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Posted by: The Forbidden
« on: March 05, 2019, 04:17:57 AM »

Very nice. I really like the idea of RP war games for them to test and iterate their designs, it's very RP and nice to watch. Plus it makes sense, if you do fleet exercises, might as well go all the way and try to improve your tactics and get performance data on your hardware right ?
Posted by: Desdinova
« on: February 26, 2019, 10:51:40 PM »

April, 2038: War Games over Ceres

The recent battle in cislunar space has called into question the safety and value of small, lightly armored gunboats. This is a particularly troublesome question for the European Union, which, at present, has no larger warships than its 2,000 ton Lion-class frigates.

In April, the United States and the European Union agree to hold joint maneuvers in the asteroid belt. The first simulated combat scenario has the United States protecting the uninhabited dwarf planet Ceres against the European fleet. Both sides are allowed equal tonnage: the United States fields most of its second cruiser squadron, made up of its most modern Minneapolis-class cruisers Astoria, Augusta, Baltimore, Chicago, and Minneapolis. The Europeans field two frigate squadrons: Cyclone, Jaguar, Lion, Lynx, Mars, Milan, Cavalier, Gazelle, Intrepide, Kondor, Pelikan, and Seeadler.


1718: The operation commences. Both sides begin at a separation of 9m km.



1821: The US task force detects the approaching enemy fleet from Earthward. Commanding officer RADM Chris Garber orders the fleet to maintain a defensive posture around Ceres.

1843: The European forces detect the Americans in Ceres orbit.



1856: European commander Sylvie Boyer gives the signal to open fire. Although the plasma carronades are tremendously powerful close-range weapons, they also have 60k km maximum range. Her goal is to keep the Americans at a range from which they cannot reply with their lasers. The American commander hopes to pressure the enemy in order to drisupt their formation, close the range and fight back.

The Europeans focus half their fire on Baltimore, half on Astoria. Only two hits on each are scored in the opening salvo. The second salvo scores only six. After several minutes, both sides agree to reset the scenario. The Europeans have a range and speed advantage, giving the Americans no way fight back. As the initial scenario has no time limit or objective beyond destroying the enemy, the European Union is deemed the winner.

The second scenario has the Americans as the aggressor. The American force's objective is to bombard Ceres; the victory condition is to enter into weapons range of the dwarf planet. Not knowing the American's axis of advance, the European commander weighs splitting her forces into a picket line in order to extend their sensor range, but decides to concentrate her forces on Ceres due to their narrow speed advantage. To win the scenario, they must destroy or disable the American cruisers before they reach Ceres.

1925: The Europeans detect the American force and attempts to intercept.



1930: The Europeans enter range of the Americans' lasers. The EU commander orders the fleet to hold fire until below 10k km range, in order to maximize chances of penetrating the heavy American armor. The first laser salvo does minor damage to Cavalier, Intrepide, and Jaguar.



Ten seconds later, the Europeans enter railgun range. Cavalier and Cyclone are both badly damaged and knocked out of formation. As they will be unable to keep up with the Americans, the cruisers targeting them shift fire to other frigates.

The EU frigates counterattack at point-blank range, dividing their fire between Baltimore and Astoria, causing catastrophic armor damage. Astoria receives no penetrating hits, but Baltimore suffers two simulated secondary explosions rendering the ship disabled and dead in space.



Unfortunately, the next American strike knocks out Intrepide, Kondor, Gazelle, and Jaguar, and disables Lion's weaponry, leaving them with just five combat-capable frigates against four cruisers. The European ships aren't fast enough to duck in and out of railgun range, and their carronades recharge too slowly, firing only every thirty seconds compared to the American's ten-second rate-of-fire railguns. At close range, it's no contest. They are eventually able to slow the damaged Astoria, but not before Lion is deemed destroyed and the entire force disabled.



The simulated combat concludes, having identified deficiencies in both sides' fleets. The Americans have no standoff weaponry at all, leaving them completely at the mercy of a longer-ranged enemy. At the same time, the European frigates can harass, but cannot hope to deny a heavily armored enemy with low-powered, long-range fire within a narrow window of time. The conclusion is that plasma carronades are a poor choice for a small craft without a significant speed or armor advantage: they are too slow to charge to be decisive on a ship with poor survivability. The European frigates do appear in simulation to be far superior to Chinese and Indian types, but a far cry from a heavily armoured cruiser.

