Posted by: Steve Walmsley
« on: January 26, 2008, 08:05:55 AM »2nd May 2020
The Bessabarian jump ship makes its second exploratory jump, transiting into Irkutsk. The Lennon Karma geo survey ship goes with it, en route to survey the two small planets and six asteroids in the barren system. The Temple Sunrise class ship is still in Chekhov, carrying out what will no doubt be a long gravitational survey.
4th May 2020
The power and propulsion experts on Alexandria have completed their research into the Stellarator Fusion Reactor and developed 25 ton, 50 ton and 150 ton power plants using the new technology. At some point in the future they hope to be able to turn the new fusion technology into a working engine.
18th May 2020
A survey of the recently colonised system of Belogorsk has revealed a total of five jump points, including the entry point from Tula. The Moskva II class scout Sokol, under the command of Senior Lieutenant Leonid Tarasov, transits into the third furthest jump point from the primary and discovers a dim M0-V red star with nine planets, which he names Yekaterinburg. The jump point is only 25 million kilometers from the primary and also only 25 million kilometers from the second planet, which appears to be ideal for human habitation. Gravity is a little high at 1.25G, the temperature of 37C is on the warm side of comfortable and the air is thin but breathable. Nevertheless, it is a colony cost 0.0, ready-to-move-in world and a very valuable discovery. Following the encounters with the Bessabarians and Esanak, all ships of the Imperial Navy have a standing order to investigate potentially habitable planets in new system so Sokol sets a course for the potential new colony site.
Within five minutes, the scout?s sensors pick up a strong thermal and EM signature from the planet, comparable in strength to St. Ekatarina, indicating an alien civilization. Within another five minutes, two new thermal signatures of strength-840 are detected on an intercept course at 3925 km/s. As the Sovremennys, which are capable of a similar speed, only have a thermal signature of 480, the two alien ships must be 10,000 tons or more. Although standing orders state that communication should be attempted if detected, Senior Lieutenant Tarasov is concerned that if his ship is destroyed, no one will be able to get word back to St Ekatarina as the three survey ships in Belogorsk are not equipped with jump engines. Therefore he decides to withdraw before the aliens can close the range. Before doing so he engages his active sensors as the thermal contacts are within range at nineteen million kilometers. The active gravitational pulse gives a cross-section for the two known ships of strength-214, approximately 10,700 tons, and detects four new contacts with a cross-section of strength-105, or about 5250 tons. Seconds later, an active sensor pulse is detected from the alien ships, identified as a strength-50 sensor with a resolution of 40. Based on early sensor readings, these aliens seem far more advanced than the Bessabarians or the Esanak.
As soon as Sokol reaches the jump point, she transits back into Belogorsk and head for the Tula jump point. The survey ships are already converging on the same location after recently completing their survey. Sokol leaves her active sensors on but detects no sign of any alien pursuit. As the jump point was not picketed, it seems likely that the alien race in Yekeratinburg is not aware of jump points. However, given that Sokol disappeared in front of them and their apparent level of technology, that state of affairs may not last for long.
5th July 2020
The First Survey Fleet completes a survey of the Celabinsk system, adjacent to Irkutsk, finding a single new jump point. Rostokino, a Moskva II class scout, transits into a system with a yellow G5-V star and five planets, one of which is an ideal, habitable world. Gravity is fine at 0.9G, the temperature is a warm 33C and the atmosphere is easily breathable. The jump point is out at four billion kilometers so according to standing orders Rostokino should head in-system to check for the presence of an alien race. However, there are three survey ships stuck in Celabinsk with no way to leave. Therefore, after naming the new system Makarov, the scout ship?s commander heads back through the jump point and sets course for the survey ships gathered at the Irkutsk jump point. He intends to take the survey ships back to Romanov and then ask for permission to return and investigate. The standing orders regarding investigation of habitable worlds are proving much easier to issue than execute, as they would often lead to long delays for inactive survey ships. Hopefully, the intended refits to add jump drives to survey ships will solve this problem.
14th July 2020
Sokol and rest of the Second Survey Fleet arrive in Romanov after their journey from Belogorsk and report the discovery of a new alien race in the Yekaterinburg system. Senior Lieutenant Tarasov?s action are endorsed by his superiors and Star Marshal Alexeyev begins organising a force to guard the Belogorsk ? Yekaterinburg jump point, as well as preparing a new expedition into the alien system to attempt contact. Although six Sovremenny IIA class destroyers, six Tarantul class fast attack craft and a single Kirov II are available in Romanov, several supporting ships are undergoing major overhauls so it will be at least a month before a fleet can depart. The Udaloy II survey ships of the Second Survey Fleet are taken into the shipyards to be upgraded to the Udaloy III and Udaloy IIIC
A Task Force commanded by Vice Admiral Kravchenko departs St. Ekatarina orbit bound for Yekaterinburg. The order of battle is as follows:
Kiev IV Jump Cruiser: Kiev (TF flag)
Kiev III Jump Cruiser: Gorshkov
Sovremenny IIA Destroyers: Alexander Nevsky, Sovremenny, Vladimir, Yuri
Moskva II Scout: Rostokino, Tagansky
Skory class collier: Ognevoy
All the destroyers now have a full complement of SS-N-2 Scarab missiles and Ognevoy carries an additional 360 Scarabs. The Sovremenny IIA class destroyers Dimitri and Simeon will remain in St Ekatarina orbit, along with the six Tarantul fast attack craft, providing security for the homeworld. The Kirov II class frigate Pyotr Velikiy is en route to St Petersburg, escorted by the Zelenograd, as St Petersburg II now has a population in excess of ten million and the population is beginning to protest about the lack of protection for their colony. The final two Sovremennys, Constantine and Tver, and the other two Kirov IIs, Kirov and Frunze, are still in orbit of Saransk Prime along with the jump cruiser Minsk, the Moskva II scout Kitai-Gorod and the collier Skory. Four Slava class destroyers are under construction and will be ready between February and June of next year.
24th October 2020
Vice Admiral Kravchenko?s Task Force arrives at the Belogorsk-Yekaterinburg jump point and takes up position approximately 600,000 kilometres away. The Moskva II scout Rostokino, under the command of Senior Lieutenant Arman Zaytsev is sent into the jump point to try and contact the aliens while her sister ship Tagansky is ordered to investigate the three remaining unexplored jump points in Belogorsk.
When Rostokino enters Yekaterinburg, the inhabited planet is sixty million kilometers away on the far side of the star. Senior Lieutenant Zaytsev hails the alien world and awaits a reply. His orders are to remain in position unless the aliens open fire or move with half a million kilometers. Three hours after entering the system, a single strength-420 thermal contact is picked up on a course from the planet. Zaytsev engages active sensors and quickly determines the ship is one of the four 5250 ton ships detected five months ago. This time the Romanov scout remains in place and the alien ship glides to a halt one million kilometers away before hailing the Rostokino. For now, at least, the aliens seem interested in trying to establish communication
Two hours later Rostokino detects the rest of the previously encountered alien force, two 10,700 ton ships and three 5250 ton ships, at twenty million kilometers. Several nervous minutes pass before the aliens halt at eighteen million kilometers and use their own active sensors. They appear to be backing up the lone contact ship without getting too close in case Rostokino repeats the disappearing act of her predecessor.
25th November 2020
A month has gone by with minimal progress on communication but all Romanov forces involved in the operation are aware that communication can take some time and Vice Admiral Kravchenko has instructed Senior Lieutenant Zaytsev to remain for six months before returning to Belogorsk. After that time, the Rostokino will be presumed lost to hostile action. Due to the sixty-one day year of the habitable world, it has moved around the primary to be a point near Rostokino, allowing the scout?s active sensors to detect two new strength-87 contacts.
29th November 2020
The Bessabarian?s single shipyard has completed a new gravitational survey ship with nuclear pulse engines and a top speed of 2285 km/s, making it by far their fastest ship.
18th December 2020
Tagansky completes her investigations of Belogorsk?s unexplored jump points. Two lead to the unremarkable systems of Rybinsk and Gorbatov while the third connects to the previously discovered system of Orlov, located on the fringe of known space, four jumps beyond Rostov-na-Donu.
15th February 2021
Full communication is established between the Romanov Imperium and the Nihon-Koku, the race on Yekaterinburg II. The Nihon-Koku are a strange looking species, with a hulking body covered in thick, shaggy fur, a long, bony head with deep set eyes either side and a vicious mouth full of serrated teeth. Their call their civilization the Dai Nihon Teikoku and their home system is named Edo. From the initial exchanges it would appear their civilization has a particularly strange form of government where every issue is decided upon by a planet-wide vote of all Nihon-Koku, regardless of whether they actually know anything about the issue in question. A massive computer-network connects every home on the planet and they use this network to register their votes. Even now it would seem the decision of how to proceed in their relationship with the Romanov Imperium is being debated in popular forums, prior to a planet-wide vote. There is a government bureaucracy but it may only follow policies laid down by the population. It is hard to imagine how a civilization can function without an informed, central authority.
Senior Lieutenant Zaytsev explains that he needs to report to his superiors and that his ship will temporarily vanish for a few minutes. The Nihon-Koku respond that they believe the Romanov ship is using some type of wormhole and their scientists are currently studying the phenomenon. After passing his report to Vice Admiral Kravchenko, Senior Lieutenant Zaytsev takes the Rostokino back into Edo to learn more about the Nihon-Koku and begin initial negotiations for a non-aggression pact.
The appearance of the Nihon-Koku suggests they have evolved from a fearsome predator. Combining that with the fact their homeworld has a similar industrial output to St Ekatarina and that their primary ships are much larger than our own, gives Vice Admiral Kravchenko serious concerns about the potential threat to the Imperium. This race is obviously more powerful and capable than either the Bessabarians and the Esanak and the only good news is that the Nihon-Koku do not appear to be immediately hostile and they do not currently posses jump drive technology. How much time it will take for them to remedy that deficiency will depend on their research establishment but it is sure to be the Nihon-Koku?s number one priority. Vice Admiral Kravchenko is determined to be ready for the day when the Nihon-Koku finally come through the jump point. He dispatches Tagansky back to St. Ekatarina with a full update, a recommendation that the Belogorsk colony be fortified into a forward base and a request for further instructions.
