Aurora 4x
Fiction => Aurora => Topic started by: Jorgen_CAB on April 10, 2014, 06:28:56 PM
-
Hello!!!
This is me starting up a thread on my new campaign... I'm currently running a test version of that campaign and I do have the back story for it ready. I will wait for Steve to release his version 6.40 and perhaps wait and see so there are no major bugs in it. After that I'm going to start this rather massive campaign. It will start with nine separate faction and will most likely grow as the game limp along. I will warn anyone that it will become a very long game and I will not be able to present it all in detail. I have not really decided on a format yet either, it all depend in how much spare time I will have to write my story. But, without writing the story this game will not be very fun.
I'm not going to make this into a sort of community game, but suggestions on actions you think are reasonable or fun for factions to take can be welcome given the information you are all give during the presentation of the story here.
So... let's jump to my little back-story.
Into the Stars!
World history
In the early 21st century there was a continuing and increasing friction between the dominated christian but secular nations and the hard Islamist and fundamentalist factions and states.
2019
Israel made a preemptive strike against Iran just ours after they tested their first nuclear weapon.
In secret Israel and USA had developed and deployed anti ballistic satellites in space and as soon as Iran made their first nuclear tests Israel launched a heavy strike with their air-force and special forces. Through precise intelligence gathering prior to the attack all of the installations for creating nuclear weapons in Iran were more or less totally wiped out within a few days of air-raids.
There was a huge outcry in the world but no immediate action was taken by any of the major nations. The actions by Israel was backed by the US and UK on the political arena, even if only cautiously.
The aftermath of this aggression just fueled the Islamic world even more and a huge wave of terrorist attacks was the result. The majority of these attacks were directed at Israel and the US, but even Europe and to a lesser degree Russia and China received some incidents. All whom the Islamic factions felt had not backed them up was targeted.
2021-28
A huge economic crisis was now a fact in the US when the political parties was landlocked in the decision of raising their dept ceiling and as a result the country was forced to start restructure their economy, the main reason was lack of faith in US treasury bills in the surrounding world. This led to a nearly 20 year long mild depression and would see the US foreign politics become less expansive (influential) as a result when the protectionist forces took over.
The crisis in the US obviously had a huge effect on the world economy that also took a nosedive, but by 2023 most of the countries had started their recovery and a new economic model had replaced the old dollar as a world reserve currency.
In the wake of the deep world recession in 2021-2023 the Islamic factions in the Arab peninsula and middle east had overthrown the dictatorships or emerging democratic nations, this was an aftermath of the attack on Iran. Most of the power and influence was now in the hands of influential Iranian religious leaders whom was viewed as heroes and martyrs by the new political powers in the region.
During this time a coalition between Israel, US and UK continued to attack potential installations in the Islamist controlled areas to thwart their tries of acquiring nuclear weapons. All NATO forces was withdrawn to bases surrounding the areas controlled by Iran and it's satellite states.
Most of these actions were done while countries such as Russia and China rhetorically protested, but overall they ignored the situation and allowed the attacks.
In 2028 there was an official cease fire between Iran and the Israel, US, UK coalition. Iran agreed to let UN inspectors conduct investigations into their nuclear program and dismantle it.
2031
South American nations and mainly Brazil had started economic aid to the US, mainly in favorable trade agreements in trade for military and other technology. By the end of the 2030th US had started to recover from its depression.
UK withdrew from the European Union due to economic and political problems, but it was also fueled by UK's rather hostile foreign politics.
2032-35
Civil unrest was sparked in Russia after a huge corruption scandal that spread like a wildfire on the internet.
This soon led to an armed conflict with national Russian military units on both sides. China more or less openly supported the nationalistic forces while EU aggressively supported the new “Democratic Alliance Party” (DAP) who officially formed in May 2032 and who initially operated from Warsaw. China accused EU for conspiring against Russia for harboring terrorists on their soil.
By 2033 the conflict had escalated into a war between EU and China with Russia caught in the middle. Combat actions had so far been contained to within Russia or in some cases to former soviet nations borders. But in June 2033 a Chinese submarine fired on a French Aircraft carrier that sank and killed nearly 800 French sailors. This sparked an outrage in Europe as well as in the US. Although US citizen was mostly in favor of military action the current depression and political power in the US was not. They would not enter into a conflict unless they were attacked, but they would support Europe with intelligence and economical and moral support. This obviously made the European Union immediately break of their ties with the NATO pact, which they now saw as useless.
By the end of 2033 a huge air and naval campaign by the European Union had completely broken the technologically inferior Chinese/Russian alliance. In the winter of 2034 EU and DAP had militarily and morally beaten the Russian nationalistic forces.
China had to see themselves beaten and a peace treaty was signed in February of 2035 where DAP was given control of all the former Russian territories.
2041
In 2041 a team of scientists in England recovered a piece of technology that impacted earth and landed in the northern part of Scotland.
They were very excited when it turned out to be some form of sensor probe, more or less intact and operable. It seemed to be very old and advanced beyond human comprehension, it was also made by materials completely unknown to them.
It took about six years of secret studies to just understand the material it were made of and the basics of how the electronics worked.
2042
Information about the probed leaked out to a few other countries intelligence agencies. The US approached Great Britain to get access to the device, but were met with a cold hand. The British had no intention to share in this until they analyzed it for themselves.
2044
A group of scientists in the British research organization leaked most of the data and research to the internet which turned in to a storm of astonishment and awe by the world. It was, after all, proof that humans was not alone in the Universe.
Some obviously refused to believe what is was and called it a hoax or conspiracy, some believed that an alien invasion was imminent. Obviously both of these extremes were wrong. Scientific research eventually showed that the probe was nearly 36000 years old, so there were nothing for humanity to worry about, at least for now.
There was, however, a huge pressure for Britain to release the devise to the wider scientific community and a year later scientist from all over the world were invited to join the studies in London. A huge research and education center quickly developed outside of London. Within just ten years nearly 20% of the Earths scientific community lived and worked in London. The research practically affected all scientific and engineering fields and huge leaps in advancement was made in electronics, biology, astrophysics and material engineering.
2054
By now every major nation was rushing to start their own space program. The countries in the lead was of curse UK closely followed by their close partner US. After them there were China and Russia but also countries such as Brazil, Japan, Germany and France was not far behind.
2063
A joint US/UK program constructed the first naval space yard and started the construction of the Voyager class survey vessel.
2065
USS Voyager was launched and with the HMS Newton only a few month left before launching. By now China, Brazil, Russia, Germany and France all had constructed their first Naval Yard in space. The UK had also started production on their own independent yard.
Even Japan and India had now developed the means to launch orbital space crafts en mass and had now also started construction of their first naval yard in space.
House rules
Industrial efficiency
Industrial production can only be changed by 5% (per project) either at the end of the project or at the start of each year.
New projects can always be started by applying a maximum of 5% to them and there are at least one project with 10% or more of industry dedicated to it.
Any production over this 5% will go into the industrial waste pool who can be reduced by 5% each year by apply it to any current project and add up to 5% to any number of new projects.
New industry that are deployed to a planets without any previous industry can have its project distribution set in any combination, but once decided follow the same rules as any other planet.
Construction engineers is a special case and is not affected by these rules unless they are on a planet with other industry.
Industrial projects must be long term, but any project at 5% is more or less always possible and available to do. There will never be any industrial production waste if you have twenty projects running at the same time. Although, it is wasteful in and of itself to have too many projects.
