Über alles in der Welt

[Froggiest1982 (OP)]

I thought I would post separately the intro so that does not get mixed up with the story. I will start posting in the next day or 2 starting with the background, the history of the flag and some insight into the race based on the first elections and data generated by Aurora random Race Traits.

In the meantime, if there are questions or things you want me to change feel free to ask and if not too late I’ll see what I can do.


HOUSE RULES

• Construction cycle 86,399
• No civilians companies, only civilian mining colonies
• Population growth 0.25
• Fixed amount of mines per diameter body
• Research 35%
• Terraforming 10%
• Survey 5%

The game starts without NPR and the generation chance is set to 0. It will be back once I reach a system at least 15 LY away. The generation will be 40 for the player and 15 for the NPR with the NPR that can activate spoilers. Known Star systems with Constellations names and realistic promotions.


SPOILERS

• Precursors
• Star Swarm
• Rakhas

This AAR will be used along with a modded DB and all decisions will be taken using my Aurora Government Simulator available here http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=12763.msg155606#msg155606

DB MODs

• Ancient Artifacts activator Mod http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=12365.0
• Revamped Trade goods spawn
• No More Free Infrastructures Mod

RACE RNG
The starting Race tech was determined by an RNG system I use. The selection was:

• Biology/Genetics: TIER 1 unlock all RP =< 0
• Construction/Production: TIER 3 unlock all RP =< 3,000
• Defensive Systems: TIER 1 unlock all RP =< 500
• Energy Weapons: TIER 1 unlock all RP =< 500
• Ground Combat: TIER 5 unlock all RP =< 4,000
• Logistics: TIER 5 unlock all RP =< 4,000
• Missiles/Kinetic Weapons: TIER 5 unlock all RP =< 2,500
• Power and Propulsion: TIER 2 unlock all RP =< 1,000
• Sensors and Control Systems: TIER 3 unlock all RP =< 2,000
• STD Displacement Corvette: 6,000

The Standard displacement also rolled an armour rating of 3. Therefore, for the navy the following rules apply:







The above is class level 1. If I ever reach the point of Super Dreadnought, there is the possibility of improving to Class 2 and 3 which have higher displacement and armour tonnage for all classes.
The displacement also influences the Army and the following rules apply:







Finally, this is the starting setup which was also determined by the RNG:







The level of training was set by the RNG at 5. Currently, there are no ships or armies as I am still finishing setting up the player's techs.

[nuclearslurpee]

HOUSE RULES

• Construction cycle 86,399

Cheeky.

Looking forward to this, the last political AAR was quite engaging and I've missed it these past few months. The randomly-generated starting setup is interesting... I've always found such things intriguing, but I can never bring myself to play such a setup as I always get enamored with a RP idea instead...

One small suggestion: it might make a bit of sense to change the flavor names of the ground units by omitting one of: regiment, brigade, or division levels and adding a "theater" or "region/district" name to the top level. As it is you have a division as 1.5m tons which is probably in the range of 100,000 to 300,000 soldiers which is the size of a typical WWII army-level formation as a single division. Further, formations beyond 1m tons are pretty rare to get to, especially with a setup like yours with the political aspects that limit military buildup, so I think it makes sense to drop the sizes a bit.

Also, while I like the random numbers of sub-formations, this is going to play havoc with the auto-promotion of ground force commanders unless you use manual promotions. Probably something to think about...

[Froggiest1982 (OP)]

HOUSE RULES

• Construction cycle 86,399

Cheeky.

Looking forward to this, the last political AAR was quite engaging and I've missed it these past few months. The randomly-generated starting setup is interesting... I've always found such things intriguing, but I can never bring myself to play such a setup as I always get enamored with a RP idea instead...

