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[Blood_Librarian]

Revision: Fusion Forge
The Fusion Forge is a relatively massive Materials Foundry with a fusion reactor in the orbit of Ertex. It's notable for its utterly massive radiators, spanning almost three hundred meters in a circular plane around the Forge, that glow with enough thermal energy to be seen from across the system. The Fusion Reactors primary purpose is to the hyperdense metalloid plasma required to create Insulanium, while also powering the particle accelerator that circles the Forge. This massive object requires a logistic system shipping it the raw materials required for the singular purpose of creating Insulanium. The entire system is designed so that retoolability is a feasible project, and if required, can be dedicated to creating certain heavier-then-iron materials in similar amounts of matter as the production of Insulanium(This is a side feature, if required, it can be dropped to make room for its primary purpose.)

[Chiefwaffles]

Revision: Hephaestus - Athena Overseeing
[fluff] Walking into an Athena-controlled Hephaestus plant can be considered creepy by some. The facilities are almost always devoid of human life. Just the sound of machinery and the reactors whirring away as Insulanium is made and packaged to be sent out. Moving machinery can be seen. Only occasionally do human technicians need to visit. [/fluff]

By giving Athena control of the actual process itself, we hope to improve precision. Yes, yes, Athena is a combat pseudo-AI. But the trick here is applying the non-combat-specific stuff elsewhere, and that is the point of this revision. If it was as easy as just downloading Athena onto the Hephaestus plants' computers then we wouldn't have to spend this much effort doing it. By applying Athena's learning capabilities and hyperprecision to the actual process, we hope to increase its "precision" and thus decrease the failure rate. Any extremely minor imperfections that would normally go unnoticed by even the most trained human technicians can be immediately corrected and compensated for in future processes.


This should result in a far greater success rate in our Hephaestus processes. Even if the total number of processes or amount of Insulanium made per process isn't increased, the net amount should go way up, allowing us to use it without sacricifing production capability. Primary goal is to be able to manufacture armored Cuttlefishes without extra SPP.
TL;DR: Give Athena control of the Hephaestus process (the revision is tweaking her so she can apply her learning and whatnot; it already involves shooting at things with lasers!) to allow for instant perfection of and compensation for extremely minor normally unnoticeable imperfections that would normally be unnoticed by humans. Should greatly increase the success rate of individual Hephaestus processes, effectively increasing our output.

Athena's Spear(1): joha4270
Hephaestus - Athena Overseeing (1): Chiefwaffles
Aetna IoS processing planr (1): Andrea

EDIT: Context from Discord:

NUKE9.13 - Today at 9:16 AM
You need to try a lot of times to get one success.

[Blood_Librarian]

Athena's Spear(1): joha4270
Hephaestus - Athena Overseeing (2): Chiefwaffles, Blood Librarian
Aetna IoS processing planr (1): Andrea

[piratejoe]

Athena's Spear(1): joha4270
Hephaestus - Athena Overseeing (3): Chiefwaffles, Blood Librarian, Piratejoe
Aetna IoS processing planr (1): Andrea

[andrea]

@Chiefwaffles Not saying the revision is invalid necessarily, but just to clarify, when I said you need to try a lot of times to get one success, I mean you need to try millions of times per second* to get hundreds of successful fusions. Like, for every atom you shoot at the target atoms, only a few will fuse correctly.

what this means exactly, I am not sure. Even with this description, better laser use should be able to increase production.

[NUKE9.13]

Revision: Hephaestus - Athena Overseeing
[fluff] Walking into an Athena-controlled Hephaestus plant can be considered creepy by some. The facilities are almost always devoid of human life. Just the sound of machinery and the reactors whirring away as Insulanium is made and packaged to be sent out. Moving machinery can be seen. Only occasionally do human technicians need to visit. [/fluff]

By giving Athena control of the actual process itself, we hope to improve precision. Yes, yes, Athena is a combat pseudo-AI. But the trick here is applying the non-combat-specific stuff elsewhere, and that is the point of this revision. If it was as easy as just downloading Athena onto the Hephaestus plants' computers then we wouldn't have to spend this much effort doing it. By applying Athena's learning capabilities and hyperprecision to the actual process, we hope to increase its "precision" and thus decrease the failure rate. Any extremely minor imperfections that would normally go unnoticed by even the most trained human technicians can be immediately corrected and compensated for in future processes.


