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Interesting to see you diversity your ship types so soon.


Wow, Federations had inspired me to try an AAR but after having read this one, it is making me doubt any effort i could submit would look even remotely half decent lol, well done. Very impressed! Looking forward to more.
It doesn't have to :) I've been writing AARs on and off for 15+ years and never really mastered graphical ability
 
Thank you!

Wonderful work! As a navy buff I especially love your attention to detail on the different starship classes. It is a very neat touch. :)
Thank you! It was my intention to be honest. I'm not really an expert but I'll try to mimick somehow real world navies countarparts

Wow, Federations had inspired me to try an AAR but after having read this one, it is making me doubt any effort i could submit would look even remotely half decent lol, well done. Very impressed! Looking forward to more.

@CommanderXerox I agree 100% on what @stnylan wrote down here:

Interesting to see you diversity your ship types so soon.
It doesn't have to :) I've been writing AARs on and off for 15+ years and never really mastered graphical ability

Everyone has his own talent, for example why I think I'm decent at graphics, I have huge issues with the narrative, I mean I know exactly what I want to write but I fail to do that in a good way. In the end, it's all about enjoying what you're doing, from there finding people that like what you do is a cakewalk! Please to do doubt on yourself and go fo it!

What does the V in USV stand for?
Vessel, I presume.

Correct, it stands for United Systems Vessel.
Then you can notice also the registry number, which is composed by a prefix and a progressive numeral. The prefix follows this standard:

SSV - Military Vessel
SSM - Merchant Ship
SSC - Scientific Ship
SSE - Emergency Vessel
SSX - Experimental

I do not expect to track every ship (I used this system with Aurora 4x, where you need to micro every ship and numbering them is a life saver for yourself), but jut the one metioned in the narrative.

For the curious, also the names of the ship's subsystems is based on designation systems (that I had to create at Aurora 4x times to not die behind every asset that I developed):

JOINT ELECTRONICS TYPE DESIGNATION SYSTEM

Prefix: JD

First Letter (vector):
  • D - Drone
  • M - Planetary Base
  • S - Starship
  • T - Space Platform
  • W - Ship smaller than 500t
Second Letter (type):
  • E - Electromagnetic
  • M - Mechanical
  • P - Gravitational
  • T - Thermal
Third Letter (usage):
  • A - Absorption Defense
  • B - Release in freefall
  • D - Repulsion Defense
  • G - Targeting
  • M - Propulsion Release
  • N - Missile Navigation
  • R - Detection
  • Y - Surveillance
Number: Progressive

So for example, a JD/STG-4 is the fourth model of a thermal targeting sensor mounted on a ship.

I had to came up with also a Missile Designation System and a General Weapons Designation System, I can paste them here if you like.
 
Thank you! It was my intention to be honest. I'm not really an expert but I'll try to mimick somehow real world navies countarparts

It works well. :)

Will you give a similar 'diagram' treatment for alien vessels if and when you encounter them?
 
It works well. :)
Will you give a similar 'diagram' treatment for alien vessels if and when you encounter them?

I hope so! Although can be a challenge due to the difficulty to "track them" and properly take screenshots. For the corvettes (that in my headcanon are frigates) it was easy as I put them horizontally in the editor.
 
Wow, just found this AAR and I love it! The level of detail with the visuals is really incredible. I love Stellaris AARs but feel there aren’t enough well-made, lengthy ones. I hope to see this one continued for a while!
 
2205-2209
2205

General Secretary Maksimushkina continues with her plan for Earth resources reclamation. After the clearing of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a new tender for megacorporation is now in place to revalue the industrial wasteland surrounding the Delhi region.

In May the President addresses the Senate with the State of the Federation, a message that is held every five year that assess the health of the United Systems and the future plans. Data show a significant growth in resources production and extraction and generally a favourable balance of them. The focus on outer space however led to a decrease in availability of Consumer Goods, and Wade reassured about his plans to refocus the Federation efforts in helping companies that operate in close contact with the population.
The big challenges related to the space exploration, exploitation and expansion keep in particular the Department of Space very engaged on all fronts, and the recent colonization of Centauria, that involves continued and sustained transportation of goods and people back an forth with the Earth, is putting a strain the resources of the Space Transportation and Colonization Division, that is planned to be expanded and additionally budgeted.