One small suggestion: it might make a bit of sense to change the flavor names of the ground units by omitting one of: regiment, brigade, or division levels and adding a "theater" or "region/district" name to the top level. As it is you have a division as 1.5m tons which is probably in the range of 100,000 to 300,000 soldiers which is the size of a typical WWII army-level formation as a single division. Further, formations beyond 1m tons are pretty rare to get to, especially with a setup like yours with the political aspects that limit military buildup, so I think it makes sense to drop the sizes a bit.

Also, while I like the random numbers of sub-formations, this is going to play havoc with the auto-promotion of ground force commanders unless you use manual promotions. Probably something to think about...

Thanks, I haven't built the military yet. I thought I would have a Division only at the start and I might get more creative with names as you suggested. Currently, some units will be more diversified. So for instance, there could be a Brigade with 5 Regiments all of which have 2 battalions or some regiments maybe just a single entity for replacement or logistic/engineering. I played around with this way to work in all my previous games and I find it easy to work. The only pain is the double HQ required due to the size limit, but I have an in house rule where only the HQ with higher command and RP need to be researched. The subcommand comes included through instant research.

Regarding the tonnage, I agree, as I never actually managed to build an entire Corp and I tend to ship Brigades or Divisions for larger scale operations. Of course, depends on the RNG sometimes.

Perhaps the below could be a bit easier to achieve? (Names have not been changed yet)

[nuclearslurpee]

Perhaps the below could be a bit easier to achieve? (Names have not been changed yet)

It would be, but you run into two problems. First is that a 1,200-ton Company is very cheap and quick to build, so you will have a large number of them and not enough commanders to go around. For me, the #1 determinant of my formation size is aiming to build as many formations as I have commanders for and still have enough units to invade a planet, which frankly usually requires 15k or 20k ton as the base formation size (I have in mind to experiment with a 12,500 ton "regiment" base formation, inspired by VB6 formation sizes). 5,000 tons is the bare minimum I think for most people, usually this is labeled as a battalion, but I find this hits the commander limit too quickly. Your mileage may vary especially with the limitations on military buildup.

Warning: the above is the only truly important bit, and the rest is nerdy rambling from someone who takes this game far too seriously. 

Second "problem", really not a problem, but personally I like the idea of 6,000-ton companies as the base unit. For context I am a bit of an OOB nerd and often design my formations in Notepad++ down to the squad level, and in my experience a typical company is ~1,000 tons. However you can create a large company with an additional command level between platoon and company HQs which could be called, for instance, a "column" (all of this is out-of-game RP only for me). In NATO symbology if the platoon is three dots and the company is one bar, a "column" or other named sub-formation would be represented with four dots. This leads to interesting RP questions about how the armed forces are structured which can be answered by your rank system. Typically in IRL militaries a platoon is commanded by a lieutenant and a company is commanded by a captain. If your large companies are commanded by captains, what does the lower command structure look like? Maybe you have 3-4 lieutenant ranks or a junior captain rank? Do your lower formations have commissioned staff officers or are HQs staffed by NCOs? Similar questions exist for higher ranks; in the US Army for instance, IIRC: Captains command companies, LTCs command battalions with Majors as staff officers, COLs command regiments or brigades, and MAJGENs command divisions with (confusingly) Brigadiers as staff officers. This of course doesn't map well to Aurora as we still don't have staff officer roles for ground forces (siiiigh...) but it's another roleplay opportunity.

Anyways, I digress...point is, I think having large companies (6,000 tons is roughly 600 to 1,200 soldiers depending on makeup, typically IRL a company is ~150 soldiers) offers an intriguing roleplay opportunity and I want to see it explored. 

As for the higher ranks, as you mentioned you haven't renamed anything yet, but very few militaries retain a battalion - regiment - brigade - division - corps structure (neglecting the cases such as the British Army which use regiments and sometimes corps as non-OOB commands), usually one or even two of these are omitted. Admittedly this is arbitrary, as the names are purely historical precedent as is the traditional commanding rank for each, but largely the reason for this is a combination of downsizing manpower-wise and working with available commanding ranks given the need for staff officers of suitable rank at each level. Again, Aurora models this poorly but it still represents an interesting RP opportunity to envision why your formation + rank structure is how it is.

