Print Page - Black ships and gunboat diplomacy

Prologue: December 21st 1968

Human spaceflight was in it's infancy, December 21st 1968 and the Apollo 8 mission was launched to orbit the moon and return it's crew of 3 safely to the earth, the event marked what would be a milestone for humanity, more so than merely the technical achievement that everybody was expecting.
3 days after launch the craft finally achieved orbit on christmas eve, it was expected to spend the next day orbiting the moon 9 times before modifying it's trajectory back towards the earth, NASA were eager for this christmas gift to finally show the Russians that they weren't the ones in the lead of the space race any longer.
The crew prepare a special message for earth, a reading from genesis to signify how rich with life the earth is compared to the vast desolate waste of the moon.
Nearing the dark side crew command module pilot Jim Lovell checks their position using visible stars as landmarks, when he notices another piece of debris glinting in the sunlight far in the distance, the crew were getting used to these 'UFO's" as the flight progressed as pieces of seperated lower stages had a tendency to stay on a similar path to the manned vessel, perhaps this piece had been captured by the moon, future missions might need to identify and avoid these potentially hazardous objects. The rest of the crew crowd over to the small viewport, for a glimpse of the exotic object breaks up the monotony of the last several hours mostly spent waiting to complete the orbits.
Suddenly a blindingly bright flash erupts through the viewports of the other end of the craft, the crew feel the heat before they register the flash.
"What in god's name was that?" Commander Frank Borman exclaims? As each person looks immediately towards the offending end of the craft warning alarms start to register around the consoles in the command module. Lunar module pilot Fred Anders offers "Explosion? Did we lose an oxygen tank?"
Mission control erupts from the radio" CM103 come in. Commander Borman come in, telemetry is detecting every damn error message you have going off. Borman asks pilot Anders to answer CAPCOMs query as he tries to find the problem.
"Uh mission control, we have all kinds of smeg going on in here, everythings beeping and the commander can't find anything actually wrong".
Despite the chaos inside the craft Commander Borman checks and resets the alarms. "CAPCOM, Nothing appears to be damaged, every system is nominal and fails to trigger after the reset, all pressure gauges and voltages are as expected, I have no idea what caused that explosion" Lovell looks out the window where the explosion was noticed and sees something throughly unexpected, two large pieces of debris which appear to be burning far off in the distance, orbiting the moon."What the hell? Did the Russians launch something to spy on us?" He exclaims.
"What explosion commander?" query NASA ground control flight directror Glynn Lunney.
Before anyone can answer several flashes erupt in quick succession from one of the objects outside the window, Lovell continues to spy on the object as it starts to disintegrate and lose faintly orange glowing pieces. The entire crew look out the craft in amazement as they become the first human witnesses to laser weapons being used offensively. Commander Borman returns to the radio to inform NASA of the developments, soon however more flashes erupt from the objects outside the window and eventually a massive nuclear explosion erupts from outside, destroying one of the craft. Crew inside Apollo 8 are blinded, confused and throughly panicked as this experience is nothing they trained for or expected. As commander Bormans position was shielded from the blast by the engines, fuel and other equipment further down the ship his positionhe eventually manages to see through the haze and recovers enough to once again pick up the radio and report back.
Lovell is lying passed out beside the window with severe burns to exposed skin, his eyes bleeding and presumably useless. Pilot William Anders rushes down to help him and becomes witness to the alien ship powering up it's engines and changing course to meet them. He ignores this and concentrates on his wounded comerade. "Bill, get away from the frakking window, that was a nuclear explosion you need to get your ass to the RCS and change our position so our spent rocket motor is between us and any more radiation".
The next few hours are tense aboard the craft as commander Borman answers questions from air force officers who arrive at CAPCOM, and Anders tends to the shivering Jim Lovell. The craft is redirected back to earth orbit with a final burn and the alien craft was mostly forgotten, untill just as final earth rise was occuring the craft reappears only a few meters from Apollo 8. The ship was jet black, almost impossible to see in the deep of space except during the fight when it became a brilliant white during the reactor explosion, it's features were unremarkable yet totally alien, no apparent rocket motors were visible nor were antennas, windows, weapons or anything identifiable, yet the surface was irregular, covered in random looking shapes and textures, the craft wasn't even symmetrical or regularly shaped, it might as well have been an asteroid except for the obvious propulsion system emitting heat and light from the rear end, and it's obviously intelligent control which placed it into a parallel course so close to the human craft.
The radio suddenly cut off one of the military brass who had hijacked it from Huston declaring angrily in some alien tongue "ffsssssrrmrfl fusrbah, zzzzzz", the outburst almost lost in the residual electronic noise from the battle, before long the ship broke off and vanished into deep space. The wreck of the other craft remained in high unstable lunar orbit. Already back home plans were being drawn up to recover it, while a new secret cold war was about to start, a race for alien secrets.

I hope Jim is not permanently damaged, he is one of my favorite astronauts. Other than that, its a good start.

When he recovers commander Lovell will play a pivotal part in what will surely be a highly successful Apollo 13 mission.

Oh good. Lovell did a lot for NASA. Of my NASA patches Lovell was on both missions I have patches for, Gemini 12 and Apollo 8. His name should be up there with Aldrin and Armstrong.

Now for a bit of detail on the actual game.
Spurred on by the speed with which Steve's recent campaign has made hostile contact and by a sudden personal desire to do something creative I have decided to chronicle my newest game.
The setting is 1969, Richard Milhouse Nixon is president of the United states and after making first contact the Apollo program is hijacked by the air force in order to gather alien technology before the russians.
A Transnewtonian start with 700m population and 0 Research points, modified to conventional technology levels by removing Factories, Mines, and Fuel refinerys and replacing them with conventional industry. Technology unknown at the time has been removed such as meson and particle beam, conventional weapons will be simulated using the lowest technology weapons available, IE: low accuracy gauss for machine guns/antiaircraft guns, rail guns for large naval guns. The first level of laser and high powered microwave will be known, but won't be used offensively untill power technology has advanced.
Systems are limited to 24 for the time being to promote conflict and force contact with the beings who started the whole race. NPR generation is ~~100%~~ 30% , Difficulty is set to ~~500%~~ 150%, construction time is 1/5 normal. Comets are at minimum 60 per system.
All spoilers are on (yet i may interfere to preserve humanity with deus ex machinae if necessary). And jump gates are turned on so expect wandering ships from the very start.
We start the game with extra resources on earth and a fledgling military composed of conventionally underpowered ships, running 16km/s for ships or 150-200km/s for fighters. As technology is recovered vastly better engines will be researched and at least the first conventional engine upgrades will be refitted into existing ships.
The next post will showcase the pride of the US navy and airforce before being hastily modified to make use of the recently discovered "sorium" fuel and launched using project Orion type technology with the last of earths dirty old nuclear weapons, now rendered obsolete after the discovery of Tritanium boosted warheads.
Edit: I should also mention where the name comes from, many might recognize that the term gunboat diplomacy comes from US Commodore Perry's mission to Japan to forcefully open trade with the US. Many trade and warships of the time had hulls covered with tar pitch and hence were "black ships" or kurofune as the japanese referred to them.
Expect more black ships to arrive in the future and possibly some kind of gunboat diplomacy ( when I work out how best to weave it into the narrative).

Edit: Game was temporarily abandoned for about a year, then restarted using 6.43, There will be minor discrepancies in the text, particularly in the new ship designs, the restart will be run with US and USSR empires running concurrently with similar force makeup.

Edit: The following details the old fleet which is now obsolete, but has been kept here for archival purposes.

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The pride of the USS navy, the super-carrier USS Enterprise, the largest and most advanced carrier in the navy, also the only nuclear powered carrier in the world after the decision was made to finish the 2 most recent kitty hawk carriers as conventionally powered. Capable of operating anywhere in the world without needing to refuel itself for almost 20 years the only limit to it's longevity is the fuel used by it's 90 state-of-the-art combat aircraft, the fierce speed with which they can deliver ordnance, and the needs of it's human crew.

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Enterprise class Heavy Carrier 90,000 tons 1518 Crew 8138.1 BP TCS 1800 TH 29 EM 0
~~16 km/s~~ 32knots Armour 3-178 Shields 0-0 Sensors 50/10/0/0 Damage Control Rating 149 PPV 7.5
Maint Life 20.7 Years MSP 23421 AFR 434% IFR 6% 1YR 104 5YR 1564 Max Repair 50 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 36 months Flight Crew Berths 0
Hangar Deck Capacity 30000 tons Magazine 1609

General Electric Steam Turbine 05-360 (8) Power 3.6 Fuel Use 8.15% Signature 3.6 Exp 4%
Fuel Capacity 5,000,000 Litres ~~Range 121.9 billion km (88146 days at full power)~~

