6th August Y13NE
The First Survey Fleet completes a gravitational survey of Dresden, a system two jumps from Sanctum via Hamburg, and finds that it has a record eight jump points, one of which already has a jump gate. This is further indication of the presence of an alien species in this area of space. However, while the ruins suggested the aliens are long gone, it is difficult to determine the age of the jump gate and for all we know, it could have been recently constructed. A probe of the system beyond, designated as Kaiserslautern, reveals a type two nebula with an F-class protostar and five planets, one of which has a breathable atmosphere and a surface temperature of -40C. Its colony cost is estimated to be 1.50. A second jump gate is located on the far side of the jump point. Dresden?s sixth jump point connects to the known system of Halle, three jumps from Sanctum via Bonn and Kiel. The remaining jump points lead to a series of unremarkable binary systems.
30th November Y13NE
Refitting of the four Scharnhorst II class destroyers is complete. A further four Scharnhorst II hulls are laid down.
27th February Y14NE
The Second Survey Fleet recently completed a survey of Ulm, a system three transits from Vath from Hamburg and Nurnberg, and located two new jump points. The first led to the unremarkable Gronau system but the second led to Ravensburg, a vast system with the largest star ever recorded. Ravensburg?s primary is an M8-Ia red supergiant almost five billion kilometers in diameter with a luminosity of 138,000 and a mass of 28 SM. A companion K4-V orange star orbits at 2.4 trillion kilometers, accompanied by a red dwarf orbiting the K4-V at two billion kilometers. Six planets orbit the primary, none of which are habitable, and the outermost world orbits well outside the whole trinary system at almost five light years. Six planets orbit the companion star while a the red dwarf is surrounded by a substantial asteroid belt. The jump point to Ulm is twenty-five billion kilometers from the primary. Surveying this system will be an enormous undertaking, although it may be worth it one day as our scientists believe such a star could have many jump points. That day is some time away as the outermost ring of survey locations are thirty-two billion kilometers from the star and approximately seventeen billion kilometers apart. Our propulsion technology will need to improve before such an undertaking can be completed in any reasonable amount of time.
15th August Y14NE
Vathorian scientists have completed development of magneto-plasma drives and more powerful warheads for our missiles. Two new missiles, designed using this technology, will replace the existing Lynx anti-ship missile and the Bobcat anti-missile missile. Although the AS-2 Jaguar Anti-ship Missile has the same range as the AS-1 Lynx, it is 33% faster and has a warhead with 50% greater strength. The Bobcat II Anti-missile Missile also has a 33% speed advantage but does not require any additional warhead strength.
AS-2 Jaguar Anti-Ship Missile
Missile Size: 3 MSP (0.15 HS) Warhead: 9 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 10
Speed: 26700 km/s Endurance: 16 minutes Range: 25.0m km
Cost Per Missile: 3.5833
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 267% 3k km/s 80% 5k km/s 53.4% 10k km/s 26.7%
Materials Required: 2.25x Tritanium 1.3333x Gallicite Fuel x625
Development Cost for Project: 358RP
AM-2 Bobcat II Anti-Missile Missile
Missile Size: 1 MSP (0.05 HS) Warhead: 1 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 10
Speed: 32000 km/s Endurance: 39 minutes Range: 75.0m km
Cost Per Missile: 0.7833
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 320% 3k km/s 100% 5k km/s 64% 10k km/s 32%
Materials Required: 0.25x Tritanium 0.5333x Gallicite Fuel x625
Development Cost for Project: 78RP
25th September Y14NE
The three Graf Zeppelin class carriers, Graf Zeppelin, Graf Spee and Peter Strasser are completed by the Ziegler Shipyard. Only twenty-eight Comet class fighters have been completed so far, mainly because the fighter factories had to be constructed before they could build the fighters. As each carrier has a strikegroup of twenty Comets, it will be some time before all three have their full complement of fighters.
20th September Y14NE
Four more Scharnhorst II class destroyers are completed, taking the total for the class to eight. The main problem now will be building enough of the new missile types to arm the fighters and destroyers and to fill the magazines of the carriers and the Altmark class support ships.
29th December Y14NE
Hessen has transited a recently discovered jump point in Stuttgart, two transits from Sanctum, and found Bergheim, a system with a pair of extremely rare blue O3-V main sequence stars that are twice as massive than the red supergiant in Ravensburg. Although they are much smaller in terms of diameter, 15 million kilometers compared to almost five billion, they are both around fifty solar masses, compared to twenty-eight for Ravensburg-A, and have luminosities of 400,000, three times that of the red supergiant. Their outer survey locations are at forty-three billion kilometers, twenty-two billion kilometers apart, and will require seven times as long to survey as a star with one solar mass, making this an even greater undertaking than surveying Ravensburg. Bergheim-A has four planets, the closest of which is an Agni-class world one hundred and thirty billion kilometers from the star. Even at that range the surface temperature is close to 400 degrees. The B-component at three trillion kilometers has three planets, including one with a dense oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere, and a small asteroid belt. A large asteroid belt surrounds the entire system between 0.5 and 2.5 light years from the primary.
10th January Y15NE
Since the completion of the archaeological dig in the Bautzen system several months ago, our archaeological teams have been working on a destroyed outpost found on Wurzburg II. The ruins were expected to yield little of value but those limited expectations have been confounded by the discovery of a compressed fuel storage system. This new technology will allow us to build fuel storage systems for our ships that hold fifty percent more fuel than before, adding extra range without the need for additional storage space.
16th February Y15NE
Over the last four years, all of our terraforming efforts have been concentrated on Abaddon. The first priority was to increase the amount of oxygen to a breathable level. Unfortunately as the atmospheric pressure was low this increased the percentage of oxygen to a dangerous level. As the planet was at -39C, carbon dioxide was added, both to enhance the greenhouse effect and lower the proportion of oxygen. As the temperature rose, the ice sheets covering the higher latitudes melted, reducing the amount of sunlight reflected and raising the temperature even further. The proportion of oxygen has now fallen below thirty percent and for the first time, the twenty-nine million colonists on Abaddon can breathe the planet?s air unaided. The temperature is now -12C, which means infrastructure is still required to support the colony, but the colony cost has been reduced to 0.36 so the existing infrastructure can be devoted simply to keeping the inhabitants warm rather than maintaining a breathable internal atmosphere. The infrastructure will now support over 160m inhabitants and that will steadily increase as the temperature continues to rise. It will not be much longer before Abaddon becomes the second ideal habitable world in our home system.
