump point. Task Group One and Task Group Two proceed to waypoints located 250 million kilometers either side of the primary. Vice Admiral Kravchenko intends to close on the alien world from two sides, destroy any alien ships he can find and then dictate terms to the planet.
Both groups travel with their scouts 300,000 kilometers ahead of the main body and the colliers following a million kilometers behind. Unfortunately, the scouts have had no formation training and they are all over the sky as they try to stay on station. The destroyers are forced to travel more slowly to account for the erratic course changes of the Moskva IIs. In the end, the Admiral orders to scouts to head for the waypoints while his destroyers follow them. While this is easier for the scouts, it is less flexible and the scouts will have to be given new orders if any sudden course changes are needed. Given their lack of fleet training there is no guarantee they will respond quickly to such orders. Fortunately, in this situation no close formation keeping is required but if Vladimir Myasishchev?s ?escorts? are built they will have to be trained hard before they can effectively take part in a battle.
27th February 2017
The two task groups approach the alien world from opposite directions, watching for the first sign of enemy activity. This is not a stealthy advance as all the ships maintain 4000 km/s, throwing down a gauntlet for the alien warships to pick up. As Task Group One moves within twenty million kilometers, Kiev engages her active sensors and detects the same four ships in orbit as Kitai-Gorod did a year ago. The aliens must be aware of the Romanov ships but given their speed, they most likely see no point in moving away from their planet. Finally with Task Group One only three million kilometers away and Task Group Two at eight million kilometers, they move out to engage the closer Romanov force. Alexander Nevsky, Constantine, Sovremenny, Tver lock their fire controls on the lead alien ship and at 12:01 pm, they launch twenty-four SS-N-2 Scarab missiles from a range of 618,000 kilometers. The first war shots in the history of the Imperial Navy.
The four alien ships press onward and there is no defensive fire against the missiles or any hostile missile launch. All twenty-four missiles impact at once, blasting through shields and armour as if they didn?t exist and ripping the heart out of the alien cruiser. The ship staggers to a halt, debris cascading in its wake and fires blazing within the atmosphere gushing from great rents in its hull. A second salvo is already on its way so Vice Admiral Kravchenko orders his ships to target the second enemy vessel. Once again every missile is on target, no doubt because they are almost ten times faster than their targets and the Romanov crews are well trained. A colossal explosion momentarily blinds Romanov sensors and when they recover there are only three alien ships. The slow moving alien ships seem to have no way to engage our missiles or catch our ships so Vice Admiral Kravchenko orders a cease fire, hoping the aliens will surrender. Instead, life pods spill from the burning cripple as the crew abandons ship then the two intact ships begin rescue operations. The crippled ship explodes, presumably from scuttling charges.
After several minutes spent recovering the life pods, the two alien ships head for the planet. Worried about the two ships combining with possible PDCs on the planet, Vice Admiral Kravchenko orders them to stop, knowing that without any way to communicate this is probably a futile attempt. There is no response so the Admiral orders his ships to resume fire. A third salvo streaks toward the two remaining ships at 14,000 km/s and forty seconds later another alien cruiser blows up. The fourth ship finally halts and lowers its shields. Perhaps the aliens though the first two salvos comprised our entire weapon load. While Task Group One watches the last alien ship, Task Group Two continues moving toward the planet and halts at one million kilometers. Now that we have their attention, they should be more willing to attempt communication. As he is extremely reluctant to bombard the planet, the Admiral decides to send Tagansky back to Romanov with an update and a request for instructions while his staff try to solve the communication problem with the aliens. In the meantime, Skory rejoins Task Group One and restocks the magazines of the four destroyers, replacing the seventy-two expended SS-N-2 Scarabs with SS-N-1 Starbursts.
17th March 2017
Tagansky enters the Romanov system and relays news of the brief battle to Star Marshal Alexeyev. After several hours deliberating with the Tsar, his orders are brutally clear. Now that we have destroyed three of their ships, the aliens will no doubt seek revenge in the future. Vice Admiral Kravchenko must either force their unconditional surrender or remove the industrial capabilities of the alien population through planetary bombardment. There is simply no way, given our current resources, that we could hope to invade and occupy the alien world. In addition, half his force must return to Romanov as per his original orders as our home planet is defended by a single frigate.