[Froggiest1982 (OP)]

Fair enough and I also agree.

I will keep my 6k structure as that is only guideline and proceed with what I was doing in my campaigns. Who knows, I may show you another way of doing things.

In the end there is no right or wrong in Aurora.

You'll see That I will not move necessarly from bottom up to tge top for the structure.

[Froggiest1982 (OP)]

BACKGROUND
During World War I (1914–1918), Germany led the Central Powers against France, the United Kingdom, Russia, (by 1915) Italy and (by 1917) the United States. Defeated and partly occupied, Germany was forced to pay war reparations by the Treaty of Versailles and was stripped of its colonies as well as of home territory to be ceded to Belgium, France, and Poland, and was banned from uniting with German-settled regions of Austria. The German Revolution of 1918–19 put an end to the federal constitutional monarchy, which resulted in the establishment of the Weimar Republic, an unstable parliamentary democracy.

The state was officially the German Reich (Deutsches Reich) and was also referred to as the German Republic (Deutsche Republik). The term "Weimar Republic" refers to the city of Weimar, where the republic's constituent assembly first took place.

From 1918 to 1923, the Weimar Republic suffered grave problems, such as hyperinflation, political extremism, including political murders and two attempted power seizures by contending paramilitaries, as well as contentious relationships with the victors of the First World War.

In 1923, a fool named Adolf Hitler attempted to seize governmental power in a failed coup in Munich and was imprisoned with a sentence of five years. In jail, he dictated the first volume of his autobiography and political manifesto Mein Kampf ("My Struggle"). After his early release in 1924, Hitler gained popular support by attacking the Treaty of Versailles and promoting pan-Germanism, anti-Semitism and anti-communism with charismatic oratory and populist propaganda. He frequently denounced international capitalism and communism as part of a Jewish conspiracy.

Shortly after, British Intelligence backed by the Russians managed to assassinate him leading Germany to great unrest and chaos. Resentment in Germany towards the Treaty of Versailles was strong, especially on the political right where there was great anger towards those who had signed and submitted to the treaty. The Weimar Republic fulfilled most of the requirements of the Treaty of Versailles, although it never completely met its disarmament requirements and eventually paid only a small portion of the war reparations (by twice restructuring its debt through the Dawes Plan and the Young Plan).

Under the Locarno Treaties, signed in 1925, Germany moved toward normalising relations with its neighbours. Germany recognised the western borders that had been established through the Versailles Treaty, but its eastern borders remained subject to possible revisions. Meanwhile, the great scientist Albert Einstein was welcomed back in Germany from his travelling abroad started in 1921. After his last visit to South America, he was finally ready to expand his studies on the general theory of relativity. Einstein’s travel was the result of how he was awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect". While the general theory of relativity was still considered somewhat controversial, the citation also does not treat even the cited photoelectric work as an explanation but merely as a discovery of the law, as the idea of photons was considered outlandish and did not receive universal acceptance until the 1924 derivation of the Planck spectrum by S. N. Bose.

Hence his reinvigorated spirit and hunger in expanding the studies on the discovery only from 1925 onwards. It was during one of these thousand studies that, almost by mistake, Einstein realized the existence of the Aether: A dimension co-existing alongside normal space, which has fluidic properties and is much more compressed in terms of distance between objects. The discovery of the Aether led to the discovery of the Trans-Newtonian Elements (TNE) and shortly after on how to extract them. The government immediately seized the research and decided to expand the physics department with enormous investments. By 1930 Germany could count on a fully TN economy and industry. The first TN weapons were developed and the dream of righting the wrongs of the first World War was finally becoming true.

