DARKSTAR CAMPAIGN UPDATE: DUCHESS ANNABEL’S WAR IS OVER

Good afternoon ~

Okay, for those who might be interested, here is what one of our starship commander “career tracker” sheets look like.

Obviously, this sheet is for some of our most advanced (i.e., oldest) “characters,” who have been in plenty of wars, conflicts, battles, and campaigns, and have the experience points and upgrades to prove it.

So obviously the first thing listed is the commander’s name, followed by his rank.  We use a standardized US Navy / Royal Navy navy rank system for all factions except the corporate consortium, but even their levels are all the same (just with different names).

There are also “ratings” for battlegroup commander, task force commander, and fleet commander.  This represents the size of the force that commander is eligible to lead from his flagship.  Battlegroups are up to 250 points, task forces to 500 points, and fleets 501+ points.

For instance, as the skipper of a destroyer, Matthew Spencer started his “career” as a Commander.  His first promotion was for a Commander (Battlegroup), then Captain.  Because he’d already paid for his “Battlegroup” rating, he took it with him to Captain.  Then he was “promoted” again to “Captain / Task Force,” which was required when his force got so expensive (through upgrades, etc) that it became worth more than 250 points.

Hence, he’s been promoted three times.

Next is the ship he commands, obviously USS Oriskany and the US Navy pennant / registry number (DSGN-791).  Notice some of these commanders have replacements and transfers.  Replacements are for when a ships is destroyed and must be replaced, transfers are for when a commander willingly switches ships or is promoted to a new class of warship (e.g., destroyer to light cruiser).

This is important to track while transfers are unlimited (within reason), replacements are limited to three in a career.  After you lose three ships, the Admiralty “promotes you behind a desk” where you can’t do any more damage.

Next are the wars the commander has been in, followed by the number of battles and the number of campaign points he’s earned, followed by the number of campaign points he’s spent and the upgrades he/she has bought with these campaign points.

This is system is actually quite simple.  You get 1 point for taking your ship into an actual battle, win, lose, or draw.  If you’re on the winning side, you get 2 points.  Sometimes I give out extra points for truly large battles, kickass exploits, at the end of a war, etc.

With every 6 points, you get to buy one of the upgrades.

Note some commanders (Commander R. Cruz, for example) started with some points already in the bank.  This is because, if you lose a character (death or mandatory retirement), you get to start a new commander with 1/2 however many points the former character had, and at least one rank lower.  So losing a Captain with 24 campaign points (ouch!) allowed me to start a Commander with 12 points.

The stars under the character name actually tracks the upgrades the character / ship has bought.  Each gold star represents five upgrades (30 campaign points, or about 20 games / battles).  Silver stars are one upgrade (6 campaign points, usually about 4 battles).

Finally, underneath we have a write up we sometimes add to provide narrative for our commanders.

There are about 20 such pages between myself and all the other players who have helped play, develop, and revise Darkstar over the years.

Hope you found it interesting!

SITUATION:  The “Iron Wolf” coalition of Imperial Prussia, the New Roman Alliance, Japan, and the Khitan-Tunguska Free State (Black Dragons) finds itself in dire trouble in the War of Annabel’s Star.  They still haven’t recovered from their defeat at the Battle of Tsarina Twins, and now the defeat of the New Roman Leclerc battlegroup in the outer protoplanetary debris belt of the Neu-Bremerhaven star system (Gleise 581) has left Prussian colonies in that system badly exposed to further attacks by British, Panasian League, and Russian naval forces of “Duchess Annabel’s Alliance.”  Furthermore, if Neu-Bremerhaven falls, this would open the way opens the way to the Eisenwolf Colonies of Gliese 570, the main Imperial Prussian stronghold here in the Libra-Sagittarius region.

Making matters worse, the Annabel’s Alliance has reinforced the British and Panasian naval forces already in Neu-Bremerhaven with ships from the Holy Russian Empire, namely the Suvorov battlegroup, further reinforced with the Gagarin-class light fleet carrier CPK Kamarov.  Clearly they hope to crack the Iron Wolves in Neu-Bremerhaven right away, perhaps to use the system as a springboard for invasion directly into Eisenwolf Colony itself.

Clearly the Iron Wolves have to act to redress the situation.  Although scheduled for a long-overdue refit, the Kanoya light carrier battlegroup of the Japanese Navy is sent to head off the continuing Annabel’s Alliance incursion deeper into Neu-Bremerhaven.  Pushing out of the system’s outer debris belt, the invaders’ first stop is the outer gas giant of Lehmburg.  This is where the Konoya battlegroup resolves to make the intercept.  But the reinforce Suvorov battlegroup is too strong a force for the Kanoya and her escorts to stop alone, so the Prussians agree to commit their light cruiser Rossbach.

This combined Japanese-Prussian force find the Russians  as the Suvorov task force in the eclipse shadow of the fifth moon of the Lehmburg gas giant, Lehmburg Epsilon.  As the Iron Wolves vector in, the Russians do not raise steam to escape, but instead power up weapons to engage in battle …

REPORT:  There’s no two ways to put this, the Russians just have an absurdly bad day here.  Their tactics are sound.  They set a very high speed toward the Japanese carrier force, successfully engaging them with close-range gunnery and torpedo fire before their carriers can launch too many aerospace missile and torpedo strikes against them.

Likewise, the Komarov gets her strike wing launched quickly, and scores a solid torpedo and aerospace missile barrage on the Kanoya.

But nothing goes right.  The torpedoes under perform, and even those that hit just fail to strike vital areas of the ship.  Despite having closed the range and despite upgraded gunnery targeting and crews, the plasma projectors and rail guns of the Syekyra and Rusalka just can’t hit anything.  Where the Suvorov scores hits, the explosions cavitate back out into space or into areas already destroyed by prior torpedo hits.  Even when the Komarov lands part of her Tupolev Tu-97 “Zvesburya” (Star Storm) bomber wing to rearm, a broadside from the Rossbach actually hits the starboard hangar, venting the compartment as the bombers are being re-armed and setting off gigantic internal explosions of aerospace ordinance in the hangar itself.

Not to take anything away from the Japanese or the light cruiser Rossbach, their tactics and performance in this battle are first-rate.  The scrappy little frigates Yurakazu and Tanakasha slug it out with Russian destroyers twice their size, and although the Tanakasha is knocked out, the Yurakazu fights on with nearly superhuman resilience, absorbing punishment that should have crippled a light cruiser yet somehow she remains operational.  The Konoya is eventually damaged to the point where she has to break off, and much of her fighter group is shot down by Komarov’s MiG-103 “Tunguska” aerospace strike fighters, but really it’s the only success the Russians score that day.

The surviving Russians soon break off, again swallowing bitter defeat and giving up their push into the moons of Lehmburg or the other outer planets of the Neu-Bremerhaven system, falling back again to the tankers and support ships that Annabel’s Alliance has staged in Gliese 581’s outer debris disc and cometary halo.

SCORING: Remaining in the battle area, the Iron Wolves have the light cruiser Rossbach (70 points), light carrier Sagae (28 points), assault frigate Tanakasha (24 points), plus three regular fighters, eight regular bombers (22 points), ten elite fighters, four elite bombers (42 points) bombers, plus four regular and seven regular scouts and two elite scouts (14 points) = 200 points, Russians have 9 scouts.  Iron Wolves win by 191 points, Major Victory.

Just a quick look at how terrible my luck was (playing the Russians).  In this last image, you can see the green “3” marker heading behind the small Japanese frigate (FF2) – that’s the Akashi-class strike frigate Yurakazu.  I started with 12 torpedoes, but mass drivers of the Yurakasu and the Rossbach (Prussian “CL1” ship) shot down most of them.  Only three remain, hence the “3” counter.

No worries, Class III torpedoes have a base to hit of 7, and the aft ECM / Shields of this ship are 4, upgraded to 5.  So with 7 – 5 = 2, my odds aren’t great (I have to roll a 2 or less on a d10), but with three tries, I hope to get at least one of them.  One is all it will take, these are pretty powerful torpedoes and the armor of the Yurakazu has already been pretty badly hammered.

