Turn 155 Update
Humanity
Colonial Union
The Colonial Union absorbed the Wunderland Association in month 155. In truth, the amalgamation was more of a merger of two equals than anything else, as the Wunderland Association had a larger economy but smaller military than the Colonial Union. This union has created a powerful human colonial state covering the bulk of the old colonial territories of the Coalition and USSR, and beyond.
The Colonial Union has three centers of power, the colony of New Plymouth in Epsilon Eridani, the colony of New Moscow in Sigma Draconis, and the colony of Wunderland in Sligo. The highest population is the colony of New Moscow, with just over 105 million inhabitants, followed closely by Wunderland with 104 million. Currently, the colony of New Plymouth is the capital of the Colonial Union. This decision was made immediately after the destruction of the Coalition and the USSR, and was made primarily because it was in a defensible position, had shipyards, and was not directly threatened by the D’Bringi, as Sigma Draconis was. There is talk within the CU Senate of having the capital rotate between the three systems, now that fortifications have been built in the Sigma Draconis system.
The Colonial Union, now that it has merged with the Wunderland Association, is preparing the way to bring the CES into the Union as well. The CEs government has agreed to this in principle, and a formal offer will be made next month. Beyond that, the CU has been attempting to improve its relationship with the Titov Free State as well as the Tomsk Union, with an eye towards eventual reunification. Currently, reunifying with either seems unlikely, because of treaty obligations relating to the Titov Free State, and as the Tomsk Union has rejected most of the advances made by the CU Senate, and tensions have actually increased over Tomsk assistance to the Tlatelolco. In fact, now that the Wunderland Association has joined the Colonial Union, the Union is re-evaluating its policies towards the alien races it is in contact with at the current time. The Union has a non-Intercourse agreement with the D’Bringi Alliance, and has relations at varying levels with the Bjering, the Tlatelolco, the Tarek (in Sligo), and the D’Bringi refugees in the Tomsk Union. In addition, the Wunderland Association, shortly before the merger, discovered yet another alien race on its frontier. The Governor of Wunderland made the decision to avoid contact with those aliens, in line with the expressed position of the Wunderland Legislature towards contact with alien races.
The Colonial Union is at HT-7, and has made progress towards reaching HT-8. Most of the United Colonial Defense Force is equipped to HT-6 levels. Fleet Command is planning on a refit program to upgrade its capital ships, and its fortresses, in the near future.
Total Income (all sources): 33,266 MCr’s
Total Fleet Strength: 1xBB, 21xBC, 6xCA, 19xDD, 1xDDC, 1xDD(AW), 12xFGS, 4xCT, 2xCT(AW), 20xES, 47xEXS, 73xEXX
Total Fortifications: 3xBS3, 60xBS0
Mothballs: 2xBC, 17xCA, 12xCL, 27xCLA, 4xDD, 1xDD(AW), 14xCT, 3xCT(AW), 37xES, 3xBS3, 4xBS0
Construction: 3xBS3, 120xMinefield, 3xBC, 1xFT4, 1xSD
Consolidated Earth States
The CES is consumed with planning for their eventual incorporation into the Colonial Union. Although the decision to join the CU was not totally voluntary, the bulk of the population is resigned to the merger as necessary for the continued health of Earth, as a way of ensuring the constant flow of emigrants from the planet to keep the population stable and avoid environmental collapse. A minority of the population is actively in favor of the merger, as it will give them access to an interstellar community, and they hope that active involvement in interstellar affairs will allow them to avoid the stagnation that they fear is creeping into the CES. The hard-core isolationists opposed the merger, unsuccessfully, and have now set their sights on influencing the politics of the Colonial Union, as they have had to accept the merger as a done deal.
Total Income (all sources): 6,227 MCr’s
Total Fleet Strength: 3xCA
Total Fortifications: 1xAsteroid Fort, 3xBS0, 6xPDC(Anti-Missile)
Mothballs: 1xPDC(offensive), 1xAsteroid Fort, 6xBS3, 3xBS1, 6xBS0, 1xDD(AW)
Construction: 11xFT6
Note: I have moved the Tomsk Union to the Independents section, as they are more closely aligned with the Bjering.
