Turn 67 - Spring 2191/3041
Confederated Forces:
[] Fleet Extension: active
Time: 3 turns, Chance of Success: 70%
Roll 1 of 3, Roll 1d100: 2+15 = 17 - Failure (All military Operations)
Roll 2 of 3, Roll 1d100: 78+15 = 93 - Success
Initially the Parlamentary Advisory Commitee for the Confederated Forces continued to block any attempt to further expand the WarShip fleet of the Space Force, stating that there was no need to actually build up more forces, as the Inner Sphere powers did not have any meaningful Space Forces of their own, aside from militarised Assault Dropships, and the few WarShips at least the Lyran Commonwealth and the Federated Suns were now possessing. Any combat with the Inner Sphere in space would certainly be over quickly before any Dropship could hit the atmosphere.
The Circinus Crisis, as well as information from the Confederation of Habitats and the Lupus Republic, however led to a complete switch of that opinion with the lack of any WarShip presence during the evolving crisis. They were quick to talk about the possibility that any of the Confederation worlds should have at least some WarShip presence, even if it were merely Arethusa class Destroyers, though Petan class Missile Cruisers were also high on the new priority list.
active for 1 more turn
[] Advanced Armor: - 9 votes active
Time: 6 turns, Chance of success: 50%
Roll 1 of 6, Roll 1d100: 33+5+5+10 = 53 - Success (All military R&D, Space Weapon R&D, Interstellar Communication Network)
The development of new Capital class weapons for WarShips, and the potential to develop lighter SubCapital weapon systems for ACCs, called the attention of designers and strategists to a problem ignored for some time now. The heavy firepower of any WarShip was enough to easily defeat a vessel of the same type in a relatively short time frame, as armour and other defensive systems were not designed to defend against this sort of firepower.
As such, one of the major concerns for various project teams was the development more advanced composite armour systems, as well as looking into various other forms of advanced defences.
active for 5 more turns
OCP Survey Office:
Result: Inteligence data on the Draconis Combine
[] Number Station: active
Time: 5 turns, Chance of success: 45%
Roll 1 of 5, Roll 1d100: 14+15 = 29 - Failure (All Intelligence Operations)
Roll 2 of 5, Roll 1d100: 80+15 = 95 - Success
Roll 3 of 5, Roll 1d100: 28+15 = 43 - Failure
Roll 4 of 5, Roll 1d100: 41+15 = 56 - Success
Roll 5 of 5, Roll 1d100: 45+15 = 60 - Success
Combined: 57 - Success
Station Recovery, 25% Success Rate, Roll 1d4: 4 - Successful Recovery
Data Recovery, 50% Success, even - success, odd - failure, Roll 1d6: 6 - Successful Data Recovery
Following the success of locating the various number stations, it was decided that one of them would be approached and an attempt to recover it was made. The selected station was codenamed Station Delta, located in orbit around a gas giant in the Inner Spher Formathaut system. The Number Station itself proved to be a large satellite the size of a 40ft ISO standard container and hidden within the ring system of the gas giant.
It was possible for CFS Juan Pujol García to approach the satellite and take direct measurements and observations, like identifying several service and other hatches, which would prove to be advantageous during the recovery operation.
The operation itself was made possible through an extended duration EVA that opened the various hatches and removed parts of the satellite, which stopped its broadcast about halfway through the operation.
In the end it was possible to successfully recover the satellite and its data intact and several markings on the outside of the satellite claimed it to belong to the Star League Defense Forces. From the wear and tear of the satellite, even in the environment of the gas giants rings, it was noted the satellite could not be older than 150 years.
Any closer inspection of the satellite and its data would have to wait for the return of the material to the Confederation.
Interestingly however was that the remaining Number Stations continued to broadcast, automatically compensating for the missing satellite, apparently deciding that its environs had destroyed it.
Reward: Successful Recovery of a Number Station and its Data
[] Clan Space: active
Time: 10 turns, Chance of success: 50%
Roll 1 of 10, Roll 1d100: 40+15 = 55 - Success (All Intelligence Operations)
Roll 2 of 10, Roll 1d100: 22+15 = 37 - Failure
During the continued jumps closer towards Clan Space, one of the Walsinghams, CFS Mata Hari experienced a problem with its JumpDrive, necessitating an unplanned stop. The commander of the operation ordered that the entire scout force would remain with the Mata Hari in case it would need to be abandoned.