Not only do all three of my torpedoes miss, but they miss with 10s, the worst possible roll.  THREE TENS!  Literally a one-in-a-thousand bad luck roll!

Like it said in the write-up, it just wasn’t the Russians’ day.

The Battle of Xenia’s Fortune, between the Black Dragons of the Khitan-Tunguska Free State and Task Force “Oriskany” of the United States Navy (18 October 2518) concludes …

The captain of the cruiser Xin Tian takes command of Black Dragon force, coming hard about and trying to consolidate with the frigate Natelyeva and destroyer Xianhoa.   The Valley Forge, now the only American destroyer left, cuts in behind them, hoping for another broadside into engines and reactors.  The Tarawa stays alongside for defensive fire support, too far away to recover her bombers for a second strike.  The Daggerfish continues to lurk half-hidden behind asteroid fields, locking on successive torpedo spreads.

The US Marine fighters, meanwhile, are lined up on a gunnery strafing run behind the frigate Natelyeva, only to have six of them shot down by Black Dragon point-defense fire.  Those that remain, however, tear into the Natelyeva, opening a big enough hole to where their carrier’s torpedo spread hits a moment later and cripples the Black Dragon frigate.  Overall,  however, this is a bad trade for the Americans, losing over half of an elite Marine strike squadron for one enemy frigate.

Meanwhile, a second smaller battle no less vicious breaks out behind another of the nearby planetismals, where Black Dragon scouts have engaged the Marine Grumman FS/A-81 “Avenger” torpedo bombers trying to get back to the Tarawa.  Two are shot down, while the Marine scouts likewise manage to shoot down two of the Black Dragons’ scouts.

Things turn around, however, as torpedo hits, rail gun impacts, and laser fire from the Valley Forge likewise leave the Xin Tian afire and adrift a moment later, thanks in no small part to devastating torpedoes launched from the corvette Daggerfish.

In that moment, this battle is more or less won by the Americans.  With only the destroyer Xianhoa still operational, supported by less than a dozen scouts, the Black Dragons are seeking only to keep this from turning into an outright rout.  In this they are successful, thanks in part to some rather dim American decisions later in the battle.

First of all, the Tarawa all but breaks off the engagement, heading off on a different vector to recover her remaining bombers (her captain perhaps shocked by the losses his pilots have just sustained).  This leaves the Valley Forge alone against a torpedo spread  from the Xianhoa, which finally scores some lucky hits along with a nasty broadside Xianhoa manages to put across Valley Forge’s engineering sect  ion.  This costs the Valley Forge her aft shields, a vulnerability exploited by the Black Dragon scouts, who start murderous (if desperate) strafing runs.  The Valley Forge cannot fire her mass driver defense guns at these scouts, as they are needed to fend off successive torpedo strikes form the Xianhoa, which has now slid up beside more Xenia’s Fortune asteroids to screen her own damaged stern.  The Valley Forge has no fighter cover since the “Tigerhsark” Marines are off chasing the crippled Natelyeva and Xin Tian, hoping to actually explode one of these derelicts.  Not only do they fail in this effort, but leave the Valley Forge unprotected and she finally goes down to a lucky strafing run by some of the last Black Dragon scouts.

All the same, this battle is a clear American victory.  Even as she’s picked apart by the harrying scouts behind her, the Valley Forge’s last torpedoes and a torpedoes from her and the Daggerfish smash into Xianhoa’s starboard quarter and all but blow the ship in half.

At last, the Battle of Xenia’s Fortune is over, and with it (as subsequent events will bear out) so ends the Scorpion’s Tail War.

Result:  Americans have operational: the light carrier Tarawa, the corvette Daggerfish, four double-elite fighters, two double-elite bombers, two double-elite scouts, and six regular scouts = 40 + 12 + 16 + 8 + 4 + 6 = 86 points.  Black Dragons have four regular scouts = 4 points.  Americans win by 82 points, a minor victory.

With the recent win over the Black Dragons’ Ostovny battlegroup, the Americans at last are nearing the precipice of final victory in the Scorpion’s Tail War.  And it’s not a moment too soon.  As the nearby Duchess Annabel’s War begins to heat up, the unbelievable news soon arrives that through a labyrinthine web of political ironies, the Japanese have actually joined the “Iron Wolves” alliance alongside the Black Dragons.  Needless to say, the Americans in Xi Scorpio are beginning to feel understandably anxious about the security of their base of operations “behind” them on Japan’s Hokkaido’s Flower colony.  Although the Japanese  are so far doing very well in Duchess Annabel’s War and are nowhere near being forced into any additional concessions to  their Black Dragon “allies,” for the Americans the writing is on the war.  This whole astropolitical quagmire (and military train wreck) of the Black Dragon Wars was never an American affair, and it’s time to be done with it before their Japanese allies have to reassess their relationships in the region.

Yet as much as the Americans would love to deliver a final knock-out blow to the weakened Black Dragon naval forces still clinging to the outermost extremities of the “Scorpion’s Tail,” (a vast protoplanetary and cometary debris “whiplash” extending out from the Kostas-Saigo binary star system – Xi Scorpio A/B), they have to wait.  Only the USS Oriskany is presently operational, and legendary as she may be, she can’t beat even a weakened navy by herself.  Soon her sistership USS Princeton is back online, having missed the battle against the Ostovny battlegroup on September 20.  But while Captain Matthew Spencer (commander, Task Force Oriskany) feels confident with two destroyers to at least begin more aggressive patrolling, he doesn’t want to move decisively until he task forces is at 100% strength.

This takes some time, and it’s not until October 10 that all five ships of the task force are back on line.  Yet while Spencer’s patience has indeed delivered him a full-strength order of battle, the Black Dragons have also been hard at work repairing ships, and soon have a sizable force yet again on its feet in the outermost reaches of the Scorpion’s Tail.

Fortunately for Spencer, he already has a target identified, one of the larger dwarf planetismals of the Scorpion’s Tail, the thousand-kilometer “Ceres” of Xenia’s Fortune (named for a merchant ship that once crashed here, her wreckage still half-buried in one of the super-asteroid’s craters).  Here the Black Dragons have been building up a sizable task force around the hated light missile cruiser Zhang Jia. If this war is to end anywhere, it is here.

Yet as Spencer’s task force drops out of its Darkstar wave and vectors towards the Black Dragons, its quickly apparent that the enemy has been gathering additional reinforcements, some of which have only just arrived.  Three light cruisers are awaiting at Xenia’s Fortune, along with two destroyers, a frigate and an old Russian torpedo corvette.

In all twelve ships have gathered here … all of Task Force Oriskany and the vast bulk of what the Black Dragons have left in the Scorpion’s Tail.  If the Americans lose here, they’ll have to give up much of what they’ve won in this war so far.  But if they can score a solid win, this war could finally end today.

The Black Dragons make their approach, hugging close to Xenia’s Fortune, launching scouts and trying to get a torpedo guidance lock on the approaching Americans.

Only some of their ships can get that lock, however, as Spencer has carefully vectored his approach behind one of the area’s many asteroid scatters, screening his ships from some of the enemy task force while allowing a full torpedo firing solution to on the trailing Black Dragon vessels.

The Americans release a full torpedo spread while the Tarawa begins launching her aerospace group (US Marine Corps aerospace strike squadron VMF/A-319 “Tigersharks”).

In this image, DD1 = USS Oriskany, DD2 = USS Princeton, DD3 = USS Valley Forge, DD4 = light carrier (destroyer class) USS Tarawa, and CV1 (barely visible) = torpedo corvette USS Daggerfish.

The Valley Forge takes some long-range hits from the Zhang Jia, while the forward guns of the Valley Forge, Princeton, and especially the Oriskany slash into the K-206.  Even from 2,500 kilometers, the pin-point accuracy of this American volley (enhanced with upgraded targeting suites) enough to hit K-206’s bridge, detonate her starboard magazine, and leave the ship crippled and adrift.  First blood has been drawn.

