Turn 78 - Winter 2192/3042
Confederated Forces:
[] WarShip Upgrades: active
Time: 6 turns, Chance of success: 70%
Roll 1 of 6, Roll 1d100: 41+15 = 56 - Success
Roll 2 of 6, Roll 1d100: 7+15 = 22 - Failure
Roll 3 of 6, Roll 1d100: 62+15 = 77 - Success
Roll 4 of 6, Roll 1d100: 51+15 = 66 - Success
Roll 5 of 6, Roll 1d100: 54+15 = 69 - Success
Roll 6 of 6, Roll 1d100: 65+15 = 80 - success
Combined: 62 - Success
A final decision was made to relegate the Sleipnir class of ACCs permanently to a defensive/offensive small craft role, akin to Inner Sphere aerospace fighters, carried internally in larger WarShips. To this end, all WarShip designs received at least six additional hangars for Sleipnir class ACCs, with the larger Tillmann and Belisarius class vessels even receiving hangar space for Im-umi class ACCs to be carried along. This would allow freeing up Squadron space for additional Ishtar and Drashy class ACCs, which were also redesigned in an upgrade program to carry one to several Sleipnir class ACCs.
The refit designs were finalised in late Winter and immediately began to be deployed, refitting the oldest vessels first, like CFS Belisarius.
Reward: Fleet Upgrade Program
[] Plasma Shield Development: - 10 votes active
Time: 5 turns, Chance of success: 45%
Roll 1 of 5, Roll 1d100: 63+5+5+15 = 88 - Success (Space Weapon development, all military R&D, all military actions
Roll 2 of 5, Roll 1d100: 13+5+5+15 = 38 - Failure
Taking an existing technology and attempting to combine it with a new technology was of course not always as straightforward as engineers and researchers were always making it out to be. The Plasma Shield development was no different. The initial problem was to design and develop a new plasma injector that would generate a plasma that could hang around for a while, contained within the magnetic field of the Shrivatsa System and not dissipate. Additionally, it needed to be designed in such a way that the plasma could be directed to some degree and contained in a limited volume of the field bubble, as not to interfere with the operation of Smart Dust within the field bubble.
First experiments had shown the plasma was prone to damage or destroy Smart Dust within a brief time frame, reducing the possible use of the plasma shield, as Smart Dust was an integral part of the Shrivatsa System, both for additional protection, and providing a larger baseline for EM sensors, increasing the resolution of the optical, radar and lidar sensors.
active for 3 more turns
OCP Survey Office:
[] Far Star Station: active
Time: 8 turns, Chance of success: 45%
Roll 1 of 8, Roll 1d100: 15+15 = 30 - Failure
Roll 2 of 8, Roll 1d100: 92+15 = 107 - Success
Roll 3 of 8, Roll 1d100: 71+15 = 86 - Success
Roll 4 of 8, Roll 1d100: 89+15 = 104 - Success
Roll 5 of 8, Roll 1d100: 42+15 = 57 - Success
Roll 6 of 8, Roll 1d100: 34+15 = 49 - Failure
Roll 7 of 8. Roll 1d100: 47+15 = 62 - Success
Roll 8 of 8, Roll 1d100: 72+15 = 87 - Success
Combined: 73 - Success
After a week of taking their breaths, the Survey Force slowly returned towards 'Far Star Station', making use of the Jump Drive to enter the Oort cloud of the system and launching several recon probes on a high speed ballistic trajectory in system, hopefully able to get clearer images and data from the large station and the vessels in system. During the time, the vessels remained as hidden as possible, taking passive scans of the system as well.
The ballistic probes had been modified with micro fractal surfaces in mind, which were excellent at absorbing any EM radiation, turning it into heat directed into several heat sinks and hopefully allowed them to remain largely undetectable by what was known about Inner Sphere sensors. The trajectory did allow the probes to come as close at a million kilometers to the station, which turned out to be what the Helm Database called a Bastion class station and was the source of the Number Station traffic. It also seemed to house an HPG and additional Hyperwave Tranceivers.
