Author Topic: 2084 Campaign: Campaign Background (Read 3042 times)

Steve Walmsley · « **on:** February 27, 2008, 04:56:49 AM »

The year is 2084 and the world is dominated by three major power blocs. Oceania comprises all the English-speaking world plus the rest of the Americas. The Eurasian Union, usually referred to simply as Eurasia, includes most of Europe plus Russia and the East Asian Alliance (Eastasia) comprises all of the states in southern and eastern Asia, including China, India and Japan. For over thirty years the three superpowers have fought proxy wars in the Middle East and Africa but the recent parallel developments in Trans-newtonian materials have changed their focus to space exploration and the domination of the solar system.

Oceania is a conglomeration of the old English-speaking democracies and the more fragile governmental systems of Central and South America. A solid central government has emerged over the years, primarily based on democracy but with a strong military focus due to the constant conflict and tension with Eurasia and Eastasia. Oceania has a population of a billion and is the most advanced of the three power blocs. Unfortunately, that technological edge is not sufficient to combat the overwhelming numbers of the East Asian Alliance and Oceania has been steadily losing ground in Africa over the last few years.

The Eurasian Union is a combination of the European Union, and the states of the former Soviet Union. While their government is officially a democracy, the power of the elected officials is limited. The reality is that Eurasia is ruled by several powerful oligarchs supported by an immense bureaucracy. Eurasian industry is comparable to that of Oceania and it?s population is twenty percent greater, although still dwarfed by Eastasia. The war-fighting strategy of the Eurasian Union is to play Oceania off against the East Asian Alliance, changing sides as necessary when one becomes too powerful. In areas where both of their rivals are weak after recent fighting, Eurasia will move in and take over. Although both Oceania and Eastasia are aware of the Eurasian strategy, the two sides have never been able to set aside their differences long enough to combine against the Union. Currently, Eurasia is allied with Oceania and is attempting to halt the recent Eastasian advances without becoming decisively involved.

The East Asian Alliance is the oldest of the three power blocs and its aggressive expansion was the reason for the formation of Oceania and the Eurasian Union. Centered on China, India and Japan, its population of four billion is almost two-thirds of humanity, yet many of its citizens live in poor rural areas or within vast shanty towns that have grown up around industrial centres. Its industrial output is approximately twenty-five percent lower than its two rivals and it is the weakest technologically. However, its potential is enormous and Oceania and the Eurasian Union fear the day when the Eastasians finally begin to make full use of their population advantage. Even now, the East Asian Alliance is beginning to win the war in Africa through sheer weight of numbers and a complete disregard for casualties. The government of the East Asian Alliance is a military dictatorship with regular changes in leadership due to ill health, accidents, unexplained disappearances or outright military coups. This instability of government is one of the reasons why the Alliance does not dominate the planet.

At the dawn of the second Age of Exploration, all three powers had concentrated on military spacecraft, to defend themselves and potentially seek out weaknesses in their opponents, plus geological survey ships, freighters and colony ships to find and exploit new sources of minerals within the Sol system. The Eurasian Union had the advantage in survey ships, possessing four in comparison to the three each of Oceania and Eastasia, while Oceania had a significant advantage in lift capability with their North Carolina class freighters. By January 2084, all three powers were ready to begin their geological explorations.

Even as the geological survey ships were breaking orbit in their race to find the best mineral sources, the attention of scientists around the world was turning to gravitational research. In the closing months of 2083, Abul Wafa Muhammad Al-Buzjani, a scientist working in a small lab in one of the proxy states within the Middle East had published a paper on gravitational anomalies. His theory was that wormholes could form between two star systems, allowing a ship to ?jump? directly from one system to another. Although publicly dismissing the paper as fantasy, researchers from the three major powers quickly realised that Abul Wafa had made a staggering discovery. The Eurasian Union and the East Asian Alliance both had troops nearby and a race developed to extract Abul Wafa. During a bloody confrontation, both sides suffered heavy casualties and Abul Wafa was killed before he could reveal any more information on his research. All three powers began immediate research programs in an attempt to duplicate his work on Jump Point Theory.