8th April 2017
Tagansky returns to Saransk and delivers Star Marshal Alexeyev?s orders. Although communication has still not been established, Vice Admiral Kravchenko?s staff assure him that considerable progress has been made and they believe that a breakthrough is imminent. Well aware that he cannot deliberately disobey direct orders, he instructs Captain 1st Rank Vorokova to take Task Group Two back to Romanov and tells his staff that if communications have not been established before Task Group Two reaches the Bratsk jump point, he will destroy the remaining alien ship and bombard the planet.
16th April 2017
With Task Group Two less than three days from the jump point, full communication with the aliens is established. They call themselves the Esanak and are a reptilian race with powerful bodies, a thick scaly hide and a row of prominent spikes running down their back. Initial negotiations reveal their ?government? is led by a single ruler, with absolute power. More like a despot than a king or emperor. Our demand of unconditional surrender is met with angry defiance, even when Vice Admiral Kravchenko threatens to bombard the planet. Time is running out as the Admiral does not want Task Group Two leaving Saransk and carrying a report to the Star Marshal that the situation is still not resolved. In an effort to speed up the negotiation, he orders the last Esanak warship to be targeted and destroyed.
The Esanak simply increase their rhetoric so with heavy heart, the Admiral orders Alexander Nevsky to begin firing on the planet. The first salvo of six missiles lands in an industrial area and nuclear mushroom clouds rise into the blue skies, scattering radioactive debris on the Esanak population. Fifty seconds later, a second salvo lands, killing as estimated two million civilians and wrecking part of the Esanak shipbuilding and maintenance facilities. Still the Esanak leader refuses to surrender, even as his cities are being bombed and his population slaughtered while he sits safe in some underground bunker. Sovremenny joins the attack and missiles strike the surface every twenty-five seconds as the destroyers alternate their salvos. Nuclear strikes march across the once-green surface of the planet, annihilating everyone and everything in their path.
With the death toll estimated at eighteen million from an initial population of less than one hundred and fifty million and no sign of capitulation, Vice Admiral Kravchenko orders his other two destroyers to join in. The bombardment intensifies, obliterating every industrial installation that Romanov staffers can identify. Finally, with over fifty million dead and the planet in ruins, a new communication from the planet announces that their former leader has been overthrown and they wish to offer unconditional surrender. It is a shame they waited until over a third of their people had been wiped out before killing their obviously insane ruler.
The vanquished Esanak population on Saransk Prime will have to be watched carefully, even as we begin to rebuild their world. The population of ninety-nine million has been left without any industry whatsoever and there are significant problems caused by radiation and atmospheric dust. The surface temperature is dropping rapidly and our scientists believe it will stabilize at fifty-three degrees Celsius, five degrees colder than before. The radiation level would reduce industrial output, if there were any to reduce, and further deaths from residual radiation will slow the recovery of the population. Eventually the dust will settle and the radiation will subside but the environment will not return to its previous state for several years.
19th April 2017
Task Group Two leaves Saransk, carrying news of the conquest of Saransk Prime.
2nd May 2017
The Bessabarian Theocracy launches their third Cosmic Liberty class cruiser. Due to the recent purchase of the two Azov-Ls, simultaneously improving their defences and showing the Romanov Imperium to be more a friend than an enemy, the unrest that plagued the Bessabarian homeworld has gradually subsided over the last year. There are still pockets of troublemakers but they are becoming increasingly isolated from popular opinion. This new ship should enhance their feelings of security even further.
11th May 2017
Task Group Two arrives in the Romanov system. News of the victory over the Esanak is met with both pride that the Imperial Navy has passed its first real test and revulsion at the scale of the Esanak casualties. Even though the intransigence of the Esanak leader was directly responsible for the deaths of so many of his people, the Imperium was left with little choice but to bombard the planet because we had no alternatives. If instead we had the ability to land substantial ground forces, we may have been able to subdue the planet without such widespread destruction and loss of life. Not only would this save civilian lives but it would allow us to capture the planet?s industry instead of destroying it. Therefore Star Marshal Alexeyev has ordered Captain 2nd Rank Eva Sorokin, governor of Alexandria, to start her scientists working on the technology required for troop transport, once their current task is completed. In addition, new ground troops will be trained to take part in planetary assaults. At the moment we have only four mobile infantry divisions and two headquarters units. As soon as resources permit, we will boost that force with assault infantry and armoured heavy assault divisions.
