24th of January was a moment of celebration as the German shipyard opened. German scientists and engineers had worked around the clock to ensure that SMS Scharnhorst could be laid down immediately:
Scharnhorst class Survey Corvette 4,000 tons 90 Crew 369.3 BP TCS 80 TH 30 EM 0
375 km/s Armour 1-22 Shields 0-0 HTK 22 Sensors 0/0/0/1.0 DCR 1-2 PPV 0
Maint Life 1.62 Years MSP 57 AFR 128% IFR 1.8% 1YR 26 5YR 383 Max Repair 50 MSP
Fregattenkapitän Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months CDE 10% Morale Check Required
AG Vulcan Con-Eng 10/10-100 (3) Power 30 Fuel Use 100% Signature 10 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 585,800 Litres Range 26.4 billion km (813 days at full power)
Conventional Geological Survey Sensors (5) 1.0 Survey Points Per Hour
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Survey Ship for auto-assignment purposes
However, what they had not realized was that the shipyard was only capable of assembling a 1,000 ton aether vessels at first. While the workers continued to expand the yard, factories back in Germany were tasked to built as many components as possible to ensure that, once the shipyard was big enough, the survey corvette could be built in a rapid manner.
By mid-February, the British learned about the German plans and grew concerned enough to revisit their Sojourn class scout design. Hastily stripping it down to only one sensor and one engine, it would be just 2,200 tons. To ensure that the Union Jack would fly first on Odin, Admiralty ordered components to be built by industry.
Sojourn class Scout 2,200 tons 45 Crew 131.9 BP TCS 44 TH 25 EM 0
568 km/s Armour 1-15 Shields 0-0 HTK 10 Sensors 0/0/0/0.2 DCR 1-4 PPV 0
Maint Life 3.09 Years MSP 37 AFR 39% IFR 0.5% 1YR 6 5YR 87 Max Repair 50 MSP
Lieutenant Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months CDE 10% Morale Check Required
Vulcan Con-Eng 25/25-100 (1) Power 25 Fuel Use 63.25% Signature 25 Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 253,800 Litres Range 32.8 billion km (668 days at full power)
Conventional Geological Survey Sensors (1) 0.2 Survey Points Per Hour
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Survey Ship for auto-assignment purposes
On 27th February, American scientists alerted Washington to the fact that, it was highly likely that anything found on Odin would be useless unless there were men present with specialist knowledge, something they called Xenoarchaeology. Furthermore, these xenoarchaeologists would need special equipment to survive and work on hostile environments. Their case was heard and the US changed its research priorities. Europeans might get to Odin first but it was going to be the Americans who solved its mysteries.
On 18th September, Austria became the final power to discover Conventional Advanced Composite Armour. This delay was due to their lack of a proper DS scientist. They also continued with Xenoarchaeology research.
The year ended with construction starting on the Japanese shipyard, leaving Italy as the last power to have not even started constructing a shipyard yet.