Author Topic: Romanov Campaign - Repost  (Read 4107 times)

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Offline Steve Walmsley (OP)

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Romanov Campaign - Repost
« on: January 26, 2008, 07:41:24 AM »
Due to the cut-off of some of the older fiction posts, I am going to repost some of the campaigns.

January 1st, Year 2000 AL
Tsar Alexander has recently appointed me to the position of Imperial Historian and given me the task of creating this official record of our forthcoming exploration of space. I will be given access to the highest echelons of our military and will even attend meetings of the Tsar?s advisory council. I believe this important assignment is due to my long record of exemplary service to the imperial family. It is most certainly not, as my brother Nikolai keeps insinuating, because no one else would take the job. Before I begin, I should provide a brief history of the two thousand years since the ancient colony ships landed on St. Ekatarina. Records of that time are fragmentary but our archaeologists believe that St. Ekatarina was once part of a great human Empire that spread out among the stars but was brought low by some cosmic catastrophe. Although the nature of the cataclysm and the fate of that Empire are unknown, the effect on St. Ekatarina was severe. Geological records show the land was irradiated almost two thousand years ago and our people only survived by living in caves for many years, leading several scientists to suggest a nearby supernova may have been the cause of the disaster. Our civilization was almost wiped out and we lost almost all of our technology and manufacturing capabilities. It has been a long and difficult struggle.

Over the last two thousand years our population has grown to 400 million and we have reached a level of technology close to that of our ancestors. Some records did survive, which, once we could comprehend their meaning, pointed us to the trans-newtonian materials and technologies that drove the ancient Empire. Over the last few years we have concentrated on building up our manufacturing capabilities and expanding our research establishment. Although eight shipyard complexes have been built, no ships have been constructed so far due to our commitments in other areas. That will soon change as the Tsar has recently given permission to launch our exploration of the Romanov system.

Romanov is a binary with two G-type yellow stars orbiting four point five billion kilometers apart. Romanov-A has nine planets and two asteroids belts, although two of those planets and the smaller asteroid belt lie far outside the orbit of Romanov-B. The first and third planets of Romanov-A are deadly worlds with dense, toxic atmosphere and temperatures that would vapourise an unprotected human, while the second planet is a the primary?s only gas giant. St. Ekatarina lies fourth from the star. The fifth planet may someday be a Romanov colony as it has an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere, albeit with only a trace of oxygen, and its surface temperature of -23C is only forty-five degrees lower than St. Ekatarina. With the terraforming technology that has recently been developed, it may be possible to change the environment on this world to support human life. A large asteroid belt separates Romanov-V from the tiny chunk of rock that barely deserves the designation of Romanov-VI. Romanov-VII is only slightly larger and just as uninteresting. Two more small rocky planets at fifteen and forty billion kilometers respectively lie either side of the second asteroid belt.

Romanov-B is a G5-V star, slightly less massive and luminous than our G2-V primary, with five planets and a sparse asteroid belt. The innermost planet is another hot, high pressure world while the fourth and fifth planets are gas giants. The third planet is a small, freezing world with a thin oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere but far less easy to terraform than the fifth planet of Romanov-A. By far the most interesting planet orbiting Romanov-B is Alexandria, the second world from the star, which was named after Tsar Alexander?s paternal grandfather, who sponsored many astronomical endeavours. Alexandria has a breathable oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere and a surface temperature of 46 degrees Celsius, just within the range of human tolerance. The gravity is also a little higher than St. Ekatarina but our scientists believe it can be colonised without any need for protective domes over the colony sites. Our telescopes reveal large, deep oceans and dense vegetation and the general consensus is that Alexandria is a jungle world. That will be a shock for any St. Ekatarinas who are used to the large, open steppe and small inland seas of our homeworld. One of the priorities for the forthcoming shipbuilding program will be ships able to carry colonists to this new world.

In addition to the plans to explore, survey and colonise the Romanov system, our scientists are also theorising about the possibility of interstellar travel. While this seems highly unlikely, given the maximum speeds possible with our current engine technology, some scientific leaders believe that wormholes may exists between different star systems. If this theory is correct, it may be possible to open these wormhole with the right technology, enabling our ships to jump instantly between systems. Apparently we already possess the technology to determine if these wormholes exist, although we would need to build suitable ships to carry out a gravitational survey of Romanov, but opening them is a far more difficult problem. Therefore, Star Marshal Alexeyev has given permission for our scientific efforts to concentrate on jump point theory.

The priorities for the shipbuilding programme have been the subject of considerable, often heated debate. The competing demands include colonization of Alexandria, freighters to transport factories and mining complexes to the planned colony, terraforming of other worlds, geological surveys of Romanov?s many planets, moons and asteroids, a gravitational survey to discover the theorised jump points and the defence of our own world, should it ever be threatened. Until the jump point theory was seriously discussed, any plans for defending our world against outside attack seemed fanciful. In the recent past, only a tiny percentage of research funding has been dedicated to weapons research and the only armed forces are the two Yaroslav class planetary defence centres. In any case, its an open secret that these installations were really designed to protect the Imperial Family in case of any rebellion, rather than to defend the planet, and their short-ranged missiles are intended to strike targets on elsewhere on St. Ekatarina. Now, if the jump point theory turns out to be true, we may have to increase that funding and consider the construction of warships in case an alien race learns of jump points and enters the Romanov system. Warships aside, the five competing designs for the first shipbuilding programme are shown below. The Star Marshal, in consultation with Tsar Alexander, has decided the first eight ships to be laid down will include two of each type, except for the freighters. Those will be laid down once the first survey ships are completed.

Code: [Select]
Sverdlov class Colony Ship    4750 tons     210 Crew     757 BP      TCS 95  TH 160  EM 0
1684 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/0/0/0/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 0
Colonists 50000    Cargo Handling Multiplier 5    Replacement Parts 5    

Nuclear Pulse Engine (4)    Power 40    Efficiency 0.90    Signature 40    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres    Range 50.5 billion km   (347 days at full power)
Code: [Select]
Krivak class Geosurvey Ship    2050 tons     175 Crew     465 BP      TCS 41  TH 80  EM 0
1951 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/0/0/0/3     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 0
Replacement Parts 5    

Nuclear Pulse Engine (2)    Power 40    Efficiency 0.90    Signature 40    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres    Range 117.1 billion km   (694 days at full power)
Geological Survey Sensors (3)   3 Survey Points
Code: [Select]
Udaloy class Survey Ship    2100 tons     185 Crew     475 BP      TCS 42  TH 80  EM 0
1904 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/0/0/3/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 0
Replacement Parts 5    

Nuclear Pulse Engine (2)    Power 40    Efficiency 0.90    Signature 40    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres    Range 228.5 billion km   (1388 days at full power)
Gravitational Survey Sensors (3)   3 Survey Points
Code: [Select]
Kotlin class Terraformer    4300 tons     335 Crew     646 BP      TCS 86  TH 80  EM 0
930 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/0/0/0/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 0
Replacement Parts 10    
Terraformer: 1 module(s) producing 0.001 atm per annum

Nuclear Pulse Engine (2)    Power 40    Efficiency 0.90    Signature 40    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres    Range 55.8 billion km   (694 days at full power)
Code: [Select]
Kalinin class Freighter    4750 tons     185 Crew     307 BP      TCS 95  TH 160  EM 0
1684 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/0/0/0/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 0
Cargo 25000    Cargo Handling Multiplier 5    Replacement Parts 5    

Nuclear Pulse Engine (4)    Power 40    Efficiency 0.90    Signature 40    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres    Range 50.5 billion km   (347 days at full power)

The industrial potential of St. Ekatarina at the dawn of our space age includes 480 construction factories, 320 mines, 64 automated mines, 160 fuel refineries, 50 maintenance facilities, 20 ordnance factories, 16 research labs, 8 shipyards and 4 ground force training facilities. The construction factories are currently working on additional research facilities.

27th May 2000
Construction of a research lab completed on St. Ekatarina.

25th September 2000
The Krivak class geological survey ships Krivak and Bodry are completed by St. Ekatarina?s shipyards. However, the planned construction of the freighters will have to be temporarily postponed because our stockpile of Duranium has been temporarily exhausted. Duranium is a key mineral, used in almost every aspect of naval and planetary operations, and although there are still large deposits within St. Ekatarina?s core, our mining complexes are unable to extract and refine it quickly enough to meet the demands of our industry. Once our factories have completed their work on a second research facility, they will turn their attention to building additional mines. In the meantime, Krivak and Bodry will begin surveying the inner planets of Romanov-A in a search for additional minerals. If I was the Star Marshal, I would be less than impressed by the planning skills of my economic advisors.

2nd October 2000
Udaloy and Admiral Kulakov, the first two gravitational survey ships, leave the shipyards and begin their search for jump points.

15th October 2000
Krivak completes her survey of Romanov-A III, revealing large deposits of nine different minerals. Unfortunately, in most cases the minerals are very low accessibility, making them uneconomic to mine. The survey report for the planet is provided below, along with the comparable report for St. Ekatarina. To avoid sending the reader to sleep, further survey reports will only be covered in this history if they are a significant discovery.

Romanov-A III
Duranium 3,328,200  Acc: 0.4
Neutronium 16,687,230  Acc: 0.5
Corbomite 1,249,924  Acc: 0.1
Tritanium 2,137,444  Acc: 0.1
Mercassium 7,573,504  Acc: 0.1
Sorium 1,155,625  Acc: 0.1
Uridium 7,338,681  Acc: 0.1
Corundium 4,084,441  Acc: 0.1
Gallicite 5,798,464  Acc: 0.1

St. Ekatarina
Duranium 648,233  Acc: 0.9
Neutronium 5,559  Acc: 0.1
Corbomite 19,318  Acc: 0.2
Tritanium 30,896  Acc: 0.5
Boronide 19,533  Acc: 0.9
Mercassium 66,733  Acc: 0.9
Vendarite 23,292  Acc: 1
Sorium 131,115  Acc: 0.7
Uridium 210,778  Acc: 0.3
Corundium 240,759  Acc: 0.1
Gallicite 129,656  Acc: 0.6

27th October 2000
St. Ekatarina?s eighteenth research facility is completed.

28th October 2000
The survey of Romanov-A V has revealed huge deposits of Duranium and Corbomite with accessibilities of 0.9 and 0.8 respectively. The eight million tons of Duranium in the planet?s core means we will not be short of this mineral for the foreseeable future, assuming we can increase our mining capability.

17th December 2000
Captain 2nd Rank Stanislov Bykov, commander of the survey ship Udaloy has been killed in a tragic training accident. He was one of our brightest young officers with a particular aptitude for the demands of survey work. He will be sorely missed.

2nd April 2001
Construction of the first Sverdlov class colony ship is complete. Its sister ship will be completed within a few days and then both ships will load colonists and depart for Alexandria.

22nd April 2001
Initial research into jump point theory has been completed. Although our scientists would prefer to immediately begin work on the background technology for jump engines, Star Marshal Alexeyev has directed them to improve our rate of mining production, which is causing significant slowdowns in our manufacturing. The mining complexes that we need to build are composed of Duranium so the very shortage that we need to correct is slowing down the construction of new mines.

14th May 2001
100,000 colonists arrive on the surface of Alexandria. An historic day. As we suspected, the land surface is mainly covered in jungle but there are suitable sites for new cities and the colonists will soon begin cutting back the dense forestation. The two colony ships will continue shuttling back and forth between St. Ekatarina and Alexandria. A geological survey of Alexandria has revealed the data shown below. Although most minerals are inaccessible, there is a large quantity of Duranium at 0.5 accessibility.

Duranium 11,309,770  Acc: 0.5
Neutronium 56,911,940  Acc: 0.1
Corbomite 6,461,764  Acc: 0.1
Tritanium 7,772,944  Acc: 0.1
Boronide 2,965,284  Acc: 0.1
Mercassium 61,968,380  Acc: 0.1
Vendarite 53,260,800  Acc: 0.1
Sorium 11,303,040  Acc: 0.5
Uridium 34,857,220  Acc: 0.1
Corundium 6,885,376  Acc: 0.1
Gallicite 41,964,480  Acc: 0.1

16th August 2001
Udaloy and Admiral Kulakov complete their gravitational survey of Romanov. According to their data, they have pinpointed the location of five jump points. This will only be confirmed once we have the technology necessary to build a jump-capable spacecraft. For now both ships will return to St. Ekatarina orbit.

9th October 2001
The first of the two Kotlin class Terraformers has been constructed. Although this type of ship is easier to build than the Sverdlov class colony ships, the work on both Kotlins was halted for several months because of the Duranium shortage. The first task of the Kotlin and her soon to be completed sister will be terraforming Romanov V by adding enough oxygen to make the atmosphere breathable followed by sufficient greenhouse gases to warm up the planet. Given the amount of work required and the relatively limited capabilities of the two ships, it will be many years, probably decades, before their task is complete

29th October 2001
With the shipyards empty, due to the completion of the second Kotlin, the production rate of Duranium is sufficient to lay down two Kalinin class freighters.

29th April 2002
Both freighters launch from the St. Ekatarina shipyards. Their first task will be transporting the available automated mines to Akmolinsk, an asteroid in the inner Romanov-A belt with reasonable quantities of several highly accessible minerals. The Akmolinsk survey report is shown below.

Akmolinsk
Duranium 16,056  Acc: 1
Neutronium 17,689  Acc: 1
Tritanium 10,733  Acc: 1
Boronide 2,134  Acc: 1
Vendarite 17,319  Acc: 1
Uridium 14,835  Acc: 1
Gallicite 14,496  Acc: 0.9

1st July 2002
Krivak and Bodry return from their first geological survey expedition. Between them they have surveyed the entire Romanov-B system, the inner asteroid belt and the first eight of planets of the primary, plus several asteroids from the outer belt and nine of Romanov?s ten comets. The distant Romanov-A IX, over forty billion kilometers from St. Ekatarina, the outermost comet and most of Romanov-A?s outer asteroid belt remains unsurveyed for the moment. Once the survey ships have refuelled and their crews have had some leave, they will leave on a new expedition to the cold, dark reaches of the outer system.

11th July 2002
Romanov scientists complete their research into improving our mining technology, resulting in a seventeen percent increase in production. They now begin work on the first of the three necessary background technologies required for the creation of a prototype jump drive.

16th December 2002
Alexandria reaches a population of one million, including my daughter?s family. I am not very happy about my grandchildren being brought up in a jungle but she tells me her husband wants a life of adventure and for some reason she is devoted to him, though I cannot understand why. I have never known anyone with so large a gap between their expectations and their achievements as Sergei. I try to look on the bright side though as it?s possible he might get eaten by a carnivorous plant.

1st January 2003
The new year sees the completion of the nineteenth Romanov research facility. The long delay since the previous facility was due to the requirement for additional mines, fifty of which have been built over the last two years.

21st January 2003
A third Kalinin class freighter joins the cargo fleet.

20th March 2003
Krivak arrives in orbit of Romanov-A IX to begin a geological survey. She is forty-two billion kilometers from the primary, which is the farthest into space that any Romanov spacecraft has ever travelled.

8th April 2003
The three Kalinin class freighters have finished transporting sixty-four automated mines and two mass drivers to the Akmolinsk Asteroid Mining Colony. The mass drivers will regularly launch packets of recently extracted minerals into space, aimed at St. Ekatarina where they will be caught be a third mass driver (I hope).

28th October 2003.
A third Sverdlov joins the colony fleet, which continues its tireless work in transporting colonists to Alexandria. The planetary population has now reached one point six million. Still under construction at the St. Ekatarina shipyards are a Sverdlov, a Kalinin and two Kotlin class Terraformers.

23rd November 2003
St. Ekatarina?s research facilities, now numbering twenty, complete their work on all three background technologies required for the creation of a jump drive. Those technologies include the power efficiency, which determines how large a jump point can be formed by a jump engine, the maximum squadron size, which determines the number of ships that can pass through that jump point, and the jump point distance, which determines the maximum distance from the exit jump that a transiting ship will arrive. This technology will allow a very basic prototype jump engine to be designed and developed, after which our scientists will concentrate on improving power efficiency.

Code: [Select]
J225 Prototype Jump Drive
Max Ship Size: 45 (2250 tons)     Max Squadron Size: 3     Max Dist: 50
Jump Engine Size: 15    Efficiency: 3    Jump Engine HTK: 3
Cost: 56    Crew: 75
Materials Required: 11.2x Duranium  44.8x Sorium
8th January 2004
Development of the J225 Jump Drive is complete. A design is put together for a small jump-capable ship that incorporates the new engine and will be capable of escorting our Krivak and Udaloy class survey ships through a jump point. Two Azov class Jump Frigates are laid down in St. Ekatarina?s shipyards. A larger design, capable of escorting our colony ships and freighters, will have to wait until a more capable jump engine is available.

Code: [Select]
Azov class Jump Frigate    2250 tons     195 Crew     257 BP      TCS 45  TH 80  EM 0
1777 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/0/0/0/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 0
Replacement Parts 5    

J225 Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 2250 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3
Nuclear Pulse Engine (2)    Power 40    Efficiency 0.90    Signature 40    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres    Range 213.2 billion km   (1388 days at full power)

Active Sensor MR8000-R40 (1)     GPS 800     Range 8.0m km    Resolution 40

28th January 2004
To meet the demands of our exploration of space, the St. Ekatarina Naval Academy has been increased in size by fifty percent.

24th May 2004
Krivak and Bodry return from their second geological survey expedition, which has lasted almost two years. Between them they have surveyed our outermost planet, the remaining comet out at thirty-six billion kilometers and half the outer asteroid belt. A third mission to survey the rest of the asteroid belt has been put on hold until after the exploration of Romanov?s five jump points.

29th May 2004
Construction of Azov and Kerch, the new jump frigates, is completed. To be more able to explain their forthcoming mission I need to explain to the reader how Romanov?s jump points are laid out. Imagine if you will that the system is like the face of a clock with Romanov-A in the centre. Going around the system clockwise, the jump points are laid out as follows

Four o?clock: 900m kilometers
Five o?clock: 3.5 billion kilometers
Seven o?clock: 1.6 billion kilometers
Ten o?clock: 4.0 billion kilometers
Eleven o?clock: 3.3 billion kilometers.

Azov will probe the jump points at four, five and seven o?clock while Kerch will investigate the other two. The four survey ships will remain in St. Ekatarina orbit until Sky Marshal Alexeyev decides how to deploy them. Azov is under the command of Captain-Lieutenant Ivonne Vorokova, a formidable woman, while Kerch will be commanded by Captain-Lieutenant Pavel Pavlov, who?s parents obviously have a love of alliteration. I met Captain-Lieutenant Pavlov at the launching ceremony for Kerch and he seemed surgically attached to his dog, a Borzoi named Boris. I wonder if his parents suggested the name. Members of his crew tell me that the dog goes everywhere with the Captain-Lieutenant, even into space. Boris has quickly become Kerch?s unofficial mascot.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by Steve Walmsley »
 

Offline Steve Walmsley (OP)

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« Reply #1 on: January 26, 2008, 07:47:24 AM »
5th June 2004
Azov arrives at the innermost jump point. After her crew has listened to a multitude of speeches by the Tsar, the Star Marshal and various hangers-on at the Imperial Palace ceremony, she enters the jump point and vanishes from our sensors. As there is no way to communicate through a jump point, we will have to await her return to find out what she has discovered. After several minutes Azov reappears and Captain-Lieutenant Vorokova?s image flickers into life on the enormous screen in the grand ballroom. She reports directly to Star Marshal Alexeyev, describing a system with a G4-V star similar to Romanov-B, ten planets and over a hundred moons. None of the planets has an atmosphere so the system is not suitable for any Romanov colonies. After Tsar Alexander has officially named the new system Moskva, Star Marshal Alexeyev orders Captain-Lieutenant Vorokova to hold Azov at the jump point while he sends the four survey ships into Moskva to carry out geological and gravitational surveys. Once they have transited, Azov will move to the jump point at seven o?clock.

21st June 2004
Kerch arrives at the eleven o?clock jump point. There are no ceremonies this time and I am watching the comm chatter from Fleet Headquarters. The Star Marshal is still present though and wishes Captain-Lieutenant Pavlov good luck. The Kerch returns even more quickly than Azov and Captain-Lieutenant Pavlov reports a pair of red dwarf stars orbited by a barren chunk of rock and a gas giant with several moons. He also notes an interesting biological effect. The crews of both Azov and Kerch reported mild nausea when transiting a jump point but this effect turns out to be far more pronounced for the canine nervous system. Somewhere on Kerch there is a rating who?s memory of his first trip into another star system will be dominated by the cleaning up of doggy vomit.

The newly discovered system is named Leningrad. I have no idea who Lenin was but apparently the Tsar has found a list of Romanov cities from the ancient past, even before we landed on St. Ekatarina, and has declared that new star systems will be named after these ancient cities.

23rd June 2004
Azov transits the seven o?clock jump point and find a planetless dwarf star. The system is named Volgograd.

5th July 2004
As it will take Udaloy and Admiral Kulakov a considerable amount of time to explore all of the new systems, two more Udaloy class ships are laid down.

8th July 2004
Kerch transits Romanov?s outermost jump point and discovers the Smolensk system, comprising a F9-V yellow-white star, slightly hotter and more massive than Romanov-A, and four planets, none of which are habitable. As her initial mission is complete, she will head back to St. Ekatarina for refuelling and await the result of the gravitational survey in Moskva.

11th July 2004
Azov transits the last unexplored jump point and discovers the most interesting system so far. Rostov-na-Donu is a binary with a yellow G9-V primary and an orange K1-V companion star orbiting at nine billion kilometers. The primary has three planets; a terrestrial-size world, a gas giant with thirteen moons and a small chunk of rock less than 2000 kilometers in diameter. Although the atmosphere of the terrestrial world is nitrogen and carbon dioxide, the surface temperature is a pleasant 16C and the gravity is acceptable. If our terraforming ships could add enough oxygen to the atmosphere, this could become an ideal world for human habitation. The companion star has three terrestrial size worlds and a super-jovian. The second planet has an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere but it is too thin to breathe and the surface temperature of 140C has boiled away any oceans. Captain-Lieutenant Vorokova reports she is heading home.