14th May 2017
Satisfied that his forces have completed their job, Vice Admiral Kravchenko decides to return to Romanov with Kiev, Alexander Nevsky and Sovremenny, leaving behind a new formation in orbit of Saransk prime. The Saransk Garrison Force, under the command of Rear Admiral Pavlik Grigorovich, comprises the jump cruiser Minsk, the Sovremenny class destroyers Constantine and Tver, the Kirov class frigates Kirov and Frunze, the Moskva II class scout Kitai-Gorod and the collier Skory. This force should be sufficient to prevent any uprising on the planet and protect them from any outside attack.
24th May 2017
The temperature of Anastasia has been brought up to around freezing, allowing colonists to survive without any specialist infrastructure. While the terraforming ships could remain longer to make the planet more inviting, they are needed elsewhere. There is a planet in the Gorky system, two jumps from Romanov, where the gravity is acceptable, the temperature is pleasant and the atmosphere would be breathable if the oxygen content were just a little lower. This will be the next task of the terraforming fleet.
23rd June 2017
Kiev, Alexander Nevsky and Sovremenny return home to a heroes welcome. Vice Admiral Kravchenko is made a Hero of the Imperium, our highest award for valour while the commanders of the four destroyers that took part in the destruction of the Esanak Fleet and the bombardment of the Esanak homeworld are awarded the Red Star for valour in combat. All five officers protest the awards, as they claim their was no valour in destroying a helpless enemy, but the Tsar insists that the Romanov people must have heroes.
19th July 2017
Fourteen Romanov freighters arrive in Saransk, along with the jump cruiser Gorshkov and the three Krivak II geo survey ships. The freighters are carrying maintenance facilities to establish a fleet base on Saransk Prime and will return to St. Ekatarina with the minerals stockpiled on the planet by the Esanak. A couple more runs will be required to establish maintenance facilities large enough to support Minsk and the destroyers but this will then serve as a useful forward base to support survey operations in the systems around Saransk and Bratsk. The geological survey ships will began the enormous task of surveying Saransk?s eight planets, sixty-two moons and eight hundred and ten asteroids.
22nd July 2017
Until now, the forces in Saransk have come under the control of Vice Admiral Kravchenko?s Red Fleet. As the Admiral is currently based on St. Ekatarina while Kiev is overhauled, the three transits between Romanov and Saransk make that a difficult command situation. Therefore a new Task Force Command is setup called the Saransk Defence Force, which will be under the command of Rear Admiral Pavlik Grigorovich and based on Saransk Prime. All task groups in the Saransk system will be placed under this command. Captain 3rd Rank Serge Ozerov, currently commander of the Frunze, will take over Rear Admiral?s Grigorovich?s previous command, the Sovremenny class destroyer Constantine. Captain 3rd Rank Pavel Pavlov, and presumably his dog too, will take over the Frunze, ending a year of inactivity since his old ship, Kerch, was sold to the Bessabarian Theocracy.
Rear Admiral Grigorovich immediately starts training manoeuvres with the ships of his new command, teaching them to fight together as a team. Although some of the ships are veterans of the Red Fleet, it will still require time for them to get used to their new commander?s style and reach the same level of proficiency as they had under Vice Admiral Kravchenko.
20th August 2017
The First Survey Fleet, under the command of Rear Admiral Oleg Sidorov and comprising the Vasilevsky, Admiral Kulakov and Udaloy, has arrived in the Bessabaria system at the request of the Bessabarian Theocracy. Although they are currently building their own gravitational survey ship, they are aware that we have faster, better-equipped ships and more experienced crews so they have asked us to survey their home system and share the results. Star Marshal Alexeyev agreed and dispatched the First Survey Fleet, escorted by the Tagansky. Zelenograd is already in Bessabaria as the jump point picket ship so both Moskva IIs will be available to probe any newly discovered jump points.
24th August 2017
The geological survey of Saransk Prime has revealed the following mineral deposits
Saransk Prime
Duranium 96,934 Acc: 1
Neutronium 12,793 Acc: 0.1
Corbomite 25,760 Acc: 0.6
Tritanium 19,440 Acc: 0.9
Boronide 46,194 Acc: 0.1
Mercassium 993 Acc: 0.1
Vendarite 22,587 Acc: 0.2
Sorium 96,696 Acc: 0.8
Uridium 73,193 Acc: 0.1
Corundium 36,773 Acc: 0.4
Gallicite 15,493 Acc: 0.1
12th September 2017
Sokol, the Moskva II accompanying the Second Survey Fleet, enters a newly discovered jump point in the Tula system, adjacent to Archangelsk, and discover a quaternary system with two near-habitable planets. Belogorsk has an F0-IV yellow-white sub-giant primary with a G9-IV sub-giant orbiting at three billion kilometers. Both stars are around four million kilometers in diameter. Only four planets orbit the primary, three of which are toxic, high pressure worlds and the other is a barren chunk of rock. Belogorsk-B also has four planets, two of which have oxygen ? nitrogen atmospheres. While the gravity of Belogorsk-B III is too high and the oxygen content is 0.76 atm, two and a half times the safe limit, Belogorsk-B IV has ideal gravity, a breathable atmosphere and a temperature of minus four Celsius. Its colony cost is a mere 0.03.
