Seeing that precursors will just spawn out of nowhere - in orbit of the planet, with giant ships no less - after digging it up a bit, I think I'll turn the 'enhanced precursors' setting off.
I'll probably turn off for all of the special NPRs, as that looks extremely annoying. Unless I decide I want some masochism for some reason...

You put expensive equipment on the planet, only for it to be completely obliterated by an enemy appearing in orbit - with no downside for them, like jump shock.

If anything, this basically prompts me to ask for a similar tech for players and regular NPRs - fleet teleportation installation. This installation would allow the player/NPR to basically teleport things between teleport installations, limited by installation size. I think size 1 installation would allow 100-ton ship teleports.
But of course, the precursors are darn robots which can teleport, and the pathetic organics can't! I mean, that would be my justification for why regular NPRs/Players wouldn't be able to use it.

Still, I guess some would like this grim aesthetic to things, but I think it would be better to give some kind of subtle early warning to player about upcoming awakening - like messages reporting odd tectonic activity or other strange seismic movement. Maybe xenoarcheologist teams getting attacked/buried by traps, or simply eroding structures. Leader of excavation team getting bad feelings about it or straight up killed.
I think whole planet getting glassed immediately is overkill, it needs to happen gradually, with subtle things happening at first, and then as you complete digging it gets up.


I do wonder how would've campaign went if necrons woke up immediately on Mars the moment you started digging it?

EDIT: I guess recovering goodies (installations and fuel) from them is good as a compensation, so there's that at least.

As has been said a fine explanation of the story reasons behind what is a 'suboptimal' game play choice. Though I am saddened by the absence of a naval conference, light refreshments or even a hint of fisticuffs.

Still, always time for them later when the Firestorm proves it is not the answer to every space battle based question. If there is not at least a mild scuffle between the 'Firestorm just needs an upgrade' party and the 'They were always a terrible idea for deep space' factions I will be disappointed.

I really enjoy your focus on the political/cultural conflict between the two carrier designs. It's really easy to fall into the trap of min-max optimization when designing one's fleet doctrine, so it's good to have a reminder that Aurora is foremost a storytelling assistant; roleplay is as valid as reason as any other to make choices for your empire.

Project Overlord: A New Space Fleet for a New Era
An invited contribution from Dr. I.M.A. Blowhard, PhD; Department of Xenohistory, University of Cydonia.

As a prelude to the discussion of the first carrier class, and indeed the first true capital ship class of any type, to enter service with the XCOM Space Operations Agency, it is perhaps best to pause briefly to address what is certainly the most burning question for the modern reader who finds themselves perplexed by the near single-minded insistence by XCOM leadership on the space carrier concept in general, and particularly the insistence on the Firestorm class of fighters as the primary payload to be delivered into the battlespace. Indeed, despite the seemingly self-evident weaknesses of this approach, which would only later become apparent to XCOM leadership, insistence on the space carrier supremacy doctrine was driven by unspoken cultural and historical imperatives of the period. Thus, we now digress from the usual course of events and turn to the interrogation of these imperatives.



The iconic image of the alien battleship designated ‘Gangplank’, captured over Shanghai, China on 23 May 2015 by an unknown Chinese citizen, a jarring visual representation conveying the magnitude of the alien spaceborne threat. While the visual suffices to communicate this apparent threat, post-war analysis demonstrates that the load-bearing word here is not “threat” but rather “apparent”, as the designation of battleship for these vessels was frankly propagandistic at best. As one example, even from this iconic image it is readily apparent that the supposed battleship lacks a heavy main battery, rather bearing several arrays of drop pod deployment bays that properly designate the class as a heavy assault troopship with light secondary or defensive armament only. Coupled with the fact that the alien ‘battleship’ class is clearly intended, by dint of basic geometry, for spaceborne operations and is ill-suited to maneuver or combat in atmosphere, and it becomes rather less mystifying that a handful of small interceptor craft would be capable of taking down such a massive opponent despite the vast size differential. Nevertheless, such analysis was not done until well after the Long War had ended, by which time such pessimism was largely ignored (though not outright suppressed)  in a spirit of post-war hubris. Hubris aside, grasping the apparent magnitude of the threat represented by an alien flagship hovering over a major human city may lead the reader to appreciate the frankly mythological stature occupied by the Firestorm, which after all defeated this threat, in the popular consciousness.

