The raiding campaign against the Black Steel has heated up somewhat as Strike Fleet, freshly reinforced with the
Dreadnoughts that had originally been slated for Home Fleet, runs into a small Black Steel production node which seemingly specializes in lighter units. A running battle ensues through the system in question as Admiral Somer aggressively engages the enemy.
You do take a number of losses, including a pair of
Dreadnoughts, but Strike Fleet is able to completely destroy the Black Steel facility as well as inflict losses on the Black Steel reaction force before escaping the system. According to analysis of the sensor data it appears that this was the facility being used to produce the bombardment ships that caused so much havoc in the Arvum system, which makes this a doubly important victory.
Other raids are less spectacular, hitting what appear to be Black Steel prospector vessels as well as skirmishing with Black Steel patrols.
Unfortunately the Expeditionary Fleet had a much rougher time of things, as one of their raids goes quite wrong when the detachment is jumped by a significantly heavier Black Steel force as they arrived in system. A number of
Algerie and
De Grasse class cruisers, as well as
Battle-class destroyers are lost for relatively no casualties inflicted on the enemy. By the time reinforcements arrived the ambushers had departed.
Admiral Fisher and Admiral di Palo counsel continuing the operations, the losses, while painful, are not decisive and all engaged formations are still overall combat effective, withdrawing now at the first bloody nose would simply cede the initiative back to the Black Steel.
Admiral Fisher also has a number of new designs that he seems quite pleased to present to you, all fast vessels for the Expeditionary and Strike Fleets. In addition there is a new Armed Merchant Cruiser concept that the Navy is interested in as a replacement for the
Windjammer jumpship.
To start with the AMC, several of your largest transportation companies had commissioned Majeure Electrique to develop a 1.25 million ton ‘jumpship’ intended for trade runs into areas beyond your borders, especially the minor powers to the northeast. While each individual ship is far more expensive than the regular jumpships that they are intended to replace, they are also effectively immune to pirate attack. The civilian models are armed with a blistering array of light weapons capable of seeing off any known design of
Jolly Roger. What is of interest to the Navy is the proposed militarized variant intended to replace the
Windjammer.
The
Rawalpindi-class Armed Merchant Cruiser has 25 collars and supplements the light guns of the civilian ship with small arrays of 35 and 55 centimeter naval lasers. While in no way comparable to proper naval weapon arrays, the additions mean that these ships would be able to meaningfully protect themselves against ASF strikes as well as overly bold pirates while providing a significant boost to your logistical transport capacity without requiring any strategic materials.
Name | Cost | HP | A/D | Specials |
Rawalpindi-class Armed Merchant Cruiser | $2,905,773,200.00 | 881 | 681 | |
Next is a replacement for the
De Grasse-class Light Cruiser. The
Phoenix-class Light Cruiser has equal acceleration and maneuver capabilities to the older design while sporting an improved weapons array and sensor capabilities. In addition, thanks to the ongoing R&D into lithium-fusion systems, a clearer idea of the approximate tonnage and volume constraints for such systems is now known, and the
Phoenix is the first class of ships to be fitted ‘for but not with’ such a system, making for an easier future upgrade.
Overall the new design is slightly tougher and has enhanced long range capital firepower at the expense of medium range and a slight dip in extreme range capability. However the overall differential is considered to be quite trivial due to the enhanced anti-ASF and anti-Parasite capabilities of the new design, making for a far more effective screening vessel. In addition it has twice the parasite capacity of the older design while possessing superior crew facilities and stowage.
Name | Cost | Materials | HP | A/D | Specials |
Phoenix-class Light Cruiser | $1,679,142,400.00 | LFC, DHS | 2725 | 2115 |
- Armored 51
- AMS 160
- Capital
- Capital AMS 496
- Command 3
|
Last, but certainly not least, is the replacement for the
Algérie-class Heavy Cruiser. The
Hawke-class Heavy Cruiser, much like the
Phoenix, has broadly equal kinematic performance, with the same thrust profile as the older ship. The new design deletes the ASF bays of the older ship, and like the
Phoenix is equipped ‘for but not with’ the lithium-fusion system. In combination with the improved sensor and targeting capabilities, the
Hawke is also far more heavily armed than the older ship, albeit at the cost of slightly more cramped crew accommodations and a slight increase in tonnage.
Name | Cost | Materials | HP | A/D | Specials |
Hawke-class Heavy Cruiser | $2,038,070,500.00 | LFC, DHS | 5092 | 3982 |
- Armored 101
- AMS 160
- Capital
- Capital AMS 554
- Command 6
|
Parliament is in session following the elections at the end of last year and the parties which support the Crown experienced a significant boost in support. As a consequence you are looking forward to seeing what sort of legislation they propose this year.
You aren’t disappointed. The main bill on your desk from them is the Financial Services Act of 3065. The financial services sector as a whole has been undergoing a rather high level of scrutiny following a growing number of local and regional scandals involving the sector. While the bad actors are generally being dealt with effectively, a number of commentators feel that this is a case of bolting the barn door after the horses have already escaped. The current Bank Regulatory Board has oversight only over banks, not the whole financial services industry, and it is a significant point that not a single one of the scandals has involved any actual banks. Indeed, it had been banks detecting evidence of fraudulent activity on the part of the financial services sector that had led to the scandals themselves, evidence which they had promptly turned over to law enforcement.
The Financial Services Act of 3065 would expand the authority of the Bank Regulatory Board to cover the entire sector. Moreover it includes an expanded regulatory framework for the financial services industry which had been carefully and thoughtfully developed by those portions of the sector which had been acting ethically and honorably in coordination with legal experts from your Justice Ministry.
[] | Action | Argument | Result |
[] | Sign the Financial Services Act of 3065 | The Bank Regulatory Board has been a shining beacon of ethical oversight for an industry that had, prior to its establishment, been a source of a great deal of corruption and exploitation. They have a proven track record of capable and ethical oversight of an industry that by its very nature is prone to unethical and corrupt conduct.
Since its founding the Bank Regulatory Board has met or exceeded all expectations placed upon them, from effectiveness to efficiency to ethics. They are a shining example of how a regulatory organization should operate.
The proposal here would bring the financial services industry, that is those aspects of finance and investment that are outside the general purview of banks themselves, under this board's proven oversight. |
- +1 Approval
- +1 Approval Change
- +1 Politics
- -1 Economic Event
- Adds +1 to the Bank Regulatory Board level
- Prevents certain events
- For turn 136 only, -2 Economic Event successes
|
[] | Veto the Financial Services Act of 3065 | People and organizations should have absolute freedom to do whatever they wish with their money without some busy body bureaucrats looking over their shoulder to ‘protect’ them. If people want to take risks in exchange for higher returns, then they should be allowed to do so.
If people are too stupid to research financial institutions prior to investing then that should be on them, these ‘scandals’ are just Darwinian evolution in action, the morons get fleeced and the idiots get caught and jailed. This claptrap of ‘ethics’ and ‘oversight’ is a farce to the unfettered free market and must be rejected. |
- -2 Approval
- -2 Approval Change
- -2 Politics
- +1 Economic Event
- For turn 136 only, +2 Economic Event successes
|