Author Topic: From the ashes - part 8  (Read 1822 times)

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Offline Haji (OP)

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From the ashes - part 8
« on: February 14, 2016, 11:24:46 AM »
24th February 2368

   Four Commune frigate squadrons arrive in ES – 30 and five gunboat flotillas wait on the other side of the jump point, ready to assist. Those ships will form the Fourth Fleet stationed in the system. Space stations, fuel and minerals are already on the way to establish a fleet base on one of the asteroids, as the system is barren with only a single moonless gas giant and a rubble belt present. Orbital habitat is also under construction to provide supporting work force and additional services for the crews stationed there.
   The Third Fleet's frigates and corvettes remain in the system, keeping the Hegemony honest, but the gunboats are on their way back to Knossos to re-arm. The system is also renamed Atlantic, while the future fleet base will be located on an asteroid named Gibraltar.

27th February 2368

   The Commune lays down their first battlecruiser at the Solis Barge Co. orbiting New Prague. Using components previously developed for Sorcerer and Malbork class PDCs the forty thousand tonne Hyperion uses them to create an anti-small craft warship.
   The concept was first proposed after encountering ADS gunboats in ES – 84. While somewhat inefficient and certainly ineffective against anything with point defense, the yards above New Prague cannot be currently expanded due to manpower shortages and as such are used for special projects creating limited numbers of warships. The Hyperion may prove to be very useful however to combat Hegemony small craft and as such at least three are planned.


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Hyperion class Battlecruiser    40 000 tons     938 Crew     9261.2 BP      TCS 800  TH 4928  EM 0
6160 km/s     Armour 6-104     Shields 0-0     Sensors 900/180/0/0     Damage Control Rating 35     PPV 50
Maint Life 2.39 Years     MSP 5065    AFR 365%    IFR 5.1%    1YR 1217    5YR 18251    Max Repair 1800 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months    Spare Berths 1   
Magazine 3002   

Ungureanu-Tudor Medium Internal Fusion Drive (8)    Power 616    Fuel Use 54.83%    Signature 616    Exp 11%
Fuel Capacity 4 000 000 Litres    Range 32.8 billion km   (61 days at full power)

Fransson Dynamics Medium Missile Launcher (10)    Missile Size 4    Rate of Fire 25
Jurga -Bakowski  Anti-Missile Launcher (10)    Missile Size 1    Rate of Fire 10
Stromberg Electronics Long Range Anti-Missile FC (2)     Range 194.4m km    Resolution 1
Trebuchet II (650)  Speed: 40 000 km/s   End: 82.2m    Range: 197.3m km   WH: 9    Size: 4    TH: 133/80/40
Spear II (402)  Speed: 52 000 km/s   End: 7.4m    Range: 23.2m km   WH: 1    Size: 1    TH: 398/239/119

Long Range Small Object Detection System (1)     GPS 1800     Range 324.0m km    MCR 35.3m km    Resolution 1
Suyanto-Suprapto Aeronautical Very Large Thermal Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 900     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  900m km
Cahyono Putro-Saleh Large EM Detection Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 180     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  180m km

ECCM-5 (2)         ECM 30

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

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes


10th March 2368

   The Hegemony completes the design of their next carrier, the Steadfast. At one hundred and forty thousand tonnes, it will be their largest vessel by far.
   Originally designed as a larger version of the Vigilant, the engineers added a lot of last minute changes based on the Battle of Boston (known to the Commune as the Battle of Atlantic). While they always wanted to add powerful anti-missile defenses to later carriers, they wanted to do that when approaching much larger sizes and when the gauss cannon technology matured enough. None of those happened, but the vulnerability of carriers to an attack by either long range missiles or small craft is now obvious. As such the Steadfast has fifty percent deeper armor and twice as many anti-missile launchers, while still managing to squeeze larger fighter wing than the Vigilant.


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X-213 Steadfast class Carrier    140 000 tons     2325 Crew     16029.8 BP      TCS 2800  TH 8400  EM 0
3000 km/s     Armour 6-240     Shields 0-0     Sensors 84/84/0/0     Damage Control Rating 115     PPV 40
Maint Life 1.41 Years     MSP 8230    AFR 1363%    IFR 18.9%    1YR 4540    5YR 68094    Max Repair 560 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Flight Crew Berths 0   
Hangar Deck Capacity 45000 tons     Magazine 6232   

Giesy Aero Engines Military Ion Drive (14)    Power 600    Fuel Use 30%    Signature 600    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 16 450 000 Litres    Range 70.5 billion km   (271 days at full power)

Hackmann-Schwabach Anti-Missile Launcher (40)    Missile Size 1    Rate of Fire 10
Tsai-Luo Anti-Missile Fire Control (4)     Range 11.8m km    Resolution 1
Tomahawk (1440)  Speed: 24 000 km/s   End: 50.1m    Range: 72.2m km   WH: 8    Size: 4    TH: 80/48/24
Patriot (472)  Speed: 31 200 km/s   End: 2.5m    Range: 4.6m km   WH: 1    Size: 1    TH: 197/118/59

Tsai-Luo Missile Detection System (1)     GPS 84     Range 11.8m km    MCR 1.3m km    Resolution 1
Abdi  Incorporated Battle Area Managment System (1)     GPS 112000     Range 1 108.7m km    Resolution 200
Drechsler & Hertwig Medium Thermal Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 84     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  84m km
Drechsler & Hertwig Medium EM Detection Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 84     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  84m km

Strike Group
180x X-205 Falcon Fighter-bomber   Speed: 4800 km/s    Size: 5

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

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes


11th March 2368

   Republican exploration ship Galileo discovers small alien ruins two jumps from their capital system of Phoenix.

