New story ideas, general background notes.

[VX-145]

Just a few quick notes about a story I'm writing that I want some feedback on. Not much about the universe, but updates should be coming. (Fingers crossed!)

The universe the story is set in is in the 23rd century, around 2215, so the "Historian" feel I've tried for may not show up there.

M-41 Light Recon Walker (Also known as: Dogs of War (Plural, Squad-based formation), Hellhound (Singular)): A 1.5-tonne walker equipped with two 30mm chain guns, 1 inch armour, an advanced sensor suite and a “Sniper” Variant railgun. Notable for being the only walker in the UF arsenal that is bipedal, and the longest-serving walker in general service as of 2231. Also of note is the cheap cost and low weight of the vehicle, the only reason it is still used by airborne divisions.

M-10 Heavy Assault Bipedal Walker (Also known as: Titan-class walker (Singular)):A 200-tonne behemoth equipped with two 120mm Cannons (Pilots of the walkers had a tendency to load these with a canister round, earning these guns the name of “Shotgun”, rather inaccurately), two “Machine Gun” Variant railguns, two “Sniper” Variant railguns and a small hangar that could hold two UF/A-12 “Drone” Unmanned Combat Vehicles. Also mounted on this titan was approximately 30 inches of titanium. Considered useless due to a massive blind spot behind the walker. Recent historians have considered that these walkers were not actually built for combat, instead these massive vehicles were built as “Parade Tanks”, a colloquial term for military vehicles built only for show (Other examples include the Russian T-35 and the French Char 2-C from World War Two and the M-5 tank in the mid-21st century). Obviously, meeting one of these walkers face-to-face was still very dangerous, and most of the vehicles with enough firepower to pierce the armour (At the time) were not manoeuvrable enough to get behind the walker to exploit its blind spot.

CFA-50 Space/Sub-Orbital Superiority Fighter (Colloquially known as CFA-50 or just CFA/s): The most successful fighter craft of the 22nd and 23rd centuries, this fighter is still in service today. Armed with two “Thunderstorm” 30mm rotary cannons, six internal weapons bays capable of holding up to 300 pounds of ordinance each as well as the option for weapon hardpoints on the wings. This fighter was most notable for its ability to escape a Terra-sized planets atmosphere, which requires an amount of energy that was enough to make most fighter and bomber designers give up on making an air or spacecraft that could be used in atmosphere or space, respectively. This capability has since proved extremely valuable, far outweighing the 70-meter length required to house a powerplant capable of providing the necessary energy.

History: Third World War (Known to colonists as “Third Terran War”): The first major conflict between the two major factions of the 22nd and 23rd centuries: The United Forces (UF) and the Terran Empire (TE). Notable for being one of the shortest wars in the planet’s history, as the UF was not expecting an attack at the time and the war ended after only two days, when the UF formally surrendered. Began on May 11th 2114. Note that the UF reappeared as a major faction as of approximately 2139, after the colony Tau Ceti 3 was rediscovered early in the year. Also of note is the action in and around Moscow, as, although records are not reliable, it appears that an M-10 walker (See above) successfully ambushed and destroyed an entire squad of M-41 walkers (Also above) and several armoured vehicles of the UF 15th Armoured Division. If the records that indicate this are true, it is the only time in the entire M-10s operational history that a single walker of the class was victorious against a force of superior numbers.

Action in space included several SODS (See below) drops, as well as a few small skirmishes, the largest of these being the clash between the TESS Iowa and the UFSS Missouri, both former United States Iowa (Space)-class battleships (See below).

Sub-Orbital Drop Soldiers (Also known as SODS (Also used as a plural) or “Sods”): These soldiers were former North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) marines assigned to spaceships. To solve the problems associated with the marines getting to a planet (The dropships of the era were big enough to be considered a moving target by the marines that used them), NATO devised a rather cliché method: Drop Pods. The unfortunate marines who were assigned these dangerous craft often died before they hit the ground, and those that survived earned a reputation of being almost fearless. These soldiers were deployed in numerous operations, the most famous being Operation Viper in 2114, where a squad of pinned SODS managed to not only break out from, but also destroy the UF 23rd Infantry Division.

Iowa (Space)-class battleships (Also known as Iowa-class ships): Not to be confused with the ocean-going Iowas, these massive battleships were armed with two spinal railguns, each over 200 meters long, along with nuclear missiles, Close-In Weapons Systems (CIWS) and point defence guns. These ships used to belong to the United States of America’s Space Navy (USSN), but, when the USA split along the UF/TE divide, these ships went along with both factions. There were three known ships of the class: the Iowa, Missouri, and the New Jersey. The (Terran Empire) Iowa was destroyed in 2114 in a skirmish with the (United Forces) Missouri.


Hopefully, I should actually finish this one .

[Samuel]

Why did humanity split? I'm more of a political guy.

