Precursor Campaign Foreword

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

The new test campaign is set in an alternate 2020 with two Earth powers, the Commonwealth and the Third Reich. In this timeline, the Second World War ended in a stalemate when both the western allies and Germany developed atomic weapons by mid 1944. Neither side wanted to risk a nuclear confrontation with the other so they agreed a ceasefire. With Italy now a foothold that was no use, the Allies pulled out and reinforced the middle east while turning their main attention to Japan. The Germans focused their full nuclear fury on the Soviet Union and rapidly pushed back recent Soviet gains. Within two years, Stalin was dead and the Greater German Reich stretched from the Bay of Biscay to the Urals. Japan fell to a similar onslaught from the allies as the United States swept across the Pacific while the British Empire regained its possessions in South-east Asia and collected the Dutch East Indies.

A cold war descended on the planet as the victorious Third Reich faced off against the Grand Alliance of the United States and The British Empire and Commonwealth, a verbose title that shortened over the years to simply the Commonwealth. In 1950, the US had the edge in industry over the British Empire but the Empire had by far the greater population. The British withdrawal from Empire didn

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

Details on the Commonwealth are listed below. In comparison, the Reich has a significant advantage in mining, both in numbers of mines and also mining production rate. The Commonwealth has more Construction Factories and a few more fighter bases. In terms of ship technologies, the Reich has concentrated on missile warfare, whereas the Commonwealth has developed early carriers and fighters and has better beam weapons. Both sides has the same number of research points.

Earth
Population: 1000m
Shipyards: 20
Construction Factories: 800
Mines: 800
Automated Mines: 160
Fuel Refineries: 400
Ordnance Factories: 200
Fighter Factories: 200
Research Labs: 40
GFTF: 10
Missile Silos: 100
Fighter Bases: 8
Deep Space Tracking Stations: 4
Fuel Stockpile: 4.8m litres

Titan Base
Population 500k
Missile Silos: 20
Fighter Bases: 2
Deep Space Tracking Stations: 2
Fuel Stockpile: 1.0m litres

Annual Production Rates
Construction: 12 BP
Fighter Construction: 12 BP
Shipbuilding: 700 BP
Research: 280 RP
Mining Production: 12 Tons

Starting Fleet
2x Ark Royal class Carriers  Ark Royal, Vengeance
1x Ticonderoga class Escort Cruiser  Ticonderoga
2x Lexington class Battlecruiser  Lexington, Saratoga
6x Tribal class Destroyer  Apache, Eskimo, Gurkha, Iroquois, Maori, Zulu
2x Tribal Chief class Destroyer Leader  Cetawayo, Crazy Horse
1x Agamemnon class Survey Cruiser  Agamemnon
1x Arizona class Survey Cruiser  Arizona
3x Agincourt class Survey Ship  Agincourt, Waterloo, Trafalgar
3x Midway class Survey Ship  Midway, Iwo Jima, Tarawa
2x Resolution class Freighter
4x Liberty class Freighter
3x Mayflower class Colony Ship

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Ark Royal class Carrier    7500 tons     1668 Crew     1375 BP      Signature 150-600
4000 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 18-300     Sensors 15/0/0/0     Damage Control 0-0
Hangar Bay Capacity 96    Magazine 600    Replacement Parts 15    

Pratt & Whitney E7 Ion Engine (10)    Power 60    Engine Efficiency 0.70    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 150,000 Litres    Range 123.4 billion km   (357 days at full power)
Gamma R300/21 Shields (6)   Total Fuel Cost  126 Litres per day

Arrow Fighter Missile (300)  Speed: 10,000 km/s   Endurance: 60 secs    Range: 600k km   Warhead: 2    Size: 2

High Resolution Thermal Sensor HRT5-15 (1)     Strength 15     Detect Signature 10: 1.5m km     Detect Signature 100: 15m km

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Lexington class Battlecruiser    7500 tons     860 Crew     1311 BP      Signature 150-600
4000 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 30-300     Sensors 15/0/0/0     Damage Control 0-0
Replacement Parts 10    

Pratt & Whitney E7 Ion Engine (10)    Power 60    Engine Efficiency 0.70    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 150,000 Litres    Range 123.4 billion km   (357 days at full power)
Gamma R300/21 Shields (10)   Total Fuel Cost  210 Litres per day

