21 May, 76 TN

A network of sensor buoys picks up a Charlie scout several jumps away from Sol. Now, it’s good to know they are out there and we can investigate their movements, but it’s quite hard to interdict and destroy individual enemy ships that are far away from our bases. CruDesGroup 5 is sent to investigate.



20 June, 76 TN

CruDesGroup 5, full of freshly built Dauntless class destroyers and a Challenger class cruiser, successfully intercepts its intended target. Destroyers now only have shorter ranged Gauss Cannons instead of lasers for short range combat, but that’s enough against a small unarmed scout.



26 September, 76 TN

Despite sensor buoys coverage in Sol, enemy Daemon class light cruiser sneaks into Sirius. It destroys all the buoys along the way. No civilian casualties so far.

5 October, 76 TN

New modification of medium ASMs (ASM-120B Thrasher) is battle tested against the intruder with great results. Humanity finally overcomes Charlie technological superiority in ton-for-ton firepower. Two small DDGs can destroy one Charlie CL on their own and live to tell the tale.



10 July, 77 TN

HOW DO THEY GET INTO SOL, DAMN IT?!

Another rogue Daemon wreaks havoc on civilian shipping at the Ross 128-Sol junction. Several CruDesGroups and one light carrier division are sent to deal with the threat.



CruDesGroup 3 arrives at the junction first, but Daemon jumps to the other side before it can be engaged. Four DDGs and a cruiser reach the transit point and make a squadron jump, awaiting to be ambushed. Previously, larger human cruisers were targeted first and it is hoped that their new shields would help in this situation.



CruDesGroup 3 emerges 73,048 km away from the bandit on the other side. Daemon fires its full broadside of 22 lasers, scoring only two hits on DDG-07 Hunter, resulting in minor damage and 2 crew casualties. Obviously being outnumbered, Daemon immediately jumps back to Sol.

CruDesGroup 3 retreats from the junction to avoid close combat and sets up an ambush of its own, while CruDesGroup 2 approaches the jump gate on the other side, preventing Daemon’s escape.

12 July, 77 TN

CruDesGroup 2 catches the bandit away from the junction and blows it up with missiles. Two medium sized civilian freighters suffer complete destruction. DDG-07 Hunter is safe and sound. Daemon’s lasers did not cause any venomous/erosion damage, like it previously happened with enemy battlecruisers. Maybe their weapons are different?

Humanity must expand its sensor coverage in Sol. The idea of a dormant jump point somewhere in the southern part of the system seems more likely to be true, but there's so much space to be covered...

Nice, waiting for more. Well done and written 

29 October, 57 TN

Humanity is prepared to send its existing ships into combat, against all odds. CruDesGroup 7 arrives at the JP into Ross 128 and sends a “volunteer” scout in.

Only to find out that there are no aliens on the other side. They’ve vanished!

All available long range auxiliary ships were sent across the neighboring systems to see if there’s any sign of Charlie aliens activity. Nothing was found.

12 June, 58 TN

Contact with Charlie aliens reestablished in a nearby system, 114 Piscium. Survey Frigate Discovery picks up a Mystic ship near Ross 128 JP, but cannot chase it down.

28 July, 58 TN

CruDesGroup 8 catches and eliminates a Mystic class ship in 114 Piscium. The problem is that its signature is different from the one identified the previous month, so there’s more hunting that needs to be done.



15 August, 59 TN

One Lion class Charlie ship visits Ross 128/Sol junction and gets smashed by CruDesGroup 7 sitting there. A day later another Mystic class ship pops up there and fails to run away, getting turned into space dust by the blockading Humanity Navy force.

3 June, 62 TN

It’s been a while since we last saw Charlie combat ships. Humanity felt a bit safer and built its first interstellar jump gate, allowing civilian traffic into Sirius.

Countless colony ships arrive in Sirius, headed for Harmonia colony.

Families…

At this point, Humanity's Gallicite stocks are almost empty, with annual mining yeild of ~900 unis.

Navy lacks shielded warships and the best beam technology can offer is 150mm UV Laser and 120k km BFC max range, which is a joke compared to Charlie acidic lasers that can fire up to 290k and eat armor like candy.

There are several options:

1) Continue defending Sol, blocking the Ross 128 jump point and fight the intruders there, while waiting 5-15 years for better technologies. This would allow Charlie to continue doing whatever it is that they're doing and build new ships as well, at unknown rate compared to our industrial capacity. We still don't know where they operate from and how fast they can replace their losses.

