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Traveller, The Rise of Empire: A Naval Design, Procurement and Command Quest

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[X] Switch to the HSWS
[X] Draft 6

hexagon bestagon
I don't know why but the cutaway star is very aesthetic.

Colours... might be tweaked like black to green and red to black, planet-stars-space style, idk. Though that's a bit on the nose. Current... space and stars and the blood that sometimes gets scattered between them?


People working for a Service are probably less likely to get Ideas than ones from a Command.
 
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[X] Switch to the HSWS
[X] Draft 4, 6 and 8

For the roundel design, I really like the geometric shapes of 6. The way that 8 seems to combine the symbolism of a star and galaxy into is pretty cool. 4 and 7 are pretty similar but I think I prefer the spikiness of 4.
 
4WheelSword said:
Third on the list is the Home Space Warfare Command, or alternately, the Home Space Warfare Service. Recognising the extraction of the space forces from the City Militia into a force of its own, these names are as much about pride in the service as they are about recognising the nature of the force.
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Aerospace force descended from a larger ground based military, using the icons of the GSC. I see what you did there @4WheelSword and I adore it :3
 
[X] Switch to the HSWS
[X] Draft 2, 6 and 7

Are the ensign proposals moving forward based on the most popular triplet vote or the 3 most popular individually?
 
Bespecte32 said:
If you don't mind me asking, what is the GSC?
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The Global Strike Command, successor to the USAF's Bomber Command from WWII and the venerable Strategic Air Command from the Cold War. The star-with-wings device dates back to World War One and Two as the official service patch of the Army Air Service, then the Air Corps, and it's integrated into several modern Air Force heraldries, including the 8th, 9th, 13th, and 15th.
 
[x] Switch to the HIN
This is my favorite of the patches.
[x] Draft 4, 6, and 9
I think 9 is probably my favorite, but I like the others as well.
 
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4-1: New Horizons
  • Threadmarks
    • Adhoc vote count started by 4WheelSword on Jul 31, 2024 at 6:55 AM, finished with 25 posts and 21 votes.
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    Which of the four choices does the force prefer? Switch to the HSWS
    Please select up to 3 of the 10 proposed designs to move forwards to the next round, in the following format: Draft 2, 6 and 9


    Welcome, Ladies, Gentlemen and Others to the Home Space Warfare Service. We believe that this new name will properly encapsulate the responsibilities of our force, will recognise the task set to us by the Citizens Council and will be understandable as and when we encounter strangers out in the depths of the void. It also solves the problem of re-designating every ship in the fleet, as we can maintain them as 'Home Space Warfare Ships' or 'Home Space Logistics Ships' for the time being. However, the question of our new naval ensign, our new patch emblem and our new hull marking are still waiting in the wings:
    - Design 1 fits the criteria of 'every child in Home could draw it' but is otherwise somewhat flat.

    - Design 2 represents the many responsibilities of the HSWS and the protections offered by the fleet.

    - Design 3 is an orbital diagram at its simplest, and will encourage children to learn what a spirograph is.

    Which of the above will be our new ensign and emblem?
    [ ] Ensign 1
    [ ] Ensign 2
    [ ] Ensign 3


    New Construction, New Plans - 05y00m00w
    Much has happened in the last few months, in terms of fleet capabilities. The first two segments of the Deep Hope station have been completed and are in transit to the sector 'North' of Home. The fleet logistics ship, all 4,000 tons of her, is having her last plates and systems fitted and is preparing to have her reactor fired for the first time. Our cruisers continue to shuffle in and out of S'Taxu and now occasionally one will make a visit to Xyri as well, simply to check everything is still nice and peaceful. Finally, the Deep Space Surveyors are completed, readied for service and prepared for long range, deep space missions out of contact from the rest of the fleet.

    ​
    The ship is an attempt to cram as many crew comforts as possible into a very small vessel which creates some interesting contradictions. The only showers are in the gym, and it's expected that water will be rationed for much of the mission time. At the same time, the ship has a gym, as well as an open plan commons area cum mess hall. All of this is packed into the upper deck, away from the engineering spaces, the massive observatory that takes up the entire forwards sections of the ship and the stores that hang underneath the sleek little scout.

    The plan view of the System Defence Boat which shares a hull with the Deep Space Surveyor​
    There are, however, questions about how to best utilise these new scouts. With two deep space scouts (capable of 2-out-2-back) and two short ranged exploration ships (capable of 1-out-1-back) the fleet has the capacity for a far greater depth of search than previously possibly, a capacity that will only grow once the Flotilla Logistics Ship is in service. With so much unexplored space available to us, we must work out how best to utilise these scouts for the future of our system, our polity and our Service. Consider the following map:
    ​

    - Numbered systems have been entered by our ships and thus are known to us in terms of contents.
    - Light grey systems can be reached by our Interstellar Surveyors and are thus far un-scanned by deep space research platforms which may reveal additional information.
    - Dark grey systems can only be reached by the Deep Space Surveyor utilising a full load of drop tanks, but can be scanned from a known or light grey system.