12th July 2004
Although there was no sign of life in the systems adjacent to Romanov, this new age of interstellar exploration has renewed the call for some type of armed vessels to protect our colonies and our shipping. Despite the fact that no money has been devoted to weapons research for many years, Star Marshal Alexeyev has decreed that three Kirov class frigates will be constructed. They will be armed with our most powerful weapon, the 12cm Visible Light Laser and protected by the electromagnetic shields that were developed approximately ten years ago but never brought into service.

Code: [Select]
Kirov class Frigate    3000 tons     305 Crew     318 BP      TCS 60  TH 120  EM 150
2000 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 5-300     Sensors 1/0/0/0/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 12
Replacement Parts 5    

Nuclear Pulse Engine (3)    Power 40    Efficiency 0.90    Signature 40    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres    Range 80.0 billion km   (462 days at full power)
Alpha R300/9 Shields (5)   Total Fuel Cost  45 Litres per day

12cm C2 Visible Light Laser (3)    Range 80,000km   TS: 2000 km/s   Power 4-2     RM 2    ROF 10   4 4 2 2 1 1 1 1
Fire Control S04 64-1600 (1)    Max Range: 128,000 km   TS: 1600 km/s     92 84 77 69 61 53 45 38 30 22
Pebble Bed Reactor (1)     Total Power Output 6    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Active Sensor MR8000-R40 (1)     GPS 800     Range 8.0m km    Resolution 40
10th November 2004
Research into increasing jump drive efficiency has been completed and a jump drive based on the new technology has been designed. Once developed, the J480 Jump Drive will be able to open jump points large enough for any of our existing ships to transit.

Code: [Select]
J480 Jump Drive
Max Ship Size: 96 (4800 tons)     Max Squadron Size: 3     Max Dist: 50
Jump Engine Size: 24    Efficiency: 4    Jump Engine HTK: 5
Cost: 144    Crew: 120
Materials Required: 28.8x Duranium  115.2x Sorium
Development Cost for Project: 1440RP
6th January 2005
The three Kirov class frigates, Kirov, Frunze and Pyotr Velikiy, are completed. At 3000 tons they are too large to leave the Romanov system until the next generation jump drive is available so Pyotr Velikiy will be stationed in orbit of Alexandria while Kirov and Frunze remain in St. Ekatarina orbit.

Although both St. Ekatarina and Alexandria have long range sensors, Star Marshal Alexeyev is concerned that it would be best to detect any intruder into space as early as possible. Therefore he has authorised a class of small, inexpensive scout ships designed to picket Romanov?s jump points. Five will be built initially to cover Romanov?s five jump points.

Code: [Select]
Kara class Scout    1150 tons     100 Crew     162 BP      TCS 23  TH 40  EM 0
1739 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 5/5/5/0/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 0
Replacement Parts 5    

Nuclear Pulse Engine (1)    Power 40    Efficiency 0.90    Signature 40    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres    Range 208.7 billion km   (1388 days at full power)

Thermal Sensor TH1-5 (1)     Sensitivity 5     Detect Signature 100: 0.5m km
Active Sensor MR8000-R40 (1)     GPS 800     Range 8.0m km    Resolution 40
Grav Pulse Detection Sensor GPD1-5 (1)     Sensitivity 5     Detect Strength 100: 0.5m km
EM Detection Sensor EM1-5 (1)     Sensitivity 5     Detect Strength 100: 0.5m km
5th February 2005
Krivak and Bodry complete a geological survey of Moskva. Although mineral deposits were located on two planets and nine moons, none were particularly noteworthy. Escorted by Azov, the two ships will now head to Rostov-na-Donu to begin a new survey

3rd March 2005
Development of the J480 jump drive is completed. The J480 will be incorporated into the design of the Kiev class Jump Cruiser, our largest and fastest ship to date. The Kiev will be able to escort any of our existing ships into a jump point and includes the best sensor suite of any Romanov ship class. Ideal for a ship that may spend much of its time probing unknown systems. Our eight shipyard complexes are all full at the moment, building a Kotlin class Terraformer, two Udaloy class survey ships and five Kara class scouts. As soon as shipyards are available, two Kievs will be laid down.

Code: [Select]
Kiev class Jump Cruiser    4750 tons     455 Crew     731 BP      TCS 95  TH 200  EM 0
2105 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 5/5/5/0/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 0
Flag Bridge    Replacement Parts 15    

J480 Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 4800 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3
Nuclear Pulse Engine (5)    Power 40    Efficiency 0.90    Signature 40    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres    Range 202.1 billion km   (1111 days at full power)

Thermal Sensor TH1-5 (1)     Sensitivity 5     Detect Signature 100: 0.5m km
Active Sensor MR20000-R40 (1)     GPS 2000     Range 20.0m km    Resolution 40
Grav Pulse Detection Sensor GPD1-5 (1)     Sensitivity 5     Detect Strength 100: 0.5m km
EM Detection Sensor EM1-5 (1)     Sensitivity 5     Detect Strength 100: 0.5m km
23rd March 2005
The two new Udaloy class gravitational survey ships, Admiral Zakharov and Admiral Levchenko, join the Fleet. Their first task will be a gravitational survey of Volgograd.

28th March 2005
Udaloy and Admiral Kulakov complete their survey of Moskva, locating four new jump points. The jump frigate Azov will escort the two Udaloys into the Romanov system before exploring the newly discovered jump points. Because she will be out of contact, we will have no way to know the results of her explorations until she returns to Romanov. The other jump frigate, Kerch, is currently escorting Admiral Zakharov and Admiral Levchenko to Volgograd, after which she will rendezvous with Udaloy and Admiral Kulakov and escort them into Leningrad to begin a new survey.

15th July 2005
After escorting Udaloy and Admiral Kulakov into Leningrad, Kerch returns to Volgograd just in time for Admiral Zakharov and Admiral Levchenko to complete their gravitational survey. Because the primaries of both Leningrad and Volgograd are low mass stars, the gravitational surveys of both systems can be carried out far more quickly. Captain 3rd Rank Lebedev of the Admiral Levchenko reports that Volgograd has a total of four jump points. There is no time for Kerch to explore the three newly discovered jump points as she has to escort the two Udaloys to a new system and return to Leningrad in time for the completion of the survey in that system. It is a busy time for Captain-Lieutenant Pavlov and his crew. At least Boris is adjusting well and there is no longer any need to sedate him at jump points.

29th August 2005
Kerch arrives in Leningrad to meet Udaloy and Admiral Kulakov. Their survey is finished but they did not find any new jump points. Rostov-na-Donu is now the only system adjacent to Romanov without a grav survey, although the Smolensk survey is not yet complete, so Kerch, Udaloy and Admiral Kulakov set a course to the Rostov-na-Donu jump point. Krivak and Bodry are already in the system carrying out a geological survey.

17th September 2005
Azov returns to the Romanov system after her mission to explore Moskva?s four jump points. Captain-Lieutenant Vorokova reports that two of the systems, Breznev and Sverdlovsk, are planetless while a third, Bakov, has only two insignificant planets. The fourth is a binary system designated as Gorky, which has a pair of G2-V yellow stars orbiting six billion kilometers apart. Gorky-B IV is a small terrestrial world with similar gravity to St. Ekatarina, a surface temperature of 33C and an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere that would be breathable if the proportion of oxygen in the atmosphere could be reduced a little. Based on the details in Captain-Lieutenant Vorokova?s report, it should be a straightforward task for our terraformers to turn this into an ideal world. Azov is directed to enter Volgograd and explore the system?s recently discovered jump points.

8th November 2005
Once again Azov returns to Romanov after a successful exploration mission. Volgograd?s three jump points lead to Tomsk, a planetless white dwarf system, Kazan, a G1-V system with six planets and almost five hundred asteroids, and Vladivostock, which has a white A4-V primary twenty times brighter than Romanov-A and six planets, one of which has ideal gravity and surface temperature, although the atmosphere is nitrogen - carbon dioxide with traces of sulphur dioxide. Still a potential terraforming site as it is often harder to change the temperature than add oxygen. As Kerch is already watching over Udaloy, Admiral Kulakov, Krivak and Bodry in Rostov-na-Donu, Azov leaves for the Smolensk jump point to check on the progress of Admiral Zakharov and Admiral Levchenko.

3rd January 2006
Over the last nine months, the Kalinin class freighters have been transporting a research facility from St. Ekatarina to Alexandria. Due to the size of the facility it has taken five round trips but the facility is now up and running. Captain-Lieutenant Eva Sorokin has recently taken over the governorship of Alexandria due to her scientific background, particularly in the area of power and propulsion systems. It is hoped she will be able to coax a higher level of production out of the scientists than was possible on St. Ekatarina, especially in her own field of expertise. Over time, more research facilities will be moved to Alexandria, making their operation the primary focus of the colony.

24th January 2006
Krivak and Bodry return to St. Ekatarina after completing their survey of Rostov-na-Donu. The results of the survey were extremely disappointing, considering the system?s seven planets and three hundred asteroids. Only four bodies had minerals and all in very limited quantities. As the two geological survey ships are running out of spare parts, they are taken into the shipyards for an overhaul.

23rd February 2006
The two new jump cruisers, Kiev and Minsk, join the Fleet.

28th April 2006
The population of Alexandria reaches five million.

12th May 2006
The survey of Smolensk is completed, revealing one new jump point. Captain 3rd Rank Ivonne Vorokova, recently promoted from Captain-Lieutenant, takes the Azov to investigate

15th May 2006
Vice Admiral Valentina Ivanova has been reassigned from command of the Kirov to a new administrative formation that will be known as the Red Fleet. While the individual commanders of our small combat fleet are training their crews hard, Star Marshal Alexeyev has expressed concern about their ability to function as a team if the need should arise. The ability to respond quickly to orders as part of a squadron will be vital should we ever encounter hostile aliens. Therefore, the task of Vice Admiral Ivanova will be to train her ships to work together. To assist her, a group of staff officers has been assembled.

S2 Intelligence, Senior Lieutenant Lara Kuzmin
S3 Operations, Senior Lieutenant Dimitri Nikolsky
S4 Logistics, Captain-Lieutenant Valentina Kurakin
S5 Survey, Senior Lieutenant Stanislov Kobin
S6 Communications, Captain-Lieutenant Fedya Ivanov

Captain-Lieutenant Ivanov is the admiral?s son but any accusations of nepotism are unfounded because his position on the staff was decided before Vice Admiral Ivanova was assigned command of the fleet. Five ships will initially be assigned to the Red Fleet; the three Kirov class frigates, Kirov, Frunze and Pyotr Velikiy, plus the jump cruisers Kiev and Minsk. In addition to its new jump engines, the Kiev class is equipped with a flag bridge, enabling Vice Admiral Ivanova and her staff to operate outside the Romanov system if required. For the moment, they remain based on St Ekatarina to oversee training exercises for the Kirov class ships.

7th June 2006
Azov transits into Romanov and Captain 3rd Rank Vorokova reports the discovery of an ideal habitable world. Two weeks ago, Azov entered a new system named St. Petersburg, beyond Smolensk?s inner jump point. The second of ten planets has a breathable atmosphere, a surface temperature very similar to that of St Ekatarina and a gravity 90% of normal. In addition, the system has sixty moons and almost five hundred asteroids so there is a lot of potential for mining sites. The primary is an F8-V yellow white star, a little larger and brighter than Romanov-A. This find is met with great excitement as St. Petersburg can be colonised immediately with no need for terraforming. To celebrate, Tsar Alexander creates the Survey Medal, given to ship commanders who have discovered new star systems. The first two recipients are Captain 3rd Rank Vorokova and Captain-Lieutenant Pavlov.

As there are two gravitational survey ships with Azov, Captain 3rd Rank Vorokova requests that she be allowed to escort them into St Petersburg to begin an immediate survey. Star Marshal Alexeyev agrees and also dispatches Krivak and Bodry, fresh from their overhaul, to the Romanov ? Smolensk jump point. Once Azov has taken Admiral Levchenko and Admiral Zakharov into St Petersburg she will return and escort the geological survey ships.

21st July 2006
Captain-Lieutenant Pavlov of the Kerch reports that the survey of Rostov-na-Donu has been completed and six new jump points have been found. Kerch is given permission to begin exploring. As Udaloy and Admiral Kulakov are already in Rostov-na-Donu, they will start a survey of any interesting new systems.

28th July 2006
Two of the four Sverdlov class colony ships are diverted from the Alexandria run and tasked to begin moving colonists to the habitable planets in the St Petersburg system. The jump cruiser Minsk will accompany them as they need to move through the Romanov ? Smolensk and Smolensk ? St Petersburg jump points. Each round trip will require almost fifteen weeks compared to the ten weeks required for the colonisation of Alexandra.

6th August 2006
Three new Kalinin class freighters are built, taking the total to eight.

9th September 2006
A variant of the Udaloy class gravitational survey ship has been designed. The Udaloy-C exchanges a gravitational survey sensor for a flag bridge, creating a survey command ship. This will allow the organization of survey task forces, along the same lines as the Red Fleet. With an admiral and his staff controlling the actions of several survey ships, the survey task force should be more effective than deploying the ships independently. Two Udaloy Cs are laid down with the intention of adding them to the existing four Udaloys to form a pair of three-ship task forces.

Code: [Select]
Udaloy C class Survey Command Ship    2100 tons     185 Crew     525 BP      TCS 42  TH 80  EM 0
1904 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/0/0/2/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 0
Flag Bridge    Replacement Parts 5    

Nuclear Pulse Engine (2)    Power 40    Efficiency 0.90    Signature 40    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres    Range 228.5 billion km   (1388 days at full power)

Gravitational Survey Sensors (2)   2 Survey Points
18th September 2006
Although it cannot be confirmed, as Minsk and the two Sverdlovs are out of communication, our first extra-solar colony should be established today on St. Petersburg II.

16th December 2006
Kerch returns to Romanov after her mission to explore the jump points of Rostov-na-Donu. Captain-Lieutenant Pavlov reports that none of the six systems has any outstanding features although there were several candidates for a long-term terraforming operation. Udaloy and Admiral Kulakov have entered one of the new systems, named Magadan, and are carrying out a new gravitational survey.

26th May 2007
A gravitational survey of St. Petersburg has been completed, without finding any new jump points. This means the systems of Smolensk and St Petersburg form a short, dead-end chain originating at Romanov?s outermost jump point. To avoid endless reports of surveys and jump point probes, in the future this historical record will only highlight new systems of likely interest to the reader,

23rd July 2007
A new type of shield generator has been developed. The Beta R300/15 Shield Generator has a fifty percent greater output than our existing Alpha R300/9 Shield Generator. Our scientists on both St Ekatarina and Alexandria have also been working on missile technology, although it will be some time before we have all the necessary technology in place to design new launchers and new missiles.

18th August 2007
The two Udaloy-C survey command ships, Severomorsk and Vasilevsky, have been launched from the St. Ekatarina shipyards. Severomorsk will join Admiral Levchenko and Admiral Zakharov to form the Second Survey Fleet, under the command of Captain 3rd Rank Serge Ignatyev, who will be based on the flag bridge of the Severomorsk along with his staff. Vasilevsky will remain in St Ekatarina orbit for now, until the return of the other two Udaloys from their mission in Magadan. She will eventually serve as the flagship of the First Survey Fleet under Captain 2nd Rank Oleg Sidorov. Captains Ignatyev and Sidorov are unarguably our two foremost survey experts and their knowledge and experience will greatly benefit all their ships under their command.

16th March 2008
There are now nine Sverdlov class colony ship with a tenth due for delivery in October of this year. Although they have given sterling service for many years, their speed is only 1684 km/s. A design proposal has been put forward by a serving officer, Captain 3rd Rank Magdalina Golovin, to add two additional engines to the Sverdlov, increasing its speed to 2222 km/s. This would result in a 32% increase in speed but only a 9% increase in cost. She argues that this would result in much a faster and more cost-efficient delivery of colonists. The drawback is that the size of the Sverdlov-F variant is 5400 tons, which is too large to be escorted by the Kiev class jump cruisers. Therefore, Star Marshal Alexeyev has ordered that the five colony ships currently making the St. Ekatarina ? Alexandria run will be updated to the new design while those colony ships on the run to St. Petersburg will remain as they are.

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Sverdlov-F class Colony Ship    5400 tons     265 Crew     824 BP      TCS 108  TH 240  EM 0
2222 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/0/0/0/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 0
Colonists 50000    Cargo Handling Multiplier 5    Replacement Parts 5    

Nuclear Pulse Engine (6)    Power 40    Efficiency 0.90    Signature 40    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres    Range 44.4 billion km   (231 days at full power)
5th June 2008
Pskov, the third Krivak class geological survey ship, is completed.

30th July 2008
Romanov scientists have recently developed a shipboard missile launcher and our first anti-ship missile, the SS-N-1 Starburst. These two systems have been combined in a design for a new warship, the Sovremenny class destroyer. Although too large to be escorted by the Kiev class jump cruisers, the Sovremenny will be able to provide a strong defence of the Romanov system. Two units are being laid down and will be ready in August 2009. Although there are still many among the Tsar?s advisors who believe the Sovremennys and the earlier Kirov class are a complete waste of money, Star Marshal Alexeyev has apparently persuaded the Tsar that it is better to build a few warships and possibly waste the resources than take the risk of losing our entire civilization should we encounter an alien race.

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SS-N-1 Starburst
Missile Size: 5     Warhead: 3    Armour: 0
Speed: 9,000 km/s    Endurance: 50 seconds   Range: 450k km
Manoeuvre Rating: 10
Cost Per Missile: 1.95
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 90%   3k km/s 30%   5k km/s 18%   10k km/s 9%
Materials Required:   0.75x Tritanium  0.6x Sorium  0.6x Gallicite
Code: [Select]
Sovremenny class Destroyer    5450 tons     603 Crew     730 BP      TCS 109  TH 240  EM 270
2201 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 9-300     Sensors 1/0/0/0/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 25
Magazine 600    Replacement Parts 10    

Nuclear Pulse Engine (6)    Power 40    Efficiency 0.90    Signature 40    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres    Range 88.0 billion km   (462 days at full power)
Beta R300/15 Shields (6)   Total Fuel Cost  90 Litres per day

Missile Launcher 05-050 (5)    Missile Size 5    Rate of Fire 50
M600 Missile Fire Control (1)    Range: 600k km
SS-N-1 Starburst (120)  Speed: 9,000 km/s   Endurance: 50 secs    Range: 450k km   Warhead: 3    Size: 5

Active Sensor MR20000-R40 (1)     GPS 2000     Range 20.0m km    Resolution 40
20th March 2009
Vice Admiral Valentina Ivanova, one of our most experienced officers and the commander of the Red Fleet, has been forced into early retirement due to illness. The new commander of the Red Fleet will be Rear Admiral Stefan Kravchenko, previously captain of the Kirov. Captain 3rd Rank Ivonne Vorokova, captain of the jump frigate Azov for the past five years, takes command of the Kirov.

8th May 2009
The population of Alexandria has reached ten million and the colony is now operating five research facilities. The colony of St Petersburg II has a population of 1.9 million.

5th August 2009
The two new destroyers Sovremenny and Alexander Nevsky join the Red Fleet. They are unable to take on their full ordnance loads as only 190 SS-N-1 Starburst missiles have been constructed. However, there are now fifty ordnance factory complexes so production rates should improve.

1st May 2010
A new, larger jump drive has been developed. The J600 Jump Drive is capable of opening a jump point for a ship of up to 6000 tons, larger than any of our existing vessels, including the new Sovremenny class destroyers. The Kiev II is an improved, faster version of the Kiev class jump cruiser that incorporates the new jump drive plus more capable thermal and EM sensors. Kiev and Minsk will be refitted to the new design when they can be taken off regular operations and a third Kiev will be laid down.

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Kiev II class Jump Cruiser    6000 tons     570 Crew     915 BP      TCS 120  TH 280  EM 0
2333 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 15/5/15/0/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 0
Flag Bridge    Replacement Parts 15    

J600 Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 6000 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3
Nuclear Pulse Engine (7)    Power 40    Efficiency 0.90    Signature 40    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres    Range 200.0 billion km   (992 days at full power)

Thermal Sensor TH3-15 (1)     Sensitivity 15     Detect Signature 100: 1.5m km
Active Sensor MR20000-R40 (1)     GPS 2000     Range 20.0m km    Resolution 40
Grav Pulse Detection Sensor GPD1-5 (1)     Sensitivity 5     Detect Strength 100: 0.5m km
EM Detection Sensor EM3-15 (1)     Sensitivity 15     Detect Strength 100: 1.5m km
7th October 2010
Romanov scientists on St. Ekatarina have spent the last two years working on ways to increase the output of our research facilities. The result of their efforts is a seventeen percent improvement in productivity. They will now turn their attention to increasing the rate at which our Kotlin class terraformers can produce atmospheric gases. There are currently eighteen research facilities on St. Ekatarina and eight on Alexandria, although those on Alexandria are forty percent more productive due to the tireless work of Captain 3rd Rank Eva Sorokin, the planetary governor.

22nd November 2010
Deposits of Neutronium, Boronide and Vendarite on St. Ekatarina have all been exhausted over the last few months. This is not a problem in the short term due to stockpiles of previously refined minerals but we will need to find sources eventually. There are still small quantities of Neutronium and Vendarite on the Akmolinsk Asteroid Mining Colony in Romanov-A?s inner asteroid belt but not enough for a long term supply.

17th May 2011
Romanov scientists improve our terraforming technology, boosting the production of our Kotlin class terraformers by twenty percent. Twelve Kotlins are now in operation and have raised the oxygen content of Romanov-V to 0.08 atm. The air on the planet should be breathable within a year, at which point the terraformers will begin adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere to raise the current surface temperature of -22C.

