Oh, the Humanity! (2.5.1)

[L0ckAndL0ad (OP)]

The end of the very first year of the Trans-Newtonian Era was marked with discovery of a partially intact colony of unknown origin on Mercury. But it took another 33 years before xenoarchaeologists finished surveying and have identified 300 abandoned installations that could potentially be recovered and used by Humanity.



Domestic R&D and construction efforts allowed for creation of jump-capable exploration ships, leading to numerous extrasolar discoveries, with 10 nearby star systems charted so far.

Another dormant installation was found two jumps away from Sol, on V1216 Sagittarii I, CC 13.09 rated terrestrial planet with Venusian type atmosphere, right next to a CC 2.0 potential colony, rich with millions of TN minerals of every kind imaginable. But there was no sign of actual life out there, not even a distant signal…

Until 12 July, year 34 TN. That was the day the first alien ship was detected past the Martian orbit in Sol. Humanity had no combat ships, just unarmed survey frigates and some transports, mainly used for archaeology efforts on Mercury.

Fortunately, aliens were not trying to attack. Our guest was just doing a survey of Sol, as yet another system on their checklist, not caring to change flight profile when coming in contact with human ships and sensors.



It took 5~ months until survey frigates were hastily refitted into combat capable warships, giving Humanity some hint of security in their own star system. But Humanity was not going to start shooting alien survey craft just for flying around. Where one might cry “Spies!”, we said “Greetings! Let’s try communicating!”. Not that we weren't concerned. Dedicated military shipyards were already building missile destroyers, at the same time as countless translation and xenopsychology teams were trying to come up with a reliable way to share information with the aliens.

The Federation of Hamaliel, or HAM for short, wasn't particularly interested in Humanity. Even after dedicated Diplomatic ships were built and put next to every nearby jump point, they kept sending additional survey ships (or so it seems) to do their thing and then went on to do it elsewhere. And there lay the problem. Humanity wasn’t able to trace their movements back to their home system. With long endurance survey frigates refitted into warships, flying after aliens for a long time was tricky.

As Humanity was looking for more minerals, V1216 Sagittarii (which needs a better, easier name) seemed like a good target. But there was also the Sirius system in between, also full of minerals and waiting to be colonized. It was closer, so Humanity focused on trying to set up its first extrasolar colony there, starting with moving automated mining equipment first.

April, 42 TN, Humanity ships:

Barnards Star
1x DIP Ambassador

Luhman 16
1x DIP Ambassador

Ross 128
1x DIP Ambassador

Sirius
2x FFG Vigilant: Endeavour, Enterprise
8x AT Rainbow Sky
1x DIP Ambassador

Sol
10x FFG Vigilant: Atlantis, Challenger, Columbia, Discovery, Independence, Keeper, Paladin, Pathfinder, Protector, Warden
28x DDG Defender: Blaster, Conqueror, Crusher, Dauntless, Devastator, Fearless, Firestarter, Firewalker, Flyer, Forager, Gladiator, Harvester, Howler, Hunter, Intimidator, Masher, Raptor, Razor, Savage, Skychaser, Slammer, Starseer, Terror, Tracker, Traveler, Vindicator, Watcher, Wrecker
4x RS Ranger
64x LAC Spectre
2x AOR Europa

[L0ckAndL0ad (OP)]

November, 48 TN

Researchers brought some old alien equipment from Mercury, but careful disassembly gave little new insights to the Navy R&D department on Earth. Number of major research labs there was about to go over a hundred, making new discoveries almost every month of one kind or another. We saw little we can't achieve soon on our own. Question of what happened to previous inhabitants of Mercury remains unanswered, though.



It's been a while since we saw any Federation of Hamaliel ships. A new survey frigate type was developed, Discovery class. Long endurance exploration ship with modest self-defense armament. Six ships were constructed so far. Hopefully, these new ships would allow us to find HAM homeworld.

