(4) The calm before the storm: 1897 - 1900

[Garfunkel (OP)]

The calm before the storm: 1897 - 1900

1897



Immediately in January, British industrial output is re-directed to maintenance facilities as No 10 is told that there are no facilities capable of maintaining HMS Acacia.

By March, Italy finalizes its transport design:

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Littorio class Assault Transport      988 tons       25 Crew       58.1 BP       TCS 20    TH 4    EM 0
202 km/s      Armour 1-8       Shields 0-0       HTK 2      Sensors 0/0/0/0      DCR 0      PPV 0
Maint Life 0.67 Years     MSP 3    AFR 78%    IFR 1.1%    1YR 4    5YR 67    Max Repair 7.5 MSP
Troop Capacity 500 tons     Drop Capable   
Tenente di Vascello    Control Rating 1   
Intended Deployment Time: 1 months    Morale Check Required   

Buffon-Caruso Conventional Engine  EP4.00 (1)    Power 4    Fuel Use 158.11%    Signature 4    Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 10,000 Litres    Range 1.1 billion km (65 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

In April, Germany did the same.

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Blucher class Corvette      1,031 tons       31 Crew       72.7 BP       TCS 21    TH 9    EM 0
424 km/s      Armour 2-9       Shields 0-0       HTK 6      Sensors 0/0/0/0      DCR 0      PPV 3
Maint Life 3.17 Years     MSP 11    AFR 34%    IFR 0.5%    1YR 2    5YR 25    Max Repair 20 MSP
Fregattankapitan    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 1 months    Morale Check Required   

Humbold-Still Conventional Engine  EP8.75 (1)    Power 8.8    Fuel Use 187.92%    Signature 8.75    Explosion 12%
Fuel Capacity 5,000 Litres    Range 0.5 billion km (12 days at full power)

Krupp 10cm C2 Infrared Laser (1)    Range 30,000km     TS: 1,250 km/s     Power 3-2     RM 10,000 km    ROF 10       
Thyssen Beam Fire Control R40-TS625 (1)     Max Range: 40,000 km   TS: 625 km/s     12 8 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Siemens Pressurised Water Reactor R2 (1)     Total Power Output 2    Exp 5%

Altemann Active Search Sensor AS14-R50 (1)     GPS 500     Range 14.7m km    Resolution 50

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

Around the same time, the Royal Navy welcomed HMS Agate into service. The third corvette was ordered.

In May, Kaiserreich Raummarine locked down the design for Scharnhorst, their attack transport:

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Scharnhorst class Assault Transport      1,996 tons       31 Crew       108.9 BP       TCS 40    TH 9    EM 0
219 km/s      Armour 1-14       Shields 0-0       HTK 9      Sensors 5/5/0/0      DCR 0      PPV 0
Maint Life 0.82 Years     MSP 17    AFR 64%    IFR 0.9%    1YR 21    5YR 312    Max Repair 50 MSP
Troop Capacity 1,000 tons     Drop Capable   
Korvettenkapitan    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 15 days    Morale Check Required   

Humbold-Still Conventional Engine  EP8.75 (1)    Power 8.8    Fuel Use 187.92%    Signature 8.75    Explosion 12%
Fuel Capacity 20,000 Litres    Range 1 billion km (50 days at full power)

Altermann Thermal Sensor TH1.0-5 (1)     Sensitivity 5     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  17.7m km
Altermann EM Sensor EM1.0-5 (1)     Sensitivity 5     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  17.7m km

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

Literally a day later, Japan finalized their corvette design:

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Akagi class Corvette      1,046 tons       32 Crew       78.3 BP       TCS 21    TH 5    EM 0
239 km/s      Armour 2-9       Shields 0-0       HTK 8      Sensors 0/0/0/0      DCR 0      PPV 4
Maint Life 2.78 Years     MSP 11    AFR 35%    IFR 0.5%    1YR 2    5YR 31    Max Repair 20 MSP
Kaigun-Ch?sa    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 1 months    Morale Check Required   

Mitsubishi Conventional Engine  EP5.00 (1)    Power 5.0    Fuel Use 248.59%    Signature 5.00    Explosion 12%
Fuel Capacity 5,000 Litres    Range 0.3 billion km (16 days at full power)

Mitsubishi 15 cm C2 Plasma Carronade (1)    Range 60,000km     TS: 1,250 km/s     Power 6-2     RM 10,000 km    ROF 15       
Katsumata-Kawasie Beam Fire Control R80-TS625 (1)     Max Range: 80,000 km   TS: 625 km/s     14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 0 0
Mitsubishi Conventional Reactor R2-PB10 (1)     Total Power Output 2    Exp 7%

