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The Official Chronicle of the Duranium Legion
« on: February 13, 2021, 04:37:02 PM »
The Official Chronicle of the Duranium Legion

Restored and translated for the public record by the researchers of the Interplanetary Radioactive Frozen Beverage Academy

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A Brief History of the Duranium Legion to the Year 4000

Scraps of ancient records suggest that scientific minds of the XX and XXI centuries believed that whatever weapons the third world war was fought with, the fourth world war would be fought with primeval technology. Unfortunately for humanity, these scientific minds were incorrect. From the latter half of the XXI century on, not one but a series of apocalyptic world wars were fought. While surviving records are scarce, modern scholarly consensus indicates that the final of these wars, fought in the late XXIII century, culminated in a cataclysmic release of ionizing radiation which disabled nearly all planetary communications, causing the disintegration of civilization and the beginning of a new Dark Age.

Records from this period are scarce, but it is generally accepted that by the XXVI century a patchwork of reconstructed nation states had emerged, broadly clustered near the equator indicating that a nuclear ice age was occurring at the time. From then until the early XXXIII century, few records exist, but the nations which were well-established by this time once again began to practice formal archiving of records. From these archives it is apparent that any post-nuclear ice age had largely ended by this time, as the major nations of Earth had once again expanded north and south. The following centuries were broadly characterized by endless series of local wars for control of the remaining resource-rich areas of the planet, and by the dawn of the XXXVI century the world was dominated by roughly twenty regional powers which competed for domination over the human species.

As regional wars and complex alliances increasingly intertwined, the nation states of Earth transformed from economic and military unions to fanatical ideological blocs, likely in an effort to maintain war fervor amongst their populations. A series of interlocking regional wars in the late XXXVIII century finally exploded into a full-fledged world war, equally as devastating as those of the early XX centuries though fortunately stopping short of the complete collapse of civilization. Regardless, some two-thirds of the regional hegemonies were brought to ruin by the end of this world war, and out of their ashes rose many new nations.

Among these was a race of humans then known as the Iron Legion. Driven by pure ideology and hardened aggression, the Legion struggled for its survival like many others of these new nations, but rather than scraping together what subsistence economy they could, the Legion instead chose to ensure its own survival at the expense of the other nations. The first recorded war of conquest by the Iron Legion began in the year 3812, and these wars would continue unabated for most of that century, during which the Legion would expand to become the largest regional power in the world.. Finally, in the year 3897, Legion scientists made a discovery that would change the face of the Earth forever.

Spurred on by the newly-discovered Trans-Newtonian elements (TNEs, named after one of the few ancient scientists whose memory had survived through the millennia), the Iron Legion fought the last and greatest war in the history of Planet Earth - the Trans-Newtonian War. Standing alone against the combined might of all other nations, their unrivaled technology and aggression ultimately delivered hard-fought victory into the hands of the Legion after over two decades of global conflict. In the end, for the first time in history the peoples of Earth stood united under one banner - the banner of the Duranium Legion, now so-named by decree of the Emperor in honor of the TNEs which had won the war as well as in recognition that the Legion had evolved to become a new, all-encompassing race of mankind.

In the following decades, even the warlike Legion largely busied itself with the work of rebuilding global civilization, introducing the economic wonders of TNEs to the rest of mankind. Even so, various small states in remote regions as well as occasional organized revolts provided the aggressive soldiers of the Legion with sufficient opportunities to hone their combat prowess. Finally, in the last decade of the XL century, the Emperor decreed the construction of a fleet of space-borne warships, partly as a vehicle for continued economic recovery but more so to continue the inexorable expansion of the Legion through the vast reaches of the final frontier…

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Campaign Details

Known systems, 30% ruins chance
Two billion pop, 200k instant RP, 160k instant BP
3x NPR at 25-50 LY, all spoilers active
Rerolling and slight tonnage tweaking of shipyards to support a suitable set of starting classes

Mostly this campaign is intended to be a “quick” 1.12 campaign as I wanted to start writing something without a lot of narrative fuss while waiting for 1.13 to come out, at which point I have a few different ideas. I suspect these may be famous last words, but the Invaders are on so this just might be a quick one.

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The First Legion Navy

The Legion Navy of the year 4000 was technologically built upon the third iteration of Legion Trans-Newtonian (TN) technology in most respects, with the first iteration having fought the Trans-Newtonian War and the second iteration being largely restricted to prototypes and R&D work in the post-war period. The backbone of the Legion Navy at this time consisted of fast ion drive propulsion, robust and rapid-firing railgun batteries in multiple sizes, and ultra high-resolution uridium-based sensor technology powering targeting systems and fire controls in all Navy vessels.

The backbone of the Legion Navy was the Defiant-class Light Cruiser. Sporting an impressive array of 152 mm railgun batteries, while capable of modest point defense the real mission of a Defiant was to close with the enemy at speed and destroy them with bursted railgun fire, in true Legion style. While capable of this mission, Legion analysts complained that the class was based on too small a hull, and a future upgrade to perhaps 15,000 tons void displacement was a subject of active debate at Legion Navy headquarters.

Defiant class Light Cruiser      12,500 tons       371 Crew       1,783.9 BP       TCS 250    TH 1,250    EM 0
5000 km/s      Armour 6-47       Shields 0-0       HTK 81      Sensors 8/8/0/0      DCR 12      PPV 48
Maint Life 3.14 Years     MSP 1,070    AFR 104%    IFR 1.4%    1YR 163    5YR 2,448    Max Repair 312.5 MSP
Hangar Deck Capacity 250 tons     
Captain    Control Rating 3   BRG   AUX   ENG   
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Flight Crew Berths 20    Morale Check Required   

Hyperion Drive Yards H-625 Cruiser Engine 'Hydra' (2)    Power 1250    Fuel Use 35.78%    Signature 625    Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 580,000 Litres    Range 23.3 billion km (54 days at full power)

Arcadia Weapons Systems 152 mm Medium Battery Mk III (8x4)    Range 90,000km     TS: 5,000 km/s     Power 9-3     RM 30,000 km    ROF 15       
Arcadia Weapons Systems Medium Battery Director Mk III (2)     Max Range: 192,000 km   TS: 5,100 km/s     95 90 84 79 74 69 64 58 53 48
Chryson Dynamics 12 TW Induction Drive Cell Mk VI (2)     Total Power Output 24.2    Exp 5%

Scamander Corporation Series XVI Onboard Targeting System (1)     GPS 16     Range 6.4m km    MCR 574.5k km    Resolution 1
Scamander Corporation Series VIII RF Wave Scanner (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  22.4m km
Scamander Corporation Series VIII Infrared Scanner (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  22.4m km

Strike Group
1x R-56 Recon Fighter   Speed: 5008 km/s    Size: 4.99

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes


The Defiants additionally carried one R-56 Recon Fighter apiece to provide stealth and passive monitoring capability.

R-56 class Recon Fighter      250 tons       6 Crew       35.6 BP       TCS 5    TH 25    EM 0
5008 km/s      Armour 1-3       Shields 0-0       HTK 3      Sensors 8/8/0/0      DCR 0      PPV 0
Maint Life 3.34 Years     MSP 20    AFR 50%    IFR 0.7%    1YR 3    5YR 41    Max Repair 12.5 MSP
Subcommander    Control Rating 1   
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months    Morale Check Required   

Hyperion Drive Yards HF-25 Fighter Engine 'Erinys' (1)    Power 25    Fuel Use 178.89%    Signature 25    Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 15,000 Litres    Range 6 billion km (13 days at full power)

Scamander Corporation Series VIII RF Wave Scanner (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  22.4m km
Scamander Corporation Series VIII Infrared Scanner (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  22.4m km

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and planetary interaction


Built on the same hull as the Defiants, the Grand Cross-class Light Jump Cruisers traded the entire armament for squadron jump capability. Thus, a squadron of three Defiants and a Grand Cross was in theory capable of prosecuting a campaign anywhere in the galaxy.

Grand Cross class Light Jump Cruiser      12,500 tons       325 Crew       1,771.5 BP       TCS 250    TH 1,250    EM 0
5000 km/s    JR 4-100      Armour 6-47       Shields 0-0       HTK 65      Sensors 8/8/0/0      DCR 16      PPV 0
Maint Life 3.33 Years     MSP 1,417    AFR 78%    IFR 1.1%    1YR 194    5YR 2,907    Max Repair 371 MSP
Hangar Deck Capacity 250 tons     
Captain    Control Rating 3   BRG   AUX   ENG   
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Flight Crew Berths 20    Morale Check Required   

Legion Gravitic Corps LG-250 Gravity Drive 'Supernova'     Max Ship Size 12500 tons    Distance 100k km     Squadron Size 4

Hyperion Drive Yards H-625 Cruiser Engine 'Hydra' (2)    Power 1250    Fuel Use 35.78%    Signature 625    Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 570,000 Litres    Range 22.9 billion km (53 days at full power)

Scamander Corporation Series VIII RF Wave Scanner (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  22.4m km
Scamander Corporation Series VIII Infrared Scanner (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  22.4m km

Strike Group
1x R-56 Recon Fighter   Speed: 5008 km/s    Size: 4.99

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes


If the Defiant class was the backbone of the Legion Navy, the Charybdis-class Destroyers were its workhorses. Equipped with a seemingly-limitless arsenal of 102 mm rapid-firing defense batteries, the Charybdis class provided a formidable point defense capability to supplement the offensive firepower of the Defiant cruisers.

Charybdis class Destroyer      10,000 tons       324 Crew       1,467 BP       TCS 200    TH 1,000    EM 0
5000 km/s      Armour 4-41       Shields 0-0       HTK 68      Sensors 8/8/0/0      DCR 8      PPV 48
Maint Life 3.06 Years     MSP 733    AFR 100%    IFR 1.4%    1YR 118    5YR 1,765    Max Repair 250 MSP
Commander    Control Rating 2   BRG   AUX   
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Morale Check Required   

Hyperion Drive Yards H-500 Destroyer Engine 'Cerberus' (2)    Power 1000    Fuel Use 40.0%    Signature 500    Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 471,000 Litres    Range 21.2 billion km (49 days at full power)

Arcadia Weapons Systems 102 mm Defense Battery Mk III (16x4)    Range 30,000km     TS: 5,000 km/s     Power 3-3     RM 30,000 km    ROF 5       
Arcadia Weapons Systems Defense Battery Director Mk III (4)     Max Range: 96,000 km   TS: 5,100 km/s     90 79 69 58 48 38 27 17 6 0
Chryson Dynamics 12 TW Induction Drive Cell Mk VI (4)     Total Power Output 48.4    Exp 5%

Scamander Corporation Series XVI Onboard Targeting System (1)     GPS 16     Range 6.4m km    MCR 574.5k km    Resolution 1
Scamander Corporation Series VIII Infrared Scanner (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  22.4m km
Scamander Corporation Series VIII RF Wave Scanner (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  22.4m km

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes


As with the cruisers, several ships of a modified design were built on the same hull to provide a jump capability. The Furious-class Jump Destroyers thus ensured that the Legion’s cruiser squadrons would have adequate supporting fire no matter where in the galaxy they were fought. Unlike the Grand Crosses, these retained a small number of point defense batteries to further support their comrades in arms.

Furious class Jump Destroyer      10,000 tons       285 Crew       1,349.3 BP       TCS 200    TH 1,000    EM 0
5000 km/s    JR 4-100      Armour 4-41       Shields 0-0       HTK 60      Sensors 8/8/0/0      DCR 10      PPV 12
Maint Life 3.07 Years     MSP 883    AFR 80%    IFR 1.1%    1YR 140    5YR 2,106    Max Repair 250 MSP
Commander    Control Rating 2   BRG   AUX   
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Morale Check Required   

Legion Gravitic Corps LG-200 Gravity Drive 'Helios'     Max Ship Size 10000 tons    Distance 100k km     Squadron Size 4

Hyperion Drive Yards H-500 Destroyer Engine 'Cerberus' (2)    Power 1000    Fuel Use 40.0%    Signature 500    Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 471,000 Litres    Range 21.2 billion km (49 days at full power)

Arcadia Weapons Systems 102 mm Defense Battery Mk III (4x4)    Range 30,000km     TS: 5,000 km/s     Power 3-3     RM 30,000 km    ROF 5       
Arcadia Weapons Systems Defense Battery Director Mk III (1)     Max Range: 96,000 km   TS: 5,100 km/s     90 79 69 58 48 38 27 17 6 0
Chryson Dynamics 12 TW Induction Drive Cell Mk VI (1)     Total Power Output 12.1    Exp 5%

Scamander Corporation Series XVI Onboard Targeting System (1)     GPS 16     Range 6.4m km    MCR 574.5k km    Resolution 1
Scamander Corporation Series VIII Infrared Scanner (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  22.4m km
Scamander Corporation Series VIII RF Wave Scanner (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  22.4m km

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes


As every powerful fleet body needs eyes and ears, the Bellerophon-class Frigates were also deployed by the Legion alongside the larger ships. Unarmed except for a small point defense battery, the primary mission of the Bellerophons was to provide long-range passive detection and active target acquisition capability for the larger warships. While some in the Legion Navy questioned the tactical value of long-range sensors for a fleet armed with short-range weapons, the Legion high command generally kept to the opinion that battlefield intel could never be had in excess.

Bellerophon class Frigate      7,500 tons       211 Crew       1,237 BP       TCS 150    TH 750    EM 0
5000 km/s      Armour 3-34       Shields 0-0       HTK 40      Sensors 96/96/0/0      DCR 6      PPV 6
Maint Life 3.35 Years     MSP 618    AFR 75%    IFR 1.0%    1YR 83    5YR 1,251    Max Repair 187.5 MSP
Commander    Control Rating 2   BRG   AUX   
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Morale Check Required   

Hyperion Drive Yards H-375 Frigate Engine 'Gryphon' (2)    Power 750    Fuel Use 46.19%    Signature 375    Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 432,000 Litres    Range 22.4 billion km (51 days at full power)

Arcadia Weapons Systems 102 mm Defense Battery Mk III (2x4)    Range 30,000km     TS: 5,000 km/s     Power 3-3     RM 30,000 km    ROF 5       
Arcadia Weapons Systems Defense Battery Director Mk III (1)     Max Range: 96,000 km   TS: 5,100 km/s     90 79 69 58 48 38 27 17 6 0
Chryson Dynamics 6 TW Induction Drive Cell Mk VI (1)     Total Power Output 6.2    Exp 5%

Scamander Corporation Series XVI Long-Range Array (1)     GPS 14400     Range 83.1m km    Resolution 150
Scamander Corporation Series XVI High-Resolution Array (1)     GPS 1920     Range 42.4m km    Resolution 20
Scamander Corporation Series XVI Missile Warning Array (1)     GPS 96     Range 15.6m km    MCR 1.4m km    Resolution 1
Scamander Corporation Series VIII Infrared Array (1)     Sensitivity 96     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  77.5m km
Scamander Corporation Series VIII RF Wave Array (1)     Sensitivity 96     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  77.5m km

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes


As with the larger warships, a jump-capable warship was based on the same hull as the Bellerophons. The Excelsior-class Jump Frigates mounted a squadron jump drive in the volume freed by removing the Bellerophons’ sensor suite, ensuring a mobile sensor capability for the Legion’s war fleets, in addition to an extra defense battery over the Bellerophons.

Excelsior class Jump Frigate      7,500 tons       217 Crew       972.7 BP       TCS 150    TH 750    EM 0
5000 km/s    JR 4-100      Armour 3-34       Shields 0-0       HTK 46      Sensors 8/8/0/0      DCR 7      PPV 9
Maint Life 3.33 Years     MSP 567    AFR 64%    IFR 0.9%    1YR 78    5YR 1,165    Max Repair 187.5 MSP
Commander    Control Rating 2   BRG   AUX   
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Morale Check Required   

Legion Gravitic Corps LG-150 Gravity Drive 'Farscape'     Max Ship Size 7500 tons    Distance 100k km     Squadron Size 4

Hyperion Drive Yards H-375 Frigate Engine 'Gryphon' (2)    Power 750    Fuel Use 46.19%    Signature 375    Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 420,000 Litres    Range 21.8 billion km (50 days at full power)

Arcadia Weapons Systems 102 mm Defense Battery Mk III (3x4)    Range 30,000km     TS: 5,000 km/s     Power 3-3     RM 30,000 km    ROF 5       
Arcadia Weapons Systems Defense Battery Director Mk III (1)     Max Range: 96,000 km   TS: 5,100 km/s     90 79 69 58 48 38 27 17 6 0
Chryson Dynamics 9 TW Induction Drive Cell Mk VI (1)     Total Power Output 9.2    Exp 5%

Scamander Corporation Series XVI Onboard Targeting System (1)     GPS 16     Range 6.4m km    MCR 574.5k km    Resolution 1
Scamander Corporation Series VIII RF Wave Scanner (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  22.4m km
Scamander Corporation Series VIII Infrared Scanner (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  22.4m km

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes


Additionally, a third frigate design was based on the same hull. The Ars Magica-class Survey Frigates were actually the first iteration of this hull type to enter production, owing to the premium value placed on its capabilities by the Emperor himself. Equipped with a self-jump drive and a set of gravitic and geological survey sensors, the Ars Magicas had the crucial mission of finding new systems, resources, and most of all alien races for the Legion to conquer and exploit.

