-
In some realities Mars and Venus are dry inhospitable places. In this reality Mars and Venus are still inhospitable places, but less for the atmosphere and more the intelligent fauna. The Men of Terra, the Dragon of Venus, and the little green pigmies of Mars have been rivals. At time fighting. At times talking. Always scheming. Periodically expeditions would be mounted or great atomic rockets launched. The efforts were successful enough to keep populations in check, but not so successful as to give one an advantage. And so the races watched. And plotted. Until the Other came.
They came, and left mechanical servants to teach the secrets of commerce. Secrets of dimensional trans-newtonian physics: the keys to the stars. Overnight the old ways were rendered obsolete. For the first time the children of Sol worked together to master the new secrets, but not whole heartedly, as each thought to keep a decisive edge to themselves. Only time will tell of this success or folly.
For five years peace has held, four more and it will set the record for the century. The universe is now a bigger place. There might even be room for all of Sols' children. Maybe. Of greatest concern or the Others. The Aliens, whose wishes are unknown, but to get there they must first survive their sibling rivalry.
The Stars await, for those who might reach them.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to the Diplomacy/Information thread for Children of Sol: Multiplayer Aurora.
This game has Venus/Mars terriformed, with a 400 million conventional start player empire each on Earth, Venus, and Mars. The races started with 10 years of industrial production, 12,000 RP of shared starting tech, and 4,000 RP each of unique tech. It's possible that some overlap exists in chosen unique tech.
This thread will contain OOC game update information, player fiction, and in-character public diplomacy efforts/announcements.
Have fun. 8)
Current Year: 1.
-
OOC: Sorry for the somewhat lackluster post. I have a lot of writing to do, and my creative juices are all flooded out today x.x
Captial City, Mars, January 1st 2050
At much the same time Trans-newtonian technology was being developed, a new government came to power. The recent developments had given a big boost to the technocrats, and they were finally able to oust the military government that had ruled the planet for so long. That was not to say that all traces had been removed. Far from it, as culture is something very deeply ingrained in most peoples.
The new government, however, primarily wished for more time. Time to develop, grow, and perhaps expand. As such, it was interested in a more formal arrangement regarding the current peace. A potential treaty was broadcast to the two other powers on this day.
Broadcast
"Greetings sentients! The people of Mars wish to remain at peace with you. We know that we are all eager to begin exploiting these great gifts, however. Therefore, let us come together and sign these accords to help ensure a lasting prosperity for us all.
Tri-Party Accords
I. All races have sovereignty over their home planet and any orbiting moons.
II. An exclusion zone around each homeworld will be established at 10 million km, barring trade and civilian traffic.
III. No power may be permitted to actively scan another's homeworld.
-Signed for the planet Mars
First Citizen Zorr Ivana
-
Bethany "Antagonist" Bryant steps into his office with a slight smile on his face. He pushes a folder of documents into a waiting aide's arms and barks a quick instruction before turning to the next who hands him a coffee and a tablet displaying a preview of this morning's news outlets stories. He seats himself and begins scanning through them, until he finally reaches the one he was looking for...
----
END OF AN ERA
This morning the Sol Times have been alerted that Syndicate CEO Imogen Alexander has decided to step down from active administration duty due to a desire to spend more time with his family. A letter from his office informs us that though this seems sudden, it is a decision he has reached only after months of soul searching. It is with a heavy heart that we salute the administrator has has headed Earth's rebuilding efforts for the last two decades.
He has been succeeded by a young up and coming administrator, Bethany "Antagonist" Bryant, who is better known for his policies in the pacific-asian regions that has rocketed profits to an all time high. All 15 member corporations of the Syndicate conglomerate has voted in support of his promotion yesterday and he is expected to take up his duties today. It is an exciting time that is sure to bring unique challenges to our new administrator, but we have no doubt in his ability to live up to his expectations. It is not currently known that the 'Lost Children of Earth' will think of this development.
In other news, does famous movie star Denny Derringer have a secret in her...
----
You smirk slightly. 'Spend time with the family' indeed. All it took was for the member corporations to catch a whiff of his radical ideas of conquest and he was out faster than an unapproved fashion. You spend a few more minutes finding articles critiquing your appointment, some even bringing up some skeletons in your closet you had hoped everyone would have forgotten by now. You mark them to be censored and hand the pad back to another one of your aides. Another dozen information employees will comb through the rest of it and within ten minutes it will be approved and distributed worldwide.
You glance over the desk and view some of the last decrees ordered by the former administrator. Among the memos two catch your eye... military contracts. You wonder about it for a few minutes, then approve them with your signature. We have advanced to a new age where wealth is all the power you need, but it wouldn't hurt to have a few sharp sticks to make a point around the negotiation tables. Might help keep the old goat quiet as well.
You pick up a second pad and begin entering a friendly letter for distribution to the Lost Children. It has the typical flowery language of a friendly diplomatic message, suggesting hoping for peace and trade and prosperity and the honest desire to engage in trade treaties in the near future. You even earmark several cases of some of the finest wine for the leader's consumption to help lubricate the process, to be delivered on the day that we finally develop the ships to deliver it. There is no words for how some of the corporations are salivating for these untapped markets. We have attempted to digitally distribute some of our movies and shows, but they have had only limited popularity, usually relegated to specialist distributors and festivals. No, you need to ensure material goods trade. Attempts at remote market focus groups have shown that some of our mechanics and medicines would have good inter-planetary markets, but it is too early yet to know for sure.
Your grandfather always warned you about these barbarians though, with the devastating wars clear in his mind. Monsters you cannot bargain with, murderers of millions, even going so far as to attribute precursors leaving and the arrival of the Others to them. Prejudices from a now past era, but... not forgotten. You shake your head before you start thinking like Imogen did. "No..." you mutter too soft for anyone to hear. "The lost children will be brought back into the fold, but not through an empire of conquest. It will be an empire of trade and member nations that we will control through derivatives and credit. An empire more powerful than any had ever dreamed. My empire."
Idly you wonder if the Others can also appreciate good wine.
-
The Venesian Empire has historically been among the more belligerent of the powers in Sol, sending actual invasions and bombardments against both Mars and Earth on several occasions, both parties have responded in kind but the Dragons don't appear to actually hold a grudge, attacks are based on a complex web of internal politics, and as often as they have attacked the other powers, they have also bickered amongst themselves pretty much continuously.
The Dragons have always been happy to trade or talk, even in the middle of vigorous conflict, ambassadors and trade ships are never attacked, though ambassadors have been subject to individual honor duels on occasion, the causes of which are somewhat unclear, making assignment to Venus something of a risky proposition.
Since the Other came, Venesian relations with the other powers have never been better, and internal strife has been minimal as well. As a culture that constantly seeks a challenge, they appear to have decided the Other would be a better target and now view the other powers in Sol as either tools or allies.
They do not appreciate a good wine, though Terran beef is in surprisingly high demand on Venus, despite it being extremely unhealthy for them.
The current Dragon Lord is Milkoghast he rarely communicates publicly or face to face. However communication from lower level functionaries does indicate agreement with Mars' proposals, but wish to ensure that trade remains possible still despite the exclusion zone.
-
The Summer Political Summery
The Martians lost no time in proposing bureaucracy to guide the fledgling future as all three races reached for the stars.
The Venesians and Earthlings lost no time in quibbling internally over the finer points. In truly masterful displays of diplomatic noncommittal the remaining powers lost no time in seriously considering the proposal slowly. In fact, there is a real possibility of formal acceptance as soon as next year.
Situation Report: January 1st 2051
A Waking Nightmare:
From the mist rise a score battlions of black-armored assault troops, each more potent than an entire division of tanks. With grim accord they turned and advanced upon a conventional empire best forgotten. The defenders fought bravely, and died by the score. Their sacrifice buying a scarce two months as casualties soon mounted to total destruction. At times they scored blows of their own, yet for every black mist solder they fell a dozen platoons of their own men perished. League by league they advanced, faster at every bound, pulsed lasers ionizing the air and killing all they touched till all was theirs. Onward rolled the wave of death...
This nagging recollection of memory isn't the nightmare.
I wish I could make this up. I didn't. I somehow accidentally created a conventional NPR empire on Venus that had randomly selected the #### Swastika as their flag and the mantis-like 'Alien' portrait as their image. My solution was to SM up an elite army, conquer and abandon the population. Sorry about any plot holes the concluding brainwash may have left, but the 4th Reich really had no business in this setting.
The nightmare is Sir Bob Lanky.
Well, his name isn't exactly 'Bob' anymore than the Martians are litteraly little green men: but you regrettably know the type. Or, maybe that is his name and the Martians are little green men. It can be hard to tell. What he is is that fiercely loyal secretary who can be trusted to follow your orders to the letter. As apolitical a creature as you could ever find above corruption, but who can't be trusted to act on his own initiative. He also has this well intentioned habit of issuing orders in your name rather than wake you at 2am for a policy question. He means well, he truely does, and is really good at keeping political rivals and press reporters away. Its just that he doesn't quite see the big picture, and always makes... suboptimal choices as his first reaction when he falls back on his intuition. Bob isn't suicidal, and his orders are always better than no orders. Best still, he's also a 'by the book guy.' If he has instructions, he'll follow them.
In this nightmare you forgot to leave Sir Lanky any orders. "See!" Says he, "I managed the entire empire in your name without trouble I did I did! Thank you for trusting me so much to leave everything to my choice. We needed good officers, so I stamped your seal of approval on the senior most nominees, it was easy! Sir Ambitious, our new Planetary Governor, is really a wiz at Terriforming and ground unit training. I set our factories full stop on producing Terriforming Facilities so he can make this planet even more ideal for our kind, and then I put the scientists to work on Mobile Infantry Battalions so we can take the best advantage of Transnewtonian combat. It would have been better if we had any scientists who specialized in logistics, but you can't get everything. And... maybe I only put half the factories on Terriforming. The other half went to work building a second Ground Force Training center. We'll need it, you see, since Sir Ambitious disbanded the entire tank corps: they'll be obsolete soon enough, can't be upgraded any time soon, and are just costing maintenance anyway. Further..."
With a start you snap out of your doze as the aircar delivers you back to the capital for the next congressional, nobel, etc gathering. The Real Bob is waiting for you.
"Greetings, Your Excellency, welcome back for the second TransNeutonain Congress. I trust you found the recess energizing and productive. I took the liberty of handling the routine matters of State in your absence so you wouldn't be tired by disturbances."
With a sinking feeling you find this enthusiastic puppy-like greeting worrysome in light of your nightmare.
"The engineers got the Deap Space Tracking system online a few days after you left. We haven't picked up any new signs of the Others, but we have gotten a better look at the EM/Thermal specturms of our Step-Sibbling's worlds. Inteligance had a field day with readings, but within a month they were pestering the field office for more recording devices. I can't say I saw the point in the project. Sure we can now pick up half their television broadcasts year round, but we've been able to at least get fragments on close approach for a decades. Details are in the file. The orders you left pretty well covered everything..."
So far everything sounds blandly routine. Expected. And Bob followed the orders you left. Good, good. Maybe everything is as it is supposed to be...
Quarterly report be continued in PM (or email) as your preference dictated.
Spectators: Confidential briefings will start being declassified in 10 game years. Please check back in a month or two, but for now feel free to speculate or beg the players themselves for news releases.
-
7th March 2050
Antagonist cannot hide his slight smile as he reads the treaty broadcast. "Liam. Come over here. Have you read the Martian treaty?"
Liam, his arms full of folders containing detailed reports, hurries to the desk of the Syndicate CEO. "Ah, yes sir... It seems pretty standard honestly." he indicates.
Antagonist nods his affirmation, "Indeed, and yet, if it wasn't for their treaty, we would have needed to propose such a treaty ourselves!" He grins, "And now it is on their heads to enforce... not to mention the political consequences if they break their own treaty. I think... Earth shall sign it. The permission of Civilian and Trade vessels would have been our only concern regardless. Liam, dictate for me..."
-----
SENT AT 7TH MARCH 2050
MSG MARTIAN AND VENUSIAN COLONIES
TREATY IS ACCEPTABLE. CONSIDER SELF-SOVEREIGNTY TREATY RATIFIED BY SYNDICATE POWERS.
NOTE THAT UNDER TREATY, INTERFERENCE WITH CIVILIAN CORPORATE TRAFFIC WILL NOT BE TOLERATED.
ADDITIONALLY, EARTH WOULD LIKE TO PROPOSE A JOINT DEFENSE AND INTELLIGENCE SHARING INITIATIVE, THE SOL DEFENSE AGREEMENT.
UNDER THIS AGREEMENT, EXTERNAL THREATS, ESPECIALLY TO THE SOL SYSTEM, WILL BE RECOGNIZED AS A CONCERN FOR ALL CHILDREN OF EARTH, REGARDLESS OF THEIR CURRENT POLITICAL ALIGNMENT AND WILL TAKE PRECEDENCE OVER WHATEVER DISAGREEMENT ANY FACTION HAS WITH ANOTHER. INTELLIGENCE ON EXTERNAL THREATS SHALL BE SHARED WITH ALL. JOINT TASK FORCES IS CONSIDERED A POSSIBILITY AND WOULD LIKELY BE ARRANGED AT SUCH A TIME BY THOSE TAKING PART. EARTH WOULD LIKE TO STATE THAT DIPLOMACY IS EXPECTED TO BE THE FIRST RESORT AGAINST THE OTHER, BUT SHOULD THAT FAIL IT IS THE DUTY OF ALL HUMANS TO PRESERVE OUR SPECIES.
EARTH WOULD LIKE TO OFFER ITS COLONIES LUCK IN THE ENSUING YEARS, AND HOPE THAT TRADE AND TREATIES MIGHT ONE DAY REPAIR THE BONDS BROKEN BY PREVIOUS WARS. AS A SIGN OF ITS SINCERITY EARTH WOULD LIKE TO PRESENT BOTH FACTIONS WITH A LOAD OF LUXURY GOODS, TO BE DELIVERED BY THE FIRST TRADE VESSEL OFF OF EARTH SHIPYARDS. MAY HUMANITY PROSPER IN THE TRANS-NEWTONIAN AGE.
- ANDREW HARPER
XXXX MSG ENDS
-----
Antagonist re-reads the document, then signs it. "Transmit it immediately."
(( Backdating this a little because he would have responded before a year later. Also, my administrator has been renamed to Andrew Harper. ))
-
History: Spring 2050
In truth the Syndicate power ratification did not occur for nearly two weeks after the announcement, but with the Harper Administration's open declaration of support it was destined for acceptance sooner, rather than later, on Earth. When the last naysayer stopped publicly grumbling, all eyes turned toward Venus...
2051 Public Events
The year opened quietly enough, marked by the occasional celebration as one celebrity officer or another promoted their raising political reliability. In the background, work continued and the calm between the worlds shattered early March by a 2nd general Martian broadcast.
Broadcast
"Greetings sentients! Do not be overly alarmed. We, the people of Mars have today launched the first of our humble Transnewtonian vessels. Her mission is to explore the deeper reaches of our home system, and poses abosolutly no danger what so ever to the sentients of our sister planets. In fact, she will not even attempt to approach any of your worlds. We trust you will likewise respect our world once you launch ships of your own to promote a lasting prosperity for all."
For months the debate rages both on the implication of this notice, and also on the actual existence of the claimed ship. Almost universally, the intelligence agencies of every planet demand even bigger deep space tracking systems.
Situation reports ending January 1st 2052 coming shortly to PMs and Emails near you.
Edit: situation reports sent. New Database file uploaded.
-
The Martians carefully considered this addition Earth had made to the diplomatic field. The original "plan", though really more of just a general philosophy, was to simply let such things come naturally. Treaties about extrasolar contact were a little bit premature at this stage. Still, it was an agreeable idea. An affirmative was broadcast in short order, though Martian high command would first analyse any contacts extensively before deciding if something was a "threat" or not. Perhaps a loophole, but a small one as they saw it.
-
The Venesians agree to the treaty, adding that they will be announcing every non military vessel they build and expect all powers to respect that and restrict any aggression to military ships or, of course, population centers.
The intelligence community at large reflects that the Dragons are weird.
-
2052 - Year of the Earth-Mars Tri-Party Accord Scandle
Earlier today the brazen Earthling ship finally broke orbit and returned the region of Mars once more to her rightful inhabitants...
The headlines were interplanetary, in part because of the utter lack of interesting space-news in many powers that year. The actual political impact of a survey captain deciding his orders to "not survey an inhabited world" didn't include a planet's moons and attracting unwanted attention are probably small, but it was a quiet year and the media loves making sensational even the smallest scandal to attract an audience. It's possible governments may have attempted to keep the incident quite, but only so much can be done when once animator astronomers start passing around grainy photographs.
In truth, it was a *very* quiet year. More of the same industry was built. More of the same officers graduated. A few officers died or retired in mysterious circumstances. Those officers made the news too. The only other competing story was that the Venesians held true to their word and proclaimed the launch of their own commercial ship, reminding the world that the planet, not the unarmed ship, was a valid target should armed conflict arise again.
The other title for the year could have been "The year of the surveyors", for at this point every major power has either announced or had had exposed a transnewtonian ship.
2053 awaits. Feel free to request more time, if needed, or pass your turn if not. Most of you have rather large production and research queues lined up.
PMs/Emails with what little interesting details there are coming soon.
Edit:
2053 - Year of No Scandal
The year proceeded about the same as 2052, only without the scandal. There were no alien invasion, no attacks, no territorial claims, or anything else interesting that happened off-planet. The news is full of soap-operas, propaganda war movies, opinion peaces on the latest political moves by the academy graduates, and of course reports on the latest conspiracy theories. Quite a few citizens feel that something must have happened, even if they can't agree on what.
PMs/Emails with more detail coming soon.
-
2054 - Year of the Spy
The year continued quietly, but as more and more ships entered service it became inevitable that they would, occasionally, cross paths. Sometimes one would cut within deep-space tracking range of a planet. Other times two survey craft would meet as they each surveyed the same world. Gradually it dawned on even the densest politicians: the drive flairs were too bright to be anything but Nuclear Thermal drives. Transnewtonian Nuclear Thermal drives, the star secret key to each empire's plans, were known to their sibling worlds. In fact, no conventional drive had yet been spotted. For months records were double checked, and signatures compared with the ship launch announcements. The truth was irrefutable. Every child of Sol has held the knowledge of the Nuclear Thermal Drive from the start. The race to outer planets and stars doesn't start today. It didn't even start yesterday. It unknowingly started at least three years ago.
As promised, yesterday's 5-years ago empire stats start now.
Spy Report: January 2050
For any reader not familiar with the starting conditions:
• Three starting NPRs, SM added to have lower than usual starting NPR tech. 0% chance of new NPRs.
• 60 max-stars map initially, to be expanded to 240 as soon as all starting races are believed to be jump-connected.
• Precursers on. Star Swarm off. Invaders off initially but to be activated if a sudden-death resolution is ever needed.
• All races have ±65% gravitational tolerance, ±50% O2 tolerance, ±21°C temperature tolerance.
- Earthling: 22°C ideal temperature, 0.2 atm ideal oxygen, 3.5 atm max pressure, 1G ideal gravity.
- Martian: 12° ideal temperature, 0.15 atm ideal oxygen, 2.8 atm max pressure, 0.8G ideal gravity.
- Venusian: 32°C ideal temperature, 0.25 atm ideal oxygen, 4.4 atm max pressure, 0.95G ideal gravity.
• Mars/Venus Terraformed to be be cost-0 to the starting inhabitants, cost-2.0 to everyone else.
• 400 million Conventional starting population.
- 5 starting research labs
- 1 naval shipyard with a single 2000 ton slipway
- other stats normal to a 400 million conventional start.
- 8 soon-to-be-obsolete IBM bases
- 8,000 CP for pre-game industrial production/industry conversion.
- Starting Tech: Trans-Neutonain Theory, Jump-Point Theory, Geological Sensors, Genome Sequencing, +4,000 RP of choice.
- Minerals: All homeworlds normalized toward having an average of 50,000 tons of each mineral with 0.55 average accessibility. Planets with greater values were partially lowered, and planets with lower values partially raised. The planets with the most total minerals still started with the highest total, but the difference was lower than it would have been.
Venus:
Starting RP: Pressurized water reactor, Nuclear Thermal Propulsion
Starting CP: 200 CI converted to factories, 200 CI converted to mines
Earth:
Starting RP: Pressurized water reactor, Nuclear Thermal Propulsion
Starting CP: 140 CI converted to factories, 140 CI converted to mines, 1 commercial shipyard
Also chose one of the non-player-race government types.
Mars:
Starting RP: Pressurized water reactor, Nuclear Thermal Propulsion
Starting CP: 200 CI converted to factories, 200 CI converted to mines
The starting 8 PDC missile bases of all players totaled 111,200 tons.
I was kind of hoping someone would start the game with gauss cannons, +20% construction bonus, or missile magazine tech, but no. Everyone wanted fast ships ASAP. So much for 'unique' starting tech. Come to think of it, but the 'CP customization' didn't end up very unique either. At least everyone started diversifying once out of the starting gate, but that's a story for another day. 8)
Future '5 year ago' reports will be less detailed, only contain:
Total Population.
Number of colonies with 100,000+ colonists.
Number of research labs
Number of shipyards, and the total tonnage of all their slipways.
Total tons of shipping, including PDCs.
Home-world employment stats.
Treasury value.
I think that will be enough for score-keeping as it were.
Further details, such as ship stats, research completed, and industry breakdown will have to wait for a '10 years ago' spy report. Maybe longer.
Additional or fewer details may end up being posted if so requested by the players. Likewise empire report time-lag might be increased if requested.
Players: feel free to post-date any short-fiction accounts you wish to include regarding published spy-report data.
Recent events of interest coming soon to PMs and emails near you.
For the players, 2055 awaits.
-
OOC: Might write something tomorrow. That's really ironic on tech x.x
-
In retrospect it should be no shock to the various intelligence agencies that all races immediately researched gallicite related drive technologies first. Conventional drives are simply too slow AND short ranged(breaking the old efficiency vs thrust paradigm) compared to even the simplest of home built TN rockets, and our solar system appears to have quite an abundant stock of the incredibly valuable mineral. No doubt geological survey teams will find more.
-
2055 - Year of No War
2055 marked an improvement in civilian attitude toward each-other. They still had their grudges, of course, but by mid year it was clear a new record for time of peace had been set. Sure part of that peace had been enforced by the Others and the lengthened as each faction paused to master Transnewtonian technology, but the principle was the same. For the first time in centuries peace was holding. The Tri-Party Accord still stood. The outer planets stood offering a chance to expand in all directions. History alone would tell how long this could be, but all agreed on one point: every day without an incoming nuclear bombardment was a good day.
Spy Report January 2051
Extracting and filtering public broadcasts and communications intercepted by spy devices dropped in previous wars is a little slow, but it is slow and steady.
| Planet | Pop | AvailableLabor | SY employment | SY Capacity | Logistics | Industry | Researches | FleetSize | Treasury |
| Mars | 411.0m | 82.2m | 1.2m | 2,000 | 0.35m | 40m | 5m | 111,200 | 20k |
| Earth | 411.0m | 82.2m | 2.53m | 24,000 | 1.25m | 43m | 5m | 111,200 | 20k |
| Venus | 411.7m | 82.3m | 1.2m | 2,000 | 1.8m | 38.5m | 5m | 111,200 | 21k |
Logistics = Combined Maintenance facility, fuel refinery, teraforming work force
Industry = Combined factory and mining work force
Fleet Size: include PDCs.
Faction Events of interest coming soon.
edit: Next SM turn coming late. It'll be at least another 48hours before I have a chance to even look at the save.
-
Antagonist looks up from the design to the nervous scientist standing at his desk.
"And you are SURE this is the fastest vessel out there? That none of the other factions have a faster one?" he asks impatiently.
"Yes sir... at least... none as fast has been detected by our sensors yet, Sir." the scientist exclaims.
"Perfect. Begin production immediately."
Finally. After years it is finally time for the Syndicate to spread its wings and leave its nest. We have the fastest ships, we have our first mining colony, soon to receive the first load of automated mines. Soon we will even open the pathways to the stars.
"And... have a message sent to the Children of Earth... it is time to open the pathways of trade."
-----
SENT AT 6TH FEBRUARY 2056
MSG MARTIAN AND VENUSIAN COLONIES
EARTH WOULD LIKE TO ANNOUNCE THE DEPLOYMENT OF ITS FIRST TRADE CLASS VESSELS. ON THIS MONUMENTAL DATE, EARTH WOULD LIKE TO EXTEND AN ARM OF FRIENDSHIP TO ITS NEIGHBORS AND SUGGEST A TREATY OF MUTUAL TRADE. EARTH HOPES THAT DESPITE DISAGREEMENTS IN THE PAST, THE BENEFITS OF MUTUAL PROFIT WILL ALLOW US TO SEE PAST SUCH A HISTORY AND OPEN A NEW AGE OF COOPERATION.
MAY HUMANITY PROSPER IN THE TRANS-NEWTONIAN AGE.
- ANDREW HARPER
XXXX MSG ENDS
-----
-
The Martian High Command was a bit miffed at the fact that Earth had launched a cargo ship so soon. Of course, it was probably a goal of all three powers to have such a capacity, and it wasn't exactly realistic to assume that they had a lead, not in all areas, not in any area. The officers were optimistic about the situation, though, and immediately welcomed any trade, granting the Earthlings permission to send the ship to Mars. It would be watched carefully, of course, at least until it was determined to indeed be unarmed.
As usual, the idealistic diplomats found the chance to interject one of their own ideas into every situation. In this case, they believed, it was time to reveal another treaty they'd come up with sometime ago, but had been wary to propose. They had no idea what the other planets' timetables were, and had not predicted needing to bring up the issue for another year or two, but now that there was a cargo ship known to exist, it was time to start hammering out what the official procedure for claiming worlds would be. While the other two peoples probably didn't know it, the Martians had a real love for Red Tape.
-----
Greetings Sentients,
We the people of Mars agree to accept free and open trade throughout the system. However, we have another concern that we wish to bring before the interplanetary community. We believe that with the advent of cheap transport, an inevitable race will occur for the planets and moons of our system. To prevent tension for throwing our civilizations back into the horrors of war, we propose the following treaty.
Treaty of Utopia Planitia
The undersigned parties agree that
A) Only individual solid planets or moons may be claimed by a civilization. (Freedom of fuel from gas giants)
B) Only one claim can be made a month of a single body.
C) New claims can only be made if a signatory can exploit the claim within two years.
D) For a new claim made by one signatory, each other power is allowed to make a claim without the previous requirement.
-----
We are open to any changes suggested by other powers.
-
Earth would like to make the following changes to help balance a resources race:
1) Claims on habitable bodies are exclusive.
a) Unless an individual treaty stating otherwise is formed then only one faction may have a population on any world.
b) Treaties to transfer claims may be made between factions.
2) Claims on bodies intended for unmanned installations are non-exclusive with the following caveats:
a) The prime claimant is the first one who can place an installation on the body.
b) Exploitation of this body is limited by the exploitation of the prime claimant. The number of mining installations (shipboard or through automated mines) may not exceed that of the prime claimant. This is to reduce overexploitation by those who arrive later.
c) The presence of deep space tracking stations is not limited in Sol, though any such installations not on a inhabited world has to be claimed. Deep space tracking stations based on the homeworlds can already cover other homeworlds, so limits on these don't have any particular security value.
3) Claims on inhabited non-human bodies are invalid. Claims on these extra-solar worlds can only be made through right of conquest. If the conquest is a shared effort then some measure of compensation has to made to all participating factions.
-------
In terms of the above:
Earth claims Asteroid #21 by right having equipment placed on it (by time of next turn).
Earth claims that Titan shall soon receive infrastructure and civilians to become the first new world colonized by man.
((OOC EDIT: Okay, civilian traffic. Will that happen automagically soon as we have a treaty? In my games they only tend to happen after Mars colonization, aka they are given something to do. If the treaty allows them to be spawned, wonderful, else I'm gonna rush the Titan thing to try spawn them. Wealth generation through trade should be significant, but will see. Also, is there heat death to the universe reasons why turning on transponders for all civilian ships(civ and player controlled non-mil)? Might be worth appending to a trade treaty, though I suppose not yet.))
-
OOC: That change is acceptable. I kind assumed they'd all be exclusive unless said otherwise, but spelling extra rules out is okay.
I'll look for what I want to claim soon and post more in an hour or so.
-
Official Reply:
We of Mars find these changes and clarifications acceptable, though we are wary of the provisions relating to any potential conquest. We shall claim Titania and Asteroid #2. However, despite technically being allowed to claim one colony per month, we warn other parties that we should not be too hasty in expansion.
-
2056 - Year of Bragging and Retirement
The new Syndicate Freighter was the envy of the system. It was big, bright, shiny, and impossible to miss. With a thermal signature of 1,000 any planet with a single Deep Space tracking station could see it from 250m km away, and couldn't help but watch as the ship made multiple trips to and from the asteroid belt. Mars swore they too would be launching a version of there own soon. For now, the bragging rights were with the earthlings, yet it was only the start of system wide boasting. The syndicate claimed an asteroid and moon. Mars made claims of their own. Venus refused to acknowledge either claim. The other children of sol imagined the Dragons were caught up in ritual battle to determine public policy toward this new development, but that is just bad tv drama. Probably.
Excluding the Syndicate's asteroid, all the boasting, so far, has been but empty words. 2056 saw some races once again make empire wide crew rotations, and saw others organize mass-retirment events for lack of ships to command.
((OOC: I gave Earth and Mars reciprocal civilian trade agreements, so we'll see if anything happens. ))
Spy Report: 2052
Planet Population SY workers SY size Fleet Size Industry Logistic Labs
Mars 422.3m 1.2m 2,000 113.1 kT 40m 0.5m 5
Earth 422.3m 2.8m 38,000 117.8 kT 43m 1.4m 5
Venus 423.3m 2.5m 14,000 111.2 kT 37.5m 2.8m 5
Players, welcome to 2057.
Save has been updated, and I'll be sending out individual reports a bit latter today.
-
A long awaited response to treaty options comes from Venus via a slightly singed ambassador.
Access to the home world is granted to all parties so long as they are unarmed and without active sensors and that our own ships gain equal access.
We claim Asteroid 40 for the Dragon, and will be placing mines on Titania. We look forward to working alongside our neighbors in exploitation of the system, we have much to learn from one another.
-
Earth would like to announce that it is willing to sell a Trade class Freighter to one of its neighbors that thus far have not been able to obtain such a vessel on their own.
-----
Trade class Cargo Ship 48 600 tons 482 Crew 534.6 BP TCS 972 TH 1000 EM 0
1028 km/s Armour 1-118 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
MSP 7 Max Repair 16 MSP
Cargo 25000 Cargo Handling Multiplier 10
Nuclear Thermal Engine E1 (16) Power 62.5 Fuel Use 10% Signature 62.5 Armour 0 Exp 1%
Fuel Capacity 200 000 Litres Range 74.0 billion km (833 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
-----
A 5% markup special is offered on it, resulting in a cost of:
561.33 BC
322.98 Duranium
201.6 Gallicite
31.5 Mercassium
5.25 Corbomite
Earth hopes to be able to make many such offers in the future. Including a Colony class vessel once retooling is complete.
