Posted by: SteveAlt
« on: October 03, 2008, 03:22:57 PM »
After a review of the brief action, the European Union decided to improve the design of their missiles. Both the European Union and the United States had improved their warhead technology since the design of the TNM-1 and Poseidon missiles and the United States had recently developed the Poseidon II, which was identical to its predecessor except for a fifty percent increase in warhead strength. The European designers took a different approach for the TNM-2. They retained the same warhead strength while reducing the warhead size and used the extra space to increase the power of the missile drive. The resulting design was forty percent faster than the TNM-1, with a corresponding increase in accuracy.
Poseidon II
Missile Size: 2 MSP (0.1 HS) Warhead: 3 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 10
Speed: 7500 km/s Endurance: 50 minutes Range: 22.5m km
Cost Per Missile: 0.75
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 75% 3k km/s 20% 5k km/s 15% 10k km/s 7.5%
Materials Required: 0.75x Tritanium Fuel x625
Development Cost for Project: 75 RPTNM-2
Missile Size: 3 MSP (0.15 HS) Warhead: 3 Armour: 0 Manoeuvre Rating: 10
Speed: 11700 km/s Endurance: 21 minutes Range: 15.0m km
Cost Per Missile: 1.0833
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 117% 3k km/s 30% 5k km/s 23.4% 10k km/s 11.7%
Materials Required: 0.75x Tritanium 0.3333x Gallicite Fuel x625
Development Cost for Project: 108 RPThe complexity of the situation in space was increased by the launch of the Kongo, the first Japanese spacecraft, on December 2nd. Since the ship was laid down, the Japanese had developed the Kaga-1 anti-ship missile, which had similar characteristics to the European TNM-1. Kongo carried thirty-seven missiles for her four launchers. The Japanese were nominally allies of the European Union and the United States and a US armoured division was still based in South Korea. However, despite the vital assistance of the two Western powers during the East Asia war the Japanese were fiercely independent and shared the concern of all the other powers over the EU-US exclusion zone around Mars. They were by no means an enemy to the West but they would act in their own best interests and therefore the potential threat from the Kongo would have to form part of all Western military strategy. Both the Kongo and the Indian Nirbhik class Monitor orbited Earth at 60,000 kilometers, which most experts believed would be outside the range of the Chinese Meson cannon, completing one orbit every 39 hours.
Economic Situation on January 2nd 2022
(Maintenance Facilities noted only where they are not equal to 5)
United States - Vice Admiral Rolf Purdom (Research 35%, Mining 15%, Shipbuilding 15%)
Population: 489m
Wealth: 4887
Shipyard: 2 Slipways of 3200 ton capacity
Research Facilities: 8
Conventional Industry: 476
Construction Factories: 363
Mines: 350
Ordnance Factories: 60
Fuel Refineries: 10
Maintenance Facilities: 10
European Union - Fleet Admiral Eva Tellez Pelayo (Res 30%, Prod 15%, Ship 10%, Growth 10%)
Population: 600m
Wealth: 6004
Shipyard: 2 Slipways of 2200 ton capacity
Research Facilities: 8
Conventional Industry: 376
Construction Factories: 350
Mines: 423
Ordnance Factories: 50
Maintenance Facilities: 6
China - Fleet Admiral Lai Cui Zhen (Research 35%, Wealth 20%, Growth 10%, Ship 5%, Mining 5%)
Population: 1626m
Wealth: 19512
Shipyard: 2 Slipways of 2500 ton capacity
Research Facilities: 6
Conventional Industry: 410
Construction Factories: 270
Mines: 250
Ordnance Factories: 10
Japan – Tai-Sho Yamahata Takakazu (Research 30%, Shipbuilding 15%, Pop Growth 10%)
Population: 426m
Wealth: 4268
Shipyard: 2 Slipways of 2100 ton capacity
Research Facilities: 5
Conventional Industry: 285
Construction Factories: 140
Mines: 140
Ordnance Factories: 20
Maintenance Facilities: 3
USAN – Almirante Luzia Alcoforado (Research 25%, Prod 20%, Wealth 15%, Pop Growth 15%)
Population: 489m
Wealth: 5633
Shipyard: 1 Slipway of 1000 ton capacity
Research Facilities: 3
Conventional Industry: 88
Construction Factories: 81
Mines: 130
Russian Federation – Marshal Helen Belkin (Research 30%, Prod 20%, Growth 20%, Wealth 5%)
Population: 262m
Wealth: 2752
Shipyard: 2 Slipways of 1000 ton capacity
Research Facilities: 4
Conventional Industry: 66
Construction Factories: 110
Mines: 123
India – Admiral Behula Karia (Research 25%, Logistics 15%, Pop Growth 10%)
Population: 1277m
Wealth: 12777
Shipyard: 1 Slipway of 1500 ton capacity
Research Facilities: 3
Conventional Industry: 103
Construction Factories: 50
Mines: 66
Ordnance Factories: 5
Islamic Alliance – Caliph Barakah Abbas (Shipbuilding 25%, Mining 20%, Growth 20%, Wealth 5%)
Population: 612m