10th March Y15NE
The geological survey ship Scheer, which has just arrived in the Hamburg system, has just sent a disturbing message over the jump gate network. Her mission was to conduct a survey of the Remscheld system, four jumps from Sanctum via Hamburg, Nurnberg and Wurzburg. The system had an F8-IV sub-giant primary, seven planets, none of which were habitable, a small asteroid belt and over a hundred moons. After surveying a comet and a rocky outer planet, she moved to the extensive moon system of Remscheld III, a mid-sized gas giant and began surveying each moon in turn. As she arrived at one of the inner moons, her very limited thermal sensors detected a population on the fifteenth moon, orbiting on the far side of the gas giant. The thermal signature was 900, or about forty percent that of Berlin II which has a population of 58m. Therefore her commander, Duke Julius Laugel, one of our highest ranking survey officers, estimated the alien population at 20-30m. With no sign his ship had been detected, the Duke ordered his helmsman to return to the Wurzburg jump point and thereafter Scheer moved through Wurzburg and Nurnberg to Hamburg, the closest point on the jump gate network.
At 12400 km in diameter, the moon on which the population was detected is larger than Vath but the conditions are very hostile. The surface temperature is -134C and the moon has a atmosphere of methane and nitrogen with a density of only 0.21 atm. The colony cost is estimated to be 5.4. Unless the moon has very large quantities of phased elements, it seems an unlikely place to find an alien population. Our scientists have theorised that the aliens might be methane breathers and as such would not find the moon such a hostile place but that seems very unlikely. However, if that was the case, then Remscheld II would probably be an ideal world for them. With an atmosphere of methane and nitrogen, albeit three times as dense, and an almost identical temperature, the planet has very similar conditions to the fifteenth moon of Remscheld III.
We need more information on this alien race, preferably without the aliens knowing of our existence. Therefore I have instructed Prince Karl Manstein, head of our armed forces, to launch an expedition to Remscheld as soon as possible. However, we have a distinct lack of scout ships or other reconnaissance elements in the Imperial Fleet so Prince Karl want to address that problem before we send any ships and I have agreed on the basis that he can still launch the operation within a year. In the meantime, a ship will be sent to picket the Wurzburg ? Remscheld jump point in case the aliens have jump capability and attempt to leave their system.
15th July Y15NE
Research into sensors is progressing. Active and thermal sensor technology has been improved over the last four months and new sensor systems are being developed. The 500 ton S210/100 Active Sensor Array has a range of over two hundred million kilometers at resolution 100 and the new M126 Active Search Sensor can detect missiles out to 1.2m kilometers. Under development at the moment is the 500 ton TH-80 Thermal Array, easily the most powerful space-borne passive sensor, as well as its smaller cousin, the TH-40. A recon drone has been developed that can be fired from the launch tubes of a Scharnhorst II or a Comet class fighter. The drone has a range of 125m kilometers and its resolution 20 active sensor has a range of 260,000 kilometers, making it ideal for checking out the orbital space of planets or distant thermal contacts without the need to expose the firing ship to detection.
Recon Drone
Missile Size: 3 MSP (0.15 HS) Warhead: 0 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 10
Speed: 10700 km/s Endurance: 195 minutes Range: 125.4m km
Active Sensor Strength: 1.3125 Resolution: 20 Maximum Range: 262,500 km
Cost Per Missile: 1.8458
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 107% 3k km/s 30% 5k km/s 21.4% 10k km/s 10.7%
Materials Required: 1.3125x Uridium 0.5333x Gallicite Fuel x3125
Development Cost for Project: 185 RP
With the future scout ship in mind, the idea of the Recon Drone has been taken a stage further. A Probe Launcher has been designed, which is a essentially a slow-firing, size 12 missile launcher. Active and Thermal probes are under development that will be fired by this launcher. The Active Probe has a much greater sensor range than the recon drone, albeit at a greater resolution, and can therefore be used both in the recon role but also to shadow a hostile contact from outside its likely anti-missile range. More useful will be the Thermal Probe, able to silently assess both planetary and space-borne contacts with far less chance of detection.
Active Probe
Missile Size: 12 MSP (0.6 HS) Warhead: 0 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 10
Speed: 9300 km/s Endurance: 279 minutes Range: 155.7m km
Active Sensor Strength: 4.2 Resolution: 50 Maximum Range: 2,100,000 km
Cost Per Missile: 6.0667
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 93% 3k km/s 30% 5k km/s 18.6% 10k km/s 9.3%
Materials Required: 4.2x Uridium 1.8667x Gallicite Fuel x15625
Development Cost for Project: 607 RP
Thermal Probe
Missile Size: 12 MSP (0.6 HS) Warhead: 0 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 10
Speed: 4000 km/s Endurance: 651 minutes Range: 156.3m km
Thermal Sensor Strength: 2 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 2000k km
Cost Per Missile: 2.8
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 40% 3k km/s 10% 5k km/s 8% 10k km/s 4%
Materials Required: 2x Uridium 0.8x Gallicite Fuel x15625
Development Cost for Project: 280 RP
5th August Y15NE
Three more Graf Zeppelin class carriers, Manstein, Guderian and Rommel have been completed by the Ziegler Shipyard. Unfortunately the production of fighters and missiles and well behind schedule and only two of the original three Graf Zeppelins have received their full complement. Therefore, despite the recent discovery of the alien colony in Remscheld, no more carriers will be laid down for the moment.
25th August Y15NE
The design of our new Bauer class scout ship is finalised. The jump capable ship is equipped with our best sensors, sixteen of the newly developed probes and is the first vessel to utilise the compressed fuel storage system. The Bauers will be built in the Neptune shipyard where retooling should be completed by mid-November.
Bauer class Scout 5000 tons 462 Crew 851.4 BP TCS 100 TH 480 EM 0
4800 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 1-26 Shields 0-0 Sensors 80/24/0/0 Damage Control 0-0 PPV 6
Magazine 192 Replacement Parts 5
J510 Jump Drive Max Ship Size 5100 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Scheiner SE-6 Magneto-plasma Drive (6) Power 80 Efficiency 0.60 Signature 80 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 225,000 Litres Range 135.0 billion km (325 days at full power)
Probe Launcher (1) Missile Size 12 Rate of Fire 1800
Probe Guidance System (1) Range 150.0m km Resolution 500
Thermal Probe (12) Speed: 4000 km/s End: 651 minutes Range: 156.3m km Warhead: 0 MR: 10 Size: 12
Active Probe (4) Speed: 9300 km/s End: 279 minutes Range: 155.7m km Warhead: 0 MR: 10 Size: 12
S210/100 Active Search Sensor (1) GPS 21000 Range 210.0m km Resolution 100
T80 Thermal Sensor (1) Sensitivity 80 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 80m km
E24 Electromagnetic Sensor (1) Sensitivity 24 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 24m km
5th September Y15NE
Four more Scharnhorst IIs have been completing, taking the total number of the class to twelve. Until the shortage of modern missiles has been resolved, no more Scharnhorsts will be laid down.
