Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - The Galaxy Awaits ... Choose Your Path!(Aurora)

Brian Swartz · 11-09-2014, 01:53 AM

2077 ANNUAL REPORT

Starting off the year SPACE absorbed a significant but not catastrophic loss, helped by the fact that it was expected. On January 12th Edward Groat's team finished the new Composite Armour and he announced his retirement. Engineering analysis indicates that only the combat ships will benefit sufficiently from this new material: the new missile ship was altered, named the Nimitz '76c, and will be able to carry a third more protection with the compressed material in the same space, at a negligible increase in cost and construction time. The commercial sector would see only very marginal improvement, not worth the hassle and cost of refits.

Dr. Groat retires having written the book pretty much single-handedly on defensive systems knowledge. His career spanned almost 50 years, and laid the groundwork for a navy that can have significant capabilities in damage absorption(three progressively better armour materials) and stealth(reduction of thermal signatures of our engines by nearly two-thirds).

Near the end of the month, a sixth commercial shipyard(Howaldswerke/Deutsch Werft, or simply abbreviated HDW in most settings) was finished. The most significant part of this was the transfer of factory capacity to increasing automine production. February saw the latest naval golden child, Emile Jeffcoat, celebrated as he graduated the academy.

In March a new brigade HQ was finished, ready for transport to Titan when the Alaska base there is finished, and mid-month the first Nimitz '76c began construction at the Wartsila shipyard. Then in April eight officers were cut loose by the navy and their newest shipyard, Niehuis van den Berg, was put into service. May brought the lauch of the second quartet of Long Beach second-generation fuel harvesters, and the Army celebrated a new star(Col. Romona Bosh).

So most of the year went, smoothly with noteworthy happenings on virtually all fronts but nothing to really hang your hat on as big news. Small, steady progression. July proved a bit more important, with neutronium running out on Stephan-Oterma(already down 750t this year), and Earth crossing the 1.5b barrier in population. That's triple what it was 52+ years ago at the founding of space, yet not a quarter of it's peak.

After a quiet-ish summer, 22-year-old Gil Milstead made headlines as he was promoted to Brigadier General. Official observers consider him the best officer even at that rank and favorite over Maj. Gen. Wyatt Pittman, presently twice Milstead's age, to take over the Army when Engelhardt retires. Such things are sterile conjecture at this point though, as that is not expected to happen for several years, and many things can change. He's off to a fantastic start though.

In November, things came to a head with the mining operation on Halley's Comet. Despite the concerted efforts, it's clear that the comet will need to take another 'loop' around the Sun -- in this case requiring 75 years for a full journey -- to extract all of it's mercassium, the most plenteous vital mineral. With the deployment of the 41st automine at the start of the month, MRD made the estimate that at current rates it would be exhausted around the time it returns in just over 80 years(finishing the current approach and taking one more complete 'loop'). All other minerals will be finished in less than half that time, and the 41 mines makes it the third-largest outpost, tops among comets by a fair margin. 3.3kt combined is the current mining rate, though that will drop significantly in short order with the depletion of small sorium and gallicite deposits.

For over four years Halley has been the sole target of automine production, leaving the question of what next? At the moment neutronium is the top concern, but any location that offered that in combination with duranium or mercassium was a top priority for new or expanded operations.

Neujmin has a lot of neutronium, but duranium will be exhausted there in about a decade. A little longer, and the neutronium on Faye will be gone, so those options would be of limited use. Wolf-Harrington was rejected for similar reasons. Borrelly(18 automines, over 160 years worth of neutronium and mercassium and 50+ of duranium at current extraction rates) proved a much more profitable target. Others such as Swift-Tuttle and Herschel-Rigolet were too distant, while the very rich neutronium deposits on Reinmuth would yield little else of value ...

