1970 Situation ReportThe Confederacy make headlines in technology magazines around the world with the introduction of reliable (though expensive) solar power. The new film delivery system for the USAA's spy satellite turns the heads of the intelligence community when its made public this year, though the plebs focus on the dozens of casualties incurred during testing, all of which were classified hilariously as "trampoline accidents." On the low profile side of current affairs, military analysts pay little heed to the USSA's newly developed anti-radiation missile because of its inadequate range, and veteran Amerikan aviators laugh at the Confederacy's attempt to overload their lightweight rocket fighter.
Weapons and Equipment:
- Type 500 MRAAM: A mid-range air-to-air missile. Uses IR to lock onto its target. High speed, low maneuverability. [1 Chemical, 1 Ore, Inexpensive]
- Type 400 Autocannon: A six-barreled rotary autocannon used on jet fighters. Reliable and cheap. [2 Ores, Inexpensive]
- Type 12 Automatic Machine Pistol: A machine pistol with a 30 round box magazine, commonly worn by veteran fighter pilots but spurned by the younger generation. Famous for its room-clearing ability, its bulk and inaccuracy are overshadowed by its impressive rate of fire. [1 Ore, Inexpensive]
- Type 600 ARM: The weapon is bulky because of the radar-detecting system included in the body of the missile, which also reduces its range very badly. Pilots are very apprehensive about using it because of how low they'll need to fly in order to deploy it. The Type 20 Interceptor has to be modified with a central mount in order to carry this missile, because it weighs just as much as two MRAAMS. The missile is far too slow to be used in air-to-air engagements, and only anti-ground warheads are developed for it. [1 Chemical, 1 Ore, Inexpensive]
Technology:
- Metric system. Meters, kilograms, liters.
- Firearms
- Alloys
- Jet engine
- Rocket engine
- Chemical monopropellant
- Automated Guidance Navigation and Control (GNC)
- Analogue computers
- Radar
Cosmonauts and Pilots:
- Quantity Amerikan Products: Amerikans are known for their highly competent workforce and perfectly legal mass-production techniques and policies, thanks to the deposing of inefficient capitalism. A lack of worker unions means that occasionally the Amerikans earn a special revision credit that they can use, but only to reduce the expense of a design. The credit is still subject to the normal rolls. You do not have to use all credits if you do not wish to.
- Type 111 Flight Sleeve: A skintight suit that places mechanical pressure on key points of the wearer's body to prevent blood pooling, and also assist in breathing. This allows cosmonauts and aircraft pilots to fly at high altitudes, and withstand g-forces that would normally cause a man to pass out. Grabs one rather uncomfortably in the crotch. Comes with accessories for use in space. [2 Chemicals, Expensive]
Vehicles:
- Type 20 High Altitude Interceptor: A sturdy jet that can fly comfortably in the stratosphere. Very fast, but has been known to disintegrate when flying near top speed—even in the low drag situations it normally finds itself in—and pilots are discouraged from opening up the throttle. Can only carry a light payload of two Falcon MRAAMs and a 30mm autocannon with 5 seconds of gun time. Has short-range onboard radar. [2 Ores, 2 Chemicals, Expensive]
- Type 3000 3-Stage Rocket: A powerful, solid fuel booster [big] rocket used to push payload up into LEO. There have been scattered incidences of accidental explosions on the launchpad during the handling of propellant, not always resulting in the complete destruction of the rocket. Experts say that the sensitivity of the propellant used is leading to these accidents. [3 Ores, 3 Chemicals, Very Expensive]
- Type B Military Satellite: A prototype satellite mounted with high-power photographing technology for capturing detailed images of enemy territory. Equipped with a special reentry vehicle armed with a parachute for getting film safely to the ground. Anticipated problems with retrieving the canisters continue to delay the project's deployment to outer space. [1 Ore, 1 Chemical, Inexpensive]
- Type Z, Model A Manned Capsule: A large capsule that can hold up to 6 cosmonauts, but limits are stretched on long journeys when filled with the maximum number of occupants. The capsule has a modular interior for easy modification. This version is cheap, with only basic life support and propulsion systems, and powered by batteries.
Resources:
1 Research facility. You may initiate 1 new project each year.
3 Ores
3 Chemicals
Weapons:
- Crowmurder SAM: A long-range surface to air missile. Average speed, carries a lot of fuel. Uses semi-active radar homing to track its target by communicating with the radar station on the ground illuminating its target. [1 Ore, 2 Chemicals, Inexpensive]
- Needle "10 Second Mile" SRAAM: A short-range air to air missile that uses semi-active radar homing. Requires the firer to keep illuminating the target until the missile connects. Is extremely deadly when conditions are met due to the sheer speed and maneuverability of the missile. [1 Ore, 1 Chemical, Inexpensive]
- Belle Semiautomatic Handgun: A 9mm handgun worn as a sidearm by Confederate military personnel on Earth. It's angular shape is considered stylish by many users. [1 Ore, Inexpensive]
Technology:
- Metric system. Meters, kilograms, liters.
- Firearms
- Alloys
- Chemical monopropellant
- Rocket engine
- Jet engine
- Automated Guidance Navigation and Control (GNC)
- Analogue computers
- Radar
- SARH missiles
- Solar Panels
Astronauts and Pilots:
- Post-Graduates: Confed astronauts and pilots have more rigorous standards of education for entry into their program and as such have a small chance to improvise clever solutions to bugs with their equipment. The bigger the bug, the worse their chance of fixing it. Because of the low number of volunteers who are talented enough to pass candidacy, the Confed can sometimes suffer from shortages of manpower if they take many casualties in a single year.