    How are we going to go about charting efforts?
    [ ] Conduct short ranged scouting and long-duration missions in the light grey sectors to assess details about the more distant sectors.
    [ ] Conduct deep penetration jumps into the outer reaches of unknown systems in order to gather broad spectrum data as soon as possible.
    [ ] Combine operations, with IS ships jumping into light grey sectors and DSS ships jumping into dark grey systems to cover ground quickly.
    [ ] Other - write in.

    I am imposing a 2 hour moratorium. Vote opens at
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Hmmm... You don't do outlines on shapes on flags.

    As for explorarion plan I'd need to be home to plan properly, but basic idea is to send deep scouts deep in tandem and use normal scouts with logistic support to follow up on interesting finds. Primary direction South to check potential S'taxu-Xyri routes.
     
    I'm in favor of the short missions / long duration combo to do some scanning to get an idea of what we might be jumping into before we start sending deep jump missions into the pure unknown. If we spot anything interesting we can do a closer inspection and we can a slow-but-steady push to expand our knowledge base.
     
    [ ] Combine operations, with IS ships jumping into light grey sectors and DSS ships jumping into dark grey systems to cover ground quickly.

    If we had voted for more survey ships I would have been willing to go with one of the more conservative options, but we have a lot of map to explore and only four ships to do it with.

    [ ] Ensign 3

    No I'm sorry, I can't agree to any design that has white on white, distinguished only by a thin black line to mark out the shape. Don't stack the same color, people! Rookie mistake.
     
    Briefvoice said:
    [ ] Combine operations, with IS ships jumping into light grey sectors and DSS ships jumping into dark grey systems to cover ground quickly.

    If we had voted for more survey ships I would have been willing to go with one of the more conservative options, but we have a lot of map to explore and only four ships to do it with.
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    Doesn't less survey ships argue for being careful with the ones we do have so we don't lose them? We're not, as far as we know, on a time crunch. We can afford to take our time and do it right so our crews come home.
     
    [X] Ensign 2
    -[X] Modified:


    or


    [X] Plan 4+5
    -[X] HSWS Aditi and HSWS Tishtrya always jump in tandem. In case of unexpected calamity one of them is meant to reach Home with the news.
    -[X] Blue Lines represent standard 4-jump exploration routes for Deep Space Surveyors.
    -[X] Yellow-Green Lines represent 5-jump exploration routes for Deep Space Surverors. Beforehand, Interstellar Surveyors jump in to confirm whether the yellow jumps are safe for exploration team. Then HSWS Aditi and HSWS Tishtrya (both with full tanks), HSLS Lakapati and two Insterstellar Cruisers jump through the yellow route. HSWS Aditi and HSWS Tishtrya resupply and continue jumping green routes. HSLS Lakapati recovers empty drop pods and jumps back with its escorts.
    -[X] Priotize the southern route. Afterwards, prioritize S'taxu routes. Continue jumps as the availability of HSLS Lakapati and Deep Hope infrastructure permits. Use Interstellar Surveryors to follow up on interesting finds (suitable for their mining drones and labs) or explore remaining light hexes.



    The above plan is conservative, but still saves on time by utilizing 5-long jumps.

    EDIT: @4WheelSword S'taxu has no refuelling symbol? How long until refuelling options for Deep Hope become available?
     
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    Rat King said:
    We're not, as far as we know, on a time crunch.
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    I would not look at it that way at all. We are always on a time crunch in a growth phase like this, because we are competing with everyone else out there also growing whether we know they exist or not. If you view it as a vast game of Interstellar Civilization, all the NPC powers are out there exploring and planting their own colonies, not waiting in stasis until we encounter them.

    [X] Ensign 3

    [X] Combine operations, with IS ships jumping into light grey sectors and DSS ships jumping into dark grey systems to cover ground quickly.

    Also for the record, I think this tandem jump stuff is bullshit. Huge waste of resources and personnel time. It the ships are supposed to be cautious then have them explore cautiously, but we do not need or want two exploration ships on every exploration jump.
     
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    Briefvoice said:
    Also for the record, I think this tandem jump stuff is bullshit. Huge waste of resources and personnel time. It the ships are supposed to be cautious then have them explore cautiously, but we do not need or want two exploration ships on every exploration jump.
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    In this case I agree with @Rat King that we are not pressed for time. Our sole competitor is S'taxu that has just now reverse-engineered J-Drives. Yes, there might be other polities out there in the dark, but we've got no reason to assume those are peer competitors. Heck, it's possible those guys are working with decades of headstart.

    That said, I wouldn't be opposed to filling the yard space with an extra pair of Deep Space Surveyors and some station segments as the Intestellar Monitor is being built.
     
    Briefvoice said:
    I would not look at it that way at all. We are always on a time crunch in a growth phase like this, because we are competing with everyone else out there also growing whether we know they exist or not. If you view it as a vast game of Interstellar Civilization, all the NPC powers are out there exploring and planting their own colonies, not waiting in stasis until we encounter them.
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    And? That doesn't mean we should rush this and stumble into another problem or lose a surveyor and have no idea what happened to it. It's not a rat race.

    Also for the record, I think this tandem jump stuff is bullshit. Huge waste of resources and personnel time. It the ships are supposed to be cautious then have them explore cautiously, but we do not need or want two exploration ships on every exploration jump.
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    Click to shrink...

    If we hadn't been doing tandem jumps, we would have had no idea what happened to the Heimdall.
     
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