Borrelly was the clear choice, and the decision was made to pump up investment there to around the same level as Halley, about 40 automines or a little over double the current level. This will take only about a couple of years, and should help shore up our biggest needs. Thankfully Borrelly is never more than about a two-week journey from Earth at it's greatest solar distance of less than 900m km.

Just before Christmas, another naval shipyard and the last expected to be needed for now was finished. Archaicly and simply named the International, it will add a second slipway, intended also for use in the Fox Plan for small survey/support vessels as was the one completed earlier in the year. The re-allocation of the factory space would prove far more newsworthy in some quarters ....

2077 didn't have any huge developments. Probably the biggest stories were the development of the Composite Armour, Dr. Groat's subsequent retirement, and the switch in mining expansion from Halley to Borrelly. But there were developments all across SPACE, from steady expansion of civilian operations in the system, new shipyards coming on-line, new ships and shipyard expansions, key personnel joining the leadership teams in all branches including the replacement in terms of numbers of the administrative retirees, a few new systems being prototyped by the research teams, etc. The public of course mainly remains focused on the morale oversights on the outsystem bases leading to the exorbitant expenses required for the New York project, as well as all manner of debate, criticism, and demand for more information relating to the Fox Plan. Director Rakes has said only that the New York is an unfortunate necessity, and that once the new jump drive is ready next year, the Fox Plan will move forward at that point ...

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

** January 5 -- Elyse Buckler's team completes reduced-size missile launchers(75% size, but double the reload time). At the moment SPACE does not consider this to be a particularly important development, as present naval doctrine favors multiple launches and more missile capacity per ship over lower capacity and a larger 'alpha strike'. Buckler, a young and thus far very unimpressive project lead, learned nothing but she'll get another chance with the Defender '76 P high-yield missile prototype.

** January 12 -- Edward Groat's team finishes the new Composite Armour. This should improve the ability of all our ships to withstand alien weapons down the line, though only military ships will get the treatment: it's not enough of an improvement to make the commercial ships significantly more efficient. A new Nimitz, the Nimitz '76c, is recommended with this superior material. It can carry a four feet of armour instead of the previous three while maintaining exactly the same size. This change increases the cost by a little over 40m, but that's only about 1.3% on a 1.6b+ warship. Survivability is worth a lot more than that.

Dr. Billie Allington commandeers one lab for use in the JPS NP-42t, the new thrusters required for the planned miniaturized Caldwell shuttles. Eva Vadnais finally gets the third lab she's needed for her laser work, and for the third one all of the big projects are in need of a major project lead(all occupied). Modesto Huch takes one to begin work on a smaller, company-sized troop transport bay. Such things will hopefully not be needed for decades, and this project may well be suspended before long for many years, but the space should not go to waste.

** February 15 -- The standard Defender 76 missile prototype is finished and the ordnance factories are fired up again. Karabishi Juishao's next project is improving reload rates of the missile launchers, and she'll use two labs, one taken from Huch's work on troop transport bays which now is sidelined as anticipated.

** May 14 -- Garland Sidhom's team finishes HMI 16, the smaller of the new missile magazines. Huch gets some more time to work on the Small Troop Transport Bays, which he only was able to get about 2% finished earlier in the year. Within a couple days a new research lab is finished, and another 'make-work' training project is assigned. This one goes to talented young Eliot Monks(Defensive Systems). He'll work on improving shield technology.

** June 5 -- Harlan Welle completes HMI 25, the second and larger of the new magazine blueprints. His next task is improving Magazine Ejection Systems, which will again require only a single laboratory.

** October 25 -- Clint Wyche completes Phoenix 60L, a 300-ton military engine. He's got enough skill and clout by now to demand investment in a project in his field, the only one of which is improving terraforming(since cloning/genetic mutation are banned). The 'make-work/training' projects directed by Huchs and Monk are put on hold to free up a total of three labs for Wyche, which will suffice for his current needs.