- Ackerson Full-Pressure Suit: A dull green, soft-skinned suit that keeps the wearer at the proper ambient pressure in order to facilitate breathing at high altitudes. Has an anti-G undergarment for combating loss of consciousness during demanding maneuvers. [2 Chemicals, Inexpensive]
Vehicles:
- Valiance 2-Stage Rocket: A smallish liquid fuel booster rocket, for launching small payloads into LEO. [2 Ores, 3 Chemicals, Very Expensive]
- Z-1 Rocket Fighter: Extreme altitude fighter, built for intercepting rockets as they take off. Has an unfortunately small payload of a single Needle SRAAM. [2 Ores, 2 Chemicals, Expensive]
- Atakon Independent Flight Module: A basic capsule capable of reentry that can hold up to 4 astronauts; contains essential life support and propulsion systems. Powered by batteries. The Confederacy often employ single man teams for non-military missions to save on manpower, relying on advanced training and equipment to keep astronauts safe.
Resources:
1 Research facility. You may initiate 1 new project each year.
2 Ore
2 Chemicals
In the East Upper Atmosphere, Type 20s sent on scouting and anti-rocket missions are downed time after time. Type 20 pilots are always warned in advance by their radar system, which sounds an alarm when the aircraft is being painted by enemy ground radars, but Crowmurder SAMs are so effective at tracking and destroying them that it doesn't matter. Commanders aggressively employ the Type 600 ARM, but Type 20s are consistently downed by ground fire when trying to deploy it. Later in the year, a desperate group commander removes throttle locks on his group's Type 20 aircraft against orders, hoping his men could outrun missiles—missiles they couldn't beat by climbing or diving—if they practiced careful throttle management. The commander doesn't survive to be issued a court martial when his four-plane squadron runs into a nest of SAMs the same day he issued the order to remove the locks, and all aircraft are lost when pilots attempt to accelerate to their aircraft's theoretical top speed. In their rare face-offs on this front, Type 20s are unable to use the superior range of their missiles at the opening of fights, as the MRAAM IR warheads are only capable of locking onto hot exhaust ports. As such, Z-1s are often allowed to fire their missiles first, which gain a reputation for their deadly accuracy. However, if even a single Type 20 survives the initial volley, the flight of Z-1s are doomed to be picked off one by one by MRAAMs and autocannon fire. As such, Z-1 pilots quickly learn to fire their missiles and climb away, where Type 20s can't reach them. In spite of the disintegration problem they're still much faster than most jets, and entire wings of Type 20s are taken down by Z-1s taking advantage of their superior climbing ability to ambush them from above. Plane VS plane engagements on this front are in favor of Z-1s. (USAA is being shut out 0/5; Confederacy has full control of the area 5/5)
Z-1s harass flights of Type 20s with impunity in the West Upper Atmosphere due to inadequate anti-air defenses, but with only air-to-air missiles, and small payloads of them at that, they can't do much else. Z-1s scout USAA cosmodromes and make attempts on rockets in the air throughout the year. (Un)fortunately none of them are successful, as even though Z-1s can time their approach such that they intercept the rocket at the appropriate range in order to launch their SRAAMs, they don't have the power or vertical maneuverability to track the rocket long enough to hold the lock until impact. (USAA controls most of the area 4/5; Confederacy is making frequent incursions 1/5)
In East LEO, cosmonaut missions sabotage Confederate communications satellites with impunity. There aren't enough astronauts to defend them all, and there's no way to destroy enemy capsules in flight. The Confederacy still maintain a presence in the area due to its sheer size, and the inability of cosmonauts to engage astronaut capsules. (USAA controls most of the area 2/3; Confederacy are holding their ground 1/3)
In West LEO, the few Confederate astronauts occasionally de-orbit USAA communications and spy satellites. Cosmonauts only intercept a team of astronauts on one occasion, managing to frighten them away from a valuable comsat with the threat of their presence. (USAA controls most of the area 2/3; Confederacy is making frequent incursions 1/3)
Two capsules belonging to both sides arrive at the Moon this year. The USAA use their payload advantage to support a six man crew, where the Confederate capsule only has a three man crew. The two vessels burn towards the Moon, unable to attack one another in flight, and land on the lunar surface within sight of one another. The cosmonauts spend more than a half an hour dismounting from their command module due to their numbers, and are attacked by the Confederate astronauts who had already regrouped and taken cover around their command module. Gunfire is exchanged over the course of an hour. The machine pistols are difficult to control in zero gravity as they only have an automatic fire setting, and the Confederates, though they have more problems dealing with recoil than they would on Earth, eventually manage to pick off every last cosmonaut without taking a single casualty. The astronauts transmit a message of triumph to ground control and plant the Confederate flag on the Moon, destroying the USAA one that was there before. (USAA is being shut out 0/4; Confederacy controls the entire area 4/4)CONTROL OVERVIEW ([USAA CP]-[Confed CP])East Upper Atmosphere (0-5): 1 Chemical, 1 Ore
West Upper Atmosphere (4-1): 1 Chemical, 1 Ore
East LEO (2-1): 3 Chemicals (1 resource/CP)
West LEO (2-1): 3 Ore (1 resource/CP)
Moon (0-0): 2 Ore (1 resource/2 CPs)
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Topic: Stellar Arms Race OOC (Read 13467 times)