This should result in a far greater success rate in our Hephaestus processes. Even if the total number of processes or amount of Insulanium made per process isn't increased, the net amount should go way up, allowing us to use it without sacricifing production capability. Primary goal is to be able to manufacture armored Cuttlefishes without extra SPP.
TL;DR: Give Athena control of the Hephaestus process (the revision is tweaking her so she can apply her learning and whatnot; it already involves shooting at things with lasers!) to allow for instant perfection of and compensation for extremely minor normally unnoticeable imperfections that would normally be unnoticed by humans. Should greatly increase the success rate of individual Hephaestus processes, effectively increasing our output.

Hephaestus - Athena Overseeing (Normal): (1+1)=2: Utter Failure
They called us mad. "You can't adapt a fire-control (and evasive action) program to run a heavy-element synthesis plant!", they said. Well, we didn't get where we are today by listening to naysayers.
...
Unfortunately, where we are today is not a great place to be. The Athena learning algorithms just don't work in this situation. We tried feeding it the information in different ways, tried giving different definitions of "success", tried hard-coding an understanding of the system into Athena... nothing worked.
The potential for some really interesting things was there, and we have at least learnt a lot about how learning algorithms work (or don't work, as the case may be). But it was not meant to be.


It is now the Tactics Phase of SY102.

Spoiler: Tech List (click to show/hide)

Ships
ITC (Interplanetary Transport Craft): The ships that carried colonists to your homeworld, now repurposed as military transports. They use rocket shuttles to ferry things to and from the surface. These shuttles have a limited capacity, meaning that with the exception of troops, the ITC cannot carry any equipment of a size greater than 1TC. It has 4TC. It uses chemical engines for propulsion. It has no armour or armaments. It is Very Slow, and quite large.
Cost: 2SPP

ESC-FS 1 'Cuttlefish' laser corvette: A medium-sized spaceship. The Cuttlefish's hull vaguely resembles its namesake. The 'beak' is a "Hermes" variable-water-injected fusion thruster, which draws plasma from the Helios-S reactor. It has very light armour, and has three AX4-Spear turrets, which are automatically aimed by the Athena RL System, which also handles evasive manoeuvres. The more ships in the fleet, the better Athena performs, due to her distributed computing. Its speed is Moderate, though it can inject extra water into the thruster for a temporary speed boost.
Cost: 2SPP
  Island-Alloy Armour: A few plates of Island-Alloy, formed into a basic armour covering for the Cuttlefish. Despite being thin, they increase survivability by as much as 100%.
  Cost: +1SPP


Equipment
Printed Pistol: Issued to security guards before the war, the only real weapon both colonies started with. They are 3D-printed out of plastic, a process which is not entirely reliable, meaning the gun has a tendency to break after prolonged use... or any use, really.
Cost: Cheap

X100 Space Suit: A civilian space suit, totally unarmoured and cumbersome to walk in. At least it works well enough, and has a self-sealing lining meaning a single shot isn't an immediate death sentence... most of the time. Necessary for deployment to worlds without breathable atmospheres.
Cost: Cheap
  X100-I: Literally just a few plates of Island-Alloy bolted onto the outside of an X100.
  Cost: 2GPP

EAF-X1 "Ranger" Laser Rifle: A big, bulky firearm, weighing in at 15kg- just barely wieldable whilst standing. Works best against stationary targets. Can fire 30 shots in pulse mode before reloading, or 15 seconds in beam mode. Beam mode has pretty good armour penetration against conventional armour. Comes with basic scope and bipod. With the scope it is accurate at Long range.
Cost: Cheap
  EAF-PX3 Raider: A variant of the Ranger, using the new Picasso Pattern. Weighs a 'mere' 7.5kg. Fires shorter pulses, and deals more damage against moving targets. Does not have a beam mode.

