My thoughts on the emissions is that any lack of punishment is more from us facing corporate forces where not needing to be paid as much to maintain profit margins is as important as actually winning the fight, and that any state such as the PRLM are likely to be better at it. Sure we're going to get out asses kicked regardless if we get in a fight with the PRLM with what we have now or in the near future, but that's no reason to let our habits degrade until we think we stand a chance. Even before we started hitting the Sallie tech pinata we were able to punish ourselves for giving away our location, so another state should absolutely be able to do so if they put their mind to it. Let's not get sloppy about emission control now.
Id note here that IRL there are several extremely emissive systems that are still key capabilities (air-defense radars). These systems arent emitting literally all the time, they're emitting when being used. Adding these systems to the suit gives you the option of using them; so you use them when you need to and when it wont hurt you to do so.
Id note here that IRL there are several extremely emissive systems that are still key capabilities (air-defense radars). These systems arent emitting literally all the time, they're emitting when being used. Adding these systems to the suit gives you the option of using them; so you use them when you need to and when it wont hurt you to do so.
Yes, and they don't emit all the time because they'd be punished by being slapped with a HARM or something if they do.
So when the use case for the suit based drone control system goes: There is another vehicle nearby to carry and launch the drone itself > the multi-crew vehicle that can likely maintain better combat capability while also controlling the drone than a single individual in a suit is being engaged hard enough that it can't fight and control the drone at the same time > the drone actually lasts long enough to make handing it off useful instead of popping after a second or five of aerial footage > it's a scenario where we can actually get away with emitting for a significant amount of time without being punished, that sounds an awful lot like "This system will not see significant use" to me. Which begs the question of is it actually worth spending the time and effort into integrating this extra system into the suits?
If it was just the 360 degree view then I would probably say that it is worth the extra effort. But the FOV increase is bundled with working to include the drone control system that looks like it's not going to be pulled out much, and I think I've been clear in previous posts about where I would prefer to end up on the scale of simpler to loaded down first generation suits.
Yes, and they don't emit all the time because they'd be punished by being slapped with a HARM or something if they do.
So when the use case for the suit based drone control system goes: There is another vehicle nearby to carry and launch the drone itself > the multi-crew vehicle that can likely maintain better combat capability while also controlling the drone than a single individual in a suit is being engaged hard enough that it can't fight and control the drone at the same time > the drone actually lasts long enough to make handing it off useful instead of popping after a second or five of aerial footage > it's a scenario where we can actually get away with emitting for a significant amount of time without being punished, that sounds an awful lot like "This system will not see significant use" to me. Which begs the question of is it actually worth spending the time and effort into integrating this extra system into the suits?
If it was just the 360 degree view then I would probably say that it is worth the extra effort. But the FOV increase is bundled with working to include the drone control system that looks like it's not going to be pulled out much, and I think I've been clear in previous posts about where I would prefer to end up on the scale of simpler to loaded down first generation suits.
Im not getting into the weeds of the direct military stuff because, quite frankly, we can't know the specifics of how PA personal drones would get used. There's too many degrees of separation and none of us are military experts, never mind that this is Sci-fi warfare. However, the system absolutely has potential, hence why its being considered in the first place. Drones and autonomous systems are old hat for us, and if we want to find out if we can make it work we do need to actually develop it to test it out. Developing it for our first gen of suits would help if we include it in our 2nd gen systems. If we try and find out its not good/doesnt work, we dont bother adding it to our 2nd gen suits.
The main reason to not include it imo would be per-unit cost, which is why my original plan did not include it for the terrestrial marine suit. However as the winning plans are the ones that drop the elite-deployment space marine suits there is a good argument that the extra per-unit cost is worth it for both the extra capability and for the technical-development benefits.
On the bright side, our terrestrial marines aren't complete shit. The medium power armor rolled decently well, and the power armor rifle is okay. Our regular infantry defintely got the short end of the stick though, that 11 on light laser rifles is painful.
Bad news is that the vote's already closed. Good news is that this plan lost, letting you feel smug and superior to the deluded fools who voted for something else and earned some poor rolls for their ineptitude.
On the bright side, our terrestrial marines aren't complete shit. The medium power armor rolled decently well, and the power armor rifle is okay. Our regular infantry defintely got the short end of the stick though, that 11 on light laser rifles is painful.
I mean the LLR is supposed to be a direct replacement for the Type 45 so... can't say I'd be surprised if we had scaling down issues. Also, I'd say having a solid roll on the terrestrial suit is even more important considering it's our first military-grade foray and we crammed it full of a bunch of items.
Continued support from the Xolotlan Sovereignty has come in the form of a mixture of technical aid, training programs, and a misguided aid program. Due to the impression of the academics, the officials have taken a course believing that the plant has been far more devastated by the war than it was originally expected leaving copious aid that is unlikely to achieve much. The foodstuffs have had some popularity with local cultivation started in closed gardens but little practical effect has come of it. Technical and training missions have been the main contribution to improving local capabilities as near-modern military technologies have become available if not internalized or available for local production. The local squadrons also moved in and stopped a PRLM attempt at influence, scrambling two frigates of the flotilla. Current ships on the station are intended primarily as a raiding fleet in case of another war with two deep-space combat cruisers and five destroyers with eleven escorts to protect and patrol the system.
The Communes have still not sent an ambassador despite diplomatic exchanges on the planet, leaving a Seelie ambassador over in their state. The increased access to information has led to something of a domestic political disappointment from the nature of the economy but it has yet to harm relations, only causing a mild internal political debate on what to do. Commonality diplomats have been more hospitable with a ship sent back with the courier craft to establish a local space-based embassy for formal communications and relations. The challenging environmental requirements could be done terrestrially but for several reasons, the diplomatic team has insisted on an off-planet embassy. Some minor aid is expected but at a superficial value more centered around opening relations than actually helping.
Volnay attention has radically shifted away from the previous insistence that Dannan has been ready to destroy them all as the children of their ancient enemy. Instead, propaganda has shifted to a fear of infiltrators and the traditional focus on unrestrained Xolotlan aggression as the main scare due to a new class of orbital dominance warships undermining their doctrine. Intelligence estimates have placed this as typical if unconventional in re-prioritization with the local informational team uncertain about what to make of the change. The Xolotlan supreme confidence that this is their normal is undermined by the scant historical records available as informational caches are too consistent for rapid-fire historical changes even with capable information revision. Secondary cultural touchstone effects that posed a major issue with panopticon implementation upon revision have not been detected or noticed, either indicating an absolute mastery of local information control or a lack of severe historical revision.
Current military threats have come early in the year as a PRLM warship entered the system for likely intimidation and electronic intelligence purposes. According to the Xolotlans, the ship itself was a light cruiser, typically used as a reconnaissance or raiding force. Responding with two frigates to the incursion was if anything a lack of response but it was still sufficient to make the cruiser retreat. Diplomatic pronouncements have continued to insist that the oppressed local masses should revolt against the illegitimate government and Xolotlan occupation, missing several critical factors. From what limited amount can be determined, any supposed primitive nations in the region have been considered incapable of independent representation, forming a mass that is ready and waiting for liberation.
Kuriq itself has continued its rapid modernization, moving away from a conventional agricultural economy to something approaching modernity. Labor in agriculture has reduced to half of the general population with the spread of new batteries and equipment. Automation in manufacturing has had less of an effect on society with a focus on the development of production towards communities prioritized over the direct use of surpluses. Standardized education has been extended with something of an interstate compact forming to universalize economic development and planetary defensive operations. Work through the interstate bodies has only continued with biomedical and technical leaps spread through to the rest of the nations in as equitable a manner as possible, reinforcing the center and providing a partial basis for greater unification.
The PPM Manifesto:
Comrades, do you not see the poverty inflicted, can you not see the privations of our people, can you not see the call for production, for industry, for overcoming the wanton wasteful world of the material? Every formation, every factory, and every citizen can stand united in the call for accelerating productive forces to overtake and overcome the enemies at home and abroad.
The battle of annihilation against hunger will not be won through traditional methods but through the radical deployment of new genetic systems.
The obliteration of material scarcity will not wait for the traditional methods to be strangled, it instead must be combated, driven to the brink, and delivered the final nuclear blow before the plague can spread further.
The strikes against homelessness have started but further means will be necessary to truly replace the housing stock in the short term, for when the old fails new automated systems can close the gap.
The campaign for liquidation of social regression will not wait for the old to make way for the new, the helping hands of the people must decisively and unitarily push the regressive and ancient concepts defining society into a terminal and final grave.
The huddled alien masses call for the same in their poverty but it will not be enough to become a shining beacon on a hill, nay, the goal will be a full reclamation, saving even our enemies from their regressive system that has put billions into privation and poverty.
How is this to be done you may ask, how is a single world to bear the brunt of the cause to reshape labor, free trillions from their form of existence, and move ahead to a future unmarred by the present?
The answer lies in the acceleration of productive capacity, the call to go faster, further, and greater than any before. Singularity is at the door shaking the walls and pleading to be let in, why should any reasonable and sane government reject her?
Automation can achieve exponential growth, feeding more resources to only further accelerate growth. Society is ready to fight its final battle for the spirit of the rest of the galaxy, the mechanisms only need freedom, time, and scientific development. Every issue can be overcome, every challenge overtaken and destroyed. Once the gate is open, once the door is removed, and once true automation and self-replication reign, the physical constraints of the past will be as distant as a future without want, need, greed, or privation today.