Nakagawa-Hanari Active Search Sensor AS14-R30 (1)     GPS 420     Range 14.7m km    Resolution 30

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

And soon the British followed with their transport:

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Victory class Assault Transport      1,917 tons       28 Crew       106.6 BP       TCS 38    TH 5    EM 0
135 km/s      Armour 1-13       Shields 0-0       HTK 7      Sensors 0/0/0/0      DCR 0      PPV 0
Maint Life 1.14 Years     MSP 20    AFR 49%    IFR 0.7%    1YR 16    5YR 235    Max Repair 50 MSP
Troop Capacity 1,100 tons     Drop Capable   
Lieutenant Commander    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 15 days    Morale Check Required   

Whitehouse-Lambert Conventional Engine  EP5.20 (1)    Power 5.2    Fuel Use 124.81%    Signature 5.2    Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 12,000 Litres    Range 0.9 billion km (77 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

In August, Royal Navy welcomed HMS Ailsa Craig. The fourth corvette was ordered.

Then in September Italy became the first country to have completely converted their conventional industry to Trans-Newtonian standards. Italy now had 90 construction factories but only 10 mines. This imbalance would be addressed once the shipyard was ready.

December saw HMS Almond join the Royal Navy. Construction continued.

The year ended with the French treasure running out and their budget going into negatives. A significant portion of their scientific base was shifted towards figuring out better economic structures.

1898

In January, A-H finalized their design for an assault transport:

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Budapest class Assault Transport      1,800 tons       24 Crew       96.5 BP       TCS 36    TH 6    EM 0
155 km/s      Armour 1-13       Shields 0-0       HTK 7      Sensors 0/0/0/0      DCR 0      PPV 0
Maint Life 0.86 Years     MSP 16    AFR 52%    IFR 0.7%    1YR 19    5YR 279    Max Repair 50 MSP
Troop Capacity 1,000 tons     Drop Capable   
Korvettenkapitan    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 15 days    Morale Check Required   

Wolkenberg-Platz Engines Conventional Engine  EP5.60 (1)    Power 5.6    Fuel Use 133.63%    Signature 5.6    Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 15,000 Litres    Range 1.1 billion km (83 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

By March, both Germany and Britain were preparing armoured car units, following the earlier example of A-H and Russia, for service on Mars. These were new designs utilizing T-N materials which included air-tight seals as astronomers speculated that the Martian atmosphere would be so thin that humans would suffocate. British Army was even experimenting with personal battle suits that a rifleman would wear. The German General Staff debated whether infantry could ever operate on the surface of Mars.

Iberian Union followed France into financial red. Several other powers were frightened by this and shifted resources towards improving the economy despite still being on the black. The war-torn Earth could not support the breakneck pace of research and industrial production.

April saw HMS Alouette joining the Royal Navy bringing the total of the class to five corvettes. As the second slipway was almost ready, Admiral Sinclair advised the government that it would be best to get started with constructing the assault transports as soon as possible so that the shipyard would be released for an improved corvette model once that was finalized.

In December, Italy finished building its first 10 maintenance facilities. Having learned from the British mistake, King Umberto I made sure that the Regia Marina would not face the same problem.

1899

The new year opened with Parisian celebrations as France became the second country to have converted its entire conventional industry to T-N standards. France now had 200 construction factories and 50 mines.

Countries ranked by Construction Build Points:

• 2,247 Deutsches Kaiserreich
• 1,555 République francaise
• 1,195 British Empire
• 990 Regno d'Italia
• 830 Rossiyskaya Imperiya
• 750 United States of America
• 748 Austro-Hungarian Monarchy
• 308 Dai Nippon Teikoku
• 183 Iberian Union
• 60 The Rim Pact

In March, Italy ran out of wealth and had to start borrowing. France was heavily in debt while Iberian Union was only slightly indebted. Financial troubles loomed ahead for RIPA and A-H if they couldn't reign in spending. Vienna had already stopped growing its army. In fact, France had to pause all construction to focus on building financial centers as economic efficiency started plummeting due to the debt.

On the last day of March, Carpenter & Brother reached 2,500 tons of capacity on its two slipways and could thus start re-tooling for the Victory-class assault transports.

In June, Berlin had to admit facts and stop training ground forces and focus research on improving their economy. Only in London and Washington were politicians smiling when they looked at their budgets.