During the traverse of the probes, it was possible to detect two additional tightly focussed hyperwave transmissions, one in the general direction of Clan Space, another in the direction of the rimwards periphery. Closer observation of the Lola III class WarShips, showed that half of them were designed to the Caspar specifications, while the other half appeared to be conventional Lola III class. The same was true for the Vincent class corvettes. Several were more heavily armed than a conventional Vincent and expected to be similar Drone WarShips.
As the expedition prepared to return to the Confederation, with a stopover at 'Graveyard', their Superluminal Wave Detectors detected the wake of several squadrons worth of spacecraft traversing the Everchanging Black in the direction of the 'Far Star System' at a distance of 60 light years. They stopped several times, likely to desaturate their heat sinks. At a distance of about twenty lightyears, they also appeared to be detected by 'Far Star Station' as the Vincents were recalled from the inner system to the Bastion and prepared for something.
As far as the Scouting Force could tell, these Terran Hegemony remnants had apparently developed a less advanced version of the Superluminal Wave Detector, but only tuned to the Everchanging Black and apparently unable to detect Hyperspace Jumps.
Eventually, a force of about sixty vessels of various size classes translated back into Einstein Space, about ten million kilometers away from the Bastion and the force of ten WarShips. The vessels of this new unknown force were largely made up of vessels that would be called light WarShips and heavy to medium ACCs by Confederation standards, split unto three twenty vessel squadrons.
A probe near the Bastion could intercept the Terrans demand of the unknown force to stand down and be boarded, so that the aliens aboard those vessels could be exterminated and the humans put into reeducation camps. The Terran commander of the force, a Captain Walter Liao, then apparently called the commander of the other force a 'Species Traitor'.
The response came from an Admiral Patrick Fitzpatrick, who drily reminded Liao that there was war on and that the Algareon Self Defense Force would never surrender to the likes of the Hegemony, not in a millennium.
Afterwards a massive battle ensued that left the Terran Hegemony assets in the system destroyed, at the cost of two-thirds of the Algareon vessels, most of which were either destroyed or their HFEG equivalent drives destroyed. After some Search and Rescue, as subsequent destruction of all remaining Algareon derelicts with sustained nuclear bombardment, partially with Cabasa Howitzers, the remaining Algareon Task Force left.
The Scouting Force immediately messaged home, ready to follow the unknown Algareons back to their base with part of the Force, while the rest were ready to go in system and attempt to recover some valuable data from the Terran derelict.
Reward: More information on the Number Station transmissions, New Action: Follow the Unknowns
[] Counter-Espionage Operations: domestic action against MIIO and others active
Time: 5 turns, Chance of success: 50%
Roll 1 of 5, Roll 1d100: 81+15 = 96 - Success
Roll 2 of 5, Roll 1d100: 64+15 = 79 - Success
Roll 3 of 5, Roll 1d100: 67+15 = 82 - Success
Some success could be made during the initial data mining for possible agents as several of the Inner Sphere civilians on Earth were tagged by algorithms as potential agents and put under closer observation. Two of these agents turned out to come from the FWLs intelligence agency, SAFE, while one appeared to belong to the LIC, possibly even Loki.
They were kept under surveillance to discover any more of their colleagues, while human agents were moved to contact them, to potentially feed them false informations.
active for 2 more turns
OCP Diplomatic Corps:
[] Technological Help: Taurians active
Time: 4 turns, Chance of Success: 40%
Roll 1 of 4, Roll 1d100: 95+10 = 105 - Crit Success
Roll 2 of 4, Roll 1d100: 51+10 = 61 - Success
Roll 3 of 4, Roll 1d100: 52+10 = 62 - Success
Roll 4 of 4, Roll 1d100: 71+15 = 86 - Success
Combined: 78 - Success
At arrival at Taurus, Edward Calderon was welcomed back by his father, Thomas, who appeared to be taken aback by the rapid success of talks with the Confederation. Initially, he was sceptical, almost paranoid about the support the Confederation was willing to give the Taurians, but constant work on him by Edward and his other children was able to make him cautiously optimistic, and in late Winter, he signed a Coopeation Treaty with the Confederation, which offered the support of the Confederation to rebuild Taurian space borne industry, especially for the construction of new JumpShip yards, which could also be used to construct new WarShips.