For the first year of the Long War, alien UFOs had proven difficult at best to challenge in the skies of Earth. The Raven interceptors armed with air-to-air Avalanche missiles had proven capable of combating small, lightly-armed scout UFOs at 1-to-1 odds with only moderate losses, but engaging anything heavier was a risky proposition at best even with numerical superiority. The turning point finally came on 5 April 2016 with the launch of the first Firestorm-class interceptor armed with heavy plasma weapons, which engaged and defeated an abductor-type UFO above Kyoto with only superficial hull damage. The popular imagination was enthralled by the visceral image of a massive abduction ship bearing down on a major metropolis only to be swatted from the sky by a comparative gnat of sheer human ingenuity and temerity. This state of affairs would persist through the end of the Long War in September 2016, with the Firestorm class scoring an impressive ratio of 19 kills to only 4 lost interceptors, including not one but three ‘battleship’ kills at 2-to-1 odds, footage from which was endlessly replayed by major media networks worldwide. Post-war analysis indicated that the advantages for the Firestorm included superior maneuverability due its multi-role air/space environment design, heavy armor for its size, and near parity in firepower, factors which were in the decades following came to be considered as universal constants in a hypothetical future conflict.



Still image captured from declassified archival footage showing an early trial of the prototype Firestorm craft. Readily if indirectly apparent is the vast gulf in size between the Firestorm interceptor, originally a two-seater craft in prototype development before expanding to four seats in production models, and the alien battleship-class UFO shown in the preceding image. As the Firestorm class achieved early success in the skies and visuals of such encounters played on major news networks, this seemingly insurmountable size differential became emblematic not only of the success of the Firestorm itself, but a widely seized-upon symbol of human resistance in the face of a technologically superior alien force. Such heroic fervor infected even the highest levels of XCOM command, and while in practical terms the morale boost was a boon for the war effort the downstream effects on post-war decision making would lead to rather more mixed results.

The upshot in ultimate terms was a firm, perhaps even unshakeable, belief throughout XCOM headquarters that any alien foe could be soundly defeated by a handful of Firestorms and their intrepid crews.The principal problem of spaceborne warfare, then, had quite little to do with “what” and almost entirely to do with “how”. That is, given that the solution to any problem of alien origin was a half-dozen Firestorms at most, the only remaining question was how to deliver the Firestorms to the battlespace and keep them operational once there. Indeed, the existence of the Doc Stone class of patrol ships was a clear indicator of this difficulty, as the Firestorm class simply lacked the operational range to reach a distant station or area of operations, and once there lacked the range or organic sustainment capacity to hold that space unsupported. While the Doc Stone class appeared to solve this problem neatly enough, with other tangible combat advantages besides, ships of the class suffered from the intolerable limitation that they simply were not Firestorms and thus were not the preferred solution to any problem of alien origin. Thus, the problem to be overcome was that of delivering the Firestorms, and developing a class of space carriers was, naturally, the solution. It is this development process, designated as Project Overlord, to which we now turn.


