Author Topic: The Forever War - Part 05  (Read 5371 times)

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Offline Haji (OP)

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The Forever War - Part 05
« on: September 19, 2022, 02:00:33 PM »
16/02/3282

   The leaders and government representatives from all three nations have met face to face for the first time in the Brazilian capital of Nuovo Rio, located on Amazonia.
   The meeting did not start well. First the Federation begun berating Poland and Korea for their war in 3243 which weakened them and made them use precious ammunition only for the two powers to point out Brazil have wasted time as well. Two weeks after the invasion begun they finished building a second Bishop’s Ring in orbit and the two constructs required over twenty years of Amazonian industrial output. Moreover the Federation was the most secure one in terms of minerals but they were holding back on their naval projects.
   After that was done, talks begun about the future, but there wasn’t much that could be done. Poland and Korea hated each other and even if that wasn’t the case all three powers were jockeying for dominant position in the system. The Republic wasn’t willing to give away their technology as that was their only advantage and Brazil wasn’t willing to give away their minerals which were the reason they could afford something like the Rings.
   A unified command structure was also out of the question. During both invasions the invading fleet had to be ground dawn by static defenses and by the time it was done the enemy was weak enough for the three nations to win even without coordination. Besides there was the question of trust. No one trusted the leader not to use the combined fleets to protect their interests first and no one trusted the other fleets to obey if that was the perception of the orders.
   In the end the only thing that was agreed upon was to share information regarding the aliens, something the three nations were already doing. They’ve also agreed however to exchange officers and create a sort of an independent body to try and come up with unified plans of actions. Such body will have no power however other than presenting their advice.
   The only other item that was negotiated were the wrecks. Both Poland and Korea need any resources they can get and both nations have already sent salvage fleets to begin work on their own dead ships, but there was still the question of the aliens. The Republic claimed any ships that were destroyed by their defenses and DPRK did the same, but that left a lot of them out and there was also a certain imbalance.
   Brazil tried to use the fact they don’t need the wrecks as a bargaining chip, but the other two powers weren’t interested. In the end Korea, which contributed the least during the final battle, was given rights to all destroyer and cruiser wrecks near the jump point. Poland got the four battlecruisers there and Brazil got all the battleships.

16/06/3282


   Poland have developed Osa D which, despite the letter, is a modification and not an upgrade of Osa C. It has the same five submunitions but the speed of the main bus has been lowered from sixteen thousand kilometers per second to ten thousand kilometers per second. Together with improved fuel efficiency this gave the missile range of nearly one and a half billion kilometers.
   No sensor can reach that far, but the Polish military realized the sensor does not need to be with the launchers. In the future scouts will be used to illuminate targets for those missiles.
   The jump point to enemy territory is almost seven hundred million kilometers away. This means that even if a newly arrived enemy force would move directly away from Marzanna, those missiles would still catch them. Even so the extremely long flight of nearly two days will require some careful timing to ensure targets can’t jump back or use Lagrange points to lose the missiles.
   Production rates are still a problem however and those won’t be solved for years, if not decades, to come.

01/07/3286


   Korea have colonized a planet they named Kangwon. This is their second colony outside Parana system but what is unusual is that the world is not habitable for normal humans. Apparently they used volunteers to modify them for this planet.
   It is unknown whether or not those were actually volunteers, but what is important is that the huge world is now almost habitable for them. They will need to remove some carbon dioxide for easier breathing and lower temperature but that’s it. However despite the ease of colonization and development the genetic engineering afforded them, the planet isn’t a great prize aside from living space and security. It has habitable rating of five, which is considered low and there are no interesting mineral deposits.

