OK, this is my first post, so here goes (sorry if it's long and a p1pm for my campaign...) I've been thinking a lot about what happens between now (ie 2001) and the start of the T-V war.
I've been working on a campaign "The First Small Steps." It begins with the discovery of
intra system subspace drives, and ends at the outbreak of the T-V war.
The set up is that all political boundaries on Earth have finally been dissolved, and everyone now recognizes the UN. "We are entering a new period of peace and prosperity ..." (yeah right, we've heard that before
)
Although subspace is a new technology, we've been colonizing Earth's orbit, the Moon, and the Asteriod Belt for a while... the Belt is a rich source of raw materials that have been exhuasted on Earth.
The action starts off with pirate raids in the Belt, and it turns out the Belter Alliance (the pirates) are better equipped and have better ships (more raw materials, etc.) Earth is blockaded, and the UN is forced to recognize the Belt as a separate (non) political entity (so we have the UN and the Belt at peace).
But the military research and buildup has begun, so we actually have some fighters, bombers, small cap-ships, etc. This will be important when we meet the Vasudans...
With the advances in subspace research, we discover the jump nodes to Delta Serpentis, build inter-system drives, and begin exploration of nearby systems. Once colonies are established, the UN and Belt Alliance form the
GTA with the outer colonies.
However, 60 years previously, unknown to anyone outside the UN Intelligence Council (now GTI), a convoy of "sleeper ships" was dispatched to colonize and explore Alpha Centauri using normal-space drives. When the reach A.C. and come online, they find they're not alone (remember, A.C. is only one jump from Vasuda)
Initial contacts are peaceful, but lack of translation makes things difficult. After translation devices are developed, there is a non-aggression pact between the GTA and the Vasudans, but there are numerous points of friction, especially in systems like Alpha Centauri that both races are claiming.
That's all I have for now, I've got a few missions put together, and the storyline needs to be tightened up a little.
The mods are killing me
The early fighters would be nothing but converted freighers -- with no cargo bay, they're more manuverable, and they have better weapons, but they're still slow, weak and thinly armored (at least by FS1 standards).
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[This message has been edited by penguin (edited 10-06-2001).]