[fh] nederlander space kingdom was Re: [IFWG] Timeline update

right ...

On Mon, 25 Jan 1999, Laserlight wrote:
> >jim clem wrote:
> >> I need to speak to the Great Seer of Stellar Sites myself.  I've
pegged
> >> the NCS to hold three systems as of 2183.
> What is this "Three Star System Power" fetish?  I have three, New
Israel has
> three (not counting Tzfat, und IF occupation), RH, IC, LLAR have three
each.

well, the netherlands star kingdom has seven, if that helps.

and so it begins, not with a bang, but with a whimper.

i got to thinking about designing ships, and realised that my designs
were
looking for a star nation to build them. i was thinking of saying they
were modified nac designs, but the fleet doctrine was so off-beam it
wouldn't have stuck. so, i thought to myself: who is there who hasn't
got
much attention from the amateur kingmakers on gzg-l? well, there's the
dutch. job's a good 'un.

the dutch win big on several points: european, so i can identify a bit
better; a kingdom, so i still get a royal navy; historical naval power,
so
i get a *big* royal navy; invented total football; huge marijuana trade
(and hence frequent wars with indonesian opium fleets and  
bavarian-controlled drugs cartels :-); and, mostly, all the dutch people
i 
know are great guys/gals.

the only word of dutch i know is 'ontploffing', which means 'explosion'.
it's not a bad start.

what do we know about the dutch? well, from the timeline: they got out
of
the fse in 2102, but stayed out of the nsl. they send heavy cruisers
against the french (on the sly) in the "liberte" scenario in ft. along
with the nac, the nsl, and the fct, they drove the kv off from
Rheinhold,
the first major human victory against the kv.

so, unless anyone has any prior claim, or there are official reasons the
dutch can't be detailed in, or anyone else wants to have some say in
this
(and please do!), i'll stake my claim and work on designs, fleet rosters
and history for the dutch. i wouldn't mind someone to fill in some
dirtside details - other than an overdeveloped royal marines, i have no
idea what the army'll be like.

here's a start, saying something about attitude. the reply of Grand
Admiral Oosterhaven, on being asked what should be built with the 2185
War
Emergency Budget Supplement: "freighters.".

fleet doctrine is centred around speed - provisionally, all ships will
have thrust six. this means capitals which can maneuver like light
cruisers, which will hopefully scare the bejeesus out of most people. it
also helps sooth my sml paranoia. the fleet is heavy on capitals, as (a)
i
think this is generally a good idea and (b) it helps a smaller power
punch
above its weight in major battles. escorts will mostly also have thrust
six - what's the point of escorts which go faster than the ships they
escort? oh, and the Skunk class special operations frigate ...

Tom

ps general plea to the cartographers - given that the next few months /
years will see a boom in the number of unofficial nations (i'm sure the
gzgpedia will be a spur), let's not be too quick over allocating stars,
ok? why not leave it a while, and then allocate, say, one in five
habitable systems. this does mean known space will go out to a much
bigger
radius than before, but it gives us room to grow.