2631
So we have a few bombers now. You already know what "a few" means.
We've got some more in production, too. Obviously.
I kind of made a mistake here and split up the fleet when I should have just concentrated my forces and taken their worlds out one by one.
So burning Quayal's bases down took two volleys, for instance. Gave the enemy ships time to pointlessly move around (but inexplicably not even fire) and everything. At Proxima, it was even worse. They had a regular fleet on hand, and my first attack run came one base short of clearing out the planet. So I lost a bunch of bombers and decided to retreat. I've got to admit, I had become overconfident and was directing our fleets a little sloppily.
Well, okay; maybe overconfident isn't quite the word I mean. One Meklar colony down; five to go! (They also attacked at Maretta this year, by the way, and got torn apart by our missile bases in spite of the crazy ECM on their Nemesis cruisers.)
All this was enough to wake up the one, tiny rational ganglion in M5-35's fevered biomechanical brain.
Sorry, M5-35, but I no longer have the slightest interest in the kind of large-scale cold war that you see fit to call "peace." I will slow down bomber production though.
After all, I'd like to send something along to blow up all your fleets!