10th October Y15NE
Terraforming of Abaddon is complete, transforming this once hostile planet into the ninth ideal habitable world in known space. Due to its lack of mineral resources, Abaddon will become a planet dedicated to research, particularly in the area of sensors and fire control systems. Research on Berlin II will be reduced in favour of establishing mining operations and a fleet base, while Bonn IV, now with a population of eleven million, will become a new Research centre, specialising in defensive systems such as shields and armour. The complete list of Vathorian populations is as follows:
Vath (Sanctum): 1737m
Berlin II: 74m
Abaddon (Sanctum): 42m
Bonn IV: 11m
Koln I: 3.6m
Koln II: 3.5m
Konigswinter IV: 2.1m
Dortmund IV: 1.5m
Giessen-B II: 0.47m
Munchen I: 379 Automated Mines
Munchen Asteroid #18: 20 Automated Mines
29th November Y15NE
A tenth ideal habitable world has been discovered. The third planet of the Nordhausen system, located three transits from Vath via Koln and Rostock, has identical gravity to Vath, a breathable atmosphere and a pleasant temperature of 27C. Most of Nordhausen III is ocean with scattered archipelagos covering approximately eight percent of the surface. Although only three jumps from the Sanctum system, the location of the intervening jump points means that this is the furthest known habitable world. Once jump gates have been established, a single Namibia III will be dedicated to the colonization of Nordhausen III.
17th January Y16NE
As the large amount of infrastructure built up on Abaddon is no longer required, it will gradually be moved to other worlds in the core systems that may one day be terraforming targets. The first two such worlds will be Berlin III and Hamburg III. Berlin already has the second largest population in the Empire on Berlin II and Hamburg is adjacent to Sanctum and a key crossroad system.
20th January Y16NE
The civilian space centre on Vath has built a second civilian colony ship, this time a Namibia III class.
15th May Y16NE
Eighty Comet fighters are now in service, enough to provide full complements for four of our six Graf Zeppelin class carriers. Our dwindling stockpile of Vendarite has also been replenished by a discovery of 12,000 tons on Abaddon, enabling us to build more fighter factories, taking the total to two hundred. The Comet design has also been upgraded, using the recent improvements in technology to replace the resolution 60 sensor with a resolution 40 model with almost the same range, replace the engine with a more fuel efficient design and utilize the new ceramic composite armour to reduce the overall size by 5 tons and therefore increase speed by 272 km/s. The Comet-B is an evolution of the Comet-A rather than a revolutionary new design but our crews deserve the best equipment we can provide.
Comet-B class Fighter 220 tons 12 Crew 45.7 BP TCS 4.4 TH 54 EM 0
12272 km/s Armour 1-3 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/0/0/0 Damage Control 0-0 PPV 1.8
Magazine 12
MPD-78 Fighter Drive (1) Power 54 Efficiency 78.00 Signature 54 Armour 0 Exp 60%
Fuel Capacity 10,000 Litres Range 1.0 billion km (23 hours at full power)
VLS-3 Single Cell Launcher (4) Missile Size 3 Hangar Reload 22.5 minutes MF Reload 3.7 hours
FC25/40 Missile Fire Control (1) Range 25.2m km Resolution 40
AS-2 Jaguar (4) Speed: 26700 km/s End: 15.6 minutes Range: 25m km Warhead: 9 MR: 10 Size: 3
20th July Y16NE
A new, larger carrier has been designed. The Bismarck class has a strikegroup almost double that of the Graf Zeppelin class and twice the magazine capacity, while costing only sixty percent more. The Ziegler Shipyard has recently been upgraded to 20,000 tons and has now begun retooling to build the Bismarck. There are still not enough fighters to equip all the Graf Zeppelins but by the time the first Bismarck is ready, that problem should have been resolved.
Bismarck class Carrier 20000 tons 1322 Crew 2610 BP TCS 400 TH 2000 EM 0
5000 km/s Armour 1-65 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/0/0/0 Damage Control 0-0 PPV 0
Hangar Deck Capacity 8000 tons Magazine 1080 Replacement Parts 15
Scheiner SE-6 Magneto-plasma Drive (25) Power 80 Efficiency 0.60 Signature 80 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 975,000 Litres Range 146.3 billion km (338 days at full power)
AS-2 Jaguar (360) Speed: 26700 km/s End: 15.6 minutes Range: 25m km Warhead: 9 MR: 10 Size: 3
S50/80 Active Search Sensor (1) GPS 5120 Range 51.2m km Resolution 80
Strike Group
36x Comet-B Fighter Speed: 12272 km/s Size: 4.4
25th July Y16NE
The civilian space centre on Vath has built its third colony ship.
10th September Y16NE
Three Bauer class scout ships are constructed by the Neptune Shipyard. All three are immediately dispatched to investigate the alien race in the Remscheld system. In Wurzburg, adjacent to Remscheld, a Brandenburg class jump ships and two Scharnhorst II missile destroyers deployed within four million kilometers of the Remscheld jump point watch for any sign of alien ships entering Wurzburg.
28th November Y16NE
The Bauer class scout Werner von Siemens has just transited the Nurnberg ? Hamburg jump point and sent disturbing news via the jump gate network to Fleet Headquarters, regarding the mission to investigate the alien population in the Remscheld system. After leaving Vath, the three scouts travelled through Hamburg and Nurnberg to Wurzburg, adjacent to Remscheld. On October 4th, Y16NE, they were just two days from the Wurzburg - Remscheld jump point when an unknown ship transited into Wurzburg. The Brandenburg class jump ship Oberhavel and the Scharnhorst II class destroyers Emden and Dresden were three point five million kilometers away, monitoring the jump point with passive sensors. A strength-300 thermal signature appeared on the jump point for several minutes before disappearing back into Remscheld. The signature indicated a ship with fairly low engine power, similar to one of our gravitational survey ships.
Two days later the scouts arrived at the jump point. While two scouts joined the small force near the jump point, the lead ship of the class, Wilhelm Bauer, transited into Remscheld. She returned minutes later to report the far side of the jump point was clear and there were no passive sensor contacts, although she did not activate her primary active sensor to avoid giving away her position. One possible explanation for the lack of alien ships on the far side of the jump point is that the Remscheld aliens have only recently surveyed the system and may be conducting probes of its jump points. The ship that entered Wurzburg may be en route to another jump point. The senior officer present, Grand Duke Soren Lorenz on the Dresden, ordered all three scouts into Remscheld, instructing Viscount Mickler of the Brandtaucher to remain on the far side of the jump point while Wilhelm Bauer and her sister ship Werner von Siemens headed for the inner system.
On October 13th, Wilhelm Bauer detected a very strong electromagnetic signature from the second planet while still over two billion kilometers away. Nineteen months ago Scheer found an alien colony among the moons of Remscheld III but her extremely limited sensors detected nothing from Remscheld II. However, both Remscheld II and the moon of Remscheld III have very similar methane ? nitrogen atmospheres, increasing the possibility we have encountered a race that breathes methane rather than oxygen. The electromagnetic signature of Remscheld is over 80,000, seventy-five percent that of Vath itself, which indicates this is a sizeable population, possibly the aliens? homeworld. Both ships continued toward the inner system on divergent courses, heading for the third and fourth planets respectively.