8th August 2011
The new Kiev II class jump cruiser Gorshkov has been completed. Kiev has already been refitted to the new version and Minsk is currently in the shipyards.

20th November 2011
The fast-growing research establishment on Alexandria has completed their work on an exciting new propulsion technology that promises to deliver fifty percent more thrust than our existing nuclear pulse engines. The first implementation of this technology is the Sorokin S8 Ion Drive, named after Eva Sorokin, the planetary governor who has thrown all her support behind Alexandria?s scientists. The Sorokin Drive is under development and should be ready within a few weeks.

11th December 2011
The development of the Sorokin Drive has sparked a wave of refits in the fleet. The Udaloy II class survey ship has exchanged two nuclear pulse engines for three Sorokin S8 Ion Drives, almost doubling its speed from 1900 km/s to 3750 km/s. The Sovremenny II class destroyer has taken advantage of the availability of the larger Kiev II jump cruiser to change from six nuclear pulse engines to eight Sorokin S8 Ion Drives, increasing its size to 6000 tons and its speed to an amazing 4000 km/s. The Kiev III will remain the same size as the Kiev II but return to the sensor suite of the original Kiev so that an extra engine can be squeezed into the hull, enabling the Kievs to keep pace with the Sovremennys. In hindsight it would have been much more efficient to omit the Kiev II design entirely and wait for the new engines.

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Udaloy II class Survey Ship    2400 tons     210 Crew     531 BP      TCS 48  TH 180  EM 0
3750 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/0/0/3/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 0
Replacement Parts 5    

Sorokin S8 Ion Drive (3)    Power 60    Efficiency 0.80    Signature 60    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres    Range 225.0 billion km   (694 days at full power)
Gravitational Survey Sensors (3)   3 Survey Points
Code: [Select]
Sovremenny II class Destroyer    6000 tons     653 Crew     856 BP      TCS 120  TH 480  EM 270
4000 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 9-300     Sensors 1/0/0/0/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 25
Magazine 600    Replacement Parts 10    

Sorokin S8 Ion Drive (8)    Power 60    Efficiency 0.80    Signature 60    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres    Range 90.0 billion km   (260 days at full power)
Beta R300/15 Shields (6)   Total Fuel Cost  90 Litres per day

Missile Launcher 05-050 (5)    Missile Size 5    Rate of Fire 50
M600 Missile Fire Control (1)    Range: 600k km
SS-N-1 Starburst (120)  Speed: 9,000 km/s   Endurance: 50 secs    Range: 450k km   Warhead: 3    Size: 5

Active Sensor MR20000-R40 (1)     GPS 2000     Range 20.0m km    Resolution 40
Code: [Select]
Kiev III class Jump Cruiser    6000 tons     565 Crew     985 BP      TCS 120  TH 480  EM 0
4000 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 5/5/5/0/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 0
Flag Bridge    Replacement Parts 15    

J600 Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 6000 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3
Sorokin S8 Ion Drive (8)    Power 60    Efficiency 0.80    Signature 60    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres    Range 180.0 billion km   (520 days at full power)

Thermal Sensor TH1-5 (1)     Sensitivity 5     Detect Signature 100: 0.5m km
Active Sensor MR20000-R40 (1)     GPS 2000     Range 20.0m km    Resolution 40
Grav Pulse Detection Sensor GPD1-5 (1)     Sensitivity 5     Detect Strength 100: 0.5m km
EM Detection Sensor EM1-5 (1)     Sensitivity 5     Detect Strength 100: 0.5m km
As the Sovremenny class destroyers are likely to become the main defensive shield of the Imperium, spending a lot of resources on the older Kirov class frigates is difficult to justify. Therefore the Kirov II remains the same size as the original Kirov, gaining replacement engines and updated shield generators while retaining its low cost.

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Kirov II class Frigate    3000 tons     305 Crew     358 BP      TCS 60  TH 180  EM 240
3000 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 8-300     Sensors 1/0/0/0/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 12
Replacement Parts 5    

Sorokin S8 Ion Drive (3)    Power 60    Efficiency 0.80    Signature 60    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres    Range 90.0 billion km   (347 days at full power)
Beta R300/15 Shields (5)   Total Fuel Cost  75 Litres per day

12cm C2 Visible Light Laser (3)  Range 80,000km   TS: 3000 km/s   Power 4-2    RM 2   ROF 10    4 4 2 2 1 1 1 1
Fire Control S04 64-1600 (1)    Max Range: 128,000 km   TS: 1600 km/s     92 84 77 69 61 53 45 38 30 22
Pebble Bed Reactor (1)     Total Power Output 6    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Active Sensor MR8000-R40 (1)     GPS 800     Range 8.0m km    Resolution 40

The future of the two Azov class jump frigates is uncertain. As the Azov is equipped with a jump drive, it cannot increase in size and a straight swap of its engines would increases its speed to only 2666 km/s. Furthermore, its intended role of escorting survey ships will soon no longer be valid because of the increased size of the Udaloy II and plans for a similar upgrade to the Krivak class geological survey ships. There is even discussion of changing the Udaloy C to a combined jump ship, flagship and survey ship. For now, the two Azovs will remain as they are until the upgrade of other ship classes is complete.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by Steve Walmsley »
 

Offline Steve Walmsley (OP)

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« Reply #2 on: January 26, 2008, 07:52:31 AM »
23rd February 2012
Two of the three Kirovs and the first two Udaloys complete their refits. The design of the Udaloy II-C is finalised, allowing Severomorsk to enter the shipyards, but it doesn?t include a jump engine so the survey ships will still need an escort. The First Survey Fleet, comprising two Udaloys, an Udaloy-C and the Azov class jump frigate Kerch, has been out of contact on a long distance mission since October 2009. Their refits will take place when the fleet returns.

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Udaloy II-C class Survey Command Ship    2400 tons     210 Crew     581 BP      TCS 48  TH 180  EM 0
3750 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/0/0/2/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 0
Flag Bridge    Replacement Parts 5    

Sorokin S8 Ion Drive (3)    Power 60    Efficiency 0.80    Signature 60    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres    Range 225.0 billion km   (694 days at full power)

Gravitational Survey Sensors (2)   2 Survey Points
All twelve Sverdlov class colony ships have been refitted over the past few years to the F variant, including two that were built as Sverdlov-Fs. All twelve will now be refitted to the Sverdlov II, which has the same colonist capacity but is ten percent larger and eighty percent faster at 4000 km/s. Three will enter the yards initially with the rest being refitted when space permits. The Sverdlov II will allow much faster colonization, both within the Romanov system and for future extra-solar colonies. The colonization of St. Petersburg, which has been on hold lately due to an effort to increase Alexandria?s population to support as many research facilities as possible, should get back on track in the near future.

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Sverdlov II class Colony Ship    6000 tons     325 Crew     960 BP      TCS 120  TH 480  EM 0
4000 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/0/0/0/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 0
Colonists 50000    Cargo Handling Multiplier 5    Replacement Parts 5    

Sorokin S8 Ion Drive (8)    Power 60    Efficiency 0.80    Signature 60    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres    Range 90.0 billion km   (260 days at full power)
28th November 2012
Scientists on Alexandria have improved the efficiency of our jump drive technology by 20%. This will allow the Imperium to develop smaller jump drives with the same jump capacity. Alexandria now has a population of twenty-six million and fourteen research facilities, half of the total number in the Imperium.

23rd December 2012
The St. Ekatarina shipyards have been constantly full for over a year and many ships are still undergoing or awaiting refits. Therefore a ninth shipyard has been constructed. Additional shipyards will be added when priorities permit.

18th January 2013
Romanov scientists on St. Ekatarina have completed their research into Composite Armour. This will provide increased protection for the same amount of armour protection, allowing ship designs with thicker armour or designs with the same armour protection and more internal space. Ironically, for an advance in armour technology, the first new design to take advantage of composite armour is an updated version of the venerable Kalinin class freighter.

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Kalinin II class Freighter    5150 tons     240 Crew     432 BP      TCS 103  TH 360  EM 0
3495 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/0/0/0/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 0
Cargo 25000    Cargo Handling Multiplier 5    Replacement Parts 5    

Sorokin S8 Ion Drive (6)    Power 60    Efficiency 0.80    Signature 60    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres    Range 52.4 billion km   (173 days at full power)
Unfortunately, it would almost be cheaper to build new freighters than to try and update the ten existing Kalinins. Replacing the hull, adding the new engines and increasing the size of the ship by 400 tons is just too much for the older ships. Therefore an intermediate design is created, purely for upgrading the Kalinin I. This still uses high density duranium armour and adds only five new engines, rather than six. The difference in upgrade cost is 225 BP for the Kalinin-S (for Sorokin Drive) vs 424 BP for the Kalinin II.

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Kalinin-S class Freighter    5050 tons     210 Crew     383 BP      TCS 101  TH 300  EM 0
2970 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/0/0/0/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 0
Cargo 25000    Cargo Handling Multiplier 5    Replacement Parts 5    

Sorokin S8 Ion Drive (5)    Power 60    Efficiency 0.80    Signature 60    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres    Range 53.5 billion km   (208 days at full power)
9th June 2013
The First Survey Fleet, under the command of Captain 1st Rank Oleg Sidorov, returns to St Ekatarina after a mission lasting almost four years. The crews of Kerch, Vasilevsky, Udaloy and Admiral Kulakov will be due for a long rest while their ships are upgraded to the latest version, although that will have to wait for a few weeks as the shipyards are full of refitting freighters and colony ships. The results of the First Survey Fleet?s mission increase the size of known space to thirty-eight systems.

27th August 2013
On June 6th 2013 the Kiev class jump cruiser Minsk probed a recently discovered jump point in Irkutsk, adjacent to Rostov-na-Donu. She found a quaternary system with two yellow G3-V type stars orbiting three billion kilometers apart, each with a close orbiting star at 750m kilometers; a brown dwarf near the primary and an orange K6-V near the second G3-V. The primary had a single uninteresting planet and the K-class star had four planets, one of which was a huge, high gravity world with a dense oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere. As the gravity was too high, this world was discounted. Captain 2nd Rank Serge Ignatyev, commanding the Second Survey Fleet from his flag bridge on the Udaloy II-C Severomorsk, decided to take his three Udaloys into the new system, named Andropov, while the Minsk probed three other jump points found by the survey of Irkutsk. Minsk escorted the three survey ships into Andropov and then left to carry out her own mission.

On June 24th the Admiral Levchenko was passing close to the K6-V star when the ship was hailed from Andropov-C III, the high gravity world. Although the transmission appeared to be gibberish, it was plainly of artificial origin. Captain 2nd Rank Lebedev of the Levchenko halted his ship on the advice of Captain Ignatyev and attempted to return the hail. Unfortunately the Udaloy II class is not equipped with anything except the most basic sensors and could not detect anything from the planet at its range of sixty million kilometers. Five hours later, the Levchenko detected a thermal contact closing at 1600 km/s. As that was far less than the Levchenko?s maximum speed of 3750 km/s, Captain Lebedev held his position and the contact stopped a million kilometers away. The only available information about the contact was its strength-149 thermal signature. For comparison, the Udaloy II has a thermal signature of 180 and the Sovremenny class destroyer has a thermal signature of 480. While Captain Lebedev continued communication attempts with the alien ship. The other two Udaloys in Andropov headed for the Irkutsk jump point to await the return of the Minsk.

By July 8th, Minsk had not returned but the crew of the Levchenko had managed to establish full communication with the alien race, who called themselves Bessabarians. They are tall, thin humanoids with leathery, dark brown skin and a strangely small head surrounded by a long golden mane. Their features include prominent brow ridges, deeply sunken eyes, a wide nose and a protuding jaw. Some of the surviving information from the pre-cataclysm human Empire shows a variety of creatures called monkeys, which although much smaller do have some resemblance to the Bessabarians. The aliens were cautious about revealing too much about themselves but from what the crew of the Levchenko could tell they appear to be a peaceful, religious people. Appearances can be deceiving however and if they do have hostile intention, it is unlikely they would be warning us in advance. Captain Lebedev continued negotiations in an attempt to establish some kind of relationship.

On August 12th, Minsk finally transited into Andropov after exploring three new systems but finding nothing of interest. Captain 2nd Rank Serge Ignatyev ordered Captain Lebedev to continue negotiations while Minsk and the other Udaloy, Admiral Zakharov, returned to Romanov to warn the Imperium. Captain Ignatyev decided to keep his  own ship Severomorsk in Andropov until relieved, so he could monitor Levchenko from a distance while remaining undetected by the Bessabarians. That was fifteen days ago and Minsk has just jumped into Romanov with the news of our first alien contact.

The discovery of an alien civilization causes a sensation among the Romanov people and a multitude of different perspectives,. Some see this as the start of a galactic brotherhood of different species while others believe the aliens constitute an immediate threat to our way of life. A third group have roubles dancing in front of their eyes as they contemplate the potential business opportunities. Several religions will have to modify their beliefs and a few new ones will no doubt spring up. Whatever the situation, Star Marshal Alexeyev has to deal with the potential threat the Bessabarians present, regardless of their actual intentions. So far, we have no knowledge of the size of the Bessabarian population in the Andropov system, which is being officially renamed the Bessabaria system, or any idea of their technology, except that the one ship observed so far had a speed of 1600 km/s. We don?t even know if Bessabaria is their only system, although that seems likely as the jump point was not picketed. For the moment, the Star Marshal has to assume the Bessabarians have jump capability and that they potentially have a strong military.

St Ekatarina?s nine shipyard complexes are currently occupied by refits to five freighters and three survey ships plus construction of a Kiev IV class jump cruiser. The Kiev IV uses composite armour, which allows it to squeeze in an extra engine compared to the Kiev III, giving it a top speed of 4500 km/s. Four of the freighters will complete their refits in mid-September, at which point new ships will be paid down to bolster the defences of the Imperium. The top priorities will be to gain more information about the Bessabarians, preferably without their knowledge, and establish a forward defence. With that in mind, Minsk is ordered to remain at the Rostov-na-Donu jump point until joined by Kirov and Frunze, which she will escort to the Irkutsk ? Bessabaria jump point. The two frigates can at least provide some defence until more ships are available.

9th September 2013
The two small Azov class jump ships are taken into the shipyards. Their future was uncertain anyway due to the small size of their jump drive so that jump drive is being replaced with a trio of 12cm lasers, a fire control system and a reactor. Because this refit is about getting armed ships into action as quickly as possible, their old nuclear pulse engines and high density duranium armour will remain. They will also be without shields as the strain of the extra tonnage would make the refit too long and costly. Although the two Azov-Ls will be fragile and slow, they will have a solid punch at close range and be available within two months.

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Azov-L class Frigate    2450 tons     275 Crew     276 BP      TCS 49  TH 80  EM 0
1632 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/0/0/0/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 12
Replacement Parts 5    

Nuclear Pulse Engine (2)    Power 40    Efficiency 0.90    Signature 40    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres    Range 195.8 billion km   (1388 days at full power)

12cm C2 Visible Light Laser (3)    Range 80,000km    TS: 1632 km/s    Power 4-2    RM 2   ROF 10  4 4 2 2 1 1 1 1
Fire Control S04 64-1600 (1)    Max Range: 128,000 km   TS: 1600 km/s     92 84 77 69 61 53 45 38 30 22
Pebble Bed Reactor (1)     Total Power Output 6    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Active Sensor MR8000-R40 (1)     GPS 800     Range 8.0m km    Resolution 40
14th September 2013
Three Sovremenny II-A class destroyers are laid down. The difference between this class and the Sovremenny II is that it uses composite armour, creating enough additional internal space to add a sixth missile launcher. Alexander Nevsky and Sovremenny will be updated to the new design once the new ships are available. The research facilities of both St. Ekatarina and Alexandria are working on missile-related technologies to further boost the combat power of our destroyers and additional ordnance factories will be constructed to increase missile production.

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Sovremenny II-A class Destroyer    6000 tons     703 Crew     886 BP      TCS 120  TH 480  EM 270
4000 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 9-300     Sensors 1/0/0/0/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 30
Magazine 600    Replacement Parts 10    

Sorokin S8 Ion Drive (8)    Power 60    Efficiency 0.80    Signature 60    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres    Range 90.0 billion km   (260 days at full power)
Beta R300/15 Shields (6)   Total Fuel Cost  90 Litres per day

Missile Launcher 05-050 (6)    Missile Size 5    Rate of Fire 50
M600 Missile Fire Control (1)    Range: 600k km
SS-N-1 Starburst (120)  Speed: 9,000 km/s   Endurance: 50 secs    Range: 450k km   Warhead: 3    Size: 5

Active Sensor MR20000-R40 (1)     GPS 2000     Range 20.0m km    Resolution 40
30th September 2013
Minsk, Kirov, Frunze and Pskov reach the Irkutsk ? Bessabaria jump point. Pskov is a geological survey ship that will surreptitiously examine the other four planets in Bessabaria  to check on the system?s resources. The two Kirov class frigates will remain in Irkutsk with orders to shoot anything alien that comes through the Bessabaria jump point.

14th October 2013
Refits are completed on the three Udaloys of the First Survey Fleet (one of which is the C variant). As the Udaloy II Admiral Zakharov, currently with the Second Survey Fleet, has recently returned home from Bessabaria, that ship is transferred to the First Survey Fleet. The two remaining ships of the Second, Severomorsk and Admiral Levchenko, are still in the alien system.

27th October 2013
The Bessabarians detect Pskov carrying out a geological survey of Bessabaria-C I and accuse Captain Lebedev of delaying them while Romanov warships sneak up on their planet. Lebedev manages to calm them down and assures them that Pskov is a geological survey vessel carrying out standard Romanov procedure for exploring a new star system. He offers to let the Bessabarians escort Pskov and share in its results but they politely demand that it should withdraw. They insist that only Levchenko will be allowed in their system and Pskov is duly withdrawn toward the jump point. So far, Captain Lebedev has managed to avoid discussion of how Pskov and his own ship reached the Bessabaria system, partly because he is not sure if the aliens have knowledge of jump points. When the chief Bessabarian negotiator asks if both Levchenko and Pskov have faster-than-light drives, that lack of knowledge is apparently confirmed. Minsk brought instructions from Star Marshal Alexeyev regarding what can be discussed with the Bessabarians and abiding by those instructions, Captain Lebedev replies that he is under orders not to discuss Romanov technology until some type of political arrangement can be reached.

26th November 2013
For over twelve years, Romanov terraforming ships have been working to transform Romanov-A V into a living, breathing world, capable of supporting human life without the need for artificial environments. That dream is now close to reality. In 2011, the oxygen in the atmosphere reached a level that could support humans without the need for breathing apparatus. Since then, the twelve Kotlin class terraformers have been pumping greenhouse gases into the air to increase the temperature. It currently stands at -14C, still not high enough to allow colonization without supporting infrastructure but the colony cost of 0.46 means that the level of required infrastructure is fairly low. In fact, the Tsar has given permission for colonization even before the infrastructure is ready. This will no doubt result in some losses among the colonists as they try to build structures capable of withstanding the freezing temperatures from local available materials. However, there is no shortage of volunteers as they see a chance to settle in the most favourable locations on the planet.

Romanov-A V is slightly larger than St. Ekatarina, with higher gravity. Its oceans are much larger and the land is very mountainous with fertile stretches along the coast. At the moment the ice-caps are large and the mountains are all snow covered but that will change in the near future as the planet warms up. Tsar Alexander has announced the new colony will be named after his favourite niece, Anastasia.

7th January 2014
After being escorted to their destination by Kiev, the two newly refitted Azov-L class frigates Azov and Kerch have joined Kirov and Frunze at the Irkutsk ? Bessabaria jump point.

11th March 2014
Due to the proximity of St. Ekatarina and Anastasia, the colonization of the new world is proceeding rapidly and the population has already reached twelve million. As the available infrastructure will only support ten million, the growth rate of the colony is currently running at minus two percent but there is no fall-off in colonist volunteers. Anastasia will function as a second major research facility, after Alexandria, and will be governed by Captain 2nd Rank Katria Kashin, an expert in fire control and electronic warfare systems. Alexandria, which specialises in power and propulsion systems, now has fifteen research facilities and a population of thirty-four million.

3rd June 2014
Due to recent developments in several areas of missile technology, a new anti-ship missile has been designed for the Sovremenny class destroyers. The SS-N-2 Scarab is faster and longer ranged then the SS-N-1 Starburst and has a more powerful warhead. Production will begin within the next few weeks, as soon as the development phase of the missile is completed.

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SS-N-2 Scarab
Missile Size: 5     Warhead: 4    Armour: 0
Speed: 14,000 km/s    Endurance: 50 seconds   Range: 700k km
Manoeuvre Rating: 10     Cost Per Missile: 2.8
Chance to Hit: 1k km/s 140%   3k km/s 40%   5k km/s 28%   10k km/s 14%
Materials Required:   1x Tritanium  0.9x Sorium  0.9x Gallicite
Development Cost for Project: 280RP
16th June 2014
Several days ago the First Survey Fleet completed a gravitational survey of Vorkuta, a planetless system adjacent to Rostov-na-Donu, and found two new jump points. Two hours ago, the jump cruiser Gorshkov entered the inner jump point and found herself in the Romanov system, approximately four billion kilometers from the primary on a bearing of 306, midway between the jump points to Smolensk and Leningrad. This jump point was not detected by our survey of the home system because it was apparently in some type of dormant state, which means there may be other such dormant jump points throughout explored space.

4th September 2014
It is now over a year since communication was established with the Bessabarians. On the positive side, they have shown no sign of aggression and there has been no contact with any alien vessels except the one that approached the Levchenko shortly after contact was established. In fact, that single vessel has withdrawn and the negotiations are continuing directly with the planet. On the negative side, there is still no agreement on a proposed non-aggression pact and we still know nothing about the size of the Bessabarian population or its technological capabilities. Despite the problems caused by the detection of the Pskov, Star Marshal Alexeyev has decided that we must have more information. Therefore a scout ship has been designed with the most powerful sensor suite ever fitted to a Romanov ship, plus a new version of the Sorokin Drive that produces a thermal signature 25% lower than the normal version. Once the ship is built, it will be ordered to approach at low speed and try to get a reading from the Bessabarian planet.