Lockheed 20cm C4 Ultraviolet Laser (4)    Range 400,000km     Power 10-4     Range Modifier 4    Rate of Fire 15
Vickers 10cm Point Defence Laser (3)    Range 120,000km     Power 3-3     Range Modifier 4    Rate of Fire 5        
Raytheon S24-3200 Fire Control System (1)    Range: 240,000 km   TS: 3200 km/s
Raytheon S6-12800 Fire Control System (1)    Range: 60,000 km   TS: 12800 km/s
Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor (3)     Total Power Output 27    Armour 0    Exp 5%

High Resolution Thermal Sensor HRT5-15 (1)     Strength 15     Detect Signature 10: 1.5m km     Detect Signature 100: 15m km
ECCM-1 (1)         ECM 10

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Ticonderoga class Escort Cruiser    7500 tons     793 Crew     1199 BP      Signature 150-600
4000 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 1     Shields 18-300     Sensors 6/0/0/0     Damage Control 0-0
Replacement Parts 10    

Rolls-Royce R150 Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 7500 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3
Pratt & Whitney E7 Ion Engine (10)    Power 60    Engine Efficiency 0.70    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres    Range 164.6 billion km   (476 days at full power)
Gamma R300/21 Shields (6)   Total Fuel Cost  126 Litres per day

Vickers 10cm Point Defence Laser (6)    Range 120,000km     Power 3-3     Range Modifier 4    Rate of Fire 5
Raytheon S6-12800 Fire Control System (1)    Range: 60,000 km   TS: 12800 km/s    
Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor (2)     Total Power Output 18    Armour 0    Exp 5%

High Resolution Thermal Sensor HRT2-6 (1)     Strength 6     Detect Signature 10: 0.6m km     Detect Signature 100: 6m km
ECCM-1 (1)        

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Tribal class Destroyer    4800 tons     519 Crew     847 BP      Signature 96-420
4375 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 24-300     Sensors 6/0/0/0     Damage Control 0-0
Replacement Parts 10    

Pratt & Whitney E7 Ion Engine (7)    Power 60    Engine Efficiency 0.70    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres    Range 128.6 billion km   (340 days at full power)
Gamma R300/21 Shields (8)   Total Fuel Cost  168 Litres per day

Vickers Dual-use 12cm Laser (4)    Range 160,000km     Power 4-4     Range Modifier 4    Rate of Fire 5        
Raytheon S12-9600 Integrated Fire Control System (1)    Range: 120,000 km   TS: 9600 km/s    
Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor (2)     Total Power Output 18    Armour 0    Exp 5%

High Resolution Thermal Sensor HRT2-6 (1)     Strength 6     Detect Signature 10: 0.6m km     Detect Signature 100: 6m km

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Tribal Chief class Destroyer Leader    4800 tons     444 Crew     641 BP      Signature 96-420
4375 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 1     Shields 24-300     Sensors 15/2/0/0     Damage Control 0-0
Replacement Parts 10    

Rolls-Royce R100 Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 5000 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3
Pratt & Whitney E7 Ion Engine (7)    Power 60    Engine Efficiency 0.70    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres    Range 257.1 billion km   (680 days at full power)
Gamma R300/21 Shields (8)   Total Fuel Cost  168 Litres per day

High Resolution Thermal Sensor HRT5-15 (1)     Strength 15     Detect Signature 10: 1.5m km     Detect Signature 100: 15m km
Gravitational Pulse Sensor GP2-2 (1)     Strength 2     Detect Size 10: 0.2m km     Detect Size 100: 2m km

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Arizona class Survey Cruiser 3750 tons     375 Crew     644 BP      Signature 75-300
4000 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/0/0/2     Damage Control 0-0
Replacement Parts 10    

Rolls-Royce R75 Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 3750 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3
Pratt & Whitney E7 Ion Engine (5)    Power 60    Engine Efficiency 0.7    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Max Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres    Range 411.4 billion km   (1190 days at full power)
Geological Survey Sensors (2)   2 Survey Points

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Agamemnon class Survey Cruiser 3750 tons     375 Crew     644 BP      Signature 75-300
4000 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/0/2/0     Damage Control 0-0
Replacement Parts 10    