Interplanetary Radio: Essentially just a very big radio set, capable of reliable communication between planets. Too big to fit on an ITC. Currently only useful for taunting Quillus.
Cost: 2GPP
Weight: 2TC


Infrastructure
Colony Defence Grid: The reason you can't instantly invade the enemy homeworld. A series of surface-to-orbit missile launchers, the only real concession to self defence the planners of the colony made. How they work is a mystery, and no one wants to risk taking them apart to find out.

"Helios" Fusion Reactor: A large, Tokamak style reactor. Performs He3-He3 fusion, though it does not take full advantage of this. Provides 2SPP and 2GPP.
  Helios-S: A variety specifically designed for use in spaceships. A 'twisted' plasma flow allows for plasma to be siphoned off without disrupting the reaction.


Misc Tech
Nanoquantum Capacitor Cells, Escher Pattern Mk2: AKA NQ Cells. About 15 times better than chemical batteries. Palm-sized, weigh about a kilo each. Despite their apparent complexity, manufacture and usage is simple.

Libum-265K: A near-room temperature superconductor. Manufacture is complicated.

Hephaestus Synthesis: A complicated process that produces small amounts of Insulanium- an isotope of a certain element that resides in the "Island of Stability"; it is very heavy, yet relatively stable. Produced in too small amounts to make anything practical out of it, it is instead alloyed with more common metals, which substantially increases their strength even with only 0.25% Insulanium added.

Spoiler: Observed enemy tech (click to show/hide)

Ships
ITC (Interplanetary Transport Craft): No differences noticed.

QS-CA-99 'Odin': A heavily armoured medium-sized spaceship. Her hull is all slope, the front being a point, from which slopes lead up to the widest point, then slopes lead down at the same angle, before being cut off, leaving a large flat area in the back, where the main thrusters are. Aforementioned main thrusters are three Apollos. She has five smaller thrusters mounted pointing in other directions, providing excellent manoeuvrability. Her powerplant is a Stardust reactor. She is armed with four Mjolnir turrets providing excellent coverage, and a single spinal-mount extra-long Mjolnir. Her armour consists of a layer of Heavy titanium with faraday insulation, with a layer of Light ceramics mounted a full three meters away from the main hull. Despite her bulk, she moves at a Moderate pace.
Cost: 3SPP

QS-SF-00 'Loki': A small-ish fighter, capable of independent operation for a few days before needing to resupply. A substantially downsized Stardust reactor provides power to the Apollo thrusters, as well as the singular Mjolnir coilgun. Has light armour, and a radio capable of same-orbit communication. Requires a transport to act as 'mothership'- two Lokis take up 1TC
Cost: 1SPP for two.

Equipment
Printed Pistol: No differences noticed.

X100 Space Suit: No differences noticed.

Interplanetary Radio: No differences noticed.

QS-IRW-99 'Hayk': The Hayk is a micromissile-firing rifle. It is magazine fed, has a reasonable rate of fire, and is accurate at a surprising distance- theoretically out to Long range, although few are capable of such superhuman feats. There is an ammo variant which explodes on contact, though it is less accurate and in shorter supply.
Cost: Cheap


Infrastructure

Colony Defence Grid: No differences noticed.

QS-CPP-96 'Stardust': A fusion reactor. Utilises powerful niobium-tin superconductors, cooled by liquid helium, to contain plasma in a Tokamak-style. Two sizes have been observed, a medium-sized reactor seen in the Odin, and a smaller one which is 3m*3m*2m seen in the Loki.


Loose Parts
QS-MAC-97 'Mjolnir': A coilgun (and definitely not a railgun) capable of firing 150mm slugs at considerable speeds. Requires a substantial power supply. Ground installations cost 1GPP for four. Ship mountings cost 1SPP for  eight.

QS-MHD-98 'Apollo': A magneto-plasma-dynamic thruster of exceptional efficiency. Uses hydrogen plasma by default; heavier elements can be injected into the mix for a boost in thrust.