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Moskva class Scout Frigate    2500 tons     225 Crew     376 BP      TCS 50  TH 135  EM 0
3600 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 25/25/25/0/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 0
Replacement Parts 5    

Sorokin TR25 Ion Drive (3)    Power 60    Efficiency 0.80    Signature 45    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres    Range 108.0 billion km   (347 days at full power)

Thermal Sensor TH5-25 (1)     Sensitivity 25     Detect Signature 100: 2.5m km
Active Sensor MR20000-R40 (1)     GPS 2000     Range 20.0m km    Resolution 40
Grav Pulse Detection Sensor GPD5-25 (1)     Sensitivity 25     Detect Strength 100: 2.5m km
EM Detection Sensor EM5-25 (1)     Sensitivity 25     Detect Strength 100: 2.5m km
23rd November 2014
Minsk arrives in the Romanov system with news that the Bessabarians finally agreed to a Non-Aggression Pact two weeks ago. While there is no guarantee they will stick to the pact, it should start to build up trust between our two races as long as it remains in place. As a gesture of good faith, Captain 2nd Rank Lebedev will be given permission to explain the concept of jump points to the Bessabarians and request that the Romanov Imperium be allowed to station ships at the jump point to Irkutsk. Minsk will be unable to make the immediate return trip though as she is virtually out of spare parts and delayed a planned earlier departure because the negotiations were going well. Kiev is due back in Romanov in a few days her mission to escort freighters to the Gorky system to establish a new mining colony. She will carry orders to the Bessabaria system.

9th December 2014
Three new Sovremenny II-A class destroyers, Constantine, Vladimir and Yuri are launched from the shipyards of St. Ekatarina. Sovremenny and Alexander Nevsky have already been upgraded to the II-A standard and three more Sovremenny II-As will be delivered over the next twelve months, giving the Imperial Fleet eight modern warships by the end of 2015. Four of our other five warships, two Kirov IIs and two Azov-Ls, are currently guarding the Irkutsk ? Bessabaria jump point while a third Kirov II, Pyotr Velikiy, is in orbit of Alexandria.

24th December 2014
Novorossiysk, the fourth Kiev class jump carrier, is completed. She is a type IV, like the refitted Kiev. Gorshkov and Minsk are both Kiev IIIs, although Minsk is currently undergoing a refit to the new version.

29th December 2014
The first of a new generation of jump engines has been developed, based on new technology researched two years ago by the power and propulsion experts on Alexandra. The J375 Jump Drive is the same size and cost as the old J225 installed on the Azov class jump frigates but it can open a jump point for a ship of 3750 tons instead of 2250 tons. The first ship to use this new jump drive will be an upgrade of the recently designed Moskva class scout frigate. The Moskva II will retain the impressive sensor suite of its still-building predecessor, albeit with a slight reduction in grav-pulse detection, and will gain the J375 and two more engines. Based on recent experience, the Moskva II will potentially fulfil several roles. It can act as a scout in the same way as the Moskva, but will be able to enter systems without assistance, it can fulfil a courier role to improve communication with outlying task groups and it can act as a jump ship for survey groups, as well as being able to cautiously investigate any new habitable planets discovered by the survey groups. The intention is for a Moskva II to accompany each survey group while retaining at least two in Romanov for courier and scout missions as required.

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Moskva II class Scout/Courier    3750 tons     340 Crew     524 BP      TCS 75  TH 225  EM 0
4000 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 25/10/25/0/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 0
Replacement Parts 5    

J375 Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 3750 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3
Sorokin TR25 Ion Drive (5)    Power 60    Efficiency 0.80    Signature 45    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres    Range 72.0 billion km   (208 days at full power)

Thermal Sensor TH5-25 (1)     Sensitivity 25     Detect Signature 100: 2.5m km
Active Sensor MR20000-R40 (1)     GPS 2000     Range 20.0m km    Resolution 40
Grav Pulse Detection Sensor GPD2-10 (1)     Sensitivity 10     Detect Strength 100: 1m km
EM Detection Sensor EM5-25 (1)     Sensitivity 25     Detect Strength 100: 2.5m km
1st January 2015
The age of Romanov space exploration is now fifteen years old so a review of the current situation will be useful. There are forty-three known systems, plus whatever new systems have been found by the First Survey Fleet during its current long-term mission. The Romanov Imperium has five colonies plus the homeworld. In order of size, those populations are as follows:

St Ekatarina - Romanov system
Star Marshal Yuri Alexeyev: Shipbuilding 40%, Wealth 30%, Pop Growth 15%, Production 10%
Population 553m / Wealth 21570
Level 3 Naval Academy
Maintenance Facilities: 10,200 tons.
Commercial Freight Facility
Shipyards: 10
Ground Force Training Facilities: 4
Construction Factories: 575
Mines: 450
Fuel Refineries: 180  (Stockpile 10.5m litres)
Ordnance Factories 60
Deep Space Tracking Stations : 6

Alexandria - Romanov system
Captain 3rd Rank Eva Sorkin: Research 40%, Wealth 15%, Pop Growth 10%, Production 5%
Population 39m / Wealth 1349
Maintenance Facilities: 2800 tons.
Research Labs: 15
Deep Space Tracking Stations : 1

Anastasia - Romanov system
Captain 2nd Rank Katria Kashin: Research 40%, Wealth 20%
Population 29m / Wealth 1047
Research Labs: 14

St Petersburg II ? St Petersburg system
Captain-Lieutenant Evelina Yuryev: Pop Growth 20%
Population 4.6m / Wealth 138

Akmolinsk Mining Colony ? Romanov System
Captain 2nd Rank Fedyenka Sobolev: Mining 20%, Research 25%
Automated Mines: 84
(Akmolinsk is almost exhausted and will soon be abandoned in favour of the Balagansk Mining Colony in the Gorky System)

Balagansk Mining Colony ? Gorky System
Captain 3rd Rank Rada Fyodorov: Mining 20%, Production 20%
Automated Mines: 21

Fleet Strength
The Imperium has the following ships in service or under construction:

Imperial Fleet
Azov-L class Frigate: Azov, Kerch
Kiev III class Jump Cruiser: Gorshkov, Minsk (undegoing refit to Kiev IV)
Kiev IV class Jump Cruiser: Kiev, Novorossiysk
Kirov II class Frigate: Frunze, Kirov, Pyotr Velikiy
Krivak II class Geosurvey Ship: Bodry, Krivak, Pskov
Moskva class Scout Frigate: 1 under construction
Moskva II class Scout/Courier: 2 under construction
Sovremenny IIA class Destroyer: Alexander Nevsky, Constantine, Sovremenny, Vladimir, Yuri. (3 under const)
Udaloy II class Survey Ship: Admiral Kulakov, Admiral Levchenko, Admiral Zakharov, Udaloy.
Udaloy IIC class Survey Command Ship: Severomorsk, Vasilevsky

Support Ships
Kalinin-S class Freighter: 10 ships
Kalinin II class Freighter: 4 ships
Kara class scout: 5 ships
Kotlin class Terraformer: 12 ships
Kotlin II class Terraformer: 2 ships under construction
Sverdlov II class Colony Ship: 12 ships

4th January 2015
The Sovremenny class destroyer Dimitri joins the Imperial Fleet

14th March 2015
The scout frigate Moskva is launched from the St. Ekatarina shipyards. Unlike the three Moskva IIs currently under construction she does not have a jump drive and will need assistance from one of the four jump cruisers to fulfil her mission to covertly scan the Bessabarian planet. Gorshkov is on long-term deployment with the First Survey Fleet, Minsk is still in the shipyards, Kiev is already in Bessabaria and therefore out of contact, which leaves Novorossiysk, which is escorting thirteen freighters to create the Chelyabinsk Mining Colony in the Bratsk system, adjacent to Rostov-na-Donu. Once she returns, Novorossiysk will escort Moskva to the Bessabaria system, then remain on station to relieve Kiev, which will return home to report after Moskva makes her approach to Bessabaria-C III..

25th March 2015
Novorossiysk and the freighters enter Romanov after their mission to Bratsk. Novorossiysk?s commander, Captain-Lieutenant Ignatov, brings word from Captain 1st Rank Oleg Sidorov, commander of the First Survey Fleet. The First Survey Fleet left Romanov in October 2013 to survey and explore the systems around Rostov-na-Donu, including Bratsk. The fleet was last heard from in June 2014 when the jump cruiser Gorshkov found a new jump point in Romanov that originated in Vorkuta, one of the systems connecting to Rostov-na-Donu. After that contact, the fleet carried out a survey of Bratsk, finding eight new jump points! All eight have been explored and two near-habitable worlds have been found in the newly discovered systems of Dmitrovsk and Saransk.

Saransk was discovered in November 2014 and has eight planets and four vast asteroid belts, totalling over eight hundred asteroids. The innermost planet has a steamy but breathable atmosphere and a surface temperature of fifty-eight degrees Celsius. Saransk Prime is a water world, with scattered desert islands covering only five percent of the surface. The estimated colony cost is 0.45. The Dmitrovsk system, discovered in December 2014 is a binary with two G2-V stars, 13 planets and 300 asteroids. The fifth planet is similar to St. Ekatarina in terms of size, gravity and atmosphere but is too cold for immediate habitation at -12C. This colony cost 0.35 world should be straightforward to terraform. At the point that Novorossiysk left Bratsk, the four Udaloy class ships were surveying Dmitrovsk while Gorshkov stood by at the Bratsk - Dmitrovsk jump point.

While the empty freighters continue to St. Ekatarina, Novorossiysk and Moskva rendezvous and the two ships head through Rostov-na-Donu and Irkutsk to the Bessabaria system.

25th April 2015
The asteroid upon which the Akmolinsk Mining Colony is based has been completely exhausted of minerals. This means the automated mines on the colony will stand idle until moved to the Balagansk or Chelyabinsk mining colonies, or even back to St. Ekatarina.

8th May 2015
Kiev returns to Romanov with an update on events in Bessabaria. Novorossiysk and Moskva arrived on April 12th and the scout frigate immediately headed for the Bessabarian planet. An EM signature with a strength of 13,500 was detected at over three hundred million kilometers, thanks to Moskva?s state of the art EM sensors. This compares with an EM signature of 37,500 for St Ekatarina. As Moskva crept closer she slowed down to only 500 km/s to reduce her own thermal signature and hide her from Bessabarian sensors. Her Sorokin TR25 engines aided her as they have a thermal signature 25% less than the widely used Sorokin S8 model. Finally at 67m kilometers, she picked up a thermal signature of 2700, only 23% of the signature of St. Ekatarina. Thermal signatures are usually more indicative of industrial strength, while EM is more heavily influenced by the size of population. The best estimate of Imperial Intelligence is that the Bessabarian population is less than half that of St Ekatarina and their industrial output is perhaps a third of our own. This is very good news as it means that unless their technology is considerably better than our own, the Bessabarians do not present a great threat to the Imperium.

Kiev left for home as soon as the thermal signature was detected. In her absence the plan was for Moskva to withdraw to a safe distance then go to full power and return to the Bessabaria-C system as an announced relief ship for the Admiral Levchenko. While Captain 2nd Rank Lebedev and his crew have done a sterling job for almost two years, the Moskva will be much better equipped as a contact ship. Admiral Levchenko and Severomorsk will both return home, as soon as Kiev can go back and get them, leaving Moskva as the contact ship and Novorossiysk at the Irkutsk jump point. To avoid Moskva having to chase the Bessabarian planet around the cosmos as it orbits Bessabaria-C, which itself orbits Bessabaria-B, which in turn orbits Bessabaria-A, the Bessabarian have agreed she can remain in orbit of Bessabaria-C IV, the next planet out from their own. This keeps the ship in the right area while respecting the Bessabarian?s desire that we keep our distance. Negotiations are currently ongoing for a trade treaty, but initial indications are that it likely take years to sort out. The Bessabarians appear to be born bureaucrats, which combined with their multitude of religious festivals makes it difficult to achieve anything.

26th September 2015
The three Moskva II scout/couriers, Kitai-Gorod, Tagansky and Zelenograd, join the Imperial Fleet. Zelenograd is immediately dispatched to Bessabaria to replace Novorossiysk as the jump point picket. Now the jump-capable Moskva IIs are available, there is no need to use a full size jump cruiser as a back up to Moskva.

28th October 2015
Novorossiysk arrives in Romanov with news that the Bessabarians have agreed to a trade treaty, confounding earlier pessimism about the chances of such a treaty. The commander of Moskva, Captain-Lieutenant Markov Kashin, has obviously made considerable progress in a short time. The outline of the treaty is that the Imperium will be allowed to establish a small enclave on Bessabaria-C III to facilitate more detailed trade discussions in a number of areas and unarmed Romanov ships will be allowed to visit the planet. The Bessabarians are very interested in learning more about jump points and in return for this knowledge, they access to Bessabaria-C II, which apparently has significant ruins from a past alien civilization. The Bessabarians not have the expertise to investigate the ruins themselves but they are prepared to let a Romanov team on to the planet if we supply them with details of jump drive technology and share any new technology found in the ruins. After long discussions with his advisors, Tsar Alexander agrees to the Bessabarian terms. While we are probably saving the Bessabarians several years of research, that will be more than worth it if we could find advanced technology in the ruins. A single colony ship, escorted by Novorossiysk, will transport colonists to Bessabaria-C III and an archaeological team to Bessabaria-C II.

16th November 2015
All six ships of the First Survey Fleet enter the Romanov system with startling news. Just over a month ago, the fleet completed a survey of the Saransk system, revealing two new jump points, one of which was only twenty-three million kilometers from the primary. The jump cruiser Gorshkov, under Captain 3rd Rank Ivan Nikitin, moved to investigate the inner jump point and entered a planetless G8-V system in the early hours of October 11th. After transiting back into Saransk, Gorshkov set a course for the second jump point, located two billion kilometers away. Her course took her within fifty million kilometers of the innermost planet, a steamy ocean world with a surface temperature of fifty-eight degrees Celsius, and at 06.02 her EM sensor registered a contact with a strength of 9300, about 25% that of St. Ekatarina. Realising his ship had almost certainly been detected by the alien population, Captain 3rd Rank Nikitin ordered his ship to hold position and contacted Captain 1st Rank Oleg Sidorov in the Vasilevsky, waiting with the rest of the First Survey Fleet at the Saransk-Bratsk jump point. Captain Sidorov granted Captain Nikitin permission to attempt communications and Gorshkov hailed the planet. A garbled reply arrived within two hours and Captain Nikitin warned his crew that they may be there for a while, if the experience in Bessabaria was anything to go by.

At 10.18 am, a strength-250 thermal contact was detected at only one point two million kilometers on a direct course from the planet. Captain 3rd Rank Nikitin immediately ordered active sensors to be brought online and they quickly picked up a solid contact with a speed of 1543 km/s and a cross-section of 162, probably a ship of a little over 8000 tons. A few seconds later the alien ship also brought up its active sensors and Gorshkov?s own GPD sensor classified the alien active sensor as strength 20 with a resolution of 30. This would give it an ability to detect ships of at least 1500 tons (resolution x 50) at a range of six million km (20 strength x 30 resolution x 10,000km). Gorshkov?s active sensor is the MR20000-R40, with a strength of 50, a resolution of 40 (2000 tons) and a range of twenty million km.

Captain 3rd Rank Nikitin hailed the approaching ship and warned it to keep its distance. Even though the alien could not understand our language, Captain Nikitin hoped the message would be obvious. As the ship kept on coming, Captain 1st Rank Sidorov ordered Captain Nikitin to maintain a distance of one million kilometers and continue comm attempts. The alien continued to pursue and Gorshkov fell back at 1543 km/s toward the Bratsk jump point. Within a couple of minutes, Gorshkov?s EM sensor detected shields on the alien ship at strength-6 and increasing, eventually reaching strength-10. In comparison, the Sovremenny IIA destroyer has strength-9 shields. After three hours of trying to chase, the alien finally gave up, held position and began trying to communicate.

Almost two days later, at 11.40 am on October 13th, with communication attempts going nowhere, a new active contact was detected astern and to starboard at twenty million kilometers. Shortly thereafter, a third contact appeared 20m km to port and astern. Realising that multiple alien ships were trying to box Gorshkov in, Captain Sidorov. ordered Captain Nikitin to run for safety at maximum speed. Captain Nikitin responded quickly and took Gorshkov between the two ships closing from the rear, which appeared to be the same type as the one at close range, before they could close the gap, no doubt surprising the aliens with the jump cruiser?s top speed of 4000 km/s. At no point did any alien ship exceed 1543 km/s. Gorshkov maintained her speed and the aliens dropped off sensors at 15.30. After moving directly to the Saransk ? Bratsk jump point, Gorshkov escorted the five survey ships (including the recently arrived Admiral Levchenko) through Bratsk and Rostov-na-Donu to the Romanov system.

These new aliens appear much more aggressive than the still peaceful Bessabarians and we know virtually nothing about them except that their ships were larger and slower than our own and the population on Saransk Prime was likely to be considerably smaller than St Ekatarina. For all we know though it could be an outpost of a large and aggressive alien empire. The first response of Star Marshal Alexeyev is to dispatch Tagansky and Kitai-Gorod, two jump-capable Moskva II class scouts, to the Saransk system to find out all they can about the alien forces without being detected in the process, as well as probing the remaining unexplored jump point. Secondly, given the recent improvement in relations with the Bessabarians, the two Kirov IIs and two Azov-Ls will be redeployed from the Irkutsk ? Bessabaria jump point to the Bratsk ? Saransk jump point. As Novorossiysk and the colony ship she is escorting are still in Rostov-na-Donu en route to Bessabaria, Gorshkov is sent into the system to send a message to Novorossiysk, ordering her to bring back the four small warships and escort them to Bratsk before bringing home the colony ship.

The six Sovremenny IIA class destroyers are currently on training exercises, along with Kiev, flagship of Rear Admiral Kravchenko. Although Sovremenny and Alexander Nevsky are well practised in formation manoeuvres, the crews of Constantine, Dimitri, Vladimir and Yuri are not used to working as a team. In combat, the ability to react quickly to orders from the flag could prove critical so Admiral Kravchenko has advised the Star Marshal that he would prefer to have several more months of training time, if possible, before committing his ships to combat. In addition, two more Sovremennys will be launched in less than six weeks and they too will require some training time. Star Marshal Alexeyev agrees to wait until we hear back from the scouts. In the meantime, the older warships will provide a tripwire defence in Bratsk once they can be redeployed.

Because of the potential crisis, two other issues are brought to the attention of the Star Marshal. If the destroyers are sent into combat, they will vulnerable to missiles launched by enemy vessels. One of our major ship designers, Vladimir Myasishchev, has proposed building a class of escort vessels armed with fast-firing laser and fire controls specifically designed to target fast moving enemy missiles. These weapons and systems are not currently available so a dedicated research effort would be required and the deployment of these ships would be a long term investment. Secondly, once the destroyers have launched their missiles, they are completely defenceless so Myasishchev has also proposed a collier, capable of carrying a supply of additional missiles for the Sovremennys.

Star Marshal Alexeyev authorises the collier idea as it can be easily accomplished with existing technology. Two designs are proposed, one with enough magazine space to resupply three Sovremennys and the second with double that capacity. As the larger design is almost twice as expensive and slightly slower, there seems little advantage in putting all our eggs in one basket so two units of the smaller Skory class collier are laid down.

Code: [Select]
Skory class Collier    3200 tons     290 Crew     550 BP      TCS 64  TH 240  EM 0
3750 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/0/0/0/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 0
Magazine 1800    Replacement Parts 5    

Sorokin S8 Ion Drive (4)    Power 60    Efficiency 0.80    Signature 60    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres    Range 84.4 billion km   (260 days at full power)

While the Star Marshal accepts the advantages of the escort idea, the length of time required before any ship could be produced is a problem. Therefore he agrees to take the proposal into consideration when setting future research assignments but not to give it any special priority.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by Steve Walmsley »
 

Offline Steve Walmsley (OP)

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« Reply #3 on: January 26, 2008, 07:59:16 AM »
1st January 2016
Simeon and Tver, the final two Sovremenny IIAs, are launched from the St Ekatarina shipyards. Both ships are dispatched to join Kiev and four other Sovremennys on training manoeuvres in the outer Romanov system.

6th January 2016
The fleet of twelve Kotlin class terraformers is still working on the atmosphere of Anastasia and have increased the temperature to -5C, which gives the planet a colony cost of only 0.07. However, many of the ships are falling apart through lack of maintenance and some haven?t been overhauled in over ten years. Sharing spare parts between the ships has kept them on station as long as possible but failures are now imminent so Star Marshal Alexeyev has pulled the fleet back to St. Ekatarina where the planet?s maintenance facilities can keep them from falling apart until they can be scheduled for overhauls. Two newer Kotlin IIs remain in Anastasia orbit and will be joined by the Kotlins as they complete their overhauls.

16th January 2016
Novorossiysk return to Romanov, along with the colony ship. Captain-Lieutenant Ignatov reports the small colony has been established on Bessabaria, the archaeological team was safely delivered to Bessabaria C-II and the four older warships were escorted into Bratsk system so they could picket the Saransk jump point.

13th February 2016
Tagansky and Kitai-Gorod return to Romanov with news of their scouting mission to Saransk. They entered the system on December 16th 2015 and split up, with Kitai-Gorod in the lead and Tagansky holding back to observe. Their first task was to explore the third jump point, which led to Aldan, an unremarkable binary with a red M9-V primary, orbited by three gas giants, a toxic high pressure world and a planetless brown dwarf at only 225m km. Kitai-Gorod re-entered Saransk and began moving toward the alien population, gradually decreasing speed as she approached. She confirmed the previous EM reading of 9300 and on January 9th picked up a thermal signature of 2600 (St. Ekatarina: 12,000). With no sign of hostile vessels, she decreased speed to 100 km/s and crept within fifteen million kilometers of the planet before switching on her active sensors. Four ships were detected in orbit, three of which were identified as the ships that pursued Gorshkov and a fourth that appeared to be the same class. The aliens obviously detected Kitai-Gorod?s sensor emissions as they immediately gave chase. Both scouts easily outran their pursuers and headed for home.