2) Assault the JP with existing unshielded and unarmored missile warships, suffer major casualties, but establish control and push further to find and destroy all Charlie ships.

3) Spend 2-3 years refitting old ships with shields for JP assault, which will decrease their offensive capabilities even further.

What does the audience think?

29 November, 54 TN

Seven new Charlie ships appear in Sol. Their battlegroup composition is exactly the same as the previous one: 4 BC 3 CL, of the same two classes. Unique signatures indicate that these are all new ships. It’s still not clear where they are coming from.



6 December, 54 TN

By this point, all the wreckage from the destroyed CruDesGroup 4 ships was salvaged by Charlie. It is believed that the previously seen auxiliary ships of the Mule class are the ones that are doing the salvaging. It would be great if one can be captured for examination. Mules usually travel with one Daemon-class CL as an escort.

Humanity has four Hornblower-class boarding-capable troop shuttles, but their range is limited. So.. Somebody had a crazy, but promising idea…

Two 40K ton auxiliary cargo ships of the Ocean Blue class were sent out past the orbit of Mars, escorted by a few rescue shuttles. Once positioned at an optimal distance, both transports were safely evacuated and blown up. The rescue beacons were deployed near the wrecks automatically.

22 December, 54 TN

Deep Space Tracking Stations detect a Mule class ship moving from the Ross 128 jump point to one of the wrecks. Several E-1 Trackers deployed to investigate. As expected, one Mule-class ship is escorted by a single Daemon-class light cruiser.



24 December, 54 TN

LAC Squadron 1 approaches the Charlie ships. 38 Specters launch 152 ASM-50 missiles at the Daemon, obliterating it with 53 strength-9 nuclear detonations. DST Network picks up Charlie battlegroup (4 BC 3 CL), rushing towards Humanity’s Trackers and LACs.



Four Hornblower-class shuttles (TG Horatio) successfully land Marines on the hull of the moving Mule. It takes them a while to blast through the thick armor that’s five layers deep.



At 17:09, Marines report that they have the alien ship secured and under control. There is no sign of the crew. The ship appears to be guided by a  “brain” controller section that Marines managed to disable. They cannot use the engines now, however. It’s stuck.

Marines are ordered back to the shuttles. ARS-01 Fortitude is called from Earth’s orbit to tow the captured alien ship. It is slow, however, and the Charlie battlegroup is approaching fast.



Humanity ships disable all active radars to limit the emissions, and one Tracker is used to lure the Charlie battlegroup away from the captured Mule and Fortitude towing it.

22 February, 55 TN

We’ve managed to capture another Mule. Charlie don’t seem to be very intelligent at perceiving threats and are mostly driven by basic instincts. That does not diminish the threat to Humanity that they represent, however. The wrecks of the cargo ships have attracted too much attention from Charlie by now and were hastily removed, to make sure enemy battlegroups won't come knocking before enough missiles are built to deal with them.

Both captured Mules are towed to Earth to be disassembled and studied.



22 April, 55 TN

Mules, now renamed to Vultures, are thoroughly examined. There’s a theory that they consume the matter from the shipwrecks and transform it into bio energy that can be used by their engines. So they are basically feeding upon the dead ships. Hence the Vulture nickname.



R&D Sector on Earth is happy to get their hands on alien equipment, promising future gains in engine, fire control, electronic warfare and sensor technology fields.



25 August, 55 TN

Light Carrier Wasp is launched, based on the Confidence class missile cruiser hull. It’s the simplest design that can help us put carriers on the battlefield as soon as possible. Larger carriers would require a considerable amount of time and R&D, even before shipyards are ready to start building them.

Wasp class Light Carrier      16,000 tons       269 Crew       1,870.9 BP       TCS 320    TH 1,000    EM 0
3125 km/s    JR 5-100      Armour 1-56       Shields 0-0       HTK 74      Sensors 0/0/0/0      DCR 16-10      PPV 0
Maint Life 2.20 Years     MSP 1,438    AFR 341%    IFR 4.7%    1YR 400    5YR 6,003    Max Repair 264 MSP
Hangar Deck Capacity 4,000 tons     Troop Capacity 250 tons     Magazine 643 / 0   
Captain    Control Rating 3   BRG   AUX   ENG   
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Flight Crew Berths 80    Morale Check Required   