In December 1930, Einstein was planning to visit America for the second time as a two-month working visit as a research fellow at the California Institute of Technology. He would never make it to the airport. Shortly after, the Reichstag Fire Decree and the Enabling Act used the perceived state of emergency to grant the new Chancellor broad power to act outside parliamentary control, which he used to thwart constitutional governance and civil liberties giving birth to the Republic as we know it today. The return to the Deutschland nomenclature was the prelude to the war.

In 6 months the Deutsche Republik defeated the Polish, the French, and the British, while its allies: Italy, Spain, and Japan thanks to primordial TN equipment provided by the Germans seized Asia, Africa, and Oceania. In less than another month, the United States and the countries in South America signed the unconditional surrender leaving, by the end of 1931, the world all united under the Germans making their motto: Über alles in der Welt, a reality. Germans were really above all else in the world. The following Government elected spent time to analyze and formulate a plan to conquer more land and considering there was no free land on Earth their eyes and minds were set on the stars. They decided to look at their past and the German hero that first opened the way for possible space travel: Fritz von Opel.

Fritz von Opel was instrumental in popularizing rockets as means of propulsion for vehicles. In the 1920s, he initiated together with Max Valier, co-founder of the "Verein für Raumschiffahrt", the world's first rocket program, Opel-RAK, leading to speed records for automobiles, rail vehicles and the first manned rocket-powered flight in September of 1929. Months earlier in 1928, one of his rocket-powered prototypes, the Opel RAK2, reached piloted by von Opel himself at the AVUS speedway in Berlin at a record speed of 238 km/h, watched by 3000 spectators and world media. A world record for rail vehicles was reached with RAK3 and a top speed of 256 km/h. After these successes, von Opel piloted the world's first public rocket-powered flight using Opel RAK.1, a rocket plane designed by Julius Hatry.

World media reported on these efforts, including UNIVERSAL Newsreel of the US, causing as "Raketen-Rummel" or "Rocket Rumble" immense global public excitement, and in particular in Germany, where inter alia Wernher von Braun was highly influenced. The Great Conquest War and the discovery of the TN minerals led to an expansion of the Opel-RAK program and Von Opel continued the efforts. After switching from solid fuel to Sorium-fuel rockets, he died while testing and is considered the first fatality of the dawning space age.

The government then set the end of its term (31st of December 1934) as a deadline to have Humanity ready for Space travel. Numerous projects for Space Engines, Space Radars, Space Weapons, and more started. The goal was to have multiple Space Ships so that the Deutsche Marine could start the expansion by the beginning of the new Republican term of 1935.

[TMaekler]

HOUSE RULES

• Construction cycle 86,399

What is the background of not using 86400, but one number below?[/list]

[Froggiest1982 (OP)]

HOUSE RULES

• Construction cycle 86,399

What is the background of not using 86400, but one number below?[/list]

I have taken this from skoormit and db48x plus other players. I used 86400 as well but apparently removing the second should ensure everything that takes a day or less get calculated within the 1 day increment resulting in less "waste of time". The min increment in Aurora is 5 seconds as you know so you would potentially have the updated cycle at 1 day and 5 seconds. I have actually never tested this but I trust the community.

[Froggiest1982 (OP)]

1935 ELECTION
The New Deutsche Republik was due to be elected on the night of the 1st of January 1935. All candidates released their intentions for the following 4 years and only 3 won the respective primaries and got enough votes to submit their candidacy as Chancellor of the Republic.

The first was Jorg von Prugner, representative of the Republican Party and Admiral of the Deutsche Marine. The candid and patient man, originally born in the old Prussia, was known for his superstitious ways and rituals. While running for the Republicans, the majority of his supporters were all old Nationalists, still attached to the origins of the Weimar Republik. His plan was entirely made around the importance of the Navy leaving minimal if not any resources to be spent for the public welfare. The biggest reform Jorg pushed through his campaign was the introduction of a military pension for all the retired soldiers of the Great Conquest War and, obviously, for all future generations of soldiers of the army and the navy.