-
Mars will buy one ship. We have no quallums about using foreign ships.
(I don't have it in front of me, but I assume I have the resouces for such a purchase)
-
((OOC: Venus added to reciprocal civilian trade agreements))
2057 - Year of Trade
This year, in the name of cooperation, trade flourished as never before. In a grand gesture of the new cooperative spirit the Earthlings sold the Martians a massive, fully functional, freighter - at cost (plus 5% shipping). In the first week of January The Syndicates two freighters settled grandly into Mars orbit, where with minor ceremony one vessel under went a crew exchange while the second was loaded with a modest few hundred tons of refined trans-newtonian minerals as payment.
It is with this starting example that the year concluded with the start of a second trade relations. In December, a Syndicate corporation became the second entity to announce owning a freighter, and promptly began a lively exchanging in soft goods between worlds. True to the political offers of the year, fine wine was indeed one of the first cargos carried.
Spy Report: 2053
Planet Population SY workers SY size Fleet Size Industry Logistic Labs
Mars 423.8m 1.4m 4,000 115.0 kT 40m 0.5m 6
Earth 423.8m 3.1m 55,000 124.5 kT 43m 1.5m 5
Venus 425.3m 2.7m 25,000 115.0 kT 37.5m 2.8m 6
Players, welcome to 2058.
Save has been updated, and I'll be sending out individual reports a bit latter today.
-
Venus claims her neighbor Mercury for the purposes of starting an experimental colony and research station.
-
We of Mars claim Asteroid 135 in reciprocation.
(Venus, you need to set it to welcome screen more often remember!)
-
I could have sworn I actually left it on welcome this time, oh well.
-
2058 - Year of the Entrepreneur
'E' is for Entrepreneurial Earthling. Those shrewd traders will build anything to make a profit, and in the last year managed to construct 4 new privately owned vessels of tremendous size. The shipping line has established a wine-spice trade between Mars and Venus and are moving goods at an unsustainable rate, according to market gurus. For now, however, the wine/spice commodities remain in high demand on the planets. The greatest complaints are coming from the Syndicate's own citizens, who are annoyed that their own goods are not getting sold to new markets. The most indignant conspiracy theorists have alleged that the merchants are aiding an Earthling-burger recipe swap between the Martians and Venusians, while profiting of the transport on the condiments for said earthling-burger recipes. The Syndicate's public relations officer has refused to comment except to say that as long as the taxes get paid the merchants are free to trade as they will.
Spy Report: 2054
Planet Population SY workers SY size Fleet Size Industry Logistic Labs
Mars 445.7m 1.4m 4,000 115.0 kT 40m 0.5m 7
Earth 445.7m 3.5m 75,000 124.5 kT 43m 1.5m 5
Venus 447.6m 3.0m 37,000 125.6 kT 37.5m 2.8m 7
2059 awaits. Personalized messages coming later.
Edit: Out of time, personalized messages coming much later.
-
Venus expresses an interest in purchasing a colony ship from any nation that has one available to aid its experimental colony on Mercury, will pay in minerals, wealth, a combination of both, or in trade for one of our new Myrkul class freighters.
-
Good start guys, keep it up! If this experiment works well, I'd be quite interested to join in a future game.
-
Thanks for watching us, but this is more of an exhibition and less of an experiment. Others, like Panopticon, have started multiplayer games before. I think the only two experimental features of this game was the partial conventional set up and multi-planet same-system start.
Anyway, expect more detailed revelations when the 10-year-ago history reports start appearing.
Players: I'm going to postpone the next-turn update another day or so. I don't have a turn update in from Antagonist, controller of the Syndicates Empire of Earth. On one hand an update isn't essential since the Syndicates have been maintaining a multi-year production queue, but on the other hand Venus is trying to purchase a colony ship from them.
-
It isn't a huge deal that I get the colony ship, I'll get around to building my own eventually and it just gives me more time to ship infrastructure in the meantime.
-
SM turn uploaded. Earth regretfully declines sale, citing "insufficient inventory," but believes that the order can be filled "soon."
Oh, I found a new Aurora bug.
(http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x184/sublightrun/Aurora%20LetsPlay/CivilResearch.png)
The real jaw dropper was that Venus didn't have either technology, so I had to grant it to them via SM. I guess the civilians must have been doing research so...
2059 - Year of the Civilian Dragons
Over the past decade, the Venusian private sector has been working on TransNeutonian spin-off technology, and chose to announce to the world their success: the fundamentals of TransNewtonian Military technology. Taking advantage of the new physics, the Venusians reviled the practical applications of Duranium-laminant portable bunkers tougher than conventional battle-tank armer, and high-energy weapon systems that brings the power of conventional wet-navy destroyer to a compact crew-served weapon package. Combined together, these allow a single entrenched battalion of garrison troops to project as much defensive power as three conventional infantry divisions. Further, since a significant expense is in the weapon and armor systems (which are much tougher than their biological users) trained reserve battalions can easily maintain this new military model at full strength.
When asked 'why' this technology was being shared, the Venusians said it was important to "make things sporting" since, obviously, civilian populations were valid military targets, the local militia ought to have some means of defense. The Venusian's then announced the launch of three commercially owned ships and the formation of civilian mining colonies on Asteroid #2 and Comet #2.
Spy Report: 2054
Planet Population SY workers SY size Fleet Size Industry Logistic Labs
Mars 458.1m 2.5m 14,000 115.0 kT 40m 0.5m 8
Earth 458.1m 3.8m 80,500 131.0 kT 43m 1.5m 5
Venus 460.4m 3.2m 49,500 125.6 kT 37m 3.5m 7
Welcome to 2060. Everyone now has the "Garrison Battalion" and "Reserve Battalion" technologies, unless there is some way to "unlearn" an advance. Personal messages coming later today.
-
Hehe, good explanation. Perhaps I will adopt that as official policy.
-
SM Turn uploaded.
2060 - Year of Colony Riots
Let*Us*Breath!*Let*Us*Breath!*Let*Us*Breath*Let*Us*Breath!*Let...
In 2060 the civilians continued to be productive. The Syndicate Commercial sector established a civilian-mining facility of their own, and the Venusians launched a second shipping line. However, this was old news. Civilian freight transit was entering its third year: and between the Earthlings and Venusians the Sol Shipping demands had been nearly saturated. No, the real news internationally reported was corporate greed and the Titan Riots. Either from communication failures, callous greed, or reasons unknown the commercial Syndicate Cybernetic Transport division had developed a habit of overbooking immigration to the new Titan colony, with depressing results. In a despite plea to stop the export of unsupportable warm bodies, a disgruntled Titan reporter brazenly broadcast reports of the overcrowded conditions across open frequencies. The entire system watched as new arrivals and old fought over sleeping berths and oxygen, leaving thousands dead. Exact numbers are still unavailable, but it is estimated that 1 in 7 of colonists sent to Titan have died. The Syndicate has already banned further emigration from Earth until a remedy can be found.
Detailed Spy Report: 2051 and prior
The detailed reports won't be as uniform as the 5-year ago reports, but will instead contain whatever the SM thinks is most interesting. I'll be alternating 5-year and 10-year spy reports from here out.
Starting Minerals:
Mineral Mars Earth Venus
Duranium 100K 0.9 99K 0.9 100K 1.0
Neutronium 66K 0.3 75K 0.5 78K 0.3
Corbomite 20K 0.6 38K 0.3 20K 0.2
Tritanium 56K 0.6 28K 0.3 88K 0.3
Boronide 38K 0.2 22K 0.6 20K 0.6
Mercassium 48K 0.3 94K 0.3 27K 0.7
Vendarite 25K 0.5 38K 0.3 20K 0.2
Sorium 67K 0.8 64K 0.9 88K 0.9
Uridium 40K 0.7 23K 0.5 20K 1.0
Corundium 79K 0.6 28K 0.4 30K 0.4
Gallicite 65K 0.2 23K 0.3 142K 0.2
Alpha class Scout 1,900 tons 161 Crew 314.6 BP TCS 38 TH 75 EM 0
1973 km/s Armour 1-13 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/2 Damage Control Rating 2 PPV 0
Maint Life 8.18 Years MSP 207 AFR 14% IFR 0.2% 1YR 5 5YR 82 Max Repair 100 MSP
Nuclear Thermal Engine E10 (3) Power 25 Fuel Use 100% Signature 25 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres Range 94.7 billion km (555 days at full power)
Geological Survey Sensors (2) 2 Survey Points Per Hour
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposesFirst launched in 2051, the Alpha, a Martian ship, was the first TransNewtonian vessel produced by any of the races. This small high-speed scout was the first ship to survey a non-home-world body. Between its high speed, small signature, and tendency to linger on the outer planets it capabilities remained unverified rumors for a surprisingly long period of time.
Prospector class Cruiser 6,650 tons 182 Crew 370.6 BP TCS 133 TH 250 EM 0
1879 km/s Armour 1-31 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/2 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
MSP 35 Max Repair 100 MSP
Nuclear Thermal Engine E1 (4) Power 62.5 Fuel Use 10% Signature 62.5 Armour 0 Exp 1%
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres Range 541.2 billion km (3333 days at full power)
Geological Survey Sensors (2) 2 Survey Points Per Hour
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposesTaking full advantage of their starting Commercial Shipyard, this Syndicate ship was the second TransNewtonian class launched, also in 2051.
Despite being the first produced, Alpha and Prospector scouts would remain the two fastest vessels for years to come.
Where was Venus? The Venusian Empire at first focused entirely on shipyard expansion, but quickly ran into Neutronium shortages, creating a setback in Fleet production plans. They would not go on to even start construction on a ship until after the Martians announced the success of their Alpha.
Personalized reports coming later.
-
((Apologies about the silence lately.))
Administrator Harper looks at his latest report irritably. "Send me in the Chielf Logistics Officer please." he announces to what seems like an empty room.
Only a few minutes later a slightly older bearded man enters. "Explain." Harper demands as he throws a report over the table at the newcomer's direction.
"Ah well... it seems..." he begins, pauses, then continues, "There have been some isolated cases where there has been some... fraud... in our colonist emigration lottery system. Investigating further we found that a virus had infected some of our critical systems for the lottery project. We had to start from scratch."
"That still does not explain how we had THAT MANY more people on the ships than we had slots available."
"Well, sir... thing is... we only restarted the lottery system after the first round of tickets had gone out. And then we had some issue with one of our civilian lines transporting 'tourists' with one way tickets and..."
Harper cuts him off, "Fine. I get it. Leave." he states simply.
"But sir, its not too late to save some... if we send one of our colony ships soon we could..."
"That would be expensive. Colonists isn't worth the fuel it would cost us." Harper says simply, "I am simply concerned about the PR and the likelyhood that good skilled citizens will join the next wave, but from the latest polls it seems the people are excited about space travel and won't have something as minor as large-scale death deter them. Just... see what you can do about sorting out the lottery system for the next wave, okay? Dismissed."
-----
If a colony ship is still desired, Sol has a spare one. Special terms at 5% markup.
-----
Colony class Colony Ship 24 800 tons 293 Crew 768.8 BP TCS 496 TH 500 EM 0
1008 km/s Armour 1-75 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
MSP 19 Max Repair 16 MSP
Colonists 50000 Cargo Handling Multiplier 10
Nuclear Thermal Engine E1 (8) Power 62.5 Fuel Use 10% Signature 62.5 Armour 0 Exp 1%
Fuel Capacity 50 000 Litres Range 36.3 billion km (416 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
-----
807.24 BC
414.75 Mercassium
286.44 Duranium
100.8 Gallicite
5.25 Corbomite
That is all.
-
2061 - Year of... more Civilians?
Calm. 2061 was calm. The Titan riots were quelled, a colony ship was sold to Venus, and the civilians, eager for space, continued to launch more ships and place additional civilian mining colonies. You might even think every government leader was simultaneously on vacation. More likely they were working hard in their secret labs, or maybe they're trying to draft traffic laws for the increasing orbital traffic in closed door committees. Whatever is happening, few are talking.
Spy Report: 2056
Planet Population SY workers SY size Fleet Size Industry Logistic Labs
Mars 483m 2.6m 24,000 115.0 kT 38.6m 2.6m 9
Earth 483m 4.0m 101,500 245.0 kT 43m 1.5m 6
Venus 486m 5.1m 81,500 125.6 kT 34.8m 5.5m 8
Save uploaded. Personal updates outgoing.
-
Guys, did the pace move? I know I probably missed submitting orders on the time before last, but by my calculations I still had one day to get this turn in ???
-
Uhm, no, not that I'm aware of. Out of curiosity, what pace did you think we were playing?
Your SM thought the game was 3-days for players with an SM update within 3-days after that. Since it had been 3.5 days since the last update I sort of thought an SM turn was fair game.
If I've been mistakenly too aggressive on the turn updates or people want more time between turns we can slow down the pace, but I had thought the twice-a-week rate was going well.
Oh! And glad to hear from you. I was starting to worry we had lost you. :)
-
Eh, well, I thought the 3 day mark would be sometime tonight, not an hour before I posted that.
Anywho, yeah, I've been busy, and will probably have to drop. Plus missing two orders would just throw my OCD into a fit anyway so I couldn't continue.
-
So sad, it was entertaining while it lasted and I looked forward to the next updates and filler.
-
OAM47: Well, don't make a decision without having slept on it. I guess I can see how the missing orders have caused just enough divergence to tweak OCD irritation, but under your control Mars really did take off in a unique direction I had enjoyed watching. If the biggest problem is just time, and the time issue is short term we could easily let you have an extra day or two to catch back up and get turns in.
Everyone Else: Even if OAM47 drops the game won't necessarily end. As long as I have the time to take the turns and at least two players wishing to continue the game will go on. If Mars gets orphaned I'll first offer control of the planet to the first person wanting to join the game, and give the new player a Mars Briefing and extra time to review the situation. If we can't find anyone to play Mars then... then I guess I'll continue Mars on autopilot until someone asks to join or another player conquers them. Oh, please, no offers to take over until someone officially withdraws. I'd prefer to keep my original players as long as they'll keep playing.
-
I'm still in, back from vacation and everything, I'll have some form of rp post up in a day or two for fun.
-
2062 - Year of Martian Anarchy
In a tragic industrial accident the High Chieftain of Mars was mortally injured in a tragic industrial accident, plunging the entire planet into mourning. Not only is the chieftain revered for bringing Mars into the TransNewtonian era, but his untimely demise would bring about a succession crisis in the empire. Indeed, this latter concern was echoed across the entire system as for the first time in years not a single new civilian ship was launched. Already, with the chieftain's recover in doubt, rummers swirl of an impending military coup intended to decisively restore leadership.
No turn received from OAM47. I fear OAM really won't be returning to the game: or at least not anytime soon. If anyone reading this thinks we have a cool game going and might be interested in joining, send me a PM and I'll reply with a link to the save and the Martian password so you can review the current situation.
Detailed Spy Report: 2053 and prior:
Lets meet the leaders! The following individuals have been placed in command as planetary governor for each side.
As of 2053:
Hu'Qubolhat - Governor of Mars. +10% Factor Production bonus.
Andrew Harper - Governor of Earth. +5% Factor bonus, +10% Terrafroming
Milkoghast - Governor of Venus. +10% wealth, +30% Factory, +25% mining, +5% population growth.
In Other News, Mars led the way in TransNewtonian industry conversion, becoming the first to finish converting their industry in late 2053.
Meanwhile, Venus launched not one but two new ship designs.
Hecate class Geosurvey Ship 3,800 tons 126 Crew 308.6 BP TCS 76 TH 125 EM 0
1644 km/s Armour 1-21 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/2 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
MSP 51 Max Repair 100 MSP
Nuclear Thermal Engine E1 (2) Power 62.5 Fuel Use 10% Signature 62.5 Armour 0 Exp 1%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres Range 473.5 billion km (3333 days at full power)
Geological Survey Sensors (2) 2 Survey Points Per Hour
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposesFirst launched Fall 2052, the Hecate was late to the Geological Survey race and the slowest too. However, speed is relative and the Hecate would prove itself to be quite capable in its role.
Hecate - Grav class Geosurvey Ship 1,750 tons 142 Crew 322 BP TCS 35 TH 50 EM 0
1428 km/s Armour 1-12 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/2/0 Damage Control Rating 2 PPV 0
Maint Life 9.19 Years MSP 230 AFR 12% IFR 0.2% 1YR 5 5YR 73 Max Repair 100 MSP
Nuclear Thermal Engine E10 (2) Power 25 Fuel Use 100% Signature 25 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres Range 205.6 billion km (1666 days at full power)
Gravitational Survey Sensors (2) 2 Survey Points Per Hour
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposesWhile the Venusian's may have been the last to launch a Geological survey ship, they were the first to launch a Gravitational Survey ship. The Hecate - Grav was originally intended to feature commercial engines, but at the time their military yard was small enough that the dragons were faced with the choice of reasonable speed, fuel efficiency, or waiting a couple years. The Venusians picked speed.
And lastly, research divergence. As of December 31, 2052, all races had completed Active Scanner 10 but had diverged from there. Venus had researched Grav Sensors. Earth had developed Cryogenic Transport, and Mars 10cm infrared lasers.
2063 awaits.
Edit: Mars Vacancy filled. SM turn postponed.
-
[ooc]Wow, I just now noticed how comparatively awesome my leader is, the RNG was kind to me there. [/ooc]
-
2063 - Year of restored order.
Early this year Hu'Qubolhat was removed from power and was succeeded by Wo'Shorisoch as planetary governor of Mars. Officially, this was a voluntary transition for the good of Mars, but pessimists everywhere persist in thinking this was an extremely successful, subtle military coop. Never the less, civilian expansion resumed in the face of this apparent stability. In fact, the additional civilian ship have now saturated the trade good demands between the home worlds, and have begun moving infrastructure between the colonies. In the face of foreign criticism, the Syndicate Trade minister declared the fledgling Mercury 'off limits' to syndicate shipping in an effort to ensure the more distant Syndicate colony on Titan would receive its greatly requested support. Brief riots once again erupted when Titan was reopened for immigration, but this time civilian shipping support was willing to respond to the overcrowding reducing the casualties lost.
Everyone, please meet Garfunkel. Garfunkel is our new leader of Mars. 8)
Spy Report: 2058
Planet Population SY workers SY size Fleet Size Industry Logistic Labs
Mars 509m 2.8m 44,000 164.0 kT 38.6m 2.6m 10
Earth 509m 4.5m 150,000 240.0 kT 43.8m 1.5m 6
Venus 514m 5.8m 97,000 199.0 kT 34.8m 5.5m 11
Shipping Line Flag Ships Tonnage Income
Moore Colony Company Syndicate 5 219 kT 1120c
Save uploaded. Personal updates outgoing.
I misplaced the dropbox password, so I had to reset that so Garfunkel would have something to log in with. New password being sent out with turn reports to those of you not using a shared folder.
-
Unencrypted message sent from the Dragon of Venus to Syndicate leaders:
Human burgers
Message ends.
-
Greetings and salutations! Mars hopes that recent changes in leadership do not affect our diplomatic and trade treaties, as peace and prosperity is the only thing Mars desires.
Also, Mars claims Comet #4 for peaceful and harmonic scientific purposes. Thank you all.
-
2064 - Year of Expanded Universe
The Children of Sol, whether they knew it or not, were not alone. In the distant starry reaches the Void Spawn walked the jump lines exploring the local cluster. The local cluster was small, just 60 stars, but in 2064 the three young races of the void had explored half the cluster. The galaxy started as a small place, but with this threshold reached the universe grew larger.
Max Star count expanded from 60 to 240 stars. I had once planned on holding off the universe expansion until after all races had been discovered by someone, but even without that proof of cross linkage I think it's time to make the pond bigger.
Detailed Spy Report: 2055 and prior:
By the end of 2055 11 TN ships would be in use. The Venusian Empire would have three Hecates and 2 Hecate-Grav ships. The Syndicate would have 4 Prospectors, and minimalist Mars would pause it's ship production at 2 Alphas.
Rushing forth, each side would take a slightly different survey path. Mars would focus on the outer planets, surveying the gas giants, their moons, pluto, its moon, and then move on to the asteroids. Venus started with the inner asteroid belt and then moved on to the moons of Sol. The Syndicate worked backwards, started with the comets, and then began to survey all uninhabited planets and moons, saving the asteroids for last. As a result, on April 14th 2053 the Syndicate became the first faction to discover the secret of Mercury: the ruins of a lost race: A partially intact city... but no minerals. The Syndicate, seeking a colony, decided Titan made a better claim and quietly hopped Mercury would remain overlooked. This worked surprisingly well for several years, up until Venus declared they wanted civilian shipping of their own and settled Mercury.
PMs, Emails, etc coming soon. 2065 awaits.
-
2065 - Year of Syndicate Anarchy.
Early this year a missing person request was filled on Earth for Administrator Harper. The staff has done an amazing job at keeping the Syndicate moving with liberal use of the chief's auto-pen, and experts predict the tactic is a well used one. Friends and coworkers, speaking anonymously, reveal that Harper is known for taking long vacations after leaving a lengthy to-do list. However, even armed with list and autopen occasionally issues do arise, and the issues have been mounting. Deputies have been dispatched to retrieve the wayward president, and the succession plans are being reviewed in case the vacation is permanent.
In other news the Titan/Mercury over-crowding riots continue to periodically failure up. Both colonies have grown as government and corporate freighters have improved the regular deliver of infrastructure to the colonies, but poor timing, miscommunication, and over-delivery of colonists continue. The Titan riots are shorter and milder than the earlier years, and little is known about the Mercury riots thanks to near perpetual martial law. Really, its for the colonist own good.
Anyone know anything about Antagonist? He's stopped responding to PMs/Emails, and hasn't logged in in over two weeks. If another week goes by I may have to hand Earth over to the next spectator in line to join the game. At this rate Children of Sol might start to resemble a multi-faction succession game.
Spy Report: January 2061
Planet Population SY workers SY size Fleet Size Industry Logistic Labs
Mars 534m 2.8m 44,000 281.0 kT 38.6m 2.6m 10
Earth 534m 7.6m 238,500 265.0 kT 44.5m 2.2m 7
Venus 543m 6.5m 104,500 346.0 kT 34.8m 5.5m 12
Shipping Line Flag Ships Tonnage Income
Moore Colony Company Syndicate 9 342 kT 1590c
Jawoski Colony Group Venusian 5 183 kT 1230c
Dawdy Shipping Venusian 2 73 kT 230c
Save uploaded. Personal updates outgoing.
-
Sorry about my absence.
Between family who suddenly wanted to go on holiday out of the country and increasing workload I have not been able to dedicate a lot of time to this. The emails have been sitting in my inbox unread as an indication that I should be getting back to them, just have not really till now.
I am not sure how long this will continue.
-
That does sound rather busy, but I understand. Life does tends to pick up fast.
Well, take all the time you need, but just one question: more or less than 2 weeks? If its likely you'll be absent an additional two weeks or longer I'd like to offer others the Syndicate as an interim temp-position.
-
*~krrkt-y Mayday, Oh ~krk~~'re under attack! Anyone... please... - unidentified radio transmission from Mercury.
"Please Disregard the unauthorized pirate radio broadcast publicizing the historical fiction holo-drama 'Midnight Mist Marsh Maruaders'" - Venusian Department of Public Affairs
2066 - Year of Syndicate Succession
At midsummer the Earthlings announced that the previous famed administrator was taking a sabbatical to attend to his health and announced to the system Ektoras, the hand-picked successor, as the new acting President. In honor of the transition, Jump Gates were opened on Jump Points 1 and 2 to signify the opportunities of the future. While many in the syndicate hold hope for Antagonist's return to power, apparently recovering from the stress of over 15 years as rarely questioned planetary ruler will take some time.
Spy Report - 2056
Wayfinder class Cruiser 9,500 tons 266 Crew 441 BP TCS 190 TH 375 EM 0
1973 km/s Armour 1-39 Shields 0-0 Sensors 5/1/2/0 Damage Control Rating 4 PPV 0
Maint Life 2.07 Years MSP 116 AFR 180% IFR 2.5% 1YR 36 5YR 542 Max Repair 100 MSP
Nuclear Thermal Engine E1 (6) Power 62.5 Fuel Use 10% Signature 62.5 Armour 0 Exp 1%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres Range 189.4 billion km (1111 days at full power)
Thermal Sensor TH1-5 (1) Sensitivity 5 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 5m km
Gravitational Survey Sensors (2) 2 Survey Points Per Hour
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
First launched August 11, 2056 and became the 2nd Geosurvey class in existence. Anounced at the time as the fastest ship in the system, the Wayfinder had in truth simply the same speed as the Martian Alpha launched years earlier. Unlike the Alpha, however, the large thermal signature of the Wayfinder would allow the other empires to quickly discover her capabilities.
By the end of 2056 each nation operated:
Mars: 2x Alpha Scouts.
The Syndicate: 2x Trade freighters, 4x Prospectors, 1x Wayfinder.
Venus: 3x Hecates, 2x Hecate-Grav
In other news by this time all nations and begun to diversify there industrial plans.
Mars and Earth both held 2 deep space tracking stations to Venus' 1, affording the outer worlds better observation capabilities in the early TN years. They also had focused on construction, with 450 and 420 construction factories respectively. Venus technically held 350 factories, but 100 of those were tooled for ordinance production as a future contingency. It would largely be thanks to the incredible effort of Milkoghast that Venus was able to keep up industrially with the other worlds. In light of this news, medals would quietly be awarded across Mars and Earth to the level headed military leaders who advised *not* attacking Venus.
----------------------------------------------------------
Everyone, please welcome Ektoras. Ektoras will be controlling the Syndicate until Antagonist has time to post again.
Since we have 2 newish players, as a review here are the turn procedures once again.
1) Download the save.
a) Log into DropBox and download the save.
b) (optional) If you plan to immediately update orders, rename the rich-text document as "TakingTurn___.rtf" so that others know a turn is in progress. Otherwise, check back again before issuing orders to make sure the save hasn't changed.
2) Take your turn.
a) Select your faction and enter your password.
b) Issue orders.
c) Log out of your faction by going to the 'Game' menu, click "SelectDefaultRace," and change the default back to 'Welcome Screen.' If you don't do this the next player to view the database will automatically see your faction by default. If someone forgets to log out, please be kind and don't peek.
3) Update the DropBox save
a) Double check that the save hasn't been updated since you last grabbed a copy. No complaining allowed if you skipped renaming the text file.
b) Upload the new copy of the database containing your orders (.zip compressed please).
c) If you renamed the text file, change the name back to 'AuroraNotes.rtf'
d) PM the SM so he knows to look for your turn. Feel free to include conditional orders or other requested turn instructions. Also, please PM the SM if you ever decide not to issue new orders for the year so he won't try waiting for orders that won't come.
Currently, each turn covers 1-game year. Everyone has 3-days (72 hours) to get orders in before the next turn. If it's been more than 3-days since the last update, I reserve the right to take the SM turn even if not all orders are in. Likewise, I promise to notify everyone if it will ever take me more than 3 days to complete the SM turn. At the current pace SM updates typically come about every 4 days.
There, 1-2-3, A-B-C(d). I think the AuroraNotes.rtf contains similar instructions. :)
SM turn uploaded, additional details coming soon to a PM near you.
-
[ooc]This is an interesting example of how big a difference an administrator makes, Milkoghast has a 40% construction bonus, which puts Venus almost at parity with the other factions despite having 100 or so fewer factories.[/ooc]
Announcements from Venus reinforce the statement about the unauthorized radio broadcasts, and additionally advise the system that the deaths of some 50000 civilians on Mercury were due to industrial accidents and are in no way related.
Also, Midnight Mist Marsh Marauders is an excellent film.
-
Mars would like to clarify whether Earthlings consider the JG's their exclusive private property or whether they are free to use for all Children of the Sol?
-
(Either Earth ruler can over ride me on this but...)
The Syndicate has graciously provided the jump gates as gift to all the Children of Sol. All the Syndicate requires in return is the right to first claim to any system they link by gate.
--------------------------------------------
Communication Rules
Its traditional in multi-faction games that instant galactic communication does not exist. Some games use gate-chaining, but since technically in the Aurora-Universe gates are gravitational manipulation rather than structures I'm not a fan of this one. So (if none object) the rules shall be:
1) In-System FTL communication.
FTL-Com is accomplished by creating dimensional ripples. The simplest method of generating these ripples is pulsing a TN-engine module, making any powered ship with fuel FTL-Com capable. Any population with over 100,000 citizens is assumed to have the same capability. Sending a message takes a few seconds (up to a minute for untrained crew) so a ship destroyed really fast might not get a message off.
2) Cross-System FTL communication.
FTL-Comunication causes minute distortions at jump points, allowing allowing specialized sensors to listen in on adjacent system communication. Grav-survey capable ships and Deep Space Tracking Stations are capable of passively monitoring FTL communication through a jump point from anywhere in system.
Alternatively any ship stationed in a stable jump point (2-way jump gate or jump-drive present) can communicate on both linked system's FTL-nets.
-
Syndicate will continue to respect and support all Sol treaties. I believe in Presidents’ Harper vision of peace, trade and cooperation. After Martians question I want to clarify that the Jump Gates of Sol are open to every Children of Sol. We believe exploration of space is the key to the future.
Acting President replacing Syndicate CEO Andrew Harper
Ektoras Triantafillou
[ooc]Greetings everyone. Sorry for being late, with the text. I wonder if there is a list with which colonies are claimed till now. [/ooc]
-
[ooc]I don't think there is an official list of colonies claimed, I know claimed a couple places with the idea of mining them, but never followed up and so by the rules of our treaty they are free again, also I don't think we recognize exclusivity on uninhabitable bodies anyway.
That said here is what Venus currently has:
Venus(Duh)
Mercury
Comet 2
Hyperion
Asteroid 2
Mercury is a full on colony, and Venus does regard it as inhabitable as you can put infrastructure to support colonists on it. We will vigorously oppose sharing it. This is the same position I am taking with regards to Titan, someone has it and Venus won't put anything there unless war breaks out. The other 3 colonies are civilian mining colonies.[/ooc]
-
Hey all, glad to see the game is moving on despite me.
And I'm fine with open gates to everyone solong as Earth gets the advantage of choice from it.
Also, I dunno how many people read the treaty I posted and everyone kinda agreed to, but way I intended it goes like this:
You claim a planet by putting people on it. If people are not on it, it is a mining colony, and non-exclusive. Aka other nations can land mines on it, but not people. And their mines may not exceed your mines. Since you are first the others may not strip-mine it under you. This is mostly to keep is so much simpler to keep track of who owns what, and to help keep up some availability of minerals to keep Corundium crunches and similar to a minimum.