The discovery of alien life, especially the presence of ancient ruins of intelligent and evolved species, forced the Federation to allocate a good portion of the budget also in a constant (although slow) expansion of the Federal Navy, with the aim to continue it. Wade, regarding this topic, outlined the will to be “ready for everything”, and that the further the galaxy will be explored, the higher the risk to confront dangers.
The message is well received by both the citizens of the Federation and the rest of the government organizations, confirming the widespread popularity of Wade.

Io11aLp.png

While further exploring the nearby systems, science ships stumbled across several new anomalies:
In the Gliese 2585 system, the USV Kepler identified an unusual pattern of interference that embeds a mathematical equation “coded” into a song. The complexity of the equation and the usage of subspace harmonics left the science team aboard the ship without a clue about the meaning and the origin of it, although the signal’s geodesics suggest a point of origin outside of the Milky Way.
The USV Hawking investigated the atmosphere of the first moon of the fourth planet of Z1556 and discovered that, due to the extreme weather of the celestial body, periodically “snows” metal on the surface. This will possibly lead to future mining efforts performed both from orbit and on the surface.
The USV Dupuy de Lome retrieved artifacts on 6 Leonis III, and for the first time it was able somehow to decipher in part the writings on them. What human scientists discovered is that these artifacts belonged to a long gone civilization that was a confederation called “The First League”, composed by different alien races that coexisted in relative peace around approximately two million years ago.
This confederation’s territories covered a significant portion of the galaxy and seems like at some point collapsed for unknown reasons. This information led to the assumption that additional artifacts could have been recovered, eventually leading to the First League central, if any exists, homeworld.

qy5x6ul.png


2206

The Sirius system, started to be explored the year before, reveals that its third planet is a habitable continental world, a new valid candidate then for colonization. With Centauria reaching its self-sufficiency the plan for Sirius is put in motion by ordering the construction of a new colony ship.

MsPXntS.png

Talking about Centauria, the immigration request peaked with the colony already surpassing 500 million citizens.
In Barnard’s Star, a system between Sol and Sirius, a new starbase is built to allow not only to leverage the system’s resources but also to facilitate the future colonization of Sirius. The starbase, orbiting the main star, is called Port East


2207

The year 2207 starts with a revelation that was, at this point, expected. In the second planet of the 89 Aquarii system, an intelligent, sentient race is discovered. Their civilization has reached a technological level similar to the mid 20th century on Earth, where nation states were able to harness the power of the atom.
The species look similar to a bipedal frog, with an average height of 130 cm (4.2 feet), and is believed that they can have a physiology similar to reptiles of Earth. The first contact protocol, defined by the Department of Xeno Affairs, envision an initial observation phase to avoid putting in harm not only humanity but also the newly discovered species, for this reason plans are to build as soon as possible an observation station which will host a scientific team that will study the species behavior. There are some concerns however about the possibility for the aliens to enter a nuclear war between the planet’s nations.

The planet radio communications were monitored constantly, and it was possible to determine that the aliens have a natural inclination toward biological studies and deeply believe that resources must be conserved and recycled. They defined themselves as “Athanebian” and there are around 13 billion individuals on the planet.
Athanebian’s homeworld climate, 89 Aquarii II, is similar to Earth alpine regions, with the surface covered by mountain ranges and temperature around 0°C (32° F).

DROxna3.png

On Earth the news is received with mixed feelings: while the scientific community is excited, many “common” people see them as a possible threat, for this reason President Wade addresses the federation on a unified broadcast:

Fellow citizens of the Federation, on Earth, on Centauria and in space. I know that the recent discovery of Athenabian aliens in the 89 Aquarii system has brought concerns about our safety, especially due to the capability for these aliens to leverage on nuclear power.

I want to be clear with you: we’re taking every precaution possible and assessing the situation constantly with the Department of Defense and the Department of Security, and so far we know that they are not yet able to reach their own planet’s orbit. This will give us around 250 years of technological advancement over them, which turn in to be a great burden on our shoulders as we need to ensure also for their own safety, being sentient and living beings that share our own galaxy.

We have plans to monitor them from space, without directly interfering unless strictly necessary for our own security or their survival.
For this reason I’m asking all of you to be confident in our federation and trusting in our teams of xenologists. It’s the first time we approached sentient beings not originated from Earth since our appearance in the universe, but I’m one hundred percent confident we’re doing it right.


