I hope everyone enjoyed this game as much as I did. It seemed a rather interesting galaxy to me. I also did playtest it a bunch after completing my game, partly to make sure various openings could work if executed effectively, partly to make sure of two things I wanted to see in the game: Though I won without ever having to worry about it (and didn't really even need the Advanced Space Scanner that I decided at the start of the game must be in some race's tree - the Meklar had it, so I didn't check beyond that), there were two techs of which I wanted to make sure: First, Controlled Radiated Environment had to be available somewhere, somehow. Fortunately, the Darloks turned out not only to have it, but to research it pretty consistently. I didn't think of using an editor to make sure, but it looks like it might be their only option at that level in their tree; thus (like advanced scanner) it would at some point be available via espionage, trade, or the pointy stick, as long as the shifters weren't eliminated too early. Finally, I wanted to be sure we had Combat Transporters ... and yes, they're in our tree. We had absolutely horrible computer tech options, but I figured that's okay: I thought it was kind of appropriate to actually play a race whose tree actually reflects its technological weakness for a change!
Of course, all that was stuff I looked for after playing the game. This was actually the first map I started playing, but it was about the 10th or so that I rolled up for the game, and about the fifth I considered after looking at the equivilants of the teaser images but nothing else. I wanted a corner start if possible, with a mix of opponents we hadn't seen in recent Imperia - no Psilons for preference (they'd been in every other double-digit Imperium, and usually stunted for inexplicable reasons) and Mrrshans if possible (this is their first appearance) - and at least one (preferably two) of Klackons, Sakkra, Darloks, or Alkari. This one looked the most promising (I played a few decades into some of the others after finishing this one just to be sure, and my other maps seemed to call for more-nearly one-dimensional strategies) so I went with it, and really liked it. I hope the others who played in this galaxy agree!
_______________
Back to the Front Page
Showing posts with label Imperium 14. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Imperium 14. Show all posts
Monday, November 17, 2008
Imperium 14 - The Last Word
Aquilae falls.
The Darlok homeworld follows, supplying knowledge of their Fusion Beam technology.
Mu Delphi falls.
So does the galaxy.
After Yalara abstains with a single vote and everyone else - a total of seven votes - goes against me, I calmly and deliberately cast my forty-six. I vote that this war end, and that I become all-powerful emperor, finally able to implement my peaceful archaeological and historical preservation policies. Is it my imagination, or do the other would-be emperors look relieved?
In the year 2500, in the name of the Bulrathi, and especially Arrrt and Arrrchie, I rule the galaxy at last, uniting all its peoples and freeing them from the tyranny of their psychotic political leaders. And now, at last, with stability established permanently in my galaxy ... I can hibernate intentionally!
_______________
Post-Game Notes
The Darlok homeworld follows, supplying knowledge of their Fusion Beam technology.
Mu Delphi falls.
So does the galaxy.
After Yalara abstains with a single vote and everyone else - a total of seven votes - goes against me, I calmly and deliberately cast my forty-six. I vote that this war end, and that I become all-powerful emperor, finally able to implement my peaceful archaeological and historical preservation policies. Is it my imagination, or do the other would-be emperors look relieved?
In the year 2500, in the name of the Bulrathi, and especially Arrrt and Arrrchie, I rule the galaxy at last, uniting all its peoples and freeing them from the tyranny of their psychotic political leaders. And now, at last, with stability established permanently in my galaxy ... I can hibernate intentionally!
_______________
Post-Game Notes
Imperium 14 - Taking Over
2484-5: Rhett's teams are busier than ever, snagging Reduced Industrial Waste 60% from the Meklar - the first time we've managed to take anything from them, and an obsolete tech since our agents couldn't penetrate deep enough to reach any field we could actually use - and more importantly, taking out five more of Tyr's bases, plus two more at Cryslon the following year! With 80% of our transports surviving the remaining bases' fire at Tyr, we take the planet easily, along with its valuable dig sites and 170 factories. Arrrt's bringing in the good news too, with new, advanced scatter packs to defend our worlds - a significant point, with a gigantic Meklar death fleet, no longer bound by any peace treaty, heading for poor Obaca, obviously our least-defended world in the region! Hercular missiles wouldn't really do us much good though - at least, not against any fleets I soon foresee - so Arrrt's next weapon project will be a Plasma Cannon for our fleets. He has another suggestion though, and this one may be of more immediate use: He's been working with Arrrchie again, and they've found some cryptic information about space combat designs at something called "Realms Beyond Forums." For esoteric reasons associated with those "forums," or particularly to what Arrrt calls a specific "thread," our new design meant to handle the deadly Meklar fleets will be a set of destroyers known as Sirian 5.0s! These probably aren't quite what their namesake intended - scaled-up versions with auto repair would be nigh invincible - but we're betting even these will do quite nicely ... with stabilizers, cloaking devices, lots of maneuverability, class 3 computers, and an Anti-Matter Torpedo apiece!
