Overview
Below you will find a destruction listing of what happened to the Colonies. This is terms of nuclear strike damage and one section that details the primary fleet engagement locations. These listings are straight from Polaris and constitute canon material for our game. Some creative license has been taken to help flesh things out for people, but Polaris can and may edit this page to suit the needs of plot or the game overall.
Immediately after the strikes, some colonies had the potential for survivors, however that would have lasted no longer than three weeks on the outside. Surviving settlements and populations would have to have been close to the poles (north or south) of the colony in question, and the colony would have to have been very lightly hit. Do not, for any reason, assume that your char's hometown survived or that there are survivors anywhere. As of this writing in mid-June 2010 (RL Date), every colony has been blanketed by a lethal dose of radiation and is considered, at the minimum, a temporary (generation or two) loss. Civilians without access to anti-radiation doses, clean food and water sources, and (most likely) first aid would not have survived. Proposals for RP material involving survivors should always have staff consultation to ensure it fits. Survivors found through staff-run plot are free-game to discuss.
NOTE: All listings are of radiological and strike reports compiled within days of the initial strikes and are subject to change.
Aerilon
Aerilon City, the capital, was completely leveled by nuclear strikes. Light Cylon presence (5-6 base ships). Raptors trolled around in the sector for some time without being detected, but they couldn't get in range of the planet itself or scan the base ships. Potential for survivors in the weeks following the strikes, but would have been near the poles.
Update: A limited rescue effort was put into effect on Aerilon's surface, the strikes apparently not as extensive as initially believed. The Cylons appear to have abandoned the colony for the time being following the Battlegroup's attack at Sagittaron.
Aquaria
Completely leveled and was the hardest hit. The entire colony was blanketed by nuclear strikes. All the land masses took incredible damage. Radiological readings also indicate that the Cylons used sub-surface nuclear detonations on the oceans to completely destroy the whole ecosystem within days, rather than weeks. This planet will be completely uninhabitable and hostile for any living organisms for multiple millennia. Anyone visiting this colony's surface can expect to spend no more than one hour on the ground before being exposed to dangerous levels of radiation - while in suits. Unprotected individuals will crash out and die within ten-twenty minutes. Aquaria is not even guarded by the Cylons.
Update: As of 19 Aug 2041 AE, Aquaria still was Cylon-free.
Canceron
Every city was targeted for nuclear strike. The Cylons have occupied the mining operations there and it was, as of last intelligence reports, guarded by as many as 22 baseships.
Update: As of 27 Oct 2014 AE, a Raptor recon team detected a strong Cylon force consisting of at least twenty-eight (28) Basestars and a minimum of one thousand (1,000) Raiders of both normal and heavy configuration. The Cylons appear to be harvesting vast quantities of Tylium from Canceron, which is the sole source of Tylium in the Twelve Colonies. Major industrial installations have been constructed beside every major mining facility along the Raptor's trajectory, and it is probable that there are further facilities at other mining sites.
Caprica
Potentially the most interesting case, it may prove just as troubling. The Cylons restricted most of their nuclear attacks to areas outside the major cities and high-altitude airbursts to maximize EMP damage and simple overpressure damage (breaking glass, wooden structures leveled, etc). Being the center of Colonial government, the 'why' of Caprica's survival still has not been answered. Whatever it is, long-range recon has spotted large amounts of shuttle traffic between the baseships surrounding Caprica and the colony.
Update: Caprica is under complete and total Cylon control and the enemy appears to be using it as a sort of 'base.' There is extensive Raider and basestar traffic and signs of rebuilding in the cities, such as restored power and other signs of biological habitation. The assumption is the skinjobs have taken up residence, though that has not been confirmed.
Gemenon
The home of many of the most religious fundamentalists, the Cylons apparently were offended by these people. Not only was every major religious site nuked, large strategic nuclear weapons were used on them. The small one's received smaller tactical nukes as well as heavy orbital bombardment. In addition to this, all of the cities were hit. Outside of these locations, the colony was not hit very hard. Settlements and population centers far from nuclear strikes and closer to the poles could potentially have survived for a few weeks. Very little Cylon presence.