Technical Studies:
Superconducting Blade Shielding: The use of superconducting blades around the primary pinch can serve to reduce neutron exposure and further raise efficiency. Alien cores typically use several more composite systems for heat reduction over neutron reduction but through the use of sixteen discrete superconducting blades constructed in several layers with a ceramic internal cooling jacket, a more compact and thermally efficient fusion nozzle can be constructed. Lack of energy harvesting from neutron fractions can serve to lower cooling demands, shifting hot reservoirs to over 2000K making high-energy neutron irradiated drives viable. (Fusion) (New 48 AE)
Ultra-Densedeuterium Theory: The super-compression of Deuterium can be achieved through likely similar methodologies to the production of metallic hydrogen. Increased fuel density can massively increase fusion gain and compression for inertial fusion methods by creating an impromptu form of ultra-dense matter. These gains are only theoretical and mathematically calculated rather than experimentally demonstrated. There is nothing that says that the involved techniques will not work, only that the material has not been used anywhere in the local sector. (Energy Storage) (New 48 AE)
Laser Inertial Fusion: Laser ignition of pellets of deuterium can be achieved without significant issues through the use of alien pulse lasers onto a monolithic pellet. The approach is not viable compared to more conventional means of confinement despite achieving energy gain with a comparatively smaller arrangement. An inertial system that produces less than 500MWe can be designed, offering a novel use for the technique but that is rendered obsolete through the use of conventional fission. (Fusion) (New 48 AE)
Hybrid Confinement Inertial Z-Pinch: Bridging techniques from tokamaks and magnetic mirrors through the use of effective superconducting energy storage is used to achieve the Z-pinch. Preemptive magnetic confinement of the plasma before the power-producing pinch produces a near critical high flow band of moderately fusioning plasma that is then moved to the pinch. At the pinch itself, immense currents generated from the SMES systems achieve a massive compression pressure with a slight winnowing of magnetic fields, driving an instantaneous TW of power towards the pinch itself. This enables previously unheard-of compression and allows domestic drives to achieve fusion gains above a thousand for drives larger than a TW. (Fusion) (New 48 AE)
Alien Software Basics: More advanced coding and compiling software has been developed in the local sector with few local parallels. Copying these over through re-writing the code and analyzing it has ushered in a veritable revolution in computing efficiency. Replication from pre-compromised software has produced a wealth of basic applications while more expensive systems have been licensed from the Xolotlans. Domestic programs have started catching up but it will likely take decades to truly close the gap. (Computing) (Alien Derived) (New 48 AE)
HEA Crystallization Treatments: Quasi-heat treatments with selective hot zones along with x-ray analysis of printed components allow for improved consistency in material development. Alien design for the systems involves the step as a QC process after conventional metallurgical processing but similar techniques apply to printed systems. Selective hardening can be done through automated machine learning enhanced x-ray systems, providing uniformity in hardening and crystalline structure. (Material Science) (Alien Derived) (New 48 AE)
Trans-Species Genetic Applications: Broad genetic modeling of the species in the known sector has brought several improvements in domestic protein design along with several genetic innovations. Volnay genetic engineering has confined itself to the analysis of proteins in a consolidated system with limited cross compatibility but there is no reason not to take advantage of this. Similar protein folding techniques can be achieved through the use of local genes with several prospective receptor, metabolic, and signaling adaptations copied over and reverse-engineered. In-system testing will take time but the biological distinctiveness of the rest of the cluster can easily be integrated into new generations of genetic engineering packages. (Genetics) (Alien Derived) (New 48 AE)
Heavy Ion Particle Beams: Instead of lighter ion particle beams that have been currently designed new cavities can be made to launch heavier ions. These can achieve significantly improved range through increased concentration and a lesser diffraction after firing. On the downside compared to electron beams, the effect on the target is significantly reduced as there is no massive accompanying dosage of bremsstrahlung radiation. Beams can be constructed as either type, but cannot be converted without significant reconfiguration. (Particle Beams) (Alien Derived) (New 48 AE)
Variable FTL Drive Configurations: Mixed mode drive fields that change precise branon spin alignment can enable a wide range of FTL jump ranges. Drives can be on the fly configured for different profiles of jumping, enabling a safe configuration to be used instead of an aggressive one. Alien systems can determine the configuration mid-charge but domestic systems are limited to selecting a configuration profile on initiating preparations for an FTL jump. These limits still allow any newly designed drive to take advantage of several powers and configurations trading safety for range. (FTL) (Alien Derived) (New 48 AE)
Bridging FTL Drives: Increasing the "depth" of the tentative bridge formed during FTL charge-up and jump initiation has increased the range and speed of conventional drives significantly. The approach has yielded some gains through the use of more advanced techniques and a better-shaped field allowing safe jumps to six light years and unsafe ones to eleven. Design considerations for the drive are more limited with ships limited to a set hull shape and mass. These limitations are more than worth it with the faster charge time and range, achieving a jump a week at a variable range with a similar extent of jump discontinuation time. (FTL) (Alien Derived) (New 48 AE)
Department Four:
Briefing: The developing foreign situation has not improved with recent inaction towards political aims and the lack of capability of local actors to stay calm. Current belief is that the Volnay have shifted away from treating the Authority as the great enemy with it taking the position of a secondary great enemy that is plotting to have them overthrown instead of active interpretations. Liaisons with the Xolotlan's have indicated that the behavior is common and is the principal way that their population is kept in line, but on the ground, intelligence observations disagree even with the limited amount of information available. Probing maneuvers by the so-called People's Republic represent the largest threat to state security and one that needs the local cruiser squadron to adequately deter. We are at the whims of the Xolotlans for better or worse leaving modernization essential for survival. To that end and considering penetrations into the system a broader series of operations can be undertaken to start securing local space and undermining the Volnay Puppet State. (Choose Two)
[]Operation Corner Cabinet: Developing assets for black budgets will be key for expanding intelligence operations across known space. Current operations will focus on the mass production of several narcotics and hallucinogens to supply agents in the field with a steady amount of foreign exchange. These budgets will deliberately be decentralized to allow for flexible spending and the selective acquisition of technology from black market sources. Results are expected only in a few years but the operation itself is likely to be cheap and conventional compared to many others.
[]Operation Bandit Bingo: Preparing embedded agents that can be used for future assets to lead the way will be essential for the successful infiltration of the People's Republic. A few agents can transit in the guise of traders to some of the border worlds with looser enforcement, setting up bases in foreign territory. From there more specialized groups can begin infiltration operations from a solid base of support, compensating for the novel environment. Surveillance operations are expected but many cannot manage to achieve consistent tracking much less social prediction.
[]Operation History Highlight: Initial operations against the People's Republic can begin as a part of more general intelligence operations. Agents in border positions are going to be key for their picture of internal affairs, prioritizing them for snuffing out. The involved communication systems are not proof of interception and setting up listening and decoding equipment can start to bring the hammer down. The less awareness the People's Republic has of what awaits them the more they can be exploited.
[]Operation Prime Performance: Blinding the eyes of the People's Republic will be key for reducing the impact of their surveillance and current operations. Continuous erroneous information sent on longer networks and a further hardening of domestic networks can serve to create noise for extraplanetary signals. Agents that make it to the surface can still penetrate the information sphere but the extension of wartime controls along with AI-generated high volume false-signals on a blanket of jamming can significantly degrade SIGINT performance for off-world agents.
[]Operation Royal Romeo: Dropping simple sensor platforms into the local volume will be a time-consuming maneuver, but standard routes are standard due to known intelligence of enemy jump drive ranges. Key locations can be surveyed with all jump points watched, providing a degree of warning on when a threat will jump into the system. Securing the one FTL capable craft available will cut the embassy tour short but it is essential for any coordinated defense of the system.
[]Operation Truck Taboo: So-called freeports are dens of scum and villainy but ones where something approaching equitable treatment can be bought with enough violence. The forces in the local area are sponsored by the larger states to some extent or other but embedding operatives directly into the freeports can enable further operations. Starting the process of placing essential workers into local roles as technical specialists, common names, or even general laborers can provide identities and deep cover to allow for further specialized operations. The price of a single ship is immense and securing intact technologies would be a major leap in capabilities.
[]Operation Carbon Child: Any foreign agents cannot be trusted with deep infiltration operations as aliens cannot be adequately prepared for sensitive operations in the next decade. To that extent, research into the adoption of genetic packages to match the appearances of important members for direct replacement can be put underway. Differences in mass and precise genetic makeup will be challenging to fix but a partial coat of genetic feeder cells can prove useful for avoiding excessive issues from the analysis of detritus. Infiltration operations will demand much of operatives and they will need to adapt to adequately replace important personnel in life, attitude, and manner.
[]Operation Shallow Silk: The allotment of intelligence operatives for the transfer of students into the greater Xolotlan Sovereignty can be expanded with several forming an improvised technical section for broader espionage. Most agents will aim to form local networks on several worlds with lower priority university complexes, aiming to attain work in the manufacturing and technical industries outside primary security categories. Infiltration operations will make them seem to be full of defectors with operational lengths taking up much of the decade to gain trust and secure assets. Hand-picked soldiers who had lost family to the CLP invasion and without any psychological blemishes will be chosen with the few inevitable defections compartmentalized sufficiently to avoid damage.
Department Six:
Briefing: Revelations from the PSC and the significant social destabilization that has come from the PPP have left the internal situation delicate. Politics is unsure of where to go with the PPP currently accused of massive interference in the democratic system, if only because they got caught and Ros proved photogenic for the cause of attacking the progressives. Activities in Curach have reached a plateau in both violence and intensity as the depth of local nationalist and fascist paramilitaries has been reached with recruiting for both limited by the environment on the island. On a more concerning note foreign intelligence organizations have almost certainly achieved partial penetrations into local systems with an FTL communications node found capable of low-rate data transfer. The "professor" involved has been given over to the Xolotlan fleet with him flown back on a frigate to a local black site for intelligence processing. (Choose Three)
[]Operation Clean Smile: Curach monitoring operations have produced a modicum of results but the campaign has at this point moved to one of wrap-up over direct surveillance. The reduction in targets and the steady movement of hostiles to the tunnel networks has reduced the efficacy of atmospheric strike packages. Moving high-capability SF units into the tunnels to test newer armor and weapon systems will be the first step along with proper clearing and surveillance missions.
[]Operation Forgetful Attack: Terrorist activity around Curach has formed the nexus of current problems as the availability of armaments has encouraged a steady pace of attacks. Eliminating these catches will need to become the priority by special forces operatives, using the improved access to information to liquidate dens of significant resistance activities. Priority will fall towards the use of heavy ECM cover and full disappearances of armed groups, ensuring that the state of terror can be extended to many of those partaking in terrorist activities. Ideal engagements are unlikely to happen but a suppressive effect is expected on some of the larger groupings through total supremacy of drone systems and information gathering.
[]Operation Harmonious Smile: Social analytic systems can be plugged into the internet with their outputs partially sanitized to prevent any over-encroachment. Those predicted to commit high-level crimes to a degree of certainty can be preemptively watched and hardened against to undercut general crime. In insurgency-heavy areas, monitoring will be extended toward individuals with negative sympathies, ensuring that adequate monitoring can be applied in most circumstances. Preventing crime alone will likely justify the operation to the public as the worst massacres and criminal acts can be neatly predicted and prevented.
[]Operation Closed Eye: Reducing the penetration of digital systems from alien sources is a new concern as domestic electronics and software are far less capable than comparable international ones. Starting the development of a fully closed ecosystem that cannot be easily penetrated by state and non-state actors will be the first step towards reducing the practically free intelligence provided. Hardening programs will not entirely solve the issue outside of air-gaping essential facilities but efforts can start to exclude all but the most capable non-state actors.
[]Operation Watery Icicle: Networking backdoors are going to be critical for any software that can connect to the Xolotlan internet. Their software is a century more optimized and more advanced and if the department is to keep parity then it must learn the latest techniques. Several members have been pre-allocated towards the educational mission to get a better idea of the techniques involved, but things need to go further. The wealth of computers and software purchased can be disassembled and deconstructed to the point that new programs can be remade without backdoors and to the same standards.
