// This post is intended as an IRP prelude to the 4.86 miningmod changes - To inform your faction of where resources of interest are within it's operational area.
Tau-37 survey:
The Tau-37 system offers the richest deposits of Niobium known to us - at the most insane risks. It is known to us now that this system borders the Outcast homeworld, which explains their almost fanatical efforts to drive us from the system. All miners operating from Falkland do so voluntarily - and are fully aware of the risks, and the potential profit if you survive. Eventually, however, it is likely that we will have to cede this system and consolidate in Tau 23. Either that or strike a deal with the Maltans, but that is not likely to happen anytime soon. It is uncertain what impact the arrival of the Gallic fleet in the Taus will have on Tau-37.
Tau-23 survey:
Tau-23 has become a significant hub in the Tau systems. With Bretonia now firmly ejected, we find ourselves in the uneasy role of appeasing the house responsible for that: Gallia. It is uncertain what their intentions towards the Tau borderworlds are, thus far they seem hellbent on making a beeline for Bretonia, through Lewis. But we must not forget the taskfleet that laid waste to the Colonial bases in Tau-44.
Still, life must go on. Neutrality has suited us before, and might do so now. With BMM gone, the Beryllium deposits are once again available to us, along with the still plentiful Niobium deposits. We've gone so far as to expand Java to facilitate it's new role as the upper Tau hub. Both Gallia and Kusari can purchase raw and refined materials there.
Omega-7 survey:
Increased Rheinland pressure to push us out of the Omega 7 system over the past years has led us to believe they will eventually try to do so by force. While the Red Hessians offer an effective counter to this, we estimate it is only a matter of time until Rheinland attempts to annex the entire system, and seize Freistadt. We have thus focused our prospecting as far away from the Rheinish bases as possible, directing them to the far northwest of the system. Resources there exist only in small, but dense pockets. We have selected a small zone that offers patches of Copper, Cobalt and Silver, and directed our asteroid miners there to reaffirm our claim on those deposits.
Omega-3 survey:
It appears an unusual visitor has graced the Omega-3 system. A small, icy planetoid has fallen into the Omega-3 star's gravity well. As with all new planetary bodies discovered, we dispatched a surveyor ship to check if it had resources that could be exploited... it does. The icy layers of the comet are laced with chunks of Cobalt-rich rock. As the sun evaporates these layers, these chunks are blown clear and float free in the comet tail. Small mining transports should be able to grab these with relative ease. Aland can serve as a launching point for such operations.
Cambridge survey:
Output of the Cardiff facility has not changed significantly since it's establishment, which can only be accredited to our methods of systemic, rather then stripmining. The Cardiff field shows no signs of having reached the limits of it's operational viability. A point of concern is the discovery of the larger Beryllium field north of planet Cambridge. This field will most likely be claimed by the BMM, and given the current situation within Bretonia, it's unlikely a challenge to that will be successful. Recommend we extract as much of this field prior to being locked out. Knowing BMM, they'll initiate their usual destructive stripmining technique to extract more resources from the field, and exhaust it in under a century.
Dublin survey:
A large, continuous engagement between Mollies and Corsairs seems to have had an adverse side-effect. A Molly ammunition transport carrying nuclear mines was hit during the engagement. The resulting explosion chained into a large portion of the mines inside the asteroid field, causing the whole southern end of the Arranmore field to detonate - and at the same time putting an end to the fighting in the field. The field itself became the chief casualty, with a large portion of the asteroid being blown into outer space, or disperse beyond the point where mining is viable. This leaves the Omega 49 jumphole now in the open.
The remaining fields in the northeast and east are still contested. The Armed Forces has stepped up patrols in the field closest to Graves - and the Mollies, naturally, contest that presence. The two fields northeast of the Hood are the ones we focus our own mining on - the one closest to the Hood has only small amounts left, but still viable, and the safer option in case trouble arrives. The one further away offers more resources, but is more risky - Corsair and other criminal precenses are still severe.
Wide awake in a world that sleeps, enduring thoughts, enduring scenes. The knowledge of what is yet to come.
From a time when all seems lost, from a dead man to a world, without restraint, unafraid and free.
Mostly retired Discovery member. May still visit from time to time.