Wealth: 5427
Shipyard: 1 Slipway of 2000 ton capacity
Research Facilities: 2
Conventional Industry: 86
Construction Factories: 30
Mines: 33
The People’s Republic of China launched its first two warships on January 7th 2022. The two Luda class destroyers moved into the same 100,000 kilometre orbit as the two American Lexingtons, albeit one hundred and twenty degrees further around the Earth. Given the Luda's high speed, the Chinese leadership was very confident about their ability to rapidly close and attack.
On February 27th 2022 the Islamic Alliance launched a surprise ground attack on the Republic of India. The offensive was spearheaded by two Heavy Assault divisions using the latest Trans-Newtonian technology, one of which was comprised of Chinese “volunteers” while the other appeared to have been trained by the Islamic Alliance. The rest of the Islamic ground forces comprised two armoured divisions and eight infantry divisions but the two heavy assault divisions provided sixty percent of the offensive firepower. Indian forces comprised three armoured divisions and twelve infantry divisions but no Trans-Newtonian units.
The initial attack was concentrated on the Pakistan – India border and broke through within four days, crushing two Indian infantry divisions for the loss of a single Islamic infantry division. Given the defensive advantages of infantry, the loss in actual combat power was closer to four to one. The Indians demanded the Islamic Alliance halt its offensive immediately or they would resort to nuclear weapons. Although India had only a 40-30 advantage in ICBM silos, they also had the Nirbhik class monitor in a 60,000 km orbit, which they believed would easily deal with any Islamic missile attack. The Alliance ignored Indian threats and pushed forward into north-western India.
Indian units, most of which concentrated on the Chinese border, were rapidly redeploying to meet the attack and did not have chance to form a coherent defence. In desperation they were thrown into the line as they arrived and were quickly smashed by the power of the Heavy Assault divisions. Two more Indian infantry divisions were lost without even slowing down the Islamic advance. With their defences unravelling fast the Indian government considered asking for international support but they sill believed they could defeat their enemy without assistance by resorting to their nuclear deterrent and were too proud to ask for help from former colonial powers. Their main concern was China stabbing them in the back while they were focused on trying to defeat the Islamic Alliance. In this case, however they decided the international community would intervene without India asking for help because of the threat of China gaining access to Indian industry and resources.
With the decision made, India launched thirty ICBMs at Islamic targets. The missiles began climbing into the atmosphere, setting off early warning alarms across the globe. Even as the alarms sounded, the Indian ambassadors to every major power informed their host governments that a launch was underway and the target was the Islamic Alliance. Within thirty seconds of the launch, the Islamic Alliance responded with its own ICBM launch, although in this case only ten missiles from a single base. Regardless of international understandings, every missile detection sensor in Earth orbit went active within a minute of both launches.
The Indian monitor Nirbhik broke its 60,000 kilometre orbit and closed to just above the atmosphere to engage the Islamic missiles. Two minutes after the Islamic missile launch, Nirbhik’s first salvo of six shots from its small gauss cannon destroyed four of the ten inbound ICBMs. Just as the Indian generals in their underground bunker were beginning to congratulate each other, two previously unknown Islamic bases engaged active sensors and fire control systems illuminated the Indian ship. Even as the order was being given for Nirbhik to return to its high orbit, each Islamic base fired four meson cannon. All eight shots were on target. Chaos reigned aboard Nirbhik as explosions tore through her hull, wrecking her engine and taking out four gauss cannon, the active sensor and the fire control system. Fifteen seconds later, a follow salvo blew the crippled ship apart. Only twenty-two of her one hundred and twenty-three crew made it to the lifepods. The survivors did not include her captain, Commodore Usha Banerjee. With Nirbhik destroyed, the two Islamic bases turned their attention to the incoming Indian ICBMs. Every shot was on target and in less than one minute, all thirty were destroyed. Any doubts about the ability of Meson cannon to stop conventional ICBMs had been brutally put to rest.
