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[Girlinhat]

Also for the record, I -think- I left a few scientists working with 0 labs.  While this seems odd, it actually counts as research time as they piddle their thumbs, so they have a chance of being promoted (more labs) or improving their ranking (high specialization) so any promising scientists that you can quite use, like a 20% DF specialist, assign them to a project and remove all the labs, and they may gain levels, because you'll need that defensive research later.

I actually produced more fighters during my term, as the people were upset at the lack of protection and the fighters are cheap and effective protection ranking.  Not actually useful, but a good stop-gap.  If someone would make a good meson or missile PDC that would provide quite a bit of defense.

[Bremen]

Are we moving on to the backup list now?

[Bremen]

(I'm assuming "yes")

January 2050
Today is the first day in a glorious new administration for humankind! And like all new administrations, it must begin with a little cleanup and re-organization.

First, I feel something must be done about these protests on Mars. "Not enough protection", they say. Who do they think is going to attack them, evil space aliens? Oh well, I'll build a few more fighters. Fighters are cheap and protestors are annoying.
This brings us to the second need, our fighters. We've got a large number of them lying around for some reason. Well, I suppose we can use them to make sure no private ship owners get any ideas about going pirate, so they're not completely useless. Unfortunately reports indicate that they're rusting out in the rain, so I order construction of a hangar base for them. Fewer maintenance failures means less paperwork, and less paperwork makes me happy.

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Homestead class Fighter Base    9,850 tons     235 Crew     965.8 BP      TCS 197  TH 0  EM 0
Armour 5-40     Sensors 1/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 0
Hangar Deck Capacity 9000 tons     


This design is classed as a Planetary Defence Centre and can be pre-fabricated in 4 sections
The base will be built on Earth instead of Mars, but for now I just tell the colonists that the fighters have the range to reach Mars if needed. It might even be true.
Lastly, I order the Fleet Tug TFS Orion to grab the terraformer and move it to Mars. It does so and starts heading to Mars very, very slowly. The Megaformer is huge, doubtless some vote buying project from a previous administration, and the tug is only able to move it at about five times the speed of Mars itself, so it's going to be a long trip.
On inspecting the status of Earth, I notice that we're almost out of Sorium, which is being used to produce fuel. As we will need Sorium to produce jump drives, I order fuel refining halted for now.

February 2050

Ongoing fighter production manages to silence the protests on Mars. The Fighter Hangar is also completed, and all the fighters moved inside where they can be properly maintained. The legion of clerks whose job it was to bring me reports of fighter parts breaking down are immediately downsized.
The Megaformer installation is successfully towed into Orbit around Mars; luckily it was a short trip. It begins adding oxygen to the atmosphere immediately.
Currently, the colonists on Mars are sitting around doing nothing; this is probably why they decided to protest about protection from imaginary aliens. On the other hand, automated mines are currently exploiting Martian mineral deposits. I order freighters to transport manned mines from Earth to Mars, then move the automated mines from Mars on to the rich mineral deposits of the asteroid designated as #114.
Entrepreneurial civilians, seeing the riches offered by space exploration, establish a mining colony on the asteroid designated #40. For now we're running a budget surplus, so I begin purchasing their entire output.

June 2050
Scientist Charlie Murray develops an improved jump drive. Though we have yet to find any of the theoretical jump points, he assures me that they must exist. I give him a grant to improve the fuel efficiency of our engines next.

July 2050
In a continuation of the quest to bring capitalism to the stars, a third shipping line opens its doors. Dennis Container Group is eager to join in on the lucrative trade between Earth and Mars, as well as any future colonies.

August 2050
Alfie Tucker develops technology for a fast firing gauss cannon. I have no idea who thought space weapons would be useful since we have no one to fight, but maybe we can use them to protect our ships from meteor impacts. That seems reasonable enough that I don't cancel grants for other research in the area.
In a much more useful discovery, Charlie Murray develops an engine design that uses less fuel than our current designs, which should be useful for long range survey if these "jump points" of his pan out. He believes there are further advances to be made in this area, so I renew his grant. If only more scientists made useful discoveries like him instead of trying to fulfill their Trekkie fantasies.

September 2050
A new shipyard is completed, which I immediately task with producing a jump capable version of our survey ships

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Woden II class Geological Survey Vessel    3,150 tons     111 Crew     313.2 BP      TCS 63  TH 150  EM 0
2380 km/s    JR 1-25(C)     Armour 1-19     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/2     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 0
MSP 62    Max Repair 100 MSP

Small Commercial Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 4000 tons    Distance 25k km     Squadron Size 1
Ion Engine E0.8 (1)    Power 150    Fuel Use 8%    Signature 150    Armour 0    Exp 1%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres    Range 714.0 billion km   (3472 days at full power)

Geological Survey Sensors (2)   2 Survey Points Per Hour
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
It begins refitting of the TFS Beaulieu, which should be done in April. Hopefully we will have found some jump points by then.

