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Solo Starfire Campaign Log
I don't think I mentioned below, but this uses the Starfire Ultra rules
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I am starting a solo Starfire campaign centered on the interstellar “Second Empire of Man” (apologies to Pournelle and Niven). After a disastrous series of wars, the people of Polaris are returning to the stars. The major consequences of return in this fashion are that the NPEs that are encountered will be human (and slightly easier to establish contact with) and that the 2nd Empire will have the ultimate objective of amalgamating every human state they can find. Having been through the consequences of a disastrous series of wars, they have decided that only by uniting all of humanity under a common government will prevent a second fall. Is this true? Perhaps not, but the citizens and rulers certainly believe it to be!
It is the year 2800 C.E.. The 2nd Empire’s starting star system, Polaris, is an interesting one. It is a binary system, with a white primary and orange secondary. Polaris-A has 5 planets: 1 hot rock, 2 Venusian, a Terran, and a Gas Giant. Polaris-A-IV is the homeworld and begins with rich resources and a large population. Polaris-B has an Asteroid field and 4 Gas Giants. The first Gas giant has a habitable moon (shades of Star Wars!) that will be the focus of our early colonizing efforts. The 2nd Empire begins with an additional 100 PTU of colonists, so we place half of them on Polaris-B-IIm1, the habitable moon, which has a normal REI. The other 50 we split into two colonies on Very Rich Gas Giant moons orbiting Polaris-BII. These have desolate environments but should still produce decently. As mentioned our early colonization will be centered on the habitable moon, and then on Very Rich and Rich moons in the Polaris system. We receive use of the CFN for free in our home system so we only need to pay emplacement costs. This makes early expansion here the best form of economic growth, along with expansion of the Imperial Freighters.
Our starting forces follow the template for Player starting positions. We have 5000 MCr for Survey, 5000 MCr for warships, and a 2000 MCr general fund. This represents about 4 months worth of income. Our survey forces can be no more than 60 ships. I follow a suggested design and use the tiny F0 hulls (5-7 spaces), using the minimum 5 spaces, just enough to mount the Science Instruments. The freighter hull and Ic engines provide a good strategic speed of 4, though a little slow tactically. Having no need to fight, this is OK. The second design we use is a Planetary Explorer, which is similar to the Explorer Class. The only real difference is the addition of a boat bay to carry 2 gigs to assist in planetary and system body exploration. I considered using a larger hull and devoting some additional space to boat bays carrying shuttles. Given how far below budget I was, I could likely have made a decent Corvette-size vessel, but I decided to keep my ultimate maintenance down.
Our warship fund didn’t go as far as I would have liked. I designed two Escorts, a Corvette, and a Destroyer, as well as BS0, 1, and 2 hulls. Our tech choices for weapons were the handy Force Beam for a Short Range Weapon (SRW) and the hefty Kinetic for our Long Range Weapon (LRW). The Kinetic’s size meant that it really can’t be put on the smaller hulls and I opted out of including it on the Destroyer. It does make an appearance on the BS2 hull for Warp Point defense. I also laid down a tug unit using an F4 hull. This can be used to tow things, like new bases construction, within system. I can also use it to relocate existing bases. The two escort classes are similar. The first will be the workhorse of the fleet swarm, essentially built around the single force beam it can carry. At 10 Hull Spaces, it is small for its class, but couldn’t justify paying for more. Its sole protection is a single armor. The second class is identical, but carries combat sensors. This class is designed to be used in conjunction with the exploration fleet in probing unknown warp points. The scanners allow it to detect picket forces before the exploration ships. They will also make useful pickets. I built 8 of each class. The corvette design is a slightly larger swarm ship, but I was able to fit 2 Force Beams on to it. Defense is a little lighter than I would have liked, with only a single armor. But we needed space for that 2nd Force Beam, so we will make do. I built 1 corvette. I skipped the frigate hull since it would require 2 life support units. I don’t think I will field one until Life Support tech allows only 1. At that point I should be able to cram 3 force beams on it and still have some defense. The destroyer design is currently all force beams carrying 3 of them. It only comes in at 27 hull spaces. It is a transitionary design and I will need to decide at some point if it is a swarm unit (with all-SRW weapons), or a medium mixed-weapon unit that can protect the main battle units from other swarms. I also built 3 BS0 picket bases to watch the warp points. They have 2 force beams each, and some shielding and armor. I built a BS1 with 4 force beams. It is currently orbiting the homeworld. I also built 3 of the larger BS2s to help watch the warp points. Each one has 5 kinetics and multiplex tracking.
