Today, the OSEC is a large and powerful manufacturing corporation that first and foremost develops heavily armoured warships with high reliability and ease of use. They focus mostly on their potent line of Destroyers, though they have recently introduced a new Support/Vanguard Cruiser and a limited-run Dreadnaught. OSEC ships are heavily armoured, but they lack speed.
Statistics
Capital: Orionis Prime
Government Type: Corporate Republic
Leader: CEO Mauyer Irhaltem
Population: approx. 103,500,219,000
Currency: OSEC Bit Ħ (OSĦ1 ≈ GB£2 ≈ US$4)
Num. colonized planets: 38 (10 HCET, 10 LCET, 18 HCNET)
Num. mining operations (including gas mining): 146
Num. uninhabitable: 27
HCET = Highly Colonized Earth-Type (7bil)
LCET = Lightly Colonized Earth-Type (2bil)
HCNET = Highly Colonized Non-Earth-Type (.750bil / 750mil)
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OSEC Warships
Spearhead-class Dreadnaught
Named for the first of it's class, the Spearhead is the largest OSEC ship created. At nearly twice the length of their destroyers, the Spearhead is incredibly durable and well-protected. Currently, only one Spearhead exists and is crewed by the OSEC's elite personnel. That's right; they crew it themselves. But more on that later. The Spearhead is escorted at all times by at least two OSEC Destroyer Lances, but usually three or four.
Earthshaker-class Heavy Beam Cruiser
The newest OSEC design, the Earthshaker is a very heavy mobile beam platform with enough firepower to punch a hole clean through a Vilushan or Ruustiiri Dreadnaught and shear through the shields and hull of smaller craft with ease. This comes at a price, however; the Earthshaker has weaker auxiliary weapons than the destroyers, and is fairly sluggish even for an OSEC ship. Only ships with heavy armour and powerful shields can deflect a shot from the Earthshaker's distinctive cannon.
Arbalest-class Heavy Torpedo Destroyer
A more recent design, the Arbalest is a highly effective and extremely dangerous support destroyer. It primarily stays at range, raining down volleys of heavy ion torpedoes on unshielded foes, heavily damaging armour and internal sections. Arbalests make up the core of a OSEC Destroyer Lance and act as the command ship.
Guardian-class Light Support Destroyer
The Guardian is one of the OSEC's lightest ships, and is an effective if somewhat infrequently used support ship. Striking out with linear magnetic accelerators from great distance, it can gradually whittle down enemy armour and accurately take out key subsystems. The Guardian's Linear MACs should not be mistaken with the Standard MACs featured as standard on many OSEC ships; Linear MACs travel much faster and produce a distinct tracer effect, as well as having a visually distinct turret from the Standard MAC.
Lightbringer-class Heavy Beam Destroyer
One of OSEC's mostly widely known designs, the Lightbringer is a powerful destroyer with a beam-based loadout. The first ship to introduce the heavy ablative armouring for which all OSEC ships are now known, the Lightbringer is a force to be reckoned with even by itself. It was also the first ship to employ Ion Torpedo technology.
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OSEC Craft Formations
OSEC Destroyer Lance
The most common OSEC formation, the Destroyer Lance consists of an Arbalest, two Lightbringers and two Guardians. The Lightbringers engage at short range, whilst the Arbalest coordinates and the Guardians act as fire support.
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OSEC Technology
OSEC are not known for their highly advanced technologies, but what they do have is highly reliable and very refined. Some of their key technologies include beam arrays and the infamous ion torpedoes.
Beam Arrays
There are two beam arrays; the larger 'Aurora', and the smaller 'Borealis'. The former consists of eight smaller guns, and is featured on the Spearhead, whilst the latter consists of six guns and is featured on the Lightbringer. Whilst each beam is relatively weak, they can focus their firepower on a single target, or focus on several different ones.
Ion Torpedoes
Based off advanced technology discovered in old ruins near OSEC's current HQ, the Ion Torpedo is a large bundle of extremely-high-energy particles that explodes to inflict incredible damage on enemy hull sections. They have a very distinctive appearance. Due to the sheer size and power of the bundle, it is impossible to fully stop with point defense weapons, although it's firepower can be reduced somewhat by causing some of the particles to expend their energy too soon.
The Ion Torpedo has also been adapted into a bomb format. The Ion Bomb is much slower moving than the torpedo, but packs an even greater punch and is made for use on bombers. The Ion Bomb has yet to go into official production, as it is still being trialled for a new OSEC bomber prototype.
Standard MAC
Easily identified by their white-hot magnetically accelerated shells, Standard MACs are a staple auxiliary and secondary weapon on OSEC ships. Whilst each shot is individually quite weak against modern armour and easily intercepted by modern point defense systems, sustained Standard MAC fire can bring down even the largest enemies.
Linear MAC
With a very different turret and shot appearance from the Standard MAC, the Linear MAC fires it's shots much faster; fast enough to penetrate armour, in fact. Linear MAC shots can still be intercepted, but not as reliably.
ELLIS
A highly effective and pinpoint accurate defense system, the ELectro-Laser Interception System is standard on all OSEC ships, though the exact number and power of projectors varies between ships.