The two minutes that follow see both sides take incredible risks and pay an incredible price in their effort to win decisive victory here at Xenia’s Fortune.

As the K-206 careens out of control, the light cruisers Xin Tian and Petranyevska shoot forward, hoping to get around the asteroids behind which the Americans are screening their ships.  This allows USS Valley Forge to cut ahead and behind these cruisers with a starboard turn, presenting a broadside to the cruisers’ vulnerable sterns, and at a comfortable distance (the Americans don’t want to get too close to the fearsome Chinese rail guns and Russian plasma projectors).

Other Black Dragon warships, of course, see the Valley Forge make this move.  Rather than stay close with Petranyevska and Xin Tian, they instead fire their engines full astern, “slamming on the brakes” to drop in perfectly behind the Valley Forge.  The damage they will inflict on any American ships in this position will be horrendous, but it also means their fleet is fatally divided in the face of a massive incoming American torpedo and aerospace strike.  Since all the ships will not be able to support each other with defensive fire …

Too late now.  The Americans and Black Dragons both double down on their aggressive strategies, the Americans putting virtually their whole task force in a broadside behind the Petranyevska, the Black Dragons likewise doing so with most of their force behind the Americans.  All the while, of course, torpedoes are racing toward their targets, the Tarawa has completed her aerospace launch, and the Tigersharks of VMF/A-319 release a deadly swarm of ASM-56 Harpoon torpedoes and ASM-92 Hellfire missiles at the Zhang Jia and her escorts.

The USS Oriskany and Princeton open fire first, lasers and rail guns tearing into the stern of the Petranyevksa’s stern at just over 1,000 kilometers.  An instant later the full broadside of the hated Zhang Jia tears full-force into the Oriskany.  First come three of her Tsing Tao missiles, (over sixty warheads were fired at her) ripping open her stern for the fusillade of rail guns that follows.  Engines are hit, reactors overload.  Oriskany’s starboard reactor starts to melt, the port reactor has to be ejected before it overloads and detonates.  Still more fire hits, crushing sensors, mass drivers, aft turrets, and caving in crew quarters.  The “Lady O” is beyond crippled, her whole aft section more or less single sheet of flame as burning atmosphere escapes into space.

Yet even as this happens, Oriskany’s own spread of torpedoes, along with the Valley Forge’s, is slamming into the fantail of the Zhang Jia.  The damage isn’t quite as comprehensive, but the torpedoes set off enough internal explosions to cripple Zhang Jia’s power plant and leave her wrecked and adrift in space.

The slaughter is just getting started.  Seconds later, Xianhoa, Gorokhov, and Natelyeva likewise take apart Princeton’s aft superstructure, instantly knocking her out of the battle.  The Valley Forge opens fire into the Petranyeska, scoring a lucky series of hits that finishes what the Oriskany and Princeton started moments before.  The engines of Petranyeska flicker and die, the cruiser careening out of control.  The missiles and torpedoes of the Tarawa’s Marine aerospace strike slam into the destroyer Gorokhov, damned near blowing the destroyer’s stern clean off and almost exploding the ship right then and there.

Twelve ships sortied for battle at Xenia’s Fortune, and already six are put out of action.

Good afternoon, all ~ Okay, people have been asking for more of a detailed look into the rules on Darkstar – here is the primary QRS that drives 95% of actual tabletop play.

A little rough around the edges from a graphic design perspective, but this thing is constantly being updated as we drill down through the smaller and smaller flaws and tweaks of the 2.0 Edition gameplay.

So along the top is base to hit targets (d10) to hit at certain range brackets.  These are modified by enemy ECM / gravitic shielding (usually -4 through -6).

Along the left is the cost to make a 1-hexside facing change depending on the velocity of your ship.  Obviously the faster you are moving, the harder it is to make hairpin maneuvers.

Tables are also provided for torpedo movement and hit resolution, and of course for mass driver (point defense).  This has been one of the biggest changes in 2.0 Edition.  Whereas before each mass driver would fire separately  (bucketfuls of d10s) here there is a simple chart where a ships TOTAL mass driver value is pre-calculated and rolled on this chart to see how many torpedoes or aerospace craft are hit.  We’re looking a d6 table, with heavy modifiers possible.

Starship elimination table, of “Death Table” follows.  The “Target to Disable” is a d6 roll and enemy commander needs to kill a certain class of ship.  Obviously, for a battleship you can’t roll 19+ on a d6.  But you subtract from that target how critical damage boxes (engines, reactors, magazines) have been hit, and that’s you’re roll.  So knock out 13 critical hit boxes on a battleship (good luck with that) and that 19+ becomes a 6+, remotely possible on a d6.

By way of contrast, a much smaller destroyer like USS Oriskany starts with a 7+.  Hit just ONE engine, reactor, or magazine box and the ship now has to roll a 6+ to be crippled.

If you really beat the hell out of a ship to where that d6+ roll us adjusted to “0+” or below, and there’s a chance the ship simply explodes.

Core damage is another type of damage box, deep within the ship.  While not “Critical” and may not cause the ship to explode, it can definitely cause the ship to be FORCED to break off (first officer takes over, the ship’s AI automatically pilots the ship away from danger, the fleet commander ORDERS you to break off, etc).  These core boxes are usually things like med bays, life support, the bridge, etc.

There are also charts for the collateral damage the ship does to other nearby ships if its explodes.  Controlled fusion is the main power source in this verse, and if that becomes uncontrolled, there’s a thermonuclear explosion that can really damage other ships (especially small ones) if they are too close.

Finally there is a Starship Recovery Table, where players see whether or not their crippled (not exploded) ships are recovered after the battle, or scuttled, or picked off by enemy ships, or captured, or simply “lost in space.”

Tables for Aerospace Craft (fighters, bombers, scouts, assault boats) and the game effects of certain hits within a starship are also listed.

There are many many MANY more charts in this game, but they deal mostly with campaign play, character progression, starship engineering and design, etc.

Meanwhile, we have a pretty big game set up for today!  The full “Oriskany Task Force” is ready for action, a game I don’t get to play very often because these ships are so friggin’ elite and upgraded they’re very expensive to bring on the table (and no one wants to fight against them).  We’re looking at Valcour-class destroyers USS Oriskany (DSGN-791), USS Princeton (DSGN-782), and USS Valley Forge (DSGN-794).  There’s also the Marine assault ship USS Tarawa (ASCV-943), deployed here in a light carrier role, and the torpedo corvette (think WW2 submarine) USS Daggerfish (SSGN-871).  Also shown are the scouts launched from these destroyers (E/S-71 “Hawkeye”), as well as the fighters (F/S-44 “Corsair”) and bombers (F/SA-81 “Avenger”) of Marine aerospace strike squadrom VMF/A-391 “Tigersharks.”

We are heavily outgunned by the enemy force facing up today (commanded by the evil and treacherous “Commodore @Gladesrunner “) – but again, just about everything there is very elite and heavily upgraded, allowing us to really punch above our weight.  We’re also much faster, and all have upgraded thrusts and tactical initiative bonuses, so this will definitely be a game of lightfooted maneuver vs. gigantic advantages in weight, armor, and weapons.

The enemy fleet.  As discussed in previous posts, the “Black Dragons” of the Khitan-Tunguska Free State are made up of colonies that rebelled against the Holy Russian Empire and the Panasian League, so most of their ships are Russian or Chinese in design.  We have the dreaded Zhang Jia and Xin Tian, both Xhia-class light missile cruisers, along with the Nanchong-class destroyer Xianhoa.  The Russian part of the fleet is the Kutuzov-class light cruiser Petranyevska, the Sovnya-class destroyer Gorokhov, the Novgorod class frigate Irynova, and the K-56 class torpedo corvette K-206.