The remaining six Islamic Alliance ICBMs were self-destructed before they hit their targets, making clear that the Islamic Alliance expected to win a total victory and didn’t want to damage industry they soon intended to capture. It appeared the Indians were in a hopeless situation. They had no way to stop the twenty Islamic ICBMs that had not been fired, or the ICBMs launched by anyone else. Then they launched eight Agni-10s, a newly developed Trans-newtonian missile with a speed of 9200 km/s, from their fourth missile base.
The Agni-10s hit their targets before the Islamic Alliance even had time to lock on to them. Each one had a strength-6 warhead, equal in power to a conventional ICBM even though the Agni-10 was only a quarter of the size. Five million citizens of the Islamic Alliance were killed in the attack and industrial losses were considerable, including one of the two Islamic research facilities, their only deep space tracking station, the Islamic naval academy, four construction factories and eight mining complexes. The radiation from the attack caused a slight fall in global industrial output, mainly due to fear and concern from the public, and the dust thrown up into the atmosphere caused a worldwide drop in temperature of half a degree. The Indian government threatened that unless the Islamic Alliance ceased their attack immediately, further Agni missiles would be launched.
NB: New ground combat rules added at this point – damage to readiness instead of total destruction.
To the surprise of many outside observers, there was no immediate retaliatory strike from the Islamic Alliance and their ground offensive continued unabated. Despite the shock of the Agni-10s, the leaders of the Alliance believed they had taken India’s best shot and there was nothing left to stop their ground offensive. Fortunately for the Indian units, the Islamic advance was slowing to allow supplies to catch up and they finally managed to form a solid defensive line. For several days there were no major battles as the scouting formations of both sides tried to establish the positions of the other. Then the Islamic Alliance began to probe more heavily and several Indian units took significant losses, particularly the 1st Armoured Division which lost a third of its tanks. Alliance losses were minimal. Finally, the Alliance attempted a breakthrough toward the Indian capital, resulting in a wide-ranging battle. Two Islamic infantry divisions suffered twenty-six percent casualties and inflicted an average of thirty-eight percent casualties on three Indian divisions. The line continued to hold but morale on the Indian side was wavering and the advantage of the Alliance was steadily growing.
Over the next two weeks Indian defences were gradually ground away. Some units, notably the Seventh and Sixteenth infantry divisions, fought hard and their experience grew but others suffered heavy casualties. Three infantry divisions were at only 65% of their mandated strength and one of the three remaining armoured divisions was at 45%. Something had to give and it was the forces defending India's shipyard complex north-west of New Delhi. Pressed hard by the Islamic heavy assault divisions they were forced back into the shipyard complex itself. After a desperate battle they retreated to avoid being cut-off, leaving the shipyard in ruins. Even if India could somehow hold back the Islamic tide, the loss of their only shipyard would have profound effects on the future of their space program. The only item of good news was that the Islamic 1st infantry division was shattered by the battle and was sent back into Islamic territory with over seventy percent losses.
Although the Western powers discussed intervention to aid India, both the US State Department and the European Department of Foreign Affairs urged their leaders to stay out of the fight. No vital interests were at stake and this was not a case of China growing too powerful by absorbing her rivals in the Far East. India and the Islamic Alliance were causing significant damage to each other and whoever won the war would not be in a particularly strong position. The only situation where the expenditure of blood and treasure would be required was if China intervened.