You can of course say... I want exclusive control of this place even if I'm only using it for mining, in which case other players land mines on it at their own peril, but ya, that is something else. The treaty is the way we treat planets by default, but player agreements or claims can override it.
-
Turn happened earlier than usual since everyone's turn orders were in. That and because I had more time today than I will tomorrow or the day after.
2067 - Year of Commerce.
Relations between the three races continue to reach historic highs as the citizans of all take advantage of the lengthening peace to indulge their curiosity, find pen-pals, and to literally buy stuff that is out of this world. The pessimists, of course, have been loudly predicting economic collapse: pointing to the growing unregulated freight traffic and the finite demand. However, the colpase, or even stagnation, will not begin this year: for those canny Earthling merchants have done it again!
Titan, once a low-profit infrastructure penny-run recently acquired the population and buying power to the same commerical goods traded by the big home worlds: opening their bid with surplus machinery to sell and a desire for construction materials and textiles in return. Titan is a cold moon and apparently a few colonists forgot to bring sweaters. While the demand and supply on Titan is still small, the colony will only continue to grow.
However, Titan was only act #1 of the Syndicate corporations: for Moore Colony company recently unveiled to their investors yet another untapped market: tourists. After launching their first luxury cruiser this fall, the ship has already been booked solid for years in advance by the wealthy adventurous.
Spy Report: January 2063
Planet Population SY workers SY size Fleet Size Industry Logistic Labs
Mars 559m 2.8m 44,000 320.0 kT 39.4m 2.6m 11
Earth 559m 10.0m 296,000 242.0 kT 45.1m 2.8m 8
Venus 573m 7.4m 113,000 424.0 kT 34.8m 5.5m 15
Shipping Line Flag Ships Tonnage Income
Moore Colony Company Syndicate 9 342 kT 1800c
Jawoski Colony Group Venusian 7 245 kT 1640c
Dawdy Shipping Venusian 5 160 kT 1080c
Save uploaded. Personal updates outgoing.
-
Syndicates Public Relations Office
Syndicate shipbuilding industries are offering a wide range of options of ships, that will satisfy everyone. We believe that costumer comes first and we strive to satisfy every demand he has. The ships are made from top quality materials, from the most experience technicians, in the most advanced shipyards. In the following catalog surely you will find something that suits you.
You want to transport slaves civilians to a new frozen rock prosperous colony. The following ship will do the job for you. Lifetime warranty*.
Colony class Colony Ship 24,800 tons 293 Crew 768. 8 BP TCS 496 TH 500 EM 0
1008 km/s Armour 1-75 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
MSP 19 Max Repair 16 MSP
Colonists 50000 Cargo Handling Multiplier 10
Nuclear Thermal Engine E1 (8) Power 62. 5 Fuel Use 10% Signature 62. 5 Armour 0 Exp 1%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres Range 36. 3 billion km (416 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Of course what is the point to have colonies if you can't transfer their goods to your home world. The following cargo ship is designed to operate at the toughest conditions. Lifetime warranty*.
Trade class Cargo Ship 48,600 tons 482 Crew 534. 6 BP TCS 972 TH 1000 EM 0
1028 km/s Armour 1-118 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
MSP 7 Max Repair 16 MSP
Cargo 25000 Cargo Handling Multiplier 10
Nuclear Thermal Engine E1 (16) Power 62. 5 Fuel Use 10% Signature 62. 5 Armour 0 Exp 1%
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres Range 74. 0 billion km (833 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
High ranking civilian administrators, governors, businessmen, generals and everyone that can pay, should not be transported in a colony ship, as cattle. A luxurious yacht is essential to keep their status. Lifetime warranty*.
Yacht class Luxury Liner 35,400 tons 947 Crew 972 BP TCS 708 TH 1000 EM 0
1412 km/s Armour 1-96 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
MSP 17 Max Repair 16 MSP
Passengers 1250
Nuclear Thermal Engine E1 (16) Power 62. 5 Fuel Use 10% Signature 62. 5 Armour 0 Exp 1%
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres Range 101. 7 billion km (833 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Before claiming a rock to be part of your faction, you have to make sure it is worthy the hassle. This vessel, has the required technology to find any TN minerals that may exist in the rocks crest. Syndicate use it for its own surveys. Lifetime warranty*.
Prospector class Cruiser 6,650 tons 182 Crew 370. 6 BP TCS 133 TH 250 EM 0
1879 km/s Armour 1-31 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/2 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
MSP 35 Max Repair 100 MSP
Nuclear Thermal Engine E1 (4) Power 62. 5 Fuel Use 10% Signature 62. 5 Armour 0 Exp 1%
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres Range 541. 2 billion km (3333 days at full power)
Geological Survey Sensors (2) 2 Survey Points Per Hour
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Expect from the standard classification of ships, customers can ask their own ships, made to much their unique demands. Mitsubishi industries own the largest shipyard in the universe. Their team of technicians can design any ship that you want up to 150000 tons. Moreover Syndicate naval engineers talk of possibilities to have ships extracting sorrium from gas giants, minerals from asteroids. They even claim one day terraformers to change atmosphere of worlds will be a reality. If you want such an exotic solution contacts us.
*Lifetime warranty is valid for malfunctions of the ship coming from its construction. If the user misuse it, if it is damaged from an alien race or an angry faction, if it falls in a black hole, if an asteroid falls on it, if it is close to a star going super nova the warranty is not valid.
Representative of Syndicates Trading Office
Liam Wilson
[ooc]Anyone want to buy ships ;D[/ooc]
-
The Syndicate Times wishes to correct a minor typo in our Interplanetary edition Almanac. The top export of Venus to Mars is Spices, not Spies. We apologize for any riots this may have caused.
2068 - Year of Mercury
This year Mercury joined Earth, Mars, Venus, and Titan as the 5th inhabited world to supply goods to the interplanetary exchange. Like Titan, Mercury has begun exporting Machinery and importing Infrastructure, Construction Materials, and Textiles. Please Please send infrastructure.
This milestone is seen by many as proof that Mercury is not the Venusian Death & Reeducation Camp that conspiracy theorists claim, although concerns regarding the discrepancy between infrastructure and colonist shipments remain.
Spy Report - 2059
Myrkul class Freighter 36,650 tons 243 Crew 325.2 BP TCS 733 TH 438 EM 0
597 km/s Armour 1-98 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
MSP 6 Max Repair 16 MSP
Cargo 25000 Cargo Handling Multiplier 10
Nuclear Thermal Engine E1 (7) Power 62.5 Fuel Use 10% Signature 62.5 Armour 0 Exp 1%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres Range 24.5 billion km (475 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
The Myrkul was the Venusian response to the Syndicate Trade class freighter. The craft would in later years prove to be one of the most popular Civilian designs, and has become a common sight on every inhabited planet across Sol.
By the end of 2059, the Federal owned craft of each faction would number:
Mars: 2 Alpha scouts and 1 purchased Trade class Freighter
Syndicate: 2 Colony class colony ships, 4 Prospectors, 1 Trade Freighter, and 3 Wayfinder Fast-surveyors.
Venus: 3 Hecate, 2 Hecate-Grav, 2 Myrkul Freighters.
By this point both Venus and Earth had finished the Gravitational Survey of Sol, while Mars had not yet started.
Of the GraveSurveyors, the Syndicate Wayfinder was in interesting case in many ways ahead of its time. This was especially true since this frail 2-year maintenance life vehicle was, at the time, larger than the maintenance facility capacity of earth. By the end of 2059 the oldest Wayfinder would have over a 600% annual failure rate.
Spy Report - 2057
While all races claimed the same starting technologies, over the next 7 years each side would branch out in different directions. Active Sensor 10 was, at the time, the only other universally researched advancement that the factions didn't start with.
The Unique Technology at this time would be:
Mars: Lasers: (10cm, Infrared, Visible Light), Capacitor 2, Turret Speed(2k km/s, 3k km/s)
Syndicate: Cargo Handling, Cryogenics, EM6, Grav-Survey, Mag. Efficency 75%, Nuke-Thermal Missiles
Venus: Beam Tracking 10k km/s, Cargo Handing, Turret Speed 2k km/s, Grav-Survey, Nuke-Thermal Missiles, TH6
By the end of 2057 the most advanced fully functional armed design would still be the ICBM silo.
Save Posted. Personal details to be sent soon.
The turns are now starting to get long enough that starting with the 2070 turn I'll either cut back to 6 month time advances or claim an extra day for the SM turn.
-
[ooc]My vote goes for 6 month increments, I am at a place where it would be nice to have mid year orders to add.[/ooc]
From the Dragon of Venus to our fellow competitors:
We stand on the verge of stepping into new solar systems, confronting new challenges and opportunities... and possibly threats. The Others may still be out there somewhere, or other less benign races. Venus welcomes and looks forward to these challenges but fears that when the inevitable happens our siblings may not be able to put up a challenging fight. To that end we offer certain technologies to the factions at large.
Nuclear Pulse Drives and prerequisite reactor tech
Thermal sensor 6
EM Sensor 6
Mobile Infantry Battalion
Engineer Brigade
Basic Jump Drive technologies [ooc]the first ranks of all the required stuff to build a drive[/ooc]
We are prepared to accept offers of technology of similar value, minerals commensurate to the difficulty of the tech [ooc]specifics to be determined, but generally some mix that equals 2x the RP value[/ooc] or facilities such as Research Labs or large quantities of mines.
It is through matching ourselves against strong foes that we grow, we look forward to testing your strength.
-
[ooc]My vote goes for 6 month increments, but i will be away till Monday night (GMT +2)[/ooc]
-
As you all know, Synidcate constructed Jump Gates have opened the univesre for the children of Sol. The last tow Jump Gates are being constructed and they will be ready in the next semester.
Till now Syndicate vessels have explored three systems directly connected with Sol system. The ships have been conducting Geological and Gravitonial survey in the new systems. The Syndicate claim the Lithium IV world. For the first time in history humans will wake up and see a different sun.
[ooc]I write this from mobile, as i forgot to do it from home. So sorry for mistakes. Iam not 100% sure for the bame of the planet i claimed, it may differ, but it is the only colonizable in tha system[/ooc]
-
[ooc]My vote goes for 6 month increments[/ooc]
-
July 2069 - Announcement of future Announcements
Someday, if anything unusually exciting happens, real news will appear in the mid-year report.
Or, possible, our Spy Exposes will happen on the odd months.
So check back next year!
For now, here is a word from our sponsors...
6 months it is. Since everyone could benefit from it, the 6 month increments started with this year. Save uploaded. Personalized messages coming soon.
--------------------------------------------------------------
2069 - Year of the Cancelled Reservation.
The Luxury Cruse Liner, once lauded as the next Big Thing appears to have been ahead of its time as citizens across every world in mass demanded refunds once they had time to read the fine print. While everyone it seems wishes to move elsewhere, all insist on such trivialities as a breathable atmosphere, a steward crew of the same species, and long term lodging at the other side. The sparse trips of the single Yacht cruiser produced have been unprofitably sporadic even compared to the cryogenic colony ships runs, and limited to rare colony runs.
Syndicate feedback was especial hostile toward the originally planned tour of the Venusian luxury restaurant, The Blue Dragon: the home of the original Earthling Burger. The former VP of the Moore Travel Agency who personally announced the Venusian world tour has since been reassigned to the branch office on Titan to personally review the continuing complaints of overcrowding.
Spy Report: January 2065
Planet Population SY workers SY size Fleet Size Industry Logistic Labs
Mars 592m 3.2m 84,000 320.0 kT 41.9m 2.6m 11
Earth 585m 11.4m 309,000 357.0 kT 45.9m 3.5m 9
Venus 601m 9.2m 159,000 424.0 kT 34.8m 6.0m 15
Shipping Line Flag Ships Tonnage Income
Moore Colony Company Syndicate 13 537 kT 1860c
Horton Lines Syndicate 2 97 kT 260c
Jawoski Colony Group Venusian 10 338 kT 1340c
Dawdy Shipping Venusian 10 315 kT 1450c
Save uploaded. Personal updates outgoing.
Edit: Last thing, now that it has been 20 years should I give the NPRs a mineral accessibility bump? The AI is notoriously poor at handling the mid-game resource crunch.
-
2070 - Midyear
Empire Trivia time!
Did you Know:
• Mercury has a 0% unemployment rate... and a 0% manufacturing sector. (90%+ agriculture requirements)
• Earth has no Mass Drivers (at least, Earth isn't receiving the mineral packets the other two factions are)
• All the ship classes were renamed when Mars changed leaders (Alpha -> Geologist A, Beta -> Liberty)
Lastly, a slightly out of date picture of the commercial transponders:
(http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x184/sublightrun/Aurora%20LetsPlay/ComericalShipping.png)
The Venus/Syndicate shipping lines have only been growing. 8)
Save uploaded. Personal updates outgoing.
Edit: Next update running late. Finals week.
-
Syndicates Public Relations Office
We would like to answer to this trivia, that throws a shade in technological and constructional capabilities of the Syndicate. Earth, uses its vast commercial fleet to transport minerals and facilities. It is not that we can't build Mass Drivers, they are not cost efficient for the moment.
In other news we would like to offer for trade the Gravitational Survey of Helium and Hydrogen systems. Although the systems do not offer a lot of useful real estate the hold a road to other systems. Jump Gates will be constructed as soon as possible.
-
2070 - Year Of Naming
With every passing year the Children of Sol became more aggressive in mapping, and the Syndicate even began claiming ownership of extra-solar objects as well: announcing that Lithium IV belonged to them. The rest of the system had just one, oh-so-minor question: "Where is Lithium IV?"
By rare chance both the Martians and Earthlings had chosen to name the stars after the periodic table elements, but while both called the world past Jump Gate 1 'Hydrogen,' the remaining names came by order of visit and discrepancies slowly built. The Venusians, in a spirit of apparent creativity, chose names for the stars uniquely theirs.
In other news, all latest Federal Trade offers have gone unanswered. Neither Earth nor Mars have been willing to admit to technical deficiencies, or surrender any perceived lead they might have. Likewise, neither Mars nor Venus are prepared to comment on the extent (or lack) of their gravitation survey efforts. Their civilian populations have never seen closer relations, yet the governments cling to what few perceived leads and secrets they might have.
((Trade treaties are wonderful things for multi-faction starts. With out a single active sensor or confirmed weapon anywhere relations have been naturally growing without SM assistance ever since the Trade Accords were signed))
Spy Report - 2061
By 2061 Venus had managed to land a Xenology team on Mercury, and discovered evidence of a Lost Child of Sol, a TL2 race that called itself the Ascendency of Canterbury and who had left behind over 1,000 installations. Immediatly upon discovery, the entire Venusian production plan refocused itself on claiming and exploiting Mercury. Research projects were shelved, and efforts to research and produce Engineering Battalions given supreme authority. As a result, in February 2061 Venus became the first of Sol's children to field an engineering battalion. As a minor side effect of the planet wide effort the entire system received knowledge of Garrison and Replacement battalions as well.
In other news Mineral Depletion first began appear at this time. Venus was the first to deplete a mineral, mining out all Uridium deposits, with the other planets seeing depletions of their own in the following year. At the time, Mars lead the way in off-planet mining relocation, with 68 automines in various locations. The syndicate followed with 32 automines, and Venus trailing with just 5. However, the emergence of civilian mining colonies for both the Syndicate and Venus would do much to dampen Mars' lead in off planet mining.
To move their automines Mars also launched a freigher class of their own, the Bravo.
Bravo class Freighter 39,150 tons 281 Crew 366.8 BP TCS 783 TH 562 EM 0
717 km/s Armour 1-102 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
MSP 6 Max Repair 16 MSP
Cargo 25000
Nuclear Thermal Engine E1 (9) Power 62.5 Fuel Use 10% Signature 62.5 Armour 0 Exp 1%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres Range 45.9 billion km (741 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Slightly faster than the Venusian Myrkul and some what slower than the Syndicate Trade, the Bravo, latter renamed Liberty, would become the work horse of the Martian Fleet.
At this time the fleets stood at:
Mars: 2 Alphas, 3 Bravos, one purchased Trade
Earth: 1 Trade, 2 Colony, 4 Prospectors, 3 Wayfinders
Venus: 3 Hecate, 2 Hecate Grav, 6 Myrkul
Civilian shipping not included in fleet tables.[/i]
Save uploaded. Personal updates outgoing.
Anyone heard from Garfunkel? I'm starting to get nervous again.
-
[ooc]So uh, which jump point is Lithium through?[/ooc]
-
Syndicates Public Relations Office
Recent questions of the location of the jump point leading Lithium system have caused a deep concern in the Syndicate leadership. Acting president Ektoras Triantafillou with the following statement wants to start a procedure that will result in a trifaction treaty for common system’s names.
The Syndicate is worried of the future problems in ship navigation and communication between different start systems. These problems maybe decrease the growth of economy and cause difficulties in civilian trade. I ask the other tow factions to propose a method for naming stars. This name of each system will be used in communications between the factions, in official treaties and for civilian shipping. In interfaction communications, everyone would name the star systems as they like.
Acting President replacing Syndicate CEO Andrew Harper
Ektoras Triantafillou
[ooc]It is the one, you can see at the Welcome screen. I don't know how we can fix this, or if we really have to :p . Maybe the first faction that explores a system, has te right to name it? What about colonies?[/ooc]
-
I can replace the governor of mars :)
(note : I've never played an aurora multiplayer game before .)
-
Mars has a new governemnt !
Public declaration :
The People of Mars Inform All The independant nations that we put a claim on the planet Boron D-II (sol JP 1, -> JP 2 )
-
2071 - Midyear - Day of the Scanner
In January of 2071 the Venus ruling families announced the activation of the systems first active sensor array "Purely for defensive purposes, since populations are valid military targets."
This statement achieved hesitant acceptance for all of a week, up until one bright amateur astronomer noticed that the large 3,000 ton resolution array had sufficient power to reach Earth orbit. Ever since commerce has stagnated and anticipation risen as with each passing month Earth and Venus drift closer. Earth still won't enter sensor range for about six months and the governments are no doubt intensely negotiating, but with speculation running rampant the citizens want answers: will Venus shut down their scanner at the closest approach, or will they violate Article 3 of the Tri-Party Accords? If The Tri-Party Accords do get broken, will the prosperous economic peace continue to hold?
Personal updates outgoing.
-
Syndicate Times
Earth demands Venus sensor to be turned off.
Venus sensor has caused a lot of concern, in Syndicates corporations. That was very clear the last weak, with stock markets been on the negative for 5 consecutive days, something that has not happened the last decade. Civilian ships are moving to Titans orbit to avoid any collateral damage in case of an attack, while ships controlled by Syndicate conglomerate are still in orbit, to avoid causing more panic to the civilians. Many experts are trying to guess which of these ships are suitable for defence of Earth.
Acting President had a series of meetings with representatives of the top corporations, discussing future actions of the Syndicate. Today he made an official statement, demanding the closing of the Venusians sensor while it can scan Earth, while all 15 member corporations of the Syndicate conglomerate have expressed their support to Acting President.
Earth demands, the Venusian large sensor to be turned off, or be moved away, while it can scan Earth and the orbiting Syndicate ships. I want to remind the third article of Tri-Party Accords:
No power may be permitted to actively scan another's homeworld
I can assure Venus leadership that the Syndicate does not wish to attack Venus or Mars. Still if they do not trust us, the small sensor will be enough to warn and stop any missile attack.
Acting President replacing Syndicate CEO Andrew Harper
Ektoras Triantafillou
Now Earth can only wait Venus answer, but whatever they decide the damage has happened. As the super-expert historian, economy analyst, xenologist, military analyst and defence advisor Mr. YeahIknow Everything explained to us:
If they decide to keep their sensor active, the best possible scenario, is an increased arms race for every faction of Sol, as Mars will have to follow Earth and Venus. The worst of course is an all out attack on Earth. We don’t know what the syndicate can rally for defence, but I have faith in the conglomerate that they are prepared, but a war can damage trade and economic growth, especially when the major battles happen at your plants orbit.
If they decide to close the sensor, Syndicate will still be pressed to develop better defence systems, as in the future they may not close it. My advice is buy stocks of companies with focus on military technology and be prepared for the worst. I hope you had built your personal bunker, which I advised you to build, in an earlier Syndicate Times issue.
[ooc]In short, close that sensor, it is bad for friendly relations. [/ooc]
-
It should be about this time that analysts might realize that Venus never specifically agreed to the Tri-Party Accords, merely requesting that visitors to the homeworld turn their active sensors off and agreeing to trade with the other parties.
Message from the Dragon of Venus in September 2071: "We closed our last message to the Children of Sol with the following, it is through matching ourselves against strong foes that we grow, we look forward to testing your strength. Consider this the first test, our intelligence services have shown little progress in defense technologies by your nations, and little interest in the trade offerings we have made to help improve them.
You want our sensor turned off? Show us that you are making steps to increase your strength, do so by building your own warships to meet our Vhaeraun class Frigate Absolution in honorable battle, Absolution is the lead ship in our latest class of warships. If grand battle in space is not to your liking, strike us on the ground, take possession of one of our mining colonies with your best forces and hold it for a period of not less than a year.
Upon acceptance of this challenge by any nation, our sensor will be turned off and remain so until the trial can be completed, should it become obvious that the accepting nation has no wish to follow through then... their lack of honor shall be rewarded in like measure.
To assist the nations with building their own vessels, Venus reiterates the offer of trade in the technologies previously specified, adding to the list as well:
Missile tech [ooc]The 2000 point cost stuff, except Mag Ejection, that is at 1000[/ooc]
Infrared Laser
12 CM Laser
Turret Trackin 1k
As a show of faith we shall shut the sensor off for 6 months, if no nation musters the courage or strength to accept our offer it shall be turned on once more."
[ooc]Aliens folks, I don't hate you and neither does Venus, they think they are doing what is best for everyone.[/ooc]
-
What Venus demands for the Nuclear Pulse engine tech and the Mobile Infantry battalion tech?
This test will be 1vs1 fight?
[ooc]I will the answer for the techs before posting new orders[/ooc]
-
Make an offer, we shall accept tech of equivalent research cost, minerals equal to twice the cost, or installations such as research labs in an amount to be negotiated.
The Vhaeraun is 6000 tons, you may face it with a single ship of any weight, or multiple ships weighing up to 6000 tons total.
-
Syndicates offers
Both Gauss techs 1 for a total of 2000 points and Gauss velocity 2 for 3000 points
Engine tech is 5000 points
Infantry tech is 2500 points
Total 7500
Our techs 5000 points
So we offer 4000 tons of Corbomite.
Do you agree?
Syndicates accepts the challenge. The ships are being build right now. Mahadeva 1 and 2 are a 2900 tons corvette. They will be ready at 7th May 2072.
-
2 problems:
1: Venus already has the level one Gauss techs mostly researched
2: Corbomite is at an immense surplus, Gallicite, Neutronium, or Mercassium would be welcomed, as would Duranium.
"The warriors of Venus salute the future crews of Mahadeva 1 and 2, as well as Absolution, may they find honor in battle, and glory in life and death.
Active sensors shall remain offline unless The Syndicate backs down from the challenge."
[ooc]That is win or lose here, the sensors will stay off no matter the outcome of the fight as the goal was simply to provoke a test of strength. I'll do a post here later giving folks an idea of what to expect from Venus so far as this sort of challenge goes, there will be more, though I won't be tossing them out all the time.[/ooc]
-
Then we offer the tow Gauss techs at level 2 (6000) + 1500 tons of Neutronium and 1500 tons of Mercassium.
[ooc]I wonder what my primitive ships will do ;D, i am used to peaceful starts, especially with low tech starts. I think the challenge has make things more lively. Something else, the numbers of Jump points are the same for all? My JP1 is the same as the Martian one? And maybe Mars can explain what this means (sol JP 1, -> JP 2 ) ?[/ooc]
-
*brings popcorn*
Its about time! :D
At this point everyone has at least one fully weaponized ship and PDC design ready for production, if not already built or under construction. These are, however (mostly) recent developments. As of 10 years ago (per the usual spy reports) none had been built. While I didn't really expect outright warfare or genocide, the complete universal lack of any defenses for the first decade was a shock. After all, even a dorky 15cm plasma cannonade bolted to the front of a conventional engine slug-boat is deadly if you can't return fire.
Lets see: diplomacy. Having relations crash instantly to -100 would be bad, we can't have that. So instead... any shooting conflict is a -100 relation penalty per day of hostilities. Also, an additional -100 for every ship destroyed or 100k civilians killed. War can't reduce relations below 0, since fighting is sort of traditional in the backstory. Since current relations are all over 1,000 a little shooting won't prevent reestablishing trade treaties.
2nd point: I'm in the process of moving this week and traveling next week, so I'll be running the next SM turn a few hours early tomorrow since that will be the last day I'll have reliable internet access for the next two weeks. There might be a slow day in the middle there for an update, but its equally likely that this game will enter a 2-week hiatus.
-
Venus accepts the offered trade.
[ooc]Good to know, hope your move goes smoothly[/ooc]
-
Marsian Broadcast , Wo'shorisoch Governor of Mars.
Venus Is planning to break a treaty And challenged us to justify this action . Mars declare this 'duel' illegal as it is illegal in any case to break a treaty. We won't let venus act as an arrogant outlaw, and we expect that earth will finally decline this shameful challenge.
(jump point: it means take the jump point 1 in sol then take the jump point 2 , i'm not sure if the jump point number is common to everyone, can the SM tell us please :) )
-
The Dragon reminds you that Venus was never signatory to any treaty, and will not be held responsible for assumptions made by other nations. Fear not Mars, thanks to the Syndicate you need not test your strength just yet, but your time will come.
[ooc]Oh it's on now. Though Mars has a good point in that the challenge is being used to basically attempt to set policy for all the nations, so good eye there.[/ooc]
-
Earth Broadcast
Syndicate can not back down from the challenge, lives will be lost, but it is not honorable. We salute Martians that stand up to defend the tree-part treaty (tow-part now).
[ooc]Yes a clarification, if jump point numbers are the same for all, would be helpful[/ooc]
[ooc]How trade between Earth and Venus will happen?[/ooc]
-
January 2072 - A Year of Anticipation
News commentators and commercial market analysis were left stumped at the latest Venusian/Syndicate antics. Despite declaring a limited war of honor to occur in one years time the two powers immediately conducted weapon technology transfers. For now, the shipping briefly picked up as market fears of future shortages prompted interplanetary trading to new heights.
Spy Report: January 2067
Planet Population SY workers SY size Fleet Size Industry Logistic Labs
Mars 628m 3.6m 88,000 326.0 kT 41.9m 2.6m 11
Earth 612m 14.1m 335,000 416.0 kT 47.0m 3.8m 10
Venus 630m 10.1m 213,000 424.0 kT 34.8m 6.0m 18
Shipping Line Flag Ships Tonnage Income
Moore Colony Company Syndicate 14 585 kT 1940c
Horton Lines Syndicate 3 146 kT 410c
Jawoski Colony Group Venusian 12 394 kT 1180c
Dawdy Shipping Venusian 18 608 kT 2330c
Save uploaded. Personal updates outgoing.
JPs are numbered in order of distance from the primary, so JP numbers will always be the same if both factions have completed surveys, but could be different if one or both factions have only partially surveyed the system. JP numbers can change if new JPs are latter discovered or if an inactive point opens.
Trades are conducted by flying a cargo ship fleet with the necessary capacity from one home world to the other and back again. I then SMed the changes. The Venusian fleet was used this time.
-
EXTRA EXTRA! VENUSIANS DESTROY SYNDICATE WARSHIPS!
July 2072 - The Big Boom
Words had been exchanged. Diplomatic shenanigans pulled. The future of the Tri-Party Accorded was in doubt, and blood demanded. One year. 6,000 tons. Asteroid #1. Be there. For Honor.
In mid May the Syndicate challengers were launched, and the three ships in question made the treck to the asteroid belt. Far from planetary sensors, the exact details rest only with the battle survivors, but the 18 nuclear detonations were visible for all to see. Latter categorized as 17 strength 4 explosions along with a single strength 1, the four minute one-sided exchange was visible even to the Titian colonists, and ended with two 3000 ton wrecks.
Trade has tentatively resumed, but all ears are turned toward the proven military power of the Venusian fleet wondering what will happen next...
I'm back. Turn taken. Since the battle was expected and lasted less than 5 minutes after the first explosion the ship commanders handled everything. For some reason the diplomacy ratings hardly flinched, so I'm rethinking my Diplomacy/War/Relations ruling. Also, my database corrupted itself: so I had to revert to a pre-battle save. As a result, the official reported outcome from my notes on the 1st fight and the event log doesn't quite match in a few places.
Faction reports coming soon.
-
Universal Broadcasting Network welcomes viewers to a special edition of The Siblings, UBC's news and analysis program focusing on the three races who inhabit Sol. I'm your host, Allen Jordan. Joining me today is one of the system's most highly regarded xenologists Dr. Robert Freitas, thank you for joining me Dr.
Robert: It's a pleasure to be here, and please, call me Bob.
Allen: OK Dr. Bob, the events leading up to the battle at Asteroid 1 has been the top news from Earth to Titan for the last year or so, and many believe the Venusians victory there signals a renewal of aggressions for the first time since the arrival of the Others. Do you agree?
Robert: No actually, the Venusians, whatever else you can say about them, have always been strictly above board with their intentions, they believe it the height of dishonor to lie for an advantage.
Allen: But what about their breach of the tri-party accords? Activating their sensor in the way they did was clearly a threat, and proves they lied about their intentions.
Robert: That certainly seems to be the position taken by Mars, but if you examine the Dragon's public statements, they never agreed to anything specifically, though they certainly worded some communications to take advantage of some terms of the Accords, the rest of the system accepting that was, to them, either a sign of acceptance of the status quo, or a sign of weakness in negotiations.
Allen: Well, how did the governments of Mars and Earth manage to miss this?
Robert: I can't actually speak for them seeing as I was not consulted, nor to my knowledge were any of my colleagues.
Allen: Which might be indicative of a reason right there.
Robert: Perhaps.
Allen: So you don't believe Venus will take advantage of its perceived superiority after their victory at Asteroid 1? Or a reactivation of their active sensors? Clearly Mars and Earth would have difficulty forcing them to turn it off.
Robert: No, the Venusians clearly stated in a public communication that they will leave their sensor off. And the fact that they set it as terms of a challenge makes it an almost ironclad promise.
Allen: Talk about the challenge a little bit, this is an aspect of their society that many are unfamiliar with.
Robert: Challenges are a means of internal control, they prevent disputes in the Venusians very competitive and violent culture from spilling into civil war. Exact details are somewhat nebulous but essentially if one party desires something from the other, they make a challenge and set the terms, if it is accepted then the result of the fight is taken as law, if rejected then it is assumed the defender has submitted to the challenger. The challenge must be public, and made between relative equals. A lowly engine tech cannot challenge MIlkhogast, the current leader, for example. However one of the other senior administrators or military commanders might be able to.
Allen: Is it significant that this was the first challenge Venus has made to either Mars or Earth ever?