In all, 366 points per side.  I hope to score a win here, not only to give my Americans more campaign points, but a solid win here also ends the “Scorpion’s Tail” war I still have in progress.  From a “meta perspective” I’d like to wrap up this war once and for all so I can focus more on the Duchess Annabel’s War we’ve been posting about lately (and we have another few games scheduled for tomorrow).  😀

WISH ME LUCK!

Good afternoon ~ Okay, for those who are curious 0 here is how a Darkstar Campaign is generally set up, played out, and recorded.  The attached .pdf includes the first 10 pages of a campaign currently in progress between myself, BoW: Gladesrunner, BoW: Aras, and one other player.

Sample pages of the .pdf are laid out as images below.

Again, this campaign is not complete, and won’t be complete for weeks, if not months.  If anything, it’s just getting started.  I have the general idea of posting updates to this project so we can all publish our progress and community members can follow along and see how this war across the stars unfolds!

Here is the campaign map for the Darkstar campaign currently underway between myself, @gladesrunner and @aras.  The lower left corner marks Earth’s location, the rest are real stars and their approximate locations in the Libra, Ara, Scorpio, and Sagittarius.  I don’t pretend to be good at trigonometry or plotting the declination, distance, and right ascension coordinates of these stars, but this is the general idea of what’s out there in these directions and in these distance ranges.

There’s a lot more being put together for this particular setting, explaining the background for the war, the factions involved, how it started, and what the different factions each hope to get out of the war (and how it ties the opposing coalitions together).  Not quite ready for publication yet, as they campaign is still in progress and in fact only in the very early stages.

The Foch class light cruisers of the New Roman Alliance are some of the most modern warships currently in operation.  With a next-generation power plant, they also mount advanced sensors, targeting electronics, and CIC comnav, all while being among the fastest cruisers in Known Space, able to keep pace with most classes of destroyers.

For armament, the Foch class carries eight 7-gigawatt rail guns (probably the “oldest style” tech aboard).  These are arrayed in a typical pattern of double turrets, backed up by a formidable pair of 12 MgKv laser emitters that look like they belong on a battleship.  Manufactured my Matra Aerospace Dynamics, they can burn through almost any known armor at optimum range, and cleave through a destroyer at ranges exceeding 4500 kilometers.  The Dassault-Thales manufactured CIC suite also ensures that the Foch can hit targets at this range, while the immense quad-array of engines gives the ship the thrust to escape whatever it can’t kill.

Although part of the New Roman Alliance, all Foch class light cruisers are named for French commanders and battles of the First and Second World Wars, and are almost exclusively crewed by men and women of French or French Canadian descent, who take such a pride in their heritage that they have almost formed a “navy within a navy.”  Since the class carries no torpedoes and has extensive cargo carrying capacity, it is expected that these ships will also serve as flagships for small battle groups in the Third Band of Space or even beyond, expanding the dominion of the New Roman Alliance ever deeper into the stars.

The ships also have greatly expanded passenger bays, and their plush accommodations go a long way in furthering the New Roman Alliance’s reputation for elite decadence.  Indeed, one Russian prisoner wisecracked that when he was brought aboard the NRS Leclerc during the Olympian Path War, he thought he’d been brought aboard a luxury liner.  While these accommodations certainly don’t do much for the Foch’s combat effectiveness, it can’t be denied that whenever Roman nobles,  dignitaries, or ambassadors have to make an protected voyage, they request a Foch class light cruiser.

Indeed, the class became so popular that the Spanish began building their own line, known as the Hispaniola class, and an Italian line is rumored to be in the making.

Metrics:
Mass: 93,799 tons
Complement: 490 officers and men
Marines: 40
Passengers: 60
Sublight thrust:64
Darkstar Wave: 10th (x300 c)
Aerospace: (2) scouts, (1) 1,200-ton cutter, (1) 4,000 ton yacht
Bridge / CIC: +2 Next Gen
Powerplant: Enhanced Next Gen (3640 power)

ECM & Gravitic Shielding:
• Bow: 4
• P Bow: 4
• S Bow: 4
• P Quarter: 4
• S Quarter: 4
• Stern: 4

Armament:
• Turret – x2 7-gigawatt rail guns (bow)
• Turret – x2 7-gigawatt rail guns (bow)
• Turret – x2 7-gigawatt rail guns (stern)
• Turret – x2 7-gigawatt rail guns (stern)
• Turret – x2 12-megakelvin lasers (bow)
• Turret – x2 12-megakelvin lasers (stern)
• Turret – x4 35mm mass driver point defense array (bow)
• Turret – x4 35mm mass driver point defense array (p bow)
• Turret – x4 35mm mass driver point defense array (s bow)
• Turret – x6 35mm mass driver point defense array (p quarter)
• Turret – x6 35mm mass driver point defense array (s quarter)
• Turret – x4 35mm mass driver point defense array (stern)

Ships in Class:
• CL307 – NRS Foch – 2507, Nuovo Sardinia Shipyards, Earth
• CL308 – NRS Joffre – 2508, Littorio Colony, Capella Lambda
• CL309 – NRS Petain – 2509, Gallileo Station, Ganymede
• CL310 – NRS Marne – 2510, Nuovo Sardinia Shipyards, Earth
• CL311 – NRS Verdun – 2510, Littorio Colony, Capella Lambda
• CL312 – NRS Reims – 2511, Gallileo Station, Ganymede
• CL313 – NRS Versailles – 2512, Nuovo Sardinia Shipyards, Earth
• CL314 – NRS Somme – 2512, Nuovo Sardinia Shipyards, Earth
• CL315 – NRS Leclerc – 2513, Littorio Colony, Capella Lambda
• CL316 – NRS Bir Hacheim – 2514, Gallileo Station, Ganymede

Parallel Production (Spanish Hispaniola Class)
• CL341 – NRS Hispaniola – 2506, Gallileo Station, Ganymede
• CL342 – NRS Cadiz – 2507, Nuovo Sardinia Shipyards, Earth
• CL343 – NRS Córdoba – 2508, Littorio Colony, Capella Lambda
• CL344 – NRS Granada – 2509, Gallileo Station, Ganymede
• CL345 – NRS Alicante – 2510, Nuovo Sardinia Shipyards, Earth
• CL346 – NRS Cartegena – 2510, Littorio Colony, Capella Lambda
• CL347 – NRS Barcelona – 2511, Gallileo Station, Ganymede
• CL348 – NRS Zaragoza – 2512, Nuovo Sardinia Shipyards, Earth

MISSION: INTERDICT ENEMY REINFORCEMENTS TO THREATENED STAR SYSTEM

Nazarovo Gas Giant // Heilong-Novopromorskiy

(Xi Scorpio A/B Binary Star System) // 02 April, 2518

Even two weeks after their devastating defeat in the gigantic Battle of Tamakura, the Khitan-Tunguska Free State is still dragging its feet regarding the initiation of peace talks with the Japanese-American “Pacific Alliance” in Xi Scorpio.  Clearly their intention is to forestall further Pacific Alliance advances into Heilong-Novopromorskiy binary star system (Xi Scorpio A/B, their last holdings in Xi Scorpio), while scrambling to repair ships crippled at the Battle of Tamakura or even bring in additional warships from other fronts.

The newly-reinstated Japanese colonial administration of Hokkaido’s Flower (finally back on its feet) is not having it.  Captains Ozawa and Chealtham are ordered to exert additional pressure in “Hei-Novo” star system (Xi Scorpio A/B) to bring the Black Dragons to the negotiating table. With destroyers like the USS Princeton, Valley Forge, the light carrier Tarawa, and light fleet carrier Nagashima now repaired and moving back into the nearby Jade Dawn star system (Xi Scorpio C), Japanese and American naval commanders feel more confident to get aggressive in Hei-Novo.

Yet just at this moment, USS Oriskany is the only warship the Pacific Alliance has in Hei Novo, and even she has just been delicately repaired her bruising punching match with the Zhui Kang Station. The Japanese destroyer IJN Kikasa (damaged much worse in this late engagement) is being escorted back for repairs by the frigates John Young and Ronald Evans, and the rest of the aforementioned Pacific Alliance ships are still being brought up to Jade Dawn after repairs at Hokkaido’s Flower.