Research efficiency
Labs will always be dedicated to a specific field, labs can be moved from one field to another but for every two labs moved one lab must be destroyed.
After each research project is finished all the labs must be equally divided among two new different projects. If no researcher is available 1/3 (rounded up) of one of the halves is destroyed and the rest applied to any projects in the same field.
At the start of each year 10% (rounded up) of the labs may be moved from one project to another, within the same research category.
This way you can never concentrate research into one area and research becomes a long term strategy.
Economy
In order to reduce the effectiveness of storing wealth 10% of a countries wealth is eroded from their total each year, this will also include negative wealth but will instead be +5% negative wealth to make it even worse.
National Guard
Every 25 million population will give a world 1 Garrison brigade (National Guards) unit. This unit may not be moved and these brigades will be adjusted up or down based on how much population a colony or world has. After a war and losses to such garrisons they will re-spawn one new brigade each year until it has one per 25 million again.
Colonization
I will go with a gravitational range for colonization at only 0.4 points. That means no colonization of Mars for example and the only planet in Sol that we can colonize without underground infrastructure will be Venus, not the best planet to colonize though. My reason for this is that I don't think it is realistic for human to colonize planets like Mars in any meaningful way due to low gravity, at least without some new science that will offset the low gravity effect on our bodies. There is no problem with limited colonization, but I can't see families raised in such places.
Missile Design
Since distances is so huge and all missiles need communications with fire-control all missiles that are suppose to be guided need an EM passive sensor equal to EM sensitivity technology in million km per 0.1MSP of EM in a missile. So if a faction has an EM technology of 6 and they want to fire a guided missile at a range of 18m km that missile need a guidance module of 0.3 MSP of EM electronics. This will represent all the necessary guidance and communication electronics needed to give instruction to a missile at huge distances. The electronic and sensor equipment can also be used to home in on large EM signatures as a bonus.
Ship to Ship communications
In order for one ship to communicate with another ship and transfer large amounts of data over secure data-links they will need very advanced and sensitive communication devices.
Civilian "Communication and Navigation" sensors are normally between 0.1-0.5HS resolution 100 but can be up to a maximum of 1HS (C-class NavCom electronics).This sensor is deemed unsecured and can easily be tapped into and listened to by sensitive military equipment. In general the EM sensitivity of both scanner and listening device decide at what ranges one can intercept signals from a civilian ship.
Military ships can use "Communication and Navigation" sensors (M-class NavCom electronics) in sizes from 0.1HS and up. Smaller crafts with limited capacity can use as small as 0.1 HS sensors but these are limited to very short ranges, they also lack from good EM recievers. Resolution 1 communication sensor is deemed as secure and will be almost impossible to tap into. The range of these communication devises are much shorter than civilian sensors.
The receiver antenna are the highest of either the strength of the NavCom sensor or the ships EM value.
Civilian stations exist where there is at least 10.000 population and has a sensitivity of one level of DSTS, ans a sender strength of 1/10 of that.
Military stations equal the value of any DSTS but the sensitivity is half and the strength is 1/10.
C-Class NavCom Electronics
The range is NavCom strength * NavCom sensitivity * receiver EM value (or NavCom strength)
M-Class NavCom Electronics
The range is NavCom strength * NavCom sensitivity * receiver EM value (or NavCom strength) / 10
If two ships or station need to communicate they need a double direction connection which can only be made by the one with the weakest link.
Ex.1
A civilian ship has a 0.5HS NavCom with a strength of 6 and sensitivity of 6 which is a sending range of 36 million km. A station in the system has sensitivity 250 and sender strength 25 which is a sending range of 6.25 billion km. The ship can send 36m km and the station has a sensitivity of 250 so can receive that transmission at 9 billion km. The ship can receive a transmission with its sensitivity of 6 at over 36 billion km.
As you can see, even at low technology a normal civilian ship will be able to communicate with any population in the system at 9 billion km.
Ex.2
A Destroyer with an 0.5HS M-class NavCom at strength 6 and an EM of 18 can have a full datalink with its surveillance craft that has a 0.2HS NavCom at strength 2.4 and an EM of 6 at...
Destroyer sending: 22m km
Scout sending: 26m km
So their maximum distance for full communication is 22m km.
Graviton communication arrays can be sent through graviton field jump points and gates can amplify signals. Although all signals amplified through a gate is unsecured, thus military communication between star systems is not possible, but civilian communication is.
In order for one ship to provide targeting data to another ship (active spotting) they must have a secure data-link with the ship firing a missile. This will normally not be a huge problem, but there might be instances where it is. Links may bounce between ships any number of times. So a high EM ship in a group can usually share incoming data from a remote scout.
In general ships MUST have double direction communication with their command structure to function properly, it is more involved than just receiving targeting information, normally there is need for feedback or connections might break or become corrupted. There are no way for the sender to know if information is actually being successfully received and so forth, often systems need double directed connection to even function properly since they both rely on information from each other.
Any operation outside proper command and control connections should be in special cases only.
An important note is that this form of communication is directed communication, not a broadcast like radio waves. In order for communication to initiate both parties must know the others location. Either through a transponder, active sensor coverage or an active data-link. If a ship looses the data-link it must somehow be spotted through an active scanning or by turning on their transponder. Turning on a transponder will reveal that ship to anyone in that system, although it does not say anything about what ship it is if it is a military ship.
NavComs may not be used to target enemies in combat with the exception of fighters. I will allow it on fighters for the sake of making them somewhat more effective with space preservation.
This is a rule I have introduced to make communications more interesting in the narrative of ship combat. I might also introduce some limited form of electronic warfare at a later stage.
Sensor Equipment
Active sensors in this universe are really power hungry components and they will require special power plants to operate. To simulate that sensors should not increase in a linear fashion a sensor will need as much power as its active strength divided by 20 times the components size. So a 1HS strength 10 active sensor will require 0.5 power to operate while a 2HS strength 20 active sensor will require 2 power to operate. If power on a ship is destroyed sensors will shut down, easy enough to account for in a campaign where I as the player control all sides. :)
Civilian and commercial ships obviously don't need any power plants for their "Communication and Navigation" sensors. Their basic power generators is enough for these small sensors to work. Military ships on the other hand will need power to all their sensor equipment.
Fire-controls also have sort of an active part, but they are so concentrated in a specific area that the power they need don't have to be taken from huge power plants.
This means that active sensor range are going to be less overall and will encourage ships to spread out more to cover a larger area in a more cost efficient way. Smaller ships are forced to carry smaller sensors suites than what larger vessels can.
It is also going to be allot more sensible to use more and different resolution scanner for range purposes than one single large lower resolution sensor. Say that you have a large Destroyer class ship who carries a resolution 1, 5, 20, 60, 120 resolution sensors all at size 3 with active technology of 12 these sensors will require a total power of 7.4. If you just wanted to use say a size 9 resolution 20 sensor instead of the three 20, 60, 120 you would need to provide 51 power... pretty insane.... so sensors will tend to be rather small. Dedicated sensor ships will be very expensive and rare and very difficult to refit and upgrade, but technologically advanced and powerful factions will be able to build them.