Ars Magica class Survey Frigate      7,500 tons       145 Crew       870.4 BP       TCS 150    TH 225    EM 0
1500 km/s    JR 1-25(C)      Armour 2-34       Shields 0-0       HTK 42      Sensors 8/8/2/2      DCR 12      PPV 0
Maint Life 11.29 Years     MSP 870    AFR 37%    IFR 0.5%    1YR 13    5YR 188    Max Repair 100 MSP
Captain    Control Rating 2   BRG   SCI   
Intended Deployment Time: 96 months    Morale Check Required   

Legion Gravitic Corps LGC-150 Gravity Drive 'Argonaut'     Max Ship Size 7500 tons    Distance 25k km     Squadron Size 1

Hyperion Drive Yards HC-225 Deep Space Engine 'Orpheon' (1)    Power 225    Fuel Use 3.82%    Signature 225    Explosion 4%
Fuel Capacity 308,000 Litres    Range 193.7 billion km (1494 days at full power)

Scamander Corporation Series VIII Infrared Scanner (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  22.4m km
Scamander Corporation Series VIII RF Wave Scanner (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  22.4m km
Geological Survey Sensors (2)   2 Survey Points Per Hour
Gravitational Survey Sensors (2)   2 Survey Points Per Hour

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes


Legion Navy Order of Battle in 4000

All told, the Legion Navy in the year 4000 consisted of 382,000 tons of warships crewed by 10,800 of the Legion’s finest void sailors.

6x Defiant class Light Cruiser: Dauntless, Defenstrator, Defiant, Denouement, Devastator, Disruptor
2x Grand Cross class Light Jump Cruiser: Gothic, Grand Cross
12x Charybdis class Destroyer: Carronade, Catharsis, Centaur, Centurion, Chainsaw, Champion, Charon, Charybdis, Conqueror, Covenanter, Crushing Blow, Cry, Ye Wicked
4x Furious class Jump Destroyer: Fade To Black, Final Blow, Final Judgment, Furious
6x Bellerophon class Frigate: Barbette, Bat Country, Battery, Battleaxe, Bellerophon, Blastwave
2x Excelsior class Jump Frigate: Excelsior, Executor
8x Ars Magica class Survey Frigate: Adamant, Adjudicator, Aether Net, Archon, Archrival, Ardent Knight, Ars Magica, Avenging Wrath
8x R-56 class Recon Fighter

In addition to warships, the Legion had constructed an impressive array of unarmed vessels to assist in the exploitation of Sol and any new systems discovered by the survey fleet, and to support the fleet in operations far from Sol. This so-called Commercial Fleet displaced over 3.5 million void tons altogether, despite employing crews totaling only 18,300 Legion conscripts.

8x Phaeton class Freighter: 79,112 tons, 1,516 km/s, 50,000 cargo capacity
4x Typhon class Colony Ship: 79,389 tons, 1,511 km/s, 200,000 cryogenic berths
4x Dragon class Tanker: 86,116 tons, 1.393 km/s, 60 million litres fuel capacity
2x Salamander class Troop Transport: 63,996 tons, 1,406 km/s, 40,000 tons troop capacity
4x Libra class Fleet Tender: 39,971 tons, 1,501 km/s, 12,000 MSP, jump capable
2x Andromeda class Stabilisation Ship: 71,535 tons, 1,258 km/s, jump point stabilization 180 days
4x Ogre class Tug: 85,955 tons, 81,000 tons of engine capacity, tractor beam
6x Knossos class Fuel Harvester Platform: 111,847 tons, 40x fuel harvester modules
4x Obsidian class Orbital Mining Platform: 102,512 tons, 20x orbital miner modules
4x Achelous class Terraforming Platform: 101,284 tons, 4x terraformer modules
8x Warden class Traffic Monitor: 3,000 tons, 3,750 km/s, commercial active/EM/thermal sensor capability

Ground Forces of the Duranium Legion

While much-reduced in size since the Trans-Newtonian War, the Duranium Legion maintained an impressive force of active-duty ground forces arranged into large formations imaginatively called legions. The base units of each legion were the battalions of Mechanized, Tank, and Artillery types, which were combined into brigades of four battalions apiece. In contrast to most militaries in Earth’s known history, the brigade headquarters was not a separate formation but was embedded into one of the four combat battalions with no type preference in place of the usual battalion headquarters. This was done in accordance with Legion battlefield philosophy which placed high emphasis on leading from the front.

The Mechanized Infantry Battalions of the Legion were the most numerous. While largely based on foot soldiers and thus suitable as defensive units, as with all Legion ground forces the primary mission of the Infantry was offensive in nature and thus fortified emplacements were disdained in favor of mobile armored vehicles to support the riflemen in aggressive front-line assaults. As these assaults had proven costly even against the lightly-armed minor nations and rebels in the post-war era, Legion ground commanders sought room in their research budgets to develop heavy powered armor to improve their infantry survivability and battlefield staying power.



The Tank Battalions of the Legion were considered the most prestigious of the three ground force services, owing to their premiere offensive firepower and maneuverability. While the Halberd main battle tanks were the pride of the Legion, the Devastator anti-infantry tanks were far more feared on the battlefield by the light infantry forces typically fought in the post-war era. Legion weapons scientists had submitted a number of proposals to develop heavier, more fearsome armored vehicles for use in the coming interstellar era of warfare.



Supporting the infantry and tank arms were the Mechanized Artillery Battalions, at the ratio of one artillery formation per brigade of either type. These were split into light and medium artillery, the former represented by the Arbalest mortar tanks while the medium bombardment role was filled by the Onager self-propelled guns. While Legion artillerists were familiar with heavier artillery weapons from prototype development during post-war conflicts, much work was needed before such guns would be ready for mass-production and mounting on armored fighting vehicles.



Intermediate command and control was provided by Corps formations which were composed largely of logistical elements necessary to support the Legion’s brigades in an extended war of conquest. The terminal Legion headquarters followed the same template apart from expanded command facilities. While these were in theory distinct, rear-echelon formations, Corps and Legion commanders were frequently known to abandon their command posts to direct fighting from the front lines, a fact often used by Legion propagandists of the post-war era to enhance the fearsome reputation of the ground forces.



Ranks
SCD: Subcommandant
CDT: Commandant
LCD: Lord Commandant
LG: Lord General


And for the completionists in the audience…
Off-Topic: show

Mechanized Infantry Battalion
Transport Size: 4,994 tons
Build Cost: 151.5 BP
2x Athena Mk III Battalion Command Vehicle
324x Moros M-13 Legionnaire Mag Rifle
45x Moros M-20 Legionnaire Chain Gun
27x Moros M-24 AT Rocket 'Hellfire'
6x Moros M-28 AA Flak Cannon 'Javelin'
75x Hoplite Mk III APC
6x Phalanx Mk III AT Gun Carrier
2x Daedalus Mk III TAC Vehicle

Mechanized Infantry Brigade
Transport Size: 5,000 tons
Build Cost: 169.8 BP
2x Hera Mk III Brigade Command Vehicle
324x Moros M-13 Legionnaire Mag Rifle
45x Moros M-20 Legionnaire Chain Gun
27x Moros M-24 AT Rocket 'Hellfire'
6x Moros M-28 AA Flak Cannon 'Javelin'
75x Hoplite Mk III APC
6x Phalanx Mk III AT Gun Carrier

Tank Battalion
Transport Size: 4,982 tons
Build Cost: 410.6 BP
2x Apollo Mk III Battalion Command Tank
54x Halberd Mk III Main Battle Tank
18x Devastator Mk III Anti-Infantry Tank
6x Aegis Mk III AA Tank
2x Hephaestus Mk III TAC Tank

Tank Brigade
Transport Size: 4,952 tons
Build Cost: 444.2 BP
2x Poseidon Mk III Brigade Command Tank
54x Halberd Mk III Main Battle Tank
18x Devastator Mk III Anti-Infantry Tank
6x Aegis Mk III AA Tank

Artillery Battalion
Transport Size: 4,988 tons
Build Cost: 405.3 BP
2x Apollo Mk III Battalion Command Tank
36x Arbalest Mk III Mortar Tank
18x Onager Mk III SPG
9x Aegis Mk III AA Tank
2x Daedalus Mk III TAC Vehicle

Artillery Brigade
Transport Size: 4,994 tons
Build Cost: 447.5 BP
2x Poseidon Mk III Brigade Command Tank
36x Arbalest Mk III Mortar Tank
18x Onager Mk III SPG
9x Aegis Mk III AA Tank

Corps Headquarters
Transport Size: 19,984 tons
Build Cost: 1,164.5 BP
2x Zeus Mk III Corps Headquarters Tank
288x Swiftfoot Mk III MTV
16x Aegis Mk III AA Tank

Legion Headquarters
Transport Size: 19,984 tons
Build Cost: 2,444.5 BP
2x Olympus Mount Mk III Legion Command Tank
288x Swiftfoot Mk III MTV
16x Aegis Mk III AA Tank



Legion Ground Forces Order of Battle in 4000

Active-duty Legion ground forces at this time totaled just over 60,000 highly-trained soldiers operating 519,000 transport tons of cutting-edge weapons and equipment.

Imperial Guard Legion
I. Imperial Guard Corps: 1st, 2nd, 3rd Imperial Guard Brigades
II. Imperial Guard Corps: 4th, 5th, 6th Imperial Guard Brigades
IV. Imperial Guard Corps: 7th, 8th, 9th Imperial Guard Brigades

Emperor’s Hand Legion
III. Armored Corps: 101st, 102nd, 103rd Tank Brigade
V. Armored Corps: 104th, 105th, 106th Tank brigade
VI. Mechanized Corps: 10th, 11th, 12th Mechanized Infantry Brigade

Imperial Guard and Mechanized Infantry Brigades: 3x Mechanized Infantry Battalion, 1x Mechanized Artillery Battalion
Tank Brigade: 3x Tank Battalion, 1x Mechanized Artillery Battalion
Brigade headquarters is embedded with one of the constituent battalions with no type preference

----

 
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Offline nuclearslurpee (OP)

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Re: The Duranium Legion - Chapter I: Dawn of the XLI Century
« Reply #1 on: February 13, 2021, 04:52:00 PM »
1 January 4000

As the first day of the XLI century dawned, the Emperor ordered the Legion’s survey frigates out into the solar system to conduct a comprehensive geological survey. The setting off of these ships was done to much public fanfare and aplomb, privately however the Emperor and his senior Legion advisors were greatly concerned about the deteriorating mineral situation on Earth, which by that time was known as Duratus in official Legion records. Deposits of several key TNEs were predicted to run out within the next decade, most importantly gallicite which was projected to be completely mined out in less than four years, but also vendarite (4 years), neutronium (7 years), and duranium (9 years). Deposits of uridium and corundium, critical for military and industrial applications, would last through at least the present decade but were proving increasingly difficult to extract from the planet’s crust. Given these facts, the mission of the eight survey frigates was far more critical to the survival of the Legion than the public could ever be permitted to know.

Duratus
     Duranium 174,900   Acc 1
     Neutronium 82,200   Acc 0.6
     Corbomite 95,200   Acc 1
     Tritanium 137,700   Acc 0.8
     Boronide 239,000   Acc 0.6
     Mercassium 134,300   Acc 0.7
     Vendarite 73,600   Acc 1
     Sorium 197,700   Acc 0.8
     Uridium 116,600   Acc 0.5
     Corundium 79,500   Acc 0.4
     Gallicite 62,500   Acc 0.9


Almost immediately, survey reports from the inner system were transmitted back to Duratus indicating a significant wealth of TNEs very nearby, including rich gallicite deposits on Luna and multiple abundant TNEs including duranium on both Mars and Mercury. The orbital survey of Venus proved difficult with many conflicting readings; while low-accessibility TNEs were discovered, Captain Achlys Tartarus of the Adamant recommended a ground-level survey be performed once the necessary equipment and training was available. In the short term, the Legion would establish colonies on Luna and Mars, prioritizing the latter once civilian shipping was established enough to supply the Luna colony on its own. The Terraforming Cluster would be sent to Mars for shakedown operations before being deployed to Mercury to prepare that world for long-term exploitation.

Mercury
     Duranium 476,288   Acc 0.8
     Neutronium 1,736,070   Acc 1
     Tritanium 1,100,821   Acc 0.8
     Boronide 3,529,889   Acc 0.6
     Sorium 5,373,124   Acc 0.1

 Venus
     Duranium 1,648,202   Acc 0.2
     Tritanium 2,289,169   Acc 0.1
     Vendarite 5,288,896   Acc 0.1
     Sorium 5,570,922   Acc 0.1
    Ground Survey Potential: Low

 Luna
     Boronide 1,086,181   Acc 0.2
     Gallicite 638,433   Acc 0.9

 Mars
     Duranium 17,099,552   Acc 0.8
     Corbomite 722,500   Acc 0.8
     Boronide 93,636   Acc 1
     Mercassium 7,584,516   Acc 0.1
     Sorium 1,040,400   Acc 0.1


The blessings of mineral wealth continued to fall upon the Legion, as Captain Caerus Elysium aboard the Aether Net transmitted a report to Legion high command revealing massive, high-accessibility quantities of gaseous sorium in the atmosphere of Jupiter which could readily be converted to ship fuel on-site. The Harvester Cluster was to be worked up and deployed to Jupiter as soon as possible along with sufficient tanker support to maintain the Duratus-Jupiter shipping route. It would soon turn out that this close-by source of Sorium was particularly valuable, as no other gas giant in the system contained even a trace of that TNE.

Jupiter
     Sorium 6,435,000   Acc 0.8


As the geological survey of the solar system continued, more reports came into Legion high command detailing the mineral wealth of Sol. Of the bodies surveyed, a few were marked for immediate exploitation by Legion orbital miners, while the remaining bodies were left as targets for future mining colonies or other commercial ventures.

Borrelly
     Duranium 28,735   Acc 1
     Corbomite 23,294   Acc 1
     Sorium 128,842   Acc 0.8
     Uridium 67,056   Acc 0.9

 Machholz
     Duranium 41,401   Acc 1
     Vendarite 54,677   Acc 1
     Gallicite 157,491   Acc 0.8

 Oumuamua
     Neutronium 21,365   Acc 0.8
     Tritanium 50,410   Acc 0.6
     Mercassium 63,236   Acc 0.7
     Sorium 11,293   Acc 0.8

 Tempel 1
     Neutronium 12,125   Acc 0.7
     Mercassium 26,441   Acc 0.6
     Sorium 8,465   Acc 0.8
     Corundium 44,209   Acc 0.6


By the last months of the year 4000, the captains of the survey frigates began reporting that there were no more bodies available to be surveyed. Work thus began on the gravitational survey of Sol, with Legion high command optimistic that many new pathways of exploration and expansion would be revealed - with particularly good fortune, there would be enemies along these pathways to be defeated in glorious battle. This optimism was only slightly tempered by the sudden passing of Lord General Cronus Metis, second-in-command of the Legion Ground Forces, in a tragic accident on 17 October.

Any lasting mourning was soon dispelled when the Captain Perseus Abas of the Ardent Knight submitted an urgent report on 6 November - Jump Point Theory had been empirically confirmed, as the first jump point known to the Legion was found to exist between the orbits of Neptune and Pluto. While exciting news, the Emperor himself intervened to urge caution, decreeing that the gravitational survey of Sol must be fully completed before the survey ships would be sent out into the rest of the galaxy. For now, the first of the Warden-class traffic monitors would be dispatched to this jump point, to monitor it for the potential of an incursion by extrasolar aliens, however slim the probability might have seemed at the time. These vessels had been designed in foresight with the sole purpose of monitoring jump points for unexpected traffic - although the potential use of these ships to also keep track of the Legion’s own civilian traffic was not lost on many in the Naval establishment.