General Electric A2W Naval Light Water Reactor (8) Total Power Output 16 Armour 0 Exp 5%
RIM-9 Sea Sparrow AMM Launcher (3) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 30
RIM-2 Terrier SAM Launcher (2) Missile Size 3 Rate of Fire 180
AN/SPS-6 Sea Sparrow Fire Control (3) Range 150k km Resolution 1
AN/SPS-55 Terrier Fire Control (2) Range 210k km Resolution 2
Mark 44 Torpedo (7) Speed: 100 km/s End: 13m Range: 0.1m km WH: 4 Size: 6 TH: 0/0/0
Size 3 Passive Sonar Bouy (3) Speed: 100 km/s End: 25.9m Range: 0.2m km WH: 0 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0
Size 3 Active Sonar Bouy (3) Speed: 100 km/s End: 25.9m Range: 0.2m km WH: 0 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0
Size 3 Radar Bouy (3) Speed: 100 km/s End: 25.9m Range: 0.2m km WH: 0 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0
RIM-2 Terrier Medium Range Semi Active SAM (25) Speed: 200 km/s End: 16.8m Range: 0.2m km WH: 2 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0
RIM-9 Sea Sparrow Short Range Semi Active AMM (45) Speed: 200 km/s End: 14.7m Range: 0.2m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 0/0/0
AIM-7 Sparrow Semi Active AAM (705) Speed: 200 km/s End: 14.7m Range: 0.2m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 0/0/0
AGM-65 Walleye (125) Speed: 100 km/s End: 21m Range: 0.1m km WH: 4 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0
AIM-9 Sidewinder (170) Speed: 100 km/s End: 16.8m Range: 0.1m km WH: 2 Size: 2 TH: 0/0/0

AN/SPS-12 Search Radar (2) GPS 10 Range 350k km Resolution 2
SCANFAR AN/SPS-32/33 Phased Array Radar (2) GPS 32 Range 800k km Resolution 4
AN/SPS-6 Missile Search Radar (2) GPS 2 Range 100k km MCR 11k km Resolution 1
Passive Sonar 50 (T) (1) Sensitivity 50 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 50m km
Active EM Sonar (1) Sensitivity 10 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 10m km

Strike Group
2x Sea King ASW Helicopter Scout Speed: 100 km/s Size: 9.95
7x A-6C Tanker Tanker Speed: 166 km/s Size: 6
45x F-4 Phantom Fighter Speed: 206 km/s Size: 4.85
20x A-6 Intruder Fighter-bomber Speed: 166 km/s Size: 6
20x A-6B Intruder Attack Craft Speed: 158 km/s Size: 6.3
7x E-2 Hawkeye Fighter-Scout Speed: 201 km/s Size: 9.95

Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

The venerable Iowa class battleship USS New Jersey, alone among the Iowas this ship was recently recommissioned in order to provide shore bombardment for the Vietnam conflict, a role which she excelled in expending over 5000 16 inch shells and 15,000 5 inch shells and destroying much valuable north vietnamese equipment and ordnance. Only re-deactivated on december 17th 1968 this vessel is still in top condition despite it's WWII vintage, in part due to being deactivated for 10 years previously. Still ready to serve at a moments notice with it's powerful 16" guns and supported by recently designed Sea king anti-submarine warfare helicopters. Naval analysts still debate the utility of big guns despite it's past history and even it's performance last year and some have called for it's modification to carrying missiles, a very expensive and time consuming refit proposal.

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Iowa class Battleship 52,000 tons 613 Crew 2699.28 BP TCS 1040 TH 11 EM 0
~~10 km/s~~ 32 Knots Armour 6-124 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 13 PPV 107
Maint Life 2.99 Years MSP 1422 AFR 1664% IFR 23.1% 1YR 238 5YR 3567 Max Repair 42 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Flight Crew Berths 0
Hangar Deck Capacity 1000 tons Troop Capacity: 1 Battalion Drop Capacity: 1 Company Magazine 256 Cargo 5000 Passengers 250 Cargo Handling Multiplier 5

General Electric Steam Turbine 03-270 (4) Power 2.7 Fuel Use 2.71% Signature 2.7 Exp 3%
Fuel Capacity 2,610,000 Litres Range ~~315.2 billion~~ 24,000 km (364810 days at full power)

20mm/70 cal Oerlikon Autocannon (25x3) Range 10~~,000~~km TS: 1250 km/s Accuracy Modifier 33% RM 1 ROF 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Triple Turret 16"/50 mark 7 naval cannon (3x4) Range ~~20,000~~ 40 km TS: 1250 km/s Power 21-3 RM 1 ROF 35 7 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Twin Turret 5"/54 dual purpose naval cannon (10x4) Range ~~20,000~~ 16 km TS: 1250 km/s Power 3-2 RM 2 ROF 10 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Manual Aim Firecontrol (5) Max Range: 5,~~000~~ km TS: 625 km/s 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Naval Cannon fire control (5) Max Range: 5,~~000~~ km TS: 1250 km/s 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Naval Cannon Long Range Fire Control (3) Max Range: ~~20,000~~ 40 km TS: 1250 km/s 50 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
16"/50 munitions handling and storage system (3) ~~Total Power Output 42~~ Armour 0 Exp 5%
5"/54 munitions handling and storage system (10) ~~Total Power Output 20~~ Armour 0 Exp 5%

Mark 44 Torpedo (34) Speed: ~~100 km/s~~ 60 knots End: 13m Range: 0.1mk km WH: 4 Size: 6 TH: 0/0/0
Size 3 Passive Sonar Bouy (6) Speed: ~~100 km/s~~ End: 25.9m Range: 0.2mk km WH: 0 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0
Size 3 Active Sonar Bouy (6) Speed: ~~100 km/s~~ End: 25.9m Range: 0.2mk km WH: 0 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0
Size 3 Radar Bouy (6) Speed: ~~100 km/s~~ End: 25.9m Range: 0.2mk km WH: 0 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0

S-Band Search Radar (2) GPS 2 Range 70k km Resolution 2

Strike Group
2x Sea King ASW Helicopter Scout Speed: ~~100 km/s~~ 300 km/h Size: 9.95

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

Next up is the USS Long Beach this state-of-the-art ship was designed from the start as a guided missile cruiser unlike most other ships currently in the role which had been converted after WWII. The nuclear reactors provide unprecedented longevity in theory only requiring to enter port to refuel every 25 years, the crew however require more frequent maintenance.

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Long Beach class Missile Cruiser 15,000 tons 269 Crew 1238.54 BP TCS 300 TH 3 EM 0
~~10 km/s~~ 30 Knots Armour 3-54 Shields 0-0 Sensors 10/10/0/0 Damage Control Rating 20 PPV 43.5
Maint Life 21.24 Years MSP 2032 AFR 90% IFR 1.2% 1YR 9 5YR 129 Max Repair 18 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months Flight Crew Berths 1
Hangar Deck Capacity 500 tons Magazine 566

General Electric Steam Turbine 030-168 (2) Power 1.68 Fuel Use 3.55% Signature 1.68 Exp 3%
Fuel Capacity 10,00000 Litres (Fuel for the helicopter) Range ~~338.0 billion km~~ Unlimited (~~391236days at full power)~~
Twin Turret 5"/54 dual purpose naval cannon (1x4) Range ~~5,000~~ 16km TS: 1250 km/s Power 3-2 RM 2 ROF 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Naval Cannon fire control (1) Max Range: 5,000 km TS: 1250 km/s 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
General Electric C1W Naval Light Water Reactor (2) Total Power Output 4 Armour 0 Exp 5%

RIM-8 Talos SAM Launcher (2) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 240
RIM-2 Terrier SAM Launcher (2) Missile Size 3 Rate of Fire 180
RUR-5 ASROC System (8) Missile Size 10 Hangar Reload 75 minutes MF Reload 12.5 hours
Mark 46 Torpedo Launcher (4) Missile Size 6 Rate of Fire 360
AN/SPS-55 Terrier Fire Control (2) Range 210k km Resolution 2
Torpedo Fire Control (4) Range 210k km Resolution 2
ASROC Fire Control (2) Range 600k km Resolution 4
AN/SPS-49 Talos fire control (2) Range 420k km Resolution 2
Mark 44 Torpedo (24) Speed: 100 km/s End: 13m Range: ~~0.1m~~ 100 km WH: 4 Size: 6 TH: 0/0/0
Size 3 Passive Sonar Bouy (9) Speed: 100 km/s End: 25.9m Range: 0.2m km WH: 0 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0
Size 3 Active Sonar Bouy (10) Speed: 100 km/s End: 25.9m Range: 0.2m km WH: 0 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0
Size 3 Radar Bouy (10) Speed: 100 km/s End: 25.9m Range: 0.2m km WH: 0 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0
ASROC Mk44 Torpedo (8) Speed: 200 km/s End: 40.6m Range: ~~0.6m~~ 200 km WH: 0 Size: 10 TH: 0/0/0
ASROC Depth Charge (8) Speed: 200 km/s End: 40.6m Range: ~~0.6m~~ 100 km WH: 0 Size: 10 TH: 0/0/0
RIM-8 Talos Long Range Semi Active SAM (25) Speed: 100 km/s End: 58.7m Range: ~~0.4m~~ 500 km WH: 4 Size: 4 TH: 0/0/0
RIM-2 Terrier Medium Range Semi Active SAM (25) Speed: 200 km/s End: 16.8m Range: ~~0.2m~~ 200 km WH: 2 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0

SCANFAR AN/SPS-32/33 Phased Array Radar (2) GPS 32 Range 800k km Resolution 4
AN/SPS-12 Search Radar (2) GPS 10 Range 350k km Resolution 2
Passive Thermal Sonar (1) Sensitivity 10 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 10m km
Active EM Sonar (1) Sensitivity 10 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 10m km

Strike Group
1x Sea King ASW Helicopter Scout Speed: ~~100 km/s~~ 300 km/h Size: 9.95