[]Operation Capricious Hat: WP radicals have flared up in the recent election on every topic from the betrayal of their coalition partners to several issues in the running of the government. The protests have so far been contained with little effective damage outside of breathless commentators, but the organizational means are still notable. Pushing a few infiltrators in can achieve several immediate results, especially if core committees can be infiltrated. This would give a more accurate picture of the ground and enable preemptive operations.
[]Operation Scattered Tree: The ascendant PPP is built on a pile of bodies, broken political dreams, and ruthless political centralization undertaken by Ros and her puppets on the guiding committee. Working to move an agent into the structure to obtain recorded information is going to be a politically sensitive operation but one that can hope to uncover her exact goals. The party is currently in chaos and this is the perfect time to strike to embed agents and provide a continuous form of intelligence.
[]Operation Black Mark: Finalized measures towards combating the PSC can be pursued with a general triage operation to seize back control of several critical areas of financial life. Connections to businesses with PSC donors can be directly attacked with the executives moved to intelligence sites for further interrogation as their companies are nationalized for electoral interference. The existence of some form of deliberate conspiracy can only be responded to most strongly and decisively to maintain a total separation of money from politics and media influence.
[]Operation Sticky Bit: Committed work towards reducing the extent of PSC and PSC adjacent influence in politics can be conducted more on the local level with a few hundred sting operations deliberately positioned for those involved to get caught in. These would allow the previous intelligence gathering to be washed before the transfer, avoiding the agency's direct involvement being released. Further operations are likely to be needed from those unwilling to respond but striking at funding streams should significantly inhibit the party.
[]Operation Purple Brain: Continuing information gathering and using a series of organized leakers to provide it to the government can achieve significant gains without much involvement. Forming the cause as a series of files laundered through hackers in databases that are deliberately kept vulnerable a massive release of files can be organized without much news of organizational involvement. Something is likely to be figured out but the conclusions reached are likely to be sufficiently incorrect for internal operations.
.
New Programs
(Currently, 4 Running, can select up to five concurrent programs)
[]Fifth Generation Warheads: Modernizing the current nuclear stock has started during the war but far more comprehensive programs are necessary. A new generation of the ordinance will even the odds for terrestrial applications without any additional costs. Plutonium prices have dropped to practically nothing, enabling comprehensive modernization of the entire arsenal. New three-kiloton 152mm warheads will be built on the lightest end. Tactical use warheads capable of dialed yields from 20 to 200 kt will be constructed to a standard 125kg launch bus along with a neutron-enhanced variation for direct point targeting. Pumped systems are expected to be constructed in several variations, extending in-space combat capability at a comparatively low cost. (200B Or Expected)
[]Military Software Updates: Bringing domestic software to Alien standards is going to be an immensely expensive endeavor taking tens of thousands of programmers. Any generally available software would be sufficiently back-doored as a matter of course for security, necessitating the slow re-writing and constant analysis of it to ensure safety. The improvements on offer from moving to a new code base are vast in both optimization and capability modernization but they must be cautiously pursued to minimize the risk of a direct compromise. (150B Or Expected)
[]Second Generation CASP Programs: Domestically made reserve systems have managed to save Indomitable, Investigator, and contributed towards the reduction of casualties. Starting a second-generation program learning about the initial lessons from the initiative and adapting them to make safer space assets will be essential for domestic production. Overhauls for redundant systems and general hardening are going to be essential in case of drive issues and further gains in redundancy and standard parts can save funding on new classes of ships. (50B Or Minimum, Deeply Variable Costs)
[]Pre-Assessments of Purchase Classes: Looking through blueprints of classes that are available along with approximate specifications can allow for adaptations to start now. If a particle beam of known size needs to be constructed and the systems onboard known, production can start working now to prepare them for otherwise empty hulls. These engineering programs will produce subpar products due to the inherent limitations involved, but the domestic industry must start from somewhere. (50B Or Minimum, Deeply Variable Costs)
[]Standard Genetic Package: A general-purpose lifespan army genetic modification with a short-acting variation can be developed without excessive difficulty. The former will be focused on a single wave of replacement using stem cell reserves without significant impacts on neural tissue. A long-term option of the same package will target stem cell reserves directly, locking in the modifications to the body but avoiding any changes to the brain or gametes. (100B Or Expected)
[]Type 45B Modernization Program: The chassis for the Type 45 is adequate for several purposes but the gas equipment onboard can be entirely replaced with a compact electrical-railgun system. The conversion itself will further increase the weight placed on the chassis but the current war has shown the utility of heavier railgun systems. Limiting the turret to the 180-degree front aspect with a fast discharge railgun will allow most of the anti-tank performance of the Type 46 without much compromise in other performance. (250B Or Expected)
[]Modern Tank Program: Instead of designs working off the Type 45 or 46 a new type of tank can be created with improved armor, improved drives, and far greater reliability. Armored warfare on and off the planet will depend on several factors and there is currently an intense debate if to produce a laser or railgun armored system. These new tanks will be far closer to the captured examples but run on a modular diesel power pack that will be replaced as metallic hydrogen is made available. Capability is expected to be significantly better than the Type 45B and more importantly on a lighter more reliable platform. (350B Or Expected)
[]OFAC Modernization: Improvements made to the OFAC systems will be critical for improving the defense of the planet. New more efficient drives with the lessons learned can be combined with more modern weapon systems in the form of particle beams running the length of the craft. Performance is likely to moderately improve from the greater consolidation of internal volume making a generation two fast attack craft. Maneuverability and armor can be comprehensively improved, giving the ship some durability against alien fire. (500B Or Expected)
[]Heavy Fleet Ship Development: The type 37 LCS is so obsolete that the hulls have started to rust with heroic maintenance operations only able to keep them going for so long. Designing a new large ship hull with high-power laser systems using the ocean for cooling and mounting a heavy fusion reactor can make a directly competitive platform. A high-power Z-Pinch fusor will form the primary power system with the rejection of most of the energy into the ocean to maintain operational conditions. Armament is planned through several anti-orbital laser complexes, providing mobile hard-to-destroy firepower. (600B Or Expected)
Politics:
(Select 3 Actions, Can Select 4 at -5 Procurement Penalty, 5 at a -20 Procurement Penalty)
[]Learn the Xolota Dialect: There are technically six primary languages across the Sovereignty but there is very much a primary dialect that is typically used for all trade negotiations. Functioning without a translator will help with business agreements and cooperation as any hired expert can be directly talked with. As an added benefit the language itself is novel and can be used as a go-to for much of the local sector.
[]Frontal Commander Assessments: Comprehensive assessments of wartime performance have already been done but continuing them on the lower ranks can enable a far wider re-organization. Less talented but otherwise trained staff officers can be reallocated towards the organization of mobilization units while more talented ones are prioritized for mainline commands. Gathering the officers necessary for OFAC billets and more general space-combat ones will take time but can be started now.
[]Arrange Warship Crew Liaisons: Getting highly talented personnel capable of being instructed in warship operations onto Xolotlan warships will be critical for domestic training programs. There isn't an expectation that full training manuals will just be provided but a significant amount of information can be memorized and taught back on common procedures. The Sovereignty has been in space for almost a millennium and there are a vast number of easy lessons that can be learned. (Small Chance of Diplomatic Incident)
[]Implementation of New Orbital Economics: Initial orders for the evaluation of new economic programs in orbit have been partially verified across some limited test cases. As the fleet needs to be entirely reconstructed their implementation can start immediately instead of delaying the program. Some groundside would call this over-reach but with the experiences of the war and a vast amount of cultural information, adequate arguments can be made to justify the course. (Moderate Political Support Cost)
[]Internet Regulations: Looking at the internet of the Xolotlan Sovereignty has found it far more tame and less stress-inducing compared to domestic networks. The content available is far more regulated and normal compared to the mountain of garbage spewed by domestic sources. Basic regulation to further reduce the roles of algorithms for content creation can be implemented, disallowing full impersonation of users and bot accounts. (Moderate Political Support Cost)
[]Assess the Reserve System: The broad failure of the reserve system has been instrumental in the vulnerability of the ground army in the first months of the war. Formalizing the reserves and maintaining their training will involve a comparatively minimal allocation of funding compared to the standing army. This would provide a trained pool of soldiers that is expected to be double the size of the standing military and ensure that in case of another invasion trained armies can be mobilized. (??? Or Cost)
[]SAS Investigator Museum: Dropping Investigator to the surface of the planet is a major technical undertaking. The old ship has microfractures across most elements of her frame and severe damage from several misjumps. The fact that she is in orbit in one piece is in itself surprising. Landing her will involve a careful process of disassembly and re-entry after which she will be reconstructed near Avalon as a museum ship. (-25B Or) (Minor Political Support Gain)
[]Publicly Fight the Paramilitaries: Committing to directly clamp down on paramilitary activity outside Curach will involve the transfer of reinforcements to policing forces. Army personnel can be equipped with equipment for managing crowds to moderate down significant clashes outside of intelligence operations and stabilize significant areas of the homefront. Politically managing it can be done easily while the government is unstable but deals will have to be made once the situation is stabilized. (-25B Or) (Varied Support Gain)
[]Rest: Gardening did not work in any way but continued efforts to go on a vacation can still be attempted as several in the command have expressed mild concern over current work hours. Attempting this vacation will involve better analysis than the last attempt, working at activities that are believed to be relaxing by modern thinkers. Impartial testing and evaluation can follow, determining the most relaxing activity so that the least amount of overall time can be wasted on rest. (Cannot be taken with 4 or 5 actions)
[]Retire: Enough work has been done for the authority that younger and more capable hands can take up the torch. By resigning in a controlled fashion a successor can be recommended with parliament likely to maintain a preference for internal military continuation. Already the WP, BFP, and PPP have reached out for a career in their respective parties, and following on after a short vacation would be great for furthering a career.
[]Enforce Democracy: The democratic process has been undermined with technically legal actions but anything can be used as a pretext for enforcing the democratic order. With a rapid army coup and a reorganization of the government, the state can be brought back onto course to defend against external and internal threats. The majority of the parliament will have to be arrested but that is in part expected with a transition of power.
Equipment
Infantry-Equipment Set:
Type 43 Combined Orbital Equipment: A set of systems built around a unified display helmet and standardized rebreather and pressure management system that has effectively transformed into five discrete systems. This has come with some compromises but all five share universal parts and the program offers an unquestionable improvement in every aspect over the Type 06 suit. Most models in use are expected to be the basic suit with few modifications, as it is adequate for light orbital combat and can be flexibly worn inside spacecraft that are depressurized. Combat variations incorporate new dynamic plastic-ceramic armor, allowing the abatement of alien laser blows to an extent, with the heaviest versions preferring conventional ceramics due to size constraints. Capable of up to two twelve hours of endurance in space, the suit itself is a revolutionary improvement both in reliability and duration of viable orbital work.