Almost unnoticed by a world fixed on the Indo-Islamic war, the two Spruance class geological survey ships were launched by the United States on April 22nd 2022. Both ships left orbit within hours. Although the state of relations between the European Union and the United States was strong enough for the US to ask for existing survey data, which was complete except for approximately 25% of asteroids in the Kuiper Belt, both nations were more comfortable with the United States gathering its own data. If the EU provided the data, the US would not be able to carry out its own survey without suggesting it didn't trust the EU and if the US didn't carry out a survey there would always be a suspicion the Europeans were concealing additional ruins elsewhere ins the Sol system. Five days later, Japan launched its second Kongo class destroyer, giving it a mobile combat capability second only to the United States. Although the Europeans had three warships in service, the two Kongos completely outclassed their European counterparts.
On May 2nd, the Islamic Alliance launched an all-out attack along the entire front. Seven of India's eleven remaining divisions, most of which were already worn down by weeks of combat, suffered losses ranging from 4% to 27%, leaving only one Indian division at more than eighty percent of its pre-war strength. Islamic losses were insignificant. Since their Agni-10 attack on March 7th, the Indians had built six more of their Trans-Newtonian missiles. Debate now raged within the India government as to whether to accept defeat was almost inevitable and use these in a revenge attack against Islamic industrial targets or launch them against the Islamic ground forces within India in an attempt to reverse the course of the ground war. Both sides were recovering readiness at about two percent per week and the Indian forces were far more disorganised than their opponents. If the Islamic Alliance could be dealt a severe enough blow to halt their offensive, it would give the Indian Army time to recover. The problem with attacking ground units was that since the destruction of the Nirbhik, no Indian active sensors were available to target them. Therefore, to keep their options open the Indians began constructing a small sensor outpost. By the time the outpost would be finished, the Indians expected to have a further two Agni-10s.
Trinkat class Sensor Outpost 100 tons 7 Crew 22 BP TCS 2 TH 0 EM 0
Armour 5-1 Sensors 1/5 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 0
Active Search Sensor (1) GPS 5 Range 50k km Resolution 1While the outpost was being built the Islamic attacks continued. The Indians finally scored a minor victory when they managed to ambush the lead elements of one of the two Islamic heavy assault divisions, inflicting thirteen percent casualties on the division as a whole. Although the attacking forces suffered more than twice the Islamic losses, this was the first time the apparently invincible heavy assault divisions had suffered any setback. Several days later, inspired by the recent battle, the Second Indian Armoured Division launched an almost suicidal attack into the flank of the other heavy assault division. Confusion reigned among the Islamic forces, unused to such aggression after two months of Indian retreats. Despite suffering over forty percent losses, the Second Armoured inflicted an equal amount of casualties on its technologically advanced rival. In terms of combat power rather than numbers, Islamic losses were four times greater than their Indian attackers. The counter-attacks brought a pause to the combat and over the next week losses were low on both sides, giving the Indians time to complete their sensor outpost.
The post engaged its active sensors on May 17th, illuminating the positions of the Islamic Army. Just five seconds after the outpost went active, eight Angi-10 missiles were launched by an Indian missile base. Since the last Agni-10 launch, the Islamic Alliance had configured the fire control systems on its two meson-armed PDCs to fire at any incoming missiles without waiting for manual confirmation. The system worked exactly as intended and the incoming Agni-10s were detected and engaged before they could hit their targets. Unfortunately for the Alliance, their fire control systems were designed to track objects moving at 1000 km/s per second or less and the Indian missiles had a speed of 9200 km/s. All eight shots from the meson cannon missed their targets.
Islamic ground forces were hit hard by the missile attack, losing a quarter of their total strength. One of the two heavy assault divisions suffered so greatly it had to be pulled out of the attack until it could be reinforced. The Islamic Sixth Infantry division was also withdrawn and the Fourth Armoured was only barely in the fight after being reduced to forty percent of its normal strength. Collateral damage to Indian towns and cities close to the strikes was considerable and losses included three construction factories, four mines, a maintenance facility and three conventional industrial complexes. As a result of the Agni-10 strike, taking account of those units withdrawn to Islamic territory, the offensive combat strength of the Islamic Alliance compared to the defensive strength of the Republic of India was reduced from a 2-1 advantage to a thirty percent advantage. While they still retained the initiative, the Islamic Alliance was badly shaken by the attack and their anticipated imminent victory was suddenly pushed far into the distance. Global radiation levels, which were starting to fall after the previous attack, were increased to new heights. In several countries, protests at the rising background radiation became riots and had to be quelled by police and local military forces.
