January 8, 2017: First Fleet arrives at Earth and begins refueling. Four Horo class gunboats are drawn from second fleet to replace losses.
February 1, 2017: With the new shipbuilding efforts, Earth's economy is begining to show the strain. In the month of January, the UHF spent nearly 1.2 billion credits more than it received. At this rate they will be in debt before December.
The two largest expenses are research and shipbuilding, but between the Myriad and the AC Automatons making cuts in these areas seems unwise. Instead, it is decided to stop purchasing civilian minerals and rely on government owned mines for now. This has a double effect in that it removes an expense and the sale of minerals on the open market will also be taxable. On the downside, once the minerals are gone they are gone; every ton of duranium sold to the private sector is a ton the UHF can't mine.
May 3, 2017: With the budget crisis mostly solved, the UHF economists begin to look outward. A fleet of Liberty freighters begin transporting construction factories to Hope, and Earth continues coverting some mines with full automation. It is hoped with a few mining colonies Hope will one day be a self-sufficient production center.
September 11, 2017: Scientists develop new software to improve the range and accuracy of fire control systems. Their next project will be to develop a small unit of space marines suitable for boarding enemy vessels. Using the new technology plus the earlier designs for a fusion power plant, engineers produce an improved Brazwell design
Brazwell II class Gunboat 800 tons 92 Crew 155 BP TCS 16 TH 138 EM 0
8625 km/s Armour 2-7 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 4
Maint Life 7.04 Years MSP 61 AFR 10% IFR 0.1% 1YR 2 5YR 32 Max Repair 48 MSP
High Performance Ion Drive (1) Power 138 Fuel Use 780% Signature 138 Armour 0 Exp 36%
Fuel Capacity 50,000 Litres Range 14.4 billion km (19 days at full power)
Light Plasma Cannon (1) Range 60,000km TS: 8625 km/s Power 6-3 RM 1 ROF 10 6 3 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
Gunboat Fire Control mkII (1) Max Range: 80,000 km TS: 8000 km/s 88 75 62 50 38 25 12 0 0 0
Small Fusion Reactor (1) Total Power Output 3 Armour 0 Exp 5%More accurate and longer ranged, the Brazwell II's power plant also has a greatly reduced chance of exploding.
January 8, 2018: The last three Cornwallis class light carriers are completed; from now on Drake Yards will be producing the Lexington class.
With 12 carriers capable of ferrying 60 gunboats, Admiral Hannah Avram decides it is time to deal with the Alpha Centauri aliens once and for all by destroying their orbital platforms.
Naval officers quickly move to quash rumors that the Navy is just looking to get rid of a bunch of old Brazwell class gunboats.
To attempt to minimize incoming fire, the gunboat squadron will make a stealth approach at slow speed in order to minimize the chance of detection. Accompanying them will be a Semmes(EM) class early warning craft, whose sensors specialize in detecting targeting sensors. As soon as the orbital platforms begin targeting the gunboats, they will go to active sensors and rush the platforms.
The plan should be mostly foolproof.
January 15, 2018: First Fleet enters Alpha Centauri and launches a squadron consisting of 1 Scipio, 1 Semmes, 3 Rodney, 25 Horo, and 30 Brazwell. The gunboats quietly set course for the innermost planet.
January 18, 2018: The gunboats reach the midpoint of their journey and reduce speed.
January 28, 2018: While tedious, the slow approach is paying dividends. The fleet has approached within 5 million kilometers of Alpha Centauri with no sign they have been detected. The gunboats reduce speed still further and begin their final approach.
At 2.5 million kilometers, the Semmes detects enemy targeting emissions. The gunboats activate their sensors and go to full speed. It will take the gunboats slightly less than 5 minutes to close to point blank range.
Less than a minute after activating their sensors the squadron detects 62 incoming size 1 missiles, confirming speculation that they were fired from the platforms. As expected, point defense fire proved ineffective and gunboats begin to explode, but it's too late to turn back now.
The gunboats reach extreme plasma range at great cost; only the Semmes, a Rodney, 13 Horo, and 18 Brazwells still remain functional. As there is no way to be sure which of the targets is firing the missiles, the gunboats open fire on the larger structure.
As the gunboats fire, the unit designated Shulpavu opens up with large numbers of kinetic weapons, believed to be similar in function to the UHF coil guns. Dozens of tiny impacts shred the Brazwell 016. It's now a slugging match.
Five Brazwells fall, but their sacrifice is not in vain; after hundreds of plasma and railgun hits the Shulpavu begins to disintegrate. The remaining gunboats turn their guns on the Nyati.
The Nyati proves to be the source of the small missiles and continues to launch salvos as it is pounded, but it soon falls as well. It has been a bloody victory, but a victory none the less.
Total losses for the UHF were 1 Scipio, 3 Rodney, 12 Horo, and 20 Brazwell. Less than half the gunboat squadron remains, but when tonnage is considered both sides losses were roughly equal; and the enemy was two orbital platforms with weapons well suited to combat against gunboats. The squadron begins rescuing lifepods and then returns to the carriers.
Amazingly, a closer inspection reveals that one of the Rodney class, presumed destroyed, is still intact and her surviving crew remains inside.
Its armor is completely gone and every system is damaged except the crew quarters and some fuel tanks, but the ship is intact and repairable. It cannot restore its engines or move, but one of the Cornwallis class should be able to retrieve it now that the system is presumed clear of hostiles.
(Experienced Aurora players will notice something wrong here; Yes, I am an idiot)
February 20, 2018: The carriers arrive in the inner system and retrieve their small craft. Engineers begin attempting to restore the Rodney 003
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Topic: Let's Play Aurora - Ad Astra per Aspera (Read 38504 times)