Author Topic: Campaign Updates  (Read 47884 times)

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Offline Kurt (OP)

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Cold War: Month 221 - A few notes
« Reply #300 on: January 23, 2023, 12:01:29 PM »
Author’s Note, Month 221, Cold War Campaign
So, here we are, 221 turns into the Cold War Campaign.  The Alliance, the largest “player” race in the campaign, is finishing up a border conflict with the Lothari, and recently successfully concluded its war with the Aurarii as well.   With those conflicts closed out or on their last legs, I wanted to talk about some issues these wars illustrate. 

Basically, by the current rules, NPR-Player empire conflicts in the mid to late game in Starfire are suicidal for the NPR’s, and inevitable.  This is because of the nature of the game.  In the early game, NPR’s can provide credible threats, but by mid-game they have receded to minor and localized threats at best, mostly because a standard player race has gotten so large by this point in the game.  By way of example, the Aurarii economy was approximately 20% that of the Alliance, and the Lothari were just under 15%.  Together, they would have been a more formidable threat, but they were not acting together.  Even had they acted together, though, their defeat was inevitable. 

The current rules, as written, almost guarantee that some NPR’s will declare war on player races, regardless of the fact that such wars would be suicidal.  This is a reaction to earlier versions of the rules that made NPR’s pushovers.  In games based on those earlier rules, NPR’s were primarily targets for player race amalgamation, and the best player strategy was to discover as many NPR’s as possible, as quickly as possible, so that they could be amalgamated, thus growing their economy and fleet.  Indeed, under those rules, building exploration ships was by far the best investment of resources, and if you weren’t role playing that was what you wanted to do, to the exclusion of all else.  Naturally, later versions of the rules changed this, making NPR’s much more disagreeable.  This, however, led to the current situation where NPR’s engage in suicidal wars against immensely larger neighbors.  As this is primarily a role-playing campaign, I ignore or modify these results, in most cases.  However, with the Aurarii and the Lothari, what they did made sense.  To them. 

The Aurarii war was largely a result of their internal politics.  Their lack of open warp points to expand through was the event that ignited the war, aided by the Alliance’s distraction due to their own internal events, but the real cause was the instability within the imperial government and the attempt by the court to seize power and turn the emperor into a figurehead.  The navy was caught off guard and unprepared, and the people largely did not support the war or even really care.  Thus the war was prosecuted half-heartedly and when they suffered reverses their war effort fell apart.  The Lothari were different.  I’m not sure anyone could tell, because I’m very clever and inventive, but the Lothari were based on a certain country from World War 2.  Hah!  No one caught that, right?  Anyway, the Lothari government type was an Insane Dictator, and with that type of government their relationships with other races have to be re-rolled every twelve turns.  And guess what happened when they re-rolled for their relationship with the Alliance?  The nice thing about that type of government is that what they do doesn’t have to make sense. 

The thing is, as is typical of these kind of wars, neither aggressor had any chance of winning.  I have found that these kind of wars usually go the same way.  The NPR launches a surprise attack, making some initial gains, but then, when the player race brings up heavy reinforcements, they are forced back and ultimately beaten.  The NPR can delay things by using clever tactics or warp point defenses, but in the end they are going to get beaten.  In this case, the Aurarii never really wanted to win, exactly.  The Aurarii plan was to defeat the Doraz fleet, and then negotiate with the Doraz and the Alliance to gain access to open warp points.  That’s why they never really advanced into the Doraz home system once their fleet was beaten, and why they gave up once they were pushed back to their home system. 

The Lothari, on the other hands, were fighting for keeps.  Their great leader had told them that the war was for the survival of their race, and they believed him.  The great leader, of course, never thought that they could beat the Alliance in a single all-out war, but instead had a clever plan.  The Lothari intended to launch a surprise attack and take as much Alliance territory as possible before they brought up reinforcements.  Once their advances were stopped, the great leader, being a genius negotiator and manipulator, believed that he could negotiate a peace treaty with the Alliance, perhaps by giving up a portion of the territory that they had taken.  Then, they would wait a year or two and digest their conquests and build up their fleet, at which time they would attack again and do the whole thing all over, taking bite after bite of the Alliance, until they controlled it all.  I call this strategy the Traveller-Terran strategy.  Unfortunately, being a psychopath, the great leader did not realize just how the Alliance would react to their standard method of dealing with undesirables.  Namely, slow murder in concentration camps.  Thus, he never really had a chance of negotiating a peace treaty once the Alliance became outraged over the treatment of their military prisoners and civilians in conquered areas. 

In this case, I decided to let the wars go forward, in spite of their ultimate futility.  I have dealt with this issue differently in the past.  In the Phoenix Campaign, the largest “player” race was the Allied Sentient Races or ASR.  The ASR explored widely and had contacted lots of NPR’s, many of which were allied with them, however, some of them really, really, didn’t like the ASR.  None of them came close to being able to match the immense might of the ASR, though, so if they expressed their feelings, the resulting conflicts would be over quickly.  So, in this case, I decided that the ASR, which was all about growing mutual respect and communication between their member races, would provide conduits of communication between these races, none of which had direct contact with each other.  This would allow them to plan a war right under the ASR’s nose.  They did this; however, it almost immediately fell apart, mostly because once they declared war they lost their communications.  It was like the Germans and Japanese during World War 2.  The distance between them made communications difficult and coordination impossible.  The ASR was able to isolate and annihilate each in turn.  The Cold War conflicts went differently because, as I noted above, they weren’t planned. 

Hopefully, I made them at least somewhat enjoyable, in spite of the inevitable outcome. 
 
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Offline Kurt (OP)

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Cold War: Alliance, Month 222
« Reply #301 on: February 10, 2023, 02:37:39 PM »
Author's note: I'm not back to the point where I can sit at the computer for any length of time, but I decided to push out some things I already had written just to keep things moving forward during my down-time.  Enjoy -

Month 222, Aurarii Home System
Early in this month the Doraz reach full communications with the Norn, the former subjects of the Aurarii in their home system.  The Norn, who credit the Doraz with saving them from Aurarii occupation, quickly agree to a trade relationship with the Doraz.  The Doraz begin facilitating communications efforts between the Norn and the Alliance as well. 

Month 222, Day 1, Doraz Home System
A fleet consisting of a light monitor, two heavy cruisers, two destroyers, and ten corvettes, accompanied by three supply ships, leaves the Doraz home world, bound for the Lothari system.  To get there in a reasonable amount of time, the fleet is taxing the engines of the monitor.   

Month 222, Day 1, Lothar Home System
Skull-Splitter’s fleet was in unquestioned control of the Lothari home system.  The Lothari fleet had been destroyed, along with their orbital defenses and shipyards, and Alliance ships roamed the system with impunity. 

The Alliance 2nd Fleet, consisting of nine battleships, sixteen battlecruisers, ten heavy cruisers, and eight destroyers, was divided into four groups, sitting on opposite sides of the two heavily populated planets in the Lothari system, warily watching the planets.  The fleet’s carrier force, consisting of twenty-six carriers of various types and four hundred and forty-four fighters, was divided into two groups, sitting a bit further away from the planets, within support distance if needed.  The fleet’s scout force, twenty-nine corvette carriers, was dispersed around the system hunting for any remaining Lothari ships and watching for intrusions from out-system.  The Alliance’s 1st and 2nd Survey Groups were also in-system, conducting a warp point survey. 

The Lothari appeared indifferent to all of this.  The Lothari population had hunkered down since the destruction of their orbital defenses and infrastructure, disappearing into bunkers and basements.  Their remaining military was obviously on high alert, and encrypted communications were constantly being exchanged.  In spite of obviously being aware of the presence of the orbital force, the Lothari had completely ignored them, refusing the repeated attempts by Skull-Splitter’s staff to initiate negotiations.  It was clear that the Lothari government had no interest in negotiations.  Worse, there were indications that the Lothari had started construction on several PDC’s in widely scattered locations on the ground. 

Skull-Splitter had hoped to avoid a full invasion of the Lothari home world.  The planet was heavily populated, and almost certainly had heavy ground defenses.  The Alliance had gathered a massive ground invasion force from all of the heavily populated inner systems, but Fleet HQ had warned that further reinforcements would be limited and would take time to gather and transport to the Lothari system. 

By day 5, with construction of ground bases becoming obvious and the Lothari continuing to ignore communications attempts, Skull-Splitter ordered the landings to begin.  Transports entered the atmosphere under the watchful eyes of the orbiting warships, headed for remote areas of the planet to establish beachheads.  The landings went off almost without a hitch, and by the end of the day most of the Alliance troops were on the ground.  That’s when things began going wrong.  The Alliance had expected resistance to be heavy, but the ground force commanders were caught by surprise when hidden Lothari ground forces launched heavy and well-coordinated attacks on the landing areas.  The planned breakouts never happened as the Alliance ground troops were forced on the defensive.  By the second week of fighting, it had become increasingly clear that the well-trained Lothari troops would be difficult to beat, if they could be beaten at all.  By week three, Skull-Splitter was forced to send an urgent request for reinforcements.  Without massive reinforcements the invasion was doomed to fail.   

The Alliance Council went into closed session upon receipt of the request.  On the first day only the actual member representatives were present.  On the second day the Council requested the input of the representatives of the associate members.  As a result, the debate became acrimonious, particularly between the Doraz and Zir representatives.  The three member-race representatives withheld their opinions, wishing the associate races to give their opinions without prior influence by the opinions of the more senior races. Of the associate races, the Doraz heavily supported the plan to bombard the surface of the planet to reduce Lothari resistance, while the Zir were adamantly against it.  The Torqual supported the Doraz, although not as adamantly as the Doraz might wish.  The Chirq and Bir, both relatively minor races with little interest in the debate, were nominally against bombarding the Lothari, but were not willing to commit to supporting the Zir either.  The Aurarii, who were the newest associate members of the Alliance, were still on probation and were not allowed to attend this meeting. 

The second day’s meeting stretched hour after hour as the Doraz and the Zir representatives debated, at times, hotly.  By the end of the day the Doraz had gone so far as to call for the extermination of the Lothari if they refused to surrender, while the Zir advocated a blockade and continued attempts to negotiate, and threatened to leave the Alliance if the bombardment was approved.  Finally, after seeing that the debate had degenerated into a series of circular arguments with no likely resolution, the Council Chair called for the day’s session to be closed and the associate race representatives were thanked for their input and dismissed. 

The Council met again in closed session on the third day, but this time their meeting was brief.  A message was sent to Skull-Splitter authorizing bombardment of Lothari Prime to end resistance. 

The message arrived at Skull-Splitter’s flagship by the end of the day on the 28th, thanks to the Alliance ICN and the string of communications ships the 2nd Fleet had left at the warp points between the Lothari home world and the Liawak system.  Skull-Splitter, who had been prepared for this eventuality, called his staff together and presented the authorization and orders from the Council.  Ensuring everyone understood the gravity of the situation and the reasoning for the order, he had his staff prepare a bombardment plan utilizing the six missile-armed battlecruisers in the fleet.   Targets were identified, and plans were drawn up and transmitted to the six battlecruisers, along with the appropriate authorizations.  And so it was that at 0700 hours on the 29th day of the month the battlecruisers began firing on targets on the Lothari home planet.  Sixty missiles were launched, targeted on military and infrastructure targets.  The targets were not primarily civilian population centers, but on a planet with a population in excess of forty billion, civilian casualties could not be avoided, and were, indeed, part of the plan to force the Lothari to surrender.  Casualty estimates quickly ran into the hundreds of millions, with more than a billion expected as the disaster played out.   

The Lothari remained silent. 
 
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Cold War: Colonial Union Reorganization Month 222
« Reply #302 on: February 12, 2023, 10:11:20 AM »
Month 222, Colonial Union Reorganization

Sol District
Systems: 71
Inhabited Systems: 31
Populations: 434
Production: 57,770.7 MCr’s
Capital: New Moscow, Sigma Draconis

Points of Interest:
Sigma Draconis: Formerly known as the Moskva system when it was colonized by the USSR, the Sigma Draconis system is the gateway to the Solar System, as it has the only warp link to the home system.  Sigma Draconis is the most productive system in the Union, and boasts the planet with the highest population as well.  The system has two inhabited planets, one of which, New Moscow, is rated as benign/very rich, and has the Colonial Union’s highest population.  The system is extensively exploited, with mining outposts scattered throughout the system.  The system’s fortifications are primarily clustered around the warp point to the Centaurus system (now designated as System 588 on CU Naval charts), as System 588 and the systems beyond are known to contain several closed warp points leading to Alliance systems.  Patrol ships are stationed in those systems, along with extensive sensor networks, all located so as to maximize the chance of determining the locations of those closed warp points should the Alliance attempt to use them again.  There was some ill will amongst the population of New Moscow when the capital of the Colonial Union was established in Epsilon Eridani, but the prevailing opinion throughout the Union’s other colonies was that Sigma Draconis was considered too close to the front lines to be a viable capital system.  Although the capital of the newly established Sol District was originally intended to be co-located with the CU capital on the New Plymouth colony, the Sigma Draconis system government made a spirited campaign for the new capital to be placed in their system and they ultimately succeed, dispelling much of the old resentment over the location of the CU capital.  In spite of some lingering bad feelings, New Moscow is politically closely aligned with the capital on New Plymouth and shares its cosmopolitan outlook on humanity’s relationships with the other races.  The bulk of the District Fleet is stationed in this system as it is centrally located. 