I can see that active sensor technology will overall make sensors smaller while better power technology will make larger sensors more economical while the sensitivity will primarily increase the range of sensors. If you look at how ships are refitted you will try to fit a new sensor that draw the same power as before so an increase in active technology will make that same sensor smaller for the same coverage, space that you now can use for something else, or of course make the scanners bigger but them you also need more power. A change in sensitivity technology will simply increase the range for the same size and power usage of a sensor.
Likewise will DSTS be equally difficult to build. A level 1 DSTS can be moved and have no restrictions. It in order to build more they must be build on site with local industry and for each level you need to build twice the amount of DSTS to increase a level. The rest will just be destroyed to resemble the fact that higher levels really require very sofisticated and delicate equipment to scan in deep space. Level 2 will need 4 DSTS to be built, level 3 need 9 DSTS to be built, level 4 need 16 DSTS to be built while level 5 will need 25 DSTS to be built.
Missile Launch Rates
When looking at the restrictions on missile launch rates from a reality perspective it is not realistic to assume that missiles can be launched indiscriminately without effecting each other. It also is not realistic to assume that several NUCLEAR missiles can impact a ship at approximately the same time without simply destroying each other. Therefore missiles will need at least some distance between them in order to not interfere with each other at impact. The actual launch mechanism is not a big deal since missiles could most probably be programmed to fall in line and keep a certain distance, most missiles will after all spend a rather high amount of time in space. The irony is that the faster a missiles is or the more powerful they are the further distance they have to be from each other so they don't destroy each other on impacting the same target. So, the effect is that the larger the nuke and the faster a missile is the further distance they need to travel from each other but for practical purposes the rate at which missiles can hit a ship in a single 5 second turn will mostly be decided by the size of the ship. To make this easy one may not fire more missiles at the same targets in one 5sec turn than five missiles per square root of a ships mass divided by 10 and then divided by four (rounded down). I will use following list as a reference to make this very easy for myself...
500 ton or less = 1 missile
1000 ton = 2 missiles
1500 ton = 3 missiles
2500 ton = 4 missiles
4000 ton = 5 missiles
7000 ton = 6 missiles
12000 ton = 8 missiles
16000 ton = 10 missiles
36000 ton = 15 missiles
64000 ton = 20 missiles
100000 ton = 25 missiles
150000 ton = 30 missiles
etc...
This is the number of missiles allowed to be fired from a single location against one single ship. Different ships in the same spot is treated as two different targets since ships in the same spot can easily be hundreds if not thousands of km apart. This will also make CIWS and armouring missiles more important as a side effect.
I should also note that the above "limitations" are as much doctrinal as they are physical limitations, the rule can be broke if the situation demands it.
Starting nations and close allied partners
The population that each faction has is not the "actual" population of that faction (including alliance/supporters) but the portion of that faction population cited are those that are educated or wealthy enough to contribute in any meaningful way to space exploration. People that are too poor and/or uneducated will simply not be counted. Therefore countries such as China and India will have much fewer population than they actual does. Only about 2.5 billion of a total of 8 billion people on Earth will be represented as being available to contribute to space exploration. People might be added as the game progress and as wealth and education are distributed to the Earths population, or perhaps the reverse if that happens.
All nations start with the following basic technologies (in addition to some faction specific ones as well)
Trans-Newtonian Technology
Replacement Battalion
Garrison Battalion
Mobile Infantry Battalion
Assault Infantry Battalion
Brigade Headquarters
Divisional Headquarters
Cargo Handling Systems
Engineering Sections (down to fighter sections)
Magazine Ejection System – 70%
Missile Launcher Miniaturization (all)
Gauss Cannon Launch Velocity 1
Gauss Cannon Fire Rate 1
10cm Laser Focal size
Infrared Laser
Duranium Armour
Pressurized Water Reactor
Power settings up to x2
Active Grav Sensor 10
Beam Fire-control Range 10.000
Beam Fire-control Speed Rating 1250km/s
Geological Survey Sensor
-
Here are the starting factions...
United States
Major supporters: Mexico
Starting economy
Population: 350m
Military Academies: 3
DSTS: 5
GFTF: 2
Research Complexes: 10
Ship maintenance capacity: 3000t
Shipyards: 3000t, 1 slipway
Conventional Industry: 600
Construction facilities: 50
Fuel refineries: 20
Mines: 30
Financial Centers: 35
Starting Technologies
Construction Rate 12 BP
Ground Unit Strength 12
12cm Laser Focal Size
Active Grav Sensor Strength 12
United Kingdom
Major supporters: Australia, Canada, New Zeeland, Ireland, Holland and Belgium
Starting economy
Population: 175m
Military Academies: 2
DSTS: 3
GFTF: 1
Research Complexes: 12
Ship maintenance capacity: 3000t
Shipyards: 2000t, 1 slipway
Conventional Industry: 300
Construction facilities: 25
Fuel refineries: 10
Mines: 15
Financial Centers: 20
Starting Technologies
Construction Rate 12 BP
12cm Laser Focal Size
Active Grav Sensor Strength 12
France
Major supporters: Spain, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, Greece
Starting economy
Population: 225m
Military Academies: 2
DSTS: 3
GFTF: 1
Research Complexes: 8
Ship maintenance capacity: 2000t
Shipyards: 2000t, 1 slipway
Conventional Industry: 400
Construction facilities: 25
Fuel refineries: 10
Mines: 15
Financial Centers: 5
Starting Technologies
High Density Duranium Armour
12cm Laser Focal Size
Active Grav Sensor Strength 12
Germany
Major supporters: Scandinavia, Poland, Baltic states, Hungary, Romania, Austria
Starting economy
Population: 275m
Military Academies: 2
DSTS: 3
GFTF: 1
Research Complexes: 8
Ship maintenance capacity: 2000t
Shipyards: 2000t, 1 slipway
Conventional Industry: 500
Construction facilities: 25
Fuel refineries: 10
Mines: 15
Financial Centers: 5
Starting Technologies
Construction Rate 12 BP
Mining production 12 tons
High Density Duranium Armour
Shipyard Operations: 5% Time/Cost Saving
Russia
Major supporters: Ukraine
Starting economy
Population: 210m
Military Academies: 2
DSTS: 3
GFTF: 1
Research Complexes: 8
Ship maintenance capacity: 2000t
Shipyards: 2000t, 1 slipway
Conventional Industry: 400
Construction facilities: 25
Fuel refineries: 10
Mines: 15
Financial Centers: 5
Starting Technologies
Construction Rate 12 BP
Mining production 12 tons
Japan
Population: 230m
Major supporters: South Korea
Starting economy
Population: 230m
Military Academies: 2
DSTS: 3
GFTF: 1
Research Complexes: 8
Ship maintenance capacity: 1000t
Shipyards: 1000t, 1 slipway
Conventional Industry: 450
Construction facilities: 25
Fuel refineries: 10
Mines: 15
Financial Centers: 5
Starting Technologies
Construction Rate 12 BP
Mining production 12 tons
High Density Duranium Armour
Shipyard Operations: 5% Time/Cost Saving
China
Major supporters: none
Starting economy
Population: 350m
Military Academies: 2
DSTS: 3
GFTF: 3
Research Complexes: 10
Ship maintenance capacity: 2000t
Shipyards: 2000t, 1 slipway
Conventional Industry: 650
Construction facilities: 25
Fuel refineries: 10
Mines: 15
Financial Centers: 10
Starting Technologies
Mining production 12 tons
12cm Laser Focal Size
Active Grav Sensor Strength 12
India
Major supporters: none
Starting economy
Population: 200m
Military Academies: 1
DSTS: 3
GFTF: 3
Research Complexes:8
Ship maintenance capacity: 1000t
Shipyards: 1000t, 1 slipway
Conventional Industry: 400
Construction facilities: 0
Fuel refineries: 0
Mines: 0
Financial Centers: 0
Starting Technologies
none
Brazil
Population: 300m
Major supporters: Argentina
Starting economy
Population: 300m
Military Academies: 2
DSTS: 3
GFTF: 2
Research Complexes: 8
Ship maintenance capacity: 2000t
Shipyards: 2000t, 1 slipway
Conventional Industry: 550
Construction facilities: 25
Fuel refineries: 10
Mines: 15
Financial Centers: 5
Starting Technologies
Mining production 12 tons
12cm Laser Focal Size
Active Grav Sensor Strength 12
-
Nomenclatures and abbreviations
Ship types
The weight numbers given for ships below are only estimates and there are likely to change over the course of the game, they are mainly an introductory estimation of what these classifications mean at the start of the story.