J16000(5-100) Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 16000 tons    Distance 100k km     Squadron Size 5

Ion Drive  EP500.00 (2)    Power 1000    Fuel Use 25.00%    Signature 500    Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 2,101,600 Litres    Range 94.6 billion km (350 days at full power)

CIWS-120B (1x8)    Range 1000 km     TS: 12,000 km/s     ROF 5       
ASM-200A Roguestar Anti-Ship Missile (32)    Speed: 30,090 km/s    End: 11.6m     Range: 20.9m km    WH: 36    Size: 20    TH: 125/75/37

Electronic Warfare Jammers:   Sensor 1    Missile 1   

Strike Group / Ground Forces
8x A-2A Savage Light Attack Craft   Speed: 11935 km/s    Size: 8.48
1x Hornblower Troop Shuttle   Speed: 10144 km/s    Size: 9.98
1x Marine Detachment
29 August, 55 TN

Wasp, accompanied by Cruiser Destroyer Group 2 and some additional DDGs, moves closer to Saturn to launch a strike at the Charlie battlegroup sitting there. Are they using in-situ refueling technology to get fuel from the gas giant directly?

8 Savages launch their payload against two Daemons of the battlegroup, 4 missiles per ship. Surprisingly, 7 out of 8 missiles hit their targets. It’s not enough to destroy them, but good enough to force them to break formation and leave the battlecruisers unescorted.

Unfortunately, Charlie battlegroup decided to run away this time. After Charlie ships split up, Trackers were unable to reliably track all of them. By the time their new position was established, they’ve moved too far away from the Wasp, outside the range of Savages.

Wasp turned back home to Earth. We’ll try again next time.

Great battle!

I hope that there is some pause to allow Humanity to replenish its ammunition stocks, though. Missile combat really puts a strain on your logistics and industry.

I'm kind of surprised by the effectiveness of the retargeting on ASMs. I only used it on AAMs, as it was feared PD would make multiple attack runs a no-go for missiles. However, the Charlie ships seem to be ill equipped with PD, as do the foes in my current game. I think I'll try them on ASMs, too.

Generally, I think the importance of PD has somewhat diminished with the new combat system, as there are counters for missiles(decoys) and more viable alternatives in passive defenses.

13 February, 54 TN

The wreckage of Diplomatic Ship Devotion disappears from the sensors. Charlie must have salvaged it. And seemingly quickly, whereas ARS-01 Fortitude failed to recover the remains twice.



New cruiser and destroyer designs, capable of moving faster than Charlie ships, are considered to be very expensive. But Humanity prepares to build them anyway, researching new engines and refitting the shipyards. It’ll be a while before any of the new ships are ready for combat operations though.

In the meantime, lackluster performance of size 6 ASMs forced us to reconsider existing armaments. There were several problems with existing ASMs: 1) not fast enough to reliably hit enemy ships; 2) vulnerable to PD fire; 3) not enough punch to defeat armor.

Chance to hit problems can be solved by reenabling the re-attack capability that was lost in ASM-60B modification, but only if more ECM/decoys can be employed to justify it. Higher armor penetration can be achieved by using larger warheads, and also by using the new experimental laser warheads.

None of these problems can be solved with Size 6 designs with current technologies. There’s just not enough room. Having one big, good missile is better than having several bad missiles. That’s how Humanity settled on building Size 20 ASMs.

Roguestar is a modern analogue to the 20th century anti-ship torpedo. Magic is an experimental missile with a laser warhead, but their production will be limited for now.

ASM-200A Roguestar Anti-Ship Missile

Missile Size: 20.00 MSP  (50.000 Tons)     Warhead: 36    Radiation Damage: 36
Speed: 30,090 km/s     Fuel: 3,750     Flight Time: 12 minutes     Range: 20.93m km
Decoys: 5 ECM-1     ECCM-1     ATG: 25%     Retarget Capable
Cost Per Missile: 29.845     Development Cost: 863
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 376.1%   3k km/s 125.4%   5k km/s 75.2%   10k km/s 37.6%
ASM-200L Magic Anti-Ship Missile (EXPERIMENTAL)

Missile Size: 20.00 MSP  (50.000 Tons)     Laser Warhead: 12    Impact Damage: 12    Separation Range: 30,000
Speed: 32,340 km/s     Fuel: 5,000     Flight Time: 11 minutes     Range: 20.64m km
Decoys: 3 ECM-1     ECCM-1     ATG: 25%     Retarget Capable
Cost Per Missile: 29.665     Development Cost: 861
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 404.3%   3k km/s 134.8%   5k km/s 80.9%   10k km/s 40.4%
A-1A Spectre Light Attack Craft is an 18 years old design. It proved capable of finding and destroying a small Charlie ship snooping around in Sol, so it’s not completely useless. ASM-50 Snagger lacks most EW features, but is numerous and fast enough to be dangerous with its re-attack capability.

