- Pronouns
- He
New explorers in space poking at a ruined city the defenders would rather die than give up. Never read that horror story before.
Have you not needed geology survey teams yet?
There certainly used to be times when poking at ruins would trigger horror stories. Can't say for certain whether it still happens, I didn't find much archaeology to do when I was running.
- Location
- Ohio
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I honestly wasn't expecting Precursor FACs, since I'm used to the uh, bigger ones
I've been lazy with getting them organized since again, only just recently got them organized and I didn't recall seeing a ground survey available in Sol (and so no need to actually train/research the specific geologic survey battalion I'd need).
...Oooh, have you familiarized yourself with the new ground forces mechanics? They've come quite a ways since the VB days, I think.
- Location
- Ohio
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I have in terms of the entire new way the ground forces mechanic system works.
Honestly a fair bit better then how it worked since VB6 imho. Do miss the days of the missile-armed PDCs.
1/21/70-12/31/71
- Location
- Ohio
- Pronouns
- He/Him
January 21st, 1970
AS part of the resumption of exploration surveys with refits done to the entirety of the Beagle-class into the Flight II, the Beagle has arrived in the V1581 Cygni system from Gamma Carinae. Two habitable worlds exist in the Cygni-A system, while a series of gas giants and moons exist in the Cygni-B system.
March 26th, 1970
Developmental capabilities have now extended to us being able to build stations capable of supporting large numbers of people in orbit. One of the most significant ideas involving this is the establishment of forward 'deep space stations' capable of supporting a civilian population for the maintenance of ships on forward exploration and enabling shore leave for the personnel. If such a decision were to be done, a dedicated defense squadron would need to be based there alongside other significant elements. This is something of course that will need to be considered in the near-future, but as of this moment is not currently on the planning table because of more important needs.
In addition, tentative plans are entailing the sending of two garrison brigades to the second planet of the Groombridge 34 system for an initial forward element as we work on developing the actual capable military units to be able to be moved there sometime in the near future. It is our hope that following the completion of development of xenoarchaeological units next year, we'll be to organize the first brigades dedicated to uncovering the city to be able to send there.
The second planet itself, unlike the third planet, also represents one of the 'easiest' opportunities in terms of being able to terraform it to being able to support human life with the biggest need to being able to bring the percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere up to one that can sustain human life. But for what Groombridge 34-A shows, represents a significant potential for the future of settlements in the system.
April 12th, 1970
With completion of development of the 15cm lasers (alongside near ultraviolet some years), we can technically begin development of our first dedicated anti-ship STO units, but we will be holding off until we attain improvements on fire control and turret tracking speed developments up to 4000km/s base standard speed. At this point, our current capability with 15cm lasers can enable any ship or STO battalion to be able to engage targets at up to 180km away, a significant distance but still in somewhat of a 'knife fighting' terrain.
May 22nd, 1970
Construction of a lagrange point on the eighth planet of Groombridge 34-A has begun, and is expected to take a nearly a year to complete. With no other sightings of hostile elements, two destroyer squadrons have been dispatched back to Earth, with DESRON 1 remaining on station until relieved late in the year.
July 23rd, 1970
Development has been completed on the RIM-1B Spartan. The first major missile improvement, the weight shavings from an improved warhead, combined with improved engine performance and less speed have enabled a near doubling of range combined with a speed increase of nearly 20%, one that will be substantial for fleet defense. For now, considering the numbers of RIM-1As built (nearly four thousand split between present on Earth along with assigned on ships), a limited number of RIM-1Bs considering ongoing development of ion drives. Plans call for between 600-750 to be built in total.
August 29th, 1970
The initial cadre of Fuel Harvester Stations over station has been completed, forming an initial group of ten. As time goes on, we do plan to continue to expand Saturn fuel harvesting alongside other gas giants with higher and bigger sorium availability for fuel.
September 17th, 1970
Shipbuilding has slowed down considering demands of minerals and overall wealth having been slowly decreasing. The recent improvements of racial wealth are expected to help lead to an uptick, but for now overall shipbuilding has slowed down from government produced and civilian produced.
October 16th, 1970
The Discovery has entered the 64 Hydrae system from Groombridge 34; it is a binary star system with a total of three terrestrial planets, three gas giants, fifty-four moons and asteroids, and five comets. Initial exploration is to begin of the 64 Hydrae-B system.
November 4th, 1970
Both the 5th and 6th Garrison Brigades are beginning to be shipped out to Groombridge 34-A II... gonna need a better name for that, as the initial first wave of ground elements to arrive there. In addition for Groombridge 34, the first series of tankers are en-route considering the high amount and accessibility of sorium on the sixth planet (34-A VI).
Further news is that the amount of Aestusium into the planetary atmosphere of Mars has reached our initial desired level, with efforts now underway to improve the amount of water vapor in the Mars atmosphere for the biosphere. It is hoped that once that is complete, we can begin efforts at increasing the amount of nitrogen in the atmosphere to remove the need for infrastructure.
November 12th, 1970
The gravitational survey of Tau Ceti is complete with a total of two unknown jump points leading out from the system. Vega will proceed to check out the first system and begin undertaking surveying of it.