EARTH

January 27 -- The latest commercial shipyard, Howaldtswerke /Deutsch Werft, is finished. It will expand until it gets to a reasonable size, probably at least 40kt or so. Progress can now be accelerated on the naval shipyard and, of more immediate value, expanding mine production operations. With a little over a third of Earth's TN factories devoted to that goal, they can now turn out a new one in less than four weeks time.

March 1 -- A new brigade HQ is finished, which will serve as the command HQ on Titan once the Alaska base is finished there.

March 15 -- Wartsila is ready for the new Nimitz '76c. Construction begins and is the first is expected to finish in late 2078.

Late April -- The new naval yard Neihuis and Van Den Berg is finished. Another yard is begun and Neihuis will add a second slipway. These are intended for use for the small survey and other utility vessels that will be required by the Fox Plan.

May 9 -- Second quartet of Long Beach harvesters finished.

Early July -- Population breaks the 1.5b barrier.

Late December -- The most recent, and for now final, shipyard is finished(the International)

LEADERSHIP PERSONNEL

February 15 -- The latest naval prodigy, Lt. Cmdr. Emile Jeffcoat, has graduated the academy. Very high marks in crew training and notable survey skill to go with it. In the current environment he's better right now than 90% of those who are at Commander rank, it's just a question of how long he waits to get his chance.

April 12 -- The Navy cuts eight officers.

Late April -- Long incompetent power & propulsion scientist David Gruis has finally managed to have light dawn on his marble head, and is up to a 15% bonus now. A long ways to go but at least he's marginally useful.

Mid-May -- Col. Romona Bosh is commissioned, one to watch as she has considerable talent in commanding ground forces.

June 3 -- Carl McCloe joins the civilian beauracracy, and he's better than most who have come out of the academy in recent years. He can manage anything short of the director's post itself and has mostly useless skills, primarily terraforming and diplomacy.

Late June -- Jerry Bartholf(Power and Propulsion 10%) is our latest researcher. That's going to be a crucial field for decades, so this arrival is pleasing.

June 28 -- Lt. Cmdr. Emile Jeffcoat has progressed further in his training skill(200), certainly not resting on his laurels.

Mid-July -- Logistics & Ground Combat researcher Alphonse Lambeth, still with most of his career hopefully ahead of him at 36, has improved to a 35% bonus. When Cedrick Wormack retires, which is expected to happen soon, he'll become the top man in that field.

Late July -- A couple of key developments in the beauracratic ranks. Mid-level Carol Westcott has made some new friends(20% political reliability) in an effort to force her way higher, and little-known Horacio Hufton, governor of the comet Crommelin, has been forced to retire early due to health concerns. Carl McCloe is appointed as his emergency, interim replacement. Fortunately it's close by at the moment, merely a three-day journey to approximately Jupiter orbit. He officially takes office two months to the day after graduated the Academy -- one could not ask for much better than that.

Mid-August -- Riley Awad increases his Factory Production skill bonus to 30%. That would have helped while he was Governor of Earth, but now that he's on the moon it doesn't do a whole heaping lot of good. No factories there, a little late to the party buddy.

Mid-September -- Col. Gil Milstead, just 22, is promoted to Brigadier General.

Late October -- Gordon Semien joins the civilian corps, and he has a couple of notable skills. Administratively he could handle the Director's job, and he also has solid abilities in population growth and factory production. A good man to have around.

Mid-November -- Douglas Greer joins the growing logjam of low-level scientists in Defensive Systems.

December 14 -- Lambeth strikes again, up to 40% now. He's on a roll this year!

Mid-December -- Merry Murray joins the civilian beauracracy. Decent administrator, majoring in wealth creation which is not exactly an area of need as the budgetary reports have always shown.

COLONIAL DEVELOPMENTS

Early July -- Neutronium supplies have been exhausted on Stephan-Oterma. With more than a generation's worth of duranium and sorium still on the comet, it's unlikely to see a major draw-down in investment(currently the third-largest comet operation with 28 automines) in the near future.

