As an idea for the yard space, why not a diplomatic/escort vessel. No offensive armament, overwhelming point defense and armor, extra space for a diplomatic corp, and lavish accommodations? Literally "We want to talk, but if you don't, you won't stop us leaving".
As for the Scouting itself, honestly would prefer a deep space survey of the other unknowns before we push out again.
As an idea for the yard space, why not a diplomatic/escort vessel. No offensive armament, overwhelming point defense and armor, extra space for a diplomatic corp, and lavish accommodations?
Actually... That's a good idea. Perhaps it could double as hospital ship instead of an escort though? Or perhaps some sort of passanger liner? We do want to be carrying our staffers to S'taxu and Xyri after all.
the fss is just a militarised cargo ship - the mobile refinery/factory ship was one of the alternatives. And iirc we don't get fuel from gas giants, or at least, we'd need refining equipment that only a capital-class hull can fit so a gas giant in an uninhabited system is only of theoretical interest.
I don't particularly like using the dsses for short ranged survey like that. Better to have them traveling farther out to the otherwise unreachable areas, and using the interstellar surveyors to do one-out-one-back expeditions bringing a steady stream of data back. System survey is what they're for; jumping out and staring into the darkness is what the DSSes are for.
Edit: or is this because the "refusing to carry scientific equipment to spite the academics for not bribing us" of the survey ship design has bitten us in the arse?
Ye but I thought that was like a "peeking over from adjacent sectors to see what's out there" thing. And that the continue scouting option was to keep doing that. Now that the adjacent sectors are scouted they'd need to go out farther into unexplored but empty sectors to check farther out, unless some of the dark greys haven't been deep surveyed yet.
And also the long-range survey stuff, the interstellar surveyors aren't equipped for it and are only barely capable.
04y05m02w - Final arrivals are coordinated. HSWS Ninurta brings the delegation from Home, while CHGS Sinop delivers several junior members of the Chambrestrong Dynasty. Negotiations finally begin in earnest, eight months after they were originally agreed to.
Ninurta being a cruiser and also one of the ships responsible for the orbital bombardment, which is certainly one of the messages of all time.
The protocol was that one ship from each faction dropped off a guard team to make sure the station wasn't full of pirates and secret agents with bombs in briefcases, then a second ship brought the diplomats.
@4WheelSword Can HSLS Lakapati just drop stuff on the asteroid to be used later or do we need to build infrastructure to store our supplies and fuel? Does diplomatic personal have the patience to be carried south on ICs in case they're needed for first contact? It's going to be a long mission without proper accomodations for them.
I'll modify the plan below according the answers to the questions above, but for them moment this is what I think would work best:
[ ] Plan South
-[ ] HSWS Aditi, HSWS Tishtrya, HSWS Janus, HSLS Lakapati and 4 Interstellar Cruisers are assigned to the operation. -01+01 is designated as the staging area.
-[ ] S'Taxu governments are informed of the purpose of the operation, we don't want them scared. The full taskforce resupplies at S'Taxu and jumps into -01+01. At -01+01 all ships resupply from HSLS Lakapati. Operation proper beings, orders as follow:
-[ ] HSWS Aditi and HSWS Tishtrya jump in tandem to -02+02 and continue along the green route. As usual, one of them is meant to keep safe, so that assistance from the staging area can be called-in. Establishing contact with another space-faring civilization warrants return to the staging area with the news.
-[ ] 4 Interstellar Cruisers are on standby in -01+01. HSLS Lakapati jumps back to S'Taxu, to get new supplies and returns to -01+01. HSWS Janus is on standby, but after 2 weeks jumps into -02+02 to conduct mineralogic surveys.
[ ] Construct: one Deep Space Surveyor and the fifth Deep Hope segment
[ ] Construct: one 1K tonnes Diplomatic Liner (2-jumps, no weapons except for defensive weapons, optimized for personnel transport, but with conference room and small cargo area to whatever diplomats need to conduct their duties, can compromise on speed)
If fine with either constructing extra surveyors or the diplomatic ship.
@4WheelSword Can HSLS Lakapati just drop stuff on the asteroid to be used later or do we need to build infrastructure to store our supplies and fuel? Does diplomatic personal have the patience to be carried south on ICs in case they're needed for first contact? It's going to be a long mission without proper accomodations for them.
1) If you're literally tying crates to the asteroid, yeah Lakapati can do that but recovering them isn't going to be fun and you'll still need transfer gear to actually get the stores from the asteroid into a ship.
2) Not "if needed". The cruisers are too cramped. A cruiser can definitely carry a diplomatic team if its a) not expected to fight at full strength and b) if it's not a long trip.
Would it work to have them in the logi ship until needed? Thinking have it carry a load of two of fuel and supplies out and keep them in uh "external cold storage" while it hangs around to handle fuel and transfer stuff.
Presumably we can pretty up a cargo bay with a nice carpet and a chandelier.
Tbh a waystation there will be useful to let jump-1 ships IE outsourced civi logi get across the gap. At least one of those systems will be useful, if only for fueling facilities on that gas giant.
Surely this time we won't find another diplomatic clusterfuck.
