Once again in a Steve AAR, the first Swarm encounter proves deadly and the player empire will be on the back foot for a while now. Hopefully this war goes better than the one in the Crusade AAR... I still remember the
nearly unstoppable Tyranid advance from that one quite well!
On July 16th 1899, two months after the Battle of Byzantium, HMS Formidable and HMS Implacable were launched from the Devonport Shipyard. The two Formidable class battleships were fifty percent larger than the preceding Royal Sovereign class and mounted one-third more missile launchers plus a secondary armament of four 8-inch lasers. Armour thickness increased by twenty percent and total armour was sixty-five percent greater. Despite the increase in combat capability, the ships would be extremely vulnerable to the Etna’s microwave weapons or the boarders carried by the Palestros. Refits would be required for the both battleships before they could be risked in action.
I wonder if it will be more economical and effective to build a different class, or refit other classes, and use the new Formidable class in other theaters? For example they should prove quite effective as a bulwark against ze Space Germans.
Three months later, HMS Majestic and HMS Magnificent were launched. The Majestic class battleships were the same size as the Royal Sovereigns, with similar amour, and the first Royal Navy battleships with an entirely energy-based armament. Their Majestics were effectively an upscaled Eclipse class cruiser, mounting a main armament of twelve 8-inch lasers, supported by four twin 5-inch laser turrets.
These should be more effective, but even a 250,000 km range is hardly enough to shoot down 100+ deadly Swarm small craft before they can close in. It seems like the major technological advance needed to win this war will be some combination of faster engines and better short-range missiles to efficiently wipe out the small craft before they can close in.
Two months later, a second Swarm ship of a new type, designated as Lepanto class, appeared in the Achaea system, home to six 500,000 ton orbital habitats and a colony of one point two million on the second planet. Achaea was eight transits from Byzantium, with no known connection between the two system except via both Alexandria and Epsilon Eridani. This unexpected Swarm presence resulted in near-panic at the Admiralty as the new incursion was only two transits from Epsilon Eridani, via Neapolis, and three from both Alexandria and Sol.
Sounds like a dormant JP about to complicate the galaxy map. Those are always...fun...
The survey cruiser HMS Andromache passed through the same jump points, but remained in Neapolis to conduct a resurvey to locate any newly-active jump point. That dangerous endeavour bore fruit far more quickly than expected with the discovery of a previously unknown jump point less than seven hundred million kilometres Achaea jump point.
Yep.
Hopefully this does not mean the sun will set too soon on this British Empire... but with the Swarm advancing from two sides, defense will prove difficult unless the enemy can be delayed long enough to develop the necessary advanced technologies to push them back. Simply building more ships will not be enough to win this war.
Great stuff, Steve, already awaiting the next one!