Update: Curious. Very curious. The optical reconnaissance is a single long shot of the planet's surface, all at the same zoom level, taken while the Raptor was in an engine-less drift. It shows what was already suspected — nuclear strikes against the major population centers, as well as the temples and other holy sites. In fact, the religious targets seem to have been hit disproportionately hard. The Kobol Colleges were hit hardest of all. Little more than a crater remains of them. At several of the religious sites (though NOT the Colleges), as well as Lampridis Falls, the footage appears to show signs of excavation. Strip mining? Archaeological dig? Foot troops are visible, but the footage resolution makes it impossible to tell if they are Centurion, skinjob, or human 'conscripts'.
Note: The Raptor that returned from the Gemenon recon found a piece of anomalous 'data' had been transmitted to it during the flight. That data was analyzed and confirmed to be of Cylon origin, though the humans studying it could not decode anything more from it. This is not widely known beyond Intel circles and those directly involved with the recon and subsequent study.
Leonis
The planet was hit fairly hard. All of the major cities were strategically nuked. Some even received a couple warheads. The Leonis Shipyards were not hit by the Cylons and are currently occupied by them. It would appear that they are using the Yards as a base of operations for some sort of project on Leonis. There is heavy hostile traffic in this area.
Update: Leonis was the site of Operation Cobra Talon where the Cerberus Battlegroup inserted a team to conduct investigations after multiple leads from Parnassus Anchorage sent the fleet there. After the mission went disastrously wrong at the outset, the teams were still able to recover ample intelligence from the surface. A few survivors were found in Kythera but for the most part the planet was confirmed to be hit as hard as suspected.
As per the recon mission of 06 Nov 2041 AE, the Cylons have evidently abandoned the colony. Spacedock Leonis has been utterly destroyed. There is no semblance of any kind of scrap to be found in Leonis space. Furthermore, the planet apparently was further nuked and now has a radiation level that rivals Aquaria. There are no current plans to ever return to Leonis.
Libran
This colony was hit about as lightly as Caprica with most of the strikes landing in areas around either military bases or smaller population centers. Most of the forests that the colony was famous for were burned to ashes in firestorms during the weeks following the strikes. Cylon presence here is fairly light though there is some shuttle traffic to the remaining cities - much like Caprica.
Update: Much like Caprica, the Cylons appear to have 'moved in' to Libran's cities. Power appears to have been restored and 'shuttle' traffic in the form of Heavy Raiders and basestars is evident. It not as heavily guarded as Caprica, however, and appears to be as 'secondary' outpost.
Picon
Cerberus was at Picon Station in the colony's orbit when the attacks began. The ship was involved in a major engagement there while the strikes were underway. Then-Ensign Kulko witnessed the strikes against Picon through a set of binoculars from the Observation Deck. The entire planet was gridded out with nuclear weapons to ensure complete destruction of military sites on the surface. Fleet Headquarters was hit with a 50 Megaton strike and there were zero survivors from that installation. The planet, much like Virgon and Aquaria, is considered a total loss. There is a heavy Cylon presence in this area and roughly twenty-five percent of the remains of the Colonial Fleet are in various stages of orbit.
Update: A recon to the colony turned up the occupation of a Picon Shipyard facility and a large Cylon presence in the area. The debris from the engagement on Warday appears to have been cleared from orbit.
Sagittaron
The damage here resembles that of Aerilon and Gemenon. The heavy industry on the northern continent was hit heavily during the strikes and contributed to large firestorms that swept the whole landmass. The southern continent wasn't hit as heavily but the population centers received strikes that were fairly uniform with what was seen on most of the other colonies. Southern settlements could have survived for several weeks following the strikes. Longer in bomb shelters. However, there is a Cylon presence on the southern continent that would make the likelihood of practical survival near zero.
Update: After a hugely successful attack against a biological warfare station in orbit, a victory in-part orchestrated by a Cylon Model Eleven, the Cerberus Battlegroup returned to the colony to conduct search and rescue operations. After some contact with hostile human forces (SSLF), small bands of survivors were extracted from the surface during a month-long operation. The Cylons appear to have abandoned all efforts on Sagittaron.
Scorpia
The centralized nature of the colony's city-state government made the destruction of Scorpia much easier. Large swaths of jungle were obliterated in the firestorms that swept the planet after the attacks. These clouds of nuclear ash were constantly recirculated into the atmosphere and blanketed the entire planet. There is a light Cylon presence here with some pieces of Colonial Fleet and the Scorpian Shipyards in various stages of orbit.