The third planet of Belogorsk-C, a G3-V yellow star with ten planets, is very similar to Belogorsk-B IV, except its temperature is on the high side at fifty-one degrees Celsius and its colony cost is 0.17. It is far less accessible though as Belogorsk-C is one point five trillion kilometers from the primary. At 4000 km/s, it would take twelve years to make a one-way trip. Belogorsk-D is a dim, M1-V red star with five unremarkable planets.
29th September 2017
The Bessabarian Theocracy has bought the latest mining technology from us for 6000 megaroubles. This will allow them to extract fourteen tons of an accessibility 1.0 mineral per mining complex per annum.
12th December 2017
Two new Moskva II class scouts, Golovinsky and Rostokino, are launched from the shipyards of St Ekatarina.
29th December 2017
The First Survey Fleet completes of survey of Bessabaria, finding one new jump point. Tagansky and a Bessabarian Cosmic Liberty class cruiser both head for its location. Although Tagansky is unable to escort the Bessabarian ship due to its size, the Bessabarians want to be on hand for the transit.
12th January 2018
Tagansky transits the new jump point to discover a yellow G0-V star with a solitary tidelocked gas giant. The new system is named Chekhov and sovereignty is assigned to the Bessabarians as it lies beyond their home system from Romanov. The worthless nature of Chekhov plays a significant part in the apparent magnanimity of the Tsar. The First Survey Fleet moves into Irkutsk, which lies between Rostov-na-Donu and Bessabaria, and begins the task of surveying the systems beyond its other three jump points, Celabinsk, Murmansk and Zagorsk. Tagansky remains in Bessabaria as the jump point picket while Zelenograd escorts the First Survey Fleet.
27th March 2018
Its been almost a year since the Esanak population on Saransk Prime surrendered after a devastating bombardment. Although there has been no occupation, there have been Romanov warships in their skies ever since, threatening to resume the bombardment unless the people cooperated with the Romanov Governor and his staff. The Esanak appear to be gradually accepting their new situation within the Imperium and we could change their political status to one with more freedom, allowing more wealth to be generated and potentially open up the planet for industrial production.. Maintenance facilities have already been setup on the planet to support ships of up to 6000 tons and several deep space tracking stations are in place. However, time has lessened the fear of orbital bombardment so we really need to get some ground troops on the surface to quell any minor problems where bombardment would be a gross over-reaction. Unfortunately, we still have no way to transport ground forces and it is going to be at least a couple of years before we will be in a position to do so. Until that time, we will have to keep the Esanak under threat of bombardment and hold back on any political change for the moment.
17th May 2018
The first two Assault Infantry Divisions are trained on St. Ekatarina
7th August 2018
Scientists on Alexandria have completed their research into increasing our rate of wealth production. They now turn their attention to a new proposal by Governor Sorokin. She believes she can use a series of electro-magnets to create a boosted engine with twice its normal power. The drawbacks to this engine would include extremely high fuel use, probably ten times normal, and a propensity to explode when hit. In addition, the magnetic field would destabilise in proximity to a another field of the same type, so only one of these highly boosted engines would be possible on a ship. While these drawbacks are significant, Captain 2nd Sorokin believes the engine could enable us to create small, fast ships with limited range that would be ideal for system defence. Given her past successes in the propulsion field, Star Marshal Alexeyev has given her permission to proceed.
12th September 2018
A new Romanov colony is established on Belogorsk-B IV. Five Kalinin II class cargo ships brought infrastructure to stave off the low temperatures. and a dozen Sverdlov II colony ships brought six hundred thousand colonists. As the planet is only just outside the human tolerance range, the infrastructure will support up to fifteen million people, allowing plenty of time for terraforming ships to raise the temperature. This is the furthest colony from St Ekatarina, lying at the end of the chain Romanov ? Moskva ? Archangelsk ? Tula ? Belogorsk, and it took over two months for the colony ships to make the journey at 4000 km/s.