D’Bringi Alliance
D’Bringi
The D’Bringi clans are celebrating the peaceful incorporation of the Zir Union into the Alliance as an associate member, and with this obstacle cleared they are gearing up for a renewal of the war against the Mintek. Ten months ago, D’Bringi survey units discovered a Mintek colony system on the frontier, but action was delayed while the Alliance’s fleets were rebuilt and fortified. Now, there is great excitement throughout the D’Bringi Expanses as the Clans go to war once again.
The D’Bringi and Rehorish empires are both building battlecruisers to replace their older heavy cruisers, but neither can afford to support both their existing heavy cruiser fleets and their newly built battlecruisers. Therefore, the Alliance Council worked out a deal between the two senior members of the Alliance and the newer races, whereby the Rehorish and the D’Bringi would sell their excess heavy cruisers to the newer races. This plan has been a great success, allowing the newer races to field larger fleets than they would otherwise been able to build on their own in such a short amount of time, and giving the D’Bringi and Rehorish access to additional funds to fuel their building programs.
The D’Bringi B’Regest Clan has eschewed the battlecruiser construction program, instead opting for building strike carriers and carrier-scouts. To prove the utility of their carrier program, the B’Regest have volunteered to have their corvette-carriers escort the exploration fleets, and have replaced several heavy cruiser picket groups throughout the Alliance, allowing forces to be concentrated. The Keepers have adopted a hybrid strategy, with their fleet built around capital missile armed battlecruisers supported by smaller carriers.
Total Income (all sources): 21,991 MCr’s
Total Fleet Strength: 13xBC, 14xCA, 3xCA(AW), 6xCAV, 5xCVS, 2xDDV, 6xCVE, 2xCT, 22xCTV, 7xCT(AW), 50xEX, 423xF0
Fortifications: 6xBS3, 14xBS0, 2xAF(CV), 54xF0
Mothballs: 3xBS3
Construction: 6xBC, 3xCVS, 72xF0
Prefab Assembly: 3xBS0
Rehorish Stellar Dominion
The Rehorish engaged in a large-scale building program to replace their heavy cruisers with battlecruisers. Under normal conditions they would have mothballed the bulk of their heavy cruiser force to balance their maintenance load, but eventually agreed to sell at least some of their heavy cruisers to the junior Alliance members to offset their costs. Their construction program has lately been focused on increasing the number of exploration ships for the survey fleets, a new program to equip the fleet with escort destroyers, and fleet support vessels equipped with pinnaces to probe potentially hostile warp points.
Once peaceful relations were established with the Zir, the Rehorish agreed to the D’Bringi demand to open a new offensive against the Mintek, and have provide the bulk of their home fleet to fill out the Attack Fleet being assembled in the D’Bringi frontier.
The Rehorish government has been wrestling with an uncomfortable truth for some time. The Rehorish consider themselves the senior member of the Alliance, and the most mature and responsible race therein. In particular, they regard the D’Bringi as useful allies, but immature and impulsive. The Rehorish almost consider themselves as a parent, guiding the impulsive D’Bringi and the lessor races through minefields and potential disasters, constantly providing a helping hand and usually being ignored. The Rehorish, of course, know that the D’Bringi resent their superiority, but cannot help their reaction to the situation as they perceive it. Indeed, the Rehorish Dominion has by far the largest economy in the Alliance, and thus they feel they should naturally be considered the senior member. However, this is not the case. In reality, the D’Bringi are considered by most to be the founding member of the Alliance, and the senior member. This is because it was the D’Bringi that discovered not only the Rehorish, but indeed all of the other members in the Alliance as well. It was the D’Bringi that brought the benefits of interstellar society to the member races, and it is to the D’Bringi that most of the races in the Alliance owe their primary loyalty. And so, despite the fact that the Rehorish have the largest economy and most powerful fleet, their economy and fleet is outweighed by the combined economies of the other races, all of which owe their loyalty to the D’Bringi.
This has been a long-standing situation, and for some time the Rehorish government has been attempting to “guide” the more junior races towards a more productive relationship with each other and the Alliance that would not only benefit them, but also would naturally result in the Rehorish being recognized as the natural leaders of the Alliance. This effort has largely backfired. The Rehorish had counted on the natural resentment of the junior races for the D’Bringi and the way they forcibly incorporated them into the Alliance, hoping and believing that the resentment would lead those races to move into the Rehorish sphere of influence and away from the D’Bringi. Not only hasn’t this happened, but instead the exact opposite has happened. Prior to first contact, most of the junior races had peaceful and contemplative governments that had largely stagnated within their own systems. Those governments were swept away by the D’Bringi conquests, which were largely bloodless, beyond their existing military, of course. The D’Bringi never used massed bombardment, or reprisals against civilian targets, and although there surely was some lingering resentment, most of the junior races have come to recognize that the galaxy is a dangerous place, and that by putting together the Alliance the D’Bringi have given them a greater assurance of safety than they would have had on their own.
