2nd July 2384 The carriers Vigilant and Unyielding now have modern strike groups. The third and last Hegemony carrier, the Dragon, have reasonably modern fighters with magneto-plasma drives and speed greater than any other known ship except the Destroyer and Specter FACs, so they won't be upgraded. Instead as the gallicite stockpiles grow, a limited number of new warships will be constructed. For now that is impossible, as the construction of fighters, missiles and commercial vessels necessary to develop mining sites is consuming more than Hegemony produces. With small craft production suspended a small stockpile will be established in time, bur production of modern ordnance and additional colony and cargo ships takes priority.
20th October 2384 For years now the Republic has been ignoring the problem of numerous aliens bordering their space. The five systems known that belong to the Commune are of course of no danger, but there are also three systems known to have ADS presence and three containing Specter warships. However due to lack of jump ships, which makes assaults dangerous coupled with the sheer firepower needed to destroy a Specter behemoth, Phoenix preferred to keep building up and upgrading their forces. By now they have six full battle groups, several escorts awaiting assignment, and two of their new battleships under construction. In addition they have colonized a total of three system outside their capital, a number that will increase with time. However what really makes them rethink their stance is a report they just received from Kepler.
The survey ship have just re-entered ECN 4792 a system leading back towards Sol. It has a total of four jump points, one leading to the Republican space, one leading to an uninteresting red dwarf, one leading to an ADS system and one leading to a star infested by the Specters. While returning to refuel from the survey of the red dwarf system Kepler detected an alien mothership in the ECN 4792 system, which was previously scouted and proven to be secure, which means the Specters are moving towards the Republican space. Coupled with the human need to expand it is obvious that sooner or later all those alien controlled systems will have to be cleared.
There are of course other considerations. First an entire battlegroup is stationed at the Danube system to keep an eye on a Specter system connected to it. In addition there is a growing fear for safety among those not living in the capital. While the total population of Scandinavia, Danube and Dover is only sixty three million, it's still significant and growing larger. The government is already considering sending some of the unassigned escorts to picket those systems, mostly as a symbolic gesture, to placate the populations. Last but not least the Navy itself points out that while the home system is secure, the nation has very poor sensor coverage of the surrounding space. They point out to the Commune which has done a very good job keeping an eye on their systems, even those away from any inhabited planets, and how this played a crucial role against the Destroyer. They also point out there are thirteen thousand Catapults and sixteen thousand Interceptors on Albion, not counting munitions already on the ships. Those missiles are already obsolete but still useful against the aliens and with the stocks of modern ordnance at a healthy level, this is the best time to use those older models.
After a rather lengthy consideration the government decides to change their strategic stance. They will begin to systematically clear all alien systems they can while also setting up sensor outposts in each and every known system, like the Commune does. The process will be very lengthy of course due to the need for jump gates, the construction of which is a slow process, but there is no hurry. The first target will be ECN 4778 adjacent to Danube where a Specter behemoth is located.
4th November 2384 There is a significant discussion within the Commune government regarding their ground forces. They were first established to help the police keep peace in case of large scale civil disturbance then were expanded to secure archaeological sites and ADS outposts and then they switched to training of construction brigades which despite much higher training and support costs were capable of large scale construction with minimal workforce, making them an attractive alternative to manpower intensive TN based construction factories. By now Commune Ground Defense Force consists of three mobile infantry divisions, a guard division, several brigades supporting excavations and numerous army engineers supporting Odin's construction of sensor outposts and facilities necessary to establish new colonies. It should also be noted that thanks to installations recovered from alien ruins the Commune can train fifteen formations at once. At the same time they have more than they need which is why many in the government and general population want to suspend further expansion.
The Administrator does not agree however. As it points out the Hegemony is a human nation that turned out to be a bitter enemy. In the future it may be necessary to protect Commune worlds on the ground or, if worst comes to worst, to assault enemy planets in order to take him out for good. A large ground force will be needed for both those tasks.
What the AI wants to do is to train more garrison formations and dispatch them to more important planets like Eden or Knossos while also establishing a dedicated planetary assault arm. The discussion is heated and very dividing forcing the government to present the matter to the public and let them decide in a referendum. In the end, while by only a slim margin, the citizens of the Commune decided to expand their army. They realize it is a waste of resources against aliens, especially the Destroyers, but they simply hate the Hegemony too much and want to have the tools needed to bring it down if need be.
24th April 2385 The Commune suspends further construction of gunboats. They have twenty nine flotillas of Sharks and twenty nine more flotillas of Piranhas, giving them an enormous striking power. However gunboats are very limited in their utility and the government wants to concentrate on producing larger, more versatile and more resilient formations.