This however allowed the JumpShips shadowed by the scouts to jump outside the range of their Superluminal Wave Detectors, causing them lose the connection to the JumpShips. This was not such a large problem, however, as the next group of JumpShips had just departed the Socrates system.
active for 8 more turns
OCP Diplomatic Corps:
[] Diplomatic Contact: Belters active
Time: 4 turns, Chance of success: 70%
Roll 1 of 4, Roll 1d100: 36+10 = 46 - Success (All diplomatic actions)
Roll 2 of 4, Roll 1d100: 41+10 = 51 - Success
Roll 3 of 4, Roll 1d100: 84+10 = 94 - Success
During the closer contact with the Confederation of Habitats on Harmony, the diplomatic team could learn more about their hosts, while they in turn learned more about the OCP.
One of the big positives was the reaction to learning about the Aldmoru at 61 Virginis, as these Quetzal offshoot species were sorely living on space habitats like the belters and had lived that way for more than three times as long, as well as the fact that nearly 2 billion humans in the OCP were living on space habitats and moons.
On the other side, the diplomatic team learned that the CoH was a largely peaceful society with heavy libertarian, almost anarchistic leanings. While they had preferred to be that way for almost all their existence, the so-called 'Amaris Atrocity' during the Amaris Civil War, where Rim World forces had destroyed many habitats in the Jupiter Trojans, had forced them to rethink their situation. They had realised that, while they could continue to simply pretend to be merely a phenomenon of the Terra system, they had to be prepared to defend themselves better the next time.
This led to the formation of the CoH and the Confederation Defense Force, a sorely space based force made up of a few WarShips, as well as DropShips and Aerospace fighters. Surprisingly, it was easy to get military information, compared to the other Inner Sphere nations. These informations revealed that the CDF was operating nearly forty WarShips, five heavy, ten medium and twenty-five light and ultralight WarShips. They were also operating purpose built Assault Dropships with SubCapital Weaponry.
While this was a surprise for the military, the diplomatic teams made great strides forward in diplomatic relations.
active for 1 more turns
[] Diplomatic Contact: Lupus Republic active
Time: 4 turns, Chance of success: 70%
Roll 1 of 4, Roll 1d100: 94+10 = 104 - Success (All diplomatic actions)
Roll 2 of 4, Roll 1d100: 38+10 = 48 - Success
Roll 3 of 4, Roll 1d100: 57+10 = 67 - Success
Talks with the Lupus Republic continued to be positive, though interestingly enough Sophist Winters was very interested in any support when it came to political theory the OCP could give the Republic, requesting that, once talks about an Embassy had been completed, the OCP might help with advisors.
active for 1 more turns
OCP Trade Organization:
[] Advanced Heim-Feynman Event Generator:active
Time: 5 turns, Chance of success: 55%
Roll 1 of 5, Roll 1d100: 17+10+10+10+10+10 = 67 - Success (Stronger Economy, Economic Ties, Interstellar Communication Network, Space Mining, Space Industry)
Roll 2 of 5, Roll 1d100: 30+10+10+10+10+10 = 80 - Success
Several companies began with the design of the new Solid State HFEG, in various configurations. This would mean that rather than one uniform design used on spacecraft and, to a degree, specifying the spacecraft design, new spacecraft could be of differing general designs with drive systems adapted to the new design, with companies potentially springing up to design specialised HFEGs for specific spacecraft designs.
active for 3 more turns
[] Heim-Feynman Kearney-Fuchida Drive Core:active
Time: 5 turns, Chance of success: 55%
Roll 1 of 5, Roll 1d100: 92+10+10+10+10+10 = 142 - Success (Stronger Economy, Economic Ties, Interstellar Communication Network, Space Mining, Space Industry)
Roll 2 of 5, Roll 1d100: 7+10+10+10+10+10 = 57 - Success
Size Reduction, Roll (50+3d20%): 65 - 65% size of the Advanced Jump Core
As the work on realising the new Radhakrishnan-Singh n-Dimensional Drive continued, the companies working on the design requested that the Just Testing and the Size Isn't Everything, the test vessels built to test the Advanced Jump Core, were given to them, so that they could be used to test the new RSN Frive Core on the two designs.
With the new general design of the core, as well as the difference in operation and construction material, it was theoretically possible to reduce the size of the RSN Drive Core to 65% of the Advanced Jump Core, meaning that the RSN Drive Core would only mass around 29 percent the mass of the spacecraft equipped with it, less than a third.