December 2050
Reports show that the Atmosphere of Mars now has enough oxygen to be breathable. Unfortunately, they also say that it has too little that isn't oxygen to be breathable. The Megaformer is retasked with adding a new, laboratory developed safe greenhouse gas that should deal with this problem while also warming the frozen planet.

January 2051
Two new Oregon class Gravitational survey ships are completed. These should be able to find jump points, and are also equipped with prototype jump drives allowing them to use those points if they are found.

February 2051
A scientific report on my desk claims that a jump point has been found within the Asteroid belt. While I remain cautious, this discovery opens up the path to human expansion and colonization of the entire galaxy. Though at first I am tempted to send one of the Oregons through, the first Woden II is due to be finished in a few months and its geological sensors will deliver much more useful information. For now the Oregons will keep scanning for more jump points.

March 2051
A second jump point is discovered slightly within the orbit of Uranus, leading to a large number of inappropriate jokes.

April 2051
The TFS Beaulieu has now been refitted with a jump drive, and is immediately dispatched to the jump point within the asteroid belt. Work begins on updating the Hermod with new tech.
A few days later, the TFS Beaulieu vanishes from the Sol system, only to return a few hours later to report the jump drive a complete success. They report that the system on the far side is Wolf 359, which seems to make all of my Trekkie scientists nervous for some reason. The system has one terrestrial planet and three gas giants, as well as a large number of moons and roughly 250 sizeable asteroids. The terrestrial planet has too much gravity and atmospheric pressure to be habitable, though its atmosphere and temperature are ironically fairly ideal. One of the moons does have reasonable gravity, though it is exceptionally cold.
After transmitting its report, the TFS Beaulieu returns to Wolf to begin a more thorough survey.
Alfie Tucker completes further improvements in the Gauss type projectile launcher. Judging it sufficient for any-meteor use, I transfer his funding to Ellis Heath who is developing improved research lab designs.

June 2051
A third jump point is found, this one just inside the orbit of Neptune. Expansion of the new shipyard provides enough space to begin refitting the Lodden alongside the Hermod.

October 2051
With the continued addition of greenhouse chemicals to the Martian atmosphere, the polar ice caps have melted. For the first time in millions of years there is liquid water on the surface of Mars.
Word comes back from the Gravitational Survey ships that they have completed their survey of the Solar system, and there are no more jump points beyond the three already discovered. One ship, the TFS Newton is ordered to move to Wolf 359 and check on the TFS Beaulieu, then begin a survey of that system. The second, TFS Einstein, will proceed through the Uranus jump point and begin a survey of that system.

November 2051
TFS Hermod finishes its refit and sets course for the Uranus jump point. It will likely beat the TFS Einstein there.
Ellis Heath completes his designs for improved research labs, and begins work on improving mining production.

December 2051
TFS Hermod returns with its initial reports. The jump point leads to Alpha Centauri, Earth's closest neighbor. It is a binary star, and Alpha Centauri-A has a terrestrial planet with pleasant temperature and gravity, though spectroscopic readings show its atmosphere contains high levels of Ammonia and methane, which would have to be removed by terraformers before the planet would be breathable. The ship quickly departs for a more intensive survey.
TFS Newton jumps into the Wolf 359 system, returning briefly to relay survey data from the TFS Beaulieu. Several useful deposits of minerals have already been found in the system.
Charlie Murray finishes his research on improved fuel efficiency, with designs that use only 3/5ths the fuel of the earliest designs. He begins work on special methods to increase or decrease power in exchange for fuel efficiency.

[Girlinhat]

Mars is getting terraformed awfully fast, isn't it? :3

Be sure to assign an officer to the megaformer with high terraforming skill, it'll pay in spades.  What speed does the tug and megaformer get while in transit?  I think I gave her a solid 25 engines to power through any weight restriction.

[Bremen]

Mars is getting terraformed awfully fast, isn't it? :3

Be sure to assign an officer to the megaformer with high terraforming skill, it'll pay in spades.  What speed does the tug and megaformer get while in transit?  I think I gave her a solid 25 engines to power through any weight restriction.

121 km/s.

[Girlinhat]

That's significantly lower than what I expected, but considering the haul it's pretty fair.