My diplomatic initiatives are proceeding nicely, as Yalara calls to ask if we can double our little trade package - of course I readily agree - and Sauron grants my request for annual trade of 100 BC. And of course, since the Meklar are attacking us, war or no, I elect to return the favor, and make another try at Dolz - this time with millions more bears than before!
2486-8: The Meklar fleet arrives at Obaca: 11 Nemesis dreadnoughts, 21 Ajax cruisers, and 49(!) Annihilator cruisers! I lose my last Kodiak and nearly all the system's Swipes ... but the Sirians are incredible! The entire Meklar fleet goes down in flames (that entire Meklar fleet - there's another at least as strong still gathering at Vulcan) and, no doubt because of my destroying its ships, CB-715 shows I was right to launch my attack force last year, choosing this moment to declare on me. Two years later, the rest of his starfleet makes a sneak attack at the same poor world, but I've had time to put some bases up, and with their Scatter 7s, advanced shields, and orbiting defense fleet, they dismantle the enemy completely. It's always nice when you can start a war by completely eliminating the entire enemy starforce!
Of course, it's even nicer when you can also take a homeworld simultaneously. Rrrhet's spies take out no less than a dozen Cryslon bases, and those of Grrropo's forces who make it past the remaining bases and the Silicoid ground troops - we were outnumbered only about two to one on the surface - claim the planet and its beautiful historical artefacts for our people!
There's a second wave on the way of course, ready to fill the world nearly to capacity! From here on, conquest of Silicoid worlds follows a simple and natural progression: Our agents move in first, take out as many bases as they can while reporting back about landing sites for our troops; transports come in next, once the planet is confirmed non-radiated, with Swipes arriving simultaneously to erase any fleet that might be trying to hide behind their bases, and the planet falls to us immediately. With some of our Swipes remaining behind to defend against incoming fleets, we hold every world without trouble; Crius, the last Silicoid world outside of radiated husks, falls in 2495, at the same time as another, far more important development. These important advances don't occupy all our attention, naturally; for one thing, Narzina decides in 2489 to "free the universe" of our "tyranny," so we have to add her once again to the list of our implacable and unutterably stupid enemies.
Meanwhile, Arrrt is doing his usual brilliant work: our latest terraforming technology is ready to deploy in 2490, as are hyperspace communications and advanced damage control in 2492. Though there are points in favor of many others, we elect to focus our future efforts on Improved Terraforming +80, ECM Jammer Mark VIII, and Powered Armor, in their respective fields. We'll see if they have an effect on anything. Meanwhile, Rhett's spies in Meklar space - numerous and wielding a sizable computer advantage - continue to stick their fingers up their noses and hurry back to report what they find there, while our space superiority is so complete that even Meklar "death fleets" coming to poor Obaca are merely taunted mercilessly ... until that important development of which I spoke.
With the destruction of even a handful of Dolz's bases, our latest swarm of transports has no trouble taking over - we'd been whittling the place down with suicide transports for a few years anyway - and clean out the valuable remnants of uniquely Meklar technology: Class V Deflector Shields are well and good, but a Personal Absorption Shield will give General Grrropo many more options, and Advanced Space Scanner finally allows us to see into the deepest parts of the galaxy, and make our advance missile-sabotaging efforts a luxury instead of a necessity. Discovery of neutronium deposits at Ursa this year doesn't even meaningfully affect us, as victory is so thoroughly assured already. I expect to win the upcoming election handily at this point, by dint of having conquered the galaxy, but I'm not taking any chances. From here on out, nearly every world at my command will be building Swipes or Sirians, or vat-growing warrior clones for General Grrropo to lead to victory.
2498: Sauron provides some comic relief by threatening our overwhelmingly powerful empire while we prepare for the decisive battles that ... well, actually, the decisive battles have all been fought already. So, that happens while we prepare for some more battles that ought to pre-empt any vengeful attempts to destroy important artefacts ... and of course be fun and instructive!
