From the Begining New Chapter Added (9/12/06)

[Hunpecked]

I'm still reading and enjoying the story, too. Comments:

It seems a bit late in the war for the first meeting of the Joint Chiefs and the War Cabinet. No doubt Icaran communication technology supports virtual meetings, so perhaps this is just the first face-to-face conference.

With regard to warship terminology, note that even the lowly escort (in stock SE IV) at 150 kT is larger than any terrestrial warship and can wipe out an undefended planetary population single-handed. The natural tendency would be to call the first such spacecraft "space battleships" or "dreadnoughts", but then what would you call subsequent classes that are several times bigger and more powerful? This problem is illustrated by the "Majestic" class of "battleships" (1895, 16,000 tons, 4x12" guns) which was surpassed only a decade later by the "Invincible" "battlecruiser" class (1908, 17,500 tons, 8x12" guns).

It might be better to drop wet navy terminology entirely and go with something more generic, like "Type 300 hull", or maybe "Intimidator class warship".

This approach also avoids terminology problems when SE IV's generic hulls are used for "non-standard" purposes, e.g. a battlecruiser minesweeper ("battlesweeper"?), cruiser-class colony ship ("colonuiser"?), or frigate transport ("frigport"?).

[kerensky]

On the point of ship sizes, I think it would be easier jsut to name the just the class of teh ship (eg Intimidator) and tehn refer to teh type of ship (eg battlecruiser) for size comparisons. This would also avoid the non-standard use of hull types. For example, the Mayflower class carrier is based on a monitor sized hull.

If you think of each ships classification as a size range for the ship to fit in, it should make things easier. For example, ships up to 150kt would be refered to as escorts, ships from 150kt to 200kt would be frigates, etc.

[Starhawk]

Well as far as the first meeting, no it's not but remember Grand Admiral Hallice retired not all that long before and the new Grand Admiral has been busy trying to pull the peices of the military together so no real time for face-to-face conferences with the other members of the military council.

And on to the ship classifications well I've been referring to the ships by size since the start of my story so it would seem a little inconsistent to suddenly drop all terms for my ships like the Yu Hing Pe "Super Dreadnought"

As far as comparing sizes for the non-conventional roles I do think I'll just leave that up to a general size comparison as you suggested for example just a "Large minesweeper" or in the case of Federal Security ships just a general "Medium and Large Peacekeeping ship" would work.

And as far as stating the actual size and tonnage of a ship I don't really see a problem with that so I'd like to stick to that And I do have a clever little idea about that waiting just see

[Rasorow]

So this story is dead?

Rasorow

[Starhawk]

Heck NO! I'm typing up a chapter right now as a matter of fact but tis' a "Story Driven" chapter as opposed to action driven so it's taking a bit of time.

I'm also in college, getting a job, got Kung Fu, and scratchbuilding a fleet of warships with nothing but balsa, card board and Lentils add all this together with me trying to interest a very lovely young lady in me and I just don't have a lot of spare time

[sachmo]

Not sure if i'll ever catch up, Starhawk, but you are doing a damn fine job so far (and that was a while back!) Keep up the great work!

[Rasorow]

Ice the story, cut way down on the warships, find the job.....

Then pay all attention to the lovely young lady.... lovely young worthwhile ladies are a very scarce and rare delight.


Good luck


Rasorow

[Starhawk]

Meh I only see her three times a week as is so I've got 4 days of no chance to try and gain her interest lol.

[Hunpecked]

E-mail, cell phone, FedEx, candygram, etc. In the 21st Century there's no excuse for not paying attention to your SO even when you're not face to face (unfortunately).

[Starhawk]

Okay this story isn't dead I've just been so dang busy I haven't been able to finish my complete chapter yet, and so here is a little "foot note" style info on the Regiments of the Icaran forces. (the guys I have only briefly touched on)

Regiments of Honor:

The Praetor's Own
Aka: Praetorian Guardians
Unique Traits: Cybernetic enhancements, Crimson and Gold uniform with blood red trousers, life service.