December 3rd, 1970
The Vega has entered the GL Virginis system, full of comets, a star, and nothing else. Surveying begins.
February 8th, 1971
The first extra-solar colonists have arrived on Groombridge 34-A II. A small settlement of up to a million is planned to provide support to researchers for now, with additional settlements to be done on the third and fourth planets of the 34-A system.
May 23rd, 1971
Developments for the associated support brigades to begin uncovering the mysteries of the ruined city are underway. As planned, a minimum of two support brigades, made up of two battalions of engineers and two battalions of xenoarchaeologists supported by a logistics company, will be trained and sent to the planet to begin uncovering its secret. Work is still underway on the future ground combat teams we'll need.
August 1st, 1971
We have begun work the autopsy of the alien species, which has been dubbed the 'Precursors'.
October 11th, 1971
The elements for our first archaeology brigades have been completed, and initial training for the first brigades have started. Expectation is for the first brigade to be ready by late next year.
December 31st, 1971
It has been a good year for the United Nations as slow expansion outside the solar system has taken place, but numerous major elements in the civilian economy still need work. With the success of Operation Red Hammer in Groombridge 34, plans are underway for Operation Dancing Dragon to deal with the hostile contacts in Luyten's Star. One of the overarching viewpoints still on the concern of technology imbalance, and plans are to commit all five Destroyer Squadrons supported by a pair of Corvette Squadrons with the additional firepower that is available.
As part of Dancing Dragon, orders have been placed to fill out every Stalwart-class that will be available for the engagement with RIM-1B Spartans, which will total nearly an additional sixteen hundred RIM-1Bs to be produced and outfitted. This places the operation at the start of September, 1972 once the missiles are available. If pushed forward, the total amount of RIM-1Bs available will be less and questions will need to be debated if to spread out the RIM-1Bs across all ships, or to have some fully loaded with -1Bs and some with -1As.
AS part of the resumption of exploration surveys with refits done to the entirety of the Beagle-class into the Flight II, the Beagle has arrived in the V1581 Cygni system from Gamma Carinae. Two habitable worlds exist in the Cygni-A system, while a series of gas giants and moons exist in the Cygni-B system.
March 26th, 1970
Developmental capabilities have now extended to us being able to build stations capable of supporting large numbers of people in orbit. One of the most significant ideas involving this is the establishment of forward 'deep space stations' capable of supporting a civilian population for the maintenance of ships on forward exploration and enabling shore leave for the personnel. If such a decision were to be done, a dedicated defense squadron would need to be based there alongside other significant elements. This is something of course that will need to be considered in the near-future, but as of this moment is not currently on the planning table because of more important needs.
In addition, tentative plans are entailing the sending of two garrison brigades to the second planet of the Groombridge 34 system for an initial forward element as we work on developing the actual capable military units to be able to be moved there sometime in the near future. It is our hope that following the completion of development of xenoarchaeological units next year, we'll be to organize the first brigades dedicated to uncovering the city to be able to send there.
The second planet itself, unlike the third planet, also represents one of the 'easiest' opportunities in terms of being able to terraform it to being able to support human life with the biggest need to being able to bring the percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere up to one that can sustain human life. But for what Groombridge 34-A shows, represents a significant potential for the future of settlements in the system.
April 12th, 1970
With completion of development of the 15cm lasers (alongside near ultraviolet some years), we can technically begin development of our first dedicated anti-ship STO units, but we will be holding off until we attain improvements on fire control and turret tracking speed developments up to 4000km/s base standard speed. At this point, our current capability with 15cm lasers can enable any ship or STO battalion to be able to engage targets at up to 180km away, a significant distance but still in somewhat of a 'knife fighting' terrain.
May 22nd, 1970
Construction of a lagrange point on the eighth planet of Groombridge 34-A has begun, and is expected to take a nearly a year to complete. With no other sightings of hostile elements, two destroyer squadrons have been dispatched back to Earth, with DESRON 1 remaining on station until relieved late in the year.
July 23rd, 1970
Development has been completed on the RIM-1B Spartan. The first major missile improvement, the weight shavings from an improved warhead, combined with improved engine performance and less speed have enabled a near doubling of range combined with a speed increase of nearly 20%, one that will be substantial for fleet defense. For now, considering the numbers of RIM-1As built (nearly four thousand split between present on Earth along with assigned on ships), a limited number of RIM-1Bs considering ongoing development of ion drives. Plans call for between 600-750 to be built in total.
August 29th, 1970
The initial cadre of Fuel Harvester Stations over station has been completed, forming an initial group of ten. As time goes on, we do plan to continue to expand Saturn fuel harvesting alongside other gas giants with higher and bigger sorium availability for fuel.
September 17th, 1970
Shipbuilding has slowed down considering demands of minerals and overall wealth having been slowly decreasing. The recent improvements of racial wealth are expected to help lead to an uptick, but for now overall shipbuilding has slowed down from government produced and civilian produced.
October 16th, 1970
The Discovery has entered the 64 Hydrae system from Groombridge 34; it is a binary star system with a total of three terrestrial planets, three gas giants, fifty-four moons and asteroids, and five comets. Initial exploration is to begin of the 64 Hydrae-B system.