25th February 2021
The first two Slava class destroyers, Slava and Varyag, are launched from the shipyards of St. Ekatarina and three Udaloy class survey ships complete their refit to the jump-capable III and IIIC versions
27th February 2021
For the last eighteen months scientists on Anastasia have been working on a entirely new concept they have named jump gates. These gates will be assembled at jump points and function as enormous jump gates, allowing ships of any size to transit. This will have a major impact on interstellar travel and commerce as jump ships will no longer be needed in areas where jump gates exist. It would even allow us to build ships without regard for jump drive sizes as long as they are intended to operate within a network of these gates. Finally, these jump gates will have an ability to communicate with a matching gate on the far side of a jump point, creating instant communication between different systems as long as both are part of the jump gate network. The downside is that building these gates is neither cheap nor easy. Specialist jump gate construction ships will have to be built while our factories will have to build the required components and our freighters will ship them to the location of the intended gate. It will be several years before we really start to see the benefit of this new technology. Two Narva class construction ships, the largest ships ever designed by the Imperium, will be laid down shortly and should be ready by August 2022
The scout frigate Moskva has returned to Romanov after a long deployment in the Bessabaria system. As well as being overhauled, she will be refitted to the Moskva II standard.
16th May 2021
The Bessabarian Theocracy has purchased improved shipbuilding technology from us for 5000 megaroubles.
Note: From this point on the new shipyard rules from v2.4 are in effect
25th May 2021
A report has recently been published into the five Romanov shipyards located on St. Ekatarina.
Severodvinsk Shipyard
Two slipways of 10,000 capacity. Configured to build Narva class Construction Ship. Currently building two Narvas
Molotovsk Shipyard
Two slipways of 8000 ton capacity: Has built Moskva II class scouts in the past but is now retooling to build the Sovremenny II-B class destroyer. Currently working on refit of Moskva to a Moskva II
Komsomolsk Shipyard
Two slipways of 8000 ton capacity: Configured to build the Slava II-B class destroyer. Two Slavas currently under construction.
Zhdanov Shipyard
Two slipways of 6000 ton capacity: Configured to build the Sverdlov II class colony ship. Two Sverdlovs currently under construction. Work is underway to increase the capacity of each slipway to 6500 tons.
Nikolayev Shipyard
Four slipways of 1000 ton capacity: Configured to build the Tarantul class Fast Attack Craft. All four slipways are currently empty. Work is underway on a fifth slipway.
15th June 2021
The Slava class destroyers Lobov and Ustinov are completed by the Komsolovsk shipyard. Two new hulls are laid down.
5th August 2021
Its has now been five years since the fall of Saransk Prime and two years since ground troops were landed on the planet and political restrictions eased. Freed from their despotic leader, the Esanak have adapted well to life under Romanov rule and, with a few minor exceptions, are becoming willing participants in the Imperium. Therefore their status has been changed from Subjugated to a Candidate Population. Ground troops will now remain on the planet at the request of the population, not as an occupying force, and virtually all restrictions will be lifted. If assimilation into the Imperium progresses smoothly then within a few years Saransk Prime will be welcomed into the Imperium as a full Imperial Population, with equal rights to other planets such as St Ekatarina, Alexandria, Anastasia, etc. The Esanak will begin to colonise other worlds and the citizens of Saransk Prime will become officers of the Imperial Navy. The background radiation that reminds the population of the bombardment they suffered five years ago has reduced to fifteen percent of the immediate post-bombardment level and should have entirely disappeared within another year.
10th September 2021
The two Bessabarian survey ships have completed their survey of Chekhov, finding one additional jump point. As their slow-moving jump ship, currently at the Chekhov-Bessabaria jump point, would take over two months to reach the new jump point, the Bessabarian Theocracy has asked Romanov picket ship, the Moskva II scout Zelenograd, to assist. Even though Zelenograd is located at the Bessabaria-Irkutsk jump point, she can still be there in sixteen days.
26th September 2021
Zelenograd enters the new jump point and discovers a dim M8-V red dwarf, orbited by four gas giants and four small rocky planets, none of which are even remotely habitable. The system is named Byrd by the Bessabarians. Zelenograd remains on station to provide an escort for the two Bessabarian survey ships that will arrive within the next three weeks. By the time they complete their survey, the Bessabarian jump ship will be in position.
11th November 2021
A Romanov colony is established on the second planet of the Pskov system. Pskov is three jumps from Romanov via Moskva and Sverdlovsk and was discovered back in 2009. At the time, the second planet was noted for its potential. Over the last two years the Terraforming Fleet has increased the oxygen content of the atmosphere and raised the temperature above freezing, making Pskov II the eighth ideal habitable world in the Imperium. Pskov is as large as St Ekatarina but with a much lower density, giving it a gravity of only 0.65G. Its most notable features are its wide and often tempestuous oceans, covering 88% of the surface, and its strong magnetic field, that causes magnificent Aurora displays even at latitudes far from the poles.
The colonization of this new world is a good time for an overview of all the Imperium colonies. The colonies below are displayed in descending order of population and includes the candidate Esanak population on Saransk Prime.
St Ekatarina - Romanov system
Star Marshal Yuri Alexeyev: Shipbuilding 40%, Wealth 30%, Pop Growth 25%, Production 15%
Population 641m / Wealth 31679
Level 3 Naval Academy
Maintenance Facilities: 8800 tons.
Commercial Freight Facility
Shipyards/Slipways: 5/13
Ground Force Training Facilities: 4
Construction Factories: 600
Mines: 515
Fuel Refineries: 220 (Stockpile 9.9m litres)
Ordnance Factories 80
Deep Space Tracking Stations : 5
Saransk Prime - Saransk system
Captain 2nd Rank Fedyenka Sobolev: Research 30%, Mining 20%, Production 5%
Population 117m / Wealth 3537
Maintenance Facilities: 6000 tons.
Mines: 30
Deep Space Tracking Stations : 3
Alexandria - Romanov system
Captain 2nd Rank Eva Sorkin: Research 40%, Wealth 15%, Pop Growth 10%, Production 10%
Population 72m / Wealth 3143
Research Labs: 16
Deep Space Tracking Stations : 1
Anastasia - Romanov system
Captain 1st Rank Katria Kashin: Research 40%, Wealth 20%. Pop Growth 10%
Population 59m / Wealth 2676
Research Labs: 21
St Petersburg II ? St Petersburg system
Captain-Lieutenant Evelina Yuryev: Pop Growth 30%
Population 11.7m / Wealth 443
Gorky-B IV ? Gorky system
Captain-Lieutenant Andreiana Arkhipova: Wealth 20%, Pop Growth 20%, Mining 15%
Population 5.0m / Wealth 227
Mines: 13
Mass Driver: 1
Belogorsk B-IV Prime - Belogorsk system
Captain 3rd Rank Fedya Ivanov: Research 30%, Shipbuilding 20%
Population 1.6m / Wealth 60
Maintenance Facilities: 3000 tons.
Pskov II - Pskov system
Captain 3rd Rank Xenia Bogdanov: Research 30%, Wealth 15%
Population 0.7m / Wealth 31
Bessabaria-C II - Bessabaria system
Captain-Lieutenant Vasili Makarov: Research 30%, Mining 15%, Wealth 10%
Population 0.09m / Wealth 4
Chelyabinsk Mining Colony ? Bratsk System
Captain 3rd Rank Julia Ovchinnikova: Wealth 30%, Mining 25%, Production 5%
Automated Mines: 85
Mass Driver: 1
Dubogorsk Mining Colony ? Bratsk System
Captain-Lieutenant Getruda Sokolova: Mining 30%
Automated Mines: 14
Mass Driver: 1
Balagansk Mining Colony ? Gorky System
Captain 3rd Rank Rada Fyodorov: Mining 20%, Production 20%
Automated Mines: 7
Mass Driver: 1
2nd December 2021
In the Edo system, the Rostokino has kept her active sensors on since her arrival in the system over a year ago. As the Nihon-Koku?s homeworld has a year lasting sixty-one days, the planet moves in and out of the scout?s sensor envelope every two months. On this pass, she detects four new contacts in orbit, which are either new construction or recently arrived in orbit while the planet was on the far side of the star from Rostokino. Two have a cross-section of 105, equal to that of the four Nihon-Koku ships that have been classed as destroyers. Accordingly, these ships are classified as Nihon DD05 and Nihon DD06. The other contacts both have a cross-section of strength-45, making them either small ships of 2250 tons or perhaps larger ships that have been stealthed in some way. For the moment they will be classified as Nihon SC01 and Nihon SC02. This makes a total of ten identified Nihon-Koku ships, including the two 10,700 ton cruisers. Negotiations are still ongoing for a non-aggression treaty but so far without success.
16th December 2021
A new shipyard complex has been established near the city of Kaliningrad on St Ekatarina. At the moment the complex has only a single slipway with a capacity of 1000 tons but work is already underway to increase that.
6th April 2022
As the Imperium grows in size and the smaller colonies reach medium size, they will begin demanding protection, especially given that three alien races have already been encountered, at least one of which was hostile. One of the problems with deploying guard forces, such as the one orbiting Saransk Prime, is that without maintenance facilities the ships can only remain on station for a few years before returning to a fleet base for lengthy overhauls. Building and deploying extensive maintenance facilities, such as those required for Sovremenny class destroyers, is expensive and will tie up St Ekatarina?s manufacturing capabilities and the Imperial Fleet?s limited cargo carrying capacity.
At the moment there are maintenance facilities on St Ekatarina capable of handling ships up to 8800 tons, facilities on Saransk Prime with a capacity of 6000 tons and a smaller facility on Belogorsk for ships of up to 3000 tons. The fleets in Romanov and Saransk, both of which have ships of up to 6000 tons, are being maintained but all the ships deployed in Belogorsk are too large to receive maintenance support, even if they weren?t deployed at the jump points to Edo and Tula. There is also a Kirov class frigate deployed in St. Petersburg with no maintenance support, which is out of communication and likely to be low on spare parts.