Down below are the military classes that will be referenced in this story as it unfolds.
Craft (100-500 tonnes)
Anything at a size of 500t or below will generally be referred to as being a craft. This will include types such as Fast Attack Crafts (FAC). The basis here is that crafts are built by regular industry and are the smaller type of vessel to operate in space but will be stationed in some form of hangar, they are literally not self sufficient to maintain themselves.
Boat (501-1500 tonnes)
This is generally the smallest vessels that do not have to be commanded by any staff personnel and may be commanded by a Lt. Commander in the field. Any vessel below 1500 tonnes are not even referred to as a ship but words such as boat and or vessel are common. The use of such vessels are never meant to be anything but for short deployment and ranges.
Corvette (1501-3000 tonnes)
These are ships that in general is commanded by a senior officer such as a Commander but they are refereed to as captains by their crew. A corvette is the smallest type of ship that usually can operate at longer deployments and where the commanding officer have a relatively high responsibility and authority over his or her missions.
Most corvette ships have a primary mission type, but most can often perform secondary mission types as well. Few factions will be able to build ships with only a single mission.
Frigates (3001-6000 tonnes)
A frigate are generally a multipurpose platform in one way or another and are often tasked with independent missions. The term frigate usually equates with some form of scouting or reconnaissance ability, they often also have an escorting capability.
Destroyer (6001-12000 tonnes)
The destroyer is a true general purpose ship type and only the most wealthy and powerful factions will be able to develop and maintain such large vessels in any significant numbers. The term destroyer generally refer to a ship whose primary mission is to engage enemy threats whatever they are. Destroyers must often be able to engage threats from the lowliest craft to the mightiest of capital warships. The destroyer themselves is also referred to as a capital ship. Destroyers main mission are in general to escort other capital ships or ships of importance. A destroyer will very rarely act on their own, even if they usually are capable of doing so. The destroyer can also be refereed to as the battleships of space.
Cruiser (12000+ tonnes)
A cruiser is a capital ship that combine the destructive power of the destroyer with adequate hangar space for a multitude of utility or attack crafts. They can and often will act independent or in independent cruiser groups. In all out wars they can be grouped with destroyers to form potent strike forces.
It will take considerable time and resources to construct a cruiser ship something that will not be a common sight in any faction. There will certainly not be any cruisers constructed until much later in this game when factions span over multiple star systems and need long range force projection and scouting abilities.
Really large cruisers can also be referred to as battle carriers. The reason for this is that the larger a cruiser get the more percentage of their hull are normally going to be made up of hangar space.
Carrier (12000+ tonnes)
Carriers are pretty much any ship whose primary mission is to house smaller ships in their huge hangars. There can be anything from utility carriers to amphibious strike carriers or simply the typical fleet carriers.
The size of a carrier does not really matter so a utility carrier can be bigger than a fleet carrier, it is their role that define their exact type.
The main difference between a carrier and that of other ships with hangars are that the carrier themselves almost never carry any offensive weapons, only defensive systems of which some may be active defenses. But the main role is to carry and tend to smaller crafts.
Carriers will generally be less complicated ships to build and field than cruisers but will still be quite an undertaking in terms of investment in time and resources.
Tenders, Colliers, Repair ships etc.. (3000+ tonnes)
A tender can be any ship whose job it is to provide support for other ships. It will often be the tenders job to jump ships of the class they are dedicated for from system to system where there are no gates.
Some very advanced tenders can even have hangars big enough to take aboard ships of the class they are designed to care for, this make them into veritable repair ships but they will tend to be very large. These types of hangars can not be used for anything but maintenance and rearmament of larger ships and can not be used to shuttle around crafts and or boats. Their so called hangars are mainly just a large docking station and the ship can not move while they conduct maintenance.
Note
I only allow supplies in space to be transferred to fill a ship to half their maximum MSP (done manually). If there is a Tender with a hangar large enough for them to dock with they can be filled up to maximum. Otherwise a tender must at least have a "Cargo Handling System" to transfer supplies.
Ships must otherwise visit a space dock with maintenance facilities at their class size to fill them up to maximum MSP of supplies.
This means that ships that are designed for long range and who may rely on supply ships must have a MSP at least twice that of the most expensive component or that component can only be repaired once from a maintenance failure. Battle damage will be even harder to fix unless they have a dedicated tender to fix them.
Ammunition can ONLY be transferred from a dedicated tender or collier ship to a military ship in space. These ships MUST have one "Cargo Handling System". This will represent the necessary specialized equipment to handle the transfer and installation of ammunition in space. Warships may be fitted with a "Cargo Handling System" of their own, if they are they can rearm from any facility or space ship with a magazine.
Likewise, ships can only rearm their magazines in places where there are some maintenance facilities (minimum 1000 tonnes), but they do not have to meet the ship class size, or if there is a dedicated ammunition replenishment ship or station there.
A ship that wants the ability to transfer both supplies and ammunition in space MUST have two "Cargo Handling Systems" or one "Advanced Cargo Handling System".
Missiles may never be stored at a colony outside of magazines if there are not at least maintenance facilities capable to handle more than 1000 tonne space ships present. Likewise a colony may never even have Ordnance Factories with at least a 1000 tonne maintenance facility present.
Fuel may freely be exchanged between ships.
Ship components
Since there are so many factions in this game I will be using a unified scheme for ship components and all ships from all factions will use the same name and reference for all components. It will be a nightmare for me to use country specific naming conventions. Ship classes themselves will be using wet navy equivalent naming convention that are country specific.
Missiles
I will refer to three classes of "missiles" which are Interceptors (AMM), Missiles (Anti-craft) mainly fast very nimble missiles with lower yields and lower range, the third and final type are Torpedoes which will be the main ASM type.
Interceptors will obviously mainly be size one missiles but could also be size two if they need a bigger warhead for some reason against very large torpedoes.
Missiles are called missiles because they have to be relatively small, short ranges, fast and with high agility. Their main role is to engage vessels that are faster than regular ship speed and can generally be anything from corvettes and perhaps down to 125t super fast 'Interceptor Crafts'. Missiles will probably range from two to four in size, highly depending on technology and requirement of yield.