In this case, the ELLIS puts out enough power to fry incoming shots with ease. This often causes explosives to prematurely detonate, and so on.An electrolaser is a type of electroshock weapon which is also a directed-energy weapon. It uses lasers to form an electrically conductive Laser-Induced Plasma Channel (LIPC). A fraction of a second later, a powerful electric current is sent down this plasma channel and delivered to the target, thus functioning overall as a large-scale, high energy, long-distance version of the Taser electroshock gun.
Alternating current is sent through a series of step-up transformers, increasing the voltage and decreasing the current. The final voltage may be between 10<sup>8</sup> and 10<sup>9</sup> volts. This current is fed into the laser beam.
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OSEC Rankings
As a ship and it's crew becomes more and more experienced, noticeable changes in behaviour and statistics can be found. OSEC repaints it's more experienced ships, with blue being replaced with orange; the more orange a ship is, the more experience it has. The only constantly orange part of a ship is it's ELLIS array, so it is still easy to tell a new ship from an experienced one. Intel reports that ships may exceed a fully orange rank, which leads to darker colours and darker hull paint for otherwise unpainted sections.
Higher-ranking ships may also recieve additional equipment and special modules.
Kill-scoring; a confirmed kill is a kill in which the ship is recorded as having participated in. Certain ships may count for more or less kills, depending on their size relative to the participating ship. A confirmed kill is worth double for the ship that strikes the killing blow. If no clear killer can be confirmed, then all ships are awarded an extra half-kill. In particularly large pirate engagements, it is possible for Alpha-rank ships to jump up to Theta-rank with ease.
Αα Alpha (+0% overall, +0% weapon)
A fresh ship and crew are of Alpha status.
Ββ Beta (+1% overall, +5% weapon)
To attain Beta status, a ship must have seen at least one fight, whether or not it claimed any kills.
Γγ Gamma (+2% overall, +10% weapon)
Gamma status requires two combats and/or five confirmed kills.
Δδ Delta (+3% overall, +15% weapon)
Delta status requires four combats and/or ten confirmed kills.
Εε Epsilon (+4% overall, +20% weapon)
Epsilon status is also known as The Full Orange, and requires five combats and at least fifteen confirmed kills. At this stage, all non-ablative armour blue sections are orange.
Ζζ Zeta (+5% overall, +25% weapon)
Zeta status requires seven combats and at least twenty-five confirmed kills.
Ηη Eta (+6% overall, +30% weapon)
Eta status requires nine combats and at least thirty-five confirmed kills.
Θθ Theta (+8% overall, +35% weapon)
Theta status requires twelve combats and at least fifty confirmed kills.
Ιι Iota (+10% overall, +40% weapon)
Iota status requires fifteen combats and at least sixty-nine confirmed kills.
Κκ Kappa (+12% overall, +45% weapon)
Kappa status requires eighteen combats and at least eighty confirmed kills.
Λλ Lambda (+15% overall, +50% weapon)
Lambda status requires twenty two combats and at least one hundred confirmed kills.
Μμ Mu (+18% overall, +55% weapon)
Mu status requires twenty four combats and at least one hundred and twenty-five confirmed kills.
Ξξ Xi (+23% overall, +60% weapon)
Xi status requires twenty eight combats and at least one hundred and fifty confirmed kills.
Οο Omicron (+26% overall, +65% weapon)
Omicron status requires thirty five combats and at least two hundred confirmed kills.
Ππ Pi (+30% overall, +70% weapon)
Pi status requires fourty combats and at least two hundred and fifty confirmed kills.
Ρρ Rho (+34% overall, +75% weapon)
Rho status requires fourty five combats and at least three hundred confirmed kills.
Σσς Sigma (+38% overall, +80% weapon)
Sigma status requires fifty combats and at least three hundred and seventy five confirmed kills.
Ττ Tau (+43% overall, +85% weapon)
Tau status requires sixty combats and four hundred and fifty confirmed kills.
Υυ Upsilon (+45% overall, ~+90% weapon)
Upsilon status requires seventy combats and five hundred and twenty five confirmed kills.
Φφ Phi (+46% overall, ~+95% weapon)
Phi status requires eighty five combats and a grand total of six hundred confirmed kills.
Χχ Chi (+47% overall, ~+100% weapon)
Chi status requires one hundred combats and a grand total of seven hundred confirmed kills.
Ψψ Psi (+48% overall, ~+100% weapon)
Psi status requires one hundred and twenty five combats and a grand total of eight hundred and fifty kills.
Ωω Omega (+50% overall, ~+100% weapon)
Omega status requires one hundred and fifty combats with over a thousand kills.
The highest attainable rank, Omega is held only by the OSEC Tarantula, an elite Guardian-class that is rarely seen. Rumours suggest that the OSEC Tarantula fits a state of the art cloaking device and patrols OSEC space for months at a time stamping out myriad pirate and raider bases, as well as having a confirmed kill count in the thousands.
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Notable OSEC Ships
OSEC Tarantula - Guardian-class
Heavily improved over the original model, the Tarantula is the most experienced ship in the OSEC fleet, and the only to attain Omega status. As seen here, it sports a very distinctive colour scheme and additional defensive systems. The Tarantula is a one-ship armada and is not to be trifled with.
OSEC Spearhead - Spearhead-class
The original Spearhead herself. Seen here in her Zeta-class markings, the Spearhead attained this status after the her first engagement with the THV due to the sheer size and power difference between the two ships.