Code: [Select]

Discovery class Survey Frigate      8,000 tons       194 Crew       1,132.1 BP       TCS 160    TH 375    EM 0
2343 km/s    JR 3-50      Armour 2-35       Shields 0-0       HTK 50      Sensors 6/5/1/1      DCR 17-21      PPV 12
Maint Life 6.43 Years     MSP 1,119    AFR 73%    IFR 1.0%    1YR 47    5YR 699    Max Repair 100 MSP
Magazine 60 / 0   
Captain    Control Rating 4   BRG   AUX   ENG   SCI   
Intended Deployment Time: 48 months    Morale Check Required   

J8000(3-50) Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 8000 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3

Commercial Ion Drive  EP375.00 (1)    Power 375    Fuel Use 3.61%    Signature 375    Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 353,000 Litres    Range 220 billion km (1086 days at full power)

10cm Railgun V20/C3 (1x4)    Range 20,000km     TS: 3,000 km/s     Power 3-3     RM 20,000 km    ROF 5       
Beam Fire Control R64-TS3000 (SW) (1)     Max Range: 64,000 km   TS: 3,000 km/s    ECCM-1     63 52 40 28 16 5 0 0 0 0
Magnetic Mirror Fusion Reactor R3 (1)     Total Power Output 3.1    Exp 5%

Size 6.00 Box Launcher (10)     Missile Size: 6    Hangar Reload 122 minutes    MF Reload 20 hours
Missile Fire Control FC54-R100 (1)     Range 54.4m km    Resolution 100
ASM-60 Trident Anti-Ship Missile (10)    Speed: 17,600 km/s    End: 47m     Range: 49.7m km    WH: 9    Size: 6    TH: 70/42/21

Active Search Sensor AS4-R1 (1)     GPS 12     Range 4.8m km    MCR 430.9k km    Resolution 1
Active Search Sensor AS49-R100 (1)     GPS 6000     Range 49.7m km    Resolution 100
Thermal Sensor TH1.0-6.0 (1)     Sensitivity 6     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  19.4m km
Geological Survey Sensors (1)   1 Survey Points Per Hour
Gravitational Survey Sensors (1)   1 Survey Points Per Hour
ELINT Module (1)     Sensitivity 5     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  17.7m km

Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Warship for auto-assignment purposes
There were 3 unexplored jump-points in V1216 Sagittarii. If Humanity wants to colonize it in the near future, surveying them should be a priority. Some frigates were held back in Sol, waiting for HAM ships to reappear, so we can try shadowing them again.

13 November, 48 TN, survey frigate FS-3 Explorer came into contact with alien ships... but they were not Hamalielian. One of the systems next to V1216 was called HIP 33226. Explorer detected 9 ships in two formations, most of them looking military and heavy. Given Humanity's previous peaceful contact with HAM, Explorer went forward to survey star system further, but very quickly was destroyed by fast and deadly missiles.





Hiperian (a temporary name to these HIP 33226 aliens) military ships were clearly more advanced than our own. Faster, bigger, punchier. The contact happened not in a way Humanity was hoping for, and raised immediate questions about the future of human expansion beyond Sirius in that region. A possibility of interstellar war breaking out suddenly filled Humanity with anxiety.

How would we respond to these challenges?

[L0ckAndL0ad (OP)]

30 January, 49 TN

Most of Humanity's effort was spent on bringing missile cruiser/destroyer designs up to the most recent tech available. However, there’s still quite a lot of time before the first missile cruiser will be built. In the meantime, older DDGs and FFGs are used to patrol space around Sol and Sirius.

The first human colony in Sirius was named Harmonia (Sirius-A Planet IV Moon 2). It does not have any minerals, but other planetary bodies have ample supply of them and mass drivers have already started delivering everything to Harmonia. Total amount of minerals on all three primary automated mining colonies is 310 million, with the downside being low accessibility of most mineral types.