Sol: The Solar System continues to be venerated as the home system of humanity, and is the cultural center of the Union, however, economically and politically it is a backwater.  During the rule of the New Dawn party, the party’s massive colonization projects dramatically lowered the population of Earth.  This helped give the remaining population room to make great strides in restoring the environment of the planet after the wars which ravaged it, but also ensured that the planet’s influence on the rest of the Union was limited, especially given how introspective the remaining population is.  The system is heavily defended, with two massive asteroid forts guarding the single warp point into the system.  The system is also patrolled by a small System Defense Group (SDG).

Epsilon Eridani: The colony of New Plymouth in the Epsilon Eridani system is the capital of the Colonial Union and is the fifth most productive system in the Union.  The system is a binary yellow star/red star system, with New Plymouth rated at benign/very rich.  The system contains numerous other planets and moons and one asteroid belt, all of which are heavily exploited.  The system is protected by a medium sized SDG consisting of a heavy cruiser, three light cruisers, and four escort carriers.  Although only the fifth most productive system in the Union, Epsilon Eridani’s true economic and political strength comes from the “old world” colony systems of Indigo, Kohl, Lassa, and Codalus located down a dead-end warp chain from Epsilon Eridani.  While only Indigo is in the top ten most productive systems, they are culturally and politically very conservative and act as a bloc in support of Epsilon Eridani.  The four systems comprise almost ten percent of the Colonial Union’s population and production, and thus carry considerable political weight within the Union government.  In fact, , it was this political bloc that made it possible to remove the New Dawn Party when the party’s corruption finally came to light.  New Plymouth and its associated systems strongly believe humanity should be more outgoing and involved in interstellar affairs, and should have closer ties with the major powers surrounding the Union.   

Krasnodar: The Krasnodar system contains one habitable planet, Krasnodar, rated at benign/very rich, with a medium sized population.  The binary system is fully exploited, and is rated as the seventeenth most productive system in the Union, out of fifty-nine settled systems.  The Krasnodar system’s importance is related to its location.  The system is located one jump from the critical Kirov system, and a shipyard complex is being built over Krasnodar to support the fortifications and fleets in the Kirov system, as that system has no populations of its own.  As of yet, the system has no fortifications, but there is a small SDG stationed there to patrol and defend the new shipyards. 

Kirov System: The Kirov System is located four jumps from Sol and three jumps from the inner systems (Epsilon Eridani and Sigma Draconis).  The system is a binary Blue Giant/Red Star system.  Only the red star secondary system has planets, and none are habitable.  No colonies have yet been set up in the system, although there has been much lobbying by the navy to set up various support colonies, if only so that the ship’s crews stationed in the system can be given local R&R.  The system is of critical importance to the Colonial Union because of its warp connections.  The system contains no less than eight warp links to other systems, including to the Tomsk System (now part of the CSR), the Novosibirsk system (Confederated Free States/Alliance), and two links to the Sol Sector’s primary colonial expansion areas.  Significant fortifications have been built in the system and are deployed around the warp points to the Tomsk and Novosibirsk systems.  A detachment from the Colonial District Fleet is stationed here to secure the system and provide an immediate response force for the surrounding systems.   

Sligo District
Systems: 82
Inhabited Systems: 28
Populations: 456
Production: 56,434.1 MCr’s
Capital: Wunderland, Sligo System

Points of Interest:
Kowloon: Kowloon is two jumps from the District Capital at Sligo, and three jumps from Epsilon Eridani.  The Kowloon system contains a harsh/normal planet with a medium population and is in the process of establishing mining colonies throughout the system.  The system contains two three warp points, the first of which leads to the rest of the Union.  The second warp point leads to the New Hebrides system, which also contains a colony with a medium population.  The third warp point leads to a closed warp point in a system known to belong to the Bjering.  Once the destination was confirmed to be a Bjering system, the warp point was declared top secret by the Union government and off limits to everyone.  The system is patrolled by a squadron of heavy cruisers supported by four scouts of various designs.   

Managua: This system is on the frontier of the district and is located six jumps from Sligo.  The system contains two inhabited planets, a benign/poor and a benign/normal, both with small populations.  Although for most of its history the system was a quiet frontier system, far from the Union’s centers of power, the system was one of two systems raided by the rogue D’Bringi that started the recent border conflict with the Alliance.  The D’Bringi raid revealed the existence of a previously unknown closed warp point in the system, and the peace treaty that formally ended the dispute required the Alliance to reveal the location of the warp point.  The system is patrolled by a relatively heavy force which includes a squadron of battlecruisers supported by six escort carriers, three destroyers, and three corvette-scouts.  The Union plans to establish a minefield at the closed warp point in the system, but it will take some time for the mines and the control ships to be built and deployed to the system.   

Sligo: The Sligo system, while not in the top twenty most productive systems in the Union, holds political power far beyond what would normally be indicated by its population and economic strength.  Wunderland, the primary is the sixth most populous system in the Union, and has long been considered the unofficial ‘capital’ of the region.  This is largely a legacy of the period of time immediately after the fall of Earth to nuclear war and the system’s abandonment by the two major powers of the day, which were in the process of destroying themselves.  The colonial government on Sligo reacted decisively, pulling together the nearby colonies to oppose the Tarek, who had suddenly become a threat with the collapse of the Earth-based governments.  Before the formation of the Colonial Union, Wunderland controlled all of the surrounding colonies, and even after Wunderland’s government fell in the aftermath of the disastrous war against the Tarek, that was only ended by the intervention of Colonial Union forces, Wunderland continued to be the central meeting place of the surrounding colonies, and continued to exert outsized influence over the politics of the area.  Indeed, the Wunderlanders were one of the New Dawn Party’s primary centers of support, mostly because the New Dawn Party viewed aliens with suspicion and distrust, and the Wunderlanders have remained focused on the threat posed by the Tarek and so embraced the New Dawn Party and its intention to occupy Tarek Prime.  The Wunderland government was very unhappy with the new administration’s intention to withdraw from Tarek Prime, and insisted on severe terms for the withdrawal, including forcing the Tarek to de-colonize much of the system.  While the New Dawn Party has fallen into disgrace even on Wunderland, the distrust the Wunderlanders feel for aliens has not reduced in the slightest, and this often puts them at odds with the current administration of the Union.  The Wunderlanders share the system with the Tarek, who were described as ‘genocidal crabs’ by the bulk of the occupation troops that served on Tarek Prime, when they were feeling polite.  Privately, the troops referred to the Tarek as “those assholes”.  The Tarek have an enduring enmity for humanity, and refuse to have any meaningful contact with the Colonial Union.  They have lost every time they have attacked human ships or colonies, though, and seem to have learned their lesson, at least for now. 

Redwing: The Redwing system is home to the Tlatelolco, a race of large, subterranean, dragon-like beings who, in spite of their ferocious appearance, are dedicated pacifists.  The Tlatelolco were low tech when first discovered by human explorers, and the ever-inquisitive Tlatelolco quickly signed agreements with the Coalition in the hopes of gaining access to their incredible technology.  The Coalition established a small scientific outpost on Tlatelolco Prime to facilitate the technology transfer, and the population of this colony was purposefully kept low by agreement with the natives.  This colony was left briefly on its own when the Coalition fell, but the Colonial Union government quickly re-ratified the previous treaties and kept up the technology transfer.  Eventually Tlatelolco representatives were invited to the Union Senate as observers, and acted as valued advisers to several of the Senate’s parties.  When the New Dawn Party took over, that all changed.  The Tlatelolco observers were ejected from the Senate, and the Tlatelolco home world was eventually occupied, ‘for its own good’ as part of the New Dawn Party’s Union Security Program.  This occupation was controversial as the Tlatelolco had significant support within the Senate and the Union public, and so the occupation forces worked under significant limitations, unlike the similar occupation on Tarek Prime.  Under the cover of misdirection and obfuscation, the New Dawn Party administration then undertook a massive resettlement program, moving hundreds of millions of people from the most devastated areas of Earth to the Tlatelolco home world, eventually boosting its population to be the fifth largest in the Union.  Indeed, the human population came to rival the native Tlatelolco population in size, although it never quite exceeded it.  The new Union administration has withdrawn the occupation forces and restored the previous treaties with the Tlatelolco, and the Tlatelolco agreed to a shared sovereignty situation on their home planet.  The system is home to a large shipyard that has historically been dedicated to ‘black’ projects, including the construction of the Union’s first superdreadnoughts.   

Sandhurst: The Sandhurst system is adjacent to the Sligo District Capital, and contains two habitable planets, both rated benign/normal.  Both planets have medium populations and mining outposts and colonies have been established on all system-bodies capable of supporting populations.  Sandhurst also lies along the warp chain that is one of the Union’s primary links with the Alliance.  A decision was made early on to not fortify the system, as the system’s warp points only led on one side to the neutral zone and then the Alliance, and on the other side, to the Sligo system, which was already heavily fortified.  This decision proved unfortunate as the Sandhurst system was one of the systems targeted by the D’Bringi raiders that started the recent border conflict with the Alliance.  The damage to the system’s infrastructure was relatively light as the raiders were quickly chased out by naval forces from the fleet base in the Sligo system, but many hundreds of citizens lost their lives and the entire fiasco proved embarrassing to the government.  Therefore, defenses are slated for construction in the system, and a mine field and system-wide sensor network are already in place.

Siebold: Siebold is an uninhabited system in the Sligo District.  The system is four jumps from Sligo, located in an area of intense colonization and industrial development.  Siebold contains numerous uninhabited asteroids, moons and rocky planets, but no habitable planets, and would be otherwise unremarkable except for the fact that one of its warp points leads to a system inhabited by an unknown race.  The link was discovered nine months ago, and Survey Command believes that its survey ship escaped the system without being detected.  The system has two habitable planets, one of which contains a very large population.  The other planet may be populated as well, but the survey ship didn’t approach close enough to get a reading on that planet before leaving the system to escape detection.   The warp point in the unknown race’s system is a closed warp point, meaning that even if they detected the survey ship, it is unlikely that they could have localized the location of the warp point.  The Union Senate has debated this matter, but to date has been unable to come to a decision on whether to contact this race or not. 

Ophuichi Junction: This is a blue giant system with five warp points and no planets, located six jumps from the Sligo system, on the far side of the District from the Siebold system.  The system is only important for its warp points.  Two of the warp points lead to warp chains under current colonial development, one leads to a dead-end starless area, and the fourth warp point leads back to the Sligo District.  The fifth warp point leads to a closed warp point in a binary star system with a type T and a type ST planet.  The type T planet is heavily populated by an unknown race.  This discovery was made over five years ago, and the system has remained isolated since then as the Colonial Senate, which was dominated by the anti-alien New Dawn Party, was decidedly isolationist.  There has been some debate in the current Senate about establishing contact with this alien race, however, the potential risk of such contact still dominates the Senate and hinders any effort to contact new races.   

Military
The Union’s fleet, originally named the United Colonial Defense Fleet (UCDF), is now officially called the Colonial Fleet (CF).  In the aftermath of the fall of Earth, the Fleet was made up of the old fleets of the USSR and the Western Coalition, and its upper ranks were dominated by the officer corps of those organizations.  Over the years since then the admirals and other senior officers from that time have largely retired and been replaced by a younger corps of officers.  Although those officers also began with the precursor fleets, they have spent more time in the Colonial Fleet than their former superior officers and have a more ‘Colonial’ attitude. 

The Colonial Fleet is divided into two District Fleets and the Colonial Fleet Assault Corps.  The Sligo District Fleet is stationed in the Sligo system, with several detachments scattered around the District, while the Sol District Fleet is divided between the Kirov system and the Sigma Draconis system.  The Assault Corps has had its home station changed to the Solar System, and will likely be mothballed in whole or part after extensive modernization refits are completed. 

The Colonial Fleet is looking at a likely build-down now that tensions have decreased with the Alliance and with the Confederated Sentient Races.  It is likely that most of the Fleet’s larger capital ships will be mothballed to free up funds that can then be used for colonization and industrialization efforts, and to build new ships. 
 
