An Entry with a Bang: Non-canon stories, Part II

Thanks for pointing that out, Bunga. I could have sworn I fixed that already. One of the problems about using Notepad for most of my writing nowadays is that it lacks a spell checker. Somehow, the idea to copy-pasta onto Word and use that program’s spellchecker escaped me this time.

I'll correct that within the week. Right now my head aches like Rita Repulsa's after every loss of hers.

You’re most welcome, Bluepencil. I don’t mind if this doesn’t make it into the main story. It’s still fun to write. I especially enjoy Adam’s bits.

Alas, no, I don’t have that. I should get it, but I keep putting it off or forgetting it for various reasons.

Hmm, I must have miscalculated something.... again. Lacking HMP or similar programs, I persisted with pen-and-pencil calculations, and math was never really my strong point. But Graf Eisen was supposed to have double heat sinks at the least. Hyatt is rich, after all. Lyran rich.

I considered the UAC/10, but the RAC/5’s rate of fire, damage output, and risk seemed more fitting for the hard-hitting close-quarters combat favoured by Belkan Knights who use Cartridges. The RAC/5 is also more similar to Vita’s Swallow Flier attack while the lasers simulate Rocket Hammer.

I’m glad to hear that. I lavished a lot of attention on the action sequences. The Bremen fight, especially; you will probably have noticed that the Omansky Highlands spar resembles Adam and Nikolai Malthus’s final duel in the cartoon series sans the bombs in the trees.

Oh, rats, I knew I forgot something; I was going to put in a mention of a rematch in the Omansky Highlands, only this time Adam does add the bombs XD

Yup, that kind of damage output is more or less what I had in mind when I dreamed up Graf Eisen’s armament. Get in close to draw attention while Hyatt snipes from long range.

I like your idea about dropping a ML and jump jet. Seen from a certain viewpoint, Vita’s Graf Eisen should run cooler and slower than Signum’s Laevatein.

If I get far enough into this snippet to feature Signum and the others, they’ll be equipped with GMs like you imagined them to be. Signum will have a laser boat GM II (ER weapons all), Zafira will have a GM Sniper/Commando (an upgrade from his old Wolfhound), and Shamal will have a GM Ambulance.

As an amusing side not, I planned for Reinforce, the Aegami family ancestral BattleMech, to be a BC-5S Banshee. Compare this with Rein Zwei, a rather dinky GM 1.5.

My books have never been too clear on whether or not simulations are preset, so I just went with the rule of cool. In-story, Vita bullied the Tech in charge to let her in or else.

First time I’ve heard of that tactic with the GM’s Shield. I remember the non-canon Solaris snippet where one of the two GMs in a medium circuit match simply hunkered down behind its shield until it was overwhelmed. The Gundam did much the same early in the HINODE storyline. No one wanted to go King Leonidas, I guess ^^

In Hyatt’s case, the Medium Shield is more or less equal to Shamal and/or Zafira screening her while she snipes.

Still also my fault, a mistake exacerbated by Notepad.

Ouch.

Hmm, vampires and/or werewolves comprise armor, poltergeists serve as ECM... so HPGs are lichs? Ancient, practically undead, possessing power that distorts space-time...

Columbus is suddenly starting to look rather like the Tomb of Horrors...

Heh, that's a design I came up with over in the TRO thread. Essentially an IndustrialMech, the only armament consists of Claws on one hand for peeling armor away to get at the trapped Mechwarrior it's trying to rescue.

A WHAMbulance. She shall beat you all to health with her magic wellness stick.


Solaris Skunk Works is free, you know. Its list of Physical Equipment is... amusing.

And a beautiful design it is, fit for the Knight of the Lake. It reminds me a lot of the ZAKU Hospital, which is why I like it a lot.

XD I can already hear Shamal protesting "It's an ambulance, not a WHAMbulance!" in McCoy's tone of voice... even as she stalks the other Knights like the Medic unit in StarCraft auto-follows any injured infantry unit XD

Ah, I remember now why I don't have it in my notebook. It was in my ancient desktop... which is still video card-less >_<

Downloading it now.

... that is quite possibly the most hideously inefficient transport mechanism I have ever seen. How does it even stand upright? How?!

Oh, well. Fortunately in the story you're free to develop something that balances out the weight a bit better.