Oceania
Population: 1000 million (wealth 20,000)
Industry: Standard for 1 billion player pop. Shipyards 5/11
Research: 200,000 RP
Starting Ships: 10,000 BP
Starting PDC: 5,000 BP

Starting Forces
2x Ark Royal class Carrier (10,000 tons, 2800 km/s, Hangar Bay Capacity 3000 tons)
2x Tribal class Destroyer (5950 tons, 3025 km/s, Shield 14, 60x Size-3 VLS Launchers)
24x Eagle class Fighter (250 tons, 4800 km/s, 3x Size-4 VLS Launchers)
3x Spruance class Geosurvey Ship (2700 tons, 2962 km/s, 3x Geological Survey Sensors)
6x North Carolina class Freighter (8000 tons, 2250 km/s, 10x Cargo Hold)
2x Roanoke class Colony Ship (3850 tons, 2597 km/s, 40,000 Colonists)
2x Cheyenne Mountain class PDC (Armour 7, 150x Size-6 VLS Missile Launchers)

Eurasian Union
Population: 1200 million (wealth 24,000)
Industry: Standard for 1 billion player pop. Shipyards 5/11
Research: 150,000 RP
Starting Ships: 10,000 BP
Starting PDC: 5,000 BP

Starting Forces
2x Kirov class Battlecruiser (10,000 tons, 3000 km/s, Shield 24, 5x Twin 15cm NUV Laser Turrets)
2x Dunkerque class Escort Cruiser (7850 tons, 3057 km/s, Shield 18, 2x Quad 10cm NUV Laser Turrets)
8x Tarantul class Fast Attack Craft (1000 tons, 4000 km/s, 1x 15cm NUV Laser)
4x Konigsberg class Geosurvey Ship (2700 tons, 2962 km/s, 3x Geological Survey Sensors)
3x Roma class Freighters (4850 tons, 2061 km/s, 5x Cargo Hold)
2x Normandie class Colony Ship (3900 tons, 2051 km/s, 40,000 Colonists)
2x Bayern class PDC (Armour 7, 24x Size-6 Missile Launchers)

East Asian Alliance
Population: 4000 million (wealth 20,000)
Industry: Standard for 800 million player pop. Shipyards 4/8
Research: 75,000 RP
Starting Ships: 8,000 BP
Starting PDC: 5,000 BP

Starting Forces
3x Jianghu class Cruiser (8000 tons, 3000 km/s, Shield 20, 9x 15cm VL Laser)
3x Kongo class Destroyer (4000 tons, 3000 km/s, Shield 12, 4x 15cm VL Laser)
3x Sendai class Geosurvey Ship (2000 tons, 3000 km/s, 2x Geological Survey Sensors)
5x Bangalore class Freighter (4900 tons, 2040 km/s, 5x Cargo Hold)
2x Hegu class Colony Ship (4150 tons, 2409 km/s, 40,000 colonists)
2x Yinchuan PDC (Armour 7, 24x Size-6 Missile Launchers)

Game Note: Because of the huge but poor population of Eastasia, I have set the wealth generation per million pop to 5 instead of 20 and added several lower levels of wealth generation for 10, 15 and 20 megacredits at 10,000, 15,000 and 20,000 RP respectively each level. 24 megacredits will be at 3000 RP as normal. Thus the Eastasians have vast potential for wealth generation once they research the lower levels. They will not be able to allocate any research to wealth during setup. None of the power blocs will be able to research jump theory during setup. Also, because of the small number of shipyards, there is a limited number of starting ship designs.

Ship Designs

East Asian Alliance

Author Topic: 2084 Campaign: Campaign Background (Read 3042 times)

Steve Walmsley (OP)

Steve Walmsley (OP)

Steve Walmsley (OP)