One lesson to be learned from this mission is that a planet is vulnerable to hostile scout ships getting in close unless it has powerful active sensors. Unfortunately, those same sensors would announce the presence of the population to anyone in the inner system. Our two ancient Yaroslav class planetary defence centres only have the same active sensors as the Kiev series and Moskva II class scouts so Star Marshal Alexeyev decides we should build a new PDC type with much larger active sensors than those carried by our ships. This will have to be a future project though as the larger sensors will have to be developed first.

The good news from the scout mission is that this alien population appears much smaller than St. Ekatarina, so if this is indeed the alien homeworld it should not present a serious threat to our survival, although the alien warships could prove a problem if they leave Saransk and begin attacking our ships away from Romanov. Therefore Star Marshal Alexeyev orders his staff to begin planning a military expedition to neutralise any such threat before it can materialise. In the meantime, Tagansky is sent back to Saransk to picket the jump point to Bratsk.

27th February 2016
A couple of shortages are starting to worry the Tsar?s economic advisers. After being plentiful for many years, the supply of Duranium is no longer meeting demand, due to our expanding economy, and the stockpile is becoming dangerously low. In addition, although we have 8.6 million litres of fuel stockpiled on St. Ekatarina, that has fallen by two million litres in just over a year. We will either have to reduce fuel use or build more refineries to convert our growing stockpile of Sorium ore. Unfortunately, refineries are built primarily from Duranium and reducing fuel use would probably involve halting the vital training exercises taking place in Romanov.

6th March 2016
The Moskva II class scout Zelenograd arrives in Romanov with news from Bessabaria. Two weeks ago, the Bessabarians agreed to purchase improved mining technology from us for 3000 megaroubles and have also asked us to sell them either mining complexes or Duranium. Apparently they are also suffering an acute Duranium shortage. Captain-Lieutenant Konstantin Petrov, commanding the Zelenograd, reports that there is growing unrest on the Bessabarian planet, primarily because the recent contact with the Imperium has created fear among the population that they are defenceless against alien invasion and they are demanding more warships to protect them. Although we do not have access to any Bessabarian military information, the sensor readings from the Moskva combined with reports on the Bessabarian news channels lead Imperial Intelligence to believe the Bessabarians have only three spacecraft in service. Two are 4600 ton ?Cosmic Liberty? class cruisers and the third is a ?Lennon Karma? class geological survey ship. Their weapon and electronic systems capabilities are unknown.

According to Captain-Lieutenant Petrov, there are strikes and civil disobedience in many Bessabarian cities and their industrial production has fallen by forty percent from its all-time high. The two warships, described as outdated by BNN, the main Bessabarian planet-wide news network, are not seen as a sufficient deterrent if the Imperium should turn hostile. A third Cosmic Liberty is being built in the Bessabarians? single shipyard but it has been on hold for several months due to resource shortages and industrial stoppages. The Bessabarian government is a theocracy, with religious leaders holding political power. This seemed to have been a very peaceful and benevolent rule that worked well until the first contact with the Imperium. Unfortunately the Church had preached that the Bessabarians were chosen by God as the supreme beings in the universe. Now that pillar of Bessabarian theology has been severely shaken, the clergy have lost some of their power to control the population. The last thing we need when confronting a new and probably hostile alien race is for our growing relationship with the Bessabarians to be ruined by civil unrest.

Star Marshal Alexeyev decides that despite our own problems, keeping the Bessabarian relationship intact is to our advantage. Therefore he orders the Cargo Fleet to transport 300 tons of Duranium, almost half our current stockpile, and a dozen mines to Bessabaria. In addition, Minsk is ordered to collect the two Azov-L frigates from their picket duty and escort them to Bessabaria with an offer to sell them to the Bessabarians. The two ships lack even shields and would likely die fast in any real combat. However, they may give the Bessabarian people a sense of security without ever having to fight a battle.

6th May 2016
Rear Admiral Stefan Kravchenko, commander of the Red Fleet, has been promoted to Vice Admiral. Since the retirement of Vice Admiral Ivanova seven years ago, there has been no officer of that rank in the Imperial Navy and only two higher ranked officers, Admiral Sokolov and Star Marshal Alexeyev. Admiral Sokolov is rarely seen but he is a second cousin of the Tsar and many people believe that this relationship, rather than his abilities, have propelled him to his position as the second highest ranking officer in the Fleet. His current assignment is head of all Romanov ground forces and is based at one of the Yaroslav Planetary Defence Centres. Vice Admiral Kravchenko has had a more varied career, commanding a PDC and two of the Kirov class frigates before taking over the Red Fleet after the retirement of Vice Admiral Ivanova in 2009. Captain 1st Rank Pavlik Grigorovich, one of the rising stars of the Imperial Navy, is promoted to Rear Admiral to replace Vice Admiral Kravchenko.

In 2002, Pavlik Grigorovich was promoted to Senior Lieutenant and took command of a Kalinin class freighter. Despite this lowly beginning, his exceptional command abilities were recognised early in his career and he was put on the fast track for promotion. In July 2003, he was promoted to Captain-Lieutenant and a year later advanced again, this time to Captain 3rd Rank. Shortly thereafter he took command of the Kirov class frigate Frunze. He commanded the ship for ten years, being promoted to Captain 2nd rank in 2007 and Captain 1st Rank in 2010, before moving to the Sovremenny class destroyer Constantine in April 2015. Even with his new rank, he retains control of the ship, serving as Vice Admiral Kravchenko?s senior ship commander and often commanding a group of several destroyers.

26th May 2016
The cargo fleet returns from its mission to Bessabaria. The Bessabarians were extremely grateful for the mines, the Duranium and the two ships and hope that it will turn the tide of their civil unrest. Of course, our generosity was not entirely philanthropic and the Bessabarians paid us the equivalent of 2650 megaroubles. A very reasonable price.

11th July 2016
Due to the rapidly expanding officer corps of the Imperial Navy, Captain 1st Rank Oleg Sidorov, commander of the First Survey Fleet for the last ten years, is promoted to Rear Admiral.

16th October 2016
The fuel situation over the last eight months has remained relatively stable, although colonization operations have been temporarily suspended. Twenty new refineries have been built and our researchers on Alexandria have just developed new technology that should boost our refinery output by twenty percent.

11th November 2016
The Mikoyan M40 Missile Launcher has been developed. This has a forty second reload time compared to the fifty second reload time of the 05-50 Missile Launcher used on the Sovremenny series. Several officers propose that all eight Sovremennys should be refitted with the new launchers but that would take almost six months and interrupt the ongoing training programme. As it is nine months since Star Marshal Alexeyev asked for plans for a raid against the Saransk system, he is becoming frustrated with excuses about fuel shortages, training exercises and insufficient stockpiles of the latest SS-N-2 Scarab Anti-ship Missile. He gives his staff and subordinates until January 1st 2017 to assemble a strike force.

14th November 2016
Novorossiysk returns to Romanov after a mission escorting the recently re-assembled Second Survey Fleet. Her task has now been taken over by Sokol, the fourth Moskva II class scout, allowing Novorossiysk to return and report. The Second Survey Fleet was dispatched to Archangelsk, accessed via the outer jump point of Vorkuta, a system which connects to both Rostov-na-Donu and Romanov. Five new jump points were discovered in Archangelsk, one of which connected to the known Moskva system, also adjacent to Romanov. Although three of the other four systems were of little interest, the fourth contained the largest star ever discovered, a type M9-II red supergiant. The star at the heart of the Donetsk system is one point four billion kilometers in diameter, enough to encompass the first six planets in Romanov and the inner asteroid belt, and has a luminosity that rates at 16,200 according to the method used by the old human Empire. From what we can tell, this rating method is based on the luminosity of the primary of the mythical human homeworld. Our own Romanov-A rates only 1.53 on this scale, while Romanov-B is 0.79. The star has only one planet; a tiny chunk of rock orbiting at twenty-one billion kilometers. Because of the mass of the supergiant, approximately eighteen times greater than Romanov-A, any gravitational survey of this system will take considerable time. Therefore the second survey fleet is concentrating on the other systems adjacent to Archangelsk and will return home to refuel before taking on the supergiant.

12th December 2016
Zelenograd arrives at St Ekatarina carrying our archaeological team and bringing news that the ruins on Bessabaria-C II have been completely explored with no sign of any advanced technology.

1st January 2017
A Task Force under the overall command of Vice Admiral Kravchenko has been assembled for the raid on the aliens in the Saransk system. The organization of the Task Force is as follows:

Red Fleet ? Vice Admiral Kravchenko

Red Fleet Task Group One - Rear Admiral Pavlik Grigorovich
Kiev IV class: CJ Kiev (TF Flag)
Sovremenny IIA class DD: Alexander Nevsky, Constantine (TG Flag), Sovremenny, Tver
Moskva II class SC: Kitai-Gorod
Skory class CO: Skory

Red Fleet Task Group Two ? Captain 1st Rank Ivonne Vorokova
Kiev IV class: CJ Novorossiysk
Sovremenny IIA class DD: Dimitri, Simeon, Vladimir, Yuri (TG Flag)
Moskva II class SC: Zelenograd
Skory class CO: Ognevoy

Red Fleet Task Group Three ? Captain 3rd Rank Urie Kalinin
Kiev IV class: CJ Minsk
Kirov II class FF: Kirov, Frunze

Both Task Group One and Task Group Two are currently in orbit of St Ekatarina and have completed refuelling and rearming. Each of the eight Sovremenny IIA class destroyers is loaded with eighty SS-N-2 Scarab missiles and forty SS-N-1 Starbursts as the production of Scarabs has not yet caught up with demand. The two Skory class colliers carry an additional six hundred and forty SS-N-1 Starbursts between them, which means the Task Force is carrying our entire stock of ordnance. Not a single missile remains behind on St Ekatarina. The jump cruiser Minsk is at the Romanov ? Rostov-na-Donu jump point and will scout ahead for the other task groups before linking up with Kirov and Frunze at the Bratsk ? Saransk jump point. Once the Task Force is all in position, Task Group Three will remain to guard the jump point while Task Groups One and Two move against the alien planet. The only warship left at St Ekatarina is the Kirov class frigate Pyotr Velikiy, which is a gamble but Star Marshal Alexeyev intends to make the first strike decisive and then withdraw Task Group Two back to Romanov. His orders to Vice Admiral Kravchenko are to eliminate any possible threat from the aliens in Saransk.

6th February 2017
All three task groups of the Red Fleet are assembled at the Saransk ? Bratsk jump point and the Moskva II class scout Tagansky reports no activity near the Saransk side of the jump point. Vice Admiral Kravchenko orders his ships into the alien system and Tagansky joins Task Group Three to provide eyes and ears for the group assigned to watch the jump point. Task Group One and Task Group Two proceed to waypoints located 250 million kilometers either side of the primary. Vice Admiral Kravchenko intends to close on the alien world from two sides, destroy any alien ships he can find and then dictate terms to the planet.

Both groups travel with their scouts 300,000 kilometers ahead of the main body and the colliers following a million kilometers behind. Unfortunately, the scouts have had no formation training and they are all over the sky as they try to stay on station. The destroyers are forced to travel more slowly to account for the erratic course changes of the Moskva IIs. In the end, the Admiral orders to scouts to head for the waypoints while his destroyers follow them. While this is easier for the scouts, it is less flexible and the scouts will have to be given new orders if any sudden course changes are needed. Given their lack of fleet training there is no guarantee they will respond quickly to such orders. Fortunately, in this situation no close formation keeping is required but if Vladimir Myasishchev?s ?escorts? are built they will have to be trained hard before they can effectively take part in a battle.

27th February 2017
The two task groups approach the alien world from opposite directions, watching for the first sign of enemy activity. This is not a stealthy advance as all the ships maintain 4000 km/s, throwing down a gauntlet for the alien warships to pick up. As Task Group One moves within twenty million kilometers, Kiev engages her active sensors and detects the same four ships in orbit as Kitai-Gorod did a year ago. The aliens must be aware of the Romanov ships but given their speed, they most likely see no point in moving away from their planet. Finally with Task Group One only three million kilometers away and Task Group Two at eight million kilometers, they move out to engage the closer Romanov force. Alexander Nevsky, Constantine, Sovremenny, Tver lock their fire controls on the lead alien ship and at 12:01 pm, they launch twenty-four SS-N-2 Scarab missiles from a range of 618,000 kilometers. The first war shots in the history of the Imperial Navy.

The four alien ships press onward and there is no defensive fire against the missiles or any hostile missile launch. All twenty-four missiles impact at once, blasting through shields and armour as if they didn?t exist and ripping the heart out of the alien cruiser. The ship staggers to a halt, debris cascading in its wake and fires blazing within the atmosphere gushing from great rents in its hull. A second salvo is already on its way so Vice Admiral Kravchenko orders his ships to target the second enemy vessel. Once again every missile is on target, no doubt because they are almost ten times faster than their targets and the Romanov crews are well trained. A colossal explosion momentarily blinds Romanov sensors and when they recover there are only three alien ships. The slow moving alien ships seem to have no way to engage our missiles or catch our ships so Vice Admiral Kravchenko orders a cease fire, hoping the aliens will surrender. Instead, life pods spill from the burning cripple as the crew abandons ship then the two intact ships begin rescue operations. The crippled ship explodes, presumably from scuttling charges.

After several minutes spent recovering the life pods, the two alien ships head for the planet. Worried about the two ships combining with possible PDCs on the planet, Vice Admiral Kravchenko orders them to stop, knowing that without any way to communicate this is probably a futile attempt. There is no response so the Admiral orders his ships to resume fire. A third salvo streaks toward the two remaining ships at 14,000 km/s and forty seconds later another alien cruiser blows up. The fourth ship finally halts and lowers its shields. Perhaps the aliens though the first two salvos comprised our entire weapon load. While Task Group One watches the last alien ship, Task Group Two continues moving toward the planet and halts at one million kilometers. Now that we have their attention, they should be more willing to attempt communication. As he is extremely reluctant to bombard the planet, the Admiral decides to send Tagansky back to Romanov with an update and a request for instructions while his staff try to solve the communication problem with the aliens. In the meantime, Skory rejoins Task Group One and restocks the magazines of the four destroyers, replacing the seventy-two expended SS-N-2 Scarabs with SS-N-1 Starbursts.

17th March 2017
Tagansky enters the Romanov system and relays news of the brief battle to Star Marshal Alexeyev. After several hours deliberating with the Tsar, his orders are brutally clear. Now that we have destroyed three of their ships, the aliens will no doubt seek revenge in the future. Vice Admiral Kravchenko must either force their unconditional surrender or remove the industrial capabilities of the alien population through planetary bombardment. There is simply no way, given our current resources, that we could hope to invade and occupy the alien world. In addition, half his force must return to Romanov as per his original orders as our home planet is defended by a single frigate.

8th April 2017
Tagansky returns to Saransk and delivers Star Marshal Alexeyev?s orders. Although communication has still not been established, Vice Admiral Kravchenko?s staff assure him that considerable progress has been made and they believe that a breakthrough is imminent. Well aware that he cannot deliberately disobey direct orders, he instructs Captain 1st Rank Vorokova to take Task Group Two back to Romanov and tells his staff that if communications have not been established before Task Group Two reaches the Bratsk jump point, he will destroy the remaining alien ship and bombard the planet.

16th April 2017
With Task Group Two less than three days from the jump point, full communication with the aliens is established. They call themselves the Esanak and are a reptilian race with powerful bodies, a thick scaly hide and a row of prominent spikes running down their back. Initial negotiations reveal their ?government? is led by a single ruler, with absolute power. More like a despot than a king or emperor. Our demand of unconditional surrender is met with angry defiance, even when Vice Admiral Kravchenko threatens to bombard the planet. Time is running out as the Admiral does not want Task Group Two leaving Saransk and carrying a report to the Star Marshal that the situation is still not resolved. In an effort to speed up the negotiation, he orders the last Esanak warship to be targeted and destroyed.

The Esanak simply increase their rhetoric so with heavy heart, the Admiral orders Alexander Nevsky to begin firing on the planet. The first salvo of six missiles lands in an industrial area and nuclear mushroom clouds rise into the blue skies, scattering radioactive debris on the Esanak population. Fifty seconds later, a second salvo lands, killing as estimated two million civilians and wrecking part of the Esanak shipbuilding and maintenance facilities. Still the Esanak leader refuses to surrender, even as his cities are being bombed and his population slaughtered while he sits safe in some underground bunker. Sovremenny joins the attack and missiles strike the surface every twenty-five seconds as the destroyers alternate their salvos. Nuclear strikes march across the once-green surface of the planet, annihilating everyone and everything in their path.

With the death toll estimated at eighteen million from an initial population of less than one hundred and fifty million and no sign of capitulation, Vice Admiral Kravchenko orders his other two destroyers to join in. The bombardment intensifies, obliterating every industrial installation that Romanov staffers can identify. Finally, with over fifty million dead and the planet in ruins, a new communication from the planet announces that their former leader has been overthrown and they wish to offer unconditional surrender. It is a shame they waited until over a third of their people had been wiped out before killing their obviously insane ruler.

The vanquished Esanak population on Saransk Prime will have to be watched carefully, even as we begin to rebuild their world. The population of ninety-nine million has been left without any industry whatsoever and there are significant problems caused by radiation and atmospheric dust. The surface temperature is dropping rapidly and our scientists believe it will stabilize at fifty-three degrees Celsius, five degrees colder than before. The radiation level would reduce industrial output, if there were any to reduce, and further deaths from residual radiation will slow the recovery of the population. Eventually the dust will settle and the radiation will subside but the environment will not return to its previous state for several years.

19th April 2017
Task Group Two leaves Saransk, carrying news of the conquest of Saransk Prime.

2nd May 2017
The Bessabarian Theocracy launches their third Cosmic Liberty class cruiser. Due to the recent purchase of the two Azov-Ls, simultaneously improving their defences and showing the Romanov Imperium to be more a friend than an enemy, the unrest that plagued the Bessabarian homeworld has gradually subsided over the last year. There are still pockets of troublemakers but they are becoming increasingly isolated from popular opinion. This new ship should enhance their feelings of security even further.

11th May 2017
Task Group Two arrives in the Romanov system. News of the victory over the Esanak is met with both pride that the Imperial Navy has passed its first real test and revulsion at the scale of the Esanak casualties. Even though the intransigence of the Esanak leader was directly responsible for the deaths of so many of his people, the Imperium was left with little choice but to bombard the planet because we had no alternatives. If instead we had the ability to land substantial ground forces, we may have been able to subdue the planet without such widespread destruction and loss of life. Not only would this save civilian lives but it would allow us to capture the planet?s industry instead of destroying it. Therefore Star Marshal Alexeyev has ordered Captain 2nd Rank Eva Sorokin, governor of Alexandria, to start her scientists working on the technology required for troop transport, once their current task is completed. In addition, new ground troops will be trained to take part in planetary assaults. At the moment we have only four mobile infantry divisions and two headquarters units. As soon as resources permit, we will boost that force with assault infantry and armoured heavy assault divisions.

14th May 2017
Satisfied that his forces have completed their job, Vice Admiral Kravchenko decides to return to Romanov with Kiev, Alexander Nevsky and Sovremenny, leaving behind a new formation in orbit of Saransk prime. The Saransk Garrison Force, under the command of Rear Admiral Pavlik Grigorovich, comprises the jump cruiser Minsk, the Sovremenny class destroyers Constantine and Tver, the Kirov class frigates Kirov and Frunze, the Moskva II class scout Kitai-Gorod and the collier Skory. This force should be sufficient to prevent any uprising on the planet and protect them from any outside attack.

24th May 2017
The temperature of Anastasia has been brought up to around freezing, allowing colonists to survive without any specialist infrastructure. While the terraforming ships could remain longer to make the planet more inviting, they are needed elsewhere. There is a planet in the Gorky system, two jumps from Romanov, where the gravity is acceptable, the temperature is pleasant and the atmosphere would be breathable if the oxygen content were just a little lower. This will be the next task of the terraforming fleet.

23rd June 2017
Kiev, Alexander Nevsky and Sovremenny return home to a heroes welcome. Vice Admiral Kravchenko is made a Hero of the Imperium, our highest award for valour while the commanders of the four destroyers that took part in the destruction of the Esanak Fleet and the bombardment of the Esanak homeworld are awarded the Red Star for valour in combat. All five officers protest the awards, as they claim their was no valour in destroying a helpless enemy, but the Tsar insists that the Romanov people must have heroes.

19th July 2017
Fourteen Romanov freighters arrive in Saransk, along with the jump cruiser Gorshkov and the three Krivak II geo survey ships. The freighters are carrying maintenance facilities to establish a fleet base on Saransk Prime and will return to St. Ekatarina with the minerals stockpiled on the planet by the Esanak. A couple more runs will be required to establish maintenance facilities large enough to support Minsk and the destroyers but this will then serve as a useful forward base to support survey operations in the systems around Saransk and Bratsk. The geological survey ships will began the enormous task of surveying Saransk?s eight planets, sixty-two moons and eight hundred and ten asteroids.

22nd July 2017
Until now, the forces in Saransk have come under the control of Vice Admiral Kravchenko?s Red Fleet. As the Admiral is currently based on St. Ekatarina while Kiev is overhauled, the three transits between Romanov and Saransk make that a difficult command situation. Therefore a new Task Force Command is setup called the Saransk Defence Force, which will be under the command of Rear Admiral Pavlik Grigorovich and based on Saransk Prime. All task groups in the Saransk system will be placed under this command. Captain 3rd Rank Serge Ozerov, currently commander of the Frunze, will take over Rear Admiral?s Grigorovich?s previous command, the Sovremenny class destroyer Constantine. Captain 3rd Rank Pavel Pavlov, and presumably his dog too, will take over the Frunze, ending a year of inactivity since his old ship, Kerch, was sold to the Bessabarian Theocracy.