Type 45B Combined Equipment Set: Continuing the general modernizations made in the Type 45 equipment set and incorporating lessons learned from previous combat, improved networking capabilities have come on the infantry level. Standardized 360-degree visuals with triple redundancy across the 120-degree arc along with 180-degree thermal capacity have been pushed as standard with improvements in detection systems enabled by onboarding them to an accompanying 45B or 36D. Standard rifles have been consolidated onto the 12mm platform with newer units incorporating the capacity for automatic fire, to be used in heavy urban engagements only. Each squad has been improved with the inclusion of a designated bipod carrying an automatic rifle, allowing the suppressive fire to once again become a major factor. Armor for the infantry has been improved with major joints reinforced and tourniquet straps built over the anti-fragmentation and chemical armor to allow for rapid triage of casualties.
AT Weaponry:
Type 45 Kinetic Anti-Tank: A more advanced system loosely based on the Type 35 ATGM with an updated guidance package and far heavier kinetic dart. The missile itself is a one-hundred-and-six-kilogram system with a fifteen-kilogram launch and storage tube to achieve an adequate performance at launch. The missile is nearly two meters long with the first stage forming the primary booster to get the assembly to five hundred meters per second. The second stage boost maintains the speed for the five-kilometer flight path as the approach to the target is maintained. The final stage with the 1.6m dart and remaining booster is used in the final four hundred meter approach, boosting the ordinance to nearly one and a half kilometers per second to make the terminal attack. The system can guide in on visual, contrast, or direct command approaches with the capacity for independent target acquisition. (Lunos Industries)
Type 45 Anti-Tank Incendiary: Rocket-propelled 3 kg system containing an 800g incendiary warhead that is mounted in a reinforced polymer tube with a light boost charge for adequate ranged performance. Optic systems with rangefinding and lead calculation are issued to troops carrying several tubes with only the ordinance and the tube is kept as disposable with the optic re-used. Payload is composed of ClF3 to degrade the capability of enemy armor to engage targets by destroying optics and external equipment. Performance as a rocket-launched flamethrower is worse but allows for some theoretical capacity for bunker-clearing work.
Wheeled Vehicles:
Type 38 8x8: Developed as an all-field improvement over the original Type 14 truck the Type 38 mostly delivers on several improvements. Moving to a reinforced frame made of more advanced materials along with improvements in development has allowed the new truck to carry eight tons offroad and seventeen tons on the road. Hill traversal capacity is limited and the engine is notably underpowered but the truck does incorporate several lessons learned for safety design compared to all that came before it. Variations capable of carrying artillery pieces and operating as a basic bed for the mounting of anti-aircraft systems have already been proposed. The entire truck only has armor along the cabin against small arms, but that has been judged as sufficient. (Milta Automotive Works)
Type 41C Light Truck: Modernized variation on a standard Type 41 chassis with built-in electronic systems to support Type 45B Infantry Equipment. Onboard systems have been consolidated to allow for driving through helmet displays, armoring the front aspect against laser carbine fire. The frame itself has been increased in weight to almost three tons between addon armor and electronics but is still adequate and maneuverable for most tactical purposes. Standard armament is a 12mm machine gun mounted in an RWS with remote aim and auto tracking as integral features. ATGM carrying variants remove the rear bench and consolidate the fighting compartment, moving two soldiers outside the vehicle to load ordinance and engage targets. (Sygner Automotive Group)
IFV/APC:
Type 36D APC: Further improvements to the general platform have come with the integration of electronic systems to enhance troop support capacity and improve the durability of the APC to enemy fire. Engine systems provide nearly 200 kw of power onto each of eight wheels, with an integral battery system and an 800 kw diesel electric generator. Consolidation of the missile armament to the floor of the vehicle with computing power mounted into the newly freed ninth seat has allowed for vulnerability areas to be narrowed. In case of penetration by heavy fire, only the lower part of the vehicle remains vulnerable with any difficulty in reloading considered acceptable to reduce explosion risk. Onboard electronic systems have included a proper 12mm RWS on the turret to provide fire support independent of the 30mm. Further, automatic spotting systems have been moved over from heavier vehicles, providing each APC with the ability to automatically track and engage infantry targets. Battlefield sensor fusion will require new infantry armor and the next generation of equipment to get to wide issue. (Milta Automotive Works)
Type 45B "Nuadu" IFV: To address the significant issues present in the Nuadu several internal relocations along with rationalizations have been prioritized. The turret ammunition storage has been placed lower in a linear rack to reduce the frontal area to laser engagements. Further work towards improving the vehicle has entirely focused on the improvement of its power and mobility systems, with the same expanded tracks and hardened frontal drive wheels carried over from the tank program. Rear passenger compartments have been integrated with several analytical computers and supporting software with some ECCM systems incorporated into command vehicles. Spotting systems have been augmented with the primary rangefinding optic replaced with a passive coincidence system, using the laser as a backup. Gunner optics are the same 120-degree wide view block but with a mounted three-dimensional map tablet synchronized to the ATGM for enhanced NLOS shots. Automatic view systems with a simple rotating thermal imager have come as standard along with the analytic software to use it as a spotting and engagement system for the 12mm RWS. (UNISA)
Support Assets:
Type 36DT Light Tank Destroyer: Modernization programs for the CAT have proceeded along the same guidelines as previous designs with a focus on improving the reliability and accuracy of the 152mm L75 LGG. The gun itself has been given a velocity sensor along with a new targeting system, allowing velocity and trajectory to be independently calculated to improve the precision of fire. Gas systems themselves have received dehumidification and desiccant to keep moisture in the compartment manageable and avoid the buildup of condensation on the pressurized tanks. The largest improvements have if anything come in the form of visibility systems as the last generation of armored combat systems have started to be mounted on otherwise secondary tank destroyer systems. Full battlefield visibility along with an improved constant sweep continuous analysis system have been mounted as standard. A 12mm RWS has also been added to provide some defense against close-in infantry, to augment direct fire capability, and reduced pressure firing modes for smoke and explosive shells are integrated, bringing them back for specialized tactical use. (Milta Automotive Works)
Type 45B "Duban" SPLAAG: The forty original production models of the Duban have been rendered obsolete before production can be raised to any significant numbers. New superconducting energy cells and rail-gun guides have massively improved the performance of the platform while the chassis has effectively been redesigned to be built around two 3MW generation systems with motors borrowed from Milta armored platforms and a common drive system. Limited numbers of superconductors have been used to form a massive fifteen-ton energy cell under the main turret, providing battery power to onboard systems along with onboard weapon systems. Constant power use by the massive chillers to keep the system drowned in ethane has proven necessary to maintain superconductivity in and around the ten-ton CNT contained SMES. This all serves to power the newest designed weapon system, supplying one and a half TW to the main weapon system for one millisecond bursts to fire a six-kilogram armature at twelve kilometers a second. Secondary weapon systems are four pulse lasers, capable of achieving 50MJ pulse trains with 40cm lenses, sufficient to penetrate if not kill current VTOL systems. (Avalon Industrial Trust)
Type 46 "Fragarach'' Tank Destroyer: A fixed gun tank destroyer weighing almost eighty tons with a massive onboard battery system and a light generator system made to slowly trickle charge the general vehicle. The onboard 6 MW generator is made to power the four 1MW drive motors along with recharging the main gun over five minutes when necessary with a massive use of diesel fuel oil. The tank is not expected to use the feature outside of emergencies, but the dual drive system allows for it to be used outside support assets. Frontal armor protection is sufficient to resist tank firepower on the upper plate when emplaced and dug in, but the lower plate remains vulnerable to IFV fire. All-around protection from rifle fire has been achieved through the use of applique armor kits, with the goal of the program being the firing of a 12kg armature at 10 km/s. Railgun operation is highly dangerous and the systems onboard are unreliable but the Type 46 is the first machine to offer a genuine threat to enemy armor. (Milta Automotive Works)
Tank:
Type 45B "Morvran'' Tank: Bringing the complaints of frontline units to the fore, several modifications have been made to the Morvran, reducing reliability issues and improving accuracy. The tank has gained a further two tons of weight with the systems integrated onboard, but this has come with radical improvements to the drive train and several new electronic systems. The front drive has been extensively reinforced to deal with hostile terrain while the tracks have been expanded to provide a better ground pressure profile for the vehicle. Improvements to the 152mm L75 LGG have come in the form of a barrel velocity sensor and dedicated dehumidifiers and desiccants to keep the gas system dry. The sensor allows the next shot to be based on the velocity of the previous one with re-calculation done on the fly, allowing for improved accuracy out to four kilometers, if still worse accuracy than conventional systems. Optic modernization has involved the increase of magnification of the primary block sight, and passive range finding using a coincidence system with a laser backup. Backup gunner optics and a rudimentary analyzed automatic-rotating optic for infantry detection have been made standard, improving spotting ability. (UNISA)
Fixed Wing Aircraft:
Type 39 Aircraft: The General Aerospace entrant that has been delivered to specification, if universally derided by pilots as the equivalent of operating a garbage truck. The plane is powered by two high-power 240kN turbofans with a capacity for climb-outs in most cargo regimes with only a single engine if necessary. Automatic landing has been incorporated into the plane and a significant degree of redundancy has been incorporated as hundreds of the lessons learned in the old passenger industry are relearned. Over a thousand units are expected to be purchased for the army with variations designed for transportation, low-intensity missile transportation, and several further roles as general-purpose airframes. Even the civilian sector has started work on adapting a copy for the rapid transportation of mail, allowing GA to recoup its costs. Poor surface takeoffs limit the ability of the airframe to operate in a safe mode with increased cargo allocation but even that has been judged as sufficient. (General Aerospace)
Type 46 Interceptor: Wholesale modernization of the entire Type 46 system has been advanced instead of an entirely new aircraft. The plane uses the same turbofan and general airframe as a standard Type 45 but makes several major changes. The entire lower frontal bay is replaced with an air-cooled heavy pulse laser mounted on the belly to allow for the accurate engagement of enemy VTOLs. This is accompanied by the replacement of the vertical lift fan with a generator complex and one of three SMES cells to power the laser system with enough power for continuous fire. Superconducting lines run the external length and are submerged in a bath of ethane to minimize internal thermal stress. Delivery of fifty pulse train short bolts of 100 MJ can be achieved by the system with a 50cm lens and targeting array allowing for flexible engagement of targets. Automated systems for their use as drones have been co-developed with the majority of airframes little more than simple engagement platforms directed into combat by pilots. (General Aerospace)
Medium Drones:
Type 43 Surveillance Drone: The AIT drone system is a simple straight-wing airframe powered by a conventional propeller engine, giving it adequate range for fast response to several conflicts and something of a technical base. The drone is neither stealthy, fast, or durable but it is incredibly cheap to manufacture and operate. Initial production lots of thousands have rapidly increased in scale with even lower manufacturing costs expected as production continues to increase. Onboard AI hardware is enough for independent missions in low-saturation areas with no communication needed from ground bases. Narrowband transmission of images along with astral guidance packages allow for limited functionality in a hostile orbital environment, providing adequate intelligence and support to troops in the field. (Avalon Industrial Trust)
Light Drones:
Type 45 Strike Drone: Designed around a small entirely printed duration HEA-Y turbine and an airframe that is sheet plastic placed on a basic HEA frame the Type 45 is an entirely disposable mass production capable system. It can deliver a 3kg explosive charge to a range of eighty kilometers in a compact platform capable of independently finding targets. Independent launch from a ramp can be achieved through the use of a minimal mechanical booster or the use of a field for takeoff. During operational deployment the drones will form basic swarms of up to a few thousand units, focusing on low-altitude penetration to a designated area of operations before commencing independent hunting operations. Attacks by the system will be conducted continuously with a focus on ensuring that similar heat signatures are not oversaturated to improve field efficiency.