When the war games end, the American military agrees to exchange their laser and capacitor technology with the EU in exchange for future technology, and begins contemplating its own missile-armed combatants. The EU decides against retiring the Lion-class, but deems they should be rearmed with quicker-firing weapons as soon as possible.
Posted by: Garfunkel
« on: February 26, 2019, 11:13:56 AM »

Oh wow, that will shake things up.

Had South-Korea already joined up with Japan? And I guess China swallowed Taiwan at some point.
Posted by: Desdinova
« on: February 25, 2019, 08:44:33 PM »

2038 Diplomacy Update
The Arab League has aligned itself towards the Chinese, leading to a sharp decrease in Indo-Arab relations following the confrontation over the moon and continued Saudi support of Indian rival Pakistan. At the same time, the Arab League has made continuous overtures towards the Europeans to normalize trade relations and take advantage of their new trans-Newtonian economy. India/Arab League relations fall to belligerent; Arab League/EU relations improve to friendly

Further upsetting the balance of power in the solar system, the Russian Federation signs a new mutual defense treaty with the Chinese government. Russia/China form alliance

The Trans-Newtonian industrial revolution has left many smaller nations falling behind and uprooted the traditional balance of power. By 2038, new political alliances are forming. Before the Russo-Chinese alliance is signed, Russia unites several other nations with which it still maintains good relations, including Iran, North Korea, and parts of sub-saharan Africa as well as most of the post-Soviet bloc into a new political union. Its members effectively become Russian puppet states in exchange for Russian and Chinese technical assistance. Russian Federation gains 300M population, 300 conventional industry, 2 research labs

The perceived threat of China, following a "police action" in Vietnam where trans-Newtonian weapons were used, causes the Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia to overcome their historic emnity towards Japan and formalize a free trade and mutual defense organization. While the new Pacific Alliance shares a common parliament and rotating presidency, Japan is effectively the senior partner due to their existing Trans-Newtonian industrial base and military experience. Japan gains 300M population, 300 conventional industry, 1 research lab

Furthermore, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United Kingdom, while not giving up any sovereignty, agree to integrate their Trans-Newtonian defense programs into a common command structure, and deepen trade ties even further. UK gains 100M population, 300 conventional industry, 2 research labs

After the Arab League and Russia ally themselves with China, China gives them access to their trans-Newtonian defense research. Arab League, Russia gain all technology previously researched by China

Posted by: Garfunkel
« on: February 25, 2019, 04:49:03 PM »

What a slug fest! That's like a major Napoleonic war naval battle.
Posted by: Desdinova
« on: February 25, 2019, 02:37:37 PM »

Nice. The battle for the moon was very interesting, especially the conclusion that FACs are....inefficient against larger and beefier warships. I was wondering why basically everyone was almost exclusively building them until now. Cheap apparently beat effectiveness, after all, it's not like a major war could break out, right ?

Also, is the 100 000 km safe zone around Earth part of the "Whoever attacks Earth attacks all of it's nations" rule or is it separate and thus can be violated without signing your instant death warrant ?

The 100 km safe zone is part of the same treaty, although I made it up for the battle. Fighting in LEO was always against the rules, I just had to set a hard limit, and I picked 100 km because it puts orbiting ships out of the range of any outside ship's beam weapons. At this point, the major factions have adjusted the orbits of their orbital facilities and dockyards to keep the Earth between them and those of the other side, in order to prevent a beam-based first strike from orbiting ships.

It's really only China and India that have vast numbers of attack craft. China started it and then India tried to keep up until both sides had dozens. The UK has 8. The EU has the 2,000-ton lion class, but it's slightly more survivable as it has an extra layer of armor.