History: The Praetor's Own is the best of the best, they are the most feared individual soldiers in the Icaran Empire aside from the Stormtrooper forces, and more then one foe has found it's self cut to shreds by the fanatical and disciplined soldiers of this elite regiment.

Though officially a "regiment" the Preator's own is actually a small army corps in it's own right, with over 11,000 Elite combat troops and vehicle crews, plus nearly 15,000 support staff. The regiment is broken down into three distinct branches:

The "Imperial Guard" which contains the bulk of the mechanized forces of the Praetor's Own, these are the elite soldiers that protect the hundred miles of palace grounds that form the main residence of the Preator and his staff on Icara.
The Imperial Guard is equipped with powered armor, massive main battle tanks and enough firepower to level entire regiments by themselves, and at least three companies of these soldiers are always on duty around the Praetorian Palace.

The "Praetorian Guard" the Praetorian guard is the elite of the elite, they are the men and women sworn to protect the Praetor and his family directly even if it costs their own life to do so.

The Praetorian Guard are easily recognized for their gleaming red and gold power armor and their "Long lance" rifles which are so heavy only the cybernetic enhancement provided to the Praetorians combined with the servo muscles of the Powered Armor allows these men and women to carry them.

The "Secret Service" is the intelligence corps of the Praetor's Own, these men and women are trained to blend into crowds and conduct survailence of any potential threat to the Praetor or his family. If that threat is detected these men and women "remove" it very quietly.

The Spartan Regiments
Aka: The Spartiate Corps
Unqiue Traits: The bulk of the Spartan soldiers are women, entire infantry force wears power armor, no tanks.

History: The Spartan regiments were first founded decades after the Icaran Empire set out to the stars once again; despite their relatively young position in the Icaran Armed forces the Spartan regiments (also known as Spartiate Corps) have proven themselves fierce defenders of the Empire.

Though officially "regiments" the fact that the entire Spartan Regiment consists of power armored infantry means that the cost of raising a full regimental strenght force is virtually impossible. Instead of the typical 4,000 combat soldiers of most regiments the Spartan forces usually consist of around 1,200 soldiers divided into 2 "Phalanxes" which are then sub divided into three "Companies" which each have their own individual command structure and purpose in a Phalanx.

Typically the bulk of Spartan soldiers are also women, which is needless to say a strange sight among Imperial forces; this is not because of some Matriarchal society but is in fact because the bulk of Spartan males remain at home to protect the cities from the myriad predators that would easily overwhelm an unwary city.

Sparta is renowned for it's power armor forges (many of which are used to produce such armor for both Stormtrooper and Praetorian forces) primarily because on a world like Sparta leaving a city in anything less then powered armor is a death sentence thanks to the harsh environment and hostile life on the planet, so the Spartans have virtually redefined the Power Armor design and production industry as their knew and innovative designs spread from their homeworld earning them fame and respect in the Empire.

Icaran "Home Born":
Officially: Icaran Royal Regiments
Unique Traits: Born and trained on the birth world of the Icaran Empire these troops often fight with a fanatical willingness to die in order to protect "Their Empire" from it's enemies.

History: The "Icaran Royal" regiments are those regiments raised from the Icaran homeworld its self and are considered some of the best and most loyal soldiers within the Empire's borders.

These regiments are always full strength and are always raised to exacting specifications that are often overlooked on lesser populated worlds. Icaran regiments are ALWAYS 4,000 combat soldiers, with three armored companies, two Heavy support companies, one command company, eighteen mechanized infantry companies, one air assault company and fifteen infantry companies.

Icaran regiments are usually among the first dispatched to "Core World" incidents and were the first regiments to see action in the Phong Purification being that they were raised from the most densely populated world in the Empire at that time. And though only one understrength Icaran Royal Regiment remains in service at this time they are still some of the most respected and honored soldiers in the Empire.

[to be continued later today]