Warden class Traffic Monitor      3,000 tons       36 Crew       161.4 BP       TCS 60    TH 225    EM 0
3750 km/s      Armour 1-18       Shields 0-0       HTK 14      Sensors 8/8/0/0      DCR 1      PPV 0
MSP 33    Max Repair 45 MSP
Cryogenic Berths 1,000   
Subcommander    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months   

Hyperion Drive Yards HC-225 Deep Space Engine 'Orpheon' (1)    Power 225    Fuel Use 3.82%    Signature 225    Explosion 4%
Fuel Capacity 79,000 Litres    Range 124.2 billion km (383 days at full power)

Scamander Corporation Series XVI Onboard Targeting System (1)     GPS 16     Range 6.4m km    MCR 574.5k km    Resolution 1
Scamander Corporation Series VIII RF Wave Scanner (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  22.4m km
Scamander Corporation Series VIII Infrared Scanner (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  22.4m km

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes


As the year 4000 drew to an illustrious close, a second and third jump point were in rapid succession reported and found to be much closer to Duratus, halfway between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. While not as landmark of an event as the first jump point discovery, these were much more logistically-friendly positions and were thus viewed more positively by the Legion high command. The future was looking bright indeed for the Duranium Legion, though not without its challenges.

Year 4001

A number of promotions were issued at the beginning of the year as part of Legion high command efforts to restructure the ranks prior to setting out on interstellar missions. Most notably, Lord Admiral Imperator Aurai Valance became the first Naval officer in Legion history to hold that high rank. To somewhat less fanfare, the promotion of Apheleia Porphyrion to Lord General to replace the departed Lord General Metis filled a crucial void in the high command.

The urgency of this command restructure quickly became apparent when a fourth jump point was discovered between the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn. To discover three jump points within a billion km of Sol was a better result than even the wildest dreams of Survey Fleet command, and the system survey had not even been completed yet. The fact that the gravitational survey was completed on 28 May with no further jump points discovered did little to dampen this enthusiasm. The Survey Fleet was ordered back to Duratus for a short overhaul period before being sent out through the jump points.



System map of Sol showing locations of the discovered jump points in relation to planetary orbits. Body positions indicate that this map was produced on 10 September 4001. Jump Point #4 as labeled here was actually the first jump point to be discovered by the Legion’s Survey Fleet.

The first two survey frigates to complete their overhaul were sent out to the first jump point discovered. While it was the farthest away, Legion high command had decided to honor the captain and crew of Ardent Knight by granting them the inaugural passage through the jump point they had discovered, first in Legion history. Accompanied by her sister ship, Avenging Wrath, she arrived at the jump point on 10 September where she was greeted by the Warden-class traffic monitor on station. After a brief moment to reflect on the gravity of the occasion, Ardent Knight powered up her ion drives and disappeared in a dazzle of pulsating warp energy...

----

Shipbuilding

1x Ars Magica class Survey Frigate: Angel of Ares
3x Phaeton class Freighter
2x Salamander class Troop Transport
2x Libra class Fleet Tender
1x Andromeda class Stabilisation Ship

Research

Max Tracking Time for Bonus vs Missiles: 30 seconds (6%)
Max Tracking Time for Bonus vs Missiles: 45 seconds (9%)
Max Tracking Time for Bonus vs Missiles: 60 seconds (12%)
Mining Production 12 tons
Particle Beam Range 100,000 km
Particle Beam Strength 3
Research Rate 240
Terraforming Rate 0.00032 atm
 
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Offline nuclearslurpee (OP)

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The Duranium Legion - Chapter II: Early Exploration
« Reply #2 on: February 15, 2021, 10:50:27 PM »
10 September 4001

After several tense minutes, reports from Ardent Knight began arriving back through the jump point, relayed to Legion high command from Avenging Wrath and the Warden-class traffic monitor which remained on the Sol side of the jump point. The system to which Ardent Knight had transited was known to Legion astronomers as Lalande 21185, named after an ancient astronomer according to historical records which had survived to that time. Captain Perseus Abas further reported that the system contained ten planets with sixty-six moons, including one in the near-habitable range with a thin nitrogen-CO2 atmosphere, though it was tidally locked and thus would only support a small maximum population if developed fully. As Lalande 21185 was a relatively small star, nine of the planets orbited fairly closely, but the tenth planet in the system orbited rather impractically at a more than 15 billion km radius. Ardent Knight was ordered to survey the near-habitable planet carefully, and then if no dangerous aliens were found she would proceed to survey the rest of the bodies in the system while Avenging Wrath would begin the gravitational survey. Due to the smaller size of the star, each survey location would take only 60% as long to survey compared to those in Sol, much to the pleasure of the Legion high command which was eager to begin extrasolar expansion in earnest.



Astrometric survey data from Lalande 21185 showing the distribution of planets in the system. For scale, note that Planet IX orbits at 3.2 billion km from the star. Not shown: Planet X at 15.7 billion km.

Two weeks later, the ground survey of the third planet had been completed without incident. While the initial results were mediocre, Ardent Knight reported severe magnetic field anomalies which had interfered with her sensors, thus necessitating that a ground survey be carried out in the future, though few if any additional TNEs were expected to be discovered. This aside, the Lalande survey frigates were in the clear to complete their assessment of the system with all due haste.

Lalande 21185-A III
     Duranium 2,592   Acc 0.4
     Neutronium 254,016   Acc 0.3
     Vendarite 6,718,464   Acc 0.1
     Sorium 5,143,824   Acc 1.0
     Gallicite 685,584   Acc 0.1
     Ground Survey Potential: Minimal


While the discovery of Lalande 21185 was momentous, the Legion survey command did not lose a single step back on Duratus. By the time Ardent Knight had transited, two more survey frigates had already moved into position at the jump point nearest to Sol and were ready to commence exploration of whatever system laid beyond it. The survey frigate Adamant was ordered to transit the jump point, backed up by the newly-built Angel of Ares which would follow her once the system was declared clear for surveying. Unfortunately, on transit Adamant reported the discovery of a planetless system, Ross 128, which was of little use for the Legion colonization machine; however, as Ross 128 was a smaller star than even Lalande 21185 the gravitational survey would proceed quite rapidly especially with two survey frigates on the job.

The remaining jump points in Sol were surveyed as the survey frigates came away from the overhaul yards. The survey frigate Archon transited the second-closest jump point to reach the system of EZ Aquarii, another bodiless system despite consisting of three stars, and was soon followed by her sister, Archrival. Almost immediately a new jump point was discovered, and Archrival was ordered to press onward, transiting into the binary star system of WX Ursae Majoris, while Archon remained in-system. Finally, as the year drew to a close, Ars Magica transited the final jump point in Sol and emerged in a system known as Luhman 16, a small binary system with a mix of planets, moons, and comets with none particularly habitable.

Year 4002

The Legion high command continued to review survey reports pouring in from Lalande 21185. In addition to the near-habitable third planet, The eighth moon of the seventh planet contained numerous kinds of TNEs and would make an excellent short-term automatic mining base, alongside other small moons of that planet which were easily mined from orbital platforms. Thus, the Legion would establish a colony in this system of perhaps ten million to support mining operations and potentially a minor naval station. As the first extrasolar colony of the Duranium Legion required a suitably momentous name, the system would be rechristened as Olympia - although privately some of the Lords Admiral wondered if such a grandiose name should be reserved for a more impressive system further afield. To support this effort, two Andromeda-class stabilisation ships would be assigned to the Sol-Olympia jump points; the task of these vessels would be completed soon enough, on 2 August, which would enable civilian shipping lines to service the new colony.

Olympia-A VII - Moon 8
     Duranium 5,618   Acc 1.0
     Neutronium 169   Acc 1.0
     Boronide 5,329   Acc 1.0
     Mercassium 2,704   Acc 1.0
     Uridium 900   Acc 1.0
     Corundium 7,569   Acc 1.0
     Gallicite 2,500   Acc 1.0


After over two years of Legion-exclusive space operations, the Centaurus Mining Group was the first entity not under the Legion high command to be granted a license to operate off-world. Their license allowed them to establish an outpost of twenty civilian equivalents to the Legion automines on the Jovian moon Europa, with provisions for expansion based on performance. At least for the near term Centaurus would be subjected to heavy taxation, although some clauses in the license agreement provided for a future possibility of direct TNE purchases by the Legion high command at a reduced rate in exchange for tax exemptions. While Europa itself was a frankly mediocre choice for a civilian mining concern, from the perspective of Legion admirals, it was hoped that this agreement would pave the way for similar future licenses at more lucrative locations.

Europa
     Duranium 414,063   Acc 0.9
     Mercassium 1,994,021   Acc 1


Much of the year 4002 passed in relative obscurity, as events which were once remarkable were now considered routine operations by the restless crewmen of the Navy ships. The survey frigate Angel of Ares discovered a nearly-habitable planet in the system of GJ 1061, which turned out out to have a very poor distribution of TNEs but could be very rapidly terraformed despite being 50% greater than Duratus in diameter, as it had an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere with only slightly more oxygen than was safe for human habitation and otherwise was only a little bit on the chilly side. Hopefully the rest of the system would prove more enticing, allowing this planet to serve usefully as a base for system mining operations.

GJ 1061-A II
     Boronide 65,545,216   Acc 0.2
     Mercassium 17,139,600   Acc 0.1
     Vendarite 46,348,864   Acc 0.2
     Nitrogen 71.000%    0.901 atm
     Oxygen 29.000%    0.368 atm
     Surface Temp (K / C) 191.64    -81.36


On 10 December, the survey frigate Adjudicator reported that the geological survey of the Sol system was completed, as the last significant body had been surveyed, an asteroid labeled as 2009 YE7.

Year 4003

On 19 January, the survey frigate Aether Net transited the unexplored jump point in HH Andromedae and came upon the Alpha Centauri system, much to the delight of the Legion Navy public relations department which had been struggling to keep the population interested in exploration of systems with names like GJ 1061. The Alpha Centauri system was a binary star system, and the initial astrographic survey indicated the presence of an amazing five near-habitable bodies. The primary component star possessed the majority of these, two planets and a moon along with an additional moon around the second planet which was similarly suited for colonization aside from a very low surface gravity. The secondary component star only had two such bodies, but perhaps more intriguing was a large asteroid belt nestled directly in the star’s habitable zone. While most of these asteroids would still require low-gravity infrastructure to support human colonies, one asteroid along with the second planet of that star made up the remaining near-habitable bodies in the system, along with a low-gravity moon of the second planet.

While this was potentially an incredible bounty, Legion high command was wary of the high probability for alien contact within this system, as any one of the five near-ideal worlds might just meet another species’ definition of “ideal”. Therefore, orders were issued for the Warden-class traffic monitor from HH Andromedae to approach each of these bodies in turn ahead of Aether Net, as while both ship classes were equipped with similar passive sensors the Wardens were also equipped with small active sensors and were significantly smaller and faster than the lumbering Ars Magicas. Therefore it was hoped that the Warden would not only provide more intelligence on potential alien contacts but also would have a better chance of escape from any hostile encounter. The unspoken presumption that the loss of a Warden would be considered more tolerable than one of the survey frigates was left unsaid, and after all to die in battle was a fate far eclipsing any glory most traffic monitor crews could ever dream of.

Warden 4 would take seventeen days to arrive in the planetary system of Alpha Centauri A, detecting no alien contacts hostile or otherwise during her review of the system. From there, travel to the B component would take another eleven days, with the brief flyby proving equally uneventful. By 17 February, the Alpha Centauri system had been declared clear of alien presence, to mixed reception at Legion high command.

Unexpectedly, first contact for the Duranium Legion would come from an unlikely source, on the far side of the known galaxy...

----

Shipbuilding

2x Defiant class Light Cruiser: Deadly Poison, Domination
2x Charybdis class Destroyer: Calamitous, Creeping Death
1x Bellerophon class Frigate: Brutal Legend
1x Excelsior class Jump Frigate: Endless Night
2x Phaeton class Freighter
2x Typhon class Colony Ship
2x Libra class Fleet Tender
2x Ogre class Tug
1x Obsidian class Orbital Mining Platform

Research

Construction Rate 12 BP
Geosurvey Equipment
Maintenance Support Per Facility: 1250 Tons
Maximum Orbital Mining Diameter 125 km
Particle Beam Range 150,000 km
Planetary Sensor Strength 300
Powered Infantry Armour - ARM 1.5
Shipyard Operations: 5% Time/Cost Saving
Wealth Generation per Million TN Workers: 120

Systems Discovered (Year 4002 onward)

HH Andromedae: FS Aether Net, 17 February 4002
GJ 1061: FS Angel of Ares, 1 May 4002
Kruger 60: FS Ars Magica, 9 September 4002
AD Leonis: FS Archon, 8 November 4002
Alpha Centauri: FS Aether Net, 19 January 4003
Gliese 1: FS Adamant, 28 January 4003
Kuiper 79: FS Avenging Wrath, 9 February 4003
WISE 1738+2732: FS Ardent Knight, 19 February 4003

Duranium Legion Galaxy Map: 25 February 4003



----

OOC: I just want to take a moment to say - feel free to comment on these posts! Writing about the game is a lot of fun, but so is having some interaction on the posts, and feedback might make its way into future posts to make the AAR hopefully that much more fun for you readers. If you're worried about breaking up the flow between posts, don't be - comment away, as I can ruin the flow of my posts just fine on my own.  :P

I mention this now because, while the first couple of updates here are a bit more mundane, as you might expect from the ending above some more exciting bits are coming soon so I want to clear this up now rather than later.  ;D
 
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Offline liveware

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Re: The Official Chronicle of the Duranium Legion
« Reply #3 on: February 16, 2021, 12:50:59 PM »
Is there a program you use to generate those ground force org charts? Those are slick!

Looking forward to the next installment, I liked Steve's WH40k campaign and this one looks pretty good also.
Open the pod-bay doors HAL...
 
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Offline nuclearslurpee (OP)

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Re: The Official Chronicle of the Duranium Legion
« Reply #4 on: February 16, 2021, 01:14:23 PM »
Is there a program you use to generate those ground force org charts? Those are slick!

Looking forward to the next installment, I liked Steve's WH40k campaign and this one looks pretty good also.

I make them by hand in paint.net. The first couple times I made them it took a while, but once I figure out how to arrange things the way I want with spacing etc. it goes fairly quickly. I also have a template sheet of all the icons that I copy and paste from.

I too liked Steve's WH40K campaign, and while I'm not trying to emulate his work per se (the railguns are a coincidence, I swear!) I won't deny a certain measure of inspiration was taken.
 

Offline Garfunkel

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Re: The Official Chronicle of the Duranium Legion
« Reply #5 on: February 16, 2021, 02:10:38 PM »
Interesting start, keep it up!
 
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Offline Erik L

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Re: The Official Chronicle of the Duranium Legion
« Reply #6 on: February 16, 2021, 02:11:54 PM »
Is there a program you use to generate those ground force org charts? Those are slick!

Looking forward to the next installment, I liked Steve's WH40k campaign and this one looks pretty good also.

I make them by hand in paint.net. The first couple times I made them it took a while, but once I figure out how to arrange things the way I want with spacing etc. it goes fairly quickly. I also have a template sheet of all the icons that I copy and paste from.

I too liked Steve's WH40K campaign, and while I'm not trying to emulate his work per se (the railguns are a coincidence, I swear!) I won't deny a certain measure of inspiration was taken.

Will you share your icon templates? :D

Offline nuclearslurpee (OP)

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Re: The Official Chronicle of the Duranium Legion
« Reply #7 on: February 16, 2021, 04:10:59 PM »
Is there a program you use to generate those ground force org charts? Those are slick!

Looking forward to the next installment, I liked Steve's WH40k campaign and this one looks pretty good also.

I make them by hand in paint.net. The first couple times I made them it took a while, but once I figure out how to arrange things the way I want with spacing etc. it goes fairly quickly. I also have a template sheet of all the icons that I copy and paste from.

I too liked Steve's WH40K campaign, and while I'm not trying to emulate his work per se (the railguns are a coincidence, I swear!) I won't deny a certain measure of inspiration was taken.

Will you share your icon templates? :D

Sure. I'll post them up here for now but if there is more interest I can create a separate thread in the downloads forum which gives more detail and maybe some up-sized versions, as these are a bit small since I initially used them for more detailed OOB charts - for the lesser level of detail I have here I really could use 1.5x or even 2x size for legibility.

Attached are template PNGs in black and cream (same color as most of the text in Aurora) outlines. Most of the icons are fairly standard but a few are custom designs.
 
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Offline liveware

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Re: The Official Chronicle of the Duranium Legion
« Reply #8 on: February 16, 2021, 05:13:37 PM »
Thanks for sharing :-)
Open the pod-bay doors HAL...
 