07/09/3286

   It’s been nearly five years since the invasion and Poland have just delivered three hundred mines to Turow. All wrecks have been salvaged and all cometary mining groups moved plus two new mining vessels have been launched. Overall the Republic is well on its way towards ensuring a steady mineral supply.
   Fuel is also no longer a big issue. Over twenty million liters are in storage on Baszta and Marzanna with current production being more than enough for all ongoing operations. Unfortunately it is not even close enough to allow transportation of orbital habitats over interstellar distances. Worse the available freighter fleet is still far too small. As an example the government decided to move a hundred manned and four hundred automated mines to Wieliczka. The process begun nearly twenty years ago and is still only seventy five percent complete. Kleczanow receives almost no support although it has a very larger terraforming operation ongoing so within a decade, two at the outside, it should be fully habitable. Overall the nation is stable, but its infrastructure and logistics are still far too small for its needs.
   On the military front not much have happened. Two new escort cruisers have been launched and most warships have been repaired. Only ORP Marlbork is still in the yards, as she was the most heavily damaged. The first cruiser have also been upgraded to the F variant. The refits are controversial as they take a lot of time and many people believe it would have been better to go the kinhalan route and just build as many ships as possible with either no or at least very limited refits. However this newest one is considered essential. Like Brazil, Poland have neglected improvements in sensors and fire controls and while it wasn’t as damaging for them as it was for the Republic the F variant has twice the engagement range against incoming missiles. She also has greater speed and some other small changes. As such the government plans to refit all existing ships to that version, albeit only one at a time.
   Baszta have also expanded its ordnance manufacturing industry, albeit only slightly, ceased production of recon drones and put slightly greater focus on Osas. As a result the production rates have risen from a little over seventy per year to nearly one hundred and forty per year. Four hundred are in storage, enough to equip one of the large bases, but that’s it. The moon also has slight manpower shortages. Both Marzanna and Baszta itself are building additional habitats to deal with the issue and the population of the moon has exceeded two hundred million about two years ago, giving it about one eight the population of the homeworld.
   Other nations are also working hard on rebuilding. Brazil have built twelve naval yards which are being expanded, although half of them will be used to build orbital defenses. Korea have finished expanding their industry and are now building mines. They’ve also launched their first heavy cruiser massing nearly forty thousand tonnes, but not much is known about her.

02/07/3291

   Poland launches ORP Cedynia, their largest warship yet. She masses thirty eight thousand and four hundred tonnes, has twice as many anti-missile launchers and gauss cannons as the Projekt 019F class light cruiser, carries a thousand anti-missiles, have better sensor suite and has ten railguns rather than three.
   She is the first vessel of the Projekt 030 class and is classified as a cruiser. This was confusing for some people, including some in the government, as similarly sized Korean vessel was classified as a heavy cruiser while Projekt 019 with a similar armament mix was considered an escort. Because of this the navy decided to unify their nomenclature.
   The Polish escort designation comes from the introduction of anti-missiles. Initial Republican warships were armed only with railguns and gauss cannons until the destroyer escort was created to make it easy to discern its different armament mix. The Projekt 019 continued this tradition.
   The simple truth however is that Poland will never adopt offensive missiles due to the very small size of their industry and military but by the same token they absolutely need interceptors to get close to their enemy to employ their heavy armor and railguns. The potency of that doctrine was shown during the newest invasion where, during the last battle near the jump point, the Polish fleet was doing quite well against much larger opponent. Because of this anti-missile armed vessels are now considered mainstream combatants rather then escorts. Consequently the Projekt 019 was reclassified as a light cruiser.
   As for the sizes, different nations classify ships differently and Koreans are calling their vessel a heavy cruiser. The Polish military decided to utilize their own nomenclature when describing warships. Below are the size brackets that will be used:

1000T-8000T: Frigate
8001T-12000T: Destroyer
12001T-2000T: Light Cruiser
20001T-40000T: Cruiser
40001T-60000T: Heavy cruiser
60001-120000T: Battlecruiser
120001T and above: Battleship