This meant that the Just Testing would be equipped with a 4390 tonne and the Size Isn't Everything with a 87750 tonne RSN Drive Core for testing.
active for 3 more turns
OCP Office for Science and Development:
[] Inner Sphere Technology: active
Time: 6 turns, Chance of success: 50%
Roll 1 of 6, Roll 1d100: 81+10+10 = 101 - Success (Research Center Sol, Interstellar Communication Network)
Roll 2 of 6, Roll 1d100: 98+10+10 = 118 - Crit Success
Roll 3 of 6, Roll 1d100: 79+10+10 = 99 - Success
Roll 4 of 6, Roll 1d100: 81+10+10 = 101 - Success
Work on the theoretical underpinnings of Inner Sphere technology with the data from the Helm Database continued with good results.
One area of the research focussed on at the time was fusion research. While the Inner Sphere was largely using direct protium (hydrogen) fusion, there had been extensive research into different forms of fusions, including Helium-3-Deuterium, as was used by the Confederation. While it was mostly a matter of curiosity for the Star League researchers, it was immediately useful.
active for 2 more turns
[] Improved Fusion Torch Drives: active
Time: 4 turns, Chance of success: 50%
Roll 1 of 4, Roll 1d100: 17+10+10 = 37 - Failure
Roll 2 of 4, Roll 1d100: 35+10+10 = 55 - Success
With the fusion research of the Star League coming out of the Inner Sphere Technology research program, work on Improved Fusion Torches could begin. From the Helm Database, there had been attempts to build He3-D Torches sometime in the 2200s and then in the 2500s, but they had largely not been successful, due to the lack of a useful propellant and a mismatch of containment technology.
He3-Deuterium fusion was in many ways simpler to achieve than pure hydrogen fusion and the containment systems used in hydrogen fusion reactors had in many cases stared the thrusters. The technology of the Three Systems however had long since made use of He3-D fusion and made use of an additional propellant, water, to achieve practical thrust. This had in turn caused the existing Inner Sphere derived Torch Drives heavier and bulkier compared to Inner Sphere Torches, but with the additional research data and the new alien plasma containment design, a first prototype design had been designed, build and was waiting to be tested in Summer.
active for 2 more turns
----------------------------
OCP Internal Events:
Not much of immediate interest is happening in the OCP.
----------------------------
Intelligence Report:
Lupus Republic:
20 more leased Jumpships were placed under joint OCP/Republic control to journey towards Clan Space.
The O'Neill Habitat that was completed last year was officially named Kant and the first inhabitants arrived to permanently inhabit the structure. However, the about ten thousand new inhabitants were a drop compared to the nearly 20 million that could inhabit the structure. While most people moving to the habitat were of the Prole class, majorly former Technicians, Merchants and Laborers, there were more than enough of the Leader caste to make the structure useful as a transition camp for new arrivals.
This was put to the test in late Spring, when ten Nova Cat jumpships arrived with a cargo of twenty thousand evacuees, who were immediately disembarked on Kant to be sorted out, while the jumpships joined the outgoing transports to return to Clan Space and pick up more evacuees. The jumpships were also the first to be escorted by two WarShips, SLS Spirit Sigh and SLS True Vision, which returned to Clan Space.
Meanwhile, Karen S'jeet took the offer to become a citizen of the Lupus Republic, but retained her citizenship of the OCP/Martian Senatorial Republic. She also began with the construction of a second O'Neill type habitat of the same design as Kant on request of Sophist Winters. It was to be tentatively named Nietzsche.
Taurian Concordiat:
Not much of interest is happening within the Concordat.
Magistracy of Canopus:
Not much of interest is happening within the Magistracy.
Lothian Pact:
Lothian League:
Illyrian Palatinate:
The occupation of the former Marian Hegemony continued.
Inner Sphere:
Federated Commonwealth:
Lyran Commonwealth:
Federated Suns:
The Circinus Crisis worsened relations to the Lyran Commonwealth for the time being, until it could be resolved. Additionally, a trade embargo was put on the Lyran Commonwealth.
As the Circinus Crisis progressed, First Prince Hanse Davion was in support of the Confederation during the Circinus Crisis, apparently due to the recent medical help he got over the biological attack on him.
Draconis Combine:
Combat on Luthien continued to worsen, as Luthien civilians began to attack the invading forces, following propaganda of war crimes being committed by the AFFS and the LCAF. However, sources within the AFFS and the LCAF noted many of the war crimes had actually been committed by either the DCMA or the ISF to whip up public resistance against the invading forces. Data analysis of known information, gathered during the recent intelligence gathering operation, showed a 95 percent chance of the AFFS and LCAF sources being correct.