On Carriers and What They Should Carry

Despite the universally agreed-upon presumption of Firestorm supremacy, the design payload of a space carrier class proved unexpectedly difficult for XCOM leadership to pin down. In principle, XCOM doctrine demanded a full flight of Firestorm. However, an unusual epidemic of questioning orthodoxy broke out at XCOM headquarters as several generals noted that XCOM had only a limited reserve of Firestorms available for deployment aboard carriers, with three dozen in service as of early 2052. While XCOM certainly had the manufacturing and resource bases to produce substantially more fighters, indeed the Firestorm fleet could easily have been doubled in number within a mere nine months, the officer training program and promotion track would not be so easily upscaled, leaving Space Defense Command with insufficient senior officers to command more than one or two new Firestorm squadrons. As the carrier fleet expanded, the limited availability of Firestorm commanders (and thus Firestorms) would force XCOM to compromise solar system defenses to fully load out the carriers. Of the objecting generals, several advocated for a mixed loadout of Firestorms and Ravens, carefully couched as a “stopgap” measure to avoid stepping overly much on the toes of the orthodoxy. Mentioned briefly, but hardly emphasized, was the concern by some minority of the dissenting generals that a Firestorm-only carrier wing would be too one-dimensional to meet the potential diversity of threats which may await in outer space. Proponents of Firestorm orthodoxy countered this concern by noting that splitting a carrier wing halfway between two capabilities would lack the concentration of force for either one to be successful, and so concentrating XCOM’s strongest capabilities would be the best way forward to meet the immediate need.

To settle this debate, an order had gone out from the office of Marshal Pinto for proponents of each approach to develop preliminary proposals addressing each position. The design requirements were sparse: displacement was fixed at 18,750 tons based on shipyard constraints, a minimum fuel range (less fuel for the fighter wing) of 20 billion km was specified, and an intrinsic Marazuki device would be mandatory as XCOM lacked any wormhole ship class capable of transiting a capital ship. After a rather lengthy incubation phase, spanning nearly a full calendar year in large part due to frequent reassessments of technological readiness, candidate designs for each proposed carrier variant were presented at a meeting of XCOM generals on 17 March 2052.

As the “challenger” proposal, the design featuring a mixed Firestorm/Raven wing was presented first, with its chief advocates being brigadier generals Andrée Bossé and Margaret Formanek, both with multiple Raven commands under their belts as well as experience commanding the orbital defense groups. Labeled A-1, the proposal featured a two-squadron strike wing of 6 Firestorms and 6 Ravens, with a heavy emphasis on endurance and repeated strikes resulting in some 700,000 liters of fuel and magazine space for up to 12 reloads of the Raven squadron. In particular, General Bossé emphasized the flexibility of the design, noting that while the prodigious magazine space could be considered excessive for a single Raven squadron, the ample stowage would be ideal for establishing new fighter bases at distant colonial stations, and would allow a carrier to maintain up to three Raven squadrons if this were ever deemed necessary. The proposal also featured a novel concept for a dedicated damage control section to enhance survivability of the valuable capital ship in the unlikely event of close combat, a bold inclusion given that designs for such components remained in the earliest drawing-board stages at the time.

    Project Olympus Proposal A-1     18,750 tons      377 Crew      2,541.2 BP      TCS 375   TH 1,500   EM 0
    4000 km/s   JR 3-50     Armour 4-62      Shields 0-0      HTK 100     Sensors 5/6/0/0     DCR 22-11     PPV 0
    Maint Life 3.03 Years    MSP 2,016   AFR 234%   IFR 3.3%   1YR 330   5YR 4,953   Max Repair 313.3 MSP
    Hangar Deck Capacity 3,600 tons    Magazine 462 / 0   
    Colonel   Control Rating 3   BRG   AUX   FLG   
    Intended Deployment Time: 12 months   Flight Crew Berths 72   Morale Check Required   

    M5 Nimbus Marazuki Device    Max Ship Size 18800 tons   Distance 50k km    Squadron Size 3

    XN-500 Progeny Ion Drive (3)   Power 1500   Fuel Use 35.00%   Signature 500   Explosion 10%
    Fuel Capacity 1,463,000 Litres   Range 40.1 billion km (116 days at full power)

    BSM-4 Devastator (144)   Speed: 27,000 km/s   End: 12m    Range: 19.5m km   WH: 4   Size: 3.2