[Bremen]

(Star map at bottom of post)

February 2052
Work is completed on the TFS Lodden, which sets course for the third and final jump point in the Sol System.
Initial reports show that the jump point leads to the Lalande 21185 system, which contains a large number of planets and moons as well as two asteroid belts. One planet shows potential for colonization and already has an oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere, though with an atmospheric pressure only 11% that of Earth.

April 2052
Ellis Heath completes work on improved mining techniques, and begins work on improved shipyard designs that will produce ships much more quickly.

June 2052
With several power/efficiency variants developed, Charlie Murray begins work on developing a practical fusion reactor for spacecraft.
The gravitational survey of Wolf 359 is completed; 3 new jump points have been found in addition to the one leading back to Earth. TFS Newton will head back to Earth for refueling and overhaul before resuming survey operations.

August 2052
Work is completed on TFS Odin, last of the old Woden class survey ships. It is dispatched to Wolf 359 to assist the Beaulieu in surveying the asteroids there.
Ellis Heath completes research into improved shipyard techniques. He is set to work on ways to stimulate the economy with trans-newtonian tech, as increased production and purchases of civilian minerals are straining the budget.

October 2052
Now there are new protests on Mars about a lack of protection. Don't those people have anything better to do? Apparently not, as the 100 mines on the planet employ less than 20% of the workforce. Maybe something more impressive than fighters will calm them; I notice one of my predecessors designed something called a "Revenge" class cruiser. I have no idea what we want revenge for, and even to me 4000 tons seems a bit small for a cruiser, but it sounds like just the thing to impress people with. I order that construction of one begin immediately, though it's still going to take over a year. Warships seem to be costly, how wasteful.

November 2052
Still unhappy about the resources being wasted on a warship to impress the masses, I've decided to do something useful as well. I order the Federal Portsmouth shipyards to begin preparations for construction of a Spruance class Gate Constructor ship. If we hope to colonize other star systems we'll need to be able to send freighters and colony ships through without jump drives, and jump gates promise to let us do just that. The Spruance will be the largest mobile ship ever built, though still far smaller than the Megaformer, and it will take nearly a year before the shipyard is even ready to begin.
The TFS Newton has completed her overhaul, and is dispatched to Lalande to begin a gravitational survey.

April 2053
The TFS Einstein arrives with news that the gravitational survey of Alpha Centauri has been completed, and that it contains a total of 2 jump points. It moves to Earth for refueling and overhaul.
Ellis Heath completes research into improving the economy, and I have him begin a project to improve the production rate of our factories.

May 2053
The Hermod arrives with word that it has completed a geological survey of all bodies in the Alpha Centauri system, as that system lacks an asteroid belt. I order it to move to Lalande and assisst in the survey there. As it has plenty of fuel, I order it to proceed through the other jump point in the Alpha Centauri system and begin a survey there.
Charlie Murray completes research into 'Stellerator' Fusion reactors, and is awarded a prestigious grant to develop a plasma drive based on the technology.

September 2053
The TFS Revenge is completed, and I make sure the news reports are full of pictures. A trick of perspective makes it appear large and majestic with a civilian freighter in the background, even though in reality it's more like a dachshund next to an elephant. At least it manages to calm the protestors down.

October 2053
The TFS Netwon Reports in with completed survey data for the Lalande system, having found three additional jump points. It moves to Earth for refueling. Unfortunately fuel continues to be a major problem for the Oregon class, so plans are made to refit the ships with the new improved efficiency engines and larger fuel tanks:

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Oregon II class Gravitational Survey Vessel    4,000 tons     399 Crew     822.4 BP      TCS 80  TH 240  EM 0
3000 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 1-22     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/4/0     Damage Control Rating 6     PPV 0
Maint Life 10.5 Years     MSP 771    AFR 21%    IFR 0.3%    1YR 13    5YR 191    Max Repair 100 MSP

J4000(3-50) Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 4000 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3
Ion Engine E6 (4)    Power 60    Fuel Use 60%    Signature 60    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 400,000 Litres    Range 300.0 billion km   (1157 days at full power)

Gravitational Survey Sensors (4)   4 Survey Points Per Hour

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
December 2053
Ellis Heath discovers a method to considerably increase the productivity of our factories. He begins work on improving our mines and automated mines. It is truely amazing what we can do to improve the lot of man when we don't need to waste resources on war and weapons.

February 2054
The TFS Hermod returns with news of the system beyond Alpha Centauri. LHS 292 is no prize, with no easily colonizable planet and only two small mineral deposits. Still, no system is completely useless. The Hermod will refuel at Earth then begin exploring jump points in the Lalande system.