Offline nuclearslurpee (OP)

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The Duranium Legion - Chapter III: The Naval Battle of Gliese 1
« Reply #9 on: February 19, 2021, 01:33:16 AM »
25 February 4003

The second planet of the Gliese 1 system was nearly-habitable, though with a 72% CO2 atmosphere it was unlikely to be a prime location for future terraforming unless it held particularly enticing mineral deposits. As was routine for such discoveries, the survey frigate Adamant had proceeded in-system immediately to determine if this planet did in fact hold such TNE deposits. At 15:45 on 2 February, while still 3.5 million km out from the planet, Adamant picked up an unknown contact on her passive scanners.



This contact was found to originate from the planet surface, with a very small thermal and EM signature likely indicating a small sensor outpost. This conclusion was further supported by the fact that Adamant had apparently been detected on her approach, as almost immediately signatures from active sensors aboard two spaceborne contacts appeared on her EM scanner, designated “Genghis” and “Khan” after a mythical ancient emperor of pre-nuclear Duratus. Immediately, Captain Achlys Tartarus ordered the Adamant to come to a full stop, intending to wait and see how the alien ships responded. After 14 minutes had passed, Captain Tartarus ordered a cautious approach to within 3 million km, reasoning that the lack of response from the unknown contacts could provide an opportunity to gather additional intel about their capabilities before returning to inform Legion high command of this finding. With no response after an additional fifteen minutes, the Captain ordered repeated steps of half a million km each towards the planet until some response was detected or else new intelligence could be obtained from passive scanners. At 2.5 million km distance from the planet, thermal scanners were able to resolve waste heat emissions from both contacts placing them at an estimated 18,000 tons of void displacement each.

As Adamant approached to within 2 million km of the planet, her scanners suddenly registered the approach of forty-nine contacts traveling at 71,400 km/s, each estimated quite roughly at 2.8 tons void displacement. These were immediately taken as hostile weapons, and Captain Tartarus ordered an immediate hard-about and retreat to the entry jump point at full speed. Unfortunately, Adamant was not quick enough to outrun what turned out to be a spread of missiles, and bore the full brunt of the enemy attack. Thankfully, the missiles were quite weak despite their intimidating speed, and only thirteen penetrated her armor to deal internal damage. Damage assessment indicated that while her main engine had escaped damage - thus allowing Adamant to continue her hasty retreat - her gravity drive and both gravitational sensors had been taken offline in the attack. Captain Tartarus ordered immediate damage-control operations, prioritizing the gravity drive which would be necessary for Adamant to escape from the system and inform the Legion high command about the new threat in the cosmos.



All this might have been in vain, as a second volley of deadly nuclear missiles appeared on Adamant’s still-intact scanners. As the first volley had shredded her armor, Adamant would be unable to withstand another full attack. Fortune, however, was with Captain Tartarus and her crew, as the enemy missiles stopped just short of Adamant before suddenly disappearing from her scanners. Visual inspection indicated that the missiles had self-destructed harmlessly scarcely ten thousand km from her stern, with the officers aboard Adamant concluding that they must have exhausted their fuel cells and reached the limit of their useful range. Adamant would live to inform the Legion of the glorious battle to be had, much to the joy of her crew who would certainly be recognized on their return home as the first of a new breed of heroes of the Legion.

The enemy ships, of a race known for now as the Gliese 1 Aliens (in that great Legion creative tradition of naming things), were considered by the Legion crew to be orbital weapons stations of some sort with no self-propulsion, since they had not given chase as the Adamant fled the system. It would however be impossible to determine which of these stations had fired the missiles, and the moment it would be assumed that the second station mounted a similar mass of energy or kinetic weapons. While there was no hard proof of this it was the most dangerous possibility and thus the one Legion battle planners decided to account for. Adamant returned to the WX Ursae Majoris system on 26 March and immediately communicated an account of her experience via the jump point and traffic monitor network to the Legion high command on Duratus.

The Legion high command immediately began to plot their assault. While the very fast missiles of the Gliese 1 Aliens suggested a moderate technological advantage, the Duranium Legion Navy could easily have the advantage of overwhelming numbers against a mere two orbital stations, and the oversized sensor arrays of the Bellerophon-class frigates would offer insurance against the possibility of enemy reinforcements. Meanwhile, based on the observed performance of the enemy missiles in “battle”, Legion analysts estimated that two destroyer squadrons would be more than enough to provide complete point defense for a powerful cruiser squadron. The primary concern, then, would be the risk of leaving Duratus only lightly-defended against an alien flank attack if too large a force were sent. In the end, it was determined to send the First Fleet, currently idle in Duratus orbit, to launch the assault, followed by a small auxiliary train to provide post-battle refueling and resupply as well as transport capacity for a detached infantry battalion which could secure the planetside facilities. The Second Fleet, currently undergoing training exercises, would be called up to full active duty to form a planetary defense force in the meantime. This plan was quickly rubber-stamped through the high command offices and put into motion, and by 10 April the First Fleet had arrived in the Gliese 1 system, ready for battle.

First Fleet
Captain Niobe Chryson commanding
3x Defiant class Light Cruiser: Defiant, Denouement, Devastator
6x Charybdis class Destroyer: Carronade, Centurion, Chainsaw, Charon, Charybdis, Conqueror
2x Furious class Jump Destroyer: Fade To Black, Furious
2x Bellerophon class Frigate: Battleaxe, Bellerophon
3x R-56 class Recon Fighter

First Fleet Reserve
Captain Astraeus Valerii commanding
1x Grand Cross class Light Jump Cruiser: Grand Cross
1x Excelsior class Jump Frigate: Excelsior
1x Bellerophon class Frigate: Barbette
1x R-56 class Recon Fighter

Shortly after midnight, Duratus time, on 19 April, First Fleet arrived on station 50 million km from the second planet of Gliese 1. Having left a small detachment at the jump point consisting of the light jump cruiser Grand Cross and two frigates which were excess for the mission parameters, the First Fleet was under the nominal command of Captain Niobe Chryson aboard the light cruiser Devastator for this mission. The Captain ordered Bellerophon to activate her active sensing arrays, knowing that the two station classes would almost certainly be detectable at this range by the frigate’s powerful sensors. This was shown to be correct, and the follow-up order was given for the fleet to close to 5 million km to form up for the attack run. However, at 14 million km out from the planet, Bellerophon reported a ground force signature of nearly 10,000 tons which had not been previously detected by Adamant, and was certainly in excess of what a simple sensor outpost should be defended by. While suspicious, Captain Chryson saw no reason to abandon glorious battle based on a few thousand tons of ground formations, and ordered First Fleet to press onwards. At 02:35 the final attack run commenced.

As First Fleet approached 2 million km distance from the planet, the first wave of missiles was launched from the alien stations, although it still proved impossible to determine which station was firing them at this distance. Subsequent missile launches occurred at ten-second increments, and Captain Chryson ordered the Defiant-class cruisers to hold their fire and allow the destroyers to carry out the point defense work. As the first volley arrived on-target, the expectations of Legion battle planners were shockingly frustrated, as the destroyer point defense only achieved a 50% kill rate against the enemy missiles. The destroyer Charybdis suffered twenty-four hits, all of which fortunately failed to penetrate her armor. While heads were certain to roll at Legion high command for this grave miscalculation, First Fleet officers noted that even with a 50% success rate the fleet should be able to reach railgun range mostly intact, perhaps even with no losses if the enemy had decided to spread their fire among multiple vessels of First Fleet. Even so, Captain Chryson ordered the cruisers to contribute to the point defense fire until the fleet was nearly in range of the alien stations.



The beginning of the enemy onslaught.

The optimistic assessment proved true, as the second wave saw seventeen missiles impact the destroyer Carronade, proving that the enemy had unwisely divided his fire. Seeing this, the fleet eagerly pressed onwards in the face of enemy fire, however after a third wave of missiles impacted a third destroyer, Conqueror, it soon became apparent that the enemy strategy was in fact to cycle their fire between only a few ships at a time. As Charybdis, Carronade, and Conqueror continued to take heavy armor damage from successive waves of enemy missiles, the commanders of First Fleet began to realize that the constant cycling between three targets would eventually result in critical damage. Sure enough, the thirteenth wave of missiles succeeded in penetrating Charybdis with two missiles out of twenty-one total hits. In a stroke of sheer misfortune, the bridge aboard Charybdis was eviscerated by one of the blasts, instantly killing Commander Ceraon Echetus and four other bridge crewmen. With First Fleet still 1,350,000 km distant from their targets, the likelihood of further casualties was now understood to be quite high.

Regardless of any momentary pause she may have felt about the risks, Captain Niobe Chryson ordered her fleet to stand firm in the face of enemy fire and press on. Waves of missiles continued to impact the destroyers of First Fleet, though now the enemy gunners were only focusing their fire on the two most vulnerable destroyers, Carronade and Charybdis. A minute later, a particularly devastating volley scored five penetrations against Carronade, taking out one of the destroyer’s engines and assuredly dooming it as it dropped out of the fleet formation. Nevertheless, Commander Scylla Chalcon ordered her crew to bravely press onward, hoping to be of what service she might before her ship inevitably was destroyed. The next volley impacted Charybdis again, scoring eight penetrating hits but fortunately dealing no damage to her engines. Finally, the twentieth volley of the battle fatally struck Carronade, destroying her remaining engine and sparking a cataclysmic secondary explosion that vaporized the ship; while about one-third of the crew managed to escape in the ship’s lifepods, Commander Scylla Chalcon was not among the survivors having nobly given her life to evacuate as many of her crew as possible. The sacrifice of Carronade was not in vain, as by now First Fleet had closed the range to within one million km of the hostile forces.

The next wave of missiles again impacted Charybdis dealing thirteen penetrating hits, knocking out one of her engines and causing her to drop out of formation. All aboard knew their fate, and while the following volley of missiles instead impacted Conqueror (scoring thirty-three hits including two penetrating, underscoring the reduced point defense capability of First Fleet), the following wave struck Charybdis directly on her engine sections and she disintegrated in another massive fireball. Subcommander Maya Argestes escaped the destruction of the ship she had briefly commanded, although with only a quarter of her crew surviving she would be marked with dishonor over her decision to save herself instead of evacuating more of her crew. Meanwhile, Conqueror had also lost an engine and fallen out of formation. Incredibly, the next wave of missiles failed to destroy her despite twenty penetrating hits, allowing her to perform a distinguished service by absorbing another wave of missiles which would otherwise have been fired at one of her yet-undamaged comrades. Ten seconds later, Conqueror too was reduced to plasma and scrap, although both her commander and executive officer had cravenly abandoned their posts instead of staying behind to save their crew members.



The remaining ships of First Fleet continued their charge, with the next volley impacting the destroyer Centurion twenty-four times; as she was yet undamaged, she suffered only hits on her armor. However, by now the range had been closed sufficiently that the enemy gunners could see the results of their work before firing another salvo, thus their strategy had shifted to fully-focused fire and Centurion would be the subject of the next several waves, eventually knocking out her engines and causing her to drop out of formation. The next volley sealed her fate along with that of her entire command staff. By now, the remnant of First Fleet was half a million km from their targets, less than a minute and a half from firing range. At this point, the alien gunners changed their tactics; the next wave of missiles impacted the light cruiser Defiant rather than any of the remaining destroyers - potentially a fatal mistake for the enemy, as her six layers of composite armor would prove challenging for the alien missiles to penetrate.

Unfortunately, the much-reduced point defense capability of First Fleet saw a significantly-larger number of missiles from each wave impacting the armor of Defiant, putting to question just how many waves she could actually sustain before suffering critical hits. Following waves continued to arrive every ten seconds as First Fleet approached its target, steadily working down the armor of Defiant. Only three volleys later, she was buffeted by seven penetrating impacts which struck her engines and caused her to fall out of formation. The loss of a light cruiser would critically threaten the ability of First Fleet to bring sufficient firepower to bear against the enemy weapons platforms. The next wave scored nine penetrations, one of which took out her second engine and left her dead in space. The following volley once again failed to finish her off, giving her comrades another precious ten seconds to approach their targets. By this stage, Captain Chryson had reluctantly ordered the remaining cruisers to remove their railgun batteries from point defense duties, as they would need to be locked and loaded when the ragged First Fleet finally entered their own firing range. Ten seconds later, yet another wave of missiles failed to destroy Defiant, who had by now certainly lived up to her name even in defeat.

Finally, a wave of enemy missiles proved sufficient to obliterate Defiant in a hail of nuclear fire. However, the remaining cruisers of First Fleet were finally in range of the enemy and accordingly opened fire, landing twenty hits on the Genghis station and dealing minimal damage to its armor. At this stage, the destroyers and frigates remaining were also ordered to cease point defense fire and begin targeting the enemy stations, particularly since the remaining ships were yet undamaged and one or two more missile volleys were unlikely to kill any of them - therefore, Captain Chryson reasoned, maximum offensive firepower was needed.

Immediately, Captain Chryson’s intuition was proven wrong, as the next missile volley targeted and destroyed the frigate Bellerophon - along with energy weapons fire from the Khan station. Furious at her mistake, the Captain ordered her fleet to withdraw to just past 40,000 km hoping that this would exceed the range of the Khan’s short-ranged guns, ordering the short-ranged 102 mm railguns to resume point defense work. Nearly lost in this chaos was the fact that more than seventy hits had been landed in the Genghis, only one of which had penetrated its armor. Five seconds later, with the fleet safely out of energy weapons range, Devastator fired a salvo at the Genghis, once again scoring only a single penetration. Simultaneously, the next wave of missiles impacted the frigate Battleaxe; while Captain Chryson was certainly not thrilled by any of her vessels taking damage she was certainly grateful that enemy fire was not concentrated on her powerful light cruisers instead. The next salvo again struck Battleaxe, which miraculously survived despite being penetrated by nearly half of the incident missiles.

The cruisers fired back. Denouement landed four penetrations of the Genghis, finally accomplishing more than a single damaging shot. Unfortunately, Devastator was struck by fire control delays, and in the intervening time Battleaxe was destroyed by another missile salvo. Five seconds later, Devastator returned fire, exacting revenge by penetrating the Genghis seven more times. The Genghis launched another wave of missiles in response, but with only 40% of its launchers still operational it was clear that First Fleet was close to achieving a mission kill on the battle station. Only seven of these missiles struck the destroyer Charon, all on the armor - a welcome turn of fortune.



The decimation of enemy missile launch capabilities provided a welcome respite for the beleaguered First Fleet.

Having reloaded, Denouement fired back once again, inflicting another nine penetrations upon the Genghis. Five seconds later, an eerie calm overtook the sensor rooms of First Fleet, as no additional salvo launch was detected. As tired cheers went up on the bridges of the surviving vessels, Devastator fired again, reducing the Genghis missile defense station to mere hunks of orbital slag - in the heat of battle, it nearly escaped notice that no life pods were detected being ejected from the station, in retrospect a curious finding. With great relief, Captain Chryson ordered the two light cruisers to turn their fire on the helpless Khan point defense base, and one hundred seconds later it too was reduced to a smoldering wreck by the gun batteries of the light cruiser Denouement.

At 02:54, not twenty minutes after giving the order to begin the attack run, Captain Niobe Chryson ordered all of her guns to fall silent at last. The battle of Gliese 1 had been fought and won by the ships of the Duranium Legion, bringing great glory but at great cost. Nor was the work of battle yet completed, for there was still a ground assault to be mounted against the surface defenders of Gliese 1-A II.

----

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1x Ars Magica class Survey Frigate: Amalgam of the Void

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Wealth Generation per Million TN Workers: 140
 
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The Duranium Legion - Chapter IV: The Ground Invasion Battle of Gliese 1
« Reply #10 on: February 21, 2021, 12:21:40 PM »
19 April 4003

While the full impact of the Battle of Gliese 1 would take some time to be fully felt at the highest levels by the Legion Navy, in the immediate aftermath of the battle a flurry of orders had to be given. Of the surviving ships of First Fleet, only the destroyer Charon had taken damage, albeit not much more than a few paint scratches. Therefore, Destroyer Squadron 1 including Charon and the jump destroyer Furious was detached and ordered to return to Duratus for light repair work to be done. As they left the former combat zone they would also retrieve the lifepods from their less-fortunate comrade vessels. The reserve still stationed at the jump point would be ordered to rendezvous with the remaining First Fleet elements at Gliese 1-A II to provide broad sensor coverage and jump support for the surviving light cruisers. Meanwhile, reports of the battle had been relayed through the jump point by the reserve elements, and while there was great rejoicing in the halls of the Legion high command there was also concern about the size of the planet garrison. Therefore, the auxiliary fleet en route to Gliese 1 was recalled, to be augmented with a larger troop transport group carrying two Armored Corps. While the Legion still lacked drop transport capability at this time, once again battle planners would rely on overwhelming force to overcome a technical deficit.