In May, the Department of Space announced that the first phase of the colonization of Centauria is finished, and the planet has already reached a billion individuals. Since the first touchdown in 2203, millions of babies were born in the colony, meaning that after the brief Martian parenthesis in the previous century, there are living humans actually born outside Earth.
Centauria’s planetary growth is further aided by the Department of Federal Affairs that took charge of the allocation of 1 trillion tons (1,000 units) of food to be transported and distributed for free on the planet over the course of the next ten years.

The Department of Space launched a new construction ship to assist in orbital facilities construction, the USV Shippingport (SSM-002).
On Earth, the promised focus on civilian industries from President Wade materializes in a series of subsidies for producing consumer goods, Plurimax and Levante Communications in particular are the two megacorps that leverage most on these.

In September an insistent signal is discovered in the 22 Lambda Sagittarii system and scientists realize that it’s caused by a subspace phenomena that resembles a “rift” in the very fabric of space-time. This could be possibly a natural wormhole: a conduit that can lead to another system in a matter of seconds. The wormhole will require further studies to be exploited, possibly in terms of a better general understanding of physics from mankind, as it’s estimated that any ship that will try to enter it, with the current technology, would be ripped apart due to the instability of the phenomena.

lf0obYK.png

The year ends with the Department of Security asking the Scientific Exploration Flotilla to retrieve four sublight exploration probes that were sent by humans into space two centuries before, as they can possibly end up revealing details about humans to unsympathetic beings in the universe.


2208

Sirius system colonization starts with the touchdown of the colony ship USV Weiss on the third planet, that is renamed Sirius Prime, and a station, named Excelsior Station, is built on the main star orbit.

In the HD 4888241 system, the third planet is revealed to be habitable. The planet, contrary to Centauria or Sirius Prime, is mostly covered by water, with atolls spread on its surface and soon is discovered that it’s populated by a myriad of non-sentient fish-like life forms. On top of the food chain however gigantic, titanic probably, life forms are identified. These are four legged animals for the most part, probably mammals, that roam the planet walking on the ocean floor but with most of their body on outside the water, thanks to their enormous size.
The weirdness of the planet doesn’t end here, as the oceans themselves seem “living”. The scientific crew that landed on the surface experiences visions, impulses and mixed feelings by just staring at the sea. The planet is then a perfect candidate for study, but at the same time it can be a challenge to colonize it.

2tQjkbJ.png

On Centauria, fossilized remains of several different species are discovered in a secluded valley and dated 3.6 million years back. All appear to have been sapient and strangely everyone of them shows signs of having met a violent end. Further studies will reveal more about these aliens and their fate, but the news implied that humans were not the first to place their feet on the planet.

Two of the four sublight probes were discovered and collected by ships of the Scientific Exploration Flotilla.


2209

A third probe is retrieved, after ion traces indicate that it was artificially moved from its original position. No information on who performed the towing operation or the reason for it were identified.
In the system Gliese 5270, another natural wormhole was discovered.

The expansion plans of the Federal Navy continued and by the end of the year a total of 16 frigates are in service.

ghJHjw0.png
 
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I've read your first posts and am dropping in to make myself known. Wonderful and beautiful stuff here. I should hopefully catch up in full by the weekend. Really looking forward to what you have in store for us.

Cheers!
 
There's a navy to be proud of.

Will be interesting to see how the population reacts to another spacefaring civilisation in due course.
 
In the HD 4888241 system, the third planet is revealed to be habitable. The planet, contrary to Centauria or Sirius Prime, is mostly covered by water, with atolls spread on its surface and soon is discovered that it’s populated by a myriad of non-sentient fish-like life forms. On top of the food chain however gigantic, titanic probably, life forms are identified. These are four legged animals for the most part, probably mammals, that roam the planet walking on the ocean floor but with most of their body on outside the water, thanks to their enormous size.
The weirdness of the planet doesn’t end here, as the oceans themselves seem “living”. The scientific crew that landed on the surface experiences visions, impulses and mixed feelings by just staring at the sea. The planet is then a perfect candidate for study, but at the same time it can be a challenge to colonize it.

Darwin IV?
 
Wow, Federations had inspired me to try an AAR but after having read this one, it is making me doubt any effort i could submit would look even remotely half decent lol, well done. Very impressed! Looking forward to more.
As others have said, don't be. Write! It will be better than you think, I promise. And you will get better by experience and feedback. :)
 
I've read your first posts and am dropping in to make myself known. Wonderful and beautiful stuff here. I should hopefully catch up in full by the weekend. Really looking forward to what you have in store for us.
Cheers!