8th June 2368

   The jump gate on the Boston-Washington jump point is complete, allowing Hegemony vessels to withdraw. Enough information to communicate via the new construct has already been exchanged and no ambassadors will be assigned. From now on the Commune and the Hegemony will interact purely by radio.

7th July 2368

   The Third Fleet frigates and corvettes are ordered back to Knossos as it appears peace has finally returned to this part of the galaxy. The Fourth Fleet is officially activated on Gibraltar and consists of five gunboat flotillas and four frigate squadrons, making it the most powerful formation in the Commune, at least for the time being. Unfortunately, this does not solve all the problems.
   The need to divert so much to the Atlantic system means the fleet base in ES – 10 has still not been established. Worse, the Second and Third fleets had not received any reinforcements and won't for quite some time. But the biggest issue for the Commune were their plans to establish a new research colony.
   There are currently fifty R&D facilities in the entire Commune, split between Eden, Prkos, New Prague and Biskupin. The first two are also home to alien facilities which improve certain areas of research. As such Eden works exclusively on sensors and electronics while Prkos works exclusively on missiles and kinetic weapons. Facilities on New Prague were supposed to be there only temporarily, moved to ES – 34, but that plan has been derailed again as the fleet base in ES – 10 won't be established for some time. Biskupin was once the heart of the Commune research and to a certain extent still is, but the habitat cannot expand and the R&D costs and times are increasing all the time.
   Because of all this the Commune intended to significantly increase the number of their facilities, creating a secure colony for their R&D. The colony was supposed to be located in ES – 46 a dead end system with reasonable candidate for colonization, which would be very well protected. Unfortunately the system of Atlantic is the only one connecting to it and is no longer secure.
   There are other dead-end systems, but none connecting directly to the capital and with the recent developments it feels like nowhere is safe. As such, despite the potential risks, the government decides to begin supporting development of the Phoenicia system, which will become a fleet base. While it will take some time, thirty research facilities are planned for the system.
   There are however good news to be found in all this commotion. Despite naval yards working at full capacity, the Commune budget is still in the positive, which means there is no need to suspend production. Thanks to this the Commune Defense Force will be expanding much quicker and to much greater extent than previously thought.

19th July 2368

   The Vigilant Carrier Group escorts a jump gate construction ship into the Seattle system. They are now committed, stuck there for five months. The decision to go ahead with the securing of them system was a controversial one due to recent events, but the Hegemony government does not want to show weakness and as such gave permission for the expedition to continue as planned.
   The enormous active sensor array does not see into the inner system but it detects two unknown vessels – an eighty three hundred tonne frigate and a twenty four thousand nine hundred tonne cruiser. The size, speed and electronic signature of those two aliens is identical to the ADS encountered by the Commune. Fortunately before the talks collapsed, the Hegemony received warnings about the race. As such fighters are launched immediately, ordered to take the two warships down. Twenty four falcons are sent against the frigate and sixty against the cruiser.

20th July 2368

   Five more frigates are detected close to the ADS cruiser. The sixty four remaining fighters are launched in response and although they won't be able to destroy all the enemies, they should be able to weaken them.

21st July 2368

   The seven enemy warships have split into four groups. A single frigate, nearly twice as fast as the other aliens is hanging back, as it's probably just a fast scout. Five frigates and one cruiser bear down on the Vigilant and her escorts, but rather than moving as a unified force, they're in three groups of two ships moving parallel to each other, separated by nearly thirty million kilometers.
   The human fighters have joined together and are now sixty nine million kilometers from one of the groups. Communication has been attempted, but in accordance with the information provided by the Commune, there was no response. As such Rear Admiral Aja Bhatta orders the Falcons to open fire. Twenty will target each of the two frigates to test the enemy point defense.
   Unfortunately, the enemy possesses ECM systems, forcing the fighters to close to fifty seven million kilometers to fire. They do so, releasing one hundred and sixty Tomahawks.
   The enemy did not have anti-missiles and its point blank defenses were weak, intercepting only eight shipkillers. Three dozen human missiles hit, causing several secondary explosions including a massive hundred megaton one. The two alien frigates were annihilated with well over half of the Hegemony ordnance still remaining. A massive overkill.
   As the remaining ninety two missiles self-destruct, the forty Falcons which already fired head back to Vigilant. The rest heads towards the second group, which consists of a cruiser and a frigate. The former is targeted by twenty five Falcons, while the latter by thirteen. This may still be an overkill, but if the enemy has better active defenses, it may actually be not enough.
   Suddenly one of the fighters, still moving towards the enemies and trusting its small size, is hit by five anti-missiles, losing its only engine. The others immediately reverse course, trying to get out of range. Ten seconds later another one is hit and yet another, but after that the attack ceases. Three fighters are left dead in space.   
   The reason for that becomes obvious short time later, when four Tomahawks suddenly explode over a million kilometers from their target. In the end fifty three shipkillers are destroyed by anti-missiles and fourteen by point blank defenses. Nearly fifty hit the enemy vessels, destroying the frigate and damaging the cruiser. The thirty eight Falcons head back home, while the rest prepares a second strike. Twenty more Falcons target the surviving enemy vessel.
   The results are disappointing. Twelve Tomahawks are intercepted by point blank defenses and many more miss, resulting in only thirty eight hits, which is not enough to destroy the cruiser. It is heavily damaged however, moving at less than two thousand kps, but as reported by the Commune, there is no atmosphere loss. Five more Falcons fire trying to finish the vessel. This is enough to finally destroy the alien.
   The twenty five fighters head home, while the remaining forty two head towards the next two frigates. Ten targets each of them. It's not enough to destroy them, but the aliens are heavily damaged. Five more Falcons fire, splitting their fire, which is more than enough.
   The last seventeen fighters move towards the lone frigate, which is still hanging back. They fire all their ordnance, which proves to be a massive overkill.
   With the current sensors clear, the Vigilant and her group moves to recover the three disabled fighters. This will also allow her to put the inner system into detection range.