Belogorsk-B IV is 12,400 kilometers in diameter, slightly smaller than our homeworld, with a gravity of 0.99G on the scale used by the old human Empire, compared to 0.95G on St Ekatarina. Almost seventy percent of the surface is water and the five continents have a wide variety of terrain, from plains to jungle to high mountains. The ice-caps are large but should reduce in size a little through terraforming.. The colonists will no doubt take some time to adjust to the planet?s fourteen hour days after a lifetime of thirty-two hour days on St Ekatarina.
18th December 2018
Scientists on Alexandria complete their research into the new high-powered engine technology and immediately start work on developing an engine that utilises the new technology. The Sorokin SC88 Ion Drive incorporates both the high power boost and a more conventional, albeit limited, method of increasing power by decreasing efficiency. The SC88 produces 110% more power than the standard Sorokin S8 Ion Drive but it also consumes fuel at eleven times the rate of the conventional engine and is four times more likely to explode if damaged. Only one of these dangerous contraptions will be possible per ship
Sorokin SC88 Ion Drive
Power Output: 126 Explosion Chance: 21 Efficiency: 8.8 Thermal Signature: 126
Engine Size: 5 Engine HTK: 2 Internal Armour: 0
Cost: 32 Crew: 25
Materials Required: 8x Duranium 24x Gallicite
Development Cost for Project: 320RP
Meanwhile, Scientists on Anastasia have finally completed their work on a Troop Transport Bay, allowing us to create the Imperial Navy?s first Troop Transport. The Borodino class, shown below, can transport two divisions, although it would not be able to land them while under fire. Two Borodinos will be laid down and should be ready by September 2019.
Borodino class Troop Transport 4750 tons 330 Crew 514 BP TCS 95 TH 360 EM 0
3789 km/s Armour 1 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/0/0/0/0 Damage Control 0-0 PPV 0
Troop Capacity 2 Divisions Replacement Parts 10
Sorokin S8 Ion Drive (6) Power 60 Efficiency 0.80 Signature 60 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres Range 113.7 billion km (347 days at full power)
Palm Frond Navigation Sensor (1) GPS 100 Range 1,000k km Resolution 10
29th January 2019
The Bessabarian Theocracy have completed development work on their first jump drive. Although we do not have access to the technical details, from the information given by BNN Imperial Intelligence believes it is probably similar to the old J225 jump engine, capable of allowing ships of 2250 tons of less to transit. Once their single shipyard completes worth on their fourth Cosmic Liberty class cruiser, they will no doubt begin work on their first jump ship. We have recently sold them Nuclear Pulse engine technology for 5000 megaroubles, a generation behind our current engine technology but considerably better than the Nuclear Thermal engines used by the Bessabarians.
28th February 2019
The 1st Guards Heavy Assault Division has been trained on St Ekatarina. This division and others like will form the core of a new Imperial Army, able to defend our own worlds but also ready to invade and conquer any enemies of the Imperium so that we can avoid another bloodbath like Saransk Prime.
26th May 2019
Since the discussion about escorts in late 2015, Romanov scientists have been instructed to work on new technology to improve our fire control and lasers, although more urgent requirements such as troop transport have occasionally been given a higher priority. These new technologies include longer-ranged fire control with faster tracking speeds, faster turret tracking systems, higher capacitor recharge rates and the near ultraviolet laser wavelength. Several new tactical systems have now been developed to take advantage of this improvement in background technologies. The Bass Tilt fire control is a new point defence tracking system while the Owl Screech and Kite Screech fire controls are designed for use on new fast attack craft currently in the early design stage. The 12cm C4 Near Ultraviolet Laser is a longer ranged and faster firing version of the 12cm C2 Visible Light Laser used on the Kirov II and Azov-Ls and incorporated in the Twin 12cm Laser Turret. The 12cm C2 Near Ultraviolet Laser is a slower-firing equivalent suitable for fast attack craft with limited reactor power.