Robert: Oh my yes, as I mentioned, challenges must be between relative equals, making the challenge shows that they perceive us as on their level. Which argues against them launching an unprovoked attack.
Allen: Even though they won their challenge handily?
Robert: Even so, if they had lost then the rest of the system would be in a better negotiating position, however their stated intent was to test our strength and encourage the powers to increase their military.
Allen: Does this mean that Venus would accept challenges from the rest of the system? Say perhaps to access Mercury and the ruins there, or force them to join the Accords?
Robert: Probably, though standard negotiations might also work to do that, as long as all parties specifically state, rather than imply what they are agreeing to. And in the case of Mercury, losing it might immediately result in a new challenge to recover the planet, since they have an estimated 5 million people on it currently and the ruins represent a potentially incalculable advantage.
Allen: I see, well we are about out of time, Dr. Bob, thank you again for your appearance, we hope to see you again soon.
Robert: thanks again Allen, it's been a pleasure.
-
Syndicate Times
Acting President, CEO Ektoras Triantafilu made a short speach, for the loss of the tow Mahadevas.
With a great sorrow we learned the destruction of our ships in the honorable duel with the Venusian ship. We will honor our dead, every Earthling should remember this day for their self-sacrifice and sense of duty.
Other news:
Syndicate claims the 10th Moon of 5th planet of Lithium system, as an auto mining site. The CEO of AstralMiners, the company that won the contract to run the mining site, believes this will turn in an successful investment for its company, and the investors backing it.
Ecodream company won a contract for 10 terraforming installations. They will use the latest tech to add gas in Titans atmosphere, to increase its temperature. Nevertheless humans will always need protective infrastructure to live on Titan as the planet is far away from sun.
A huge jack pot is gathered for the 5897th Worker Lotto draw. Millions of people buy a ticket in a hope of a better and without worries future.
-
January 2073 - Anticlimactics
The Dual came, the dual was fought, and life went on very nearly the same as before. Not even the death of over a hundred Syndicate sailors changed much. Such was life, and the little distant dual of honor had been far cleaner and romantic than the usually bombardments experienced first hand by the elders. Really, the continuing peace came as no suppress except to the economic 'experts' themselves.
So, the pessimists groan about the precedent the dual may have set. The optimists cheerfully compare the dual to nuclear bombardment and celebrate the precedent the dual may have set.
Spy Report: 2063
New Ships:
Vitruvius class Construction Ship 58,800 tons 641 Crew 1288.8 BP TCS 1176 TH 250 EM 0
212 km/s Armour 1-134 Shields 0-0 Sensors 5/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
MSP 14 Max Repair 16 MSP
Jump Gate Construction Ship: 180 days
Nuclear Thermal Engine E1 (4) Power 62.5 Fuel Use 10% Signature 62.5 Armour 0 Exp 1%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres Range 30.5 billion km (1666 days at full power)
Thermal Sensor TH1-5 (1) Sensitivity 5 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 5m km
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
The Vitruvius was the Syndicate's answer to the stars. Built around a massive Jump Gate Stabilizer prefabricated by industry, these gate constructors were completed in short order and rather quickly created outbound gates at all 5 of Sol's jump points. Return gates, however, were slower in development.
Malagard class Colony Ship 19,550 tons 193 Crew 693.6 BP TCS 391 TH 250 EM 0
639 km/s Armour 1-64 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
MSP 22 Max Repair 16 MSP
Colonists 50000 Cargo Handling Multiplier 10
Nuclear Thermal Engine E1 (4) Power 62.5 Fuel Use 10% Signature 62.5 Armour 0 Exp 1%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres Range 46.0 billion km (833 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
The Malagard was the Venusian counterpart to the Syndicate Colony class cryogenic bulk-transport. This class became popular with the Venusian shipping industry, but few, if any, were constructed by the Venusian government.
Balor class Troop Transport 23,450 tons 196 Crew 558 BP TCS 469 TH 250 EM 0
533 km/s Armour 3-72 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
MSP 15 Max Repair 40 MSP
Troop Capacity: 5 Battalions Cargo Handling Multiplier 10
Nuclear Thermal Engine E1 (4) Power 62.5 Fuel Use 10% Signature 62.5 Armour 0 Exp 1%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres Range 76.8 billion km (1666 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Following the Mercury Exploitation rush Venus was briefly left with Engineering battalions stuck on Venus. This problematic situation was short lived, with the Balor line following shortly to move excavation equipment and garrison guard units intact to and from the inner planet.
Audit Reports
Planet Construction Research Civ. Minerals ShipyardWork
Mars 4467 2221 0 233
Earth 4690 1577 509 2350
Venus 2550 2814 1403 1082
Although Venus would continue to lag in raw production, the Mercury Salvage operation would go far in offsetting that deficiency while Venusian Research efforts would consistently hold the lead for years.
Personal Reports coming soon by PM.
-
Sorry for the waiting i wasn't available for a few days. :-\
Interview of Go-guunopech, sociologue and antrophologue in a Martian tv show (extract).
All the way mars has witnessed venus aggressivity. marsian population itself is offensed by the venusian brazen arrogance.
Weary of being spectactor in a eventual conflict between Earth and Mars, Mars population became more and more concerned about an international cooperation with Earth. A prematurate feeling of "coalition" appeared with Earthian within the Mars population as opposed to a growing hatred toward Venusian race. In parallel The national pride of martian seems to grow ,"after all we are the first planetary colony of the human histrory, venus is only a barren, volcanic and unhospitalier world". [...]
Earth government has recently displayed a humble and respectuous diplomatic attitude toward Mars , acting more like a brother than a father, mars population is proud of this attitude , a little to much in fact, as they might forget they were once Earth colony.
[...]
Mars is a very young (independant) colony, and its population until now doesn't know where to find its cultural roots. A generation has nearly passed, native Marsian were born, but martians still suffer from a lack of national identity and are not afraid of a conflict within the sol system as war seem to be the best way to prove that Mars is much more than a mere colony.
Please don't interprate this as a justification of my aligment against Venus (in fact i hope a cool down), But much more of a justification of how Mars government will be influenced by the population in its future (and possibly unexpected) behaviour :) , as i don't want to play as a super free, omnipotent and tyrannical leader (NO Mouhaha :-[ )
Meeting between Mars and Earth government about the Mineral Trade Agreement. ( the essential)
After very short negociation Earth and Mars signed an agreement, for a regular trade of minerals,
there are still many thing to settle, organize and discuss about, but for now,
here is ...
The first exchange terms :
1-Mars provide 5000 units (ton!?) of Duranium for 10 000 of Corbomite.
2-Mars Provide all the necessary transport for this Exchange.
*****
3-If the Cargoship are damaged or destroyed whithin the earth sphere of influence, or accidently destroyed/damaged by one of the earth ship : Earth will repay 3 times the estimation of the prejudice
4-Earth is engaged to protect at all cost our cargo ship from piracy and declared hostile contacts within 100 million of KM of its home planet or it will repay 2 times the cargo ships and the whole cargo if it failed to defend it.
5-If Traded minerals are lost , Mars will repay them. (10 000 Corbomites)
*****
I guess you agreed this deal. even if some terms of the agreement weren't communicated to you ;D.if you want to renegociate it feel free to PM me and i will edit my post
-
Venus updates its list of technologies it has to trade, in addition to all previous techs we now have:
Maintenance module
Fuel production 24000
and, thanks to the alien ruins on Mercury:
Compressed Fuel Storage
This allows 75000 liters to be stored in one HS
The usual strictures apply to these trades, with the exception being Compressed Fuel Storage, for that one you will need a rather larger offer.
-
Arthur MacArthur, the general secretary of Presidents Office, was an old man. He had served at the Presidents Office under the last three Presidents. Andrew Harper made him the general secretary, chief of all the mechanism that helped him in running the Syndicate. Almost everyday, he would meet with President Triantafilu….
Arthur: - Sire, the Venusians announced new techs offered for trade.
Ektoras: - What they offer?
Arthur: - They have increased the efficiency of fuel production process. Thus they can make more from each fuel installation and save raw resources. If it does what they claim it can be an important tech. Our industrial engineers believe we can also reach the same efficiency if we focus on it.
Ektoras: - Of course it is an important technology, did they offered anything else?
Arthur: - They have managed to store 75k litres of fuel in 1 haul space; they call it Compressed Fuel Storage.
Ektoras: - Doesn’t sound that hard to make, what our experts believe?
Arthur: - Ship designers are troubled how the managed to advance so fast on miniaturization of fuel storage; they say Newtonian Fuel can be tricky when compressed.
Ektoras: - Then how they manage to do that?
Arthur: - It seems the Alien City on Mercury holds a lot more advanced technology than initial we considered.
Ektoras: - Damn them, the Alien City should have been our colony, not Titan.
Arthur: - Sire, no one could predict its importance, all advisors agreed; Titan would be a better investment.
Ektoras: - Then maybe they should visit Titan for some years. Working on terraformers will be good for their CV and Titans has such a nice environment.
Arthur: - gulp :o :-X
Ektoras: - Tell Liam to contact the Venusian for their Fuel Production, I want to know their price. Then call intelligence secretary to come here at 19:00, with a full report on Mercury and the Alien City. Finally bring me all the records about geosurvey of solar bodies and colonization program, for the years 2050-2056.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Earth Broadcast
Earth is interested on a future purchase of Fuel Production tech. Price can be tech or resources (or both). What resources the Venusians ask for it?
Earth accepts the extra terms. Piracy is forbidden from the Syndicate law and punishable by death, if an unfortunate pirate chose to come near Earth he will pay a dire price.
(3D video with tow small craft being blown in pieces (sound effects enabled) after they captured a freighter of Moore Shipping Company, luckily the freighter is intact, most of its crew alive) 8)
[ooc]First dialogue, I hope it is not boring :p .
I think it would be better to add in the new post all the techs that are for sale.
Fuel production 24000 affects Surium consumption?[/ooc]
-
Venus would trade for either construction rate 12, or 6k of Mercassium, 40 construction factories, or a construction/production tech of equivalent value.
-
We will trade construction rate 12.
-
Done
[ooc]Messaged sublight with the details[/ooc]
-
July 2073 - Summer of Trade and Conspiracy
The Spring of 2073 saw renewed interplanetary trades in technology and resources as the Syndicate and Venus exchanged production technologies, and the Syndicate and Mars exchanged minerals growing in short supply. Speculation and on how short and how necessary those minerals were fueled conspiracy theories (a growing hobby it seems) across countless colonies and populations.
The conspiracy theories took an unexpected spike when a Syndicate Wayfinder spontaneously exploded outside Mars orbit while returning from a deep-space exploration mission. Astronomers assure all that nuclear weapons played no part in the tragic disaster, but this only marginally placated fears of sabotage and alien activity. The leading theory, riding on the growing publicity of the Mercury ruins and the Syndicate's new Piracy policy holds that renegade pirates operating off of Mercury using salvaged alien technologies are declaring war against Syndicate enforcement. Skeptics, however, were quick to point out that...
New turn uploaded. Trades completed. Private messages coming soon.
-
Syndicate offers for trade technology for increased mining rate. Squeeze more through your auto mines.
[ooc]Mining rate 12 up for trade[/ooc]
-
January 2074 - Exploration
With tensions at home subsiding, the three races turned outwards once more with renewed vigor, adding gravitational and geological survey data to their independent records. As for the juicy details on why the previously mentioned syndicate ship blew up, what post-dual warships have appeared, and who has explored the furthest... well, that will just have wait for the 10-year reports.
Spy Report: January 2069
Planet Population SY workers SY size Fleet Size Industry Logistic Labs
Mars 665m 5.9m 100,000 332.0 kT 41.9m 2.6m 11
Earth 636m 18.5m 646,000 435.0 kT 47.0m 3.8m 11
Venus 655m 11.2m 213,000 406.0 kT 34.8m 6.3m 21
Mercury 3.4m
Titan 5.6m
Shipping Line Flag Ships Tonnage Income
Moore Colony Company Syndicate 15 621 kT 2000c
Horton Lines Syndicate 4 194 kT 385c
Jawoski Colony Group Venusian 17 394 kT 1860c
Dawdy Shipping Venusian 19 645 kT 3020c
At this point in history industrial and mining expansion has partially stalled, even has shipyard capacity continues to climb. Also, thanks to a new governor with better population management skills (or possible to robots and cannibalistic overcrowding on Mercury eating colonists) Mars has begun to overtake Venus in population count. What Venus has done, however, is to drive their research potential to new heights.
Save uploaded. Personal updates outgoing.
Is there anything I'm reporting in the personal updates that isn't important, or anything that you wish I was reporting? Should I skip personal updates on any and everything routine, and try for more elaborate historical documentaries?
Edit:
July 2074 - Titan Summer
The fruits of the Syndicate Titan Planing commission have become apparent as increases in green house gases have raised the temperature of Titan by 0.5°C, reducing the infrastructure requirements for colonization by nearly 0.3%. Some pundnets continue to ridicule the effort, extrapolating from the minisculine change following over a decade of colonization. More optimistic supporters applaud the visionary syndicate commitment and suggest that the rate of change can only accelerate.
Personal message updates outgoing.
-
Venus claims the planet of Galun-khur A-III for the Dragon. It can be located through the first jump point in the Oinos system, which is JP 5 in Sol.
In unrelated news, Venus adds to the tech it has available for trade:
Salvage Module.
-
Syndicate Times
Aliens are out there and they are hostile.
Today President Ektoras Triantafillu made a shocking announcement.
The exploration ship Prospector 002 was attacked while it surveyed the Nitrogen System. The Nitrogen system is two gates away from Earth and that can be considered close. Surveillance ships are monitoring Beryllium system in case the aliens decide to move there from the Nitrogen System. Warships are on high alert and ready to repel any attack in the Solar system. Diplomats and xenologists are trying to communicate with the hostile aliens, i hope the situation will be solved peacefully. In case communications break down, war ships will be used to secure the Sol system from this close threat. Civilian shipping for now is banned in the Beryllium system.
Other news:
The 5897th Worker Lottery gave two very lucky winners. You are wondering who they are and how their life’s have changed. Our newspaper searched them for you, we can’t post names so we will name them Mr A and Mr B.
Mr A has already moved to the legendary island of Crete. The island through years has become the first place for rich to live and have vacations. Great hotels, luxurious villas with numerous servants, are ready to serve the ones that can pay the ridiculous cost to live there. The cost is so high that Mr A will probably spend his fortune before he dies. Our informants say he has made great impression to the rich for his humour and skills in card games.
Mr B tragically died in a car crash before the lotto number was won. His family was oblivious for the strange fate the deceased had. After we informed them, they have been searching for the lotto ticket the last days, but without results.
[ooc]Sol JP 4 -> Beryllium JP 2 ->Nitrogen System, there is a gate connecting the Beryllium with the Nitrogen system, but not the opposite. Syndicates intelligence service (syblight) has orders to inform all of the factions in case the aliens move to the Beryllium system, or Sol. [/ooc]
-
January 2075 - Of Martian Curses and Venusian Parties
In the past 25 years since the the children of Sol started their reach to the stars the Martian's have undergone leadership changes no less than twice. With the current head of state now 2years out of communication, worries of a third administrative change have arisen, with many asking if Mars might be cursed.
Venus, in contrast, has maintained the same leadership dynasty throughout, with the Demon Crappokow hosting the 25th anversiery feast, both proclaiming the Dragon Strength and suitably advertising his own rising political reliability.
Spy Report: January 2065
After years of careful auditing networks of spies and traitors have carefully compiled a (slightly out of date) listing on the TransNewtonian assets of the three children of Sol.
Building Mars Sydnicate Venus
Research Labs 11 9 15
Space yards 1C,1N 1C,3N 2C,2N
Spaceports 1 0 1
Automines 113 48 7
Mines 322 420 297
Factories(Con) 496 483 251
Factories(Ord) 10 0 100
Fuel Refiners 32 20 100
Maintenance 20 49 20
Tracking Stations 4 3 5
Ground Training 1 1 2
Military Academy 1 1 1
Teriforming 0 0 1
Mass Drivers 3 0 2
Conventional 0 20 50
Minerals Stockpiles
Largest Sorium Sorium Sorium
Smallest Mercasium Duranium Neutronium
Fifteen years after the star race began none of the three factions possessed an operational warship, and only Venus had ordinance production of any significance. However, this deficiency would not last long, for in less than 7 years the Sydnicate/Venus dual would prove that those two powers at least were armed.
On minerals, experts agree that fuel for exploration is of no concern with Sorium stockpiles overflowing for all three factions: but other critical minerals would be in shorter supplies...
And Speaking of Exploration:
Einstein A class Scout 2,900 tons 279 Crew 454 BP TCS 58 TH 75 EM 0
1293 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 1-18 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/2/0 Damage Control Rating 3 PPV 0
Maint Life 6.18 Years MSP 294 AFR 22% IFR 0.3% 1YR 13 5YR 198 Max Repair 100 MSP
Destroyer Jump Drive Max Ship Size 3000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Nuclear Thermal Engine E10 (3) Power 25 Fuel Use 100% Signature 25 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 150,000 Litres Range 93.1 billion km (833 days at full power)
Gravitational Survey Sensors (2) 2 Survey Points Per Hour
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
What the Syndicate started with the Vitruvius, the Martians quickly followed with the Einstein, which also doubled as the Martian's first gravitational survey vessel and held a small squadren-jump drive to permit travel without jump gates. While not particularly fast, the Einstein had a respectable range and maintenance life and would go on to travel deep into the unknown.
Private Reports Coming Soon
-
Is there anything I'm reporting in the personal updates that isn't important, or anything that you wish I was reporting? Should I skip personal updates on any and everything routine, and try for more elaborate historical documentaries?
[ooc]More documentaries would be fun. Personal updates are good to point something that we would probably not see when we assign orders. For example a broken ship. But i think the time to make a documentary, is a lot more than making the updates, so do whatever you think it is better and more convenient. [/ooc]
-
In a display of breath-taking timing Geoffroypi has returned to the public eye reaffirming his leadership of Mars just a single hour before the Marian senate was poised to vote on an interim leader and arrange a special election.
While technically democratic, traditionally only a single nominee has run unopposed for leadership with blessing of Generals. While most believe that a chosen success had been carefully selected and groomed for the job, others insist that due to dissension between the growing Space Crops branch two or three nominees would have been presented in a historic first. The validity of these rumors, however, will have to wait for the public, unnerved by wilder rumors of impending civil war, flocked to the stability presented by the returning head of state and shelving all plans for a new election- for now.
To the nameless candidate I had asked about taking over Mars, sorry, but Geoffroypi was faster in returning than you were in introducing yourself. To Geoffroypi, welcome back. Please don't disappear again.
I'll Insert the latest turn info here later today after I take the SM turn.
Edit:
July - 2075 - Mineral Swap
Spurred by falling deposits and growing industrial demand, the Syndicate reached an agreement to exchange with the Venusians 5,000 tons of Mercasium for a much needed 5,000 tons of Duranium early this year. News of the trade reversed the Syndicate Consumer Stock index's downward slide as fears of economic collapse were appeased for the short term. Even so, concerns of long term sustainabilty prompted shares in the Syndicate Asteroid Venture Inc to rise to record highs as the complex owners announced expansion plans for opening a new drill head.
-
[ooc]Man, Sol is a busy system, how many civilian ships are out there? I know the two companies on Venus have launched something like 64 in total.[/ooc]
-
[ooc]Syndicate companies have around 40 ships[/ooc]
-
January 2076 - Take 3
Yes. The civilians fill the skies like roaches. Yes, I'm excited that the next aurora version will have a civilian retirement mechanism. Yes, I keep thinking their ought to be a natural predator for civilian ships. Like pirates. No, I probably won't introduce pirates.
Anyway, 2076 will not be posted until Saturday.
Apparently there is a little bug where under certain circumstances when fighting robots your own population will surrender itself to your. Halfway through the redo Mercury surrendered itself to Venus. This almost was just a funny quirk... only that every single ground unit on Mercury erased themselves from existence in the progress. The missing units could have been SMed back in with a little effort, but I suspect the commanding officers have also vanished, which can't be as easily SMed back in.
So... SM turn redo #3. 2076 coming Saturday. Hopefully.
-
January 2076 - Tall Tales
Just in, the Martian Einstein 004 swung returned to port for refueling and overhaul last night with, in a stunning display of timing, less than 1% fuel reserves remaining. With a range of over 90 billion km, we can only wounder at the sights and places the ship may have visited. Earth Lord Jo'Forifov, commander of the ship, was unavailable for comment.
Spy Report: January 2071
Planet Population SY workers SY size Fleet Size Industry Logistic Labs
Mars 705m 5.9m 100,000 338.0 kT 41.9m 2.6m 14
Earth 662m 19.1m 676,000 563.0 kT 49.3m 3.8m 14
Venus 689m 11.5m 296,000 439.0 kT 35.0m 6.7m 21
Mercury 4.2m
Titan 9.8m
Shipping Line Flag Ships Tonnage Income
Moore Colony Company Syndicate 18 735 kT 1520c
Horton Lines Syndicate 8 194 kT 550c
Jawoski Colony Group Venusian 21 672 kT 2390c
Dawdy Shipping Venusian 22 738 kT 3180c
Short Stories of the past:
Wayfinder: about 8 years ago.
Josh Kirk, 2nd watch bridge crew (sensor station) of the Wayfinder 'Rusty' rapped his control panel suspiciously. The only thing that should have been nearby was the Lithium jump gate they were picketing, yet they were registering a class 75 thermal emission less than 10k km away. The report wavered on the rap, but didn't go away.
"Lord Ford, this is bridge. Thermal sensors have gone funky. Either someone's won the jackpot in the malfunction pool on Thermal, or we've got a gate emergence." Josh said, sending a com call to the ship captain.
The Wayfinder series had been built for speed rather than endurance, and on extended patrols something was always breaking. Rusty, one of the two oldest still operational ships in her class, had a history of breaking: but the thermal sensor was the one thing that hadn't broken at least once. Odds varied between 1:260 and 1:80 depending on how many people entered and if 1 or 2 had gone for the long shot.
"No sir, not ... probably not... an entrance. No blue shift. ... Yes sir, eyeball coming up." Disconnecting Josh grabbed an inferred hunting scope and headed up the ladder to the observation alcove. Just about every ship had a collection of inferred and radio detection equipment. Cheap and light weight, they were a nice back up for docking maneuvers and planet radio eavesdropping. Plus, no crewman ever wanted to be complexity blind and would often end up assigned to 'sensor free' ships.
A quick visual check wouldn't take long... and didn't. It was a ship, Martian. This was a little worrying since it had to have been in the Lithium system since before the picket was started, and had to be jump capable since no return gate had yet been built. As the foreign ship cleared its jump blindness and sped off Josh remembered to call the captain back. "Lord, sensors logs read for review. Visual confirmation of Martian ship... repeat the Martians are jump capable, and have been so longer than we've been on station."
Historical note: The Wayfinders had less than a 4 year maintenance life, yet it took about 10 years for sufficient maintenance facilities to be built to support them. Six years into the program the Wayfinders were rotting in orbit, and the two oldest ended up getting scrapped and rebuilt with the saved components as a cost saving measure.
Further Spy news:
Known Systems (2071)
Martians: 8
Syndicate: 6
Venusians: 6
Save posted. Personal messages coming soon.
-
July 2076 - Aliens
This may or may not apply to you. ;)
Some Time Ago on Mercury...
The Dragon Ectocythe, A Ranked Demon of the Venusian Ground Officer corps peered through a range finder at the engineering excavation a few kilometers ahead. His 39th Garrison Battalion was on archeology perimeter duty and were dug in with heavy weapons facing down range. They'd been in enviromental suits for days now.
"Ksss, Nearly I wish we had riot duty" he tells his nearest underling. "That wasn't boring. Nearly."
With a harsh climate and cronic overcrowding someone somewhere was always making trouble, but there was no fighting joy to glorified police work. The real excitiment was out here on the parimiter when robot gaurdians would rampage out of the depths into a glorious crossfire of the heavy stuff. They robots were even sufficiently armed and armored to fight back. But, that was rare. Mostly, perimeter required steady nearvs and watchful alertness in boring silence.
"Engineers here. No Robots. Wait.... Yes, no robots." the radio chirped. "Looks like we have terriforming station crushed by a cave-in. Recovery doesn't look good. Moving on to vault 7BD."
Anddd today probably wouldn't be exciting either. He hoped the next vault would have robots.
Save Posted. PMs coming soon.
-
In the spirit of cooperation The Dragon wishes the fellow Children of Sol to be aware of our intention to begin operating active sensors as a matter of course on our survey and military vessels, as well as our intention of picketing Sol JP 5. This policy will go into effect on the new year.
In unrelated news, Venus ads technology to the previous ones offered for trade:
Orbital Habitat Module
Salvage Module
Ion Drive technology, as well as the prerequisite reactor tech.
Offers will be considered in the form of installations, large quantities of minerals, or tech as usual.
-
I would like to remind to the Dragonians that scanning planets and colonies is considered bad etiquette by the other two Sol factions, i hope their ships avoid scanning Earth, Mars and their colonies. Also the Syndicate ships have the right to open their active scanner if Venusian ships scan them.
[ooc]I am confused with the naming of systems.For easy reading the system after Sols' JP5 is Boron[/ooc]
Picketing Sol JP 5 is important as an alien race has been spotted in the Boron system. The aliens currently are neutral, but just in case they try to enter Sol system and become a threat to our core worlds, Syndicate navy has assigned a scout ship to picket the JP5. If Venus agrees to share early warning the Syndicate scout will move forward and go to the systems after Boron, and scout them, in hope we learn more for the Aliens.
As Syndicate has no intersted in the Boron system, we will accept the name Venusians gave to it. We will also use the Venusians name for the 2 systems that can be found after Boron.
[ooc]Which are?[/ooc]
-
2077 - Year of Salvage
Earlier this year the wreck resonance beacons left from The Dual and Wayfinder Explosion one by one vanished from sensors. While no cause was immediately apparent, all eyes have turned toward the Venusian Empire since they alone have admitted to possessing salvage technology. Venusian representatives were not available for comment but the newsies have high hopes of an explanation after the winter congressional conference.
Spy Report: 2067
Fox class Gunboat 3,750 tons 367 Crew 347 BP TCS 75 TH 75 EM 0
1000 km/s Armour 2-21 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 2 PPV 16.56
Maint Life 3.52 Years MSP 116 AFR 56% IFR 0.8% 1YR 14 5YR 215 Max Repair 48 MSP
Nuclear Thermal Engine E10 (3) Power 25 Fuel Use 100% Signature 25 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres Range 24.0 billion km (277 days at full power)
Twin 10cm C2 Visible Light Laser Turret (2x2) Range 60,000km TS: 12000 km/s Power 6-4 RM 2 ROF 10 3 3 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
Fire Control S16 40-8000 (1) Max Range: 80,000 km TS: 8000 km/s 88 75 62 50 38 25 12 0 0 0
Pressurised Water Reactor PB-1 (4) Total Power Output 8 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Gen 1 PD Sensor (1) GPS 40 Range 2.0m km Resolution 1
Gen 1 Main Sensor (1) GPS 4000 Range 20.0m km Resolution 100
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
The Fox was the final legacy of the original OAM administration of Mars, but no production models were ever built. As of 2067 the model had already languished unchanged on the drawing board for years. Had it been constructed, the Fox would have been the first armed vessel by the children of Sol, and remained the only armed ship for untold years.
Defender class Planetary Defence Centre 24,600 tons 906 Crew 1158 BP TCS 492 TH 0 EM 0
Armour 10-75 Sensors 1/40 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 66.24
Troop Capacity: 5 Battalions
Twin 10cm C2 Visible Light Laser Turret (8x2) Range 60,000km TS: 12000 km/s Power 6-4 RM 2 ROF 10 3 3 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
Fire Control S16 40-8000 (4) Max Range: 80,000 km TS: 8000 km/s 88 75 62 50 38 25 12 0 0 0
Gen 1 PD Sensor (2) GPS 40 Range 2.0m km Resolution 1
Gen 1 Main Sensor (2) GPS 4000 Range 20.0m km Resolution 100
This design is classed as a Planetary Defence Centre and can be pre-fabricated in 10 sections
The defender Planetary Defense Center was original conceived as a low-maintnance colony defense base for Martian Colonies. However, the design proved to be ahead of its time as Mars had not yet produced engineering battalions or the transport capacity to move them. At least one center was prefabricated, but none would be assembled for quite some time.
The 2067 Fleets of Regiestery are as follows:
Mars:
2x Einsteins
2x Geologists (aka: Alphas)
4x Liberties (aka: Betas)
1x Trade
Syndicate:
1x Colony
4x Prospectors
1x Trade
3x Vituvious
3x Wayfinders
(The Syndicates slow expansion of cargo lift capacity would cripple their early colony efforts)
Venus:
2x Balor
1x Colony
3x Hecate
2x Hecate Grav
6x Mykul
Technology Listings: 2064 (Unique: Universal Knowledge Excluded)
Venus Syndiate Mars
10cm Laser Active Scanner 12 10cm Laser
Active Scanner 12 Cryogenic Transport 15cm Carronades
Duranium Armor EM 6 Alpha Shielding
Cryogenic Transport Jump Gates 180 Capacitor 2
Engineer Battalion Mag Ejection 70% Duranium Armor
Ground Combat 12 Mag Feed 75% Hyper Drive 2.0
Implosion Warheads Missile Rate 2 Inferred Laser
Jump Drive 3 Nuke Therm M. Drv Jump Drive 3
Jump Squad 3 Troop Transport Jump Squad 3
Jump Radius 50k Jump Radius 50k
Mag Ejection 70% Shield Regen 1
Mag Feed 75% Turret Speed 2,000
Thermal 6 Turret Speed 3,000
Troop Transport Visible Light Laser
And... thats enough for this report.
Save Posted PMs. Coming Soon. Mars has/will be retiring soon, so recruitment for that slot has reopened.
Edit: April 2077 - Heat Death
The Syndicate and Venusians reached an agreement to trade Ion Propulsion and the prerequisite reactor technology in return for Missile Agility 48, Implosion Warheads, Missile Reload 3, 2kTons of Neutronium 3kTons of Mercasiom, and 3kTons of Gallicite.
More news whenever July arrives.
Turn ended early for heat death. Everything from early February forward was a 1-day possible fleet intercept. Slow 1-day turns. Even with autoturns and cable TV I got bored with the idiot box before the SM turn was half over. PMs' coming shortly.
-
Greetings fellow Races of Sol.
I am the new First Citizen Karr Jion.
As Martian politics are extremely volatile at times and these times even more volatile than most.
Under the new regime we will uphold the treaties agreed upon by our predecessors. We would like to review the current state of extra solar claims.
As for any militancy can we come to an accord to hold peace within sol amongst the three powers? There are many dangers outside our system for us to fear and there should be no need to bring our own homeworlds to ruin.
-
Greetings First Citizen Karr Jion.
Syndicate always supports peace, cooperation and free trade. We are glad to hear that you will uphold the past treaties.