That's one thing I didn't like about the Hospital ZAKU. People in Gundam can sometimes rival the Spheroids when it comes to designs *cough crotch cannon cough*.

But I liked the concept about a noncombatant Mobile Suit that deploys medical modules. Hmm, a CSN/SWA-style medical module designed to be carried by hand as if it was a medical kit in addition to the four compartments in the back...

My guess is either pure space operations or a shitload of counterweights.

On the GM Ambulance, it has two searchlights listed that the fluff claims can do the 'ambulance lightshow'. That they can also be used as normal searchlights helps in finding trapped Mechwarriors after dark. It would also be considered a 'dishonorable target' via informal agreement (as in, you better not let anyone catch you shooting that thing, or else your own people will shoot you dead).

The Hospital ZAKU was deployed planetside on at least 2 occasions. And while all Mobile Suits, UC or otherwise, do use Active Mass Balance Auto-Control (AMBAC) which turns the entire Mech into a counterweight, the system works only in zero gee. I'd guess there's a gyro in that thing somewhere, but...

Like I said, Gundam designers can be as stupid as BattleTech designers. Minovsky Particles (or Coordinator genes in the case of this SEED Destiny design) apparently induce stupidity as much as C* does.

So, worked up stats for all four combat Mechs used by Hyatt and the Wolkenritter.

First, Reinforce Zwei after the Targeting Computer's been improved to canon levels.

Code:

GM 1.5 Reinforce Zwei 

Mass: 50 tons
Tech Base: Inner Sphere
Chassis Config: Biped
Rules Level: Era Specific
Era: All Eras (non-canon)
Tech Rating/Era Availability: E/X-X-F
Production Year: 0
Cost: 5,304,500 C-Bills
Battle Value: 1,185

Chassis: Unknown Standard
Power Plant: Unknown 250 Fusion Engine
Walking Speed: 54.0 km/h (43.2 km/h)
Maximum Speed: 86.4 km/h (64.8 km/h)
Jump Jets: Unknown
    Jump Capacity: 150 meters
Armor: Unknown Standard Armor
Armament:
    1  ER PPC
    2  Medium Lasers
    1  Medium Shield
    1  Guardian ECM Suite
    1  Laser Anti-Missile System
Manufacturer: Unknown
    Primary Factory: Unknown
Communications System: Unknown
Targeting and Tracking System: Unknown

================================================================================
Equipment           Type                         Rating                   Mass  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure: Standard                      83 points                5.00
Engine:             Fusion Engine                250                      12.50
    Walking MP: 5 (4)
    Running MP: 8 (6)
    Jumping MP: 5 Standard
    Jump Jet Locations: 1 CT, 1 LT, 1 RT, 1 LL, 1 RL                       2.50
Heat Sinks:         Double Heat Sink             15(30)                    5.00
    Heat Sink Locations: 2 LT, 1 RT, 1 LA, 1 RA
Gyro:               Standard                                               3.00
Cockpit:            Standard                                               3.00
    Actuators:      L: SH+UA+LA+H    R: SH+UA+LA+H
Armor:              Standard Armor               AV -   0                  0.00

                                                      Internal       Armor      
                                                      Structure      Factor     
                                                Head     3            0         
                                        Center Torso     16           0         
                                 Center Torso (rear)                  0         
                                           L/R Torso     12           0         
                                    L/R Torso (rear)                  0         
                                             L/R Arm     8            0         
                                             L/R Leg     12           0         

================================================================================
Equipment                                 Location    Heat    Critical    Mass  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ER PPC                                       RA        15        3         7.00
Medium Shield                                LA        -         5         4.00
Laser Anti-Missile System                    RT        7         2         1.50
Medium Laser                                 RT        3         1         1.00
Targeting Computer                           RT        -         3         3.00
Guardian ECM Suite                           LT        0         2         1.50
Medium Laser                                 LT        3         1         1.00
                                            Free Critical Slots: 10

BattleForce Statistics
MV      S (+0)  M (+2)  L (+4)  E (+6)   Wt.   Ov   Armor:      0    Points: 12
4          3       3       2       0      2     0   Structure:  4
Special Abilities: ECM, AMS, MEL, SHLD, ENE, SRCH, ES, SOA

Now, my own version of Vita's Graf Eisen. I put a Mace in the right hand instead of the Wrecking Ball BPen chose.