Rear Admiral Grigorovich immediately starts training manoeuvres with the ships of his new command, teaching them to fight together as a team. Although some of the ships are veterans of the Red Fleet, it will still require time for them to get used to their new commander?s style and reach the same level of proficiency as they had under Vice Admiral Kravchenko.

20th August 2017
The First Survey Fleet, under the command of Rear Admiral Oleg Sidorov and comprising the Vasilevsky, Admiral Kulakov and Udaloy, has arrived in the Bessabaria system at the request of the Bessabarian Theocracy. Although they are currently building their own gravitational survey ship, they are aware that we have faster, better-equipped ships and more experienced crews so they have asked us to survey their home system and share the results. Star Marshal Alexeyev agreed and dispatched the First Survey Fleet, escorted by the Tagansky. Zelenograd is already in Bessabaria as the jump point picket ship so both Moskva IIs will be available to probe any newly discovered jump points.

24th August 2017
The geological survey of Saransk Prime has revealed the following mineral deposits

Saransk Prime
Duranium 96,934  Acc: 1
Neutronium 12,793  Acc: 0.1
Corbomite 25,760  Acc: 0.6
Tritanium 19,440  Acc: 0.9
Boronide 46,194  Acc: 0.1
Mercassium 993  Acc: 0.1
Vendarite 22,587  Acc: 0.2
Sorium 96,696  Acc: 0.8
Uridium 73,193  Acc: 0.1
Corundium 36,773  Acc: 0.4
Gallicite 15,493  Acc: 0.1

12th September 2017
Sokol, the Moskva II accompanying the Second Survey Fleet, enters a newly discovered jump point in the Tula system, adjacent to Archangelsk, and discover a quaternary system with two near-habitable planets. Belogorsk has an F0-IV yellow-white sub-giant primary with a G9-IV sub-giant orbiting at three billion kilometers. Both stars are around four million kilometers in diameter. Only four planets orbit the primary, three of which are toxic, high pressure worlds and the other is a barren chunk of rock. Belogorsk-B also has four planets, two of which have oxygen ? nitrogen atmospheres. While the gravity of Belogorsk-B III is too high and the oxygen content is 0.76 atm, two and a half times the safe limit, Belogorsk-B IV has ideal gravity, a breathable atmosphere and a temperature of minus four Celsius. Its colony cost is a mere 0.03.

The third planet of Belogorsk-C, a G3-V yellow star with ten planets, is very similar to Belogorsk-B IV, except its temperature is on the high side at fifty-one degrees Celsius and its colony cost is 0.17. It is far less accessible though as Belogorsk-C is one point five trillion kilometers from the primary. At 4000 km/s, it would take twelve years to make a one-way trip. Belogorsk-D is a dim, M1-V red star with five unremarkable planets.

29th September 2017
The Bessabarian Theocracy has bought the latest mining technology from us for 6000 megaroubles. This will allow them to extract fourteen tons of an accessibility 1.0 mineral per mining complex per annum.

12th December 2017
Two new Moskva II class scouts, Golovinsky and Rostokino, are launched from the shipyards of St Ekatarina.

29th December 2017
The First Survey Fleet completes of survey of Bessabaria, finding one new jump point. Tagansky and a Bessabarian Cosmic Liberty class cruiser both head for its location. Although Tagansky is unable to escort the Bessabarian ship due to its size, the Bessabarians want to be on hand for the transit.

12th January 2018
Tagansky transits the new jump point to discover a yellow G0-V star with a solitary tidelocked gas giant. The new system is named Chekhov and sovereignty is assigned to the Bessabarians as it lies beyond their home system from Romanov. The worthless nature of Chekhov plays a significant part in the apparent magnanimity of the Tsar. The First Survey Fleet moves into Irkutsk, which lies between Rostov-na-Donu and Bessabaria, and begins the task of surveying the systems beyond its other three jump points, Celabinsk, Murmansk and Zagorsk. Tagansky remains in Bessabaria as the jump point picket while Zelenograd escorts the First Survey Fleet.

27th March 2018
Its been almost a year since the Esanak population on Saransk Prime surrendered after a devastating bombardment. Although there has been no occupation, there have been Romanov warships in their skies ever since, threatening to resume the bombardment unless the people cooperated with the Romanov Governor and his staff. The Esanak appear to be gradually accepting their new situation within the Imperium and we could change their political status to one with more freedom, allowing more wealth to be generated and potentially open up the planet for industrial production.. Maintenance facilities have already been setup on the planet to support ships of up to 6000 tons and several deep space tracking stations are in place. However, time has lessened the fear of orbital bombardment so we really need to get some ground troops on the surface to quell any minor problems where bombardment would be a gross over-reaction. Unfortunately, we still have no way to transport ground forces and it is going to be at least a couple of years before we will be in a position to do so. Until that time, we will have to keep the Esanak under threat of bombardment and hold back on any political change for the moment.

17th May 2018
The first two Assault Infantry Divisions are trained on St. Ekatarina

7th August 2018
Scientists on Alexandria have completed their research into increasing our rate of wealth production. They now turn their attention to a new proposal by Governor Sorokin. She believes she can use a series of electro-magnets to create a boosted engine with twice its normal power. The drawbacks to this engine would include extremely high fuel use, probably ten times normal, and a propensity to explode when hit. In addition, the magnetic field would destabilise in proximity to a another field of the same type, so only one of these highly boosted engines would be possible on a ship. While these drawbacks are significant, Captain 2nd Sorokin believes the engine could enable us to create small, fast ships with limited range that would be ideal for system defence. Given her past successes in the propulsion field, Star Marshal Alexeyev has given her permission to proceed.

12th September 2018
A new Romanov colony is established on Belogorsk-B IV. Five Kalinin II class cargo ships brought infrastructure to stave off the low temperatures. and a dozen Sverdlov II colony ships brought six hundred thousand colonists. As the planet is only just outside the human tolerance range, the infrastructure will support up to fifteen million people, allowing plenty of time for terraforming ships to raise the temperature. This is the furthest colony from St Ekatarina, lying at the end of the chain Romanov ? Moskva ? Archangelsk ? Tula ? Belogorsk, and it took over two months for the colony ships to make the journey at 4000 km/s.

Belogorsk-B IV is 12,400 kilometers in diameter, slightly smaller than our homeworld, with a gravity of 0.99G on the scale used by the old human Empire, compared to 0.95G on St Ekatarina. Almost seventy percent of the surface is water and the five continents have a wide variety of terrain, from plains to jungle to high mountains. The ice-caps are large but should reduce in size a little through terraforming.. The colonists will no doubt take some time to adjust to the planet?s fourteen hour days after a lifetime of thirty-two hour days on St Ekatarina.

18th December 2018
Scientists on Alexandria complete their research into the new high-powered engine technology and immediately start work on developing an engine that utilises the new technology. The Sorokin SC88 Ion Drive incorporates both the high power boost and a more conventional, albeit limited, method of increasing power by decreasing efficiency. The SC88 produces 110% more power than the standard Sorokin S8 Ion Drive but it also consumes fuel at eleven times the rate of the conventional engine and is four times more likely to explode if damaged. Only one of these dangerous contraptions will be possible per ship

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Sorokin SC88 Ion Drive
Power Output: 126     Explosion Chance: 21     Efficiency: 8.8    Thermal Signature: 126
Engine Size: 5    Engine HTK: 2     Internal Armour: 0
Cost: 32    Crew: 25
Materials Required: 8x Duranium   24x Gallicite
Development Cost for Project: 320RP
Meanwhile, Scientists on Anastasia have finally completed their work on a Troop Transport Bay, allowing us to create the Imperial Navy?s first Troop Transport. The Borodino class, shown below, can transport two divisions, although it would not be able to land them while under fire. Two Borodinos will be laid down and should be ready by September 2019.

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Borodino class Troop Transport    4750 tons     330 Crew     514 BP      TCS 95  TH 360  EM 0
3789 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/0/0/0/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 0
Troop Capacity 2 Divisions    Replacement Parts 10    

Sorokin S8 Ion Drive (6)    Power 60    Efficiency 0.80    Signature 60    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres    Range 113.7 billion km   (347 days at full power)

Palm Frond Navigation Sensor (1)     GPS 100     Range 1,000k km    Resolution 10

29th January 2019
The Bessabarian Theocracy have completed development work on their first jump drive. Although we do not have access to the technical details, from the information given by BNN Imperial Intelligence believes it is probably similar to the old J225 jump engine, capable of allowing ships of 2250 tons of less to transit. Once their single shipyard completes worth on their fourth Cosmic Liberty class cruiser, they will no doubt begin work on their first  jump ship. We have recently sold them Nuclear Pulse engine technology for 5000 megaroubles, a generation behind our current engine technology but considerably better than the Nuclear Thermal engines used by the Bessabarians.

28th February 2019
The 1st Guards Heavy Assault Division has been trained on St Ekatarina. This division and others like will form the core of a new Imperial Army, able to defend our own worlds but also ready to invade and conquer any enemies of the Imperium so that we can avoid another bloodbath like Saransk Prime.

26th May 2019
Since the discussion about escorts in late 2015, Romanov scientists have been instructed to work on new technology to improve our fire control and lasers, although more urgent requirements such as troop transport have occasionally been given a higher priority. These new technologies include longer-ranged fire control with faster tracking speeds, faster turret tracking systems, higher capacitor recharge rates and the near ultraviolet laser wavelength. Several new tactical systems have now been developed to take advantage of this improvement in background technologies. The Bass Tilt fire control is a new point defence tracking system while the Owl Screech and Kite Screech fire controls are designed for use on new fast attack craft currently in the early design stage. The 12cm C4 Near Ultraviolet Laser is a longer ranged and faster firing version of the 12cm C2 Visible Light Laser used on the Kirov II and Azov-Ls and incorporated in the Twin 12cm Laser Turret. The 12cm C2 Near Ultraviolet Laser is a slower-firing equivalent suitable for fast attack craft with limited reactor power.

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Bass Tilt Fire Control
50% Accuracy at Range: 24,000 km     Tracking Speed: 12800 km/s
Size: 4    HTK: 1    Cost: 54    Crew: 20
Materials Required: 13.5x Duranium  40.5x Uridium
Development Cost 540 RP
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Owl Screech Fire Control
50% Accuracy at Range: 24,000 km     Tracking Speed: 6400 km/s
Size: 2    HTK: 1    Cost: 38    Crew: 10
Materials Required: 9.5x Duranium  28.5x Uridium
Development Cost for Project: 380 RP
Code: [Select]
Kite Screech Fire Control
50% Accuracy at Range: 36,000 km     Tracking Speed: 6400 km/s
Size: 3    HTK: 1    Cost: 46    Crew: 15
Materials Required: 11.5x Duranium  34.5x Uridium
Development Cost for Project: 460 RP
Code: [Select]
12cm C4 Near Ultraviolet Laser
Damage Output 4     Rate of Fire: 5 seconds     Range Modifier: 3
Max Range 120,000 km     Laser Size: 4    Laser HTK: 2
Power Requirement: 4    Power Recharge per 5 Secs: 4
Cost: 24    Crew: 40
Materials Required: 4.8x Duranium  4.8x Boronide  14.4x Corundium
Development Cost for Project: 240 RP
Code: [Select]
12cm C2 Near Ultraviolet Laser
Damage Output 4     Rate of Fire: 10 seconds     Range Modifier: 3
Max Range 120,000 km     Laser Size: 4    Laser HTK: 2
Power Requirement: 4    Power Recharge per 5 Secs: 2
Cost: 12    Crew: 40
Materials Required: 2.4x Duranium  2.4x Boronide  7.2x Corundium
Development Cost for Project: 120 RP
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Twin 12cm Laser Turret
Damage Output 4x2      Rate of Fire: 5 seconds     Range Modifier: 3
Max Range 120,000 km    Turret Size: 11    Armour: 0    Turret HTK: 4
Power Requirement: 8    Power Recharge per 5 Secs: 8
Cost: 63    Crew: 80
Materials Required: 24.6x Duranium  9.6x Boronide  28.8x Corundium
Development Cost for Project: 630 RP
28th May 2019
The Zelenodolsk Design Bureau has designed the first in a new line of fast attack craft. The Tarantul Fast Attack Craft uses the recently developed Sorokin SC88 Ion Drive in combination with new weapons and sensors and small versions of engineering, fuel and life support systems. Because of the extremely high fuel consumption of the SC88, resulting in a very limited range, the Tarantul will be employed as a system defence vessel, using its high speed and fast firing 12cm laser to close to point blank range and deliver considerable firepower. In fact, this vessel almost has the same overall damage output as the Kirov II frigate but is twice as fast and costs half as much to build, although the Kirov II is an older design and has shields, much greater range and a more powerful sensor. There is also talk of building some type of tender or mothership that would transport several Tarantuls in an internal bay, carrying them between systems and potentially launching them in raids against enemy shipping or bases.

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Tarantul class Fast Attack Craft    1000 tons     97 Crew     183 BP      TCS 20  TH 126  EM 0
6300 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/0/0/0/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 4
Replacement Parts 1    

Sorokin SC88 Ion Drive (1)    Power 126    Efficiency 8.80    Signature 126    Armour 0    Exp 21%
Fuel Capacity 20,000 Litres    Range 9.8 billion km   (18 days at full power)

12cm C4 Near Ultraviolet Laser (1)   Range 72,000km    TS: 6300 km/s    Power 4-4    RM 3   ROF 5    4 4 4 3 2 2 1
Kite Screech (1)    Max Range: 72,000 km   TS: 6400 km/s     86 72 58 44 31 17 3 0 0 0
Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor (1)     Total Power Output 4    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Cross Dome (1)     GPS 75     Range 750k km    Resolution 15
13th July 2019
A discussion is taking place in Imperial Navy Headquarters regarding the future of the three Kirov II class frigates, Kirov, Frunze and Pyotr Velikiy. They are slow, outdated ships with high density duranium armour, instead of the latest composite armour, and obsolete weapons and electronic systems. A design for a possible Kirov III has been finalised, replacing the lasers, fire control and reactor with more modern equivalents, including the Hawk Screech fire control designed specially for this update. However, the refit would cost 200 BP per ship and would not improve the speed, leaving the ship unable to operate with the faster Sovremennys. Adding two more engines would increase  the refit cost to 355 BP, almost as much as a new ship. With a new ?escort? class on the drawing board, it is difficult to see what role the Kirovs will play in the Imperial Navy so several senior officers have suggested the Kirovs could be sold to the Bessabarians. Star Marshal Alexeyev has decided to wait until the escort design is finalised before making a decision.

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Hawk Screech Fire Control
50% Accuracy at Range: 72,000 km     Tracking Speed: 3200 km/s
Size: 3    HTK: 1    Cost: 46    Crew: 15
Materials Required: 11.5x Duranium  34.5x Uridium
Development Cost for Project: 460 RP

Code: [Select]
Proposed  Kirov III class Frigate    3000 tons     300 Crew     458 BP      TCS 60  TH 180  EM 240
3000 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 8-300     Sensors 1/0/0/0/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 12
Replacement Parts 5    

Sorokin S8 Ion Drive (3)    Power 60    Efficiency 0.80    Signature 60    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres    Range 90.0 billion km   (347 days at full power)
Beta R300/15 Shields (5)   Total Fuel Cost  75 Litres per day

12cm C4 Near Ultraviolet Laser (3)  Range 120,000km  TS: 3200 km/s  Power 4-4  RM 3 ROF 5  4 4 4 3 2 2 1 1 1 1
Hawk Screech (1)    Max Range: 144,000 km   TS: 3200 km/s     93 86 79 72 65 58 51 44 38 31
Large Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor  (1)     Total Power Output 14    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Active Sensor MR8000-R40 (1)     GPS 800     Range 8.0m km    Resolution 40
19th August 2019
Romanov terraforming ships complete their work on Gorky-B IV, reducing the level of oxygen in the atmosphere to within human tolerance. The planet is smaller than Romanov with scattered, tropical archipelagos throughout the warm oceans covering eightly percent of the surface. At twelve hours, the day is even shorter than Belogorsk-B IV but the pleasant environment should more than make up for it. The mineral report is as follows:

Duranium 165,888  Acc: 0.5
Neutronium 3,686,400  Acc: 0.9
Corbomite 19,501,060  Acc: 0.1
Tritanium 21,233,660  Acc: 0.4
Boronide 7,225,344  Acc: 0.8
Mercassium 1,937,664  Acc: 1
Vendarite 2,073,600  Acc: 0.1
Sorium 14,017,540  Acc: 0.5
Uridium 1,327,104  Acc: 0.1
Corundium 5,992,704  Acc: 0.1
Gallicite 23,040,000  Acc: 0.1

4th September 2019
The first three Tarantul Fast Attack Craft launch from the shipyards of St. Ekatarina.

19th September 2019
Both Borodino class Troop Transports are completed. They immediately load up the four Mobile Infantry Divisions based on St Ekatarina, ready for transport to Saransk Prime once a Kiev IV class jump cruiser is available. At the moment Kiev and Gorshkov are undergoing overhauls, Novorossiysk is escorting colony ships to Gorky-B IV and Minsk is part of the Saransk Defence Force. Once Novorossiysk returns, the mission to Saransk will go ahead.

18th November 2019
The four Romanov Mobile Infantry Divisions land on Saransk Prime. With ground troops finally in place almost three years after the Esanak surrender, we can lift some of the restrictions on the population and remove the threat of orbital bombardment. The Esanak population will be classed as Subjugated, indicating that while they may not like the idea of being conquered, they are least beginning to accept it. Until now, little wealth has been gained from Saransk Prime due to the limited freedoms available to the population. Due to this new status, wealth and potentially industrial production on Saransk Prime should rise to perhaps sixty percent of the level prior to the conquest. Further good news for the Esanak population is that the dust thrown up by the bombardment has finally drifted down out of their atmosphere and the temperature has returned to normal. The background radiation has fallen to about half the level immediately following the attack.

24th November 2019
The development of the Strut Pair Missile Search Sensor is the last piece in the design jigsaw for the long awaited ?escort? class. The new Slava class destroyer is designed to protect the Sovremenny Missile Destroyers from hostile missile attack and guard against an equivalent of the Tarantul Fast Attack Craft. The Bass Tilt fire control allows the ship to effectively track fast moving objects for its two twin laser turrets while the Strut Pair sensor can track objects as small as a size 3 missile out to 180,000 km, providing the fire control with a target to lock on to. While a second, longer ranged fire control would enhance the ship?s capabilities, the ship has to be a maximum of 6000 tons so that it can be escorted by the Kiev class jump cruiser. Including a second fire control would result in a compromise in another area.

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Strut Pair Missile Search Sensor
Active Sensor Strength: 60
Sensor Size: 5    Sensor HTK: 1
Resolution: 0.3    Maximum Range: 180,000 km
Cost: 60    Crew: 25
Materials Required: 15x Duranium  45x Uridium
Development Cost for Project: 600 RP
Code: [Select]
Slava class Destroyer    6000 tons     620 Crew     909 BP      TCS 120  TH 480  EM 240
4000 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 8-300     Sensors 1/0/0/0/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 33
Replacement Parts 10    

Sorokin S8 Ion Drive (8)    Power 60    Efficiency 0.80    Signature 60    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres    Range 90.0 billion km   (260 days at full power)
Beta R300/15 Shields (5)   Total Fuel Cost  75 Litres per day

Twin 12cm Laser Turret (3x2)    Range 48,000km     TS: 12000 km/s     Power 8-8     RM 3    ROF 5    4 4 4 3
Bass Tilt Fire Control (1)    Max Range: 48,000 km   TS: 12800 km/s     79 58 38 17
Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor (3)     Total Power Output 27    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Strut Pair Missile Search Sensor (1)     GPS 18     Range 180k km    Resolution 0.3
9th December 2019
Three more Tarantuls join the Fleet and refits are completed on the last of the Kalinin-S freighters, upgrading them to the Kalinin II standard. The Imperial Navy now has fifteen freighters and fourteen Sverdlov II colony ships.

28th December 2019
The Bessabaria jump ship has arrived at the jump point to Chekhov for its first attempt transit. Due to its primitive jump drive, obsolete Duranium armour and the Bessabarian requirement to fit a full set of sensors, the Chelsea Morning class only mounts one nuclear thermal engine, giving it a maximum speed of 555 km/s. Once the Bessabarians complete development of their first nuclear pulse engine it is very likely this ship will be refitted. It would also make sense for them to develop a scout ship with the necessary sensors, allowing the jump ship to free enough hull space for a second engine. Joining the Chelsea Morning at the jump point are a Cosmic Liberty class cruiser for protection, the Temple Sunrise gravitational survey ship and the Lennon Karma geological survey ship. The two small survey ships with enter Chekhov along with the jump ship,

30th December 2019
The Bessabarians have purchased the technology for High Density Duranium Armour from us for the price of 2500 megaroubles. The occasional sale of technology to the Bessabarian Theocracy is a useful source of income plus it boosts the capabilities of an increasingly friendly race. Negotiations have finally begun on a defensive alliance, although it may take some time for those negotiations to achieve anything.

14th March 2020
Currently we have nine survey ships, three geological and six gravitational, and they are usually deployed in groups of three, with jump capability provided by a Moskva II class scout escorting each group. This deployment strategy often leads to considerable delays as the survey ships cannot be to another system until all of them are assembled at the jump point and frequently have to wait while the jump ship investigates any new jump points. Star Marshal Alexeyev has therefore decided that our survey ships should be refitted with their own jump engines. The J375 Jump Drive, developed in 2014 for the Moskva II is ideal for this purpose as it is compact with a 3750 ton jump capability, allowing additional engines to fitted to compensate for the extra mass of the jump engine. As they have just returned to St. Ekatarina, the three Krivak IIs, Bodry, Krivak and Pskov, will be the first ships to be upgraded. The Krivak III design includes the new jump drive, two extra engines, fifty percent more fuel capacity and a hull composed of composite armour instead of the high density duranium of the Krivak II. It is also almost sixty percent larger than the older ship with the refit cost of 421 BP. Keeping the old hull material to lower the refit cost was considered but the composite armour creates more internal space and allows any new Krivak IIIs to have the same armour as the refitted ships. Both the existing Krivak II design and the new Krivak III are shown below.