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

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Bainbridge class Missile Cruiser 9,100 tons 216 Crew 761.78 BP TCS 182 TH 2 EM 0
10 km/s Armour 2-38 Shields 0-0 Sensors 10/10/0/0 Damage Control Rating 10 PPV 40.5
Maint Life 20.19 Years MSP 1562 AFR 61% IFR 0.9% 1YR 7 5YR 110 Max Repair 42 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 18 months Spare Berths 1
Magazine 338

Generel Electric Steam Turbine 030-096 (2) Power 0.96 Fuel Use 4.14% Signature 0.96 Exp 3%
Fuel Capacity 400,000 Litres Range 173.9 billion km (201288 days at full power)

Twin Turret 5"/54 dual purpose naval cannon (1x4) Range 5,000km TS: 1250 km/s Power 3-2 RM 2 ROF 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Naval Cannon fire control (1) Max Range: 5,000 km TS: 1250 km/s 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
General Electric D2G Naval Light Water Reactor (2) Total Power Output 2 Armour 0 Exp 5%
16"/50 munitions handling and storage system (1) Total Power Output 14 Armour 0 Exp 5%

RIM-2 Terrier SAM Launcher (2) Missile Size 3 Rate of Fire 180
RUR-5 ASROC System (4) Missile Size 10 Hangar Reload 75 minutes MF Reload 12.5 hours
Mark 46 Torpedo Launcher (6) Missile Size 6 Rate of Fire 360
Torpedo Fire Control (2) Range 210k km Resolution 2
AN/SPS-55 Terrier Fire Control (1) Range 210k km Resolution 2
ASROC Fire Control (1) Range 600k km Resolution 4
Mark 44 Torpedo (18) Speed: 100 km/s End: 13m Range: 0.1m km WH: 4 Size: 6 TH: 0/0/0
ASROC Mk44 Torpedo (4) Speed: 200 km/s End: 40.6m Range: 0.6m km WH: 0 Size: 10 TH: 0/0/0
ASROC Depth Charge (4) Speed: 200 km/s End: 40.6m Range: 0.6m km WH: 0 Size: 10 TH: 0/0/0
RIM-2 Terrier Medium Range Semi Active SAM (50) Speed: 200 km/s End: 16.8m Range: 0.2m km WH: 2 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0

SCANFAR AN/SPS-32/33 Phased Array Radar (1) GPS 32 Range 800k km Resolution 4
AN/SPS-12 Search Radar (1) GPS 10 Range 350k km Resolution 2
Passive Thermal Sonar (1) Sensitivity 10 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 10m km
Active EM Sonar (1) Sensitivity 10 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 10m km

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

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Truxton class Missile Cruiser 8,650 tons 194 Crew 756.68 BP TCS 173 TH 2 EM 0
11 km/s Armour 2-37 Shields 0-0 Sensors 10/10/0/0 Damage Control Rating 10 PPV 28.5
Maint Life 20.47 Years MSP 1574 AFR 57% IFR 0.8% 1YR 7 5YR 107 Max Repair 42 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 18 months Flight Crew Berths 0
Hangar Deck Capacity 500 tons Magazine 306

General Electric Steam Turbine 030-078 (2) Power 0.78 Fuel Use 4.29% Signature 0.78 Exp 3%
Fuel Capacity 400,000 Litres Range 184.6 billion km (194250 days at full power)

Twin Turret 5"/54 dual purpose naval cannon (1x4) Range 5,000km TS: 1250 km/s Power 3-2 RM 2 ROF 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Naval Cannon fire control (1) Max Range: 5,000 km TS: 1250 km/s 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
General Electric D2G Naval Light Water Reactor (2) Total Power Output 2 Armour 0 Exp 5%
16"/50 munitions handling and storage system (1) Total Power Output 14 Armour 0 Exp 5%

RIM-2 Terrier SAM Launcher (2) Missile Size 3 Rate of Fire 180
RUR-5 ASROC System (2) Missile Size 10 Hangar Reload 75 minutes MF Reload 12.5 hours
Mark 46 Torpedo Launcher (4) Missile Size 6 Rate of Fire 360
AN/SPS-55 Terrier Fire Control (1) Range 210k km Resolution 2
Torpedo Fire Control (2) Range 210k km Resolution 2
ASROC Fire Control (1) Range 600k km Resolution 4
Mark 44 Torpedo (18) Speed: 100 km/s End: 13m Range: 0.1m km WH: 4 Size: 6 TH: 0/0/0
Size 3 Passive Sonar Bouy (2) Speed: 100 km/s End: 25.9m Range: 0.2m km WH: 0 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0
Size 3 Active Sonar Bouy (2) Speed: 100 km/s End: 25.9m Range: 0.2m km WH: 0 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0
Size 3 Radar Bouy (2) Speed: 100 km/s End: 25.9m Range: 0.2m km WH: 0 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0
ASROC Mk44 Torpedo (2) Speed: 200 km/s End: 40.6m Range: 0.6m km WH: 0 Size: 10 TH: 0/0/0
ASROC Depth Charge (2) Speed: 200 km/s End: 40.6m Range: 0.6m km WH: 0 Size: 10 TH: 0/0/0
RIM-2 Terrier Medium Range Semi Active SAM (46) Speed: 200 km/s End: 16.8m Range: 0.2m km WH: 2 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0

SCANFAR AN/SPS-32/33 Phased Array Radar (1) GPS 32 Range 800k km Resolution 4
AN/SPS-12 Search Radar (1) GPS 10 Range 350k km Resolution 2
Passive Thermal Sonar (1) Sensitivity 10 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 10m km
Active EM Sonar (1) Sensitivity 10 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 10m km

Strike Group
1x Sea King ASW Helicopter Scout Speed: 100 km/s Size: 9.95

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

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Charles.F.Adams class Missile Destroyer 4,650 tons 92 Crew 363.86 BP TCS 93 TH 1 EM 0
10 km/s Armour 2-24 Shields 0-0 Sensors 10/10/0/0 Damage Control Rating 2 PPV 18
Maint Life 4.3 Years MSP 98 AFR 86% IFR 1.2% 1YR 9 5YR 128 Max Repair 18 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 9 months Spare Berths 4
Magazine 220

Generel Electric Steam Turbine 030-096 (1) Power 0.96 Fuel Use 4.14% Signature 0.96 Exp 3%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres Range 217.4 billion km (251610 days at full power)

Twin Turret 5"/54 dual purpose naval cannon (1x4) Range 5,000km TS: 1250 km/s Power 3-2 RM 2 ROF 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Naval Cannon fire control (1) Max Range: 5,000 km TS: 1250 km/s 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
5"/54 munitions handling and storage system (1) Total Power Output 2 Armour 0 Exp 5%

Mark 46 Torpedo Launcher (2) Missile Size 6 Rate of Fire 360
RIM-2 Terrier SAM Launcher (2) Missile Size 3 Rate of Fire 180
RUR-5 ASROC System (1) Missile Size 10 Hangar Reload 75 minutes MF Reload 12.5 hours
ASROC Fire Control (1) Range 600k km Resolution 4
AN/SPS-55 Terrier Fire Control (2) Range 210k km Resolution 2
Torpedo Fire Control (1) Range 210k km Resolution 2
Mark 44 Torpedo (10) Speed: 100 km/s End: 13m Range: 0.1m km WH: 4 Size: 6 TH: 0/0/0
ASROC Depth Charge (4) Speed: 200 km/s End: 40.6m Range: 0.6m km WH: 0 Size: 10 TH: 0/0/0
RIM-2 Terrier Medium Range Semi Active SAM (40) Speed: 200 km/s End: 16.8m Range: 0.2m km WH: 2 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0

SCANFAR AN/SPS-32/33 Phased Array Radar (1) GPS 32 Range 800k km Resolution 4
AN/SPS-12 Search Radar (1) GPS 10 Range 350k km Resolution 2
Passive Thermal Sonar (1) Sensitivity 10 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 10m km
Active EM Sonar (1) Sensitivity 10 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 10m km

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

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Knox class Missile Frigate 4,250 tons 68 Crew 316.14 BP TCS 85 TH 1 EM 0
11 km/s Armour 2-23 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 11.25
Maint Life 3.93 Years MSP 81 AFR 82% IFR 1.1% 1YR 8 5YR 125 Max Repair 18 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 9 months Flight Crew Berths 4
Hangar Deck Capacity 500 tons Magazine 147

Generel Electric Steam Turbine 030-096 (1) Power 0.96 Fuel Use 4.14% Signature 0.96 Exp 3%
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres Range 191.3 billion km (201288 days at full power)

Twin Turret 5"/54 dual purpose naval cannon (1x4) Range 5,000km TS: 1250 km/s Power 3-2 RM 2 ROF 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Naval Cannon fire control (1) Max Range: 5,000 km TS: 1250 km/s 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
5"/54 munitions handling and storage system (1) Total Power Output 2 Armour 0 Exp 5%

RUR-5 ASROC System (1) Missile Size 10 Hangar Reload 75 minutes MF Reload 12.5 hours
RIM-2 Terrier SAM Launcher (1) Missile Size 3 Rate of Fire 180
Mark 46 Torpedo Launcher (1) Missile Size 6 Rate of Fire 360
ASROC Fire Control (1) Range 600k km Resolution 4
Torpedo Fire Control (1) Range 210k km Resolution 2
AN/SPS-55 Terrier Fire Control (1) Range 210k km Resolution 2
Mark 44 Torpedo (6) Speed: 100 km/s End: 13m Range: 0.1m km WH: 4 Size: 6 TH: 0/0/0
Size 3 Passive Sonar Bouy (2) Speed: 100 km/s End: 25.9m Range: 0.2m km WH: 0 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0
Size 3 Active Sonar Bouy (2) Speed: 100 km/s End: 25.9m Range: 0.2m km WH: 0 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0
Size 3 Radar Bouy (2) Speed: 100 km/s End: 25.9m Range: 0.2m km WH: 0 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0
ASROC Depth Charge (3) Speed: 200 km/s End: 40.6m Range: 0.6m km WH: 0 Size: 10 TH: 0/0/0
RIM-2 Terrier Medium Range Semi Active SAM (21) Speed: 200 km/s End: 16.8m Range: 0.2m km WH: 2 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0

AN/SPS-12 Search Radar (1) GPS 10 Range 350k km Resolution 2

Strike Group
1x Sea King ASW Helicopter Scout Speed: 100 km/s Size: 9.95

Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

The Benjamin Franklin class submarine are the latest development of a long line of very similar submarine classes, but boasting improved electronics and other features including the latest polaris submarine launched ballistic missile, eventually all it's older brethren in the George Washington, Ethan Allen, Lafayette, and James Madison classes will be refit with the same standards, leaving the fleet with 41 highly capable boats to uphold freedom and liberty from the spectre of red agression.