23rc July 2368

   The three disabled fighters have been recovered and repaired. Most of the inner system is now within Vigilance's sensor range and three new aliens have been discovered. Two are orbiting the second planet, where the wrecks detected during initial discovery of the system are located, and both mass a little over sixteen thousand tonnes. Based on the information received from the Commune those are almost certainly bases.
   The third vessel is massing sixteen thousand five hundred and fifty tonnes and is just staying put in deep space. Bhatta orders thirty Falcons to destroy it, while the rest is sent against the bases.

25th July 2368

   All one hundred and eighteen fighters assigned to the strike fire against the two bases. Several minutes before the Tomahawks arrive one of the Falcons is stricken by dozens of anti-missiles. The human vessels are already on the very edge of their effective fire control range and cannot retreat. Five seconds later another fighter dies.
   Targeting fighters has proven catastrophic for the bases however, as they had no anti-missiles left to intercept Hegemony shipkillers. A dozen or so has been intercepted by point blank defenses, but dozens more hit their targets annihilating them in seconds. Three hundred and sixty Tomahawks had to self destruct. Six fighters have been destroyed.
   Several hours later the alien destroyer is intercepted and killed with a single salvo. With space in sight once again cleared the Vigilant moves further into the system to pick up the life pods and scout the rest of the planets.

28th July 2368
   
   Exploring a new jump point found in Washington the Hegemony discovers a trinary star comprising two Sol like stars and a brown dwarf orbited by six planets and sixty two moons. More importantly perhaps there are two alien wrecks present. However there are no carrier groups available, so the system will remain unexplored for some time.

29th July 2368

   All Hegemony survivors have been rescued and all planets in the system are now within sensor range of the Vigilant. There are no sign of aliens, so now all that remains is to wait for the jump gate to be constructed which will take nearly four months.

17th September 2368

   Recently delivered tracking stations on ES – 43 FH4 detect a Hegemony construction ship entering through previously uncharted jump point. The system had only two previously known ones, one leading to a dead end system of ES – 61 KKKLH5 and the other one leading to Adriatic, where a reasonably large and strategically important Commune colony is located.
   The government reacts quickly, sending message to the Hegemony claiming the system by the right of discovery and development – as they are the first ones to place jump gates or any planetary installations – while also sending one of the frigate squadrons from the Capital Fleet to the system. A fleet base will also be established in the future.
   The Hegemony is unhappy, but they don't want to push the issue at the moment, as their only carrier group is cut off for the time being and the next one is not ready yet.

23rd October 2368


   A partially intact colony has been found on Seattle II, the planet orbited by alien wrecks. A Hegmeony archaeological team has been dispatched.

1st January 2369

   After long studies of their naval capabilities, economic potential and astrographic situation the Commune has decided to change their strategic thinking.
   Up until recently the number of dormant jump points was relatively low. As such fleets were formed in strategically placed locations where they could respond relatively quickly to dangers coming from outside. Additional fleets were supposed to be established in systems bordering with other nations, like the Fourth Fleet was. Meanwhile the most critical industries, such as shipbuilding and ordnance production, was supposed to be centralized in the Capital sector, approaches to which were supposed to be guarded by other fleets and a net of sensor outposts.
   Unfortunately the number of dormant jump points is simply too great, which means Commune has no safe “rear areas”. Worse, there are already two entry points for a potentially hostile nation and guarding even one of those points is currently requiring nearly half of the entire mobile part of the Commune Defense Force. Because of this a new approach is needed.
   In the end the decision is made to return to the nodal stance, so that available forces can respond quickly to attack from any direction. Frontier bases, like Gibraltar, will be heavily fortified using ground based and orbital installations and will serve as safe havens for reasonable numbers of gunboat flotillas. In case of an attack, the flotillas will do as much damage as possible, using bases to refuel, resupply and rearm and generally trying to either slow the enemy down or to draw him into attacking a heavily fortified position.
   Another new approach will be widespread use of PDCs. While the government was afraid that use of such installations will be met with protests from populations, due to potentially inviting nuclear bombardment of planets, the people of Eden actually welcomed a missile base built there and another one is currently under construction on Prkos. As each colony founded by the government has reasonable numbers of construction facilities, leftover from terraforming, a widespread construction should be possible. However, rather than using the old Citadel class PDC, a new installation will be used. The Rampart class PDC is a cross between the older designs, using long range anti-missile fire control for defense as well as offensive Trebuchet II missiles, which will allow it to destroy enemy fighters before they can launch.
   Unfortunately, while all government founded colonies have the necessary facilities, there is a number of colonies founded independently. Supporting them will be expensive and time consuming and while possible, it will slow down the planned expansion of research facilities. The rate of construction will also be slow, but in ten or so years will result in well defended planets.
   To support the expansion and change in strategic stance, new military related facilities will also be needed. A small shipyard will be constructed on Knossos, used to expand the number of gunboat flotillas at a much greater pace. Ordnance factories will also be constructed there, although there is already a reasonable number of them on Perun, Wieliczka and Eden.