November 4th, 1970
Both the 5th and 6th Garrison Brigades are beginning to be shipped out to Groombridge 34-A II... gonna need a better name for that, as the initial first wave of ground elements to arrive there. In addition for Groombridge 34, the first series of tankers are en-route considering the high amount and accessibility of sorium on the sixth planet (34-A VI).
Code:
Groombridge 34-A II
Duranium 8,818,450 Acc 0.1
Corbomite 2,902,400 Acc 0.1
Tritanium 2,072,500 Acc 0.1
Boronide 3,525,625 Acc 0.1
Mercassium 3,422,500 Acc 0.1
Vendarite 1,750,625 Acc 0.1
Uridium 2,136,100 Acc 0.1
Corundium 426,400 Acc 0.7
Groombridge 34-A III
Duranium 5,810,472 Acc 0.6
Neutronium 2,641,316 Acc 0.8
Tritanium 3,183,164 Acc 0.7
Boronide 1,883,600 Acc 0.2
Gallicite 1,860,496 Acc 0.1
Groombridge 34-A IV
Vendarite 21,902,400 Acc 0.1
Groombridge 34-A VI
Sorium 32,590,800 Acc 0.70
Groombridge 34-A VIII
Sorium 172,800 Acc 1
Groombridge 34-A VI - Moon 7
Uridium 9,801 Acc 1
Corundium 6,241 Acc 1
Gallicite 4,761 Acc 1
Groombridge 34-A VIII - Moon 25
Duranium 149,058 Acc 0.8
Corbomite 1,590,121 Acc 0.8
Boronide 97,344 Acc 0.9
Sorium 1,054,729 Acc 0.4
Comet #1
Duranium 270,779 Acc 0.8
Comet #2
Neutronium 24,900 Acc 0.6
Comet #3
Duranium 97,885 Acc 0.8
Tritanium 61,604 Acc 0.9
Sorium 27,659 Acc 0.9
Corundium 3,178 Acc 0.8
Comet #4
Uridium 60,132 Acc 0.5
Comet #5
Corbomite 16,675 Acc 0.9
Sorium 62,825 Acc 0.5Further news is that the amount of Aestusium into the planetary atmosphere of Mars has reached our initial desired level, with efforts now underway to improve the amount of water vapor in the Mars atmosphere for the biosphere. It is hoped that once that is complete, we can begin efforts at increasing the amount of nitrogen in the atmosphere to remove the need for infrastructure.
November 12th, 1970
The gravitational survey of Tau Ceti is complete with a total of two unknown jump points leading out from the system. Vega will proceed to check out the first system and begin undertaking surveying of it.
December 3rd, 1970
The Vega has entered the GL Virginis system, full of comets, a star, and nothing else. Surveying begins.
February 8th, 1971
The first extra-solar colonists have arrived on Groombridge 34-A II. A small settlement of up to a million is planned to provide support to researchers for now, with additional settlements to be done on the third and fourth planets of the 34-A system.
May 23rd, 1971
Developments for the associated support brigades to begin uncovering the mysteries of the ruined city are underway. As planned, a minimum of two support brigades, made up of two battalions of engineers and two battalions of xenoarchaeologists supported by a logistics company, will be trained and sent to the planet to begin uncovering its secret. Work is still underway on the future ground combat teams we'll need.
August 1st, 1971
We have begun work the autopsy of the alien species, which has been dubbed the 'Precursors'.
October 11th, 1971
The elements for our first archaeology brigades have been completed, and initial training for the first brigades have started. Expectation is for the first brigade to be ready by late next year.
December 31st, 1971
It has been a good year for the United Nations as slow expansion outside the solar system has taken place, but numerous major elements in the civilian economy still need work. With the success of Operation Red Hammer in Groombridge 34, plans are underway for Operation Dancing Dragon to deal with the hostile contacts in Luyten's Star. One of the overarching viewpoints still on the concern of technology imbalance, and plans are to commit all five Destroyer Squadrons supported by a pair of Corvette Squadrons with the additional firepower that is available.
As part of Dancing Dragon, orders have been placed to fill out every Stalwart-class that will be available for the engagement with RIM-1B Spartans, which will total nearly an additional sixteen hundred RIM-1Bs to be produced and outfitted. This places the operation at the start of September, 1972 once the missiles are available. If pushed forward, the total amount of RIM-1Bs available will be less and questions will need to be debated if to spread out the RIM-1Bs across all ships, or to have some fully loaded with -1Bs and some with -1As.
- Pronouns
- He
Brideford.
And that's about the level of commentary I'm qualified to give on the game!
Have almost always found an acceptable planet obtainable, which is much much safer for a frontier base than a station that can be casually perforated by anti-ship weapons. Though yeah, if you really need to, this lets you set up literally anywhere instead of needing a gravitational anchor.
Another thing it might be good for is mining the near-impossible to terraform Venus-like planets, which tend to have plentiful minerals (though usually not great accessibility) under their prohibitive cloud layer. There's also automated mines, admittedly. Never can get enough mines, though.
I'm informed that infantry resupply is recommended because it can automatically filter from replacement units up to the front-line units that need it whenever required.
But I don't know how important the optimization is. Makes the consumable supply element a bit cheaper.