April 2054
TFS Einstein and TFS Newton are now finished upgrading to the Oregon II class. I dispatch the Einstein to survey LHS 292, while Newton will survey the systems beyond Lalande.

May 2054
TFS Beauileu and TFS Odin finish surveying the asteroids in the Wolf 359 system. As they both have plenty of fuel, they begin exploring the jump points in that system. Odin Quickly returns, reporting that it has discovered Ross 128, a planetless system with nothing to survey. It will continue and explore the fourth jump point.
The protestors on Mars are at it again, as apparently some joker made a scale picture comparing the TFS Revenge to an Imperial Star Destroyer and it went viral. I doubt another Revenge would impress them, so I order construction of a new Homestead class fighter base. Once its done we can fill it with more fighters and at least the numbers will be impressive. Some scientists ask permission to update the Faering design with new technology and I give them approval as long as they don't spend too much. In the end they produce two designs:

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Faering II class Fighter    200 tons     6 Crew     25.7 BP      TCS 4  TH 40  EM 0
10000 km/s     Armour 1-3     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 2
Maint Life 0 Years     MSP 0    AFR 40%    IFR 0.6%    1YR 1    5YR 21    Max Repair 8 MSP

FTR Ion Engine E720 (1)    Power 39.6    Fuel Use 7200%    Signature 39.6    Armour 0    Exp 50%
Fuel Capacity 5,000 Litres    Range 0.6 billion km   (17 hours at full power)

Cole III 10cm Laser (1)    Range 5,000km     TS: 10000 km/s     Power 3-0.75     RM 2    ROF 20        0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Hawking FTR 8k Laser Tracking System (1)    Max Range: 5,000 km   TS: 8000 km/s     0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
VannStrømII GCReactor PO.9 (1)     Total Power Output 0.9    Armour 0    Exp 5%

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes

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Skipsbat class Scout Fighter    200 tons     5 Crew     37.7 BP      TCS 4  TH 40  EM 0
10000 km/s     Armour 1-3     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 0     PPV 0
Maint Life 57.93 Years     MSP 59    AFR 0%    IFR 0%    1YR 0    5YR 1    Max Repair 10 MSP

FTR Ion Engine E720 (1)    Power 39.6    Fuel Use 7200%    Signature 39.6    Armour 0    Exp 50%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres    Range 6.3 billion km   (7 days at full power)

Active Search Sensor MR3-R50 2500T (1)     GPS 500     Range 3.5m km    Resolution 50

This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes
I think I'll use both. They're smaller, which will make the numbers more impressive, and an unarmed scout fighter might be useful for survey work at some point in the future.

June 2054
TFS Beaulieu returns to Earth with complete survey data for the system of Procyon, as well as word that TFS Odin has discovered the system of Groombridge 1618 and is continuing its survey. Procyon has no habitable planets and only one mineral deposit, though it is fairly rich. Groombridge has another Methane/Ammonia world that is otherwise habitable. Beaulieu will refuel and then move on to Lalande to aid in survey efforts there.
Mars' atmosphere is now breathable. It's still a little on the cold side, but not for much longer. But already the colonists can leave their homes and wander the red planet with only a heavy coat. Not that the protestors are showing any appreciation for this, those ingrates.

August 2054
Ellis Heath completes research into improved mines. He'll work on shipyards next, to better produce peaceful survey and colonization ships for us to expand into the galaxy with.
Mars is now ideal for human habitation. The Megaformer will remain in place for now, adding atmosphere to bring conditions closer to that of Earth, but once the Jumpgate constructor ship is up I plan to send it to Lalande.
TFS Beaulieu enters a jump point in the Lalande system and discovers the system of Wolf 358. Ironically this system is down an entirely different jump point chain than Wolf 359. The system only has two planets and is quickly surveyed; neither is easily terraformable or the location of worthwhile minerals.

December 2054
TFS Einstein completes its survey of LHS 292. In addition to the route back towards Earth, the system has thee unexplored jump points. For now the ship will return to Earth for refueling and overhaul.
And so ends my term of service. Overall, I am proud of my administration; it was been a period of prosperity and peaceful exploration. My only regret is that I was not able to see a colony established outside the system, but the jumpgate constructor is large and slow to build.





State of the Terran Federation, 2055

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Terran Federation navy consists of:
1 Megaformer class terraformer
2 Devon class Freighters
2 Vanaheimr class terraformers
1 Heavy Puller class fleet tug (Orion)
2 Oregon II class jump gravitational survey vessels (Newton and Einstein)
4 Woden II class jump geological survey vessels (Hermod, Odin, Beaulieu, and Lodden)
1 Revenge class cruiser
2 Homestead class fighter bases
36 Faering class fighters
14 Faering II class fighters
5 Skipsbat class scout fighters

Save is here

(For those curious, I was planning on being all "peace and love" until someone missiled a survey craft; I didn't expect to explore ten systems without any sign of opposition.)

