[Ghostavo]

I was looking through many possible node maps for a possible location for a story to happen in a campaign, however I found some inconsistency in many sources (and yes, I know FS isn't know for it's consistency), but I want to know the opinion of the community about it and I require some assistance regarding other factors, so here it goes.

Ribos:
http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Ribos
Any idea what kind system it is? Is it populated and if so, how much are we talking about? Precision isn't needed, only enough to say if it is a major or minor colony, or maybe a backwater system or somewhere in the middle of those categories.

Ikeya:
http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Ikeya
Same question as the first.

Sorry if this has been answered already, any answers will be apreciated. 

EDIT:
One question down

[aldo_14]

The Ribos node number difference is an FS1 cbani inconsistency.  The Arcadia is described as being present in major systems (although it's not entirely exclusive) in the FS1 tech description, and Tombaugh station (Ribos) appears to be a significant military research centre as the Taranis and shield systems are taken/originate from there.  Ikeya doesn't have much info, but is identified as a Shivan entry point/beachhead; to all extents and purposes it seems to be a bit of a fringe sector, as the FS1 briefs have less mention of any fleet presence there (Ikeya seems to be a prime system for any campaign focusing on mysterious goings on or Shivan attacks).  Neither system makes it into FS2 briefings.

[Ghostavo]

Thanks

[StratComm]

Tombaugh station was described as "a Fortress" in FS1. which would have been indicitive of a major military installation.  That would make Ribos either a major Terran system or a staging area near the contested systems in the T-V war.  Definitely not a fringe system.

[Mefustae]

Are you putting in indentified/estimated Fleet/Battlegroup affiliations?

(FYI to all mission designers, Terran ship groups are referred to as "fleets?, while Vasudan ship groups are referred to as "battle groups." The list below illustrates this. There is one inconsistency with this in the tech database Artemis bomber entry, which refers to the Terran Artemis bomber being deployed to the Terran 2nd and 3rd battle groups. All the other references I found were all consistent in referring to Terran ship groups as "fleets", so I?ve decided to disregard the Artemis inconsistency.)

Everyone, this is a list of the fleet and battle group organization in both the GTVA Terran and Vasudan fleets and the Neo-Terran Front fleets as well. If you wish to refer to specific fleets and battle groups, please use this list. I?ve done a great deal of work compiling this list to make it as accurate as possible, so that everyone would have the same basis to name fleets. The reason I would like everyone to use this list is to reduce inconsistencies with everyone?s missions. Problems would arise (and have already arisen) if different mission designers would base the same fleet in different star systems. Hence, I created this list. I hope that it serves all of you well.

GTVA Terran Fleet Organization Notes:

For fleets and battle groups that have the word "CONFIRMED" next to them, this means I have found a specific reference to that particular fleet and its base system in the FS1 and FS2 games from either a command briefing, the technical database, or a debriefing comment. The rest of the fleets and battle groups I had to extrapolate and do some guess work. I deduced that there were 26 GTVA battle groups from looking at the technical database entry for the GTM Hornet missile, which said that 2.6 million+ Hornet missiles had been stockpiled after the Great War and they were evenly distributed to all of the GTVA battle groups/fleets with each battle group and fleet getting at least 100,000 Hornets each. So 2.6 million divided by 100,000 = 26 fleets/battle groups. I knew that there were at least 12 Terran fleets because of the reference to the 12th Fleet at Ross 128 that I found in a debriefing and the tech database mentions the 13th Battle Group at Deneb in the description for the GVD Hatshepsut. So I reasoned that there were 13 Terran fleets and 13 Vasudan battle groups.

Determining which planets were Vasudan and which were Terran was a little tougher, but from all the specific references I found concerning which planets belonged to whom, I couldn?t escape from the conclusion that only Alpha Centauri, Altair, Vasuda Prime, Aldebaran, and Deneb were Vasudan planets. ALL the other planets in the vicinity of Vasuda Prime had specific references that they were Terran planets, NOT Vasudan. In order to square this with my conclusion that there were 13 Terran fleets and 13 Vasudan battle groups, I came to the conclusion that, in order to help cement the mutual trust and cooperation that arose from fighting the Shivans, the Vasudans would base many of their battle groups in Terran systems and protect them for the Terrans, who were already stretched thin guarding the rest of their systems. BETAC and the formulation of the GTVA no doubt helped cement this gesture of trust and friendship.