I might suggest doing water last - you won't be able to get below hazard level 2 as long as the oxygen fraction is too high, so if you do that first the infra requirement will start gradually improving as soon as you start laying in hydrosphere.
- Location
- Ohio
- Pronouns
- He/Him
That's fair. It was just more of a like in-universe kind of thought on that for the matter of forward deployed points, but a planet is going to be overall better (unless a key transfer system just, lacks any kind of acceptable planet really). That is a good point on the matter of terraforming Venus-like planets considering that mines are... a fair bit cheaper then automated mines in terms of the total effort to build.
Ah, the joys of optimization. I admit, I don't necessarily care if its a bit clunkier if I admittedly prefer it.
But thanks for that bit of info, and something to think abt for the future.Re:water, true, that is a good point, and will start bringing the nitrogen up for safe atmo, and then water vapor.
Another thing about using ark modules for fleet anchorages is that you don't need them. There's a 5x smaller (though rather costly) recreational module that provides crew recovery benefits without needing population.
You can also work around it with very large commercial hangars, but that requires more active control and doesn't scale as well. (And you haven't mentioned researching hangars yet anyway.)
2/10/72-9/31/72; Contact With Other Aliens
- Location
- Ohio
- Pronouns
- He/Him
February 10th, 1972
The overall mineral survey of Groombridge 34 is complete, which is an overall massive boon of a system in terms of overall mineral makeup, not to mention the five low cost habitable worlds (of which one has a ruined city). In addition to the massive mineral makeup, a total of four survey sites in the Groombridge 34 for ground survey teams to examine:
March 18th, 1972
The Lacaille 9352 system has been discovered by the Vega coming from the Barnards Star system. It possesses four terrestrial planets (of which two are low-cost worlds), one superjovian, one gas giant, and thirty nine moons and asteroids. It begins its exploration of the system.
March 28th, 1972
And of course, we discover the Precursors in the system, with Vega ordered to high-tail it out of there.
April 7th, 1972
Vega successfully makes it back to Barnards Star, which is a good thing, but marks Lacaille 9352 as a future system to keep out of for now.
April 22nd, 1972
Vega has entered the other unexplored solar system that led from Barnards Star to the system GJ 3522. It is a system made up of four terrestrial planets, three dwarf planets, one superjovian, and two gas giants. A total of three low cost colonizable worlds are present including one with a peak of .55 and a low of .10.
It proceeds into the inner solar system.
May 8th, 1972
And Vega has once again discovered a new group of aliens that are unlike the others that have been encountered. She has reversed course back to the jump point.
Further contact for a total of two contacts weighing in at nearly 8500 tons, with a speed of nearly 6km/s, more than double our speed.
May 30th, 1972
Vega has returned back, and the only suggestion is we have met actual alien life that is not hostile. Initial diplomatic approaches will begin, and design of a future diplomatic ship will wait until new ion engines are developed. In addition, consideration for potential of a surveillance ship into the system will be strongly considered. However, the approach of GJ 3522 leads right into Barnards Star and then Proxima Centauri... and then from there, into Sol.
Proxima Centauri is a major crossroads and one that further underscores a need to potentially reinforce it as a defense and general fleet basin. But it is one that will require a significant need of infrastructure to set up a planetary defense point and people.
July 31st, 1972
We have completed work on ion engine drives and have also exhausted all vendarite from Earth.
August 3rd, 1972
The Vega has discovered the Beta Antillae system from Tau Ceti. The system is made up of two terrestrial planets, one dwarf planet, one gas giant, three moons, forty asteroids, and five comets. Exploration will begin.
September 31st, 1972
The 1st Support Brigade, loaded with engineers and xenoarchaeologists, has set forth towards the Groombridge 34 A-II.
As it stands with ongoing overhaul efforts of our main warships, we peg the start of Operation Dancing Dragon for late October/early November for when our ships will leave Earth. It will take a month and a half for our ships to reach Luytens Star.
I'm honestly surprised I haven't encountered the Swarm yet so far.
