1 January 2800
Overview To the citizens of the Hegemony, as they had come to call themselves, dropping the Terran part, the savage war raging in the Inner Sphere was hard to fathom. Since they had joined the Hegemony, they had known nothing but peace and prosperity. Sure, sons and daughters enlisted in the Hegemony Armed Forces and some were killed in action, but the idea of wholesale slaughter was just too much for most. News broadcasts were brought to them via the Hegemony HPG network, every day seemed to bring a new horror and many said a prayer of thanks that it had not spread to their nation. Not wholesale anyway.
Waves of refugee's, once halted at the Hegemony border and turned away, had finally, by Director General Amanda Cameron's decree, been allowed to enter and settle inside the Hegemony. The first waves had been openly welcomed, as they were refugee's from the Terran Hegemony, many of them from the Amaris Coup. Living on several Federated Suns worlds while they awaited their turn to move to new permanent locations, had fled enmass as the Draconis Combine invaded the Federated Suns and the realization that the worlds they occupied were in the line of advance. The first wave had been just over 25 million people, the second wave just 5 months later had been 43 million people. It was this second wave and the massive shortages in housing, food, medical care that caused the border to be closed by the HAF. Hearing of the suffering outside the Hegemony border, Director General Amanda Cameron had declared that it was the Hegemony's purpose to help those who could not help themselves.
In total, 381 million people had moved into the Hegemony over the last 12 years. It had caused enormous growing pains, shortages and even a few outright riots over the years, but finally a calm had settled over the Hegemony as everything that was in shortage slowly but steadily caught up to the demand. While millions died across the Inner Sphere, millions were born across the Hegemony. While worlds starved and died in the Inner Sphere, those in the Hegemony grew and prospered. Terraforming started in the 2750's and 2760's had taken root hard on many worlds turning them into worlds of plenty. Atmospheric processors slowly turned barely breathable air into clean fresh air. Water purification systems were installed, enlarged providing a safe source of drinking water to every world in the Hegemony. Every world of the Hegemony possessed a hospital that would rival anything seen on Terra at her height. While most were served by smaller less sophisticated hospital's, they had access if need to the very best the Hegemony could provide, at a reasonable rate.
The raging war that had engulfed the Inner Sphere and many Periphery nations continued at a furious rate with no sign of letup. It was only this reason that the Hegemony Armed Forces remained on a wartime footing, always vigilant for any threat to the Hegemony. It was an enormous expense, but the security of the Hegemony was paramount to everyone. It had taken 11 years to repair the stranded ships at Vonja, using every Jump Core manufacturing facility in the Hegemony. But steadily, the task had been accomplished. Warships had been sent to Linden, Thazi and Zebuluraskai for additional repairs and refits. Standard Jumpships had been sent to Onverwacht to the Thompson Shipyard complex for their repairs and refits. If not for the arrival of Capellan convoy in mid 2790, after 2 years of travel, the shortage of Jumpships and Dropships would have caused severe shortages of food as the waves of refugee's overwhelmed local production.
Technology advancements had been slow in coming, but after exhaustive survey's of the systems inside the Hegemony, many new resource deposits had been discovered. Along with the standard resources, several rich deposits of the elusive minerals described in the Star League Data Cores had been discovered. It had taken over a year to refine the manufacturing method to the precise formula's required, but once finalized, these advances in Metallurgy had rapidly paid off for the researchers.
The first application of the new alloys had been applied to the powerful Gauss Rifle. The first prototype had been tested in 2790, reducing it's weight by 2 tons and it's bulk by 15%. Simply called the Improved Gauss Rifle, it quickly became a mainstay across the Hegemony Armed Forces with production barely able to keep up with demand.
Quickly applying the new alloys to standard autocannons had reduced their weight by a ton and their bulk by an average of 20%, depending on the caliber. The venerable AC/10 now took no more space than the LBX/10 nor weighed any more, making it a cheaper and attractive weapon once again. The new class was simply called Improved Autocannons.
Improved AC/2 - 2792
Improved AC/5 - 2792
Improved AC/10 - 2793
Improved AC/20 - 2793
It was not just ballistic weapons that saw a gain from the new alloy's, but also energy weapons. The first advancement had been to the ageless PPC. Reducing it's weight by a ton and it's bulk by 33% with no changes to range or hitting power. The first prototype was tested in 2793 and full production began in 2794.
Improved PPC - 2794
The Large Laser was the next to partake of the alloy revolution, reducing it's weight by a ton and reducing it's bulk by a full 50%, enough to allow it to occupy the same space as a medium laser. The Improved Large Laser entered prototype testing in 2794 and was placed into full production in 2795. The first vehicle to benefit from the new weapon system were the hundreds of Turhan's in the Hegemony Armed Forces.
Improved Large Laser - 2795
Manufacturers no sooner had retooled for upgraded design than another breakthrough had occurred. Researchers had perfected an Improved Ferro Fibrous Armor that increased the armor protection from a single ton while also cutting it's bulk by over 50%. Testing had lasted over a year but the new armor was placed into full production in 2797.