1st Fleet: Based at Terra (Cut off from GTA/GTVA when SD Lucifer exploded)
2nd Fleet: Based at Delta Serpentis (the Terran capital since contact with Earth was lost)
3rd Fleet (CONFIRMED): Based at Capella
4th Fleet (CONFIRMED): Based at Vega
5th Fleet: Based at Beta Aquilae (this system is the capital of the entire GTVA)
6th Fleet (CONFIRMED): Based at Epsilon Pegasi
7th Fleet: Based at Polaris
8th Fleet: Based at Regulus
9th Fleet: Based at Sirius
10th Fleet: Based at Laramis
11th Fleet: Based at Luyten 726-BA
12th Fleet (CONFIRMED): Based at Wolf 359 (a @#%$ assignment for Terrans)
13th Fleet: Based at Ross 128 (the REALLY Terran @#%$ assignment)

The 4th Fleet was based at Vega during the Great War and was still based at Vega during FS2 (I found specific in-game references to both), so I?m guessing the Terrans never re-organized the fleet deployments. The Terrans in the GTVA military are no doubt hoping that the 1st Fleet still exists and will rejoin the GTVA once contact is restored. This is why Earth still has the 1st Fleet based there; it?s also a morale issue. Acknowledging the loss of the 1st Fleet (the cream of the crop of the Terran military) would be a huge blow to morale, so it?s fleet designation was never changed. (This is ALL guesswork here, but I think it?s a good guess.)

NTF Defection notes: (If you want to verify this information, most of it is all in the technical database under the topics "Reconstruction" and "Neo-Terran Front". I?ve extrapolated the rest.)

The Reconstruction period after the Great War was a difficult time for the Terran and Vasudan peoples. The economy of both nations was in a shambles and the GTA even collapsed into several regional blocs. With the rise of Khonsu II, however, the Vasudans fared much better in the Reconstruction than the Terrans did, even including the fact that the Vasudans? homeworld of Vasuda Prime had been obliterated by the SD Lucifer. The Vasudans? economic recovery was nothing short of miraculous, while many of the Terran planets (Polaris, Regulus and Sirius in particular) had a much more difficult time recovering from the aftermath of the Great War. This engendered bitterness and resentment in many Terrans, particularly those of the "Lost Generation", those Terrans who grew up during the Reconstruction. Because of this resentment and bitterness, Bosch was able to quietly recruit many enthusiastic followers in the 6th Fleet (which he commanded at the time) to secretly join him and the NTF shortly before the start of the NTF Rebellion.

Once Bosch convinced parts of the 6th Fleet to defect to the NTF, he used these fleet assets to head from Epsilon Pegasi to Polaris and overthrow the government there. The 7th Fleet, based at Polaris, also decided to defect to the NTF once Bosch had made his overtures to them. The GTVA 6th Fleet was still in existence (I found specific references to the 6th Fleet in the Epsilon Pegasi missions in the single campaign; also, Epsilon Pegasi is a contested system, not a fully NTF-controlled system) so presumably NOT ALL of the 6th Fleet defected to the NTF, just a large enough amount to take Polaris with the 7th Fleet?s assistance.

The 8th and 9th Fleets defected to the NTF a few weeks after Bosch staged his revolt in Polaris as Bosch managed to make inroads into Regulus and Sirius. While a few units of these fleets MAY have stayed loyal to the GTVA, they presumably were overwhelmed by the units that defected to the NTF. This helps explains how Bosch was able to secure these three systems so quickly. Once Bosch had these three systems under his control, he had a significant resource base from which to conduct his secret agenda of contacting the Shivans while his subordinates conducted their campaign of conquest and genocide against the Vasudans.