 Sirius-A I
     Duranium 22,296,341   Acc 0.9
     Neutronium 6,350,233   Acc 0.1
     Tritanium 8,397,070   Acc 0.8
     Boronide 28,675,358   Acc 0.4
     Mercassium 8,035,724   Acc 0.9
     Vendarite 1,920,829   Acc 0.1
     Corundium 1,587,433   Acc 0.1
     Gallicite 6,036,682   Acc 0.1

 Sirius-A III
     Duranium 8,321,870   Acc 0.2
     Corbomite 2,623,735   Acc 0.1
     Tritanium 290,935   Acc 0.1
     Boronide 26,624,935   Acc 0.1
     Mercassium 8,999,335   Acc 0.1
     Sorium 31,135,735   Acc 0.1
     Uridium 5,474,935   Acc 0.1
     Corundium 6,968,935   Acc 0.1
     Gallicite 1,035,079   Acc 0.8

 Sirius-A V
     Duranium 7,200   Acc 0.9
     Tritanium 22,467,600   Acc 0.1
     Boronide 26,625,600   Acc 0.7
     Mercassium 26,625,600   Acc 0.1
     Vendarite 17,640,000   Acc 0.1
     Sorium 10,890,000   Acc 0.1
     Uridium 8,643,600   Acc 0.1
     Corundium 14,288,400   Acc 0.1
     Gallicite 3,027,600   Acc 0.6


System V1216 Sagittarii was renamed to Promethea, for all the dangerous discoveries. Future colony there was given a name Prospera, to highlight its rich mineral composition.

 Prospera (Promethea Planet II)
     Duranium 17,904,128   Acc 0.1
     Neutronium 11,102,224   Acc 0.1
     Corbomite 20,757,136   Acc 0.1
     Tritanium 3,625,216   Acc 0.1
     Boronide 6,677,056   Acc 0.1
     Mercassium 13,987,600   Acc 0.1
     Vendarite 40,857,664   Acc 0.1
     Sorium 9,784,384   Acc 0.1
     Uridium 13,483,584   Acc 0.3
     Corundium 22,014,864   Acc 0.1
     Gallicite 8,952,064   Acc 0.1

The first planet of Promethea, the one with a dormant construct of unknown origin and function, was renamed to Radiant. Whatever that thing might be, we’ll figure it out.

10 February, 49 TN

12 old DDGs were sent to Promethea to form a jump-point blockade, accompanied by FFGs and replenishment oilers (AORs). Alien controlled star system HIP 33226 was renamed to Voraxia. No contact with Hiperians (ehm, Voraxians) so far. Diplomatic ships are being built to improve our chances of making peaceful contact.



13 December, 49 TN

After years of preparations, first colonists set foot on Harmonia. Infrastructure is still barebones, but the future of this colony is promising. 104 automated mines are currently working in the star system, all feeding a single colony, with additional ~200-500 AMs planned to be delivered from Sol in the future.

22 December, 49 TN

Contact with HAM survey ships reestablished, survey frigate FS-06 Solar Wind is shadowing one of their grav ships. We’re yet to see even a single military ship of theirs. And, probably, it’s a good thing.

8 January, 51 TN

Several small (just 250 tons of gear and ammo each) Marine detachments land on Radiant to provide security for a recently landed group of Xenoarcheology Research Teams. Additional MarDets should arrive to Prospera and Harmonia soon as well, until proper garrisons can be established.



13 January, 51 TN

Today is the big day. Diplomatic ship DIP-05 Acceptance has arrived at Promethea, where the Voraxia JP blockade was set up. The ship is equipped with civilian grade radars capable of detecting alien ships and missiles. CIWS systems and thick armor should provide some comfort to the crew. Why is it needed? Because they’re sent right through the jump point, alone. It’s their duty as ambassadors to try and establish reliable communications with Voraxians. It’s better than sitting and doing nothing.

Acceptance emerged in Voraxia at 14:19. As soon as jump shock wore off, Voraxian ships came up on radar, 87 million kilometers away. They were in orbit of Voraxia II, which looked like a possible colony. Diplomatic ship enabled its transponder to highlight its presence and started broadcasting on all frequencies, trying to contact the aliens.

At 15:07, just 48 minutes after the entry, three salvos of 12 missiles each appeared on Acceptance’s radar.



Well, that’s the answer. Voraxians are still openly hostile and ignore our communications. Diplomatic ship was ordered to exit the system immediately. From now own, they are to be considered hostile.