Therefore Star Marshal Alexeyev has decided that the future strategy for system defence should be based around fast attack craft, such as the Tarantul. At 1000 tons, these craft require only minimal maintenance facilities, which could easily be built and transported to systems as they require protection. The only drawback to this strategy is that the fast attack craft are short-ranged and use a lot of fuel so they are not easily redeployed on the strategic scale. There are two possible solutions to this problem. Either a small, fast, jump-capable tanker that could escort the fast attack craft (FAC) to their destination, refuelling as required en route, or a some form of mothership that would hold the FAC in an internal bay while transporting them to their destination.
The proposed design for the fast tanker is the Dubna class, shown below. While not as fast as the FACs, the Dubna is still capable of a very respectable 5000 km/s and could hold enough fuel to escort several FAC over strategic distances. As an alternative, the Ropucha class would carry two FACs in an internal bay. The Ropucha is equipped with the recently developed J750 jump drive and, if built, would be the largest jump-capable vessel in the Imperial Navy. However, its limited carrying capacity of two FACs is a concern so for the moment the Star Marshal intends to proceed with the Dubna until a more capable jump drive is developed that will allow a larger mothership.
The next decision for the Star Marshal is which shipyard to use for the Dubna. Severodvinsk is our largest capacity yard and is currently building two Narva class construction ships. Komsomolsk and Molotovsk both have capacities of 8000 tons are geared up to build Slavas and Sovremenny II-Bs respectively. The former is building two Slavas but there is still ongoing discussion over the design of the Sovremenny II-B so authorisation for construction has not yet been given. It would make no sense to change to the Dubna though as even if the destroyer design is changed, the retooling cost would be minor. However, retooling to build the Dubna and then changing back to the finalised Sovremenny design would be very expensive. Zhdanov is building Sverdlov class colony ships and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future while Nikolayev?s six 1000 ton capacity slipways are ready to build Tarantuls. The new Kaliningrad yard will be up to a capacity of 2500 tons for its single slipway by June and will continue to grow as quickly as possible. Therefore Star Marshal Alexeyev decides to retool Kaliningrad for the Dubna as soon as it has sufficient capacity.
The Bessabarian Theocracy has constructed its first freighter, the Cosmic River. As the Bessabarians only have a single research facility, they have been trying to build a second facility to double their research rate. Unfortunately, they have exhausted their limited stockpile of Mercassium and the Mercassium in their planet?s core is accessibility 0.1, giving them a very low rate of return for their seventy-five mining complexes. The only other significant source of Mercassium in their system is on a comet that slowly travels between the primary and a point just inside the orbit of Bessabaria-B, taking twenty-two years for the round trip. Their reason for building the cargo ship is to transport their six automated mines to this comet to begin mining additional Mercassium, although they are not going to mine very much with only six automated mining complexes. However, their Duranium shortage continues so they are unlikely to build many more mines in the near future.
6th June 2022
Scientists on Anastasia have completed research into improving our mining technology. A single mining complex will now produce 16 tons of an accessibility 1.0 mineral per year.
16th July 2022
Two Narva class jump gate construction ships have been built by the Severodvinsk Yard on St. Ekatarina. Sufficient components for two jump gates have already been built by St Ekatarina?s construction factories, so as soon as the Cargo Fleet returns from its current mission to pick up minerals from the Chelyabinsk Mining Colony in Bratsk, construction of the first two jump gates can begin.
1st August 2022
The Slava class destroyers Krasina and Ukrayina are completed by the Komsomolsk Yard. There are now six Slavas to support the eight Sovremenny class destroyers and construction of further units has been halted due to predictions from Governor Sorokin on Alexandria of a major breakthrough in engine technology within the next few months.
8th September 2022
Eighteen months after full communication was established, a non-aggression pact has finally been agreed with the Nihon-Koku. The negotiations have been long and difficult, centering mainly around control of the Edo ? Belogorsk jump point. Although neither side is entirely happy with the terms, an agreement has been reached that both can live with. The Romanov Imperium may station one unarmed ship at the Edo side of the jump point but its active sensors must be switched off. The Dai Nihon Teikoku, which is the official title of the Nihon-Koku?s government, may send unarmed ships through the jump point with Romanov permission, although it is anticipated this will not be necessary until some type of trading arrangement can be established.
Vice Admiral Kravchenko, aboard his flagship Kiev in the adjacent Belogorsk system, is relieved to hear that an agreement has been reached but he is well aware that should the Nihon-Koku decide to come through the jump point then one unarmed scout is not going to stop them. Until relations improve further, he intends to maintain a strong guard force at the Belogorsk ? Edo jump point. Four Sovremenny II-A class destroyers are currently deployed six hundred thousand kilometers from the jump point with the Kiev, a collier and two scouts positioned at the Belogorsk ? Tula jump point. After further consideration, he sends one of the scouts back to Romanov with a request for a pair of Slavas to back up his missile ships.
4th October 2022
For the last sixteen months, three Udaloys have been carrying out a gravitational survey of the Donetsk system, which has an M9-II red supergiant primary one point four billion kilometers in diameter. Because of the mass of the star, the ships have had to survey out to twenty-five billion kilometers in every direction and gather considerable amounts of survey data. Their hard work is rewarded when they discover the system has a total of twelve jump points, including the entry point from Archangelsk. The three ships split up to begin the long task of probing eleven new jump points.
6th December 2022
Governor Eva Sorokin and her propulsion research team have completed work on the Magneto-Plasma Drive, an advanced new engine technology that provides 33% more power than the existing Ion-based engines. They will be developing several engines based on this technology over the next few months before turning their attention to improving our existing family of jump drives. On Anastasia, Governor Katria Kashin has overseen a twenty-five percent improvement in active sensor technology which will provide the foundation for a new generation of sensors.
29th December 2022
Our first jump gate is constructed at the Romanov-Moskva jump point. An historic day! However, the jump gate will not be very useful until we have built a matching gate on the Moskva side of the jump point. The gate at the Rostov-na-Donu jump point is only eleven days from completion.
21st January 2023
The first design resulting from the recent advances in engine and sensor technology is the Tarantul II Fast Attack Craft. The Tarantul II class replaces the Sorokin SC88 Ion Drive with the newly developed SC176 Magneto-Plasma Drive, an engine with forty percent more power thanks to a combination of the Magneto-Plasma technology and advances in more conventional power boosting. Unfortunately it has an estimated 30% chance of exploding when damaged, compared to 21% for the older engine. The other change is the replacement of the Cross Dome active sensor with the Cross Dome B, which has the same resolution but a sixty percent greater range. With a top speed of 8800 km/s, the Tarantul is only slightly slower than the SS-N-1 Starburst missile at 9000 km/s and would stand a chance of outrunning the newer 14,000 km/s SS-N-2 Scarab with enough of a head start. It should also prove to be a very difficult target to hit for conventional tracking systems. The Nikolayev Yard will be retooled to produce the new design and should be ready to begin production within a couple of weeks.
Scientists on Anastasia have completed development of the JX Jump Drive, which is capable of opening a jump point for a 10,000 ton ship. The Titan class jump cruiser, which has been designed around this new system, also uses the newly developed Sorokin S88 Magneto-Plasma Drive and Top Sail search sensor, giving it a top speed of 5280 km/s and providing a detection capability out to 32 million kilometers for targets of 2000 tons or greater. As well as being the largest ship to be developed by the Imperial Navy, it is also the first to feature an internal hangar. While the Titan may carry a pair of Tarantul II Fast Attack Craft for defence, a new early warning variant of the fast attack craft is under development and it is likely a pair of these as-yet-unnamed ships will form the standard complement. The Severodvinsk Yard, with its 12,000 ton capacity, is the only Romanov shipyard capable of building the Titan so retooling work is underway for its two slipways. Our best estimate is that retooling will require almost a year so the first Titan will begin construction in early June of 2024.
Six new Tarantul II Fast Attack Craft are completed by the Nikolayev Yard and a further six are laid down. As all six original Tarantuls have already been refitted to the new type, we will have eighteen Tarantul IIs by October 2023
11th July 2023
Two Sverdlov II colony ships are built by the Zhdanov Yard, taking the total number of colony ships to eighteen. A new Sverdlov III is designed using seven Sorokin S88 Magneto-Plasma Drives to replace the eight Sorokin S8 Ion Drives of the Sverdlov II. Combined with a upgrade from High Density Duranium to Composite Armour, this allows a twenty-eight percent increase in speed and a twenty percent increase in colonist capacity within the same size hull. However, Zhdanov is currently building a third slipway that will not be complete until March 2024 and retooling to build the Sverdlov III will require a further three months so no Sverdlov IIIs will be laid down until June 2024 at the earliest.
The Bessabarian Theocracy has purchased our latest mining technology for 10,000 megaroubles.
12th August 2023
An entirely new type of fast attack craft has been designed, based on the Tarantul II hull. The Mainstay replaces the weapons, reactor and fire control of the Tarantul II with the enormous Vega-A Search Sensor. The Vega-A will detect any ships of 3750 tons or greater at almost one hundred million kilometers and is backed up by the Cross Dome B which will detect the close approach of any fast attack craft massing 750 tons or more. Two Mainstays will be carried by the Titan Jump Cruisers and will prove useful in several different roles. With an operating radius of over five billion kilometers they may be used for a fast probe of an inner system while the Titan remains at a safe distance and will be very difficult to intercept. They may also be used as long range scouts in wartime, enabling the Titan and other ships to remain undetected under emissions control while the Mainstays determine the strength of enemy forces. Finally, they may simply be deployed in close escort, using their long range sensors to provide area coverage around a task group. The Mainstays will probably be constructed at a new shipyard complex planned for St Ekatarina in early 2024, although it would be relatively easily to retool Nikolayev once a sufficient quantity of Tarantul IIs has been produced.
The first Dubna class Tanker, designed as a small, fast escort for fast attack craft, is completed by the Kaliningrad Yard. Her first mission will be to escort three Tarantul II class Fast Attack Craft to St Petersburg to serve as the local system defence force. Suitable maintenance facilities and a small number of mines to provide the refined materials are already in place on St Petersburg II.