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Rampart class Missile Base    20 050 tons     495 Crew     4419 BP      TCS 401  TH 0  EM 0
Armour 5-65     Sensors 1/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 250
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months    Spare Berths 0   
Magazine 2290   

Gawlowski -Kotarski  Miniaturised Missile Launcher (200)    Missile Size 4    Rate of Fire 2400
Korczak -Sobierajski  Ground Based Anti-Missile Launcher (50)    Missile Size 1    Rate of Fire 5
Stromberg Electronics Long Range Anti-Missile FC (5)     Range 194.4m km    Resolution 1
Trebuchet II (200)  Speed: 40 000 km/s   End: 82.2m    Range: 197.3m km   WH: 9    Size: 4    TH: 133/80/40
Spear II (1490)  Speed: 52 000 km/s   End: 7.4m    Range: 23.2m km   WH: 1    Size: 1    TH: 398/239/119

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


This design is classed as a Planetary Defence Centre and can be pre-fabricated in 9 sections

5th January 2369

   The Hegemony launches their first three salvagers, the X-214 Hiena class. While they possess in-build cargo holds this is for emergency use only as they are supposed to work in tandem with freighters. Their first task will be to salvage all the wrecks in the Seattle system, as the government is very keen on trying to bridge the gap between their and Commune technological capabilities as soon as possible.


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X-214 Hiena class Salvager    112 100 tons     500 Crew     1912.2 BP      TCS 2242  TH 3600  EM 0
1605 km/s     Armour 1-207     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 0
MSP 11    Max Repair 250 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months    Spare Berths 2   
Cargo 50000    Cargo Handling Multiplier 20   
Salvager: 2 module(s) capable of salvaging 2000 tons per day

Weightman-Auch Commercial Ion Drive (15)    Power 240    Fuel Use 3.04%    Signature 240    Exp 4%
Fuel Capacity 2 250 000 Litres    Range 118.8 billion km   (856 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes

9th January 2369

   Vigilant's carrier group returns home amidst huge celebration. The government is trying to play the event for all it's worth.
   The defeat in the Boston system (known to the Commune as Atlantic) has shaken public confidence into Hegemony's ability to protect them. Fortunately the Seattle Campaign was exactly what the government needed – a military action against large force of hostile aliens with superior technology. Thanks to the Commune it is known the ADS is a generation or two ahead in pretty much every field, but it did not stop Vigilant and her fighters from destroying a total of six frigates, a destroyer a cruiser and two bases while losing mere six Falcons and sixteen people. For that matter the main force never came under attack.
   Even so the Hegemony Navy is still analyzing data from the battles in Boston and Seattle trying to improve their doctrine. Unfortunately what they mostly need is better technology, especially in the area of gauss cannons and sensors. Until those projects are complete – and they won't be for several years – there is little that can be done to improve Hegemony's fighting capabilities.
   The carrier group needs to be overhauled and resupplied and the government is planning to put the crews before the cameras as much as possible to improve public relations. As such the Honolulu system, where two alien wrecks are located, won't be scouted for the next several months.

12th March 2369

    The Republic completes their first pair of jump gates leading to the only system connecting to Phoenix, the ECN4773. There are three candidates for colonization present, but it will be some time before those will be ready for colonization and development.

11th April 2369


   In light of their experiences during the Battle of Boston the Hegemony Navy designs a new escort, the Hammurabi class frigate. It's based on the older Enki design but sacrifices all anti-missile lasers while adding more launchers, fire controls and magazines. Compared to the previous design X-215 have over four times as many launchers and fifty percent larger magazines, but has to launch more missiles per fire control link and runs out of ammunition faster, due to lower number of missiles per launcher. It also has no function in a long duration, sustained combat due to possessing only a spinal mounted laser as an emergency weapon.
   The design is for all instances and purposes a stop gap measure. The HN is uncomfortable with an idea of a ship that can become completely useless after it runs out of ammunition but lasers have proven to be poor anti-missile weapons and development of new technologies takes longer than expected. The Hammurabis will be able to significantly enhance a short term anti-missile defense of the carrier groups which will be very useful against enemies such as the Commune, but the current plan is to use them to reinforce existing formations where laser based defenses are already present.


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X-215 Hammurabi class Frigate    10 000 tons     297 Crew     1662.6 BP      TCS 200  TH 600  EM 0
3000 km/s     Armour 4-41     Shields 0-0     Sensors 14/14/0/0     Damage Control Rating 6     PPV 56
Maint Life 2.45 Years     MSP 623    AFR 133%    IFR 1.9%    1YR 143    5YR 2143    Max Repair 300 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Spare Berths 0   
Magazine 554   

Giesy Aero Engines Military Ion Drive (1)    Power 600    Fuel Use 30%    Signature 600    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 580 000 Litres    Range 34.8 billion km   (134 days at full power)

Liu-Liu Ordnance 190mm Spinal Near Ultraviolet Laser (1)    Range 270 000km     TS: 5000 km/s     Power 9-4     RM 3    ROF 15        9 9 9 6 5 4 3 3 3 2
Ga-Fen Beam Fire Control (1)    Max Range: 320 000 km   TS: 5000 km/s     97 94 91 88 84 81 78 75 72 69
Woessner-Terwilliger Cybernetics Nuclear Reactor (1)     Total Power Output 4.5    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Hackmann-Schwabach Anti-Missile Launcher (50)    Missile Size 1    Rate of Fire 10
Tsai-Luo Anti-Missile Fire Control (5)     Range 11.8m km    Resolution 1
Patriot (554)  Speed: 31 200 km/s   End: 2.5m    Range: 4.6m km   WH: 1    Size: 1    TH: 197/118/59

Tsai-Luo Missile Detection System (1)     GPS 84     Range 11.8m km    MCR 1.3m km    Resolution 1
Drechsler & Hertwig Small Thermal Sensorr (1)     Sensitivity 14     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  14m km
Drechsler & Hertwig Small EM Detection Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 14     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  14m km

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

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

28th April 2369

   The Hegemony decides on major reorganization of their TN industry due to manpower shortages experienced on New Earth.   
   By now, while several systems have been colonized, the population of most of the colonies is very low, a couple of million at best. The Sanctuary system on the other hand is quite possibly the most heavily populated one in space, with one and a half billion people living on New Earth and over five hundred million living on both Ares and Poseidon.
   The capital of the Hegemony will remain the industrial center of the nation, due to efficiency and security of such an arrangement, but certain facilities can be moved off-world. The first and most obvious ones are fuel refineries, which will be transported to Poseidon. While fuel harvesting and refining from gas giants is possible and ongoing, the gaseous sorium deposits in Sanctuary were low, prompting massive build up of ground based facilities.
   In addition two hundred construction factories will be moved to Ares to begin the terraforming process. While this is in conflict with previous policies, stating that TN elements and industries are too strategically important to “waste” them on planetary modification projects, Ares will become, in the long run, the new R&D center of the Hegemony. Fifty two research facilities are in operation on New Earth, requiring a sizable supporting population and their removal will make way for more construction workers.