This is where the Lancer-class would hypothetically be useful, with it's four jumps - longer endurance / ability to keep up with the DSS and less of a logistical headache to get out on these longer range missions.
I think using -01, 01 as a staging area for the shorter range vessels is worthwhile but it's going to be a pain in the butt to get it sorted until we can get a fleet tender or something out there to make it worthwhile.
Could be useful as a second spot for a waystation for fuel, supplies, etc.
I think using -01, 01 as a staging area for the shorter range vessels is worthwhile but it's going to be a pain in the butt to get it sorted until we can get a fleet tender or something out there to make it worthwhile.
Nah, for a scouting mission we've got what we need right now, we don't need to build stuff.
That said, building a Waypoint there, with stored fuel and supplies, is something we should do when Deep Hope is operational. Perhaps just one or two 500 tonne segments would be sufficient for storage areas and docking equipment?
Nah, for a scouting mission we've got what we need right now, we don't need to build stuff.
That said, building a Waypoint there, with stored fuel and supplies, is something we should do when Deep Hope is operational. Perhaps just one or two 500 tonne segments would be sufficient for storage areas and docking equipment?
We might. It would box in S'taxu factions if we had something major over there. That said, our yards are limited and there might be other waypoints to build in the north, so I'd begin with something smaller.
Anyways, posting the Plan. Feel free to comment if there's something that needs to be added:
[X] Plan South
-[X] HSWS Aditi, HSWS Tishtrya, HSWS Janus, HSLS Lakapati and 4 Interstellar Cruisers are assigned to the operation. -01+01 is designated as the staging area.
-[X] S'Taxu governments are informed of the purpose of the operation, we don't want them scared. The full taskforce resupplies at S'Taxu and jumps into -01+01. At -01+01 all ships resupply from HSLS Lakapati. Operation proper beings, orders as follow:
-[X] HSWS Aditi and HSWS Tishtrya jump in tandem to -02+02 and continues along the green route, charting the systems and observing into the distance. As usual, one of the surveyors is meant to keep its distance, so that assistance from the staging area can be called-in. Be cautious, remember the earlier forays into S'taxu and Xyri. If peaceful contact is made, arrange for proper diplomatic meeting later.
-[X] 4 Interstellar Cruisers are on standby in -01+01. HSLS Lakapati jumps back to S'Taxu, to get fresh supplies and returns to -01+01. HSWS Janus is on standby, but after 15 days jumps into -02+02 to conduct mining surveys.
-[X] Operation is expected to end when all surveyors return to the staging area. If nothing unexpected happens, HSLS Lakapati drops the fuel and supplies on the asteroid for later use and the entire task group returns Home.
-[X] Construct: one Deep Space Surveyor and the fifth Deep Hope segment
Alternatively:
-[ ] Construct: one 1K tonnes Diplomatic Transport (2-jumps, no weapons except for defensive weapons, optimized for personnel transport, but with conference room and small cargo area for whatever diplomats need to conduct their duties, marine guards, can compromise on speed)
Didn't we jump in, drop off a first contact package, detect a number of chemical rockets burning in our direction from their inhabited planet, jump out and then never mention them again?
Didn't we jump in, drop off a first contact package, detect a number of chemical rockets burning in our direction from their inhabited planet, jump out and then never mention them again?
If you think you recognize where I'm pulling these inspirations from no you don't :-3
[X] OPLAN: Prepare to Drink Vacuum
-[X] Conduct deep space surveys of the other unknowns before any penetration of potentially hostile space.
-[X] A small, long range escort of some kind. With the discovery of these new systems and their unknown occupants, the staff of the Multispectrum Warfare Office understands that penetration and full reports on those systems must be undertaken as soon as possible. However, the Service must not, in its new independence, forget the loss of the Heimdall and its consequences for our relations in S'taxu. War and all its ills, from orbital bombardment and starvation to radiation burns and the deprivations of imprisonment, were the bitter fruit of our first steps into contact with inhabited systems. We know better now, and should plan as such.
To that end, the MWO proposes that combined DSS-Scout missions explore all remaining unknown contacts in our local "north" and "south", with these missions buying time for the building, preparation, and execution of a second run of scout missions into systems 01-02 and 02-03, which are large, centered around warm, habitable stars, and therefore likely to be inhabited as Home, Xyri, and S'taxu are. However, these voyages will not be conducted alone-they will be conducted in trio, led by a completely new destroyer escort.
The Zhuge-class destroyer escort is drawn from the earlier Lancer and Crossbow proposals, with elements of the even older Quarrel-and-Pavise multi-mission program. Built off a lengthened version of the DSS/SWB spaceframe with a range matching the former, the Zhuge masses 850 tons, built around a rotary torpedo launcher fitted for Type-20 multi-mission ordnance and 75 tons of ammunition, with all other weapons being defensive particle barbettes and sandcaster arrays. Additionally, it will be fitted with a platoon of FLF troopers and their attendant drop infrastructure for exploratory security and counter-boarding operations. The Zhuge will use this considerable firepower to escort and defend Scout and DSS missions as they advance into unknown space, ensuring that regardless of what we meet on the way through the deep black, the spacers of the HSWS will not go unguarded.
