Date: Tue, 26 Aug 1997 09:47:03 GMT Server: NCSA/1.5.2 Last-modified: Fri, 25 Oct 1996 09:01:11 GMT Content-type: text/html Content-length: 4676
The blockade lasted for 72 years, from 5652 to 5724 (Imperial calendar 1131-1203). During this time number of refugee and virus ships approached Vyborg, and the resulting naval battles are called "The Virus Wars". Because the virus threat was so severe, all foreign starships were considered to be hostile. When a foreign ship was detected, it was given a short warning using hailing channels, and asked to jump out of the system. Refugee ships were allowed to skim fuel and jump, but if the ship attempted to approach any settled planets, it was attacked. Vyborg Navy would not accept any excuses to land on planets, and would not take part in conversations.
"We are not merchants. We do not make any deals."
Kapt. K. Mattila
14th Fighter Wing
CA "Karjala" 5654.
This period of campaign history was played as a series of refereed Billion Credit Squadron games using Brilliant Lances space combat rules.
Billion Credit Squadron is a lightened version of Trillion Credit Squadron. In BCS each player is given a budget of billion credits, which is used to build and maintain a small fleet of starships.
In Virus Wars campaign the attacking player (virus) starts the game with billion credits, and gets a random amount of resources every year (infected ships). He does not pay for crew salaries, and can decide when and where he attacks. However, the amount of resources is reduced every year (his ships are not serviced) and he can't repair critical battle damages.
The native player (Vyborgian) starts with billion credits and has steady annual income. He can salvage any disabled virus ships, repair them in starports, and build new ships. However, he must pay for all crew salaries and services, and his income is reduced if virus ships destroy any of his production facilities.
Instead of using normal crew quality rules, Vyborgian player is given large number of computer-generated Traveller characters. The player can pick suitable characters for crew positions, and can pay for their training. After a navel battle, all surviving characters are automatically given experience points according to their position in fighting ship. (that is, a MFD gunner gets experience on sensors and gunnery, etc)
After a shaky start, Virus Wars become a war of resources. In the very first combats it become clear that Vyborgian player could not afford to use missile corvettes. The cost of full reload of TL-13 missiles for a Valor-Class missile corvette is 46MCr. It is possible to build a small starship or a couple of fighters with the same amount of money. Eventually missiles were used only with fighters, and all larger ships were armed with unmanned X-ray lasers turrets and spinal particle accelerators.
The Vyborgian ship designs evolved greatly during these games. One thing that affected the ship designs was that some of our players were studying Space Technology at this time (course 72680 in Tampere University of Technology), and I am still using Spacecraft systems engineering manual as a source book when I am making FFS designs.
At the end of Virus Wars, the best Vyborgian ships were armed with bay-mounted synchrotron particle accelerators, and were equipped with free-electron deflectors.
Virus Wars ended after 44 virus attacks. At the end of the campaign, virus player run out of resources while Vyborgian player had build a strong fleet from captured virus ships. Because of the crew rules, many Vyborgian ships were eventually manned with Crack crews, and some surviving crew members were no longer mere characters. They are Legends.