Meanwhile Syndicate claims a new rock, it is Lithium-A V - Moon 4. Lithium system is the system after JP3 of Sol.
-
Announcement from the Dragon of Venus.
Children of Sol, in the coming years you will see 277k-ton ships launching from Venus, these are our new Talona class orbital habitats, intended to support Terraforming operations in the Galun-Kur system. As these will be the largest mobile objects ever launched, we are making this announcement to head off any worries, and to state that any interference with these vessels and their mission will not be tolerated. Response will be rapid and unrestricted in scope.
The message was followed by updates in the trading sector that the tech involved in the construction of the habitats, as well as for Terraforming, is available for trade. Many were previously mentioned but are advertised again here:
Ion drives and related reactor tech
Compressed Fuel Storage
Terraforming 0.0012 and 0.0015
In addition Fuel Production 28000 liters has been developed and is on offer.
-
July - 2077 - Changing of the Guard
"In the recent years space has grown more crowded.. and more dangerous. Our neighbors are armed, aliens fill the surrounding space. But we are not defenseless. We have a fleet of our own weapons of our own, and more importantly, we have you." James Steward, junior officer of the Navy said as part of the commencement address to the latest graduating class of crewman from the academy.
It was a bitter sweat moment. He was the senior most unassigned officer, which would have been an honor except he hadn't ever had a commission. Now, after a 7 year career without any assignments had been deemed surplose to operations. His retirement party was tomorrow. The fleet was expanding, but the war ships were reserved for officers with rank, officers with survey talent had priority for the scout fleets, and those with logistical tallent were fast tracked for the auxiliary ships. In hind sight, he probably shouldn't have specialized in terriforming.
Unless I here objections I will no longer be reporting new ships/class detected in private messages. Speaking of which, new turn posted. PMs coming soon.
January 2078
Turn done. PM's coming. Spy report and a witty comment/story will have to wait until I've have more sleep.
-
January 2078 - The Monolith Moves
"Nothing that big has any right to move." This thought was voiced by many across Earth and Mars as professors and students watched in disbelief as the largest artificial object ever dreamed moved: and moved quickly. With a thermal signature of 2850 the Venusian Talona was visible not only to the imperial deep space sensor arrays, but also to the larger privately owned astronomy instruments. It was a sight for all eyes. It's not every day that a 200+ kiloton object moves at just over 500 km/s.
Spy Report: January 2071
Planet Population SY workers SY size Fleet Size Industry Logistic Labs
Mars 746m 6.4m 152,000 341.0 kT 41.9m 2.6m 16
Earth 688m 20.9m 714,000 742.0 kT 49.3m 3.9m 14
Venus 715m 12.9m 332,000 596.0 kT 35.0m 6.7m 21
Mercury 5.6m
Titan 14.3m 1.5m 0.3m
Shipping Line Flag Ships Tonnage Income
Moore Colony Company Syndicate 20 832 kT 1690c
Horton Lines Syndicate 11 498 kT 1220c
Jawoski Colony Group Venusian 27 858 kT 2860c
Dawdy Shipping Venusian 27 904 kT 4060c
Those Venusian shipping companies sure are raking in a lot.
-
[ooc]I wonder why my civs are being so active, I subsidized them a little bit but I didn't expect this level of performance.[/ooc]
-
Greetings from Mars,
Life in the Galaxy appears to be more prevalent than historically assumed.
Already we have encountered no less than 3 other races in the limited space we have discovered since being granted the key to the stars.
As previously brought to our attention this is not a safe universe. We would suggest the settling of interplanetary disputes among the Children of Sol and the formation of a defensive pact. We do not rightly know the size or strength of the beings we have encountered so far. There has been no outright hostility from these beings as of yet but that could change in a moment.
As first Citizen of mars I propose we develop a union to defend our home system from these possible threats.
-
We of Venus have no interplanetary disputes with any other nation at this time so we see no need to resolve anything. As to the proposed defensive pact. We have seen no evidence of an inclination to cooperate or even participate in trade from Mars for years, and have little reason to trust Mars will uphold any responsibility in a formal pact, until proven otherwise, the Dragon will make no formal agreements beyond the following:
Should an alien power enter the Sol System, Venusian warships will engage in operations to destroy or deny that ship unless a prior agreement has been made with said aliens. Outside the Sol System, Venusian Warships will defend her colonies and shipping, if other nations cannot look to their own defense they may wish to reconsider space at all.
[ooc]No offense to you, I realize given the multiple changes of command Mars has not had much opportunity to do anything, but the Venusians are still annoyed at the events of their challenge to the other nations from a few years back, and are acting accordingly.[/ooc]
-
Syndicate warships will protect Sol against any alien invasion. But our relations with the sentient alien races are positive and we don't believe they can be a threat. I strongly believe there are possibilities of cooperation and trade with these aliens and I think all Sol factions should work for them.
If Earth can, we will try to help in case a Sol faction is attacked in other systems. Either militarily either diplomatically.
-
July 2078 - Summer Trade
Syndicate corporate stock prices have risen this Spring on the news that the Martians have graciously agreed to trade 4,000 tons of Duranium in return for Ion Missile Drive tech. If the growing stability of this trade was not news enough, Syndicate Shipping announced that the Tarn Collective has extended them trading rights. Optimists are enthusiastic about the market growth represented, even if more skeptical investors fear distance and limited jump point availability make this mostly but a symbolic gesture.
Turn posted. Private reports coming soon.
-
Greetings from Mars!
With the vast growth of space travel and the expansion of colonies within our system and beyond Mars is proud to present the Solar Broadcasting Company (SBC). We will be bringing you news from the Martian High Command and The People's Cultural Center.
With First Citizen Karr Jion now in firm control of Mars many changes have been made to our Space borne Naval organization. Several ships have been reclassified and new paint jobs have been ordered for all. This is truly glorious news! I hear that space travel will do a number on your paint job.
Our cultural center would like to send a thanks to the citizens of Earth and their Syndicate benefactors. Syndicate scientist have aided Martian scientist in the discovery of new technologies that will greatly aid our cause.
A fleet of Martian ships left orbit today. Their destination was not quite clear but we have reports that the families of the crew members are not expecting them to return anytime soon.
Please stay tuned for further updates after our premiere episode of "Two and a half Martians."
-
Syndicate Tarn Trading Mission had being prepared for more than a year now. All members learned the Tarn language and what ever information the diplomatic team had gained in the recent years. Unfortunately not much information had been gathered for the Tarn society, as the diplomatic team was based on the Prospector 002 ship stationed on the Hydrogen - Oxygen jump point, as a result all talks were going through video channels.
STTM was fund from 8 Syndicate companies and it employes people with various occupations. Product engineers, market experts, xenologists and auxiliary personnel will stay in a special transformed passenger ship that will travel in orbit above the Tarn homeworld. Total 200 people will work to ensure that the trading rights Syndicate acquired from the Tarns will produce profits.
Jonh Egbert had been trained for a year for this moment. The trading mission to the Tarn homeworld was his pinnacle of a successful career as a product designer. STTM was his chance for retirement and a rich life in one of the many resorts islands Earth offered. Jonh was the manager in the Tarn products department. A not easy position as he would have to travel frequently to the Tarn world, to determine which of their products are going to sale in Earth, Mars and Venus. Tarns are like big bugs, being around them is not very pleasant, but even one new commodity will make him immensely rich.
Martian military activity made him nervous, if they planned to attack the Tarns, as a friend from SNIS informed him, STTM ship would be in the middle of a war zone. Accidents could happen. Furthermore Tarns could easily consider both Earthlings and Martians the same faction and then lots of things could go wrong. Nevertheless Syndicate shipping need an edge, CEO Triantafillu order arrived today; the STTM ship would leave Earth orbit tomorrow 09:00, the trade mission had to be completed. John was sure anyone backing down would serve at the Titan terraformers, better try his chances with the Tarns.
-
January - 2079
The Governments of Sol:
Caution: This 1st edition unofficial report my contain errors. Please report any perceived errors.
Mars: The Martian government may at first glance be mistaken to be an Oligarchy or Communist in nature, but in truth is best classified as Fascist. Martian society is highly nationalistic and led indirectly by an elite circle of old blood and retired heroes of the people who place a vote of confidence upon whichever occupational facet is most capable of advancing or maintaining the pure might of Mars. The four primary facets consist of the Military, Scouts, Technocrats, and Historians: with each facet distinct enough to be considered a political faction. The Military has traditionally been the leading facet, but with the dawn of the Transnewtonain era OAM secured the vote of confidence to lead the Technocrats to the fore as the conventional military found itself growing increasingly obsolete. Seeking to limit the Militaries power, the Technocrats placed the Scouts in command of the exploration and shipping forces. However, as minerals on Mars began to run low, the vote of confidence shifted to rapidly rising Scouts leading to the administrations of Garfunkel and Geoffropi. However, the Scouts proved to be overzealous in there exploration and infrastructure expansion efforts, and were soon removed from power by a wave of populist concern for lagging research and defense compared not only to the other Children of Sol but also in comparison to the newly discovered Alien Others. Jikor now leads the 3rd major administration, but there is some uncertainty on if this marks the Technocrats or Military Junta returning to power.
Earth Technically Earth, ruled by the Syndicate Federation, is a Democratic Republic. However, voting is carried out not by delegates of the people but by lobbyists of industry. Originally starting with the war cry "No Taxation without Representation" currency devaluation brought on by unstoppable spending soon turned to a subtly different catch phrase: "No Representation without Taxation." Under the new paragon those who pay the most taxes have the greatest say in how their tax is spent. Soon after, corporations were granted voting rights for their taxes, and in following years the process was simplified to allow for only corporate votes, which were then weighted both by the number of taxpayers employed and by taxes directly paid. In theory anyone could start their own sol-propritar business and gain a vote, but in practice the voting power is consolidated with the mega-corporations and small-buisness trade alliances.
Venus Best described as a Constitutional Tyranny. (A Tyranny is like a Monarchy, only the supreme leadership is not passed on by bloodline) For the Venusians, the dominating clan leader Tyrant holds 49% of governing power and is able to declare any course of action if seconded by any other clan. However, support by a single seconding clan is rare. Unless the current tyrant is exceptionally strong and capable, single voices of support tend to suffer very public and spectacular silencing. The Venusians value strength, so threats, ritualistic fighting, and duals are all common tools of politics among the dragons. Occasionally a dragon Tyrant will step down to pass control to a personally trained successor, but forced retirements in favor of a rival have occasionally occur as well. So far the longevity of the current Tyrant of Venus is starting to become a legend for the history books.
Spy Report: 2069
Having presented my perception of the governments, it's time to show off the leaders:
Mars: 50 Navy officers, 24 Ground officers, 13 civilian administrators, and 10 leading scientists.
Commander: Wu'Restior: Age 55, good health. Crew Training: 200, 15% politics, 15% diplomacy, 10% Xeno
Governor: Wo'Shorisoch, Age 37, excellent heath. 25% growth, 20% shipyards, 15% mining
Top Scientists: CP30%/50 labs, MK35%/20 labs, PP30%/10 labs
Syndicate: 32 Navy officers, 22 ground officers, 9 civilian administrators, and 13 leading scientists
Commander: Kai Taylor, Age 49, excellent health. Crew Training: 200, 40% logistics, 10% intelligence
Governor: Andrew 'Antagonist' Harper, Health: Questionable. Factory 5%, Teriform 10%, Diplomacy 10%
Top Scientists: LG40%/30 labs, MK30%/35 labs, PP10%/25 labs
Venus: 35 Navy officers, 19 Ground officers, 13 civilian administrators, 9 leading scientists
Commander: None. Ranking officer is the Geology Team leader, 42% survey bonus.
Governor: Milkoghist, Age 39, excellent health. 40% factory, 25% mining, 20% wealth
Top Scientists: EW15%/45 labs, EW20%/20labs, SF25%/20labs
Scientists ranked by total bonus plus max labs. Scientists with slightly larger bonuses but much smaller lab handling may exist.
Save Posted. PMs coming soon.
-
[ooc]This is pretty darned accurate to how I view Venus anyway, nice.[/ooc]
-
"Greetings from Mars,
This is Ko'Jontag with SBC here.
It appears the skies have been busier than ever. Ships from the Earth based Syndicate have been busy at our local Spaceport. Many goods from earth have arrived. One of the more popular items is a strange new meat only referred to as "long pork" When asked about where this comes from the human traders that brought it get very hush hush. It must be a secret recipe. We have heard the Dragons of Venus are very fond of this delicious item as well.
In other news the Martian spaceyards have been very busy lately. Numerous large orders of metal have been constantly shipped in. This can only be good news for mars. Our wise leaders must be busy expanding the glorious peace that we have brought to Mars.
We regret that our latest show "Two and a half Martians" has been canceled after only one season due to low ratings. A new programming schedule is currently being developed with focus on cross cultural appeal. In the mean time our Prime Time slot will now be filled with "Galactic Wrestling Entertainment" Tonight we have Macho Matian Ra'Ndysavage vs "The Man from Earth" Helk Hegan. Who will be crowned Champion of the Galaxy? Stay tuned to find out!"
[ooc]Good ol facism Disguised as Communistic Oligachy[/ooc]
-
Meanwhile, Venusian enthusiasts are staging massive write ins protesting the exclusion of their contender, The Dragon, who they think of as their "Ultimate Warrior" Could this be the start of an interplanetary wrestling feud? The Dragon had this to say:
"LOAD THE SPACESHIP WITH THE ROCKET FUEL!!
IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE CHAMPIONSHIP, THE NUCLEAR WAR TAKING PART IN THE POWER OF MY BODY IS SOMETHING THAT YOU HAVE TO DEAL WITH!!
YOU MUST PASS THE TEST, ONLY A TEST THAT IT IS!!
THE DRAGON IS THE ONE TO SURVIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!!
I SAW WALLS!! WALLS BUILT WITH FEAR!!
DO YOU HAVE HEK HEGAN, WHAT IT TAKES TO BE THE MOST POWERFUL FORCE IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE!!
LOOK AT ME HEK HEGAN!! LOOK AT ME!! WITHOUT THE PAINT HEK HEGAN, THE DESIRE TO WITHSTAND THE PAIN, AND GIVE YOU THE UTMOST IN BATTLE AND CONQUER AT THE CHAMPIONSHIP STILL STANDS HEK HEGAN!! FOR I'M THE CHOSEN ONE!!
ATTACK AND KEEP COMING!! NOT TO ASK BUT TO GIVE!! NOT TO WANT BUT JUST TO SIN!!
NIGHTMARES ARE THE BEST PART OF MY DAY!!
THIS FREAK OF NATURE IS BEGINNING TO SWELL, AND WHEN I GET BIG ENOUGH BROTHER, THERE AIN'T GONNA BE ROOM FOR ANYONE ELSE!!
SHOULD I JUMP OFF THE TALLEST BUILDING IN THE UNIVERSE!! SHOULD I LAY ON THE LAWN AND LET THEM RUN OVER ME WITH RAGING ELEPHANTS!!"
Commentators are still not sure what this means, but one thing is true, Helk Hegan has an enraged naked lizard gunning for him
-
July - 2079 - Lost in Space
Still no sign?
Still no sight.
For decades the Children of Sol had explored first their own back yards, and then the local neighborhood. At these short distances the limited transnewtonian FTL communication capabilities made it easy in the early days for leadership to keep tabs on their exploration corps. However, communication was primarily limited to intra-system coms, with specialized equipment required to receive reports through a single jump point. Even in the ion propulsion age sending a message across multiple jump points is impossible without retransmission. As explorers push the boundaries of known space beyond the reach of fleet communication a new chapter was begun: a chapter on the far side of stars. On those distant shoals ships lived -and died- on their captains standing orders. Ships would not be missed until they failed to return for refueling: their fate, lost in space. A mystery.
Save posted. Private messages coming soon.
-
Children of Sol:
Venus wishes to announce two developments in the exploration of space, the first: We have made contact with a species calling itself the Preservationist Council, they appear peaceful at this time and can only be reached through the fifth jump point of Sol, which we have named Oinos. The Council has sent a gravitational survey vessel through the gate, and it has begun survey of the Sol system, we have determined that the ship is unlikely to have weapons, active sensors, or geological sensors, and thus is unlikely to pose a threat to our worlds or vessels and have chosen to let it go about it's business, but we are committed to the safety of the system, further transits will be followed, and if they make moves towards Venus or her interests, will be destroyed without mercy.
Second, one of our survey vessels is overdue. We suspect hostile aliens in a recently discovered possible colony system, although confirmation will have to wait. This is an announcement for your information only and requires no action on your parts, though we recommend looking to your borders. If confirmed, a reprisal against this force will be launched, our estimates is they lie no more than 4 jumps from Sol, this is too close for a hostile power to be.
In related news, Venus added Terraforming Module to the list of available technology for trade, as well as Ground Force Strength 14.
-
All recent actions of the Preservationist Council are peaceful. They even have offered to us a trade treaty, although we do not know any colony of them. As long no military vessels enter SoL we do not mind if they move around freely.
We would also like to inform the Children of SoL a complete Jump Gate network will be constructed soon towards the Oxygen system and the home world of the Tarn Collective. They are another peaceful race that has agreed to sing a trade treaty. As their trust to us grows, we will help all Children of SoL to have good relations with them.
Syndicate War Navy will help Venus to eliminate the close threat, if Venus asks for it.
[ooc]
1) Is it possible to modify NPRs stance against us?
2) I like the Under the new paragon those who pay the most taxes have the greatest say in how their tax is spent.
Shortly how I see the Syndicate.
Sometime at the past, large companies decided to use their economical power to acquire complete control of Earth. Instead directing from the shadows an elected government they choose to form the Syndicate. This is a joint corporation of all earth companies that its goal is to preserve the current status of Earth and ensure all Earth companies have a chance to flourish and acquire more wealth. The more power a company has the more it can affect Syndicate decisions. With the discovery of Trans Newtonian minerals Syndicate has a more demanding role, as it has to explore and decide where and when to expand. Economy is split in tow categories:
Non Trans Newtonian one which is like the modern capitalism
Trans Newtonian one which is tightly controlled from the Syndicate. Only Syndicate can order the consumption of Trans Newtonian minerals. Syndicate hires the facilities it uses from other companies, as most of the ships.
Earth population lives in a world like Aldous Huxley Brave New World. [/ooc]
-
January 2080 - Martian FastBall
The end of 2080 has been remarkably quiet. On the civilian side attempts have been made made to start a Solar Wrestling Federation, but plans at the moment are stalled over disagreements on illegal moves and penalties. The military side is also quiet. All eyes are on the Venusians and Martians, curious on who will do what about the Alien Menace first, but little movement has occurred so far. The only notable movement so far was by a new Martian class which appears to have set a speed record of 4,210 km/s on the tracking arrays as it left orbit.
Spy Report: January 2075
Planet Population SY workers SY size Fleet Size Industry Logistic Labs
Mars 789m 7.0m 169,000 341.0 kT 41.9m 2.6m 19
Earth 716m 22.2m 781,000 755.0 kT 49.5m 4.2m 14
Venus 746m 13.1m 334,000 747.0 kT 35.0m 6.7m 25
Mercury 17.8m
Titan 19.9m 1.6m 1.2m
Lithium-IV 1.4m
Shipping Line Flag Ships Tonnage Income
Moore Colony Company Syndicate 22 911 kT 1005c
Horton Lines Syndicate 14 643 kT 905c
Jawoski Colony Group Venusian 30 968 kT 3600c
Dawdy Shipping Venusian 31 1,016 kT 4630c
Turn posted. Private messages coming soon. Any requests for the coming 10 year spy report?
No, I can't modify the NPRs stance.
-
Children of Sol,
Mars reports on this sad day that one of our peaceful science vessel was destroyed by the belligerent aliens in the Boron sector.
We are now at a state of war. Please do not be alarmed by any increased military activity you may see. We are mobilizing the martian war fleet.
-
We of Venus applaud Mars' commitment to defense, having lost a survey craft of our own we shall be making aggressive moves once our new battleships come online.
-
I want to express Earthling’s sorrow to the Martian crewmen of the survey ship and I offer my condolences to their families. Unfortunately Prospector 2, a science vessel, was in the system but it was very far away from the Tarn homeworld, to reach the lifepods and rescue any survivors. It has orders to move closer and help any survivors of combat. If asked or Sol system is theratened Syndicate Navy is ready to assist Venusian and Martian battle fleets into their future endeavors.
Meanwhile we warn the Martian government for some high ranking members that want to defect and sell sensitive information. We advise password protection to be active all times.
[ooc]Surveying NPR’s planet can be deadly :P[/ooc]
-
[ooc]And so hostilities begin with the traditional sacrifice of the survey vessels.[/ooc]
-
July 2080
<insert generic news here>
Save posted. Private Messages coming soon.
Sorry, but no public game report this time. The one story my imagination really wants to tell is The Dual. I think I'll go ahead and include that 8-year old event in the coming 10-year history report.
-
[ooc] The Dual can make a good story. I am eagerly waiting for it.
The Dual is a sad event for the Earthlings, many good sailors and officers lost their lives. But they protected Earth and defended its honor. The story of Syndicate heroes, true pioneers of space warfare that served in the two Mahadeva class destroyers, have inspired the crews of the SWN ships to train harder and Syndicate engineers to make better designs. The crews of Mahadeva II and III class feel specially honored to serve in a ship with the same name and SWN high command has utilize this by assigning there the best officers. Of course someone can point that the class name is different than the ship name but SWN never named any Mahadeva class ship. [/ooc]
-
"Greetings from Mars!
Welcome to the SBC News Hour! I am Ko'Jontag your reporter for this evening.
We have grave news that a majority of the top officials in the Martian cabinet where lost earlier this evening when a terrible accident occurred during the annual Martian Government rally.
Luckily First Citizen Karr Jion avoided this incident through a stroke of luck. He had planned to attend the meeting but at the last minute he was unable to make it due to 'technical difficulties'.
From the report provided to us graciously by the First Citizen's staff it appears that the accident occurred at the most inopportune time when all the attendee's where gathered together there was a small explosion that seemed to come from somewhere in the center of the group. The report states this appears to have been due to a gas main leak that had not been previously known to run under the convention center.
We shall now have a moment of silence to honor these men.
Now on to other news!
Our war with the Boron Aliens is going well. We do not have any clear reports from the front yet due to it's large distance away but the reports from the office of the First Citizen state that it is a glorious war and Mars has had many victories.
Martian Military day is coming up. All citizens should report for duty at your nearest Citizen Center.
Remember We are Mars, Mars is us.
The Solar Wrestling Federation in still on Hiatus after the tragic events of our last match in which the Venusian Champion tore the Human champion in half. He has been disqualified and will not be allowed to return. "
-
Venus ads the technology for Command Module to its previously available tech for sale. Additionally 3 units of the Azazel class escort have been put on the market, the Azazel is an antimissile armed vessel displacing 6000 tons and using Nuclear Pulse Engines.
-
January 2081 - Drum Beats of War
For the last 18 months both Venus and Mars have named a hated foe residing on a distant star, and pledged efforts of extermination. The news has been mildly distressing in the Syndicate, whose shrewd traders have already secured at least one trade agreement and are (mostly) at peace with all. While the warring nation states have steadily declared tidings of an inevitable victory, analysts agree that the fleets are actually still building with a decisive battle still many months distant.
Fall - 2072 - The Dual
At mid summer 2071 a disagreement over Active scanners arouse in Sol between Venus and the planet's closet neighbor, Earth. The primary point of contention was that the active scanner was strong enough to cover Earth's Orbit. Opinions were strong, but in the end Venus agreed to shut down the scanner if the Syndicate would prove their strength in honorable combat. Asteroid #1. One year. Be there.
Vhaeraun B class Frigate 6,000 tons 599 Crew 755 BP TCS 120 TH 280 EM 0
2333 km/s Armour 2-29 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/5/0/0 Damage Control Rating 3 PPV 24
Maint Life 2.71 Years MSP 236 AFR 96% IFR 1.3% 1YR 46 5YR 689 Max Repair 120 MSP
Magazine 324
Nuclear Pulse Engine E9 (7) Power 40 Fuel Use 90% Signature 40 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 150,000 Litres Range 50.0 billion km (248 days at full power)
Size 4 Missile Launcher (ship) (6) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 60
Missile Fire Control FC55-R60 (2) Range 55.8m km Resolution 60
Hellfire ASM 1 (81) Speed: 15,200 km/s End: 30.2m Range: 27.6m km WH: 4 Size: 4 TH: 76 / 45 / 22
Active Search Sensor MR46-R60 (1) GPS 7200 Range 46.5m km Resolution 60
EM Detection Sensor EM1-5 (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
With a crew of 600 souls less one, the Acid of the Vhaeraun B class was the ship of war of the chosen by the Venusians as their challenger. While records show that the Acid was originally constructed under the class name 'Vhaeraun' no records of that class could be obtained, assuming anything before the V-B even existed off the drawing board.
Mahadeva class Corvette 3,000 tons 292 Crew 337.5 BP TCS 60 TH 125 EM 0
2083 km/s Armour 1-18 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 2 PPV 7
Maint Life 5.42 Years MSP 141 AFR 36% IFR 0.5% 1YR 8 5YR 121 Max Repair 84 MSP
Magazine 127
Nuclear Thermal Engine E10 (5) Power 25 Fuel Use 100% Signature 25 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres Range 30.0 billion km (166 days at full power)
Size 1 Missile Launcher (7) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 15
Missile Fire Control FC5-R1 (1) Range 5.4m km Resolution 1
Active Search Sensor MR5-R1 (1) GPS 84 Range 5.0m km Resolution 1
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
The Mahadeva was the Syndicate's answer to the Venusian challenge. With no existing ship designs capable of reaching production early enough to face the challenge, the Mahadeva corvette was created by combine the designed hardware for a planned PDC class with existing ship technology. Only the ship mounted missile launcher needed to be researched, and scarcely 10 months after the challenge was issued the first pair of Mahadeva's were launched.
Tactics:
Using then state-of-the-art Nuclear Pulse engines the Acid had simple orders: use the superior speed of the Nuclear Pulse engine technology to maintain 20m km separation and fire at will.
The Mahadeva's battle plan was also simple: every ton on those ships had been dedicated to anti-missile defense and speed. In fact, with a 41.7% engine ratio it was hopped that the Mahadeva would prove faster. With a faster speed and dedicated AMMs The Mahadeva ought to force a closure, swat aside any Anti-Ship Missiles, and then sandblast the Venusian ship into oblivion. Sadly, none of this worked. Below, newly available for release, is the Bridge voice-record of the Mahadeva 001.
Narrator: Recording starts 2 hours before first missile impact when the Manadeva task force enters Venusian sensor range.
Task Force Commander (TFC): COM, prepare a shipwide broadcast. *ehm* Men, On this day we, the free traders of the Syndicate Empire stand forth to prove our honor to the dragons of Venus. Our ship is one of the fastest produced, and our counter missiles stand ready to keep our path clear. "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"
*faint cheering is heard*
Bridge Sensor Watch (SW): Sir, Earth command reports that the Venusian contact has stared moving to intercept. 2333 kip-s.
TFC: 233... maintain course. They know where we are, and we know them. For now, we wait. Attendant, Tea! We'll need wits and voice enough quite soon, and even a long missile would be nearly an hour out.
*for about 100 minutes nothing changes. Tea is served, minor orders are issued, and "are we there yet?" inquires are made.*
COM: Sir! Venusian course change at 20 mill-k! They have reversed course and are maintaining separation!
TFC: Missiles, at has to be. ... Maintain course. We'll deal with the the missiles when they come, and this battle is for honor. Pass word that we have the Dragon's on the run, and bring us to Red alert.
Unidentified Bridgeman: "On the run... will the men believe that?"
TFC: Quiet! It matters not. If the men pretend it is so moral will improve, and once their missiles run dry the fiction will become fact.
*19 minutes of tense silence pass while the commander plans an inspiring speech. Venusians missiles arrive before the speech is broadcast, after which the speech is quickly forgotten.*
SW: Missiles! Two flights of three, size 4 on the MSP register, 480 k-k distant and closing. 1-5-20 kp-s closing
TFC: *swears softly* COM, confirm telemetry downlink to Earth. Wep's, set autofire at will. EGR, standby for damage control. COM, sound Black Alert. Prepare for impact. Sensors, will we launch a 3rd counter salvo?
SW: *whistles* No- err- no sir. 21 sec to impact, 10 sec 'till volley 2.
TFC: Wep, Try! A 3rd wave could make the difference. Helm, Forward evasive. Interception chance?
Weapons (WPS): 10% Sir. Intercept in 3, 2, 1... One down! We should see 1 or 2 interceptions each time. 2nd wave launching.
TFC: *swears louder* Get that 3rd counter launched!
SW: NO! They all missed!
TFC: WHAT?
WPS: 3rd wave la...
BBBROOOOONGGG!
TFC: Damage...?
Engineering(EGR): Active sensor... offline. Thermal Engines B offline. Launch Tubes 4 and 5 offline. Senior Crew bunk compartment vented. Five hull plates lost. Sir, we just took two strength 4 hits almost on top of each other.
WPS: Third wave didn't get off in time. Those AMMs just self destructed with no target.
SW: Mahadeva 001 got clobbered! Three hits!. Sir.. they want orders. They lost the bridge. And two engines. And an engineering compartment... and their fire-con.
TFC: All non essential crew to life pods, but no evacuations! Not yet. Helm, slow to match speed. We'll need the 001's active scanner to keep up counter fire. The battle is lost, but our honor not. As long as we have a weapon to fire we'll keep on firing, for we are free men!
COM: 001 reports more incoming!
WPS Launching
COM: Linking Telemetry to bridge
SW: AH! excellent! Intercept in 6, 4, 2... NO! not again!
TFC: Did we load duds!??
WPS: Launching...
SW: Intercepting! And ... *sigh*
WPS: *groan*
COM: Brace fo..
BBBROOOO-ckririrk[/b][/size]
-End of Recording-
[EDIT: Continued]
A post-battle interview with the survivors led to three findings:
1) A single fire control is a potential single-point failure weakness.
2) Single layer shell armor leaves a ship vulnerable to missile leakers.
3) The SilverDart AMM requires upgrading, urgently.
The Venusian reaction is best summed up in this interview quote:
"Earthmen war tech is pathetic, but they have ok courage."
Spy Report: January 2071
Missiles of War: The following are all missiles with stockpiles of at least 100 as of 2071. Presumably, these were the ordinance of the Dual.
Mars: None.