In addition to the Red Skull of Gliese 1, awarded to all command officers who survived the Battle of Gliese 1 along with their ships, Captain Niobe Chryson received a number of decorations including initiation into the prestigious Order of the Legion for her boldness and valor in command of First Fleet.

Meanwhile, life carried on throughout the rest of the Legion. On 27 April the first of a new Gatekeeper-class of traffic monitoring ships was commissioned. The Gatekeepers would be 33% larger than the Wardens in order to mount a small gravity drive to provide jump capability, thus not relying on a fleet tender to reach its assigned station. The Wardens would of course remain in service for some time yet, but without this jump capability their days were clearly numbered.

Gatekeeper class Traffic Monitor      4,000 tons       40 Crew       188.9 BP       TCS 80    TH 225    EM 0
2813 km/s    JR 1-25(C)      Armour 1-22       Shields 0-0       HTK 18      Sensors 8/8/0/0      DCR 1      PPV 0
MSP 29    Max Repair 45 MSP
Cryogenic Berths 600   
Commander    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months   

Legion Gravitic Corps LGC-80 Gravity Drive 'Gatehouse'     Max Ship Size 4000 tons    Distance 25k km     Squadron Size 1

Hyperion Drive Yards HC-225 Deep Space Engine 'Orpheon' (1)    Power 225    Fuel Use 3.82%    Signature 225    Explosion 4%
Fuel Capacity 99,000 Litres    Range 116.8 billion km (480 days at full power)

Scamander Corporation Series XVI Onboard Targeting System (1)     GPS 16     Range 6.4m km    MCR 574.5k km    Resolution 1
Scamander Corporation Series XVI Traffic Scanner (1)     GPS 2400     Range 33.9m km    Resolution 150
Scamander Corporation Series VIII RF Wave Scanner (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  22.4m km
Scamander Corporation Series VIII Infrared Scanner (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  22.4m km

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes


Further revelations from the Gliese 1 system soon began to make the lasting implications of that battle apparent. The survey frigate Archrival, sent to complete the job her sister Adamant had started, completed an orbital survey of Gliese 1-A II on 17 June. While the TNEs discovered were incredibly minimal despite the excellent potential for more to be located by a ground survey team, the Legion high command was most concerned by the discovery of alien ruins, estimated to be remnants from an ancient colony almost completely buried by sand and ice. This finally cleared up the mystery of the oversized garrison force - though given the apparent age of the ruins on the surface, this raised new questions as to just what these aliens were doing with those ruins and what consequences their activities might have if left unchecked. Immediately, Legion administrators began drawing up funding proposals and department structure for a new science division dedicated to the emergent science of xenoarcheology, though it would take some time for these efforts to bear fruit.

The Auxiliary Flotilla finally arrived in orbit of Gliese 1-A II on 3 August, and while the rest of the flotilla went about refuelling First Fleet the troop transports immediately began unloading operations on the planet surface. The first four tank battalions were disembarked shortly after midnight on 4 August, and immediately set off across the planet surface to seek and destroy the alien garrison forces. Four hours later, they were joined by four more tank battalions but had yet to locate the enemy forces. Fortunately, they did not have to search for much longer, as forward reconnaissance elements located the enemy positions around the ruined colony. Immediately, Legion commanders began drawing up battle plans. By mid-afternoon another eight battalions had been deployed from the transports, and the assault had begun in earnest.

III. Armored Corps
Lord Commandant Eleos Macaria commanding
3x Tank Brigade: 101st, 102nd, 103rd

V. Armored Corps
Lord Commandant Leto Constanza commanding
3x Tank Brigade: 104th, 105th, 106th

The Gliese 1 Invasion Force comprised in total: 15,376 personnel and 2,478 vehicles requiring a total of 159,500 tons transport capacity.

Legion reconnaissance squads had estimated the hostile force to consist of some 1,200 or 1,300 combat elements, noting that these seemed to be some form of armored infantry. As the first tank battalions reached the enemy lines, the reality was discovered to be far more shocking - before their eyes, hundreds of autonomous combat mechs rose up from their fortified positions and opened fire on the vanguard of the Legion. While shocking, this revelation was not nearly enough to dissuade the brave soldiers of the Legion from the glorious battle in front of them, and the tanks of the vanguard opened fire without hesitation. Despite the enemy’s fortifications, the fire of the Legion’s Halberd main battle tanks was accurate and deadly, and over one hundred of the enemy mechs were mowed down in the opening exchanges of the battle. The principal victims of the Legion gunners were the smallest mechs, dubbed “Centurions” for their distinctive and tactically-questionable plumage, which were easily destroyed despite their strong armor by concentrated M-20 chain gun fire from the Halberd MBTs and their supporting Devastator anti-infantry tanks. Several types of larger four-legged mechs proved to be heavily-armored and only somewhat vulnerable to the main guns of the Halberd MBTs; principally these were named Praetorians and Decurions in keeping with their smaller Centurion cousins. The former of these inflicted particularly heavy losses on the Legion vanguard. The 103rd and 109th Tank Battalions had led the assault and bore the brunt of opening losses, losing seventy-two tanks between them.

While the early ratios were certainly in favor of the Legion tankers, Commandant Midas Lycurgus of the 103rd Tank Brigade ordered the vanguard forces to withdraw, satisfied with the results of this initial probing attack but resolved to regroup and await further reinforcements - notably, neither of the Lords Commandant in command of the Armored Corps had yet arrived to the battlefield. However, the Gliese 1 defenders had other plans, and as afternoon turned to evening a counterattack was launched against the Legion’s left flank. Unfortunately for the alien robots, their flanking maneuver had been spotted by Legion scouts, and Subcommandant Gaius Thorne of the 106th Tank Battalion met the counterattack with a brilliant ambush, destroying nearly one hundred twenty of the Centurion mechs and a handful of their supporting elements, for the loss of only twenty-two tanks. Thus beaten, the Gliese robots discovered subroutines in their programming which enabled them to take a hint, and the Legion soldiers were left alone through the night to complete their disembarkation.

As dawn broke over Gliese 1-A II on 5 August, Lords Commandant Macaria and Constanza plotted an early assault against the fortified ruins. Spearheaded by the 110th and 118th Tank Battalions, the Legion tanks drove across the ice fields and struck the right flank of the enemy, taking advantage of the losses suffered by those formations in the previous evening’s misadventures. While another hundred of the enemy were efficiently atomized, the vanguard battalions did suffer heavy damage, and Subcommandant Europa Argus narrowly avoided a premature death when a high shot from a Praetorian sailed over her main tank force and struck the secondary battalion command tank. Undeterred, she and her fellow subcommandant led the 110th and 118th into the thick of the enemy lines, driving the enemy before them and opening their lines in several places. Three of these openings proved particularly wide and inviting for the ravenous Legion tankers, and the 101st, 111th, and 113th Tank Battalions all achieved crushing breakthroughs against the crumbling enemy flank. The end result of this masterstroke flank assault came out to nearly three hundred alien mechs rendered into scrap for the loss of only ninety-three Legion tanks, with the enemy flank thrown into a full retreat while the Legion tanks regrouped. Over one-third of these losses came from a failed breakthrough maneuver by the 102nd Tank Battalion, which had penetrated only to be blunted by hastily-erected defensive lines manned by the alien mechs’ battlefield reserve. This was the one black mark against an otherwise flawless offensive.

While the Legion commanders had declined to immediately pursue the retreating enemy, this was not done out of cowardice or caution but rather abundant opportunism. By late afternoon, Legion scouts had reported a number of weaknesses in the enemy position, induced as they moved an excess number of their reserves and flank guards to form a direct front against the Legion invaders. The enemy had clearly underestimated the mobility of the Legion battle machines, and the Lords Commandant were glad to correct this misconception in brutal fashion. Leaving only a handful of tank battalions to launch a frontal feint attack, the Legion commanders executed a devastating pincer maneuver which nearly enveloped the hapless defenders. Fourteen tank battalions smashed through the enemy flanks at all points, shredding another two hundred Centurions and more impressively fourteen of the imposing Praetorian combat mechs - nearly matching the total already destroyed prior to this point. A mere twenty-six Legion tanks were destroyed in the assault; by now, several had been taken out of commission not by the alien weapons but due to mechanical failures brought on by the stress of prolonged battle on the cold desert terrain. As darkness fell upon the planet, the Gliese 1 Aliens fell to pieces completely and all eighteen of the Legion’s tank battalions broke through the enemy ranks, driving enemy losses to truly unsustainable levels. However, in the darkness the alien mechs were able to retreat once again, this time to their final defensive positions just outside of the ruined colony. Meanwhile, despite minimal losses from enemy fire the Legion had become completely disorganized in their pursuit and had lost more than two dozen additional tanks to maintenance failures. Lords Commandant Macaria and Constanza therefore decided once again to pull back slightly, regroup, and plan another dawn offensive to complete the destruction of the enemy.

In contrast to the brilliant maneuvers of the previous day, the “dawn assault” of 6 August was delayed until late morning, a fact attributed to battle fatigue and maintenance difficulties in the harsh cold of the night. Fortunately, the enemy was even less prepared for battle, and the Legion’s tank onslaught continued unabated as all eighteen tank battalions again achieved penetration through the enemy lines. The tank battalions had proven unstoppable, due as much to sheer numbers as to tactical excellence, and in spite of their enemy’s technological superiority. Throughout the afternoon, Halberd MBT platoons surrounded Praetorian mechs, which had suddenly found themselves isolated in the chaotic retreat, and destroyed them with accurate focused fire. Meanwhile, the fearsome Devastator AIT companies mowed down the fleeing Centurion remnants. While some amongst the Legion ranks expressed confusion at why robotic soldiers would be so poorly programmed as to retreat in such a disorderly fashion, Lord Commandant Macaria had a different take on the matter: “This is only to be expected from the automatons,” he remarked, “for as mere things of plastic and metal they lack the honor of true soldiers.” Commandant Sharon Lycurgus of the 101st Tank Brigade had a different perspective on the matter: “This is what happens when you hire software developers to do a soldier’s job,” she was heard remarking to her executive officer.

Regardless of their poor battlefield performance, the remaining alien mechs had at least shown the tactical sense to now retreat into the ruins themselves. With defeat a certainty, the enemy had now determined that their best course of action was to inflict as many casualties as possible through bloody urban-style combat. Unfortunately for the enemy, the Legion had spent much of the past century battling rebels and guerilla forces in every manner of unconventional and asymmetric warfare, and they were extremely well-prepared for exactly this eventuality. Throughout the afternoon, Legion tank platoons executed dozens of seek-and-destroy missions to deadly effect, losing only six tanks to enemy action while decimating their enemies. While casualty rates among the Gliese mechs had fallen off since the chaotic mid-morning assault, this was due only to their reduced numbers - Legion tankers simply could not find large enough concentrations of their enemy at once to satisfy their own lust for battle. As afternoon turned to evening and then night, the hunt continued albeit at a slower pace. As darkness fell, the tank battalions took up night watch positions along the perimeter, sending only a few platoons at once into the ruins on a rotating schedule. Kill rates during the night were therefore much-reduced, although the number of Praetorians killed rose substantially as these were relatively easy to detect in the darkness.

Throughout the day of 7 August, the Legion hunter-killer platoons completed their work. By 17:00, the orbital targeting scanners of the frigate Barbette confirmed that no alien forces remained on the planet surface. The ruins of Gliese 1-A II belonged to the Duranium Legion. The III. and V. Armored Corps between themselves had lost around 15% of the force they had landed with, including 210 Halberd MBTs, 49 Devastator AITs, 35 Aegis Anti-Air Tanks, and three non-combat support tanks. Certainly the hardest-hit unit among the Legion battalions was the 109th Tank Battalion, which had been almost totally annihilated in repeated frontal assaults and retained only twelve tanks, nine of which were front-line combat vehicles, out of her original complement of eighty-two tanks. Several other battalions had been reduced below 60% strength, including the 102nd, 103rd, and 110th Tank Battalions, each of which had spearheaded multiple actions during the critical early phases of the invasion. In exchange, nearly 1,500 of the Gliese 1 alien mechs had been, in the words of one particularly eloquent tanker, “kinetically disassembled”.

Gliese 1-A II Garrison Force
1210x Centurion
120x Praetorian Combat Mech
2x Praetorian Leader
49x Decurion AA Mech
4x Construction Vehicle
91x Resupply Infantry



As this was done for the Naval officers who fought against the Genghis and Khan months previously, the Ground Forces commanders present on Gliese 1-A II received an identical award save for the necessary replacement of Sailor Blue stripes with Soldier Orange ones.

----

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1x Gatekeeper class Traffic Monitor

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Fuel Production 48,000 Litres
Fuel Storage - Very Large
 
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The Duranium Legion - Chapter V: Aftermath
« Reply #11 on: February 23, 2021, 10:15:12 PM »
8 August 4003

In the aftermath of the ground battle of Gliese 1-A II, closer inspection of the alien combat mechs raised several questions. One of these questions was readily resolved; scans of the wrecked battle stations by First Fleet confirmed the suspicion that there was no organic matter among the wreckage, however a large number of inert mechs were detected, similar to those on the planet surface but smaller and not heavily armed. Meanwhile, close inspection and reconnaissance on the surface revealed no trace of organic matter or any signs of life, save for the ancient ruins themselves which were judged to be millennia old. The inescapable conclusion was that both the orbital stations and the surface garrison had been placed here to defend the ruins from interlopers - but by whom? Particularly, if the automatons had been left in place by the original occupants of these ruins, who had been departed for millennia by now, how technologically-advanced had this society been to create such a long-enduring robot army? Most disturbing, many of the troops agreed, was the potential that this race with such advanced technology might be elsewhere in the galaxy, perhaps not even too far from the Gliese 1 system. Such grave concerns would only be answered, however, once the Legion could deploy properly-equipped Xenoarcheology teams to study the ruins and decipher the ancient language.

These questions aside, the work of the Legion was never done, and so life went on. The Armored Corps would be retrieved from Gliese 1-A II and returned to Duratus to be reinforced back to full strength, while a mechanized infantry brigade would be shipped to the Gliese 1 system to guard the ruins until a proper exploitation could be done. To provide further surveillance and warning capability, if not much in the way of actual defense, a deep space tracking station and Warden monitor would be deployed to Gliese 1-A II to provide basic passive and active detection capabilities in case the unknown alien race decided to return for their robots. On the economic side of things, the Legion high command had become increasingly concerned about the deteriorating gallicite reserves on Duratus, and had thus ordered that transport of mines off-world should begin as a preventative measure. For now, this meant that automines would be slowly relocated to the Olympia system while Luna would receive as many mines as her growing population, nearing ten million by this time, would be able to work. In the short term, gallicite scraps recovered from a stockpile of alien missiles on Gliese 1-A II would provide a useful buffer once these minerals were transported back to Duratus.

Year 4004

While various departments within the Legion high command continued analyzing the Battle of Gliese 1, the Emperor seeing the clear importance of this system to the future of the Legion issued an order officially re-designating that system as Mongolica, after the ancient empire ruled by the very Genghis Khan whose name had been immortalized in the recent battle. Left unspoken publicly was the implication that the Legion had defeated a great foe, comparable in might to this ancient empire. Briefly, a small schism broke out among Legion historians over whether to designate this important battle by the former name of the system, which was current at the time of the battle, or by the new name in keeping with the spirit of the Emperor’s decree. The eventual resolution of this schism is left as an exercise for the reader.

Otherwise, time progressed with no incidents and little of note. On 1 March, with the rechristened Mongolica Outpost defended by a brigade of Legion infantry, First Fleet was finally given the order to return to Duratus for resupply and overhaul. In the interest of setting some kind of deadline to motivate the Naval staff, the Legion high command announced that the preliminary assessment of the Battle of Gliese 1 would be released on the day of the Fleet’s return. Far more exciting to the newspaper readers of the Legion was the news on 9 March that the first orbital mining platform to be deployed beyond Sol, the OMP Amber Station, had been deployed over a small moon orbiting Olympia IX, supporting the growing mining industry in that system.

Olympia-A IX - Moon 2
     Corbomite 2,209   Acc 1
     Tritanium 3,969   Acc 1
     Gallicite 9,801   Acc 1


On 25 March, First Fleet finally returned to Duratus having been deployed for nearly a year. However, as they had arrived at 22:00 on a Thursday night, the Legion high command instead determined to release what was becoming known as the Mongolica Report the following day at 17:00, to ensure wide media coverage so that all citizens of the Legion would be duly informed of the report committee’s conclusions. At 22:01 the report was leaked to the Legion media by an anonymous staff officer.