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X-216 Darwin class Terraforming Base    127 200 tons     505 Crew     2881.6 BP      TCS 2544  TH 0  EM 0
Armour 5-225     Sensors 1/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 0
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months    Spare Berths 1   
Terraformer: 5 module(s) producing 0.005 atm per annum


This design is classed as a Planetary Defence Centre and can be pre-fabricated in 51 sections

19th May 2369

   The Commune develops new anti-missile launcher that can be mounted on warships but has reload time as good as those used by ground bases. This will result in corvettes and cruisers which can fire twice as many interceptors without any mass penalty. Upgrades will be done when possible, but the sheer number of those ships may make wide scale refits problematic, if not outright impossible. New construction however will use the new launchers.

25th May 2369

   The Steadfast Carrier Group is officially activated with three destroyers and seven frigates serving as escorts. The escorts of the Defiant were available of course, but those will be attached to the next carrier of the X-213 class – the Defiant, who will continue the traditions of her predecessor.
   As the Vigilant and her escorts have been resupplied and new fighters and crews have arrived, the Hegemony now commands two powerful naval formations. One of them – the Vigilant, due to her experience – is sent to Honolulu to cover gate construction in that system while scouting it for possible alien presence.

17th June 2369

   A Republican archaeological outpost in the ECN4777 system detects a weird increase in radiation, most likely due to outside source. The only ship in the system is the Galileo, a survey vessel that moves to investigate.

19th June 2369

   The salvage group returns to New Earth bringing with them information gleaned from the alien vessels as well as numerous components. No breakthroughs were made, but the Hegemony's knowledge of electronic and sensor systems have been greatly improved.

21st June 2369

   The Vigilant Carrier Group enters the Honolulu system, escorting a Hegemony construction ship. There are no aliens within sensor range, but the jump point is quite distant from the two stars, so the human force begins to move deeper in system.

24th June 2369

   Six ADS frigates have been detected by Vigilant approaching her group. Ninety Falcons are launched to deal with the enemy. A single frigate manages to survive, but she's grievously wounded, moving at only five hundred kps. Five more fighters are sent to finish her off.

26th June 2369

   The Galileo jumps back to the ECN4773 system, which contains a jump gate to Phoenix, allowing it to inform the Republican government of an alien ship with powerful active sensors detected in orbit of the archaeological outpost. A jump gate into the system will be ready in two months, which is when an expeditionary force will be sent to try and initiate contact.

2nd July 2369

   Six ADS destroyers are located in deep space in Honolulu. A hundred and twenty fighters are sent to eliminate them.

3rd July 2369

   Five unknown vessels are detected arriving in Portland from a recently discovered system. Only their active sensors can be seen by a survey ship in the system, but it's enough to identify them from information given to the Hegemony from the Commune. The race has been encountered twice by the other nation, resulting in combat with no attempt at communication at all. If the information is correct, the vessels currently seen are sixty thousand tonnes and are accompanied by gunboats.
   The Portland system is connecting to Washington and a jump gate into the system is ready, but the matching one won't be completed for fifty more days. Considering the sheer number of enemies sending a carrier group in without ability to withdraw and resupply may end up being impossible.

22nd July 2369

   The Vigilant completes her flybys on important Honolulu bocies finding no new ADS vessels.

24th July 2369

   Thomas Edison, the survey vessel in Portland arrives at the Washington jump points and sends warning to the capital. The ship is ordered to stay in place and monitor the aliens, but unless they begin approaching the jump point, the government has no intention of sending it's scarce military assets to deal with the problem.

16th August 2369

   In order to utilize Beyince Heavy Industries yard in orbit of Gniezno, which completed their production of Galileo survey vessels, the Republic designs the Berlin class destroyer escort. It has only three gauss turrets to Flower's eight, but it also has three additional lasers for improved anti-warship power.


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Berlin class Destroyer Escort    12 500 tons     360 Crew     2252 BP      TCS 250  TH 900  EM 0
3600 km/s     Armour 4-47     Shields 0-0     Sensors 33/42/0/0     Damage Control Rating 9     PPV 118.98
Maint Life 2.39 Years     MSP 1013    AFR 138%    IFR 1.9%    1YR 243    5YR 3644    Max Repair 405 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months    Spare Berths 0   

Giarelli Techsystems Internal Fusion Drive (1)    Power 900    Fuel Use 19.21%    Signature 900    Exp 9%
Fuel Capacity 525 000 Litres    Range 39.4 billion km   (126 days at full power)

