Lunar Corporation

The Lunar Corporation (LC) is one of the factions in the Earth series. It makes debut in Earth 2150 and continues to be a major power in its expansion packs and sequel.

History

The LC logo

John Fisher was born in 1976. Since his ealry childhood he had been fascinated by the cosmos, spending his days dreaming of space flights and inventing new technology. The walls of his small bedroom were always covered with science fiction posters. Unfortunately his dreamy nature didn't endear him to his teachers, and he was generally considered a poor student, despite an occasional good grade in math or science. After finishing high school, he entered State University and got his college diploma. Then he took up a job as a scientist in a small private laboratory. Although the pay wasn't bad, something was missing. The child dreamer could hardly be content devoting his life to doing trivial analysis jobs for whatever large corporation happened to be paying the bill. He knew he didn't have the patience to be an inventor, but he still wanted to achieve his most avid schoolboy dream ... to take mankind into space. But how could he turn this quest into reality? His lack of money ruled out establishing his own research center. So he abandoned the "go it alone" approach and put his greatest asset -- his passioante, contagious belief in "THE DREAM" -- to good use. Within a few months he had convinced 10 wealthy, famous industrialists to sponsor his project. Soon he had assembled an efficient research team whose members had been thoroughly infected by Fisher's optimism. In 2002, despite his young age, he was appointed head of the Lunar Corporation. At that time, the corporation, or LC as it was affectionately reffered to, was growing rapidly, making tremendous technological strides. This cumlminated in 2012 - 2014 with the LC taking over the American organization, NASA. As the new holder of nearly all space patents, (the most important Russian ones were acquired soon afterwards) the LC was now in a position to take the first major step into the unknown. In 2025 construction began on an orbital city. After more than a few trials and tribulations, in 2034 one of Fisher's dreams became true - Orbital City I was officially opened.

And the Grand Opening came not a moment too soon, for the situation on Earth was detoriating rapidly. Storm clouds - in the form of political tensions and an ever-deepening economic depression - were gathering on the horizon. The LC was ale to charge exorbitant sums from the wealthy for tiny residences in Orbital City I.

With its coffers overflowing and a long waiting list, the LC began construction of Orbital City II as well as the far more ambitious Luna Project, which would create the first permanent settlements on the moon. In 2040 it became clear that war was inevitable, and the only guarantee of survival was to move far away from the coming atomic bloodbath. So work on Orbital City II was suspended and all resources poured into the Luna project. Soon the LC was busily transporting completed materials to the Moon.

Work on the lunar city, now known simply as Luna, progressed rapidly, with people moving into each new sector the moment its construction was complete. When war did finally break out in 2048, all Orbital City I citizens were moved to Luna and the Lunar Corporation severed all contact with Earth. This was the start of the city's existence as a self-sufficient, independent community. It was governed by 10 people on the Supervisory Board of the Lunar Corporation. The now gray-haired John Fisher was voted in as the first president.

But not all was rosy. Cracks appeared as time went by. The majority of the inhabitants had been extremely wealthy people who had led very cofortable lives on Earth. Now forced to live in rough, primitive conditions and do hard, physical labor, they had started grumbling - loudly. The Supervisory Board passed a series of edits designed to tighten discipline and force obedience from the citizens. In response, the citizens revolted. The aging president was removed from power. His declining health had long ago turned him into little more than a figurehead. It was clearly impossible for him to take full control of the situation. The rebellion was surpressed in a sea of blood and it's ringleaders killed by simply pushing them through an air lock without spacesuits. A few weeks after that, John Fisher died. Despite all that had happened, his loss was mourned by the entire colony and served to stifle the agression of the two opposing sides. A rather uneasy truce was called, and this brought stability to the colony. The community then elected a judge to the Supervisory Board. His duty was to stop friction between the population and the government. He was empowered to remove the membership status of any Supervisory Board member whose attitude or deeds might destablize the colony. This form of governemnt strengthened national stability and discouraged political intrigue. Each member of the Supervisory Board knew that any attempt to strengthen his own position could put an end to his career. John Fisher's son, Natan, well tutored by his father, became the new president.

A new order had finally arrived and with it a new philosophy was starting to take root. The maxim was, "a man's worth as an individual is based on the benefit he brings to the society."

A citizen's status was defined by his knowledge, skills and diligence - and how he put those to work. Upon leaving elementary school, each child was given a test for individual skills and coaxed into the occupation deemed most beneficial to the colony. In the social hierarchy scientists were clearly at the top, since they were responsible for the colony's future - after all, the colony owed its very existence to solving the many problems associated with life in space. To improve these living conditions, several research groups were formed to begin examining the Moon's surface. In just a few months, the scientists fom Luna's Research Center succeeded in developing technologies essential for the colony's survival and evolution.