   Consequently some foreign ships were redesignated, at least in the internal Polish documentation. The new Korean ships are now classified as cruisers, same as the Republican ships, while the largest kinhalan warships have been demoted.
   In addition, to give the government better understanding of the situation, they’ve also presented comparison between the four existing nations in terms of building practices. In general terms Poland is the only power that does not use offensive missiles, with the exception of their bases while Korea and Brazil do not utilize gauss cannons. In terms of engines, Korea uses middle of the road power to fuel efficiency settings and dedicates twenty five percent of their ships mass to engines. Their newest ships haven’t left orbit yet but they are believed to be capable of four thousand kilometers per second.
   Poland uses engines ten percent more powerful than ‘standard’ settings in order to dictate range, a consequence of their tactical doctrine of close range combat. Coupled with superior technology, their newest ships are capable of five thousand and five hundred kilometers per second.
   Brazil is focused on payload and as a result dedicates only twenty percent of their ships mass to engines. Consequently they are believed to be capable of only three thousand and two hundred kilometers, making them potentially the slowest power, at least if technology is equal. Kinhalans are only slightly faster, capable of thirty six hundred kilometers per second. This is due to their engines having better fuel efficiency, possibly for extended range.
   Poland uses railguns as their primary short range weapon. Brazil and the Unity use lasers. Korea uses plasma carronades. Unity is the only power to use shields on their ships, and only on their largest ones.
   Below is the list of known ships by type. Please note that no hard data on designs of other nations exists. This is all observation, extrapolation of known data and publicly available facts that may or may not be true. The Polish designs are described accurately.

Frigates

   Poland is the only nation to use this type of warships, designed when Marzanna was much smaller and poorer. Five remain in service but have never been upgraded and are obsolete, used for picket duties simply because no other warships are available. The Republic does not plan to build any more ships of this type.
   The Projekt 004 frigate is equipped with four, small railguns of two hundred millimeter caliber. They have quite heavy, nine decimeter armor.

Destroyers

   Destroyers are common warships, however they are used primarily for picket duty although they are also often supporting larger vessels during an all out combat. Kinhalans use the most basic vessels, armed with eighty missiles in one shot box launchers and three light lasers all wrapped in thin armor of four decimeters. They mass nine thousand and two hundred tonnes.
   Brazil is using the largest destroyers as they were their primary combatant before the war. Massing eleven thousand and five hundred tonnes, those are heavily armed multi-role vessels, even more potent since Federation uses lighter missiles for their warships than Unity or Korea. As a result their destroyers carry two lasers, sixty missiles and two hundred and forty anti-missiles, all in single shot box launchers. Unfortunately their defensive fire controls are too short for modern combat although this will likely be corrected. Their armor is uncertain, but quite heavy for ships this small, between nine and fourteen decimeters.
   The Federation would like to move away from destroyers as they don’t have much territory to patrol and prefer to focus on larger warships that can properly challenge kinhalans. Unfortunately due to losing their yards yet again they will almost certainly build more of them, while also upgrading the old ones to be useful. Six are in service.
   Korea fields destroyers massing nine thousand and six hundred tonnes armed with one plasma carronade, thirty missiles and eighty anti-missiles in single shot box launchers. They have moderate armor of six to nine decimeters. Five are in service and they are considered to be weak and borderline useless, similar to Polish frigates.
   The Republic utilizes two different kind of destroyers, the Projekt 011 and the Projekt 014, both massing nine thousand six hundred tonnes. The former is armed with four light railguns, two gauss cannon turrets and have heavy armor of twelve decimeters. The latter is armed with three railguns, sixteen anti-missile launchers and three hundred Iglas, but has no gauss cannons and the armor is quite thin at eight decimeters.
   Those vessels were once the core of the Polish navy but they suffered heavy loses. Both classes add up to seven vessels, used for pickets. As Poland never lost their yards, they have for all instances and purposes abandoned warships of this size.