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Krivak II class Geosurvey Ship    2400 tons     200 Crew     531 BP      TCS 48  TH 180  EM 0
3750 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/0/0/0/3     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 0
Replacement Parts 5    

Sorokin S8 Ion Drive (3)    Power 60    Efficiency 0.80    Signature 60    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres    Range 225.0 billion km   (694 days at full power)

Geological Survey Sensors (3)   3 Survey Points

Code: [Select]
Krivak III class Geosurvey Ship    3750 tons     335 Crew     694 BP      TCS 75  TH 300  EM 0
4000 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/0/0/0/3     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 0
Replacement Parts 5    

J375 Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 3750 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3
Sorokin S8 Ion Drive (5)    Power 60    Efficiency 0.80    Signature 60    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 150,000 Litres    Range 216.0 billion km   (625 days at full power)

Geological Survey Sensors (3)   3 Survey Points
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by Steve Walmsley »
 

Offline Steve Walmsley (OP)

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« Reply #4 on: January 26, 2008, 08:05:55 AM »
2nd May 2020
The Bessabarian jump ship makes its second exploratory jump, transiting into Irkutsk. The Lennon Karma geo survey ship goes with it, en route to survey the two small planets and six asteroids in the barren system. The Temple Sunrise class ship is still in Chekhov, carrying out what will no doubt be a long gravitational survey.

4th May 2020
The power and propulsion experts on Alexandria have completed their research into the Stellarator Fusion Reactor and developed 25 ton, 50 ton and 150 ton power plants using the new technology. At some point in the future they hope to be able to turn the new fusion technology into a working engine.

18th May 2020
A survey of the recently colonised system of Belogorsk has revealed a total of five jump points, including the entry point from Tula. The Moskva II class scout Sokol, under the command of Senior Lieutenant Leonid Tarasov, transits into the third furthest jump point from the primary and discovers a dim M0-V red star with nine planets, which he names Yekaterinburg. The jump point is only 25 million kilometers from the primary and also only 25 million kilometers from the second planet, which appears to be ideal for human habitation. Gravity is a little high at 1.25G, the temperature of 37C is on the warm side of comfortable and the air is thin but breathable. Nevertheless, it is a colony cost 0.0, ready-to-move-in world and a very valuable discovery. Following the encounters with the Bessabarians and Esanak, all ships of the Imperial Navy have a standing order to investigate potentially habitable planets in new system so Sokol sets a course for the potential new colony site.

Within five minutes, the scout?s sensors pick up a strong thermal and EM signature from the planet, comparable in strength to St. Ekatarina, indicating an alien civilization. Within another five minutes, two new thermal signatures of strength-840 are detected on an intercept course at 3925 km/s. As the Sovremennys, which are capable of a similar speed, only have a thermal signature of 480, the two alien ships must be 10,000 tons or more. Although standing orders state that communication should be attempted if detected, Senior Lieutenant Tarasov is concerned that if his ship is destroyed, no one will be able to get word back to St Ekatarina as the three survey ships in Belogorsk are not equipped with jump engines. Therefore he decides to withdraw before the aliens can close the range. Before doing so he engages his active sensors as the thermal contacts are within range at nineteen million kilometers. The active gravitational pulse gives a cross-section for the two known ships of strength-214, approximately 10,700 tons, and detects four new contacts with a cross-section of strength-105, or about 5250 tons.  Seconds later, an active sensor pulse is detected from the alien ships, identified as a strength-50 sensor with a resolution of 40. Based on early sensor readings, these aliens seem far more advanced than the Bessabarians or the Esanak.

As soon as Sokol reaches the jump point, she transits back into Belogorsk and head for the Tula jump point. The survey ships are already converging on the same location after recently completing their survey. Sokol leaves her active sensors on but detects no sign of any alien pursuit. As the jump point was not picketed, it seems likely that the alien race in Yekeratinburg is not aware of jump points. However, given that Sokol disappeared in front of them and their apparent level of technology, that state of affairs may not last for long.

5th July 2020
The First Survey Fleet completes a survey of the Celabinsk system, adjacent to Irkutsk, finding a single new jump point. Rostokino, a Moskva II class scout, transits into a system with a yellow G5-V star and five planets, one of which is an ideal, habitable world. Gravity is fine at 0.9G, the temperature is a warm 33C and the atmosphere is easily breathable. The jump point is out at four billion kilometers so according to standing orders Rostokino should head in-system to check for the presence of an alien race. However, there are three survey ships stuck in Celabinsk with no way to leave. Therefore, after naming the new system Makarov, the scout ship?s commander heads back through the jump point and sets course for the survey ships gathered at the Irkutsk jump point. He intends to take the survey ships back to Romanov and then ask for permission to return and investigate. The standing orders regarding investigation of habitable worlds are proving much easier to issue than execute, as they would often lead to long delays for inactive survey ships. Hopefully, the intended refits to add jump drives to survey ships will solve this problem.

14th July 2020
Sokol and rest of the Second Survey Fleet arrive in Romanov after their journey from Belogorsk and report the discovery of a new alien race in the Yekaterinburg system. Senior Lieutenant Tarasov?s action are endorsed by his superiors and Star Marshal Alexeyev begins organising a force to guard the Belogorsk ? Yekaterinburg jump point, as well as preparing a new expedition into the alien system to attempt contact. Although six Sovremenny IIA class destroyers, six Tarantul class fast attack craft and a single Kirov II are available in Romanov, several supporting ships are undergoing major overhauls so it will be at least a month before a fleet can depart. The Udaloy II survey ships of the Second Survey Fleet are taken into the shipyards to be upgraded to the Udaloy III and Udaloy IIIC

Code: [Select]
Udaloy III class Survey Ship    3750 tons     335 Crew     694 BP      TCS 75  TH 300  EM 0
4000 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/0/0/3/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 0
Replacement Parts 5    

J375 Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 3750 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3
Sorokin S8 Ion Drive (5)    Power 60    Efficiency 0.80    Signature 60    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 150,000 Litres    Range 216.0 billion km   (625 days at full power)

Gravitational Survey Sensors (3)   3 Survey Points
Code: [Select]
Udaloy III-C class Survey Ship    3750 tons     335 Crew     744 BP      TCS 75  TH 300  EM 0
4000 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/0/0/2/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 0
Flag Bridge    Replacement Parts 5    

J375 Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 3750 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3
Sorokin S8 Ion Drive (5)    Power 60    Efficiency 0.80    Signature 60    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 150,000 Litres    Range 216.0 billion km   (625 days at full power)

Gravitational Survey Sensors (2)   2 Survey Points
24th August 2020
A Task Force commanded by Vice Admiral Kravchenko departs St. Ekatarina orbit bound for Yekaterinburg. The order of battle is as follows:

Kiev IV Jump Cruiser: Kiev (TF flag)
Kiev III Jump Cruiser: Gorshkov
Sovremenny IIA Destroyers: Alexander Nevsky, Sovremenny, Vladimir, Yuri
Moskva II Scout: Rostokino, Tagansky
Skory class collier: Ognevoy

All the destroyers now have a full complement of SS-N-2 Scarab missiles and Ognevoy carries an additional 360 Scarabs. The Sovremenny IIA class destroyers Dimitri and Simeon will remain in St Ekatarina orbit, along with the six Tarantul fast attack craft, providing security for the homeworld. The Kirov II class frigate Pyotr Velikiy is en route to St Petersburg, escorted by the Zelenograd, as St Petersburg II now has a population in excess of ten million and the population is beginning to protest about the lack of protection for their colony. The final two Sovremennys, Constantine and Tver, and the other two Kirov IIs, Kirov and Frunze, are still in orbit of Saransk Prime along with the jump cruiser Minsk, the Moskva II scout Kitai-Gorod and the collier Skory. Four Slava class destroyers are under construction and will be ready between February and June of next year.

24th October 2020
Vice Admiral Kravchenko?s Task Force arrives at the Belogorsk-Yekaterinburg jump point and takes up position approximately 600,000 kilometres away. The Moskva II scout Rostokino, under the command of Senior Lieutenant Arman Zaytsev is sent into the jump point to try and contact the aliens while her sister ship Tagansky is ordered to investigate the three remaining unexplored jump points in Belogorsk.

When Rostokino enters Yekaterinburg, the inhabited planet is sixty million kilometers away on the far side of the star. Senior Lieutenant Zaytsev hails the alien world and awaits a reply. His orders are to remain in position unless the aliens open fire or move with half a million kilometers. Three hours after entering the system, a single strength-420 thermal contact is picked up on a course from the planet. Zaytsev engages active sensors and quickly determines the ship is one of the four 5250 ton ships detected five months ago. This time the Romanov scout remains in place and the alien ship glides to a halt one million kilometers away before hailing the Rostokino. For now, at least, the aliens seem interested in trying to establish communication

Two hours later Rostokino detects the rest of the previously encountered alien force, two 10,700 ton ships and three 5250 ton ships, at twenty million kilometers. Several nervous minutes pass before the aliens halt at eighteen million kilometers and use their own active sensors. They appear to be backing up the lone contact ship without getting too close in case Rostokino repeats the disappearing act of her predecessor.

25th November 2020
A month has gone by with minimal progress on communication but all Romanov forces involved in the operation are aware that communication can take some time and Vice Admiral Kravchenko has instructed Senior Lieutenant Zaytsev to remain for six months before returning to Belogorsk. After that time, the Rostokino will be presumed lost to hostile action. Due to the sixty-one day year of the habitable world, it has moved around the primary to be a point near Rostokino, allowing the scout?s active sensors to detect two new strength-87 contacts.

29th November 2020
The Bessabarian?s single shipyard has completed a new gravitational survey ship with nuclear pulse engines and a top speed of 2285 km/s, making it by far their fastest ship.

18th December 2020
Tagansky completes her investigations of Belogorsk?s unexplored jump points. Two lead to the unremarkable systems of Rybinsk and Gorbatov while the third connects to the previously discovered system of Orlov, located on the fringe of known space, four jumps beyond Rostov-na-Donu.

15th February 2021
Full communication is established between the Romanov Imperium and the Nihon-Koku, the race on Yekaterinburg II. The Nihon-Koku are a strange looking species, with a hulking body covered in thick, shaggy fur, a long, bony head with deep set eyes either side and a vicious mouth full of serrated teeth. Their call their civilization the Dai Nihon Teikoku and their home system is named Edo. From the initial exchanges it would appear their civilization has a particularly strange form of government where every issue is decided upon by a planet-wide vote of all Nihon-Koku, regardless of whether they actually know anything about the issue in question. A massive computer-network connects every home on the planet and they use this network to register their votes. Even now it would seem the decision of how to proceed in their relationship with the Romanov Imperium is being debated in popular forums, prior to a planet-wide vote. There is a government bureaucracy but it may only follow policies laid down by the population. It is hard to imagine how a civilization can function without an informed, central authority.

Senior Lieutenant Zaytsev explains that he needs to report to his superiors and that his ship will temporarily vanish for a few minutes. The Nihon-Koku respond that they believe the Romanov ship is using some type of wormhole and their scientists are currently studying the phenomenon. After passing his report to Vice Admiral Kravchenko, Senior Lieutenant Zaytsev takes the Rostokino back into Edo to learn more about the Nihon-Koku and begin initial negotiations for a non-aggression pact.

The appearance of the Nihon-Koku suggests they have evolved from a fearsome predator. Combining that with the fact their homeworld has a similar industrial output to St Ekatarina and that their primary ships are much larger than our own, gives Vice Admiral Kravchenko serious concerns about the potential threat to the Imperium. This race is obviously more powerful and capable than either the Bessabarians and the Esanak and the only good news is that the Nihon-Koku do not appear to be immediately hostile and they do not currently posses jump drive technology. How much time it will take for them to remedy that deficiency will depend on their research establishment but it is sure to be the Nihon-Koku?s number one priority. Vice Admiral Kravchenko is determined to be ready for the day when the Nihon-Koku finally come through the jump point. He dispatches Tagansky back to St. Ekatarina with a full update, a recommendation that the Belogorsk colony be fortified into a forward base and a request for further instructions.

25th February 2021
The first two Slava class destroyers, Slava and Varyag, are launched from the shipyards of St. Ekatarina and three Udaloy class survey ships complete their refit to the jump-capable III and IIIC versions

27th February 2021
For the last eighteen months scientists on Anastasia have been working on a entirely new concept they have named jump gates. These gates will be assembled at jump points and function as enormous jump gates, allowing ships of any size to transit. This will have a major impact on interstellar travel and commerce as jump ships will no longer be needed in areas where jump gates exist. It would even allow us to build ships without regard for jump drive sizes as long as they are intended to operate within a network of these gates. Finally, these jump gates will have an ability to communicate with a matching gate on the far side of a jump point, creating instant communication between different systems as long as both are part of the jump gate network. The downside is that building these gates is neither cheap nor easy. Specialist jump gate construction ships will have to be built while our factories will have to build the required components and our freighters will ship them to the location of the intended gate. It will be several years before we really start to see the benefit of this new technology. Two Narva class construction ships, the largest ships ever designed by the Imperium, will be laid down shortly and should be ready by August 2022

Code: [Select]
Narva class Construction Ship    8750 tons     855 Crew     1092 BP      TCS 175  TH 420  EM 0
2400 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/0/0/0/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 0
Replacement Parts 25    
Jump Gate Construction Ship: 180 days

Sorokin S8 Ion Drive (7)    Power 60    Efficiency 0.80    Signature 60    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres    Range 30.9 billion km   (148 days at full power)
21st March 2021
The scout frigate Moskva has returned to Romanov after a long deployment in the Bessabaria system. As well as being overhauled, she will be refitted to the Moskva II standard.

16th May 2021
The Bessabarian Theocracy has purchased improved shipbuilding technology from us for 5000 megaroubles.

Note: From this point on the new shipyard rules from v2.4 are in effect

25th May 2021
A report has recently been published into the five Romanov shipyards located on St. Ekatarina.
 
Severodvinsk Shipyard
Two slipways of 10,000 capacity. Configured to build Narva class Construction Ship. Currently building two Narvas

Molotovsk Shipyard
Two slipways of 8000 ton capacity: Has built Moskva II class scouts in the past but is now retooling to build the Sovremenny II-B class destroyer. Currently working on refit of Moskva to a Moskva II

Komsomolsk Shipyard
Two slipways of 8000 ton capacity: Configured to build the Slava II-B class destroyer. Two Slavas currently under construction.

Zhdanov Shipyard
Two slipways of 6000 ton capacity: Configured to build the Sverdlov II class colony ship. Two Sverdlovs currently under construction. Work is underway to increase the capacity of each slipway to 6500 tons.

Nikolayev Shipyard
Four slipways of 1000 ton capacity: Configured to build the Tarantul class Fast Attack Craft. All four slipways are currently empty. Work is underway on a fifth slipway.

15th June 2021
The Slava class destroyers Lobov and Ustinov are completed by the Komsolovsk shipyard. Two new hulls are laid down.

5th August 2021
Its has now been five years since the fall of Saransk Prime and two years since ground troops were landed on the planet and political restrictions eased. Freed from their despotic leader, the Esanak have adapted well to life under Romanov rule and, with a few minor exceptions, are becoming willing participants in the Imperium. Therefore their status has been changed from Subjugated to a Candidate Population. Ground troops will now remain on the planet at the request of the population, not as an occupying force, and virtually all restrictions will be lifted. If assimilation into the Imperium progresses smoothly then within a few years Saransk Prime will be welcomed into the Imperium as a full Imperial Population, with equal rights to other planets such as St Ekatarina, Alexandria, Anastasia, etc. The Esanak will begin to colonise other worlds and the citizens of Saransk Prime will become officers of the Imperial Navy. The background radiation that reminds the population of the bombardment they suffered five years ago has reduced to fifteen percent of the immediate post-bombardment level and should have entirely disappeared within another year.

10th September 2021
The two Bessabarian survey ships have completed their survey of Chekhov, finding one additional jump point. As their slow-moving jump ship, currently at the Chekhov-Bessabaria jump point, would take over two months to reach the new jump point, the Bessabarian Theocracy has asked Romanov picket ship, the Moskva II scout Zelenograd, to assist. Even though Zelenograd is located at the Bessabaria-Irkutsk jump point, she can still be there in sixteen days.

26th September 2021
Zelenograd enters the new jump point and discovers a dim M8-V red dwarf, orbited by four gas giants and four small rocky planets, none of which are even remotely habitable. The system is named Byrd by the Bessabarians. Zelenograd remains on station to provide an escort for the two Bessabarian survey ships that will arrive within the next three weeks. By the time they complete their survey, the Bessabarian jump ship will be in position.

11th November 2021
A Romanov colony is established on the second planet of the Pskov system. Pskov is three jumps from Romanov via Moskva and Sverdlovsk and was discovered back in 2009. At the time, the second planet was noted for its potential. Over the last two years the Terraforming Fleet has increased the oxygen content of the atmosphere and raised the temperature above freezing, making Pskov II the eighth ideal habitable world in the Imperium. Pskov is as large as St Ekatarina but with a much lower density, giving it a gravity of only 0.65G. Its most notable features are its wide and often tempestuous oceans, covering 88% of the surface, and its strong magnetic field, that causes magnificent Aurora displays even at latitudes far from the poles.

The colonization of this new world is a good time for an overview of all the Imperium colonies. The colonies below are displayed in descending order of population and includes the candidate Esanak population on Saransk Prime.

St Ekatarina - Romanov system
Star Marshal Yuri Alexeyev: Shipbuilding 40%, Wealth 30%, Pop Growth 25%, Production 15%
Population 641m / Wealth 31679
Level 3 Naval Academy
Maintenance Facilities: 8800 tons.
Commercial Freight Facility
Shipyards/Slipways: 5/13
Ground Force Training Facilities: 4
Construction Factories: 600
Mines: 515
Fuel Refineries: 220  (Stockpile 9.9m litres)
Ordnance Factories 80
Deep Space Tracking Stations : 5

Saransk Prime - Saransk system
Captain 2nd Rank Fedyenka Sobolev: Research 30%, Mining 20%, Production 5%
Population 117m / Wealth 3537
Maintenance Facilities: 6000 tons.
Mines: 30
Deep Space Tracking Stations : 3

Alexandria - Romanov system
Captain 2nd Rank Eva Sorkin: Research 40%, Wealth 15%, Pop Growth 10%, Production 10%
Population 72m / Wealth 3143
Research Labs: 16
Deep Space Tracking Stations : 1

Anastasia - Romanov system
Captain 1st Rank Katria Kashin: Research 40%, Wealth 20%. Pop Growth 10%
Population 59m / Wealth 2676
Research Labs: 21

St Petersburg II ? St Petersburg system
Captain-Lieutenant Evelina Yuryev: Pop Growth 30%
Population 11.7m / Wealth 443

Gorky-B IV ? Gorky system
Captain-Lieutenant Andreiana Arkhipova: Wealth 20%, Pop Growth 20%, Mining 15%
Population 5.0m / Wealth 227
Mines: 13
Mass Driver: 1

Belogorsk B-IV Prime - Belogorsk system
Captain 3rd Rank Fedya Ivanov: Research 30%, Shipbuilding 20%
Population 1.6m / Wealth 60
Maintenance Facilities: 3000 tons.

Pskov II - Pskov system
Captain 3rd Rank Xenia Bogdanov: Research 30%, Wealth 15%
Population 0.7m / Wealth 31

Bessabaria-C II - Bessabaria system
Captain-Lieutenant Vasili Makarov: Research 30%, Mining 15%, Wealth 10%
Population 0.09m / Wealth 4

Chelyabinsk Mining Colony ? Bratsk System
Captain 3rd Rank Julia Ovchinnikova: Wealth 30%, Mining 25%, Production 5%
Automated Mines: 85
Mass Driver: 1

Dubogorsk Mining Colony ? Bratsk System
Captain-Lieutenant Getruda Sokolova: Mining 30%
Automated Mines: 14
Mass Driver: 1

Balagansk Mining Colony ? Gorky System
Captain 3rd Rank Rada Fyodorov: Mining 20%, Production 20%
Automated Mines: 7
Mass Driver: 1

2nd December 2021
In the Edo system, the Rostokino has kept her active sensors on since her arrival in the system over a year ago. As the Nihon-Koku?s homeworld has a year lasting sixty-one days, the planet moves in and out of the scout?s sensor envelope every two months. On this pass, she detects four new contacts in orbit, which are either new construction or recently arrived in orbit while the planet was on the far side of the star from Rostokino. Two have a cross-section of 105, equal to that of the four Nihon-Koku ships that have been classed as destroyers. Accordingly, these ships are classified as Nihon DD05 and Nihon DD06. The other contacts both have a cross-section of strength-45, making them either small ships of 2250 tons or perhaps larger ships that have been stealthed in some way. For the moment they will be classified as Nihon SC01 and Nihon SC02. This makes a total of ten identified Nihon-Koku ships, including the two 10,700 ton cruisers. Negotiations are still ongoing for a non-aggression treaty but so far without success.

16th December 2021
A new shipyard complex has been established near the city of Kaliningrad on St Ekatarina. At the moment the complex has only a single slipway with a capacity of 1000 tons but work is already underway to increase that.

6th April 2022
As the Imperium grows in size and the smaller colonies reach medium size, they will begin demanding protection, especially given that three alien races have already been encountered, at least one of which was hostile. One of the problems with deploying guard forces, such as the one orbiting Saransk Prime, is that without maintenance facilities the ships can only remain on station for a few years before returning to a fleet base for lengthy overhauls. Building and deploying extensive maintenance facilities, such as those required for Sovremenny class destroyers, is expensive and will tie up St Ekatarina?s manufacturing capabilities and the Imperial Fleet?s limited cargo carrying capacity.