On October 17th, Wilhelm Bauer moved within 140m kilometers of Remscheld III and detected an electromagnetic contact from its fifteenth moon, confirming the contact report from Scheer. The scout halted and fired a thermal probe toward the gas giant at 16:00. The probe only moved at 4000 km/s, partly to keep the speed down to avoid detection and partly so that a more powerful sensor could be squeezed into the probe body. Nine hours later the probe arrived at its designated waypoint and detected a strength-1150 thermal contact from the moon, almost thirty percent stronger than the thermal signature recorded by Scheer. Unless the aliens could reproduce at a frightening speed, the obvious conclusion was that additional colonists had been shipped in during the last nineteenth months. Leaving the probe in place, as it still had two hours of endurance, the scout began to move around Remscheld III and its moons in order to approach the much larger population on Remscheld II, still seven hundred million kilometers away. It was very likely that the large population would have planetary sensors so Bauer?s commander, Viscount Christopher Ballack, ordered his ship to slow to just 1000 km/s, significantly reducing its thermal signature.
Meanwhile the second scout, Werner von Siemens, arrived in orbit of Remscheld IV, a small gas giant with thirty moons. She immediately detected twelve strength-240 thermal contacts in orbit of the twenty-ninth moon. The moon had a nitrogen ? methane atmosphere and a temperature of -154C, broadly similar conditions to those of the two populated alien worlds, although about twenty degrees colder. The scout?s commander, Viscount Gotthold Seidel, consulted the astronomical records from Scheer and found that the planet was now slightly warmer. A more detailed examination of the atmospheric data from the moon showed that an artificially produced greenhouse gas present, similar to that produced by our own terraforming ships. It seemed likely that the twelve thermal contacts were terraforming ships, transforming the moon so that a third alien colony could be established. Werner von Siemens pulled away from the gas giant and set course for Remscheld I, another gas giant orbiting 240m km from the F8-IV primary. She arrived on October 23rd and detected no sign of alien activity around the gas giant or any of its twenty-three moons. As Remscheld V had already been checked by Bauer en route to Remscheld III and the outer two planets were at nine and twenty billion kilometers respectively, Siemens pulled away from the innermost planet in the opposite direction to Remscheld II and headed back to the Wurzburg jump point.
At 2 am on October 25th, Wilhelm Bauer glided to a halt just 145 million kilometers from the large alien population on Remscheld II. So far there was no sign that the aliens had detected the scout ship so she fired a thermal probe toward a waypoint 120,000 kilometers from the planet. Just over eight hours later, still one point five million kilometers from the planet, contact with the probe was abruptly terminated. Although some type of technical malfunction was a distant possibility, the likely explanation was that the probe had been detected and destroyed. Viscount Ballack ordered his helmsman to head for the jump point at 1000 km/s and his tactical officer to fire an active probe back toward the planet. With the element of surprise apparently lost, he decided he might as well learn as much as he could. However there was no indication his ship had been detected so he intended to remain at low speed for the moment.
With the probe over halfway to the planet, Wilhelm Bauer?s EM sensor detected two active search sensors with an estimated range of fifty million kilometers and a resolution of eighty, low enough to detect the Vathorian scout at their maximum range. Both contacts were forty million kilometers out from the planet, twenty-two million from the probe and 120m from Wilhelm Bauer. The scout?s primary search sensor had a range of two hundred million kilometers with a resolution of 100, so it would be a matter of seconds to determine what alien ships were in the vicinity but Viscount Ballack still believed his own location had not been pinpointed and his S210/100 Active Search Sensor would show up on every alien EM sensor in the system. For the moment, he instructed his crew to maintain course and speed and watch their own sensors intently.
As the probe reached two million kilometers from the two alien active sensor contacts, it detected eight alien ships of three distinct classes. Both members of the first class were 9000 tons while the other six ships massed 8250 tons. All eight were moving at 4000 km/s and the active alien sensors were located on ships of two different classes. The probe transmitted data for less than a minute before the data stream was suddenly cut-off one point five million kilometers from the alien fleet. Given the range it seems likely the probe was destroyed by an alien missile. Whatever the cause of its destruction, the probe fulfilled its purpose, providing valuable data on the size and speed of the alien ships. Viscount Ballack ordered an increase in speed to 2000 km/s, hoping his ship was too far from the alien planetary sensors to be detected.
As the hours passed it became clear the alien fleet was on a course for the Wurzburg jump point. Although all eight ships could no longer be detected, the two alien search sensors remained active, giving away their position. Viscount Ballack realised that the course of the active probe was on a reciprocal course from the Wurzburg jump point and the aliens already knew the jump point?s location. It wouldn?t have required great analysis skills for the aliens to realise that Wurzburg was the likely entry point for an intruder firing probes from that direction. He resolved that in the future he would take much greater care and use probes on dogleg courses. Wilhelm Bauer continued at 2000 km/s as the aliens closed the gap. At 21.27 hours, with the aliens seventy million kilometers astern and therefore still twenty million kilometers outside their active sensor range, Viscount Ballack began to consider accelerating to Wilhelm Bauer?s max speed of 4800 km/s and simply outrunning the aliens, regardless of whether they detected his ship. Suddenly six new thermal contacts appeared eight point seven million kilometers away and travelling at 6000 km/s. With a signature of strength-120 and their high speed, they were surely some form of fast attack craft. After a few moments of near panic it become clear the new contacts were on a parallel course rather than directly pursuing the Vathorian scout. If they continued on their current heading, they would overtake approximately three million kilometers to starboard. The reason for the parallel course was that they were on a direct heading from Remscheld II to the Wurzburg jump point while Wilhelm Bauer was heading to the jump point from a slightly different bearing as it had approached Remscheld II from the direction of Remscheld III. However, whether the alien FACs passed without detecting Wilhelm Bauer was only half the problem. The scout could no longer just go to full speed and outrun its pursuers without regard for its thermal signature as the FACs could easily run it down if detected. Therefore Viscount Ballack ordered a course change eighty degrees to port, away from the FACs and an increase in speed to 2500 km/s. Twenty-five minutes after they were detected, the alien FACs overtook Wilhelm Bauer at a range of eight million kilometers and without any sign they had detected the scout. Viscount Ballack ordered a return to the original course for the jump point, holding his speed at 2500 km/s. The main group of alien ships was 65m kilometers astern and closing.