Cruisers

   For the human nations cruisers are their main combatant, although this is mostly due to their inability to build anything larger, due to their yards being consistently blown up or, in case of Poland, lacking manpower and resources. The aliens utilize them as well.
   The kinhalan version is armed with two to three lasers, depending on generation, eighty missile launchers and forty anti-missile launchers all wrapped in a rather thin armor of eight decimeters. The exact number of carried interceptors is unknown but extrapolated to be between twelve and fifteen hundred, more than their larger warships. This, coupled with the rest of the armament, makes it obvious it was designed as an escort, mostly likely to counter the missile bases. However the Intelligence also believes such ships may be used for patrol and picket duties.
   Their heavy cruisers (formerly battlecruisers) mass fifty nine thousand and eight hundred tonnes. They have twelve lasers, sixty repeatable missile launchers with three hundred rounds and twenty four anti-missile launchers with seven hundred to a thousand rounds. Her shields can absorb one hundred and forty mega tonnes of damage but her armor is surprisingly mediocre, between ten and fifteen decimeters.
   Brazil operates one cruiser type massing twenty five thousand, five hundred and fifty tonnes. She is armed with five lasers, one hundred and sixty missiles in single shot launchers and anti-missiles, the configuration of which depends on the generation of the ship. Older ones carried four hundred single shot launchers, while the newer ones have thirty launchers with over six hundred shots in the magazines. The armor of the current generation vessels is fifteen decimeters.
   Korea has four types of cruisers. Two of those are jump ships designed to escort others through a jump point and their exact capabilities are unknown but limited, due to the size of the jump engines.
   As for the actual combat types, one dates back to before the war and masses nineteen thousand and two hundred tonnes. Unfortunately as they were not present during the Korean War of 3242 and all their new ones were destroyed in alien space outside Polish survey capabilities, her armament is much more difficult to discern. She is believed to carry at least a couple of carronades, and around a hundred missiles. Interestingly Korea have always used repeatable anti-missile launchers on their ships, even when those weren’t quite ready, and she probably have between twelve and twenty of them with around two hundred to four hundred shots. Guessing her armor is next to impossible, but depending on her armament it may be as thin as six decimeters or as thick as twelve decimeters.
   Recently DPRK have been launching cruisers massing thirty eight thousand and four hundred tonnes, but even less is known about them. The class almost certainly have standard Korean mix of carronades, box launchers for their offensive ammunition and repeatable launchers for anti-missiles, but how exactly did they divide the space is unknown.
   Poland operates two types of cruisers and will add a third one. The most numerous is the Projekt 019 light cruisers which currently comes in the E and F variants. There are a total of fourteen of them and they are all in one, main battle fleet, never wasted on picket duties. She has three railguns, two gauss cannon turrets and sixteen anti-missile launchers with five hundred and twenty rounds, all wrapped in fourteen decimeters of armor.
   The new Projekt 030 class cruiser masses thirty eight thousand and four hundred tonnes and is equipped with ten railguns, four gauss cannon turrets and thirty two anti-missile launchers with one thousand and forty rounds. She has sixteen decimeters of armor.
   Poland have also designed Projekt 038 class light cruiser. The one surprise during the Korean War was the survival of the ORP Notec which was attacked from point blank range by a DPRK destroyer. Both ships were similarly sized, but the Polish one won very one sidedly. Admittedly she had technological advantage and most of the Korean missiles missed, but even so her armor was so heavy that even if most have hit, she would have likely still survived and her heavy short range firepower would have shattered her enemy just as easily. This combat was used as a guidance to develop a new dedicated picket and patrol ship, something the Republic desperately needs as very few areas are being guarded. Wieliczka, being developed as a major mining and R&D site is unprotected and jump points to Guardian space are not picketed.
   The Projekt 038 masses sixteen thousand tonnes and has sensor suite similar to that of Projekt 030, twice her size. She has no anti-missiles but she has four of the newest, heaviest railguns supported by four gauss cannon turrets. All of that is wrapped in sixteen decimeters of armor.
   Poland currently has seven naval yards, two of which are close to finishing expansion. One is used to slowly upgrade the light cruisers, three are used to build the new Projekt 030 class cruisers and three will be used to build Projekt 038 light cruisers.

Battlecruisers

   The only nation operating battlecruisers is the Unity, although those were originally classified as battlships. They mass eighty two thousand and two hundred tonnes, carry twelve lasers, albeit heavier ones than their heavy cruisers, have one hundred missile launchers with five hundred rounds and twenty four anti-missile launchers with one thousand to fifteen hundred rounds. Their shields can absorb two hundred and fifty mega tonnes of damage and they have relatively heavy armor of sixteen to twenty two decimeters.

11/11/3292

   Korea begun moving one of their two remaining naval yards out of their home planet. According to the official releases it won’t be moved to Chogjin in Bialowieza as originally planned but all the way to Kangwon.
   The planet is growing slowly due to the distances and limited civilian fleet, but the population have recently exceeded ten million, more than enough to support the very limited remaining Korean military shipbuilding although the colony would have to grow a lot for commercial shipbuilding to fit there.

17/11/3292

   Poland have received latest information from their survey ships. The nation no longer has any routes to expand as all of them are blocked by the Guardians.



