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

Brian Swartz · 10-28-2013, 08:31 PM

STRATEGIC REVIEW

On January 6, the Nuclear Pulse Engine was completed(Dr. Sanko Makar), and revealed to result in a 60% power increase over a similar nuclear thermal engine. On the 28th, Particle Beam research was finished(Eva Vadnais), paving the way for a strategic review of SPACE's current military stance, readiness, etc. The primary mission remains the defense of Sol, with secondary objectives given as gathering more intel on the alien(s) and expanding human presence beyond our home system.

TECHNOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT

There is precious little information available on the aliens, but there were a number of pieces of information gleaned in Epsilon Eridani: they utilize ships capable of at least 6.5k km/s, and missiles capable of 15-30k km/s, and have vastly superior sensor systems. It must be stressed at this point that they may have other vessels/weapons systems far different in capability than these, but we can only operate on the basis of the information that we have.

There are a number of good arguments in favor of energy weapons rather than kinetic. Firstly, the top two weapons scientists are both in the energy field: Ignacio Bavaro and Eva Vadnais, though a number of decent if lesser minds are developing in kinetic weaponry. Secondly, they are re-usable: there's no ammuntion to worry about building. Third and finally, they make for the best jump point defence as closer ranges are their forte, espescially due to higher rates of fire.

The most obvious form of defense would be to field a weapons system capable of shooting down their missiles. This is impossible with any kind of energy-based system, due to the fact that the best tracking speed we can muster is capable for our fire control systems is 5k km/s, or at best a third of their velocity. In an offensive role, beam weapons would be limited by our completely inadequate propulsion technology: namely, that we would have to occupy well over half a ship's volume with nothing but engines to even match the speed of the enemy ships. Unless we build such ships which would have very little space for the weapons systems themselves, there would be no way to prevent the aliens from simply firing their missiles at us from out of range, then retreating to load more, and so on with impunity. That is, unless they were guarding some crucial objective that they didn't want to retreat from, but in this case we are the most obviously the ones on the defensive.

Missile-based systems don't fare much better: our best anti-missile projections are that we would have, at best, a 6% chance at a successful intercept. It is, however, the only option that currently holds out any hope of destroying enemy ships. A reasonably sized anti-ship missile could presently be designed with a projected 20-25% hit rate against ships of the speed the aliens were observed traveling at.

GROUND FORCES

It is expected that the lion's share of protection responsibilities will lie with the Navy, and that the army will still be called upon largely in a police role as is presently their sole duty. However, as soon as better offensive capabilities are discovered, more units will be trained up for the goal of occupying strategic objectives by force should the need arise. At present, maintenance of ground forces consumes less than 0.4% of annual income, so the cost is hardly a concern at this point and being ready for all contingencies is certainly desirable.

NAVAL FORCES

The time has come for the SPACE Navy to essentially split into two branches: a commercial branch and a combat branch. The decision is made to design military ships relying on both energy and missile-based variants for a number of reasons. One is to get used to the various components required, how much space they will require, etc. Given the technological gap, our current weaponry is expected to have little to no effect on the enemy in a serious confrontation, and yet the political situation clearly demands action. Building multiple types of ships gives more flexibility and basically punts a number of decisions down the road.

NAVAL DOCTRINE

Given our present near-complete inability to defend against the aliens known attack abilities, present thought favors a high number of small vessels in the hopes that those not initially targeted by an enemy fleet will be able to fire and damage the enemy before coming under fire themselves. There will not be anything in the way of centralized command or sensor vessels, as the enemy would likely destroy these quickly crippling the fleet. Rather, each ship will be expected to operate on its own. This is far from an optimal solution, but the only one presenting itself. This also means a carrier-based fleet is for now out of the question, as a carrier would simply be an easy target for alien missiles.

ENERGY-BASED WEAPONS

It is still desired to utilize SPACE's natural talents and develop a focus on energy weapons over time. But that still leaves the question of which energy weapons? The conclusion of analysts is that there is no way to insulate ourselves against the possibility of not choosing the 'optimal' system(s) -- it all depends on what enemies field and trying to research them all can only result in mastering none. Further, early projections by the scientific community indicate a specialized, layered approach to ship weaponry and defense is far more likely to be effective and flexible than a one-size-fits-all philosophy focused on just one weapons system.

The laser is an obvious choice, with as good of a damage-to-power ratio as any weapons system available. Only the plasma carronade is equal in this, and it is larger and much more costly. Range is a virtual non-issue at the moment as all of the systems far out-range our fire control capabilities.

The meson cannon fits by far the best among the energy-based weapons prototypes as a point defense type of weapon. Meson particles ignore shields and armor, and the cannon has minimal power requirements like the laser, though with minimal damage and half the range.