ASM-50 Snagger Anti-Ship Missile

Missile Size: 5.00 MSP  (12.500 Tons)     Warhead: 9    Radiation Damage: 9
Speed: 22,840 km/s     Fuel: 1,500     Flight Time: 14 minutes     Range: 20.2m km
Retarget Capable
Cost Per Missile: 6.055     Development Cost: 389
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 228.4%   3k km/s 76.1%   5k km/s 45.7%   10k km/s 22.8%
A-1A Spectre class Light Attack Craft      500 tons       9 Crew       91 BP       TCS 10    TH 94    EM 0
9393 km/s      Armour 1-5       Shields 0-0       HTK 3      Sensors 0/0/0/0      DCR 0-0      PPV 3
Maint Life 6.76 Years     MSP 61    AFR 20%    IFR 0.3%    1YR 2    5YR 35    Max Repair 46.9 MSP
Magazine 20 / 0   
Lieutenant    Control Rating 1   
Intended Deployment Time: 1 months    Morale Check Required   

Ion Drive  EP93.75 (1)    Power 93.8    Fuel Use 1262.95%    Signature 93.75    Explosion 25%
Fuel Capacity 39,000 Litres    Range 1.11 billion km (32 hours at full power)

Size 5 Box Launcher (4)     Missile Size: 5    Hangar Reload 111 minutes    MF Reload 18 hours
Missile Fire Control FC38-R113 (1)     Range 38.6m km    Resolution 113
ASM-50 Snagger Anti-Ship Missile (4)    Speed: 22,840 km/s    End: 14.8m     Range: 20.2m km    WH: 9    Size: 5    TH: 76/45/22

Active Search Sensor AS19-R113 (1)     GPS 1130     Range 19.3m km    Resolution 113
A new LAC design, A-2A Savage, focuses on anti-ship duty entirely. Dealing with large, heavily armored enemy warships is what Humanity currently needs. There are no carriers or mobile LAC support facilities operational yet, so they are to be based on Earth for now.

A-2A Savage class Light Attack Craft      425 tons       3 Crew       84.4 BP       TCS 8    TH 101    EM 0
11935 km/s      Armour 1-5       Shields 0-0       HTK 3      Sensors 0/0/0/0      DCR 0-0      PPV 3
Maint Life 2.64 Years     MSP 12    AFR 14%    IFR 0.2%    1YR 2    5YR 37    Max Repair 50.6 MSP
Magazine 20 / 0   
Lieutenant    Control Rating 1   
Intended Deployment Time: 3 days    Morale Check Required   

Ion Drive  EP101.25 (1)    Power 101.2    Fuel Use 1093.50%    Signature 101.25    Explosion 27%
Fuel Capacity 53,000 Litres    Range 2.06 billion km (47 hours at full power)

MLS-20A E35 Missile Cell (1)     Missile Size: 20    Hangar Reload 223 minutes    MF Reload 37 hours
Missile Fire Control FC30-R150 (1)     Range 30.3m km    Resolution 150   ECCM-1

Active Search Sensor AS23-R150 (1)     GPS 1200     Range 24m km    Resolution 150
Another new small craft that’s very important to the Navy is E-1 Tracker Early Warning Craft. Earlier scout design, Vanguard, was adopted to be used from cruisers, resulting in less endurance and speed, so by now it’s unfit for service. Tracker is much more suitable for finding targets and staying on top of the enemies over a long period of time.