The general fund was mostly used to build hulls for the Imperial Freighters. 8 Classes were laid down and a total of 15 ships. Not much to be said—they will make me money and I will need to build more of them.
A mention should be made of starting tech. There are 3 choices to be made. The first is to decide on the type of military engine used. I chose the I-type over the J. The 2nd and 3rd choices are for the SRW and LRW your empire will use. I chose Force Beams for the SRW. They are a solid choice, with good range, to-hit numbers, and damage. My choice for LRW is kinetic. This is alot more debatable. Kinetics are essentially direct fire weapons. Their advantages are no ammunition and solid to-hit numbers, as well as dealing out good damage. The rounds are also harder to shoot down with point defense. Their disadvantage is that they are large—they will need to be either mounted spinally or broadside on my ships. They also have lower range than either Plasma or Missiles. My first mobile class to mount them will be the prototype light cruiser hull, which will also be my command ship mounting a [CIC] for my fleet admiral.
Probe Results, 2800.01
Probing Results, 2800.01
First Exploration Group discovered an interesting system, a single Red Dwarf within a reflective nebula. Nebulas negate shields and often have other effects. In this case, both sensor and comm range are halved. An oddity in this system (aside from the nebula itself) is the presence of a habitable gas torus, in essence a habitable asteroid belt. These only have a chance of appearing in neutron star and reflective nebula systems. It will hold a good deal of population and is considered ‘Rich’. With another asteroid field, this system should eventually have good productivity. 1st ExGr began the WP survey. We christened the system Canopus.
Second Exploration Group discovered a binary yellow/blue giant system. Only 6 planets, which is a very good number considering the binary nature of the system. The bestpart is that 2 of the 6 planets are type T, so will be no worse than Harsh environments for my colonists. The Planetary Survey Group was dispatched here after 2nd ExGr began the WP survey. We christened the system Tucana.
Third Exploration Group had the most troubling information since its initial probe ships did not return. Home Fleet was dispatched to WP3 in case anythingcame through and 3rd ExGr was pulled back for recommitment to either Canopus or Tucana followingthe WP surveys there. In addition to Home Fleet, the fleet tug was sent to tow the other WP bases into position around WP3. Now we wait....natural phenomenon or hostile action?
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)2800.01--First turn
2800.01
The first turn starts and a new age dawns. The exploration fleet stands prepared to probe the 3 warp points leading from Polaris and Home Fleet (ten ships—the other 8 escorts are with the Exploration Groups to assist in the probing) stands ready if it is needed.
Our income this turn looks like this:
Income
Total GPVs 3037.30
Treasury Balance 0.00
Trade Income 0.00
CFN Leasing 233.00
Other Sources 0.00
TGI 3270.30
Expenses
Maintenance 1263.69
R&D 1084.06
Construction 969.75
CFN Costs 70.00 5 PTU emplaced on BIIm1
Garrison Rebates -119.69
Other Costs
Total Expenses 3267.81
Remaining Balance 2.49
After talking at length about colonization as an emphasis, this probably needs some explaining since we sent out few colonists this month. The reason is that we laid down the new prototype light cruiser hull, which cost about 970 MCr. The normal cost of the light cruiser is about 610 MCr. I wanted to do this now since it won’t be available until 4800.08—afterwards, the build time will be 4 months. Next month I will lay down the prototype for the F5 hull in the form of a mobile shipyard. That will be quite a bit less expensive, so colonization will pick up, assuming no hostile natives have been found this month! Another thing to think about, construction-wise, will be the building of assault transports. I am sure not all lost worlds will welcome the reimposition of central authority with open arms.