Naval Combat Ships:
19xType 37 LCS(Pre War): The older generation of lighter littoral combat ships utilizing gas turbines instead of more complex nuclear power plants. Most were built primarily for patrol and anti-piracy duties rather than complex operational requirements in wartime leaving most of them intact in the aftermath. The hulls themselves are equipped with a universal VLS system containing one hundred and twenty tubes rated for anti-shipping missiles along with a series of radar systems and a dual electrochemical canon setup for closer range support duties. Radar integration is considered acceptable even if anti-stealth tracking leaves much to be desired as a platform. Carrying capacities of marines and personnel are the primary purpose of the ship, with the current remaining stocks of the class effectively serving as oversized police cutters.
132(150)xType 45 "Kelpie'' Corvette: After a bit of debate the primary power system has been chosen to be a direct feed gas turbine drive. The operational speed of the craft is only going to get to forty-two knots at full power with significant reductions in range at the speed but with a 3500 km range under cruise speeds. The lower hull is to be equipped with a hundred-ton capacitor system with an actively cooled power delivery mechanism along with a two-stage seawater cooler to keep lasing media at combat temperatures. Deck armament is eight Type 45 HSSGM to supplement laser capacity and provide a limited ability to deliver tactical support. The main system onboard is a pulse laser capable of rapid fire directly cloned from lighter tactical batteries and using new media and capacitors to enhance performance in the pulse laser role. Enough power to down a VTOL every eight seconds is to be provided, but the ship is fundamentally unsafe due to the massive capacitor banks. (Emire Boat Company)
Submarines:
43(64)xType 44 SSAON: Designed as a series of highly ambitious technical programs the final product has come in over budget but as a functional boat that more than performs its task. The boats can operate sustainably at a depth of more than 1.5km underwater, making them immune to all but the heaviest orbital fire. In return, each ship has seventy-two nuclear-tipped missiles capable of ensuring that at least one can punch through point defense fire to deliver a killing blow. Crews have found the boats significantly more comfortable than previous submarines and orbital service but that reputation is unlikely to last as nine-month patrols are normalized to reduce vulnerability in the dock and keep the boats at the station for as long as possible. Anti-submarine armament has been found lacking, with sonar struggling to detect other Type 44 boats, but that is expected given the design priorities. (Bun Naval Group)
Orbital Fast Attack Craft:
18(48)xType 46 "Arawn" Atmospheric Corvette: Built around or more technically in front of a 600GW Z-Pinch capable of both an atmospheric scramjet mode and a more conventional hydrogen injection system the craft is to a large extent a fusion reactor attached to a series of missiles and a small crew. The frontal section is a block of high-resistance carbon armor with some areas covered in lower-density polymer built onto a nearly monolithic HEA-Y frame. Slush Deuterium makes up the majority of the fuel with superconducting systems run on ethylene coolant set to run the length of the design to efficiently transmit nearly 2 GW to the confinement mechanism to maintain the reaction. The accompanying 300MW of thermal load required for full-scale operations is rejected through fuel pre-heating and composite CNT radiators in space. Radiation management for those around the craft is questionable and a primary armament is a large number of conventional forward launch angled VLS cells with armored covers, delivering seventy-six BPL-tipped missiles to the enemy.
Exploration Craft:
SAS Investigator
Orbital Frigates:
None-Operational
Spaceborne Auxiliary Ships:
None-Operational
Technologies
[ACCORDION][/ACCORDION]
Automation:
Improved AI Market Models: Beating out a capable Seelie at modeling in the stock market has already been done but current ML models can take behaviors a step further. By optimizing direct data streams and using a model of learned behavior and information analysis, correct market decisions can be made well in advance by the general public and most investment agents. The actual deployment of the technology has been limited to financial firms focused on optimizing the market with significant gains expected for the early adopters. At this point, people have mostly been removed from market activity with high data algorithms trained off interpreting behavior taking precedence.
Enhanced Population-Facing Algorithms: Advancing population-facing machine learning models has only intensified with the state operation of social media interactions. It is still impossible to make a model that cannot be distinguished from a Seelie in all circumstances, but that is almost within reach. Basic chatbots have been refined so that one can be used with a focused set of goals and a solid general comprehension of information. Further advances in ensuring that models that fail can indicate a low-confidence answer, allowing for an improved user perspective. (30 AE)
Automatic Technical Systems: Multivariable control of vehicles has already been pioneered but with alien coding implementations the systems can be taken a step further. Direct large neural network control of systems can be pushed beyond the comprehension of any individual Seelie at a higher data throughput with more complex conditions. This leads to the ability to control entire warships or major strategic directions with an ML-enabled second chair to provide command guidance. In practice, the systems are used as a second advisor for technical roles to provide a baseline of response in conventional circumstances. (Automation) (New 46 AE)
Total Line Automation: Previous efforts at predictive logistics and advanced ordering programs have only developed further with improvements made to the autonomous operation of entire facilities. Current algorithms are insufficient to replace all staff but something as simple as balancing and troubleshooting basic parameter deviation has already been demonstrated with further gains expected on the direct testing level. There is little need for first-line employees when logistics can be conducted in an automated manner with a further simplification of most industries that require sterile standards. Continuous improvements are only expected to continue as more advanced algorithms can further reduce necessary labor. (35AE)
Technical Generative AI: Continued improvement in machine learning along with engineering-specific developments have continued to enhance the automation of industries. Previous generations of generative AI have been limited to non-technical low-risk applications but it has steadily gone towards a capability to act as an immediate reference and design optimization tool. Training datasets are still limited and the machines are nowhere near perfect but as a first-line tool for rapid prototyping and a second-line tool for assessing projects it is invaluable. Automation can now replace most positions that produce novel intellectual labor for conventional design work, with just a few needed to check the AI and ensure consistency in training datasets. (35AE)
Automatic Logistical Management: Complex logistical management problems involving dispersed supplies have been solved with new systems derived from initial improvements towards the economy done in the aftermath of the war. Logistics can now be adequately managed by semi-smart systems with a degree of predictive capability as an extension of older inventory management systems. JIT logistics can be further optimized with semi-predictive factors for transportation along with inventories, solving the economic problems of allocation at least partially. (New 45 AE)
Composite Machine Learning Systems: Combination systems across several neural networks have been utilized by the aliens at a far lesser scale than domestic programs. Applying these same techniques to larger neural networks capable of influencing each other allows for a layer cake approach for machine learning with complex systems with thousands of individual interlinked nodes. The capacity for these models to operate at scale is still untested but they represent a viable path towards even more complex automatic systems than any previously designed. (Automation) (New 46 AE) (Alien Derived)
Weapons
Bomb Pumped X-ray Lasers: Utilizing the fission fragments of a warhead to pump a laser has historically been attempted to consistent yet mediocre results, but with the integration of better lensing material and a slightly more coherent media far better results have been produced. The lasers are still hard to focus and carry forward a minuscule amount of power even compared to a shaped nuclear charge, but they have a far longer range and exist outside of conventional atmospheric limitations. Fissile material use for each laser-specialized warhead is expected to be heavy due to the negligible impact a second stage has on device design, limiting any approach to use a dirty single stage.
Superconducting Linear RF Cavities: Using a superconducting holmium cavity with a strong field further improvements can be made to the generation of a charged particle beam. This is achieved through the use of novel superconductors and incredibly strong fields allowing for vast improvements in accuracy and energy on target. Efficiency for the systems is still not great but thermal release can be minimized internally with the general mechanism avoiding significant thermal gains and enabling internal placement of the cavity. (Particle Beams) (New 46 AE)
Magnetic Particle Beam Confinement: Alien SMES systems depend heavily on magnetic confinement and the precise control of the resulting fields with a massive amount of technical literature on the topic. Adapting those techniques for the confinement and acceleration of charged particles has brought immediate results. Reduction of dispersion from particle beams has been achieved to improve the range of fire from any theoretical weapon system. This is limited to linear accelerators, but they are expected to be the primary form of space combat weapon. (Particle Beams) (New 46 AE) (Alien Derived)
Integral Confinement of Particles: High energy integral confinement of initial particle beam streams can be achieved through a combining effect with a flexible allocation of smaller sub-accelerators to reduce thermal loads on a linear particle stream. These systems would allow for the production of a significantly stronger beam than with a unitary linear accelerator, serving as feeding reservoirs into the primary cavity. The technique allows for a steady flow of energy through the cavity at a lessened thermal load and in a more compact format, increasing charged particle incidence on target. (Particle Beams) (New 46 AE) (Alien Derived)
High-Temperature Fiber Lasers: Using mixed quantum dot reactive layers it is possible to create fiber laser systems that can operate efficiently at temperatures up to five hundred Celsius. This radically expands the capacity of domestic systems as in the atmosphere conventional cooling can more than handle the significant thermal effect. In space, the more thermally efficient arc lamp lasers are still expected to predominate due to easier thermal dissipation but for most infantry and vehicle applications new lasing systems can be used. These fibers are less efficient than their lower temperature counterparts but the relative insensitivity to temperature enables their use as a flexible lasing media. (Alien Derived) (Lasers) (New 47 AE)
Diamondoid Lens Structures: Direct growth and further polishing of monolithic single crystal diamondoid lenses form the core of alien laser systems and the techniques involved can be directly replicated for domestic systems. These lasers are more capable due to more efficient lensing, only limited by the heating of fibers instead of lens issues. Dirt on the lenses is a key concern for the systems when dealing with infantry but that can be partially dealt with through the isolation of the laser cavity with a diamond secondary lens. These monolithic lenses are going to be expensive and challenging to manufacture but entirely possible with current techniques. (Alien Derived) (Lasers) (New 47 AE)
Economics
Low Demand Economics: The development of economic systems to deal with a drop in primary demand as a driving factor of economic growth represents a radical departure from conventional economic theory. In an economy where labor is less needed as demand pressures are in effect reduced relative to productive forces conventional economics and supply curves break down. Without ensuring that workers can maintain demand, economic throughput would otherwise slow down and collapse as production would have to go nowhere. To compensate for it and ensure that economic growth can continue it comes down to state intervention to improve the population's demand, increasing turnover and thus providing economic growth in a paradigm that has gone past an unmodified labor-production balance. (Economics) (New 47 AE)
Interstellar Economic Principles: Core economic principles for managing an interstellar economy is not that dissimilar to conventional commerce in a JIT environment if conducted at a larger scale with greater delays. The inherent cost of shipping encourages vertical integration of supply chains as strongly as possible and for several products, a less efficient but more compact feedstock can deliver immediate returns. Planetary economics can be treated as a separate system from those conducted in space which is further separated from other systems. For commerce to happen between them, the premium paid on the product must be worth the cost of transportation and it must be planned well in advance. (Alien Derived) (Economics) (New 47 AE)
Social Sciences
Societal Level Work Balancing: A core element of the social contract for society is to provide meaning to the people there, whatever that meaning is defined as. To that end, eliminating all work for the sake of optimization is beneficial but not all are benefiting from having infinite free time. Continued developments in automation combined with lifespan have led to passive state policies locking young people entirely out of positions. With the drive to make the state take an active hand in ensuring full employment to the end of the active policy, technological unemployment can be a solved matter. (New 45 AE)
Limited War: The invasion has demonstrated that wars can be fought for discrete political and economic goals that are subordinated to state policy without a long-term outlook of general competition. Subordinating war-making to staged political goals can enable the targets of war and war-making to shift towards one of primarily internal or external political maneuvers instead of direct gains in territory through security operations. To that end, the implementation of limited war can be used instead of conventional warfare, salami slicing towards concrete goals in lower commitment and lower risk operations. (Social Sciences) (New 46 AE) (Alien Derived)
Computing
X-Ray Lithography Techniques: Next-generation lithography was judged as necessary to make the jump to 3nm gate widths, but even that has proven insufficient. New machines with X-ray light have been demonstrated on a laboratory scale, capable of making feature sizes smaller than previously considered possible with a lower number of errors from simplifications in the beam source. Effectively new machinery is now capable of making circuits on a previously thought-to-be impossible scale, eliminating lithographic challenges. The limitations of electron probability distributions are still notable, but they too can eventually be overcome.