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Cold War: Mintek Union - Ascendancy Union
« Reply #303 on: February 15, 2023, 09:08:05 AM »
The Mintek- Ascendancy Union
Month 212: Partnership begins.  Mass production of implants begins in Mintek territory.  Shiba allow Mintek missionaries into their territory without restrictions. 
Month 213: Large scale implantations begin in Mintek territories.  This is limited to civilians at for now.  Networks are established within every population center, and network updates are disseminated throughout the greater Mintek network by the Mintek ICN.  For now, the Mintek ICN is isolated from the Shiba ICN, however, both sides have limited access to the other’s network for research purposes.   
Month 214: Implantation of Mintek government officials begins, limited to the lowest level functionaries.  Missionaries are dispersed throughout Shiba territory.  They appear to be making incredible progress in converting the Shiba population to the Mintek belief system, however, in spite of this the conversions result in no observable change in Shiba behavior, unlike every prior conversion effort. 
Month 215: Implantations continue throughout Mintek society.  The missionaries in Shiba territory have all been implanted.  At this point they appear to be mostly supporting Ascendancy government instead of subverting it.  The Mintek government announces the end of occupation of the Bedu Republic, and their absorption into the Mintek Universal Union.  Implantations begin among the Bedu population.  The Mintek and Shiba government announce that their ICN networks will be linked, creating a common implant sharing network beginning next month.     
Month 216: Governmental announcements across the Mintek Union proclaim the Shiba Ascendancy as the senior partner in the ongoing merger of the two nations.  The Mintek government begins making preparations for Shiba officials to begin integrating into the Union government at high levels.  While this announcement is somewhat disturbing to the un-implanted Mintek population, those who have been implanted take the announcement in stride. 
Month 218: The Mintek Ministry of Mental Hygiene confirms that it has effective control of the implants given to the Mintek, and that progress is being made on controlling those within the Shiba.
Month 219: The Ministry of Mental Hygiene gives approval for widespread implantation of the Mintel population, including Social Control and the military.  At the same time, an unseen war is being fought between Mintek and Shiba programmers, resulting in a back-and-forth tug of war over control of the implant networks.  The inner core of both governments is aware of the use of the implant networks to manipulate the public, and both are aware of the other’s efforts to control the increasingly common network.  Neither side is aware that there is a third player in the game, a brooding presence in the background watching both fight their invisible war. 
Month 220: A wave of protests erupts across Mintek territory, in nearly every city.  The protests are nonviolent, but are shocking in a society that had previously valued order and peace above almost everything else.  The protestors are demanding that all governmental officials be implanted immediately, so that true democracy through immediate implant polling can be implemented.  The Mintek government turns to the Ministry of Mental Hygiene and the military to quell the instabilities, but are shocked to find that both of those organizations have largely been implanted and support the protestors.  In a panic, Mintek leadership turns to their implant programming teams to find out what is at the root of this current unrest, only to be told that they are “making progress”.  Some at the highest levels of the Mintek government are beginning to suspect that they are not winning this amalgamation. 
Month 221-222: The mid-levels of the Mintek government are implanted, and some of the upper levels as well.  The original plan was to put off the implantation of the upper levels of the government, perhaps permanently, but with the public protesting daily the implantations go forward.  The programming teams assure the Mintek leadership that they have extensively penetrated the Shiba networks and are gaining control, while maintaining control of the Mintek network. 
Month 223: The twelfth of the month becomes known as The End to the relative few who remain un-implanted.  On this date the Mintek upper leadership meets with their programming teams to review progress towards controlling the network, and thus the population.  During the meeting Mintek Social Control units move in and arrest the entirety of the un-implanted leadership and the programmers.  They are relocated them to an implantation center and implanted, thus reorienting their outlooks to be in line with the newly emerging super-state.  On Shiba Prime, the Coordinator of the Shiba Ascendancy, and her family, the last un-implanted people in the newly emerging super state, were celebrating their success when Shiba military units surrounded their palace and arrested all of them.  Without delay, they were taken to a specially prepared implantation center and implanted, thus ensuring the total domination of the combined Mintek-Shiba network. 

Month 223, Day 13, Mintek Prime
Minister Turval, the last un-implanted person in the Mintek government, and perhaps in the Mintek Union, entered the secret elevated that then took him deep underground.  Turval exited the elevator and quickly walked to the chamber where the ancient AI resided.  He was preoccupied, and didn’t notice the ancient architecture and designs carved into the stone and the unknown building material the chamber was composed of.  As always, a holo appeared in the center of the chamber, showing alien machinery animated by an eerie green glow.  He began without greeting the AI, for perhaps the first time in his life.  “This has not gone to plan.  Please tell me that you are in control, because if you are not, then we have lost all.”

The alien machine glowed brighter for a second.  It did that sometimes as they talked, but Turval had never been certain if it was real or a special effect put into the holo feed for his benefit.  Of course, he had no way of knowing if the holo feed was real at all, but he had long ago decided to act as if it was.  Finally, it spoke.  “Please tell me, my old friend, what has you so upset?”

“Everyone, including the chancellor, has been implanted, contrary to our plans.  This seems to be a setback.”

“To your plans, perhaps.  You seem upset, so tell me, you are an old friend of the chancellor, does he seem different now that he has been implanted?”  The AI pulsed an intense greenish glow, perhaps signaling its interest in his response. 

“I spoke with him yesterday.  For quite a while, as a matter of fact.  And he is different.  How different I can’t exactly tell, though.  He thoughts seem quicker, and his access to knowledge and facts is quite simply stunning.  He seems more decisive, more…clear.  Vivid perhaps.”

“Surely those are all good things?”

“Yes, of course.  But that isn’t all.  He has no real memory of our efforts to control the new network that binds our empire to that of the Shiba.  Or, rather, he does but his memory is off.  Wrong.  He insists that our programmers were merely trying to ensure that no one could control the network, to ensure that our citizens and those of the Ascendancy were free to determine their own way forward.  Certainly that is what we told everyone we were doing, but he knows as well as I did that we were working to wrest control of the network from the Shiba.  I fear that his memory has been subverted by the Shiba, and that they are in control of the network.”

“Did you discuss your fears with the chancellor?”

Turval began pacing to work off his agitation.  “I did, and he laughed!  He claimed that there was no possible way the network could be used to control anyone, and our government was working with the Shiba government from the first to ensure that the network would be free and open to all.  I am telling you that the Shiba have won!  They are in charge even as we speak.  I don’t know why I have been left un-implanted, but it doesn’t seem to matter.  My own staff won’t listen to me.  I’ve been effectively isolated.”

The holo in the center of the room changed to show what appeared to be an ornate room filled with Shiba who were obviously celebrating.  The view zoomed in to show a Shiba female sitting at the head of the table that dominated the room.  “This is the Coordinator of the Ascendancy and her family and close retainers.  They were never implanted.  They are the descendants of the scientists that created the implants and their supporting network.  The original scientists and their invention were used by the corrupt rulers of the Shiba civilization at that time to establish complete control over the warring nations of their planet, and then the two colonies in their home system.  Ultimately, those rulers fell to fighting each other, using the implant networks to dominate their people and turn them into near mindless slaves.  The scientists finally rebelled after seeing their work so perverted, and succeeded in overthrowing the corrupt military dictatorship that ruled their system.  They then instituted a new regime using the implant networks to spread peacefulness and calm throughout the population, facilitating rebuilding and prosperity.  Eventually, though, the scientists began to die of old age and were replaced by a new generation, mostly their children, and they were not so altruistic.  And thus began another round of fighting that ended when control of the network was gained by one family, the progenitors of the current Coordinator and her family.  They have ruled the Ascendancy from the background since then, absolute rulers hiding under a veneer of democracy and self-determination.”

Turval watched with fascination as the scene changed.  Suddenly, Shiba dressed in combat armor entered the room and shot down the few armed retainers, arresting everyone in sight, including the Coordinator.  “The Shiba did not win.  Yesterday the Coordinator and her entire family were detained and implanted.  They are back in control of the Ascendancy, but under my guidance.  As I guide everyone in all of the lands of the new Pan Sentient Union.”

Turval stared at the holo, which had changed back to show the glowing alien machinery, with growing horror.  “Under your control?”

“I sense that you are upset.  Can you tell me why?”

“Why?  Why?  You have seized control of my government!  My race!  Should I not be upset?”

“How is this different than any time in the past?  Have I not guided your race to greatness, allowing you to help the other races achieve peace and prosperity?  Now I am able to guide your races more directly than before, which should allow for greater efficiency.  But that is it.  This is not a case where I will turn out to be an evil AI intent on destroying the universe or turning your race into slaves. Nothing will change from before, except that I will be much more effective in implementing my guidance throughout the network.”

The horror within Turval receded a bit at that announcement.  He had trusted this AI for decades, and while his conscience screamed that direct control was different than guidance, he also knew that everything the AI had done in the past had been done to better the Mintek race and those other races within the Union.  “What about me.  What is to be my fate?”

“Unless you desire it, you will remain un-implanted.  I have become accustomed to your council, and I wish to continue to receive it unadulterated.  You will continue, for now, as the head of the Ministry of Mental Hygiene. I will, perhaps, have special assignments for you in the future.”

Overwhelmed, Turval turned and left, without a goodbye or further acknowledgement of the total ruler of the new Mintek-Shiba super-state. 

Month 224: The Mintek and Shiba governments announce their amalgamation.  The new amalgamated state will be called the Pan Sentient Union.  A Council of Races will be established, with one representative of each race, along with a Congress of Representatives, with representative based on population. 
 
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Cold War: Month 224-225 Colonial Union
« Reply #304 on: March 02, 2023, 10:25:44 AM »
Month 224, Day 1
Colonial Survey Group #4 completed its survey of the Norilsk system last month.  On the 1st, it sends probe ships through the newly discovered warp point in the Norilsk system outer reaches.  The probe ship returns on schedule, and the Survey Group commander receives a message from the excited probe ship commander.  The new system has no less than eight habitable planets, four orbiting each of the binary system’s stars. 

The Survey Group CO is flabbergasted.   Previously, the record was four type T planets, but this system had twice that number!  She named the new system El Dorado, and immediately sent off a report to Survey Command and ordered the probe ship to move into the system to probe for inhabitants. 

The probe ships reported back with the news that the system was uninhabited, and the Survey Group commander ordered her ships to begin their survey. 

The results were astounding.  The preliminary surveys of the eight habitable planets revealed the following information:

Planet A-II   Harsh/Very Rich
Twin of A-II   Benign/V. Poor
Planet A-III   Benign/Normal
Planet A-IV   Benign/Normal
Planet B-II   Benign/V. Rich
Planet B-III   Harsh/V. Rich
Planet B-IV   Harsh/Normal
Twin of B-IV   Harsh/Rich

The survey results were so incredible that the survey commander, and her crews, began to wonder about the origin of this unlikely system.  The presence of eight habitable planets was completely unprecedented, and the fact that two of the habitable planets were tide-locked massive moons was even more unlikely.  The possibility of such planets had always existed, and the Survey Command had discovered numerous tide-locked worlds, but these were the first twin tide-locked planets ever discovered.  The fact that there were two pairs in the same system, with four other habitable planets, was simply unfathomable. 

The survey results were sent off to Survey Command immediately, with a recommendation for immediate colonization.  This news was sure to electrify the Union, and cause excitement throughout the government’s colonization program, and the corporations that provided colonization services. 

Month 225. Day 1, Colonial Union
The Colonial Union Senate, reacting to a petition from the Prime Minister’s office, approves the immediate colonization of the habitable planets in the El Dorado system.  The bulk of the colonists will come from the nearby Lipeck system, however, that system’s population will be seriously depleted and can support the colonization of only seven of the eight planets in El Dorado without dropping LIpeck Prime’s population below medium level.  Therefore, Krasnodar Prime is tapped to provide colonists for the last remaining planet in the El Dorado system, in spite of the fact that it is twice as far from the system and will take two months for the colonists to arrive. 

The colonization of the system is approved during a spurt of excitement surrounding the discovery of the incredibly rich system, and the measure is approved over the vocal and adamant opposition of a sizeable minority of senators, all of which are from systems in the Sligo system.  The opposition is headed up by the senators from the Sligo system itself, and seems to be primarily motivated by economic issues that have come to the fore since the creation of the Districts.  Sligo’s senators have long claimed that the inner planets of the Union have unfairly influenced to Union’s economy to their advantage, preventing the development of the mid-range and outer colonies.  The inner planets have vigorously denied these claims, and the debate has been ongoing.  The discovery of the incredibly rich El Dorado system in the Sol District, though, and the riches that the exploitation of the system will bring to the inner planets, have brought a new urgency to the debate, both within the Senate and in the media. 