The following year, researchers perfected a new Endo Steel. While weighing the same, it was less bulkier by over 50%. This combined with the new Ferro Fibrous made combining both on the same design extremely feasible since they occupied so much less space. Once again production slowed as new upgrades were designed. Placed into full production in 2798, factories were still in the process of retooling to manufacture the new Endo Steel.
Engine research had not stood still and taking advantage of the increases in Metallurgy, they had perfected a new XL engine design, where the standard XL engine had been twice as bulky as a standard fusion engine, the new XL engine was only 1/3 the bulk of a standard fusion engine. Prototype of the XL engine was tested in 2798 along with a new Double Heat Sink designed using the better Endo Steel which decreased it's bulk by 33%.
Finally, advances had allowed the much maligned Large Pulse Laser to benefit. In 2797, the first prototype was tested and in 2798 ir was placed into full production. Weight was reduced by a ton and bulk by 15%. Increasing it's range had so far eluded the researchers.
Improved Large Pulse Laser - 2798
Advances in micro electronics had finally reached a point where, combined with the advances in Metallurgy had allowed researchers to improve the SRM missiles increasing their range by over 30%. The LRM launchers benefited from the lighter alloys and better micro electronics with the first prototypes currently being tested. While the LRM's had the same range, their weight was reduced 50% and their bulk was reduced by an average of 20%.
In 2796, Hegemony Industries had finally gotten the single Nighthawk production line working. But it was 2799 before they had, with assistance from engineers from General Systems, managed to duplicate the complicated ECM suite built into the suits. Production was slated to begin in 2801 when 2 new production lines were completed along with an assembly line for the advanced ECM suites. It was estimated that all 3 lines would be able to produce 120 suits per month by the end of 2804 once the expected production issues were conquered.
In honor of Fleet Admiral Joan Brandt, in 2790 design had begun on a new Corvette to replace the Vigilant Corvette. Designed to be twice the size, it would also have twice the firepower. The armor to rival a Essex II Destroyer in addition to LF batterie to allow rapid deployment. The initial prototype had left it's berth in 2792 and was tested extensively by the Hegemony Navy before being accepted for full production in 2794. The first Division of 6 had been completed in 2796 and the 2nd Division of 6 in 2797 and the final Division of 6 was completed in 2799. The class was named in her honor, Brandt Corvette.
When Mitchell Vehicles Shipyard complex at Zebuluraskai had finally been fully completed in 2794, it contained 10 Pressurized Shipyards able to manufacture ships massing 1 Million tons. These were the most advanced shipyards from the heyday of the Star League, able to manufacture a Luxor Heavy Cruiser in 6 months and an Essex Destroyer in 4 months. On the surface, a massive Dropship complex had been built which enabled 30 Colossus Dropships to be built at the same time. It had been determined that the new Essex III Destroyer was too extensive of a rebuild to upgrade any existing Essex II Destroyer. The existing 10 Essex II Destroyers had been sent to the Zebuluraskai shipyard complex where they were scrapped, the existing Jump Cores were saved and construction began on 10 Essex III Destroyers emerged from their berths in 2796.
Sean Livingston passed away in 2798 before his legacy could be completed, but he had overseen the initial installation of an Olympus Station into the enormous fleet cavern that measured 100km in diameter. In 2796, he had been forced to happily, almost gleefully alter his plans when they reached the central core of the asteroid and discovered the core was an enormous block of ice measuring 85km by 110km. Though this separated the two caverns, it greatly simplified the problem of fuel and water for the massive base. Work continued on the smaller 80km diameter shipyard cavern. The naval base was named Livingston Naval Base in honor of his tireless work on the project. Full completion was not scheduled until 2812.
The Screaming Eagles mercenary command, 250th Battlemech Division, had suffered heavy casualties in service to the Federated Suns. Though these were replaced with volunteers from the Hegemony Armed Forces, the casualties remained a burden on shoulders of Commanding General Rita Mitchell. Baldwin's Cobra's had also seen heavy action and suffered heavy casualties. Even with the almost overwhelming burden, Commanding General Rita Mitchell had formed a 3rd command, The Fighting Urukhai by combining the 238th Striker Regiment, 509th Battle Regiment and 306th Hussar Regiment in 2794 and entering the employ of the Federated Suns in 2795 but covertly.
The 280th Mechanized Infantry Division had fought a brutal campaign against the Free Worlds League invaders until their final destruction in 2790. The nuclear devastation inflicted on the planet by the Free Worlds invaders was horrific. When news of their final fall had reached the Hegemony, Commanding General Rita Mitchell had sat for hours near a quiet pond while the tears had freely flown at their loss.
Link to Part Two Naval Designs
https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=70854.0 Link to Part Two Battlemech Designs
https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=70903.0 Link to Tank/Vehicle Designs
https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=70904.0