Torpedoes are in general meant to engage proper ships or at least vessels that are relatively slow. Torpedoes will generally be protected, at least with a modest layer of armour and the smallest torpedoes will often be size five or six. Big capital torpedoes can often be between 8-12 in size and have several layers of armour.
There will often be the smaller more faster torpedoes (size 5-7) and slower more armored, powerful, long range capital torpedoes (size 8-12).
Sensors and fire-controls
Sensor systems and fire-controls will usually be meeting the same criteria as that of the missile systems they serve to support. The exact resolution of systems will obviously depend on many factors, one will obviously be the knowledge and understanding of potential enemy ships and their sizes. In general there will be ship based sensor system and smaller vessels based sensor systems.
One of the drawback of the sensor systems in the game is that different sensor systems can't be switched on individually which means that ships will generally only carry low resolution sensor systems, often resolution five and below. All to keep their emissions at a minimum.
Smaller vessels will usually carry the larger resolution sensor suites such as corvettes and smaller vessels.
Fire-controls for missiles will generally be called things like 'Interceptor Fire-control', 'Missile Fire-control' or 'Torpedo Fire-control'.
Search sensors will be called things like 'Narrow band Search Sensor' (Res.1), 'Low band Search Sensor' (Res.5-10), 'Medium band Search Sensor' (Res.20-30), 'High band Search Sensor' (Res.50-80), 'Wide band Search Sensor' (Res.100-120), 'Area band Search Sensor (Res.180-240).
Abbreviation on modules and missile components
The letters stands for
NavCom = Communication & Navigation Sensor
ASS = Active Search Sensor
EM = Passive EM system
TH = Passive Thermal system
IFC = Interceptor Fire-control
MFC = Missile Fire-control
TFC = Torpedo Fire-control
PBFC = Primary Beam Fire-control (for none turreted weapons)
TBFC = Turreted Beam Fire-control (for fire-control that is turreted but not designated as primary point defence)
PDFC = Point-defence Fire-control
VLS = Vertical Launch System (reduced size launcher)
ALS = Automatic Launch System (regular missile launcher)
BLS = Boxed missile launch system
LS = Laser beam weapon
TLS = Laser beam turret
GC = Gauss cannon
TGC = Gauss cannon turret
CIWS = Close in weapon system
RG = Rail gun
PB = Particle beam
HPM = High Powered Microwave
NPE = Military Powered Engine
CPE = Commercial/Civilian Powered Engine
JPN = Military Jump Engine
JPC = Commercial/Civilian Jump Engine
PB = Power Plant
INT = Interceptor Missile
ACM = Anti-craft Missile
TRP = Anti-ship Torpedo
ESH = Energy Shields
CLF = Cloaking Field
Number
This is the version number of the particular module, the first number is the technology generation the last two is just a sequential number.
Last letter
This is just a revision number if the component only underwent a minor adjustment for some reason.
Example
US-ASS-203b Low bandwidth Search Sensor System
In this instance the number "2" stands for the active technology level and the "b" stands for a change in EM passive technology from the original version. "03" is just a sequential number of that generation.
I'm now off to actually set up the campaign using the 6.4 version of the game, I just hope there are no critical errors to be fixed with a database change to come, hopefully I will not be too far into the campaign to start over...
-
Ok.. my first update to a long period of waiting to be able to actually start this campaign...
In the year of 2065 the US and UK launched their first joint project in space in the form of the CSS-001 Voyager class Survey Ship. It was a huge spectacle all over the world when the ship launched in to space after months of testing and preparations. The 55 crew members of the USS Voyager would now have a nearly two year long journey ahead. The Voyager ship was a marvellous wonder of modern technology, the new engine technology recently developed on Earth could make the ship travel at nearly 65km/s and did not need a gravitational body to change it course in space. This new marvellous space travelling method of folding space was a wonder to behold. In theory ships could travel at an infinite speed by using this new technique of folding space, but there were serous limitation. Energy was one of the greatest limitation of this technology. When the new mineral Sorium was discovered to contain huge quantities of compressed energy space travel was a reality. Later methods of refining the Sorium mineral into a liquid and stable state was the key to the energy problem of the new drive system.
Not before long Voyager had managed to scan and probe Luna, although the disappointment on the crew was great when no rich deposits of mineral were found there, only scattered remnants of mineral not worth the effort.
Later, Voyager travelled to the inner most planet of Mercury and here the disappointment was to go away. Large and easy access to Duranium and decent access to Sorium was found among some deep resources of other minerals.
When Venus, later in the year, was investigated by Voyager the initial scan pointed toward such huge quantities of Duranium they had to do their calculations and scans twice as many times just to be sure it was not a glitch in the system. Venus seemed to hold an enormous deposit of up to 70 million tons of Duranium ore with very easy access, this was a huge find. Earth could secure enough of that mineral for an unforeseeable future.
Although most of these data were a secret only shared between the US and UK, other countries would later in the year launch their own smaller but equally advanced survey ships and discover the same mineral deposits.
Geopolitics
During the year of 2065 the world seemed to be on a high from all the advances in space. All major countries of the world had now committed so much of their resources and energy towards space that most local disputes on Earth seemed petty and minor. There had been no major incidents or squabbles among the major nations as all their focus and attention had been on their own space program. There are currently two alliances who share their space programs which are the US and UK in one and Germany, France and Russia in another.
There are also rumours that China is working on a secret space program besides their exploring program.
N-01 USS Voyager
Nationality: United States
Class: CSS-001 Voyager Survey Vessel
Mass: 3050 tons
Total crew: 55 (10 Officers, 18 scientists, 18 Engineers, 9 Enlisted)
Max speed: 60+ km/s
Operational deployment: up to two years
Range: 4+ billion km
Equipment: Advanced geological sensor equipment including drone vehicles and micro satellites.
X-01 CSS Zhang Heng
Nationality: China
Class: NX-01 Luhu class Survey Vessel
Mass: 1800 tons
Total crew: 34 (8 Officers, 9 scientists, 11 Engineers, 6 Enlisted)
Max speed: 75+ km/s
Operational deployment: up to two years
Range: 6+ billion km
Equipment: Advanced geological sensor equipment including drone vehicles and micro satellites.
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/ju6pn3vdkg5iwad/Voyager.png?raw=1)
Voyager as she pulls out of dock at Earth
Macro Data as of the end of 2065
Major factions yearly production capacity
1.6k units - United States
1.1k units - Japan/Germany
....
0.45k units - India
Major factions yearly economical surplus
+442 billion - United States
+346 billion - China
+334 billion - Brazil
...
+8 billion - United Kingdom
Major factions mining output of Newtonian minerals per year
8.8k tons - Brazil
8.1k tons - China/United States
...
3.2k tons - India
Major factions fuel reserves
1.2m liters - United States
1.0m liters - China
0.9m liters - Japan
...
0.45m liters - India
-
I like the direction in which you're headed, and in my opinion you should expand on the descriptive text (how the media is portraying world events and so on). :)
Just something I found peculiar:
N-01 USS Voyager
...
Total crew: 55 (10 Officers, 18 scientists, 18 Engineers, 9 Enlisted)
...
X-01 CSS Zhang Heng
...
Total crew: 34 (8 Officers, 9 scientists, 11 Engineers, 6 Enlisted)
...
Why do you have so many officers for so few enlisted personnel? :p
-
Thanks for the feedback... I'm not really sure of the overall format I will use yet. Most probably I will change style depending on what events is going on. The latest post was more of an update to say that I have started the campaign and give some information on the situation.