Free Worlds League:
With the Circinus Crisis, the FWL sought to improve trade relations, which were taken up by the OCP economy with the current embargo of the Lyran Commonwealth.
Dutchy of Andurien:
Not much of interest is happening within the Dutchy of Andurien.
Terra Situation:
Existing Disaster relief, Roll 1d100: 1
Other Event, Roll 1d20: 7 - Lake Toba sabotage
Time finally ran out for North America as the Yellowstone Supervolcano finally erupted in mid Spring around the Mallard Lake and Sour Creek resurgent domes and quickly linked, combining into a larger caldera. Early warning systems emplaced around Yellowstone gave advanced warning of the eruption, allowing to evacuate the technicians and other helpers that had attempted to prevent the eruption. Those efforts had helped however and only about 1250 cubic kilometers of ejecta were thrown into the atmosphere. This made it sit between the Lava Creek and the Heise Vulcanic Field Erruptions, respectively 640.000 and 6 million years ago.
Thankfully, a large part of the North American population near Yellowstone had been evacuated and now work was done to extend the evacuation of more population centers, while considerable amounts of ash began to cover North America.
To make matters worse, the Magma tab and geothermal systems of Lake Toba were sabotaged shortly after the Yellowstone eruption. As the magma chamber of Lake Toba did not show the pressure like the Yellowstone magma chamber, the impact was not as serious and the technicians and helpers immediately attempted to repair the systems.
If the 'Brotherhood' had hoped Yellowstone would help them, they were mistaken, as operations against them were increased and their bases of operations in beneath the Pacific ocean were bombarded one by one with the help of supercavitation torpedoes equipped with pure fusion devices and taken out.
Expansion and Suggestions:
The DSSI Network slowly continues to expand into the Inner Sphere.
-----------------------
Random Event - Inner Sphere Noble tries to invade OCP
Landing Success, Roll 1d100: 84
Invasion Success, Roll 1d100: 12
In early February 2191, the Superluminal Wave Detector on Circinus detected two JumpShips, an Invader and a Tramp from their jump signatures, arriving at Khon Kaen. This in itself was not unusual as there was a growing number of merchants travelling to Circinus, which was quickly growing to become the main trade interface between the Confederation and the Inner Sphere. The two Jumpships then jumped directly into the Circinus L1 point, releasing one Overlord, two Union, one Gazelle and two Leopard class Dropships, which made their way directly towards Cirinus, not responding to any hails.
The planetary defences were put into high alert and the ground bound ACCs scrambled to intercept the unknown, potentially hostile force, engaging them in planetary stationary orbit. However, most ACCs and the WarShip stationed at Circinus had been moved to Clayrborne II for training war games, limiting the success of the present ACCs, a single Squadron of Sleipnir and Im-umi class vessels. While outnumbered, the unknown force could land the survivers, the Overlord, one Union, the Gazelle and one Leopard, near Circinus City (formerly Clayborne Remembered).
Only after landing the force identified itself as the 8th Lyran Regulars under Baron Lesley Kohlmann of New India, who declared he was going to take Circinus so it would take its rightful place in the Commonwealth and deny it to 'these upstart Periphery barbarians with delusions of grandeur'.
However, the 6th and 7th Confederation Expeditionary Divisions had been moved to Circinus for training, and together with Köhler Military Servies and Jureck's Jaegers, they engaged the 8th Lyran Regulars five kilometers outside of Circinus City, while combat and power armoured infantry force engaged and took the landed dropships. With the loss of the Dropships and being outnumbered heavily by two Divisions, Baron Kohlmann surrendered.
While the situation evolved, Ambassador Churchill directly demanded to talk to Archon Steiner on the matter of this unprovoked attack. Archon Steiner noted she had not ordered any such attack.
Following the defeat of the invasion, Baron Kohlmann and various high ranking officers and randomly selected personnel of the 8th and their dropships were interrogated. One of the randomly chosen personnel attempted to commit suicide, but was saved, after which drug enhanced interrogation revealed the person to be a member of Loki, an arm of the Lyran Intelligence Corps, apparently a sort of terrorist group. However, the Loki agent did not know who had ordered the attack, but knew that BAron Kohlmann had been 'induced' to lead it.
The results of the interrogation were presented to Archon Steiner, who was not surprised about the unsuccessful invasion of Circinus, having been given the account of the attempt during the Circinus Conference by her daughter. She was relatively quick to inform Ambassador Churchill that she would find and punish those who had ordered the attack on Circinus and the OCP. Anything more would be a matter of negotiations, like the return of the remains of the 8th Lyran Regulars to the Commonwealth.