Update: Much like Picon and Virgon, the planet still boasts a strong Cylon presence that appears to be mainly making use of its raw industrial resources. Raptor photos noted Centurion and 'humanoid' - possibly skinjob - salvagers in space suits picking over the remains of the planet's famed Shipyards. Debris around the planet - while not picked entirely clean - is also being salvaged. Heavy Raider and Raider presence is heavy, at least two basestars were detected (more may be stationed around the planet - a full flyover was not completed before the Raptor had to GTFO). No traces of survivors.
Tauron
One of the larger and more industrial colonies, Tauron got a lot of attention. The major cities were all hit with the population centers all receiving some form of smaller nuclear strike. The industrial centers were glassed almost completely. In the days following the strikes, large numbers of Heavy Raiders were spotted descending to the surface - leading to the possibility of resistance action there. The Cylons continue to have a heavy presence on and around Tauron.
Update: Follow-up reconnaissance noted traces of survivors in the outlying areas, particularly in the hills of Minoa province. The Cylons appear to have deserted this planet much as they did Sagittaron and Aerilon, though traces of their former presence (in the form of the research 'bases' they left scattered on the other two colonies) are apparent. An extensive amount of debris remains in the atmosphere, which makes navigation troublesome. The Black Country and other areas of heavy industry were nuked to the Nine Hells and remain rather highly irradiated. Any survivors from those regions would have been holed-up since Warday in fallout shelters built during the Tauron Civil War. Of note, Wreath-of-Roses saw minimal damage but was more or less a ghost town.
Virgon
Virgon was one of the hardest hit Colonies, second only to Aquaria. While Aquaria received approximately twenty percent more nuclear strikes, this location is almost as dangerous. Completely uninhabitable for millenia, the radiological readings in the atmosphere are staggering. The atmosphere with be a mix of yellow, brown, and black for a minimum of a century while the fallout finds its way to soil. It doesn't help that the primary fleet engagement was in Virgon's orbit. Destroyed ships with nuclear weapons on board will be de-orbiting for upwards of a decade and throwing more nuclear material into the atmosphere when their payloads are disintegrated on impact.
Colonial Fleet
The Colonial Fleet lost just over half of its fighting ships in the orbit around Virgon, which has been the site of multiple salvage operations - an area now known as 'The Virgon Graveyard'. Estimations of the time-length of the fighting vary, but intelligence estimates and back-track plotting of Colonial wreckages seem to indicate that the fleet was destroyed within about an hour. Outside estimates say two and a half hours. Another quarter of the fleet was lost at Picon - the engagement that the Cerberus survived. An estimated ten percent was lost at Scorpia. Intelligence and command estimates that roughly fifteen percent of the Colonial Fleet remains unaccounted for. These primarily include replenishment ships, Marine Landing Ships, and smaller vessels without space-combat capabilities. Their whereabouts remain unknown.
Update: The last recons of the 'Virgon Graveyard' indicate a stepped-up Cylon presence in the area in terms of Raider (Standard and Heavy) patrols. In addition to the increased Cylon defenses around Virgon, enemy also appeared to be undertaking extensive salvage efforts of the area that has come to be called the "Virgon Graveyard." Anything resembling Raider debris has been cleared out and photographs showed what appeared to be Centurions and humanoid Cylons in spacesuits working on extracting useable metals from the hulls of the Colonial ships. There have been signs of potential 'survivors' on some of these wrecks during past operations. However, due to recent losses in the area, the Graveyard is currently considered a No Fly Zone until enemy activity has been confirmed to be reduced or mission priorities dictate - via Command Staff only. No signs of survivors were spotted on the last recon to the planet and "Graveyard."
Identified Ships Lost At Virgon ONLY:
(Number Lost and Type x Crew Complement — Total Personnel Lost Per Class)
68 Battlestars x 2600 — 176800
84 Destroyers x 560 — 47040
88 Light Cruisers x 3200 — 281600
53 Heavy Cruisers x 3500 — 185500
135 Frigates x 900 — 121500
14 Escort Carriers x 1150 — 16100
9 Gunstars x 2000 — 18000
15 Support Ships x 500 — 7500
3 Assaultstars x 1600 — 4800
Total Numbers of Ships Lost: ~490 (Including unidentified wreckage estimates)
Total Numbers of Personnel Lost: ~ 1,000,000 (Including unidentified wreckage estimates)