Regarding the crew I suppose the engineers could be enlisted but I separated them as they are people who has gone through full naval academy training and by definition are not civilians. Enlisted personnel are more or less civilian people recruited and trained in much shorter programs, they works as cooks or in other serviceable duties. The ships are foremost a science vessel and the majority of the people are in some form or another scientist, even the engineers and officers to some degree.
That is at least the way I envisioned it. :)
-
I will follow this campaign till it or one of us dies. Great job, Jorgen! Should have told me that you are starting one :)
-
Thanks for the confidence... this is a long time project of mine and hopefully it will turn out with enough intrigue to make it enjoyable.
-
Thanks for the confidence... this is a long time project of mine and hopefully it will turn out with enough intrigue to make it enjoyable.
My confidence in you is well earned, my friend. I don't doubt you for a second.
Also: MOAR.
-
Epic failure by the Japanese Space Command!
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/1665rhyuvuab0tr/utility_ship6_mod.png?raw=1)
At 18.30 hours, January 7th 2066, a large fire erupted on the Japanese survey ship Ishigaki during its voyage out into the asteroid field. Their mission was the survey of the Dwarf Planet Ceres. The fire was so intense that the ship had to abandon their mission and head back to Earth. This was a huge setback for the Japanese Space Command, their first ship launched into space had to return to dock after just six month in space. Its sister ship JSS Matsuwa was only weeks from launch though.
Upon return Commander Lee Myong-Suk explained the incident as a technical malfunction and that after a few weeks in repair the ship would soon be on its way again.
After the launch of JSS Matsuwa on February 30th Ishigaki was sent to dock for repairs. Two month later Ishigaki was again launched to resume its mission to Ceres. Commander Myong-Suk now promised that nothing would stop them completing their mission.
At 07.30 hours, June 27th, Ishigaki issued a mayday when a new fire had erupted and the ship was stranded for more than a week, drifting in space. A great fiasco was a fact. It took the crew nearly ten days to get the ship moving again. It now had to limp back to Earth for new repair, without ever reaching Ceres.
Lee Myong-Suk resigned as captain of Ishigaki upon return to Earth.
The effort of the Japanese space exploration had received a setback of nearly half a year and their competitors had already claimed several asteroid bodies as potential mining sites, Japan had not been able to make a single claim so far and was rapidly falling behind the other space nations in the race for precious minerals in the asteroid belt.
The governments of Japan and South Korea had issued a formal protest at the UN about the resolution for claiming rights on minor bodies in the asteroid belt, so far their complaint had received a cold hand from most of the other member nations. Only a few nations had expressed their concern about the rapid exploration and mining claims which some of the space faring nations was doing.
-
Into the Stars 2065-70
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/8l5bcudnb83xf57/ExploreSol_3.png?raw=1)
Exploration of Sol
The years between 2065-70 was to become known as the great exploration of Sol. Brave men and women travelling space in small and slow vessels with their very lives at stake. One small accident would mean becoming stranded in space for month if not years before any rescue could be mounted.
In 2066 Japan had a series of major setbacks in their space program, but in only a year they had set a new record in mineral finds in the asteroid belt through innovation and hard work. In 2068 the British vessel Enterprise had a serious fuel accident just a couple of million kilometres from Earth and was stranded for nearly five weeks before a rescue was conceived. A rocket with additional fuel tanks was launched from earth and attached to the ship and it could fly the last couple of million km back into Earth orbit.
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/pe9q7o446paxgw0/ExploreSol_1.png?raw=1)
A new Era
In March of 2069 a new and innovative new engine was shown to the world from a joint project between US and UK. It was the first Sorium derived thermal nuclear powered stardrive. Rolls Royce was the company chosen to develop this new remarkable piece of technology together with the UK and US space agency organisations.
The first test flight was initiated from the North & Crawford Dockyard in a refitted Voyager class survey ship. When the HMS Newton fired up their engines for a test flight to the moon and back it reached an astonishing 650km/s speed. Almost ten times faster than any other vessel had ever gone before and this was only a test run. The ship was estimated to have a cruise speed at least double that speed.
In May if 2069 commander Mark Cook set sail with a fully refitted HMS Newton. The first trip was a short stop at Mars. This trip was completed in less than a day. The whole word was amazed at these result.
In August 2069 the Chinese government announced it was working on their own prototype of the nuclear thermal Sorium based engine, scheduled to be ready by 2072. While the Russian space agency already had a prototype engine on display and a test ship in orbit of earth, still a good year from a finished product though. Soon most European ships would be powered by a Russian Sukoi-SUA-1 engine.
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/ponb4d6b5i0t3p3/ExploreSol_2.png?raw=1)
Asian Star Union
In late 2065 a very vocal Japan had managed to rally several other Asian nations in to a new security council in the region, the main topic on the agenda was the unfair mining rights treaty signed by the UN in 2063. In just about three years the council had evolved into an economic union where both South Korea and Japan promised major investment with economical and technological aid into the region in support of their space program. By 2064 the Asian Star Union was born with Japan and South Korea as the major leading nations. Other nations in the union is Vietnam, Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand.
This obviously was a huge threat to the hegemony of China who in December of 2069 signed a treaty with North Korea and in a lightning strike sized many island in the South East Asian Sea and annexed a startled Mongolia after a political coup.
China moved so fast and so unexpected that no country had any time to react. It was only by a miracle that Taiwan escaped being annexed due to an American Carrier task-force that hastily managed to intercept and stop a Chinese naval task-group of ground forces headed for the island. No shots were ever traded between the US and China but a joint Taiwan-Japanese air strike destroyed a Chinese surface action group just north east of Taiwan before China suddenly stopped all hostilities.
The Chinese declared to the world that they and their allied now had formed the Peoples Star Federation as a peaceful joint space exploration organisation.
Pan American Star Union
Roughly at the same time as the south east Asian nations started their economic union Brazil had started a political campaign all over south America. In a few years a new agreement among the countries had been drawn and a new charter called the Pan American Star Union was born. This union was very similar to the Asian union where each member were still their own sovereign state. Now, a close economical program had kicked of to pool resources and development in a joint space program. Brazil had also agreed to loosen on some of their restriction on civilian technologies, foremost in energy production. This was mainly in order to increase the productivity of their now allied countries.
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/txq6ucs5xit2buj/PanAmercanCouncil.png?raw=1)
Union headquarters in Sãu Paulo
A huge effort to hunt down and eliminate corruption had begun within the union and official statistics had shown a decrease of nearly 45% in corruption in just over three years.
-
I'm loving the Illustrations you're using lately, It really makes the story pop out.
-
Thanks... my intention is to try and portray the story as if it was history, so the pictures should be like archive pictures taken of these events or in relations to these events.
-
Macro Data as of the end of 2070
Industrial Power
Asian Star Union 2850
US Space Agency 2180
...
French Space Agency 1420
Resource mining
Asian Star Union 15.9k tons
Chinese Star Federation 14.6k tons
...
Russian Space Agency 7.8k tons
Research strength index
UK 4.5
US 3.6
...
Pan American Union 2.8
Economy strength (GNP)
US 10.6 trillion credits
China 8.5 trillion credits
...
UK 4.7 trillion credits
-
Just a heads up... I just updated the first post with house rules on ship communication and missile design in regard to the same subject.
-
Holy House Rules, Batman!