    XN/SPS-27 Grav Pulse Array (1)    GPS 5400    Range 49.5m km   Resolution 75
    XN/SPS-29 Grav Pulse Array (1)    GPS 1152    Range 29.5m km   Resolution 16
    XN/SLQ-20 Passive EM Sensor (1)    Sensitivity 6    Detect Sig Strength 1000:  19.4m km
    XN/SAY-5 Passive Infrared Sensor (1)    Sensitivity 5    Detect Sig Strength 1000:  17.7m km

    Strike Group
    6x Firestorm III Interceptor
    6x Raven III Interceptor

The A-1 proposal, while fundamentally sound, was ultimately judged as unpersuasive by the majority of the generals. While the flexibility of the design was considered a high point, and indeed would inform later developments in the nascent XCOM carrier doctrine, the emphasis on leveraging Raven squadrons rubbed many the wrong way, while the initial concerns about splitting limited capacity between two different capability types remained largely unaddressed. Contrasted with the carefully thought-out features of the second, orthodox proposal which was presented immediately thereafter, the A-1 carrier proposal, while a workable design in its own right, ultimately suffered for failing to address the felt needs of the moment.

The “orthodox” proposal, designated B-1, was advanced by major general Cédric Kasereka and brigadier general Edward Knick, both of whom had experience commanding both Ravens and Firestorms in addition to current positions overseeing orbital defense formations, and were thus considered relatively objective relative to the debate at hand. Despite a 33% increase in hangar bay volume relative to the A-1 proposal, the lack of missile magazines and the reduced refueling load of only 300,000 liters freed up considerable tonnage, which was dedicated to thirty missile launch rails mounted in six armored clusters for emergency self-defense. Whereas the A-1 proposal had taken a damage control approach to the question of close combat, the B-1 proposal took the preventative approach of mounting sufficient offensive armament to destroy any alien vessel which might evade the Firestorm squadrons to make a close attack run. While the missile launch rails could not be reloaded in-situ, the total firepower was greater than that of two Raven squadrons, considered more than adequate to beat off alien opposition equivalent in capability to a Doc Stone-class patrol ship, or to weaken heavier opposition prior to interception by a Firestorm squadron.

    Project Olympus Proposal B-1     18,750 tons      366 Crew      2,549 BP      TCS 375   TH 1,500   EM 0
    4000 km/s   JR 3-50     Armour 4-62      Shields 0-0      HTK 90     Sensors 5/6/0/0     DCR 12-6     PPV 14.4
    Maint Life 2.49 Years    MSP 1,519   AFR 234%   IFR 3.3%   1YR 340   5YR 5,106   Max Repair 313.3 MSP
    Hangar Deck Capacity 4,800 tons    Magazine 96 / 0   
    Colonel   Control Rating 3   BRG   AUX   FLG   
    Intended Deployment Time: 12 months   Flight Crew Berths 96   Morale Check Required   

    M5 Nimbus Marazuki Device    Max Ship Size 18800 tons   Distance 50k km    Squadron Size 3

    XN-500 Progeny Ion Drive (3)   Power 1500   Fuel Use 35.00%   Signature 500   Explosion 10%
    Fuel Capacity 1,053,000 Litres   Range 28.9 billion km (83 days at full power)

    Missile Launch Rail (8t) (30)    Missile Size: 3.2   Hangar Reload 89 minutes   MF Reload 14 hours
    XN/SPG-28 Missile Guidance System (2)    Range 24.1m km   Resolution 16
    BSM-4 Devastator (30)   Speed: 27,000 km/s   End: 12m    Range: 19.5m km   WH: 4   Size: 3.2