2499: This should give you some idea of how the year goes:
Sssla falls. I almost feel sorry for the lizards. We have Andrium Battle Suits to their Duralloy breastplates, and a Personal Absorption shield to their complete lack of personal shield technology. They somehow manage to kill some of us, but we kill more than nine times as many of them. Vulcan falls. We don't quite manage a four to one kill ratio, so only 11 million bears survive to take over their 360 factories and the most incredible pre-Orion artifacts any of us have ever seen. Omicron falls, but that's a whole different story, as nearly half our transports reach the planet, and are barely outnumbered by more than three to two. 29 million of our people now hold the world's 280 factories and mineral riches.
Our conquest of Sssla yields plans for Fusion Drives and Advanced Eco Restoration, which hardly matters, since we'd learn to use them anyway next year when we officially rule the galaxy. How sure am I that we shall? Well, you saw what the galactic map looked like. Here are the power graphs to go with it:
The galaxy is in our paws. There's just one thing left to do before we go back to full-time archaeology.
_______________
Next: 2500
My diplomatic initiatives are proceeding nicely, as Yalara calls to ask if we can double our little trade package - of course I readily agree - and Sauron grants my request for annual trade of 100 BC. And of course, since the Meklar are attacking us, war or no, I elect to return the favor, and make another try at Dolz - this time with millions more bears than before!
2486-8: The Meklar fleet arrives at Obaca: 11 Nemesis dreadnoughts, 21 Ajax cruisers, and 49(!) Annihilator cruisers! I lose my last Kodiak and nearly all the system's Swipes ... but the Sirians are incredible! The entire Meklar fleet goes down in flames (that entire Meklar fleet - there's another at least as strong still gathering at Vulcan) and, no doubt because of my destroying its ships, CB-715 shows I was right to launch my attack force last year, choosing this moment to declare on me. Two years later, the rest of his starfleet makes a sneak attack at the same poor world, but I've had time to put some bases up, and with their Scatter 7s, advanced shields, and orbiting defense fleet, they dismantle the enemy completely. It's always nice when you can start a war by completely eliminating the entire enemy starforce!
Of course, it's even nicer when you can also take a homeworld simultaneously. Rrrhet's spies take out no less than a dozen Cryslon bases, and those of Grrropo's forces who make it past the remaining bases and the Silicoid ground troops - we were outnumbered only about two to one on the surface - claim the planet and its beautiful historical artefacts for our people!
There's a second wave on the way of course, ready to fill the world nearly to capacity! From here on, conquest of Silicoid worlds follows a simple and natural progression: Our agents move in first, take out as many bases as they can while reporting back about landing sites for our troops; transports come in next, once the planet is confirmed non-radiated, with Swipes arriving simultaneously to erase any fleet that might be trying to hide behind their bases, and the planet falls to us immediately. With some of our Swipes remaining behind to defend against incoming fleets, we hold every world without trouble; Crius, the last Silicoid world outside of radiated husks, falls in 2495, at the same time as another, far more important development. These important advances don't occupy all our attention, naturally; for one thing, Narzina decides in 2489 to "free the universe" of our "tyranny," so we have to add her once again to the list of our implacable and unutterably stupid enemies.
Meanwhile, Arrrt is doing his usual brilliant work: our latest terraforming technology is ready to deploy in 2490, as are hyperspace communications and advanced damage control in 2492. Though there are points in favor of many others, we elect to focus our future efforts on Improved Terraforming +80, ECM Jammer Mark VIII, and Powered Armor, in their respective fields. We'll see if they have an effect on anything. Meanwhile, Rhett's spies in Meklar space - numerous and wielding a sizable computer advantage - continue to stick their fingers up their noses and hurry back to report what they find there, while our space superiority is so complete that even Meklar "death fleets" coming to poor Obaca are merely taunted mercilessly ... until that important development of which I spoke.
With the destruction of even a handful of Dolz's bases, our latest swarm of transports has no trouble taking over - we'd been whittling the place down with suicide transports for a few years anyway - and clean out the valuable remnants of uniquely Meklar technology: Class V Deflector Shields are well and good, but a Personal Absorption Shield will give General Grrropo many more options, and Advanced Space Scanner finally allows us to see into the deepest parts of the galaxy, and make our advance missile-sabotaging efforts a luxury instead of a necessity. Discovery of neutronium deposits at Ursa this year doesn't even meaningfully affect us, as victory is so thoroughly assured already. I expect to win the upcoming election handily at this point, by dint of having conquered the galaxy, but I'm not taking any chances. From here on out, nearly every world at my command will be building Swipes or Sirians, or vat-growing warrior clones for General Grrropo to lead to victory.