November 1 -- Automine deployment switched from Halley's Comet to Borrelly.

11-09-2014, 01:53 AM	#279
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	2077 ANNUAL REPORT Starting off the year SPACE absorbed a significant but not catastrophic loss, helped by the fact that it was expected. On January 12th Edward Groat's team finished the new Composite Armour and he announced his retirement. Engineering analysis indicates that only the combat ships will benefit sufficiently from this new material: the new missile ship was altered, named the Nimitz '76c, and will be able to carry a third more protection with the compressed material in the same space, at a negligible increase in cost and construction time. The commercial sector would see only very marginal improvement, not worth the hassle and cost of refits. Dr. Groat retires having written the book pretty much single-handedly on defensive systems knowledge. His career spanned almost 50 years, and laid the groundwork for a navy that can have significant capabilities in damage absorption(three progressively better armour materials) and stealth(reduction of thermal signatures of our engines by nearly two-thirds). Near the end of the month, a sixth commercial shipyard(Howaldswerke/Deutsch Werft, or simply abbreviated HDW in most settings) was finished. The most significant part of this was the transfer of factory capacity to increasing automine production. February saw the latest naval golden child, Emile Jeffcoat, celebrated as he graduated the academy. In March a new brigade HQ was finished, ready for transport to Titan when the Alaska base there is finished, and mid-month the first Nimitz '76c began construction at the Wartsila shipyard. Then in April eight officers were cut loose by the navy and their newest shipyard, Niehuis van den Berg, was put into service. May brought the lauch of the second quartet of Long Beach second-generation fuel harvesters, and the Army celebrated a new star(Col. Romona Bosh). So most of the year went, smoothly with noteworthy happenings on virtually all fronts but nothing to really hang your hat on as big news. Small, steady progression. July proved a bit more important, with neutronium running out on Stephan-Oterma(already down 750t this year), and Earth crossing the 1.5b barrier in population. That's triple what it was 52+ years ago at the founding of space, yet not a quarter of it's peak. After a quiet-ish summer, 22-year-old Gil Milstead made headlines as he was promoted to Brigadier General. Official observers consider him the best officer even at that rank and favorite over Maj. Gen. Wyatt Pittman, presently twice Milstead's age, to take over the Army when Engelhardt retires. Such things are sterile conjecture at this point though, as that is not expected to happen for several years, and many things can change. He's off to a fantastic start though. In November, things came to a head with the mining operation on Halley's Comet. Despite the concerted efforts, it's clear that the comet will need to take another 'loop' around the Sun -- in this case requiring 75 years for a full journey -- to extract all of it's mercassium, the most plenteous vital mineral. With the deployment of the 41st automine at the start of the month, MRD made the estimate that at current rates it would be exhausted around the time it returns in just over 80 years(finishing the current approach and taking one more complete 'loop'). All other minerals will be finished in less than half that time, and the 41 mines makes it the third-largest outpost, tops among comets by a fair margin. 3.3kt combined is the current mining rate, though that will drop significantly in short order with the depletion of small sorium and gallicite deposits. For over four years Halley has been the sole target of automine production, leaving the question of what next? At the moment neutronium is the top concern, but any location that offered that in combination with duranium or mercassium was a top priority for new or expanded operations. Neujmin has a lot of neutronium, but duranium will be exhausted there in about a decade. A little longer, and the neutronium on Faye will be gone, so those options would be of limited use. Wolf-Harrington was rejected for similar reasons. Borrelly(18 automines, over 160 years worth of neutronium and mercassium and 50+ of duranium at current extraction rates) proved a much more profitable target. Others such as Swift-Tuttle and Herschel-Rigolet were too distant, while the very rich neutronium deposits on Reinmuth would yield little else of value ... Borrelly was the clear choice, and the decision was made to pump up investment there to around the same level as Halley, about 40 automines or a little over double the current level. This will take only about a couple of years, and should help shore up our biggest needs. Thankfully Borrelly is never more than about a two-week journey from Earth at it's greatest solar distance of less than 900m km. Just before Christmas, another naval shipyard and the last expected to be needed for now was finished. Archaicly and simply named the International, it will add a second slipway, intended also for use in the Fox Plan for small survey/support vessels as was the one completed earlier in the year. The re-allocation of the factory space would prove far more newsworthy in some quarters .... 