At the moment there are maintenance facilities on St Ekatarina capable of handling ships up to 8800 tons, facilities on Saransk Prime with a capacity of 6000 tons and a smaller facility on Belogorsk for ships of up to 3000 tons. The fleets in Romanov and Saransk, both of which have ships of up to 6000 tons, are being maintained but all the ships deployed in Belogorsk are too large to receive maintenance support, even if they weren?t deployed at the jump points to Edo and Tula. There is also a Kirov class frigate deployed in St. Petersburg with no maintenance support, which is out of communication and likely to be low on spare parts.

Therefore Star Marshal Alexeyev has decided that the future strategy for system defence should be based around fast attack craft, such as the Tarantul. At 1000 tons, these craft require only minimal maintenance facilities, which could easily be built and transported to systems as they require protection. The only drawback to this strategy is that the fast attack craft are short-ranged and use a lot of fuel so they are not easily redeployed on the strategic scale. There are two possible solutions to this problem. Either a small, fast, jump-capable tanker that could escort the fast attack craft (FAC) to their destination, refuelling as required en route, or a some form of mothership that would hold the FAC in an internal bay while transporting them to their destination.

The proposed design for the fast tanker is the Dubna class, shown below. While not as fast as the FACs, the Dubna is still capable of a very respectable 5000 km/s and could hold enough fuel to escort several FAC over strategic distances. As an alternative, the Ropucha class would carry two FACs in an internal bay. The Ropucha is equipped with the recently developed J750 jump drive and, if built, would be the largest jump-capable vessel in the Imperial Navy. However, its limited carrying capacity of two FACs is a concern so for the moment the Star Marshal intends to proceed with the Dubna until a more capable jump drive is developed that will allow a larger mothership.

The next decision for the Star Marshal is which shipyard to use for the Dubna. Severodvinsk is our largest capacity yard and is currently building two Narva class construction ships. Komsomolsk and Molotovsk both have capacities of 8000 tons are geared up to build Slavas and Sovremenny II-Bs respectively. The former is building two Slavas but there is still ongoing discussion over the design of the Sovremenny II-B so authorisation for construction has not yet been given. It would make no sense to change to the Dubna though as even if the destroyer design is changed, the retooling cost would be minor. However, retooling to build the Dubna and then changing back to the finalised Sovremenny design would be very expensive. Zhdanov is building Sverdlov class colony ships and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future while Nikolayev?s six 1000 ton capacity slipways are ready to build Tarantuls. The new Kaliningrad yard will be up to a capacity of 2500 tons for its single slipway by June and will continue to grow as quickly as possible. Therefore Star Marshal Alexeyev decides to retool Kaliningrad for the Dubna as soon as it has sufficient capacity.

Code: [Select]
Dubna class Tanker    3600 tons     320 Crew     494 BP      TCS 72  TH 360  EM 0
5000 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/0/0/0/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 0
Replacement Parts 5    

J375 Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 3750 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3
Sorokin S8 Ion Drive (6)    Power 60    Efficiency 0.80    Signature 60    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 500,000 Litres    Range 750.0 billion km   (1736 days at full power)
Code: [Select]
Ropucha class Mothership    7500 tons     500 Crew     949 BP      TCS 150  TH 480  EM 0
3200 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 5/5/0/0/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 0
Parasite Capacity 2000 tons     Replacement Parts 10    

J750 Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 7500 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3
Sorokin S8 Ion Drive (8)    Power 60    Efficiency 0.80    Signature 60    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres    Range 72.0 billion km   (260 days at full power)

Thermal Sensor TH1-5 (1)     Sensitivity 5     Detect Signature 100: 0.5m km
Palm Frond Navigation Sensor (1)     GPS 100     Range 1,000k km    Resolution 10
Grav Pulse Detection Sensor GPD1-5 (1)     Sensitivity 5     Detect Strength 100: 0.5m km
1st May 2022
The Bessabarian Theocracy has constructed its first freighter, the Cosmic River. As the Bessabarians only have a single research facility, they have been trying to build a second facility to double their research rate. Unfortunately, they have exhausted their limited stockpile of Mercassium and the Mercassium in their planet?s core is accessibility 0.1, giving them a very low rate of return for their seventy-five mining complexes. The only other significant source of Mercassium in their system is on a comet that slowly travels between the primary and a point just inside the orbit of Bessabaria-B, taking twenty-two years for the round trip. Their reason for building the cargo ship is to transport their six automated mines to this comet to begin mining additional Mercassium, although they are not going to mine very much with only six automated mining complexes. However, their Duranium shortage continues so they are unlikely to build many more mines in the near future.

6th June 2022
Scientists on Anastasia have completed research into improving our mining technology. A single mining complex will now produce 16 tons of an accessibility 1.0 mineral per year.

16th July 2022
Two Narva class jump gate construction ships have been built by the Severodvinsk Yard on St. Ekatarina. Sufficient components for two jump gates have already been built by St Ekatarina?s construction factories, so as soon as the Cargo Fleet returns from its current mission to pick up minerals from the Chelyabinsk Mining Colony in Bratsk, construction of the first two jump gates can begin.

1st August 2022
The Slava class destroyers Krasina and Ukrayina are completed by the Komsomolsk Yard. There are now six Slavas to support the eight Sovremenny class destroyers and construction of further units has been halted due to predictions from Governor Sorokin on Alexandria of a major breakthrough in engine technology within the next few months.

8th September 2022
Eighteen months after full communication was established, a non-aggression pact has finally been agreed with the Nihon-Koku. The negotiations have been long and difficult, centering mainly around control of the Edo ? Belogorsk jump point. Although neither side is entirely happy with the terms, an agreement has been reached that both can live with. The Romanov Imperium may station one unarmed ship at the Edo side of the jump point but its active sensors must be switched off. The Dai Nihon Teikoku, which is the official title of the Nihon-Koku?s government, may send unarmed ships through the jump point with Romanov permission, although it is anticipated this will not be necessary until some type of trading arrangement can be established.

Vice Admiral Kravchenko, aboard his flagship Kiev in the adjacent Belogorsk system, is relieved to hear that an agreement has been reached but he is well aware that should the Nihon-Koku decide to come through the jump point then one unarmed scout is not going to stop them. Until relations improve further, he intends to maintain a strong guard force at the Belogorsk ? Edo jump point. Four Sovremenny II-A class destroyers are currently deployed six hundred thousand kilometers from the jump point with the Kiev, a collier and two scouts positioned at the Belogorsk ? Tula jump point. After further consideration, he sends one of the scouts back to Romanov with a request for a pair of Slavas to back up his missile ships.

4th October 2022
For the last sixteen months, three Udaloys have been carrying out a gravitational survey of the Donetsk system, which has an M9-II red supergiant primary one point four billion kilometers in diameter. Because of the mass of the star, the ships have had to survey out to twenty-five billion kilometers in every direction and gather considerable amounts of survey data. Their hard work is rewarded when they discover the system has a total of twelve jump points, including the entry point from Archangelsk. The three ships split up to begin the long task of probing eleven new jump points.

6th December 2022
Governor Eva Sorokin and her propulsion research team have completed work on the Magneto-Plasma Drive, an advanced new engine technology that provides 33% more power than the existing Ion-based engines. They will be developing several engines based on this technology over the next few months before turning their attention to improving our existing family of jump drives. On Anastasia, Governor Katria Kashin has overseen a twenty-five percent improvement in active sensor technology which will provide the foundation for a new generation of sensors.

29th December 2022
Our first jump gate is constructed at the Romanov-Moskva jump point. An historic day! However, the jump gate will not be very useful until we have built a matching gate on the Moskva side of the jump point. The gate at the Rostov-na-Donu jump point is only eleven days from completion.

21st January 2023
The first design resulting from the recent advances in engine and sensor technology is the Tarantul II Fast Attack Craft. The Tarantul II class replaces the Sorokin SC88 Ion Drive with the newly developed SC176 Magneto-Plasma Drive, an engine with forty percent more power thanks to a combination of the Magneto-Plasma technology and advances in more conventional power boosting. Unfortunately it has an estimated 30% chance of exploding when damaged, compared to 21% for the older engine. The other change is the replacement of the Cross Dome active sensor with the Cross Dome B, which has the same resolution but a sixty percent greater range. With a top speed of 8800 km/s, the Tarantul is only slightly slower than the SS-N-1 Starburst missile at 9000 km/s and would stand a chance of outrunning the newer 14,000 km/s SS-N-2 Scarab with enough of a head start. It should also prove to be a very difficult target to hit for conventional tracking systems. The Nikolayev Yard will be retooled to produce the new design and should be ready to begin production within a couple of weeks.

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Tarantul II class Fast Attack Craft    1000 tons     97 Crew     198 BP      TCS 20  TH 176  EM 0
8800 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/0/0/0/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 4
Replacement Parts 1    

Sorokin SC176 Magneto-Plasma Drive (1)    Power 176    Efficiency 8.40    Signature 176    Armour 0    Exp 30%
Fuel Capacity 20,000 Litres    Range 10.3 billion km   (13 days at full power)

12cm C4 Near Ultraviolet Laser (1)    Range 72,000km     TS: 8800 km/s   Power 4-4   RM 3  ROF 5    4 4 4 3 2 2 1
Kite Screech (1)    Max Range: 72,000 km   TS: 6400 km/s     86 72 58 44 31 17 3 0 0 0
Small Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor (1)     Total Power Output 4    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Cross Dome B  (1)     GPS 120     Range 1.2m km    Resolution 15
11th June 2023
Scientists on Anastasia have completed development of the JX Jump Drive, which is capable of opening a jump point for a 10,000 ton ship. The Titan class jump cruiser, which has been designed around this new system, also uses the newly developed Sorokin S88 Magneto-Plasma Drive and Top Sail search sensor, giving it a top speed of 5280 km/s and providing a detection capability out to 32 million kilometers for targets of 2000 tons or greater. As well as being the largest ship to be developed by the Imperial Navy, it is also the first to feature an internal hangar. While the Titan may carry a pair of Tarantul II Fast Attack Craft for defence, a new early warning variant of the fast attack craft is under development and it is likely a pair of these as-yet-unnamed ships will form the standard complement. The Severodvinsk Yard, with its 12,000 ton capacity, is the only Romanov shipyard capable of building the Titan so retooling work is underway for its two slipways. Our best estimate is that retooling will require almost a year so the first Titan will begin construction in early June of 2024.

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Titan class Jump Cruiser    10000 tons     750 Crew     1647 BP      TCS 200  TH 1056  EM 0
5280 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 5/5/5/0/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 0
Parasite Capacity 2000 tons     Replacement Parts 15    

JX Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 10000 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3
Sorokin S88 Magneto-Plasma Drive (12)    Power 88    Efficiency 0.84    Signature 88    Armour 0    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 400,000 Litres    Range 205.7 billion km   (450 days at full power)

Thermal Sensor TH1-5 (1)     Sensitivity 5     Detect Signature 100: 0.5m km
Top Sail (1)     GPS 3200     Range 32.0m km    Resolution 40
Palm Frond B Navigation Sensor (1)     GPS 240     Range 2.4m km    Resolution 15
Rum Tub GPD Sensor (1)     Sensitivity 5     Detect Strength 100: 0.5m km
EM Detection Sensor EM1-5 (1)     Sensitivity 5     Detect Strength 100: 0.5m km
6th July 2023
Six new Tarantul II Fast Attack Craft are completed by the Nikolayev Yard and a further six are laid down. As all six original Tarantuls have already been refitted to the new type, we will have eighteen Tarantul IIs by October 2023

11th July 2023
Two Sverdlov II colony ships are built by the Zhdanov Yard, taking the total number of colony ships to eighteen. A new Sverdlov III is designed using seven Sorokin S88 Magneto-Plasma Drives to replace the eight Sorokin S8 Ion Drives of the Sverdlov II. Combined with a upgrade from High Density Duranium to Composite Armour, this allows a twenty-eight percent increase in speed and a twenty percent increase in colonist capacity within the same size hull. However, Zhdanov is currently building a third slipway that will not be complete until March 2024 and retooling to build the Sverdlov III will require a further three months so no Sverdlov IIIs will be laid down until June 2024 at the earliest.

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Sverdlov III class Colony Ship    6000 tons     300 Crew     1128 BP      TCS 120  TH 616  EM 0
5133 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/0/0/0/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 0
Colonists 60000    Cargo Handling Multiplier 5    Replacement Parts 5    

Sorokin S88 Magneto-Plasma Drive (7)    Power 88    Efficiency 0.84    Signature 88    Armour 0    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres    Range 85.7 billion km   (193 days at full power)
18th July 2023
The Bessabarian Theocracy has purchased our latest mining technology for 10,000 megaroubles.

12th August 2023
An entirely new type of fast attack craft has been designed, based on the Tarantul II hull. The Mainstay replaces the weapons, reactor and fire control of the Tarantul II with the enormous Vega-A Search Sensor. The Vega-A will detect any ships of 3750 tons or greater at almost one hundred million kilometers and is backed up by the Cross Dome B which will detect the close approach of any fast attack craft massing 750 tons or more. Two Mainstays will be carried by the Titan Jump Cruisers and will prove useful in several different roles. With an operating radius of over five billion kilometers they may be used for a fast probe of an inner system while the Titan remains at a safe distance and will be very difficult to intercept. They may also be used as long range scouts in wartime, enabling the Titan and other ships to remain undetected under emissions control while the Mainstays determine the strength of enemy forces. Finally, they may simply be deployed in close escort, using their long range sensors to provide area coverage around a task group. The Mainstays will probably be constructed at a new shipyard complex planned for St Ekatarina in early 2024, although it would be relatively easily to retool Nikolayev once a sufficient quantity of Tarantul IIs has been produced.

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Mainstay class Early Warning Craft    1000 tons     77 Crew     244 BP      TCS 20  TH 176  EM 0
8800 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/0/0/0/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 0
Replacement Parts 1    

Sorokin SC176 Magneto-Plasma Drive (1)    Power 176    Efficiency 8.40    Signature 176    Armour 0    Exp 30%
Fuel Capacity 20,000 Litres    Range 10.3 billion km   (13 days at full power)

Vega-A Search Sensor (1)     GPS 9600     Range 96.0m km    Resolution 75
Cross Dome B  (1)     GPS 120     Range 1.2m km    Resolution 15
1st December 2023
The first Dubna class Tanker, designed as a small, fast escort for fast attack craft, is completed by the Kaliningrad Yard. Her first mission will be to escort three Tarantul II class Fast Attack Craft to St Petersburg to serve as the local system defence force. Suitable maintenance facilities and a small number of mines to provide the refined materials are already in place on St Petersburg II.

18th December 2023
Dubna and the three Fast Attack Craft arrive at St Petersburg. Dubna leaves the FACs fully fuelled and unloads a further 180,000 litres for the planetary stockpile, enough to refuel the FACs three times. The frigate Pyotr Velikiy, which has been guarding the planet for the last few years, joins Dubna for the journey back to the Romanov system.

1st February 2024
Scientists on Alexandria complete research that allows magneto-plasma drive technology to be incorporated into missile engines.

4th March 2024
Six Tarantul II Fast Attack Craft arrive at Belogorsk-B IV, the colony in the system adjacent to the Nihon-Koku. They have been escorted by Dubna and used a considerable amount of fuel en route. After refuelling the six FACs for the final time, only 50,000 litres of fuel are available to leave at the colony.

26th April 2024
Nine hundred thousand Romanov colonists land on Makarov II, an ideal habitable world discovered in 2020 by Rostokino. The Makarov system is four jumps from Romanov, via Rostov-na-Donu, Irkutsk and Celabinsk and has not been surveyed by either geological or gravitational survey ships. The planet is almost completely covered with water and has an average temperature of 33C, giving its scattered islands a tropical climate.

11th May 2024
The Nikolayev Yard completes six Mainstay Early Warning Craft. As plans for a seventh shipyard complex on St Ekatarina have been delayed, Nikolayev was recently retooled to build the Mainstays. The complex will now be retooled for Tarantul IIs, which should only require a couple of weeks.

11th June 2024
The Severodvinsk Yard has completed its retooling to build the 10,000 ton Titan class jump cruiser. The first two Titans are laid down and will take approximately twenty-five months to construct.

24th June 2024
Fuel reserves on St. Ekatarina have fallen to 6.8m litres, which their lowest point for many years. Therefore the Imperium will concentrate its efforts on improving the overall fuel situation. Colonization is temporarily halted and our two research colonies will concentrate on improving fuel production and fuel efficiency, once their current work is completed. As resources permit, new fuel refineries will be built.

26th June 2024
The Bessabarian Theocracy has agreed a Defensive Pact with the Romanov Imperium. While the Bessabarians will not provide any significant assistance in the short-term, they will continue to grow in strength and technology and may prove valuable allies in the future. More importantly in the short term, this secures one of our borders and will lead to greater information sharing.

21st July 2024
The Zhdanov Yard has retooled its three slipways to produce the Sverdlov III colony ship. As the colony fleet is still in orbit of St Ekatarina, Zhdanov begins work on refitting three Sverdlov IIs.

16th September 2024
Since the defensive pact was agreed with Bessabarian Theocracy, our scientists have been looking to see if there are any Bessabarian technologies that might be in advance of our own. While this seemed an unlikely endeavour, the Bessabarians opened up a new field of research several years ago that they call Electronic Warfare. This technology is devoted to making ships more difficult targets for hostile fire control and although no practical application has yet been developed, it has definite possibilities. Therefore we have agreed to a technological exchange, giving the Bessabarians details of more efficient jump drives and more fuel efficient engines in return for their theoretical data on Electronic Warfare.

25th September 2024
The Imperium?s seventh jump gate is constructed at the Bratsk ? Rostov-na-Donu jump point. This means that freighters can travel from Romanov to the asteroid mining colonies in Bratsk without the need for escorting jump ships. There are now four systems linked by jump gates, Romanov, Rostov-na-Donu, Bratsk and Moskva, while a fifth system, Gorky, will be part of the network within eight days, allowing the seven million inhabitants of Gorky-B IV and the small Balagansk mining colony to communicate directly with the homeworld.

11th December 2024
After long and difficult negotiations lasting more than two years, the Nihon-Koku have agreed to a trade treaty. While we would have preferred to establish a small colony on their homeworld, they have been resolute in their opposition and have only just stopped short of demanding that our scout withdraw, primarily because they wished to keep communication open. Instead, they will be allowed to establish a small outpost on Belogorsk-B IV, which is home to almost seven million Romanov citizens, and our scout will withdraw as further negotiations will take place in Belogorsk. In return, the Nihon-Koku have agreed that in the future civilian trade missions will be allowed to visit their homeworld, although this is an agreement for the long term as we will have to build jump gates to facilitate any such civilian traffic. The setting up of the aforementioned colony will be delayed for several months, at the request of the Nihon-Koku, but trade negotiations will begin shortly thereafter.

Star Marshal Alexeyev decides this new treaty is enough of an indication of peaceful Nihon-Koku intentions that he can begin to reduce the military presence in the Belogorsk system. Four Sovremenny II-A class destroyers have been stationed near the Belogorsk-Edo jump point for over four years and were joined a year ago by two Slava class escort destroyers. The jump cruiser Kiev and a collier have been providing backup from three billion kilometers away at the Belogorsk-Edo jump point, usually accompanied by one or more Moskva class scouts, for the same amount of time. In addition, six Tarantul II Fast Attack Craft have been stationed at the Belogorsk colony since March. The destroyer force will now be withdrawn for overhaul at St Ekatarina and additional fast patrol craft will be deployed to Belogorsk. The scout withdrawn from Edo will instead picket the Belogorsk-Edo jump point to warn of any armed Nihon-Koku incursion.

1st January 2025
The new year opens with the news that the Esanak population on Saransk Prime has been granted full Imperial Population Status, giving them the same rights and freedoms as all the other Romanov populations. The lizard-like Esanak now number one hundred and thirty-three million and make up 13% of the Imperium?s total population of 1017m. All the atmospheric dust and background radiation that resulted from the bombardment eight years ago has finally vanished, although the craters still remain, and the Esanak have rebuilt many of the destroyed cities. The vast majority of the population blame their deceased despotic leader for the catastrophe and are looking forward to their future as part of the Imperium. Now the population is fully productive, it will be possible to start rebuilding the lost industry. At the moment the planet has thirty mines, seventeen construction factories and maintenance facilities capable of supporting ships of up to 6000 tons.

The populated planets of the Imperium are as follows:
St Ekatarina  695m
Saransk Prime  133m
Alexandria  84m
Anastasia  70m
St Petersburg II  16m
Gorky-B IV  7.3m
Belogorsk-B IV  7m
Pskov II  2m
Makarov II 1m
Bessabaria-C III  0.1m

26th August 2025
As part of the overall program to resolve the continuing Imperium-wide fuel shortage, scientists on Anastasia have developed a Harvester Module that can extract and refine fuel from the atmospheres of gas giants. A Fuel Harvester ship has been designed that incorporates fourteen of the new modules and will be able to extract 224,000 litres of fuel per year, which is approximately 5% of our current annual production. The Komsomolsk shipyard will be retooled to build the new ship and should be ready to lay down its first hull by May 2026.

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Zhdanov class Fuel Harvester    10000 tons     800 Crew     1114 BP      TCS 200  TH 352  EM 0
1760 km/s     Armour 1     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/0/0/0/0     Damage Control 0-0     PPV 0
Replacement Parts 15    
Fuel Harvester: 14 modules producing 224000 litres per annum

Sorokin S88 Magneto-Plasma Drive (4)    Power 88    Efficiency 0.84    Signature 88    Armour 0    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres    Range 128.6 billion km   (845 days at full power)

This design is classed as a non-combatant for maintenance purposes

20th January 2026
Construction of the Saransk - Bratsk jump gate is completed, linking the Esanak population on Saransk Prime with the Romanov system via Bratsk and Rostov-na-Donu. The two largest populations in the Empire, which are also the two largest concentrations of warships, are now able to communicate on a real-time basis
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by Steve Walmsley »