2498: Sauron provides some comic relief by threatening our overwhelmingly powerful empire while we prepare for the decisive battles that ... well, actually, the decisive battles have all been fought already. So, that happens while we prepare for some more battles that ought to pre-empt any vengeful attempts to destroy important artefacts ... and of course be fun and instructive!
2499: This should give you some idea of how the year goes:
Sssla falls. I almost feel sorry for the lizards. We have Andrium Battle Suits to their Duralloy breastplates, and a Personal Absorption shield to their complete lack of personal shield technology. They somehow manage to kill some of us, but we kill more than nine times as many of them. Vulcan falls. We don't quite manage a four to one kill ratio, so only 11 million bears survive to take over their 360 factories and the most incredible pre-Orion artifacts any of us have ever seen. Omicron falls, but that's a whole different story, as nearly half our transports reach the planet, and are barely outnumbered by more than three to two. 29 million of our people now hold the world's 280 factories and mineral riches.
Our conquest of Sssla yields plans for Fusion Drives and Advanced Eco Restoration, which hardly matters, since we'd learn to use them anyway next year when we officially rule the galaxy. How sure am I that we shall? Well, you saw what the galactic map looked like. Here are the power graphs to go with it:
The galaxy is in our paws. There's just one thing left to do before we go back to full-time archaeology.
_______________
Next: 2500
Imperium 14 - Give Peace a Chance
2468: Apparently, my new fleets of fighters have put the fear of death in my would-be enemies. First, Igneus comes calling, begging for peace, and I accept, just to have fewer enemies. Then Narzina visits my ambassador's offices, and waves her hands above his head, whispering something in his ear. Contact is suddenly lost, and by the time our frantically-working engineers manage to restore communication, Ambassador Grrrrullible is back on Ursa, in some kind of a daze, murmuring, "Yes, I accept ... Yes, I accept," in a monotone, over and over. Grrrrrrrrr! I pour a bucket of cold water over his head and ask what exactly he agreed to, but he only whimpers, "I don't know!" I growl at him for letting a Darlok get that close to him in the first place, and demote him to patrol pilot, then check our diplomatic situation.
It turns out we now have a 275 BC/year trade agreement with the Darloks, and neutral relations. Not bad! Apparently, he was hypnotized into a trade upgrade I would have accepted anyway! I give him a relatively local patrol instead of an asteroid outpost, and write a thank-you note to Narzina. While I'm at it, I call up Igneus, and see if he's willing to trade in light of our new peace agreement - and he is, to the tune of 110 BC! While I have him on the line, I do a minor miniaturization trade as well: His Hyper-X Rockets for my NPGs.
As this year-old image shows, Rrrhet's spies have scouted Paladia for us as well as taking out some of its bases, so with Dolz's defenses seeming impenetrable, Ursa sends transports here instead. We'll also have plenty of fighters around to make sure our troops aren't shot down by anything other than bases.
2469-72: Various enemy fleets make their choices to retreat or perish at the hands of my point worlds' numerous bases and defensive fleets. Paladia's fate is sealed of course, as almost two thirds of my troopers land through its defenses; I can't understand why Yalara declared war in the first place, never mind refusing so often to make peace with me. Yes, we're outnumbered almost two and a half to one on the planet's surface. No, it doesn't matter. Since last we fought the cats, we've upgraded from Zortium to Andrium armor, and they've upgraded nothing at all. Our kill ratio is six to one. Though she's down to a single world, Yalara still won't talk peace, but with no more transports on the way anywhere, I'm soon ready to make a similar proposal to CB-715, and at least it agrees. I'm not going to attack Yalara's last remaining world, and she has no effective means of attacking me. The Sakkra worlds are too far away to worry about, and their fleet too is helpless against my defenses. So, in spite of our two still-active wars, I am ready to try the path of peace.
2473-5: In spite of my attempt to start down that path, and in spite of the manifest superiority of our rich culture and capabilities, informed as it is by all the galaxy's history - so manifest that even these lunatic aliens should be able to see it, if only in the sheer power we've shown we can project across the galaxy...