Two hours after the attack, the Islamic Alliance launched ten conventional ICBMs at Indian positions. After suffering such a setback, their previous strategy of avoiding nuclear strikes on Indian territory was abandoned in favour of redressing the balance of conventional forces. In addition to the ICBM attack, the two Islamic meson-armed bases attacked the newly built Indian sensor outpost, the missile base that launched the Agni-10 attacks and a second missile base detected earlier in the war. All three were rapidly destroyed.
Aware that the retaliatory Islamic missile attack could neutralise recent Indian gains, the Presidents of the USA and the EU conferred with their staffs and each other on the subject of limited intervention to shoot down the ICBMs. Their declared reason would be to prevent further increases in atmospheric radiation levels, while their actual intention would be to avoid the Islamic Alliance gaining a decisive advantage. Ending the Indo-Islamic war was not necessary as long as the eventual winner suffered considerable losses. After five minutes of hurried consultation, the decision to intervene was made. The European frigate Bayern and the US destroyers Saratoga and Valley Forge engaged the ICBMs with missiles. With a speed of 7500 km/s and 8300 km/s respectively, the US Poseidon II missiles and the European TNM-1s streaked toward the ICBMs, almost stationary in comparison with a speed of 10 km/s. One salvo was sufficient to end the threat. The US and European ambassadors to the Islamic Alliance were subjected to a torrent of abuse from the Islamic leaders, including promises of divine retribution against their home countries, before being unceremoniously ejected from Islamic territory. The Indian Prime Minister privately thanked his Western counterparts, although India made no public acknowledgement of the vital assistance.
On June 7th, the US archaeological team on Mars discovered ancient records containing information on advanced railgun technology. The US had recently developed 12cm railguns and increased railgun velocity so this new discovery fitted in well with the course of US weapon development. As per the terms of the Mars treaty, the new technical data was passed along to the European Union.
After the failed Islamic missile attack, the Indo-Islamic war entered a quiet phase with casualties rates low on both sides. By mid-June one Islamic heavy assault division was back at full strength and the other had been pulled out of the reserves to rejoin the battle, albeit at only 40% strength. The Alliance renewed its offensive and pushed hard, looking for a weakness. For ten days the Indian Army held firm then on June 27th disaster struck. To try and relieve pressure on the line in front of New Delhi, the under-strength Indian First and Second Armoured divisions launched a counter-attack, trying to repeat the victory scored by the Second Armoured six weeks earlier. This time the Islamic forces were ready and the two Indian divisions walked into an ambush. A pitched battle ensued against both heavy assault divisions plus supporting infantry and the Indian units were cut-off. Despite a brave Indian attempt to rescue the encircled formations, the Second Armoured was completely wiped out and only small units comprising eleven percent of the pre-war strength of the First Armoured reached Indian lines. Two of the rescuing divisions also suffered significant casualties. The Islamic Alliance had fully regained the initiative and the Indian capital was close to falling. Only one Indian Armoured division, the Fourth, remained combat effective, supported by eight battered infantry divisions and the remnants of the First Armoured.
The Alliance took full advantage of its victory and launched an all-out attack on New Delhi. The battle was the most intense of the war so far with desperate, even fanatic, Indian soldiers fighting for every scrap of ground. After two weeks of intense combat the Republic of India lost its capital, along with the First Armoured division and the Sixth and Eleventh Infantry divisions. On July 17th, five days after the fall of the capital, India launched another Agni-10 attack. By this time, Indian High Command had virtually given up any chance of winning the war so the attack was directed against Islamic industrial targets rather than against their ground forces. The Indians were determined that any Islamic victory would be as costly as possible.
Even if the Western powers had wanted to stop the attack, they would not have time to launch counter-missiles. As before, the Islamic meson bases were inadequate against the fast-moving Indian missiles and all ten struck their targets. Islamic casualties were six million dead and their industrial losses included six construction factories, six mining complexes, an ordnance factory, a maintenance facility, nineteen conventional industrial complexes, their commercial freight facility and their only shipyard. Earth's background radiation count leapt to a new high and the dust level was now sufficient to lower temperatures by 0.7 degrees. The Islamic meson bases targeted the newly revealed Indian missile base and destroyed it within two minutes. With victory at hand, the Islamic Alliance refrained from their previous reprisal tactic. With both the Indian and Islamic shipyards destroyed, the Alliance needed to capture as much intact industry as possible.