Spoiler: Production (click to show/hide)

Ship Production Points: 16+2
  6 Points: 3xITC
  12 Points: 6xCuttlefish

Ground Production Points: 16+2
  18 points: Unassigned
 
Units: 5
  2 Units on planet A (no extra equipment)
  2 Units on planet D (no extra equipment)
  1 Unit on planet E (no extra equipment)

Spoiler: The Map (click to show/hide)

Don't even worry about this looking nothing like a solar system. Its, uh, optimal transfers or something. Look, it's dumb, but what do you want from me?

Key:
A: A volcanic world. Constant eruptions and earthquakes result in a thoroughly unpleasant environment. 4SPP, 2GPP
B&F: Rocky worlds. (Almost) no atmosphere, no major tectonic activity, these planets are... boring. The most notable terrain features are the craters that litter the surface. 2SPP, 2GPP
C: An ocean world. Covered in 94% water, with a breathable atmosphere, and a few inhabitable islands. Prepare for lots of island-hopping. 2SPP, 4GPP
D: An earthlike world. Covered in 69% water, with a breathable atmosphere, most of the surface being inhabitable. Terrain varies wildly, from open plains to thick jungles- and of course vast seas. 5SPP, 5GPP
E: A frozen world. Almost entirely covered in ice, with an atmosphere too thin to breathe. Ice sheets make for treacherous terrain, with snow-covered mountains being not much better. 2SPP, 4GPP
G: A desert world. With a few salty 'seas' covering a mere 12% of the surface, the majority of this planet is dry as a bone. Vast sandscapes dominate, punctured by low, rocky hills, and the ocassional oasis. The atmosphere is breathable. 2SPP, 4GPP.
Ertex&Quillus: Earthlike worlds. Capturing the enemy homeworld results in victory. Yield no Production Points. I mean, they do, but those are already accounted for in your basic industry.

[Chiefwaffles]

Plan: Operation Blockade
Produce:
2x ITC (4 SPP)
1x Cuttlefish (2 SPP)
4x Armored Cuttlefish (12 SPP)
18 SPP Total

4x X100-I (8 GPP)

Deployments
1st Expeditionary Fleet
4x Armored Cuttlefish to D
1x Cuttlefish to D
1x ITC [2x X100-I] to D
1st Logistics Fleet
1x ITC [2x X100-I] to A

 
Extras
The 1st Expeditionary is to commence a blockade of D. Preventing enemy ITCs from unloading cargo to planetside troops is the highest priority.

Operation Blockade (1): Chiefwaffles

[andrea]

Operation Blockade (2): Chiefwaffles, Andrea

I would prefer not sending out both ITC, in case we have some ground stuff we need to deploy next turn. Or, we may want to send an ITC to the planet we are fully conquering this turn, although until we design ground defenses a garrison is very much needed.
But since I have no time to write or argue for a proposal now, I will vote this. The proposed deployment of fleet is the only that I feel makes sense, and I support the decision of armoring as many cuttlefishes as possible.

[joha4270]

Operation Blockade (3): Chiefwaffles, Andrea

[3_14159]

Operation Blockade (4): Chiefwaffles, Andrea, joha4270, 3_14159

[Detoxicated]

Manta Flatship frigate
The manta is a flat space ship which has many laser guns on top of its roof. There is 40 laser turrets but there is still place for more weapons. There is three reactor cores running the weapons system. Its hull is of our best armour materials and it also has the latest targetting systems installed..
It also has three reactors to move the ship. The outer two reactors can be rotated to add speed but are usually used to steer whilst the middle reactors only works to push the manta forward.

Hydra Laser turret
This turret has one reactor that powers five independent lasers that draw power from the reactor. It has a built in targetting system. It can be manned or set on remote or on automode. This turret can be installed on ground as well as on ships.