The overall mineral survey of Groombridge 34 is complete, which is an overall massive boon of a system in terms of overall mineral makeup, not to mention the five low cost habitable worlds (of which one has a ruined city). In addition to the massive mineral makeup, a total of four survey sites in the Groombridge 34 for ground survey teams to examine:
Code:
Groombridge 34-A II
Duranium 8,818,450 Acc 0.1
Corbomite 2,902,400 Acc 0.1
Tritanium 2,072,500 Acc 0.1
Boronide 3,525,625 Acc 0.1
Mercassium 3,422,500 Acc 0.1
Vendarite 1,750,625 Acc 0.1
Uridium 2,136,100 Acc 0.1
Corundium 426,400 Acc 0.7
Groombridge 34-A III
Duranium 5,810,472 Acc 0.6
Neutronium 2,641,316 Acc 0.8
Tritanium 3,183,164 Acc 0.7
Boronide 1,883,600 Acc 0.2
Gallicite 1,860,496 Acc 0.1
Groombridge 34-A IV
Vendarite 21,902,400 Acc 0.1
Groombridge 34-A VI
Sorium 32,586,553 Acc 0.7
Groombridge 34-A VIII
Sorium 172,800 Acc 1
Groombridge 34-A VI - Moon 7
Uridium 9,801 Acc 1
Corundium 6,241 Acc 1
Gallicite 4,761 Acc 1
Groombridge 34-A VIII - Moon 25
Duranium 149,058 Acc 0.8
Corbomite 1,590,121 Acc 0.8
Boronide 97,344 Acc 0.9
Sorium 1,054,729 Acc 0.4
Comet #1
Duranium 270,779 Acc 0.8
Comet #2
Neutronium 24,900 Acc 0.6
Comet #3
Duranium 97,885 Acc 0.8
Tritanium 61,604 Acc 0.9
Sorium 27,659 Acc 0.9
Corundium 3,178 Acc 0.8
Comet #4
Uridium 60,132 Acc 0.5
Comet #5
Corbomite 16,675 Acc 0.9
Sorium 62,825 Acc 0.5
Groombridge 34-B I
Duranium 17,287,200 Acc 0.1
Neutronium 52,186,176 Acc 0.1
Corbomite 26,255,376 Acc 0.9
Boronide 15,586,704 Acc 0.1
Mercassium 35,569,296 Acc 0.1
Vendarite 9,659,664 Acc 0.1
Groombridge 34-B III
Corbomite 14,984,641 Acc 0.6
Vendarite 693,889 Acc 0.1
Uridium 19,882,681 Acc 0.1
Groombridge 34-B IV
Sorium 11,760,000 Acc 0.8
Asteroid #28
Neutronium 1,764 Acc 1
Mercassium 7,921 Acc 1
Sorium 04 Acc 1
Asteroid #31
Neutronium 3,025 Acc 1
Corbomite 3,364 Acc 1
Uridium 1,024 Acc 1
Groombridge 34-B VI
Duranium 49,362,048 Acc 0.1
Gallicite 42,068,196 Acc 0.1
Groombridge 34-B IV - Moon 10
Duranium 12,005,000 Acc 0.9
Corbomite 24,502,500 Acc 0.4
Boronide 1,562,500 Acc 0.6
Sorium 22,090,000 Acc 1
Uridium 90,000 Acc 0.6
Groombridge 34-B IV - Moon 11
Duranium 9,800 Acc 1
Sorium 5,625 Acc 1March 18th, 1972
The Lacaille 9352 system has been discovered by the Vega coming from the Barnards Star system. It possesses four terrestrial planets (of which two are low-cost worlds), one superjovian, one gas giant, and thirty nine moons and asteroids. It begins its exploration of the system.
March 28th, 1972
And of course, we discover the Precursors in the system, with Vega ordered to high-tail it out of there.
April 7th, 1972
Vega successfully makes it back to Barnards Star, which is a good thing, but marks Lacaille 9352 as a future system to keep out of for now.
April 22nd, 1972
Vega has entered the other unexplored solar system that led from Barnards Star to the system GJ 3522. It is a system made up of four terrestrial planets, three dwarf planets, one superjovian, and two gas giants. A total of three low cost colonizable worlds are present including one with a peak of .55 and a low of .10.
It proceeds into the inner solar system.
May 8th, 1972
And Vega has once again discovered a new group of aliens that are unlike the others that have been encountered. She has reversed course back to the jump point.
Further contact for a total of two contacts weighing in at nearly 8500 tons, with a speed of nearly 6km/s, more than double our speed.
May 30th, 1972
Vega has returned back, and the only suggestion is we have met actual alien life that is not hostile. Initial diplomatic approaches will begin, and design of a future diplomatic ship will wait until new ion engines are developed. In addition, consideration for potential of a surveillance ship into the system will be strongly considered. However, the approach of GJ 3522 leads right into Barnards Star and then Proxima Centauri... and then from there, into Sol.
Proxima Centauri is a major crossroads and one that further underscores a need to potentially reinforce it as a defense and general fleet basin. But it is one that will require a significant need of infrastructure to set up a planetary defense point and people.
July 31st, 1972
We have completed work on ion engine drives and have also exhausted all vendarite from Earth.
August 3rd, 1972
The Vega has discovered the Beta Antillae system from Tau Ceti. The system is made up of two terrestrial planets, one dwarf planet, one gas giant, three moons, forty asteroids, and five comets. Exploration will begin.
September 31st, 1972
The 1st Support Brigade, loaded with engineers and xenoarchaeologists, has set forth towards the Groombridge 34 A-II.
As it stands with ongoing overhaul efforts of our main warships, we peg the start of Operation Dancing Dragon for late October/early November for when our ships will leave Earth. It will take a month and a half for our ships to reach Luytens Star.
I'm honestly surprised I haven't encountered the Swarm yet so far.
- Location
- Ohio
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Yeah. Them and the Luytens Star' precursors are both different from the Groombridge FACs (in terms of overall sensor resolutions), and each other.
Honestly expecting full-bore ASM stuff, which is why I went to give all of the AAM DDs the new and improved AAM.
May also need to watch out for the dread AMM spam...
10/25/72-12/27/72; The Battle of Luytens Star
- Location
- Ohio
- Pronouns
- He/Him
October 25th, 1972
The 1st Support Brigade has settled down on Groombridge 34 A-II. After decisions, the system Groombridge 34 will have names for each of the planets named after Norse mythology, with A-II named after Odin, A-III named after Heimdall, and A-IV named after Tyr.