Code:

GM Cannon Graf Eisen 

Mass: 60 tons
Tech Base: Inner Sphere
Chassis Config: Biped
Rules Level: Era Specific
Era: All Eras (non-canon)
Tech Rating/Era Availability: E/X-X-E
Production Year: 0
Cost: 5,218,560 C-Bills
Battle Value: 1,493

Chassis: Unknown Standard
Power Plant: Unknown 240 Fusion Engine
Walking Speed: 43.2 km/h
Maximum Speed: 64.8 km/h
Jump Jets: Unknown
    Jump Capacity: 90 meters
Armor: Unknown Standard Armor
Armament:
    1  Rotary AC/5
    3  Medium Lasers
    1  Mace
Manufacturer: Unknown
    Primary Factory: Unknown
Communications System: Unknown
Targeting and Tracking System: Unknown

================================================================================
Equipment           Type                         Rating                   Mass  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure: Standard                      99 points                6.00
Engine:             Fusion Engine                240                      11.50
    Walking MP: 4
    Running MP: 6
    Jumping MP: 3 Standard
    Jump Jet Locations: 1 CT, 1 LT, 1 RT                                   3.00
Heat Sinks:         Double Heat Sink             10(20)                    0.00
    Heat Sink Locations: 1 RT
Gyro:               Standard                                               3.00
Cockpit:            Standard                                               3.00
    Actuators:      L: SH+UA+LA+H    R: SH+UA+LA+H
Armor:              Standard Armor               AV - 200                 12.50

                                                      Internal       Armor      
                                                      Structure      Factor     
                                                Head     3            9         
                                        Center Torso     20           31        
                                 Center Torso (rear)                  8         
                                           L/R Torso     14           21        
                                    L/R Torso (rear)                  7         
                                             L/R Arm     10           20        
                                             L/R Leg     14           28        

================================================================================
Equipment                                 Location    Heat    Critical    Mass  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mace                                         RA        -         6         6.00
Rotary AC/5                                  RT        1         6        10.00
Medium Laser                                 RT        3         1         1.00
Medium Laser                                 LT        3         1         1.00
Medium Laser                                 CT        3         1         1.00
@Rotary AC/5 (40)                            LT        -         2         2.00
                                            Free Critical Slots: 24

BattleForce Statistics
MV      S (+0)  M (+2)  L (+4)  E (+6)   Wt.   Ov   Armor:      7    Points: 15
4/2j       4       4       0       0      3     0   Structure:  5
Special Abilities: MEL, SRCH, ES, SOA

Now, Signum's ride.

Code:

GM II Laevatein 

Mass: 50 tons
Tech Base: Inner Sphere
Chassis Config: Biped
Rules Level: Era Specific
Era: All Eras (non-canon)
Tech Rating/Era Availability: E/X-X-D
Production Year: 0
Cost: 5,217,500 C-Bills
Battle Value: 1,578

Chassis: Unknown Standard
Power Plant: Unknown 250 Fusion Engine
Walking Speed: 54.0 km/h
Maximum Speed: 86.4 km/h
Jump Jets: Unknown
    Jump Capacity: 150 meters
Armor: Unknown Standard Armor w/ CASE
Armament:
    1  ER Large Laser
    3  ER Medium Lasers
    1  Anti-Missile System
    1  Guardian ECM Suite
Manufacturer: Unknown
    Primary Factory: Unknown
Communications System: Unknown
Targeting and Tracking System: Unknown

================================================================================
Equipment           Type                         Rating                   Mass  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure: Standard                      83 points                5.00
Engine:             Fusion Engine                250                      12.50
    Walking MP: 5
    Running MP: 8
    Jumping MP: 5 Standard
    Jump Jet Locations: 1 CT, 1 LT, 1 RT, 1 LL, 1 RL                       2.50
Heat Sinks:         Double Heat Sink             12(24)                    2.00
    Heat Sink Locations: 1 LT, 1 RT
Gyro:               Standard                                               3.00
Cockpit:            Standard                                               3.00
    Actuators:      L: SH+UA+LA+H    R: SH+UA+LA+H
Armor:              Standard Armor               AV - 168                 10.50
    CASE Locations: 1 RT                                                   0.50