Bass Tilt Fire Control
50% Accuracy at Range: 24,000 km Tracking Speed: 12800 km/s
Size: 4 HTK: 1 Cost: 54 Crew: 20
Materials Required: 13.5x Duranium 40.5x Uridium
Development Cost 540 RP
Owl Screech Fire Control
50% Accuracy at Range: 24,000 km Tracking Speed: 6400 km/s
Size: 2 HTK: 1 Cost: 38 Crew: 10
Materials Required: 9.5x Duranium 28.5x Uridium
Development Cost for Project: 380 RP
Kite Screech Fire Control
50% Accuracy at Range: 36,000 km Tracking Speed: 6400 km/s
Size: 3 HTK: 1 Cost: 46 Crew: 15
Materials Required: 11.5x Duranium 34.5x Uridium
Development Cost for Project: 460 RP
12cm C4 Near Ultraviolet Laser
Damage Output 4 Rate of Fire: 5 seconds Range Modifier: 3
Max Range 120,000 km Laser Size: 4 Laser HTK: 2
Power Requirement: 4 Power Recharge per 5 Secs: 4
Cost: 24 Crew: 40
Materials Required: 4.8x Duranium 4.8x Boronide 14.4x Corundium
Development Cost for Project: 240 RP
12cm C2 Near Ultraviolet Laser
Damage Output 4 Rate of Fire: 10 seconds Range Modifier: 3
Max Range 120,000 km Laser Size: 4 Laser HTK: 2
Power Requirement: 4 Power Recharge per 5 Secs: 2
Cost: 12 Crew: 40
Materials Required: 2.4x Duranium 2.4x Boronide 7.2x Corundium
Development Cost for Project: 120 RP
Twin 12cm Laser Turret
Damage Output 4x2 Rate of Fire: 5 seconds Range Modifier: 3
Max Range 120,000 km Turret Size: 11 Armour: 0 Turret HTK: 4
Power Requirement: 8 Power Recharge per 5 Secs: 8
Cost: 63 Crew: 80
Materials Required: 24.6x Duranium 9.6x Boronide 28.8x Corundium
Development Cost for Project: 630 RP
28th May 2019
The Zelenodolsk Design Bureau has designed the first in a new line of fast attack craft. The Tarantul Fast Attack Craft uses the recently developed Sorokin SC88 Ion Drive in combination with new weapons and sensors and small versions of engineering, fuel and life support systems. Because of the extremely high fuel consumption of the SC88, resulting in a very limited range, the Tarantul will be employed as a system defence vessel, using its high speed and fast firing 12cm laser to close to point blank range and deliver considerable firepower. In fact, this vessel almost has the same overall damage output as the Kirov II frigate but is twice as fast and costs half as much to build, although the Kirov II is an older design and has shields, much greater range and a more powerful sensor. There is also talk of building some type of tender or mothership that would transport several Tarantuls in an internal bay, carrying them between systems and potentially launching them in raids against enemy shipping or bases.
Tarantul class Fast Attack Craft 1000 tons 97 Crew 183 BP TCS 20 TH 126 EM 0
6300 km/s Armour 1 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/0/0/0/0 Damage Control 0-0 PPV 4
Replacement Parts 1
Sorokin SC88 Ion Drive (1) Power 126 Efficiency 8.80 Signature 126 Armour 0 Exp 21%
Fuel Capacity 20,000 Litres Range 9.8 billion km (18 days at full power)
12cm C4 Near Ultraviolet Laser (1) Range 72,000km TS: 6300 km/s Power 4-4 RM 3 ROF 5 4 4 4 3 2 2 1
Kite Screech (1) Max Range: 72,000 km TS: 6400 km/s 86 72 58 44 31 17 3 0 0 0
Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor (1) Total Power Output 4 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Cross Dome (1) GPS 75 Range 750k km Resolution 15
13th July 2019
A discussion is taking place in Imperial Navy Headquarters regarding the future of the three Kirov II class frigates, Kirov, Frunze and Pyotr Velikiy. They are slow, outdated ships with high density duranium armour, instead of the latest composite armour, and obsolete weapons and electronic systems. A design for a possible Kirov III has been finalised, replacing the lasers, fire control and reactor with more modern equivalents, including the Hawk Screech fire control designed specially for this update. However, the refit would cost 200 BP per ship and would not improve the speed, leaving the ship unable to operate with the faster Sovremennys. Adding two more engines would increase the refit cost to 355 BP, almost as much as a new ship. With a new ?escort? class on the drawing board, it is difficult to see what role the Kirovs will play in the Imperial Navy so several senior officers have suggested the Kirovs could be sold to the Bessabarians. Star Marshal Alexeyev has decided to wait until the escort design is finalised before making a decision.
