Since I have finally managed to push through the large and, with the siege, rather exhausting NPR war campaign, I have become more enthusiastic in playing this a bit more, where I could finally focus on building up the republic again. There were some ideas that I wanted to test in this game, which I had already planned since way back to the first NPR war with that Jinza/Odell race.
So one of the main points was to figure out a method for an effective passive mine if possible, and learn to deploy it nicely. Though there is now a new plan for specialized crafts that would be capable of automated deployment, up to this date the preceding dormant Frigate designs of Gemini would fill the role and had to do the job after own measurement.
Most target goals had been reached within a year, including the sealing of Louisburg to keep the Sabre in and eventually returning Ghoma out, and protecting all unsecured distant fuel mining and research stations with a mining perimeter. Additionally some strategic points that had to be passed in order to proceed deeper into Republic main territory were also belted, as well as the Athens home system itself.
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The technological spoils of Louisburg had been extraordinary, and the specialized research stations were just taking up wind too, so a lot of new development had to come to maturity for a next refit of the fleet to make sense and be economic. ..Unfortunately too much, as the person who set it all into motion and had watched over the progress over 5 years could not live to see what it lead up to. Asuhara Kino, "hero" of the Odell containment gambit, later appointed as the first Admiral and leader of all republic Navy -and with it- its people, had died at age 85 and after more than 27 years in his final position.
His influence, character and vision shaped the Republic into that which it is today and gave it personality. A whole generation had grown up knowing the Navy and Kino leadership as the way things are, leaving huge expectations for the successor. After him comes Kanagaki Hitoshi, filling the spot as second Admiral in Republic history. Long already treated as Kino's protege after his miraculous survival of the Destroyer Soeren's destruction in Louisburg, Hitoshi shows a wide range of skill and overall unique talent which was already recognized even when he just joined as Lieutenant. It is widely rumored that he might easily surpass Kino's achievements, and surely he has already begun to use his new empowered position and make a few adjustments in planning... .
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Hitoshi pushed the modernization of the fleet and sanctioned a few survey trips into directions that were considered safe as far as Ghoma threat chances go. However, he held back in the pursuit of the direct Ghoma traces leading out of Louisburg up until now. In anticipation of upcoming costs of the inertial fusion upgrade, many of the previously marked and charted mineral sources now experienced strong exploitation - enough so that as an extra, and much overdue, the freighting fleet could be expanded by the factor 3 as well.
And so another 10 years passed in which a couple things of interest stirred up public attention.
The Sabre have been caught arranging espionage efforts in our direct:
Though the espionage was mutual, Astral must receive the straightforward execution of our members as a heinous act, and also as utterly ungrateful behavior, considering Sabres few survivors owed their lives and a freshly terraformed new world to only the Republics grace.
However the court of captains voted to overlook the incident as long as it remained singular, so to not waste all the resources that had already been spent. As wisely pointed out by the seniors, the absolute isolation of Louisburg and the establishment of a large scale listening post are expected to provoke feelings of suspicion and maybe imprisonment amongst the Sabre, even though the feeling should be an irrational illusion considering that they weren't expected to reach interstellar traveling capacity again anyway within the next 2 generations at least.
So instead, the offers of friendship were reassured once again, and a survey team was sponsored to help the Sabre get started on their new world, which promptly brought up remains of an ancient just-subterran fallen moon -the "sandman", entirely encrusted with high grade Duranium sediments. The Sabre felt greatly humbled by us simply acknowledging their possession of this valuable treasure.
Mytilene Archimedes World
...Little did they know without having ever left their home system that, though still rare, similar and even far better spots could be found and were partly already under ownership of Astral. So when the bureau of geology finally caught up with Mytilene, they discovered that which is now classed as a Archimedes World - A planet with huge and easily accessible sources of all the four key resources, Duranium, Neutronium, Corundium and Gallicite, making it a perfect builder world.
A world spanning major civilization in ruins
The biggest ruins found to date, consisting of highly mechanized metropolis areas, were found lying under Nedroid watch in the Schlaun system. Though barely advanced behind chemical propulsion and sub-light electronics, the sheer scope of the likely up to two digit billion population must have been like a lighthouse for the automated incinerators when the first sensor experiments started. ...So many leftovers we have seen, and they always became too eager to "signal for life" when they first got the chance, never questioning why space had been silent to them itself so far.
However at least the Schlaun legacy shall live in the Republic, as we adapt to their great knowledge in focused city building and integrated infrastructure that make even multi-level cities feasible.
Diplomatic Wisdom
Proving the old decision right, a few years later we saw the fruits of the continued providing relationship towards the Sabre. They were apparently impressed, and though our own people still begrudge them for acting dishonorable, it may only be a matter of time until neighboring life will be considered normality.
