This entry continues on with my thoughts in Pencils down, Technology Freeze, only instead of technical details, this will cover historical events and the timeline of this specific mission prior to the start of the game.

Historical Events

The story takes place in an alternate timeline where nuclear power was discovered in the 19th century. The first world war included nuclear powered battleships and nuclear weapons.

Mission Timeline Events

Iliad-01 (EV Ovid / PY11202102)

Iliad-01 was a technology demonstrator, adapted from a Gilgamesh class deep space mining vessel. It never left the Sol system, and had only enough agriculture and manufacturing infrastructure to conduct feasibility studies. The ship continues to serve as a fuel mining/processing vessel, with most of the facilties reverted back to its Gilgamesh class designs.

Block-1

Block 1 had sufficient space to take 300 crew several light years and back. It had farms on board, but lacked the room to accommodate population growth and genetic diversity for an indefinte mission. It was designed with a return trip in mind.

Block-2

Block 2 was the first attempt to make a vessel that could handle longer range missions. The Krasnovian empire asserted control over any star system within 10 ly of Sol. Vessels had to target systems outside of that range. Block 2 started as an enlarged design of Block 1. Two ships were planned and laid down. By the end of the construction of the first vessel, it was apparent they would be uneconomical to produce in bulk. The supersized bearings between the habitat ring and the could withstand prolong rotation, but not prolonged thrust, thus limiting the vessel's operating life to less than 30 years.

These vessels were equipped with fuel processing facilities, and thus could scavenge the outer Sol system (or a remote star system) for their own fuel supplies instead of becoming a strain on ISTO logistics.

Block-3

Block 3 was fresh design incorporating all of the lessons learned in Block 2. These craft, with missions lasting hundreds of Earth years, had to be able to operate indefinitely. Among these lessons:

Notable vessels of the class, to date:

Iliad-07 Vessel History