Rhodes Precision Arms 190mm Spinal NU Laser (1)    Range 192 000km     TS: 4000 km/s     Power 9-5     RM 3    ROF 10        9 9 9 6 5 4 3 3 3 2
Single Rhodes Precision Arms 120mm NU Laser Turret (3x1)    Range 120 000km     TS: 16000 km/s     Power 4-5     RM 3    ROF 5        4 4 4 3 2 2 1 1 1 1
Quad Alarcon & Alva Gauss Cannon Turret (3x12)    Range 30 000km     TS: 16000 km/s     Power 0-0     RM 3    ROF 5        1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Meneghin Techsystems Beam Fire Control (1)    Max Range: 192 000 km   TS: 16000 km/s     95 90 84 79 74 69 64 58 53 48
Meneghin Techsystems Point Defence Fire Control (1)    Max Range: 48 000 km   TS: 16000 km/s     79 58 38 17 0 0 0 0 0 0
Lamarliere Aircraft Engine Co Tokamak Fusion Reactor (3)     Total Power Output 24    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Alberoni Corporation Small Missile Detection System (1)     GPS 56     Range 7.8m km    MCR 854k km    Resolution 1
Engels Electronics Industries Thermal Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 33     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  33m km
Engels Electronics Industries EM Detection Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 42     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  42m km

ECCM-2 (2)         This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes


22nd August 2369

   The Republican Battle Group One enters ECN4777 system, escorting a jump gate construction ship. A single alien vessel of sixty thousand tonnes is detected in orbit of the archaeological outpost. The humans try to initiate communication, but there is no response.

23rd August 2369

   For the past day the alien vessel has been moving towards the Republican force at one thousand kps without any attempt at communication. Commodore Diederic Frissen, commanding the formation, orders Dreadnought to fire two hundred of her missiles at the incoming ship. While there are some who believe it to be premature, humanity's experience with aliens who refuse to communicate leaves them with little patience.
   The two hundred Catapults hit the target without any problems, but the alien continues to close at over eight hundred kps while also activating powerful shields. Interestingly no atmosphere loss is detected, but the enemy is streaming fluid.
   Dreadnought launches another two hundred missiles at the target, but it proves to be an overkill. Interestingly there is no wreck left from the alien.
   The archaeological outpost is now heavily irradiated. If people lived there population growth would be lowered by two and a half percentage points, while the industry would operate at only ninety percent capacity. The system of ECN4777 was next on the list for colonization, with four candidates for settlement, but it may now be pushed back on the list.
   Battle Group One on the other hand has performed exactly as expected, destroying an enemy before he can even close. The ships are now stuck for half a year while a jump gate is being constructed, leaving Phoenix somewhat exposed, but new vessels will be launched soon. 

26th August 2369

   Exploring a recently found jump point a Republican survey ship discovers a red dwarf orbited by eight planets and fifty moons. What makes the system unique however is the presence of seven unknown wrecks.
   The vessel heads back immediately towards a friendly space, but it's unlikely the system will be explored any time soon. There are exactly five warships in commission, all cut off due to the lack of jump gate in ECN4777 and there is also no gate network to the new system. In addition, as it's located four jumps away from Phoenix, it's low priority.
   In the long run of course, the system will have to be scouted, but at the moment the Republic is concerned primarily with defense of their own territory.

11th September 2369

   With no more sign of aliens in the system Battle Group One of the Republican Navy went ahead to perform flyby of major bodies in the system. While approaching the first planet, they detect twenty small ships of seven hundred and fifty tonnes at range of ten million kilometers and approaching at nearly eleven thousand kps. As those are from the same race as the large alien vessel and their vector is far too similar to an attack, Frissen orders Courbet, the other battleship in his group, to begin launching salvos of missiles, targeting ten Catapults at each enemy.
   The results were disappointing. Nine FACs have been destroyed outright and five more were left dead in space, but the other six were still moving towards the humans. Ten more missiles were fired at the still active targets and four at the disabled ones, which is enough to clear out the enemy. There are no wrecks left.

12th September 2369

   Eight more alien FACs are detected between orbits of second and third planets. Courbert destroys them with missiles.

24th December 2369

   Very small alien ruins have been found in the Honolulu system. A Hegemony archaeological team will be deployed as soon as possible.

29th December 2369

   The Hegemony salvage group returns from Honolulu bringing with them a number of components. As previously no breakthroughs has been made, but a lot was learned, especially about sensors and electronics.

10th February 2370

   Battle Group One returns home from the first Republican conflict. While not a single human died, two years worth of missile production has been expended. Worse, the support facilities on Gniezno are not yet large enough to support the battleships, which means their launchers can't be prepared for the next mission.
   Despite that however the five ships have significantly boosted Republican confidence, both of their leadership and citizens. Another battleship has also been launched recently and Servii is producing more and more ordnance factories to support the Navy. While Phoenix is still very vulnerable, it is considered a temporary state of affairs.

7th March 2370

   The Defiant's Carrier Group has been reactivated, bringing the number of Hegmeony formations to three. It's first task, together with Vigilant, will be to clear the Portland system of hostiles.

28th March 2370

   A readily habitable planet is found by the Hegemony three jumps from the capital. Unfortunately, to reach it ships need to go through the Philadelphia system, which is a red giant with expansive system and eleven billion kilometers between jump points. As such the planet is unlikely to see development any time soon.

11th April 2370

   Vigilant, Defiant and their escorts arrive at the Portland jump point. A pair of jump gates have been successfully completed allowing easy communication, but also allowing the enemy to enter Hegemony space. As such they turn off all their active sensors and move at low speed to reduce their thermal signature, entering the alien infested system and moving to a random spot in deep space before commencing action.

16th April 2370

   Four alien vessels are detected moving towards the Washington jump point but fortunately they are not traveling together, instead being separated by a considerable distance. The human carriers abandon their previous plan and launch two hundred fighters with orders to destroy two of the enemy warships while the larger vessels move back to form a blockade at the gate.
   The Hegemony could launch a third strike right away, but they are worried about the alien detection ability. They know this new race possesses very fast gunboats that could run down the Falcons and the war against ADS has proven the human fighters aren't as difficult to detect as previously believed. As such leaving over a hundred craft behind is considered a reasonable precaution.
   Meanwhile the Steadfast and her group are ordered to Columbia, to safeguard the colony in case any aliens managed to run through the blockade.