I regreted building any of them pretty quickly because the number of ships was causing massive slow down due to sensor updates, so this battle was as much as anything about giving me an excuse to kill them and scrap the rest. I just discovered you can toggle off detection in a system, though, which fixes that, so I'll let them keep them until they get replaced by equivalent tonnage of larger ships.
Posted by: The Forbidden
« on: February 25, 2019, 09:26:10 AM »

Nice. The battle for the moon was very interesting, especially the conclusion that FACs are....inefficient against larger and beefier warships. I was wondering why basically everyone was almost exclusively building them until now. Cheap apparently beat effectiveness, after all, it's not like a major war could break out, right ?

Also, is the 100 000 km safe zone around Earth part of the "Whoever attacks Earth attacks all of it's nations" rule or is it separate and thus can be violated without signing your instant death warrant ?
Posted by: Desdinova
« on: February 24, 2019, 05:47:54 PM »

Battle for the Moon

5 December 2037
Since the Chinese renunciation of the Outer Space Treaty, escalating tensions have led to a complete breakdown in Sino-Indian relations. This culminates in an ultimatum issued by India: positioning anti-ship missiles on the lunar surface will be perceived as an act of war. The Chinese have already constructed missile batteries on the moon, although for most of the year they sit unarmed. The "Lunar Missile Crisis" occupies headlines around the world for months. On December 5th, the Chinese call the Indians' bluff, sending two ammunition transports to the moon, escorted by the destroyers Harbin, Shanghai, and Zhengzhou, and two squadrons of Q-2 class frigates.

The Indian response is to send three squadrons of FF-1 class frigates to interdict the Chinese task force.



On approach, the Indian task force commander, Captain Trisna Athani, orders the Chinese to turn away or be fired upon. The Chinese ignore the command. Both sides lock their fire control radars at on each other, at point blank range. At 0423Z, the Indian force opens fire on the transports.

The opening salvo fails to destroy either transport, with Indian railguns failing to penetrate their thick armor. Targeting the transports has cost them the initiative, and the Chinese return fire immediately and effectively. The Indians shift fire from the ammunition transports to the destroyers, inflicting heavy damage on Shanghai, but their efforts are ultimately futile: in less than a minute, all eighteen Indian frigates are destroyed.

The damaged Chinese transports set course for low Earth orbit. After the shocking defeat, India's entire Earth-based fleet gets underway towards the Moon: six Bangalore-class cruisers, one 3000-ton DD-1-class destroyer, and 36 frigates. The United Kingdom's fleet follows closely behind. The UK has all nine Centaur-class cruisers and eight Leopard-class frigates ready for action, but have orders not to engage unless fired upon. As they depart low Earth orbit, they are shadowed by the Chinese first fleet, with three Jianghu-class missile cruisers, three Luhu-class destroyers, and 36 Q-1 and Q-2 class frigates.


At 0426, the Indian cruisers attack the Chinese with their long-range particle beam weapons. The Chinese force shadowing them returns fire with missiles, but is unable to overcome the enemy point-defense railguns and no hits are scored. The missile attack causes the British commander, CDR Charlie Nixon, to authorize his ships to engage the enemy.

The Chinese frigates, being faster than both sides' capital ships, leave formation and attack, forcing the allied fleet away from the vulnerable Chinese transports. Both sides focus fire on each other's frigate forces, having observed how quickly they can be decisively defeated.



The battle is furious and swift, lasting just under two minutes. The Chinese frigates prove more rugged, but no match against the combined firepower of the enemy cruisers. The Indian frigates, meanwhile, are extremely vulnerable to Chinese laser weapons, frequently being disabled after only a single hit. After their frigate screen evaporates, the outnumbered Chinese cruisers and destroyers are forced back by massed enemy fire, taking refuge within the treaty-stipulated 100km "safe zone" around Earth, which both sides appear to respect.



With the Chinese force withdrawing and the ammunition transports retreating and helpless, both sides agree to a cease fire, permitting both sides to recover survivors.

Loss of life is heavy on both sides. The Chinese suffer 10 casualties on one of the ammunition transports, 6 on Mukden, 1 on Zhengzhou, and 34 on Shanghai.