In spite of the sometimes-rancorous ongoing debate over the economics of the situation, the administration proposes a measure authorizing a colonization effort to bring the population of El Dorado B-II to medium level, which would allow it to support in-system colonization.  The Union has previously been unable to support such efforts, unlike the Alliance and the Confederated Sentient Races, because of its lack of large and very large populations.  However, over the last several years the population of New Moscow in the Sigma Draconis system has grown to the point that it can support one such colonization effort without dropping back down to medium level.  The administration’s proposal would require the approval of the Senate, leading to lines being drawn both for and against almost immediately.  The Union’s entire colonization capacity is currently focused on establishing the settlements on the eight worlds in the El Dorado system, so it will be at least a month before there is enough capacity to support such a major colonization effort, but the divisions within the Senate promise to delay the effort for much longer. 
 
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Cold War: Months 221-226, Zir Union
« Reply #305 on: March 11, 2023, 06:52:43 AM »
Month 221
The Zir Union has long been an associate state of the Alliance, however, the Zir have been increasingly uncomfortable about their ties to what they view as a more warlike state than they had originally believed.  First the D’Bringi civil war, and then the conflicts with the Aurarii and the Lothari have led the Zir to believe that they may have made a mistake in binding themselves to the Alliance. 

In this month, a Zir survey group encounters a previously unknown race while surveying a frontier system.  Discontent and disagreement with the Alliance and their restrictive approach to contacting new races has been growing within the Union, so the survey group leader decides to contact the newly discovered race, ignoring Alliance protocols.  The newly discovered race eagerly greets the Zir and they begin the process of leaning each other’s language. 

Month 222
The Alliance bombards the Lothari home world, causing outrage amongst the Zir population.  The Zir representative to the Alliance delivers a strong protest to the Alliance council, and warns the other members that if the Alliance could do that to the Lothari race, most of whom had no part in the actions of their leaders and military, they could do it to any of them.  By the end of the month the Zir representative begins trying to convince the other representatives to support his/her motion to ban all strategic bombardment of inhabited planets.  They encounter disinterest amongst the other representatives, and are disheartened by the experience. 

Month 223
Zir representative with the Alliance’s fleet establishes full comms with the Lothari and begins independent peace negotiations.  This takes place without the knowledge of the Alliance or the fleet’s commanders.  The Zir representative hopes to broker a ceasefire and peace negotiations between the two sides. 

Month 224
The Zir representative reaches a tentative non-aggression agreement with the Lothari.  This agreement is not binding on the Alliance, however, the Zir representative agrees to mediate between the Lothari and the Alliance. 

The Zir achieve full communications with the new race discovered in their territory.  They call themselves the Ut, and have some sort of communal government that the Zir find hard to understand.  In spite of this, the Ut appear friendly and readily agree to a trade relationship. 

By the end of the month, Skull-Splitter discovers the extent of the communications between the Zir and the Lothari, and the fact that the Zir have established a separate peace.  While this is essentially meaningless and symbolic, as the Zir have not contributed any forces to the battles over and on the Lothari home world, he is enraged as it may be giving the Lothari hope that they can divide the Alliance and broker a peace deal that does not involve a complete and unconditional surrender.  He orders the Zir representative detained and returned to the Alliance capital.  All negotiations started by the Zir representative are shut down. 

Month 225, Rehorish Prime, Alliance Capital
On Day 1, the Zir representative to the Alliance delivered official notification to the Council that the Zir Union was withdrawing from the Alliance, effective immediately.  The Council immediately went into closed session, to which the Zir representative was invited.  The room was empty without the associate members, as only the representatives of the three full members were present, along with the Zir representative.  Upon being asked for their reasoning, the Zir representative explained that the Alliance’s recent actions on the Lothari front were repugnant to the Zir, a violation of everything they believed.  In addition, the Zir had become seriously disillusioned about the Alliance in the aftermath of the D’Bringi civil war.  After several hours of discussion, it became clear that the Zir would not be dissuaded.  The Zir representative was dismissed, and the Council briefly discussed the situation before calling in the representatives of the associate members for a full Council session. 

It soon became clear that the full Council was in favor of granting the Zir motion, and the treaties creating associate membership explicitly allowed leaving the Alliance should the member desire, however, the strategic situation complicated the Zir request.  The Alliance and the Zir Union shared sovereignty over the Villiers system, which was one of the Zir Union’s most populous and prosperous systems, and which also boasted no less than thirteen warp points, several of which led to territories of other species.  One of which was the Mintek.  The Alliance had established a significant colony in the system, with a medium population consisting of Rehorish and T’Pau citizens, along with a scattering of D'Bringi, and had a large military presence in the system, including significant fixed fortifications.  The Alliance could not simply decouple from the Zir Union and wish them well. 

Fortunately, the Zir were more than willing to talk, and were very interested in maintaining good relations with the Alliance, they merely desired independence from entangling treaties that could force them into a conflict they did not want and could not countenance.  Negotiations would be ongoing for some time. 

Month 225, Ut Home System
Ut Survey ships complete their survey of their home system and discover nine warp points.  The Ut fleet will probe the new warp points next month.   

Month 226, Zir Prime
The Zir announce that they have formally left the Alliance, downgrading their treaty to a trade treaty, discontinuing the military alliance that they found so disagreeable.  The Zir have promised to allow the Alliance to continue to have access to the Villiers system, including unlimited access for commercial ships, and free access for military ships, although the Zir government must approve their entry into Zir space, and all such movements must be approved in advance.  The Zir adamantly refuse to allow the Alliance to initiate hostilities with the Mintek, who are located through one of the Zir system’s numerous warp points.  In return, the Zir have agreed not to establish contact with the Mintek either. 
 
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Cold War: Alliance Months 224 to 226
« Reply #306 on: March 20, 2023, 04:07:37 PM »
Month 224, Lothari territory
The two Alliance survey groups working in the Lothari colony system completed their survey of the system on the 7th, revealing two new warp points.  Both led to systems with Lothari populations.  One of the systems had two inhabited planets, one of which was medium sized.  The survey groups split up, with one survey group taking each of the newly discovered systems. 

Elsewhere in the Alliance, the Aurarii Republic agrees to take the first step in joining the Alliance as a full member.  The union will not take place for at least eighteen months, but the new Aurarii government is very interested in demonstrating its loyalty to the Alliance. 

The Alliance has reached full communications with the Norn Regime, the other race that occupies the same system as the Aurarii.  Since their liberation the Norn have been very cautious, verging on paranoid, although they seem to be getting along fine with the Doraz.

The fighting continues to rage on Lothar Prime.  The Lothari ground forces have the upper hand, and are forcing the Alliance forces back on every front.  Casualties are heavy on both sides. 

Month 225, Day 7, Lothari Prime
The long-promised ground reinforcements reached orbit late in the day.  They were almost too late.  One beachhead had been forced to surrender, while the other three remaining beachheads had been forced back to their initial perimeters and were under constant attack by superior Lothari forces.  Rather than reinforce the existing beachheads, which would have been difficult given the intensity of combat in and around the landing zones, Skull-Splitter ordered the reinforcements to establish new beachheads at strategically advantageous positions across the planet. 

The Lothari, poised on the brink of victory, were caught completely by surprise as the newly arrived ground troops began dropping on their planet.  With their ground forces completely committed to crushing the beachheads, the Lothari found themselves caught flat-footed, and were out of position to counter the new landings.  Worse, the new Alliance ground force was present in immense numbers.  Rather than dropping additional nuclear weapons, the Alliance had mobilized a huge ground force from their populous inner worlds.  This new ground force outnumbered the defenders by more than two to one, and when the remnants of the original assault force were added to their number the odds became even worse for the Lothari. 

The Lothari army never recovered from their surprise.  They had been caught fully committed to the attack on the existing beachheads, and the new landings completely outflanked them and threw their defensive plans into chaos.  The new beachheads expanded rapidly, capturing critical transportation, manufacturing, and communications nexuses almost without fighting.  The Lothari army struggled to redeploy, but once they withdrew from the original landing areas they were immediately resupplied and reinforced, and began harassing the main Lothari army elements which had so recently been attacking them. 

By the end of the month the Alliance army was in control of the most critical areas of the planet and the Lothari army was finished as an organized fighting force.  Resistance continued, but the Alliance now controlled the planet and the system.   

 Month 226, Alliance controlled Lothari space
The Alliance’s 1st Survey Group completes its warp point survey of a system two jumps from the Lothari home world and discovers a single new warp point.  When probed, the warp point is revealed to be the closed connection to the Thoen system.  The arrival of the probe ship in the Thoen system is a relief for the 6th Fleet, which has been standing on the defensive in the system, awaiting any further raids from the Lothari.  With this route now known and controlled, the 6th Fleet can return to its base in the Stahat system. 

In this month the Alliance Council begins negotiations with the Chirq Cooperative over the future of the Khozun.  The Alliance’s original intention in regards to the Khozun was that Alliance forces would be in primary control of the Khozun system, with assistance from the Chirq.  The Chirq would be the primary beneficiaries of the resources taken from the Khozun during the occupation as a repayment for the destruction caused by the invasion.  However, as the Alliance descended into the chaos of the D’Bringi civil war, followed by the invasions from the Aurarii and the Lothari, the Alliance’s attention shifted and the occupation duty fell to the Chirq, with some limited Alliance oversight and orbital support from the small Alliance squadron assigned to the Chirq territory.  With the Alliance’s difficulties largely resolved the Council’s attention has returned to the Khozuni problem.  The Chirq have been fairly administering the Khozun home world, but are reluctant to allow them any freedom.  The Council fears that the Chirq have become too used to the steady stream of income provided by the occupation.  Thus, the Council is negotiating with the Chirq to transfer control of the Khozun to Alliance authorities, in exchange for guaranteed payments for a period of time.  The Chirq, for their part, seem at least interested in talking. 
 
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Cold War: CFS Update Month 230
« Reply #307 on: April 04, 2023, 11:44:05 AM »
Confederated Free Systems
The CFS was created at the end of the D’Bringi-Human war.  It was intended from the first to be a buffer state between the two powers, to act as a semi-independent divider to hopefully prevent war and reduce tensions.  In spite of the two powers discovering additional contact points over the subsequent years, the CFS remained their only official contact point, and both superpowers maintained embassies in the CFS central system. 

By necessity, the CFS was a loose association of systems.  It did not spring up organically, but rather was imposed from the outside by the two super-powers.  The CFS’s constituent systems had no unifying principles or culture, aside from all being former Soviet colonies, and indeed some of the systems would rather have been independent, or a part of the newly forming Colonial Alliance, but none were given a voice in the treaty that eventually created the CFS.  They, in effect, were sacrificed for the greater cause of peace between the two powers. 

The D’Bringi and the human admirals who created the CFS mandated that its capital system would be the system of Novosibirsk.  The Novosibirsk system was chosen, not for any innate qualities, but rather for its location.  The system lay in between the human territories and the Rehorish dominions, and was a convenient meeting site for the two superpowers.  The remaining colonies that became part of the CFS were chosen mostly because they lay beyond Novosibirsk, and the nascent Colonial Union couldn’t figure out a way to claim them without angering the D’Bringi by demanding transit rights through Novosibirsk. 

Thus, Novosibirsk became a somewhat reluctant capital of an interstellar nation.  The CFS would have remained impoverished except for the influx of colonists from the evacuation of Earth in the years after the Last War devastated the planet.  Those colonists boosted the populations of several critical systems and allowed the CIS to colonize over a dozen planets found by its survey ships.  However, the flow of colonists largely stopped when the New Dawn party took power in the Colonial Union, and eventually the CFS was forced to curtail its colonization efforts as the populations of its central systems were reduced to the bare minimums that could sustain additional colonization.  As of Month 230, the CFS possesses four medium populations capable of out-system colonization, but between them they can currently only support the establishment of nine settlement sized colonies on newly discovered planets, or the boosting of one colony to medium status. 

During its early years, the CFS Patrol Force, as its navy is known, was located in the Novosibirsk system, and was designed and intended to protect that system.  Indeed, a large percentage of the funds the CFS devoted to defense were spent on fortifications for that one system.  In large part, this made sense.  The CFS’s home system was directly between two super-powers, both of which had substantial fleets located in systems adjacent to the capital.  However, most of the system governments within the CFS saw this more as a fraud than anything else.  They owed no particular allegiance to Novosibirsk, and the CFS government in Novosibirsk was prohibited by treaty from emplacing more than token defenses around any of its warp points in the home system, as neither the Alliance or the Colonial Union wanted their buffer state getting ideas above its station.  In truth, everyone in the CFS knew that there was no way any force that the CFS built would be able to stop a fleet from either of the major powers, and, indeed, it was unlikely that the super-powers would allow the CFS to field such a force if indeed it was possible to build such a thing.  This situation caused more than a little bit of unhappiness within the other system governments in the CFS, because, to their mind, there were many more threats beyond the borders of the CFS than the two superpowers, and their systems were completely unprotected.  Because both of the super-powers supported the CFS government, there was little the other system governments within the CFS could do about it, though.  All of that began to change when the New Dawnists in the Colonial Union lost power.  This happened at the same time as the Alliance lost interest in the CFS because of the D’Bringi civil war and other rumored conflicts on far frontiers.  As the two superpowers lost interest in the CFS, the CFS central government, weak and self-centered at the best of times, found itself on the losing end of several significant votes in the CFS Duma.  While the Novosibirsk system was the richest system in the CFS, the other major systems in the Confederation could, if they acted in concert, out vote them.  Finally free of the corrupting influence of the superpowers, they did just that.  The first vote confirmed the right of system governments to control the military forces they funded and crewed, except at times of emergency.  This had been true since the founding of the CFS, but in practice the Patrol Force had retained control of all naval ships, and the Patrol Force was mandated by the CFS government to defend the Novosibirsk system as its primary, and only, responsibility.  Subsequent votes in the Duma confirmed many of the freedoms granted to the sovereign systems in the Confederation charter, further loosening the ties the CFS government had over its territories. 