18th April 2370

   Vigilant's strike is the first to arrive in position, unleashing four hundred Tomahawks at their sixty thousand tonne target. This is proven to be more than enough, but soon after the alien was destroyed, twenty small gunboats were detected by active sensors on board the remaining missiles. It appears the sixty tonne vessels are in fact carriers. Several were destroyed by shipkillers looking for their own targets, but many survived, disappearing from sensors. The Vigilant's fighters return home, while the Defiant's group closes on their own target. As previously the carrier has been destroyed and about half of the launched gunboats have been eliminated by the self-seeking Tomahawks.
   As the two hundred Falcons head back to their motherships, a fifth alien carrier is detected.

19th April 2370

   Ten alien gunboats, survivors of the first destroyed enemy carrier, are detected ten million kilometers from the Washington jump point, closing in at nearly eleven thousand ksp. The Enki class frigates will be the main human defense in this engagement, using their anti-missiles to destroy the small enemy craft.
   The alien FACs are easily dealt with but several hundred of anti-missiles have been used. Fortunately that's not considered a problem as thousand remain in the fleet and nearly twenty thousand are stored on New Earth.

20th April 2370

   Ten more alien FACs approach the jump point. They area easily dealt with.

21st April 2370

   Vigilant and Defiant launch another pair of strikes, this time containing one hundred and forty fighters each. While it's definitely an overkill against a carrier, it is hoped that this many Falcons will be enough to destroy alien FACs soon after launch as well.

23rd April 2370

   Two alien carriers and all forty of their parasite FACs have been destroyed.

25th April 2370

   Only one enemy carrier remains, tracked on passive sensors by its emissions. The Defiant and her group are sent to deal with it while Vigilant continues to blockade the jump point.

30th April 2370

   The last alien carrier has been eliminated, but its parasite craft managed to get clear before the Tomahawks could lock on them. The Falcons head back to the Defiant, while both carrier groups prepare for inevitable attack by the FACs.

7th May 2370

   The Defiant Carrier Group is back on the Washington jump point and no alien attack has materialized yet. The intelligence officers theorize that without the carriers, the enemy does not have detection needed to direct a strike. Unfortunately, with the human sensors being very poorly optimized towards detecting FACs it will be next to impossible to secure the Portland system.
   In the end the decision is made to abandon it, at least for the time being. Hegemony forces will head back to New Earth to resupply and re-arm, leaving only a single scout in the system. For the foreseeable future no more offensive into the chain will be conducted.

29th June 2370

   The Commune develops magnetic confinement fusion drive technology and designs a series of improved engines. The biggest difference however will be a new class of gunboats.
   The current doctrine, which hasn't taken a solid root yet, is to have fleets in nodal positions and frontier outposts made of static defenses and small, fast craft for harassment. However the Commune Defense Force was already becoming worried about possibility of their gunboats being spotted at destroyed at long range, which is why frigate squadrons are so heavily armed with anti-missile defenses – they were supposed to work together with Piranhas. However there are not enough frigates and corvettes to spare for frontier bases.
   To that effect two new small craft were designed – the Anglerfish fast scout and the Shark gunboat. Both are much faster, moving at ninety two hundred and fifty kps, have shorter endurance and are designed for long range strikes, nearly two hundred million kilometers. Of course in order to achieve such range, while still retaining a useful number of shipkillers per vessel, the new missiles developed for the new gunboats had to make some sacrifices. The Mistletoe is the same size as Arrow IV, has nearly three times the range and small active sensor, but also much lighter warhead and lower speed.
   The rest of the CDF will simply upgrade to new engines, but thanks to improvements in fuel consumption, their range will be increased by twenty percent in addition to speed rising from sixty one hundred sixty kps to seventy seven hundred kps. The new Piranhas will be moving at eighty seven hundred fifty kps while having range of thirty one billion kilometers, almost as much as previous generation frigates.
   Unfortunately due to sheer size of the Commune Defense Force, their ever growing commitments and the need to keep their naval build up in the face of the  threat posed by the Hegemony it's unlikely a large scale refit will happen any time soon. New vessels will of course make use of the new engines, but older ships will likely remain in their current state for years to come.
   The next generation missiles have also become much faster, but other than that had no other improvements.



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Shark class Gunboat    1 000 tons     14 Crew     310 BP      TCS 20  TH 185  EM 0
9250 km/s     Armour 1-8     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 10.8
Maint Life 4.65 Years     MSP 48    AFR 32%    IFR 0.4%    1YR 4    5YR 54    Max Repair 92.5 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months    Spare Berths 3   
Magazine 72   

Forsberg Aeromarine Extreme Performance MFD (1)    Power 185    Fuel Use 223.44%    Signature 185    Exp 18%
Fuel Capacity 90 000 Litres    Range 7.3 billion km   (9 days at full power)

Pangratiu Systems Small Box Launcher (36)    Missile Size 2    Hangar Reload 15 minutes    MF Reload 2.5 hours
Ioveanu-Ilie Electronics Mistletoe Fire Control (1)     Range 196.7m km    Resolution 160
Mistletoe (36)  Speed: 42 500 km/s   End: 72.2m    Range: 184.2m km   WH: 5    Size: 2    TH: 141/85/42

Compact ECCM-4 (1)         Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes



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Anglerfish class Fast Scout Craft    1 000 tons     22 Crew     328.5 BP      TCS 20  TH 185  EM 0
9250 km/s     Armour 1-8     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/54/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 0
Maint Life 4.29 Years     MSP 103    AFR 16%    IFR 0.2%    1YR 9    5YR 135    Max Repair 99 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 24 months    Spare Berths 0   