Syndicate: SilverDart AMM Size1 12500km/s 1.8m km maneuver13 warhead1
Venus: Spark AMM Size1 16800km/s 1.0m km maneuver18 warhead1
Venus: Hellfire ASM Size4 15200km/s 27.6m km maneuver15 warhead4
And now, for the 2nd facility tally of the game:
Empire Mars Syndicate Venus
Yards 2C 2N 7Slip 3C 3N 9Slip 2C 2N 8Slip
Labs 14 14 21
Con Factories 500 541 257
Ord Factories 10 5 103
Ftr Factories 0 0 2
Refineries 32 20 102
Mines 322 420 306
Automines 187 68 23
Maintenance 20 55 35
DSTS 4 2 5
GFTC 1 1 3
Accademy 2 2 1
Teraform 0 0 4
Mass Driver 3 0 3
Space Port 1 0 2
Genetic Centers 0 0 5
Fleets:
Mars:
6x Einstein A's
2x Geologist A's
4x Liberties
1x Trade
Syndicate:
1x Colony
1x Colony Mod 1
4x Prospectors
3x Trade
3x Virtuvius
5x Wayfinders
Venus
1x Archeon
2x Balor-II
2x Besheba
1x Colony
1x Hecate
6x Myrkul-II
New Classes:
Colony mod 1 class Colony Ship 30,200 tons 401 Crew 868.4 BP TCS 604 TH 750 EM 0
1241 km/s Armour 1-86 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
MSP 18 Max Repair 16 MSP
Colonists 50000 Cargo Handling Multiplier 10
Nuclear Thermal Engine E1 (12) Power 62.5 Fuel Use 10% Signature 62.5 Armour 0 Exp 1%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres Range 59.6 billion km (555 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This Syndicate class was developed to better colonize the claimed Lithium System. Primary differences included more engines and much more fuel.
Acheron class Planetary Defence Centre 9,900 tons 590 Crew 1377.5 BP TCS 198 TH 0 EM 0
Armour 11-41 Sensors 30/192 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 20
Magazine 920
Size 1 Missile Launcher(ship) (20) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 15
Missile Fire Control FC10-R1 (4) Range 10.8m km Resolution 1
Spark AMM 1 (920) Speed: 16,800 km/s End: 1m Range: 1m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 100 / 60 / 30
Active Search Sensor MR9-R1 (1) GPS 192 Range 9.6m km Resolution 1
Active Search Sensor MR46-R60 (1) GPS 7200 Range 46.5m km Resolution 60
Thermal Sensor TH5-30 (1) Sensitivity 30 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 30m km
EM Detection Sensor EM1-5 (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 Planetary Defence Centre and can be pre-fabricated in 4 sections
The Acheron was the Venusian's first upgrade to the obsolete IBM bases. Featuring a powerful wide area search sensor in addition to its anti missile capabilities, the Acheron was also the instigating cause of the Dual.
Beshaba class Jump Scout 6,000 tons 592 Crew 1224.5 BP TCS 120 TH 240 EM 0
2000 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 1-29 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/2/2 Damage Control Rating 6 PPV 0
Maint Life 3.79 Years MSP 765 AFR 48% IFR 0.7% 1YR 83 5YR 1251 Max Repair 400 MSP
J6000(3-50) Military Jump Drive Max Ship Size 6000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Nuclear Pulse Engine E9 (6) Power 40 Fuel Use 90% Signature 40 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres Range 66.7 billion km (385 days at full power)
Active Search Sensor MR46-R60 (1) GPS 7200 Range 46.5m km Resolution 60
Gravitational Survey Sensors (2) 2 Survey Points Per Hour
Geological Survey Sensors (2) 2 Survey Points Per Hour
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
This primary exploration vessel was built as a replacement to the aging Hecate ships. These jump capable ships were designed to be highly versatile and would spear head the Venuian exploration of the local stars.
The Balor-II and Myrkul-II are basically identical to the earlier variants, only with the new improved Nuclear Pulse Engine.
[ooc]Ok, report posted. Save uploaded. Now sending PM's.[/ooc]
-
July 2081 completed.
[ooc]I'll add a news bulletin tomorrow if I'm not too busy watching the Olympics.
Save Posted. PMs Coming Soon.[/ooc]
-
Venus adds Mining Rate 16, Thermal Sensor Strength 8, and Fuel Storage(Tiny) to available technologies for trade.
-
January 2082 - Fall of Wrecks
Through the fall of 2081 nearly a dozen wrecks appeared in the Sol system. Eight wrecks appeared on Mercury where the Martians scuttled their ancient IBM-PDCs. While an official explanation still waits, intelligence indicates new replacements have been constructed, including a modest planetary active scanner. Radio astronomers on Earth and Venus have confirmed the Solar Press that the Martian scanner has, at best, a 40m km range and will not sweep the orbits of either Earth or Venus.
Of much greater excitement are the three 2,000 ton wrecks that appeared at JP#5 following a staccato of nuclear fire. The Venusians were quick to claim credit, promising a similar fate to all of their enemies. While no official source has commented on the condition of the survivors, one unofficial source assured questioners that the prisoners were "delicious." The implications and truthfulness of this comment are under some dispute.
Spy Report: January 2075
Planet Population SY workers SY size Fleet Size Industry Logistic Labs
Mars 833m 8.1m 193,000 484.0 kT 42.2m 2.6m 22
Earth 743m 23.9m 816,000 761.0 kT 49.5m 4.3m 18
Venus 782m 15.0m 409,000 824.0 kT 35.0m 7.3m 27
Mercury 17.8m
Titan 25.8m 1.8m 1.2m
Lithium-IV 3.5m 0.3m
Shipping Line Flag Ships Tonnage Income
Moore Colony Company Syndicate 26 1,105 kT 2040c
Horton Lines Syndicate 17 753 kT 1500c
Jawoski Colony Group Venusian 35 1,117 kT 4260c
Dawdy Shipping Venusian 36 1,148 kT 4220c
Turn posted. Private messages coming soon.
-
Fellow Children of Sol, be warned that the systems that lie beyond Sol JP5 are no longer considered safe by the Venusian Navy, are force we believe responsible for the loss of at least two of our vessels has been surveying aggressively throughout, the latest conflict you may have seen here in Sol was the result of an incursion consisting of three presumed survey vessels belonging to that power, Venusian military is engaged in a build up to fortify the jump point as well as begin offensive operations down the Oinos chain. As per our standard policies, while we welcome assistance if you should care to offer it, obstruction will be met with destruction.
That is all.
-
July - 2082 - Year of Empty Mines
Year by year the inner planets have just a little less to give. By 2082 over half the mineral deposits had become depleted. Where once each planet had a reserves of all 11 minerals, now only seventeen deposits remained scattered across the home worlds with dwindling accessibility. Uridium was mined out on all: existing only in reserves and on colony worlds. Time would tell which of Sol's children had established sufficent stockpiles and colonies to weather the crunch - and which would fail.
[ooc]Save uploaded. Private messages coming shortly.[/ooc]
-
Greetings Leaders of Sol.
This is First Citizen Karr Jion speaking.
Mars would like to offer the following Technologies for trade:
Fighter Engine
Capacitor Recharge Rate 3
Shipyard Operations 5%
Shipyard Operations 10%
We will accept equivalent technology (or a combination of lesser technologies of similar RP)
We will also accept minerals on a 1:1 ratio (Primarily we would like Duranium.)
-
January - 2083 - Year of Reflection
The last 10 years have been some of the most interesting in exploration and ship development. In this time all three factions have deployed armed military ships, and all three have encountered multiple non-sol alliens, and all three have lost at least one scout ship. All of this started, roughly with a dual. Two years latter...
Spy Report: January 2073
Mineral Martians Syndicate Venusian
Duranium 25K + 4.3K/year 1K + 2.7K/year 33K +5K/year
Neutronium 35K + 3.7K/year 16K + 1.9K/year 12K +1.6K/year
Corbomite 20K + 2K/year 32K + 1.9K/year 30K +1.3K/year
Tritanium 55K + 3.1K/year 22K + 1.4K/year 28K +1.7K/year
Boronide 30K + 2.7K/year 21K + 0K/year 20K +0.1K/year
Mercasium 14K + 1.8K/year 17K + 1.8K/year 14K +0.3K/year
Vendarite 24K + 3K/year 19K + 0.9K/year 20K +0.7K/year
Sorium 52K + 1.5K/year 52K + 0.9K/year 40K +2.1K/year
Uridium 52K + 2.1K/year 26K + 0.7K/year 40K +0.6K/year
Corundium 26K + 2.4K/year 21K + 1.3K/year 36K +0.9K/year
Gallicte 22K + 1.4K/year 19K + 0.5K/year 18K +0.8K/yearSaddly, the spies are unable to privide mineral consumption rate information due to the extreme variability. As shown, in the early 70's the Syndicate ran into a Duranium crunch, hard. As a short term solution the Syndicate would trade technology and more plentiful minerals for Duranium, but a long term solution was also started: Lithium. By 2073 only two automines had been located to that system, but that number would steadily grow in the coming years.
LastBastion class Planetary Defence Centre 9,950 tons 285 Crew 638.5 BP TCS 199 TH 0 EM 0
Armour 11-41 Sensors 1/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 20
Troop Capacity: 2 Battalions Magazine 140
PDC Size 1 Missile Launcher (20) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 10
Missile Fire Control FC5-R1 (4) Range 5.4m km Resolution 1
This design is classed as a Planetary Defence Centre and can be pre-fabricated in 4 sections
This heavily armored bunker was the first in the line of PDCs built to replace the aging Syndicate IBM bases, and in many ways is comparable to the Venusian Acheron. With the recent release of design plans armchair generals on all sides have begun debating the areas of superiority between the two.
Katrina class Cruiser 11,000 tons 704 Crew 989.5 BP TCS 220 TH 350 EM 0
1590 km/s Armour 5-44 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 7 PPV 68.82
Maint Life 2.8 Years MSP 394 AFR 138% IFR 1.9% 1YR 73 5YR 1096 Max Repair 103 MSP
Nuclear Thermal Engine E10 (14) Power 25 Fuel Use 100% Signature 25 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres Range 16.4 billion km (119 days at full power)
Twin Gauss Cannon R2-100 Turret (3x4) Range 20,000km TS: 12000 km/s Power 0-0 RM 2 ROF 5 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fire Control S16 40-8000 (1) Max Range: 80,000 km TS: 8000 km/s 88 75 62 50 38 25 12 0 0 0
Active Search Sensor MR5-R1 (1) GPS 84 Range 5.0m km Resolution 1
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Technically the first warship the Syndicate began to construct, this titian was both too large to face the challenge and too slow: with a construction time of over 18 months it was still in the shipyard when the dual was fought.
Baphomet class Construction Ship 66,950 tons 844 Crew 1562 BP TCS 1339 TH 1200 EM 0
896 km/s Armour 1-146 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
MSP 15 Max Repair 25 MSP
Jump Gate Construction Ship: 180 days
Nuclear Pulse Engine E0.9 (12) Power 100 Fuel Use 9% Signature 100 Armour 0 Exp 1%
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres Range 59.7 billion km (771 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Although the Venusians had still not mastered jump gate technology at this time, several functional Jump Gate modules were recovered from the Mercury ruins and shipped to Venus for installation onto ship hulls.
Fleets:
Martian
6x Einstein A
4x Geologist A
4x Liberty
1x Trade
Syndicate
1x Colony: 2x Colony Mod1
2x Katrina
2x LastBastion
4x Protector
5x Trade
3x Vitruvius
5x Wayfinder
Venusian
2x Acheron
2x Balor-II
2x Baphomet
4x Beshata
1x Colony
1x Hecate
6x Myrkul-II
3x Vhaeraun B
[ooc]Save Uploaded. Galactic Map screen shots coming later. Personal messages coming sooner.[/ooc]
-
Syndicate offers Research Rate 280 for trade. A maginficent discovery that allows you to get your tech up faster.
Easy payment, with technology and duranium.
-
July - 2083
The Syndicate trades Research 240 & 280 to the Venusians for Mining 16 and Fuel Production 28,000L.
Screen shots!
(http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x184/sublightrun/Aurora%20LetsPlay/MarsGalaxy.png) (http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x184/sublightrun/Aurora%20LetsPlay/EarthGalaxy.png)
On left (or top) is the Martian GalacticMap as of January 2073. On the right (or bottom) is the syncidate map of the same time period. Mars has been able to explore farther and faster the the other power with a fleet of small jump-capable gravitational survey ships, but the Syndicates and their jump-gate network have been much more successful at exploiting the stars. Both powers are using the same naming system, but a differing order of exploration has caused the same name to often refer to different systems.
At this time Venuisan exploration hasn't gone more than one jump past sol.
[ooc]Save uploaded. No private messages coming this time, since I can't think of anything worth mentioning. Everything was either expected (routine maintenance failures, new ship launches from other children of sol, and such) or else is obvious in the event log (such as repetitive low fuel notices)[/ooc]
-
Children of Sol
The Venusian First Expeditionary Fleet will be leaving the system presently with orders to investigate the Gallenshu system that is the theorized source of the unauthorized survey vessels that recently probed Sol, as well as the system where two Venusian vessels have gone missing.
This is not a diplomatic venture, our forces have orders to locate and destroy any alien shipping they can, and to remove the ability to make war from any natives of the system. Our scientists have determined that peaceful contact with this species is impossible and they must be stopped before they inevitably return to Sol in force.
Should Earth or Mars wish to accompany this venture they may contribute forces or observation vessels, the Dragon will provide Gravitational survey data to allow others to accompany us. Be aware that we will not seek to command your vessels, and cannot guarantee their safety within the contested systems. As always, interference shall be dealt with harshly, but assistance will be remembered and repaid.
In related news, Venus announced the addition of several new technologies to the market:
Magneto-Plasma Drive technology, and related reactor tech
Heavy Infantry
-
Earth Date: 27Th August 2083
Earth Time: 10:36:56
From: Syndicate War Navy Command
To: Venusian First Expeditionary Fleet
Syndicate warships will help exterminating any alien threat to Sol. SWNC is authorised to assist VFEF. To better do this requests:
i) intelligence on alien ships
ii) intelligence on alien battle tactics
iii) gravitonial data
iv) distance from Sol to Gallenshu system
v) jump gate availability
SWNC Intelligence Office
Rear Admiral
Steve Greenwood
-
From: Venusian First Expeditionary Fleet
To: Syndicate War Navy Command
i.) Intelligence is limited, both ships lost were not in contact with any others at the time of loss, the intruding survey vessels showed evidence of Gravitational sensors and High Density Duranium Armor. They massed 2000 tons and moved at 1875 kps. This suggests Nuclear Pulse Drive technology rather than the Ion Drives which are our standard, although without meeting true military designs this is only an estimate.
ii) No battle tactics are known at this time,
iii)Grav survey data will be provided on all systems traveled through by our analysts [ooc]That would be Sublight of course.[/ooc]
iv) Jump route is as follows, using Venusian names:
Sol JP 5, Oinos:
Oinos JP 1, Galun-Khur
Gakun-Khur JP 2, Niflheim
Niflheim JP 1, Gallenshu.
It's a long trip, bring a tanker if you don't have reasonable fuel reserves.
v) Jump Gates are available for the entire trip, including return gates, thanks to the presumed sacrifice of the crew of Baphomet 002, who built the return gate in Gallenshu itself.
Demon Prince Lengokrab
Commanding officer BB Cyclops
Commander First Expeditionary Fleet.
[ooc]Man, if Gallenshu really is a home system, this is gonna be a complex fight, glad I don't have to run it.[/ooc]
-
From SWNC
To VFEF
Syndicate does not have any tankers. If Syndicate ships can refuel from Venusian tankers, it would be very helpful.
[ooc]waiting in a bank que is very annoying[/ooc]
-
[ooc]No turn this weekend. Gallenshu really was a home system. Running the battle is a lot of fun, but also slow. Still haven't gotten out of August.
As a spoiler, Venus (with Syndicate assistance) is winning. The jump point ambush was pretty bad, but the fleet got past that and is halfway to the inner planets leaving a wake of broken wrecks. Too soon to say if they'll make it or be forced back, though.[/ooc]
-
[ooc]Rad, I was wondering if there would be a jp ambush, sometimes the NPR doesn't get around to guarding those things. Looking forward to the AAR whenever you can manage it.[/ooc]
-
[ooc]I hope my boys fight well. Maybe we can have a teaser screenshot?[ooc]
-
[ooc]1000 tons of Duranium says my ships score more kills than yours![/ooc]
-
[ooc]I call the bet but i will give 1k Mercasium[/ooc]
[ooc]My ships have NP engines so probably will be late in the battles :P[/ooc]
-
[ooc]Done, the Fleet commander is gonna be poor if he loses this one.[/ooc]
-
[ooc]Or very rich ;D[/ooc]
-
Teaser...
(http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x184/sublightrun/Aurora%20LetsPlay/MarsView.png)
In November 2083 Martian explores, by impressive coincidence, jumped from across the local cluster to arrive in the Gallenshu system less than three months after the invasion campaign. For the moment however further details will have to wait until battle records are formaly released or spies leak the data themselves.
This much is known:
Venus left the inner system with 12 ships massing 108 kTons, and returned two months latter with 6 ships massing 60 kTons. The syndicate sent a fleet of 11 ships massing 83 kTons, and returned with all.
January - 2084 - Summer of War, Winter of Protests
With the combined fleets of two races leaving system for war the Citizans of Sol were left to speculate and reflect... leading some to not the rising temperature of Titan teraforming, and others to compare the temperature of Titan (nearing 100 K) with the boiling point of Methane (110K). Alarmed that the rising temperature could soon disrupt the unique methane gas/liquid cycle that had gently shaped the surface to resemble Earth, Xeno-Enviromentalists have descended on the Syndicate capitol with a clear message: NO MORE TERAFORMING!
[ooc]No time for a spy report, so that's been bumped back to the July report. A battle AAR complete with screenshots is in the works, but since a proper report will divulge the technical specs of the latest Venusian and Syndicate ship designs publication will be on hold until either both powers agree to the disclosure or the 10-year spy reports uncover everything sensitive anyway.
Anyway, save uploaded. PM coming soon latter.
Edit: Oh, and Venus won the bet, unless missiles are counted as 'ships'.[/ooc]
-
[ooc]I am comfortable releasing my ship specs, Venus is upgrading again soon anyway. I figure a lot of technical details had to have been shared or at least figured out by the parties when fighting together.[/ooc]
-
[ooc]I would like to read the AAR, so releasing any necessary ship/missile specs is ok with me.[/ooc]
From SWNC
To VFEF
Syndicate Gallenshu Expedition Fleet will perform repairs and overhauls. Will be ready for action in 6 months. If Venusians plan a second invasion of the Gallenshu system SGEF will help.
-------------------------
In other news officer Gregor Paulus stated that his policemen are ready to stop any demonstrations and protect the properties of Syndicate companies and citizens from mob.
-
From VFEF
To SWNC
A return visit is planned, however we do not care to give the enemy 6 months to recover and possibly upgrade, the Venusian 1st and 2nd fleets will accompany the VFEF and a gunboat detachment back to Gallenshu to complete the destruction of their military capabilities as soon as the VFEF reloads and refuels. Mars or Earth may send observers or warships if they so choose as usual.
System wide message to Mars and Earth high commands
The Dragon wishes it to be known that the Gallenshu system, once pacified, will become a Venusian possession and base to support further survey operations in the sector. The naval forces of the Syndicate showed honor and bravery during the recent combat and in respect shall be granted unlimited access to the system, with rights to place a population on the main planet and to base a military presence there if they so choose, the usual trade agreements will be extended to any interested parties in any case.
-
[ooc]Very well. AAR coming sooner than latter. I'll include it in the July 2084 report at earliest, or the January 2085 report at latest.
Update: This will be another late SM turn. Both Venus and Mars had fleet battles.
So to break up the wait I'll publish Part1 of the Venus battle AAR tomorrow.[/ooc]
-
Drums of War: Part1
[August 16th 14:45][Venus Fleet][2 hours until invasion]
Butterlenain, 5th Demon Lord of the Venusian Space Dragons, commanding officer of the Incubus class battleship Chimera snorted with disgust in holo-form in the war Counsel of the Expeditionary Fleet. All seven ranked officers of the twelve ship flotilia were on hand for final orders as the finest 108kTons of Venusian might prepared to traverse the last jump point and bring war to the Gallenshu.
In theory this was a joint operation with the Syndicate, but a miscommunication had left the Earthlings millions of km out of position. Even with the fleet throttled down to 70% power (2.8k km/s) the men from Earth were still 19m km out of position.
His disgust was shared by the other officers. Sure the Syndicate was 'only' 2 hours behind, but they were two hours behind. This close to their latest sworn foe the Dragons of Venus could almost taste the blood of their enemies, and they wanted it.
Butterlenain: "Ksh! Enough! We do we we wait for the men of earth? They have bravery and guts enough but they are Pathetic!" The Demon lord said scornfully.
"They are technologically inferior, are slowing us down and, worse, are late!"
The 2nd Demon Prince Lengokrab, senior officer of the taskforce gave a kurt tongue click of complacent recognition. As the 2nd highest officer of Venusian military he was sadly aware of such little details like 'racial good will' and orders to 'Permit the Sydnicate to redeem face.' Still, one didn't achieve rank without a few risks and Lengokrab was no exception. He wanted blood as well. With the Syndicate late by a fault of their own and his officers and crew restless it wasn't a hard choice. Besides, the fleet had original intended to fight alone all along.
"True. They die well, but their chance must wait." Lengokrab said with a widening grin. "Prepare the fleet! They are late and this hour is ours! We shall take point for the glory of the inner worlds and let the Earthlings take the gleanings! We shall rendezvous as promised at the gate, but the rendezvous shall be on the Gallenshu side."
Six equally toothy grins slowly grew in answer.
[16:45:06] [Venus Fleet]
Lengokrab sat complacently at the bridge as the stars rearranged themselves. The gate assault was great fun and should help keep the fleet on their toes. While in theory the Gate ought to be defended the alliens had shown no prior tactical awareness of..
"CONTACTS"
tick-[16:45:11][Gallenshu Avenger]
Senior Commander Slagoth stared grumpily at the gate he was 'guarding'. "Exile more likely."
In theory a picket duty like this on the ancient relic of his command ought to belong to a junior commander, but mineral shortages were slowing new fleet construction and patrons were... lacking. Especially after his mate's latest indiscretions. His mood seemed to be reflected by the glowing amber light which meant...
"CONTACT!" he screamed, awakening his dozing crew. True to their training they were rolling into their stations before they even remembered they had been asleep. "Open Fire! Open Fire! Defend our Sovereignty!"
"Target?" Came a call.
"The... the shiniest! That one! Firm engine resonance. Looks new."
tick-[16:45:16][Venus]
"Senors are still off line! How could you know?" Lengokrab snapped, still a little groggy from jump migraine, which he knew would be even worse for the ship's electronics.
"Hand Sensors." The excited communications chief reminded him. "Thermal hunting scopes. We've got at least 5 thermal contacts waiting on the gate! And *pause* And more contacts coming in! There could be a dozen of them! An even fight!"
Lengokrab ran a hand across his scalp, thinking fast. "Weapons will be offline, So focus on our search sensor. And set course for... planet A-VI. Lets not be sitting." The Prince rattled off, his thinking recovering.
"Also.."
tick-FLASH[16:45:21][Venusian Ship Squall]
Star ships are impressively tough creations. They have to be to withstand the rigors of space. Even the thinest star ship hull is tougher than a five meter thick basalt slab. Reinforced with sorium inertial dampening and even close proximity nuclear blasts could be shrugged off. Which was why Gallenshu favored mesons.
Star Mate 1st class Brecking's first indication of trouble was when several hundred mesons tunneled out into a 3-meter shere within his engine compartment. Reintroduced to the real world the mesons wasted no time splitting and recombining with the local matter... energetically. The result appeared as a string of firecrackers turning a fifth of the compartment into an imitation of swiss cheese, including a marble sized crater in his side from one outlier. Still, military engines were remarkably robust with built in redundancy. The mess from the unlucky 2nd mate would leave stains, but other than a few months of expected operation life the engine should keep operating. And it did... right up until a 2nd meson burst interrupted Breckings sigh of relief.
tick-[16:45:26][Venusian Command]
"We did it sir! Our active and passive sensors are on! Enemy ships, 7,300 tons, eleven total! Two groups. One near, One a few thousand K off point."
Lengokrab: "Good work, now lets..."
Sensors: "Sir! The Squall vented ordnance and is dumping life pods! No impact strikes... looks like mesons."
The demon prince soundlessly cursed at this.
"A trap! How soon until the fleet gets under way?"
Confusion was replaced by horror is the luckless com-tech made an urgent lunge back to her controls.
tick-[16:45:31][Gallenshu Avenger]
"HA!" Slagoth bellowed happily watching his target die. "Now this one! Second Strike group, Fire!"
tick-BOOM
Messons slashed into the Simmon, an Azazel Mod-1 like the Squall. The Squall had taken 26 hits to die. The Simmon died in in 15. Of course, the strength 14 secondary engine explosion didn't help...
"The fools die!" Slagoth continued to exclaim, dreams of promotion to a newer ship already filling his head.
"A big one next! Too easy! A big one next! That one!"
tick--BOOM
Massing 12,000 tons the Incubus battle ships were twice the size of their AMM-escorts. With twice the internal competence and none of the frail 0-HTK size-1 AMM tubes the Incubus were more than twice as hard to kill. In theory. Ordinarily the chewing of mesons leads to 'soft' mission kills, but the unprecedented strength 60 sympathetic magazine detonation gutted the ship from the inside. The Chain-reaction strength 5 engine explosion was only insult to injury.
tick [Venus]
"Cuba class ships firing! Targeting... Simmons." *wince* "Simmons down." the sensor staff pointlessly updated. At least half the bridge crew was watching the streaming tactical data, even those who ought to have other jobs. "Uganda firing, targeting... ... no fair..."
"Auto notifications sent sir. We're preparing to move out, but weapons are still off-line." The pale com-tech reporting was one of the few still focused to task. She knew that a good performance for the rest of the battle was essential for than just her job but also trivial benefits like breathing. Turning away from her task to see the latest event was a reminder that Prince might not be the one to killer.
tick-
For a fateful seconds the fleet stood shocked, before turn back to their duties with frenzied motivation.
tick- tick-
The Ballisk became the 2nd battle ship to take fire. The great ship lost speed: but unlike the previous 3 the Ballisk refused to die.
tick-
"Stop the staring or I'll eat you myself!" Prince Lengokrab roared, an open fleet channel belatedly reestablished. "The Ballisk lives yet, but I'll flay the last crew ready to move out!"
tick-
"YESSHHH! The Ballisk still lives! Get Engines online! Make it ugly, make it fast!
tick-
"What? No! Fire again" Slagoth snarled, his joy fading as the target emerged still in one peace after a 2nd meson volley. "Fire Again, then back to the lessors!"
tick-
Across the fleet Venusian bridge crew exchanged glance while licking lips in tense silence. A third strike was enough. After 89 meson hits Ballisk was finally gone, and any one of them could be next. Still, the fleet was finally shifting course and finalizing order confirmation.
tick-
tick-
"NOOO!" The crew drowned Slagoth's own cry as their shots went wide as their foe moved at last leaving behind Slagoth's chance of promotion with the wreckage. "After then!" Came a reflexive order.
tick- [16:46:21] [ Venus Command Ship]
One by one six wide-eyed holographs wearing feral grins joined Prince Lengokrab in a new war-counsile. The fleet had escaped, and with speed of 4000 km/s to 1712 km/s that was slower than even the Syndicate's first war ship the fight had turned. The grins grew toothier when the officers realized all were present: Commanders one and all of the senior ships not a one had been lost. The fleet had lost a third of their strength to the best Gallenshu could give, but they had taken. Soon it would be Venus's turn to give, and give generously they would.
[END PART ONE]
(http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x184/sublightrun/Aurora%20LetsPlay/AmbushV.png)
[ooc]There. Part 1 of the AAR is down. I'll toss up ship specks latter.
FYI: Current Game Data: April 20th, 2084[/ooc]
-
Martians Bomb Tarn Colony! Syndicate Merchants Join Relief Effort.
July - 2084 - Universal War
According to the civilian witnesses, the fabled Martian war turned hot this spring with a bombardment salvo of a dozen strength-3 nuclear strikes against the Tarn Collective colony D-II. A few weeks later a fleet clash opened with missiles and finished with energy weapons of sorts left three wrecks, two 7,600 ton and one 1,000 ton. Syndicate shipping has stepped forward to transport replacement infrastructure and trade goods to the colony, and have begun circulating a petition asking the Syndicate Fleet to intervene and impose peace.
On the Venusian front two additional fleets have left Sol, while the remaining jump point defense group destroyed an additional four scout incursions.
[ooc]Turn Posted PMs coming soon. After two back to back battle weeks I'll be taking the weekend off, so next SM turn won't be for another six days. Instead I intend to type up Part II of the invasion AAR.
Private messages coming soon.[/ooc]
-
Drums of War: Part 2
Now clear of the Gallenshu guns, it was the Venusian's time to dish out slaughter. Their solution to the reality of transnewtonian armor was the Hellfire missile. Conventional missiles are useless against the tough, agile ships of the transnewtonain age: the shock of contact would shatter a missile before it could detonate leaving only minor damage to a hull. A proximity detonation would propagate poorly in space: only ablating a few millimeters if detonating much more than a ship length away. The tranewtonian Hellfire, however, used a neutronium shaped charge to funnel a 400kTon nuclear blast into a focused plasma lance capable of projecting the fury of very close proximity against a target up to 100 km distant. For all practical purposes this simplified the targeting equation from three dimensions down to two.
At 16:48 the four surviving Incubus class battleships fired a broadside of 64 Hellfire-II missiles. The targets: the Uganda class defenders, reportedly having the greatest number of meson cannons. Extrapolation from The Dual data, fleet command estimated that two dozen warheads should be sufficient, and sent three salvos each bracketing the U-2 and U-4. The seventh and 8th salvos were launched at the U-3 and C-2 for comparative purposes.
Streaking inward at 23,300 km/s the Hellfire ASM 2 missiles closed to inside point blank ranges before the Gallenshu missile defenses, if any, could react. In the final second the missiles spun themselves into alignment with their target, and unleashed hell. The neutronium shaped charges activated by the class-4 explosions were capable of penetrating through a dozen meters of solid rock, or breaching a standard thickness duranium hull with energy remaining to wreck havoc on ship internals. Every missile struck home, yet not a single blast from the first salvo broke through the double or triple thickness hull of the Uganda.
The second salvo managed two find weak point fractures left by the first salvo resulting in two instances of hull venting. Even more damage for a third salvo leaked through: yet after two dozen missiles the target still flew, if somewhat slowed. The targeted Cuba was less fortunate. Against her single-layer hull the eight targeting hellfires performed exactly as advertised, leaving venting atmosphere in eight locations. Smelling blood, the Venusian dragons adjusted future targeting to prioritize destruction of the thin shelled Cubas.
396 Hellfire 2s and 360 Spark AMM latter and their Gallenshu ambushers were reduced to 83,600 tons of wreckage. Each Cuba required 3 missile salvos to kill, and the Ugandas 6.
[ooc]Edit: Whoops wrong button. Should have hit 'preview' instead of 'post.' Guess y'all get a sneak peak. I'll be adding more here latter, but feel free to post any replies or comments all the same.[/ooc]
-
Welcome to the SBC News hour! I am Ko'Jontag your reporter for this evening.