[NUKE9.13]

It is the start of SY103
Link to Battle Report for SY102

[Note to self: remember to replace this with start-of-year spiel]

It is now the Design Phase of SY103

Spoiler: Tech List (click to show/hide)

Ships
ITC (Interplanetary Transport Craft): The ships that carried colonists to your homeworld, now repurposed as military transports. They use rocket shuttles to ferry things to and from the surface. These shuttles have a limited capacity, meaning that with the exception of troops, the ITC cannot carry any equipment of a size greater than 1TC. It has 4TC. It uses chemical engines for propulsion. It has no armour or armaments. It is Very Slow, and quite large.
Cost: 2SPP

ESC-FS 1 'Cuttlefish' laser corvette: A medium-sized spaceship. The Cuttlefish's hull vaguely resembles its namesake. The 'beak' is a "Hermes" variable-water-injected fusion thruster, which draws plasma from the Helios-S reactor. It has very light armour, and has three AX4-Spear turrets, which are automatically aimed by the Athena RL System, which also handles evasive manoeuvres. The more ships in the fleet, the better Athena performs, due to her distributed computing. Its speed is Moderate, though it can inject extra water into the thruster for a temporary speed boost.
Cost: 2SPP
  Island-Alloy Armour: A few plates of Island-Alloy, formed into a basic armour covering for the Cuttlefish. Despite being thin, they increase survivability by as much as 100%.
  Cost: +1SPP


Equipment
Printed Pistol: Issued to security guards before the war, the only real weapon both colonies started with. They are 3D-printed out of plastic, a process which is not entirely reliable, meaning the gun has a tendency to break after prolonged use... or any use, really.
Cost: Cheap

X100 Space Suit: A civilian space suit, totally unarmoured and cumbersome to walk in. At least it works well enough, and has a self-sealing lining meaning a single shot isn't an immediate death sentence... most of the time. Necessary for deployment to worlds without breathable atmospheres.
Cost: Cheap
  X100-I: Literally just a few plates of Island-Alloy bolted onto the outside of an X100.
  Cost: 2GPP

EAF-X1 "Ranger" Laser Rifle: A big, bulky firearm, weighing in at 15kg- just barely wieldable whilst standing. Works best against stationary targets. Can fire 30 shots in pulse mode before reloading, or 15 seconds in beam mode. Beam mode has pretty good armour penetration against conventional armour. Comes with basic scope and bipod. With the scope it is accurate at Long range.
Cost: Cheap
  EAF-PX3 Raider: A variant of the Ranger, using the new Picasso Pattern. Weighs a 'mere' 7.5kg. Fires shorter pulses, and deals more damage against moving targets. Does not have a beam mode.

Interplanetary Radio: Essentially just a very big radio set, capable of reliable communication between planets. Too big to fit on an ITC. Currently only useful for taunting Quillus.
Cost: 2GPP
Weight: 2TC


Infrastructure
Colony Defence Grid: The reason you can't instantly invade the enemy homeworld. A series of surface-to-orbit missile launchers, the only real concession to self defence the planners of the colony made. How they work is a mystery, and no one wants to risk taking them apart to find out.

"Helios" Fusion Reactor: A large, Tokamak style reactor. Performs He3-He3 fusion, though it does not take full advantage of this. Provides 2SPP and 2GPP.
  Helios-S: A variety specifically designed for use in spaceships. A 'twisted' plasma flow allows for plasma to be siphoned off without disrupting the reaction.


Misc Tech
Nanoquantum Capacitor Cells, Escher Pattern Mk2: AKA NQ Cells. About 15 times better than chemical batteries. Palm-sized, weigh about a kilo each. Despite their apparent complexity, manufacture and usage is simple.

Libum-265K: A near-room temperature superconductor. Manufacture is complicated.

Hephaestus Synthesis: A complicated process that produces small amounts of Insulanium- an isotope of a certain element that resides in the "Island of Stability"; it is very heavy, yet relatively stable. Produced in too small amounts to make anything practical out of it, it is instead alloyed with more common metals, which substantially increases their strength even with only 0.25% Insulanium added.

Spoiler: Observed enemy tech (click to show/hide)

Ships
ITC (Interplanetary Transport Craft): New shuttle spotted:
  QS-RAS-00 'Dove': A heavier shuttle for the ITC, powered by a Loki-class Stardust reactor and fitted with Apollo thrusters. It has light armour and two 30mm Hayks. Can carry 3TC. Adds 1SPP to the cost of an ITC.