Nevertheless, Captain Matthew Spencer of the Oriskany soon has a target in his sights. The massive 168,000-ton Slava class heavy cruiser Koloslavo, hulking veteran of battles like Shomiyama and Tamakura, has been detected in the eclipse shadow of the Nazarovo gas giant.  Clearly the Black Dragons are desperate, Koloslavo has been brought back “into service” without an escort, or even fully repaired.

On the other hand, attacking a heavy cruiser with only a destroyer is borderline madness. But this is the USS Oriskany, probably the most decorated, upgraded, experienced, and famous destroyer in the United States Navy.

The Koloslavo spots the Oriskany vectoring toward her, and dips down into the turbulent, lightning-shredded clouds of the Nazarovo gas giant. Their hope is that the lighting and clouds will blur out Oriskany’s clear edge in electronics, leaving the battle as a simple slugging match of gunnery which the Koloslavo will win every time. If nothing else, the lightning will damage a smaller ship like Oriskany much more than the massive Koloslavo.

Spencer puts his ship at general quarters and orders all ahead flank, aiming her prow straight down into the Nazarovo storm clouds.  Can the Oriskany take down this damaged giant in an epic “David & Goliath” showdown?

As the USS Oriskany approaches the Nazarovo gas giant, her sensors detect (as expected) the massive heavy cruiser KTS Koloslavo lurking in the storm-shredded, lightning-scorched atmosphere.  The cruiser is vectored with her prow upward, engines down into the gas giant’s denser cloud layers.  Clearly her captain hopes to protect some of her damaged shields (starboard bow, port quarter, stern) and discourage the Oriskany from cutting across her stern, or at least forcing her deep into the dangerous Nazarovo atmosphere to do so.  Also, the huge cruiser can withstand the planet’s lightning much better than the smaller Oriskany, so the Koloslavo is content to force Spencer to take Oriskany “down into the soup” to engage.

Spencer has no problem with the idea.  Screaming down at near-suicidal 60 kilometers per second, Oriskany streaks toward Nazarovo in a powered dive.  Initially positioned to greet the Oriskany with a long range broadside, already Koloslavo’s aft-mounted guns, plasma projectors, and torpedo tubes are no longer able to come to bear.  But she has plenty of forward guns, blasting up out of the Nazarovo atmosphere at 4,000 kilometers.  One 10gw rail gun bolt not only hits the Oriskany at this incredible speed and distance, but also right on the armor protecting her bridge.  Clearly the Koloslavo’s gunners have had their coffee this morning.

With all engines now full-astern in a maximum deceleration curve, Oriskany rolls over to port and dive-bombs straight down into the Nazarovo atmosphere.  A second salvo from Koloslavo’s forward guns miss, as does a ripple-chain of incredibly powerful lightning.  Oriskany slings out a full spread of Mk 48 gravitic torpedoes while her forward guns ping away at Koloslavo’s thickly-armored port bow.

Spencer knows he is playing a very dangerous game.  If damage from Koloslavo’s withering batteries shut down Oriskany’s power, there is no chance to save the ship.  Screaming at nearly 30 kps straight down into the gravity well of a gas giant, the 48,000 ton destroyer will be crushed like an egg shell in a matter of minutes in the titanic heat, pressure, and winds of Nazarovo’s lower atmospheric layers.  Already Oriskany’s leading edges are glowing a dull red, the ship’s velocity just short of actually burning off layers of the ship’s hull.

Oriskany is heading straight for the Koloslavo.  At the last moment, she makes a port turn, the planet’s gravity still pulling her straight down.  Thus, the Oriskany is actually flying partly sideways as she screams past the Koloslavo, giving her a split-second opportunity to put a broadside straight into the massive cruiser’s stern.

Oriskany’s torpedoes hit first.  Only one is shot down by the Koloslavo’s mass drivers, her point-defense system apparently nowhere near as proficient as her main turret gunners.  Meanwhile, twelve P-500 warheads of the Koloslavo are headed for Oriskany.  Seven are shot down, and the remaining five are turned aside by the “Lady O’s” upgraded ECM suite.

Only two of Oriskany’s torpedoes actually hit the Koloslavo, however, badly damaging the armor but not getting to any of her reactors or engines.  The guns do better, tearing through the weakened armor into the massive cruiser’s vitals and knocking down her aft shields.  But legendary as she may be, Oriskany is only a destroyer with 5gw rail guns and 6mk lasers.  Without landing a solid spread of torpedoes, she just doesn’t have the “punch weight” to take down a heavy cruiser in one salvo.

The Koloslavo, on the other hand, even with only her aft gun mounts, positively maul the Oriskany.  Within ten fiery seconds her forward shields are down, her port-side torpedo bays are hit, she loses mass drivers, maneuvering thrusters … internal explosions almost reach the forward magazines.  At less than 100km, a salvo of 10gw rail guns simply does terrible damage and again, the Koloslavo’s gunners are excellent.

The Oriskany, her port bow engulfed in a sheet of flame, continues to plummet past the Koloslavo.  Both ships are really in trouble here.  Oriskany’s enhanced engines fire full power and start to turn her again to port, but her speed is nearly out of control and she’s just lost some of her maneuvering thrusters.  This is a very bad time to lose the ability to turn.  The Koloslavo, meanwhile, with damaged engines, struggles to push her 168,000-ton bulk up out of the gas giant’s gravity.

The Koloslavo pours more power through her smoldering ion engines, executing a groaning s-turn to try an turn her exposed, unshielded fantail away from Oriskany.  The maneuver actually works, Oriskany is moving so fast, in such a dangerous direction, and with such damaged maneuvering thrusters, that she can only decelerate and make a slight turn to port, which still puts her on a course deeper into Nazarovo’s crushing gravity and with her stern facing directly toward Koloslavo’s full broadside (although at a range of 2,200 km, thankfully).  More rail guns and plasma slams into Oriskany, actually damaging her portside engines.  Yet again, Koloslavo’s gunners are on the money (scoring solid hits even with damaged sensors).

For a heartbeat, there’s a very real possibility that Oriskany could meet her end here at Nazarovo.  With her engines hit, there’s the danger of her losing power, a death sentence given her speed and vector … 2,500 km deep in the gas giant’s atmosphere.  Russian-made torpedoes also come in, and Oriskany loses more mass drivers, another shield …

Yet the “Lady O’s”  legendary luck holds out.  Her engineers maintain power.  An instant later, the last three torpedoes that were launched from her port side tubes (an instant before they were blown out of the ship’s hull) strike the Koloslavo’s unshielded stern.  Yet just as Koloslavo’s main armament gunners are dead-eyes, her mass driver gunners seem to be cross-eyed.  No torpedoes are shot down, and all three American warheads hit.

The battle is decided right there.  The torpedoes detonate in Koloslavo’s sensors, aft cargo bays, portside engines, and starboard reactors.  For a razor-edge moment, whether or not the ship loses power could really go either way, but again luck holds with the Oriskany and the Koloslavo goes dark.

In that moment, the massive ship is doomed.  Only moving at 12 kps, and still 900 kilometers in the atmosphere at too shallow of an ascent angle, she does not have the escape velocity or vector to break free.

The Oriskany, meanwhile, with two sensors arrays down, half her torpedoes gone, two 40mm mass driver turrets gone, two shields down, and streaming a sheet of fire fed by escaping atmosphere, heaves against her damaged engines and maneuvering thrusters to pull up and away from the Nazarovo abyss.  She isn’t free yet, she has to power up through 2,500 km of storm clouds and lightning, with the planet’s unforgiving gravity pulling down on her all the way.

Meanwhile, Koloslavo has already lost that battle.  Cutters, launches, and escape pods are soon streaming out of her stricken hull, her trajectory quickly slowing and arcing downward.