[L0ckAndL0ad (OP)]

1 August, 51 TN

With some significant translation and transmission delay, we've managed to reach out to the Federation of Hamaliel, requesting them to leave Sol, until further diplomatic protocols are established between the two civilizations. They've agreed and stopped surveying, sending their ships away.



15 September, 51 TN

FS-06 Solar Wind was still shadowing HAM survey ships. After HAM left Sol, they ended up in a dead end system of Barnards Star. It looked strange at first. We've explored it years ago and even started mining Corundium and Gallicite there. HAM ships were observed surveying Barnards Star as well, and they've moved to other systems by now.

As it turned out, there was an unexplored jump point we've missed somehow! Solar Wind was following HAM ship as Alice followed the white rabbit, jumping into unexplored JPs again and again.



18 October, 51 TN

After the third jump into the unknown, Solar Wind ended up in a system called Pi-3 Orionis. It was their home! Countless EM and thermal signatures were detected. It was scary to approach HAM populated world, because dozens of military ships and bases were defending it. But the Federation of Hamaliel welcomed our survey frigate without shots or warnings, just as Humanity allowed their ships to fly around freely.



This event provides a new perspective on first contact options. We've achieved something wonderful. Now there's a place we can send our diplomatic ships to, to further improve our relations and gain knowledge about HAM.

[L0ckAndL0ad (OP)]

11 June, 52 TN

Earth’s R&D sector got their hands on alien CIWS and some EW equipment previously recovered from the ruins on Mercury. It proved useful for Beam FCS and Grav Sensor research, but Humanity was still decades behind the Voraxians in this regard.

14 February, 53 TN

The first four Confidence class missile cruisers, 16K tons each, were launched. The main features of this class are: flag facilities, a small hangar for a scout craft, one Marine detachment and 100 size-6 cell launchers as the main offensive capability.

5 August, 53 TN

A new alien race was detected in Sol! A single ship was detected past the orbit of Ceres, traveling at 6353 km/s. The 1st Light Attack Craft Squadron was dispatched from Earth to intercept. The alien ship refused to communicate.

18 August, 53 TN

The Diplomatic Ship DIP-01 Devotion, stationed near the Sol jump point in the Ross 128 system detected 7 unknown contacts with similar signatures as our new solar guest. They moved in at 7207 km/s and attacked Devotion at point blank range. 20x strength 16 and 1x strength 37 hits pulverized and created holes in the armor, causing damage to the crew and internal systems. Jump engine was still operational and Devotion managed to retreat to Sol.



The 1st LAC Squadron failed to intercept the intruder in Sol and ran out of fuel. An AOR ship with escorts was dispatched from Earth.

Upon transit, Devotion went straight to Earth. However, the alien weapons, initially categorized as lasers, apparently melted the hull and the armor into plasma, or maybe even transformed it into some sort of corrosive, acid-like substance, which continued to melt the ship even an hour later.

An additional 73 crew members were lost due to this damage. All the engines were lost as well. At that point, the captain ordered the crew to abandon the ship.



11 September, 53 TN

The 1st LAC Squadron finally tracked the intruder. As the aliens refused to communicate and were aggressively attacking human ships, the intruder was destroyed immediately. The strange thing is that it was either pulverized into gas and dust completely, so that there was no wreck detected upon destruction. Or, maybe, it went to the other side of the aether, due to its Trans-Newtonian nature.



Upon closer examination of all the sensor data and operator reports, it turned out that there were two identical intruders in Sol. Only one of them was found and destroyed. The second one is still missing. And, given our sensor coverage of all known jump points, the hypothesis is that they both entered our system bypassing the known routes.

At 17:28, SC-01 Vanguard 001 scout reached the Ross 128 jump point and made the transit. It was attacked and destroyed immediately on the other side by the same alien fleet of 7 ships.

[L0ckAndL0ad (OP)]

1 October, 53 TN

Humanity sets up a blockade of the Ross 128 jump point in Sol. The hostile alien race is given a temporary designation Charlie [CRL], simply because it’s the third one to be encountered so far. They still refuse to communicate.