The Chinese suffer 12 Q-2 class frigates destroyed, and a further four abandoned due to irrepairable damage, and five Q-1 class frigates destroyed. 255 survivors are rescued. A further 79 casualties were suffered on surviving frigates. Total Chinese casualties: 646.

The Indians have lost 21 FF-1 class frigates, with a further 5 scuttled. 200 survivors are rescued, with a total 528 crew lost.

The British suffer only a single casualty aboard frigate Boxer.

Tactical analysis of the battle shows that the laser-armed Chinese frigates were superior to the railgun-armed Indian frigates in performance; although largely equivalent in most respects, the Chinese lasers caused penetrating hits whenever they hit an enemy frigate, often resulting in an immediate mission-kill. The railguns were also handicapped due to their inferior range. The Centaur-class cruisers made a decisive contribution, as without them, the Chinese would be able to engage the Indians from out of range of all but the particle beams mounted on the Indian cruisers. Chinese missile armament, despite massive upgrades, again proves ineffective against mass point-defense railguns, although several hits were scored in the ensuing brawl.

The UK's Leopard-class frigates survived with minimal damage in part due to their longer-ranged laser weaponry allowing them to keep the range open, and due to the fact that the Indian fleet was the Chinese force's primary target.

The general conclusion drawn by most observers is that large numbers of small 1000-ton warships is ineffective at best. Two forces of over three dozen frigates succeeded only in wiping each other out; in the initial attack on the Chinese transports, the Indian frigates were unable to destroy the ammunition transport and were able to only damage a 3,000 ton destroyer, albeit severely.

In terms of political outcome, the battle succeeds in forcing the Indians and Chinese to back down and return to the negotiating table. Neither side can sustain a war in space: the Chinese navy is split between Earth-Luna and Mars fleets, and half of their newer cruisers are on maneuvers in the asteroid belt. The Indian escalation caught them by surprise. But the Indians don't have the means to land troops on the moon or Mars, where the Chinese are already entrenched: a full-scale war would lead to both colonies being seized and occupied by the Chinese in short order, and they would have no recourse except bombing their own citizens into submission. The Chinese public is outraged by what they see as another humiliation, especially due to the heavy loss of life, although the government seizes on the inability of the enemy to destroy the transports and the destruction of the initial attack wave to spin the event as a Chinese victory.

The international treaty that results from this "incident" is intended to curb the continuing arms race, and prevent future confrontation: hosted by neutral Russia, the St. Petersburg accord limits the signatories to 100,000 total tons of armed warships, except China, which is allowed 150,000 tons - although as of yet no limits are placed on numbers, type or mass of individual ships. As a concession to China, nations will be able to maintain ground-based antispace weapons for defensive purposes. Although the Chinese missile batteries are what sparked the initial confrontation in the first place, their rivals have come to see Chinese missile technology as basically ineffectual. Chinese doctrine on offensive missile use is also evolving, with naval theorists advocating short-ranged but extremely powerful "torpedoes" to be used within beam engagement range in order to overcome enemy point defense. Meanwhile, the Indians are recognizing that despite the American's success five years ago, short-ranged railguns may not be sufficient secondary armament in a mixed-range engagement.

Lightly-armed, unarmored frigates have proliferated due to being cheap and easy to build, but after the battle, both India and China agree to not repair damaged frigates and to cut their numbers significantly.
Posted by: Bartimeus
« on: February 21, 2019, 03:29:14 AM »

Just start reading it, and I loving it !

I like your idea of random diplomatic relation ! I may steal it from you :) 
Posted by: Garfunkel
« on: January 22, 2019, 12:15:39 PM »

Good update, things are definitely heating up!
Posted by: Desdinova
« on: January 18, 2019, 08:41:50 PM »

2035
The military buildup continues. In January, the UK launches its first Centaur-class warships. Although Britain so far lacks off-world colonies, their government has committed themselves to making a strong military contribution to the US-UK-European alliance.