First Citizen Karr Jion gave a rousing speech this morning to a large crowd of martian citizens. He informed them of our great victories in the war with the Boron aliens. Here is a small clip;
[The camera switches to a large square with the First Citizen standing on a podium. There are several thousand people in the sqaure packed tightly together. Martian flags hang down the sides of the buildings. The camera then switches to a close up of the first Citizen speaking.]
"...Citzens I bring great news from the front. Our valiant warriors have faced overwhelming odds and came out victorious. A large portion of the enemy fleet was destroyed or disabled. Their devious weapons where no match for us. Our brave warriors showed these vile creatures that they have made a huge mistake making Mars an enemy. Now more than ever Mars needs your support citizens. We will continue this war until their society is nothing but a footnote in the annals of history...." *Loud cheering from the crowd drowns out and further words* [The camera fades back to the newsroom.]
The first citizen has quite a way with words. We all will celebrate our great victory.
Many travel companies are already getting plans together for vacations to the worlds currently occupied by these aliens. In our newsroom poll we ask all citizens:
"Would you help colonize an alien world?"
You can fill out this poll at the SBC network nueral site.
-
[ooc]Save posted. Private messages sent.
A blue screen crash ate the database, and the 2nd play through ate the time I'd planed for generating the spy report: so all the usual fluffy stuff will be late. Maybe tomorrow late.[/ooc]
-
[ooc]I forgot the bet, 1k Mercasium will be transferred to Venus in this turn.
Meson cannons guarding the jump point nasty surprise[/ooc]
-
[ooc]Yeah, this really shows off the disadvantage that comes from using jump gates, if I'd invested in jump ships and improved the tech even a little, I could have jumped in out of their range, or at least had a lot less recovery time. I was also gambling that the NPR wouldn't fortify the jump point. That is the price one pays for speed I guess.[/ooc]
-
Spy Reports
Fleet Report
Invasion Fleets (Gallenshu Campaign)
Syndicate Battle Fleet
3x Mahadeva III ST
6x Defender A
2x Defender B
Venus Expeditionary Fleet
6x Incubus
6x Azazel - Mod 1
Total Imperial Ship Listings [July 2075]
Mars:
6x Einstein A
4x Geologist A
4x Liberty
1x Trade
2x Eric LeRogue
Syndicate:
4x Katrina
3x Last Baston
3x Prospector
4x TSO
3x Virtuvius
4x Wayfinder
Venus:
2x Acheron
2x Azazel
2x Balor
4x Baphomet
4x Besheba
1x Colony
1x Hecate
6x Mykul II
2x Tarterus
4x Vharean B
Azazel class Escort 6,000 tons 536 Crew 830 BP TCS 120 TH 280 EM 0
2333 km/s Armour 2-29 Shields 0-0 Sensors 30/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 4 PPV 10
Maint Life 2.99 Years MSP 346 AFR 72% IFR 1% 1YR 58 5YR 868 Max Repair 192 MSP
Magazine 310
Nuclear Pulse Engine E9 (7) Power 40 Fuel Use 90% Signature 40 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres Range 33.3 billion km (165 days at full power)
Size 1 Missile Launcher(ship) (10) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 15
Missile Fire Control FC10-R1 (2) Range 10.8m km Resolution 1
Spark AMM 1 (310) Speed: 16,800 km/s End: 1m Range: 1m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 100 / 60 / 30
Active Search Sensor MR9-R1 (1) GPS 192 Range 9.6m km Resolution 1
Thermal Sensor TH5-30 (1) Sensitivity 30 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 30m 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 Azazel was the first Venusian mobile missile defense unit, and was equipped with one of the largest anti-missile detection sensors to be ever built.
Azazel - Mod 1 class Escort 6,000 tons 542 Crew 784 BP TCS 120 TH 480 EM 0
4000 km/s Armour 2-29 Shields 0-0 Sensors 30/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 4 PPV 18
Maint Life 5.76 Years MSP 327 AFR 72% IFR 1% 1YR 17 5YR 251 Max Repair 40 MSP
Magazine 468
Ion Engine E9 (8) Power 60 Fuel Use 90% Signature 60 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 150,000 Litres Range 50.0 billion km (144 days at full power)
Size 1 Missile Launcher V2 (18) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 10
Missile Fire Control FC2-R1 (2) Range 2.4m km Resolution 1
Spark AMM 2 (468) Speed: 30,000 km/s End: 0.5m Range: 1m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 220 / 132 / 66
Active Search Sensor MR2-R1 (1) GPS 40 Range 2.0m km Resolution 1
Thermal Sensor TH5-30 (1) Sensitivity 30 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 30m 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
In addition to a generic tech upgrade, the 2nd edition Azazel downsized the primary search sensor to make room for more AMM tubes, an extra engine, and a larger magazine. This design iteration would made a strong showing in the Gallenshu, although it was somewhat overshadowed by the larger Syndicate Type A Defender in joint fleet operations.
Incubus class Battleship 12,000 tons 1331 Crew 1679.5 BP TCS 240 TH 960 EM 0
4000 km/s Armour 2-46 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 9 PPV 64
Maint Life 4.2 Years MSP 787 AFR 128% IFR 1.8% 1YR 71 5YR 1071 Max Repair 160 MSP
Magazine 664
Ion Engine E9 (16) Power 60 Fuel Use 90% Signature 60 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 300,000 Litres Range 50.0 billion km (144 days at full power)
Size 4 Missile Launcher V2 (16) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 40
Missile Fire Control FC37-R20 (2) Range 37.6m km Resolution 20
Hellfire ASM 2 (166) Speed: 23,200 km/s End: 26.9m Range: 37.4m km WH: 4 Size: 4 TH: 139 / 83 / 41
Active Search Sensor MR35-R20 (1) GPS 3200 Range 35.8m km Resolution 20
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
These massive battleships would form the backbone of the Venusian Expeditionary fleet and proved their worth in the invasion. Firing massive broadsides and backed by cavernous magazines, these enforcers of miliary might not only crushed the Gallenshu, but crushed the Gallenshu fast enough to win a certain wager against the Syndicate.
Tarterus class Tanker 5,000 tons 175 Crew 376 BP TCS 100 TH 300 EM 0
3000 km/s Armour 1-26 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
MSP 47 Max Repair 25 MSP
Nuclear Pulse Engine E0.9 (3) Power 100 Fuel Use 9% Signature 100 Armour 0 Exp 1%
Fuel Capacity 1,200,000 Litres Range 4800.0 billion km (18518 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Located 4 jumps beyond Sol, the Gallenshu invasion was on the edge of the edge of operational fleet ranges. While strictly speaking not absolutely necessary the the main invasion, tankers have seen use insuring that fuel management would not be a concern.
Defender A class Cruiser 8,000 tons 671 Crew 949 BP TCS 160 TH 480 EM 0
3000 km/s Armour 5-35 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 3 PPV 20
Maint Life 3.11 Years MSP 222 AFR 170% IFR 2.4% 1YR 34 5YR 517 Max Repair 48 MSP
Magazine 260
Nuclear Pulse Engine E10 (12) Power 40 Fuel Use 100% Signature 40 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 150,000 Litres Range 33.8 billion km (130 days at full power)
Size 1 Missile Launcher RoF 10 (20) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 10
Missile Fire Control FC86-R100 (2) Range 86.4m km Resolution 100
Missile Fire Control FC5-R1 (4) Range 5.4m km Resolution 1
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Having learned painfully the devastation of missiles in The Dual, the revised Syndicate fleet placed a premium on missile defense. These 8,000 ton nuclear pulse cruisers had more fire controls, more missile tubes, more armor, and made up a larger proportion of the Battle Fleet sent by the Syndicate than did their Venusian counterparts. Missile defense support was promised, and point defense support was delivered. The Defenders did lack the maintenance life and magazine depth of their Venusian designs, but performance appeared to be superior... at least while supplies and ammunition lasted.
Defender B class Cruiser 8,000 tons 539 Crew 1030 BP TCS 160 TH 480 EM 0
3000 km/s Armour 8-35 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 6 PPV 0
Maint Life 4.98 Years MSP 483 AFR 85% IFR 1.2% 1YR 32 5YR 486 Max Repair 96 MSP
Nuclear Pulse Engine E10 (12) Power 40 Fuel Use 100% Signature 40 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 150,000 Litres Range 33.8 billion km (130 days at full power)
Active Search Sensor MR5-R1 (2) GPS 84 Range 5.0m km Resolution 1
Active Search Sensor MR57-R100 (2) GPS 9600 Range 57.6m km Resolution 100
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
To save space and cost the Syndicate chose to delegate all sensor support to a single class: the Type B defender. Featuring redundant systems and armor these prime targets are capable of withstanding anything an enemy could offer, on paper at least.
Mahadeva III ST class Destroyer Escort 6,400 tons 684 Crew 853 BP TCS 128 TH 600 EM 0
4687 km/s Armour 3-30 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 3 PPV 32
Maint Life 3.88 Years MSP 250 AFR 109% IFR 1.5% 1YR 26 5YR 394 Max Repair 51 MSP
Magazine 152
Ion Engine E9 (10) Power 60 Fuel Use 90% Signature 60 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres Range 62.5 billion km (154 days at full power)
Size 4 Missile Launcher RoF 40 (8) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 40
Missile Fire Control FC86-R100 (1) Range 86.4m km Resolution 100
Active Search Sensor MR30-R100 (1) GPS 5100 Range 30.6m km Resolution 100
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
After untold design revisions the name 'Mahadeva' has finally returned to combat to redeem its reputation with honor. Now a primary offensive combatant the modern ion-powered Mhadeva III-ST was credited with several kills in Gallenshu.
TSO class Sensor Outpost 1,650 tons 53 Crew 87.5 BP TCS 33 TH 100 EM 0
3030 km/s Armour 1-12 Shields 0-0 Sensors 5/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
MSP 33 Max Repair 25 MSP
Nuclear Pulse Engine E1 (1) Power 100 Fuel Use 10% Signature 100 Armour 0 Exp 1%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres Range 545.4 billion km (2083 days at full power)
Thermal Sensor TH1-5 (1) Sensitivity 5 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 5m km
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This "park and forget" Syndicate picket unit has become a familiarly site on most jump points in systems within two jumps of sol. Using off the shelf commercial components, the TSO has non of the maintenance troubles of the early wayfinders, even if fleet officers live in fear of receiving 'command' of one as an assignment.
Galaxy class Colony Ship 66,550 tons 533 Crew 2413.4 BP TCS 1331 TH 750 EM 0
563 km/s Armour 1-146 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
MSP 23 Max Repair 16 MSP
Colonists 200000
Nuclear Thermal Engine E1 (12) Power 62.5 Fuel Use 10% Signature 62.5 Armour 0 Exp 1%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres Range 13.5 billion km (277 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Renamed 'Galaxy' by First Citizen Karr Jion, the construction of this unprecedentedly large cyrogenic colonizer was one of the last acts by the G&G Martin administration. None of them have seen use as intended. Expansion was stalled when a late geographical survey reviled that the proclaimed future colony of Mars was already home to a small but growing alien expansion colony of the Tarn Collective. The gravitational survey crews have been hard at work looking for alternative locations, but until a new world is found or the Tarn fleet is defeated the Galaxy will continue to be used for nothing more than a first command by unassuming officers lacking political connections.
Aigthasi Class Destroyer Escort: (AKA: 'Cuba')
1712 km/s Armor 1-33 Sensor 5/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 4
Maint Life 4.36 Years
Nuclear Thermal Engine E10 (10)
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Liters Range 49.3 billion km
Twin R1.5/C1 Meson Cannon Turret (7x2) Range 15,000km TS: 5000k km/s Power 6-2 RM 1.5 ROF 15
Fire Control S04 10-5000 MaxRange: 20,000km TS: 5000 km/s
Presurised Water Reactor PB-1 (7) Total Power Output 14
Active Search Sensor MR3-R1 (1) GPS 60 Range 3.0m km Resolution 1
Thermal Sensor TH1-5 (1) Sensitivity 5 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 5m kmAigthasi is one of the Gallenshu designs used in the opening battle ambush. The specifications were captured by Syndicate Interrogators of captives. Err, I know I said the starting aliens had been SMed into existence with lower than standard starting tech, but I really thought that their initial fleet would be at least a little more advanced than this. I suppose it is a good object in what a low-tech defense can do in jump point defense.
Production Report: January 2079
Planet Population SY workers SY size Fleet Size Industry Logistic Labs
Mars 879m 8.1m 193,000 626.0 kT 44.6m 2.6m 22
Earth 775m 25.3m 838,000 819.0 kT 49.4m 5.8m 21
Venus 816m 19.0m 463,000 1,948.0 kT 36.9m 7.3m 30
Mercury 10.9m
Titan 28.8m 2.1m 1.3m
Lithium-IV 7.5m 0.5m
Shipping Line Flag Ships Tonnage Income
Moore Colony Company Syndicate 30 1,254 kT 2814c
Horton Lines Syndicate 18 799 kT 1820c
Robinson Transport Services Syndicate 1 29 kT 70c
Dawdy Shipping Venusian 41 1,297 kT 5080c
Jawoski Colony Group Venusian 39 1,247 kT 4640c
Technology Listing 2072
(Universally known tech excluded)
Mars Syndicate Venus
10cm Laser Active Scan 12 10cm Laser
Visible Light Laser EM 6 12cm Laser
15cm Carronade TH 6 Visible Light Laser
Alpha Shield Mobile Infantry Near UV Laser
Beta Shield Engineer Brigade Active 12
Shield Regen 1.0 Troop Transport TH 6
Shield Regen 1.5 Gauss V-1 Mobile Infantry
H.D. Duranium Gauss V-2 Engineer Brigade
Capacitor 2 Gauss Rate 1 Cryogenic Transport
Construction 12 Gauss Rate 2 Ground Unit 12
Mining 12 Implosion Warhead Gauss V-2
Research 240 Missile Fire 2 Gauss Rate 2
Ship build 560 Mag. Ejection 70% Implosion Warhead
Shipyard Savings 5% Mag. Efficiency 75% Missile Agility 32
Jump Gate 180 Cyrogenic Trans. Missile Fire 2
Asteroid Mining Shipyard Savings 5% Mag. Ejection 70%
Sorium Harvesting Improved Cmd & Cntr Mag. Ejection 80%
Turret Tracking 2000 Mag. Efficiency 75%
Turret Tracking 3000 Mag. Efficiency 80%
Jump Drive 3 Nuclear Pulse Engine
Jump Squad 3 Nuclear Pulse Missile
Jump Radius 50 Capacitor 2
Crew Small
Fuel Efficiency 0.9
Genome: Gravity +5%
Genome: Temp -10°
Genome: Range +1°
Ship specks posted. Final chapter of the 1st Invasion coming even latter. Probably with the Summer turn report.
Edit: Wrong alien name used. The Protectionist Council is a reclusive group known mostly by reputation. The Tarn Collective are the local 'friendly' aliens who are at war with Mars but have trade agreements with the Syndicate.
-
July 2085
Venusians Conquer Gallenshu Alliens!
Sapient right activists urge boycotts against any imported 'exotic meats.' Just in case.
[ooc]'Nuff said.
Save posted. PMs coming soon. I still intend to continue the AAR, but that continues to run late.
Edit: Last thing: When posting orders make sure the default faction has been set to Welcome screen and that any "TakingXYZ_Turn" files are deleted when finished to prevent confusion.[/ooc]
-
In unrelated news, a new type of food is being advertised heavily to Venusians in the Sol system, claiming to be mildly radioactive, delicious, and also completely non-fattening, this meat has yet to reach shelves but stock in the company responsible, "Odd Pig" is rising rapidly.
Non-Venusian commentators note that Venusians are somewhat more adapted to high radiation levels than Terrans or Martians, due to their planet's proximity to the sun, as for the non-fattening claim, only the ominous theory that eating something from a completely different evolutionary chain might not have any impact on a body is thought to be the reason.
-
Venus adds a few more technologies to trade:
Damage Control
Jump Drive Efficiency 5
Meson level 2 for both focusing and size.
Additionally, extensive gravitational survey data has become available for systems beyond the Gallenshu system.
Others may be available, make inquiries through the usual channels.
In other news, exciting opportunities will be available in the coming years, get a close look at the newest weapons system, volunteer to be a test target for the Apocalypse Torpedo! The Venusian Navy is looking for a platform to test its upcoming weapons under live fire conditions. Be the first to see it in action and prepare your countermeasures! Compensation available in the form of money or minerals.*
*Targets must be on Ion Drive technology or better.Targets must be 18 or older, void where prohibited, VSN is not responsible for physical or emotional damage, up to and including death and the death or consumption of all you love and hold dear. Side effects may include, but are not limited to: Dry mouth, dizziness, erectile dysfunction, spontaneous total body dismemberment. Consult a doctor before choosing VSN weapons test.
-
January - 2086 - Propaganda Wars
According to the unofficial Martian Patriotic Press editions, over these past few months the Mars juggernaut fleet of 10,000 ton invulnerable ships of war was so imposing in their grand crusade that their cowardly Tarn enemies scuttled their own vessels and pled for mercy rather than risk engaging. Those few that did resist were swatted aside at insignificant loss. Details of a colonization lottery to take part in taming Mars' soon-to-come extra-solarian colonies are also rumored, though no official announcement has been made.
The Tarn Traveler's Edition reports paint a somewhat different story. According to them, the Martian Misquotes were systematically squashed by the blood and bravery of their cadet trainee 'rust fleet' after inexcusable martian aggression destroyed peaceful civilian merchants. The Tarn further promise that if Martian Menace do not make good reparations for the loss of life their trespass caused then the nearly-constructed Iron Fleet will cleanse the Menace at the source. Yet as the Tarn request as a matter of good will that the Noble Syndicate bring to heel their neighbors themselves, and having proven themselves noble be granted a lasting Alliance. After all, while the existing Bronze fleet is fully capable of defending the colonizes until the Iron fleet is built, they regrettably can not protect Syndicate Shipping whom the mad Martians likely will soon target. Any intercepted distress signals describing fire-breathing duranium piranhas may have exaggerated the danger but do hold true to the crazed martian madness that must be ended.
Local Syndicate Sapient Rights groups are questioning both accounts sighting a lack of official certifiable statements, but express disbelief that the 'little greennies' could possibly be described as comparable to the alarmingly violent Venusians.
And now a word from todays Sponsor, The Syndicate for Orderly Sapients (S.O.S):
"Odd Pig: Didn't meet it, don't eat it!"
Production Report: January 2081
Planet Population SY workers SY size Fleet Size Industry Logistic Labs
Mars 929m 8.2m 203,000 753.0 kT 45.2m 2.8m 25
Earth 806m 25.7m 871,000 948.0 kT 43.6m 5.8m 25
Venus 852m 20.3m 505,000 1,965.0 kT 38.7m 9.1m 34
Mercury 16.2m
Titan 30.0m 2.1m 1.3m
Lithium-IV 15.7m 3.9m
Shipping Line Flag Ships Tonnage Income
Moore Colony Company Syndicate 31 1,301 kT 1542c
Horton Lines Syndicate 20 893 kT 903c
Robinson Transport Services Syndicate 6 224 kT 606c
Whitehead Company Syndicate 3 128 kT 252c
Dawdy Shipping Venusian 43 1,354 kT 6770c
Jawoski Colony Group Venusian 45 1,398 kT 6170c
[ooc]36 years... this may end up beating my own 'longest running' record.
Anyway, the 2nd Martian Crusade slowed this turn down. The current battle AAR reporting schedule is: Finish the 1st Gallenshu campaign, then do the 1st Martian Crusade, then do the 2nd Gallneshu campaign, then back to Mars. .... I'm going to have to get shorter in my battle reports.
Turn posted, PMs coming soon.[/ooc]
-
[ooc]Venusians aren't violent! Just... energetic.[/ooc]
-
Welcome to the SBC News hour! I am Ko'Jontag your reporter for this evening.
The heavens where ablaze in the Boron Sector earlier this year. Ko'Jatong, a member of our defense cabinet, issued this press release:
"The mighty Martian fleet decimated the fleet of the vile Tarn. We took the strongest they could throw at us and swatted it out of the sky like the pests they are. Even with our decades old ships they did not stand a chance. Our newly redesigned fleet with 33% faster engines and new state of the art weaponry will wipe the tarn stain from the stars once and for all. Join in our glory and join the Mighty Martian Navy today!"
In other news a massive meeting was held earlier this month and it was deemed that all Martian ships , civilian and military makes, will undergo a new naming convention and be repainted to the Martian Imperial color scheme. The actual patterns and designs have not been finalized yet however we know that our enemies will have fear in their hearts when they see a mighty Green and Red ship out their view ports.
To anyone who bought their advanced reservation on the cruise lines to the Hydrogen-Boron sectors we do caution you to be reminded that there is an active war going on in this sector. All precautions are being taking to avoid any civilian damage however accidents do happen.
Colonization efforts on the new Martian colony are still underway. An official name for the colony is still undecided at this time.
-
Violence is in the mind of the beholder, and in the biased minds of the Syndicate Society for Orderly Sapients V is for Violent Venusians. But don't worry. Sooner or later I'll dream up an equal opportunity opposition group to think similar thoughts about the Martians.
July - 2086 - Summer of Consolidation
Evacuation of valuable infrastructure and facilities from the radioactive contamination of Gallenshu to Venus continue smoothly, but the diversion of such a large portion of the Venusian Merchant Marine has had a small, but noticeable, trade impact contributing to temporary price fluctuations an increased inner-system shipping costs as surpluses build on their worlds of origin.
In other news, 'Odd Pig' has appeared on the grey-market in small quantities, but considering shipping limitations is believed to be primarily an imitation product by opportunistic forgers taking advantage of early hype.
Also in the latest on Technology Trading, Mars traded Fighter Engine technology to the Syndicate in return Stellarator Fusion Reactor Technology.
[ooc]Save Posted. Drums of War part 3 coming tomorrow. No private messages. One surrendered Gallenshu vessel under Venus control made it back to Sol, causing a bunch of Syndicate Hostile Contact warnings before I found the issue. Problem fixed by deleting that class registry from the Syndicate Intelligence window. Other than that nothing unexpected happened so most of you will not be receiving a PM for lack of reportable news.[/ooc]
-
Drums of War - Part 3
Earth Lord Naomi Aktar, 4th of her rank and senior officer of the Syndicate Battle Fleet stood projecting a false calm on the bridge of the CA-Cod as the task force prepared to make the same transit the Venusians had. Her single greatest concern was that the Venusians wouldn't wait for them. The Syndicate needed this opportunity to prove their enhanced military power, and also needed to see the Venusians in action to confirm their optimism wasn't unfounded.
"All Fleets prepare for transit."
~~~~~[August 17, 2083, 19:18]~~~~~~~~
"Ma'am, Sensors online. No enemy presence, but there are local wrecks, 16 close. And the Venusians have begun hailing us. They seem glad to see us, ma'am."
Naomi spent a set of heartbeats looking at the projected sensor data. The Venusians had taken the jump point with 33% losses, and yet they had apparently destroyed tonnage in excess of her own fleet.
"Com, put them through. It looks like we missed quite the party."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A few minutes later Demon Prince Lengokrab closed the connection with a sly smile.
"Fleet, forward 2,500 k.m.s." He ordered the subcommands of his war counsel. "With Syndicate reinforcements we are back to full strength. With the gate behind us only vitory remains, forward!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[Back on Gallenshu IV...]
Amber alarm lights flooded the slow command bunker of Military command with frantic activity. By the time the senior commander, Blastcoal, appeared the early cheers of destruction had already faded to angry depression. The Unmentionables had returned. In Force. The Outer guard was dead, but kills had been made. Already weakened, the situation could be salvaged with just a little more force.
"All hands! Second fleet launch! Third fleet launch! And Fourth! Send them all!"
~~~~~[4 days and 750m km latter...]~~~~~~~~
"Prince! Syndicate hailing on line 1. Priority Critical."
Lengokrab raised one eyebrow from his seat in the officer galley. For almost four days the fleet had been growing restless as they pressed inward to make war one Gallenshu home world. "Put the human on speaker. If critical it be then it can't wait for the bridge."
[N] "Prince Lengokrab. Our sensors detected an incoming fleet a few minutes ago. 11 contacts. 7300 tons. Unidentified. Closing speed of 3938. 50 million kilometers dead ahead. Are they Gallenshu?"
Lengokrab sat stunned in surprise for an instant, then wondered why he was. The Syndicate sensors may have been smaller, but they used a resolution at least five times as large. Intelligence estimated they had a 50%-100% detection range advantage. Still at that speed and distance they had only... call it 15 million km divided by 5 k/s for ... about an hour before the Gallenshu entered Venusian detection range. No rush.
[L] "Probably. Fire at will."
[N] "We'll fire on your mark to be certain of identity." The Syndicate captain deferred.
[L] "Then first blood is ours. Again. We'll fire when they close to 30 million."
[N] "Very well. Syndicate Out."
The call completed Lengokrab paged the bridge.
"Bridge, up and about! The Gallenshu are ahead and should be entering detection range within the hour. Sound a yellow alert in... 30 minutes. Upgrade to red when contact is made." Notice made the Venusian prince turned back to his food. 30 minutes to finish eating, rehearse a rousing speech, and get to the bridge. No rush.
~~~[August 21, 16:01][72 minutes after Syndicate detection]~~~~~~
"Venusian missiles launch detected! 16 salvos of 8 size 4" came the expected all from Sensors when the Gallenshu, mockingly nicknamed the "ClownSneazeHead" by Syndicate crew, closed to 33m km.
"All ships open fire." Naomi instantly replied before noticing the Dragons had opened fire a few million km earlier than stated. Not that it mattered. The Syndicate crew had drilled for months in general, and had calculated and recalculated all necessary equations while waiting. Within 10 seconds 3 salvos of 8 Syndicate missiles were free and chasing down the Venusian. The Venusians may have been mildly dismissive of the small Syndicate wave, but the rapid launch was worthy of admiration.
In the end, 2.5 waves of Venusian missiles were launched targeting 5 ships with 4 salvos each. 160 Hellfires in total.
The Syndicate launched 3 waves, each wave targeting a different target. 72 ASM Ship Destroy Mk2s in total.
The Syndicate missiles were faster, and quickly overcame the 10s Venusian head start to draw first blood in the 1st Joint Battle of Gallenshu. 24 missiles lanced outward with the neutonainan shaped charge warheads nearly identical to the Venusian design. Spinning into aligning, they scored nearly an 80% hit rate against the speeding clowns, shattering one thin-armored alien and crippling two more. Then the Venusian missiles arrived. Slower, but much more agile, not a one missed. Missile after missile slammed into the targets destroying every ship with just three salvos leaving the 4th overkill. 5 Ships were killed, including one weakened by the Syndicate in unplanned overlap.
The Demon Princes grinned at each other in agreement. This was much more fun than the first battle. Still, after 16 kills the supply of Hellfires were starting to run low, and the trip to Gallenshu was far from finished. Best let the Syndicate use a few missiles of their own.
[L] "Earth Lord, not too bad. Your missiles are swift. Still, I count four enemies left. What say you we split them two and two?"
[N] "A fair Split Demon Prince, and generous when your own missiles fly more numerously as the stars. Worry not for our cripple, we can finish that off as well."
Flattery complete the two sides turned to launch again when Naomi ran into an obstacle. Only 3/4 of a salvo of of Ship Destroyers remained in magazines on each missile frigate. Still, she was confident in a solution. "All fleet, launch remaining Ship Destroyers. Then commence GoldenDart firing."
The majority of the Syndicate fleet was composed of Anti-Missile Defender-class cursers, but each cruiser cared twin long-range targeting systems for offensive fire. While the SilverDart AMM was the primary magazine cargo, a healthy selection of GoldenDart ASM were also included. Those small size-1 missiles gave up the usual AMM agility to carry the fuel needed to match the range of the larger Ship Destroyers. Salvoes of 20 launched forward to sandblast bit by bit first the armor and then the internals of Gallenshu clowns into oblivion.
First there were 11. Then there were 5. Then there were none.
So far the score in ship destruction was Venus: 7. Syndicate: 4+1 assist.
~~~~~[August 22, 22:52 250m km further inward]~~~~~~
The next day it was the Venusian's turn to page the Syndicate.
[L] "I trust your fleet remains every ready for victorious slaughter?" The Prince asked warmly.
[N] "We ever are." Came a dry response to the late call. "Why?"
[L] "More Gallenshu of course! Forty-nine fast attack craft, 950 tons, 2630 kilometers a second. Just thirty-four million clicks ahead."
A strangled gasp emerged emerged from the Syndicate fleet, followed by muted orders to battle stations.
[N] "Much thanks, Prince. May our missiles fly true."
This task finished the Venusian fleet wasted no time in launching missiles. After destroying two fleet previously the Venusian battle ships were nearly depleted with only 14 missiles remaining on each. Using frailty estimates from the classified records on Venusians own proposed FAC designs it was decided that each ship should launch as salvo of 6 at different targets holding a a single full salvo of hellfire in reserve for the Gallenshu home world.
The estimates were close. Half the targets were destroyed in the distant hellfire detonations, but the rest flew on. Then the Syndicates struck.
The Syndicates may have been depleted of ShipDestroyers, but GoldenEyes were still in stock. Three waves of triple salvos of twenty raced outward once the Gallenshu attackers raced a hundred thousand km into the anti-missle sensor detection range. While quantity may have its quality, the destructiveness of the Syndicate salvos was less than the Venusian's. Only one target died. And then the Gallenshu struck.
Four million km from the front the Gallenshu reversed course, but not out of fright. Just 30 seconds later the Gallenshu succeeded in delivery as 42 size 6 Scimitar missiles streaked inward at 16,000 km/s. Naomi never needed to breath a word. Anti-missile protection was their official reason for coming, and the primary focus of the fleet. In one accord the fleet belched forth 96 SilverDart Mk2 missiles, at a 4:1 saturation ration. 10 seconds latter an additional 72 followed. Of the 24 missiles targeted by the first wave, 21 were shot down with 20 incidents of overkill. The 2nd wave accounted for 17/18 targets, once again with substantial overkill. Between one wave and the next Naomi breathed her first anti-missile command. "All ships. Adjust Fire ratio down to Three. Repeate, fire A. M. M. ration Three."
The third wave accounted for all 4 leakers with only 2 incidents of overkill. The Venusians were once more impressed. 183 Syndicate missiles had been launched in 15 seconds scoring 82 hits. Not a single Gallenshu missile managed to enter Venusian detection range, much less strike a vessel. The best hope for Gallenshu victory had died even faster than it had risen.
This left one unresolved issue: 42 fleeting Gallenshu missile boats traveling faster than the joint fleet. So of course, the Venusian Space Dragons had to chase.
"CHARGE! FULL SPEED! ALL SHIPS! LET THEM FEEL OUR SPARKS!"