QS-CA-99 'Odin': A heavily armoured medium-sized spaceship. Her hull is all slope, the front being a point, from which slopes lead up to the widest point, then slopes lead down at the same angle, before being cut off, leaving a large flat area in the back, where the main thrusters are. Aforementioned main thrusters are three Apollos. She has five smaller thrusters mounted pointing in other directions, providing excellent manoeuvrability. Her powerplant is a Stardust reactor. She is armed with four Mjolnir turrets providing excellent coverage, and a single spinal-mount extra-long Mjolnir. Her armour consists of a layer of Heavy titanium with faraday insulation, with a layer of Light ceramics mounted a full three meters away from the main hull. Despite her bulk, she moves at a Moderate pace.
Cost: 3SPP

QS-SF-00 'Loki': A small-ish fighter, capable of independent operation for a few days before needing to resupply. A substantially downsized Stardust reactor provides power to the Apollo thrusters, as well as the singular Mjolnir coilgun. Has light armour, and a radio capable of same-orbit communication. Requires a transport to act as 'mothership'- two Lokis take up 1TC
Cost: 1SPP for two.

Equipment
Printed Pistol: No differences noticed.

X100 Space Suit: No differences noticed.

Interplanetary Radio: No differences noticed.

QS-IRW-99 'Hayk': The Hayk is a micromissile-firing rifle. It is magazine fed, has a reasonable rate of fire, and is accurate at a surprising distance- theoretically out to Long range, although few are capable of such superhuman feats. There is an ammo variant which explodes on contact, though it is less accurate and in shorter supply.
Cost: Cheap

QS-GL-02 'Fog Machine': The Fog Machine is a simple grenade launcher, basically nothing more than an oversized Hayk with a shortened barrel. It fires either smoke/chaff or explosives. Range/accuracy is a bit of an issue.
Cost: Cheap


Vehicles
QS-MBT-02 'Hrungnir': The Hrungnir is a big tank, with fairly heavy armour in the form of a layer of ceramics atop a layer of titanium (all sloped). It is powered by a Stardust reactor, basically the same one used by the Loki. The energy is used to drive electric motors which in turn drive the treads upon which the Hrungnir sits. It is equipped with a 50mm stabilized auto-loading Mjolnir coilgun, the barrel of which can also be used to fire upsized explosive Hayk rockets. It has an electronics package that handles fire control and sensors. It also has smoke/chaff dispensers, which automatically cloud the vehicle in smoke/chaff (for atmosphereless planets) when sensors detect unusual heating.
Cost: 4GPP
Weight: 3TC


Infrastructure

Colony Defence Grid: No differences noticed.

QS-CPP-96 'Stardust': A fusion reactor, copies of which can be found across Quillus, powering industry. Utilises powerful niobium-tin superconductors, cooled by liquid helium, to contain plasma in a Tokamak-style. The "Brokkr's Forge" improvements have made it slightly more effective, to the point where it reaches ignition. Grants 2GPP and 2SPP. A smaller version designed for use in spaceships also exists.


Loose Parts
QS-MAC-97 'Mjolnir': A coilgun (and definitely not a railgun) capable of firing 150mm slugs at considerable speeds. Requires a substantial power supply. Ground installations cost 1GPP for four. Ship mountings cost 1SPP for eight.

QS-MHD-98 'Apollo': A magneto-plasma-dynamic thruster of exceptional efficiency. Uses hydrogen plasma by default; heavier elements can be injected into the mix for a boost in thrust.

Spoiler: Production (click to show/hide)

Ship Production Points: 16+2+2(E)
  4 Points: 2xITC
  2 Points: 1xCuttlefish (Destroyed)
  12 Points: 1xArmoured Cuttlefish (Destroyed), 3xArmoured Cuttlefish (Damaged)
  2 Points: -

Ground Production Points: 16+2+4(E)
  4 Points: 4xX100-I
  18 Points: -
 
Units: 5
  2 Units on planet A (X100-I)
  2 Units on planet D (X100-I)
  1 Unit on planet E (no extra equipment)

Spoiler: The Map (click to show/hide)

Don't even worry about this looking nothing like a solar system. Its, uh, optimal transfers or something. Look, it's dumb, but what do you want from me?

