Throughout the Civil War, the Confederation has maintained its comparative advantage in technology. The Confederation Space Navy (CSN) has also benefitted from having large numbers of easily modernizable warships.
While the Rebel navy has made technological advances in the areas of shield regeneration and plasma weaponry, which enable them to contest Confederation dominion of the colonized worlds, they have not been able to match the CSN in the area of prolonged fleet actions. With the exception of the Battle of Adhara in 2241, where numerical superiority and sound tactics forced the Confederation to withdraw from the system after a 33-hour 1500-ship engagement, leaving it in control of Rebel forces, the Confederation has been victorious in every major fleet action of the war.
Over the last three years, not a single system has changed hands as Rebellion tactics have changed to a combination of diplomacy and hit-and-fade. To counter Rebel military doctrine, CSN assets have been deployed in the fashion of a Cordon strategy, similar to the tactic used by the Roman Empire against the Ostrogoths and Visigoths in the fourth and fifth centuries. Large garrisons of Confed warships have been assigned to permanent station in the Core worlds to repel these attacks. Both sides claim victory. In sum, the current status of the Civil War is that of stalemate.
The next major phase of the war may be underway. Large cruiser-heavy squadrons of both navies have begun rounds of what are referred to as strikes-on-station. Cruiser heavy squadrons, and to a lesser extent, destroyer squadrons supported by heavy fighters, enter enemy or contested systems and establish superiority of the aerospace. Once aerospace superiority is established, the invading force remains on station and downs enemy shipping as it arrives in-system. In the case of worlds lacking defensive squadrons of capital ships, mounting an effective defense is determined by the speed of communications and the speed at which a cruiser-grade counter-force can be assembled. As ships are readily available in this phase of the Civil War, strikes-on-station usually last less than one week, but are very disruptive. If enough vessels can be built, strikes-on-station into systems around a target world could serve as precursors to orbital assaults and the capture of target worlds. At this time, attrition rates are such that few ships can be spared for these kinds of actions, but if the Cordon/Hit-and-fade grand strategies continue at their current rates, this type of warfare will begin in earnest in a few years.
With the failure of diplomacy on the part of both the Confederation and Rebellion and the formal creation of a new, albiet weak, government sworn to neutrality, the emphasis on the resolution of the Civil War has turned to the development of new, more effective weapons. This 'arms race' has been largely Confederation-led.
The Confederation's comparative advantage consists in power generation and particle projector weaponry. The Confederation's Great War-era ships were originally constructed with alot of their internal volume unutilized. Meaning they were well-suited to future expansion. Rather than construct new types of ships, serial modernizations of existing platforms and the continued manufacture of old, reliable designs have been Confed naval doctrine. The Rebellion has taken advantage of this by developing more responsive ships, but their inability to match Confed power generation has limited them in critical areas, namely raw shield output, the overall effectiveness of cruiser-grade primary weapons, and the sophistication of weapons across the spectrum. For instance, effective, yet crude, heavy rockets constitute the primary armaments of Rebel destroyers whereas clusters of neutron cannons arm Confed frigates. The heavy neutron particle projectors of Confed cruisers do not have Rebel equivalents. And the highly destructive prototype proton beam turrets of the CSN, now in limited service on select Confed cruisers, are a generation ahead of Rebel plasma technologies in sophistication and reliability.
The Rebellion has benefited the most from adaptability, flexibility, and creativity. Whereas the Confederation has developed sophisticated high-power cruiser-grade armaments, the Rebellion has engineered cruiser-grade plasma swivel cannons of similar destructive capacities. But as they draw hydrogen fuel, their effectiveness falls off as the duration of battle increases. The limitations imposed by this technology are factors in the Rebel High Command's doctrine of hit-and-fade and strike-on-station warfare.
The power requirements of cruiser-grade plasma swivel cannons are such that they can outfit Rebel destroyers, and two-cannon arrays are currently being evaluated on the type. Plans for the next serial modernization of Confed frigates are underway. 'Foxtrot' iteration frigates will have more powerful cannon arrays, a new shield generator, and possibly a small gunboat bay enabling the type to operate 2 gunboats. Some examples are in service.
Overall, the Rebellion is fielding two new resources to help it keep pace. Plasma quads, which are fuel-intensive, are undergoing evaluation on select Rebel cruisers for possible wide-spread use on all warships. They are twice as destructive as proton bolt quads and have only a fraction of the power requirements. Second, the Rebel striker, a supremely effective fighter craft rapidly establishing a reputation as the best in the colonized worlds, has entered mass production and supplements the Rebel fleet.
CDX-Palshife designed the striker to win the war, and it represents a radical departure from previous designs. Although there is provision for an internal cannon armament, no cannons are mounted. Instead, two rocket launchers and a voluminous internal magazine constitute the primary armament and an extensive missile armament covers area defense. Most noteworthy is where the power generated by its sizable power core is directed. The ship boasts Rapier-level shields and such mobility as to enable it to operate seamlessly within Manta squadrons. Since the inception of this type, Rebel carriers, properly escorted and utilized, have become effective offensive tools. And there is talk that once sufficient numbers of Rebel strikers become available, they will outfit Rebel cruisers.
In sum, despite technological limitations, the Rebellion continues to wage effective war against the Confederation. And new tactics, doctrines, and political dynamics within the colonized worlds indicate that the war's outcome will remain questionable. Insofar as humanity is concerned, many are weary of conflict. As evidenced from the favor with which YemCon has been received among the independents, and the tolerance, or more precisely, the ignore-ance with which it has been received by Palshife and Sol, those not involved in the Civil War are determined to stay out of it and create their own peace.