October 27th, 1972
The as-organized Destroyer Group 1, made up of DESRONs 1-5, has set sail for the initial jump point. Both corvette squadrons will follow behind by four weeks. Destroyer Group is made up of over a third of a million tons of tonnage, consisting of nine Stalwart-class Destroyers, seven Dragon-class Destroyers, and twenty Lovelace-class Destroyer Escorts.
Plans are currently being drafted for the eventual Flight II series vessels, but work will wait until after Luyten's Star. Ion engine work is also on hold until the start of 1973 pending overall design drafts and commonality versus non-commonality on designs.
November 16th, 1972
The QY Aurigae system has been surveyed to reveal a dead end in terms of jump points. Beagle will continue to the DX Cancri system to survey.
December 4th, 1972
Unfortunately, overall fuel calculation was not double checked, and so Tanker Squadron 1 has been dispatched to V1216 Sagittarii to refuel both corvette squadrons on the way back to Earth assuming successful mission completion. If not... well. There are other problems to deal with.
December 4th, 1972
The combined task forces have entered the Luytens Star system EMCON silent, and slowly cruising in at 1000km/s, with both corvette elements hanging a decent distance behind the destroyers. At Luytens Star IV if contact is not made, all elements will speed up to 3000km/s and EMCON will go hot. If contact is made, it'll also go hot.
And the raiders have appeared in Sol as they begins. Hurray. Corvette Squadron Three is being dispatched, and Destroyer Squadron (made up of two Dragons) is following behind Corvette Squadron Three. All five corvettes will engage in a synced fire once in range.
And an additional three separate contacts have been detected, two more of the Vandavasi type, and then one as a new Firozabad type. Corvette Squadron Four is being mobilized. Corvette Squadron will have three corvettes engage with missiles at the Vandavasi type to be engaged, with the other two to hold fire. With an ongoing stern chase, missiles will engage at eight million kilometers away.
But... the initial Vandavasi being chased has suddenly disappeared with the other two back on scope along with the Firozabad, coming in a head-on engagement. Distance if continued, will be at fifteen million. Reinforcements are significantly behind. Three will engage on one Vandavasi, and two will engage on the Firozabad type. After that, they'll pull for a retreat having superior speed.
The Firozabad took multiple hits, but the Vandavasi was unable to be engaged, with Starlight shifting targets to hopefully destroy the Firozabad-type, with the other two to engage the Vandavasi.
Unfortunately, all ships escaped with Corvette Squadron Three suffering weapons release issues for the other three corvettes. Nonetheless, they have been chased off.
(i.e. I had some weird bug where for some reason the other three ships wouldn't fire and couldn't get the other two to engage after SM fixing it to see if that'd do it, nada)
December 26th, 1972
Destroyer Group 1 has hit the orbit and his increased to 3000km/s and flipped actives on, now to wait.
December 27th, 1972
Emissions have been detected from the Fort Charlotte. Still closing in.
And we've hit missile contacts, twenty-eight inbound. One DESRONs is tasked to engage at a time, with DESRON 1 first followed by 2, 3, and 4 on standby to take over once they've hit one third their ammo.
We're engaging twenty-eight missile salvos at a time, which will be... interesting.
Second missile salvo, and Dragon took a hit, hitting the armor but not penetrating through the armor leaving her exposed to vacuum.
Third missile wave, and Grody took a hit, failed to penetrate through the armor. DESRON 1 is halting, DESRON 2 is taking over AMM.
Fourth missile wave, and no hits.
Fifth missile wave, and Brooke took a hit, and are like the others in damage. DESRON 3 is taking over AMM.
Sixth missile wave, and no hits.
After six missile waves, no further contacts yet detected.
After two hours no contacts, detection of another ship in orbit around the planet, still nothing.
And then comes a seventh missile wave, no hits. DESRON 4 is now taking over for AMM.
Eighth missile wave, Stalwart is penetrated, but no internal damage.
Sensors have now took over Luytens Star revealing three separate ships, Freshet, Freshmere, and Fort Charlotte, all three being unique classes in orbit. We'll wait until we hit 27mkm before we engage missiles.
Ninth missile wave comes, Stalwart takes two hits, both on other portions of the armor belt.
Tenth missile wave, Stalwart is targeted again and takes the blow of hits, with both fuel tanks damaged, two engines knocked out, two fire controls out, missile search radar out, one launch tube out. Seventy-three crew casualties.
Eleventh missile wave, they've gone past the formation, and history the Stalwart with an additional seventeen crew casualties.
Twelfth missile wave, this time with twelve missile count. Both remaining missiles hit the Stalwart with an additional eleven crew casualties.
Ships are in range, and the corvettes will salvo fire at the Fort Charlotte from one squadron and the Freshet from another squadron. Each pair of Dragons per Destroyer Squadron is engaging one ship, with Caldwell from DESRON 4 holding in reserve.
And the full force of all the missiles bound towards the target with a major continuous salvo, which should hopefully be able to penetrate the enemy defenses to destroy the ships.