26 October, 53 TN

Task Force 2, made of eight Defender-class Guided Missile Destroyers, detects two Charlie ships coming in from the Ross 128 jump point. One is a suspected light cruiser. A fast 11.6K ton warship with dual purpose lasers and anti-missile sensors. The other one is identified as being 20K tons, much slower, suspected to be an auxiliary vessel.

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Defender class Missile Destroyer      6,000 tons       126 Crew       789.8 BP       TCS 120    TH 375    EM 0
3125 km/s      Armour 2-29       Shields 0-0       HTK 35      Sensors 0/0/0/0      DCR 12-20      PPV 42.14
Maint Life 3.20 Years     MSP 374    AFR 144%    IFR 2.0%    1YR 55    5YR 825    Max Repair 93.8 MSP
Magazine 216 / 0   
Lieutenant Commander    Control Rating 2   BRG   AUX   
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Morale Check Required   

Ion Drive  EP187.50 Mk I (2)    Power 375.0    Fuel Use 48.99%    Signature 187.5    Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres    Range 12.2 billion km (45 days at full power)

Twin 120mm NUV Laser Turret (DP) (1x2)    Range 120,000km     TS: 6000 km/s     Power 8-4     RM 30,000 km    ROF 10       
CIWS-120A (1x8)    Range 1000 km     TS: 12,000 km/s     ROF 5       
Beam Fire Control R128-TS6000 (SW) (1)     Max Range: 128,000 km   TS: 6,000 km/s    ECCM-0     92 84 77 69 61 53 45 38 30 22
Gaseous Fission Reactor R4 (1)     Total Power Output 4    Exp 5%

MLS-2A E50 Missile Cell (60)     Missile Size: 2    Hangar Reload 70 minutes    MF Reload 11 hours
MLS-6A E50 Missile Cell (16)     Missile Size: 6    Hangar Reload 122 minutes    MF Reload 20 hours
Missile Fire Control FC54-R100 (1)     Range 54.4m km    Resolution 100
Missile Fire Control FC11-R1 (1)     Range 11.3m km    Resolution 1
AIM-20A Stardust Interceptor Missile (60)    Speed: 35,000 km/s    End: 1.5m     Range: 3.2m km    WH: 3    Size: 2    TH: 116/70/35
ASM-60A Trident Anti-Ship Missile (16)    Speed: 17,600 km/s    End: 47m     Range: 49.7m km    WH: 9    Size: 6    TH: 70/42/21

Active Search Sensor AS10-R1 (1)     GPS 60     Range 10.7m km    MCR 963.4k km    Resolution 1
Active Search Sensor AS49-R100 (1)     GPS 6000     Range 49.7m km    Resolution 100
Rescue And Salvage Ship ARS-01 Fortitude is in between the blockading force and the enemy ships, trying to salvage the wreck of a previously abandoned DIP-01 Devotion.

Four destroyers of TF2 open fire on enemy ships, launching 32 size-6 ASMs at each target. Fortitude is ordered back to Earth, but it’s much slower than the enemy fleet.



The first salvo destroys the alien auxiliary ship, but the armor of CL Daemon 004 shrugs off four missile hits without any penetrations observed, and the ship accelerates to its full speed of 7207 km/s. TF2’s top speed is 3125 km/s. 13 ASMs circle around several times to reattack the cruiser, but all are shot down eventually.



The second salvo of 32 ASMs, fired from 5 million kilometers, deals 3 armor hits to the cruiser, unable to penetrate. Even though all the Humanity warships are fitted with ready-to-fire missile launcher cells and all of them could be launched simultaneously, conserving the ammo is key, because there are bigger enemy ships nearby.

The third salvo of 32 ASMs is launched from 3 million kilometers. Only 2 missiles hit the armor, others are shot down.

As the range between CL Daemon 004 and Task Force 2 closes to 2 million kilometers, all 8 destroyers start firing their dual-purpose size-2 interceptor missiles with heavy fragmentation warheads (WH3/MW-3), 80 missiles per salvo.