All of this has led to the current situation. The Rehorish government has resisted D’Bringi attempts to bring their two nations closer together, as they wanted to establish their dominance over the Alliance first, before incorporating the D’Bringi Clans into the Dominion, rather than the other way around. In frustration, the D’Bringi then turned to the T’Pau, granting them access to the large number of type T planets throughout their Expanses that were useless to the D’Bringi. This dramatically increased the T’Pau Syndicate’s economic strength, and deepened their ties to the D’Bringi. In addition, the D’Bringi began a program of assisting R&D efforts of the other races in the Alliance, as a way to improve their respective militaries and thus improve the strength of the Alliance as a whole. In spite of pushing the D’Bringi to be more assistive to the other races in the Alliance, the Rehorish were caught by surprise when the D’Bringi began this program, and this has caused the current debate within the Rehorish government. The D’Bringi have proposed a closer union among the races of the Alliance, and their assistance with R&D for the other races is part of this program. The D’Bringi intend to bring the other races up to their tech level, and then merge them into a greater Alliance, with common militaries and governmental/clan institutions. While the Rehorish currently have the second highest technology level in the Alliance, after the D’Bringi, some of the other races are rapidly approaching the same level, with the T’Pau leading the way. In fact, the other races are improving their technology more rapidly than the Rehorish, because they have access to D’Bringi assistance. If the D’Bringi begin merging the other races into a monolithic Alliance, the Rehorish will become a backwater, left behind. And, if the Rehorish then chose to join the merged races, they will do so at a disadvantage. Therefore, the Rehorish government is debating the wisdom of accepting D’Bringi technical assistance in improving their technology, and then merging with the D’Bringi, even if it is not on the terms that they would like. At least that way the Rehorish would be in at the ground floor, and able to influence anything that happened after that from the inside. The debate continues, and there is a sizeable faction that favors leaving the Alliance completely, however, the situation as it stands is so clearly untenable, and the way forward is so clear, that there is little doubt about the outcome of the debate at this point.
Total Income (all sources): 36,955 MCr’s
Total Fleet Strength: 24xBC, 6xCA, 18xCL, 36xDD, 4xFG(AW), 3xCT, 3xCT(Munition), 79xCTX, 1xCT(pinnace carrier)
Fortifications: 9xBS3, 30xBS1
Mothballs: 9xCA, 18xCL, 15xDD
Construction: 6xDDE, 5xCTX, 5xCT(Pinnace Carrier), 30xCutter, 20xPinnace, 4xPrefab BS1, 120xMinefields
Refit: 5xBS3
T’Pau Syndicate
The T’Pau have prospered within the Alliance, and are considered the right hand of the D’Bringi. The T’Pau have assumed full control over the defenses of their system, and the D’Bringi no longer station ships in the home system to monitor the activities of the T’Pau. Indeed, in one month the T’Pau nation’s first BS3 defense base will be launched, and once it is towed to the warp point that leads to the closed warp point in human territory, the D’Bringi will withdraw their automated weapons control ships and the T’Pau will assume responsibility for the defenses there. The T’Pau currently have six warp point defense bases under construction, and have deployed large numbers of mines and laser buoys to the warp point to bolster the defenses there. The Alliance still does not know if the humans have localized the closed warp point on their territories, as they implied during the peace negotiations, but the Alliance feels strongly that the warp point should be defended, and as it is located in the T’Pau home system, they agree.
In addition to the defense bases, the T’Pau shipyards have been focused on constructing additional survey ships to fill out a second survey fleet. The entire T’Pau fleet has been refitted to HT-6 standards, and new construction on warships has slowed as the fleet has absorbed eight surplus heavy cruisers from the Rehorish and D’Bringi fleets.