Key:
A: A volcanic world. Constant eruptions and earthquakes result in a thoroughly unpleasant environment. 4SPP, 2GPP
  E:1/6, Q:1/6
B: Rocky world. (Almost) no atmosphere, no major tectonic activity, this planets is... boring. The most notable terrain features are the craters that litter the surface. 2SPP, 2GPP
C: An ocean world. Covered in 94% water, with a breathable atmosphere, and a few inhabitable islands. Prepare for lots of island-hopping. 2SPP, 4GPP
  Q:6/6
D: An earthlike world. Covered in 69% water, with a breathable atmosphere, most of the surface being inhabitable. Terrain varies wildly, from open plains to thick jungles- and of course vast seas. 5SPP, 5GPP
  E:4/6, Q:0/6
E: A frozen world. Almost entirely covered in ice, with an atmosphere too thin to breathe. Ice sheets make for treacherous terrain, with snow-covered mountains being not much better. 2SPP, 4GPP
  E:6/6
F: Rocky world. (Almost) no atmosphere, no major tectonic activity, this planets is... boring. The most notable terrain features are the craters that litter the surface. 2SPP, 2GPP
  Q:4/6
G: A desert world. With a few salty 'seas' covering a mere 12% of the surface, the majority of this planet is dry as a bone. Vast sandscapes dominate, punctured by low, rocky hills, and the ocassional oasis. The atmosphere is breathable. 2SPP, 4GPP.
Ertex&Quillus: Earthlike worlds. Capturing the enemy homeworld results in victory. Yield no Production Points. I mean, they do, but those are already accounted for in your basic industry.

[andrea]

I am not sure yet, but I was thinking of trying a vehicle to support our ground troopers. Furthermore, it would be helpful if it could be dropped without upgrading shuttles, so that we can use the revision for something else. So, I shall try.

EAC-F1 harpy strike craft

This is a flying craft, sustained in flight by several large electric ducted fans (I guess it is not really a turbofan if you don't need the turbine to get power?) capable of pivoting independently, giving good speed , agility and VTOL capability. The power for this propulsion system is given by a scaled down version of our fusion reactor, which occupies most of the body of the aircraft. Much of the rest is allocated to the Spear laser cannon, borrowed from the cuttlefish and adapted to optical wavelengths. This doesn't leave much space for pilots, but not to worry: while Athena can't run industry(yet), it certainly can pilot a craft and shoot lasers accurately, especially if able to communicate with ground installations. To better deal with the possibility of enemy action, it also features an insulanium armor. A pair of hardpoints are available to mount future equipment, although none is available yet.
Thought was given to orbital insertion. It is too big to fit on shuttles, so when it comes out of the factory it is given a disposable heat shield. After the worst of re-entry has passed, the heat shield separates and the electric fans take over in slowing down. This means we can't get it back yet, but it is a very simple way to deal with the problem.

[3_14159]

Akontia Tactical Missile System

At its core, the Akontia is an extremely simple system. It consists of an infantry-portable missile with either a shaped-charge or a high-explosive fragmenting warhead, a chemical rocket propulsion system, and a micro-Athena node (which mostly serves to receive target updates from an existing Athena net). Guidance is achieved through a multi-purpose sensor cone, containing a visible- and infrared camera and a tiny radar node. This system can be handed out (in a sealed, single-shot package) to our soldiers.

For long-range deployment, the missile can be mated to the Toxa boost stage, which adds the missile's weight in pure propulsion to it. This way, the Akontia can be effectively used as either artillery (with smart target-acquisition capability) or against planes.

The idea is that it (a) gives our infantry anti-armour firepower, (b) gives us anti-air firepower, (c) gives us longer-ranged weaponry, and (d) gives us missile experience.

[Detoxicated]

Manta Flatship Frigate (1): Detoxicated