   It is believed that Poland isn’t the only nation facing this problem. Korean survey ships are in near constant use, but very suspiciously there are only three of them and their comings and goings appear a little too regular. As for Brazil little is known about what they found. They are interested only in mineral deposits and don’t publish their findings, officially to prevent kinhalans from analyzing their strategic situation. They continue exploring, but they haven’t developed their space in any way and no one aside from survey crews have visited those stars.
   For the time being this means the Republic has to make do with what they have. They cannot possibly fight even the weakest of the Guardian battle groups, especially with the threat posed by Unity unresolved.

22/07/3293

   While Kleczanow is not yet fully habitable, the infrastructure requirements have fallen so much the nine orbital habitats that were used to house terraforming specialists are no longer needed. As such they are being moved to Belchatow, a moon in the Pogranicze system that has over four million tonnes of gallicite at maximum accessibility, and over sixty seven million tonnes of medium accessibility duranium. All other elements are also present, but are either in minimal accessibility or not really relevant right now.
   For the longest time the biggest problem for Poland was mercassium, critical in building orbital habitats, but that problem is mostly solved now thanks to new cometary mining locations and Wieliczka. At the moment gallicite and duranium are in the greatest risk of shortages.
   There should be enough fuel to move all nine habitats but moving more over interstellar distances is still not feasible.

20/10/3293

   Poland delivers first naval yard to Kleczanow. It is one of the smaller ones, capable of building warships up to sixteen thousand tonnes and will be used to build light cruisers for picket and patrol. Two mores similar yards will be moved but the population of the moon is not yet large enough to support more, especially since the government wants to establish ammunition production first, so that any actual warships constructed would sail to the front with full magazines.
   As Baszta had manpower shortages, this will merely allow it to operate industry at full capacity. However the habitats are still growing in numbers, primarily due to new construction coming from Marzanna so new ordnance factories will be added in the near future.

30/07/3297

   A couple of weeks ago Brazil requested high ranking representatives from the other two nations, being extremely insistent of this and refusing to elaborate over any networks due to possibility of leaks. The delegations finally arrived and their worst fears were confirmed – a second front has been opened.
   On tenth of June, 3293 a Federal survey ship entered a new system and detected transponder codes of several civilian ships, with coding definitely being kinhalan in origin. As the jump points were not stabilized it was hoped the enemy was not aware of this particular chain of stars. Exploration ships were sent as a pickets several jumps in while Brazil expanded stabilized jump point network to hopefully establish a naval base to protect their space, which they intended to exploit in the future even if they had no immediate need for it.
   On sixteenth of January of this year the picket detected incoming kinhalan ships. The human vessels were utilizing maximum emissions control and were likely not initially detected, however the enemy craft was equipped with stealth engines and was detected at a range so short it was certain the Brazilian exploration ships were detected as they begun to withdraw.
   The danger is not immediate. There are eight jumps between the site of the encounter and the Wrota system and it will take time for kinhalans to survey them. Unfortunately the Federation is boxed in by the Guardians which means the route is more or less a straight line with few outcroppings that could waste Unity’s time.
   For now Brazil intends to establish an actual military picket three jumps from the contact system. If the alien survey ships are blown upon entry, they won’t be able to do any survey.
   After the previous invasion the Joint Tactical Institute for Military Research (JTIMR) was established for nations to coordinate information exchange and military tactics between the three human powers, but it was mostly a powerless organization with low ranking officers assigned to it. Nonetheless they were invited to the meeting and while seen as a PR stunt, the officers there took their job seriously and were considering all possible scenarios.
   As they pointed out only one exploration ship will be stopped this way. After that battlecruiser groups will be arriving as the enemy had four known jump ships of that size and they had time to rebuild their fleet, not to mention at least four capital ships managed to escape. Forward defense won’t be possible and as such humanity must try and fight delaying action within Brazilian space while preparing an actual fortified position further dawn the chain, one that will include the type of bases, both ground and orbital, as the Parana system has.
   They also point out there is still time, more than there appears. It is known the aliens sacrifice speed for fuel efficiency and their home planet is within round trip for their ships. However unless the enemy has jump capable tankers, their warships should not have the range to attack the system Brazil intends to picket and then go back. As such it is very likely the enemy will have to either stabilize a lot of jump points or build a new vessel before the battlecruisers will start arriving.
   Nonetheless the picket force must be strong, which means Poland and Korea will likely have to contribute.



