View Single Post
Old 12-01-2013, 12:35 AM   #195
Brian Swartz
Grizzled Veteran
 
Join Date: May 2006
STATE OF SPACE, 2065

I. IMPERIAL HOLDINGS

IA. Populated Colonies

Earth(1.149b, 400 CF, 137 CI, 50 OF, 10 FF, 75 REF, 25 RL, 3 AC, 5 DSTS, 13.8k MF, 1 SP, SC)
Luna(34.55m)
Mars(32.06m)
Titan(16.56m, 1 DSTS)
Venus(4.49m)
Mercury(less than 5k)

40 years old and still growing strong. Earth has added 90 million, with noticeable growth everywhere except for Mercury. Venus has exploded, adding more than four million to a population of less than 200,000 just four years ago. Titan was expected to grow more, but saw under 1.5 million added due to slow infrastructure shipments, even with the investment of a deep-space tracking station. Total human population has reached about 1.24 billion, about a 9% increase.

There are still vestiges of pre-TN economic concerns hanging around. At the current rate it will take at least a decade to convert all of the remaining conventional industry.

IB. Outposts

Earth(49 SM, 137 CI, 9.1 eff, 1.03 kt) -- 5.1 y of mercassium, 7.1 y of duranium. Maintaining at around 50 mines until our homeworld is bare, which right now would take almost half a millenium(tritanium)
Titan(25 SM, 6 eff, 207t)
Sedna(20 CMC, 16 eff, 5.38 kt)
Triton(63 AM, 30 eff, 2.95 kt)
Stephan-Oterma(28 AM, 40 eff, 1.48 kt)
Machholz(27.6 AM, 39 eff, 1.42 kt)
Comas Sola(25 AM, 50 eff, 1.5 kt) -- gallicite(5.1 y)
Schaumasse(21.8 AM, 36 eff, 1.13 kt)
Crommelin(20.4 AM, 52 eff, 1.34 kt) -- boronide(8.0), gallicite(9.8)
Borrelly(15.8 AM, 58 eff, 1.15 kt) -- sorium(0.1)
Wolf-Harrington(13.8 AM, 60 eff, 994t) -- vendarite(0.9)
Reinmuth(11.8 AM, 37 eff, 550t)
Neujmin(10.8 AM, 49 eff, 761t) -- corundium(1.6)
Faye(10 AM, 48 eff, 664t)
Prokne(10 AM, 10 eff, 138t)
Van Biesbroeck(10 AM, 55 eff, 660t)
Wolf(5 AM, 26 eff, 156t)
Wild(5 AM, 34 eff, 204t)

Total Production: 21.71 kt, an impressive 17.5% increase in annual yield! Some of the larger comets actually saw significant drops with top administrators suffering medical setbacks, but continued civilian investment in Sedna, expansion of operations on Triton and several smaller outposts, and new mining operations on the comets Wolf and Wild were able to dwarf those losses.

The recent exhaustion of corundium on a number of bodies(with Neujmin set to join them) is only a minor concern, as Earth's stockpile continues to grow.

IC. Mineral Stockpiles & Production

Tier A & B materials continue to be in a high state of flux due to the fickle nature of shifting economic priorities.

Tier A: Uridiuim(59 kt), Vendarite(38 kt), Gallicite(35 kt), Tritanium(32 kt), and Corbomite(28 kt)

Gallicite should have an asterisk here. Quite a bit was used in the defender missiles, but the stockpile still grew and that's the only major usage with none planned in the next year or so.

Tier B: Mercassium(27 kt), Boronide(25 kt). Mercassium declined for the first time, raising a bit of a red flag. Boronide is being used more with the increase in shipbuilding, as it is required for fuel tank technology. However, should a shortfall ever occur, Venus has 21mt of the stuff, and it can be virtually picked up off the surface there.

Tier C: Sorium(16.7kt), Corundium(7.42 kt). Sorium is quite safe at the moment, with planetside refineries no longer consuming it the stockpile is rising quickly. Corundium is less certain, and will be watched fairly closely the next few years.

Tier D: Duranium(5.87 kt) has fluctuated up and down, with more investment still needed to indulge in constant full-capacity shipbuilding. Neutronium(3.75 kt) has nearly stabilized but has largely ground shipyard expansion operations to a halt. No non-essential goals are proceeding while more resources are found.