Thie size and cost of the particle beam rules it out as a serious option, as does the plasma carronade.

One final option deserves special mention -- microwave. The high-powered microwave is designed to deplete enemy shields and damage electronic systems, essentially blinding them but not destroying them. The most obvious use to this would be as a first step to capturing enemy ships, something we will definitely want to do sometime down the road as part of our attempts to learn more about them.

MISSILES & KINETIC WEAPONS

It seems a certain amount of diversification will be necessary. Since missiles are basically a combat requirement for us right now, a modest amount of research will be invested in making them better, at least until we can 'catch up' to the aliens, if we can, in other areas. A second reason is the CIWS(Close-In Weapons System). The CIWS, an automated system designed for destroying missiles on final approach to a target, has been deemed a political necessity on all but very small ships(including commercial) to provide some semblance of defense. As it utilizes gauss cannon technology, that will also need to have a certain amount of research dedicated towards it.

MILITARY GOALS

** Finishing up the deployment of Forrestals at all jump points with a reserve and a new class to serve as a 'carrier' to ferry them around Sol as needed.

** Research will focus on propulsion and sensors/fire controls first, particle beams and meson cannons second, with a modest investment also in advancing missile technology/gauss(for CIWS) and general advancement/economic improvements, etc. Of course, prototyping immediately needed ship systems will come before any of these.

** Refitting of all vessels except the Perry harvesters(which don't need speed as much) to take advantadge of the newer, more powerful engines as well as CIWS. The # of CIWS will vary based on the size of the ship, but all vessels including commercial will get at least one as SPACE is committed to at least the appearance of protection of its personnel. It is the only weapons system that has been declassified enough to permit mounting it on commercial vessels.

** Design and construction of planetary missile bases, primarily for the purpose of pacifying the public.

** Design and construction of two classes of military ships, as small as practicable: one based on missiles and another emphasizing beam weapons. Particle beams will be used for long-range, anti-ship duty and meson cannons for short-range, anti-missile duty.

** New/expanded shipyards as deemed necessary to meet and stay ahead of current needs.

** For political reasons, further interstellar exploration comes last. However, it is presently the navy's top priority internally. It has been decided to name the effort the Fox Plan, an homage to Herman Fox who pioneered(ahead of his time to the point of impracticality) the idea of sending small, expendable ships in first as explorers. There will be more detail on the Fox Plan as the time for it approaches.