18th December 2023
Dubna and the three Fast Attack Craft arrive at St Petersburg. Dubna leaves the FACs fully fuelled and unloads a further 180,000 litres for the planetary stockpile, enough to refuel the FACs three times. The frigate Pyotr Velikiy, which has been guarding the planet for the last few years, joins Dubna for the journey back to the Romanov system.
1st February 2024
Scientists on Alexandria complete research that allows magneto-plasma drive technology to be incorporated into missile engines.
4th March 2024
Six Tarantul II Fast Attack Craft arrive at Belogorsk-B IV, the colony in the system adjacent to the Nihon-Koku. They have been escorted by Dubna and used a considerable amount of fuel en route. After refuelling the six FACs for the final time, only 50,000 litres of fuel are available to leave at the colony.
26th April 2024
Nine hundred thousand Romanov colonists land on Makarov II, an ideal habitable world discovered in 2020 by Rostokino. The Makarov system is four jumps from Romanov, via Rostov-na-Donu, Irkutsk and Celabinsk and has not been surveyed by either geological or gravitational survey ships. The planet is almost completely covered with water and has an average temperature of 33C, giving its scattered islands a tropical climate.
11th May 2024
The Nikolayev Yard completes six Mainstay Early Warning Craft. As plans for a seventh shipyard complex on St Ekatarina have been delayed, Nikolayev was recently retooled to build the Mainstays. The complex will now be retooled for Tarantul IIs, which should only require a couple of weeks.
11th June 2024
The Severodvinsk Yard has completed its retooling to build the 10,000 ton Titan class jump cruiser. The first two Titans are laid down and will take approximately twenty-five months to construct.
24th June 2024
Fuel reserves on St. Ekatarina have fallen to 6.8m litres, which their lowest point for many years. Therefore the Imperium will concentrate its efforts on improving the overall fuel situation. Colonization is temporarily halted and our two research colonies will concentrate on improving fuel production and fuel efficiency, once their current work is completed. As resources permit, new fuel refineries will be built.
26th June 2024
The Bessabarian Theocracy has agreed a Defensive Pact with the Romanov Imperium. While the Bessabarians will not provide any significant assistance in the short-term, they will continue to grow in strength and technology and may prove valuable allies in the future. More importantly in the short term, this secures one of our borders and will lead to greater information sharing.
21st July 2024
The Zhdanov Yard has retooled its three slipways to produce the Sverdlov III colony ship. As the colony fleet is still in orbit of St Ekatarina, Zhdanov begins work on refitting three Sverdlov IIs.
16th September 2024
Since the defensive pact was agreed with Bessabarian Theocracy, our scientists have been looking to see if there are any Bessabarian technologies that might be in advance of our own. While this seemed an unlikely endeavour, the Bessabarians opened up a new field of research several years ago that they call Electronic Warfare. This technology is devoted to making ships more difficult targets for hostile fire control and although no practical application has yet been developed, it has definite possibilities. Therefore we have agreed to a technological exchange, giving the Bessabarians details of more efficient jump drives and more fuel efficient engines in return for their theoretical data on Electronic Warfare.
25th September 2024
The Imperium?s seventh jump gate is constructed at the Bratsk ? Rostov-na-Donu jump point. This means that freighters can travel from Romanov to the asteroid mining colonies in Bratsk without the need for escorting jump ships. There are now four systems linked by jump gates, Romanov, Rostov-na-Donu, Bratsk and Moskva, while a fifth system, Gorky, will be part of the network within eight days, allowing the seven million inhabitants of Gorky-B IV and the small Balagansk mining colony to communicate directly with the homeworld.
11th December 2024
After long and difficult negotiations lasting more than two years, the Nihon-Koku have agreed to a trade treaty. While we would have preferred to establish a small colony on their homeworld, they have been resolute in their opposition and have only just stopped short of demanding that our scout withdraw, primarily because they wished to keep communication open. Instead, they will be allowed to establish a small outpost on Belogorsk-B IV, which is home to almost seven million Romanov citizens, and our scout will withdraw as further negotiations will take place in Belogorsk. In return, the Nihon-Koku have agreed that in the future civilian trade missions will be allowed to visit their homeworld, although this is an agreement for the long term as we will have to build jump gates to facilitate any such civilian traffic. The setting up of the aforementioned colony will be delayed for several months, at the request of the Nihon-Koku, but trade negotiations will begin shortly thereafter.
Star Marshal Alexeyev decides this new treaty is enough of an indication of peaceful Nihon-Koku intentions that he can begin to reduce the military presence in the Belogorsk system. Four Sovremenny II-A class destroyers have been stationed near the Belogorsk-Edo jump point for over four years and were joined a year ago by two Slava class escort destroyers. The jump cruiser Kiev and a collier have been providing backup from three billion kilometers away at the Belogorsk-Edo jump point, usually accompanied by one or more Moskva class scouts, for the same amount of time. In addition, six Tarantul II Fast Attack Craft have been stationed at the Belogorsk colony since March. The destroyer force will now be withdrawn for overhaul at St Ekatarina and additional fast patrol craft will be deployed to Belogorsk. The scout withdrawn from Edo will instead picket the Belogorsk-Edo jump point to warn of any armed Nihon-Koku incursion.
1st January 2025
The new year opens with the news that the Esanak population on Saransk Prime has been granted full Imperial Population Status, giving them the same rights and freedoms as all the other Romanov populations. The lizard-like Esanak now number one hundred and thirty-three million and make up 13% of the Imperium?s total population of 1017m. All the atmospheric dust and background radiation that resulted from the bombardment eight years ago has finally vanished, although the craters still remain, and the Esanak have rebuilt many of the destroyed cities. The vast majority of the population blame their deceased despotic leader for the catastrophe and are looking forward to their future as part of the Imperium. Now the population is fully productive, it will be possible to start rebuilding the lost industry. At the moment the planet has thirty mines, seventeen construction factories and maintenance facilities capable of supporting ships of up to 6000 tons.
The populated planets of the Imperium are as follows:
St Ekatarina 695m
Saransk Prime 133m
Alexandria 84m
Anastasia 70m
St Petersburg II 16m
Gorky-B IV 7.3m
Belogorsk-B IV 7m
Pskov II 2m
Makarov II 1m
Bessabaria-C III 0.1m
26th August 2025
As part of the overall program to resolve the continuing Imperium-wide fuel shortage, scientists on Anastasia have developed a Harvester Module that can extract and refine fuel from the atmospheres of gas giants. A Fuel Harvester ship has been designed that incorporates fourteen of the new modules and will be able to extract 224,000 litres of fuel per year, which is approximately 5% of our current annual production. The Komsomolsk shipyard will be retooled to build the new ship and should be ready to lay down its first hull by May 2026.
20th January 2026
Construction of the Saransk - Bratsk jump gate is completed, linking the Esanak population on Saransk Prime with the Romanov system via Bratsk and Rostov-na-Donu. The two largest populations in the Empire, which are also the two largest concentrations of warships, are now able to communicate on a real-time basis
The Bessabarian jump ship makes its second exploratory jump, transiting into Irkutsk. The Lennon Karma geo survey ship goes with it, en route to survey the two small planets and six asteroids in the barren system. The Temple Sunrise class ship is still in Chekhov, carrying out what will no doubt be a long gravitational survey.
4th May 2020
The power and propulsion experts on Alexandria have completed their research into the Stellarator Fusion Reactor and developed 25 ton, 50 ton and 150 ton power plants using the new technology. At some point in the future they hope to be able to turn the new fusion technology into a working engine.
18th May 2020
A survey of the recently colonised system of Belogorsk has revealed a total of five jump points, including the entry point from Tula. The Moskva II class scout Sokol, under the command of Senior Lieutenant Leonid Tarasov, transits into the third furthest jump point from the primary and discovers a dim M0-V red star with nine planets, which he names Yekaterinburg. The jump point is only 25 million kilometers from the primary and also only 25 million kilometers from the second planet, which appears to be ideal for human habitation. Gravity is a little high at 1.25G, the temperature of 37C is on the warm side of comfortable and the air is thin but breathable. Nevertheless, it is a colony cost 0.0, ready-to-move-in world and a very valuable discovery. Following the encounters with the Bessabarians and Esanak, all ships of the Imperial Navy have a standing order to investigate potentially habitable planets in new system so Sokol sets a course for the potential new colony site.
Within five minutes, the scout?s sensors pick up a strong thermal and EM signature from the planet, comparable in strength to St. Ekatarina, indicating an alien civilization. Within another five minutes, two new thermal signatures of strength-840 are detected on an intercept course at 3925 km/s. As the Sovremennys, which are capable of a similar speed, only have a thermal signature of 480, the two alien ships must be 10,000 tons or more. Although standing orders state that communication should be attempted if detected, Senior Lieutenant Tarasov is concerned that if his ship is destroyed, no one will be able to get word back to St Ekatarina as the three survey ships in Belogorsk are not equipped with jump engines. Therefore he decides to withdraw before the aliens can close the range. Before doing so he engages his active sensors as the thermal contacts are within range at nineteen million kilometers. The active gravitational pulse gives a cross-section for the two known ships of strength-214, approximately 10,700 tons, and detects four new contacts with a cross-section of strength-105, or about 5250 tons. Seconds later, an active sensor pulse is detected from the alien ships, identified as a strength-50 sensor with a resolution of 40. Based on early sensor readings, these aliens seem far more advanced than the Bessabarians or the Esanak.
As soon as Sokol reaches the jump point, she transits back into Belogorsk and head for the Tula jump point. The survey ships are already converging on the same location after recently completing their survey. Sokol leaves her active sensors on but detects no sign of any alien pursuit. As the jump point was not picketed, it seems likely that the alien race in Yekeratinburg is not aware of jump points. However, given that Sokol disappeared in front of them and their apparent level of technology, that state of affairs may not last for long.