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Benjamin Franklin class Missile Boat 7,950 tons 131 Crew 625.44 BP TCS 159 TH 3 EM 0
18 km/s Armour 2-35 Shields 0-0 Sensors 10/10/0/0 Damage Control Rating 8 PPV 56.4
Maint Life 11.56 Years MSP 393 AFR 63% IFR 0.9% 1YR 5 5YR 81 Max Repair 18 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 18 months Spare Berths 2
Magazine 408

General Electric Steam Turbine 05-270 (1) Power 2.7 Fuel Use 12.91% Signature 2.7 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 300,000 Litres Range 50.2 billion km (32274 days at full power)

General Electric D2G Naval Light Water Reactor (2) Total Power Output 2 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Size 16 Box Launcher (16) Missile Size 16 Hangar Reload 120 minutes MF Reload 20 hours
Mark 46 Torpedo Launcher (4) Missile Size 6 Rate of Fire 360
Torpedo Fire Control (4) Range 210k km Resolution 2
Polaris Missile Fire Control (16) Range 930k km Resolution 40
Mark 44 Torpedo (25) Speed: 100 km/s End: 13m Range: 0.1m km WH: 4 Size: 6 TH: 0/0/0
Polaris Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile (16) Speed: 100 km/s End: 162.9m Range: 1m km WH: 0 Size: 16 TH: 0/0/0

AN/SPS-12 Search Radar (1) GPS 10 Range 350k km Resolution 2
Passive Thermal Sonar (1) Sensitivity 10 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 10m km
Active EM Sonar (1) Sensitivity 10 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 10m km

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

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Air Force Base class Planetary Fighter Base 26,150 tons 305 Crew 2319.7 BP TCS 523 TH 0 EM 0
Armour 5-78 Sensors 1/50 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 0
Intended Deployment Time: 18 months Flight Crew Berths 0
Hangar Deck Capacity 16000 tons Troop Capacity: 1 Battalion Magazine 960

AIM-7 Sparrow Semi Active AAM (256) Speed: 200 km/s End: 14.7m Range: 0.2m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 0/0/0
AGM-65 Walleye (64) Speed: 100 km/s End: 21m Range: 0.1m km WH: 4 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0
AIM-9 Sidewinder (256) Speed: 100 km/s End: 16.8m Range: 0.1m km WH: 2 Size: 2 TH: 0/0/0

AN/SPS-16 Airborne Warning Radar (1) GPS 50 Range 2.5m km MCR 272k km Resolution 1

Strike Group
32x F-104 Starfighter Fighter Speed: 304 km/s Size: 9.85

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 Planetary Defence Centre and can be pre-fabricated in 11 sections

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Strategic Bombardment Complex class ICBM Launch Base 30,850 tons 250 Crew 993.8 BP TCS 617 TH 0 EM 0
Armour 10-87 Sensors 1/1 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 288
Intended Deployment Time: 18 months Spare Berths 1
Troop Capacity: 1 Battalion Magazine 288

ICBM Silo (12) Missile Size 24 Rate of Fire 43200
Atlas Missile Fire Control (12) Range 930k km Resolution 40
Atlas Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (12) Speed: 100 km/s End: 155.4m Range: 0.9m km WH: 20 Size: 24 TH: 0/0/0

AWG 10B Active Radar (1) GPS 4 Range 100k km Resolution 4

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 Planetary Defence Centre and can be pre-fabricated in 13 sections

Air Fleet:

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Sea King ASW Helicopter class Scout 498 tons 2 Crew 30.6 BP TCS 9.95 TH 1 EM 0
~~100 km/s~~ 300 km/h Armour 1-5 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 3.75
Maint Life 0 Years MSP 0 AFR 99% IFR 1.4% 1YR 4 5YR 57 Max Repair 6 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.1 months Spare Berths 8
Magazine 15

General Electric Jet Turbine (1) Power 0.75 Fuel Use 169.45% Signature 0.75 Exp 12%
Fuel Capacity 5,000 Litres Range ~~1.1 billion km~~ 1000 km (122 days at full power)

Sensor Bouy Release Mechanism (1) Missile Size 3 Rate of Fire 9000
Mark 44 Torpedo Launcher (2) Missile Size 6 Rate of Fire 18000
Torpedo Fire Control (1) Range 210k km Resolution 2
Mark 44 Torpedo (2) Speed: ~~100 km/s~~ 60 knots End: 13m Range: 0.1m km WH: 4 Size: 6 TH: 0/0/0
Size 3 Passive Sonar Bouy (1) Speed: ~~100 km/s~~ End: 25.9m Range: 0.2m km WH: 0 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0

S-Band Search Radar (1) GPS 2 Range 70k km Resolution 2

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 Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes

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F-4 Phantom class Fighter 243 tons 1 Crew 24.1 BP TCS 4.85 TH 1 EM 0
206 km/s Armour 1-3 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 2.15
Maint Life 0 Years MSP 0 AFR 48% IFR 0.7% 1YR 1 5YR 9 Max Repair 5 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.1 months Spare Berths 9
Magazine 11

Rolls Royce Turbojet (1) Power 0.6 Fuel Use 1543.26% Signature 0.6 Exp 30%
Fuel Capacity 5,000 Litres Range 0.2 billion km (13 days at full power)

M61 Vulcan 20mm cannon (1x2) Range 10,000km TS: 1250 km/s Accuracy Modifier 8% RM 1 ROF 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
M61 Firecontrol (1) Max Range: 20,000 km TS: 2500 km/s 50 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Size 3 Box Launcher (1) Missile Size 3 Hangar Reload 22.5 minutes MF Reload 3.7 hours
Size 2 Box Launcher (2) Missile Size 2 Hangar Reload 15 minutes MF Reload 2.5 hours
Size 1 Box Launcher (4) Missile Size 1 Hangar Reload 7.5 minutes MF Reload 1.2 hours
AWG 10B Firecontrol (1) Range 420k km Resolution 2
AIM-7 Sparrow Semi Active AAM (4) Speed: 200 km/s End: 14.7m Range: 0.2m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 0/0/0
AGM-65 Walleye (1) Speed: 100 km/s End: 21m Range: 0.1m km WH: 4 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0
AIM-9 Sidewinder (2) Speed: 100 km/s End: 16.8m Range: 0.1m km WH: 2 Size: 2 TH: 0/0/0

AWG 10B Active Radar (1) GPS 4 Range 100k km Resolution 4

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 Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes

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A-6 Intruder class Fighter-bomber 300 tons 2 Crew 31.4 BP TCS 6 TH 1 EM 0
166 km/s Armour 1-3 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 3.6
Maint Life 0 Years MSP 0 AFR 60% IFR 0.8% 1YR 1 5YR 11 Max Repair 5 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.2 months Spare Berths 6
Magazine 24

Rolls Royce Turbojet (1) Power 0.6 Fuel Use 1543.26% Signature 0.6 Exp 30%
Fuel Capacity 10,000 Litres Range 0.4 billion km (26 days at full power)

Size 3 Box Launcher (4) Missile Size 3 Hangar Reload 22.5 minutes MF Reload 3.7 hours
Size 2 Box Launcher (4) Missile Size 2 Hangar Reload 15 minutes MF Reload 2.5 hours
Size 1 Box Launcher (4) Missile Size 1 Hangar Reload 7.5 minutes MF Reload 1.2 hours
AWG 10B Firecontrol (1) Range 420k km Resolution 2
AIM-7 Sparrow Semi Active AAM (4) Speed: 200 km/s End: 14.7m Range: 0.2m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 0/0/0
AGM-65 Walleye (4) Speed: 100 km/s End: 21m Range: 0.1m km WH: 4 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0
AIM-9 Sidewinder (4) Speed: 100 km/s End: 16.8m Range: 0.1m km WH: 2 Size: 2 TH: 0/0/0

AWG 10B Active Radar (1) GPS 4 Range 100k km Resolution 4

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 Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes

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A-6B Intruder class Attack Craft 315 tons 6 Crew 31 BP TCS 6.3 TH 1 EM 0
158 km/s Armour 1-4 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 2.5
Maint Life 0 Years MSP 0 AFR 63% IFR 0.9% 1YR 1 5YR 20 Max Repair 5 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.2 months Spare Berths 2
Magazine 16