On July 22nd, the People's Republic of China launched two more Luda class destroyers, taking the total number of the class to four. The senior military commanders of the European Union urged their civilian leaders to authorise a new class of warship before the Union was left behind. The United States and China both had four warships of 2000 tons, Japan had two 2100 ton warships while the Union had two 1000 ton warships and one of 1200 tons, none of which were as capable as their potential opponents. The President of the Union accepted the wisdom of their argument and authorised work on a new design.
By July 27th 2022 the United States had increased the capacity of its shipyard to 3700 tons. The first design to take advantage of the increased capacity was the Portland class freighter. At 3650 tons it was by far the largest ship envisaged by any power and its cargo capacity would be sufficient to transport newly recovered installations from Mars to Earth. Retooling would take until October, at which point two Portlands would be laid down. In early August, Japan launched its third Kongo class destroyer, emphasising its lead over the European Union in terms of mobile combat capability. and demonstrating that it could challenge China and the United States
Portland class Freighter 3650 tons 113 Crew 142 BP TCS 73 TH 75 EM 0
1027 km/s Armour 1-21 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/0/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 0
Annual Failure Rate: 730% IFR: 10.1% Maintenance Capacity 0 MSP Max Repair 15 MSP
Cargo 25000
Nuclear Thermal Engine (3) Power 25 Efficiency 1.00 Signature 25 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres Range 24.6 billion km (277 days at full power)Indian losses in the Indo-Islamic war continued to rise and Islamic forces advanced in every direction. By August 6th, India had only four functioning infantry divisions, two of which were at less than 35% strength. The last of the Indian armour lay wrecked along the line of the retreat from New Delhi. India continued to build Agni-10s and intended to use the last of them before surrendering, although only one missile base remained so this would be the last retaliatory attack. They were also building their first Trans-Newtonian combat unit, a Garrison division that would be entirely defensive, which would be ready in early September. The remnants of the Indian Army were now retreating toward the ground forces training facility where it was being assembled.
In terms of combat power, Islamic forces had a ten to one advantage over the Indian Army and they used it ruthlessly. Battered by constant attack, the Indian divisions came apart one by one. The Seventh was first to go, quickly followed by the Sixteenth. The Ninth and Twelfth began to disintegrate and on August 17th, the senior Indian officer, Admiral Behula Karia, informed his Prime Minster that Indian resistance was likely to end within the next few days. There was no conceivable way the two divisions, at 22% and 38% strength respectively, could hold on for another fifteen days until the Garrison division was ready. The Prime Minister ordered the Admiral to launch India's last eight Agni-10s from their last missile base. The Islamic meson cannon finally got lucky and hit one inbound missile. The other seven all struck their targets. A further four million Islamic civilians were killed, along with seventeen conventional industrial complexes, three construction factories, four mining complexes and the remaining Islamic research facility. The Islamic meson bases responded by destroying the Indian missile base.
Somehow, the last two Indian divisions survived another ten days before finally being overwhelmed. With all Indian military forces destroyed the Alliance issued a demand for unconditional surrender. Pleading confusion and disorganization, the Indian government managed to delay for forty-eight hours, just long enough to allow the Garrison division to be completed and deployed. With the new high tech unit guarding their redoubt in the foothills of the Himalayas, the Indian government refused to surrender and finally issued a desperate call for international aid. The Western Powers maintained their existing stance that expending considerable resources to save India was not justified. While they were content to intervene by shooting down Islamic ICBMs, they did not want to put boots on the ground. Besides, public opinion in both countries was divided, particularly since India was the only side in the war to use nuclear weapons against civilian targets. Russia, Japan and South America were equally unwilling to get involved.