Some covert help was given for the redevelopment of the native WarShip classes, where the Terran Hegemony had where destroyed the design documents. Another bit of covert help was to give the Taurians a modified version of ACC hangars for vessels like the Sleipnir, which was more advanced than the DropShuttle Bays known to the Inner Sphere.
All in all, the Treaty increased the diplomatic standing of the Confederation with the Taurians as a 'fellow periphery nation', and allowed for future economic relations.
Reward: +10 diplomatic relations, +5 external trade
[] Interstellar Peace Corps: active
Time: 4 turns, Chance of success: 50%
Roll 1 of 4, Roll 1d100: 76+10 = 86 - Success
Roll 2 of 4, Roll 1d100: 95+10 = 105 - Crit Success
It appeared that Adam Prometheus was trying to bash in wide open doors in Parliament as he was searching for support for this new project, as many within Parliament were willing to support permanent humanitarian help to the surrounding small planetary nations that had various problems with their planets or other situations, to help them raise up in their industry, technological and educational level.
active for 2 more turns
OCP Trade Organization:
[] Industrial Export/Trade Delegations: Free Worlds League active
Time: 4 turns, Chance of success: 60%
Roll 1 of 4, Roll 1d100: 20+20+10+15+15 = 80 - Success (Dipo with FWL, Agile Economy, Space Mining, Space Industry)
Roll 2 of 4, Roll 1d100: 21+20+10+15+15 = 81 - Success
Roll 3 of 4, Roll 1d100: 39+20+10+15+15 = 99 - Success
Roll 4 of 4, Roll 1d100: 35+20+10+15+15 = 95 - Success
Combined: 89 - Success
All in all, the Trade delegation to the FWL had been a full success. The FWL parliament, supported by Duggan Marik, had passed legislation that would drop tariffs and customs duties for goods from the Confederation, in return for the same passed by the Confederations Parliament.
Many of the companies within the FWL were willing to buy the sometimes more advanced technology of the Confederation, even though the FWL Military were almost furious that there were no weapons to be sold to the FWL. This could be limited to some degree however, by potentially leaking the new FedCom weapon developments to the FWL's SAFE.
Reward: +10 to external trade with selected world/polity, +10 to diplomacy with selected world/polity
[] >4&*: Go forth and multiply: - 6 votes active
Time: 4 turns, Chance of success 50%
Roll 1 of 4, Roll 1d100: 78+10+10+10+15+15 = 138 - Success (Stronger Economy, Economic Ties, Interstellar Communication Network, Space Industry, Space Mining)
While the industrial capabilities of the Confederation had grown massively during the past twenty years, it was anticipated that the Confederation needed to grow more. Theoretically, the Confederation had the means to achieve exponential industrial growth and actually become a post-scarcity society, as there were the Von Neumanns, space going mining and fabrication hubs capable of building just about everything, including copies of themselves.
While the classic industry was weary of the Von Neumanns, knowing their own existence imperilled by them, most believed that the number of Von Neumanns should be increased, so that future large or mega projects could be taken on, once their number had been increased.
To this end, the OCPTO took on a project to double numbers of Von Neumanns in existence from fifteen to thirty, with the potential to increase their number even further. Already there were more AIs willing to become the controlling intelligence for a Von Neumann.
active for 3 more turns
OCP Office for Science and Development:
[] Tesseract Transportation: active
Time: 4 turns, Chance of success: 40%
Roll 1 of 4, Roll 1d100: 57+10+10 = 77 - Success (Research Center Sol, Interstellar Communication Network)
Roll 2 of 4, Roll 1d100: 15+10+10 = 35 - Failure
Roll 3 of 4, Roll 1d100: 16+10+10 = 36 - Failure
Before getting a new jumpship for more experiments, it was the turn of the HFEG equipped spacecraft translating into the Everchanging Black, while in the presence of the tesseract. The translation appeared to be successful, but even after more than a month of waiting, there was no response from the spacecraft and it seemed to have simply disappeared into the Everchanging Black.