Rolls Royce Turbojet (1) Power 0.6 Fuel Use 1543.26% Signature 0.6 Exp 30%
Fuel Capacity 5,000 Litres Range 0.2 billion km (13 days at full power)

M61 Vulcan 20mm cannon (3x2) Range 10,000km TS: 1250 km/s Accuracy Modifier 8% RM 1 ROF 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
M61 Firecontrol (1) Max Range: 20,000 km TS: 2500 km/s 50 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Size 1 Missile Launcher (1) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 30
AN/SPS-6 Sea Sparrow Fire Control (1) Range 150k km Resolution 1
AIM-7 Sparrow Semi Active AAM (16) Speed: 200 km/s End: 14.7m Range: 0.2m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 0/0/0

AN/SPS-6 Missile Search Radar (1) GPS 2 Range 100k km MCR 11k km Resolution 1

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 Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes

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E-2 Hawkeye class Fighter-Scout 498 tons 11 Crew 83 BP TCS 9.95 TH 2 EM 0
201 km/s Armour 1-5 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 0
Maint Life 5.39 Years MSP 26 AFR 7% IFR 0.1% 1YR 1 5YR 22 Max Repair 50 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.2 months Spare Berths 6

Rolls Royce Turbojet (3) Power 0.6 Fuel Use 1543.26% Signature 0.6 Exp 30%
Fuel Capacity 20,000 Litres Range 0.5 billion km (26 days at full power)

AN/SPS-16 Airborne Warning Radar (1) GPS 50 Range 2.5m km MCR 272k km Resolution 1

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

Is this dead?

Not quite, it just hasn't started yet, Christmas was busy And I got a little bogged down by what I call over-organisational-writers-block, however I've decided to let time start running and let the fiction flow at its own pace rather than forcing it out. I'm sure some of you know what I mean =p

I know what you mean all too well. Glad to hear more is coming, I am looking forward to it.

January 1st 1969
3 Days have passed since the battered crew of Apollo 8 have returned to earth, the damaged craft barely managing to be coaxed into a suitable reentry orbit. After being fished out of the ocean by helicopter the capsule was breeched on the flight deck of the USS Yorktown, the astronauts receiving immediate medical attention onboard. As already a cover story had been disseminated about a fire in the capsule, which had been heroically contained and put out by commander Lovell, the crew of the Yorktown were waiting in salute on deck as the capsule was opened.
Efforts are underway to construct increased deep space tracking capabilities so the position of the wreck can be accurately determined.
Research immediately commences into increasing Planetary sensor strength so as not to lose the debris.
March 3rd 1969
Apollo 9 is launched, this mission is scheduled to stay in earth orbit and test the docking capabilities of the command module and lander, and also the portable life support system. While the current mission profile doesn't require the vessel to enter lunar orbit, the command module is still fully fueled in order to test maneuvers and docking.
March 4th 1969
An additional tracking station finally comes online, allowing almost complete tracking of large lunar objects from earth. Smaller debris is detected in a cloud around the area of the wreck, some of which has streamed out of lunar orbit and entered earths sphere of influence, and surprisingly a large piece is detected in low earth orbit 100 kilometers higher than Apollo 9, the mission profile is altered to allow a visual inspection.

Premier Brezhnev sits at the prime seat of the meeting room of the Politburo his attention faltering as this meeting discussing the February 21st loss of the first N1 moon rocket seems to drag on endlessly. "Comrades" his rich baritone starts suddenly, "surely we can at least reach an agreement that the disaster last month if not caused by rushing the launch we would at least invite the same again if we were not to delay the next test".
"Comrade premier, the Americans already have orbited successfully, despite the misshap that befell their orbiter, and it's likely they are prepared already to land." A third member of the group interjected, "Yes, but that minor mishap was far worse than you give credit to, what we detected was a massive explosion and they were very lucky to get anything back, let alone their cosmonauts, regardless you miss the point, we fund this program to advance our missile technology, not for western properganda, and we can sorely afford more mishaps".Brezhnev takes command of the room once more" You have hit the spike on its crown Kosygin, we do not need to risk valuable materials and the lives of our greatest minds in persuit of an ill advised technical victory over our rivals, and as such I support the consensus of the central committee which has wisely decided not to increase finding or rush the schedual any further".
The meeting ended the way so many in this unassuming assembly place had, with headed words and childish insults eventually giving way to the cooler air of seasoned statesmen who had perfected their craft of using words to surreptitiously gain ground in their own personal battles.As he left the conference an aid approached,"Premier comrade, commander-in-chief Kutakhov has an urgent phone call, in your office".

OOC: I have edited my earlier post to reflect the completion of the USN order of battle.

OOC: More delays as I conduct light research into the space race and, for no particular reason severe burn treatment and recovery.

March 5th 1969
The original purpose of the Apollo 9 Mission was to conduct maneuvering, rendezvous and docking tests of the Command Service Module and Lander Module, the mission profile required separation of the LM from the CSM, then using the LM decent engine to travel a short distance from the CSM, before firing the ascent engine in order to return and re-dock with the command module. However the Command Service Module has significant fuel reserves, more than enough to change orbital altitude and inclination to match and rendezvous with another object in low earth orbit. The craft maneuvers itself to match orbits with and then closely approach the craft in order to obtain photographs of the debris. The decision is made to keep the CSM 100 kilometers behind the debris, and use the LM with a single occupant and make a very close approach of 10 kilometers in order to take still photographs using the Data Acquisition Camera mounted underneath the lander which would normally record the ground during landings. From the perspective of the LM pilot the debris is too far away, too dark, and the lens too small to take useful pictures, yet the mission is a successful test of the capabilities of the craft. After the photographic reconnaissance the LM is ejected into space and the CSM takes up a safer orbit that avoids the debris. Meanwhile back on earth more than one administration is watching the mission, the soviets consider what interest NASA have in this unidentified object, thought to be a rock due to the dense radar return it gives compared to spacecraft, and in particular they wonder why they would risk making a close approach. Over the next 8 days the CSM performs additional tests of systems and procedures, with the alien debris always at the back of the mind of everyone involved. After 10 days in orbit the craft finally returns to earth, a perfect mission with no malfunctions, yet after recovery engineers find a small surprise embedded in the heat shield, a micrometerite, which might have caused failure of the craft during reentry, it is removed for inspection.
March 15th 1969
Jim Lovell strode confidently through the corridor, his gait seemingly recovered from the unsteadiness that had been plaguing it since he had been released from hospital a few weeks ago, yet it was illusory, his weakness merely hidden underneath the excitement and purpose that was propelling him to this meeting. Absentmindedly he scratched at the bandages which still girded the left side of his face, the skin grafts were healing well they told him, yet the itching never abated, and his thigh still had a dull ache from the skin that was taken. "There you are Deke" he says after entering the office and finding his old friend Donald 'Deke' Slayton seated at his desk. "Jim, I..." The Director of flight crew operations starts but is cut off by the excited Pilot.
"Here it is Deke" He says brandishing some paper, "My hospital discharge, It says right here "Fit to return to training, no long term injury which would affect flight performance!" At this he slaps the document onto the desk.
"Jim, you know as well as I do that your recovery was traumatic, you were lucky to not lose your eyes and those bandages on your face won't come off for weeks, we can't put you back into training".
"Dammit man, you know these will come off, you can't ground me because of a few scars". Slayton considered the man before him, and couldn't bring himself to tell him the truth, yet he had no option.
"We can't let you back up Jim, they think you were exposed to far more radiation up there than you should have been, and you know there's exposure limits we have to abide by".
"What?, bullsmeg, there was no trace of radiation sickness, as far as the doctors know I just had the mother-of-all-sunburns"
"Jim I'm sorry but I can't discuss this any further right now, believe me I'll do my best to get you back up, christ some days I miss it myself,but the SPAM in a can Mercury 7 days are behind me, maybe you should count yourself lucky and retire at 40?"
"I'm not going to give up on this Deke"
"I wouldn't expect you to James, Good luck"

The object found in Apollo 9s heat shield is sent to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory after baffling all attempts to identify it, it's unusual properties will one day place it in a new class of materials, elements which exist on a previously unknown island of stability surrounded by otherwise highly unstable transuranium elements. For now all that is known is the materials great strength, it is informally dubbed Duranium by the first researchers.(research commences into duranium armour).

April 1969
Final Preparations are made for the Apollo 10 Launch next month, this test will be a full dress rehearsal for the lunar landing including a 15 kilometer very close approach to the surface using the lunar decent engine, due to concerns about the attitude of its pilots the ascent engine will intentionally be left under fueled, making any unscheduled landing a one way trip. The mission will also allow accurate radar mapping of the planned Apollo 11 landing site at the sea of tranquility as well as other proposed sites for later missions, High resolution images will also be taken with the 70mm Hasselblad camera the craft carries.

