Children of Sol: Multiplayer Aurora

[sublight (OP)]

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. 

Spy Report: 2058

Code: [Select]

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.

[Panopticon]

Unencrypted message sent from the Dragon of Venus to Syndicate leaders:

Human burgers

Message ends.

[Garfunkel]

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.

[sublight (OP)]

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.

[sublight (OP)]

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

Code: [Select]

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.

[Antagonist]

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.

[sublight (OP)]

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.

[sublight (OP)]

*~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

Code: [Select]

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.

[Panopticon]

[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.

[Garfunkel]

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?

[sublight (OP)]

(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.

[Ektoras]

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]

[Panopticon]

[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]

[Antagonist]

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.

[sublight (OP)]

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

Code: [Select]

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.