    XN/SPS-29 Grav Pulse Array (1)    GPS 1152    Range 29.5m km   Resolution 16
    XN/SPS-27 Grav Pulse Array (1)    GPS 5400    Range 49.5m km   Resolution 75
    XN/SLQ-20 Passive EM Sensor (1)    Sensitivity 6    Detect Sig Strength 1000:  19.4m km
    XN/SAY-5 Passive Infrared Sensor (1)    Sensitivity 5    Detect Sig Strength 1000:  17.7m km

    Strike Group
    12x Firestorm III Interceptor

The inclusion of 30 Devastator launch rails effectively clinched the deal in favor of the Firestorm-only carrier loadout, particularly since this firepower dwarfed that which the single Raven squadron of the A-1 proposal could put into space at once, thus the B-1 design provided more of both offensive capabilities at once while meeting the cultural imperatives of XCOM leadership. In light of this complete tactical superiority, the potential strategic challenges of actually deploying sufficient Firestorm squadrons to fill out several B-1 carriers were considered surmountable, not least given the fairly long anticipated lead time for the carrier construction program to begin producing finished examples of the class.

Thus, Proposal B-1 for a Firestorm-only carrier class passed a vote of the assembled generals by a ratio of 27 in favor to 12 against, with Marshal Pinto abstaining. It would remain to be seen, on the basis of combat service, whether majority rule would in fact lead to the optimal decision being made.


Let He Who has Eyes to See

The success of the B-1 proposal did not, of course, indicate that the proposed design was by any means a specimen of perfection. Notably, observers on both sides of the debate expressed serious concern about the rather limited sensor capabilities of the class, which would leave it with limited capability to find and fix targets for the strike squadrons, not to mention a severe vulnerability to long-ranged attack. While the latter had been a tertiary concern at most for the original proposal team, which had been focused on designing the class to counter the known alien presence in 65 Hydrae, it was nevertheless valid and the assembled generals quickly agreed that using a high-value capital ship as the primary sensor platform for its own strike force would be a questionable tactic at best.

It was therefore resolved that the hangar space of the B-1 proposal should be modestly expanded to accommodate a small flight of scout craft. Provisionally designated as the Oracle class, these scouts were expected to displace on the order of 200 tons while providing primarily active search capabilities for both general scouting duties and for leading Firestorm squadrons to identified targets. Given this rough specification coupled with the need to minimize R&D time dedicated to developing new, bespoke components for a low-volume class, it will come as no surprise to the reader that the Oracle-class scout would be largely based on the proven Raven-class spaceframe, albeit with heavy modifications.

    Oracle class Scout     200 tons      4 Crew      35.3 BP      TCS 4   TH 30   EM 0
    7502 km/s     Armour 1-3      Shields 0-0      HTK 2     Sensors 1/1/0/0     DCR 0-0     PPV 0
    Maint Life 3.75 Years    MSP 15   AFR 40%   IFR 0.6%   1YR 2   5YR 25   Max Repair 15 MSP
    Major   Control Rating 1   
    Intended Deployment Time: 3 months   Morale Check Required   

    XN-30/B Peregrine Ion Drive (1)   Power 30   Fuel Use 551.14%   Signature 30   Explosion 15%
    Fuel Capacity 19,400 Litres   Range 3.2 billion km (4 days at full power)

    XN/SPS-22 Hydra Search Sensor (1)    GPS 192    Range 12.1m km   Resolution 16
    EM Scanner (1)    Sensitivity 1    Detect Sig Strength 1000:  7.9m km
    Thermal Scanner (1)    Sensitivity 1    Detect Sig Strength 1000:  7.9m km

Readers may note that in addition to the capable active search sensor, which was of course optimized for detecting the 800-ton gravitational signature thought to be typical of the 65 Hydrae aliens, minimal passive detection capabilities were also present enabling the Oracle class to, in principle, serve as a stealth scout in a pinch. It is equally evident from the use of the same boosted engine as in the interceptor classes that this stealth role was clearly secondary and the class was primarily intended to lead Firestorm squadrons in offensive strikes. Less immediately apparent is the fact that the active search sensor, configured as it is to detect such small signatures, lacks the range to adequately support the BSM-4 Devastator missiles. While this latter point was not used as an argument against the A-1 proposal in the discussions detailed above, it was considered by many among XCOM leadership to be a post-facto justification for the decision to focus on the B-1 variant instead, since a Raven squadron would be unable to perform to its full capabilities with such anemic detection range on the supporting scout craft.