                                                      Internal       Armor      
                                                      Structure      Factor     
                                                Head     3            9         
                                        Center Torso     16           24        
                                 Center Torso (rear)                  7         
                                           L/R Torso     12           18        
                                    L/R Torso (rear)                  6         
                                             L/R Arm     8            16        
                                             L/R Leg     12           24        

================================================================================
Equipment                                 Location    Heat    Critical    Mass  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anti-Missile System                          HD        1         1         0.50
ER Medium Laser                              CT        5         1         1.00
ER Medium Laser                              RT        5         1         1.00
ER Medium Laser                              LT        5         1         1.00
Guardian ECM Suite                           LT        0         2         1.50
ER Large Laser                               RA        12        2         5.00
@Anti-Missile System (12)                    RT        -         1         1.00
                                            Free Critical Slots: 26

BattleForce Statistics
MV      S (+0)  M (+2)  L (+4)  E (+6)   Wt.   Ov   Armor:      6    Points: 16
5j         2       2       1       0      2     1   Structure:  4
Special Abilities: AMS, ECM, CASE, ENE, SRCH, ES, SOA

Finally, Zafira's Mech Guardian Beast.

Code:

GM Commando Guardian Beast 

Mass: 40 tons
Tech Base: Inner Sphere
Chassis Config: Biped
Rules Level: Era Specific
Era: All Eras (non-canon)
Tech Rating/Era Availability: E/E-F-D
Production Year: 0
Cost: 3,390,427 C-Bills
Battle Value: 970

Chassis: Unknown Standard
Power Plant: Unknown 200 Fusion Engine
Walking Speed: 54.0 km/h
Maximum Speed: 86.4 km/h
Jump Jets: Unknown
    Jump Capacity: 150 meters
Armor: Unknown Standard Armor
Armament:
    2  ER Large Lasers
    2  Medium Pulse Lasers
Manufacturer: Unknown
    Primary Factory: Unknown
Communications System: Unknown
Targeting and Tracking System: Unknown

================================================================================
Equipment           Type                         Rating                   Mass  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure: Standard                      67 points                4.00
Engine:             Fusion Engine                200                       8.50
    Walking MP: 5
    Running MP: 8
    Jumping MP: 5 Standard
    Jump Jet Locations: 1 CT, 1 LT, 1 RT, 1 LL, 1 RL                       2.50
Heat Sinks:         Double Heat Sink             16(32)                    6.00
    Heat Sink Locations: 3 LT, 3 RT, 1 LA, 1 RA
Gyro:               Standard                                               2.00
Cockpit:            Standard                                               3.00
    Actuators:      L: SH+UA+LA+H    R: SH+UA+LA+H
Armor:              Standard Armor               AV -   0                  0.00

                                                      Internal       Armor      
                                                      Structure      Factor     
                                                Head     3            0         
                                        Center Torso     12           0         
                                 Center Torso (rear)                  0         
                                           L/R Torso     10           0         
                                    L/R Torso (rear)                  0         
                                             L/R Arm     6            0         
                                             L/R Leg     10           0         

================================================================================
Equipment                                 Location    Heat    Critical    Mass  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ER Large Laser                               RA        12        2         5.00
ER Large Laser                               LA        12        2         5.00
Medium Pulse Laser                           RT        4         1         2.00
Medium Pulse Laser                           LT        4         1         2.00
                                            Free Critical Slots: 12

BattleForce Statistics
MV      S (+0)  M (+2)  L (+4)  E (+6)   Wt.   Ov   Armor:      0    Points: 10
5j         3       3       2       0      2     0   Structure:  3
Special Abilities: ENE, SRCH, ES, SOA

For Shamal's GM WHAMbulanceAmbulance, switch the hospital/medic pods from the backpack, like the Zaku Hospital does, to being a large pod under one of the arm's, while the other has the biggest shield possible, and then put a lift hoist in the back.

No, no shenanigans with the lift hoists, they're just there to raise/lower the pods safely and help to rapidly raise a small MASH unit in only a few minutes. Along with rubble clearing.