22nd May 1969
After a flawless launch and uneventful flight to lunar orbit the LM dubbed Snoopy by its crew separates from the CSM Charlie Brown, everything goes exactly as planned as CSM Pilot John Young bids farewell to the slowly retreating craft manned by Commander Thomas Stafford and Piloted by Eugene Cernan. On board the cramped craft elation gives way to puzzlement as the close approach allows a closer inspection of the ground which appears to be more heavily cratered than previously thought, however the landing site at Mare Tranquillitatis still appears to be a safe place to make a landing. Cernan heroically resists the strong urge to make a suicidal landing and begins the ascent burn, while commander Stafford finishes the rendevous checklist. Unfortunately a Pilot error occurs when the acent guidance computer is switched on by Cernan, then absentmindedly toggled back again by Stafford. The craft spins wildly as the guidance computer loses track of their position, Cernan curses at the situation to the short lived amusement of NASA personnel who know the mission is being televised live to audiances back home, within a second however the mood gets more serious as they inquire to the craft what is happening. The quick thinking Cernan and Stafford power down the craft and reorient it craft manually, before running down the checklist again and switching the ascent computer back on, the crew had very narrowly avoided a tragedy as the uncontrolled spin had robbed the craft of most of it's orbital velocity, the ascent engine had barely enough fuel to return to the CSM. After this event the rest of the flight goes completely as scheduled and the crew return to earth amidst much fanfair, Cernan makes public apologies to those he may have offended and the data and in particular the lunar photographs are analyzed and closely studied.

14th June 1969
Tragedy today as the USSR loses yet another rocket, this time a lander destined to return a soil sample from the lunar surface, this would have allowed the soviets to take another first in the space race, yet the US continues to show the greater capability of it's own system which has achieved successful manned orbit and return, a feat the soviets have yet to muster. Meanwhile the mysterious wreckage continues to decay from orbit and shower the earth and moon with debris. Brezhnev is furious and demands greater investment into prelaunch checks, he is eager to improve space capabilities after earlier receiving intelligence about the mysterious object being investigated by Apollo 9. The next 2 missions will be critical for the USSR, a second attempt at the just lost sample return mission, and more importantly the second launch of the N1 rocket, the only launcher capable of single-handedly launching an manned orbiter capable of landing and returning from the lunar surface. This second launch must not fail as the first had, even now engineers were scouring the rocket looking for problems, yet it was unlikely anything would be found at this stage, the rocket was fully assembled and simply waiting for fuel and the clearance to launch.

July 3rd 1969
As the launch date of NASA's first manned lunar landing mission comes close they recieve a shock, from Gagarins Start the second N1 launch lifts from it's pad successfully, the massive rocket lurches from the pad with the strength of a small nuclear explosion, it's 30 NK-15 engines firing in perfect synchronization producing more thrust than the comparable Saturn V. Weeks ago engineers had discovered a potential flaw in the complex system, the fuel systems had been cleaned insufficiently, leaving metal particles inside, in one extreme example an entire loose bolt was found in engine 8, had it dislodged into the oxygen pump the loss of a single engine might have been insignificant, however after finding the bolt engineers realised that the first engine shutoff would have caused a cascade shutting down all other engines. Filters were installled in the fuel system, but changes to the automatic shutdown system would have to wait for another time. As the first stage was nearing completion it's acceleration was increasing dramatically due to it's rapidly emptying tanks, at 90 seconds into flight and an altitude of 40 kilometers the inner 6 engines were shut down to limit acceleration, the original design only included the other ring of 24 engines, however design changes to the orbiter and lander required increasing the payload from 70 tons to 95 tons, this was achieved through adding the center engines, finding more space inside the rocket body for extra cylindrical fuel and oxydizer tanks, increasing engine thrust, and changes to the flight plan. Unfortunately there was a weakness with the support structure where these center engines were mounted, as the engines shutoff the structure flexed and relaxed from the loss of thrust, this altered the length of fuel and oxygen lines causing differences in flow speed, the dreaded 'pogo oscillation' which had caused the loss of many american saturn 5 test models, and which had also been observed in Saturn 1 launches. The alternating pressure waves eventually reached a resonant frequency within seemingly strong 250mm thick oxygen lines, causing a rupture and explosion, fire suppressant systems installed after the first N1 loss struggled to contain the inferno, but it was in vain, the vehicle exploded 109.36 seconds into the launch. Breznev was furious but nobody could tell him who's head should roll for the incident. Preparations for the next launch were delayed significantly as engineers analyzed the telemetry to determine the cause, meanwhile at nearby launchpad 81 a Proton K was being fueled for the next lunar lander, the Proton K had a questionable record so far, but at least hadn't been a total failure like the N1.

Thats a bit early for that launch. Its very interesting to see how the Space Race is changing.

Carefully studying of the launches has shown what caused each successive loss, the second one was destroyed by contaminates in the fuel system, the third was lost as a result of a modification to the flight profile to make the rocket swing away from the pad immediately after launch, in order to avoid the launchpad exploding causing an 18 month repair project like after the second failure, the structural load caused by the angle change proved too much and it was lost. However if we imagine the fuel issues were avoided then the swing maneuver wouldn't have been programmed in, leading the second launch to fail in the manner of the 4th launch. Prevention of loss of the pad should mean a much shorter turnaround, perhaps the next launch might be in early 70, and successful?

I've digressed a bit from the aurora action, but really nothing is going on but very slow expansion of the initial 10 research labs and slow progress in the planetary sensor 300 technology, but the next few launches should return samples which should proove interesting, there's also the possibility of second contact in the near future. Only 2 weeks until Luna 15 and Apollo 11 do their orbital dance over the sea of tranquility, which will land first?

I am rooting for Apollo 11. Luna 15 will be the first unmanned landing on the moon, so it solidly goes down in the records. Let 11 be the first.

Oddly enough despite launching first and arriving first Luna 15 landed just after Apollo 11 left the surface, and when i say landed I mean it crashed like a rock :P

Details details. It connected with the surface therefore it landed.

Ignore this post, Game was sadly abandoned at this point.

I'm seriously considering resurrecting this, if I can't find my old notes it shouldn't be too big a deal to catch up, either way I'll be running the USSR as well this time, the initial forces will be slightly different than the last time, more simplified, also the USSR will actually have a somewhat larger population and hence economy but I'll give them a slight economic disadvantage that should leave them on equal terms.
The USSR has a hefty 50 million population advantage over the USA, in aurora that only translates into a very slight 6 million extra factory workers. I've given them 90% economic production as compensation, but all other factors will actually be equal, by the time they can take advantage of their higher population the cash crunch will be seriously affecting their policy.
The force distribution will be interesting too as Russia had no real carriers until the mid 70's.

Some minor changes compared to the last time: rules are much closer to a default start, 100% difficulty, 30% NPR generation, max 100 systems, no starting jump gates etc. However, Details of the major powers are very different and closer to historically accurate. Shipyards are tiny, this is to model the fact that the now obsolete wet navy shipyards are completely useless for TNE space operations and need major refitting for the purpose. Naval yards are 1,000 ton which shall simulate the major powers ability to construct high tech 3000 ton lunar rockets, however actual warships will be constructed at refitted shipyards, Commercial yards are 10,000 tons which is about the size of WW2 Victory ships. Commercial TNE ships are much easier to produce and use due to no need for advanced weapons or systems except for propulsion and life support.

United states of America: 200 million population, 700 conventional industry, 10 research labs.
Shipyards: Naval: 1,000 ton - 1 slipway (Newport news: Virginia)
Commercial: 10,000 ton - 1 Slipway (Bethlehem steel: San Francisco)
Leading researchers:
Douglas Kile: Logistics/Ground Combat 25%/30 Max
Eddie Sanders: Defensive systems 10%/25 Max
Dana Michalowski: Biology/Genetics 10%/10 Max
Velda Zachman: Power and Propulsion 0%/15 max

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics : 250 Million Population, 700 conventional industry, 10 research labs.
Wealth generation is 90%, The centrally planned economy has vast inefficiency despite its proven ability for vast industrial production.
Shipyards: Naval: 1,000 ton - 1 slipway (Black sea shipyard: Crimea)
Commercial: 10,000 ton - 1 Slipway (Admiralty shipyard: Leningrad)
Leading Researchers:
Anstice Rozhdestvensky: Boilogy/Genetics 25%/15 Max
Aloyoshenka Muravyov: Energy Weapons 15%/Max 25
Jermija Nikolayev: Logistics/Ground Combat 0%/Max 25
Mika Ignatyev: Construction/Production 0%/Max 10

Revised order of battle: (Still need to add cruisers/destroyers and Air bases, Designs are simplified for sanity, however for most cases systems are still realistic, for instance shared size 3 ASM simulates the different 2-3 ton guided missiles designs used, size 2 missile simulates the 500-700 ton missiles/torpedos of various designs, etc, air fleets are simplified into fast air superiority fighter bombers, and slow moving ASW helicopters, I may add bombers too which will carry the warheads the SLBM's carry, fighters are much heavier than real life but that's unavoidable due to the way Aurora handles low powered engines).

USA: Uncontested dominion of the worlds oceans is a concept that has been tried by many powers since the age of sail, but only the US navy has managed this with the supreme power of its formidable flotilla of supercarriers and thousands of support vessels.

The pride of the USS navy, is the super-carrier USS Enterprise, the largest and most advanced carrier in the navy, also the only nuclear powered carrier in the world after the decision was made to finish the 2 most recent kitty hawk carriers as conventionally powered. Capable of operating anywhere in the world without needing to refuel itself for almost 20 years the only limit to its longevity is the fuel used by its 90 state-of-the-art combat aircraft, the fierce speed with which they can deliver ordnance, and the needs of its fragile human crew.