5th May 2385 The Republican battle groups one, four and five enter the ECN 4778 system, immediately detecting the suspected Specter Behemoth in the inner system. They are accompanied by a jump gate construction ship and the survey vessel Lagrange which will serve as a communication link with the rest of the nation.
As the completion of jump gate is absolutely essential, the warships will stay with the construction ship, at least for now.
11th May 2385 At first the alien Behemoth merely lurked in the inner system, but for the past two days it has been approaching the human force. As the distance falls below one hundred million kilometers each of the twelve battleships fires two hundred missiles, for a total of twenty four hundred Catapults.
It turned out to be a massive overkill as merely a thousand hits were needed to begin a cascade of secondary explosions that ripped the two hundred thousand tonne alien craft apart. Battle Group Five was sent ahead to deal with the expected eighty enemy gunboats while the other two battle groups remained at the jump point.
12th May 2385 The alien FACs are detected over twenty million kilometers away from Republican Battle Group Five. There were some within the Republican Navy who doubted information provided by the Commune, as they couldn't imagine any nation would be willing to offer so much information as they did for free, but said information continues to be accurate. The four battleships and their escorts reverse course targeting twelve catapults at each enemy. In the previous engagement ten weren't enough to guarantee a kill, hence the large numbers of missiles per alien small craft.
Seventeen enemies managed to survive, some of which even had power. As ammunition wasn't really a concern the humans decided to play it safe and ten more missiles have been launched against all survivors. This proves to be more than enough.
As the warships head back towards the Danube jump point, Battle Group Four is ordered to check the only planet in the system, although no one expects them to find anything. The system has no other major bodies although there are numerous asteroids in a sparse inner belt and much larger outer one, but the distances involved preclude a full scale scouting by the current forces. Tracking stations will be placed in the system in the future, but until then there will still be the risk of alien presence.
7th June 2385 The Hegemony freighters deliver prefabricated components of ground installations to Delawere which is a very important and ever growing mining location. Normally those consists only of planetary defense centers armed with anti-missiles, but this time in violation of long standing government policies, terraforming installations are included, due to the value of the planet. This causes some unrest on other worlds which can not hope to attract such developments, but the Hegemon points out to recovered, alien adaptable installations currently working on Magnolia in the Seattle system, which will be moved to other planets when possible. Of course this will be a very slow process.
16th August 2385 While the Hegemony gallicite situation is far from solved, production is large enough to allow slow construction of new warships. Nowhere near enough to put all the existing yards to use, but at least modernization of the Navy can finally begin.
The first component of the future carrier groups is the X-226 Defiant. The third warship to bear the name, she will mass two hundred and twenty thousand tonnes, making her the largest construct to date, surpassing even the Specter Behemoths. Her armor is as thick as that of the preceding Dragon, but lighter, her CIWS stations are more numerous, more accurate and can fire more shots, allowing her to potentially intercept two hundred missiles, her flight deck is larger, as are her magazines and the sensor suite has been completely reworked. The new main sensor will be able to spot anything from gunboats to battleships from over a billion kilometers away and a new missile detection system will allow future escorts to intercept missiles from over six million kilometers away. And of course she is using the newest engines, giving her unprecedented mobility.
X-226 Defiant class Carrier 220 000 tons 3817 Crew 32816.8 BP TCS 4400 TH 22000 EM 0
5000 km/s Armour 8-324 Shields 0-0 Sensors 700/900/0/0 Damage Control Rating 178 PPV 88
Maint Life 1.35 Years MSP 16594 AFR 2175% IFR 30.2% 1YR 9741 5YR 146114 Max Repair 1400 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Flight Crew Berths 0
Hangar Deck Capacity 60000 tons Magazine 8280 Cryogenic Berths 1000
Ding-Zheng Naval Internal Fusion Drive (22) Power 1000 Fuel Use 25% Signature 1000 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 29 000 000 Litres Range 94.9 billion km (219 days at full power)
Phalanx CIWS Mk2 (20x10) Range 1000 km TS: 25000 km/s ROF 5 Base 50% To Hit
Eshleman-Burrell Design Bureau Box Launcher (80) Missile Size 4 Hangar Reload 30 minutes MF Reload 5 hours
Karalis-Nallie Advanced Anti-Missile Launcher (40) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 5
Tiwari Dynamics High Resolution Harpoon Fire Control (4) Range 202.8m km Resolution 20
Foxe Aerospace Industries Anti-Missile Fire Control (4) Range 60.5m km Resolution 1
Harpoon C (80) Speed: 50 000 km/s End: 55m Range: 164.9m km WH: 10 Size: 4 TH: 166/100/50
Spacebolt (2400) Speed: 50 000 km/s End: 25.1m Range: 75.4m km WH: 9 Size: 3 TH: 166/100/50
Patriot C (760) Speed: 65 000 km/s End: 1.6m Range: 6.4m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 715/429/214
Mckenney Space & Security Battle Management System Mk2 (1) GPS 28000 Range 1 127.0m km Resolution 20
Bretschneider-Bachmann Long Range Missile Detection System (1) GPS 336 Range 60.5m km MCR 6.6m km Resolution 1
Lichtenberg-Lambeth Huge Thermal Sensor (1) Sensitivity 700 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 700m km
Lichtenberg-Lambeth Huge EM Detection Sensor (1) Sensitivity 900 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 900m km
ECCM-4 (4) Strike Group
120x X-225 Peregrine Bomber Speed: 10000 km/s Size: 10
Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
As the designing of the new Defiant saw development of new components, and many of the shipyards continue to lie idle, both the government and the Navy begun looking for ways to improve their existing ships without using gallicite. To the surprise of both parties, there does appear to be a way to at least improve missile defense. Energy weapons, both anti-ship and anti-missile ones cannot be replaced due to the cost, launchers have already been replaced and new missiles are being produced, which will help but one thing that haven't been changed and can be improved relatively cheaply are fire controls.