It took 400 interceptors (of out 480 available on the DDGs) to finally put down the Daemon. AIM-20 Stardust missiles scored 274 hits in total, with 229 armor hits and 45 penetrating hits. Alien ships left no wreckage, again.



31 October, 53 TN

Deep Space Tracking Stations at the automated mining colony on Ross 128 I planet detect the disappearance of the Vanguard scout’s wreck.

Another pair of Charlie ships try to enter Sol via Ross 128 jump point. They jump out shortly after detecting Humanity’s Cruiser Destroyer Group 2 nearby.

ARS-01 Fortitude, spooked by the aliens once again, abandons the attempt to salvage the remains of DIP-01 Devotion.

[Garfunkel]

Pretty tense situation in Sol you have!

[L0ckAndL0ad (OP)]

Pretty tense situation in Sol you have!

And it's getting worse more fun by the day! I hope everyone here enjoys the challenge as much as I do, because there are tough days ahead for Humanity.

[L0ckAndL0ad (OP)]

12 January, 54 TN

Stationed 13m km away from the Ross 128 jump point in Sol, Cruiser Destroyer Group 4 consisted of one Confidence-class guided missile cruiser CG-04 Cosmao and four Defiant-class guided missile destroyers (Delphin, Dionysus, Dragoon, Dundee). These ships were designed shortly after Humanity made contact with hostile Voraxians. Their ASMs clearly had very long range (the diplomatic ship was attacked from at least  ~80m km away), so the updated ASM-60s got more endurance, but the reengagement capability had to be removed.

Size 2 launchers were changed to size 1, because all the calculations called for larger amounts of smaller fragmentation warheads per ship instead of universal strength-1 ones. Result was AMM-10 Starry Night with WH: 0.8/MW-2, which, unfortunately, does almost nothing against fighters or ships.

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Confidence (Flight 1) class Missile Cruiser      16,000 tons       307 Crew       2,321.4 BP       TCS 320    TH 1,000    EM 0
3125 km/s    JR 5-100      Armour 2-56       Shields 0-0       HTK 65      Sensors 6/24/0/0      DCR 15-9      PPV 115.62
Maint Life 2.07 Years     MSP 1,228    AFR 410%    IFR 5.7%    1YR 381    5YR 5,713    Max Repair 264 MSP
Hangar Deck Capacity 250 tons     Troop Capacity 250 tons     Boarding Capable    Magazine 720 / 0   
Captain    Control Rating 4   BRG   AUX   CIC   FLG   
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Flight Crew Berths 5    Morale Check Required   

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

Ion Drive  EP500.00 (2)    Power 1000    Fuel Use 25.00%    Signature 500    Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 450,000 Litres    Range 20.3 billion km (75 days at full power)

Twin 100mm UV Laser Turret (LWDP) (1x2)    Range 120,000km     TS: 12000 km/s     Power 6-6     RM 40,000 km    ROF 5       
CIWS-120B (1x8)    Range 1000 km     TS: 12,000 km/s     ROF 5       
Beam Fire Control R128-TS12000 (SW) (1)     Max Range: 128,000 km   TS: 12,000 km/s    ECCM-1     92 84 77 69 61 53 45 38 30 22
Magnetic Mirror Fusion Reactor R6 (1)     Total Power Output 6.2    Exp 5%

MLS-1A E35 Missile Cell (120)     Missile Size: 1    Hangar Reload 50 minutes    MF Reload 8 hours
MLS-6B E35 Missile Cell (100)     Missile Size: 6    Hangar Reload 122 minutes    MF Reload 20 hours
Missile Fire Control FC15-R1 (2)     Range 15.1m km    Resolution 1   ECCM-1
Missile Fire Control FC85-R150 (2)     Range 85.8m km    Resolution 150   ECCM-1
AMM-10 Starry Night (120)    Speed: 45,000 km/s    End: 0.6m     Range: 1.5m km    WH: 0.8    Size: 1    TH: 150/90/45
ASM-60B Trident Anti-Ship Missile (100)    Speed: 20,400 km/s    End: 68.1m     Range: 83.4m km    WH: 9    Size: 6    TH: 85/51/25