An hour later, with the FACs no longer on sensors, Viscount Ballack ordered an increase in speed to 3000 km/s, trying to stay out of the alien fleet?s active sensor range while remaining undetected by the planetary sensors or any thermal sensors in the fleet. Unfortunately, his luck finally ran out. Within seconds of the speed increase, the main alien fleet changed course by several degrees and headed straight for Wilhelm Bauer. The scout immediately increased speed to 4800 km/s and activated its primary search sensor. All eight alien ships re-appeared on sensors, along with six more in orbit of Remscheld II, still just within sensor range. As yet, there was no sign of the alien FACs. At the Wurzburg jump point, four point five billion kilometers away, the Bauer class scout Brandtaucher had been joined by the jump ship Oberhavel and the Scharnhorst II class destroyers Emden and Dresden but they were far too distant to provide any assistance. Werner von Siemens was still well within the orbit of Remscheld II but one point six billion kilometers from Wilhelm Bauer and therefore in no immediate danger.
Fifteen minutes after the speed increase, the six FACs re-appeared on an intercept course. This time they were detected by Wilhelm Bauer?s active sensor, revealing them to be 1000 ton ships, as expected. Viscount Ballack?s fears were realised as Wilhelm Bauer could outrun the ships behind her but had no chance of evading the FACs. As a last resort he hailed the main alien fleet, trying to open a dialogue. The response was completely unintelligible. As they closed, one of the FACs activated its own search sensor, a resolution 20 system with an estimated range of 4 million kilometers. Within a few minutes the FACs had closed to within 70,000 kilometers and matched speed with the Vathorian scout. A single FAC fired a pair of 10cm Ultraviolet Lasers, burning two holes in Wilhelm Bauer?s thin armour belt. When the scout continued on course the FAC fired again five seconds later. Viscount Ballack contacted Grand Duke Lorenz on the Dresden and requested permission to halt his ship and attempt to communicate. He pointed out that as only one FAC was firing, it suggested the aliens were more interested in getting him to stop running than to destroy him. Unfortunately for Ballack and his crew, his ship contained several examples of the very latest Vathorian technology and the Grand Duke could not afford for them to fall into alien hands. He ordered Viscount Ballack to keep running and to avoid surrendering.
To the surprise of both the Grand Duke and Viscount Ballack, the aliens ceased fire anyway, despite Wilhelm Bauer?s refusal to halt its flight, and all six FACs engaged their active sensors. They seemed content to shadow the scout while it ran, presumably while they tried to learn all they could about its systems. Grand Duke Lorenz ordered the Emden to head into the system to meet the scout. If Wilhelm Bauer lived long enough to make the rendezvous, the pursuing FACs would be in for a surprise.
While the aliens might learn something about Vathorian technology, Wilhelm Bauer?s own active sensor could return the favour. Ten hours into the flight, she had detected gas-cooled fast reactor technology on one of the FACs and active sensor tech a generation behind our own on one of the larger warships. Five more days passed, during which the main alien fleet fell back out of sensor range and Wilhelm Bauer detected ion engine technology, lower fuel efficiency than our own and third generation capacitor recharge technology on the FACs, although that was not necessarily the extent of the alien technology as 10cm lasers only required that level of recharge technology to give them a 5 second rate of fire. There is no way to know what alien active sensors may have learned during that time.
As the sixth day of Wilhelm Bauer?s flight dawned, she was almost halfway to the jump point. More importantly, Emden was rushing to meet her at a combined closing speed close to 10,000 km/s and was only two hundred million kilometers ahead. Finally at 06.12 on November 1st, Emden launched ten AS-2 Jaguar missiles from a range of twenty million kilometers, targeted on the first two FACs. As she had only two long-range missile fire control systems, she could only engage two targets at once. However, she could alter the targets of missiles in flight so further groups of ten missiles were launched at ten second intervals. At 06.23, two FACs were each hit by three Jaguars with strength-9 warheads and blown to pieces.
Three of the remaining four FACs immediately opened fire on Wilhelm Bauer, hitting with two of six lasers fired, both of which were absorbed by the scout?s strength-1 armour. The FACs also accelerated to their maximum speed to close the range and ensure follow up hits were more effective. Before the FACs could fire again, the second wave of AS-2 Jaguar?s arrived. One FAC was destroyed by three hits while a second somehow survived two hits but was still left dead in space. One of the two intact fast attack craft fired and missed with both lasers while the other continued to hold its fire, most likely because its crew had not yet reacted to the sudden missile attack. Five seconds later the active, intact FAC fired again, scoring a single strength-2 hit that passed through a gap in Wilhelm Bauer?s armour and wrecked her jump drive. The crippled fast attack craft, falling rapidly astern, also fired a single 10cm laser from 84,000 kilometers without success. Presumably the missile hits had taken out the other laser and part of the FAC?s reactor capacity, slowing down the recharge to ten seconds.
The third wave of missiles arrived, obliterating the FAC that had failed to fire its missiles and inflicting two strength-9 hits on the last intact fast attack craft. Amazingly the alien FAC sailed on through the explosions without even slowing down. Grand Duke Schenk, commanding the Emden, had underestimated the toughness of the fast attack craft and had not fired a fourth wave of missiles to mop up any survivors. Although he rapidly corrected that mistake, the fourth missile wave would take several minutes to arrive which was likely to be much to late to save Wilhelm Bauer from an onslaught of laser fire. The scout?s crew prepared for the end, their emotions at a new low after salvation had seemed to be at hand. Their apparently imminent demise was put on hold when the FAC failed to fire and instead broke away on a course back to Remscheld II. While its engine remained intact, the missiles must have damaged its weapons or fire control system. Wilhelm Bauer continued on course for the jump point, leaving four wrecks and two damaged FACs in its wake. Six AS-2 Jaguars from Emden closed on the alien survivors.
Wilhelm Bauer had suffered several hits, losing fifteen percent of her armour belt and her jump drive. Fortunately, Oberhavel, Werner von Siemens and Brandtaucher could all escort her out of the system. Werner von Siemens was actually still further from the jump point than Bauer, although there was no sign that the aliens even knew she was in the system. The main alien fleet was out of sensor range and with it?s apparent max speed of 4000 km/s was no threat to the chances of Emden, Bauer or Siemens reaching the jump point. It was possible there were other alien ships in the system that were in a position to cut off the Vathorians so the second Scharnhorst II class destroyer, Dresden, waited at the jump point and remained vigilant. At 06.35, the crippled FAC was annihilated by three Jaguars and two minutes later, the FAC fleeing for home met the same fate. Grand Duke Soren Lorenz had not come to Remscheld with the intention of plunging the Vathor Empire into an interstellar war. Nevertheless, that was the state in which the Empire found itself. Little was known about the Remscheld Aliens, except that they would surely fight to avenge what they would see as the invasion of their system and the unprovoked destruction of their ships.