One of the major differences between the Commune and the Hegemony that has been observed during the Battle of ES – 09 were the interception ranges. The former begun destroying missiles at the distance of over four million kilometers, while the latter could react at only a quarter of the range, which is believed to be a major contributor to the sheer difference in performance between the two sides. This was taken into account when designing next generation electronics and incorporated into the Defiant, which has large active sensors and appropriate fire controls. Of course due to the increased size some major reworking will have to be done. For example the new Hammurabi class frigates would have to lose two launchers, one fire control, some fuel and engineering spaces and their armor would have to be replaced with the new, lighter version. Despite that however the upgrades will be relatively cheap, would use only minerals which are in ample supply and would drastically increase the resilience of exiting formations against missile attacks. As the government plans to retain the existing warships in service for years to come this is certainly a welcome upgrade.
There is one issue however – detection. The huge, recently developed missile detection array can simply not be placed on the old ships. It was designed to be put on carriers, which serve as a heart of any force but upgrading older vessels is currently not possible. As there was also some detection related problems in Des Moines, the Navy proposes an alternate solution in the form of a dedicated sensor and possibly a command vessel.
When the Dragon Carrier Group guarded the construction ship in Des Moines, during their investigation of the system, they were glued to their charge and unable to perform any form of scouting of the inner system. When they finally were able to they had to move as an entire formation. This has showed a significant lack of flexibility within the existing carrier groups. As such the Navy would love to develop a cruiser sized vessel that could lead other ships on a detached duty for scouting, jump point investigation, or maybe even combat where using a carrier is too risky or not possible. Such a ship would have a full sensor suite, although probably not as powerful as that of a carrier, and a jump drive, preferably one allowing assaults on lightly defended points. If ships like that are indeed developed, there is no reason why additional ones could not be built and attached to the existing groups to provide the necessary sensor coverage. Unfortunately while most components, such as sensors and engines are readily available, the necessary jump engine is not. As such it will be some time before such a cruiser can be designed.
10th December 2385 After hastily developing an appropriate jump drive the Hegemony designs the X-227 Normandy class command cruiser. The vessel has no armament whatsoever, not counting several CIWS stations for defense, but it has the same sensor suite as the Defiant and can transport five other warships through a jump point, potentially emerging as much as half a million kilometers from it, giving it a reasonable potential for jump point assaults.
The ships will be built in the Krummacher Company Inc. shipyard, which was constructed just before the gallicite situation cut the naval production and was supposed to build cruisers sized vessels either for escort or independent duties. The final decision was never made and is still in the future as for now the yard will be building the command ships. Three are needed for the older carrier groups, one will be needed for the new Defiant and the government wants to have additional ones to lead detachments or be assigned to future carrier formations. Overall ten are planned.
X-227 Normandy class Command Cruiser 30 000 tons 847 Crew 7352.8 BP TCS 600 TH 3000 EM 0
5000 km/s JR 6-500 Armour 6-86 Shields 0-0 Sensors 700/900/0/0 Damage Control Rating 28 PPV 0
Maint Life 1.97 Years MSP 4289 AFR 257% IFR 3.6% 1YR 1461 5YR 21918 Max Repair 1400 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Spare Berths 0
Eichhorn Engines Limited Military Jump Drive Max Ship Size 30000 tons Distance 500k km Squadron Size 6
Ding-Zheng Naval Internal Fusion Drive (3) Power 1000 Fuel Use 25% Signature 1000 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 2 050 000 Litres Range 49.2 billion km (113 days at full power)
Phalanx CIWS Mk2 (6x10) Range 1000 km TS: 25000 km/s ROF 5 Base 50% To Hit
Mckenney Space & Security Battle Management System Mk2 (1) GPS 28000 Range 1 127.0m km Resolution 20
Bretschneider-Bachmann Long Range Missile Detection System (1) GPS 336 Range 60.5m km MCR 6.6m km Resolution 1
Lichtenberg-Lambeth Huge Thermal Sensor (1) Sensitivity 700 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 700m km
Lichtenberg-Lambeth Huge EM Detection Sensor (1) Sensitivity 900 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 900m km
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes10th March 2386 The Republican battle groups Three and Five jump into ECN 4787 where two alien wrecks and one ADS ship have previously been detected. They are supported by jump gate construction ship and the science vessel Kepler which will serve as a messenger. One of the naval formations remains on the jump point to keep an eye on the construction, while the other moves towards the inner system to clear it of hostiles.