Hawk Screech Fire Control
50% Accuracy at Range: 72,000 km Tracking Speed: 3200 km/s
Size: 3 HTK: 1 Cost: 46 Crew: 15
Materials Required: 11.5x Duranium 34.5x Uridium
Development Cost for Project: 460 RP
Proposed Kirov III class Frigate 3000 tons 300 Crew 458 BP TCS 60 TH 180 EM 240
3000 km/s Armour 1 Shields 8-300 Sensors 1/0/0/0/0 Damage Control 0-0 PPV 12
Replacement Parts 5
Sorokin S8 Ion Drive (3) Power 60 Efficiency 0.80 Signature 60 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres Range 90.0 billion km (347 days at full power)
Beta R300/15 Shields (5) Total Fuel Cost 75 Litres per day
12cm C4 Near Ultraviolet Laser (3) Range 120,000km TS: 3200 km/s Power 4-4 RM 3 ROF 5 4 4 4 3 2 2 1 1 1 1
Hawk Screech (1) Max Range: 144,000 km TS: 3200 km/s 93 86 79 72 65 58 51 44 38 31
Large Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor (1) Total Power Output 14 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Active Sensor MR8000-R40 (1) GPS 800 Range 8.0m km Resolution 40
19th August 2019
Romanov terraforming ships complete their work on Gorky-B IV, reducing the level of oxygen in the atmosphere to within human tolerance. The planet is smaller than Romanov with scattered, tropical archipelagos throughout the warm oceans covering eightly percent of the surface. At twelve hours, the day is even shorter than Belogorsk-B IV but the pleasant environment should more than make up for it. The mineral report is as follows:
Duranium 165,888 Acc: 0.5
Neutronium 3,686,400 Acc: 0.9
Corbomite 19,501,060 Acc: 0.1
Tritanium 21,233,660 Acc: 0.4
Boronide 7,225,344 Acc: 0.8
Mercassium 1,937,664 Acc: 1
Vendarite 2,073,600 Acc: 0.1
Sorium 14,017,540 Acc: 0.5
Uridium 1,327,104 Acc: 0.1
Corundium 5,992,704 Acc: 0.1
Gallicite 23,040,000 Acc: 0.1
4th September 2019
The first three Tarantul Fast Attack Craft launch from the shipyards of St. Ekatarina.
19th September 2019
Both Borodino class Troop Transports are completed. They immediately load up the four Mobile Infantry Divisions based on St Ekatarina, ready for transport to Saransk Prime once a Kiev IV class jump cruiser is available. At the moment Kiev and Gorshkov are undergoing overhauls, Novorossiysk is escorting colony ships to Gorky-B IV and Minsk is part of the Saransk Defence Force. Once Novorossiysk returns, the mission to Saransk will go ahead.
18th November 2019
The four Romanov Mobile Infantry Divisions land on Saransk Prime. With ground troops finally in place almost three years after the Esanak surrender, we can lift some of the restrictions on the population and remove the threat of orbital bombardment. The Esanak population will be classed as Subjugated, indicating that while they may not like the idea of being conquered, they are least beginning to accept it. Until now, little wealth has been gained from Saransk Prime due to the limited freedoms available to the population. Due to this new status, wealth and potentially industrial production on Saransk Prime should rise to perhaps sixty percent of the level prior to the conquest. Further good news for the Esanak population is that the dust thrown up by the bombardment has finally drifted down out of their atmosphere and the temperature has returned to normal. The background radiation has fallen to about half the level immediately following the attack.
24th November 2019
The development of the Strut Pair Missile Search Sensor is the last piece in the design jigsaw for the long awaited ?escort? class. The new Slava class destroyer is designed to protect the Sovremenny Missile Destroyers from hostile missile attack and guard against an equivalent of the Tarantul Fast Attack Craft. The Bass Tilt fire control allows the ship to effectively track fast moving objects for its two twin laser turrets while the Strut Pair sensor can track objects as small as a size 3 missile out to 180,000 km, providing the fire control with a target to lock on to. While a second, longer ranged fire control would enhance the ship?s capabilities, the ship has to be a maximum of 6000 tons so that it can be escorted by the Kiev class jump cruiser. Including a second fire control would result in a compromise in another area.