Awesome GiantThe richest giant to date, a super-duper Jovian with almost as deep reserves as Massalia's pearl, but with powerful convecting streams that pump out its
collected
concentrated
core
contents to semi-permanent hot gas seas on the surface, where we have to do as little as dip in a metaphoric hose. Even more so, the giant lies adjacent to Sparta, the most easily accessible connection from Athens, basically placing an infinite power source in our front yard.
Then, finally, half a generation of modernization and project work later, all new designs could be finally laid down. A new era of ships that realizes even the most of the last technology potential hinted in the old schematics left from the Astral Empire, and then even surpasses it in matters of the salvaged Ghoma sensor inventions.
The transporter design upgrades had already started being slowly applied some years before, but since they amounted for the highest share of the coming costs, it would take quite a bit longer to finish them than it should to update and build the real navy.
Updated Fighter CraftThe most important upgrade for all fighter craft has been the replacement of the engines with clean, near non-residue fusion drives that despite their high power leave almost no trace anymore. The magnetic fusion drives of last generation Kanjiu and Mifune, though serving well over decades, had the issue of being rather 'loud' and giving away approach to even unwary targets ahead of time. It was often noted that at least with the bomber designs that turned out to be shame as it had sometimes eliminated save approach chances, which conflicted the whole bomber design purpose, so new generation models all had to meet the requirement of silence, no matter the cost.
In addition to the classic fighter craft, the Captain Loge and Kino long decided that some tactical capabilities were often missing that could potentially greatly enhance the usefulness of fighter formations. One first thought was that the conventional fighters were often only used as harassers, as any seriously armed military vessel would put them at too high risk. With the predominant goal of loss-less battles, this usually meant that bombers would be deployed instead.
However, fighters should see a comeback in the role of escorts where they could provide dearly needed fighter and missile protection for approaching bombers or other combatants. This would form a second measure after the engine muffling to further ensure that bombers can always make their move.
Shiroge S22For the strategy to become plausible, a spy craft was finally needed. The former idea had always been that capital ships paint the targets, and with that also the zone in which fighter craft could operate. Missiles however can rarely be illuminated to great distance, and so the Shiroge came into being. In the theoretics, at least one Shiroge would glide silently with every formation of 10+ crafts, but would be able to spot any eventually approaching missiles via an advanced thermal augury hull which had been specially designed for it. Once an alarm was raised, it would stop the silent operation mode and active an enormously powerful, yet small missile sensor to give exact coordination to the escorting fighters.(salvaged Ghoma-Jafari hybrid technology became so advanced that even hypothetical lightspeed missiles could always be spotted at least 5 seconds ahead with just a standard civil collision monitor)
Since Mifune bombers could in theory also attempt missile interception with their standard dual-purpose shell ammunition, they also receive a Shiroge in every formation for safeties sake.
Shiroges are also especially heavy armored for a fighter in order to make sure they last hopefully the longest as to maintain illumination, so that the rest can keep fighting the pressure.
Hajabusa R94The second proposal was then one directly addressing the coming Ghoma threat. Ghoma have been seen employing heavy fighter kind of monstrosities, yet the capital ships of Astral are not only ill equipped to spot them efficiently, but also reluctant to add expensive sensor equipment just for this case. Normally, missile sensory should be far enough to spot these assaulters soon enough before they become an issue, yet the real problem would be retreating ones, as they cannot be easily spotted once they leave the awareness circle.
For a hunting fighter detachment to be still capable of pursuit against any small craft, another recon fighter, Hayabusa, was conceived, this time equipped with a sole tailored SR sensor, taking up most of its hull. In addition the escort mission, Hayabusas carry some extra fuel to make patrol jobs feasible at least. The combination of fast silent engines and strong active sensory should make it possible to exert "flash-scan" tactics where enemy positions are checked, but if they show signs of advancing against the scout, the illumination could be turned off and the position quickly changed, making it a re-occurring radar ghost.
Oyama RR04The last change in traditional fighter craft doctrine was the addition of simple fuel carrying fighter-ranger types. It was noted that sensor technology eventually grew faster than the ranges of advanced engines, so that the classical requirement of fighter craft -to be able to fly to the edge of the ship sensor and back- could not be fulfilled anymore. Though maximum range engagement was rarely needed, it should however stay an option, and so the Oyama was planned out to extend its own range and that of 3 other fighters to double.
Of course, another welcome side mission would be the quickest possible response refuel capacity of crafts that are about to become stranded. The spectacular extended flight that saved the survivors of the war provoking shot-down geo survey vessel in Louisburg, had been a case where tricky maneuvers had to be flown, refueling fighters trough other fighters in domino/multi-pendel patterns to not run out. A single large fuel space ranger could have prevented the whole situation, and if not, then at least make the refueling as effective as it can be.