12th March 2186 An ADS frigate and a destroyer have been detected, moving towards the Republican forces from the inner system. Both were easily destroyed from afar. Two days later two bases were detected and destroyed in orbit of the second planet, a very good candidate for settlement and terraformation.
30th March 2186 The Republican survey ship Kepler discovers a ruined outpost and a massive ancient facility on ECN 4787 II, the planet recently guarded by ADS bases. Unfortunately no mineral deposits are present.
24th May 2186 The Hegemony detects an ADS ship in Indianapolis, a system adjacent to Austin which has colony of one million. It is also only two jumps from Houston where all naval fuel harvesters are located. The government, still eager to score a military victory for propaganda purposes, intends to deal with the threat as soon as possible. However there is currently no jump gate present, so it will be some time before a vessel can be dispatched and do its work.
1st June 2186 The Hegemony discovers the system of Albany, located in a dense nebula. There are three candidates for colonization and two unknown wrecks, indicating possibility of ADS presence and maybe even ruins to be exploited. Unfortunately most of their ships have rather thin armor and somewhat primitive energy weapons, so if the aliens are present they will almost certainly be faster and longer ranged. Because of that the system will remain off limits.
12th July 2186 Without the jump gate leading out of ECN 4787 the victorious Republican forces had to remain in the system. This has proven to be a good thing as Kepler has detected another ADS vessel hanging out in deep space, prompting Battle Group Five to try and engage it. Unfortunately the alien is keeping the range open, having twenty kilometers per second speed advantage. The only blessing is the fact, that this appears to be the kind of surveillance destroyer the Commune has encountered often and it usually just hangs in deep space doing nothing.
As the human forces prepare to leave the system and a report is sent to the capital, the Federal government is once again confronted by their inability to chase down fast enemies. The system of ECN 4782 for example remains off-limits due to the presence of two very fast ADS scouts, despite no other resistance being encountered there. The enormous range of their missiles, which is a little over half a billion kilometers, failed to solve the problem as it was supposed to. In the end the government has only two options – ask the Commune for help or develop warships specifically designed to deal with such a threat. The latter option is chosen although it will be some time before proper components are ready.
20th November 2186 A strange, unexplained phenomenon has appeared in the Commune system of Peter's Crossing. Initially thought to be a formerly dormant jump point, it is much more powerful and easily visible for everyone in the system, unlike other such phenomena which have to be surveyed for. In addition while it is outside active sensor range, it is only about six hundred million kilometers from Knossos which has respectable passive sensors but even so no vessels has been detected. A science vessel has been dispatched from Baltic to investigate further.
The system serves as headquarters for the Third Fleet and has Task Force 301 on station, comprising sixteen fully armed gunboat flotillas supported by two frigate squadrons, five orbital weapons platforms, albeit obsolete ones, and a total of fifteen missile bases on the ground, although many are pure offensive platforms. As similarly sized forces managed to deal with the Destroyer, the Force is confident they can handle trouble if any emerges from the anomaly, although if someone was to come out of it, he would likely have already done so. Even so, just in case the military will send additional missiles from the home system, to bring bases up to full strength, as those are the only forces in the system that aren't fully armed.
3rd December 2186 The Commune missile situation continues to improve and almost all forces and installations have their assigned loadout, but the reserve consists entirely of older munitions. That however will be changing as new ordnance factories come online, mostly on Zuirderzee but also on other worlds, like Eden, Knossos, Wieliczka and even Prkos, all of which either serve as naval bases or have many locally built missile bases for defense. Thanks to this the Fifth Fleet is finally assembled and activated above Guillard. It will be responsible for protecting the Ayathuya sector.
As the sector is the smallest and least important one in the Commune, so is the fleet, which comprises a single cruiser division, two squadrons, one of destroyers and another one of frigates and last but not least two gunboat flotillas. Light orbital defenses are also present above the planet and above Emesh, the only other colonized world in the sector. Unfortunately the fleet currently has very little support as Guillard is home to only eight million people. Because of that there are no ordnance factories present on the planet, nor is there any stockpile available. Even so as the sector does not connect to the Hegemony, the small but modern and capable force should be able to deal with any problems they may face and the ammunition stockpiles and fleets of the capital system are only two jumps away if needed.