5th July 2020
The First Survey Fleet completes a survey of the Celabinsk system, adjacent to Irkutsk, finding a single new jump point. Rostokino, a Moskva II class scout, transits into a system with a yellow G5-V star and five planets, one of which is an ideal, habitable world. Gravity is fine at 0.9G, the temperature is a warm 33C and the atmosphere is easily breathable. The jump point is out at four billion kilometers so according to standing orders Rostokino should head in-system to check for the presence of an alien race. However, there are three survey ships stuck in Celabinsk with no way to leave. Therefore, after naming the new system Makarov, the scout ship?s commander heads back through the jump point and sets course for the survey ships gathered at the Irkutsk jump point. He intends to take the survey ships back to Romanov and then ask for permission to return and investigate. The standing orders regarding investigation of habitable worlds are proving much easier to issue than execute, as they would often lead to long delays for inactive survey ships. Hopefully, the intended refits to add jump drives to survey ships will solve this problem.
14th July 2020
Sokol and rest of the Second Survey Fleet arrive in Romanov after their journey from Belogorsk and report the discovery of a new alien race in the Yekaterinburg system. Senior Lieutenant Tarasov?s action are endorsed by his superiors and Star Marshal Alexeyev begins organising a force to guard the Belogorsk ? Yekaterinburg jump point, as well as preparing a new expedition into the alien system to attempt contact. Although six Sovremenny IIA class destroyers, six Tarantul class fast attack craft and a single Kirov II are available in Romanov, several supporting ships are undergoing major overhauls so it will be at least a month before a fleet can depart. The Udaloy II survey ships of the Second Survey Fleet are taken into the shipyards to be upgraded to the Udaloy III and Udaloy IIIC
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Udaloy III class Survey Ship 3750 tons 335 Crew 694 BP TCS 75 TH 300 EM 0
4000 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 1 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/0/0/3/0 Damage Control 0-0 PPV 0
Replacement Parts 5
J375 Jump Drive Max Ship Size 3750 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Sorokin S8 Ion Drive (5) Power 60 Efficiency 0.80 Signature 60 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 150,000 Litres Range 216.0 billion km (625 days at full power)
Gravitational Survey Sensors (3) 3 Survey Points
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Udaloy III-C class Survey Ship 3750 tons 335 Crew 744 BP TCS 75 TH 300 EM 0
4000 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 1 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/0/0/2/0 Damage Control 0-0 PPV 0
Flag Bridge Replacement Parts 5
J375 Jump Drive Max Ship Size 3750 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Sorokin S8 Ion Drive (5) Power 60 Efficiency 0.80 Signature 60 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 150,000 Litres Range 216.0 billion km (625 days at full power)
Gravitational Survey Sensors (2) 2 Survey Points
24th August 2020A Task Force commanded by Vice Admiral Kravchenko departs St. Ekatarina orbit bound for Yekaterinburg. The order of battle is as follows:
Kiev IV Jump Cruiser: Kiev (TF flag)
Kiev III Jump Cruiser: Gorshkov
Sovremenny IIA Destroyers: Alexander Nevsky, Sovremenny, Vladimir, Yuri
Moskva II Scout: Rostokino, Tagansky
Skory class collier: Ognevoy
All the destroyers now have a full complement of SS-N-2 Scarab missiles and Ognevoy carries an additional 360 Scarabs. The Sovremenny IIA class destroyers Dimitri and Simeon will remain in St Ekatarina orbit, along with the six Tarantul fast attack craft, providing security for the homeworld. The Kirov II class frigate Pyotr Velikiy is en route to St Petersburg, escorted by the Zelenograd, as St Petersburg II now has a population in excess of ten million and the population is beginning to protest about the lack of protection for their colony. The final two Sovremennys, Constantine and Tver, and the other two Kirov IIs, Kirov and Frunze, are still in orbit of Saransk Prime along with the jump cruiser Minsk, the Moskva II scout Kitai-Gorod and the collier Skory. Four Slava class destroyers are under construction and will be ready between February and June of next year.
24th October 2020
Vice Admiral Kravchenko?s Task Force arrives at the Belogorsk-Yekaterinburg jump point and takes up position approximately 600,000 kilometres away. The Moskva II scout Rostokino, under the command of Senior Lieutenant Arman Zaytsev is sent into the jump point to try and contact the aliens while her sister ship Tagansky is ordered to investigate the three remaining unexplored jump points in Belogorsk.
When Rostokino enters Yekaterinburg, the inhabited planet is sixty million kilometers away on the far side of the star. Senior Lieutenant Zaytsev hails the alien world and awaits a reply. His orders are to remain in position unless the aliens open fire or move with half a million kilometers. Three hours after entering the system, a single strength-420 thermal contact is picked up on a course from the planet. Zaytsev engages active sensors and quickly determines the ship is one of the four 5250 ton ships detected five months ago. This time the Romanov scout remains in place and the alien ship glides to a halt one million kilometers away before hailing the Rostokino. For now, at least, the aliens seem interested in trying to establish communication
Two hours later Rostokino detects the rest of the previously encountered alien force, two 10,700 ton ships and three 5250 ton ships, at twenty million kilometers. Several nervous minutes pass before the aliens halt at eighteen million kilometers and use their own active sensors. They appear to be backing up the lone contact ship without getting too close in case Rostokino repeats the disappearing act of her predecessor.
25th November 2020
A month has gone by with minimal progress on communication but all Romanov forces involved in the operation are aware that communication can take some time and Vice Admiral Kravchenko has instructed Senior Lieutenant Zaytsev to remain for six months before returning to Belogorsk. After that time, the Rostokino will be presumed lost to hostile action. Due to the sixty-one day year of the habitable world, it has moved around the primary to be a point near Rostokino, allowing the scout?s active sensors to detect two new strength-87 contacts.
29th November 2020
The Bessabarian?s single shipyard has completed a new gravitational survey ship with nuclear pulse engines and a top speed of 2285 km/s, making it by far their fastest ship.
18th December 2020
Tagansky completes her investigations of Belogorsk?s unexplored jump points. Two lead to the unremarkable systems of Rybinsk and Gorbatov while the third connects to the previously discovered system of Orlov, located on the fringe of known space, four jumps beyond Rostov-na-Donu.
15th February 2021
Full communication is established between the Romanov Imperium and the Nihon-Koku, the race on Yekaterinburg II. The Nihon-Koku are a strange looking species, with a hulking body covered in thick, shaggy fur, a long, bony head with deep set eyes either side and a vicious mouth full of serrated teeth. Their call their civilization the Dai Nihon Teikoku and their home system is named Edo. From the initial exchanges it would appear their civilization has a particularly strange form of government where every issue is decided upon by a planet-wide vote of all Nihon-Koku, regardless of whether they actually know anything about the issue in question. A massive computer-network connects every home on the planet and they use this network to register their votes. Even now it would seem the decision of how to proceed in their relationship with the Romanov Imperium is being debated in popular forums, prior to a planet-wide vote. There is a government bureaucracy but it may only follow policies laid down by the population. It is hard to imagine how a civilization can function without an informed, central authority.
Senior Lieutenant Zaytsev explains that he needs to report to his superiors and that his ship will temporarily vanish for a few minutes. The Nihon-Koku respond that they believe the Romanov ship is using some type of wormhole and their scientists are currently studying the phenomenon. After passing his report to Vice Admiral Kravchenko, Senior Lieutenant Zaytsev takes the Rostokino back into Edo to learn more about the Nihon-Koku and begin initial negotiations for a non-aggression pact.
The appearance of the Nihon-Koku suggests they have evolved from a fearsome predator. Combining that with the fact their homeworld has a similar industrial output to St Ekatarina and that their primary ships are much larger than our own, gives Vice Admiral Kravchenko serious concerns about the potential threat to the Imperium. This race is obviously more powerful and capable than either the Bessabarians and the Esanak and the only good news is that the Nihon-Koku do not appear to be immediately hostile and they do not currently posses jump drive technology. How much time it will take for them to remedy that deficiency will depend on their research establishment but it is sure to be the Nihon-Koku?s number one priority. Vice Admiral Kravchenko is determined to be ready for the day when the Nihon-Koku finally come through the jump point. He dispatches Tagansky back to St. Ekatarina with a full update, a recommendation that the Belogorsk colony be fortified into a forward base and a request for further instructions.
25th February 2021
The first two Slava class destroyers, Slava and Varyag, are launched from the shipyards of St. Ekatarina and three Udaloy class survey ships complete their refit to the jump-capable III and IIIC versions
27th February 2021
For the last eighteen months scientists on Anastasia have been working on a entirely new concept they have named jump gates. These gates will be assembled at jump points and function as enormous jump gates, allowing ships of any size to transit. This will have a major impact on interstellar travel and commerce as jump ships will no longer be needed in areas where jump gates exist. It would even allow us to build ships without regard for jump drive sizes as long as they are intended to operate within a network of these gates. Finally, these jump gates will have an ability to communicate with a matching gate on the far side of a jump point, creating instant communication between different systems as long as both are part of the jump gate network. The downside is that building these gates is neither cheap nor easy. Specialist jump gate construction ships will have to be built while our factories will have to build the required components and our freighters will ship them to the location of the intended gate. It will be several years before we really start to see the benefit of this new technology. Two Narva class construction ships, the largest ships ever designed by the Imperium, will be laid down shortly and should be ready by August 2022
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Narva class Construction Ship 8750 tons 855 Crew 1092 BP TCS 175 TH 420 EM 0
2400 km/s Armour 1 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/0/0/0/0 Damage Control 0-0 PPV 0
Replacement Parts 25
Jump Gate Construction Ship: 180 days
Sorokin S8 Ion Drive (7) Power 60 Efficiency 0.80 Signature 60 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres Range 30.9 billion km (148 days at full power)
21st March 2021The scout frigate Moskva has returned to Romanov after a long deployment in the Bessabaria system. As well as being overhauled, she will be refitted to the Moskva II standard.
16th May 2021
The Bessabarian Theocracy has purchased improved shipbuilding technology from us for 5000 megaroubles.
Note: From this point on the new shipyard rules from v2.4 are in effect
25th May 2021
A report has recently been published into the five Romanov shipyards located on St. Ekatarina.