Eventually the new jumpship was ready for new tests, but it experienced the same type of apparent failure as the first Jumpship test.
active for 1 more turns
[] Digging up Gravyard: active
Time: 6 turns, Chance of success: 50%
Roll 1 of 6, Roll 1d100: 67+10+10 = 87 - Success
Roll 2 of 6, Roll 1d100: 39+10+10 = 59 - Success
Preparations for the Graveyard Expedition were quickly completed and with two Prometheus Foundation Jumpships with the new RSN Drives, five modified Undessa class transports and a single Drashy for defence, the expedition left for the Graveyard system, following the same trajectory as the 'Far Star Expedition', prepared to use the same Hyperwave Tranceiver relays stations for communication.
It was expected the transit would need less time than the Far Star Expedition, as the Graveyard Expedition was not feeling the need to take a closer look at the systems along the path.
active for 4 more turns
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OCP Internal Events:
There is not much happening domestically.
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Intelligence Report:
Periphery Alliance:
Lupus Republic:
The build up on the worlds of the Lupus Republic continued, with more and more new citizens being brought in from Clan Space.
Lothian League:
Illyrian Palatinate:
While the government of the Lothian League, and especially Grand Mistress Logan, were still loudly 'debating' any positive things about possibly becoming a member of the Confederation, the government of the Illyrian Palatinate had made up its mind. With broad support from the general population, they officially requested to become a member state of the Confederation, willing to give up some of their sovereignty for the added economic growth and increased security it brought with it.
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Taurian Concordat:
On Taurus, the Concordat Aerospace Limited was reestablished as the primary shipyard for the Taurian Concordat, after more than 200 years of being a shell of its former self as premier yard company in the Hyades Cluster. With the help of Confederation technicians and engineers, the destroyed yards were slowly being put together to begin with the production of new WarShips. At the same time, Magna Metals Inc got the contract to supply CAL with new drive systems for the new WarShips.
Magistracy of Canopus:
Not much of interest is happening within the Magistracy.
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Inner Sphere:
Federated Commonwealth:
Not much of interest is happening within the Federated Commonwealth.
Draconis Combine:
The Draconis Combine continues to splinter and collapse.
Free Worlds League:
The buildup along the Andurien-FWL border continued.
Dutchy of Andurien:
The buildup along the Andurien-FWL border continued.
Confederation of Habitats:
Not much of interest is happening within the CoH.
Terra Situation:
Should the Confederation recognize the Citizens Assembly as legitimate government of Terra?
[] Yes - 8 votes
After some discussion within Parliament, the OCP follows the CoH by recognising the Citizens Assembly of Terra as the legitimate government of Terra, leading to additional political good will, though it led to a diplomatic note of protest from the Federated Commonwealth, who still considered Terra to be part of their nation. The response of the Confederated diplomats was that the people of Terra had made their will clear and that the OCP intended to respect that will, as should the Federated Commonwealth.
Work on a vaccination against the bioweapon continued and led to some success, though it was limited to people with a modified immune system. This meant that only Belters and humans from the OCP could be immunised against the bioweapon, as genetically engineered strengthened immune systems were the norm within both societies. It did turn out however that anyone who had been cured of the bioweapon with the bacteriophage developed a full immunity against it, leading to development in that direction, possibly developing an anti-body based vaccination instead of the more usual forms of inoculation.
Meanwhile, the Citizens Assembly set up the first working parts of the new democratic government, by first setting up a Finance Ministry, an Interior Ministry, a State Department and a Defense Ministry. The Citizens Army officially became the defence force of the new United Terra.
Expansion and Suggestions:
The DSSI Network slowly continues to expand into the Inner Sphere.
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Random Event - Nothing much happens