And then comes the thirteenth missile salvo as we're running down on AMM count. Oh joy. Escorts hit numerous ones with lasers, but Kelly took a hit, penetrating and knocking out an engine. Fifteen crew casualties.
The first wave comes rolling in, and the Fort Charlotte is hit and destroyed with what I suspect was from the fifty-five secondary explosion. The Freshet meanwhile takes two penetrating hits by the looks.
But then comes fourteenth missile salvo inbound. We're full out of AMMs. Dragon took a single penetrating hit that caused both a secondary magazine detonation (that was thankfully empty) and then a secondary power system explosion from one of the engines that tore across the ship. She's out of the fight, having taken eighty-eight crew casualties.
ASMs are rolling in, and knock out the Freshmere type. The Freshet is still alive, and Caldwell is to engage with full magazine. If that fails, the AMM-armed destroyers will proceed to engage with ASMs before we go down to lasers.
Fourteenth wave with two inbound missiles, and the trajectory is taking it towards the Stalwart. Fifteenth wave follows behind with a single missile. Fourteenth wave damages armor only, Fifteenth wave hits with more damage and twenty-five casualties.
ASMs roll in and hit the Freshet with a secondary detonation of size sixty-five tearing it apart. As far as we can tell, the system is under our control. We'll be slowly rolling into the planet, but both corvette squadrons will be RTB back towards the jump point.
Overall, three destroyers have taken significant damage. All AMMs have been expended along with most ASMs. Two hundred and twenty-nine crew casualties have been taken, with Stalwart having taken 126 alone. She's gonna be in dockyards for a while. All elements will begin a staged withdrawal back to the jump point and a tanker will be brought into refuel both ships fully knocked out to make some headway back to the jump point. Estimate will be at least mid-January until we can get a tanker to refuel both ships to start making some headway. The corvettes will refuel on the other side of the jump point.
I'm gonna be honest. I thought the task group was done from the missiles and amazed we lived that. Also uh, was not helped by my fucking up of AMM stuff.
For those curious, Cascade (corvette) claimed the Fort Charlotte, Dragon claimed the Freshmere, and Caldwell claimed the Freshet.
The 1st Support Brigade has settled down on Groombridge 34 A-II. After decisions, the system Groombridge 34 will have names for each of the planets named after Norse mythology, with A-II named after Odin, A-III named after Heimdall, and A-IV named after Tyr.
October 27th, 1972
The as-organized Destroyer Group 1, made up of DESRONs 1-5, has set sail for the initial jump point. Both corvette squadrons will follow behind by four weeks. Destroyer Group is made up of over a third of a million tons of tonnage, consisting of nine Stalwart-class Destroyers, seven Dragon-class Destroyers, and twenty Lovelace-class Destroyer Escorts.
Plans are currently being drafted for the eventual Flight II series vessels, but work will wait until after Luyten's Star. Ion engine work is also on hold until the start of 1973 pending overall design drafts and commonality versus non-commonality on designs.
November 16th, 1972
The QY Aurigae system has been surveyed to reveal a dead end in terms of jump points. Beagle will continue to the DX Cancri system to survey.
December 4th, 1972
Unfortunately, overall fuel calculation was not double checked, and so Tanker Squadron 1 has been dispatched to V1216 Sagittarii to refuel both corvette squadrons on the way back to Earth assuming successful mission completion. If not... well. There are other problems to deal with.
December 4th, 1972
The combined task forces have entered the Luytens Star system EMCON silent, and slowly cruising in at 1000km/s, with both corvette elements hanging a decent distance behind the destroyers. At Luytens Star IV if contact is not made, all elements will speed up to 3000km/s and EMCON will go hot. If contact is made, it'll also go hot.
And the raiders have appeared in Sol as they begins. Hurray. Corvette Squadron Three is being dispatched, and Destroyer Squadron (made up of two Dragons) is following behind Corvette Squadron Three. All five corvettes will engage in a synced fire once in range.
And an additional three separate contacts have been detected, two more of the Vandavasi type, and then one as a new Firozabad type. Corvette Squadron Four is being mobilized. Corvette Squadron will have three corvettes engage with missiles at the Vandavasi type to be engaged, with the other two to hold fire. With an ongoing stern chase, missiles will engage at eight million kilometers away.
But... the initial Vandavasi being chased has suddenly disappeared with the other two back on scope along with the Firozabad, coming in a head-on engagement. Distance if continued, will be at fifteen million. Reinforcements are significantly behind. Three will engage on one Vandavasi, and two will engage on the Firozabad type. After that, they'll pull for a retreat having superior speed.
The Firozabad took multiple hits, but the Vandavasi was unable to be engaged, with Starlight shifting targets to hopefully destroy the Firozabad-type, with the other two to engage the Vandavasi.
Unfortunately, all ships escaped with Corvette Squadron Three suffering weapons release issues for the other three corvettes. Nonetheless, they have been chased off.
(i.e. I had some weird bug where for some reason the other three ships wouldn't fire and couldn't get the other two to engage after SM fixing it to see if that'd do it, nada)
December 26th, 1972
Destroyer Group 1 has hit the orbit and his increased to 3000km/s and flipped actives on, now to wait.
December 27th, 1972
Emissions have been detected from the Fort Charlotte. Still closing in.