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Enterprise class Heavy Carrier 90,000 tons 1085 Crew 7506.6 BP TCS 1800 TH 29 EM 0
16 km/s Armour 3-178 Shields 0-0 Sensors 5/5/0/0 Damage Control Rating 21 PPV 7
Maint Life 10.89 Years MSP 11095 AFR 3085% IFR 42.9% 1YR 171 5YR 2567 Max Repair 30 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 48 months Flight Crew Berths 165
Hangar Deck Capacity 38000 tons Magazine 3006 Cargo 10000

Westinghouse Geared Steam Turbine (4) Power 7.2 Fuel Use 1371.79% Signature 7.2 Exp 30%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres Range 0.1 billion km (104 days at full power)

20mm Chain Fed Cannon (2) Range 10,000km TS: 1250 km/s Power 0-0 RM 1 ROF 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Optical gunsight (2) Max Range: 20,000 km TS: 625 km/s 50 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
General Electric A2W - Light Water Reactor (8) Total Power Output 80 Armour 0 Exp 5%

General Dynamics Sea Sparrow Launcher (2) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 30
General Dynamics RIM-66 Launcher (2) Missile Size 2 Rate of Fire 60
AN/AWG-10 Fire Control (2) Range 210k km Resolution 2
Raytheon AN/SPS-6 Anti Missile Fire Control (2) Range 150k km Resolution 1
AIM-9 Sidewinder (502) Speed: 200 km/s End: 4.6m Range: 0.1m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 0/0/0
RIM-66 Standard Missile (940) Speed: 200 km/s End: 4.6m Range: 0.1m km WH: 2 Size: 2 TH: 0/0/0
RIM 67 Standard Missile (208) Speed: 100 km/s End: 9.2m Range: 0.1m km WH: 4 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0

Raytheon AN/SPS-6 Missile Search Radar (2) GPS 2 Range 100k km MCR 11k km Resolution 1
AN/AWG-10 Search Sensor (2) GPS 6 Range 210k km Resolution 2
Raytheon Acoustic Sensor TH5 (2) Sensitivity 5 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 5m km
Raytheon Optical Sensor EM5 (2) Sensitivity 5 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 5m km

Strike Group
60x McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II Fighter-bomber Speed: 150 km/s Size: 6.65
36x Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King Fighter-Scout Speed: 100 km/s Size: 10

Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

The venerable Phantom II has been at the forefront of American combat operations since its introduction almost a decade ago in 1960, its versatility is only matched by its extreme thrust, speed, and capacity, setting over 16 aviation records within the first years of its testing. Has proven itself during the ongoing conflict in Vietnam, producing many aces.

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McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II class Fighter-bomber 333 tons 1 Crew 27.2 BP TCS 6.65 TH 1 EM 0
150 km/s Armour 1-4 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 2.75
Maint Life 0 Years MSP 0 AFR 66% IFR 0.9% 1YR 1 5YR 13 Max Repair 5 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.1 months Spare Berths 9
Magazine 15

General Electric J-79 0.6 Turbojet Engine (1) Power 0.6 Fuel Use 1543.26% Signature 0.6 Exp 30%
Fuel Capacity 5,000 Litres Range 0.2 billion km (13 days at full power)

20mm Chain Fed Cannon (1) Range 10,000km TS: 1250 km/s Power 0-0 RM 1 ROF 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Optical gunsight (1) Max Range: 20,000 km TS: 625 km/s 50 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

ASM Launch Rail (1) Missile Size 3 Hangar Reload 22.5 minutes MF Reload 3.7 hours
Large AA Launch Rail (4) Missile Size 2 Hangar Reload 15 minutes MF Reload 2.5 hours
AA Missile Rail (4) Missile Size 1 Hangar Reload 7.5 minutes MF Reload 1.2 hours
AN/AWG-10 Fire Control (1) Range 210k km Resolution 2
AIM-9 Sidewinder (4) Speed: 200 km/s End: 4.6m Range: 0.1m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 0/0/0
RIM-66 Standard Missile (4) Speed: 200 km/s End: 4.6m Range: 0.1m km WH: 2 Size: 2 TH: 0/0/0
RIM 67 Standard Missile (1) Speed: 100 km/s End: 9.2m Range: 0.1m km WH: 4 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0

AN/AWG-10 Search Sensor (1) GPS 6 Range 210k km Resolution 2

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 Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes

The growing swarm of soviet missile and attack submarines demanded a highly capable ASW craft capable of not only detecting but also destroying the threat. Featuring a payload capacity of upto 4 heavy Anti-submarine torpedos, depth charges or even a single nuclear weapon, the sea king could also transport upto 28 soldiers into combat, or could hold 9 stretchers and additional walking wounded.

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Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King class Fighter-Scout 500 tons 3 Crew 42 BP TCS 10 TH 1 EM 0
100 km/s Armour 1-5 Shields 0-0 Sensors 9/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 2.6
Maint Life 0 Years MSP 0 AFR 100% IFR 1.4% 1YR 3 5YR 40 Max Repair 9 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.1 months Spare Berths 7
Magazine 14

General Electric J-79 0.6 Turbojet Engine (2) Power 0.6 Fuel Use 1543.26% Signature 0.6 Exp 30%
Fuel Capacity 5,000 Litres Range 0.1 billion km (13 days at full power)

20mm Chain Fed Cannon (1) Range 10,000km TS: 1250 km/s Power 0-0 RM 1 ROF 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Optical gunsight (1) Max Range: 20,000 km TS: 625 km/s 50 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

ASM Launch Rail (4) Missile Size 3 Hangar Reload 22.5 minutes MF Reload 3.7 hours
AA Missile Rail (2) Missile Size 1 Hangar Reload 7.5 minutes MF Reload 1.2 hours
AN/AWG-10 Fire Control (1) Range 210k km Resolution 2
AIM-9 Sidewinder (2) Speed: 200 km/s End: 4.6m Range: 0.1m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 0/0/0
RIM 67 Standard Missile (4) Speed: 100 km/s End: 9.2m Range: 0.1m km WH: 4 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0

AN/AWG-10 Search Sensor (1) GPS 6 Range 210k km Resolution 2
Raytheon Acoustic Sensor TH9 (1) Sensitivity 9 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 9m km

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 Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes

With the cold war in full swing the US embraced the concept of Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles with great vigour. Early in the 60's it was realised that ground based ICBMs were vunerable to nuclear first strike due to increasingly accurate and larger warheads, the ocean based polaris missiles were considered practically invulnerable and were the most important part of the 'nuclear deterrence force' being always available for retaliatory strikes. By the end of the 60s the "41 for Freedom" program had been completed, consisting of boats of the George Washington, Ethan Allen, Lafayette, James Madison, and Benjamin Franklin classes. The Benjamin Franklins were the newest and most advanced class of the boats which were all incremental upgrades of the Skipjack class, with an added guided missile section.

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Benjamin Franklin class Missile Boat 8,250 tons 148 Crew 700.48 BP TCS 165 TH 2 EM 0
12 km/s Armour 2-36 Shields 0-0 Sensors 9/5/0/0 Damage Control Rating 9 PPV 96.48
Maint Life 9.17 Years MSP 478 AFR 60% IFR 0.8% 1YR 10 5YR 154 Max Repair 30 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Spare Berths 0
Magazine 292

Westinghouse Geared Steam Turbine (1) Power 2.4 Fuel Use 1496.5% Signature 2.4 Exp 30%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres Range 0.1 billion km (69 days at full power)

General Electric A2W - Light Water Reactor (1) Total Power Output 10 Armour 0 Exp 5%
General Dynamics RIM-67 Launcher (4) Missile Size 3 Rate of Fire 90
SLBM Launch Tube (16) Missile Size 16 Rate of Fire 9600
AN/AWG-10 Fire Control (1) Range 210k km Resolution 2
RIM 67 Standard Missile (12) Speed: 100 km/s End: 9.2m Range: 0.1m km WH: 4 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0
Polaris SLBM (16) Speed: 100 km/s End: 8.7m Range: 0.1m km WH: 0 Size: 16 TH: 0/0/0

AN/AWG-10 Search Sensor (1) GPS 6 Range 210k km Resolution 2
Raytheon Acoustic Sensor TH9 (1) Sensitivity 9 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 9m km
Raytheon Optical Sensor EM5 (1) Sensitivity 5 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 5m km

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

USSR: Lacking the super carriers of its American rivals, the soviet navy has recently completed light carriers designed to escort anti-submarine warfare task groups. Equipped with the versatile MI-8 helicopter which can carry heavy ASW munitions, twin AA missiles, and a 30mm chaingun for close support or self defence, it also can be used for rescue operations.