For weaponry, move it all into her GM's torso region. Likely a PPC or something (for the reach out and touch you role), along with ECM, Active Probe, L-AMS, etc, to emphasize on her defensive role. Perhaps even a Salvage Arm so her GM actually has the strength, even without TSM (or with it, if you must), to pull Hayate or one of the other Wolkenritter, out of the line of fire.

And why do I see Signum's unit having both a Vibroblade and a Chain Whip, on the same arm (no matter what it allows in SSW), and then having a Thud-15 in the other arm to account for her arrows.

Actually, there's a NON munchkin use for it.

Since it's a dead giveaway, you don't want it anywhere C* might see it.

But hey, what about LOCAL space? According to AAotU, there are 33 systems within 12.5 light years of Earth, and ALL of those came along for the ride.

http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/12lys.html

They. Need Explored. RIGHT NOW.

Assign the Magellan to that mission, then let it fall off the edge of the story map (so to speak) until 3050 - by then, we'll be at war with C* anyway, so one stolen jump ship won't matter.

That Magellan can be doing useful work without going anywhere near Antallos. Load that sucker up with deep space probes til the cargo bays scream in protest, and send it out on *ahem*cough*...

Send it out on Five Year Missions, to Explore Strange New Worlds, to Seek Out New Life, to Boldly Go Where No CSN Explorer Has Gone Before!

Solves most of the story problems right there.

Of course, we'd need to rename the ship... maybe find a French captain with an English accent to take command...

Ed.

EDIT: First mission? To Wolf 359...

Then we'll have to wait years, even decades, until the CSN can afford or build jumpships that aren't absolutely REQUIRED for the command circuit to Antallos.

Local Space needs to be explored today!! Yesterday even! Commit human sacrifice if we have to! Sell our rocket scientists into human bondage!

Just get someone into those 12ly systems! RIGHT AWAY!

Colonies! Forward Bases! Listening Posts! Archives! Doesn't matter what! Round up "volunteer" colonists at gunpoint!

I can... I can hear it... I can hear the music... it's overwhelming me...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AiSbxZYViE

"All ahead full, aye aye Captain!"

;7

Ed.

Ed, considering that exploring 33 systems would take about a year or so to explore, one JumpShip is enough. As said, a Scout with its single DropShip collar is kind of useless for the Command Circuit.


Terrace, your Laevatein is little more than a stock GM-II. How about this, instead?



Just imagine that those vernier ports are PPC barrels instead. Two PPCs, two ER Medium Lasers, 5/8 move, ECM. All offense.

Why the rush to colonize a few systems?

CEarth have a line of systems along the CC to use with limited extra effort unlike a general colonization effort.

But... but... It's EXPLORING SPACE!!

I mean, good god, man - I actually broke into tears watching the news when the tiny Sojourner rolled up to that rock on Mars, the same footage that was later used in ST:E.



Grown man, and I had tears running down my face.

*shrugs*

It gets to me. Don't know why, it just does.

Ed.

Not only that, but it is OUR and by extension, the CSN's backyard. The first thing you do, is check out the area surrounding your home. You never know what you might find. Whether or not the worlds are habitable, you plant your flag there. Make it YOUR territory. If you don't, what is to stop, say Comstar or the Combine from colonizing it and ultimately, surrounding your world? Farfetched? Maybe, but think what happened to CE and the surrounding space. Think about the fact Allard did manage to sent a scout into the general area that saw what happened. Then think about what a magnificent bastard Murphy is. Is it so farfetched now? Maybe a navigator transposes a few numbers in the jump calculations and next thing you know, the misjump actually puts them in close proximity of CE. Their long-range scanners notice what looks like Terra but they figure out that, hey, it's the CSN's home! And surprise, surprise, one jump out, there's no sign of activity, it's all clustered around the little blue planet that could be a twin to Holy Terra.

THAT is the main theme of this, your SECURITY considerations.

It is the same reasoning why you build a fence around your property, as a first line of defense, stating to all and sundry "STAY OUT!"