Our CFN leasing is OK at 233 MCr, but can really expand once we have the cash. Right now we are at about ¼ of the hull capacity and 1/6 of the Qv. It is a priority behind colonization, though. Freighters pay off in about 18 turns, while even the desolate very rich moons will pay out in 15-16, with the free shipping in Polaris.
Our research and development efforts have gotten underway. A quick summary looks like:
Project Facility Cost/RP RPs Bought Cost Research n/a 65.41 10 754.06
I-Engine SL2 RDS1 3 10 30
SL2 K LRW RDS2 3 10 30
SL2 F SRW RDS3 3 10 30
SL2 Electronics RDS4 3 10 30
SL2 Small Craft RDS5 3 10 30
SL2 Life Support RDS6 3 10 30
SL2 Sensor SA1 3 10 30
SL2 Science Instruments SA1 3 10 30
SL2 Shields SA2 3 10 30
SL2 Armor SA2 3 10 30
SL2 Tractor SA3 3 10 30
1084.06
We bought the maximum in EL research, of course. We also began SL2 research in a slew of areas. Of interest is the Kinetics research, as the next generation Kinetic weapon is available at SL2. This is not only longer-ranged, but takes up less space as well. SL2 Electronics allows me to attempt a breakthrough to open Datalink, so that will be a priority as well. Point Defense, another key system, will be available for a breakthrough once we reach EL 3 (we are currently EL2). Research is not inexpensive and currently eats up about 1/3 of our budget.
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)2800.02 through 2800.04
2800.02
This turn will likely be uneventful...barring anything coming through WP3. The forts have been repositioned and Home Fleet is conducting training maneuvers near the WP to be on hand in case something hostile is coming through. The exploration groups are conducting warp point surveys in Canopus and Tucana. They won’t finish until 2800.04. The planetary survey group is in Tucana examining the 2 T-type worlds.
Economic growth is slow again this turn as we lay down the prototype for the freighter-5 hull. Not as expensive as the light cruiser, we should manage to get some colonists onto the habitable moon in Polaris-B. Next month we should be able to finish colonization there.
Survey Results
Tucana-III has been surveyed and found to be Benign for settlement purposes. It has normal resources.
2800.03
Another time-passing turn, barring the unexpected. This turn we finish the colonization of Polaris-BIIm1, putting it at just below Small population (a little over 179 PTU). At this point it takes 2 PTU to make a population unit, so we will let natural growth take over. We were also able to begin, in a very small way, the new colony at Tucana-III. Outsystem colonization will need to proceed more slowly, as the shipping available outside Polaris is still relatively small. Still, we should be able to outship 36 PTU per month. And this will grow as my economy does—and as we add more transport hulls to the Imperial Freighters.
Surveying continues, with the Tucana and Canopus WP surveys now 90% complete. The survey of Tucana-IV is completed and is found to be another Benign/Normal world. Given enough time, Tucana will become a powerhouse of production. The 3rd ExGr was dispatched to Canopus to complete the Asteroid survey there and do other in-system surveying while the warp point surveys are completed.
2800.04
This month marks the beginning of the first large-scale colonization effort outside the home system. Our CFN was stretched to the limit providing shipping, but we did get 37 TU onto Tucana-III. Raw shipping was the main impediment, so our costs for this effort were actually much lower than in previous months. For the first time, our shipyard complex was operating at full capacity as we laid down a corvette plus 7 imperial freighters. These will increase CFN capacity and provide revenue as well. We will continue this practice as finances and shipyard berths permit. I hope to continue a limited warship construction program, as well as building a few escorts for WP picket duty. Most of the new warships will likely be mothballed as they come off the line so that maintenance costs do not become too excessive.
We are finishing the warp point surveys in Tucana and Canopus this month and each exploration group has orders to probe 1 new warp point, if any are found.
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