Forsberg Aeromarine Extreme Performance MFD (1)    Power 185    Fuel Use 223.44%    Signature 185    Exp 18%
Fuel Capacity 370 000 Litres    Range 29.8 billion km   (37 days at full power)

Ioveanu-Ilie Electronics Small Active Search Sensor (1)     GPS 15840     Range 225.4m km    Resolution 160
Curiel-Duenas Standard EM Detection Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 54     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  54m km

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes



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Arrow IV

Missile Size: 2 MSP  (0.1 HS)     Warhead: 7    Armour: 0     Manoeuvre Rating: 10
Speed: 56200 km/s    Engine Endurance: 25 minutes   Range: 83.7m km
Cost Per Missile: 3.1562
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 562%   3k km/s 180%   5k km/s 112.4%   10k km/s 56.2%
Materials Required:    1.75x Tritanium   1.4062x Gallicite   Fuel x750

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Spear III

Missile Size: 1 MSP  (0.05 HS)     Warhead: 1    Armour: 0     Manoeuvre Rating: 24
Speed: 81200 km/s    Engine Endurance: 5 minutes   Range: 24.0m km
Cost Per Missile: 1.5456
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 1948.8%   3k km/s 648%   5k km/s 389.8%   10k km/s 194.9%
Materials Required:    0.25x Tritanium   1.2956x Gallicite   Fuel x187.5

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Trebuchet III

Missile Size: 4 MSP  (0.2 HS)     Warhead: 9    Armour: 0     Manoeuvre Rating: 10
Speed: 53400 km/s    Engine Endurance: 62 minutes   Range: 198.1m km
Active Sensor Strength: 0.297   Sensitivity Modifier: 180%
Resolution: 160    Maximum Range vs 8000 ton object (or larger): 670 000 km
Cost Per Missile: 5.3974
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 534%   3k km/s 170%   5k km/s 106.8%   10k km/s 53.4%
Materials Required:    2.25x Tritanium   0.1785x Boronide   0.297x Uridium   2.6719x Gallicite   Fuel x2290


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Mistletoe

Missile Size: 2 MSP  (0.1 HS)     Warhead: 5    Armour: 0     Manoeuvre Rating: 10
Speed: 42500 km/s    Engine Endurance: 72 minutes   Range: 184.2m km
Active Sensor Strength: 0.036   Sensitivity Modifier: 180%
Resolution: 180    Maximum Range vs 9000 ton object (or larger): 80 000 km
Cost Per Missile: 2.3695
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 425%   3k km/s 140%   5k km/s 85%   10k km/s 42.5%
Materials Required:    1.25x Tritanium   0.021x Boronide   0.036x Uridium   1.0625x Gallicite   Fuel x1665


30th June 2370

   Another system with alien wrecks has been discovered by the Hegemony, three jumps from Sanctuary. Due to the lack of readily available construction ships it will be some time before it can be fully explored.

29th December 2370

   An unknown vessel is detected in ES – 27 FGH5. The system is uninhabited but it does have a couple of candidates for colonization and reasonable mineral deposits that could be exploited by automated mines or private companies. More importantly perhaps it is adjacent to Athens, a very important system for the Commune that is guarded by only a couple of space stations and a a single PDC. More ground installations are under construction but as Eden has many other industrial commitments the next one won't be ready for nearly a year.
   The ship was detected by listening posts installed on one of the candidates for settlement and should be difficult to spot. The jump gates, which extend to this star and beyond, have probably been spotted by the ship. Its origin and allegiance are unknown as its thermal signature has nothing in common with already known nations.
   Considering the disaster that was the first contact with the Hegemony the government decides to take no chances and negotiate from a position of strength. The Third Frigate Squadron is detached from the Second Fleet on Wieliczka and send to establish contact.

12th January 2371


   The Resolute Carrier Group, the fourth such formation, has been officially activated above Sanctuary. The fifth carrier, Unyielding has been laid down.
   The military force of the Hegemony appears to be expanding quickly, but that is not entirely true. While the government has enormous reserve of money, the budget is actually in a deficit and ordnance shortages are becoming an issue. All fighters and escorts are fully armed, but the new carrier has only sixty percent of its supposed load out and other ones are even lower. The Hegemony can fight and probably win any battle, but they cannot fight a war.
   Of course the government is doing their best to solve the issue. Over six hundred ordnance factories are in operation and more are being assembled. Financial sector is being expanded and new colonies have higher population growth than the homeworld and as the Hegemony intends to have many of them, they will help solve financial problem in the fullness of time. And of course mineral stockpiles are as large as ever.
   Even so the Hegemony is very fragile in terms of its military strength.

24th January 2371

   The Third Frigate Squadron arrives in ES – 27 FGH5 and sends pre-packaged first contact messages to the unknown ship, still hovering in the inner system. The exchange is rather slow, as the jump point is seven billion kilometers away, but to the surprise of both ships communication is established quite rapidly as both sides are human.
   The knowledge the other of their species survived and is active in their area of space is both shocking and pleasant for the Federal vessel operating in the inner system. The Commune formation on the other hand is cautious due to their experiences with the Hegemony. Even so both sides are providing general data regarding their nations and history.
   Unfortunately for the Phoenixian vessel, they cannnot inform their government right away as one system connection in the chain lacks a jump gates. The Commune ships on the other hand are transmitting their findings for the entire nation to see. The general reaction is a cautious optimisms as while the new power may turn out to be as problematic as the Hegemony, the general consensus is that the more humans there are, the higher chances of survival for the race.

« Last Edit: February 15, 2016, 06:50:22 AM by Haji »