2077 didn't have any huge developments. Probably the biggest stories were the development of the Composite Armour, Dr. Groat's subsequent retirement, and the switch in mining expansion from Halley to Borrelly. But there were developments all across SPACE, from steady expansion of civilian operations in the system, new shipyards coming on-line, new ships and shipyard expansions, key personnel joining the leadership teams in all branches including the replacement in terms of numbers of the administrative retirees, a few new systems being prototyped by the research teams, etc. The public of course mainly remains focused on the morale oversights on the outsystem bases leading to the exorbitant expenses required for the New York project, as well as all manner of debate, criticism, and demand for more information relating to the Fox Plan. Director Rakes has said only that the New York is an unfortunate necessity, and that once the new jump drive is ready next year, the Fox Plan will move forward at that point ... RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT January 5 -- Elyse Buckler's team completes reduced-size missile launchers(75% size, but double the reload time). At the moment SPACE does not consider this to be a particularly important development, as present naval doctrine favors multiple launches and more missile capacity per ship over lower capacity and a larger 'alpha strike'. Buckler, a young and thus far very unimpressive project lead, learned nothing but she'll get another chance with the Defender '76 P high-yield missile prototype. January 12 -- Edward Groat's team finishes the new Composite Armour. This should improve the ability of all our ships to withstand alien weapons down the line, though only military ships will get the treatment: it's not enough of an improvement to make the commercial ships significantly more efficient. A new Nimitz, the Nimitz '76c, is recommended with this superior material. It can carry a four feet of armour instead of the previous three while maintaining exactly the same size. This change increases the cost by a little over 40m, but that's only about 1.3% on a 1.6b+ warship. Survivability is worth a lot more than that. Dr. Billie Allington commandeers one lab for use in the JPS NP-42t, the new thrusters required for the planned miniaturized Caldwell shuttles. Eva Vadnais finally gets the third lab she's needed for her laser work, and for the third one all of the big projects are in need of a major project lead(all occupied). Modesto Huch takes one to begin work on a smaller, company-sized troop transport bay. Such things will hopefully not be needed for decades, and this project may well be suspended before long for many years, but the space should not go to waste. February 15 -- The standard Defender 76 missile prototype is finished and the ordnance factories are fired up again. Karabishi Juishao's next project is improving reload rates of the missile launchers, and she'll use two labs, one taken from Huch's work on troop transport bays which now is sidelined as anticipated. May 14 -- Garland Sidhom's team finishes HMI 16, the smaller of the new missile magazines. Huch gets some more time to work on the Small Troop Transport Bays, which he only was able to get about 2% finished earlier in the year. Within a couple days a new research lab is finished, and another 'make-work' training project is assigned. This one goes to talented young Eliot Monks(Defensive Systems). He'll work on improving shield technology. June 5 -- Harlan Welle completes HMI 25, the second and larger of the new magazine blueprints. His next task is improving Magazine Ejection Systems, which will again require only a single laboratory. October 25 -- Clint Wyche completes Phoenix 60L, a 300-ton military engine. He's got enough skill and clout by now to demand investment in a project in his field, the only one of which is improving terraforming(since cloning/genetic mutation are banned). The 'make-work/training' projects directed by Huchs