Severodvinsk Shipyard
Two slipways of 10,000 capacity. Configured to build Narva class Construction Ship. Currently building two Narvas
Molotovsk Shipyard
Two slipways of 8000 ton capacity: Has built Moskva II class scouts in the past but is now retooling to build the Sovremenny II-B class destroyer. Currently working on refit of Moskva to a Moskva II
Komsomolsk Shipyard
Two slipways of 8000 ton capacity: Configured to build the Slava II-B class destroyer. Two Slavas currently under construction.
Zhdanov Shipyard
Two slipways of 6000 ton capacity: Configured to build the Sverdlov II class colony ship. Two Sverdlovs currently under construction. Work is underway to increase the capacity of each slipway to 6500 tons.
Nikolayev Shipyard
Four slipways of 1000 ton capacity: Configured to build the Tarantul class Fast Attack Craft. All four slipways are currently empty. Work is underway on a fifth slipway.
15th June 2021
The Slava class destroyers Lobov and Ustinov are completed by the Komsolovsk shipyard. Two new hulls are laid down.
5th August 2021
Its has now been five years since the fall of Saransk Prime and two years since ground troops were landed on the planet and political restrictions eased. Freed from their despotic leader, the Esanak have adapted well to life under Romanov rule and, with a few minor exceptions, are becoming willing participants in the Imperium. Therefore their status has been changed from Subjugated to a Candidate Population. Ground troops will now remain on the planet at the request of the population, not as an occupying force, and virtually all restrictions will be lifted. If assimilation into the Imperium progresses smoothly then within a few years Saransk Prime will be welcomed into the Imperium as a full Imperial Population, with equal rights to other planets such as St Ekatarina, Alexandria, Anastasia, etc. The Esanak will begin to colonise other worlds and the citizens of Saransk Prime will become officers of the Imperial Navy. The background radiation that reminds the population of the bombardment they suffered five years ago has reduced to fifteen percent of the immediate post-bombardment level and should have entirely disappeared within another year.
10th September 2021
The two Bessabarian survey ships have completed their survey of Chekhov, finding one additional jump point. As their slow-moving jump ship, currently at the Chekhov-Bessabaria jump point, would take over two months to reach the new jump point, the Bessabarian Theocracy has asked Romanov picket ship, the Moskva II scout Zelenograd, to assist. Even though Zelenograd is located at the Bessabaria-Irkutsk jump point, she can still be there in sixteen days.
26th September 2021
Zelenograd enters the new jump point and discovers a dim M8-V red dwarf, orbited by four gas giants and four small rocky planets, none of which are even remotely habitable. The system is named Byrd by the Bessabarians. Zelenograd remains on station to provide an escort for the two Bessabarian survey ships that will arrive within the next three weeks. By the time they complete their survey, the Bessabarian jump ship will be in position.
11th November 2021
A Romanov colony is established on the second planet of the Pskov system. Pskov is three jumps from Romanov via Moskva and Sverdlovsk and was discovered back in 2009. At the time, the second planet was noted for its potential. Over the last two years the Terraforming Fleet has increased the oxygen content of the atmosphere and raised the temperature above freezing, making Pskov II the eighth ideal habitable world in the Imperium. Pskov is as large as St Ekatarina but with a much lower density, giving it a gravity of only 0.65G. Its most notable features are its wide and often tempestuous oceans, covering 88% of the surface, and its strong magnetic field, that causes magnificent Aurora displays even at latitudes far from the poles.
The colonization of this new world is a good time for an overview of all the Imperium colonies. The colonies below are displayed in descending order of population and includes the candidate Esanak population on Saransk Prime.
St Ekatarina - Romanov system
Star Marshal Yuri Alexeyev: Shipbuilding 40%, Wealth 30%, Pop Growth 25%, Production 15%
Population 641m / Wealth 31679
Level 3 Naval Academy
Maintenance Facilities: 8800 tons.
Commercial Freight Facility
Shipyards/Slipways: 5/13
Ground Force Training Facilities: 4
Construction Factories: 600
Mines: 515
Fuel Refineries: 220 (Stockpile 9.9m litres)
Ordnance Factories 80
Deep Space Tracking Stations : 5
Saransk Prime - Saransk system
Captain 2nd Rank Fedyenka Sobolev: Research 30%, Mining 20%, Production 5%
Population 117m / Wealth 3537
Maintenance Facilities: 6000 tons.
Mines: 30
Deep Space Tracking Stations : 3
Alexandria - Romanov system
Captain 2nd Rank Eva Sorkin: Research 40%, Wealth 15%, Pop Growth 10%, Production 10%
Population 72m / Wealth 3143
Research Labs: 16
Deep Space Tracking Stations : 1
Anastasia - Romanov system
Captain 1st Rank Katria Kashin: Research 40%, Wealth 20%. Pop Growth 10%
Population 59m / Wealth 2676
Research Labs: 21
St Petersburg II ? St Petersburg system
Captain-Lieutenant Evelina Yuryev: Pop Growth 30%
Population 11.7m / Wealth 443
Gorky-B IV ? Gorky system
Captain-Lieutenant Andreiana Arkhipova: Wealth 20%, Pop Growth 20%, Mining 15%
Population 5.0m / Wealth 227
Mines: 13
Mass Driver: 1
Belogorsk B-IV Prime - Belogorsk system
Captain 3rd Rank Fedya Ivanov: Research 30%, Shipbuilding 20%
Population 1.6m / Wealth 60
Maintenance Facilities: 3000 tons.
Pskov II - Pskov system
Captain 3rd Rank Xenia Bogdanov: Research 30%, Wealth 15%
Population 0.7m / Wealth 31
Bessabaria-C II - Bessabaria system
Captain-Lieutenant Vasili Makarov: Research 30%, Mining 15%, Wealth 10%
Population 0.09m / Wealth 4
Chelyabinsk Mining Colony ? Bratsk System
Captain 3rd Rank Julia Ovchinnikova: Wealth 30%, Mining 25%, Production 5%
Automated Mines: 85
Mass Driver: 1
Dubogorsk Mining Colony ? Bratsk System
Captain-Lieutenant Getruda Sokolova: Mining 30%
Automated Mines: 14
Mass Driver: 1
Balagansk Mining Colony ? Gorky System
Captain 3rd Rank Rada Fyodorov: Mining 20%, Production 20%
Automated Mines: 7
Mass Driver: 1
2nd December 2021
In the Edo system, the Rostokino has kept her active sensors on since her arrival in the system over a year ago. As the Nihon-Koku?s homeworld has a year lasting sixty-one days, the planet moves in and out of the scout?s sensor envelope every two months. On this pass, she detects four new contacts in orbit, which are either new construction or recently arrived in orbit while the planet was on the far side of the star from Rostokino. Two have a cross-section of 105, equal to that of the four Nihon-Koku ships that have been classed as destroyers. Accordingly, these ships are classified as Nihon DD05 and Nihon DD06. The other contacts both have a cross-section of strength-45, making them either small ships of 2250 tons or perhaps larger ships that have been stealthed in some way. For the moment they will be classified as Nihon SC01 and Nihon SC02. This makes a total of ten identified Nihon-Koku ships, including the two 10,700 ton cruisers. Negotiations are still ongoing for a non-aggression treaty but so far without success.
16th December 2021
A new shipyard complex has been established near the city of Kaliningrad on St Ekatarina. At the moment the complex has only a single slipway with a capacity of 1000 tons but work is already underway to increase that.
6th April 2022
As the Imperium grows in size and the smaller colonies reach medium size, they will begin demanding protection, especially given that three alien races have already been encountered, at least one of which was hostile. One of the problems with deploying guard forces, such as the one orbiting Saransk Prime, is that without maintenance facilities the ships can only remain on station for a few years before returning to a fleet base for lengthy overhauls. Building and deploying extensive maintenance facilities, such as those required for Sovremenny class destroyers, is expensive and will tie up St Ekatarina?s manufacturing capabilities and the Imperial Fleet?s limited cargo carrying capacity.
At the moment there are maintenance facilities on St Ekatarina capable of handling ships up to 8800 tons, facilities on Saransk Prime with a capacity of 6000 tons and a smaller facility on Belogorsk for ships of up to 3000 tons. The fleets in Romanov and Saransk, both of which have ships of up to 6000 tons, are being maintained but all the ships deployed in Belogorsk are too large to receive maintenance support, even if they weren?t deployed at the jump points to Edo and Tula. There is also a Kirov class frigate deployed in St. Petersburg with no maintenance support, which is out of communication and likely to be low on spare parts.
Therefore Star Marshal Alexeyev has decided that the future strategy for system defence should be based around fast attack craft, such as the Tarantul. At 1000 tons, these craft require only minimal maintenance facilities, which could easily be built and transported to systems as they require protection. The only drawback to this strategy is that the fast attack craft are short-ranged and use a lot of fuel so they are not easily redeployed on the strategic scale. There are two possible solutions to this problem. Either a small, fast, jump-capable tanker that could escort the fast attack craft (FAC) to their destination, refuelling as required en route, or a some form of mothership that would hold the FAC in an internal bay while transporting them to their destination.
The proposed design for the fast tanker is the Dubna class, shown below. While not as fast as the FACs, the Dubna is still capable of a very respectable 5000 km/s and could hold enough fuel to escort several FAC over strategic distances. As an alternative, the Ropucha class would carry two FACs in an internal bay. The Ropucha is equipped with the recently developed J750 jump drive and, if built, would be the largest jump-capable vessel in the Imperial Navy. However, its limited carrying capacity of two FACs is a concern so for the moment the Star Marshal intends to proceed with the Dubna until a more capable jump drive is developed that will allow a larger mothership.
The next decision for the Star Marshal is which shipyard to use for the Dubna. Severodvinsk is our largest capacity yard and is currently building two Narva class construction ships. Komsomolsk and Molotovsk both have capacities of 8000 tons are geared up to build Slavas and Sovremenny II-Bs respectively. The former is building two Slavas but there is still ongoing discussion over the design of the Sovremenny II-B so authorisation for construction has not yet been given. It would make no sense to change to the Dubna though as even if the destroyer design is changed, the retooling cost would be minor. However, retooling to build the Dubna and then changing back to the finalised Sovremenny design would be very expensive. Zhdanov is building Sverdlov class colony ships and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future while Nikolayev?s six 1000 ton capacity slipways are ready to build Tarantuls. The new Kaliningrad yard will be up to a capacity of 2500 tons for its single slipway by June and will continue to grow as quickly as possible. Therefore Star Marshal Alexeyev decides to retool Kaliningrad for the Dubna as soon as it has sufficient capacity.