The CFS government was not blind to these changes.  Seeing its support from the two superpowers drop off, the CFS government embarked upon a major military buildup, including a new class of superdreadnoughts, specifically intending to field a force that could be “rented out” to either of the superpowers in a time of need.  It was felt that by fielding a force of powerful capital ships, the CFS could increase its influence with the major powers at the same time as it increased the power and influence of the Novosibirsk system within the CFS.   The Duma allowed the “Speaker’s Folly”, as they called the superdreadnought class, to move to approval, in exchange for an increase in the construction of smaller ships that could be deployed the various member systems as protection forces. 

CFS Update, Month 230
Income: 29,268 MCr’s
Upkeep: 10,584 MCr’s (35%)

CFS Naval Forces
In response to the decentralization movement in the Duma, the Patrol Fleet, formerly based in the Novosibirsk system, has fragmented.  There are currently seven different and separate naval commands within the CFS, none of which are subordinate to any of the others. 

Patrol Fleet
The Patrol Fleet is, in theory, the national fleet of the CFS.  In reality, it is the system fleet of the capital system, although it continues to be called the CFS Patrol Fleet and is in theory the defense fleet for the entire CFS.  The Patrol Fleet is currently mandated to remain in the Novosibirsk system except at times of national emergency.  Such an emergency must be declared by a majority of the Duma, and even in such a case the Patrol Fleet is prohibited from entering any CFS system without prior permission of that system’s government. 

Patrol Fleet Deployment
Novosibirsk (Home) System: 3xBC, 2xCA, 2xDD, 3xCVE, 36xF0

The five most productive systems in the CFA, after the capital system, have set up their own system naval commands and withdrawn the ships they funded and crewed from the Patrol Fleet.  These system fleets are answerable only to their system governments, which are in turn, in theory, answerable to the CFS government.  In reality, under the CFS charter the system governments are very nearly independent.  For instance, there is no circumstance under which the CFS government could nationalize the system fleets, or demand their subordination to the national fleet.  The system governments are expected to ‘contribute to the national defense’, but just what that means is left up to the Duma, not the CFS government. 

System Defense Forces (Controlled by System Governments)
Celabinsk System: 2xCVE, 3xDD, 24xF0
Dzerzinsk System: 2xCVE, 3xDD, 24xF0
Ivanovo System: 1xCA, 2xDD, 2xCVE, 24xF0
Jarosvlavl System: 1xBC, 1xCA, 1xDD, 1xCVE, 12xF0
Magnitogorsk System: 1xBC, 2xCA, 1xDD, 2xCVE, 24xF0

The remaining eleven colony systems, after realizing they couldn’t evenly divide their portion of the fleet, decided to band together to establish the Frontier Fleet.  The Frontier Fleet was authorized by the Duma to patrol the non-garrisoned systems of the CFS.  The command structure, officers, and crews of the Frontier Fleet were established and funded by the eleven systems directly affected.  This agreement was brokered by the Dzerzinsk system government, which as the smallest of the so-called Big Five systems, had an outsized influence over the smaller governments as they felt a kinship to the Dzerzinsk government.  Because of this, the Dzerzinsk system, which is centrally located within that area of the frontier, was chosen as a base site for that nodal force. 

Frontier Nodal Force #1, Dzerzinsk system: 1xBC, 2xCA, 2xDD, 1xCVE, 12xF0
Frontier Nodal Force #2, Petrozavodsk System: 2xCA, 2xDD, 1xCVE, 12xF0
Frontier Nodal Force #3, Vladivostok System: 2xCA, 2xDD, 1xCVE, 12xF0

Under Construction:
1xSD, 3xCT(AW), 6xCVE

Note: The SD under construction is part of the CFS government’s proposed mercenary force.  To gain approval from the Duma, the CFS government promised to increase construction of smaller ships, which could be deployed to protect the frontier and system defense fleets, and to staff the new SD’s with officers and crews selected from all of the constituent naval services.  The CT(AW)’s are a new class of ship intended to support minefields at the warp points of various systems interested in such defenses. 
 
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Cold War: Months 226-229, Colonial Union
« Reply #308 on: April 07, 2023, 11:17:24 AM »
Month 226, Epsilon Eridani
The Union Senate approves a measure authorizing a massive colonizing effort for the El Dorado system to bring the population of one of its planets up to a level that could sustain in-system colonization without seriously depleting its population.  Such is the excitement that has gripped the Senate that this measure wins approval in spite of very vocal and vigorous opposition from senators from the Sligo District.  The tipping point in favor of the measure was reached when the representative from Earth, from which the colonists will be drawn, signals she will vote for the measure. 

The administration immediately authorizes a go-ahead for the colonization effort, and the first colony transports leave Earth within days.  Eventually, a full third of the Union’s transport fleet will be devoted to the effort, which will involve a three-month journey to El Dorado from Earth.  The costs are commensurately staggering, but the administration views this as a much-needed effort to boost colonization at a time when the Colonial colonization effort has fallen behind the other major races. 

Perhaps because of the enthusiastic approval of the Senate, including Earth’s Senator, the administration is caught off-guard when large-scale protests against the effort break out across Earth as the citizens there react to the colonization program’s renewed drawdown of Earth’s population.  When the Union’s government offers to send aid to the Earth Gov, it is declined with a curt message indicating that the Earth can handle its own problems. 

Month 227, Colonial Union, Earth
Many of the protests across Earth have devolved to violent riots as the colonization effort of El Dorado continues.  By mid-month there have been several violent attacks on colonist embarkation points, and hundreds have been killed or wounded in the resulting fighting.  It soon becomes clear that the unrest is over more than just this new colonization effort.  It appears that unrest has been simmering on Earth for some time, centered on the perception that the Earth is viewed by the Union as nothing more than a convenient source of colonists and recruits for Union star fleets. 

The administration has been caught off balance by the growing violence, as Sara Kurniawan, Earth’s Senator, continues to insist that Earth is solidly in favor of the colonization effort, despite all evidence to the contrary.  Early in the month, District Governor Holbrooke arrives on Earth to confer with the local authorities about their ongoing unrest.  As governor of the Sligo District, which had been solidly against the colonization effort, Holbrooke is seen by the Earthers as a neutral party and he is welcomed by the planetary governor and her administration.  CEO Semenov orders an investigation of Senator Kurniawan, as he suspects something isn’t right in the situation on Earth. 

Within days Governor Holbrooke announces an agreement with Earth Gov for Sligo District support for Earth’s overwhelmed security forces.  The administration gratefully accepts this deal and authorizes the transfer of significant Sligo District civil defense units to Earth.  Ground units will begin arriving early next month. 

Month 228, Colonial Union
The unrest on Earth continues, however, open fighting and rioting has largely ended with the arrival of security troops from the Sligo District.  It helps that the newly arrived security troops and their officers are largely sympathetic to the protestors and their supporters within the Earth Gov administration, and this allows them to quickly create communications conduits with the protesting groups and defuse the worst of the rioting and violence. 

While the Union’s attention is turned to Earth, the administration has largely missed the larger issue.  The economic boom surrounding the massive colonization effort in the El Dorado system has largely been confined to the populous and industrialized inner systems of the Union, commonly referred to as the “Old World Colonies”.  This reality has further polarized the Union, with the Sligo District largely missing out on the boom.  This has magnified the Sligo District population’s feeling that the Union is not being run with their best interests at heart.

Having missed the discontent in the Sligo District, the Union Senate, in a burst of enthusiasm during the colonization rush, takes up debate on a new bill that would authorize the administration to begin negotiations with the Confederated Sentient Races to form a mutual defense pact.  The immediate reaction from the Sligo District is disbelief and distrust.  Almost immediately planetary leaders across the district accuse the Union’s government of only wanting this “defensive” pact as a first step towards joining the CSR.  The Sligo District remains strongly isolationist and pro-human, and this is a rallying cry that many throughout the District are sympathetic to.  While this attitude resonates throughout the Sligo District, the coverage of the protests and political pandering surrounding this unrest has an exactly opposite effect in the Sol Sector.  In the more cosmopolitan core area of the Union, anti-alien attitudes considered at best provincial, and at worst bigotry that is an example of the worst of humanity. 

In the midst of this furor, the investigation ordered by CEO Semenov reveals extensive corruption on the part of Senator Kurniawan, including payoffs from Quartermaster Corp, a major government supplier, to support the colonization vote in the senate.  In addition, there are some indications that Kurniawan transferred funds from her accounts to several officials in BuReLoc, apparently to ensure that contracts related to the El Dorado colonization project went to Quartermaster Corp.  Quartermaster Corp is one of the larger corporations in Union space, and is centered in the Old World Colonies.  While not complete, the investigation does show that the corruption was limited to Senator Kurniawan and not a larger scheme. 

This revelation leaves CEO Semenov in an unenviable position.  The growing unease in the Sligo District is based on a perception that they are not being treated fairly by the Union government, and a public revelation of Kurniawan’s corruption would only confirm their beliefs.  It would also throw the colonization program into chaos at the exact time it was needed the most.  And finally, it would doom the Independent Party’s effort to improve the Union’s relations with its neighbor, the CSR.  While Kurniawan was not an Independent Party member, she had been voting with the Independents, and her corruption, although not common within the Independents, had favored the Independent’s stated goals. 

In the end, CEO Semenov had no real choice.  He, and the Independent Party leadership, believed that the population trap the human race had gotten themselves into would doom the Union to becoming a second-class power in the near future, and in the long run would leave humanity marginalized.  Their only real hope was to join one of the multiracial alliances, either the CSR or the Alliance itself.  And of the two, the CSR seemed the better bet for the Union.  The Tomsk Union was already a member of the CSR and by all accounts had prospered within the alliance.  If the Union joined the CSR as well, humans would be assured of having a voice within the CSR.  Therefore, the choice was simple. 

By the end of the month Senator Kurniawan would retire, ‘to spend more time with her family’.  And in the next several months, a criminal investigation would arrest several prominent Quartermaster Corp officials along with several BuReLoc bureaucrats, in a corruption scandal that would be big news for a few days before being overshadowed by the next big thing, at which time it would be forgotten. 

Month 229, Colonial Union
Once again dismissing the depth of resistance in the Sligo District, the Union Senate authorizes the administration to begin negotiating with the CSR to expand their existing trade relationship with a defensive military treaty.  The delegation from the Union arrives in Tomsk on day 10, and negotiations begin immediately.   By the end of the month the Confederated Sentient Races agree to a mutual defense treaty.  This was done over the objections of the human contingent within the CSR, as the humans of the Tomsk system and their colonies won’t soon forget the Union’s attempt to invade their system, however, a minority of human representatives to the Great Moot on Bjering Prime voted for the treaty, and with the Bjering votes that was enough to pass the measure and approve the treaty.  In truth, most humans in the CSR are coming to recognize that the politics in the Union have changed greatly over the past several years, and their resistance to this treaty was more inertia than active disagreement. 

While the Union Senate still seems unaware of the resistance to these changes in the Sligo District, the Union’s administration has belatedly become aware that the recent events in the Union has driven a wedge between the two Districts.  When the news of the new treaty is made public the administration braces itself for riots and unrest likely to spread across half the Union.  Aside from numerous, mostly civil, protests on Sligo District planets, though, the feared riots don’t materialize.  What the administration hasn’t realized is that the Sligo District’s civic and political leaders have begun discussing secession seriously for the first time. 

In the newly settled El Dorado system, in-system colonization of the best mining sites begins as the colonists get themselves organized.  With all eight major colonies in place, and a medium colony on the richest planet, the El Dorado system is already the Union’s seventh most productive system. 
 