[ooc]Drums of War report cut short by 6.0 release. I'll edit in the remaining three battles of the First Gallensh campaign over the next few days.[/ooc]
-
January - 2087 - Sudden Death!
No spy report or fiction this time. I'm far enough behind that I'm cutting my losses and dropping the usual in an effort to try and catch up. I'll try to finish up the Drums of War account in the next day or two and include a spy report with the summer turn, but no promises.
Anyway, as I'm sure everyone has noticed 6.0 has come out. It's too buggy to start a serious new system tomorrow but, eventually, I'd like to close out Children of Sol and start up a new game sooner or latter. So, sudden death time.
What sudden death mode means:
• The game will end in 3 months (December 11th) unless in-game events end the game sooner.
• Otherwise 2095 will be the ending year. That gives 8 years to reach closure.
• If you want to go to war with your players or conquer Sol, then now is the best time. Tribute payments can be arranged to permit conditional surrenders if needed.
• Galactic Invaders are turned 'on'
Maybe the three of you accelerate efforts to exterminate all other NPRs before their wreckless broadcasting draws the Invaders in. Maybe the Invaders find you anyway, but standing united the Races of Sol defend the system. Or maybe a old insults from before you three took office bring about a grudge fight atomic fire storm. I'm curious what happens when the pressure of a deadline is added.
That said, you lot have been fantastically consistent players to watch. If the three of you love the current game enough to unanimously vote against Sudden death I'll cancel that and extend the game to play out to the 100 year mark (2025): but personally I have new ideas I'd like to try out.
[ooc]Save posted. Private messages coming soon.[/ooc]
-
[ooc]I really am loving the game, however I also want to start poking around with 6.0
As to sudden death, seems interesting but if it becomes general combat in the Sol system that is going to be really hard to play out I think, my faction alone has a couple hundred ships exclusive of the civilian build, I can't imagine the other players have much less. If everyone else wants to do it and go to war I am game, but my preference would just be make the switch to 6.0 after Steve does a bugfix or two.[/ooc]
-
Enjoyed this thread a lot. Can I read up on the mechanics on how to make multiplayer Aurora playable somewhere and would there be an opportunity to join in the next game?
-
[ooc]I love the current game, it is lots of fun. I would not mind to change to a multiplayer campaign in v6.0.
I choose invaders from the options of sudden death, but i don't believe Sudden death is necessary especially if it will turn to a lot of work for syblight.
I think Syndicate companies alone have over 80 ship.[/ooc]
-
Enjoyed this thread a lot. Can I read up on the mechanics on how to make multiplayer Aurora playable somewhere and would there be an opportunity to join in the next game?
Here http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php/topic,4576.0.html you can read about the mechanics.
-
[ooc]@Ektoras & Panopticon Alright. Sudden Death mode cancelled, but invaders left on. I'll keep running this game until I have a replacement lined up. Current players, of course, get priority in the new game.
@Kaspar Glad to hear you enjoyed our thread! 6.0 looks to be easier for tracking multiple factions, so I should be able to add a 4th.
The basic requirements for our style of Multiplayer game is:
• A way to share the save (we use a shared dropbox folder)
• 3-4 players +SM (just 2 is a head to head competition, but more players, especially in 5.6, makes things exponentially slower)
• Multi-month turns at least once a week. Anything less and every minor event becomes major news. Longer and more frequent is better for the game, but takes more work.
What's next?
If I have 3 players I'll use the same premises, Mars/Venus/Earth, but apply lessons we learned in the first game to make it better.
If I have 4 I'll use multiple starting star systems. I'll probably use 4 suitable random-generated systems jump linked to an empty Sol and name the game "Return to Sol"
If we have 5 or more interested players then we'll break into 2 games and one player in each game will be responsible for being the SM in the other.
Alternatively, I may set up a 5.6 PvP 1v1 tactical tournament for people to test ship designs and fleet doctrines against intelligent foes. Probably a series of short 3 game month long Earth vs Titan scenarios.[/ooc]
-
[ooc]As the others have said I'd be fine with letting this end in either some sort of peaceful ending or something like that as all out war would require a huge amount of work. I would look forward to a fresh start on 6.0 as mars would have a cohesive strategy from the beginning next game (If mars is there :P) [/ooc]
-
July 2087
[ooc]Save posted. PMs coming. I've given up strangling witty commander banter out of my muse, so I'll be switching to mostly a drier 3rd party narrator perspective when recounting the battles. [/ooc]
-
Drums of War - Conclusion
Out of ammunition, the Gallenshu fled in rout as the Venusians accelerated to full speed to bring the fleeing missile boats into offensive Anti-Missile range. Seeing their chance of easy kills diminish the Syndicate commander ordered that the last of the GoldenDart missiles be used to destroy whatever crippled stragglers they could, killing six more. The faster Venusians then continued closing to slay the remaining thirty-six with Spark AMMs. The score now stood 11 kills and 7 assists for the Syndicate, 59 kills Venus. Missile stores were running low, but the fleets continued to press forward.
The 4th battle of Gallenshu occurred two days latter 1.1b km out from the Gallenshu home world when two 7300 ton Liechtestein class missile cruisers intercepted the joint fleet. The Venusians immediately launched a salvo to attempt to disrupt the formation, but fired no more, waiting instead to bring antimissiles to bear. Km by Km the two fleet closed, the Venusians content to maintain formation with the Syndicate while closure continued. Then at 7m km the Gallenshu fired.
With each cruiser launching salvos of 5 14,800 km/s size-6 missiles the effort might have been commendable - if the missile cruisers hadn't numbered only two. Striking with 50% accuracy the Syndicate Anti-missile envelop contemptuously swatted salvo after salvo aside: though in an inexplicable fluke a single salvo slipped through unengaged- and as a reward was taken out by the Venusian defenses instead. The rain of missiles continued until the fleets were 17 hundred thousand km apart, when the Syndicate switched half their launchers to offensive strikes. Anit-missiles by the score lanced forth, and just thirty seconds latter both were drifting wrecks.
The twin Syndicate kills and Venusian assist brought the score to 13-7 Syndicate, 59-1 Venus. A few cranks tried to insist that the 62 syndicate missile kill advantage should counted as well.
This battle marked the end of the joint-strike battle. With AMM reserves were down to 30%, every offensive missile was spent, and some ships nearing 55% fuel reserve levels the Syndicate battle group chose to turn back.
(http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x184/sublightrun/Aurora%20LetsPlay/SyndicateTurnsBack.png)
The Venusians, even lower on amunition but high on resolve pressed ever onward, but they now faced their greatest challenge since the jump point ambush: the Gallenshu home world defense. There, confronted with a last stand of three dozen warships and defense satellites the Venusians finally concluded discretion was the better part of valor. A half salvo of Hellfires were lobbed inward against the shipyards, and when that left no apparent effect the last remaining Hellfires were sent inward to shatter a single unforunent Kilo defender. Astonishingly not a single missile was intercepted, but as as chance would have it a larger, juicier, target presented itself: the Gallenshu Merchant Marine. The doomed fleet wavered indecisively for critical hours, torn between making their in home world delivery and fleeing for the outer system. Their indecision cost them. Already well ahead of the 50+ kTons taken out by the Syndicate the hungry dragons decided it would be better to pad their tonnage ratio off of the lumbering giants than risk the most advanced battles ships in close battle against the Gallenshu. The Giant Hunt was on.
(http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x184/sublightrun/Aurora%20LetsPlay/HuntingGiants.png)
The lumbering thin shelled giants may, in theory, have been easy kill but what they lacked in armored depth the cargo ships carried in breadth. Missile after anti-missile struck the giants only to miss the narrow holes left by pervious waves. Still, persistence carried the day and when the missile reserves were all but empty six giants massing more than all previous Venusian kills combined were dead.
January 2088
[ooc]Save Posted. PMs coming soon. Spy reports coming tomorrow. [/ooc]
-
[b]Spy Report:[/b]
[u]Employment Records: January 2083[/u]
[code]
Planet Population SY workers SY size Fleet Size Industry Logistic Labs
Mars 978m 10.2m 223,000 679.0 kT 45.4m 3.9m 26
Earth 835m 25.9m 873,000 949.0 kT 41.8m 7.1m 25
Venus 883.8m 22.5m 575,000 2,459.0 kT 44.1m 9.1m 40
Mercury 22.9m
Titan 31.2m 2.1m 1.3m
Lithium-IV 27.1m 5.3m
Shipping Line Flag Ships Tonnage Income
Moore Colony Company Syndicate 32 1,329 kT 1902c
Horton Lines Syndicate 21 940 kT 1070c
Robinson Transport Services Syndicate 9 321 kT 1044c
Whitehead Company Syndicate 6 255 kT 580c
Dawdy Shipping Venusian 47 1,466 kT 4230c
Jawoski Colony Group Venusian 46 1,435 kT 3680c
Top Three Claimed Assets:
• Mercury: Claimed by Venus this hot spot held an intact city that helped drive Venus to become the most advanced power in Sol. However, by 2083 excavation is well over 75% complete. Only time will tell how well Venus holds the Tech lead once those alien treasures are exhausted.
• Lithium-A IV: Claimed by the Syndicate, this colony cost zero world is only a single jump from Sol: and the rapid growth there leaves experts predicting it will soon become the largest colony world. It is also believed to be a focal point of an off-system mining effort that appears to have successfully ended the Syndicate Duranium mineral crunch.
• Titania: Claimed by Mars, this distant moon boosts the largest deposits of 0.6+ duranium in Sol and became an overtaxed lifeline when the Martians entered a Duranium crunch of their own. In time the Martians should escape their crunch as well, but exerts disagree on how far behind Mars will slip before then.
Spy Report: January 2077
2077 was a year of great changes for Mars. The interim government completed Mars' first improvised set of armed military warships, giving the newly appointed secretary of state, Jinkor, something to shoot with if necessary.
2077 could also be considered the year before the crunch. The mineral accessibilities were noticeably dropping on all the home worlds, leaving both Mars and Earth with projected duranium shortfalls. Both still had stockpiles remaining, but by now The Big Crunch was foreshadowed, particularly on Earth where the Syndicate was buying additional duranium wherever possible.
Time for the 3rd facility tally of the game:
Empire Mars Syndicate Venus
Yards 2C 2N 9Slip 3C 3N 14Slip 3C 3N 15Slip
Labs 22 18 27
Con Factories 512 599 328
Ord Factories 10 28 108
Ftr Factories 0 0 5
Refineries 32 20 108
Mines 322 403 336
Automines 249 140 52
Maintenance 20 65 44
DSTS 4 3 9
GFTC 1 1 5
Accademy 4 3 2
Teraform 0 5 9
Mass Driver 3 1 5
Space Port 1 0 2
Genetic Centers 0 0 8
Notable Governors: (By top 3 most interesting locations per side)
Venus: Milkoghast: +20% Wealth, +40% Factory, +25% Mining, +20% ShipBuild +15% Population
Mercury: Crappakow: +5% Factory, +20% Wealth, +5% Population
Comet #2: Karafox: +20% Factory, +20% Mining, +15% Shipbuilding
Earth: Andrew "Antagonist" Harper: +5% Factory, +10% Mining, +15% Terraforming
Titan: Ben Slater: +15% Shipbuilding, +15% Wealth, +15% Population
Lithium A-IV: Kane Pollard +15% Shipbuilding, +10% Wealth, +15% Population
Mars: Wo'Shorisoch: +25% Shipbuilding, +5% Factory, +25% Mining, +20% Terraforming, +25% Population
Titania: Ta'Piferas: +15% Factory, +25% Wealth, +35% Mining
Comet #4: Hu'Qubolhat: +20% Shipbuilding, +20% Factory, +5% Wealth, +10% Mining
Fleets of the Empires (2077)
Mars:
6x Einstein A
4x Eric LeRogue
3x Fox-B
3x Kilo
4x Liberty
1x Trade
Syndicate:
1x Colony
2x Colony Mod1
3x Defender A
2x Defender B
4x Katrina
3x LastBastion
3x Mahadeva II
3x Prospector
5x Trade
6x TSO
3x Vitruvius
4x Wayfinder
2x Acheron
4x Azazel
2x Baalzebul
4x Balo II
4x Baphomet
4x Beshaba
1x Colony
1x Hecate
6x Myrkul - II
4x Tarterus
7x Vhaeraun B
Fox-B class Missile Defence Satellite 3,350 tons 322 Crew 328 BP TCS 67 TH 80 EM 0
1194 km/s Armour 3-19 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 2 PPV 16.56
Maint Life 4.01 Years MSP 122 AFR 44% IFR 0.6% 1YR 12 5YR 183 Max Repair 48 MSP
Nuclear Pulse Engine E9 (2) Power 40 Fuel Use 90% Signature 40 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres Range 29.9 billion km (289 days at full power)
Twin 10cm C2 Visible Light Laser Turret (2x2) Range 60,000km TS: 12000 km/s Power 6-4 RM 2 ROF 10 3 3 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
Fire Control S16 40-8000 (1) Max Range: 80,000 km TS: 8000 km/s 88 75 62 50 38 25 12 0 0 0
Pressurised Water Reactor PB-1 (4) Total Power Output 8 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Gen 1 PD Sensor (1) GPS 40 Range 2.0m km Resolution 1
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
The Fox-B was the first armed Martin ship design, and was built in response to the rising demands for defense coming from prominent citizens of Mars who had seen reports of The Dual. Essentially, this design was the long buried Fox updated with new engines and new armor, and was intended more for appeasing the populace than providing a serious defense.
Kilo class Fast Attack Craft 1,000 tons 113 Crew 110 BP TCS 20 TH 80 EM 60
4000 km/s Armour 1-8 Shields 2-300 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 4
Maint Life 11.68 Years MSP 69 AFR 8% IFR 0.1% 1YR 1 5YR 14 Max Repair 20 MSP
GB Nuclear Pulse Engine E90 (1) Power 80 Fuel Use 900% Signature 80 Armour 0 Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres Range 10.0 billion km (28 days at full power)
Beta R300 Shield (1) Total Fuel Cost 14 Litres per day
15cm C3 Plasma Carronade (1) Range 40,000km TS: 4000 km/s Power 6-3 RM 1 ROF 10 6 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Midget Fire-Con S03 20-3000 (1) Max Range: 40,000 km TS: 3000 km/s 75 50 25 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Pressurised Water Reactor PB-1 (2) Total Power Output 4 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Backup Search Sensor MR0-R9 (1) GPS 45 Range 750k km Resolution 9
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
The Fox-B may have placated demands for missile defense, but it was far too slow to offer a credible offense. The solution for Mars Offense was the Kilo Fast Attack Craft. On the day of launch it was quick enough to force an engagement with any opponent, and is rated to survive 1 dual-type Venusian missile hit without internal injury. The Kilo would latter go on to provide an impressive performance in the Martian/Tarn offensive, but that's a story for another day.
Mahadeva II class Cruiser 6,000 tons 650 Crew 705 BP TCS 120 TH 360 EM 0
3000 km/s Armour 3-29 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 3 PPV 32
Maint Life 4.31 Years MSP 220 AFR 96% IFR 1.3% 1YR 19 5YR 286 Max Repair 51 MSP
Magazine 152
Nuclear Pulse Engine E10 (9) Power 40 Fuel Use 100% Signature 40 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 150,000 Litres Range 45.0 billion km (173 days at full power)
Size 4 Missile Launcher RoF 40 (8) Missile Size 4 Rate of Fire 40
Missile Fire Control FC30-R100 (2) Range 30.2m km Resolution 100
Active Search Sensor MR30-R100 (1) GPS 5100 Range 30.6m km Resolution 100
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
The Mahadeva II was the first Syndicate vessel to be named in honor of the original Mahadeva's that fell during the dual, and a precurser to the variant that fought in the joint-fleet action at Gallenshu.
Baalzebul class Salvager 15,900 tons 335 Crew 441.5 BP TCS 318 TH 400 EM 0
1257 km/s Armour 1-56 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
MSP 17 Max Repair 200 MSP
Salvager: 1 module(s) capable of salvaging 500 tons per day
Nuclear Pulse Engine E0.9 (4) Power 100 Fuel Use 9% Signature 100 Armour 0 Exp 1%
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres Range 251.4 billion km (2314 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Inspired by curiosity about the Syndicate ships destroyed in the Dual, this Venusian salvager was rushed into production to provide answers. Little was learned then, but these ships continue to play an important roll in cleaning up slain remnants of alien incursion into Sol.
The Balor II troop transport is basically identical to the Balor I, only with Nuclear Pulse propulsion.[/code]
-
July 2088 - Summer of Martians
Just in! In breaking commercial developments a Martian shipping company just launched the planet's first civilian freighter! The design, rumored to carry a standard 5-hold cargo block, was observed making better than 900 km/s on a contracted run to Titan but should shortly join the large crowed of Venusian and Syndicate vessels exchanging commodities between the planets.
[ooc]Save posted. PMs coming soon.[/ooc]
-
[ooc]I am announcing my retirement from the current game. Sublight you may have noticed my lack of detailed guidance these past couple week. Well I just started my business and I'm putting in 12+ hour days, when I get home I have just about enough energy to eat dinner, shower, and sleep. Looking at the computer for anything other than emails is hard to make myself do. I might be able to pick it up again a month or so down the road when I am more used to things, but for now I gotta bow out. I'll still be reading, but someone else who is interested can take my faction over.
On a related note, if anybody comes through Portland, Oeogon and likes board games, card games, or role-playing. Stop on by! https://www.facebook.com/UnpluggedGames [/ooc]
-
[ooc]I think it may be a good time to end the current game then. It is too late to add a new player at this point imo. 6.2 should be out soon and it would be a good time to start up a new game.[/ooc]
-
[ooc]Best luck with the Job.
Ok, we'll end the game here. The SM turns were starting to become unreasonably long anyway, as the ever increasing turn-around time may have hinted. Besides, 6.2 is coming out soon and I really ought to dump more hours into the Pulsar project for at least the next few weeks.
I'll post a link to the game (passwords removed) in a few days along with an epilogue. Basic epilogue will be a brief golden age that gets smashed by the invaders, leaving scattered communities living a subsistence existence among ruins in Sol with small colonies in other systems hiding to preserve what technical knowledge they could in preparation to rise again as soon as the invaders leave. A bitter-sweat ending that leads into the sequel game, "Return to Sol." If any players have comments or best/worst moment memories they wish to share now is the time.
The Sequel, coming 6.2, will take 3-4 player factions each starting in their own system one-jump off of Sol. My theory is that stuffing homeworlds into different systems will make the SM turns go faster. Limited warfare and duels over Sol resources and other locations encouraged. Total war against home systems discouraged.[/ooc]
-
[ooc]Good luck Panoption with your job[/ooc]
Ektoras the last days felt relieved. Syndicate stockpiles problems had been averted. Lithium system was well established, producing vast amount of minerals and expanding industry even with the first ex solar shipyard. Syndicate fleet soon will enjoy new ships. The old defenders redesigned with newer engines, carries to bring in battle two squadrons of Thunderbirds, fast bombers for long range strikes, battleships to amplify the destructive power of the navy and of course upgraded Mahadeva destroyers. Truly a golden age for Earth starts. Venus and Mars may try to obstacle Syndicate, but they will fail.
He made himself a second drink. It was time for celebration, but he could not stop thinking Syndicates next steps. The destruction of the Gallenshu was enough proof on what an alien world could happen, if the factions of Sol attacked. Tarns were particularly in danger from the Martians. Many councilors suggested a colony next to Tarn home. There was an easily terraformed planet with a lot of resources. In addition of a battle fleet planetary bases would help protect the Tarns. Others suggested an expedition in Chlorine system. It offered a good world for a new colony and more importantly an ancient ruin. He always envied Mercury ruins which had helped greatly the Venusians. Of course the first group had lots of stocks of the five Syndicate transporting companies, while the other group did not. But he had time to think. Maybe 3 years, then Syndicate will be able to expand safely. It was the start of a Golden Age and his name will be remembered as the one who brought Syndicate in it.
The screen ringed an incoming call from SWN command. A worried face of Emily Cameron commander of the SWN appeared.
-Sir, a wormhole suddenly appeared between Earth and Lithium jump point. Two spaceships of unknown identity appeared. They are moving towards the Sun, with high speed, close to 9500 km per second.
-Have you established contacted with them?
-The do not answer, maybe they do not understand, but I believe they do not care. The fleet and the planetary bases are on red alert, all officers and crew will be back in their ships in a few hours.
-Very well, continue the attempts for communication. Meanwhile I will contact the other factions for a joined effort to defend.
The called ended. He left his glass on the table. 9500km/s speed was unthinkable, new Syndicate ships had 6000. This new enemy is far more advanced than us, the realization brought fear for some time. He had to speak with the others; their combined fleets maybe could destroy the aliens. He hoped they could.
[ooc]The second bad moment i can remember was when i made a solo game to test the ships i was building (the defenders) and found in horror, that they could not destroy big fleets neither big ships. Also they had a rather thin capacity of ammo. Of course my duranium crash didn't allow me to change as i needed duranium to build mines and labs. The first and worst moment was the fact i failed to realize a duranium crash was on the way. Other bad moments:
1) Venusian decided to light an active sensor, while i had no war ships.
2) My rather small cargo fleet and the discovery you can not relay on civs.
3) Tech trade with aliens will need lots of time and wont be that good as it sounds.
I do not remember any best memories. Nevertheless the satisfaction of establishing the Lithium system and developing it was great.
I am waiting for the next game.
Maybe we should have a subforum for these games? We could add each thread there and maybe have a thread for discussion.[/ooc]
-
Karr Jion looked over his reports. It was a very bleak picture. The Duranium shortage of the last few years was coming to an end but it had taken it's toll. And now according to the reports the fuel situation was going to be critical and Mars did not have a good supply of Sorium.
Mars military was far behind what would be needed to conquer the Tarn menace let alone put up a significant fight if any of the other Sol powers where to become hostile. Sure a last resort nuclear strike may take out the home worlds but the retaliation would destroy mars and with limited off world resources Mars was in no position to lose it's home planet. Other strategies presented by his advisers in this bleak scenario included a strike into the Venusian secondary system through the back door route that was believed to only be known by Mars.
There where a few known possible colony locations however these where all far from the home system and had the blasted Tarn in the way. It would be possible to skirt around them but it would be a dangerous trip. Shipping Martian colonist off the the secret location would ensure that some Martians would survive but who knew what dangers may present themselves in the future.
Just as he was deciding on a plan of action for the future of Mars his assistant finally returned in a fluster. He was babbling something about a "wormhole" and ships.
"Slow down and tell me what you have to say!" He yelled at the assistant.
"Sir there was this strange hole in space and these ships came out and they where going faster than anything we've seen so far even faster than our assault craft" The assistant quickly stammered.
Karr Jion looked at the assistant sternly, "What do you mean a 'Hole'? Like the ones made by our jumpgates?"
Holding a paper with a graph and some charts on it out to the First citizen the assistant replied, "No sir. According to the interpretations of the readings by our scientists this was a lot different. Like space itself ceased existing at that point. "
"Are the ships hostile? That's all we need at this point. Regardless ready the fleet, what there is of it anyway, and call a general alert to all military personnel. Prepare my limo and call an emergency news conference. Whatever created this phenomena is far beyond even Martian technology and could possibly be a major threat." Karr Jion ordered the assistant.
He grabbed his jacket, it was a nice one made of a smooth leather long pork he thinks the creature it came from was called. He would see that the whole military was issued similar ones after this threat was handled.
[ooc]Sub forum would be good. We could have a bit more space for discussion and keep track of trades etc.
Good moments for Mars:
1. Setting Sol speed record with the first FAC (that we know of)
2. Taking out several Tarn ships and losing only 1 or 2 of our own.
Bad moments for mars:
1. Duranium crash
2. Having no extra solar colonies.
3. Having our top researcher die (That hurt research efforst)
4. Spending so much time researching Cloaks.... (bad decision on my part. Thought tech was more useful ;) )
5. Fuel shortage.
6. Multiple regime changes caused much disruption in Martian long term planning.
A fun game overall tho and I did thoroughly enjoy playing. Can't wait for the martian comeback :D [/ooc]
-
[ooc]Don't have the energy for an in character write up.
Venus pretty much had nothing but good points, but almost all came from one place.
Mercury, the ruins there had over 700 installations, I got massive amounts of tech and labs out of it, plus Mercury itself had high quantities of most minerals. By this last turn Venus was a couple years off from ICF drive tech. I was really expecting it to be a contested planet. Venus never had a Duranium crunch, and the other factions Duranium crunch allowed me to trade my excess for Mercassium, which got me more labs.
The one other advantage was Milkoghast, the administrator had a number of decent stats, but quickly got factory construction 40%, which let me keep building rates competitive even though I had perhaps 60-80% the factories the other factions did.
The main weakness was the missile reliance, I had gunboats with lasers but other than that we had exclusively missile ships, by the end of the Gallenshu campaign stocks were basically out of modern missiles and it took 2 years to recover. An extended campaign against an even slightly more capable opponent might have been quite a lot more expensive.
Thanks all for your good luck wishes. I'll be following the future games and perhaps once I get the hang of all this working, or hire another employee I'll be able to play again.[/ooc]
-
Download link to final game state, password free. (https://dl.dropbox.com/u/59442391/Stevefire.zip)
I'll be deleting the shared dropbox folder soon and create a new one to avoid spamming past players new game updates.
Also, here is a composite view of all systems discovered by any of the player factions:
(http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x184/sublightrun/FinalMap.png)
Venus was the dominant power in Sol, and was the only faction to, with assistance, conquer and NPR.
The Syndicate, of Earth, not only were the only faction to send their citizens to colonies beyond Sol, but transformed Lithium into the largest non-homeworld colony anywhere.
Mars was hindered by constant regime changes and limited available real estate. Their claimed colony location turned out to be in the Tarn home system. By the time this was discovered everything else easily colonizable was already claimed. No colonies resulted in no civilian ships or civilian mines: so when the duranium crunch finally came, it hit hard. When the game ended Mars had built hyper-capable freighters to colonize a binary system 360 billion km away from the Sol jump point.
The Gallenshu, (home world Sissnik on map) had the shame of being the only faction conquered.
The Tarn (home world Tarn Vedra on map) became a major trading partner of the Syndicate and mortal foes of Mars when the martians discovered the Tarn had established a secondary colony on a world they had claimed.
The Preservationists (home world Krendar on map) were the most reclusive of the NPRs. Apparently distance makes friends because they granted the Syndicate Friendly status.
Oh, and Mars? Sorium was never a problem: Mars ended with a stockpile that would have lasted 150 years at ending consumption levels. The issue was the Refinery capacity: Both Earth and Venus manufactured over 4 million litters a year. Mars produced just under 0.8 million, including fuel harvesters.
If I have the time I'll post time-line graphs of assorted game stats. I'd also like to write a battle report on the Martian campaign. The tonnage kill:loss ratio was extraordinary.
-
We now interrupt your program for a Sponsor Announcement:
Return to Sol: Multiplayer Aurora 6.2 Coming Soon
The Setup:
The players each start in their own star system 1 jump away from Sol. (In theory this minimizes sensor checks and make the SM turns go faster.)
400 million accelerated conventional start.
> All conventional industry preconverted
> +50% starting research labs (6 total)
> +1 free commercial shipyard
> 2x Naval shipyard expansion (choice of double size or double slipway)
> 20,000 starting RP
> 6x Missile Complexes*
A 0RP Trans-Newtonian start is 40,500 RP ahead of a conventional start, so these conditions add up to, roughly, 1/2 of a TN start. The following are the base T-N starting techs. You may spend your initial techpoints from that list with 1 restriction: all races must start with all theoretical knowledge needed for at least one fully functional beam weapon system.
Tran-Newtonian 5000 Mobile Infantry 2500
Nuclear Thermal 2500 Crogenic Emerg 2000
Particle Beam 2 2000 Presurized Water 1500
10cm Laser 1000 10cm Meson 1000
10cm Microwave 1000 10cm rail 1000
15cm carronade 1000 Active Scanner 10 1000
Beam FireCon 10k 1000 Maint. Storage 1000
Alpha Shield 1000 Shield Regen 1 1000
Cargo Handling 1000 Cryogenic Small 1000
Cryogenic Stand 1000 Flag Bridge 1000
Garrison Battalion 1000 Gauss Velocity 1 1000
Gauss Rate 1 1000 Geological Sensor 1000
Mag Efficancy 75% 1000 Meson Focus 1 1000
Microwave Focus 1 1000 Particle Beam 60k 1000
Railgun Velocity 1 1000 Duranium Armor 500
Infared Laser 500 Mag Ejection 70% 500
Replacement Bttl 500
All beam weapon systems require Active Sensor 10, Beam Fire Control 10k, and Trans-Newtonian. Further, I'll bet that every player picks Geosurvey Sensors, Pressurized Water Reactors, and Nuclear Thermal Engines. After paying for all that stuff each player will have about 7,000 RP remaining for hopefully unique technology. *Anyone using a portion of their starting RP on PDC compatible racial component tech may chose to replace the default Missile Complexes with customized PDCs worth up to 2200 build points.
Anyone have comments or suggestions?
Jikor, Ektoras, Kaspar: Are all three of you still in on the next game? I'm curious how many slots I'll be recruiting for.
-
I'm in. I'll play as the colony formerly of Mars :D
Was just checking math on the items you listed but I seem to get about 8k leftover (unless I missed something):
Missed part about the beam weapon required ;D
-
It's been a few weeks, and I am in the swing of things with my store. I do believe I know when the slow times are going to be now and feel like I can play again. I'll sign on for Venus unless someone else who expressed interest while I was out claims it.
-
I'm in. Earth needs me ;D
I find the starting techs/installations fine. Each player system will conect only to Sol? How many systems there will be?
-
Ah, the entire old gang. 8)
I was thinking each player system would have 3 jump points: 1 jump to Sol, 2 paths leading outward.
Sol would have 5 jump points: 4 leading to the players plus 1 extra leading outward.
Similar max system count and near system chance as before.
I'm open to other ideas though.
-
Sound good to me. 2 paths out should give a good chance to NOT end up in a dead end :D
-
And if we do get a dead end we can simply negotiate/trade missiles and laser fire for travel rights.
-
I have a feeling this game would not be quite as peaceful as the previous with the lack of MAD ;)
-
You wont fear the roof blowing up while you sleep.
2 extra ways out sound good to me.
Wont you make another thread for Children of Sol round 2?
Maybe a subforum.
-
I'll see about asking for a subforum.
I'll make a new thread when its time to start the new game, or if I need to post a recruitment notice in the Chat forum.
Three spots claimed. One tentatively reserved for Kaspar... only Kaspar hasn't been active on the forum since late October. I'll hold the spot open until December 1st, but then the slot goes to the first person to sign on as an alternate. Or, if someone has the time/interest to SM a game I'll make that person a player in this one if I could be a player in theirs.
I'm thinking of revising the tech trading and espionage rules also.
-
Ok, I've gotten us a subforum.
New thread is here (http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php/topic,5674.0.html).