Rolls-Royce R75 Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 3750 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3
Pratt & Whitney E7 Ion Engine (5)    Power 60    Engine Efficiency 0.7    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Max Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres    Range 411.4 billion km   (1190 days at full power)
Gravitational Survey Sensors (2)   2 Survey Points

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Agincourt class Survey Ship 3000 tons     300 Crew     652 BP      Signature 60-240
4000 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 6/0/3/0     Damage Control 0-0
Replacement Parts 10    

Pratt & Whitney E7 Ion Engine (4)    Power 60    Engine Efficiency 0.7    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Max Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres    Range 411.4 billion km   (1190 days at full power)
High Resolution Thermal Sensor HRT2-6 (1)     Strength 6     Detect Signature 10: 0.6m km     Detect Signature 100: 6m km
Gravitational Survey Sensors (3)   3 Survey Points

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Midway class Survey Ship 3000 tons     300 Crew     652 BP      Signature 60-240
4000 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 6/0/0/3     Damage Control 0-0
Replacement Parts 10    

Pratt & Whitney E7 Ion Engine (4)    Power 60    Engine Efficiency 0.7    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Max Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres    Range 411.4 billion km   (1190 days at full power)
High Resolution Thermal Sensor HRT2-6 (1)     Strength 6     Detect Signature 10: 0.6m km     Detect Signature 100: 6m km
Geological Survey Sensors (3)   3 Survey Points

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Resolution class Freighter    10000 tons     780 Crew     1278 BP      Signature 200-660
3300 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 15/0/0/0     Damage Control 0-0
Cargo 25000    Tractor 5    Replacement Parts 20    

Rolls-Royce R200 Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 10000 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3
Pratt & Whitney E7 Ion Engine (11)    Power 60    Engine Efficiency 0.70    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 500,000 Litres    Range 308.6 billion km   (1082 days at full power)

High Resolution Thermal Sensor HRT5-15 (1)     Strength 15     Detect Signature 10: 1.5m km     Detect Signature 100: 15m km

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Liberty class Freighter    10000 tons     525 Crew     833 BP      Signature 200-660
3300 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/0/0/0     Damage Control 0-0
Cargo 50000    Tractor 10    Replacement Parts 20    

Pratt & Whitney E7 Ion Engine (11)    Power 60    Engine Efficiency 0.70    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres    Range 123.4 billion km   (432 days at full power)

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Mayflower class Colony Ship    10000 tons     575 Crew     1733 BP      Signature 200-660
3300 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/0/0/0     Damage Control 0-0
Colonists 100000    Tractor 10    Replacement Parts 20    

Pratt & Whitney E7 Ion Engine (11)    Power 60    Engine Efficiency 0.70    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres    Range 123.4 billion km   (432 days at full power)

Steve

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

Here are the starting land forces. Each side has six armoured divisions, twelve infantry divisions, four assault infantry divisions, two HQ Units and six engineer divisions. All but the engineer divisions are listed below and separated by type.

Commonwealth
I Corps
II Corps

Guards Armoured Division
1st US Cavalry Division
1st UK Armoured Division
2nd US Armored Division "Hell on Wheels"
3rd US Armored Division "Spearhead Division"
7th UK Armoured Division "Desert Rats"

1st US Infantry Division "The Big Red One"
1st Canadian Division
2nd New Zealand Infantry Division
2nd South African Infantry Division
3rd UK Infantry Division "Iron Division"
3rd Indian Division
4th Indian Division
9th Australian Division
10th US Mountain Division
25th US Infantry Division "Tropic Lightning"
51st (Highland) Division
Japanese Imperial Guard Division

1st Airborne Division
6th Airborne Division
82nd Ariborne Division "All-Americans"
101st Airborne Division "Screaming Eagles"

Third Reich
6th SS Panzer Armee
11th SS Panzer Armee

1st SS Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler
2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich
3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf
5th SS Panzer Division Wiking
12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend
Panzer Lehr Division

Panzergrenadier Division Brandenburg
Panzergrenadier Division Feldherrnhalle
Panzergrenadier Division Grossdeutschland
6th SS Mountain Division Nord
7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen
11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland
16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsf

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

Its also worth noting the starting mineral concentrations on Earth.