Heavy Bomber DevelopmentAfter considerable efforts and many difficulties, the first heavy bombers arrived finally, though to late to see the start of their first mission vessel for now. It was long debated whether or not it even made sense to double the size of conventional fighters, as a larger craft offers little in compensation. However, it does offer two things: space for adding electronic counter measures, which turns any heavy bomber into a critically effective air superiority anti-fighter vessel; and the option to mount slightly higher caliber guns, which mostly means range advantage.
In the shadows of the coming engagements with the Ghoma, a dominating anti-fighter/fac vessel could easily become a great boon, and even though other counters already existed, it is a path worth to be tested.
Aetherblitz and Aetherlicht, the first Heavy Bomber designs, both offer to replicate the conditions that made the Pharsalos Diver craft once so successful, ...but outside a nebula. While the ecm cuts the enemy weapon range down, the already outranging ion-carried disruptor manages to shoot any monstrosities from afar.
The designs are technically Ion Bombers, which is just a beam specialized sub-category of Heavy Bombers.
Lastly for this section also a comparison of the fighter craft sizes:
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All of Astral's capital ships come with a specially trained guard brigade, enabling it to carry out boarding missions. However, these usually were only effective in the rare cases that the enemies' engines had been mostly taken out without exploding the ship prematurely, giving the previous missions only about a 50% success ratio.
Though that was no reason to remove this capability at a whole, it raised questions if the task couldn't be approached in a safer way. The answer was only half satisfying, as any ship up to the mission would be so large that it can only be realistically be fitted into a carrier.
Asclepius Uq4Louisburg also revealed another issue with the Republic's designs. Hospital shuttles could not always be present as fast to rescue any survivors or even take prisoners. Though the mission would not be taken over in open conflict zones, any incidental encounter required the capital ships to have some means of securing those disabled.
The designation as "Lifepod" is misleading, as these have little in common with the standard life ensuring capsules. Each Lifepod can move individually and take its ferry from basically anywhere all the way back to Athens home system, and does so in less than a year under mostly perfect stealth. Each capital ship will get a provision of a couple of Asclepius, so a single one could always be spent to even just transport back an important personal or prisoners outside of the planned homecoming schedule.
New Era Capital ShipsArtemis LetoIn the abundant energy age of fusion perfection, the classical mission of a long range exploration cruiser would now be taken over by the much more suited new representative, the Heavy Cruiser. The Artemis is therefore re-envisioned to return to more patrol, defense and response duties for whenever a destroyer group isn't enough. For now, only the survey craft staff has been reduced along with their hangar, freeing up space used for mostly slightly better armament. In the future it is expected to revision the design for about half the range and deployment, as they will become the main 'guard on duty' stationed in the planned deep space hangar bases.
NereideThe long held dream of Asuhara Kino, yet he couldn't live to see its realization. The design had been in planning for around 30 years with the corresponding shipyard long since built, but always was short of something, so it was always postponed. With the discovery of new capacitors that made fast firing caliber 10 turrets possible, the last piece fell into place.
The heavy cruiser was designed as the ultimate force projection platform while still having cruiser typical full capital ship functionality (large fuel reserve, maintenance time, and due to fully autonomous recycling and expansive relaxation areas now even infinite deployment). It was built with the idea of making lengthy sieges like the one that happened in Louisburg obsolete, as it should be capable of directly charging ahead into all but most massively defended positions.(currently even our own homeworld would not have enough missile power to stop one heavy cruiser - ...but likely enough beams/disruptors)
When compared to the classical cruiser, the offensive power doesn't scale equally, which is mostly because of the expansion on the long range capability part. A Heavy Cruiser should be able to not only get to but, but even hold positions in deep space for years if necessary.(a substitute for Astral not holding any colonies or maintenance bases currently)
OceanusWhen seeing how effective just a small bomber flight detachment was in midst of the gunnery chaos that had befallen Louisburg, it was a frequent wish of the changing commanders to have more than just one flight of bombers at their hands, so that ideally the mothership wouldn't even have to engage. Though the heavy cruiser took that wish up and doubled the fighter complement, giving two flights of each, it is still not close to having a real carrier - a fleet on its own.
The Oceanus drains incredible talent resources and is thus so far the only ship planned of its type. It carries not only just an entire wing of respectively fighters and bombers plus supports, but also 20 heavy bombers and two whole destroyer escorts that make it possible to permanently occupy certain strategic points if necessary without obstructing the carrier's freedom.
Shields and direct weaponry are considerately weaker than on the cruiser types of course, so the carrier is expected to keep out of trouble by managing encounters with either crafts or its especially expanded LR torpedo strike capacity.
Oceanus is considered the center of the fleet at this point, so should any major war break out, it is mandatory for her to be summoned up to the front. This also means that it becomes the flag base of the actual fight commanding Vice Admiral of the fleet, which is currently the eccentric "Lady" Alfie Davison.
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To round it all up, here a complete size comparison of all current military craft in Astral:
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