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Dubna class Tanker 3600 tons 320 Crew 494 BP TCS 72 TH 360 EM 0
5000 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 1 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/0/0/0/0 Damage Control 0-0 PPV 0
Replacement Parts 5
J375 Jump Drive Max Ship Size 3750 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Sorokin S8 Ion Drive (6) Power 60 Efficiency 0.80 Signature 60 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 500,000 Litres Range 750.0 billion km (1736 days at full power)
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Ropucha class Mothership 7500 tons 500 Crew 949 BP TCS 150 TH 480 EM 0
3200 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 1 Shields 0-0 Sensors 5/5/0/0/0 Damage Control 0-0 PPV 0
Parasite Capacity 2000 tons Replacement Parts 10
J750 Jump Drive Max Ship Size 7500 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Sorokin S8 Ion Drive (8) Power 60 Efficiency 0.80 Signature 60 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres Range 72.0 billion km (260 days at full power)
Thermal Sensor TH1-5 (1) Sensitivity 5 Detect Signature 100: 0.5m km
Palm Frond Navigation Sensor (1) GPS 100 Range 1,000k km Resolution 10
Grav Pulse Detection Sensor GPD1-5 (1) Sensitivity 5 Detect Strength 100: 0.5m km
1st May 2022The Bessabarian Theocracy has constructed its first freighter, the Cosmic River. As the Bessabarians only have a single research facility, they have been trying to build a second facility to double their research rate. Unfortunately, they have exhausted their limited stockpile of Mercassium and the Mercassium in their planet?s core is accessibility 0.1, giving them a very low rate of return for their seventy-five mining complexes. The only other significant source of Mercassium in their system is on a comet that slowly travels between the primary and a point just inside the orbit of Bessabaria-B, taking twenty-two years for the round trip. Their reason for building the cargo ship is to transport their six automated mines to this comet to begin mining additional Mercassium, although they are not going to mine very much with only six automated mining complexes. However, their Duranium shortage continues so they are unlikely to build many more mines in the near future.
6th June 2022
Scientists on Anastasia have completed research into improving our mining technology. A single mining complex will now produce 16 tons of an accessibility 1.0 mineral per year.
16th July 2022
Two Narva class jump gate construction ships have been built by the Severodvinsk Yard on St. Ekatarina. Sufficient components for two jump gates have already been built by St Ekatarina?s construction factories, so as soon as the Cargo Fleet returns from its current mission to pick up minerals from the Chelyabinsk Mining Colony in Bratsk, construction of the first two jump gates can begin.
1st August 2022
The Slava class destroyers Krasina and Ukrayina are completed by the Komsomolsk Yard. There are now six Slavas to support the eight Sovremenny class destroyers and construction of further units has been halted due to predictions from Governor Sorokin on Alexandria of a major breakthrough in engine technology within the next few months.
8th September 2022
Eighteen months after full communication was established, a non-aggression pact has finally been agreed with the Nihon-Koku. The negotiations have been long and difficult, centering mainly around control of the Edo ? Belogorsk jump point. Although neither side is entirely happy with the terms, an agreement has been reached that both can live with. The Romanov Imperium may station one unarmed ship at the Edo side of the jump point but its active sensors must be switched off. The Dai Nihon Teikoku, which is the official title of the Nihon-Koku?s government, may send unarmed ships through the jump point with Romanov permission, although it is anticipated this will not be necessary until some type of trading arrangement can be established.
Vice Admiral Kravchenko, aboard his flagship Kiev in the adjacent Belogorsk system, is relieved to hear that an agreement has been reached but he is well aware that should the Nihon-Koku decide to come through the jump point then one unarmed scout is not going to stop them. Until relations improve further, he intends to maintain a strong guard force at the Belogorsk ? Edo jump point. Four Sovremenny II-A class destroyers are currently deployed six hundred thousand kilometers from the jump point with the Kiev, a collier and two scouts positioned at the Belogorsk ? Tula jump point. After further consideration, he sends one of the scouts back to Romanov with a request for a pair of Slavas to back up his missile ships.
4th October 2022
For the last sixteen months, three Udaloys have been carrying out a gravitational survey of the Donetsk system, which has an M9-II red supergiant primary one point four billion kilometers in diameter. Because of the mass of the star, the ships have had to survey out to twenty-five billion kilometers in every direction and gather considerable amounts of survey data. Their hard work is rewarded when they discover the system has a total of twelve jump points, including the entry point from Archangelsk. The three ships split up to begin the long task of probing eleven new jump points.
6th December 2022
Governor Eva Sorokin and her propulsion research team have completed work on the Magneto-Plasma Drive, an advanced new engine technology that provides 33% more power than the existing Ion-based engines. They will be developing several engines based on this technology over the next few months before turning their attention to improving our existing family of jump drives. On Anastasia, Governor Katria Kashin has overseen a twenty-five percent improvement in active sensor technology which will provide the foundation for a new generation of sensors.
29th December 2022
Our first jump gate is constructed at the Romanov-Moskva jump point. An historic day! However, the jump gate will not be very useful until we have built a matching gate on the Moskva side of the jump point. The gate at the Rostov-na-Donu jump point is only eleven days from completion.
21st January 2023
The first design resulting from the recent advances in engine and sensor technology is the Tarantul II Fast Attack Craft. The Tarantul II class replaces the Sorokin SC88 Ion Drive with the newly developed SC176 Magneto-Plasma Drive, an engine with forty percent more power thanks to a combination of the Magneto-Plasma technology and advances in more conventional power boosting. Unfortunately it has an estimated 30% chance of exploding when damaged, compared to 21% for the older engine. The other change is the replacement of the Cross Dome active sensor with the Cross Dome B, which has the same resolution but a sixty percent greater range. With a top speed of 8800 km/s, the Tarantul is only slightly slower than the SS-N-1 Starburst missile at 9000 km/s and would stand a chance of outrunning the newer 14,000 km/s SS-N-2 Scarab with enough of a head start. It should also prove to be a very difficult target to hit for conventional tracking systems. The Nikolayev Yard will be retooled to produce the new design and should be ready to begin production within a couple of weeks.
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Tarantul II class Fast Attack Craft 1000 tons 97 Crew 198 BP TCS 20 TH 176 EM 0
8800 km/s Armour 1 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/0/0/0/0 Damage Control 0-0 PPV 4
Replacement Parts 1
Sorokin SC176 Magneto-Plasma Drive (1) Power 176 Efficiency 8.40 Signature 176 Armour 0 Exp 30%
Fuel Capacity 20,000 Litres Range 10.3 billion km (13 days at full power)
12cm C4 Near Ultraviolet Laser (1) Range 72,000km TS: 8800 km/s Power 4-4 RM 3 ROF 5 4 4 4 3 2 2 1
Kite Screech (1) Max Range: 72,000 km TS: 6400 km/s 86 72 58 44 31 17 3 0 0 0
Small Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor (1) Total Power Output 4 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Cross Dome B (1) GPS 120 Range 1.2m km Resolution 15
11th June 2023Scientists on Anastasia have completed development of the JX Jump Drive, which is capable of opening a jump point for a 10,000 ton ship. The Titan class jump cruiser, which has been designed around this new system, also uses the newly developed Sorokin S88 Magneto-Plasma Drive and Top Sail search sensor, giving it a top speed of 5280 km/s and providing a detection capability out to 32 million kilometers for targets of 2000 tons or greater. As well as being the largest ship to be developed by the Imperial Navy, it is also the first to feature an internal hangar. While the Titan may carry a pair of Tarantul II Fast Attack Craft for defence, a new early warning variant of the fast attack craft is under development and it is likely a pair of these as-yet-unnamed ships will form the standard complement. The Severodvinsk Yard, with its 12,000 ton capacity, is the only Romanov shipyard capable of building the Titan so retooling work is underway for its two slipways. Our best estimate is that retooling will require almost a year so the first Titan will begin construction in early June of 2024.
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Titan class Jump Cruiser 10000 tons 750 Crew 1647 BP TCS 200 TH 1056 EM 0
5280 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 1 Shields 0-0 Sensors 5/5/5/0/0 Damage Control 0-0 PPV 0
Parasite Capacity 2000 tons Replacement Parts 15
JX Jump Drive Max Ship Size 10000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Sorokin S88 Magneto-Plasma Drive (12) Power 88 Efficiency 0.84 Signature 88 Armour 0 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 400,000 Litres Range 205.7 billion km (450 days at full power)
Thermal Sensor TH1-5 (1) Sensitivity 5 Detect Signature 100: 0.5m km
Top Sail (1) GPS 3200 Range 32.0m km Resolution 40
Palm Frond B Navigation Sensor (1) GPS 240 Range 2.4m km Resolution 15
Rum Tub GPD Sensor (1) Sensitivity 5 Detect Strength 100: 0.5m km
EM Detection Sensor EM1-5 (1) Sensitivity 5 Detect Strength 100: 0.5m km
6th July 2023Six new Tarantul II Fast Attack Craft are completed by the Nikolayev Yard and a further six are laid down. As all six original Tarantuls have already been refitted to the new type, we will have eighteen Tarantul IIs by October 2023
11th July 2023
Two Sverdlov II colony ships are built by the Zhdanov Yard, taking the total number of colony ships to eighteen. A new Sverdlov III is designed using seven Sorokin S88 Magneto-Plasma Drives to replace the eight Sorokin S8 Ion Drives of the Sverdlov II. Combined with a upgrade from High Density Duranium to Composite Armour, this allows a twenty-eight percent increase in speed and a twenty percent increase in colonist capacity within the same size hull. However, Zhdanov is currently building a third slipway that will not be complete until March 2024 and retooling to build the Sverdlov III will require a further three months so no Sverdlov IIIs will be laid down until June 2024 at the earliest.