Total Income (all sources): 20,795 MCr’s
Total Fleet Strength: 17xCA, 12xCL, 6xCTX, 40xEX
Construction: 6xBS3, 10xEX, 55xMine field, 75xLaser Buoy, 1xCA, 1xMobile Shipyard
Torqual Benignity
The Torqual have recently undergone a governmental change, which was perhaps inevitable given the fact that their former government wasn’t really a government at all, but more a debating society, and their government since their conquest by the D’Bringi was a ramshackle affair put together more to ensure the continuation of public services and the flow of resources more than anything else. A movement that started in the universities under the guidance of well-meaning professors took off, bolstered by young, idealistic students, and rapidly swept the planet, coopting the military and governmental offices, such as they were. Along the way the idealistic proponents of the movement were replaced by harder-edged patriots who changed the movement into a force that was able to take over the entire nation in a matter of months. The new government has reaffirmed its loyalty to the Alliance, and is busy instituting controls on all sorts of public issues that no Torqual government has in the past. The new government would be very familiar to students of Russian history. Many supporters of the old ways have been rounded up and sent to re-education centers, and the new government is in firm control.
Native built Torqual ships are equipped to HT-4 standards, while the imported heavy cruisers are mostly equipped to HT-6 levels.
Total Income (all sources): 12,528 MCr’s
Fleet Strength: 21xCA, 7xCL, 3xCTX, 22xEX
Fortifications: 3xBS2
Construction: 4xFT6, 5xCL
Doraz Contingency
Unlike the Torqual, the Doraz government weathered their conquest and incorporation into the Alliance mostly intact, but then they had a more stable government with stronger institutions than the Torqual, so this isn’t surprising. The Doraz fleet is equipped to HT-5 standards, except for three heavy cruisers, which were purchased from the D’Bringi.
Total Income (all sources):
Fleet Strength: 9xCA, 5xFGX
Fortifications: 3xBS3
Mothballs: 11xDD, 23xCT
Construction: 5xFGX, 16xCutter
Reactivate from Mothballs: 3xDD
Bir Meritocracy
The Bir are currently at Industrial-1 level of technology, and are working diligently on increasing their technology with D’Bringi assistance. The Bir have no off-world populations or installations, as of yet, and are dependent on the D’Bringi for system defense. Currently, because of the renewal of the war against the Mintek, the D’Bringi have withdrawn all ships except for a single heavy cruiser from the system.
The D’Bringi watched the dissolution of the Torqual government, such as it was, with alarm. As the new government has reaffirmed its allegiance to the Alliance the situation is being monitored, but no other action is being taken at this time. Still, the Torqual situation had the potential for spinning out of control, and as a result the D’Bringi are taking a closer look at the results of their invasions on the other member races. While most seem to have weathered the upheavals without too much trouble, the D’Bringi have become concerned about the Bir, as they possessed a government similar to that of the Torqual, mostly in its complete lack of effectiveness. Much like on Torqual Prime, the D’Bringi occupation forces set up an interim government to ensure the continuation of services and the flow of resources. That interim government failed on Torqual Prime, and so the D’Bringi are watching the Bir more carefully. D’Bringi teams have been sent in to help the Bir establish stronger civic institutions, and a more stable government, perhaps modeled on that of the D’Bringi.
Total Income (all sources): 480 MCr’s
Chirq Cooperative
The Chirq are currently at HT-1, and are busily developing the various systems available at that tech level. The Chirq do not yet have off-world populations or infrastructure, but will soon become capable of colonization and orbital construction. Much like the Bir and the Torqual, the Chirq had a government known more for its inability to get anything done more than anything else. That government was swept away in the D’Bringi conquest, and replaced by a loose organization of city-states. In the time since the conquest, the Chirq have fallen back on older institutions, and have elected a hereditary king, and reinstituted an aristocracy, which has rapidly established control of the planet in the name of the Alliance.
Total Income (all sources): 1,370 MCr’s
Zir Contemplative Union
The Zir are truly alien in appearance, and are peaceful and contemplative in nature. The Zir were unsure of the wisdom of joining the Alliance, fearing the obvious warlike nature of the Alliance members, but were persuaded by the information provided by the D’Bringi about the numerous hostile races that inhabited the galaxy. Due to the peaceful nature of the Zir the D’Bringi made no attempt to persuade them to join the current offensive against the Mintek, but are making a concerted effort to get them to join the Blockade force in the Phyriseq system. The Zir are ideologically and philosophically against wars of aggression, and are unlikely to support any Alliance war that they view to be unjustified.