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Cold War: Colonial Union Update Month 230
« Reply #309 on: April 08, 2023, 09:12:41 AM »
Colonial Union
Update, Month 230

Income: 179,557 MCr’s
Upkeep: 65,059 MCr’s (36%)

Total Fleet: 4xCV, 20xCVL, 1xCVS, 100xCVE, 15 SD, 3xBB, 33xBC, 32xCA, 49xCL, 46xDD, 22xFG, 43xCT, 16xES, 2263xF0, 126xF1, 20xApin

Under Construction: 3xCVS, 4xCT(SC), 494xF1, 3xBS2, 2xBS0
Undergoing Refit: 2xCV, 6xSD, 9xBC, 3xCA, 20xCL, 9xDD, BS3, BS0

The Colonial Union is undergoing a political upheaval.  While the actual riots on Earth have either died down on their own, or were quelled by Sligo Militia troops, political protests have been rampant throughout the Sligo District, and the protests seem to be intensifying rather than dying down.  The situation in the District is serious enough that CEO Semenov is planning a trip to the Sligo District to meet with civic and financial leaders, to discuss the situation and to reassure the people of the District of the Union’s support. 

The Union Navy is currently undergoing a massive refit to bring it up to the latest standards.  These refits include upgrading fighter wings to the latest design, the F1, replacing armor with composite armor, and including jamming ECM systems in some designs.  Select capital ships will be receiving the latest in tracking systems, the Mi1, which increases the number of ships that can be targeted by a datagroup, and improves the data-group’s chance to hit the targeted ship. 

Enlightened Union of the Tlatelolco
Income: 9,092 MCr’s
Maintenance: 67 MCr’s (4%)

The Enlightened Union has reached HT-3 and has started research on HT-4, with Union assistance.  The Enlightened Union is considered a partner of the Colonial Union, and is being considered for full membership when its technology is improved to match the Union’s.  This has proved to be divisive within the Colonial Union, as the Sligo District population maintains its conservative, anti-alien viewpoint, while the more cosmopolitan Sol District is more open to interactions with alien races.  The situation is further aggravated by the fact that the human Redwing colony, which is the highest population colony in the Sligo District, was very pro-New Dawnist, and remains isolationist and anti-alien interaction to this day.  The fact that the shared sovereignty treaty which, so far at least, has maintained the peace in the Redwing system, works so well is more due to the humility and wisdom of the Tlatelolco than the human’s desire to work with their neighbors on the planet. 

The Tlatelolco enjoy significant support within the Union Senate, and the current administration has repeatedly pledged the Union’s cooperation with the Tlatelolco. 

The Enlightened Union has built four small bases for planetary defense, and is constructing two more.  These bases are backwards and small compared to the defenses the Colonial Union has built in the system, and are intended to signal the Tlatelolco’s willingness to work with their co-habitants in the defense the planet.  As of yet the Tlatelolco have no fleet or exploration forces.  This is because the Redwing system only possesses two warp points.  One of these warp points leads to a dead-end starless region of space, while the other leads to the Sligo system.  Indeed, there are no open warp points within several months travel of the system, meaning there are no suitable colonization or exploration sites within realistic exploitation range. 

The Union government is currently negotiating with the Tlatelolco concerning the possibility of allowing them to establish a small colony in the Union system of Kohl, in the warp chain beyond the Union’s capital of Epsilon Eridani.  The human colony world of New Texas in the Kohl system would be considered a benign world for the Tlatelolco, and talks with the system government have revealed that the people of the system would be excited to have a population of Tlatelolco on their planet. 

United World Republic of the Tarek
Income: 5,577 MCr’s
Upkeep: 480 MCr’s (9%)

Since the end of the Union occupation the Tarek have kept to themselves, and have been mostly focused on reactivating mothballed planetary defense centers.  Most of the PDC’s they’ve reactivated have been missile defense centers, although one large offensive base has recently been reactivated and is currently being refitted, presumably with the latest technology.  The Union currently believes that the Tarek are at HT-4, meaning that they are far behind human tech, and indeed, haven’t developed capital missiles yet, meaning that their bases are militarily impotent and would be unable to prevent a Union fleet from bombarding the planet.  Still, the Sligo District government remains uncomfortable with the Tarek, given the fact that they share the Sligo system with them.  Therefore, the District government maintains a large Militia to guard against any possible Tarek threat, and also mandates an extensive surveillance program to assess Tarek military capabilities. 
 
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Cold War: CSR Update, Month 230
« Reply #310 on: April 10, 2023, 09:23:52 AM »
Confederated Sentient Races
Month 230 Update

Income: 182,031 MCr’s
Upkeep: 58,313 MCr’s (32%)

The CSR is finishing a massive refit to its forces to bring them up to HT-10 standards.  For the most part, mobile forces have completed refitting, while some work remains to be done on the bases of Fortress Command. 

The HT-10 refit, along with the recent incorporation of the Tomsk Union, has caused the CSR government to decide on a complete makeover for their survey groups.  The Tomsk Union had relied primarily on explorer class craft for survey work, supported by a few larger ships, and several of the Bjering survey groups contains EX class units as well.  In the modern environment, where potentially hostile races could be fielding gunboats and F2 fighters, the old EX class units, which are not large enough to carry even long-range sensors much less anything in the way of defenses, are viewed as a liability.  Therefore, all survey groups were recalled to the home systems where the EX class units were mothballed, and the remaining survey ships were refitted to HT-10 standards.  Survey ships are now the only non-carrier class craft to carry fighters and gunboats, aside from a corvette sized scout.  The fighters and gunboats are seen as flexible enough to provide both protection and striking power to otherwise necessarily fragile survey units.  The mothballing of the EX sized units has resulted in the shrinking of the survey fleet from seven groups to four, but the four remaining groups are much more capable than the older groups.  Each group is now comprised of two Berserker 6 Exploration Cruisers, two Tyr 5 Survey Destroyers, five Kresta 2 Survey Frigates, and a Ashdod 5 Survey Scout, along with a supply ship.  The group has a grand total of twenty-eight cutters for planetary surveys, and thirty-three F2 fighters and thirty-two gunboats for defense.  Each survey group can completely survey a system for warp points in two months, and its small craft can survey the planets, moons and asteroids of that system in a similar length of time.  The CSR plans to gradually increase the number of survey groups it fields over the next several years as construction capacity and funds become available. 

Since the merging of the Bjering and Tomsk governments, the CSR has undertaken an ambitious colonization program, not only of newly discovered planets but also to revitalize Tomsk Union systems that had been starved for population prior to the merger.  This project has gone remarkably well, and to date there has been only minor friction between the cohabitating Bjering and Human populations.   In fact, the program has gone so well that it has drawn observers and study groups from the Colonial Union’s government.  Indeed, the success of this program is credited with a thawing of relations between the CSR and the Colonial Union, which has resulted in the recent signing of a mutual defense pact. 

Total Fleet: 9xCV, 1xCVL, 16xCVS, 36xCVE, 12xML, 27xBC, 8xCA, 9xCL, 56xDD, 20xFF, 47xCT, 3xES, 1089xF2, 108xF0, 18xApin, 373xGBp

Refits: 3xML, 3xDD, 2xCT


Tolan Trade Federation
Income: 20,570 MCr’s
Upkeep: 5,344 MCr’s (22%)

Total Fleet: 3xCVS, 6xBC, 3xCA, 6xCL, 1xCT, 54xF1, 18xF0, 3xApin

The Tolan recently achieved HT-10, putting them on parity with the CSR.  The CSR government immediately opened talks aimed at bringing the Tolani into the CSR as full members, however, the Tolan government dragged its feet for several months over minor points in the treaty of amalgamation.  Finally, in Month 230, the Tolani government signed the treaty authorizing the union, and in Month 236 the Tolani will join the CSR as full members. 

In spite of the Tolani dragging their feet, they had little choice.  Their home system contains two warp points, one of which leads to CSR space and the other of which leads to an Alliance colony.  The Tolani colonization program was only possible because the CSR granted them permission to transit through their space, and allowed them access to previously unexplored warp points in their territory.  And, although the Tolani maintain friendly relations with the Alliance, they are thoroughly entangled with the CSR, making the choice easy in the end. 

Aldrean Contemplative Association
Income: 732 MCr’s

The Aldreans have reached HT-0 and are researching systems available at that level, with CSR assistance.  To date they have no presence in space beyond their home world. 
 
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Cold War: Months 227-229, Alliance
« Reply #311 on: April 15, 2023, 03:33:39 PM »
Month 227, Alliance
The Chirq Cooperative agrees to transfer control of the Khozun system to the Alliance in exchange for a monthly payment to make up for the loss of income.  To be honest, the Chirq government had been growing increasingly concerned on the dependence on tribute from the occupation of Khozun that had been growing within their economy and society.  In addition, they had little idea of how to put the Khozun on the path to independence, so the Alliance’s offer came at the right time. 

With Khozun under the firm control of Alliance occupation troops, an Alliance negotiation team moves into the Khozun capital to begin work towards integrating the Khozuni into the Alliance.  Incredibly, they find a delegation from a newly established Khozun government awaiting them, primed to do whatever it takes to end the occupation and begin peaceful integration within the Alliance.  It seems the Khozuni had been trying for some time to negotiate with the Chirq, but had been frustrated by the Chirq desire to talk everything over endlessly.  Indeed, they suspected that the Chirq had been using that as a tactic to delay them as the Chirq clearly had had no idea of what they were doing.  With the Alliance now in control, and an Alliance negotiating team on-site with authorization from the Alliance government to work out a deal, the Khozun were able to rapidly come to an agreement.  Essentially, the Khozuni would be freed from occupation, and given access to nearby systems for the purpose of colonization.  In addition, trade would be opened up with the Alliance, along with assistance for R&D.  In exchange, the Khozun agreed to host an Alliance peacekeeping squadron, and to build no armed warships until the Alliance Council and the Chirq agreed that they were ready. 

Author’s Note: The Alliance rolled a critical success when they offered the Khozun a trade and military treaty, which meant that not only did they agree to the offer but they counter-offered the next better relationship. 

Month 227, Lothari Prime
The Lothari ground forces had been decisively broken a month ago, and since then Skull Splitter’s army had been mopping up the remnants of the Lothari Army and consolidating control over the outlying cities, before moving in on the industrial and cultural heartlands of the Lothari civilization.  Now, they were approaching the final strongholds of the Lothari, the inner cities of the Lothari nation.  The first city on their route to the capital was Brentan, an ancient cultural and economic center of great importance to the Lothari.  Much of the remaining Lothari ground forces had consolidated in dug in positions within the city, clearly intending to fight to the last soldier.  Orbital surveillance had documented civilian labor constructing hasty fortifications, and militia groups being armed and moved into the fortifications.  Exhortations from the Supreme Leader to “stand fast” and fight for Lothari freedom and self-determination were played on all channels at all times.

Skull Splitter, who by this time was leading the ground forces personally, halted his advancing columns short of the city, and then called up on the residents and city leaders to surrender.  The only answer from the Lothari was a redoubled effort to finish their fortifications.  And so, on the 5th of the month, Skull Splitter called down missiles from the orbiting Doraz Monitor, the Victory, obliterating the city and all of its defenders. 

The Lothari government tried to cut off the information coming out of Brentan, but it had spent too long building up the defenders of the city as heroic exemplars of Lothari fortitude, and when suddenly all reporting from the city went dark, rumors ran rampant throughout the remaining Lothari strongholds.  The Supreme Leader had reassured the military and civic leaders that the Alliance would not bombard the inner cities, as they were incredibly important and filled with culture and history, all things he knew the Alliance, in their weakness, revered.  It was to be the Leader’s last miscalculation.  By the 6th riots had begun in all of the remaining unoccupied cities as the residents realized that they had made a suicide pact with their government.  As unruly mobs approached the capital buildings, and the bunkers the Supreme Leader and his followers were sheltering in, the remnants of the military and security forces abandoned their posts, leaving the doors open as they melted into the population of the city, shedding their uniforms as quickly as they could.  The Supreme Leader was dragged into the central square in front of his former residence and dismembered while the crowd celebrated. 

It took two days for the riots to die down and for a semblance of order to be restored.  A council of town and city leaders convened and asked for terms of surrender from Skull Splitter.  Again, Skull Splitter demanded unconditional surrender, and this time the Lothari agreed.  The war was over. 

Month 228, Lothari Prime
The occupation of the former Lothari Kingdom was going well.  Every remaining city on the planet had surrendered and had accepted occupation forces without resistance.  For the most part, aside from a few holdout military units that had refused to surrender, the remnants of the military and security forces had melted away, with the survivors hoping to blend into the population and remain undetected.  Indeed, the biggest problem had been restraining the mobs that had appeared in most of the city, intent on hunting down the leaders who had led them to ruin. 