Two more minutes and Oriskany is almost clear.  One last bolt of storm cloud lightning hits her starboard bow, coring through the armor and venting her starboard cargo bay.  Finally she erupts free from Nazarovo, battered and scorched from stem to stern, trailing wreckage and flame, missing jagged slabs of armor plating, weapons, sensors, mass drivers, and maneuvering thrusters.  But she’s made it.

The Koloslavo, meanwhile, has finally been halted, now sucked inexorably downward to her grave.  Her crew has a full five minutes to abandon ship, so crew losses are actually surprisingly light (she carries 749 crew and 72 marines, most of which survive the day).  But for the proud ship herself there is just no escape.  She’s falling at over 18 kps when what’s left of her hull finally caves in, the wreckage vaporized in the unbelievable heat and pressure deep in the bowels of the Nazarovo gas giant some time later.

As for the Oriskany, she’ll need two days to limp back to Hokkaido’s Flower, and 28 days in dry dock to weld her charred, pitted, and perforated hull back together.  Fortunately, ships like the Princeton, Valley Forge, Takakawa, and Spokane are soon ready to take the place of the  Oriskany–Kikasa battlegroup in the “Hei-Novo” system (Xi Scorpio A/B), so the Pacific Alliance can continue to apply pressure toward peace talks with the Khitan-Tunguska Free State.

RESULT: Minor Pacific Alliance Victory

The Taihō (“Great Phoenix”) class of light cruiser is one of the most modern warships of its size presently being produced by any navy.  The are sleek, fast for a cruiser, and beautiful.  Furthermore, they bristle with state of the art ECM emitters, shielding, and some of the most advanced target acquisition sensors in Known Space.  Although originally fitted with rail guns, the Taihō has since dispensed with such tradition in favor of a lighter, longer-ranged array of 8 MgKv laser emitters, backed up by powerful 60 eHz syglex emitters for carving off a target’s armor or damaging the larger components of bigger ships.  Even a medium-ranged broadside from a Taihō can easily burn through the hide of a comparable-sized ship, shaving down protection with her x-ray guns before punching into reactors, engines, and magazines with heavy lasers and of course the dreaded Ki-45 “Toryu” (Dragon Slayer) torpedoes.

These updates to the Taihō also saw new thinking in regards to the shielding and mass driver defenses.  Original ships of this class suffered heavily from Chinese, Prussian, and American torpedo strikes to their engines and gravity rudders, and so defenses in the aft quarters has been greatly increased.  However, a ship natually can’t be invulnerable everywhere, so forward protection is actually somewhat weak.  Lastly, the Taihō cruisers were upgraded to the newest “Seiku” (Clear Sky) targeting and fire control system, enough to partially suppress the ECM of even the most heavily-shielded of targets.  Yet for all this technology, the Taihō  remains a relative lightweight in sheer hitting power and resilience when stacked up against the cruisers of other navies.  Such advanced equipment also raises questions of supply and maintenance, especially given the rather cramped cargo capacity.  Only time will tell if the new tech crammed into the sleek hulls of the Taihō class will stand the rigors of colonial naval combat.

Metrics:

Mass: 78,867 tons
Crew: 417 Officers and Men
Marines: 42
Passengers: 15
Cargo: 300 tons

Aerospace:
2 scouts at 300 tons
1 launch at 2,000 tons
1 yacht at 4,000 tons

ECM / Gravitic Shielding
Bow: 4
P Bow: 5
S Bow: 5
P Quarter: 5
S Quarter: 5
Stern: 5

Armament:
Turret – x2 8-mgkv lasers (bow)
Turret – x2 8-mgkv lasers (stern)
Turret – x1 75-eHz syglex emitter (bow)
Turret – x3 class V Ki-45 torpedo tubes (port bow)
Turret – x3 class V Ki-45 torpedo tubes (starboard bow)
Turret – x6 35mm mass driver point defense array (bow)
Turret – x4 35mm mass driver point defense array (p bow)
Turret – x4 35mm mass driver point defense array (s bow)
Turret – x6 35mm mass driver point defense array (p quarter)
Turret – x6 35mm mass driver point defense array (s quarter)
Turret – x6 35mm mass driver point defense array (stern)

Ships in Class
CE 37    IJN Taiho   —  2506, New Kyoto Shipyards, Earth
CE 38    IJN Nagara  — 2508, Akagi Prime, Gamma Leporis
CE 39   IJN Chitose  —  2509, New Kyoto Shipyards, Earth
CE 40   IJN Oyodo  —  2510, Shogun Station, Callisto
CE 41    IJN Sendai  —  2511, Shogun Station, Callisto
CE 42    IJN Tone  —  2512, Akagi Prime, Gamma Leporis
CE 43    IJN Kitakami  —  2513, New Kyoto Shipyards, Earth
CE 44    IJN Takase  —  2514, Akagi Prime, Gamma Leporis
CE 45    IJN Shogawa  —  2515, Shogun Station, Callisto
CE 46    IJN Kozuryu  —  2516, Shogun Station, Callisto

Three turns in, and so far my little Japanese-American alliance battlegroup is doing great.

With Enhanced Sublight, my ships have +1 thrust each turn and with Starship Tactics, they have a +2 to initiative.  Long story short, we were able to get close-range broadsides with both  my heavy cruiser IJN Naginata and destroyer USS Oriskany across the British heavy cruiser’s stern, a prime location.

Note the damage tracks digging deep through HMS Kraken’s engines, reactors, and even core.  She’s crippled, out of the game and set adrift on her last heading and velocity (pro tip, never end your turn pointing toward a planet if you can possibly help it – it’s a fast way to lose a ship if you’re crippled).

Here’s the shot where Nagainata was able to cripple the Kraken.  Note where the Japanese cruiser is presenting a broadside right across the British cruiser’s stern.  This is an extremely deadly maneuver, and not easy to pull off.  Basically, you have to get very lucky with your initiative or catch your opponent napping.  In this case I kind of kind both.

I do have to correct myself in the previous panel – by the looks of this photo USS Oriskany was not in this killing salvo on HMS Kraken, although I do remember contributing some torpedoes to this fire phase.  So Oriskany did help with this, but not with gunnery.

Although @gladesrunner has clearly lost this game (HMS Kraken) is down and that frigate went up like a string of Chinese firecrackers in the  very first fire phase, goddamn is this new heavy cruiser powerful), she keeps her chin up and keeps it from turning into a rout.

This is especially important as it’s a playtest of the game’s point balance.  If the game really is a rout, then I have to go back to the drawing board and tweak some of these campaign upgrades …

But she’s fighting back.  USS Oriskany has since been crippled by return fire from the Kraken.  Fire is simultaneous in this game, so in the same turn Naginata was tearing apart Kraken’s stern, Kraken was also doing the same to the Oriskany. 

Although crippled, the Oriskany will live to fight again.  things saved her life.  One. she has double-upgraded ECM and Gravitic Shielding.  Two, the range is longer.  And three, only forward guns of the Kraken fired on her, the Kraken’s aft turrets were firing point blank against the Naginata. 

Anyway, the game is now down to just the Naginata and @gladesrunner’s remaining light cruiser, the Relentless class light cruiser HMS Requiem.  The Requiem has put a broadside across Naginata’s stern, not to mention some previous torpedoes from the Kraken.  So when Naginata loses initiative on Turn 6, she parks her stern “against the moon” in an attempt to protect her damaged fantail from more of Requiem’s rail guns and deep-cutting lasers.

The Requiem finally goes down, not through lack of speed, bravery, or maneuverability … just the Naginata (a 200-point heavy cruiser) is just too damned powerful for a 102-point light cruiser (smaller ship, much few campaign upgrades).  Honestly once the Kraken went down, this game was up.