Scope Creep; or, Towards a Combination of Arms

While the generals were largely satisfied with the results of these carrier design meetings, two related, if not quite pressing, problems remained to be addressed. First, while the known alien opposition to this point could be generously described as “minimal”, there existed potential and indeed a strong likelihood that larger, more concentrated alien resistance might be encountered during XCOM space operations in the near future. Second, XCOM at this time was possessed of numerous military shipyards which had been built far in advance for just such an eventuality but represented, at present, little more than a drain on resources for no tangible returns. Thus, it would behoove XCOM to find uses for at least some of these idle shipyards which might better position the space defense forces for the eventuality of larger-scale anti-alien operations.

It was not lost on the generals that the carrier program which was about to kick into gear represented a natural basis on which to plan such expansion. As such, while the full scope of XCOM space building programs of the 2050s is beyond the present scope, the reader may find enlightening a brief summary of those planned classes which were conceived largely, if not entirely, to cover for potential weaknesses of large carrier fleets:

Despite the introduction of a small scout doctrine intended to keep the carriers very far away from any enemy which could conceivably deal significant damage, there remained a risk that an enemy - particularly an enemy with ample stealth technology - might outmaneuver the scout and fighter screen to approach the carriers themselves. The most pressing danger in such an event would be a large missile attack launched from beyond the range of the Devastator missiles mounted by the carriers. To meet this threat, the Fury-class escorts would be constructed to augment the carrier fleets. Following long-term XCOM weapons research priorities developed in the mid-2030s, the Fury class would take the form of 10,000-ton midsize vessels, each armed with a quartet of quadruple quick-firing laser turrets for anti-missile point defense.

While the combination of new-build carriers with existing Doc Stone-class patrol ships was envisioned to provide adequate colonial defense coverage for the near future, XCOM leadership did recognize the necessity for fighter deployments to provide colonial defense in the long term, particularly as fighter-based forces were still considered superior to heavier patrol ships for colonial defense. While the Proposal B carrier class would be able to transport both Firestorms and Ravens to any outlying colony without issue, ordnance transport remained an unmet need. This need would eventually be met by the Roswell class of 5,555-ton commercial-build ordnance transports, each capable of transporting 125 Devastator anti-ship missiles to an outlying military base, from which Raven-class interceptors could then be rearmed.

While these ship classes would be clear secondary priorities compared to the objective of getting as many carriers into space as possible in short order, their genesis nevertheless would be rooted in the budding XCOM space carrier program, and these classes would ultimately play significant, if supporting, roles in determining the ultimate success or failure of this bold new initiative.

----

OOC Notes:

Images taken from the XCOM Wiki are resized and rehosted here.

And so we are shocked to discover that this AAR is not, in fact, dead just yet. Indeed, we were shocked to discover this after the previous update, so shocked that our shock has persisted through the present one as well.

It is amazing what taking an overly long break can do for the health of one’s updates. As-planned, an A-1 type of carrier class was originally going to be selected, but this update never got off the ground as I could not generate sufficiently interesting conflict in the design history to justify such a spotlight despite several attempts. Finally, this most recent attempt led me to consider the obvious question - if Firestorms are so important, why bother with the Ravens? Thus, the update.

Lest any reader despair of a lost opportunity for ship chat, rest assured that we will see the full specifications for the Fury and Roswell classes at a later, more appropriate juncture.

Looking forward to how you set up the spoilers and NPRs to be themed within the XCOM universe and how much they will deviate technology wise from what they look like in universe.