The Zir are HT-5, and have accepted D’Bringi tech assistance to raise their technology level. The D’Bringi were unimpressed with the Zir fleet, which consists of large numbers of destroyers, frigates, and corvettes. Most of these ships seem to be equipped with small numbers of rapid firing missile launchers that would be incapable of overloading almost any ship’s point defense. The Zir seem to be psychologically fixated on fielding large swarms of ships, as examination of their history has revealed, and so the D’Bringi are working on advising the Zir on developing a more coherent swarm philosophy that will make their fleet more effective.
Total Income (all sources): 9,807 MCr’s
Total Fleet Strength: 18xDD, 24xFG, 9xFGX, 41xCT
Fortifications: 6xBS4
Mothballs: 3xBS4, 52xDD, 11xFGX, 77xFG, 89xCT
Construction: 1xCTSX
Independents
Bjering Consolidate
The Bjering Consolidate recently achieved HT-8, and is working on developing the systems available at that level. In particular the Bjering are focusing on fighters and fighter tech, and have begun construction on an escort carrier prototype, which is equipped with holds in place of the fighter bays, which are still being developed. The first unit of the new CVE class will be launched in three months, by which time the Consolidate government hopes that the fighter bays will be available so that the new CVE can be refitted.
The Bjering were disappointed in the reaction of the Bedu Republic to their political overtures, and plan on building defenses at the warp point that links the two nations against the possibility that the Bedu are planning to launch an attack at some point. It will take some time to shift construction resources to the frontier, though, so nothing has been done as of yet.
The Consolidate government has been in talks with the Tomsk Union about creating a multi-racial federation, and the talks have proceeded well. If the talks continue as they have, the two races will formalize the agreement in several months and begin the hard work of joining their two nations together.
Total Income (all sources): 23,462 MCr’s
Total Fleet Strength: 11xBC, 8xDD, 5xDD(AW), 20xCT, 10xCTS
Fortifications: 12xBS4, 6xBS2
Mothballs: 7xBC, 2xCA, 28xDD, 54xCT
Under Construction: 1xCVE, 4xDDSX, 1xCTSX
Reactivate from Mothballs: 4xBC
Assemble from Prefab: 7xBS2
Tomsk Union
The Tomsk Union is absorbed by the talks with the Bjering about the formation of a multi-species federation. There is great excitement throughout the Union for this idea, and its few opponents are politically powerless to oppose the project.
Total Income (all sources): 17,943 MCr’s
Total Fleet Strength: 4xBC, 9xDD, 1xFGS, 2xCT(AW), 25xEX
Fortifications: 3xSSA(battleship sized armed shipyards)
Mothballs: 16xES
Under Construction: 1xSSA, 2xBC
Refit: 1xBC, 1FG, 1xDD
Titov Free State
The Titov Free State is enjoying its new-found access to the systems around it by exploring and colonizing as rapidly as it can. The Free State now consists of four colonies in three systems rated at “small” populations, while the Titov colony itself is consider “medium”.
Total Income (all sources): 7,001 MCr’s
Total Fleet Strength: 4xDD, 14xEX
Fortifications: 3xBS2
Construction: 1xBS2
Refits: 2xDD
Mintek Universal Union
The Mintek are focused on integrating the Alowan Triumvirate into the Union. The Alowan government, which refused to allow the Mintek to introduce their people to the truth, was based on false principles and exploiting their own people, and had to be removed. The Alowan people appear to have accepted this change, although Mintek ground troops are still working to establish complete control of the planet.
The Mintek military will recover from the minor losses suffered during the liberation of the Alowan relatively quickly, as their losses were limited to easily replaceable fighters. However, integrating the lessons learned during the short war with the Alowan government will take longer to effect, and will be ongoing for some time.
Total Income (all sources): 27,115 MCr’s
Fleet Strength: 6xSD, 7xBC, 1xCA, 12xCLX, 6xCVL, 1xCVS, 1xCVE, 13xDD, 4xDD(AW), 72xF0, 6xArmed Pinnace
Fortifications: 6xBS5, 1xAstF, 30xF0, 3xArmed Pinnace
Mothballs: 17xBC, 6xCLX, 39xDD
Construction: 1xAstF, 1xCV, 2xSD, 1xDD(Fighter support ship), 132xF0, 3xArmed Pinnace
Refits: 3xBS5
Captured Ships (damaged): 1xSS(SY), 3xBS5, 7xBC, 11xDD, 7xCT