4th December 2186 The Commune science vessel Sirius arrives near the anomaly to study it. Her powerful sensors, both passive and active, detect no unknown ships nearby as was expected.
10th December 2186 The Hegemony's mineral situation begins to improve although new challenges also arise. Stockpiles of eight TN elements exceed a hundred thousand tonnes, making them a non-issue. There is currently fifty thousand tonnes of corundium, critical in manufacturing of mining equipment, but currently only few are being constructed and the government is already looking into potential new extraction sites. Gallicite, which stopped naval expansion cold, is being mined in reasonable quantities and over thirty five thousand tonnes are in storage despite near constant construction of auxiliary vessels, missiles and fighters. The only potential near term issue is tritanium. Less than ten thousand tonnes are in storage, but fortunately large and easily accessible deposits are located on Delawere which is being heavily developed. In addition the mineral is useful mostly for ammunition rather than shipbuilding, and missile stocks are satisfactory.
The upgrades are also almost complete. While the available escorts are still rather slow, with many equipped with ion engines, all Ra class destroyers and Hammurabi class frigates have been refitted with new technologies, and the Enki class frigates will be ready soon as well. While still not up to par with Commune vessels, all of them will now be able to fire anti-missiles every five seconds rather than ten while engaging from much longer ranges using newest ammunition. This should make them much more capable. And to make things even better, the Defiant will be ready less than fourth months. All of which means the time has come to develop the first of new generation escorts and begin production, even if using all available yards is still not possible due to mineral situation.
The one vessel which stood out during the recent conflicts was the Ra class destroyer. She failed as an escort, but this was true for all of the Navy. At the same time her offensive armament contributed a lot. During the battle of ES – 09 the only missile attack which accomplished something was a joined strike by the fighters and the escorting destroyers, and Ra's short range weaponry did significant damage to the enemy forces. In fact many in the Navy believe that if the ships have been equipped with ECCM the battle may have ended in draw. And while some doubt it, everyone agrees that with ECCM the Ras would have dealt a lot more damage than they did.
Because of that the first of the new escorts, the X-228 'Morrigan' is basically a modernized version of the old Ra class. She has fewer offensive missiles and smaller magazines, but more anti-missile launchers, fifty percent thicker armor, two twin gauss cannon turrets which can fire twenty rounds every five seconds and significantly improved electronic suite which includes ECCM systems.
The one disputed item is her magazine space. Some wanted to remove some launchers to add more ammunition while others wanted to cut into her energy armament. However the Navy sees the Morrigan as a multi-role vessel, a general carrier support that if necessary can perform solitary missions or work with Normandy class vessels on detached duty. They also want to preserve the qualities that stood out in the Ra class, as the carrier groups will gain a dedicated anti-missile support later, possibly even a simply improved Hammurabi class. In such a scenario there is no reason to enlarge her magazines.
Retooling of the shipyard will not be complete until March 2187, well after the Defiant have been launched.
X-228 Morrigan class Destroyer 20 000 tons 492 Crew 4780.6 BP TCS 400 TH 2000 EM 0
5000 km/s Armour 6-65 Shields 0-0 Sensors 36/36/0/0 Damage Control Rating 9 PPV 147.12
Maint Life 1.61 Years MSP 1345 AFR 355% IFR 4.9% 1YR 608 5YR 9126 Max Repair 500 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Spare Berths 1
Magazine 708
Ding-Zheng Naval Internal Fusion Drive (2) Power 1000 Fuel Use 25% Signature 1000 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 1 250 000 Litres Range 45.0 billion km (104 days at full power)
Gothe Systems 300mm Spinal Mounted Far UV Laser (1) Range 320 000km TS: 6250 km/s Power 24-6 RM 5 ROF 20 24 24 24 24 24 20 17 15 13 12
Gothe Systems Improved Particle Beam (3) Range 320 000km TS: 6250 km/s Power 22-6 ROF 20 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9
Twin Gothe Systems Gauss Cannon Turret (2x10) Range 30 000km TS: 25000 km/s Power 0-0 RM 3 ROF 5 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Timblo Electronic Systems Improved Beam Fire Control (1) Max Range: 320 000 km TS: 6250 km/s 97 94 91 88 84 81 78 75 72 69
Timblo Electronic Systems Improved PD Fire Control (2) Max Range: 80 000 km TS: 25000 km/s 88 75 62 50 38 25 12 0 0 0
Mcquerry-Cassin Tokamak Fusion Reactor Technology (3) Total Power Output 24 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Karalis-Nallie Advanced Anti-Missile Launcher (20) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 5
Eshleman-Burrell Design Bureau Box Launcher (100) Missile Size 4 Hangar Reload 30 minutes MF Reload 5 hours
Foxe Aerospace Industries Anti-Missile Fire Control (2) Range 60.5m km Resolution 1
Gaekwad & Saigal Missile Fire Control (4) Range 151.2m km Resolution 100
Tomahawk C (100) Speed: 50 000 km/s End: 23.8m Range: 71.4m km WH: 15 Size: 4 TH: 166/100/50
Patriot C (308) Speed: 65 000 km/s End: 1.6m Range: 6.4m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 715/429/214
Gaekwad & Saigal Small Active Search Sensor (1) GPS 8400 Range 151.2m km Resolution 100
