January 1, 2010: After getting a close look at the new Nelson class, several high ranking officers felt that "battlecruiser" was entirely too grandiose a designation. They have been redesignated as a "Light" Cruiser.
In a grand speech about the need of humanity to expand outward into the stars, The UHF renames the system of Wolf 359 to "Hope"
March 29, 2010: A fifth Liberty freighter is completed. Realizing that the current state of the budget means that the UHF will not be able to purchase civilian minerals forever, freighters begin moving automated mines to Mimas.
April 4, 2010: Scientists develop a (more stable) ceramic armor. Not only will this help better protect military vessels, but the stronger material can be used to create lighter civilian hulls as well.
August 13, 2010: Expansion of the Drake yards finish, and designs are laid down for a ship to carry the ever more numerous gunboats
Cornwallis class Light Carrier 8,000 tons 500 Crew 1009 BP TCS 160 TH 300 EM 0
1875 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 1-35 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 9 PPV 0
Maint Life 5.38 Years MSP 709 AFR 56% IFR 0.8% 1YR 41 5YR 615 Max Repair 256 MSP
Hangar Deck Capacity 4000 tons
J8000(3-50) Military Jump Drive Max Ship Size 8000 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Military Ion Drive (5) Power 60 Fuel Use 60% Signature 60 Armour 0 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 170,000 Litres Range 63.8 billion km (393 days at full power)Fragile and slow, the Cornwallis is a clumsy first attempt at a carrier, but is the best that can be accomplished with current engineering. Capable of carrying a squadron of 5 gunboats, it will ideally stay far away from the fighting while its parasite ships do the work. It is also capable of using its jump drive to bring other military vessels through a jump point.
September 13, 2010: Scientists develop a new design for a longer range particle beam. A new project is launched to develop a powerful, miniaturized engine suitable for extremely small military vessels similar to aerospace fighters used on Earth.
October 30, 2010: Earth completes construction of a new facility for producing advanced ground weapons and training troops in their use. A significant portion of the budget is still going to fund ground armies, and with the Myriad still out there disbanding them would be political suicide. By upgrading them to use modern technology it is hoped the UHF can at least get a worthwhile force out of the budget expenditure.
The 1st Low tech infantry immediately begins training into Mobile Infantry.
November 8, 2010: The Newton vessels return after completing their survey of Alpha Centauri. The system appears to dead end, with no jump points other than the one connecting it to Sol.
November 13, 2010: The inhabitants of Mars complain that there are not enough domed habitats, and that they are packed in like sardines. The planet's current population is 8.9 million; rather than divert industry to solve the problem transport flights are temporarily suspended until the civilian population can build more domes. Civilian freight lines have been making a tidy profit shipping supplies to Mars, and it already accounts for 4% of the UHF's yearly tax income.
November 28, 2010: Phoenix shipyard completes construction of an Outreach class Gate Construction ship. The ship departs to great fanfare and begins building a jump gate on the Hope jump point.
With jump gates promising to open up the galaxy to human exploitation, it is believed that the current rate of geological survey is too slow. While more of the Discovery class could be built, Rear Admiral Sheb Bravski suggests a cheaper alternative
Opportunity class Geosurvey Ship 800 tons 71 Crew 197 BP TCS 16 TH 138 EM 0
8625 km/s Armour 1-7 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/1 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 0
Maint Life 5.68 Years MSP 77 AFR 10% IFR 0.1% 1YR 4 5YR 61 Max Repair 100 MSP
High Performance Ion Drive (1) Power 138 Fuel Use 780% Signature 138 Armour 0 Exp 36%
Fuel Capacity 150,000 Litres Range 43.3 billion km (58 days at full power)
Geological Survey Sensors (1) 1 Survey Points Per HourLoaded onto one of the new carriers, the Opportunity could prospect a system at high speed while its mothership watches over the system. A gravitational varient is also proposed, but is not currently required. Manticore Orbital Docks begins preparation work to build the Opportunity, but until the first carrier is ready none will be needed.
The UHF begins work on additional naval shipyards. All current yards are involved with the carriers or gunboat ships, and it is felt that a more versatile naval fleet is required, if only to escort the carriers.
June 16, 2011: Workers on Earth finish construction of two new naval shipyards. Wyvern and Griffon orbital docks begin expanding their capacity with an eye towards designing cruisers or larger vessels to escort the planned carriers.
September 16, 2011: With the completion of a new round of Brazwell class gunboats, the UHF fleet now features 20 of the ships; they are rapidly becoming Earth's dominant military force.
October 11, 2011: Scientists develop technology to speed up the modification of shipyards. They will continue the research in hopes of finding ways to speed up ship construction.
November 26, 2011: Two Nelson class complete construction, and their vacated slipways are immediately put to use constructing the first two Cornwallis class light carriers.
February 7, 2012: The Geological survey of Hope and Gravitational survey of Lacaille 9352 are both finished simultaneously. The Gravysurvey task force will explore the jump point linking off the Hope system, while the Geosurvey group will begin searching Alpha Centauri for mineral deposits.
March 7, 2012: GEV Discovery detects a massive drive plume near the planet of Alpha Centauri A-1. It immediately reverses coruse and begins heading for the jump point, though not on a direct vector in case there is an attempt to follow it back.
With a thermal signature of 3300, the drive plume is approximately 5 times the size of that left by a Liberty class freighter and 11 times that of a Nelson class Light Cruiser. The first fleet, consisting of 6 Nelson and 2 Napoleon class warships, is ordered to move to the Alpha Centauri jump point and guard it.
March 22, 2012: Both Discovery class vessels successfully jump back to the Sol System. The alien contact never reacted to the survey ships' presence, and may not even have spotted the small vessels.
There is immediate debate over how to handle the contact. Many wonder if it may be a ship of the still mysterious Myriad race; several suggest that the system should be quarantined lest we reveal our presence. However, Alpha Centauri is adjacent to Earth, and contains the second most habitable planet yet discovered. Others suggest that contact be made with the ship in hopes of finding an ally against the Myriad. A third faction believes that the Navy should proceed into the system and challenge the alien ship, though this would require waiting for a jump-drive equipped carrier to finish.
Alpha Centauri A-1 has only a trace atmosphere and no other signals were detected, so it seems unlikely to be the homeworld of the race in question.
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Well, what shall be done? For those proposing a military solution, the currently available ships are:
2 PS Napoleon
6 CL Nelson
25 GB Brazwell (5 under construction)
6 CC Rodney
0 CVL Cornwallis (2 under construction)
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Topic: Let's Play Aurora - Ad Astra per Aspera (Read 38454 times)