India's salvation came from a very unlikely source. One of the two Islamic heavy assault divisions was comprised of Chinese 'volunteers'. On September 2nd 2022, that division changed sides on the orders of the Chinese leadership and was supported by the arrival of two Chinese infantry divisions. China declared to the world that she was acting to end the conflict in the name of peace. Her stated reasons were that the Indo-Islamic War was threatening international stability and the background radiation level was already too high and threatened to get worse. As Chinese troops took up positions alongside the Indian Garrison division, China called on the Islamic Alliance to cease its offensive and return to pre-war borders. The Islamic leadership was incensed, to put it mildly. Caliph Barakah Abbas, the figurehead leader of the Alliance, contacted his Chinese counterpart on the instruction of the leadership and demanded an explanation for the Chinese betrayal. On hearing the same reasons as the Chinese made public, the Caliph contemptuously pointed out that without Chinese interference the war would have ended within days anyway and insisted that either Chinese troops withdrew from Indian territory or they would face the wrath of the victorious Islamic armed forces. The Chinese leader hung up on the Caliph and gave a quiet order to Fleet Admiral Lai Cui Zhen, head of the Chinese military. A minute later, the three Chinese Jianghu class planetary defence centres opened fire on their Islamic opposite numbers. One Islamic base was totally destroyed and the second lost three of its four meson cannon. The wounded base managed a solitary return shot, damaging a Chinese base, before it was smashed into wreckage by the second Chinese salvo.
The Chinese now offered the Indian Prime Minister an ultimatum. Join with China to form a single nation under Chinese leadership or the Chinese divisions would withdraw and let India face the wrath of the Islamic Alliance alone. The Chinese promised safety for the Indian population and relative autonomy within the original borders, as well as providing disaster relief and the industrial muscle to revitalise the shattered Indian economy. In return, the Chinese government would control all military forces and determine foreign policy, including the direction of future space exploration. Compared to the likely holocaust that would ensue under Islamic domination, the Chinese terms were extremely generous and the Indian government knew it. On September 4th, the Chinese and Indian governments issued a joint statement, informing the world that they were now one nation - the Asian Federation.
As a result of the formation of the Federation, China gained three research facilities, giving her a total of nine, one more than either the United States or the European Union had on Earth, although both nations had discovered research facilities on Mars. She also gained three maintenance facilities, forty-one construction factories, fifty-eight mines, seventy-eight conventional industrial complexes, a ground force training facility, seventeen ordnance factories, a deep space tracking station, the Indian Naval Academy, the Indian civilian space centre, sixteen thousand tons of refined minerals and four million litres of fuel. Her population increased from 1647m to 2837m. As well as the immediate material benefits, China added India's scientific knowledge to her own. Among the new technologies provided to Chinese scientists were nuclear thermal missile drives and gauss cannons, as well as hardware designs such as the Agni-10 and its associated launcher. To their surprise, all senior Indian officers were transferred directly into the officer corps of the new Asian Federation, an act which gave them a degree of immediate loyalty to the new organization.
The Islamic Alliance was now faced with the prospect of attacking the full might of the old People's Republic of China. Even so, their forces in India charged ahead, trying to maintain the momentum they had gained in the last seven months of heavy fighting. The Islamic Second Armoured Division led the attack, straight into a wall of fire. After losing half its tanks and inflicting minimal losses, the Second Armoured was forced to withdraw. Five days later the Islamic Army tried again and suffered heavy losses to two infantry divisions. At this point the newly appointed President of the Asian Federation declared that unless the Islamic Alliance ceased its attack immediately, the Federation would launch a devastating attack on Islamic industrial targets using its large force of conventional ICBMs. With no real hope of a conventional victory and no way to prevent a Federation missile strike, the Alliance was forced into a humiliating retreat across Northern India. On September 18th, the Indo-Islamic war was finally over.
The cost of the failed Islamic invasion was considerable. The Alliance was left without a shipyard, research facilities, a naval academy, a commercial freight facility or any deep space tracking stations and fifteen million civilians were dead. Its entire industrial base now comprised seventeen construction factories, seventeen mines, five ordnance factories, forty-two conventional industrial complexes, a ground force training facility and a single maintenance facility. Its only real military power was its ten divisions, including one heavy assault and two armoured.
to be continued...
). You will probably need a lot more military officers than civilians in any event. An easier option may be to have different titles for the three varieties of commander and give each the title that best suits his/her skills but leave them all in one command structure. Its the multiple command structures that would add the most complexity. Perhaps another option is to allow the player to designate a percentage split between the three types of commander and weight the skills as you noted above (but still have one structure).
