Fire and Fortune sees extensive changes to Sirius, introducing a number of new ships, mysterious systems, a revised economy, extensive combat rebalances, player owned base refining and much more.
Combat balance has been extensively overhauled, with a number of ship classes receiving new roles and purposes. Powerful Battlecruisers now feature destructible components that dramatically affect battlefield performance. Gunboats are now fast-paced and aggressive combatants, making heavy use of depth charge-like mines and deadly forward cannons. Fighters and bombers have received an array of special weapons that allow them to tailor their combat style to player preference.
The Year is 833 AS.
Dublin has fallen. More than 80 years of bloodshed, death and tragedy have led to this. Graves Station lies in ruins, the Jump Gate destroyed. The Mollys have claimed dominion over the system and its Gold, although they will be hard pressed to hold what they have taken. Corsairs have invaded in force, while a mortally wounded Bretonia imposes a blockade, content to allow their two mortal enemies to butcher one another.
Kyushu is devastated. An unprecedented monsoon season has seen Kyushu's cities flooded and countless farming collectives devastated. Humanitarian aid has poured in from across Kusari and surrounding regions, however Food exports have ceased. Samura's bitter rival Synth Foods has already begun to exploit this opportunity, striking distribution arrangements with Kishiro Technologies for Synth Paste within Kusari, sparking brutal reprisals by the Farmers Alliance.
The Insurgency is decimated. A gruelling campaign over several years has seen the Liberty Navy push the Insurgency out of Pennsylvania, then rout them from Kansas and finally trap them in their stronghold of Vespucci. In the resulting siege, renegade forces would fight a valiant last stand, but they were ultimately no match for the military might of Liberty and its many monied interests. Liberty now ponders what to do with the Insurgent refugees and prisoners interned on Planet Erie.
Rheinland bleeds in Dresden. The Red Hessian capture of Dresden has long been a wound to Rheinland's national pride. Desperately needing a victory to bolster support for the post-Civil War consensus government, well laid plans were assembled to expel the pirates and reconquer Dresden's rich mineral fields. A foolhardy proclamation by the newly crowned Emperor would scupper the element of surprise, resulting in grievous casualties for the Rheinland Military. Sensing the Hessians' weakness, the Corsairs have now deployed their own forces, intent on finishing the job.
Malta lays ravaged by revolt. After decades of hubristic greed, the Outcasts' Cardimine plantations burned. With an economy built on slaves abducted from the Houses, the Outcasts were caught entirely flatfooted by a planetwide uprising. Outcasts withdrew from Sirius overnight, returning home to put down the revolt. The Cardimine distribution network fell into chaos, and their enemies rapidly took advantage of the vacuum. Three years later, the Outcast scourge has returned to punish such insolence.
Freeport 9 has been annexed. After years of grievances and disputes, the Corsairs have struck at the Zoners of Omicron Theta. With the Outcasts distracted by the Maltese Slave Revolt, the Corsairs moved unopposed to board and occupy the station, massacring any Bounty Hunters aboard and taking the Zoner crew hostage. Spiralling tensions with the Zoner community and the return of the Outcasts has pitched Theta into a state of open warfare.
The Gammu AI have been scattered. The inscrutable machines of Planet Gammu have long been eyed with avarice by The Core, a militaristic Edge World corporation. With the Corsairs overextended and Outcasts preoccupied, they launched a blitz invasion of Gammu. Perplexingly, the AI scattered and fled rather than fight, ultimately finding refuge in the deep Omicrons and with sympathetic groups like The Technocracy. The Core has begun tearing apart the planet's technology, intent on stealing its secrets for profit and power.
A sinister new mystery emerges. In 831, Sirius' Jump Gate network was unexpectedly plunged into darkness. Frenzied research to deduce the cause revealed an unsettling anomaly in hyperspace. The newly recalibrated Ageira Super Gate in Alaska and a Kusari breakthrough with the Kishiro Jump Drive allowed bold pioneers to investigate this anomaly. What they discovered should not have been possible - a stable pocket in hyperspace, outside the bounds of reality. Within, an ancient alien relic unlike anything encountered by humanity, surrounded by the twisted wreckage of lost ships without number.