In 2061, a scientific expedition encountered a series of caves with high radiation level. More research uncovered a deserted Alien base. This discovery spread panic throughout the society. A special group was immediately created under the leadership of Prof. Atomi Hakura and a makeshift laboratory was buit near the caves. The research lasted for many years, with the laboratory gradually expanding until it became a separate city itself. It was given the rather uninspired name Luna II.

Around this time a wrecked alien space ship was found off the coast of Mare Imbrium. Extensive examinations showed that it possessed and unknown form of propulsion. To discover just what secrets lay behind it, a special team consisting of the best specialists in particle physics was created. Finally, after 6 years of intensive research, the scientists proudly presented anti-gravitational propulsion to the lunar colony.

Extraterrestrial technologies were not the only field to capture the scientists' interest, however. In 2070, some very peculiar crystals had been discovered. They expanded very rapidly when placed in a strong magnetic field and could absorb elements from the grounds around them. Further research proved that utilizing these crystals in the construction of vehicles and buildings was a very inexpensive way of enhancing their resistance.

At the end of the 70s, Prof. Hakura was in charge of a Mars terra-forming project and in 2085, the first unmanned anti-gravitational ship was sent to Mars on a fact-finding mission. More ships were sent in 2090. Their mission over the next 100 terrestrial years was to make Mars a great place to live.

While this was going on, the scientists working on alien technology discovered how magnetic shields operated. This enabled construction of space ships capable of interplanetary travel without exposing passengers and crew to solar radiation.

Hope spread through the colony like wildfire. Could the population exodus plan drawn up by the Board really be feasible? The next 50 years were spent sending ships to Mars in order to create living conditions suitable for human beings. A man-made greenhouse effect increased the temperature to 15° C, rising a little each year. The scientists predicted that in 20 years they could melt the ice cap to provide enough water to sustain life on the Red Planet.

In 2150 the long-dreaded Great war finally broke out, sending Earth down a headlong path towards destruction. And this cosmic disaster would eventually engulf the moon as well. Faced with this horrifying reality, the citizens of Luna turned their efforts to constructing yet another home - one far enough away from the long-suffering Blue Planet. But for this project they require lots of natural resources, far more than the barren Moon can offer. So it's back to Earth, and a battle for which they were woefully unprepared.

However, shortly after landing their forces on Earth and establishing their Main Base, they received a gift that made up for their inexperience; Fang. Fang was a veteran from the Great War and piloted an Alien craft with anti-gravitational capabilites and an exeptionally effective plasma beam weapon. Fang was sent to the LC by the president of the UCS with a proposal of peace. Instead of fighting each other, the president suggested allying against the ED forces under Khan Vladimir II. Furthermore, the LC scientists were allowed to "take a peak" at Fang's alien ship and examine it.

While, initially, this alliance prospered and was victorious against the ED forces, the UCS betrayed the LC in their greed for the mineral resources. Fang, however, remained loyal.

When Earth was destroyed near the end of 2150, The LC managed to build bases on Mars, where the ED evacuation vessels also later landed. The Lunar Corporation was always the most peace-loving of the three powers, but their pacifism has meanwhile become an on-going farce. Gone are the days of their official message of peace and goodwill to all men. They love pointing out the aggressive qualities of the ED, but they weren't exactly all peace and bright shining love themselves when the ED were trying to get their people settled on Mars in 2160. Instead of trying to help them, they fought them - when and where they could.

Their secret biological weapons research doesn't exactly fit in either with the “Love and Peace” message that the LC likes to convey to the world.

Nonetheless, the LC allied with the ED and UCS forces to destroy a common threat -- the Aliens on Eden.

Technologies & Arsenals

Undoubtedly, LC is the most technologically advanced faction among the humankind, evidenced by its rather “extraterrestrial” architecture and unit-design, probably attributed to its constant struggle to survive on the Moon, which demands ceaseless breakthroughs in scientific research, especially those generated by studying alien relics.

Yet participating a global conflict in a haste do prevents LC’s war machine from bringing out its full potential. However after escaping the doomed Earth-Moon System, the experience gained during the war enables it being much more readily to defend itself in future.

In Earth 2150 & Expansion Packs

Base Construction & Maintenance

Unlike ED and UCS, LC constructs buildings directly in the orbit and airdrops them to pre-selected destinations, such mechanism is a double-edged sword: On one hand, it can quickly set up a base almost at anywhere as soon as the site is surveyed; but on the other hand, the orbital construction center can only queue up a few orders, and during the process of landing, those structures are extremely fragile and can be easily shot down.

All buildings and units of LC self-regenerate over time should they’re damaged, the only way of recovering for LC doesn’t possess Repairers, but the efficiency is painfully low. To counter this problem, LC deploys “Regenerators” to accelerate the process, also attempts to capture Repairers from enemies on battlefields.