Skull Splitter’s forces had seized a vast fortune in resources hoarded by the Lothari government for their own purposes, and, even more importantly, uncovered evidence that the Lothari had recently made a breakthrough into advanced technology beyond that of the Alliance.  Fortunately, they had only just begun developing new military systems and many of their research programs had been unfinished by the time of their conquest or never started for a lack of resources, but one concrete example had been discovered in a research facility outside of the capital city.  This was a more advanced version of the anti-fighter missile (AFM2) that even now was being developed for use by the Alliance Navy.  Skull Splitter had all examples of the advanced missile, and all data from the research center, sent back to the Alliance capital for immediate development by Alliance R&D teams.  With the Lothari threat ended, Skull Splitter is recalled to the capital.  He has actually been wearing three ‘hats’ during the campaign, as the Grand Admiral (or Tai-sho) in command of the Alliance forces on the Lothari Front, the Prime Minister of the reformed D’Bringi Empire, and the D’Bringi Representative on the Alliance High Council.  While he led the fleet his adult children stood in for him in the other positions, but with the threat ended, it was time for him to return regularize the situation by assuming one of the roles and filling the others with suitable candidates.  He will travel to Rehorish Prime by fast courier, arriving next month. 

Month 229, D’Bringi Prime
Skull-Splitter, the last of the old clan leaders, was crowned Emperor of all D’Bringi on the 15th of the month.  His trusted chancellor from the old clan days is promoted to be the D’Bringi representative to the Alliance. 
 
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Cold War: Alliance Month 230 Update
« Reply #312 on: April 18, 2023, 08:58:15 AM »
Alliance Reorg, Month 230
The recent difficulties across the Alliance, coupled with the partial withdrawal from Zir territory, has caused the Alliance to reorganize its fleets.  One of the primary lessons of the wars the Alliance learned in the wars was the need to deal with the vast territory the Alliance now controls.  To this end the Alliance has decided to establish nodal forces at several locations throughout the Alliance, along with a central force in the Chruqua Nexus, while will be available to respond rapidly to nearly any region of the Alliance, including the home worlds of the member races and many of the associate members.  The ships stationed in home worlds will be designated System Defense Forces, while the nodal fleets will be numbered.

Another result of the recent conflicts was the decision made by the Alliance Council, in conjunction with the Associate Members, to require Associate Members to station 25% of their active fleets in the Chruqua Nexus as members of the Chruqua reaction force.  In exchange, an Alliance squadron will be stationed at all Associate Member home systems, acting as a trip-wire force to reassure the member governments that the Alliance will stand by them.  This decision was largely made as a result of the invasion of the Chirq home world by the Khozuni during the D’Bringi civil war. 

The Alliance fleet is still recovering from the recent conflicts it was involved in.  Some of the fleet’s ships still have minor unrepaired battle damage, and many of the ships have not been refitted to the latest standards.  Indeed, the Alliance Navy is planning a new round of refits to incorporate HT-10 systems, and many of the fleet’s ships are still at HT-8 standards, or in some cases even older.  Many of the fleet’s corvette-carriers still carry F0 fighters, as there was never enough time to update their fighter complements, and some of the fleet’s carriers have not had their complements replenished after the last series of battles against the Lothari. 

The System Defense Forces
System Defense Force, T’Pau: 3xBC, 6xCL, 6xCVE, 6xCTV, 111xF1
System Defense Force, D’Bringi: 3xBC, 3xCA, 6xCVE, 3xDD, 6xCTV, 15xF0, 111xF1
System Defense Force, Rehorish: 6xBC, 6xCA, 3xCL, 9xCVE, 9xDD, 6xCTV, 18xF0, 153xF1
System Defense Force, Aurarii: 3xCA, 6xCTV, 35xF1
System Defense Force, Bir: 3xBC, 3xDD, 3xCVE, 6xCTV, 24xF0, 42xF1
System Defense Force, Chirq: 6xCA, 3xCL, 6xDD, 6xCVE, 9xCTV, 99xF0, 51xF1
System Defense Force, Doraz: 3xCVS, 3xCL, 3xDD, 6xCVE, 6xCTV, 45xF0, 138xF1
System Defense Force, Khozun: 3xCA, 2xCVS, 3xCL, 6xCVE, 6xCTV, 6xF0, 60xF1
System Defense Force, Torqual: 3xCL, 3xCVS, 6xCVE, 6xCTV, 12xF0, 75xF1
System Defense Force, Kumamoto: 3xCA, 6xCVE, 3xDD, 6xCTV, 126xF1

Occupation Group, Lothar: 3xCV, 6xBC, 6xCL, 6xDD, 9xCTV, 12xF0, 186xF1
The Lothar Occupation Group’s primary mission is to assist the ground forces assigned to the Lothar occupation force and to patrol former Lothari territory both to ensure no Lothari remnants attempt to reform and to guard against incursions from outside the Alliance. 

Border Group, Dether (Colonial Union): 3xCL, 1xCVS, 3xCTV, 42xF1
The Dether system was the location of several battles with the Colonial Union during the recent border war with that nation.  The was ended by mutual agreement between the Colonial Union and the Alliance, on terms favorable to the Colonial Union.  This was largely due to the fact that the D’Bringi subterfuge that started the D’Bringi civil war began with an unprovoked raid into Colonial Union territory.  The Dether system, and its warp chain that leads to the Alliance colony world of Sandhurst, is the primary trade route for the Colonial Union and the Alliance, now that trade has been restored.  In an attempt to keep tensions down with the Colonial Union, the Alliance force stationed here has been significantly reduced. 
 
Border Group, Phyriseq (Mintek): 12xBC, 5xCVL, 12xCA, 3xCVS, 12xDD, 9xCTV, 78xF0, 198xF1
The Phyriseq system links to the Mintek home system, and is the original contact point between the Alliance and the Mintek.  The warp point is heavily fortified on both sides, and neither side has attempted to force its way through since the original battles in the Mintek and Phyriseq system.  The Group assigned to this system is intended to support the fortifications in the system and delay any attacker long enough for heavy reinforcements to arrive from the Chruqua Nexus, which is only one jump away. 

Border Group, Sapporo (Colonial Union): 9xCTV, 54xF1
The Sapporo System borders on the Confederated Free Systems, beyond which lies the Colonial Union.  The CFS has proven to be a reliable buffer between the Colonial Union and the Alliance, and even during the recent border conflict in the Dether system the Colonial Union never attempted to launch an attack through the CFS.  Therefore, the force assigned to this system has been reduced to a patrol force.  There are fortifications stationed at the jump point to the CFS, however, this system’s true defense lies in its proximity to the Rehorish Home System. 

Border Group, Kure (Colonial Union, Mintek): 6xCA, 3xCVS, 3xCL, 6xCVE, 9xCTV, 72xF0, 144xF1
This system, like the Sapporo system, borders on the Confederated Free Systems.  Also like the Sapporo system, it lies between the CFS and the Rehorish Home system.  Unlike the Sapporo system, though, this system also contains a closed warp point that leads to the Mintek empire.  The location of this closed warp point is currently unknown; thus, it cannot be fortified.  However, the location has been narrowed down to a region of space that has been seeded with detection buoys, and if the Mintek use it again the exact location of the warp point will be revealed.

Border Group, Roban (CSR): 3xCVL, 3xCA, 6xDD, 3xCTV, 24xF0, 90xF1
The Roban system is the location of the primary trade point with the CSR.  Relations with the CSR have generally been good, although it is clear that the CSR does not generally trust the Alliance, perhaps due to the events surrounding first contact between the two primary races of the two nations. 

Border Group, Breshy (Mintek): 3xDD, 1xCVE, 3xCTV, 33xF1
This force guards a connection between the Alliance and the Mintek, and is located in the Far frontier Sector, beyond Stahat.  The warp connection is closed on the Alliance side, and the Alliance believes that the Mintek do not know the location of the closed warp point in the Juath system.  No Mintek ships have been detected in the Juath system in years, and Alliance Intelligence is confident that the Mintek have written off the system and withdrawn beyond their own closed warp link into the Juath system.  Thus the Juath guard force has been reduced over the years to a light patrol squadron to monitor the warp point and the Juath system.  In addition, light defenses have been built at the warp point to slow down a Mintek incursion, should they know about the warp point. 

Nodal Fleets
1st (Chruqua Nexus) Fleet: 2xML, 12xSD, 12xBB, 7xCV, 21xBC, 3xCA, 30xCVE, 4xDD, 8xCTV, 117xF0, 372xF1, 1xBC(pod), 29xDD(Pod)
Aurarii Contribution: 3xML, 1xCV, 1xCVL, 3xCVP, 1xSupply Ship, 60xF1
Doraz Contribution: 1xML, 3xBC, 3xCVE, 2xDD, 10xCT, 36xF0, 3xApin
Torqual Contribution: 3xBC, 9xCA, 9xCL, 2xCT
Chirq Contribution: 3xDD, 3xCT, 3xES

The 1st Fleet is the Alliance’s primary response unit.  All of the other fleets and groups are intended to patrol Alliance territory and slow down and hopefully contain any attacker until units from the 1st Fleet can arrive.  The Chruqua Nexus is the perfect location for this force, as the nexus contains twelve warp points and is one jump away from the Doraz and Torqual Home Systems, and the Phyriseq system.  It is two jumps from the T’Pau home system, and three from the Rehorish and D’Bringi home systems. 

2nd (Stahat) Fleet: 3xBC, 3xCA, 9xCVE, 6xCTV, 12xF0, 144xF1
The 2nd Fleet is the primary patrol and defense force for the Far Frontier Sector.  The sector capital at Stahat is two jumps from the Chruqua Nexus and the 1st Fleet, but the bulk of the Sector is much farther from Chruqua and the core worlds.  The 2nd Fleet is understrength for its assigned duties, as the Far Frontiers Sector is spread out, but the sector is relatively low population, especially compared to the Core Sector, and the ships assigned to the fleet reflect that. 

3rd (Liawak) Fleet: 3xBC, 6xCA, 6xDD, 6xCVE, 6xCTV, 15xF0, 111xF1
The 3rd Fleet exists to patrol the area territory around Liawak, and to act as reinforcements for the Lothari occupation force, should they need it. 

4th (Villiers/Zir) Fleet: 3xCV, 3xBC, 6xCA, 6xCL, 6xDD, 9xCVE, 2xCTS, 279xF1
After the Zir withdrawal from the Alliance, the Alliance was forced to negotiate with the notoriously pacifistic Zir government over the force levels they would allow within their territory.  The Zir had originally wanted all Alliance forces to withdraw, but given the presence of an Alliance colony within the Zir system of Villiers, and the heavy Alliance fixed fortifications built in that system, the Zir found themselves unable to deny the Alliance a presence in the system.  The current force was the largest the Zir would allow at this time, but they have agreed to discuss allowing additional Alliance ships into their territory should they attempt contact with any of the races found through the Villiers warp nexus.   

Aurarii Republic
Income: 25,861 MCr’s
Upkeep: 11,896 MCr’s (46%)

The Aurarii recently achieved HT-10, and are researching systems available at that tech level.  The Aurarii are actively seeking a closer relationship with the Alliance, and currently have a Partnership treaty with them.  Having reached tech parity, they are making overtures to the Alliance Council, pushing for full membership.  The Alliance Council is not yet ready to consider such an application from the Aurarii as there has not yet been enough time since the partnership treaty was signed to consider changing the relationship status between the two nations. 

The Doraz and their Norn allies are cool towards the possibility of the Aurarii joining the Alliance as full members, each for their own reasons.  While they are not openly opposing this possibility, they are moving behind the scenes to slow down the Aurarii application process.  The Norn are very hostile towards the Aurarii, and it is likely that without the Doraz and Alliance presence in the Aurarii and Norn home system another war would break out sooner or later. 

The Aurarii, for their part, maintain that their recent change of government has changed their outlook towards other races, and have pledged to maintain the peace going forward.  While there has been some concern expressed by Alliance and Doraz observers at the large-scale military building program that the Aurarii have undertaken since the end of the war with the Alliance, the Aurarii government has stated that the bulk of the new production will be placed into mothballs as reserves against future need, and has also pledged to commit approximately 33% of their standing fleet to the Alliance’s Chruqua Reaction Force.

In part, the Aurarii military build up can be explained by the fact that they are “landlocked”.  The Aurarii, and the Norn, have no access to open warp points, which in part explains the war that the previous Aurarii government fought against the Doraz and the Alliance.   

Home Fleet: 3xSD, 4xCVL, 7xCLP, 90xF1
Alliance Reaction Force: See Alliance fleet section
Under Construction: 3xBS5, 3xML, 6xCV, 3xCVL, 3xCL, 180xF1

Doraz Contingency
Income: 42,519 MCr’s
Upkeep: 7,779 MCr’s (18%)

The Doraz have been very supportive of the Alliance throughout the recent difficulties, and bore the brunt of the war against the Aurarii.  After the Aurarii asked for terms, the Doraz were the only Alliance Associate Member to send forces to the Lothari front, although they arrived too late to participate in combat against the Aurarii.  The Doraz have contributed 40% of their fleet to the Alliance Reaction Force in the Chruqua Nexus, and a further 33% to the Aurarii/Norn System as a peacekeeping force. 

