Ok, I suppose I could make RPG battles in ares. Specify what your ships are like etc... ground battles will be fought via imagination. So be prepared.
Orion Star League:
Star systems 3, Oedipidous, Menilaus, Carthage. Menilaus is very close to Oedipidous and Menilaus, Carthage are connected via a star-slingshot, which brings travel down to about 3 or 4 days between them. Menilaus is very close to Carthage, and the seat of the gov. is on Carthage. Carthage a binary star with a small dwarf and Class M. The planet's are New Ganymede and Scion. Menilaus is a triple-star. it has 2 close-matched yellow suns and a small red dwarf. it's system is rather unstable and the life is on a strange out-of-place terran world. 'Terran' of course, in the way that you can exist outside for 30 minutes without wearing an armoured suit. This is called Dirithon II. The other star, Oedipidous is a normal yellow-blue sun with 3 mars-like worlds. Oedipidous Mars, Oedipidous Move and Rank. From closest to farthest. Further away there is a large asteroid belt and in it, the barren huge asteroid world that is mining platform, this is called Crete.
Orion used to control a much larger space, but a civil war forced it down, and it was conquered. As a peace treaty, it accepted and surrendered it's extant systems, keeping only the golden 3. It has secretly been building up a large navy and army in violation of the Accroidian Concessions.
Ships:
Carthaginian Class Suncruiser: This is a pocket-class battleship, or a 'double-cruiser' depending on how you view it. It has a lot of shields for a ship it's size, which are, like all Orion technology, tied in with the ship's matter. So effectively destroying it's shields destroys the ship, (nanoshields). It has a long-range proton beam as a weapon, 3 of them that fire at 2 minute intervals each. It has a short range missile packet. Rather fast and can make it between Menilaus and Carthage in 1 and a half days. Variations: (cloak modifications, anti-cruiser, orbital bombardment)
Sceron Class V: This is the biggest cruiser in the fleet, and also serves as a repository for fighters and cloaking scouts. It houses specially modified ESE-0190 that travels for only a very short distance and is much lighter and more nimble. The Sceron can throw up decent anti-capital weaponry, at relatively short range (space relative). It usually accompanies the Suncruiser, and has some variations (more fighters, fighter-bomber, heavy platform, close-range)
Megabitsus: The Megabitsus is a destroyer that comes in 2 varieties, Megabitsus I and II, the second being considerably larger but doesn't replace I. The Megabitsus features anti-capital weaponry effective at only close range, and anti-cloaking additions, especially many Sirons. It is deadly to fighters and bombers.
A word: Cloaking technology allows for ships that are effectively invisible. Engineers ordered to perform cloaking modifications mask a ship's IF signals by a heavy layer of specialised armour around the engine, and use extremely heavy engine filters so the emissions blend into background space. The ship outside is comprised entirely of stealth armour which is invisible unless in nebulae, and a mere moat in God's eye unless very close indeed. It has a close range radar scattering field which intercepts and jumbles incoming radar, making it difficult to be tracked or scanned by bounceback. A cloaked ship, as you will observe, does not have a 'cloaking' field of any kind. This means that ordinary ships can have suitable mods too, but stealth armour is extremely expensive, and large ships need large engines = easy to detect. It would take an enormous amount of cash (like, 7, 8 times as much as normal) to create a stealth battleships, and then it would still be visible at about .7x maximum proton beam range.
Army. The Orion army is very good and well-trained, but it's technology is not the best. It makes heavy use of battle-oids, who are mechanical troops ensheathed in nano-shields. They wield heavy cannons.
Fighters and Bombers: The orion bomber is the NG-01, very powerful and launches from planet fighter bases if under attack. It will go into the atmosphere and attempt to destroy the bombarding ships. It has long range too and can enter slingshots between systems. Since the Orion's don't bother with carriers, it is strictly planet based, and under heavy bunkers, likewise the bomber factories. The fighter is so the ESE-0700. It is a decent ship but has a low top speed, which hurts it's tracking ability.
Government. The Orion Star League has a Eudaimonaic Democracy. They elect 2 presidents, who preside over the Ruling Committees, which comprise Orion industry, commerce, and research, and military. The military funciton has another position, the Pro-Consul. The Pro-Consul is seperate from the presidents and has a defining position, granted access to all layers of decisions. It only makes recommendations and effects changes. The Orion's have a caste system above the age of 30, when you are supposed to choose your job for life. Under 30 you can mix and match to find your talents, such as do are called Polanrai, and the others are Ivnetn's.
Final Notes: Carriers can dominate the field of space, as long as the fighters are allowed time to access and engage the other ships. Missiles are thrown off easily by the standard radar scattering field that fighters and bombers employ, and the only flak available is the will to readily detonate nuclear bombs in nearby space, which can damage heavy ships just as much as any smaller ones. At close range, fighters can be killed quickly and so can bombers, but it takes time. Time that other ships may not have. They cannot travel for far, due to fuel requirements. The defense that others employ is usually a cloaked ship or a stealth minefield, which can be difficult to detect and will affect a carrier more than any other ship, since carriers are easily the most expensive and high tech ship in existence, and so are, to a limited extent, the ships they despatch.
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There are only 3 kinds of people: those who can count, and those who can't.
(This message has been edited by Joveia (edited 06-24-2002).)