and Monk are put on hold to free up a total of three labs for Wyche, which will suffice for his current needs. EARTH January 27 -- The latest commercial shipyard, Howaldtswerke /Deutsch Werft, is finished. It will expand until it gets to a reasonable size, probably at least 40kt or so. Progress can now be accelerated on the naval shipyard and, of more immediate value, expanding mine production operations. With a little over a third of Earth's TN factories devoted to that goal, they can now turn out a new one in less than four weeks time. March 1 -- A new brigade HQ is finished, which will serve as the command HQ on Titan once the Alaska base is finished there. March 15 -- Wartsila is ready for the new Nimitz '76c. Construction begins and is the first is expected to finish in late 2078. Late April -- The new naval yard Neihuis and Van Den Berg is finished. Another yard is begun and Neihuis will add a second slipway. These are intended for use for the small survey and other utility vessels that will be required by the Fox Plan. May 9 -- Second quartet of Long Beach harvesters finished. Early July -- Population breaks the 1.5b barrier. Late December -- The most recent, and for now final, shipyard is finished(the International) LEADERSHIP PERSONNEL February 15 -- The latest naval prodigy, Lt. Cmdr. Emile Jeffcoat, has graduated the academy. Very high marks in crew training and notable survey skill to go with it. In the current environment he's better right now than 90% of those who are at Commander rank, it's just a question of how long he waits to get his chance. April 12 -- The Navy cuts eight officers. Late April -- Long incompetent power & propulsion scientist David Gruis has finally managed to have light dawn on his marble head, and is up to a 15% bonus now. A long ways to go but at least he's marginally useful. Mid-May -- Col. Romona Bosh is commissioned, one to watch as she has considerable talent in commanding ground forces. June 3 -- Carl McCloe joins the civilian beauracracy, and he's better than most who have come out of the academy in recent years. He can manage anything short of the director's post itself and has mostly useless skills, primarily terraforming and diplomacy. Late June -- Jerry Bartholf(Power and Propulsion 10%) is our latest researcher. That's going to be a crucial field for decades, so this arrival is pleasing. June 28 -- Lt. Cmdr. Emile Jeffcoat has progressed further in his training skill(200), certainly not resting on his laurels. Mid-July -- Logistics & Ground Combat researcher Alphonse Lambeth, still with most of his career hopefully ahead of him at 36, has improved to a 35% bonus. When Cedrick Wormack retires, which is expected to happen soon, he'll become the top man in that field. Late July -- A couple of key developments in the beauracratic ranks. Mid-level Carol Westcott has made some new friends(20% political reliability) in an effort to force her way higher, and little-known Horacio Hufton, governor of the comet Crommelin, has been forced to retire early due to health concerns. Carl McCloe is appointed as his emergency, interim replacement. Fortunately it's close by at the moment, merely a three-day journey to approximately Jupiter orbit. He officially takes office two months to the day after graduated the Academy -- one could not ask for much better than that. Mid-August -- Riley Awad increases his Factory Production skill bonus to 30%. That would have helped while he was Governor of Earth, but now that he's on the moon it doesn't do a whole heaping lot of good. No factories there, a little late to the party buddy. Mid-September -- Col. Gil Milstead, just 22, is promoted to Brigadier General. Late October -- Gordon Semien joins the civilian corps, and he has a couple of notable skills. Administratively he could handle the Director's job, and he also has solid abilities in population growth and factory production. A good man to have around. Mid-November -- Douglas Greer joins the growing logjam of low-level scientists in Defensive Systems. December 14 -- Lambeth strikes again, up to 40% now. He's on a roll this year! Mid-December -- Merry Murray joins the civilian beauracracy. Decent administrator, majoring in wealth creation which is not exactly an area of need as the budgetary reports have always shown. COLONIAL DEVELOPMENTS Early July -- Neutronium supplies have been exhausted on Stephan-Oterma. With more than a generation's worth of duranium and sorium still on the comet, it's unlikely to see a major draw-down in investment(currently the third-largest comet operation with 28 automines) in the near future. November 1 -- Automine deployment switched from Halley's Comet to Borrelly.