[Master_Baerne]

I agree - technological toys are all well and good, but more background information is needed.

With that said, I like the sound of these battleships...

[Darth Raptor]

This is setting, not story. Admittedly, I'm susceptible to the very same honey trap of wanton world building without any overarching narrative to tie it all together, but I'll echo the above posters and request for more socio-political background.

Oh, and a minor technical detail: I would seriously recommend putting recoilless guns on your mecha instead of cannon; especially if said mecha are bipeds. Tank guns and mass drivers are more the kind of thing you would see on, well, a tank. Mecha should be carrying machineguns, missiles, recoilless rifles and directed energy weapons by virtue of their nature as more or less giant infantry.

[VX-145]

Not much of an update, but there is a future student's (Sort of) essay on the causes of WW3 included in this one. If any of the information in that heading is confusing etc. , let me know as I am not very good at writing politicical stuff.

History: Events leading up to WW3/ TW3: While the precise details of the events during WW3 are not clear, the events leading up to the divide that caused the war and the war itself are. The first, and most important, reason for the divide was the event of “Peak Oil”. The planet’s most important countries were mostly dependant on oil, so it logically follows that the planet running out of it would case some problems. This disaster was the main reason why the USA split when the rest of the world: one faction wanted to use alternative energy; the other wanted to try to find the last few drops of oil.

Another major reason why the world split was very simple: Space. The colonies of most countries had revolted earlier in the decade (See A. Jenkins’s On the Colonies, published in 2170 for more details), causing a minor war that was still ongoing until about 2120. The reaction back on the planet was mixed: one faction was against the war (And the decisions that caused it), and one side was supporting it.

The third major reason is also simple, and can actually be described with the same word. Space, or rather the lack of it. Terra was becoming very overcrowded (By the time of the war, there were over 10 billion humans on Terra!). As everyone knows, if there is too much competition, a species will begin to die off, and humans are no exception.

It should be noted, however, that there were also many other, more minor, causes of the war, some examples being the construction of the Iowa-class battleships and the use of Anti-Ballistic Missile satellites (ABMS).

These events lead into a coalition of the world’s militaries, known as the Terran Coalition (TC), which suppressed the revolts, took over the satellites, implemented the Fusion programs and deported several billion humans for another colony. Unfortunately, it is around this time that records become sketchy. It is, however, known that an assassination took place; in the year 2113, government officials from different countries were killed by a bomb while attending an annual meeting. (It is also notable that most of these officials were from nations that would later join to become the Terran Empire and it is a common misconception that it was only (Future) TE nations that suffered from the blast; the then-Prime Minister of Great Britain and the current President of France, and both of these nations later joined the UF.)

This event caused the coalition to fragment into two distinct factions, the Terran Empire (Who claimed that it was the direct descendant of the TC), and the United Forces (Who claimed to be representing the “Oppressed People” of the TC). Tensions mounted through a number of border skirmishes and other political miscellania*, until the war finally broke out in 2114.


Ark Royal-Class Starfighter Supercarrier: The Ark Royal-class ships were some of the most powerful ships in the Terran Coalition Fleet at the time of the divide. These ships, however, were only armed with Point Defence guns and a single 10 meter long Railgun, as it was the ships massive complement of starfighters that was its main weapon. A single one of these ships could carry almost 100 CFA-50 fighters, as well as the support for these fighters and even some inter-fleet shuttles! Needless to say, these ships were actually the biggest in the TC Fleet, at well over 5 kilometres long. There were only two of these juggernauts built; the Ark Royal and the Trafalgar. The Trafalgar was destroyed over Tau Ceti 3 in 2140, and the Ark Royal is still serving in the Terra Defence Fleet as of 2452.

M-19 Railrifle: This type of gun was an oddity, as it is not known why they were made (Aside from the obvious propaganda factor, eg. "Our infantry can now take out a tank!"). They were extremely heavy, and the recoil required a bipod to steady the rifle. The gun, however, did find a massive niche in the Anti-Materiel Gun area; they could puncture most contemporary Medium-Rated armour, and the fully-automatic capability of the gun was invaluable for destroying heavy walkers and tanks such as the M-10 "Titan". Another novelty of the gun is that its barrel was only 30 centimetres long; making it the shortest combat-capable railgun in existance. This gun was expensive, however, and only issued to the most important units that could not have other methods of fire support, such as infiltration units.

*Spelling?

RE: Darth Raptor: The M-41 walker is anologous to AT-MT walkers from Star Wars; light support vehicles large enough (Think the size of a small house) to mount light anti-tank weapons, yet that they can be para-, and, (with some special equipment) space-, dropped to provide support for SODS squads and other Marine forces.
Meanwhile, the M-10 doesn't make any sense at all. Seriously, it doesn't even need to. I gave up on trying to write the damn thing in a serious light long ago ( ), hence the remark about it being stupidly impractical.
Although it might turn up later...