But the game felt very well balanced.  We played it again after this and the British did much better.  This time the Oriskany really got the $h*t shot out of her, as in she legitimately almost died.  Here’s her damage sheet from the second game:

Both port and starboard engines, gone.  Port and starboard reactors, gone.  Her point defense mass drivers have been hit twice.  She’s lost three maneuvering thrusters, resulting in a +2 thrust cost to make any turns at all or even roll over on her back (a useful maneuver to screen damaged armor or present fresh  batteries / torpedo spreads)  Port quarter shields are gone.  Magazine’s been hit.  Bridge has been hit, the captain has been wounded and will have to roll to survive.  Sensors have been damaged, she’s lost her aft 5gw rail gun turret …

The whole ship could have actually exploded on the spot, there was a 40% chance based on the damage sustained to critical systems (engines, reactors, magazines).

THAT was a nail-biter of a roll, I can assure you of that.  I’ve played this ship on and off for six years, if I lost her now I think I would physically cry.

Also, if we were playing a campaign game, she’d need 45 days in dry dock (30 internal boxes hit = 30- days, +50% for being crippled / towing time) – plus whatever time it took to transit to nearest friendly port (again, FTL travel time in this setting is strictly limited).

Good morning all ~

Okay, so to supplement the “virtual game table” pics and battle reports in in previous posts, here are some pics of live “Darkstar” tabletop play we’ve had with community members @gladesrunner and @aras.

I apologize for the quality of some of these pics – the game mat I bought wasn’t quite the quality I expected, it’s pretty glossy and thus very hard to photograph well with a digital camera.

So the first game is to playtest a newly-designed Japanese heavy cruiser, the Katana class (all ships in this class named for ancient Japanese hand weapons, obviously).  A smidge of backstory:

One of my most veteran starships, the sleek and sexy Japanese light cruiser Sendai (Taiho class) has recently been destroyed outright in a battle.

I wept, I raged, I drank my way through the five stages of grief.

Anyway, the captain of that ship made her survival roll and so now needs a new ship.  Ironically, she’s accrued enough campaign points to earn a promotion (even though she just lost a ship), so I’m comforting myself through the grieving process by designing and playtesting this captain’s new and even better warship, the heavy cruiser Naginata.

The thing is, captains taking command of new ships (either surviving ship destruction or just transferring from one ship to another) get to keep the campaign upgrades they’ve purchased so far.  Not all upgrades effect tactical tabletop game play, but those that do increase the scenario point cost of the ship.  These new Katana class cruisers are friggin’ expensive as it is, and when this ridiculously high-powered captain takes command (and her command bonuses are all applied to the new ship design’s base cost) … well, this heavy cruiser winds up costing more than some pocket battleships or battlecruisers.

It’s time to see if these new points stack up.  So she and another ridiculously-upgraded ship (i.e., I should really retire this ship and her captain) – which just happens to be named USS Oriskany (DSGN-791, Valcour class destroyer, see posts below) head out in a scrimmage game to see if they can take on a much larger, but more normally-experienced force of British warships.

The idea is to ensure the campaign upgrades are not over- or under-powered for their increasingly exorbitant point costs … and test whether the “asymmetrical” aspect of this game design is actually balanced.Picture One – the battle space

Picture One – the battle space
Picture Two – the Japanese-American allies
Picture Three – a British heavy cruiser (CA), light cruiser, and a frigate (behind)
Picture Four – the battle begins.

Mass: 109,220 tons
Complement: 458 officers and men
Marines: 32
Passengers: 16
Sublight thrust: 5
Darkstar Wave: 10th (x300 c)
Aerospace: (2) scouts, (1) 1,200-ton cutter, (1) 4,000 ton yacht

ECM & Gravitic Shielding:
Bow: 4
P Bow: 4
S Bow: 4
P Quarter: 4
S Quarter: 4
Stern: 5

Armament:
Turret – x2 40-kilogram plasma projectors (bow)
Turret – x2 40-kilogram plasma projectors (stern)
Turret – x2 12-teravolt electron particle cannons (bow)
Turret – x2 12-teravolt electron particle cannons (bow)
Turret – x2 12-teravolt electron particle cannons (stern)
Turret – x2 12-teravolt electron particle cannons (stern)
Rack – x4 Class III gravitic torpedoes (p bow)
Rack – x4 Class III gravitic torpedoes (s bow)
Turret – x3 35mm mass driver point defense array (bow)
Turret – x4 35mm mass driver point defense array (p bow)
Turret – x4 35mm mass driver point defense array (s bow)
Turret – x4 35mm mass driver point defense array (p quarter)
Turret – x4 35mm mass driver point defense array (s quarter)
Turret – x6 35mm mass driver point defense array (stern)

Ships in Class:
261 CRK Kutuzov
262 CRK Suvorov
263 CRK Golovin
264 CRK Sheremetev
265 CRK Menshikov
266 CRK Potempkin
267 CRK Chernyshyov
268 CRK Chichagov
269 CRK Istomin
270 CRK Lazarev
271 CRK Makharov
272 CRK Nakhimov
273 CRK Ushakov
274 CRK Senyavin
275 CRK Zmajevic
276 CRK Spiridov
277 CRK Chernavin
278 CRK Gorshkov

Outer System Skirmish

Suji’s Refuge – Jade Dawn Star System (Xi Scorpio C)

Xi Scorpio War, 24 January 2518

The Xi Scorpio War has raged on now for a little over a year.

After an initial bloodbath breaking into the Xi Scorpio stellar group at the Battle of Kitami Shima, the “Pacific Alliance” (Japanese-American naval task force) has steadily beaten back the “Black Dragons” of the Khitan-Tunguska Free State, planet by planet, system by system.  Although they have liberated the “Flower of Hokkaido” colony in Xi Scorpio D (the rare and precious Earth analog planet that everyone’s fighting over), the Pacific Alliance now pushes into the Black Dragon colonies (in fact, originally Chinese and Russian colonies) of Jade Dawn (Xi Scorpio C) and Heilong-Novopromorskiy (Xi Scorpio A/B) to ensure the Black Dragon threat never reemerges .

One of the war’s recent turning points was at the horrific Battle of Tamakura, near a Galilean moon of the Tamakura gas giant of the Xi Scoprio D system.  Although the Pacific Alliance won that battle, both fleets took tremendous damage, with heavier units expected to be in dry dock for weeks if not months.  As a result, the Pacific Alliance can only maintain the pressure on the beaten Black Dragons with a small destroyer task force built around the destroyer USS Oriskany.  This sets up a series of small skirmishes in the Jade Dawn star system among destroyers, frigates, and the occasional light cruiser, one of which is presented here.

BACKGROUND:

While the Oriskany and Princeton are engaged at Kosyang 71 (moons of another nearby gas giant in Xi Scorpio C), Commander Raymond Cruz (aboard the newly-arrived U.S. Marine Corps Buford-class light carrier/aerospace assault ship USS Tarawa) is slinking around the rim of the Jade Dawn star system.  His mission is to secure a lodgment somewhere on the far side.  Escorting him is the “hardest working tin can in the U.S. Navy”, the Valcour-class destroyer USS Valley Forge under Commander Garrison Heathe.

“Ghosting” around the edge of the star system in a series of first-magnitude Darkstar waves (excruciatingly slow but quiet and almost impossible to detect), the Tarawa and Valley Forge use the star’s gravity to curve their trajectory.  They creep around the system’s spinward edge, staying just inside the Kuiper Belt until they approach a series of rocky planetoids known as Suji’s Refuge.  These are the remains of a large terrestrial moon once in orbit of an outer gas giant, turn to shreds by gravitational tides and left to drift along the system’s cold outreaches.

Also in Suji’s Refuge, however, is a small supply and surveillance installation of the Khitan-Tunguska Free State.  Not picking up on the automated beacon’s passive sensors, the Tarawa and Valley Forge are soon detected and by the end of their third day on station, the Americans are being approached by a small but powerful Black Dragon battlegroup.

This force is made up of three of their oldest “friends” in the Xi Scorpio War, the Russian-built Novgorod frigate Malayslovets, the old Chinese Nanchong class missile destroyer Huangdi, and their flagship, the Xhia-class light missile cruiser Meikang, a veteran of the Xi Scorpio War from as far back as the very first battle at Kitami Shima.