In general, the Gliese 1 Report broadly confirmed the soundness and success of Legion military doctrine and attributed any failures to poor-quality work by cowardly spreadsheet-makers in the battle planning department, some 12,000 of whom were sacked accordingly. Whether these self-aggrandizing conclusions would bear out as the Legion continued to expand across the galaxy would of course remain to be seen. In any case, despite the overly-positive tone of the report, the report committee had given several avenues for improvement of the Legion’s military forces, albeit these ideas were for the most part not new ones within the halls of the Legion high command. These ideas would be integrated into future Legion doctrine, to varying degrees, and the Legion would carry on as always.

The reader is referred to Appendix A for further details on the Battle of Gliese 1 Report and Assessment.

The next major milestone in Legion colonization efforts was reached on 27 June, as communications reached the Legion high command on Duratus from the stabilisation ship Andromeda, which along with her sister ship Sagitta had just completed a stable jump gate network reaching from Sol to Alpha Centauri. On receiving this report, the Legion high command hurriedly set about finalizing their plans for colonization of that system, of which several candidate versions had been drawn up. The decision was quickly made, by the standards of the Legion high command, and on 7 July the Alpha Centauri Convoy was launched from Duratus orbit with the mission of establishing a Legion base on Alpha Centauri A-II. This planet had been selected from several candidates principally for its ease of terraforming, as while it was rich in TNE deposits most of these were quite inaccessible. The expectation was that this planet would serve as a hub for extensive mining operations, particularly in the asteroid belt of the B-component in the system.

Alpha Centauri-A II
     Duranium 38,158,848   Acc 0.1
     Neutronium 3,504,384   Acc 0.1
     Corbomite 1,440,000   Acc 0.1
     Tritanium 7,225,344   Acc 0.1
     Boronide 57,600   Acc 0.7
     Mercassium 2,822,400   Acc 0.1
     Vendarite 20,358,144   Acc 0.9
     Sorium 8,856,576   Acc 0.9
     Uridium 589,824   Acc 0.1
     Corundium 4,064,256   Acc 0.1
     Gallicite 22,127,616   Acc 0.1
     Nitrogen 67.632%   0.535 atm
     Oxygen 25.014%   0.198 atm
     Carbon Dioxide 7.254%   0.057 atm
     Water Vapour 0.100%   0.001 atm
     Base Temp (K / C) 263.88   -9.17
     Surface Temp (K / C) 341.80   68.80


Near-simultaneously, on 30 June the Legion Survey Command announced the activation of the Legion’s first Geosurvey Brigade, consisting of the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Geosurvey Companies escorted by a mechanized infantry battalion containing the brigade headquarters. These would be deployed to Venus to clarify the anomalous readings made by the Adamant several years ago, a mission which would serve as training for the new surveyors as well as proof of concept for the skeptics in the Legion high command.



Gorilla Mk I GSV
Transport Size (tons) 218     Cost 8.72     Armour 16     Hit Points 32
Annual Maintenance Cost 1.1     Resupply Cost 0
Geosurvey Equipment:      Geo Survey Points 0.1
Geosurvey Equipment:      Geo Survey Points 0.1
Non-Combat Class


The Geosurvey Brigade was quick to complete its first mission, reporting on 7 August that the amount of duranium contained within the crust of Venus was more than twelve times greater than had initially been reported. However, skeptics of the ground survey mission were quick to point out that this duranium was hardly any more accessible than the orbital survey had reported, so the actual usefulness of the ground survey results were quite limited. In any case, as the Geosurvey Brigade was already activated there was no point in letting it go to waste, so the Legion high command ordered the Brigade to study several other bodies in neighboring systems which had given unclear readings during orbital surveys. Once several more ground surveys had been carried out, the long-term future of the geosurvey division would be determined.

Venus
     Duranium 20,576,882   Acc 0.3    (was 1,648,202   Acc 0.2)
     Tritanium 2,289,169   Acc 0.1
     Vendarite 5,288,896   Acc 0.1
     Sorium 5,570,922   Acc 0.1


Another incremental milestone, characteristic of Legion economic progress since the initial rush of “firsts” had died down, was the commissioning of the first Olympia-class cargo shuttle on 15 August. These had been designed with the strict requirement that it be compatible with the slipways at the Haemus Shipyard which was responsible for Gatekeeper construction. Thus it had been designed on the basis of the Gatekeeper-class hull, with the commercial jump drive removed and the compartments replaced with cargo handling and storage facilities. The result was not a particularly impressive freighter, but for making of regular mineral shipments from her namesake system to Duratus she would be sufficient, so long as the Olympian mining operations did not grow extremely large.

Olympia class Cargo Shuttle      4,250 tons       44 Crew       155.9 BP       TCS 85    TH 225    EM 0
2647 km/s      Armour 1-23       Shields 0-0       HTK 13      Sensors 8/8/0/0      DCR 1      PPV 0
MSP 22    Max Repair 45 MSP
Cargo 1,000    Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 1   
Subcommander    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months   

Hyperion Drive Yards HC-225 Deep Space Engine 'Orpheon' (1)    Power 225    Fuel Use 3.82%    Signature 225    Explosion 4%
Fuel Capacity 88,000 Litres    Range 97.7 billion km (427 days at full power)

Scamander Corporation Series VIII Infrared Scanner (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  22.4m km
Scamander Corporation Series VIII RF Wave Scanner (1)     Sensitivity 8     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  22.4m km

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes


----

Shipbuilding

1x Defiant class Light Cruiser: Dissolution
1x Grand Cross class Light Jump Cruiser: Garrote
1x Charybdis class Destroyer: Caliban
1x Furious class Jump Destroyer: Flayer
2x Bellerophon class Frigate: Bad Omen, Broken Wind
2x Ars Magica class Survey Frigate: Apollo, Athena
9x Phaeton class Freighter
2x Olympia class Cargo Shuttle
1x Salamander class Troop Transport
1x Obsidian class Orbital Mining Platform
1x Achelous class Terraforming Platform
3x Gatekeeper class Traffic Monitor

Research

Construction Rate 14 BP
Salvage Module 500
Shipbuilding Rate 560 BP
Shipyard Operations: 10% Time-Cost Saving
Terraforming Rate 0.0004 atm
Xenoarcheology Equipment

Systems Discovered

FL Virginis: FS Adamant, 25 August 4003
L 145-141: FS Ardent Knight, 18 December 4003
2M1540: FS Ars Magica, 22 February 4004
AX Microscopii: FS Archon, 11 April 4004
WD 1142-645: FS Amalgam of the Void, 17 April 4004
Wolf 359: FS Adjudicator, 20 June 4004
Wolf 358: FS Athena, 2 October 4004
Luyten 302-89: FS Apollo, 5 October 4004
Gliese 229: FS Adamant, 30 December 4004

----

State of the Duranium Legion in the Year 4005

As by this point the Duranium Legion had been engaged in spacefaring activities for fully five years, the Legion high command ordered an assessment and potential re-evaluation of the state of the Legion. Key excerpts from this assessment are included here for the benefit of the reader.

The most pressing challenge facing the Duranium Legion as the year 4005 began was the looming shortage of several key TNEs. While lunar mining operations had proven essential to address the gallicite shortage, the deposits remaining on Duratus were projected to last for not much longer than four months. In addition to Luna, automated mining operations on the Machholz and Whipple comets would have to be expanded. The other critical shortage looming on the horizon was a deficit of duranium despite generally good deposits on Duratus and at several other mining operations, which would likely have to be addressed through a curtailing of construction operations in some noncritical area. Other TNEs causing concern at Legion high command were corundium, necessary for mining operations and weapons development, and neutronium which was crucial for shipyard expansions. Across the board, TNE accessibilities at Duratus had fallen off in the past five years, but it remained the most productive mining operation out of all the Legion’s holdings, both in total and on a per-mine basis.



While the mineral situation was concerning, it existed only as a consequence of the Legion’s voracious appetite for interstellar expansion. In just five years, the Duranium Legion had established four populated colonies including two beyond the solar system housing nearly 4 four and a half million colonists. Other establishments included seven automated mining operations, with five located in Sol and two in the Olympia system, and the budding research outpost in the Mongolica system. These were supplemented by four civilian-owned mining operations in the Sol system, all of which provided their mineral outputs to the Legion for a modest annual fee.

Duratus                                                 Populated Colonies:                         Automated Mining Bases:
Population: 2135.03m                                   
Naval Shipyard Capacity: 132,241 tons                   Mars                                        Borrelly (20x Orbital Miner)
Commercial Shipyard Capacity: 1,278,160 tons            Population: 47.94m                          Machholz (20x Orbital Miner)
Maintenance Capacity: 750,000 tons                      Financial Centre: 352                       Oumuamua (20x Orbital Miner)
Research Facility: 57                                   Infrastructure: 9,520                       Tempel 1 (20x Orbital Miner)
Ground Force Construction Complex: 10                                                               Whipple (20x Orbital Miner)
Construction Factory: 1,800                             Luna                                        Olympia-A VII - Moon 8 (35x Automated Mine)
Ordnance Factory: 400                                   Population: 13.23m                          Olympia-A IX - Moon 2 (20x Orbital Miner)
Fighter Factory: 160                                    Mine: 136                                   
Mine: 1,667                                             Mass Driver: 1                             
Automated Mine: 274                                     Infrastructure: 2,643                       
Fuel Refinery: 400                                                                                  Civilian Mining Operations:
Maintenance Facility: 600                               Olympia III                                 
Financial Centre: 531                                   Population: 4.03m                           Centaurus Mining Group (4x CMC)
Deep Space Tracking Station: 9                          Deep Space Tracking Station: 1              Aleus Mining Corporation (3x CMC)
Mass Driver: 5                                          Mass Driver: 1                              Troy Group (3x CMC)
Military Academy: 5                                     Infrastructure: 806                         Seelix Ventures Limited (2x CMC)
Naval Headquarters: 2                                                                               
Spaceport: 1                                            Alpha Centauri-A II                         
Refuelling Station: 1                                   Population: 0.41m                           
Ordnance Transfer Station: 1                            Deep Space Tracking Station: 1              Xenoarcheological Research Outpost:
Cargo Shuttle Station: 1                                Infrastructure: 80                         
Infrastructure: 172                                                                                 Mongolica Outpost
Low Gravity Infrastructure: 100                                                                     Deep Space Tracking Station: 1
                                                                                                    Ordnance Transfer Station: 1


Despite the losses suffered in the Battle of Gliese 1, the Duranium Legion Navy had still grown in size during this five-year period by a bit more than 20%, with only the Charybdis-class destroyers numbering fewer than they had five years ago. The commercial or auxiliary elements of the fleet had by comparison exploded in volume, with an increase of around 60% in both tonnage and crew numbers as the auxiliaries had not been hindered by any combat losses. Combat losses did affect the ground forces, but not nearly as much as the Navy, as they still grew by 20% in numbers of personnel and vehicles with the primary limiting factor being a lack of facilities for new recruits to be trained and equipped. Both the Navy and Ground Forces considered their positions to be fairly strong, but had some concerns over a lack of relevant technological advancements made during the previous half-decade.

Duranium Legion Navy
8x Defiant class Light Cruiser: Dauntless, Deadly Poison, Defenstrator, Denouement, Devastator, Disruptor, Dissolution, Domination
3x Grand Cross class Light Jump Cruiser: Garrote, Gothic, Grand Cross
11x Charybdis class Destroyer: Calamitous, Caliban, Catharsis, Centaur, Chainsaw, Champion, Charon, Covenanter, Creeping Death, Crushing Blow, Cry, Ye Wicked
5x Furious class Jump Destroyer: Fade To Black, Final Blow, Final Judgment, Flayer, Furious
7x Bellerophon class Frigate: Bad Omen, Barbette, Bat Country, Battery, Blastwave, Broken Wind, Brutal Legend
3x Excelsior class Jump Frigate: Endless Night, Excelsior, Executor
12x Ars Magica class Survey Frigate: Adamant, Adjudicator, Aether Net, Amalgam of the Void, Angel of Ares, Apollo, Archon, Archrival, Ardent Knight, Ars Magica, Athena, Avenging Wrath
11x R-56 class Recon Fighter
Total: 465,250 tons, 12,866 personnel

Duranium Legion Auxiliary Fleet
6x Knossos class Fuel Harvester Platform
6x Obsidian class Orbital Mining Platform
5x Achelous class Terraforming Platform
4x Dragon class Tanker
6x Ogre class Tug
6x Typhon class Colony Ship
22x Phaeton class Freighter
4x Andromeda class Stabilisation Ship
5x Salamander class Troop Transport
8x Libra class Fleet Tender
2x Olympia class Cargo Shuttle
4x Gatekeeper class Traffic Monitor
8x Warden class Traffic Monitor
Total: 5,841,794 tons, 29,494 personnel

Duranium Legion Ground Forces
Imperial Guard Legion
    I. Imperial Guard Corps: 1st, 2nd, 3rd Imperial Guard Brigade
    II. Imperial Guard Corps: 4th, 5th, 6th Imperial Guard Brigade
    IV. Imperial Guard Corps: 7th, 8th, 9th Imperial Guard Brigade
Emperor’s Hand Legion
    III. Armored Corps: 101st, 102nd, 103rd Tank Brigade
    V. Armored Corps: 104th, 105th, 106th Tank Brigade
    VI. Mechanized Corps: 10th Mechanized Infantry Brigade
107th Tank Brigade
108th Tank Brigade (forming)
109th Tank Brigade (forming)
16th Mechanized Infantry Brigade (forming)
Geosurvey Brigade

Luna Garrison: 13th Mechanized Infantry Brigade
Mars Garrison: 14th Mechanized Infantry Brigade
Olympia Garrison: 15th Mechanized Infantry Brigade
Alpha Centauri-A II Garrison: 11th Mechanized Infantry Brigade
Mongolica Outpost Garrison: 12th Mechanized Infantry Brigade

Total: 72,058 personnel, 9,571 vehicles, 620,110 transport tons



 
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The Duranium Legion - Appendix A: Battle of Gliese 1 Report
« Reply #12 on: February 23, 2021, 10:23:43 PM »
Heads-up so you don't miss it: this is the second of two updates tonight, so make sure you've read the previous post to stay up to date!



Appendix A: Battle of Gliese 1 Report and Assessment - Summary and Excerpts

The full Battle of Gliese 1 Report and Assessment added up to 27,249 pages across twenty-one volumes. As a full presentation would clearly be excessive, selected excerpts are quoted below which convey the gist of the report committee’s perspective.

Report of the Legion Battle Assessment Committee on Naval and Ground Force Performances at the Battle of Gliese 1: Table of Contents (abridged)

 Volume I: Abstract, Outline, Summary, Synopsis, and Introduction
 Volume II: An Historical Perspective on the Evolution of Duranium Legion Naval and Ground Combat Doctrines
 Volume III: Operations-Focused Review of Duranium Legion Naval and Ground Combat Doctrines
 Volume IV: Implementation of Duranium Legion Naval Combat Doctrine as the Battle Plan at Gliese 1: An Illuminating Case Study
 Volume V: Comparative Assessment of Gliese 1 Alien Naval Combat Doctrine via Extrapolation from the Battle of Gliese 1
 Volume VI: Comprehensive Assessment of Duranium Legion Naval Losses Suffered During the Battle of Gliese 1
 Volume VII: Causative Assessment of Duranium Legion Naval Losses Suffered During the Battle of Gliese 1
 Volume VIII: Exhaustive Review of Those Sacked for Assessed Roles in Causation of Duranium Legion Naval Combat Losses
 Volume IX: Comprehensive Assessment of Gliese 1 Alien Naval Losses Suffered During the Battle of Gliese 1
 Volume X: Comparative Analysis of Duranium Legion and Gliese 1 Alien Naval Warfare Technologies Present at the Battle of Gliese 1
 Volume XI: Post-Facto Assessment and Validation of Duranium Legion Naval Combat Doctrine at the Battle of Gliese 1: Conclusions and Recommendations
 Volume XII: Implementation of Duranium Legion Ground Combat Doctrine as the Battle Plan as Gliese 1: An Illuminating Case Study
 Volume XIII: Comparative Assessment of Gliese 1 Alien Ground Combat Doctrine via Extrapolation from the Battle of Gliese 1
 Volume XIV: After-Action Assessment of Ground Combat Battlefield Tactics and Causes of Losses During the Battle of Gliese 1
 Volume XV: Comparative Analysis of Duranium Legion and Gliese 1 Alien Ground Warfare Technologies Present at the Battle of Gliese 1
 Volume XVI: Post-Facto Assessment and Validation of Duranium Legion Ground Combat Doctrine at the Battle of Gliese 1: Conclusions and Recommendations
 Volume XVII: Personnel Assessments Including Collected Personal Narratives, Interviews, and Medals Awarded
 Volume XVIII: Conclusions, Summary, Restatement, and Closing Remarks
 Volume XIX: Appendices
 Volume XX: Endnotes and References
 Volume XXI: Topical Index

Excerpts on overall assessment of the naval battle outcome

Volume I, Chapter I, Section XIII, Paragraph 487: “In light of this, while Legion Navy forces suffered greater losses in terms of raw tonnage, proper accounting will show that the Gliese 1 Aliens suffered greater losses in terms of effective tonnage.”

