Herona
The Izirion, now approximated at half complete, was moving along very swiftly. An extreme alpha prototype had taken its maiden cruise voyage, although the hyperdrive and weapons were not fitted yet. Within a few weeks, a functiona beta was to make an asteroid-shot run through three systems. However, much of the project was being moved to Gateway in the Cerberus system, due to the problems with the Shar' Nadda. If Herona was lost now, the Izirion project would be completely lost.
Composed of extremely light, cheap materials, the Izirion was a very basic craft, lacking the fine tuned perfection of the Zirada. It was, however, heavily armed, and would prove massively effective. Space had been left for a TT rocket launcher and a single 4-rocket ammunition to be fitted, and the Izirion would fit, as standard, three kyhdron beamers built into the ship, supported by a pair of kyhdron phase generators to keep them running for, approximately, ten minutes.
Railguns and standard duelbeam weaponry would not be fitted, as the temporary kyhdron output would prove more than effective enough. If the Izirions could later be fitted with hyper-velocity rockets (over the anti-fighter rockets they will start armed with), which would soon begin development, they would prove effective at long range until they closed in.
The Izirion fighter's main point of note, beyond it's stunning short-time firepower, was its speed. The Zirada was definately not within the top five fastest ships in the known universe, but it was still a very fast vessel. The Izirion, however, was faster - but of course, the engines themselves were only intended for ten minutes of cruise and a hyperjump.
(Speed: 750
Accel: Nearly instant (check my technologies; thoron engines)
Turning: 7)
The shielding on the Izirion was somewhat under-class compared to the extreme durability of ships like the Zirada, but at 80 terawatts could easily survive a rocket or two - and the Izirion had been supported with as much armour as could be achieved, as the Horosk's structural field reinforcement proved most effective with larger amounts of armour. The lightweight frame of the fighter made it quite easy to "push off", although the acceleration provided by thoron engines would quickly bring it back up to full speed after a high impact weapon hit it.
Although perhaps not the most spectacular fighter ever to exist, the Izirion was a deadly opponent for what it would be used as - a lightning fast raider, not even giving the enemy the opportunity to respond before slinking off into the night. Even if chased down into another system, the Izirion would simply leave. It would never engage in a battle on the enemy's terms, and because it entered hyperspace not just at "fast" speed, but "ultra-fast" - barely slowing down - it was a tough cookie to chase through systems.
"No," she replied calmly, not even raising her voice. "Three kyhdron beamers," she repeated.
"But-" the engineer complained again.
"No complaints. Not two kyhdron beamers, three. Don't tell me it can't be done, because it can. The Izirion skeleton has three weapon hardpoints, and you're going to use them all." Her tone was certain.
"It won't _work!"(/) he burst out angrily, waving his arms about wildly. "For one thing, the fuel consumption is massive - there's no way we can support three kyhdron beamers for any length of time. For another, the engines can't carry three kyhdron beamers without lowering the speed by at least a hundred astronomical units an hour. It's impossible!"
Idune's eyes were dark. "If you can't do this, Trashan, I'd suggest you hand in your resignation - now."
"Idune, be calm," came a quiet, familiar voice to her. Corsair stepped into the room, shutting the door behind him while keeping his eyes on Idune. Idune turned, and nodded slightly.
Corsair turned his indigo eyes to Trashan, the engineer in charge of the construction of the Izirion. "The kyhdron beamer weighs twenty tons, doesn't it?" Trashan nodded, and began to speak, but Corsair's eyes stopped him. "There are several components on the beamer that aren't linked in a ratio to the beamer itself - and could, alone, support three beamers. Use three kyhdron beam emitters and one core for all three, linked to a pair of phase generators. That will cut the mass down, correct?"
"Uhh..." Trashan faltered. His eyes then shone. "Yes, it will," he announced with a smile. "I'd imagine it'd cut the mass from sixty to about fourty five...it'll work!"
Corsair turned on his heel, his gaze settling on Idune. "Yes, dear?" he asked politely.
"Nothing," she murmured.
"You really should..." Corsair began.
"I know, I know."
Corsair shook his head. "No, pay attention. Don't just shrug it off like you always do. You're only a girl, Idune, and you have a lot to learn. An attitude like yours will get you killed - and if that happened, I'd just have to dismantle the entire universe."
"I appreciate your concern, but I'm fine," Idune replied in her beautiful, assertive voice.
"No, you're not, actually," Corsair replied, taking a few steps forward and stroking her cheek affectionately. "Don't make me treat you like a child, Idune. You're more than that now, so please, put aside your childish games. It's not immature to laugh, you know."
Before Idune could reply, her silvering father turned and left the room. He left the planet soon after - for where, Idune was uncertain. All of the people she usually trusted to know refused to tell her, and despite her best efforts, she failed to track him down.
Shar' Nadda (an opening battle, Grunadulater - which probably happened a post or two back, but who cares? :).)
Teraoph stood on the bridge of the Ixion , a massively enhanced Zira support cruiser that served as the flagship of the ZSN, in the midst of a large ZSN and IGNA fleet. He was here for a vengeful battle; to strike the Shar' Nadda in what they thought was their home, in revenge for the billions who perished at their hands in the annexation of Valenna, Takita and Esurus.
"Time until we arrive?" he asked without turning.
"Six minutes, sir."
"Prepare a sub-space to realspace communication."
"Yes, sir."
"All frequencies," he added.
"I know, sir."