Active Search Sensor AS14-R1 (1)     GPS 80     Range 14.3m km    MCR 1.3m km    Resolution 1
Active Search Sensor AS83-R150 (1)     GPS 14400     Range 83.1m km    Resolution 150
Thermal Sensor TH1.0-6.0 (1)     Sensitivity 6     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  19.4m km
EM Sensor EM3.00-24.00 (1)     Sensitivity 24     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  38.7m km

Electronic Warfare Jammers:   Sensor 1    Missile 1   

Strike Group / Ground Forces
1x Vanguard Scout   Speed: 6001 km/s    Size: 5
1x Marine Detachment

Code: [Select]

Defiant (Flight 1) class Missile Destroyer      6,000 tons       149 Crew       976.8 BP       TCS 120    TH 375    EM 0
3125 km/s      Armour 1-29       Shields 0-0       HTK 35      Sensors 6/16/0/0      DCR 12-20      PPV 37.02
Maint Life 3.67 Years     MSP 533    AFR 144%    IFR 2.0%    1YR 62    5YR 923    Max Repair 93.8 MSP
Magazine 196 / 0   
Commander    Control Rating 3   BRG   AUX   CIC   
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Morale Check Required   

Ion Drive  EP187.50 Mk II (2)    Power 375.0    Fuel Use 40.82%    Signature 187.5    Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres    Range 14.7 billion km (54 days at full power)

Twin 100mm UV Laser Turret (LWDP) (1x2)    Range 120,000km     TS: 12000 km/s     Power 6-6     RM 40,000 km    ROF 5       
CIWS-120B (1x8)    Range 1000 km     TS: 12,000 km/s     ROF 5       
Beam Fire Control R128-TS12000 (SW) (1)     Max Range: 128,000 km   TS: 12,000 km/s    ECCM-1     92 84 77 69 61 53 45 38 30 22
Magnetic Mirror Fusion Reactor R6 (1)     Total Power Output 6.2    Exp 5%

MLS-1A E35 Missile Cell (100)     Missile Size: 1    Hangar Reload 50 minutes    MF Reload 8 hours
MLS-6B E35 Missile Cell (16)     Missile Size: 6    Hangar Reload 122 minutes    MF Reload 20 hours
Missile Fire Control FC15-R1 (1)     Range 15.1m km    Resolution 1   ECCM-1
Missile Fire Control FC85-R150 (1)     Range 85.8m km    Resolution 150   ECCM-1
AMM-10 Starry Night (100)    Speed: 45,000 km/s    End: 0.6m     Range: 1.5m km    WH: 0.8    Size: 1    TH: 150/90/45
ASM-60B Trident Anti-Ship Missile (16)    Speed: 20,400 km/s    End: 68.1m     Range: 83.4m km    WH: 9    Size: 6    TH: 85/51/25

Active Search Sensor AS14-R1 (1)     GPS 80     Range 14.3m km    MCR 1.3m km    Resolution 1
Active Search Sensor AS66-R100 (1)     GPS 8000     Range 66.2m km    Resolution 100
EM Sensor EM2-16 (1)     Sensitivity 16     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  31.6m km
Thermal Sensor TH1.0-6.0 (1)     Sensitivity 6     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  19.4m km

At 08:20, CruDesGroup 4 detected seven Charlie ships incoming: 4 Centaur-class battlecruisers and 3 Daemon-class light cruisers. Simultaneously, two more Charlie ships reappeared from the inner parts of Sol, having sneaked past the blockade several days before that.



The main enemy group was moving at 7207km/s towards the blockading force. Humanity ships had no other choice but to engage. All 164 ASM-60Bs were launched simultaneously against four battlecruisers, resulting in only 29 strength-9 hits. Not a single missile managed to penetrate the armor. All the AMMs were launched at the enemy ships as well. Charlie disengaged for a moment, probably being scared by the large salvo of small missiles, but soon realized that it did nothing and changed vector back to intercept human ships.