Volume III, Chapter XXIV, Section LII, Paragraph 4: “Duranium Legion Naval doctrine therefore considers an unknown class of enemy vessel to have dedicated fully one-half of its void tonnage to the propulsion its and ancillary systems, including engine crew berthing, structural and armoring materials for the engine mounts, ...”

Volume III, Chapter XXIV, Section LII, Paragraph 33: “An immobile space station, lacking self-propulsion, is therefore marked as equal to a self-propelled warship displacing twice the void tonnage of the station itself for the purposes of assessing an enemy fleet composed, wholly or in part, of unknown vessel classes.”

Volume VI, Chapter IV, Section IX, Paragraph 117: “Duranium Legion Navy ship losses therefore are assessed at a total of 67,500 void tons irrecoverable.”

Volume IX, Chapter VI, Section IX, Paragraph 42: “Gliese 1 Alien naval losses therefore are assessed at a raw total of 35,482 void tons irrecoverable once expended ordnance has been properly tallied… Under thus-cited Legion doctrine, Gliese 1 Alien naval losses therefore are assessed at a total of 70,864 effective void tons irrecoverable.”

Volume XVIII, Chapter III, Section I, Paragraph 6: “According to the most rigorous and objective application of Duranium Legion Naval combat doctrine, the committee finds that in terms of effective naval void tonnage rendered irrecoverable, the Duranium Legion Navy First Fleet achieved a modest, though significant, battlefield victory.”

Excerpts on Legion Navy losses and causes thereof

Volume IV, Chapter IV, Section XXXI, Paragraph 17: “Critical to the battle planning was a series of assessments by the Duranium Legion Department of Point Defense Computation, indicating that two full Charybdis-class destroyer squadrons would provide a sufficient and overwhelming volume of point defense fire.”

Volume VII, Chapter XIV, Section II, Paragraph 218: “Initial battlefield assessments supposed that the Gliese 1 Aliens had equipped their missiles with electronic counter-measures designed to interfere with the point defense fire control systems.”

Volume VII, Chapter XLIV, Section XXVII, Paragraph 47: “These computations had been erroneously conducted using simulated fire controls configured with 12,000 km/s tracking speeds, well in excess of the 5,000 km/s tracking speed which is standard for Duranium Legion Naval vessels.”

Volume VIII, Front Matter, Section VIII, Paragraph 1: “The number of those sacked includes 12,409 personnel formerly of the Duranium Legion Department of Point Defence Computation...”

Volume XI, Chapter II, Section XIX, Paragraph 4: “The reporting committee therefore recommends that future point defense computations be carried out using the correct fleet-standard fire control tracking speed, as defined in...”

----

Volume VII, Chapter XXI, Section XIV, Paragraph 1,148: “Greater caution in approaching the enemy contacts once within the firing range of the 152 mm medium batteries may have prevented the loss of the frigate Bellerophon.”

Volume VII, Chapter XXI, Section XIV, Paragraph 1,153: “However, given the obvious benefit of bringing the considerable mass of 102 mm defense batteries possessed by First Fleet to bear, the reporting committee is not, in good conscience, able to assign fault for this bold and aggressive maneuver.”

Excerpts on proposed recommendations for future Legion Navy doctrine and battle planning

Volume XI, Chapter LXXVII, Section II, Paragraph 98: “It is clear that a critical mass of point defense fire, principally delivered by 102 mm defense batteries, will be the single greatest multiplier of naval force in future engagements of the Duranium Legion Navy.”

Volume XVIII, Chapter XV, Section XXXIX, Paragraph 34: “To accomplish this most directly, the reporting committee advises the expansion of naval shipbuilding capacity for the Charybdis-class destroyer and its future follow-on classes to eight slipways, divided between two naval shipbuilding yards and capable of laying down hulls of up to 10,000 void tons displacement.”

----

Volume XI, Chapter C, Section IV, Paragraph 11: “An enlarged cruiser class displacing 15,000 void tons, while retaining the Light Cruiser designation, shall be able to mount an equal number of 152 mm and 102 mm weapon batteries, thus supplementing destroyer-based point defenses while maintaining independent striking power...”

----

Volume XI, Chapter XII, Section III, Paragraph 79: “The utility of including jump-capable warships organic to combat squadrons is seriously called into question in light of this demonstrated combat ineffectiveness in-theater.”

Volume IV, Chapter XXIV, Section I, Paragraph 3: “In fact, the expressed tendency of Duranium Legion Navy battle planners has been to overestimate the combat capabilities of squadrons composed with jump-capable vessels. Elimination of these vessels from the squadron composition would, it follows, eliminate this tendency...”

Volume XVIII, Chapter II, Section IX, Paragraph 80: “In spite of these concerns, the reporting committee readily concedes that further technological advancements are necessary to facilitate this proposed revision of fleet squadron doctrine.”

Excerpts on Duranium Legion Ground Forces composition

Volume XII, Chapter XIV, Section IV, Paragraph 30: “The Mark III Devastator Anti-Infantry Tank (AIT) therefore replaces the traditional foot infantry in this doctrine, eliminating the critical weakness of conventional combined arms tactics.”

Volume XIV, Chapter X, Section II, Paragraph 69: “The screening effect of the infantry, having fallen out of consideration with the introduction of AIT doctrine, is in the assessment of the reporting committee sorely missed.”

Volume XVI, Chapter LIV, Section XLV, Paragraph 23: “However, losses of hypothetical infantry elements would likely have outmassed those suffered in reality.”

Volume XVI, Chapter LXVII, Section III, Paragraph 21: “Transitioning the current mechanized infantry arm to a re-equipped heavy power armor infantry force will close this capability gap, and...”

Excerpts on Duranium Legion Tank Battalion battlefield tactics

Volume II, Chapter CIII, Section I, Paragraph 57: “The advent of uridium-based targeting systems revolutionized urban warfare tactics, granting heavy armor the capability of detecting stealthy anti-tank ambushes created by the light infantry guerilla forces.”

Volume XVIII, Chapter XXI, Section VII, Paragraph 1: “The doctrine of tank-based urban-style warfare was therefore completely vindicated on the field of battle.”

Excerpts on comparisons between Duranium Legion and Gliese 1 Alien technologies

Volume XV, Chapter XI, Section XII, Paragraph 16: “Metallurgical analysis indicates that the Gliese 1 Alien mechs were armored with a laminate material approximately two generations beyond current Duranium Legion materials science and technology.”

Volume XV, Chapter XII, Section III, Paragraph 2: “Several Praetorians wrecks included largely-undamaged weapons modules. Post-battle assessment indicated that there were probably electromagnetic radiation emitters of approximately 254 mm caliber...”

Volume X, Chapter VII, Section LVI, Paragraph 4: “This class of missiles is exceedingly quick.”
« Last Edit: February 23, 2021, 10:36:24 PM by nuclearslurpee »
 
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The Duranium Legion - Chapter VI: It's A Small Galaxy After All
« Reply #13 on: February 25, 2021, 03:42:57 PM »
Year 4005

While many cultures throughout galactic history have assigned a certain ritual importance to the turning over of the calendar year, most people in the Duranium Legion considered such ritualism an archaic relic of the weak and foolish societies which had preceded the Legion. This belief was perhaps shaken for much of the Legion’s populace by the coincidental encounter of a new alien species barely eight hours into the new year, in the newly-discovered Gliese 229 system.



First contact with the race then designated as the Gliese 229 Aliens was made by a passing survey frigate. It is to date unclear whether the Gliese 229 Aliens first detected this contact via planetary sensors or shipboard sensors on the contact shortly designated Moskva 1 by the Legion Naval Intelligence Division.

Gliese 229 was a fairly average system located four jumps away from Sol via the GJ 1061 branch of the galactic jump network. WIth a fairly extensive planetary system consisting of eight planets with 63 moons along with a handful of independent smaller bodies, Gliese 229 was considered a potential candidate for future exploitation but not an especially-promising one. However, the innermost planet in the system was almost perfectly-habitable, with the only serious limitation being a slight 0.007 atm excess of oxygen in the atmosphere placing the total concentration just beyond the upper range for human tolerance. On discovering the system, the survey frigate Adamant had immediately plotted a course for this planet, in keeping with Legion survey corps doctrine of investigating all easily-colonized bodies with top priority. Despite being Earth-sized, the actual planet was tidally-locked to its sun and had a surface more than 99% covered with liquid water. Therefore it could support only a small population of about 79 million, and the crew of Adamant had no reason to expect any large alien population to be present on the planet. In spite of this, the Legion had immediately marked the planet as a potential terraforming site given how easily it could be brought to full habitability.

Contrary to all expectations, however, not only had a new alien race been detected, but the EM wave signature emanating from Gliese 229-A I was almost 50% larger than that emitted from the surface of Duratus itself. Caught by surprise, it took Captain Achlys Tartarus aboard Adamant several moments to determine an appropriate course of action. The Moskva-class contact off her starboard stern was moving at 2,275 km/s, 50% greater than the top speed of Adamant, therefore any attempt to shadow the other ship would likely be fruitless. For now, Adamant would continue on to the alien planet to gather whatever intelligence she could, and telemetry data from the Moskva would be relayed to the Warden 2 at the entry jump point, which would attempt to intercept the alien vessel. Captain Tartarus noted in her orders that Warden 2 should make every effort not to be spotted on the jump point itself, so as to conceal its location from the aliens. She reasoned, of course, that had the aliens already discovered this jump point, they would have been encountered farther away from what was by all appearances their home system.

With her orders issued, Captain Tartarus spent the next eighteen and a half hours restless with anticipation as Adamant approached the alien planet. At 02:30, the momentary calm was broken by warnings from the RF scanner operator, calling out that Adamant was spotted on active sensors by a new contact, designated Krivak-class, and was furthermore receiving an unintelligible communication from the same source. While the tone of the message certainly did not sound friendly, the Captain ordered her ship to continue on-course, intending to judge the alien response in the next few hours. This intelligence-gathering procedure did not take long; two minutes later, three more Krivaks announced their presence by pinging Adamant with their targeting arrays. While cautious, Captain Tartarus was not interested in backing down too easily, and ordered her crew to bring Adamant to a full stop and hold position. As they did so, a fifth Krivak blinked into existence on the RF scanner tactical display. As the crew of the survey frigate waited with bated breath, the squadron of alien ships drew closer, giving no sign of stopping at any respectful distance. Finally, with the Krivaks 15.1 million km distant, the Adamant’s infrared scanners finally registered a signature for the alien vessels, confirming that they were in fact military ships with an approximate displacement of 7,600 void tons - collectively matching Adamant five times over, not that this would make any difference if the encounter turned hot. Captain Tartarus was glad to call the intelligence-gathering operation a success and ordered her ship back to the jump point - transmitting all sensor data to Warden 2 just in case things did not end as well as she hoped.

Not reacting to this change of orders, the Krivaks continued to close on Adamant, sending no further communication. Captain Tartarus and her crew braced themselves for the worst, only to be relieved as the Krivaks closed with, and then flew past, Adamant. Apparently, the Gliese 229 Aliens were not quite as hostile as the Gliese 1 Aliens had been. Encouraged by the apparent unimportance of her ship to the aliens, the Captain ordered her helmsman to once again proceed towards the planet, hoping to gather more intelligence under the guise of establishing diplomatic relations. Shortly after the Krivaks disappeared from the RF scanner, Warden 2 reported the original Moskva contact which appeared to be heading toward a gravitational survey location beyond the entry jump point, confirming its displacement as 8,568 tons. All signs indicated that the Legion ships had been detected transiting the jump point, although it was yet unclear how this could have occurred.



Status of the Gliese 229 survey mission at 20:45 on 2 January, following the second detection of the Moskva-class survey vessel.

As Adamant approached the planet, another new contact class appeared on her RF scanners, designated Kirov, which mounted the same sensor type as the Krivak class. Based on intelligence gathered from the previous encounter, Captain Tartarus believed that Adamant was detecting these contacts from beyond the range of their own active arrays, though this made little difference as the planetary sensor network assuredly was tracking Adamant regardless. In any case, continuing to press onwards was the clear choice in her mind, to gather as much information as possible regarding the alien capabilities.

Meanwhile, the Krivak squadron had arrived at the position of Warden 2 and seemed content to maintain a close formation around the small traffic monitor. Having already determined the displacement of these ships, Warden 2 obligingly powered down her active scanner to minimize any threat the alien ships might consider her to pose.

In contrast to the tense situation of first contact, Adamant’s approach to the alien home world proved uneventful. By 05:30 on 4 January, Adamant had reached orbit of Gliese 229-A I, detecting another twenty-one ship types on her approach. Many had been spotted first by her RF scanner as they activated their targeting sensors, which by now appeared to be standard operating procedure for the alien fleet; these contacts were classified as warships after analysis of their sensor signatures. Preliminary speculative analysis of the warship-type contacts suggested that the Gliese 229 Aliens operated at least 20 battlecruiser-size warships - all of the Kirov class - 89 cruiser-size warships split across three classes, 67 frigate or destroyer-size warships split across six classes, and 8 defense stations split across two classes. To members of the Legion high command who received this data some time later, two things were evident from this information: first, given the observed speeds of the ships detected thus far, Legion technology was likely to be superior to that of the aliens; second, the Duranium Legion Navy was horribly outnumbered.



Sensor log record of the Gliese 229 home fleet, as detected by the survey frigate Adamant on her initial approach to the planet.

In the present moment, having approached the planet without incident Captain Tartarus decided to see if she could complete a discreet geological survey of the planet without unduly annoying the alien fleet. While clearly a great gamble, Duranium Legion captains have historically been noted for their great boldness more than any other aspect of their neurological construction, so this decision was certainly not out of character for the Captain. Despite the danger, Adamant completed her mission with no difficulty, confirming that the alien homeworld had ample stocks of TNEs to support their powerful fleet. Thus emboldened, Captain Tartarus ordered her crew to plan a geological survey of the entire system, working from the inside out so as to leave detection range of the planetary sensor network before the aliens became too upset with her presence in their system. While such an operation certainly would not help diplomatic relations with the aliens, the intelligence gained would be critical for the war planners back home on Duratus.

Gliese 229-A I
     Duranium 348,473   Acc 0.9
     Neutronium 180,615   Acc 0.6
     Corbomite 168,296   Acc 0.5
     Tritanium 71,077   Acc 0.4
     Boronide 73,892   Acc 1
     Mercassium 95,454   Acc 0.8
     Vendarite 110,454   Acc 0.8
     Sorium 391,915   Acc 0.6
     Uridium 261,554   Acc 0.8
     Corundium 85,877   Acc 0.4
     Gallicite 151,273   Acc 0.9


Unfortunately for the intrepid crew of the Adamant, a Minsk-class vessel, now designated as a geosurvey vessel class, was surveying the same planets. Angry-sounding messages thus continued to be broadcast towards Adamant at regular intervals.

Finally, on 22 February a sufficient number of garbled communiques had been received from the aliens that communication could be established between Warden 2 and an alien stabilization ship which had positioned itself at the jump point. The aliens identified themselves as the Republic of Belaire. Unfortunately for the bold Captain Tartarus, the jig was up as the Belaire fleet commander issued an ultimatum: leave the system or be fired upon. Having pushed her luck as far as it would go, the Captain reluctantly acquiesced and set a course for the jump point to escort Warden 2 out of the system. This escape was completed without incident, and with Warden 2 left to monitor the other side of the jump point, Adamant transmitted her complete sensor logs through the communications network back to the Legion high command at Duratus, and set out hoping to find greener pastures to survey. For ease of reference, the Gliese 229 system was renamed as Belaire after the alien race which resided there.

At the Legion high command on Duratus, the war planning department was considerably more flustered than Captain Achlys Tartarus had been. The existence of a rival navy which could overmatch the entire Legion Navy with the members of just one ship class, namely the twenty 23,000-ton Kirov-class battlecruisers, was nothing less than an existential threat. Amidst the panic, Legion war planners were quick to grasp the hope of superior technology compared to their rival, as evidenced by the relatively weak engine signatures detected by the post-named Belaire Expedition. Unfortunately, while they were highly effective weapons in many respects, the railgun batteries preferred by the Legion Navy were not suited to exploiting a speed advantage against a superior enemy fleet, therefore the Legion high command was forced to turn to projects under development in hopes that a new secret weapon might be found to even the odds. Fortunately, while it would take some time yet to bring to fruition, just such a project had been the subject of top-secret research for a significant part of the past five years.