10-28-2013, 08:31 PM	#181
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	STRATEGIC REVIEW On January 6, the Nuclear Pulse Engine was completed(Dr. Sanko Makar), and revealed to result in a 60% power increase over a similar nuclear thermal engine. On the 28th, Particle Beam research was finished(Eva Vadnais), paving the way for a strategic review of SPACE's current military stance, readiness, etc. The primary mission remains the defense of Sol, with secondary objectives given as gathering more intel on the alien(s) and expanding human presence beyond our home system. TECHNOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT There is precious little information available on the aliens, but there were a number of pieces of information gleaned in Epsilon Eridani: they utilize ships capable of at least 6.5k km/s, and missiles capable of 15-30k km/s, and have vastly superior sensor systems. It must be stressed at this point that they may have other vessels/weapons systems far different in capability than these, but we can only operate on the basis of the information that we have. There are a number of good arguments in favor of energy weapons rather than kinetic. Firstly, the top two weapons scientists are both in the energy field: Ignacio Bavaro and Eva Vadnais, though a number of decent if lesser minds are developing in kinetic weaponry. Secondly, they are re-usable: there's no ammuntion to worry about building. Third and finally, they make for the best jump point defence as closer ranges are their forte, espescially due to higher rates of fire. The most obvious form of defense would be to field a weapons system capable of shooting down their missiles. This is impossible with any kind of energy-based system, due to the fact that the best tracking speed we can muster is capable for our fire control systems is 5k km/s, or at best a third of their velocity. In an offensive role, beam weapons would be limited by our completely inadequate propulsion technology: namely, that we would have to occupy well over half a ship's volume with nothing but engines to even match the speed of the enemy ships. Unless we build such ships which would have very little space for the weapons systems themselves, there would be no way to prevent the aliens from simply firing their missiles at us from out of range, then retreating to load more, and so on with impunity. That is, unless they were guarding some crucial objective that they didn't want to retreat from, but in this case we are the most obviously the ones on the defensive. Missile-based systems don't fare much better: our best anti-missile projections are that we would have, at best, a 6% chance at a successful intercept. It is, however, the only option that currently holds out any hope of destroying enemy ships. A reasonably sized anti-ship missile could presently be designed with a projected 20-25% hit rate against ships of the speed the aliens were observed traveling at. GROUND FORCES It is expected that the lion's share of protection responsibilities will lie with the Navy, and that the army will still be called upon largely in a police role as is presently their sole duty. However, as soon as better offensive capabilities are discovered, more units will be trained up for the goal of occupying strategic objectives by force should the need arise. At present, maintenance of ground forces consumes less than 0.4% of annual income, so the cost is hardly a concern at this point and being ready for all contingencies is certainly desirable. NAVAL FORCES The time has come for the SPACE Navy to essentially split into two branches: a commercial branch and a combat branch. The decision is made to design military ships relying on both energy and missile-based variants for a number of reasons. One is to get used to the various components required, how much space they will require, etc. Given the technological gap, our current weaponry is expected to have little to no effect on the enemy in a serious confrontation, and yet the political situation clearly demands action. Building multiple types of ships gives more flexibility and basically punts a number of decisions down the road. NAVAL DOCTRINE Given our present near-complete inability to defend against the aliens known attack abilities, present thought favors a high number of small vessels in the hopes that those not initially targeted by an enemy fleet will be able to fire and damage the enemy before coming under fire themselves. There will not be anything in the way of centralized command or sensor vessels, as the enemy would likely destroy these quickly crippling the fleet. Rather, each ship will be expected to operate on its own. This is far from an optimal solution, but the only one presenting itself. This also means a carrier-based fleet is for now out of the question, as a carrier would simply be an easy target for alien missiles. ENERGY-BASED WEAPONS It is still desired to utilize SPACE's natural talents and develop a focus on energy weapons over time. But that still leaves the question of which energy weapons? The conclusion of analysts is that there is no way to insulate ourselves against the possibility of not choosing the 'optimal' system(s) -- it all depends on what enemies field and trying to research them all can only result in mastering none. Further, early projections by the scientific community indicate a specialized, layered approach to ship weaponry and defense is far more likely to be effective and flexible than a one-size-fits-all philosophy focused on just one weapons system. The laser is an obvious choice, with as good of a damage-to-power ratio as any weapons system available. Only the plasma carronade is equal in this, and it is larger and much more costly. Range is a virtual non-issue at the moment as all of the systems far out-range our fire control capabilities. The meson cannon fits by far the best among the energy-based weapons prototypes as a point defense type of weapon. Meson particles ignore shields and armor, and the cannon has minimal power requirements like the laser, though with minimal damage and half the range. Thie size and cost of the particle beam rules it out as a serious option, as does the plasma carronade. One final option deserves special mention -- microwave. The high-powered microwave is designed to deplete enemy shields and damage electronic systems, essentially blinding them but not destroying them. The most obvious use to this would be as a first step to capturing enemy ships, something we will definitely want to do sometime down the road as part of our attempts to learn more about them. MISSILES & KINETIC WEAPONS It seems a certain amount of diversification will be necessary. Since missiles are basically a combat requirement for us right now, a modest amount of research will be invested in making them better, at least until we can 'catch up' to the aliens, if we can, in other areas. A second reason is the CIWS(Close-In Weapons System). The CIWS, an automated system designed for destroying missiles on final approach to a target, has been deemed a political necessity on all but very small ships(including commercial) to provide some semblance of defense. As it utilizes gauss cannon technology, that will also need to have a certain amount of research dedicated towards it. MILITARY GOALS Finishing up the deployment of Forrestals at all jump points with a reserve and a new class to serve as a 'carrier' to ferry them around Sol as needed. Research will focus on propulsion and sensors/fire controls first, particle beams and meson cannons second, with a modest investment also in advancing missile technology/gauss(for CIWS) and general advancement/economic improvements, etc. Of course, prototyping immediately needed ship systems will come before any of these. Refitting of all vessels except the Perry harvesters(which don't need speed as much) to take advantadge of the newer, more powerful engines as well as CIWS. The # of CIWS will vary based on the size of the ship, but all vessels including commercial will get at least one as SPACE is committed to at least the appearance of protection of its personnel. It is the only weapons system that has been declassified enough to permit mounting it on commercial vessels. Design and construction of planetary missile bases, primarily for the purpose of pacifying the public. Design and construction of two classes of military ships, as small as practicable: one based on missiles and another emphasizing beam weapons. Particle beams will be used for long-range, anti-ship duty and meson cannons for short-range, anti-missile duty. New/expanded shipyards as deemed necessary to meet and stay ahead of current needs. ** For political reasons, further interstellar exploration comes last. However, it is presently the navy's top priority internally. It has been decided to name the effort the Fox Plan, an homage to Herman Fox who pioneered(ahead of his time to the point of impracticality) the idea of sending small, expendable ships in first as explorers. There will be more detail on the Fox Plan as the time for it approaches.