Multi-Gate GAA Transistors: Unifying electronics to alien standards has brought several gains at the newly developing node. Gate all-around transistors offer the ability to miniaturize transistors further along with increasing the number of individual gates that are possible on a set node of transistors. New foundries will incorporate the techniques involved, slowing production due to the increased number of layers but further increasing conventional computing power. Progress towards the 1.1nm node is likely to come from the technology directly but further gains are questionable. (Computing) (New 46 AE) (Alien Derived)
Mixed Die Formats: Most alien electronic systems are nothing exceptional with little that can be learned from their production, but some lessons are still absolutely critical and can be applied now. Current generations of single-node monolithic dies have high bin rates even before the war but are moving to a mixed-die with individual cores. Optical transistor integration serves the same purpose well allowing mixed-die CPUs with central tasking to offer immediately improved performance by integrating both technologies. Next node development has practically stepped ahead by a half node, allowing the use of feature sizes that would normally have monolithic reject rates of over 50%. (Computing) (New 45 AE) (Alien Derived)
Optical Computing: Mass production of optical transistors has shown several easy gains compared to more experimental nodes. Specific types of dopants on the optical transistors have allowed for reductions of gate sizes to 45nm, effectively skipping two conventional nodes and bringing optical computing to the point of broader applicability. New processor cores can be constructed with the two-sided format as four optical cores work with sixty-four physical cores to do most tasks. Improved math performance is the key factor as continuous operations that cannot be run in parallel can now be run at far greater speed with dual-core chips expected to replace monolithic ones. (Computing) (New 46 AE)
Basic Quantum Computing: Further achievements in computing have not come from shortening gate lengths or improving the density of conventional circuits but through the creation of dedicated quantum computing units. These processors can hold almost ten thousand qubits with some capacity for calculation, even if they are not relevant for most tasks that are better suited for conventional computing. Most of the units are useless outside of discrete applications in small data problems and low-level particle modeling. Still, the application alone is sufficient to drive investment in the field and push for improved models.
Laser-Quartz Storage: Parts of the black box present in the alien craft use a novel form of very high-density storage media, offering a significant capacity for memory capacity above domestic approaches. This is a slow-read integrated format written using a series of ultra-short laser pulses into a quartz disk. Even a single standard format drive can store close to five hundred terabytes with several applications considered for deep data storage. Further, the format is broadly resistant to the rigors of space and age, avoiding data loss and improving storage density. (New 45 AE) (Alien Derived)
Cybernetics/DNI
Basic Cybernetics: Continued advancements in genetics and neural interfacing have brought a practical new era of implantation and dual-way linkages between neurons and computers. Using basic genetic modification to designate several metals as non-invasive to prevent an immune response along with advanced coatings, safe implants can be produced with few issues of rejection and minimal follow-on treatment. Direct neural control along with the direct splicing of nerves represents a further improvement in old techniques allowing theoretical direct control of larger machinery from a direct linkage. (35 AE)
Downband Neural Interfacing: Basic developments for the transmission of tactile feelings on a neural down-band have been a logical outreach of previous cybernetic programs. Sensation transmitted is limited to basic feelings that can be localized to any specific limb but it can still be transmitted down without otherwise functional nerves. Some have advocated for its use as an improved higher tactility DNI interface but the technology is a dead end until far finer-grained control and interfacing is available. (New 45 AE)
Neural Control Systems: Direct improvements on neural control mechanisms from derived helmet-mounted systems in alien armor and heads have immediately offered several routes for improvement of current armor. Linkages to the motor complex can be done on the same scheme as down-band sensory links with arguably some easier implementation. Surface level signals can be interpreted externally without major issues, allowing for movements to be synchronized if only in the roughest sense. This makes powered armor more viable and far more flexible if the issues of locomotion can be solved. (New 45 AE) (Alien Derived)
Transmission
Enhanced Sixth Generation Networking: Using increased bandwidth improvements that were seen in several types of alien phones continued improvements have been made to domestic networking. Expanding the sixth-generation bands along with bringing improvements to antenna surfaces has moderately improved the range and bandwidth of transmissions. Consolidation of networking bands into a unified high bandwidth data band and an entirely separate telephone band has also achieved some improvements with a full changeover expected to unify domestic device standards. (Communications) (New 47 AE)
CNT Filament Radiators: The use of carbon nanotubes as radiator surfaces has been proposed several times but issues exist in inner-tube connections along with the intensive thermal environment. If long chain tubes can be synthesized and placed on large rollers, centrifugal forces can keep the radiator array extended without much issue all while radiating a massive amount of heat. Even in an optimized configuration, new systems are expected to be heavier than contemporary liquid metal droplet radiators but they can be operated at theoretically hotter temperatures while being far more resistant to damage. (New 40 AE)
High Flexibility Heat Pipes: The advanced high-efficiency heat pipes made of a diamondoid composite offer massive improvements in conductivity and thermal resistance. In alien use the material has been extensively mounted onto powered armor for comfort applications but its high working temperature and comparatively simple structure have allowed for rapid copying. The novel application of thin-layer diamondoids in flexible packaging offers unparalleled thermal conductivity away from reactors, for the use of radiators, and to make the next generation of space suits. Applications for it are still dependent on poor local production methods but it can revolutionize several fields and designs with ease. (New 44 AE) (Reverse Engineered)
Improved Curie Point Radiators: Magnetic dispersal of hot cobalt can be done in a compact radiator system with temperature elevation systems. These are expected to be localized in small modules offering significant improvements in durability for spacecraft and a massive reduction in size from less efficient crew radiators. Practical mass reductions are not that big for small craft but the use of magnetic radiators with a high efficiency can practically revolutionize the construction of new orbital structures. (New 45 AE)
Flexible Diamondoid Radiators: Moving past using CNT for more heat-transferable diamondoid radiator heat rejection techniques can be further revolutionized. Old standards for CNT radiators are practically obsolete due to the poor heat transmission of CNT tubes compared to diamondoids. Moving to a flexible diamond surface on the radiator strips with a primary composition of CNTs allows for a greater degree of heat loading onto the coils with little need for modernization. Better transmissibility of the surface plating is a minor increase in consistency but it still enables tighter engineering margins. (New 45 AE)
Energy Storage
MgLiS Batteries: A new revolution in the development of battery power has come from fundamental work on the development of next-generation battery chemistry. Combining the density of single-use aluminum-air cells with the rechargeability of lithium batteries, new magnesium-sulfur batteries with some lithium additives have been brought to commercial production. Voltage limitations and the need for finer electronics to take advantage of the lower voltage plateau have limited most implementations outside storage use to only 1000Wh/kg, but even that represents a massive improvement over previous chemistries. Current production costs are slightly greater than equivalent lithium ions, but as mass production takes off a cheap rechargeable battery capable of a massive number of cycles can be brought to every electronic device.
Improved Polymer Capacitor Systems: Compared to alien-derived systems improved storage and discharge principles have brought power system improvements to the point that achieved power is approximately half of the obsolete Synod cells. This can achieve an energy release of 25MW/kg, allowing several viable laser weapon designs to be made with capacitor sections. This provides a capable alternative to far more expensive superconducting systems for some applications but is more specialized for small and terrestrial systems. (Energy Storage) (New 46 AE) (Alien Derived)
SMES Storage(Basic): High energy storage using superconducting energy loops has been proposed and tested but with breakthroughs in material science, diamondoids, and several other techniques systems, even batteries have become possible. Power storage capacities in the order of 4 MJ/kg along with specific power capacities of 100 MW/kg exceeding every capacitor, battery, and other system that has so far been invented or conceived of. These represent an absolute leap in performance over any technology and only present the issue that superconductors need to be sourced. With current superconductors, it is expected that these cells will be filled with liquid ethane to provide coolant, ensuring steady-state operation. (New 45AE) (Alien Derived)
Efficient Methanol Fuel Cells: Fuel cells are capable of producing energy to almost the same density as conventional diesel-electric designs. These can almost reach 100W/kg of power providing some stability to systems that cannot use more conventional engines. While the alien techniques and structuring are beyond any local technologies they can still be adapted to more useful techniques. These reach efficiencies of almost sixty percent, well more than combustion engines, and allow for significant improvements in light space vehicles. The technologies involved also use liquid fuel rather than gasses, improving space-based vehicle durability and capability. (New 45AE) (Alien Derived)
Fission
Gas Core Reactors: In terrestrial applications, the maximum efficiency for a nuclear core operating in a conventional cycle has always been constrained by the Carnot equation. Working instead with a gaseous core and a partial system of harvesting using an MHD both thermodynamic efficiency and energy conversion efficiency can be nearly doubled. Electrical conversion efficiencies of nearly seventy percent have been achieved in theoretical test cases bringing orbital reactor core performance to larger-scale ground-side cores.