Code: [Select]
Centaur class Cruiser 4000 tons     108 Crew     379 BP      TCS 80  TH 100  EM 0
1250 km/s     Armour 5-22     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control 1     PPV 18
Annual Failure Rate: 364%    IFR: 5.1%    Maintenance Capacity 59 MSP
Spare Berths 4   

25 EP Nuclear Thermal Engine (4)    Power 25    Fuel Use 167.7%    Armour 0    Exp 12%
Fuel Capacity 410 000 Litres    Range 11.0 billion km   (101 days at full power)

10cm C2 Infrared Laser (6)    Range 30 000km     TS: 1250 km/s     Power 3-2     RM 1    ROF 10        3 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fire Control S01 20-1250 (1)    Max Range: 40 000 km   TS: 1250 km/s     75 50 25 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fire Control S01 20-1250 (1)    Max Range: 40 000 km   TS: 1250 km/s     75 50 25 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Pressurised Water Reactor PB-1 (6)     Total Power Output 12     Armour 0    Exp 5%

Active Search Sensor MR1-R1 (1)     GPS 20     Range 1 000.0k km     Resolution 1

This design is classed as a military vessel for maintenance purposes

By October, India completes its first order of three Bangalore-class cruisers in late 2035, and three more by the end of 2036. The class is roughly comparable to the American Minneapolis, but mounts a pair of long-range particle beams instead of lasers.

Code: [Select]
Bangalore class Cruiser 5000 tons     132 Crew     477 BP      TCS 100  TH 125  EM 0
1250 km/s     Armour 6-26     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control 1     PPV 22
Annual Failure Rate: 0%    IFR: 0%    Maintenance Capacity 60 MSP
Spare Berths 8   

31.25 EP Nuclear Thermal Engine (4)    Power 31.25    Fuel Use 165.96%    Armour 0    Exp 12%
Fuel Capacity 380 000 Litres    Range 8.2 billion km   (76 days at full power)

Particle Beam-2 (2)    Max Range 60 000km     TS: 1250 km/s     Power 5-2    ROF 15        2 2 2 2 2 2 0 0 0 0
10cm Railgun V1/C2 (4x4)    Range 10 000km     TS: 1250 km/s     Power 3-2     RM 1    ROF 10        1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fire Control S02.5 40-1562.5 (1)    Max Range: 80 000 km   TS: 1562 km/s     88 75 62 50 38 25 12 0 0 0
Fire Control S00.5 10-1250 (1)    Max Range: 20 000 km   TS: 1250 km/s     50 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Pressurised Water Reactor PB-1 (6)     Total Power Output 12     Armour 0    Exp 5%

Active Search Sensor MR2-R1 (1)     GPS 40     Range 2.0m km     Resolution 1

This design is classed as a military vessel for maintenance purposes

Diplomacy Update - 2036
The European Union cuts back on its defense commitments. As the EU has no space warships yet, they're concerned that escalating tensions will draw them into a war which will render their lunar colonies indefensible. EU-US alliance broken (falls to friendly)
At the same time, they make diplomatic overtures towards inviting the UK back into the European Union, and sign a renewed mutual defense treaty. GB/EU form alliance
Growing Chinese influence in the Muslim world has caused a flashpoint of tension between India and Saudi puppet Pakistan. Arab League-Indian relations fall to hostile

In January, the EU launches its first Lion-class frigates.

Code: [Select]
Lion class Frigate 2000 tons     58 Crew     185.5 BP      TCS 40  TH 60  EM 0
1500 km/s     Armour 2-14     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control 1     PPV 8
Annual Failure Rate: 0%    IFR: 0%    Maintenance Capacity 58 MSP
Spare Berths 1   

20 EP Nuclear Thermal Engine (3)    Power 20    Fuel Use 96%    Armour 0    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 180 000 Litres    Range 16.9 billion km   (130 days at full power)

15cm C1 Plasma Carronade (2)    Range 60 000km     TS: 1500 km/s     Power 6-1     RM 1    ROF 30        6 3 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
Fire Control S03 40-1875 (1)    Max Range: 80 000 km   TS: 1875 km/s     88 75 62 50 38 25 12 0 0 0
Pressurised Water Reactor PB-1 (2)     Total Power Output 4     Armour 0    Exp 5%

Active Search Sensor MR1-R1 (1)     GPS 20     Range 1 000.0k km     Resolution 1

This design is classed as a military vessel for maintenance purposes

The India-Pakistan crisis is resolved by summer 2036 without further conflict. By the end of the year, western intelligence agencies have determined that China is constructing missile bases on Earth, the Moon, and Mars with long-range surface-to-orbit capability. The discovery sets off a diplomatic firestorm, as contsructing military installations, much less missile bases, on other worlds is an express violation of the Outer Space Treaty. Despite international sanctions, China formally renounces the treaty - it now possesses by far the largest trans-Newtonian industry, and is no longer reliant on foreign trade to fuel its economy.