[BishopX]

Cool. One quick note a 5,000 km range laser is useless for anything other than final fire PD, as the min range increment is 10k. I'll get on the next update soon.

[Bremen]

Cool. One quick note a 5,000 km range laser is useless for anything other than final fire PD, as the min range increment is 10k. I'll get on the next update soon.

Interesting, I never tested it (what if you're at 0 km?). I guess I could have made it bigger (and kept the fighters to 250 tons), but really we have no fire control research at all, and my administration wasn't about to work on them .

[Girlinhat]

Also of note: There can be a -lot- of empty systems, and if your survey ships don't have a thermal sensor then they don't do a good job of finding anything anyways.  I fit my grav ships with thermals as fitting their size, they do a fair job of finding alien colonies and such.  Either way, expect to produce a lot of grav survey ships and send them out through a lot of systems.  Space is big.

[BishopX]

Alright, I'm looking at the save now. A couple of strategic decisions need to be made relatively soon.

There are some large wrecks (23k tons and 105k tons) 2 jumps from sol.  We have no military tech to speak of (okay, we have 12cm visible light lasers and some mesons... but really nothing). Do we salvage (hoping to get tech), or do we avoid poking the bear and explore in other directions?

Mars has been terraformed. Where next? Reasonable options are:
-Titan 8X col cost, some distance away (long transit with the slow ass tug) but 4 high accessibility minerals in the million mineral range
-Venus 25X col cost, short distance away but more minerals at lower accessibility (6 deposits ranging from 8Mton to 12oMtons)
- Alpha Century IV - 2X colony cost, decent minerals (slightly less than venus) but will require a jump gate connection in the direction the wrecks to fully exploit.

I think it would be a good idea to settle on some basics for combat ships. Namely, do we want to use missiles, and which type of beam weapon should we focus on?

[Bremen]

Alright, I'm looking at the save now. A couple of strategic decisions need to be made relatively soon.

There are some large wrecks (23k tons and 105k tons) 2 jumps from sol.  We have no military tech to speak of (okay, we have 12cm visible light lasers and some mesons... but really nothing). Do we salvage (hoping to get tech), or do we avoid poking the bear and explore in other directions?

Mars has been terraformed. Where next? Reasonable options are:
-Titan 8X col cost, some distance away (long transit with the slow ass tug) but 4 high accessibility minerals in the million mineral range
-Venus 25X col cost, short distance away but more minerals at lower accessibility (6 deposits ranging from 8Mton to 12oMtons)
- Alpha Century IV - 2X colony cost, decent minerals (slightly less than venus) but will require a jump gate connection in the direction the wrecks to fully exploit.

I think it would be a good idea to settle on some basics for combat ships. Namely, do we want to use missiles, and which type of beam weapon should we focus on?

Oh man, I completely missed those, somehow! The LHS 292 system is 100% surveyed though, so I doubt anything is going to bother a salvage ship. Perhaps my administration dismissed the wrecks as oddly shaped asteroids (seeing what we wanted to see).

My plan for colonization was Lalande-A III; easy to terraform, and while it has no minerals A-1 has tons. Up to you now though. Same for combat ships; we have no real weapons research, so up to you what direction to head. Missiles make the game easy, but they're also fairly interesting options for combat, as opposed to burning things straight up with beams.

[SirAaronIII]

Poke the bear. For sure man. Completely NOT a bad idea at all.

Also I knew jump point theory would come in useful.

I'd say to use beam weapons for now, getting missiles later when we have better tech. Although this argument could be used in the other direction. Follow that one guy's (Flying Dice?) idea of having ships with mostly PD weapons (mesons and stuff) and then later using them to go in close and sandpaper them to death. At least that's what I think it went like. Really I'm not exactly an expert at this game so I wouldn't know.

[Girlinhat]

Missiles are an easy early game weapon, and can strike far and leave your ships safe.  They can also be intercepted, which beam weapons cannot.  Though if you can get a good FAC and a good firecon, plasma carronades can do some massive damage at 0km range.

I'd go for Titan myself.

Send an explorer nearby the wrecks.  Passive thermals, just look nearby for potential threats.  If none, or if small, move in and do something about it.  If there's a threat, the get the 2x4s and nails, time to board up the defenses!

[BishopX]

Okay, we will begin developing missles and one beam weapon. Which one?