Personally, I'd dedicate one JS right now to checking out one jump around CE. Like stated before, load it up with satellites, probes and sensor packages, deploy those at every single stop until you can tie all of them together into a single large array to scan the area. Jump back to earth, load up on long-range probes, for all I care, you pull out Voyager's blueprints and build sisters for the hardy old lady (preferably you'd go with updated models), jump one jump past your array and launch those babies into space. Tie them into the array. It's not fast, it's not pretty but now you have a much larger area you can survey, until such a time more JS can be made available to do in-depth scouting missions. A couple of decades later, you can start building space stations along the route as you slowly colonize any habitable planets, set up mining operations on asteroids or whatever.

I think people are too focused on the future, where the CSN and OWA have merged that they forget that the best defense is to have a large enough territory for the enemy to fight through before hitting your main line.

I agree with Mr. EdBeccerra's and Mr. Chapel's reasons for wanting to explore CE's backyard sooner rather than later - security considerations and the need to ensure the territorial integrity of CE ASAP. Send probes and satellites to every star system within CE's space (then much later send junpships), but send those probes/satellites sooner rather than later; no need to tempt fate/Murphy and get Comstar or any of the Houses in CE's backyard and thus give CE a very rude awakening. If not, then much political fallout among the political leadership of CE will occur for failing to ensure the security of CE and its territorial integrity - that is Comstar doesn't kill CE first.

The IS is in a phase of contraction rather than expansion at the moment, one that is unlikely to change for decades yet. Throwing out a string of isolated outposts is not going to do anything other than streaching the thin JS assets even thinner.

Ed has a point. C-Earth don't need a jumpship. Hell, why don't they just take a dropship, Go to their Mars, plant a flag, say something inspirational, walk around a little, then leave?

That'd only take about a week, and be something that might reaffirm some sense of idealism for the kids of C-Earth.

With our current setup, we cannot even notice a asteroid moving towards earth until it's much too late. CE is in the same position, even though they are putting more and more satellites and sensor systems into orbit.

Lately, more and more in the news is the fact that the Pentagon is running economic wargames. We know they've been running all kinds of wargames over the years, probably even things like alien invasions and other 'out there' stuff. If the US is doing it, you can bet so do the other big powers, China, Russia, the UK. All have one single point, to make sure their country, be it the US, Russia, China, UK, remain the top dog in those situations. That means secure borders, no breakdown of communication, water, food, energy. It stands to reason that these countries in C-Earth's universe have been doing the same things. Now, they're transplanted into another universe, where there are immediate threats.

That single point? Secure borders, communication, water, food and energy? It's still the same, but now it's not on a country-wide scale. It's now a planetary scale.

Comstar wants them found and under their thumb or if that's not possible, a cloud of expanding dust. The Clans are next on the threat scale. They'll be wanting to do the same as Comstar. The Combine, yeah, CE really doesn't want to become serfs to those nice people. It would lead to another Kentares massacre because CE humans are not like the rest of the IS/Periphery, shrugging when someone else takes over. They're going to fight tooth and nail, something I believe Yamamoto alluded to after Pearl Harbor. The Federated Suns and Lyran Commonwealth would be better but even then, you can be damn sure it's going to be bloody because of the same reasons as with the Combine. The thing is, in-story, Allard already has an inkling of that, thanks to the report he commissioned on ancient Terra.

The two pirate invasions have shown that CE is not safe. It'll be decades before they've enough orbital defenses, monitors, sensor packages etc. to lock down the Sol system. From Sol, to Antallos, is just a single, small corridor. There is no defense in depth. Not around earth, not around the CC and not around Antallos. GDI planners WILL insist on it, even if it cuts into other things. At the very least, they will insist on reconnaissance one jump out around Earth's territories, meaning one jump out in every direction around Earth, the CC and Antallos. They will insist on claiming those systems, especially around Earth and the CC even if they don't have the resources yet to actually put down structures. All that comes with time.

Right now, building a satellite can take years. It's almost an artisan-style of work, costing billions. CE will be moving away from that and towards a more automotive type of design/manufacture of satellites, sensors and orbital weapons systems. It will be one of their first priorities. Like I stated earlier, for now, go with Voyager type systems and spam them around, link them up and keep watch, then move up from there. That is how I see the backstory here. We don't have to write specific scenes, just a few sentences about project such and such or the info gathered from recon mission alpha. Maybe a snippet about Boeing or NASA or whomever having come up with the T-Model recon sat. Just work it into a briefing given to Jack Ryan about how they're looking around the neighborhood.