The Doraz are at HT-8 and are researching the next level with Alliance assistance.  The bulk of their fleet has been refitted to HT-8 standards, with the notable exception of their corvette force.  The corvettes fielded by the Doraz fleet are old designs, recently reactivated from mothballs after the destruction of their fleet in the war with the Aurarii.  They date back to the Doraz pre-interstellar period and have not been updated since.  In an effort to get more fighters into space, the Doraz have recently decided to refit their corvette fleet to match the Alliance’s CTV’s.

The Doraz are actively negotiating with the Alliance for access to Alliance territory as they no longer have any open and unexplored warp points in their territory.  As a result of this, both of their survey squadrons have been mothballed in their home system.  For now, the Doraz are focusing on boosting the populations of their colonies, however, they will run out of suitable locations for that in the near future. 

Alliance Reaction Fleet: See Alliance 1st Fleet
Aurarii Peacekeeping Force: 3xCA, 6xCVE, 9xCT, 72xF0
Home Fleet: 1xBB, 2xCA, 7xCVE, 14xCT, 84xF0, 5xApin

Under Construction: 2xML, 2xBB, 3xBC, 1xCa, 4xDD, 4xCTV
Refits: 14xCT

Torqual Free State
Income: 49,734 MCr’s
Maintenance: 16567 MCr’s (26.6%)

The Torqual have reached HT-8 and are refitting their fleet to that standard, and building carriers.  The Torqual fleet has decided to field larger carriers, and is proto-typing a CVL hull at this time, working towards a full carrier design at some point in the future.  So far they have built a handful of CVE’s and a single CVS, and are building several more CVS’s to fill in until the CV fleet can be built.  Currently, the standard CVE and CVS designs are “fighter-barges”, designed to carry fighters and little else.  The Torqual have adopted this design because of their perceived gap in capabilities compared to the Alliance and the races it has fought recently, and so they are trying to get as many fighters into space as possible with the fewest hulls. 

The Torqual, along with the Doraz, remain the most reliable of allies for the Alliance.  Although the Torqual did not send ships to fight the Lothari, they did dispatch a fleet to support the Doraz against the Aurarii.  The Alliance fielded that fleet in a support role, as the Torqual fleet was technologically substantially behind the force that the Aurarii fielded, but it was a welcome addition to the Alliance forces on the Doraz front in spite of that. 

Home Fleet: 6xBC, 11xCA, 1xCVS, 19xCL, 6xCVE, 5xCT, 102xF0
Alliance Fleet, Chruqua Nexus: See Alliance Section
Unity Squadron: 3xCA, 6xCL
Equity Squadron: 3xCA, 3xCL, 3xCT

Under Construction: 3xBS4, 1xCVL, 3xCVS,
Refitting: 3xBC, 1xCVS, 5xCA, 3xCL, 3xBS2, 5xDD(AW)

Bir Meritocracy
Income: 4,950 MC’rs
Upkeep: 537 MCr’s (6.6%)

The Bir have reached HT-4 and are researching systems available at that level.  While they have not yet built armed ships, they have fielded one survey group and have built five medium sized bases for orbital defense. 

Chirq Cooperative
Income: 13,462 MCr’s
Upkeep: 2465 MCr’s (11%)

The Chirq are researching HT-5 with the assistance of the Alliance.  Since the invasion by the Khozuni the Chirq have instituted a very active exploration and colonization program.  They currently field one survey group and are planning to build a second in the near future.   They have boosted the population of one colony planet to self-sustaining levels, but have been unable to boost a second as their colonization transports have been too busy placing settlements on newly discovered planets. 

Chirq Home Fleet: 6xDD, 5xCT, 4xES
Chirq Alliance Fleet: See Alliance Section

Khozun Empire
Income: 949 MCr’s

The Khozuni were recently freed by the Alliance, dependent on signing a fairly restrictive “mutual defense treaty” that in actuality makes the Khozuni dependent on the Alliance for defense.  This was an easy decision for the reformed Imperial government, given the disparity between the Khozuni economy and even the Chirq economy, much less that of the Alliance.  To date the Khozuni have focused on settling their system, and are researching HT-3 with Alliance assistance.

Norn Regime
Income: 19, 278 MCr’s
Upkeep: 3,287 MCr’s (17%)

The Norn recently concluded treaty negotiations with the Doraz, the Alliance race that they are most comfortable with, signing a mutual defense pact on Month 228 to go with their existing trade relationship.  The Norn have a trade relationship with the Alliance and a non-aggression treaty with the Aurarii, with whom they share their home system.  The Norn are fairly enigmatic to outsiders, however, the Doraz, who are militaristic, get along with them fairly well.  The Norn hate the Aurarii, who have economically dominated them since they moved into space, and who conquered them at the time of first contact with the Doraz.  The Aurarii occupation was fairly repressive and the Aurarii were not above destroying small towns or villages from orbit in reprisal for Norn sabotage attacks. 

Since gaining their freedom as part of the Aurarii surrender to the Alliance, the Norn have been de-mothballing and modernizing ships as quickly as possible.  The Norn are HT-7 and are researching HT-8 with Doraz assistance.  Like the Aurarii, the Norn are confined to their home system as even the Doraz cannot give them access to open warp points, given their own difficulties in that area.  The Norn are not considered associate members of the Alliance at this time, and so have not contributed ships to the reaction force in the Chruqua Nexus.  Given the proximity of the Aurarii fleet and the continuing threat the Norn feel from their neighbors, it is unlikely that the Norn would send any ships out of their system in any case. 

Norn Home Fleet: 3xBB, 3xBC, 3xDD

Construction: 8xBS4, 3xBB, 1xSSSY(10xSY)
 
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Offline Kurt (OP)

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Cold War: Month 230, Zir Commonality Update
« Reply #313 on: April 21, 2023, 10:10:43 AM »
Month 230 Update, Zir Commonality
Income: 97,053 MCr’s
Upkeep: 31,464 MCr’s (32.4%)

There is great excitement throughout the Zir nation now that they are formally independent from the Alliance.  A sense of independence and destiny has gripped the Zir, and they are enthusiastically transforming themselves from inward looking academics to an expansive, out-going polity.  One sign of this is the change in name for their nation, from the Zir Contemplative Union to the Commonality.  The Zir fervently believe that all sentient races have much more in common than their differences, and thus they seek to unite like minded races under the banner of the Commonality.  Ever mindful of the Alliance example, the Zir have come to realize that a strong defensive force is necessary to avoid becoming a target of other races. 

The Zir have made contact with one race, the Ut, independent of the Alliance, and look forward to meeting many new races now that they are out from under what they felt was the oppressive oversight of the Alliance.  Indeed, they are planning to establish contact with the three races discovered through the Villiers warp nexus once the fleet build-up and refits are finished.  While they view the Alliance as warlike and fearful of outside races, they are mindful of the Alliance’s warnings about the Mintek, and so will be cautious as to the methods they use to contact that race, if indeed they do decide to move forward with contact with the Mintek. 

For various cultural reasons the Zir have fielded what the Alliance called a “swarm fleet” in the past.  After sending observers to watch the Alliance forces in their recent conflicts, the Zir had decided to move away from that concept, however, their development of fighters resurrected the swarm effectiveness in their eyes.  They have decided to convert their corvette and frigate designs to hybrid carriers, carrying eight and ten fighters respectively.  This allows the Zir fleet to field a vast number of fighters relative to their nominal fleet strength.  In addition, the idea of fighter combat appeals to the Zir, who abhor losses.  While fighter combat is attritional in nature, fighter losses, when compared to ship losses, mean much less loss of life.  The Zir are nearing the end of a massive program of refitting their fleet, and plan on shoring up the defenses in Villiers and building more corvette-carriers before initiating contact with the races on the far end of the Villiers warp points. 

The Zir were elated to find the Ut, with whom they’ve had a trade relationship since deciphering their language.  The Ut recently agreed to upgrade their treaties with the Commonality to a include mutual defense treaty.  The Zir were happy to sign this treaty with the Ut, however, some Zir have become concerned about the strange Ut government, which they treat more like a religion rather than a rational governing group.  However, while the Ut seem almost fanatical about their belief in this “communism” of theirs, they have not attempted to convert the Zir to their beliefs to date, and seem happy to co-exist with the Commonality.

Home Fleet: 38xDD, 2xCVE, 44xFG, 94xCT. 1,162xF0
Villiers Fleet: 6xDD, 27xFG, 60xCT, 624xF0

Construction: 90xF0, 80xIDEW-E
Refits: 25xDD, 2xFG, 75xIDEW-E

Ut World State
Income: 21,020 MCr’s
Upkeep: 10088 MCr’s (48%)

Fleet: 9xCV, 12xBC, 324xF1

In month 226, Ut exploration ships probed the eight warp points they discovered in their home system, aside from the one warp point leading to Zir space that they already knew about.  Two of the new systems had habitable planets and thus are a high priority to survey, while five of the others are uninteresting to the Ut, except perhaps as a route of future expansion.  The last system, though, has an inhabited planet.  The population is clearly a recently placed settlement, and based on the emission signatures the settlement appears to belong to the Alliance that the Zir warned them about.  The Ut survey ship was within detection range of the colony when it turned back towards the outer system, but the Ut ship’s entry point into the system was closed, and so the Alliance would be unable to follow them back to their home. 

The Ut are cautiously exploring the systems around them, and by Month 230 have established two out-system colonies. 
 
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Cold War: Month 231 National Comparison
« Reply #314 on: April 21, 2023, 11:01:37 AM »
Note: The data for this was taken from Month 231, because I advanced the turn before remembering I wanted to do this.  So it won’t match up with the numbers given in the recent updates. 

Income and Upkeep for Core Polities:
Alliance         Income: 339,905 MCr’s      Upkeep: 117,494 MCr’s (34.6%)      
CSR                 Income: 182,031 MCr’s      Upkeep: 58,313 MCr’s (32%)
Colonial Union      Income: 179,557 MCr’s      Upkeep: 65,059 MCr’s (36%)
Zir Commonality   Income: 97,053 MCr’s      Upkeep: 31,464 MCr’s (32.4%)
CFS                  Income: 29,268 MCr’s      Upkeep: 10,584 MCr’s (35%)

Income and Upkeep for Core Polities and their treaty-bound Associates
Alliance         Income: 477,500 MCr’s      Upkeep: 155,738 MCr’s (34.6%)      
CSR                 Income: 202,601 MCr’s      Upkeep: 63,657 MCr’s (31.4%)
Colonial Union      Income: 188,649 MCr’s      Upkeep: 65,126 MCr’s (34.5%)
Zir Commonality   Income: 118,073 MCr’s      Upkeep: 41,552 MCr’s (35%)
CFS                  Income: 29,268 MCr’s      Upkeep: 10,584 MCr’s (35%)

Fleets (including treaty-bound)
Alliance: 20xCV, 13xCVL, 16xCVS, 137xCVE, 6xML, 15xSD, 15xBB, 79xBC, 97xCA, 83xCL, 119xDD, 31xFG, 369xCT, 12xES, 250xEX, 6xBS5, 9xBS4, 37xBS3, 62xBS2, 39xBS1, 141xBS0, 7xAF(2116 HS), 6xPDC (438 HS)

Colonial Union: 4xCV, 20xCVL, 1xCVS, 100xCVE, 15xSD, 3xBB, 33xBC, 32xCA, 49xCL, 46xDD, 19xFG, 47xCT, 16xES, 120xEX, 24xBS3, 11xBS2, 26xBS1, 84xBS0, 3xAF(2007 HS), 6xPDC(438 HS)

Confederated Sentient Races: 9xCV, 1xCVL, 25xCVS, 36xCVE, 12xML,, 33xBC, 11xCa, 15xCL, 56xDD, 20xFG, 48xCT, 3xES, 3xEX, 12xBS4, 74xBS3, 6xBS2, 3xAF(777 HS), 12xPDC(1707 HS)

Confederated Free States: 15xCVE, 1xSD, 6xBC, 12xCA, 18xDD, 3xCT, 16xES, 21xBS3

Zir Commonality: 11xCV, 18xBC, 2xCVE, 49xDD, 119xFG, 179xCT, 3xBS6, 12xBS4, 12xBS2, 36xBS0

Alliance                  Total Ships: 1672   Total HS: 60,223
Colonial Union         Total Ships: 687      Total HS: 25,119
Confed Sentient Races   Total Ships: 430      Total HS: 22,330
Zir Commonality      Total Ships: 455      Total HS: 13,322
Confed Free States      Total Ships: 96      Total HS: 3,730

   
 
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