Five days later, with Emden and Bauer still six hundred million kilometers away, Brandtaucher detected a strength-120 thermal contact 8.7m kilometers from the Wurzburg jump point. Given the similarity of the thermal signature to that of the FACs, the first thought was a second FAC flotilla was approaching. However, the speed of the contact was only 3428 km/s so this ship was probably larger and slower than a FAC. Brandtaucher engaged her own active sensor, giving away her position but allowing her to scan the new contact. It was quickly identified as a previously unseen class of about 1750 tons, perhaps an alien scout or survey ship. The Scharnhorst II destroyer Dresden locked on her fire control system and launched ten AS-2 Jaguars. Realising it had been detected, the alien ship reversed course. Its futile flight lasted for seven minutes before the missiles ended it. Grand Duke Lorenz ordered Brandtaucher to pick up survivors from the alien life pods and within the hour forty-five aliens had been rescued.
As suspected, the Remscheld Aliens were methane-breathers and it took the Brandtaucher?s chief engineer several hours to covert the scout?s mess hall into a suitable environment, partly by cannibalising the life support systems of the escape pods. For the first time, the Vathorians aboard Brandtaucher really understood what alien meant. In place of our two legs, two arms, teeth, claws and fur, the Remscheld Aliens had ten radially symmetrical limbs serving as both legs and arms, a central, hunched body covered with a shell-like exoskeleton and mass of short tentacles covering what was probably their face, identifiable by two large, pale blue, lidless eyes on either side of their forward-protruding, well-armoured head. Because of its intended mission, Brandtaucher crew included several exobiologists, xenologists and linguists. A team was quickly assembled and put to work on communicating with the aliens.
Wilhelm Bauer and Emden rendezvoused with Oberhavel, Dresden and Brandtaucher at the Remscheld ? Wurzburg jump point on November 6th and were joined by Werner von Siemens twenty-seven hours later. Grand Duke Lorenz ordered Viscount Seidel to take the Werner von Siemens home and report and Viscount Mickler on the Brandtaucher to enter Wurzburg and move to the Nurnberg jump point, where the scout would hold position in case any urgent messages needed to be relayed to Vath. The Grand Duke held the two destroyers, Wilhelm Bauer and the jump ship Oberhavel in Remscheld, intending to hold the jump point as long as possible. Wilhelm Bauer was unable to make her way home independently and therefore could not fulfil the missions of the other two scouts. Her powerful sensors were intact so she could serve as the eyes and ears of the small Vathorian fleet until they were forced to retreat. Emden retained forty Jaguar missiles while Dresden?s launch silos held sixty-six. Each destroyer also had seventy Bobcat II anti-missile missiles.
On November 8th Y16NE, the main alien fleet of eight ships entered Wilhelm Bauer?s sensor range and continued closing on the jump point at 4000 km/s until they halted twenty-nine million kilometers away, four million kilometers outside maximum Vathorian missile range. Thirty minutes later, Wilhelm Bauer?s thermal sensor detected forty small incoming contacts at 680,000 kilometers, travelling at 24,000 km/s. Ten seconds later, the contacts were confirmed as missiles by the M48 Search Sensors on the two destroyers. Both destroyers began launching anti-missiles in automatic mode, firing off their whole inventory in twenty-five seconds with the last interceptions taking place just 26,000 kilometers from the fleet. The Bobcat IIs proved less effective than had been hoped, destroying only twenty incoming anti-ship missiles for the expenditure of 140 anti-missiles. Grand Duke Lorenz ordered an emergency transit to avoid the remaining twenty missiles but the ships were unable to react with only five seconds warning. Sixteen of the alien missiles, equipped with strength-6 warheads, struck Emden, destroying sixty percent of her armour and taking out one of her engines, a fire control system, her thermal sensor and a VLS-3 single cell launcher.
With no anti-missile defences left and two damaged ships, the Grand Duke let his retreat order stand. As the ships were preparing to depart, a second wave of forty missiles appeared on thermal sensors at 680,000 kilometers. As only Oberhavel had a jump engine and could only escort two ships, Grand Duke Lorenz was forced to order Wilhelm Bauer to remain for the moment as the scout was the smallest ship and unlikely to be the target of the missiles, not to mention the most expendable from a military perspective. The Vathor ships desperately tried to assemble themselves into formation for transit but they had never had any training as a fleet and their coordination was terrible. The Grand Duke screaming at his ship commanders did not help the situation. The alien missiles closed the gap at a frightening speed, further increasing the pressure on the Vathor crews. For a moment, Grand Duke Lorenz thought they were going to make it then Emden exploded into a million glowing shards. Viscount Ballack on the Wilhelm Bauer had his ship ready to go and with Emden gone, she slotted into formation just in time for the transit into Wurzburg, five seconds after the tragic destruction of the Vathorian destroyer.
The Grand Duke knew that inexperience and lack of training had just cost the lives of three hundred and eighty-seven Vathorians and the loss of a valuable warship. There had not even been time to stop and search for survivors in case a third missile wave was on its way. With the bitter taste of defeat in his mouth, he ordered his ships to immediately head for the Nurnberg jump point and deactivate all active sensors to avoid revealing their position to any pursuers. Brandtaucher and Werner von Siemens were already five hundred million kilometers from the Wurzburg ? Remscheld jump point, en route to the Nurnberg jump point. The Grand Duke modified Brandtaucher?s orders, instructing her commander to hold position on the Wurzburg ? Nurnberg jump point as previously planned but now he would act as an early warning picket rather than a message relay. Werner von Siemens would still carry the first warning to the rest of the Empire. An hour ago she fulfilled that mission, bringing the news that we are now at war with the Remscheld Aliens.
As we prepare for the struggle to come, this is probably a good time to review the status of the Empire, both in terms of colonies and shipping. Known Space now comprises ninety-seven systems, fifty of which have been surveyed for jump points. The Vathorian Empire has eleven populated worlds in nine different systems, totalling 1914 million citizens, plus two mining colonies in Munchen. The colony details are as follows:
Vath - Prince Sven Bodendorf (Research 35%, Shipbuilding 30%)
Vath is the Imperial Capital and the cradle of Vathorian civilization. For the last sixteen years the planet?s industry and resources have served as the foundation for the Empire, researching new technologies, building and maintaining the ships of the Imperial Vathorian Guard and supplying the vast majority of the required financial support and mineral wealth. Our great expansion has come at a price, however, as the planet?s once plentiful mineral deposits have been reduced to a few thousand tons of Duranium and Boronide. Every other mineral has been mined to exhaustion and it will be only a few years before the remaining, low accessibility deposits are gone. While Vath will remain as a financial centre and probably a centre of trade with Vathorian colonies, its factories and mines will likely be moved to worlds with greater resources. Even the great shipyards are far less busy than they once were, with over two-thirds of slipways lying empty. With the recent expansion of mining operations in Munchen, it should soon be possible to supply enough minerals to increase shipbuilding once more, which will prove vital if we are to win the coming war. Even Vath?s research establishment has declined over the last few years as laboratories have been shipped to Abaddon and Bonn to diversify our R&D and allow specialization in key areas.