Superconducting MHD Systems: Applications of derived superconductor systems to MHD-charged particle generators have improved energy yields while lowering thermal ones. New systems can achieve efficiencies of up to ninety-five percent in ideal circumstances and ninety percent in non-ideal circumstances. These harvesting systems can operate at the same temperatures as previous ones with significant reductions in thermal load for the generation of electric power. (Energy Transmission) (New 46 AE) (Alien Derived)
Non-Propulsive Dusty Plasma Reactor: Continued drives towards gaining efficiency and the modification of thrust systems have demonstrated significant further improvements to efficiency. By taking an ultra-light fissioning uranium plasma and confining it in a pinch between a dual-end MHD harvester an efficient method of power generation can be designed with few downsides. The power system will explicitly not be suitable for off-drive harvesting like previous generation gas-core MHD couplings but the gains from the new method will be massive. Thermal efficiencies in the order of eighty-five percent can be achieved with a hotter operating cycle, only limited by internal chamber materials, leading to more efficient radiative hot loops. (35AE)
Liquid Core Fission Breeding: Using a fully liquid fissioning core with several ceramic chelating agents can allow for high yields of plutonium products along with side product filtering. This yields high fractions of usable products on a fast neutron spectrum with few issues in production. Power yields are not expected to be much more efficient than even a solid core but the reduction in reprocessing stages will be notable for the easy production of plutonium. Facilities will be challenging to scale down, but use in space solves many of the inherent issues of centrifugal containment. (New 45 AE)
FTL
Low Bandwidth FTL Transmission: Conventional heavy FTL communication units can be used in a multi-band method without significant disruption. Internalizing several different signal bands on the wire and accepting a partial cancelation effect can allow for far greater information to be sent on a single band. This technique so far only applies to more stable and thus more coherent heavy-weight units, but an effective increase in transmission rates to almost 512kb/s can be achieved without massive modifications and only a mild increase in size by effectively sending twelve discrete signals down the same "wire" in the same phase to allow for predictable cancelation. (FTL) (Alien Derived) (New 46 AE)
Compact FTL Tachyon Systems: Alien improvements in antenna and focusing design along with innovations in the generation chamber are replicable without significant issues, allowing communication systems of greater specificity. The bandwidth is reduced to independent data pulses at a rate of at best ten kb, but that is not a significant degradation compared to larger systems. The technology is miniturizable and current theoretical uses for it primarily rest in sensor networks and dedicated terrestrial communication vehicles, allowing a diplomatic or planetary team to talk back to Dannan in case of emergency. Further improvements are questionable as the techniques or why the specific tachyon generator geometry works so well are still poorly understood. (New 42AE) (Alien Derived)
FTL Jump Point Theory: The discrete detection of pockets of so-called jump-optimal space has proceeded logically from previous theories with the refit of a daring class destroyer to assessing pods. Initial guesses that the points would exist outside the orbit of the fifth planet and limitations of gravity have been confirmed though there is a curious phenomenon involved with most jump points in that some are significantly "deeper" dimensionally than others. It is believed that a jump conducted from a deeper point would both be easier and less intensive, leaving other areas of the system as more secondary. Confirmation of further points in the outer system will take time, but current mathematical understandings of jump space do indicate that there should be a few around the gas giant. (35AE)
Comprehensively Safe FTL: The development of safer drives that produce negligible internal stress has been a commonality of any alien drive. A far wider field is made to enable a much shallower jump, diverting the forces that would be placed onto the drive bubble post-initiation exterior to the craft instead of the interior to it. This significantly reduces the range of single jumps and likely worsens discontinuation syndrome due to longer discontinuity periods. Still, this eliminates the physiological and material consequences of jumps, making them entirely safe. (FTL) (New 46 AE) (Alien Derived)
Shaped DriveFields: Previous generations of drives focused on generating a stable bubble of shifted space to achieve a transition toward alternative dimensional transference. By shaping the field to focus on a narrow space around the ship the degree of fold can be minimized to allow both an easier penetration into jump space along with lesser "drag". Practical improvements on the drives themselves are milder, but speed can be increased without radical changes to coil designs. (FTL) (New 46 AE) (Alien Derived)
Fusion
High Current Tokamak Fusion: Taking lessons from Z-Pinch flow stabilization has yielded concrete results in improving more conventional reactors. Enhanced plasma stability can be achieved in the torus with a greater driving current and a superconducting magnet's plasma stability and density can be improved. The results effectively mean that He-Cat, or DDD-T fuel cycles can be utilized in reactors down to 100 GW reliably and down to 50 GW at a loss in power. Reductions in neutron pressure significantly reduce the issues in the core, allowing components to function longer and reduce the rate of producing waste to an acceptable degree. (Fusion) (New 46 AE)
Sheared Flow Zeta Pinch Containment: Using inspiration from the fusion systems present in the cube, old developments have been brought back to function with several improvements integrated. The use of Sheared flows allows for a stabilized Lorentz pinch in a compact form factor, offering higher containment strength than comparative magnetic systems at a far smaller form factor than expected. Current techniques are insufficient for the stabilization of adequate energy plasma inside of a small pinch with limited downsizing possible. The largest gains have conversely come from the miniaturization aspects of the reactor as even high-energy reactions can now be contained to a compact and low-thermal retention system. (Alien Technology) (Fusion) (New 45 AE)
Helium Catalyzed Deuterium Fusion: Rejection of tritium from high throughput DD fusion reactions can be achieved at high mass flow rates through a pinch or magnetic mirror. This technique allows for reactions to be optimized towards high-efficiency confinement with a far lower neutron burden, effectively locally breeding Helium 3 before immediately reacting it with another deuterium atom to produce the majority of reaction power. Implementation of this in a lower-power reactor is impractical due to the benefits of the square-cube law for fusion confinement. Reactors of at least 100 GW of power are required even with a more compact FS-Z-Pinch for any reasonable scale implementation. Amplification factor scales rapidly with increasing size, but so do material and cooling requirements rendering the current systems impractical for anything but warship drives. (Fusion) (New 45 AE)
Fusion Beam Thermal Management: Enhanced thermal confinement of high-energy magnetic fusion represents a major technical challenge but improvements have allowed higher energy confinements with lesser thermal loads. This does not make a high-energy drive directly viable but significantly improves the thermal efficiency of a magnetic drive towards one that can approach a 90% thrust efficiency with most of the waste left non-thermal through remass channeling. In power reactors, the thermal load has allowed for viable orbital fusion reactors with comparable thermal loads to fission cores. (Heat Management) (New 46 AE) (Alien Derived)
Improved Magnetic Nozzles: Confinement and compression of the magnetic mirror fusor on the output is far more advanced than any theoretical prototype. Refinement of confinement mirrors to blade shields along with an intensification of current to achieve an increased pinch intensity and prevent excessive leakage. The techniques involved are used on alien ships for a proton boron fusor, but neutron emission reactions can still use them without massive issues as placing the magnets into thin blades significantly reduces the need for shielding. (Material Science) (New 46 AE)
Biosciences
Genome Engineering: Taking a second look at the genome outside of the initial clumsy attempts by the old regime has yielded massive and rapid gains as transgenic applications have only grown in extent. Work towards tailoring physiological processes along with the specific location of genes responsible for appearance has effectively allowed an unlimited degree of modification. The forefront of the current breakthrough is a co-opting of internal systems of self-correction, allowing a specialized viral payload to infect large parts of the body along with the systems themselves with any remaining cells fixed to the new genetic package. Modifications ranging from more than tripling muscle mass set points to effective morphological control can be conducted, but most depend significantly on the degree of laws passed around them.
Self Healing Concrete: Targeted genetic engineering work on previous programs has come to the fore with the integration of organisms in conventional concrete pours. These engineered organisms are built to produce calcite to fill any hole left in the concrete from micro-fractures or thermal stress. While the material itself will still steadily get weaker due to the limitations of biological systems, the ability to fix most micro-fractures will massively extend all lifespans. Further, as the integration of organisms is practically a cheap step of end-state processing, it can be done for almost nothing, allowing all modern grades of concrete to have limited self-repair for no real loss in initial durability.