Chen Manufacturing Medium Missile Detection System (1) GPS 168 Range 30.2m km MCR 3.3m km Resolution 1
Chen Manufacturing Thermal Sensor (1) Sensitivity 36 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 36m km
Chen Manufacturing EM Detection Sensor (1) Sensitivity 36 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 36m km
ECCM-4 (4) Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes20th December 2386 The Hegemony has finally completed their development of San Francisco-C II mining colony. A thousand automated mines are present, supported by twenty nine complexes run by private corporations. Together they produce over forty five thousand tonnes of gallicite per year, together with some other, less important minerals. For comparison, the Delawere colony, expanded to also deal with shortage of that particular element, produces only eleven thousand tonnes. The planet is so important in fact, that despite not being habitable it has been named Yerba Buena.
While the gallicite crisis is by no means over, the government intends to concentrate on their colony in Philadelphia from now on. In several years the planet will be habitable and manned mining complexes are much cheaper than automated ones. In addition Delawere has much more diversified set of elements, making it much more useful in the long run.
28th December 2386 The Commune science vessel Sirius has been studying the anomaly in Peter's Crossing for two weeks now, but the various astronomers, physicists and engineers still have no idea what they are looking at. At first they thought it was just a jump point with much stronger signature, but they were unable to traverses it which means they were either wrong, they require a different drive or the construct is unidirectional. Some believe it is just another jump point connection to a black hole, but it's unlike the ones encountered before though some speculate it may just be a new, previously unknown kind. For now the ship will continue her work, but very few people expect to have answers in the foreseeable future.
17th January 2387 The Dragon Carrier Group of the Hegemony Navy enters the Indianapolis system where an ADS warship has been spotted. It escorts a jump gate construction ship and an exploration vessel for communication and almost immediately detects a destroyer and two bases around in the orbit of the second planet, a little over three hundred million kilometers away. The fighters are launched immediately to deal with the threat.
Before the fighters could engage waves of missiles were detected approaching the Dragon and her consorts, but only fifteen at a time. Even so the task group was rather light on point defenses so they had to use their huge number of anti-missile launchers to stop the enemy munitions from even getting close. Despite using second generation interceptors, rather than the newest, third generation ones, the threat was easily dealt with although hundreds of Patriots were expanded. Less than three hours later all three detected enemies has been destroyed.
20th January 2387 The Republic designs a new ship, the Lancelot class destroyer, developed specifically to chase and kill fast enemies. She has high speed, heavy armor, several very powerful lasers, long range and good endurance. While some within the Navy are uncertain about building a vessel so specialized towards what is for all instances and purposes a clean up operation, not only Phoenix needs such an ability due to the low speed of their battle groups, but the Lancelot should also make an excellent jump point defense vessel thanks to the destructiveness and precision of her lasers coupled with her ability to keep almost everyone in range. Twelve ships are planned.
Lancelot class Destroyer 12 500 tons 373 Crew 4453.8 BP TCS 250 TH 2600 EM 0
10400 km/s Armour 10-47 Shields 0-0 Sensors 72/72/0/0 Damage Control Rating 8 PPV 44
Maint Life 3 Years MSP 1782 AFR 156% IFR 2.2% 1YR 296 5YR 4445 Max Repair 432 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 36 months Spare Berths 1
Kraus Aero Engines High Power Magnetic Fusion Drive (4) Power 650 Fuel Use 46.25% Signature 650 Exp 13%
Fuel Capacity 1 650 000 Litres Range 51.4 billion km (57 days at full power)
Beauvilliers & Letourneur 250mm Far Ultraviolet Laser (4) Range 384 000km TS: 10400 km/s Power 16-6 RM 5 ROF 15 16 16 16 16 16 13 11 10 8 8
Beauvilliers & Letourneur 380mm Spinal Mounted Far UV Laser (1) Range 384 000km TS: 10400 km/s Power 38-6 RM 5 ROF 35 38 38 38 38 38 31 27 23 21 19
Sanders-Winter Systems Mk2 Laser Fire Control (2) Max Range: 384 000 km TS: 12000 km/s 97 95 92 90 87 84 82 79 77 74
Lamarliere Aircraft Engine Co Tokamak Fusion Reactor (4) Total Power Output 32 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Celine-Landry Medium Sized Active Search Sensor (1) GPS 51840 Range 1 135.8m km Resolution 120
Fimmen International Thermal Sensor (1) Sensitivity 72 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 72m km
Fimmen International EM Detection Sensor (1) Sensitivity 72 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 72m km
ECCM-4 (2) ECM 40
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes24th January 2387 The Republican Battle Group Seven, supported by a jump gate construction ship and the science vessel Hubble arrive in ECN 4792. The system was rediscovered several years ago on a route back to Earth and led to three others. One of those was occupied by the ADS while another was occupied by Specters, who moved into ECN 4792 recently. This event prompted Phoenix to re-evaluate their strategic position and made them begin to remove all threats to their territory.