And we've hit missile contacts, twenty-eight inbound. One DESRONs is tasked to engage at a time, with DESRON 1 first followed by 2, 3, and 4 on standby to take over once they've hit one third their ammo.
We're engaging twenty-eight missile salvos at a time, which will be... interesting.
Second missile salvo, and Dragon took a hit, hitting the armor but not penetrating through the armor leaving her exposed to vacuum.
Third missile wave, and Grody took a hit, failed to penetrate through the armor. DESRON 1 is halting, DESRON 2 is taking over AMM.
Fourth missile wave, and no hits.
Fifth missile wave, and Brooke took a hit, and are like the others in damage. DESRON 3 is taking over AMM.
Sixth missile wave, and no hits.
After six missile waves, no further contacts yet detected.
After two hours no contacts, detection of another ship in orbit around the planet, still nothing.
And then comes a seventh missile wave, no hits. DESRON 4 is now taking over for AMM.
Eighth missile wave, Stalwart is penetrated, but no internal damage.
Sensors have now took over Luytens Star revealing three separate ships, Freshet, Freshmere, and Fort Charlotte, all three being unique classes in orbit. We'll wait until we hit 27mkm before we engage missiles.
Ninth missile wave comes, Stalwart takes two hits, both on other portions of the armor belt.
Tenth missile wave, Stalwart is targeted again and takes the blow of hits, with both fuel tanks damaged, two engines knocked out, two fire controls out, missile search radar out, one launch tube out. Seventy-three crew casualties.
Eleventh missile wave, they've gone past the formation, and history the Stalwart with an additional seventeen crew casualties.
Twelfth missile wave, this time with twelve missile count. Both remaining missiles hit the Stalwart with an additional eleven crew casualties.
Ships are in range, and the corvettes will salvo fire at the Fort Charlotte from one squadron and the Freshet from another squadron. Each pair of Dragons per Destroyer Squadron is engaging one ship, with Caldwell from DESRON 4 holding in reserve.
And the full force of all the missiles bound towards the target with a major continuous salvo, which should hopefully be able to penetrate the enemy defenses to destroy the ships.
And then comes the thirteenth missile salvo as we're running down on AMM count. Oh joy. Escorts hit numerous ones with lasers, but Kelly took a hit, penetrating and knocking out an engine. Fifteen crew casualties.
The first wave comes rolling in, and the Fort Charlotte is hit and destroyed with what I suspect was from the fifty-five secondary explosion. The Freshet meanwhile takes two penetrating hits by the looks.
But then comes fourteenth missile salvo inbound. We're full out of AMMs. Dragon took a single penetrating hit that caused both a secondary magazine detonation (that was thankfully empty) and then a secondary power system explosion from one of the engines that tore across the ship. She's out of the fight, having taken eighty-eight crew casualties.
ASMs are rolling in, and knock out the Freshmere type. The Freshet is still alive, and Caldwell is to engage with full magazine. If that fails, the AMM-armed destroyers will proceed to engage with ASMs before we go down to lasers.
Fourteenth wave with two inbound missiles, and the trajectory is taking it towards the Stalwart. Fifteenth wave follows behind with a single missile. Fourteenth wave damages armor only, Fifteenth wave hits with more damage and twenty-five casualties.
ASMs roll in and hit the Freshet with a secondary detonation of size sixty-five tearing it apart. As far as we can tell, the system is under our control. We'll be slowly rolling into the planet, but both corvette squadrons will be RTB back towards the jump point.
Overall, three destroyers have taken significant damage. All AMMs have been expended along with most ASMs. Two hundred and twenty-nine crew casualties have been taken, with Stalwart having taken 126 alone. She's gonna be in dockyards for a while. All elements will begin a staged withdrawal back to the jump point and a tanker will be brought into refuel both ships fully knocked out to make some headway back to the jump point. Estimate will be at least mid-January until we can get a tanker to refuel both ships to start making some headway. The corvettes will refuel on the other side of the jump point.
I'm gonna be honest. I thought the task group was done from the missiles and amazed we lived that. Also uh, was not helped by my fucking up of AMM stuff.
For those curious, Cascade (corvette) claimed the Fort Charlotte, Dragon claimed the Freshmere, and Caldwell claimed the Freshet.
I've always wanted to get into this game, but found it to have... a lot of tedious micromanagement. Maybe it's the way I tried to play it, or I just need to accept that every single operation will require dedicated control and interstellar shipping is a bad idea?
"A lot of tedious micromanagement" could be the subtitle, really. You probably aren't going to like Aurora 4x it if you can't at least tolerate that.
But I'm not sure what the problem with interstellar shipping is?
- Location
- Ohio
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Aurora does... have a fair amount of tedious micromanagement; there are some improvements on doing stuff but queuing stuff up and the like, but it'll still be required at the end of the day. One thing that does help a bit is some internal RPing and the like on doing stuff.
- Location
- Ohio
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Yeah, I saw the mention of CIWS not working before and why I hadn't been including it in my designs (when normally uh, VB6 I usually did).
Also I admittedly had lost my uh, little notebook I had been using to take notes, so I lost I think somewhere on the order of six-nine months which annoyed me a fair bit and had me just not really in the mood to play/recreate the damned notes from what I remember.