The second was a true born and bred German called Fabian Jentzsch. Fabian was running for the Nationalist Party and was also Oberst of the Deutsche Heer. His ignorant and arrogant personality was something very hard to overcome while presenting himself as a suitable leader and he managed to have a shot and Chancellorship only thanks to the support of the army. With his rival campaigning hard on the military pension and with a Nationalist base to please, Fabian proposed to Nationalize the majority of the private sector on Earth to ensure the government would have had a say on the hiring policies and salaries.

The third candidate was not only a non-German one but was also the first woman ever to be allowed to run for such a prestigious position. Iaraina Konovalova, originally born in Ukraine by a Russian father and Ukrainian mother, was a firm atheist with a warm and agreeable personality. As a member of the Federalist Party, she was counting on the support of the whole federalist wing and part of the trade party as well. With the Federalists leading the polls, Iaraina had a good reason to believe that she could actually make Chancellor in this turn of elections. Her campaign revolved around religions and how much they were holding back humanity. She proposed then to ban any religious form in case she would get elected. While many were still attached to the old ways, the young population, thanks to the discovery of the TN, started to think about the stars and new planets to live, something that many religions weren’t ready to tackle and resulted in the loss of many followers.

In fact, the Germans adopted a Roman way after their world domination, allowing many, if not all the subjugated nations to keep their religions and languages. The only mandatory requirements were that everybody should be also thought German as a second language and the Deutsche Mark as the primary currency. Eventually, while a unique religion would have been much harder to push back, a small fragmented belief would have been possible to clash in a few years only.

By law, 278 Senators were due to direct election by the Republican population. Once elected, the Senators would gather together to elect the Chancellor. The parties were allowed to present a united front in the form of a coalition prior to the election to increase their chances of a win or, eventually, run alone. If no clear winner would emerge after the election, the Chancellor elected would have been in charge of finding a custom majority within the parties to support his or her mandate. To win, a coalition, a party, or a Chancellor’s coalition required the majority of the seats in the Senate.

By the end of the day, results came in:

• FEDERALISTS 58 A good result for the party that probably lost few votes on the religion topic
• PACIFISTS 57 An average performance for a party that could campaign over the horrors of the war
• TRADE 63 Even if not real winners, the Trade Party are the moral winners with many supporters gained
• NATIONALISTS 68 The winners of this elections and favoured by 2 leaders pretty much speaking to the same audience
• MILITARISTS 30 While low in numbers, the Militarist Party can have a say in many of the days to day operations. A good result if we consider the disastrous polls prior to the election.

Despite numbers, the real winner was again absenteeism. Only 26.21% of the eligible voting population decided to turn up for the election for a total of 393.16 million people over the total eligible population of 1,092.11 million.

The new senators proceeded then to the election of the Chancellor. The first round of preferences saw Iaraina Konovalova gaining 44.57% of the preferences with Fabian and Jorg battling for the same pool of votes and ended up with respectively 29.35% and 25.72% of the preferences. As per the constitution, the 3rd candidate would have then been forced to drop his candidacy and allow a final vote to be held between the first and the second. As per custom, Jorg von Purgner decided to windthrow from the run after a brief speech aimed to support his closer political opponent: Fabian Jentzsch.

However, regardless of his speech, not all his supporters decided to follow suit and voted for Iaraina instead. The final results were then 57.61% for the Ukrainian against 42.39% for the German. The Deutsche Republik would have then had its first women and foreign Chancellor.

Elected Chancellor proceeded then to analyze the coalition declaration of the senators. The possible Coalition numbers were as following:

• PACIFISTS 88
• REPUBLICANS 169
• TRADE PARTY 108
• DEMOCRATS 162
• WAR PARTY 59

MAJORITY 139 seats

It was clear from the beginning that only a Republican or a Democrat coalition would have been possible, however, the only 7 seats of difference could have been an issue. In the end, considering the long Republican tradition and the fact that they had higher numbers made it possible for Iaraina to declare the Republicans as the leading coalition for the Senate. The opposition would have then been composed of 107 seats against the 169 of the leading majority with over 60% of the total seats.