The Battle Group Seven is a new formation, made of the New Atlantis class battleships and escort vessels. There were many who wanted to keep this flotilla closer to home as it was the most powerful one they had, but the new warships were specifically build to deal with FACs when needed, which should make them very effective against the Specters which were the target this time.
The powerful active sensor on the task group, which had range of nearly two billion kilometers, did not detect any enemies, but the warships were unwilling to uncover the jump gate construction ship. Either the Specters will come to them or Battle Group Seven will have to wait half a year before looking for their enemy.
10th February 2387 The Defiant, the largest warship ever constructed by humanity is launched from Hegemony shipyards above New Earth. The event is played in the media for all its worth, supposedly ushering new age for the Navy. The reality is somewhat different however. While the ship itself is a superb example of engineering, filled with newest fighters and ordnance, there are no modern escorts available. For the time being older ships are assigned to the carrier group, slowing it down but providing reasonable protection as all have been modernized. Another carrier of the class won't be laid down until production of new frigates and destroyers hits its stride.
5th April 2387 Phoenix designs a new ship, the Cronus class cruiser. Originally it was supposed to be a new version of the Flower class escort cruiser but the government had no choice but to change that.
The original Flower was designed in the early days of the Republican militarization, when their industrial base was still limited, especially in terms of missile production. The escort cruiser was supposed to protect battleships from enemy fire without using ordnance and was both impressive and disappointing in this role. On the one hand she could intercept up to ninety six shipkillers form a single wave, without using any ordnance whatsoever, which was not only cheap but made her very easy to support on prolonged deployments. On the other hand the Dreadnought class battleships which cost a little over twice as much as the escort cruiser could five six hundred missiles at once, which meant huge numbers of expensive hulls were needed for protection. Even so the Flowers continue to serve within the Republican Navy, albeit they are of course supported by other ships.
Thanks to recent upgrades however their effectiveness would have been increased immensely. A Refit II of the vessel was designed and she had twice the tracking speed of her predecessor, making her highly effective even against Commune missiles, and increased rate of fire allowed her gauss cannons to intercept up to a hundred and sixty shipkillers, sixty percent more than previously. Unfortunately a refit of the older ships would cost seventy five percent as much as a new hull and would not include new, lighter armor nor better electronic systems. For all instances and purposes the Flower class escort cruisers were dead-end vessels from the point of view of future design. While they will continue to serve, due to their numbers, they will never be refitted with new armaments and as soon as possible they will be simply scrapped.
However the defense provided by them was still considered important. While gauss cannons were admittedly only moderately useful against the other two human forces, as all of them relied on very large single salvos, there were other potential enemies and they could function even after all missile stocks have been exhausted. As a result both the government and the Navy wanted to have gauss cannon armed escorts available, but obviously they wanted new, upgraded ones. As a result a new warship was designed, one armed with point blank defenses, anti-ship lasers and new, improved anti-missile launchers capable of firing every five seconds. It was a large, all around escort that could face any threat and as the gauss cannons were only a small part of such a ship, the new Cronus class vessel should have reasonable upgrade costs once new versions are designed. In time the new cruisers will replace all of the Flower class.