Duranium 398,392  Acc: 1
Neutronium 65,932  Acc: 0.9
Corbomite 24,632  Acc: 0.9
Tritanium 85,559  Acc: 0.1
Boronide 38,573  Acc: 0.8
Mercassium 40,892  Acc: 1
Vendarite 44,077  Acc: 0.3
Sorium 67,455  Acc: 0.6
Uridium 18,659  Acc: 0.1
Corundium 1,959  Acc: 0.1
Gallicite 29,055  Acc: 0.6

Steve

[Erik L]

It looks as if the Commonwealth will need to find a good extraterrestrial/extrasolar source of minerals given their mining disadvantage.

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

It looks as if the Commonwealth will need to find a good extraterrestrial/extrasolar source of minerals given their mining disadvantage.

Yes, the Reich has a significant advantage in mineral production and it will be interesting to see how that influences the campaign. I have started writing the campaign report and I am going for a story style told from the perspective of various commanders rather than the reporting style of previous test campaigns. This is no doubt influenced by me reading a couple of Harry Turtledove books recently

Steve

[MWadwell]

Here are the starting land forces. Each side has six armoured divisions, twelve infantry divisions, four assault infantry divisions, two HQ Units and six engineer divisions. All but the engineer divisions are listed below and separated by type.

Commonwealth
I Corps
II Corps

9th Australian Division

The 9th was the "Rats of Tobruk".

1st Airborne Division

Wasn't the 1st the "Red Devils"?

Later,
Matt

[MWadwell]

It looks as if the Commonwealth will need to find a good extraterrestrial/extrasolar source of minerals given their mining disadvantage.

Yes, the Reich has a significant advantage in mineral production and it will be interesting to see how that influences the campaign. I have started writing the campaign report and I am going for a story style told from the perspective of various commanders rather than the reporting style of previous test campaigns. This is no doubt influenced by me reading a couple of Harry Turtledove books recently

Steve

Well, the Reich has a 66% advantage over the Commonwealth in the rate of metals mined.

As mineral restrictions have been the major limitation in previous campaigns, I believe that this gives the Reich a HUGE advantage....

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

Well, the Reich has a 66% advantage over the Commonwealth in the rate of metals mined.

As mineral restrictions have been the major limitation in previous campaigns, I believe that this gives the Reich a HUGE advantage....

I think so too

The Commonwealth is researching mineral production as their first priority to try and close the gap. They also have more construction factories than the Reich so after building a fifth Naval Academy they are building mines while the Reich builds construction factories.

The Reich also has an Earth Governor with a 30% Research bonus, 15% Shipbuilding and 10% Factory production. The Commonwealth Earth Governor has nothing but high Political Reliability but the only other senior enough Commonwealth officer has 200 Crew Training and 25% Shipbuilding and I decided I wanted the crew training skills more than the Shipbuilding. I stuck the political admiral in the job so he at least has a small chance of gaining some pop-based bonus through experience.

Steve

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

The 9th was the "Rats of Tobruk".

1st Airborne Division

Wasn't the 1st the "Red Devils"?

Thanks. I've made the changes

Steve

[MWadwell]

Well, the Reich has a 66% advantage over the Commonwealth in the rate of metals mined.

As mineral restrictions have been the major limitation in previous campaigns, I believe that this gives the Reich a HUGE advantage....

I think so too

The Commonwealth is researching mineral production as their first priority to try and close the gap. They also have more construction factories than the Reich so after building a fifth Naval Academy they are building mines while the Reich builds construction factories.

The Reich also has an Earth Governor with a 30% Research bonus, 15% Shipbuilding and 10% Factory production. The Commonwealth Earth Governor has nothing but high Political Reliability but the only other senior enough Commonwealth officer has 200 Crew Training and 25% Shipbuilding and I decided I wanted the crew training skills more than the Shipbuilding. I stuck the political admiral in the job so he at least has a small chance of gaining some pop-based bonus through experience.

Steve

I've just looked at the numbers, and it turns out that the Reich does have a LARGE advantage......

If the Reich does nothing but builds factories, and the Commonwealth does nothing but build mines (until they have the same infrastructure), I've found that the Reich reaches their target a LOT earlier than the Commonwealth does.