Strut Pair Missile Search Sensor
Active Sensor Strength: 60
Sensor Size: 5 Sensor HTK: 1
Resolution: 0.3 Maximum Range: 180,000 km
Cost: 60 Crew: 25
Materials Required: 15x Duranium 45x Uridium
Development Cost for Project: 600 RP
Slava class Destroyer 6000 tons 620 Crew 909 BP TCS 120 TH 480 EM 240
4000 km/s Armour 1 Shields 8-300 Sensors 1/0/0/0/0 Damage Control 0-0 PPV 33
Replacement Parts 10
Sorokin S8 Ion Drive (8) Power 60 Efficiency 0.80 Signature 60 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres Range 90.0 billion km (260 days at full power)
Beta R300/15 Shields (5) Total Fuel Cost 75 Litres per day
Twin 12cm Laser Turret (3x2) Range 48,000km TS: 12000 km/s Power 8-8 RM 3 ROF 5 4 4 4 3
Bass Tilt Fire Control (1) Max Range: 48,000 km TS: 12800 km/s 79 58 38 17
Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor (3) Total Power Output 27 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Strut Pair Missile Search Sensor (1) GPS 18 Range 180k km Resolution 0.3
9th December 2019
Three more Tarantuls join the Fleet and refits are completed on the last of the Kalinin-S freighters, upgrading them to the Kalinin II standard. The Imperial Navy now has fifteen freighters and fourteen Sverdlov II colony ships.
28th December 2019
The Bessabaria jump ship has arrived at the jump point to Chekhov for its first attempt transit. Due to its primitive jump drive, obsolete Duranium armour and the Bessabarian requirement to fit a full set of sensors, the Chelsea Morning class only mounts one nuclear thermal engine, giving it a maximum speed of 555 km/s. Once the Bessabarians complete development of their first nuclear pulse engine it is very likely this ship will be refitted. It would also make sense for them to develop a scout ship with the necessary sensors, allowing the jump ship to free enough hull space for a second engine. Joining the Chelsea Morning at the jump point are a Cosmic Liberty class cruiser for protection, the Temple Sunrise gravitational survey ship and the Lennon Karma geological survey ship. The two small survey ships with enter Chekhov along with the jump ship,
30th December 2019
The Bessabarians have purchased the technology for High Density Duranium Armour from us for the price of 2500 megaroubles. The occasional sale of technology to the Bessabarian Theocracy is a useful source of income plus it boosts the capabilities of an increasingly friendly race. Negotiations have finally begun on a defensive alliance, although it may take some time for those negotiations to achieve anything.
14th March 2020
Currently we have nine survey ships, three geological and six gravitational, and they are usually deployed in groups of three, with jump capability provided by a Moskva II class scout escorting each group. This deployment strategy often leads to considerable delays as the survey ships cannot be to another system until all of them are assembled at the jump point and frequently have to wait while the jump ship investigates any new jump points. Star Marshal Alexeyev has therefore decided that our survey ships should be refitted with their own jump engines. The J375 Jump Drive, developed in 2014 for the Moskva II is ideal for this purpose as it is compact with a 3750 ton jump capability, allowing additional engines to fitted to compensate for the extra mass of the jump engine. As they have just returned to St. Ekatarina, the three Krivak IIs, Bodry, Krivak and Pskov, will be the first ships to be upgraded. The Krivak III design includes the new jump drive, two extra engines, fifty percent more fuel capacity and a hull composed of composite armour instead of the high density duranium of the Krivak II. It is also almost sixty percent larger than the older ship with the refit cost of 421 BP. Keeping the old hull material to lower the refit cost was considered but the composite armour creates more internal space and allows any new Krivak IIIs to have the same armour as the refitted ships. Both the existing Krivak II design and the new Krivak III are shown below.
Krivak II class Geosurvey Ship 2400 tons 200 Crew 531 BP TCS 48 TH 180 EM 0
3750 km/s Armour 1 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/0/0/0/3 Damage Control 0-0 PPV 0
Replacement Parts 5
Sorokin S8 Ion Drive (3) Power 60 Efficiency 0.80 Signature 60 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres Range 225.0 billion km (694 days at full power)
Geological Survey Sensors (3) 3 Survey Points
Krivak III class Geosurvey Ship 3750 tons 335 Crew 694 BP TCS 75 TH 300 EM 0
4000 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 1 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/0/0/0/3 Damage Control 0-0 PPV 0
Replacement Parts 5
J375 Jump Drive Max Ship Size 3750 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Sorokin S8 Ion Drive (5) Power 60 Efficiency 0.80 Signature 60 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 150,000 Litres Range 216.0 billion km (625 days at full power)
Geological Survey Sensors (3) 3 Survey Points