The Americans accelerate to approach the Black Dragons but keep their approach slow, in no hurry to engage the Meikang battlegroup and the vastly superior gunnery.  As the Tarawa begins launching her aerospace group (the elite U.S. Marine Corps squadron, VMF/A-391, the Tigersharks), the Black Dragons are screaming in at an insane speed of almost 50 kps.  The Americans spot the Huangdi first, so Cruz is able to duck his two ships behind drifting KBOs to screen themselves from immediate torpedo lock.  This also means that while both American warships can see acquire Black Dragon targets and fire full torpedo spreads, only some of the Black Dragons can do the same back at them.  Hopefully this will equalize the some of the Americans’ disadvantage in numbers and firepower.

But the veteran Meikang, a nemesis from all the way back to Kitami Shima, sees this move and deftly skirts around the debris, the Malaynovets tucked tight into her wake.  The Black  Dragons loose a massive torpedo wave.  The Americans fire off a spread as well, then turn on their wakes and hairpin turn away.

Things start off well for Cruz’s battlegroup . . . two of these American Mark 48 gravitic torpedoes hit the frigate Malaynovets, one from the Tarawa and one from the Valley Forge.  Lucky strikes on the port bow touch off the forward magazine and the little Malaynovets is soon crippled and adrift in space.  Meanwhile the slower Black Dragon torpedoes still haven’t hit and the Tarawa has all her Marine F/S-44 “Corsair” fighters and F/A-81 “Avenger” torpedo-bombers launched.

Despite the Americans striving to keep their distance, Black Dragon gunnery soon has the range on the Valley Forge, and a few heavy 7-gigawatt rail gun hits are scored on her fo’c’sle.  The Meikang and Huangdi press through the drifting “asteroid wall,” and finally there is no more cover for the Americans.  Cruz keeps pivoting back, to keep the range open as long as possible, but the Valley Forge is sluggish due to its jarring hits.  The Meikang and Huangdi line up for a perfect  1400 km broadside – and torpedoes – 52 of them – slam into the Valley Forge even as she fires on the Huangdi.  Marine “Hawkeye” scouts shoot down one torpedo, and mass drivers shoot down ten more . . . but the rest hit the shields and one actually gets through.  The barrage of 7-gigawatt rail guns that immediately follow from the Meikang is worse, along with the 30kg plasma jets from the Huangdi.  The whole front end of the Valley Forge is basically sheared off, including a jarring explosion of the forward magazine, torpedo bays, and scout ship bays.  Personnel losses are heavy, and the Valley Forge is crippled and adrift, burning in space.

Meanwhile, the Marine pilots of VMF/A-391 loose their ordinance at the Black Dragons.  They have lined up a perfect strike straight at the stern of the Meikang, coordinating with a second spread or torpedoes from the Tarawa.  The Black Dragons have shot down all the Mark 48s, which means the Meikang’s enhanced ECM and shielding suite can only take so much, and five ASM-56 Harpoon torpedoes, along with four ASM-92 Hellfire missiles, hit the hull.  The Meikang is blown out of the battle, her two centerline engines are completely blasted out of the hull, the starboard reactor shuts down, the bridge implodes in a decompression, one of the ship’s magazines go up . . .

The Tarawa turns on her wake and heads away, not eager for a gunnery duel with a vengeful Black Dragon destroyer.  The Huangdi pursues, slinging out more torpedoes.  The Tigersharks fall in behind her for a gunnery run, intercepted by Black Dragon scout planes.  One Avenger is shot down, and three Marine Corsairs are shot down by Huangdi’s mass drivers.  The Tigersharks’ gunnery run doesn’t knock out the Huangdi, but causes critical damage to her aft sections, especially her stern shielding, sensors, and aft weapons.

Cruz realizes the Huangdi has no aft weapons or shields, so will probably try to keep her bow pointed at the Tarawa.  Judging by Huangdi’s vector and velocity, he’s able to turn the Tarawa again on her heel and have her forward torpedo tubes ready to engage where the Huangdi will be.  Sure enough, the Huangdi veers right where expected, and Tarawa looses four more torpedoes.  Two of Huangdi’s torpedoes hit Tarawa in turn, damaging sensors and maneuvering thrusters, but the Tarawa’s return strike, especially a second gunnery run by the bloodied Marine Tigersharks, take out Huangdi’s port engines and damage port reactor.  She loses power and is set adrift.

The skirmish at Suji’s Refuge is an American win, albeit a bloody one.  The Meikang was about to be scuttled, but again this lucky ship somehow survives, ejecting that starboard reactor just in time and somehow surviving the thermonuclear explosion just a few kilometers away.  The Valley Forge is almost in worse shape, requiring 63 days of repair to bring her back on line.  So for the next few weeks, the Tarawa will have to secure that foothold at Suji’s Refuge alone.  The battlegroup flagship, USS Oriskany, will help her out, leaving the Princeton at Kosyang 71, assisted by the newly-arriving Shepard-class frigate sent from the Kurokawa system by task force commander Captain Daniel Chealtham, USS Ronald Evans.

The Americans have basically won the Jade Dawn system (Xi Scorpio C) at this point.  But until American cruisers and bases . . . and especially the Japanese squadron under Hiromi Ozawa . . . can get up here, it won’t be secure.  For now it’s up to “Battlegroup Oriskany” to hold it, or at least maintain a presence, against inevitable Black Dragon counterstrike out of Heilong-Novprimorskiy (Xi Scorpio A-B binary)

Black Dragons have crippled Valley Forge (58 points), shot down five fighters, one bomber all double elite (24 points), plus 1 bank point = 83.  Americans have crippled Meikang  (70 points), Huangdi (40 points), Malaynovets (20 points ) = 130.   Americans win by 47.  Minor Pacific Alliance Victory.

This is an overview of a “sandbox” environment I’ve been using for repeated test games of the newer editions of the Darkstar tactical starship combat system.

The Xi Scorpio stellar group is an actual six-system formation a little over 92 light-years from Earth, where a major war has been started by the so-called Khitan-Tunguska Free State (a breakaway faction that has rebelled from colonies of the Holy Russian Empire and the Panasian League).

In broad summary, these “Black Dragons” of the Khitan-Tunguska Free State attacked Japanese colonies in Xi Scorpio because there is a near-Earth analog planet in the Turakawa star system (Xi Scorpio D).  Because of their bloody uprising against the Panasian League and Russian Empire, the Black Dragons know they and their descendants can never return to Earth, so hope to found their new nation at the Flower of Hokkaido colony.  This is what they are calling their “Earth and Sky” mandate – an inalienable right for all men to have a place to raise their children and bury their dead.  A nation cannot exist entirely in space.

The Black Dragon invasion struck from the former Panasian and Russian colonies of Jade Dawn (Xi Scorpio C) and the binary system of Heilong-Novopromorskiy (Xi Scorpio A/B).  These former Russian and Chinese rebels bloodily wiped out the Japanese civilians on Hokkaido’s Flower “Mongol style” – which naturally prompted immediate response from the Japanese.

The problem for the Japanese is that in the world of Darkstar, 92 light-years is about a three-six month voyage.  The Japanese Navy has just one rapid-response, long-range task force where all the ships are upgraded to where they can generate 11th-magnitude Darkstar waves (cutting this time roughly in half).

In order to procure reinforcements, the Japanese Foreign Office contacts the US State Department and invokes a “military mutual assistance clause” signed in the treaty that ended the recent Japanese-American “Andromeda Arc War.”  Now, compelled by treaty, former enemies of the American and Japanese navies (some of them very personal) must sail the incredible distance of 92 light-years and fight as allies to retake these Japanese colonies.

So in game terms, we have small but elite battlegroups and task forces of Japanese and American warships (heavily upgraded, up to light cruiser in size) in a far-flung colonial conflict against local rebels with much less experience, but far greater numbers and far heavier Chinese and Russian-built warships – since these embattled star systems are right next to major Black Dragon shipyards.