The results are:
Reich - reaches 800 factories by month 35.
Commonwealth - reaches 1000 mines and 200 automated mines by month 42.

By month 42, the Reich has mined nearly 48% more minerals than the Commonwealth has. (Assumption - that the Reich's factories do nothing from months 36 to 42.)

NOTES:
1) That this is ignoring any increases in mineral production research.
2) That both nations try to match their opponents advantages from the outset (for example, the Commonwealth is building a 5th Naval Academy before trying to match the Reich's total number of mines - which means that the Reich will have an even bigger advantage in mined minerals).
3) That this is ignoring any govenor benefits. A 10% increase means that the Reich will reach 800 factories by Month 32 (rather than Month 35 without the govenor bonus).


As growth is exponential, I would expect that barring any advantages gained by roleplaying, that the Reich will end up with the dominant empire....

[Þórgrímr]

As growth is exponential, I would expect that barring any advantages gained by roleplaying, that the Reich will end up with the dominant empire....

Which I find quite odd, given that the Commonwealth controls nearly 70% of the planet and given that figure the Commonwealth should have the huge lead in mineral production.

Another thing, dictatorships are not known for their research abilities, lack of free-flowing information, compartmentalization, etc etc, So the Commonwealth should have a MAJOR advantage in research.

Now before someone brings up German war research, and I know somebody will :wink:, it is no way based on the real Earth and its resource and production schema.  :wink:

[Father Tim]

Now compare war materiel production of Germany vs the USA in 1936.  There is a reason the peacetime armies of the 'great democracies' were drilling with plywood boxes for tanks and broom handles in place of rifles.

If Steve's Commonwealth doesn't (or didn't, until recently) consider itself 'on a war footing' there is no reason for it to be churning out masses of government/military equipment.  The priorities that we, the game players, have are unlikely to align with the priorities the society had before the campaign 'started'.

And while the 'social atmosphere' normally associated with the Third Reich is likely to hinder - rather than help - the reaserch effort, maybe the +30% of Herr Reichsminister Doktor von Genius (sorry, I forget his actual name) represents his ability to completely shield his subordinates from the long arm of the Gestapo and other SS interference.

Aurora contains such a level of abstraction that I find it easy enough to explain any apparent inconsistancies between races.  Though I do agree, the Commonwealth is in serious trouble and building a fifth Naval Academy before a schwackload of mines was a huge mistake.

[Þórgrímr]

Now compare war materiel production of Germany vs the USA in 1936.  There is a reason the peacetime armies of the 'great democracies' were drilling with plywood boxes for tanks and broom handles in place of rifles.

If Steve's Commonwealth doesn't (or didn't, until recently) consider itself 'on a war footing' there is no reason for it to be churning out masses of government/military equipment.  The priorities that we, the game players, have are unlikely to align with the priorities the society had before the campaign 'started'.

And while the 'social atmosphere' normally associated with the Third Reich is likely to hinder - rather than help - the reaserch effort, maybe the +30% of Herr Reichsminister Doktor von Genius (sorry, I forget his actual name) represents his ability to completely shield his subordinates from the long arm of the Gestapo and other SS interference.

Aurora contains such a level of abstraction that I find it easy enough to explain any apparent inconsistancies between races.  Though I do agree, the Commonwealth is in serious trouble and building a fifth Naval Academy before a schwackload of mines was a huge mistake.

You betcha, and then take a look at Nato vs Warsaw pact production post WW2. Which is roughly the same area as what the Reich controls in the precursor campaign. Notice how the Democracies spent the Sovs into the ground? Well, I firmly believe the same would have happened with #### Germany, and when the holocaust and the other atrocities were revealed it would occur at a faster rate, as the Allies would never make full peace with a #### state that had committed cold blooded genocide. Only one end would end that cold war, a hot one.

But that is neither here nor there, to me the mineral and research numbers should firmly favor the Allies, since they would control 70% of the planet, or more if they took control of Siberia, since Steve only mentioned the ####s controlled Russia up to the Urals. That and a definite research benefit that any democracy has over a dictatorship should be enough food for thought to reverse those numbers.

But this is only my humble opinion. :wink:

[MWadwell]

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