I don't think I've ever seen such comprehensive and restrictive house rules. Will definitely make for a different game. I'm loving your style so far, I'm always a sucker for history book style stuff and skipping over the daily grind doesn't matter, especially with a conventional (or near one) start.
-
Holy House Rules, Batman!
I don't think I've ever seen such comprehensive and restrictive house rules. Will definitely make for a different game. I'm loving your style so far, I'm always a sucker for history book style stuff and skipping over the daily grind doesn't matter, especially with a conventional (or near one) start.
Yes... I like them for two reasons. One is that if forces every faction to make long terms investments and strategies, which also makes the game easier to handle with so many factions. It also forces more interesting here and now choices since there are no waiting for that next juicy technology. It also make applied technology more realistic where larger more complex components will take more time (not RP) to develop and thus have to really be considered before starting work on since it is much harder to rush research. I also find that technology and development in average will increase in a more sane pace, especially in the early game.
There are most likely more house rules being added as I find I will need them to produce a more "realistic" and interesting narrative for the story. :)
I also use old trusted "dice" when factions or leaders/officers make important decisions. I set a probability on their decisions based on their traits, skills and former experiences. I do this so I really can't control all that happens in the game. I obviously don't do this for every minute detail, but I do when there is an important decision to be made that can have a great impact on the overall story. This also help when I as a player have perfect knowledge and sometimes it is hard to favour a side or personality and subconsciously try to skew factors in one or another direction. ;)
My intention with the story is to present an overarching historical description and then dive into particular details at times, such as taking a closer look at a specific faction/country and its standing at that particular time, describe things such as goals, politics, capabilities etc.. Sometimes I might do a description of some important historic person or important event. War will usually produce more significant events worth writing about than peace of course. If humans will ever find aliens they will only ever be described in the eyes of how humans view them, but different factions might see them differently though.
I think that is how this story will unfold.
-
Looking very interesting. Definitly going to be keeping my eye on this :D
-
Looking very interesting. Definitly going to be keeping my eye on this :D
Good... :)
There will be a small update today if all goes well...
This is a long term project so it will not progress very fast and having so many factions tend to slow things down, hopefully there will be enough action and events to keep it interesting as the story unfold.
The way I see it there will be another ten to twenty years before any real exploration and colonization will occur.
-
A study of future conflict in space
08-23-2068 - Made by the British institute of Space Research & Exploration
Foreword
Due to current hostilities by China and their unfounded claim of several asteroids in the belt it has been proposed to conduct a theoretical study into the difficulties of military conflict in space.
Through other reports it has been concluded that China will be able to launch its first nuclear powered vessel in space by 2072 and a military version in the next five to ten years.
On the basis on this information this report have been composed to foresee the possible nature of a military space program to protect British interests in space.
Objectives
What would we expect a military space force to protect and to what extent would this force operate?
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/iutf6yd8dembvt9/Brittish_Report_Mining.png?raw=1)
The most important asset in space, that has to be protected at all costs, would be our capacity to build and maintain military assets. The second priority would be to secure and protect any mining operations, either on Venus or in the Asteroid belt. We are estimating that all our mining facilities will be operated by drone facilities so there will be no actual people to protect at these sites, save for the occasional maintenance crews. Our third objective would be any freighter ships in transit between these locations.
It has been concluded that the only solution to obtain any of these goals is to build a remote naval base and colony where any future naval yards can be operated and protected from enemy forces. Any yard in orbit of Earth will be vulnerable against too many types of aggression.
Organization
A new military organization must be formed to meet all the new requirements and logistical problems faced with forming a military force in space.
This new organization must be formed and given the power and means to construct a new naval space headquarters.
The organization need to contain four different branches of operational brigades which would be Naval Fleet Brigade (NOB), Amphibious Operations Brigade (AOB), Naval Auxiliary Brigade (NAB) and Systems Command & Operations (SCO).
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/karsz4wbbt13d3k/Brittish_Report_HQ.png?raw=1)
NOB would be in charge of overseeing all organization and movement of military fleet assets in open space. They would organize fleet training, reconnaissance, battle manoeuvre tactics and would be tasked with overall command in offensive operations.
AOP would be in charge of ground forces in a space dominating role. They will be responsible for development of tactics, equipment of ground forces and all the logistics and training of all forces. They would also be responsible for organizing invasion plans in case such tactics would become necessary. As in if a belligerent country would land troops on a British colony or mining site and had to be removed by force.
NAB will be responsible for any and all movement of logistical vessels, they will also be responsible of their protection and both strategic and tactical deployment. It would also be the responsibility of the NAB to support fleet or amphibious operations in case of a war. They would also be responsible to coordinate their forces with other brigades in support of their needs, be it for training or live operations.
SCO would be responsible for coordinating all the other brigades and to organize the defence of naval bases. This branch of the new military would make the final decisions on strategic goals and resource allocations. SCO will have no tactical or other operational authority over the other branches of the British Royal Space Navy (RSN).
Hardware
How will conflict in space be conducted and what are the weapons that will dominate a space defence force?
Allot of studies has lately shown that large missiles would be the most probable primary offensive weapon, mainly because of the huge distances of space where high energy beam weapons just don't have enough range to be efficient.
Although, high energy beam weapons will be needed as a defensive measure of both missiles and platforms that approaches within beam weapons range of high valued targets. Since missiles is a rather expensive weapon and limited in numbers a powerful beam weapon will be necessary to defend both bases and vessels in space.
Torpedoes
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/arin15t2r6tjms4/Brittish_Report_Missile.png?raw=1)
British researches has made some progression on future technologies, more specifically on a missile design codenamed Barracuda. It is based on projected capabilities in about five years from now.
The Barracuda torpedo would weigh in at about 20 tonnes and carry a nuclear Sorium based engine for high speed and performance. Its range would be about an astonishing 20-25 million km, mostly limited by its electronics and guidance systems and not fuel. Its warhead would be a powerful nuclear package which is necessary in attacking any structure based on any form of Duranium alloy. The Barracuda tracking and targeting systems would allow the missile to intercept a target at speeds around 1000km/s with a good accuracy.
Research into missiles capable of intercepting a missile such as the Barracuda has so far proved to be very difficult and the most promising defensive technology so far has been long range high powered laser beams that could target a missile at a distance between 60-80.000 km.
High powered beam weapons
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/mlzgaxpp8mgu1bm/Brittish_Report_Laser.png?raw=1)
Beam weapons require enormous amount of energy to attain the destructive power to cut through a Duranium hull, but recent research show that it is possible. British research have so far looked at a first generation of lasers with a focal size of about 100-120mm using the visual light spectrum.
Such beams could be constructed to engage and destroy missiles as their primary function. A secondary function would be the use against enemy vessels to cut through their hull at ranges closer than missile range.
A practical laser range would be about 60-80.000 km.
It would be projected that a single system including a fire-control of a turret operating two laser beam would have a weight of about 450 tonnes per turret and 300 tonnes for the fire-control. Each turret would also need about 100 tonnes of power plant to feed enough power into the arrays.
It would be reasonable to conclude that an escort vessel could mount two laser turrets and one fire-control.
Some ships might also use one or several laser arrays for self defence against enemy ships, such lasers would not need as elaborate fire-controls or space for fast tracking systems and would be considerable smaller. Such systems should be mounted on guided missile vessels for protection at close range and can also be used to engage enemy missiles for additional defence.