Thank you!

There's a navy to be proud of.

Will be interesting to see how the population reacts to another spacefaring civilisation in due course.

Eh.. knowing ahead of time what will going on.. I can say it will be fun, then strange, then scary... (I'm writing the coming 5 years, will probably publish one year at a time since there is a lot going on)

Darwin IV?
Ahah I got the reference.. this time is the third planet... but you actually gave me a good suggestion for renaming the system.

Btw talking about renaming the system, you will see that I will periodically do that, the reason, in my headcanon, is that it would be realistic in a community to use "easy to remember" names for navigation purposes, so instead of "HD 434875202" going with, maybe scientists or prominent historical figures.
 
Fascinating to see an encounter with an Atomic Age species so quickly. That will be interesting seeing how Earth adapts to that!

And I agree with stnylan, that is a navy to be proud of! :)
 
Fascinating to see an encounter with an Atomic Age species so quickly. That will be interesting seeing how Earth adapts to that!
And I agree with stnylan, that is a navy to be proud of! :)

I can say that the way the game is rolling out is really helping me a lot. My biggest concern was a seamless transition between "we are alone" to "there is a galactic community out there" and so far it's going really great, I think I was extremely lucky!
 
2210
2210

With President Wade’s terms coming to an end, January marked the beginning of the political campaign for the presidency and, consequently, of the Federal Senate. Although his popularity was high amongst the citizens of the United Systems and political parties were not so rooted in the actual unified Earth society, Wade was about to face three tough opponents that benefited from their exposed roles in the federation to attract many votes.

The three candidates were Julia Paquette, head of the Research Division P, Estelle Warner, commander of the USV Hawking and Haruna Yamazaki, commander of the USV Kepler. It was clear that due to the huge focus and media attention that media and exploration had in these times, their roles were favourite to run for the presidency. The voting would have been held in April and Wade was well confident in winning also because his mandate of powering the alloy industry was successful, his detractors however criticized him for having overlooked the civilian sector, that wes anyway dealt toward the end of his presidency.

The survey taken during the campaign months favored Wade with a strong 35%, his direct opponent, Julia Paquette, was estimated to be at 27% and then Warner at 21% and Yamazaki at 17%. Paquette's campaign was focused on continuing what Wade left; she agreed on most of the President's choices although she was strongly criticizing the slow-paced expansion of the Federation in its first ten year from the beginning of the FTL era.
Citizens cast their vote on April 1st, and, against the predictions, Paquette won. The reason was that many voters for both Yamazaki and Warner decided to side with the strongest opponent, which was undoubtedly Julia Paquette.

Following, a portion of her first message addressed to the Federation citizens:

“Good evening fellow citizens of the United Systems.
With an immense honor and sense of duty I’m here to thank you for selecting me as your President. Mark my words, I will not fail you.

You know that in my past I had the opportunity to work in our science labs to help our society understand the secret of this universe; with the same scientific method, incessant attention to details and as a servant to our federation I will approach my tasks to ensure our civilization will prosper.

I say it’s time we spread our wings, the galaxy is out there full of riches and opportunity for all of us and there is no reason to limit our reach. We saw other alien species, we saw also that we are the most advanced living beings so we need to push ourselves further as the relics we’re finding is a testimony that whoever was there before us is long gone.”


Cgv91CC.png

It was clear that the new president was willing to strengthen the exploration, and it took a small amount of time before announcing a series of regulations to increase the budget of the Research Department. Her role at the head of the Research Division P was taken by her protegé Rashad Khadem.
On Centauria, agricultural districts were allocated to leverage on the planet fertile soil to reinforce the federation food production that was somehow needed to be reinforced due to the food policy adopted in the previous years.

oSIdWVq.png

The Research Division S, that was working on biodiversity, published a ten year study on earth's life forms that could prove to be essential for the interaction with new, alien species, especially in understanding how to deal with the Anthenabians and their biology whenever a first contact would have been made. The next research focus for the division would have been genome mapping, in particular the comprehension and classification of the totality of human DNA.

The year ended with the construction of a star orbiting station on Gliese 258, Port Davis, and the system being renamed to Einstein. The renaming of the systems was a decision taken by the Federal Cartographics Office to facilitate system recognition when the name could have been misspelled, to facilitate navigation of ships in the federal space.
 
Do a change of course - but how significantly? We shall see :)