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Sverdlov III class Colony Ship 6000 tons 300 Crew 1128 BP TCS 120 TH 616 EM 0
5133 km/s Armour 1 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/0/0/0/0 Damage Control 0-0 PPV 0
Colonists 60000 Cargo Handling Multiplier 5 Replacement Parts 5
Sorokin S88 Magneto-Plasma Drive (7) Power 88 Efficiency 0.84 Signature 88 Armour 0 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres Range 85.7 billion km (193 days at full power)
18th July 2023The Bessabarian Theocracy has purchased our latest mining technology for 10,000 megaroubles.
12th August 2023
An entirely new type of fast attack craft has been designed, based on the Tarantul II hull. The Mainstay replaces the weapons, reactor and fire control of the Tarantul II with the enormous Vega-A Search Sensor. The Vega-A will detect any ships of 3750 tons or greater at almost one hundred million kilometers and is backed up by the Cross Dome B which will detect the close approach of any fast attack craft massing 750 tons or more. Two Mainstays will be carried by the Titan Jump Cruisers and will prove useful in several different roles. With an operating radius of over five billion kilometers they may be used for a fast probe of an inner system while the Titan remains at a safe distance and will be very difficult to intercept. They may also be used as long range scouts in wartime, enabling the Titan and other ships to remain undetected under emissions control while the Mainstays determine the strength of enemy forces. Finally, they may simply be deployed in close escort, using their long range sensors to provide area coverage around a task group. The Mainstays will probably be constructed at a new shipyard complex planned for St Ekatarina in early 2024, although it would be relatively easily to retool Nikolayev once a sufficient quantity of Tarantul IIs has been produced.
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Mainstay class Early Warning Craft 1000 tons 77 Crew 244 BP TCS 20 TH 176 EM 0
8800 km/s Armour 1 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/0/0/0/0 Damage Control 0-0 PPV 0
Replacement Parts 1
Sorokin SC176 Magneto-Plasma Drive (1) Power 176 Efficiency 8.40 Signature 176 Armour 0 Exp 30%
Fuel Capacity 20,000 Litres Range 10.3 billion km (13 days at full power)
Vega-A Search Sensor (1) GPS 9600 Range 96.0m km Resolution 75
Cross Dome B (1) GPS 120 Range 1.2m km Resolution 15
1st December 2023The first Dubna class Tanker, designed as a small, fast escort for fast attack craft, is completed by the Kaliningrad Yard. Her first mission will be to escort three Tarantul II class Fast Attack Craft to St Petersburg to serve as the local system defence force. Suitable maintenance facilities and a small number of mines to provide the refined materials are already in place on St Petersburg II.
18th December 2023
Dubna and the three Fast Attack Craft arrive at St Petersburg. Dubna leaves the FACs fully fuelled and unloads a further 180,000 litres for the planetary stockpile, enough to refuel the FACs three times. The frigate Pyotr Velikiy, which has been guarding the planet for the last few years, joins Dubna for the journey back to the Romanov system.
1st February 2024
Scientists on Alexandria complete research that allows magneto-plasma drive technology to be incorporated into missile engines.
4th March 2024
Six Tarantul II Fast Attack Craft arrive at Belogorsk-B IV, the colony in the system adjacent to the Nihon-Koku. They have been escorted by Dubna and used a considerable amount of fuel en route. After refuelling the six FACs for the final time, only 50,000 litres of fuel are available to leave at the colony.
26th April 2024
Nine hundred thousand Romanov colonists land on Makarov II, an ideal habitable world discovered in 2020 by Rostokino. The Makarov system is four jumps from Romanov, via Rostov-na-Donu, Irkutsk and Celabinsk and has not been surveyed by either geological or gravitational survey ships. The planet is almost completely covered with water and has an average temperature of 33C, giving its scattered islands a tropical climate.
11th May 2024
The Nikolayev Yard completes six Mainstay Early Warning Craft. As plans for a seventh shipyard complex on St Ekatarina have been delayed, Nikolayev was recently retooled to build the Mainstays. The complex will now be retooled for Tarantul IIs, which should only require a couple of weeks.
11th June 2024
The Severodvinsk Yard has completed its retooling to build the 10,000 ton Titan class jump cruiser. The first two Titans are laid down and will take approximately twenty-five months to construct.
24th June 2024
Fuel reserves on St. Ekatarina have fallen to 6.8m litres, which their lowest point for many years. Therefore the Imperium will concentrate its efforts on improving the overall fuel situation. Colonization is temporarily halted and our two research colonies will concentrate on improving fuel production and fuel efficiency, once their current work is completed. As resources permit, new fuel refineries will be built.
26th June 2024
The Bessabarian Theocracy has agreed a Defensive Pact with the Romanov Imperium. While the Bessabarians will not provide any significant assistance in the short-term, they will continue to grow in strength and technology and may prove valuable allies in the future. More importantly in the short term, this secures one of our borders and will lead to greater information sharing.
21st July 2024
The Zhdanov Yard has retooled its three slipways to produce the Sverdlov III colony ship. As the colony fleet is still in orbit of St Ekatarina, Zhdanov begins work on refitting three Sverdlov IIs.
16th September 2024
Since the defensive pact was agreed with Bessabarian Theocracy, our scientists have been looking to see if there are any Bessabarian technologies that might be in advance of our own. While this seemed an unlikely endeavour, the Bessabarians opened up a new field of research several years ago that they call Electronic Warfare. This technology is devoted to making ships more difficult targets for hostile fire control and although no practical application has yet been developed, it has definite possibilities. Therefore we have agreed to a technological exchange, giving the Bessabarians details of more efficient jump drives and more fuel efficient engines in return for their theoretical data on Electronic Warfare.
25th September 2024
The Imperium?s seventh jump gate is constructed at the Bratsk ? Rostov-na-Donu jump point. This means that freighters can travel from Romanov to the asteroid mining colonies in Bratsk without the need for escorting jump ships. There are now four systems linked by jump gates, Romanov, Rostov-na-Donu, Bratsk and Moskva, while a fifth system, Gorky, will be part of the network within eight days, allowing the seven million inhabitants of Gorky-B IV and the small Balagansk mining colony to communicate directly with the homeworld.
11th December 2024
After long and difficult negotiations lasting more than two years, the Nihon-Koku have agreed to a trade treaty. While we would have preferred to establish a small colony on their homeworld, they have been resolute in their opposition and have only just stopped short of demanding that our scout withdraw, primarily because they wished to keep communication open. Instead, they will be allowed to establish a small outpost on Belogorsk-B IV, which is home to almost seven million Romanov citizens, and our scout will withdraw as further negotiations will take place in Belogorsk. In return, the Nihon-Koku have agreed that in the future civilian trade missions will be allowed to visit their homeworld, although this is an agreement for the long term as we will have to build jump gates to facilitate any such civilian traffic. The setting up of the aforementioned colony will be delayed for several months, at the request of the Nihon-Koku, but trade negotiations will begin shortly thereafter.
Star Marshal Alexeyev decides this new treaty is enough of an indication of peaceful Nihon-Koku intentions that he can begin to reduce the military presence in the Belogorsk system. Four Sovremenny II-A class destroyers have been stationed near the Belogorsk-Edo jump point for over four years and were joined a year ago by two Slava class escort destroyers. The jump cruiser Kiev and a collier have been providing backup from three billion kilometers away at the Belogorsk-Edo jump point, usually accompanied by one or more Moskva class scouts, for the same amount of time. In addition, six Tarantul II Fast Attack Craft have been stationed at the Belogorsk colony since March. The destroyer force will now be withdrawn for overhaul at St Ekatarina and additional fast patrol craft will be deployed to Belogorsk. The scout withdrawn from Edo will instead picket the Belogorsk-Edo jump point to warn of any armed Nihon-Koku incursion.
1st January 2025
The new year opens with the news that the Esanak population on Saransk Prime has been granted full Imperial Population Status, giving them the same rights and freedoms as all the other Romanov populations. The lizard-like Esanak now number one hundred and thirty-three million and make up 13% of the Imperium?s total population of 1017m. All the atmospheric dust and background radiation that resulted from the bombardment eight years ago has finally vanished, although the craters still remain, and the Esanak have rebuilt many of the destroyed cities. The vast majority of the population blame their deceased despotic leader for the catastrophe and are looking forward to their future as part of the Imperium. Now the population is fully productive, it will be possible to start rebuilding the lost industry. At the moment the planet has thirty mines, seventeen construction factories and maintenance facilities capable of supporting ships of up to 6000 tons.
The populated planets of the Imperium are as follows:
St Ekatarina 695m
Saransk Prime 133m
Alexandria 84m
Anastasia 70m
St Petersburg II 16m
Gorky-B IV 7.3m
Belogorsk-B IV 7m
Pskov II 2m
Makarov II 1m
Bessabaria-C III 0.1m
26th August 2025
As part of the overall program to resolve the continuing Imperium-wide fuel shortage, scientists on Anastasia have developed a Harvester Module that can extract and refine fuel from the atmospheres of gas giants. A Fuel Harvester ship has been designed that incorporates fourteen of the new modules and will be able to extract 224,000 litres of fuel per year, which is approximately 5% of our current annual production. The Komsomolsk shipyard will be retooled to build the new ship and should be ready to lay down its first hull by May 2026.
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Zhdanov class Fuel Harvester 10000 tons 800 Crew 1114 BP TCS 200 TH 352 EM 0
1760 km/s Armour 1 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/0/0/0/0 Damage Control 0-0 PPV 0
Replacement Parts 15
Fuel Harvester: 14 modules producing 224000 litres per annum
Sorokin S88 Magneto-Plasma Drive (4) Power 88 Efficiency 0.84 Signature 88 Armour 0 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres Range 128.6 billion km (845 days at full power)
This design is classed as a non-combatant for maintenance purposes
20th January 2026
Construction of the Saransk - Bratsk jump gate is completed, linking the Esanak population on Saransk Prime with the Romanov system via Bratsk and Rostov-na-Donu. The two largest populations in the Empire, which are also the two largest concentrations of warships, are now able to communicate on a real-time basis