Population 1720m
Annual Wealth: 55, 167
Shipyards: 8/32
Research Facilities: 45
Sector Command: Level 4
Naval Academy: Level 6
Civilian Space Centre: Level 3
Spaceport: Level 2
Commercial Freight Facility: Yes
Maintenance Facilities: 17,200 tons
Construction Factories: 1413
Fighter Factories: 240
Ordnance Factories: 353
Fuel Refineries: 622
Mines: 353
Automated Mines: 165
Financial Centres: 10
Ground Force Training Facilities: 15
Mass Drivers: 2
Fuel Stockpile: 209m litres
Berlin II ? Duke Olaf Ackermann (Mining 30%, Shipbuilding 15%, Pop Growth 10%)
Berlin II is our largest colony, with a population close to one hundred million. It is colder than Vath, with an average daytime temperature of 14C, and has characterised by vast and spectacular wilderness areas. Great mountain ranges, covered with evergreen vegetation and dotted with deep, crystal blue lakes make Berlin an explorer?s paradise. Its oxygen content is still on the low side of Vathorian tolerance though so the most adventurous mountaineers need breathing equipment to climb the highest peaks.
Although it served as a research colony in its early days, all the research facilities have since been relocated to Bonn and Abaddon leaving Berlin to serve as a fleet base and mining colony. With large deposits of every mineral, albeit mostly at very low accessibility, Berlin II ensures a steady, if limited, supply of most resources. Two key minerals, Duranium and Sorium, are at 0.6 and 0.7 accessibility respectively though, which makes up for the low accessibility of the rest (see mineral report below). Berlin has enough maintenance facilities to support any of our current ship classes, including the Graf Zeppelin class carriers. The First Star Legion is based at Berlin and comprises three Graf Zeppelins with sixty Comet-A fighters, six Scharnhorst II class destroyers and an Altmark class support vessel. The larger warships are supported by the First Fast Attack Squadron, which has ten FACs including two of the scout version. Finally, with its large Sorium deposits Berlin II is also likely to become the Empire?s primary refining facility once the population reaches a point where it can support the six hundred refineries currently on Vath.
Population 96.5m
Annual Wealth: 3075
Maintenance Facilities: 12,800 tons
Construction Factories: 107
Fuel Refineries: 40
Mines: 525
Fuel Stockpile: 2.7m litres
Mineral Report
Duranium 31,926,530 Acc: 0.6
Neutronium 19,130,360 Acc: 0.1
Corbomite 103,396 Acc: 0.1
Tritanium 11,572,010 Acc: 0.1
Boronide 1,819,339 Acc: 0.2
Mercassium 23,618,080 Acc: 0.1
Vendarite 26,315,380 Acc: 0.1
Sorium 2,275,090 Acc: 0.7
Uridium 3,369,315 Acc: 0.1
Corundium 338,617 Acc: 0.9
Gallicite 14,286,810 Acc: 0.1
Abaddon ? Duke Carolin Altheim (Research 30%, Mining 20%)
Abaddon, the third planet of our home system, is described in our ancient texts as the Forbidden Planet and was reputed to be the home of God?s Enemy. The Church believes an ancient battle was fought on this world in the distant past, leaving the ruins of the Enemy?s city on its surface. While I still regard religion as nonsense and the Church?s past involvement in politics as severely hampering the progress of our great civilization, our explorers did find a ruined city buried in the northern ice cap, although obviously no sign of any ancient demons. How the Church knew of the city has not yet been explained, although the most likely explanation is that some survivors of the race that built the city must have visited Vath in the past, resulting in the myths and legends that form the basis of the ancient texts. The planet has only recently been terraformed and is still a cold and desolate place, with substantial ice caps and endless tundra. Although the terraforming fleet has left Abaddon now, two abandoned terraforming installations have been recovered from the ruined city and continue to produce greenhouse gases, slowly warming the planet. Abaddon has no minerals except for a small deposit of inaccessible Gallicite and some archaeologists have argued that the city was simply abandoned once the minerals ran out, explaining why we have recovered so many factories, mines and other installations from the city. If that was the case, it seems likely they would have exploited our own world for its mineral resources or at least moved their own mines to a more promising location. As yet, no hard evidence as to the fate of the city has been found.
Abaddon is our fastest growing colony, due to its location close to Vath, and although its population of sixty million currently lags well behind Berlin II, it may well become our largest colony in the future. At the moment it is dedicated entirely to research, particularly in the area of Fire Controls and Sensors. Our current technology for beam weapon fire control systems is limited and the twenty-three Research Facilities on Abaddon are working hard to correct that problem. Once their efforts bear fruit, we will begin work on close range point defence systems to support our existing anti-missile missiles.
Population 60.2m
Annual Wealth: 1918
Research Facilities: 23
Terraforming Installations: 2
Fuel Stockpile: 11.5m litres
Bonn-IV ? Count Martina Frei (Research 25%, Wealth 25%)
Bonn IV is the coldest inhabited world in the Empire, with an average surface temperature of -2C. While no special infrastructure is required, most construction on Bonn IV makes extensive use of a native blue-veined stone which has remarkable insulation properties, resulting in a unique, monumental style of architecture. Homes and especially public buildings are often grand edifices, resembling ancient castles with imposing walls, magnificent towers and impressive, arched gateways. Unlike the cold barren wasteland of Abaddon, Bonn-IV is filled with life, from the gigantic mamoa trees of the equatorial forests to the ferocious white-furred Neobear that inhabits the snow-covered foothills of the Silver Mountains. The small, friendly arboreal known as a Qusirrel has become a favoured pet among the inhabitants of Bonn IV and a few have even started appearing on Vath, brought back by the crews of colony ships.
Bonn IV has deposits of every mineral except Neutronium, although all are at 0.1 accessibility apart from Duranium, which is 0.3. A couple of mining complexes have been transported to the planet, along with sufficient maintenance facilities to support fast attack craft. This has allowed a small squadron of three FACs to be based at Bonn IV. The primary activity of the population is research, particularly in the area of defence systems, and nine research facilities have been established. For the moment, the scientists on Bonn IV are concentrating on addressing our weakness in the area of shield technology.