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Moskva class Escort Carrier 17,500 tons 267 Crew 1637.96 BP TCS 350 TH 5 EM 0
14 km/s Armour 2-60 Shields 0-0 Sensors 9/5/0/0 Damage Control Rating 4 PPV 13
Maint Life 3.22 Years MSP 234 AFR 612% IFR 8.5% 1YR 34 5YR 511 Max Repair 12 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Flight Crew Berths 49
Hangar Deck Capacity 9000 tons Magazine 516

High Pressure 2.4 EP Steam Turbine Engine (2) Power 2.4 Fuel Use 1496.5% Signature 2.4 Exp 30%
Fuel Capacity 350,000 Litres Range 0.2 billion km (194 days at full power)

20mm Chain Fed Cannon (2) Range 10,000km TS: 1250 km/s Power 0-0 RM 1 ROF 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Optical Gunsight (1) Max Range: 20,000 km TS: 625 km/s 50 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
High Pressure Heavy Fuel Oil Boiler PB-1 (4) Total Power Output 16 Armour 0 Exp 5%

ASW Size 3 Missile Launcher (2) Missile Size 3 Rate of Fire 90
ASW Size 2 Rocket Launcher (2) Missile Size 2 Rate of Fire 60
SAM Size 1 Missile Launcher (2) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 30
Semi-active radar homing fire control (1) Range 210k km Resolution 2
K-13 Zmeya (112) Speed: 200 km/s End: 4.6m Range: 0.1m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 0/0/0
R-4 Molyna (52) Speed: 200 km/s End: 4.6m Range: 0.1m km WH: 2 Size: 2 TH: 0/0/0
P-15 Termit ASM (100) Speed: 100 km/s End: 9.2m Range: 0.1m km WH: 4 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0

active radar search sensor (1) GPS 6 Range 210k km Resolution 2
Vympel Acoustic Sensor TH9 (1) Sensitivity 9 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 9m km
Vympel Optical Sensor EM5 (1) Sensitivity 5 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 5m km

Strike Group
18x Mil MI-8 Fighter-Scout Speed: 101 km/s Size: 9.9

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

A versatile, powerful and reliable helicopter which owes its origins to a visit to America by Khrushchev, Impressed by the luxury of the presidential S-58 helicopter he issued a mandate for the creation of a similar design, MIL engineers had been waiting to work on a heavy helicopter like this, but until then they had been blocked from designing such a complicated twin engine craft.

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Mil MI-8 class Fighter-Scout 495 tons 2 Crew 42.4 BP TCS 9.9 TH 1 EM 0
101 km/s Armour 1-5 Shields 0-0 Sensors 8/5/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 1.7
Maint Life 0 Years MSP 0 AFR 99% IFR 1.4% 1YR 3 5YR 42 Max Repair 8 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.1 months Spare Berths 8
Magazine 8

Kilmov TV3 0.5 EP Turboshaft Engine (2) Power 0.5 Fuel Use 978.33% Signature 0.5 Exp 25%
Fuel Capacity 5,000 Litres Range 0.2 billion km (21 days at full power)

20mm Chain Fed Cannon (1) Range 10,000km TS: 1250 km/s Power 0-0 RM 1 ROF 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Optical Gunsight (1) Max Range: 20,000 km TS: 625 km/s 50 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

ASM Launch Rail (2) Missile Size 3 Hangar Reload 22.5 minutes MF Reload 3.7 hours
AA Missile Rail (2) Missile Size 1 Hangar Reload 7.5 minutes MF Reload 1.2 hours
Semi-active radar homing fire control (1) Range 210k km Resolution 2
K-13 Zmeya (2) Speed: 200 km/s End: 4.6m Range: 0.1m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 0/0/0
P-15 Termit ASM (2) Speed: 100 km/s End: 9.2m Range: 0.1m km WH: 4 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0

active radar search sensor (1) GPS 6 Range 210k km Resolution 2
Vympel Acoustic Sensor TH8 (1) Sensitivity 8 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 8m km
Vympel Optical Sensor EM5 (1) Sensitivity 5 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 5m km

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 Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes

Built in the early 60's the Kashin class missile destroyers were the soviet union's first dedicated anti-submarine and air-defence vessels. Featuring a formidable assortment of missiles, torpedos, depth charges and respectable firepower from its 3 inch guns its potential is rounded out with a single ASW helicopter.

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Kashin class Destroyer Escort 3,800 tons 89 Crew 323.96 BP TCS 76 TH 1 EM 0
13 km/s Armour 2-21 Shields 0-0 Sensors 9/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 16
Maint Life 3.76 Years MSP 53 AFR 115% IFR 1.6% 1YR 6 5YR 88 Max Repair 12 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Flight Crew Berths 0
Hangar Deck Capacity 500 tons Magazine 156

1.2 EP Conventional Engine (1) Power 1.2 Fuel Use 1527.67% Signature 1.2 Exp 30%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres Range 0.2 billion km (136 days at full power)

20mm Chain Fed Cannon (2) Range 10,000km TS: 1250 km/s Power 0-0 RM 1 ROF 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
ATK 726 3 Inch Naval Gun (1x4) Range 10,000km TS: 1250 km/s Power 3-1 RM 1 ROF 15 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Optical Gunsight (1) Max Range: 20,000 km TS: 625 km/s 50 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
High Pressure Heavy Fuel Oil Boiler PB-1 (1) Total Power Output 4 Armour 0 Exp 5%

SAM Size 1 Missile Launcher (2) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 30
ASW Size 2 Rocket Launcher (2) Missile Size 2 Rate of Fire 60
ASW Size 3 Missile Launcher (2) Missile Size 3 Rate of Fire 90
Area Defence Fire Control (1) Range 150k km Resolution 1
Semi-active radar homing fire control (1) Range 210k km Resolution 2
K-13 Zmeya (24) Speed: 200 km/s End: 4.6m Range: 0.1m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 0/0/0
R-4 Molyna (18) Speed: 200 km/s End: 4.6m Range: 0.1m km WH: 2 Size: 2 TH: 0/0/0
P-15 Termit ASM (16) Speed: 100 km/s End: 9.2m Range: 0.1m km WH: 4 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0

Area Defence Radar (1) GPS 2 Range 100k km MCR 11k km Resolution 1
active radar search sensor (1) GPS 6 Range 210k km Resolution 2
Vympel Acoustic Sensor TH9 (1) Sensitivity 9 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 9m km

Strike Group
1x Mil MI-8 Fighter-Scout Speed: 101 km/s Size: 9.9

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

Dubbed "Yankee" by NATO this was actually the first soviet submarine to have equivalent firepower to those being fielded by the US and UK, carrying a remarkably cooincidental 16 missiles of similar weight they were even soon upgraded to carrying triple 200 kiloton MIRVs just like the US Polaris does. Despite being almost 1000 tons heavier the soviet ballistic missile submarines from here on were significantly more powerful and faster than their American counterparts, being closer to an attack submarine.

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667AU Nalim class Missile Boat 9,000 tons 169 Crew 770.44 BP TCS 180 TH 3 EM 0
16 km/s Armour 2-38 Shields 0-0 Sensors 9/5/0/0 Damage Control Rating 9 PPV 102.48
Maint Life 8.66 Years MSP 482 AFR 72% IFR 1% 1YR 11 5YR 172 Max Repair 21.12 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Spare Berths 23
Magazine 322

Geared Steam Turbine (2) Power 1.32 Fuel Use 696.35% Signature 1.32 Exp 22%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres Range 0.1 billion km (99 days at full power)

Pressurised Water Reactor PB-1 (2) Total Power Output 12 Armour 0 Exp 5%
ASW Size 3 Missile Launcher (6) Missile Size 3 Rate of Fire 90
SLBM Launch Tube (16) Missile Size 16 Rate of Fire 9600
Semi-active radar homing fire control (1) Range 210k km Resolution 2
P-15 Termit ASM (20) Speed: 100 km/s End: 9.2m Range: 0.1m km WH: 4 Size: 3 TH: 0/0/0
R-27 Zyb SLBM (16) Speed: 100 km/s End: 8.7m Range: 0.1m km WH: 0 Size: 16 TH: 0/0/0

active radar search sensor (1) GPS 6 Range 210k km Resolution 2
Vympel Acoustic Sensor TH9 (1) Sensitivity 9 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 9m km
Vympel Optical Sensor EM5 (1) Sensitivity 5 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 5m km

Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

The first variable geometry wing fighter in soviet service its performance was sadly lacking compared to its American counterpart.

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Sukhoi Su-17 Strizh class Fighter-bomber 400 tons 2 Crew 27 BP TCS 8 TH 1 EM 0
125 km/s Armour 1-4 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 2.8
Maint Life 0 Years MSP 0 AFR 80% IFR 1.1% 1YR 1 5YR 17 Max Repair 5 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.1 months Spare Berths 8
Magazine 12

Lyulka AL-21 0.7 EP Turbojet Engine (1) Power 0.7 Fuel Use 397.03% Signature 0.7 Exp 17%
Fuel Capacity 5,000 Litres Range 0.6 billion km (52 days at full power)

20mm Chain Fed Cannon (2) Range 10,000km TS: 1250 km/s Power 0-0 RM 1 ROF 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Optical Gunsight (1) Max Range: 20,000 km TS: 625 km/s 50 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Large AA Launch Rail (4) Missile Size 2 Hangar Reload 15 minutes MF Reload 2.5 hours
AA Missile Rail (4) Missile Size 1 Hangar Reload 7.5 minutes MF Reload 1.2 hours
Semi-active radar homing fire control (1) Range 210k km Resolution 2
K-13 Zmeya (4) Speed: 200 km/s End: 4.6m Range: 0.1m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 0/0/0
R-4 Molyna (4) Speed: 200 km/s End: 4.6m Range: 0.1m km WH: 2 Size: 2 TH: 0/0/0

active radar search sensor (1) GPS 6 Range 210k km Resolution 2

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 Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes

;D yes!! :)

I would like to see a return of this.

I intended to restart after recovering my notes from my old hard drive, I couldn't find it, but restarted without them. However I've lost my computer and need to restart again :s.

Aurora 4x

Fiction => Aurora => Topic started by: MarcAFK on December 10, 2013, 01:26:20 AM