MRD requested an analysis of all known sources of neutronium to ensure our situation is sustainable. Approximately 375kt exist in reasonably high-accessible and good concentration sources in Sol. One of the moons in Epsilon Eridani has almost three times that much by itself ... but it might as well be on a black hole for all the good that information does us. The present situation is sustainable for perhaps as long as close to a century, but not indefinitely.

ID. Income

Taxes(population): 29.4 m
Taxes(civ. shipping): 4.45 m
Taxes(civ. fuel): 65 k

Total: 33.91m(+9.8%). All sectors saw modest increases.

Balance: 499m(+50m)

IE. Expenses

Research: 5.86m
Installation Construction: 5.82m
Mineral Purchases: 5.03m
Shipbuilding: 4.05m
Shipyard Operations: 1.11m
GU Training: 201k
GU Maintenance: 168k
Maintenance Facilities: 77.3k

Total: 22.32m(+33.9%)

Shipbuilding and training of ground units both more than tripled, and continued growth is expected as the military ramp-up will only intensify. In a decade or two, finances may yet become a real issue.

II. SHIPYARDS

IIA. Commercial Yards

Tod & MacGregor(2 slipways, 58.1 kt capacity)
** Refitting to Fletcher IV(x2), February 2065
Estalerios Navais(2, 23.2 kt)
** Retooling for the new Arleigh Burke troop transports(brigade), late summer 2065
P&A Group(4, 36.7 kt)
** Expanding in preparation for larger harvesters, target of 50-60kt. Still a number of years out
** Building 4x Perry III harvesters, March 2065
Vickers-Armstrong(4, 10 kt)
** Building Lexington IIIb(1), late January 2065
Oregon Shipbuildilng(1, 10 kt)
** Refitting to Portland II(1), February 2065

IIB. Naval Yards

Wartsila(1, 10 kt)
** Idle
Baltimore Marine(2, 3.64 kt)
** Refit to Forrestal IIb(1), January 8 2065
Yokohama Dock Co.(1, 1 kt)
** Idle

III. ARMY TRAINING FACILITIES

IIIA. Earth

** Two active training facilities
** Brigade HQ(April 2065)
** Brigade HQ(Early 2066)

IV. INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY

IVA. Earth

Research Lab(33%) -- January 2065
Mine Conversions(standard to automated, 22%) -- 10-11 per year
Naval Shipyard(14%) -- Early 2067
Mass Driver(14%) -- 1/4 left, January 25, 2065
Maintenance Facilities(14%) -- 6 in the queue, October 2065
Mine Conversions(conventional industry to standard, 3%) -- 10+ per year

V. ACTIVE RESEARCH PROJECTS

** GEI MSS 140 -- active grav missile search sensor(Bessie Wallander) -- March 2065
** Beam Fire Control Range - 16k(Delmar Ytuarte) -- April 2065
** Mining Production(Deacon Palmer) -- Q2/Q3 2065
** Thermal Reduction -- 50% Emissions(Edward Groat) -- Q3 2065
** GEI SSS 200m -- active grav search sensor(Billie Allington) -- Q4 2065
** Construction Brigade(Brandon Grimmett) -- Early 2066
** Implosion Fission Warhead(Rosa Suda) -- Early 2066
** 10% Reactor Power Boost(Rosemary Urenda) -- Late 2066
** Salvage Module(Cedrick Workmack) -- Late 2066/Early 2067
** 12cm Laser(Eva Vadnais) -- Late 2066/Early 2067
** Thermal Sensor Sensitivity(Julio Kuchler) -- Mid-2067
** Genome Sequence Research(Clint Wyche) -- Late 2067/Early 2068
** Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor(Santo Makar) -- Early 2068
** Increased Missile Agility(Karabishi Juishao) -- Mid-Late 2068
** Visible Light Laser Wavelength(Wayne Sabagh) -- Late 2068

There have been consistently 15-16 ongoing projects at any one time the last few years, as increasing costs per project have eaten up the laboratories that have been produced to enter the system. The majority of projects now require two, and a single lab has become the exception rather than the rule.

Most, but not all of the initial combat system prototyping has been completed. It is still an ongoing process as systems are becoming obsolete very quickly, at times before they are even ready! This is slowing down already, and will continue to do so as the cost of improvement continues to rise. For the most part, it is simply a function of how 'behind' SPACE was and is in terms of combat technology.