During her settlement speech and as per her prerogative, the Chancellor elected ratified immediately her Religion Ban Legislation which the Senate would have discussed and approved within the first 100 days of the term.

All the matters of the state were already waiting in her office but considering the long and emotional day she just experienced, Chancellor Konovalova decided to go home and get some rest.

[nuclearslurpee]

In fact, the Germans adopted a Roman way after their world domination, allowing many, if not all the subjugated nations to keep their religions and languages. The only mandatory requirements were that everybody should be also thought German as a second language and the Deutsche Mark as the primary currency. Eventually, while a unique religion would have been much harder to push back, a small fragmented belief would have been possible to clash in a few years only.

In the midst of this important election news, I feel obligated to commend this excellent use of reference to the Roman way of doing things, which goes beyond typical tropes about legions and emperors and makes an astute connection to how Roman society was actually managed across the empire. Historical accuracy is always of course one of the foremost indicators of a quality AAR. 

It is also worth considering that when the Romans began to get away from this approach to managing their empire, things began going steadily more wrong for them, surely this cannot be an ominous portent in any way...

Despite numbers, the real winner was again absenteeism. Only 26.21% of the eligible voting population decided to turn up for the election for a total of 393.16 million people over the total eligible population of 1,092.11 million.

Might need to check these numbers if this is what your program/spreadsheet is putting out. 393.16 / 1092.11 is 36.0%, and I cannot find a simple change of a digit to give the listed percentage. Possible bug?

During her settlement speech and as per her prerogative, the Chancellor elected ratified immediately her Religion Ban Legislation which the Senate would have discussed and approved within the first 100 days of the term.

I really would imagine that a blanket ban on religion worldwide would lead to significant unrest, even if the younger generation accepts it many old traditionalists would still remain at this time, after all TN technology has only been known for about ten years. Then again, I don't know that this unrest would be appreciably more than the unrest you already have from the conquered peoples of the world, so maybe it is not a big factor after all.

[Froggiest1982 (OP)]

Regarding the math
Sorry my fault as it is related to the whole population and not eligible only. I started 1,500 million so 26.21% is correct. I think I meant to change it with the number referring to the current eligible only, not sure why I haven't in the end. The full table does have both, so I really do not remember what the original reasons were. Getting old...
But thanks, 4 eyes always better than 2!

Unrest
This is accounted for. Every policy have consequences and while some can be more immediate, some others are more long term. As you know, only time will tell if this blunt move will pay off or simply blow in the Chancellor face.
Currently the level of unrest generated it's not enough to activate the Republic terrorists which are called rebels in this case. They are not far off though...

This goes under spoiler because maybe people tgat use the file wants to find out by themselves: Eventually, banning religion get rid of the church and activates Freemasons which are more Federalists friendly.

[nuclearslurpee]

spoilers

Oooooh this sounds fun...

[Froggiest1982 (OP)]

THE FIRST DAY
After a good night sleep, Chancellor Elected Iaraina Konovalova started to look into all reports as soon as in the office. As mandate by the previous government, all operations for the newly built survey fleet were already approved by the Senate for a 5-year mission in the Solar system.

This should also give enough time to build more maintenance facilities on Earth already stretched beyond capacity. It is clear that the intention of the previous government was to free the capacity while the survey fleet would have been dispatched and in doing so cover a critical planning mistake.

The first day started already rectifying other people’s mistakes. To avoid further issues and have already lost faith in the former government decision making, Iaraina asked to receive all the specifications of the current active ships. After having confirmed Jorg von Prugner as Admiral, she asked for help in identifying and categorize each ship. Jorg accepted the condition of being able of choosing himself all the Administrative Personnel.