Hibernation Systems: Induction of a hibernation adjacent sleep-like state for long-duration orbital journeys has always been desirable but limitations in life support equipment have rendered it problematic. Rather than a total freezing of biological processes a sorta long duration low-calorie use sleep can be induced on a crew for long journeys performed by automated systems. Some degradation and risk are still expected from the process as it is refined but such sleepers can be kept at a minimal life support burden. Retrofits of the system onto ships have been delayed by the lack of automated systems capable of managing complex reactor parameters but several proposals have already been made for dual-setup craft. (30 AE)
Targeted Neuroprotective Vectors: Using specialized signaling factors to protect old neural tissue while forcing new neural tissue to use improved genetic standards has been a major historical challenge but it is now solved. Genetic modification can be fully applied to adult Seelie without any restriction for neural damage from error-checking mechanisms by targeting stem cell reserves instead of only the error-correction system. With these comes an entirely new generation of engineering proposals as design children and neural modifications can now be consented to and slowly implemented. (New 45 AE)
Lirrir Biology: The vast gulf between the Lirrir and Seelie biologically was thought to be vast but the current understanding has brought them into stark contrast. The Lirrir genome is a confusing inter-linked mess with thousands of sequences that lead nowhere and coding areas distributed over every end of the genome. It is currently believed that the Seelie are an abandoned colony of one of a species that invested far more deeply into genetic engineering. This has stumped modern science for developing new genetic engineering packages, but it has also enabled several proteins to be considered low-hanging fruit. (New 45 AE)
Materials Science
High Entropy Alloys: The alien craft's armor is still beyond us but the majority of its frame is made of near-monolithic high entropy alloys. These manage to exceed domestic ones significantly in durability with a more heterogeneous matrix allowing for their formation without advanced sintering technologies. If using them with high diffraction matrices and heat treatments they offer unparalleled durability from a mixed frame matrix along with significantly improved bulk properties that nearly reach the film-properties of the last generation. Theoretical high-strength alloys still depend on scandium but some can be substituted for Yttrium with only moderate compromises in strength. Primary gains are still in light rather than heavy materials but at this point, conventional steels are being displaced in favor of more advanced amorphous lattice alloy mixes. (New 45 AE) (Alien Derived)
High-Density Electroactive Polymers: Manufacturing of specialized polymers that are significantly excited through electrical currents has been core to the operation of Sallie power armor systems. Relatively low electrical requirements for the strong movement in a single axis can be achieved with a synthetic fiber along with a degree of voltage-gated precise control well over previous generations of hydraulics. Viable powered armor can now be made along with several more theoretical if impractical proposals for specialized climates. (Material Sciences) (New 46 AE) (Alien Derived)
Hardened Diamondoid Composites: Composite materials between heavier diamondoid chains and lighter flexible ones make up the principal armor composite for all available alien armor. Replication of these composites on the nanoscale has been developed through intensive work on the production of diamondoids and technical analysis of armored composite. Continuing work will require newer samples of armor but as of right now the bulk plating that was used in the CLP invasion can be replicated to 90% of its technical qualities. (Alien Derived) (Material Science) (New 47 AE)
Dopant-Ordered HTSC: Using a series of innovations in lithography machinery along with developments in molecular ordering from high-quality print heads the alien superconducting material can be directly reverse-engineered. This allows for the production of new high-temperature superconducting material that is capable of functioning at 350 K without significant degradation. Mild imperfections in the lithographic process limit performance at temperatures above 200K, but a near-negligible resistance with minor cooling is practically insignificant through multi-channel designs. Materials are too sensitive to use for railguns or any physical application, but they represent a total revolution in wiring, superconductivity, and every aspect of energy transmission. (New 45AE)
Flexible Diamondoid Composites: Ceramic-diamondoid composites are a regular part of alien aerospace systems and with help from online databases they can be produced as a unified composite. This provides nearly the durability of more conventional diamondoids but by layering them in sheets around typical materials the overall product can be shaped into several exotic shapes. Some elements of alien terrestrial armor use the technique but it is limited due to their issues in low-density HEA shaping. Flexible dual process or intermittent printing use is viable and can provide a lower cost basis for several diamondoid-exclusive applications. (Material Science) (New 46 AE)
Nanoparticle Enhanced Phase Change Materials: Chemical thermal storage that can absorb a vast amount of heat has been trialed in several applications but through the introduction of diamondoid nanoparticles, it can be made as a hyperconductive substrate. Alien laser weapons use them as a viable thermal store that is then cooled down and freely cycled as a semi-liquid composite achieving significantly greater immediate cooling effect for short pulses. Applications are primarily for military purposes, offering a fast way to cool a weapon system with high transferability and in-material storage with minimal phase change. (Heat Management) (New 46 AE) (Alien Derived)
High Disruption HEC: Taking advantage of higher density applications for ceramic materials, several lessons from other HEA programs can be copied towards ceramics. The performance of the ceramic systems is considerably worse than comparative high-density diamondoids but the material can be printed and shaped as needed, achieving adequate armor effect and hardness. These ceramics are expected to become specialized reinforcements and are to be used for several anti-laser and anti-particle beam armor applications. (Alien Derived) (Material Science) (New 47 AE)
CNT Reinforcement: Scrap fibers produced through CNT manufacturing along with using current bacterial factories for fibers up to 10cm can allow its use to massively improve concrete. Concrete production with ultra-hard reinforcing components can be produced without significant costs improving the quality of unreinforced and conventionally reinforced concrete. There are some minor concerns for damage to lung tissue but these are mostly irrelevant as long as the walls are not significantly damaged and only represent a temporary loss in respiratory capacity. (Construction Methods) (New 47 AE)
Nano-Structured Steels: Applying older production techniques and modern powder metallurgy to steel production is something that has been done at scale by the aliens and can easily be adapted. Ensuring even cooling and formatting alloy precursors using a powder basis can produce far stronger resulting steels better able to undertake to harden. The study of crystalline structures in steel is if anything conventional but through minor improvements in alloying and additives continuous roll steel can be significantly improved and made more consistent with only moderate increases in energy use. (Alien Derived) (Construction) (New 47 AE)
Doctrine
Autonomous Drone Warfare: New theories of automation have not failed to reach the battlefield with concepts around a general increase in semi-automatic and automatic combat platforms favored. ECCM has only improved over time with many asking why it is necessary to risk Seelie's life in warfare when a single soldier can manage a dozen autonomous platforms. Development of doctrinal and technical concepts will involve committed testing of new platforms and new procurement goals limiting what can be done, but several visionary manuals have been written on the topic. (30 AE)
Trans-Interface Warfare: The Alien manuals on the conducting of warfare across interfaces have focused on the utility of fast attack craft for mixed military policing actions and the use of dedicated exo-atmospheric FAC to defend planets. Most of the doctrine centers around how to conduct attacks on terrestrial targets and minimize insertion fire, something notably that many of the forces did not follow in the battles of Curach. Still, domestic work has started on a cohesive approach, favoring multirole craft and one thousand-ton sub-warships for close planetary defense. (New 45 AE) (Alien Derived)
Missiles/Small Craft
Fission Drive Miniaturization: Technical work towards miniaturizing a liquid core fission drive has been possible if consistently problematic. Ensuring that effectively spinning fission fuel can have enough room for operation and adequate separation from the propellant is still a major technical challenge. Theoretical work towards slightly lowering temperatures and increasing mass flow while accepting emissions has been pushed forward but even that is theoretical. Effective launch profiles for rockets less than fifty tons can be made even if current costs make it prohibitive for anything disposable.
Orbital Industry
Early Spaceship ISRU: Procedures for the in-space refinement of metals have rapidly been developed to further exportation and increase yields. Next-generation mining techniques in the form of total asteroid capture followed by pulverization and liquefaction under mild centrifugal forces have yielded significant gains in refinement and on-site processing. The next generation of mining ships is expected to entirely incorporate new methods, effectively breaking off chunks of asteroids before capturing them and refining them internally. Water off-gas can be directly utilized for propulsion and life support while more solid elements are left for further refinement, allowing lighter nuclear drives to easily provide sufficient transit reserve.
Moderate Scale Diamondoid Production: Diamondoids of sufficient density in monolithic non-curved plates can be produced at an industrial scale in dedicated orbital facilities. Using knowledge gleaned from alien networks and textbooks a full industrial-scale method for their production has been pioneered. The effort will involve the construction of several massive facilities to enable adequate microstructure production and hardness but it can be achieved without any further innovations. The scale required and the need to produce flat monolithic plates impose some restrictions, but none that can be worked around. (Alien Derived) (Production Methods) (New 47 AE)
Graphene Sheet Weaving: The production of microscale carbon structures has posed a significant challenge in gravity and the production of thin flexible sheets that can be disrupted by minute loads will be impossible in gravity. Orbital production of the material has been prototyped and designed with terrestrial examples achieving low yields with little results. The material is flexible thanks to the inter-layered polymer effectively allowing it to be used as an ultra-high strength backer, but it cannot be printed and would greatly increase costs. Several applications have been designed but the material itself is impossible to produce in bulk under current circumstances. (New 45AE) (Alien Derived)
Production Methods
Advanced Additive Manufacturing: The largest gains in additive manufacturing techniques have not come from the methodologies themselves but from the materials fed into them and their integration into general industries. The manufacturing of specific specialty parts and the ability to rapidly prototype has remained from previous generations of manufacturing, what has changed however has been improvements in feedstock and deposition methods. Utilization of mixed powders has been a near-universal factor with finer grinding and materials that maintain hardness with a minimum degree of hardening prioritized. Using mixed powder high entropy alloy parts can be made to a higher standard than possible with other methods, integrating techniques as mainstream manufacturing methods on a previously unheard-of scale.
Biological-Epoxies: Complete production chains for biosynthetic epoxies and resins have been developed with only some requirements remaining for molding. The material is not as cheap as conventional regenerative cement construction but it is better insulating and far more portable for logistically challenging areas. Molding is still necessary making the process not truly automated but some proponents of prefabricated resin paneling made in a factory as a light alternative to prefabricated panels especially for external insulation applications. (35 AE)
Macro-Structural Polymers: Biological mechanisms for twisting the exact localization of structures along with the pre-production of dead tissue have long been coded for. Taking advantage of the more primitive systems left to us by nature most trees can be brought to productive ends. The production of ultrahard wooden items competitive with some lighter plastics can be made without too much issue. Better yet ultrahard microstructures can be built into them allowing materials to be grown that significantly outperform their contemporaries on a similar weight allotment. The use cases for such ultralight materials are limited by their flammability and the limits of biological systems but they still offer a useful capability. (40 AE)
Micron Manipulation: Automating the manufacture of high-precision systems has been done as a directly derived process from alien techniques. Theirs are orders of magnitude more flexible and more importantly miniturizable to the micro-scale, but large surfaces with micro-manipulators can now be made. Combined with automated electronic systems these can serve to replace all high-precision work to any reasonable standard a Seelie can accomplish. Further, the use of automatic surfaces in their nanomachines has shown the concept to be viable. Current work will continue on more advanced printing developments, with the holy grail in a truly self-replicating printing system. (New 44 AE)
Metallic Hydrogen Laboratory Production: Testing of compression-based production of metallic hydrogen has allowed it to be made in small amounts in the laboratory. This proves several theories but does not bring the technology any closer to achieving any form of large-scale production. It is known that the Sallies achieve it through the use of a hybrid confinement pinch but this is not practical with current techniques. Direct compression methods are if anything a dead end with little practical result expected from them. (Production Techniques) (New 46 AE)
High Volume CNT Production: Derivations from alien techniques along with engineered biological organisms have allowed the full-scale production and joining of long-strand CNT. These organisms are direct work from the starch program, allowing for carbon nanotubes of arbitrary size and density to be constructed by growing them out. This allows for terrestrial production at a large scale and makes the material viable for several specialized tasks without excessive cost. The aliens use a similar technique for production, though with lower yields than what would otherwise be expected. (Production Methods) (New 46 AE) (Alien Derived)
Don't think so. Ricky has rested once before in the form of trying out agricultural activities and hated the experience. Personally speaking I voted for it because I wanted to see how Ricky would handle touching grass. He's also a workaholic, so the closest thing he would have for a rest action is to learn the Xolota Dialect. Which if I understand is actually something he enjoys. Unless your goal is to see Ricky just not get what normal people think of what rest and relaxation is, that is.
Don't think so. Ricky has rested once before in the form of trying out agricultural activities and hated the experience. Personally speaking I voted for it because I wanted to see how Ricky would handle touching grass. He's also a workaholic, so the closest thing he would have for a rest action is to learn the Xolota Dialect. Which if I understand is actually something he enjoys. Unless your goal is to see Ricky just not get what normal people think of what rest and relaxation is, that is.
He literally needs to relax the other workaholic elfs have shared there concerns about him, so we have to keep on trying until he finds something or he will burn out so hard he will literally get brain damage and I rather not happen to him.
ATGM carrying variants remove the rear bench and consolidate the fighting compartment, moving two soldiers outside the vehicle to load ordinance and engage targets. (
Am I reading this right in thinking that this requires the two guys who drew the short straws to hang on really tightly to a rail if they want to stay on their ride?