E-1 Tracker class Early Warning Craft      500 tons       10 Crew       117.2 BP       TCS 10    TH 80    EM 0
8000 km/s      Armour 1-5       Shields 0-0       HTK 4      Sensors 0/3/0/0      DCR 0-0      PPV 0
Maint Life 1.85 Years     MSP 14    AFR 20%    IFR 0.3%    1YR 5    5YR 78    Max Repair 61.6 MSP
Lieutenant    Control Rating 1   
Intended Deployment Time: 1 months    Morale Check Required   

Ion Drive  EP80.00 (1)    Power 80    Fuel Use 256.00%    Signature 80    Explosion 16%
Fuel Capacity 51,900 Litres    Range 7.3 billion km (10 days at full power)

Active Search Sensor AS20-R5 (1)     GPS 280     Range 20.4m km    Resolution 5
EM Sensor EM0.4-3.2 (1)     Sensitivity 3.2     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  14.1m km
Thermal Sensor TH0.1-0.6 (1)     Sensitivity 0.6     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  6.1m km
14 November, 54 TN

Two E-1 Trackers were built so far. Twenty eight A-2As Savages with some new missiles were ready for service as well, although their crews were freshly green. Deep Space Tracking Stations were unable to detect Charlie ships lurking at the outer edges of Sol. E-1s were sent to investigate the Ross 128 jump point.

There was nothing there. But one of the Trackers picked up electronic emissions coming from Saturn, ~900m km away from the JP. Seven enemy warships were there, sitting in orbit. The same ones that destroyed Cruiser Destroyer Group 4.

Enemy warships started moving towards Tracker 001. Given superior speed and high endurance, the Early Warning Craft was capable of staying within safe distance of the enemy ships for a long time. Tracker 001 set speed to match Charlie max speed and started moving towards Earth.



Two groups of LACs were assembled in Earth’s orbit: 60 old Spectres, Group 1 [FLASH], and 28 Savages, Group 2 [THUNDER].

16 November, 54 TN

Tracker 001 managed to lure the enemy ships close enough to Earth so that LAC Groups 1 and 2 could reach them for an attack. Light cruisers were engaged first to diminish the AMM capability of their task force. A single salvo of 240 ASM-50s was sent after 3 Daemons, 80 missiles per ship. Only 41 hits were successful (17%), with just 2 penetrating ones.



Savages opened fire next, with 28 ASM-200A Roguestars targeting light cruisers again. 10 missiles connected immediately, resulting in the destruction of one of the Daemons, with 1 additional hit on a re-attack run five seconds later (31% hits).





Two damaged light cruisers slowed down, broke off and turned back to the jump point. Four battlecruisers continued chasing Tracker 001. LACs immediately returned to Earth to rearm, while Tracker 001 was keeping the battlecruisers busy on this wild goose chase, as Charlie were clearly not familiar with the concept.

18 November, 54 TN

There were still not enough ASM-200s, so only 24 Savages could be rearmed, with 8 of them given the experimental ASM-200L Magic with laser warheads.

Starting the second attack, 60 Specters engaged unescorted Charlie battlecruisers, focusing on the first two of them. Out of 240 ASM-50 missiles launched, 94 hit their targets (39%), with more than two thirds of the hits connecting on subsequent re-attack runs, showing how useful such capability is. Centaurs 001 and 002 were destroyed.



LAC Group 2 launched two salvoes at the remaining battlecruisers, focusing mostly on Centaur 003, and sending Magics against Centaur 004 due to suspected damage severity.



The effect of laser warheads was hard to assess, but the conventional Roguestars did their job perfectly, finishing off Centaur 003. The last remaining battlecruiser continued flying without slowing down. LACs returned to Earth, while Tracker 001 remained on station to keep the position of the last Charlie BC known.



19 November, 54 TN

LAC Group 1 returned to finish the job, with only 30 Specters being able to rearm. ASM production on Earth was running at full capacity and kept expanding by the day, but the tempo of small craft operations is too high for any factory to keep up with. Surge-type operations require A LOT of ammo.

120 ASM-50s was more than enough to wreck a lone battlecruiser with damaged armor. 51 strength-9 hits finally made BC Centaur 004 disappear.



Overall, it was a successful attack. 4 BC 1 CL destroyed, 2 CL crippled, with ASM-200A Roguestar making a solid debut.

The main enemy group was moving at 7207km/s towards the blockading force. Humanity ships had no other choice but to engage. All 164 ASM-60Bs were launched simultaneously against four battlecruisers, resulting in only 29 strength-9 hits. Not a single missile managed to penetrate the armor.

Ouch. It seems future attacks have to be more focused.

Within the next 45 seconds, Cruiser Destroyer Group 4 no longer existed as a unit. All that was left were the lifepods with some crew.

I hope Earth has some good STOs. How many combat warships has the navy in reserve?

Very fun to read AAR!