20/08/3297

   The situation was serious enough that, for the second time in history, the heads of the three states met face to face. Everyone tried to find excuses but media still managed to pick up that something extremely dangerous was happening.
   If the aliens were to advance through Brazilian space, Poland would be in the most desperate position. For all instances and purposes their mineral resources in the Parana system have been exhausted. If the Wrota system is lost, the Republic will have to surrender.
   Korea is in a better situation, but not much. They could keep going for a century, at most, and while it sounds impressive, the war is now ninety years old. It would be a loss for them as well. Only Brazil could resist for a significant amount of time, but their resources are also finite and would likely last only two, maybe three centuries although if they were to carry the entire human war effort, it is very likely they could run out within a century as well. Wrota had to hold, at the very least.
   In desperation, Poland decided to take a chance and propose actual strategic cooperation. They have offered to stand shoulder to shoulder with Brazil, offering their entire fleet for the picket duty, although the ships would have to rotate which means only half would be at the spot at any given time. They also revealed the existence of Osa D, which will be able to hit the invaders before they could reach any target. They’ve also given the other two nations firm numbers of what they have – two thousand and twenty missiles ready to launch in a single salvo, but no reloads. They’ve also begun pushing Korea for developing something similar.
   The Republic have long suspected DPRK have already thought of something similar but they never developed such a munition because they actually wanted their competitors to be weakened, especially after the hammering they have themselves taken. Many agreed this was very stupid, as it was better to have the capability and pretend not to have it, rather than simply discard it, but everyone understood that this kind of idiocy is normal in dictatorships. Nonetheless when put in the spot and confronted with the fact another nation had something like that, the Korean leader begun wavering and eventually agreed to develop similar capability.
   After that Poland tried to pressure Brazil to establish a missile base in the inner system so that all three powers could drawn the aliens in missiles as soon as they enter the system, but the Federation had other ideas. They have taken the criticism of the two powers to heart and they’ve been using their industry to produce ship components to speed up production. Recently they have laid dawn three new destroyers and managed to cut their construction time by about half, equating to three years. They’ve also pointed out that while fortifications are indeed powerful and necessary, in the end it was always the fleet that dealt the finishing blow and this probably isn’t the last time a new front have been opened, something only a mobile force can respond to. As such they intended to focus on warships, leaving static defenses to the other two nations.
   Meanwhile the JTIMR proposed a very interesting idea to make the blockade much more powerful – development of anti-missile sized shipkillers. As they point out Brazil has six destroyers, three of which completed refits and more are being laid dawn. Those house their interceptors in single shot box launchers and each has two hundred and forty of them. In the confines of a jump point battle, this could easily become a dead cruiser. For that matter Poland with their repeatable, fast firing launchers could also do a lot of damage if they had something like that. The Federation agreed immediately, but the Republic was more reserved.

25/08/3297


   While seven light cruisers begun moving towards KRC 61090 where the defensive line is being established, Poland have been trying to figure out whether or not they can afford to start building new type of offensive missile and the answer is no, but yes.
   Right now Baszta can fire a single salvo of ten thousand submunitions and while that sounds impressive, it wouldn’t be enough. In theory a salvo forty percent as strong managed to destroy six battlecruisers (formerly classified as battleships), but those were damaged and the fleet had degraded point defense due to loses. If the aliens arrived at the same strength they did previously, this would be enough to destroy, at best, a third of their fleet.
   In addition the Republic has over forty thousand newest generation Iglas, but that is also a rather low amount, considering the existing fleet requires eight thousand and each of the new, large bases on Baszta requires over six thousand. More munitions are needed. However there may be a way to get them without reducing current production.
   Marzanna for all instances and purposes is no longer building any installations for itself, not counting new research facilities which are being constructed every fourteen months or so. Moreover Poland has the largest commercial shipbuilding complex in the system. They have a total of thirteen yards and can work on over two million and three hundred thousand tonnes of shipping at any given time. Even before the latest attack that was more than the other two powers combined. And while ships could always be produced faster, they have what they need for a stead and reasonably fast growth. In short the shipbuilding sector no longer has to expand quite as rapidly as it once did and the capital now has twenty million surplus workers, enough for four hundred ordnance factories – fifty more than what Baszta has.
   Resources may turn out to be a problem, but as soon as current project of automated mines is completed, Marzannas ammunition production facilities will be expanded and a new missile will be designed.