Having no interests in military affairs, the Chancellor was more than happy to agree. Together they started by analysing the Geological Survey Crafts. However, before diving into it, the Admiral decided to give an insight into the classification and nomenclature of each ship.

The first category was the command. Some ships were under the direct command of the Deutsche Marine while others were under the Marine only for the assignments but more controlled by the government. Sometimes, government ships could still act in support of the Marine, however, that would be required only for Logistic purposes and never military. To recognize them, Commercial nomenclature was introduced. Each ship would then be identified as DM (Deutsche Marine) or DKM (Deutsche Kommerziell Marine).

The second category was the class. Each ship would have a class name to identify them. While the class Name would be unique, the ship name could sometimes be the same. If that happens, it would be possible to recognize the ship by the hull. No ship would have the same name and same hull in any case. Usually, the hull description appears after the name of the ship.

The final category was the engine.

As it was quite straightforward, the Chancellor nodded at the Admiral making him understand that they could finally move into analysing the ships.



CLASS: DM Mercalli-NTa
HULL: Geological Survey Craft (GEO)
NUMBER OF SHIPS: 4 – DM David Strangway GEO, DM Eugene W. Hilgard GEO, DM Jan Veizer GEO, DM Paul Spudis GEO
PRODUCED BY: Italy

Code: [Select]

DM Mercalli-NTa S class Geological Survey Craft      4,000 tons       67 Crew       307.2 BP       TCS 80    TH 100    EM 0
1250 km/s      Armour 1-22       Shields 0-0       HTK 29      Sensors 6/6/0/1      DCR 4      PPV 0
Maint Life 16.42 Years     MSP 692    AFR 32%    IFR 0.4%    1YR 5    5YR 73    Max Repair 100 MSP
Fregattankapitan    Control Rating 2   BRG   AUX   
Intended Deployment Time: 60 months    Morale Check Required   

MK II Gruber Aeromarine Commercial Nuclear Thermal Engine (2)    Power 100    Fuel Use 5.76%    Signature 50    Explosion 4%
Fuel Capacity 204,000 Litres    Range 159.4 billion km (1475 days at full power)

MK III Schellhorn Sensor Systems Standard GPS (1)     GPS 1440     Range 23.6m km    Resolution 120
MK III Schellhorn Sensor Systems Standard EMS (1)     Sensitivity 6     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  19.4m km
MK III Schellhorn Sensor Systems Standard THS (1)     Sensitivity 6     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  19.4m km
Geological Survey Sensors (1)   1 Survey Points Per Hour

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Survey Ship for auto-assignment purposes


The Mercalli was built with the 5 years mission in mind. Standard detection systems were installed as mandatory equipment for all ships, either DM or DKM. The single geological sensor would do the required job at a slower speed, however, as the ship will operate primarily in the solar system, HQ would get updated results in real-time without the need for the ship to come back for reporting. As fuel is not an unlimited resource, big fuel-saving engines were installed. Again, operating primarily in the Sol system and for the majority not moving but orbiting around bodies, speed was not a priority for the Italian designers.

Eventually, the Italians designed also a Tanker that could support longer operations or rescue stranded ships out of fuel:



CLASS: DKM Garibaldi-NTa
HULL: Tanker (TK)
NUMBER OF SHIPS: 1 – DKM Garibaldi TK
PRODUCED BY: Italy

Code: [Select]

DKM Garibaldi-NTa class Tanker      5,000 tons       56 Crew       153.7 BP       TCS 100    TH 100    EM 0
1000 km/s      Armour 1-26       Shields 0-0       HTK 20      Sensors 6/6/0/0      DCR 1      PPV 0
MSP 19    Max Repair 20 MSP
Korvettenkapitan    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months   