It's easy to get lost in the major storyline here, but you need to always keep in mind what YOU would do if you were ever in this situation. Always look at the worst case scenario and work your solution from there. CE doesn't know how they got here. They don't know what else has gotten here. For all they know, Heinlein's bugs may have been brought here too and are lurking behind their Sol system. It may take a century to get true defense-in-depth but it is necessary. Systems around CE and the route to Antallos will be claimed and if possible colonized if only for the defense of earth. Remember, we as writers and readers know what the future holds in-story. We have the highlights mapped out. We, however, are not the characters. They don't know that after the 4th SSW, CSN and OWA will merge into the SWA. Right now, they know that Comstar and the Clans are their greatest enemies and have to plan accordingly.

Yes. I agree with you Ed. And I think the captured Com* vessel from the Columbus run should NOT BE retconned, period. Treecats, Columbus core, Dropship yards and whatever else can take the flush down the toilet, I don't care.

But a ship that is useless as a cargo carrier BUT perfect for exploration could perfectly enable us to do an entire serie of spin-offs in the future and create other assorted ideas around it and maybe even reinvigorate AEwaB with new life - even if only just a little bit.

And yes Ed. I was listening to that soundtrack you posted when I was writing that.

I can see a scout having been part of the Pirate fleet. 1 dropper may not be of much use militarily, but it's fine for a smaller band of pirates or a periphery trader strong-armed by Vorax.

I don't think Chapel's array idea will be plausible until CEarth gets a handle on BB technology though. Without FTL communications those satelites won't be able to transmit data to anything outside their current starsystem in anything resembling a useful timeframe.

I believe the 'string of outposts' idea was for CSN outposts along the CC route, not for the IS powers. All the SS/C* really need is a single world within a jump of CEarth to use as a staging point.

1 jump colonies surrounding Earth? *laughs*

Screw that. You want a THREE jump border. bare. F'ing. minimum. around Earth and not one step closer.

Someone wants to jump in to hit Earth, and they have L-F batteries (NOTE: Comstar DOES have these!), then they're forced to jump into a system still one jump away from Earth itself, and sit there for between 5-7 days prior to continuing. And if each system has an HPG (and likely a BB) on it, they can scream a message to Earth warning of an invasion, and give Earth 5-7 precious days to get ready for an attack and place it's defenses, plus go to high alert. Even if someone is stupid enough to try a pirate point jump close to Earth, they'll find themselves under the guns of one hell of a lot of nuclear tipped missile sats, if not two or three hell's worth. That and the systems innermost to Earth itself likely are going to be very well defended, both with surface, non-mobile/semi-mobile orbital, and mobile deep space, defenses. By the time the fleet actually makes it to Earth, the CSN will likely already want it bleeding from a couple good punches to the nose.

Beyond that is likely pushing it for CEarth to expand on its own. If it's going to get more, that's where the merger with the OWA comes into play, and then it's to build up a colonized 'corridor' to the OWA that links both powers into one overall whole. And even that corridor should be at least 4 systems deep to prevent it from being completely cut-off in the middle via a blockade.

Question: The ISOT bubble around CEarth was ~ 50 LY radius. Are we assuming that the stars from the CEarth universe that now compose the Grantville Cluster have the same characteristics of the stars surrounding Terra in the BT universe?

Because in reality, of those 48 inhabited systems listed on Sarna within the 50 LY radius, probably no more than a quarter of them could legitimately have habitable worlds even with extensive terraforming. Binary star systems tend to really screw with things like stable planetary orbits.

I agree. The problem is, however, again, one of resources. The most that can be diverted is one single JS, with the least number of docking collars. That is why I made the proposal of a single jump recon in all directions, dropping off sensor packages and followed up with launching a whole bunch of Voyager-type probes beyond the first jump. The data won't be coming in quickly but you at least are getting data. You keep regularly updating/replacing the sensor packages as you get more advanced sensors, BB tech and whatnot, while those Voyagers move out further. Once you have more JS available (maybe a decade or two later) your single JS won't be alone anymore.

Again, it's all about the resources available. Even a single JS jumping back to earth to change crews, load up on sensor packages etc. and then jumping back to deploy them and slowly start charting a single system, gives CE a headstart with their security considerations.