Flower Retrofit II (Concept) class Escort Cruiser 24 450 tons 707 Crew 6772.8 BP TCS 489 TH 2250 EM 0
4601 km/s Armour 4-75 Shields 0-0 Sensors 33/42/0/0 Damage Control Rating 20 PPV 253.28
Maint Life 2.82 Years MSP 3463 AFR 239% IFR 3.3% 1YR 633 5YR 9501 Max Repair 506.25 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months Spare Berths 0
Giarelli Techsystems Magnetic Fusion Drive (2) Power 1125 Fuel Use 11.53% Signature 1125 Exp 9%
Fuel Capacity 1 050 000 Litres Range 67.0 billion km (168 days at full power)
Rhodes Precision Arms 190mm Spinal NU Laser (1) Range 192 000km TS: 8000 km/s Power 9-5 RM 3 ROF 10 9 9 9 6 5 4 3 3 3 2
Quad D Agostino-Petrella Gauss Cannon Turret (8x20) Range 40 000km TS: 32000 km/s Power 0-0 RM 4 ROF 5 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Meneghin Techsystems Beam Fire Control (1) Max Range: 192 000 km TS: 16000 km/s 95 90 84 79 74 69 64 58 53 48
Fortin-Lachance Improved Point Defence Fire Control (8) Max Range: 96 000 km TS: 32000 km/s 90 79 69 58 48 38 27 17 6 0
Lamarliere Aircraft Engine Co Tokamak Fusion Reactor (4) Total Power Output 32 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Alberoni Corporation Small Missile Detection System (1) GPS 56 Range 7.8m km MCR 854k km Resolution 1
Engels Electronics Industries Thermal Sensor (1) Sensitivity 33 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 33m km
Engels Electronics Industries EM Detection Sensor (1) Sensitivity 42 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 42m km
ECCM-3 (3) This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposesCronus class Cruiser 37 500 tons 1021 Crew 9736.25 BP TCS 750 TH 3375 EM 0
4500 km/s Armour 10-99 Shields 0-0 Sensors 72/72/0/0 Damage Control Rating 27 PPV 273.46
Maint Life 2.66 Years MSP 4381 AFR 416% IFR 5.8% 1YR 880 5YR 13199 Max Repair 506.25 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months Spare Berths 1
Magazine 1860
Giarelli Techsystems Magnetic Fusion Drive (3) Power 1125 Fuel Use 11.53% Signature 1125 Exp 9%
Fuel Capacity 1 500 000 Litres Range 62.4 billion km (160 days at full power)
Beauvilliers & Letourneur 250mm Far Ultraviolet Laser (2) Range 384 000km TS: 8000 km/s Power 16-6 RM 5 ROF 15 16 16 16 16 16 13 11 10 8 8
Beauvilliers & Letourneur 380mm Spinal Mounted Far UV Laser (1) Range 384 000km TS: 8000 km/s Power 38-6 RM 5 ROF 35 38 38 38 38 38 31 27 23 21 19
Quad D Agostino-Petrella Gauss Cannon Turret (6x20) Range 40 000km TS: 32000 km/s Power 0-0 RM 4 ROF 5 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fortin-Lachance Improved Point Defence Fire Control (6) Max Range: 96 000 km TS: 32000 km/s 90 79 69 58 48 38 27 17 6 0
Sanders-Winter Systems Mk2 Laser Fire Control (1) Max Range: 384 000 km TS: 12000 km/s 97 95 92 90 87 84 82 79 77 74
Lamarliere Aircraft Engine Co Tokamak Fusion Reactor (3) Total Power Output 24 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Hanson Corporation Advanced Anti-Missile Launcher (60) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 5
Glover Electronics Anti-Missile Fire Control (6) Range 69.1m km Resolution 1
Interceptor II (1860) Speed: 90 000 km/s End: 0.6m Range: 3.2m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 930/558/279
Glover Electronics Medium Missile Detection System (1) GPS 288 Range 69.1m km MCR 7.5m km Resolution 1
Fimmen International Thermal Sensor (1) Sensitivity 72 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 72m km
Fimmen International EM Detection Sensor (1) Sensitivity 72 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 72m km
ECCM-4 (5) ECM 40
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 upgraded electronics and launchers also led to the design of Rome Refit II, the primary anti-missile escort. However with the introduction of Cronus many believe the vessel has become redundant and something else should be built instead. Whether or not a new small escort is designed is a question for another time however. The Beyince Heavy Industries & Construction shipyard above Gniezno, which built those ships, will now be busy building the Lancelot class destroyers and upgrading the Romes. In addition it will be years, possibly decades before sufficient number of Cronuses is available and the Flowers are retired which means the Rome class still have a lot of life ahead of it.
8th April 2387 The Commune colonizes the seventeenth moon of the fourth planet in the Andes system. The moon is the only site with both tritanium and uridium at reasonable quantities and accessibility, even though the other mineral deposits are quite unimportant. The two minerals, while still in ample supply, are mined in quantities just enough for the current needs, so if their consumption spikes suddenly, there will be shortages. The colony, named Quilotoa, will be in place should that happen, although there are plans to put a couple of hundred mining complexes in place from the start anyway. This also makes Andes the second system, after Adriatic, which will have two habitable planets in the Commune, with the other colony in the system being Resplandecer, founded by citizens in abandoned alien habitats.
25th April 2387 The Commune science vessel Sirius is recalled from its study of the anomaly in Peter's Crossing. They gathered huge amounts of information, but the various scientists are still puzzled about it. There are many theories, but not a single one of them managed to become accepted.