VI. ACTIVE NAVAL ASSETS

CC Belknap(1, 2 kt, 50 crew, 1250 km/s, 60k fuel, command ship)
GSV Coontz(1, 2.25 kt, 32 crew, 1377 km/s, 130k fuel, gravitational survey)
GEV Essex II-x(2, 2.2 kt, 35 crew, 1135 km/s, 60k fuel, geological survey)
FT Fletcher II-xe(4, 36.2 kt, 100 crew, 518 km/s, 700k fuel, freighter)
FT Fletcher III(2, 36.4 kt, 106 crew, 515 km/s, 700k fuel, freighter)
FT Fletcher IV(2, 36.9 kt, 162 crew, 813 km/s, 650k fuel, freighter)
SB Forrestal II(11, 650t, 15 crew, 3.69k km/s, 50k fuel, sensor buoy)
SB Forrestal IIb(3, 600t, 13 crew, 4k km/s, 50k fuel, sensor buoy)
TK Iowa(2, 9.8 kt, 53 crew, 1.02k km/s, 6m fuel, fuel tanker)
ST Lexington III(17, 1.8 kt, 26 crew, 1.39k km/s, 60k fuel, transport shuttle)
ST Lexington IIIb(6, 1.8 kt, 28 crew, 2.78k km/s, 60k fuel*, transport shuttle)
JS North Carolina(1, 19.2 kt, 133 crew, 520 km/s, 250k fuel, large jump ship)
FH Perry III(17, 20.1 kt, 123 crew, 498 km/s, 350k fuel, fuel harvester)
JSC Pioneer(1, 10 kt, 240 crew, 1000 km/s, 600k fuel, jump scout)
TT Portland(2, 4.3 kt, 35 crew, 581 km/s, 60k fuel, troop transport)
CS Spruance-b(1, 20 kt, 110 crew, 501 km/s, 250k fuel, colony ship)

* A beauracratic oversight led to more powerful engines and the same amount of fuel. A further modification, the IIIc, increases to 250k with somewhat reduced speed for the endurance.

Total: 73 vessels(+55%), 770 kt(+44%), 4.62k crew(+63%), 27.1m liters fuel(+151%).
Available Crew: 85.7k(+8.9%)

Fuel Reserves -- 37.8m liters total(+2.4%)

The navy continues to grow by leaps and bounds. The two Iowa tankers can carry more fuel than the entire fleet combined four years ago held. This makes it easy to see why the economy became stressed to keep up the last couple of years.

VII. ACTIVE ARMY ASSETS

** Mobile Infantry Battalion(6)
** Garrison Battalion(17)

Total Active-Duty Soldiers: 115k(-66%)

The army has fully made the leap to TN tech, and the shrinking is over. Once the troops on Earth are fully organized into brigades, significant growth in the force is expected.

VIII. CIVILIAN SHIPPING CORPORATIONS

Voliva Carrier Company(37 vessels, 3.48m annual income)
Jensrud Transport and Trading(17, 700k)
Everton Shipping & Logistics(2, 80k)
Presnar Freight(3, 100k)
Clavette Shipping Line(3, 90k)
Abair Shipping(1, --)
Forbus Carrier Ltd(1, --)
Tolles Transport & Logistics(3, 70k)
Ouellet Shipping(2, 120k)

Total Vessels: 72(+7.5%)
Total Civilian Income: 4.64m(+6.9%)

Voliva now has a near-complete monopoly. Abair & Folbus have ceased operations and all of the other competitors have shrunk while Voliva Carrier Co. showed a near-50% increase in their take, to a 75% market share in 2064. For the first time, there are more SPACE vessels(73) than civilian(72) in Sol space.

IX. SPACE LEADERSHIP PROSPECTUS

** Naval Officers: 81 of 92 assigned(88.0%), +22%
** Ground Forces Officers: 29 of 41(70.7%), +13%
** Civilian Administrators: 22 of 27(81.5%), +1%
** Scientists: 15 of 31(48.4%), --

Overall: 147 of 191(76.9%), +14%

31 of 40 new positions added were in the navy, and it continues to be difficult to find enough civilian administrators as well. The scientific establishment, meanwhile, has for the most part more talent than it can use. It remains to be seen whether the recent increase in recruitment efforts will be enough to fill all needed positions.
Brian Swartz is offline   Reply With Quote