Population 17.9m
Annual Wealth: 715
Research Facilities: 9
Maintenance Facilities: 2
Mines: 2
Koln-I ? Grand Duke Klara Ehrlich (Research 30%, Wealth 20%, Shipbuilding 15%, Mining 15%)
One of two inhabited planets in the Koln system, Koln-I is actually colder than Koln-II due to a high albedo caused by its extensive cloud cover. This dark and gloomy world required terraforming to bring its oxygen content up to a breathable level, although many wonder why the effort was expended in the first place. The planet has no mineral resources at all and is covered by swamps and damp moorland. The rain is almost constant and the wide variety of insect life seems to find Vathorians to be particularly tasty. All in all, a depressing place. Even so, this planet has a similar population to the extremely pleasant Koln II, primarily because it has most been colonised by civilian colony organizations who advertise the Koln system as the destination and often neglect to mention that Koln has two vastly different planets. The unlucky prospective colonists watch holovids that mainly feature the beach paradise of Koln II with the occasional glimpse of the rare sunny day on Koln I and sign up for what appears to be a fantastic offer without reading the small print. Several months later they are sat in a insect-ridden, humid swamp, trying to build houses out of damp wood. Koln I has a population of 4.1 million and no industry of any kind. Grand Duke Klara Ehrlich, governor of Koln I and the fifth ranking military officer in the Empire, was once the governor of Abaddon but she began to sympathise with the religious extremists who wanted to avoid all contact with the ruined city on that planet to avoid bringing the prophesied doom to Vath. Some time spent on Koln I will allow her to reconsider those views.
Koln-II - Count Rheinhardt Melzer (Research 25%, Wealth 10%)
Koln-II is a ocean world, laced with scattered archipelagos of palm-covered sandy islands. The average temperature is 30C and the skies are a deep, azure blue. Pleasant, warm ocean breezes waft across the islands and even the rare rain storms are welcomed, cooling down the land when it starts to get a little too hot. Gravity and oxygen content are similar to Vath, making this the world of choice for wealthier colonists who do not require employment on one of the more industrialised planets. Koln II has deposits of eight different mineral resources, although only Vendarite is above accessibility 0.1. No industry has been established on this world, mainly because while the Koln system is adjacent to Sanctum, the location of the jump points in both systems mean the two inner planets are actually further from Vath than the colonies in Konigswinter and Dortmund, both situated three transits from Sanctum. This astrographical misfortune means it has been low on the priority list for government sponsored colonization and research facilities have been sent to those worlds closer to Vath. However until recently, when attention has shifted to new colonies in Hamburg and on Berlin III, the civilian shipping lines concentrated on Koln, shipping wealthy colonists to Koln II and the poor or gullible to Koln I. The four million inhabitants of Koln II are completely unconcerned by the lack of industry and fervently hope their island paradises remain untouched.
Konigswinter-IV ? Margrave Axel Mahlau (Research 30%, Wealth 20%)
Konigswinter-IV is a small gas giant with twelve moons and the eleventh moon is the actual location of the colony. Over time, the long-winded designation of the colony as Konigswinter-IV, Moon 11 has been shortened except for official documents. The moon is tidelocked, which means the same face of the moon always faces the gas giant, and orbits at 800,000 kilometers. There is still a day and night cycle, lasting 19 Vathorian days, as the orbit of the moon rotates it in relation to the G3-V system primary, although each ?day? is interrupted by a period of darkness when the moon passes within the gas giant?s shadow. In addition to its unusual diurnal sequence, Konigswinter IV has the most extreme environment of any populated world. The gravity is 1.67G, the surface temperature is 44C and the atmospheric pressure is 2.8 atm. It is survivable without any infrastructure as long as you don?t mind the heat, the pressure, the regular storm systems, the irregular periods of day and night and the fact your body weighs two thirds more than normal. As you can probably imagine, the three million colonists are an interesting section of society. In the rest of the Empire, any inhabitant of Konigswinter IV is generally regarded as slightly mad for actually wanting to live on such a world. The planet?s mineral resources are limited and so far no industry has been established.
Dortmund III ? Duke Bert Jahn (Research 25%, Wealth 20%, Production 10%, Mining 10%, Shipbuilding 10%)
The fifth moon of Dortmund III, a huge superjovian 150,000 kilometers in diameter, is the only other populated moon in the Empire, apart from Konigswinter IV, and is a far more pleasant place to live. The moon is twice the size of Vath, and is tidelocked at a distance of 1.13 million kilometers, orbiting the superjovian every five days. It has a temperature of 28C, gravity close to that of Vath, despite its size, and a breathable atmosphere. The moon has a benign climate and a very agreeable ecosystem with meadows and green rolling hills. The 5 day long day/night cycle still takes some getting used to but is far less extreme than the 19 day cycle of Konigswinter IV. As Dortmund III is three times the size of Konigswinter IV and the populated moon is not much further away, the swirling clouds of the superjovian fill far more of the sky than on the Konigswinter colony. Most Dortmund colonists believe the sky on the side of their planet facing the superjovian is the greatest wonder in the Empire, although a few cannot take it and prefer to live in a city that has been established on the far side of the moon where Dortmund III cannot be seen. There are no appreciable mineral deposits on the moon so it is likely to remain without industry for the moment, although as Dortmund is three transits from Vath, we may establish a small base on the moon to support future survey operations. The current population of Dortmund III is 2.2 million.
Berlin III
Berlin III is the second inhabited planet in the Berlin system and has only recently been settled, almost entirely via civilian colonization. As the oxygen content of the carbon dioxide ? nitrogen atmosphere is too low the one million inhabitants live in air-tight domed cities, although they are able to venture out onto the surface with breathing gear as the temperature is a very comfortable 20C. All eighteen Rheinland II terraformers are currently in orbit of Berlin III, producing oxygen and pumping it into the atmosphere as fast as they can. If the current schedule holds then in little more than a year the atmosphere will be breathable and colonization will accelerate considerably. The mountainous landscape of Berlin III has some topographical resemblance to Berlin II, although the climate is very different. Despite being almost twice as far from the sun, the high carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere means that Berlin III is warmer and dryer than Berlin II with smaller seas and a rocky, desert landscape. The planet?s core contains significant deposits of 0.8 accessibility Duranium and 0.5 accessibility Tritanium along with deposits of six other minerals at 0.1 accessibility, so future mining operations are a possibility. For the moment though the planet has no industry.
Hamburg III
Hamburg III is the newest colony in the Empire and its population is slightly less than one million. Like Berlin III, its inhabitants live in domed cities, although in the case of Hamburg it is because of a complete lack of oxygen in the nitrogen ? carbon dioxide atmosphere. Once the terraformers have completed their task in Berlin, they will move to Hamburg III. The temperature is close to ideal at 16C and, as with Berlin III, the inhabitants can easily tolerate the environment with simple breathing equipment. The planet is mainly ocean but has several volcanic islands, including one the size of a small continent near to the equator. As far as our scientists can tell, all of the volcanoes are extinct and their soil around the impressive calderas should be very fertile. There is little in the way of mineral resources but Hamburg IIIs real worth lies in its location. The Sanctum - Hamburg jump point is the closest to Vath and the system itself has six jump points connecting Sanctum firstly to the Mannheim Chain, which includes the populated worlds of Dortmund III and Giessen-B II plus several possible terraforming sites, secondly to Dresden, with its eight jump points and its eventual connections to both the Mannheim chain and the Bonn chain, and finally to the Nurnberg Chain which includes Wurzburg and Remscheld.