On the contrary, LC has the best shielding technologies, this advantage is even furthered by the exclusive “Shield Recharger”.

Later in the war, LC fields its own builder units on the ground, taken the inspiration from ED’s Gruz and UCS’ Mammoth.

Energy Production & Distribution

Since the Moon cannot provide fossil fuel and nuclear fuel, LC turns to the only viable alternative: Solar energy. But when fielded on Earth, there are two issues need to be addressed: Weather and nights. The solutions are using Weather Control Center (also LC's WMD) to keep the sky clear, and store surplus electricity with massive batteries.

LC bases are powered by Solar Powerplants, each of them is consisted by a main building and can be added to up to 10 Solar Panels, these panels automatically align themselves to the Sun, and fold up like mimosa’s leaves during sunset.

In expansion packs, Xerox Powerplants enter active service as an approach to provide all-weather, around-the-clock power support.

All energy-generating buildings of LC have advanced energy transmitters to energize friendly structures faraway, so LC never needs to worry about arranging a power grid.

Resources Gathering & Processing

LC's mechanism of gathering resources is very convenient : Simply building mining facilities atop ore deposits. Same procedure also applies to gathering ores for building the evacuation fleet.

Base Defenses

LC bases have both heavily armed and armored factories, but they also have dedicated defense structures, for example Defenders, self-powered twin-towers compatible with light armaments, and Guardians, heavy-duty twin-towers compatible with heavy weapons. SDI Defense Centers are built to shoot down ballistic missiles launched by ED.

In expansion packs, a new light-duty defense structure and Artillery emplacements are introduced.

Ground Units

Light-duty, fast-moving chassis “Lunar” and “Moon” are responsible for recon and early harassment. Heavier and slower Crater-Class and Crusher-Class chassis fill the roles of main battle tanks and heavy tanks, respectively.

Crion-Class chassis, mounted only with a unique, devastating and shield-neglecting directed energy cannon, are seen deployed to provide firepower support behind main attack forces.

Aerial Units

Meteors serve as light-duty fighters in LC's air force, while Thunders serve as heavy-duty fighters/attackers/bombers.

Mercury-Class Supply Units provide fresh ammunition from Aerial Supply Depots to any structures and units call for replenishment. Phobos-Class Support Units function as scouts, regenerators or shield rechargers, depending on which equipment is mounted.

In expansion packs, the absence of medium-duty fighters/attacks is addressed by introduction of Super Fighters, and some of the aerospace transports lowering buildings from orbit are retrofitted to carry out the duty of short-distance unit-airlifting.

Armaments & Ammunition

Similar to its rivals, LC also uses 20mm Chaingun, Rocket Launcher/Heavy Rocket Launcher, as well as Earthquake Generator introduced in expansion packs, and of course them alone are inadequate to guarantee victory, thus pressurizing itself to quickly develop its own, unique gears of war.

• Sonic Cannon

Weaponized from construction devices meant to shatter rocks, Sonic Cannons emit sound waves of specific frequencies to pulverize hostile objects. However they’re more suitable for crowd control rather than eliminating particular targets, for the general lack of directionality and lethality.

• Electro Gun

The mainstay on LC’s list of armaments, literally electrocutes enemies by throwing them lightning arcs, not only quickly drying up shields and HP, even capable of disrupting controls, rendering targets disabled.

It also grants LC a jumpstart in plasma weaponry, for lightning being essentially a form of plasma.

• Weather Control Center

A building to manipulate local atmosphere conditions, providing several options such as bringing a sunny day, or summon strong winds, or a heavy snowfall, or a catactrophic thunderstorm, even capable of calling down a meteorite shower as orbital kinetic bombardment. However certain options are only available in certain regions, for example thunderstorms can only be brought when local climate being tropical or temperate, also must be during spring or summer.

Trivia

• LC names its units/chassis after celestial bodies and deities, perhaps due to it being a faction hailing from off-Earth.
• All LC land chassis utilize anti-gravity to hover above ground, thus allowing them to trespass both dry lands and water bodies with ease, as well as the impunity to landmines.
• Since LC land chassis are amphibious by default, its arsenal doesn’t contain naval units.
• In Earth 2160, LC is explicitly portrayed as a matrilineal society, even its infantries are solely female.
• Its default color in singleplayer campaigns is blue.
• When playing Earth 2150's UCS campaign, the cause for the break of the alliance is actually an ED hacker named Neo. Neo was an ex-citizen of the UCS who could hack into their computer programs and reprogram all UCS units, causing them to turn against the UCS and any LC forces in the area. The LC didn't know of Neo, however, and assumed that the president had given the order to attack the LC. In a message to the president, the LC commanding officer declared that "since you cannot control your testosterone", the alliance was over. In the UCS campaign, there is no mention of Fang.