30/08/3297

   The three nations have been arguing about where to establish a second defensive line, without success so far. Brazil wants to establish it as far away as possible, preferably in KRC 61090 where the fleets are gathering as this would leave them with some worlds to exploit for resources and give strategic depth so another defensive line could be established if this one collapses. Korea however is not convinced. As they point out building ships, or fortifications, takes a really long time so strategic depth is irrelevant. They are also unwilling to die for Federal interests. For them the line should be in the Wrota system.
   The issue is that all four jump points in Wrota are over two billion kilometers away from the star, too far away even for Osa D to reach. The alien entry point in the KRC 61090 however is three hundred million kilometers away from the star and there are several bodies where missile bases could be established.
   In the end no compromise is reached. It is obvious that Korea is doing what Brazil was trying to do – stick the other two nations with the cost of the war, while hiding behind them. Only while the Federation ultimately failed at that, DPRK may get away with it.
   In the end Poland and Brazil will try to develop that system into another fortress, however that won’t be easy for the Republic doesn’t have the spare industrial capacity for this. Marzanna has the largest industry but it is supporting other colonies and has to build up its own ordnance manufacturing. Baszta has only seventy percent as much production capacity and is focused entirely on self-expansion due to being responsible for defending the nation in the Parana system. Kleczanow, which is now fully habitable, has only thirty percent as much capacity as the capital and is consumed entirely with enlargement. It will be years before the process can actually begin.

02/06/3304

   Marzanna have completed expanding its ordnance production sector, allowing it to manufacture nearly three thousand anti-missile sized munitions per year, currently divided equally between interceptors and new, small, shipkillers named Wlocznia. There is still manpower available so the expansion could continue, but the government knows they need to focus on other tasks.
   In theory Poland should be building missile bases in the Brazilian space to halt the advance of kinhalans, but it is unlikely any such base will make a difference in the short term and the government is worried about exposing its civilians to alien occupation, even if Federation have already established a colony of twenty two million in the system, which they renamed Escudo. Of course the other nation doesn’t have to worry about orbital habitats and has the largest civilian fleet in existence, so it is easier for them.
   Poland however has its own problems. While mineral situation have largely stabilized, they are lacking boronide, one of the two minerals needed to build orbital habitats. They have enough of it remaining to build enough habitats for over ten million people but they are mining only very limited amounts of that particular resource.
   It should also be noted that establishing a completely self-sufficient colony, one that will be producing its own ammunition and missile bases would require far too many habitats which means that the proposed colony in Escudo will likely be small and focused on assembling and managing bases and missiles delivered from other planets and Kleczanow is still in the middle of expansion while Marzanna and Baszta are needed for other tasks. In short the Republic cannot really afford the project right now, but they can solve their boronide issue.
   Nonetheless Poland intends to honor its commitment to the common defense with ships. New cruisers have been launched recently and they are all partaking in the picket rotation.
   As for boronide mining, there are no amazing sites to get that particular mineral. The best one is a dwarf planet at the edge of known space and within two jumps of three different Guardian task forces, but nothing can be done about it. The system, formerly known as KCK 1032 is renamed Rubin and the dwarf planet is named Bogdanka.

16/08/3305

   Brazil have launched their last destroyer. They were left with six after the last invasion and now they have twenty one but they won’t be building any more as the shipyards are retooling to build cruisers. All of those warships are on rotation to and from Escudo.
« Last Edit: September 19, 2022, 02:02:07 PM by Haji »
 
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Re: The Forever War - Part 05
« Reply #1 on: February 16, 2023, 04:34:21 PM »
Weirdly enough for me my favorite thing about this story is the changing ship type nomenclature, I really like how realistic it is and how it reflects changing mindsets.