Diplomacy Update - 2037
India, which possesses the third largest Lunar colony, is threatening war if China proceeds with deploying anti-sat missiles to the lunar surface. The United Kingdom pledges to honor their military commitments. Indo-Chinese, Anglo-Chinese relations fall to hostile

Russia pledges that it stands with China in the face of "western imperialism." Russo-Chinese relations improve to friendly, Russo-Japanese relations fall to distrustful

In 2037, the first Arab League-flagged colony ships land on Mars, welcomed by the Chinese government.

Balance of Power, 1 December 2037
China remains the dominant off-world power, with 11.2 million citizens on the Moon, 3.92 million on Mars, and an Earth population approaching 2 billion. They possess six Jianghu-class missile cruisers of 5,000 tons, six Jiangwei-class missile destroyers of 4,000 tons, six 3,000 ton Luhu-class destroyers, 42 1,000 ton Q-1-class frigates, and 48 1000-ton Q-2 class frigates, for a total of 108 combatant vessels massing 162,000 tons - as much as the two next largest powers combined. They have also deployed 5 battalions of mobile infantry to Mars, 1 to the Moon, and have 2 on Earth with their remaining conventional forces.

India has a similar Earth population to China, but roughly half the industrial capacity. They have 2.67 million citizens on the Moon, 620,000 on Mars. They have a fleet of six 5,000-ton Bangalore-class cruisers, 5 3,000-ton DD-1-class destroyers, and 60 1,000-ton FF-1-class frigates, totalling 105,000 tons. They have four TN mobile infantry battalions on Earth, in addition to conventional forces.

The Arab League is tooling up to produce their first TN warships. They have a small colony 20,000 citizens on Mars.

The European Union has a colony of 11.2 million on the Moon. They have 24 Lion-class frigates in service, totalling 48,000 tons, 3 MI battalions on Earth, and 1 on the Moon.

Japan has no off-world colonies as of yet; they have the means, but not the will, due to global tensions. They have 12 4,000-ton Akikaze-class destroyers in service, totalling 48,000 tons, and three MI battalions. Their military buildup has caused continual fuel and material shortages, however, and is stifling their economy.

Russia so far lacks any off-world colonies, and has yet to break ground on a trans-Newtonian space program.

The UK, like Japan, lacks any colonies of their own, but possesses a force of 9 4,000-ton Centaur- class cruisers, 36,000 tons total. Also like Japan, they are facing a severe fuel shortage that has prevented them from meeting their training and readiness goals. They have 3 MI battalions on Earth.

The United States has a colony of 5.26 million on Mars. They have six Minneapolis-class cruisers, and six more of the older San Francisco-class, all of 5,000 tons, or 60,000 tons total. They have two MI battalions on Earth, and two more deployed to the Martian surface.
Posted by: Desdinova
« on: November 12, 2018, 04:47:00 PM »

I'm pretty loaded down with university coursework. Might be a while before I have any time to dedicate to games, but I'll try to get an update out.
Posted by: Garfunkel
« on: November 05, 2018, 11:02:08 AM »

The crowd demands an update!  :)
Posted by: Garfunkel
« on: October 22, 2018, 03:22:17 PM »

Fantastic to see a new story here! This is an especially intriguing start, keep up the good work!

Could you post the specs of the conventional freighters and colony ships that the powers used?
Posted by: JacenHan
« on: October 15, 2018, 10:18:17 AM »

This is really cool, I am following with great anticipation. I do hope that China's industrial lead doesn't make it to overpowered, but the growing alliance against them should counteract that for now.