In the present, however, the situation continued to develop poorly. On 17 March, a Krivak-class scout ship transited the jump point into Kuiper 79, immediately declaring that this system lay within the territory of the Republic of Belaire. While the Legion was certainly not in the habit of giving in to empty territorial demands, the Legion was also not in the business of starting wars it could not win. For the moment, no official response was sent to the Krivak, and the Legion continued its business in the system as usual. While Kuiper 79 was not overly impressive, it would have been decently well-suited as a mining base had the Legion not preferred more productive opportunities in other sectors of the galaxy, so in a pinch it could be quietly left alone with Legion monitoring craft stationed at opposite ends of each jump point in the system.

Meanwhile, some form of decisive action needed to be taken. The system of GJ 1061 had long been marked for future colonization due to the quite-hospitable second planet, which would require relatively little terraforming to be fully-habitable. The remaining bodies in the system, only half of which had been surveyed by this time, included multiple gas giants with high content of accessible sorium and an extensive Kuiper Belt with excellent mining prospects despite the distances involved. It would therefore make an excellent near-Sol fleet base for operations against the Republic of Belaire, with a good chance to become a self-sustaining network  of colonies later on. For now, the Legion high command determined that it was of critical importance to establish the jump gate network needed to build up a base on this colony, preferably before the Belaire aliens laid a claim to the system. Meanwhile, some initial groundwork had to be laid, and a convoy was rapidly dispatched to the system. For ease of reference, and while left unsaid likely also for the sake of public relations materials, the GJ 1061 system was redesignated as Adamantine after the bold frigate which had repeatedly brushed with certain doom and survived to bring glory to the Legion.

Adamantine-A II
     Boronide 65,545,216   Acc 0.2
     Mercassium 17,139,600   Acc 0.1
     Vendarite 46,348,864   Acc 0.2
     Nitrogen 71.000%   0.901 atm
     Oxygen 29.000%   0.368 atm
     Base Temp (K / C) 202.46   -70.54
     Surface Temp (K / C) 191.64   -81.36


The Republic of Belaire wasted no time putting pressure on the Legion high command to act. Within the first month after their arrival in Kuiper 79, An Udaloy-class and Moskva-class ship also transited into the system, reinforcing the persistent requests for the Legion to vacate the system. The Lords Admiral who had begun developing ulcers due to this stress were also not helped by the long-expected report that the gallicite deposits on Duratus had finally run out on 5 May, only adding to the list of problems which needed solving. With the gravitational survey of Kuiper 79 being completed on 9 May, it was decided to create some breathing room for the moment and Warden 2 was ordered to pull back to the Adamantine system along with Avenging Wrath, which would assist Angel of Ares in completing the geological survey of that system. Meanwhile, Belaire scouts were detected in Luyten 302-89 on 12 May; as this was a non-critical system it was hoped that the Belaire would send their survey ships in that direction, buying the Legion precious time to fortify Adamantine. In the short term, these hopes seemed to carry through, as Belaire activity within range of Legion sensors largely ceased aside from incidental contact in the Luyten 302-89 system.

The all-too-short period of relative silence was broken on 20 August by another Belaire Krivak-class scout arriving in the Adamantine system, followed some days later by an Udaloy. As Adamantine Base was still in its early stages the Belaire captain judged the Legion’s presence to be insufficient to justify their firm request to leave the system, much to the chagrin of the Legion high command. As the base in Adamantine was not yet sufficient to maintain even a cruiser squadron, the Legion admirals settled for dispatching another Gatekeeper to the system to maintain the jump point monitoring, while Warden 2 would shadow the Krivak as it explored the system. Once the planetary base was sufficiently developed, the newly-assembled Cruiser Squadron 3 would be dispatched to ensure a respectable Legion presence in the system when the “request” was reissued. An ancillary task for establishing the base was completed by 29 August, when the stabilisation ship Pisces reported completion of the jump gate network between Sol and Adamantine.

Over the course of the following four weeks, the Krivak would scout out the inner system of Adamantine to its apparent satisfaction before retiring to its entry jump point though still remaining in-system. On 17 September, a pair of Minsks entered the system; apparently the Belaire had judged it safe. While this presence caused consternation for the Legion high command, it did indicate that the Belaire did not view the Legion with great hostility, thus  they might be afforded sufficient time to complete a naval build-up before war was declared. On 3 October, with a presence of 400,000 colonists now ensconced on the planet surface, the Legion reissued a request for the Belaire ships to vacate the system. Three days later, the Belaire response was received, and once again they rejected the Legion’s claim to the system.

Still uneasy about the Belaire refusal to respect Legion territorial claims, the Legion high command ordered the terraforming cluster currently in orbit of Mercury to be briefly relocated to Adamantine Base. As a fractional amount of excess oxygen to be removed was all that stood between this planet and easy (though not complete) habitability, the high command wished to accomplish this task before tensions with Belaire became too great and the terraforming mission too risky.

By 1 November, despite gallicite deposits being exhausted the maintenance supply factories on Duratus were reporting a shortage of duranium instead. As there were at least five years’ worth of supplies stockpiled on the planet surface, the Legion high command ordered that supply production would be shut down for the foreseeable future as a cost-saving measure. Legion planners anticipated that by the time production had to be resumed, systems such as Adamantine would be ready to take up the challenge.

Unfortunately for the blood pressure of the Legion’s admirals, the Belaire were not the only sentient species in the galaxy, and one ship’s crew in particular was about to be reminded of this inconvenient truth.

----

Shipbuilding

1x Defiant class Light Cruiser: Double Edge
2x Charybdis class Destroyer: Char, Corrugator
2x Bellerophon class Frigate: Bloodsucker, Braggart
2x Ars Magica class Survey Frigate: Ascendant Might, Ariadne
2x Phaeton class Freighter
2x Typhon class Colony Ship
2x Salamander class Troop Transport
1x Achelous class Terraforming Platform
2x Obsidian class Orbital Mining Platform
3x Gatekeeper class Traffic Monitor

Research

Construction Equipment
Fuel Production 56,000 Litres
Ground Formation Construction Rate - 320
Mining Production 14 tons

Systems Discovered

NN 3378: FS Ars Magica, 17 March 4005
WISE 0350-5658: FS Adamant, 27 March 4005
Lacaille 9352: FS Adjudicator, 10 June 4005
WISE 1506+7027: FS Archrival, 9 July 4005
Struve 2398: FS Adamant, 9 July 4005
Groombridge 34: FS Ascendant Might, 7 October 4005
Eta Cassiopeiae: FS Ardent Knight, 12 November 4005
 
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The Duranium Legion - Chapter VII: Fun N' Games at the Final Frontier
« Reply #14 on: March 01, 2021, 01:00:27 AM »
13 November 4005

Many veterans of the Legion Navy considered the Ars Magica-class survey frigate Ardent Knight to be the first in her class, despite being the third-commissioned ship of the class. In large part, this was due to her unique fame not only as the discoverer of the first jump point but also as the first to bravely go where none had gone before. It was ironic, then, that she would become the first of her class to cross another kind of frontier entirely.



At 10:58 Duratus Galactic time on 13 November, sensor operators aboard Ardent Knight were shocked to discover a pair of new, yet strangely familiar, contacts appearing on her RF scanner display. While the contacts were of an alien ship class not yet encountered, the active sensor signatures being detected were unmistakably similar to those of the Mongolican battle stations discovered two and a half years ago. While similar, the sensor signatures were not identical to those aboard the Genghis and Khan, and Captain Eupheme Nikon initially held out hope that the similarities were purely coincidental. However, the computers and sensor technicians aboard Ardent Knight could offer no better explanation for the idiosyncratic waveforms being detected, and the Captain was reluctantly forced to accept the reality of her situation. Designating these contacts Ogadei, Captain Nikon transmitted her sensor logs to Warden 6 at the entry jump point, which would relay them back to Duratus, and set about determining how Ardent Knight should meet her fate. The two Ogadei-class ships were traveling at 5,033 km/s, more than three times the top speed of Ardent Knight, and were already less than 50 million km from the frigate which in turn was over 75 million km from her entry point. Escape was out of the question, therefore Ardent Knight’s final mission would be to disguise the location of her entry point and to lead the enemy away from Warden 6, which lacked self-jump capability to make its own escape. With this established, Captain Nikon ordered her crew to plot a course for a nearby comet, on a trajectory away from both the enemy ships and Warden 6.

Twenty-two minutes later, three groups of four small contacts each appeared on the thermal scanners of Ardent Knight, inbound at 34,566 km/s. Clearly these were missiles, but of a different type from those encountered in Mongolica. Ten seconds later, three more salvos appeared, followed by a seventh ten seconds after that. This limited onslaught was small comfort to the doomed crew of Ardent Knight. Despite the futility of doing so, Captain Nikon ordered all hands to brace for impact.



R.I.P.

At 11:22:40 the first wave of missiles slammed into Ardent Knight, instantly shredding her into a small cloud of space junk. Of the 145 brave men and women on board, 109 perished instantly; the three dozen who escaped would be left to an uncertain, and quite probably worse, fate.

The Legion high command was not made up of men and women beholden to sentiment, and on receiving word of the events in Eta Cassiopeiae their first concern was to determine the intent and capabilities of this new - potentially Mongolican - threat. This would pose some difficulty, as the Legion could not spare a large fleet element to reconnoiter the enemy position due to ongoing tensions with the Republic of Belaire. In the end, Frigate Squadron 3 would be sent, closely followed by the newly-commissioned Gatekeeper 7 which would be responsible for rescuing Warden 6 if the latter vessel had not yet been detected and reduced to atoms. The frigate squadron would hopefully be able to at least manage a token point defense against the enemy missiles while making a swift escape if spotted, although with only nine 102 mm defense batteries across four ships  even this would be a great deal to ask. The frigate squadron would require eighteen days to reach Eta Cassiopeiae, and Gatekeeper 7 a full month; understandably, the crew of Warden 6 would not be optimistic about their odds of survival. To make matters worse, the homing signals from the life pods of Ardent Knight went silent shortly after midnight on 15 November - an ominous portent.

Early on 1 December, Frigate Squadron 3 transited into Eta Cassiopeiae, immediately resolving on their powerful RF array a massive active sensor based on a new ship class, designated Kublai, detecting five contacts of that type in total - all in orbit around the second planet of the near component star. For the moment, Commander Agon Reza aboard the frigate Bad Omen ordered the squadron to hold position at the jump point. Sensor technicians estimated the range of the enemy sensor as more than 120 million km, with a resolution easily able to resolve the Bellerophon-class frigates. While the frigates could likely count on speed to help them escape detection, Commander Reza preferred to wait until Warden 6 was safely evacuated before commencing reconnaissance operations. In the meantime, a communication was sent back to the Legion high command on Duratus requesting that a jump cruiser be detached and sent to Eta Cassiopeiae, in order to deploy its R-56 reconnaissance fighter if an opportunity presented itself. To meet this request, First Fleet detached its light jump cruiser Grand Cross to the system.

A bit more than an hour later, a sixth Kublai contact was detected, approximately thirty million km from the planet and moving at 7,568 km/s along a heading towards the jump point. Commander Reza was disturbed by this development, but not unduly worried, though he did order Warden 6 to evacuate to a position some 135 million km stellar-south of the jump point, just in case. Even so, it seemed improbable at best for his squadron to have been spotted. This assessment was called into question, however, as the Kublai continued to approach, pulsing its active sensor roughly once every ten minutes. Finally, after forty minutes of this charade, it became apparent that Frigate Squadron 3 had in fact been made out, as another pair of Kublais appeared at 147 million km on the same direct course. Commander Reza resolved to remain on the jump point as long as possible, partly to gather intelligence before evacuating from the system but also to give Warden 6 as much time as possible to bravely run away.

Fifteen minutes later, a ninth Kublai pulsed its own active sensor, followed by a tenth after another fifteen minutes; clearly the alien ships were slowly revealing their strength in an attempt to intimidate the Legion scouting force. Twenty additional minutes passed, and just as Commander Reza began to think he had a full accounting of the enemy force, a new contact pulsed its actives. Designated Yuan, this contact was located all the way back at the alien planet; presumably, it was checking for any Legion stealth ships which might have evaded the Kublai squadron. Eighty seconds later, two new Kublai contacts were detected by the frigates’ RF arrays, and a mildly-annoyed Commander Reza grudgingly resumed his counting. As the Kublais continued to approach, still more new Kublai contacts made themselves known; by 08:30, Frigate Squadron 3 had tallied a total of 18 Kublais in addition to yet another class of contacts operating the same type of active sensor, designated as a pair of Timurads.

By now, the Mongolican squadrons were exhibiting an unusual behavior, as several Kublais appeared to be retreating back toward their planetary base, with one of the Kublais holding position at 116 million km just inside the presumed range of the large active sensor it carried. The Timurad pair appeared to be continuing to advance towards the frigates, suggesting that these were heavier warships while the Kublais were light frigates or scouts not equipped with heavy weapons. As the Timurads continued to advance, another pair pulsed their sensors and appeared on the RF arrays of Frigate Squadron 3, repeating the same intimidation tactics as the Kublais. Commander Agon Reza was by now thoroughly annoyed.



Few starship captains enjoy playing the sort of sensor games that the Mongolicans had apparently made a core component of their combat doctrine.

Fortunately - by some tenuous definitions, at least - for Commander Reza, the Timurads were similarly uninterested in playing games. As they barreled towards the frigate squadron, infrared arrays detected their engine exhaust, giving a displacement reading of around 26,700 tons each for the Timurads. Following this encounter, the size of these vessels would spawn several dozen schemes within the halls of the Legion high command based around somehow leading the Belaire and Mongolican battlecruisers to fight each other, all of which would be roundly rejected. In the present moment, however, Commander Reza was content to place such harebrained schemes far out of mind, instead waiting for the moment at which the Mongolican attack force would cross into his own active sensor range, allowing his technicians to finally get a good look at their foes. His anticipation was only heightened when the squadron’s thermal arrays resolved two additional 17,800-ton contacts at 104 million km, designated Hazara and unlike their comrades not running any active sensors which the Bellerophons could detect at that distance.

Finally, at 11:34 the Mongolican attack force had approached within active sensor range of Frigate Squadron 3. Commander Reza ordered the squadron to activate their sensor arrays, eager to see what the enemy was made of. Immediately, two additional classes of contacts were discovered, designated Aimak (8.874 tons) and Zanabazar (8,846 tons). Notably, none of the earlier Ogadei contacts were spotted, despite the fact that these were known to the Legion to be missile-armed warships after the ill-fated encounter of Ardent Knight. It was possible that these ships were smaller combatants, which the long-range arrays of the frigates could not resolve at this distance. Thus, Commander Reza decided to continue holding his position - also hoping to give Warden 6 more precious time to make her escape.

Finally, at 12:27, a wave of enemy missiles were spotted on the squadron’s thermal arrays, consisting of four salvos with fourteen missiles each. As a single salvo already contained more missiles than the frigate squadron had guns, Commander Reza wisely discerned that it was, at last, time to go. After holding position for three more minutes to collect accurate sensor data on the missiles, Frigate Squadron 3 quickly disappeared through the jump point, leaving the Mongolican missiles to self-destruct uselessly less than a million km from their targets. Warden 6 was now on its own for the foreseeable future.

Based on the speeds observed during the reconnaissance operation, Commander Reza estimated that the Mongolican attack fleet would be able to make the jump point in less than five hours, and as they had surely seen his squadron make its transit there could be no doubt about its location even if the aliens had somehow not surveyed their own system. Therefore, if the Mongolicans chose to pursue his squadron through the jump point, nothing could be done to stop them. On the other hand, if the aliens lacked jump capability, this would be valuable intelligence to bring home to the Legion high command, which would then rest assured that the Monglicans, though powerful, would not pose an offensive threat which would detract from efforts to deal with the Belaire situation. Thus, in the best interests of the mission Commander Reza elected to have his squadron remain on the opposite side of the jump point, monitoring it for any Mongolican incursion. By midnight, no Mongolican vessel had yet traversed the jump point, and Commander Reza could breathe a bit more easily as he transmitted his final report of the day to the Legion high command. The fate of Warden 6, however, would remain unknown for some time yet.

----

Shipbuilding

1x Charybdis class Destroyer: Chimera
1x Gatekeeper class Traffic Monitor

Systems Discovered

IRAS 21500+5903: FS Amalgam of the Void, 21 December 4005
 
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