CruDesGroup 4 continued closing in, hoping to deal at least some damage to the enemy with their 100mm laser turrets. At 290 thousand kilometers, CG-04 Cosmao started receiving fire from enemy lasers, which is 2.5 times the maximum distance of human beam weapons.



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



15 January, 54 TN

232 crew members were rescued with shuttles.

State of emergency was declared. Sol was no longer safe. Most ongoing naval operations were canceled, with the majority of Humanity ships returning to Earth until further notice.

[kks]

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

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

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

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

Very fun to read AAR!

[L0ckAndL0ad (OP)]

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

The demise of CruDesGroup 4 pushed Humanity to start building new Size 20 missiles and LACs capable of launching them. But with size 1, 2, 5, 6, 20 weapon systems (and size 12 missiles coming in the future to replace size 6 ASMs), and with all the modifications based on quickly changing situation... It's a logistical nightmare. Stay tuned for more info in later entries.

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

Humanity does not have a single STO unit. Most of the research was put into missile technologies, so beam weapons are really bad (except for Gauss). 12cm UV lasers with 160k range is the best anti-ship weapon currently. Which is why it's not fielded.

As of January 15, 54 TN: 8 CGs, 28 DDGs, 8 FFGs, 64 LACs in Earth's orbit. That's pretty much all the Navy's warships.

Very fun to read AAR!

Thank you!

[L0ckAndL0ad (OP)]

13 February, 54 TN

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



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

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

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

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

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

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ASM-200A Roguestar Anti-Ship Missile

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

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ASM-200L Magic Anti-Ship Missile (EXPERIMENTAL)

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

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ASM-50 Snagger Anti-Ship Missile

Missile Size: 5.00 MSP  (12.500 Tons)     Warhead: 9    Radiation Damage: 9
Speed: 22,840 km/s     Fuel: 1,500     Flight Time: 14 minutes     Range: 20.2m km
Retarget Capable
Cost Per Missile: 6.055     Development Cost: 389
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 228.4%   3k km/s 76.1%   5k km/s 45.7%   10k km/s 22.8%

Code: [Select]

A-1A Spectre class Light Attack Craft      500 tons       9 Crew       91 BP       TCS 10    TH 94    EM 0
9393 km/s      Armour 1-5       Shields 0-0       HTK 3      Sensors 0/0/0/0      DCR 0-0      PPV 3
Maint Life 6.76 Years     MSP 61    AFR 20%    IFR 0.3%    1YR 2    5YR 35    Max Repair 46.9 MSP
Magazine 20 / 0   
Lieutenant    Control Rating 1   
Intended Deployment Time: 1 months    Morale Check Required   

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

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

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

Code: [Select]

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

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

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

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

Code: [Select]

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

16 November, 54 TN

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



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





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

18 November, 54 TN

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

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



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



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



19 November, 54 TN

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

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



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

[Garfunkel]

Great victory!

[kks]

Great battle!

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

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

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

[L0ckAndL0ad (OP)]

Thank you.

Well, I won't say that Charlie are ill equipped with PD. Their light cruisers (Daemons) are quite nasty. Intel screen does not show any info on them for some reason, but I believe they have like 20 PD lasers each. They are like Atlanta-class or Worcester-class CLAA, with all dual-purpose armament. And heavily armored. The cost of missiles to take out one of the Daemons is pretty high. They are not immune to missiles, but they require some effort to neutralize. Notice how in the last battle I only destroyed 1 CL, and the other two got to run away. They should've retreated all together, BCs and CLs, and I wouldn't have been able to reach them. It was their tactical error that led them to being destroyed.

The battlecruisers are much easier targets for the missiles, but that's a problem with all the specialized designs that focus on just one weapon system/role.

I do wonder what kind of BFC PD settings they use, though. It feels like, when there's no AMMs involved, it does not matter if I launch size 2 or size 20 missiles, they don't change the settings on the fly. I don't know...

Regardless, the technology difference alone makes this campaign quite an interesting challenge.