Platforms
It is believed that there will be need for quite a few different platforms in order to operating an efficient space fleet in the next ten to fifteen years.
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/nd8b7fbq3pvhkto/Brittish_Report_Corvette.png?raw=1)
The first platform should be a small but fast platform to deliver a powerful blow with short range beam weapons. This platform should have a weight of 600-800 tonnes. It's role would be to catch and destroy enemy missile platforms so it has to be very fast, we believe that a speed of about 3000km/s would be possible to build with today's technology. The range of these ships should be somewhere about 300-500 million km.
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/i3k2i3qltg3s2yi/Brittish_Report_MissileCorvette.png?raw=1)
The second platform should be some form of fast vessel to efficiently and quickly be able to carry torpedoes. These torpedoes would mainly be used against larger and slower platforms. Torpedoes will not be very effective against smaller and faster platforms. This platform would need a size of 700-1000 tonnes and have a speed at least in excess of 2000km/s while their range would be 300-500 million km.
A third platform would be some form of surveillance and reconnaissance vessel and would need to have a size of at least 1500-2000t. It should have advanced electronics and intelligence gathering systems. It would most likely be unarmed so it would need to have a decent speed to avoid confrontation with enemy ships. Speed for this ship would be estimated at about 1250-1500km/s
The ship would also need a much longer deployment and range so it can perform its surveillance role.
The next generation of ships would be larger vessels capable of several functions at the same time or specialized to perform specific functions. There will, for example, be a need of some form of escort vessel to escort and protect civilian ships and troop transport ships. There will also be a need of some form of space superiority vessel that can hold and control areas in space without the need of a naval base nearby. Such a vessel will need to be much bigger and hold more space for both defensive and offensive weapons as well as sophisticated electronics.
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/pmxp902ckeo15n0/Brittish_Report_Escort.png?raw=1)
An escort vessel would most likely need to have a size of around 3-3500 tonnes while a space superiority ship would need to be at least 5-7000 tonnes in size. Both of these vessels would need to have roughly the same speeds and we estimate that less space can be used for engines and they would most likely attain speeds of 800-1000km/s, while range would be estimated in billions of km. Their defence are mainly going to be stealth, reconnaissance and pure power projection and not speed, they will never be able to compete at speed with smaller vessels anyway. In competition with an enemy space superiority fleet knowledge of the enemy would far outweigh the benefit of speed according to military analyses.
Conclusion
It is the recommendation of this report that the goal for the next ten to fifteen years is made in preparation for establishing a naval base somewhere in the solar system in an isolated enough location that it can easily be defended but also close enough to be efficient in protecting our interests in space.
There should be an initial focus in localizing a good place and start preparing to colonize it and build up a local industry that will care for and maintain itself and the majority of our naval vessels.
It is estimated that in order to achieve this goal in a 20-25 year period we will need to divert about 10% of our yearly budget for project related to this goal.
-
Into the Stars 2071-75
The new Cold War
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/2oovhcldb6lopaz/ColdWarInSpace.jpg?raw=1)
In 2071 relation between US and Chine seriously deteriorated after US accused China for industrial espionage. It was believed that plans on the new Boeing Nuclear Thermal star engines had been stolen. It was clear that by 2072 the new line of Chinese survey ships was clearing space dock and enter service.
As a result of this several nations declared economic sanctions on China and stopped most of there research cooperation. This included the US, UK, all the EU members and the Asian Star Union.
A new space exploration era
In may of 2071 the US launch their new Voyager class ship with the brand new Boeing B124 Nuclear Thermal powered engine. This new star-drive system could propel ships in speed in excess of 1000km/s in contrast of the meager 60km/s for the older ships. This ushered a new era where voyages could be countered in weeks and months rather than years.
In the year that followed other nations would launch new ships using similar technologies... either produced on license from the UK engine technology or through cooperative work on the same principal knowledge.
Through the new generation of ships the outer layer of the solar system was finally in reach, by the end of 2075 almost the entire solar system had been mapped by most of the major nations of the world. Several new mineral rich locations had been found and claimed.
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/xf4r7i0hakj1xqt/USF_Flag.jpg?raw=1)
United Space Federation
In February of 2074 USF was instigated by the worlds nation as a new part of the UN. It's purpose is to legislate on everything that is outside of the UN mandate that has to do with humans in space.
All of the legislation decided by the UN in regard to space operations had now been transferred to the new organization.
One of the most important legislation in the new charter was the prohibition of nuclear weapons in space within a distance of ten million kilometers of Earth.
The race begins
At the end of 2075 it was now confirmed that the Chinese had started the initial prototyping of their first armed space ship.
Chinese delegates had assured the USF senate that this ship was no threat to anyone and that its beam weapons was only meant to be used against asteroids who may threaten any colonies that was planned by the Chinese government.
Obviously most other nations though of this as mere nonsense. US officially presented their own "asteroid protection" platform a few months later, although this was more a station than a ship. The official reason for the new platform was the defense of US and UK shipyards against larger "asteroids" that might threaten their Shipyards above earth.
Another long term project presented by US and UK official was a larger patrol frigate type platform... design ideas had been leaked to the media in late 2075. The ship seemed to indicate a ramp up in the military aspect of space exploration efforts and a strong indication to start protecting assets claimed in space with force.
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/07isfpjva2azcpj/Patrol_Ship_Concept.png?raw=1)
Patrol ship concept drawing...
-
This campaign is ongoing yet slowly so... but steady going forward.
I will fix previous pictures and move them to my Dropbox instead of web server... they are currently not viewable so I apologize for that.
-
Macro Data as of the end of 2075
POP = Population
FWP = Federal Wealth Production
FWE = Federal Wealth Expenditure
FME = Federal Military Expenditure
YRP = Yearly Resource Production
II = Industrial Index
RI = Research Index
Asian Star Union
POP: 500m
FWI: 10.3T CR
FWE: 8.1T CR
FME: 3.8%
YRP: 26k Ton
II: 6.57
RI: 5.1
Chinese Star Federation
POP: 518m
FWI: 10.6T CR
FWE: 6.6T CR
FME: 10.5%
YRP: 21.6k Ton
II: 3.3
RI: 4.7
French Space Agency
POP: 312m
FWI: 7.2T CR
FWE: 4.5T CR
FME: 5.5%
YRP: 17.8k Ton
II: 3.4
RI: 4.4
German Space Agency
POP: 393m
FWP: 9.1T CR
FWE: 6.6T CR
FME: 4.6%
YRP: 21.9k Ton
II: 3.3
RI: 5.2
Indian Star Agency
POP: 391m
FWP: 7.9T CR
FWE: 5.0T CR
FME: 9.2%
YRP: 12.4k Ton
II: 3.2
RI: 4.2
Russian Space Agency
POP: 300m
FWP: 7.7T CR
FWE: 6.5T CR
FME: 4.3%
YRP: 17.2k Ton
II: 4.9
RI: 5.4
UK Space Agency
POP: 251m
FWP: 6.4T CR
FWE: 5.5T CR
FME: 4.9%
YRP: 16.6k Ton
II: 3.9
RI: 5.4
US Space Agency
POP: 467m
FWP: 12.1T CR
FWE: 7.8T CR
FME: 9.6%
YRP: 25.7k Ton
II: 4.4
RI: 6.0
-
Awww yess. :D