British PM has 30% Wealth Creation, American President has 15% - everyone else has worse or none which explains the wealth situation. I was surprised by the difference an administrator can make!

In October, HMS Albion and HMS Anzio joined the Royal Navy. London was becoming restless with the other nations seemingly lagging behind. Whispers of Britain going at it alone could be heard in the hallways of the Parliament.

Then 18th December became a historical moment for Russia as Akmolinsk, the first Krivak-class corvette, floated away from the shipyard. Construction started on a second ship.

Christmas Day heard bells run across Germany as the Kaiser announced over the radio that the industrial modernization programme was completed. Germany now had 250 construction factories and 250 mines. Improvement in financial measures had turned the budget to surplus so the important task for the new year would be the completion fo the naval shipyard.

1900



March was a busy month. First, HMS Attacker and HMS Avenger joined the Royal Navy. Carpenter & Brother did not remain idle. Later, Hankel Shipyard was opened and started building the Blücher-class corvettes. And finally, Russians rolled out Alexandrovsk, their second corvette. As Russian scientists tried to squeeze a little more performance out of the Conventional engines, the shipyard had time to build a third and a fourth before it would have to re-tool for the transport.


In April, the first wave of the British Expeditionary Force was ready. It included two regiments of infantry, two battalions of engineers in their tractors, and three independent cavalry battalions that had replaced their horses with armoured cars.

Rifle company:


Weapon company:


Recon squadron:


The whispering that Britain should go ahead alone was getting louder. The continued financial struggles of most powers meant that it was unlikely that any would catch up with the British soon.

July saw Allaykha join the Russian Navy and Albatros the German Raummarine as well as HMS Bachaquero and HMS Battler join the Royal Navy.

Ambarchik rolled off its shipyard in October and brought the Russians to four corvettes, nearly rivaling the Royal Navy while Alk joined the Raummarine, bringing it to three corvettes.

December opened with the completed construction of HMS Ben Lomond and HMS Ben Nevis. With those two ships, the Transport Flotilla was completed and began to load troops. The first wave would be the three cavalry battalions and five engineering companies. Battle Flotilla would provide support.

The year ended with London issuing a notice to the other nine powers: those with ships could follow the Royal Navy and offer assistance but the British Empire would not wait any longer. 1901 would the year of mankind exacting revenge on the Martian Menace!

[Kandros]

Loving this so far, similar to what I am doing with my own Cold War alternate history, albeit with eight fewer factions.  I find that when it comes to factions you control fighting against each other it can be a little hard to not be one-sided with personal bias.  Your rules will provide a different take too, the whole dreadnaughts in space feeling before planes and later missiles changed naval combat.  Always been a fan of naval combat before that shift so it will be interesting to see where you take it.

[Ehndras]

PTW - excited to see how this plays out!

[Garfunkel (OP)]

I find that when it comes to factions you control fighting against each other it can be a little hard to not be one-sided with personal bias.

Yeah, that's one of the reasons why I went with 10 factions - even if I'm biased for one faction, there's enough of them to mess with each other in "fair" manner.

  Your rules will provide a different take too, the whole dreadnaughts in space feeling before planes and later missiles changed naval combat.  Always been a fan of naval combat before that shift so it will be interesting to see where you take it.

The house rules were made before Steve introduced more conventional options and the possibility of slowing down research and survey. I've still had to enforce not researching better engines - both Britain and Germany could have easily made it to Nuclear Pulse and Thermal by now.

PTW - excited to see how this plays out!

Thanks, I am making the Martian Menace now so next update will include the very first space battle.

[kks]

Great Fiction you're writing!

I wonder if the few Troops the British Transports can load won't be obliterated by the Martian automatons. But if it should fail I think the British trying it now is awesome. Nothing creates better immersion than some try and error.

[Warer]

All glory to those who are a about to perish.

[Ektor]

I'm loving this, so far!

[Father Tim]

I'm surprised by how Britain is lagging behind in industrial capacity while forging ahead in warship construction.  I'm also surprised no faction is talking about sending a scout force first for recon, rather than going straight to invasion.

Most of all, I'm excited to see (if I can tell) whether the Martians are a player-controlled NPR, an AI NPR, or regular Precursors guarding ruins.

[Garfunkel (OP)]

Germany went with the traditional build plan while Britain went with a daring experimental one. I was quite surprised how well it worked in this context - on the short term, they are doing much better than conservative Germany.