With Polaris, Regulus and Sirius firmly in the hands of the NTF, it is safe to say that the 7th, 8th and 9th Fleets (those units that hadn't defected to the NTF) were effectively obliterated (or perhaps they fled to other Terran systems and were re-integrated into those fleets), while the units that did defect to the NTF became the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Fleets of the Neo-Terran Front. As a result, the 7th, 8th and 9th Fleets of the GTVA effectively ceased to exist.

Neo-Terran Front Fleet Organization Notes:

Neo-Terran 1st Fleet: Based at Polaris
Neo-Terran 2nd Fleet: Based at Regulus
Neo-Terran 3rd Fleet: Based at Sirius

I?ve set up the NTF fleets this way because of the "domino effect" that was referred to in the Neo-Terran Front" entry in the tech database. Polaris was the first to fall to the NTF. The next system on the jump node map was Regulus, which lay between Polaris and Sirius. For there to be a domino effect, the things have to fall in order. Thus, I reasoned that since Regulus fell before Sirius, Regulus should be the base of the 2nd Neo-Terran Fleet and Sirius should be the base of the 3rd Neo-Terran Fleet.

Once the NTF was able to push into Alpha Centauri, Deneb and Epsilon Pegasi, it?s reasonable to assume that Bosch had several months to use the manufacturing facilities on Polaris, Regulus and Sirius to churn out more ships for the NTF fleets. As for the people to crew these ships, Bosch had no shortage of potential recruits or conscripts. Polaris, Regulus and Sirius were heavily populated Terran planets with millions, maybe even billions, of disaffected and fanatical members of the "Lost Generation."

With this resource base, I think it is reasonable to say that Bosch created new NTF fleets to manage the campaigns in Alpha Centauri, Deneb and Epsilon Pegasi. And so?.

Neo-Terran 4th Fleet: Based at Deneb
Neo-Terran 5th Fleet: Based at Alpha Centauri
Neo-Terran 6th Fleet: Based at Epsilon Pegasi

This leads to the question of whether NTF fleet Read admiral Koth and the NTD Repulse were stationed in the 6th Fleet or not. I THINK it could be the Neo-Terran 6th Fleet, but don't quote me on that just yet.

Some of you will notice that I put the NTF 6th Fleet in Epsilon Pegasi. You might also have noticed that the GTVA also has its 6th Fleet in Epsilon Pegasi. Coincidence? Or did I do it deliberately?

Hmmm?. What do you guys think? :lol 8) :smokin

GTVA Vasudan Battle Group Organization Notes:

List of Vasudan planets:

1st Battle Group: Aldebaran (it?s the Vasudan capital since Vasuda Prime was obliterated)
2nd Battle Group: Vasuda (the REALLY @#%$ assignment for Vasudans, for obvious reasons)
3rd Battle Group: Altair

11th Battle Group: Alpha Centauri

13th Battle Group (CONFIRMED): Based at Deneb


List of Terran planets but guarded by Vasudan Battle Groups:

4th Battle Group: Ikeya
5th Battle Group: Ribos
6th Battle Group: Adhara
7th Battle Group: Antares
8th Battle Group: Beta Cygni
9th Battle Group: Betelgeuse
10th Battle Group: Procyon A
12th Battle Group: Bernard?s Star (a Vasudan @#%$ assignment because it?s so far from Vasudan territory)


Keep in mind, this is a fleet organization that exists from the formulation of BETAC in 2358 and into the events of FS2. (I?m not even going to try to figure out how the fleets were organized in FS1; there are just too many inconsistencies to try.) If campaign designers wish to refer to this list for their campaigns that take place after FS2, please feel free to do so. You don?t have to, of course, but I wouldn?t mind in the least if you did.

[Jal-18]

In FS1 at least, Ribos is a major subspace crossroads, with up to five nodes converging there.  There was a thread about this earlier where Andreas tried to create a FS1 era nodemap.  I found it yesterday for other purposes and made a new, cleaner version in paint. (Mainly because my links in that thread were dead.) Vasudan systems are in yellow.