"I am Commander Teraoph of the Zidagar Space Navy. In the name of the Zidagar and the Strand League, I am here to be show you justice, and to avenge the countless innocents you have murdered. For life and light, I am here to rid you of both. Be prepared, for I would not fight even you offguard. Within five minutes, if of that word you even know the mean, I will arrive with justice and the armies of the Strand League at my side. Fear me, for I am your death."
"Communication sent, sir."
"Very good," Teraoph replied. "Prepare for the war that lies ahead, and may Ziga be with you all."
"Yes, sir," came the reply, from a wiser Zidagar than he might have seemed, who knew enough to keep from laughing out loud at the commander of the ZSN and his excessive theatrical tendencies. It was, of course, his own business. It was not particularly surprising, thought the communication officer of the Ixion , that it had been Teraoph who had volunteered to lead this suicide mission. Teraoph lived and breathed melodrama.
With a stifled sigh, the communication officer went back to his duties, wondering, idly, if Teraoph's remarkable luck was to run out.
The fleet broke out of sub-space, and went into position almost instantly. The pattern was very basic, and almost never changed. As they say: "the old ones are the best". The standard Strand League battle pattern had yet to be bettered, by anyone.
25,000 IGNA ships quickly formed into their standard protective reef, with Izars at the flanks and within the ranks of the larger ships to defend them from lightning fast swarm attempts. It was a very tight reef this time, almost a type of phalanx, with many ships able to provide covering fire for the others. IGNA knew what the Latcher was capable of, and in this reef they had undermined its ability. However, not even a million Latchers could get into extreme melee range of this reef. 127 thousand turreted duelbeam systems were within that fleet of 25,000 vessels - 24,500 on the Izars, 22,500 on the Iradas intended for disc warfare, 40,000 on the Izagras and 40,000 between all the Igazradas. And of course, absolutely nothing in existance is fast enough to "evade" a beam. There were also in excess of 50,000 particle railguns that from the very first second began taking extremely accurate shots.
Led by the Ixion , the ZSN fleet remained together instead of scattering out. They made a brave charge right into the very heart of the 95,000 Shar' Nadda creatures, while tens of thousands of Scarab discs and the railgun fire cleared the way. ZSN pushed through, eliminating anything that got too close, until it broke out at the other side of the alien defenders, and then turned 180ş and prepared for another charge back to meet with the reef.
Cintrial
With the new anti-fighter rockets completed, work began on upgrading the Zirada on Cintrial.
The Confusing Naval Count
Start: 550,000
32,500 produced and sent to Thalleon systems - 7,500 destroyed in my opening battleposts
1500 Igazradas produced and sent to Thalleon systems - 0 destroyed, no opening battlepost (merely reinforcements on top of forces already there)
50,000 lost in Valenna, Esurus and Takita
6,500 lost in Zeus
6,500 produced and sent to Zeus
13,000 lost in Draco
13,000 produced and sent to Zeus (6,500 ships constructed last 2 posts)
50,000 sent to attack Gre'Z - 7,500 lost
(edit)6,500 more ships constructed in this post - and the below figures sadly don't count this, and it would take half an hour to fix(/edit)
End: 492,500 in standard % (+1500 Igazradas)
Standard % (all fleets I send are comprised of this standard %, unless stated otherwise)
30% Ziradas
12.5% Zidaras
7.5% Ziras
24.5% Izars
15% Iradas
10% Izagras
0.5% Igazradas
An all IGNA fleet has 1% Igazradas, 20% Izagras, 30% Iradas and 49% Izars.
An all ZSN fleet has 15% Ziras, 25% Zidaras and 60% Ziradas.
Current No. of each Ship Type (unless stated in battle that specific ship types are targetted, this count will use the % of ship frequency and any extras - rounded up)
Total ships: 492,500
3,963 Igazradas
49,250 Izagras
73,875 Iradas
120,663 Izars
36,938 Ziras
61,562 Zidaras
147,750 Ziradas
N/A Izirions (prototype under construction)
Construction Rates
As of, well, now, all construction rates for the Strand League are calculated by my government's construction output and the cost of each ship. The purpose of this is so I can easily switch to concentrate on ZSN or IGNA, or specifically build Igazradas or Izirions.
Standard production rate = 6500 ships
Costs
Zirada = 4 points
Izar = 6 points
Irada = 15 points
Zidara = 18 points
Zira = 30 points
Izagra = 40 points
Igazrada = 125 points
(i)No. produced (standard)_
1950 Ziradas = 7800 points
812 Zidaras = 14616 points
488 Ziras = 14640 points
1592 Izars = 9552 points
975 Iradas = 14625
650 Izagras = 26000 points
32 Igazradas = 3750 points
Total no. of construction points = 95233 points
Side calculation... 95233 / 125 = 761.864. Therefore, 750 Igazradas = possible.
Side calculation 2... 95233 / 3 (Izirion cost) = 31,744. Therefore, 30,000 Izirions can be produced per post.
*Technology
(Assualt Rocket = Anti-fighter Rocket)
Anti-fighter Rocket: Completed
Zirada Upgrade: 7/7
Izirion Fighter: 5/12
Cygna Cluster Outposts: 1/3 -halted-
Aries Primus Colonisation: 3/6
Upgrading Shipyards with mass duplication*: 5/5
- Result will be an increase of approximately 1500 more ships produced/post.
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-Lyat Esponer Corsair
It has several large planetoids, all covered by jungles and forests, and a few moons.