MK II Gruber Aeromarine Commercial Nuclear Thermal Engine (2)    Power 100    Fuel Use 5.76%    Signature 50    Explosion 4%
Fuel Capacity 1,339,000 Litres    Range 836.9 billion km (9686 days at full power)
Refuelling Capability: 80,000 litres per hour     Complete Refuel 16 hours

MK III Schellhorn Sensor Systems Standard GPS (1)     GPS 1440     Range 23.6m km    Resolution 120
MK III Schellhorn Sensor Systems Standard EMS (1)     Sensitivity 6     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  19.4m km
MK III Schellhorn Sensor Systems Standard THS (1)     Sensitivity 6     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  19.4m km

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a a for auto-assignment purposes


The Chancellor noticed then that the intended deployment of the Tanker was only 3 months, way less than the other ship. How could have been possible to have so much difference?
As we know, the Admiral was a patient man and explained to the Chancellor that only the DM ships were required to undergo maintenance and overhaul while the DKM ships were built to last with commercial components that could last for a very long time. The crew also were not composed of cadets or military personnel but by ordinary people after a paycheck. Many of these people, would embrace space travel as a way of living prior to early retiring thanks to the fat monthly pay.

Eventually, military-grade equipment would have been often built with high-performance components and or new technologies that would require extra care and attention, hence the difference. 3 months was then only the standard displacement period applied to commercial designs.

The Chancellor then objected: ”Why bother at all then? Wouldn’t be easy to leave it blank?”.
The Admiral looked at the Chancellor and after a deep and long sigh said: ”I am afraid you’ll have to take this all the way up to Steve”.
The Chancellor was just about to speak again when the Admiral interrupted her: “I know you are wondering who this Steve is now, but let’s say that without him we would not be here today. I also know that you don’t believe in God, but if I were you, I would seriously reconsider that. However, for now, I think you must cope with this reality and maybe in the future things will change. Only Steve knows.”

Extremely puzzled and partially pissed, the Chancellor decided that there was nothing useful she could get out of that conversation and decided to move on for the greater good. Also, as it was late, it was agreed to meet again the day after to check more ships and start issuing some orders to the ships that the government-controlled directly. Because of that, special priority would have been given to the freighters and colony ships.

[nuclearslurpee]

The final category was the engine.

I'd appreciate a clarification here, I can gather that NT is Nuclear Thermal, but what is NTa specifically the 'a' at the end?

The Chancellor then objected: ”Why bother at all then? Wouldn’t be easy to leave it blank?”.
The Admiral looked at the Chancellor and after a deep and long sigh said: ”I am afraid you’ll have to take this all the way up to Steve”.
The Chancellor was just about to speak again when the Admiral interrupted her: “I know you are wondering who this Steve is now, but let’s say that without him we would not be here today. I also know that you don’t believe in God, but if I were you, I would seriously reconsider that. However, for now, I think you must cope with this reality and maybe in the future things will change. Only Steve knows.”

Ahahahahahaha brilliant!

Ship designs look reasonable. Mercalli class is maybe a bit more engine-heavy than I'd usually like in a survey ship but given how much if its job will be glorified rock-checking this is a good design for the task. Seems early for a tanker class but I am guessing that is the way the political winds are blowing for now.

[Froggiest1982 (OP)]

The final category was the engine.

I'd appreciate a clarification here, I can gather that NT is Nuclear Thermal, but what is NTa specifically the 'a' at the end?

That is the series of the ship. Eventually, when a ship gets an upgrade, it will advance in series.

If the ship gets new engines then it will also get a new nomenclature with series starting back again at "a" level.

I will get into that later when describing the military ships which will have extra classifications based on the roles.

Note: I have adopted an approach where all ships will get names. No Ship name plus Number are to be used. This forced me to get creative with denominations as repetition in names may eventually happen

Note of the note: it is a pain that currently the only ship names displayed are for military ships. I have to pretty much track them all manually. I hope the Chancellor does't poke around this too much, she looks like a spicy one and I don't want to get banned