...the other emperors refuse to listen to me. We can now support a factory for every 200,000 bears on each of our worlds, and develop Gaia environments simultaneously, rejecting an incredibly powerful battle computer and extreme ecological restoration techniques in favor of Hyperspace Communications and Improved Terraforming +60, the fastest ways to improve Rrrhet's agents and our worlds' populations, respectively, but no one outside our empire seems to see how overwhelmingly powerful this will make our people. Indeed, just as Arrrt devises a way to cut our factory costs in half, some enemy agent takes out eight Obaca factories; for some perspective, an earthquake that happens to hit Klystron the same year destroys almost 27 times as many, as well as killing millions. Considering the aliens' intransigence, Powered Armor might be a good idea for our next technology, but I'm trying to take the path of peace and hoping that they learn, so I seek to advance the field as quickly as possible with Advanced Damage Control instead. It seems however that the path I choose is closed to me; rather than recognizing my ascendance, Igneus complains about how powerful I've become. I sigh and direct him to the grizzly. With my attempts to make peace with Sauron and Yalara also failing, I am forced to recognize, as always, that nothing will come of our foolish council meetings unless I conquer the galaxy.
Even with Narzina's support, I am three votes shy of victory. Of course no one else will ever win one of these elections, with more than half the votes belonging to me. I attended on my own this time, as Yalara didn't ask me to join her. Considering we're officially at war, and I lost a bunch of fighters destroying most of her fleet when it attacked Paladia earlier this year, this comes as something of a relief.
2476-80: Alien fleets keep arriving at our worlds, only to retreat. Where Swipes are present, they destroy some of our enemies before their warp engines can engage, mainly just for practice and to prove our space superiority. There would have been a more serious battle at Incedius - with almost 50 Annihilators, CB-715 would have done some damage before I (ahem) annihilated his fleet - but our recent peace treaty holds, and no combat takes place. He nonetheless calls to complain, along with his buddy Igneus, so I put up a sign to help them find our complaints department more easily in the future.
Arrrt brings in designs for a cloaking device, and starts work on a Zyro Shield, but at this point, I think he's only keeping up work in the field for his own amusement - not the worst reason in the world, actually. Rrrhet also brings me plans for Anti-Missile Rockets from some backwater Sakkra lab someplace, but it's hard to imagine actually caring about them.
2481: What's this? What a pleasant surprise!
Yalara calls and appears to believe she has the upper hand in some fashion - something to do with not accompanying me to the council meeting; I'm supposed to have been "stewing" over it or some such feline metaphor, suffering terribly. She offers me a stinking, disgusting pile of raw meat, which I infer is the cats' version of an olive branch, and I accept it gladly: We are finally at peace! As soon as I've made sure everything's working properly in my empire, I call Yalara in turn, and offer her an even smellier pile of disgusting meat as well as a 25 BC per year trade package. She accepts both, and is feeling neutral toward me, so perhaps there is some hope for her after all! Of course, her feline pride would never allow her to admit it, but is it possible she finally noticed she's down to a single world, and my colonies are completely immune to attack from her fleets? Hrrrm. Whatever. I'm just glad we've gotten this peace thing to work out, finally.
2482: Wellllll ... that was a pretty quick turnaround. So much for galactic peace. Oh, Yalara's fine, and of course our peaceful projects keep bearing fruit: We'll probably never build any Star Gates, but I do agree with Arrrt that they're pretty neat, and they've opened the way to High Energy Focus technology. Even Rrrhet's spies are helping out with our peaceful initiatives, helping us grow our worlds via Improved Terraforming +40!
This is quite a nice bonus from our largely phony war with the lizards - phony because Sauron's fleets can't hurt our worlds, and apart from all this spying, I'm ignoring the war completely. No, the trouble is that our peace treaty with the Silicoids has apparently expired, at least according to Igneus, as he declares war on me. His decision is regrettable, but inevitable, I suppose; he wouldn't break his Sakkra alliance, Sauron wouldn't make peace ... and Igneus was my election opponent anyway; he wasn't about to vote for me.
2483: Spy hits against the lizards on consecutive years earn Rrrhet my congratulations, but he shrugs it off easily. He points out that we do have at least four separate spy rings in lizard territory and a significant advantage in computer technology, so his job is pretty easy. Hard Beam isn't too impressive as a weapon, but I'll take it, certainly. More importantly, his agents come through against our newest enemies: One base goes down at Silicoid Tyr, the green star closest to our own territory, and the agents responsible report on landing sites from the planet's surface. So be it! Even with eleven bases remaining, I'll get transports underway immediately! Peace just doesn't seem to convince these aliens of anything unless I prove I can crush them by actually doing so. It's time to return to conquest! ... Which makes it more than a little ironic that this is the year Sauron surprises me with an offer of peace! Naturally, I accept his offer; I don't want to be a hypocrite, and I've been promising peace for years now, if only my neighbors would accept it. When an idiot like Igneus declares war, then war he shall have, but when a foe is ready to concede a war I'm not even really fighting, we're more than happy to demonstrate how peaceful our people can truly be.
_______________
Next: Endgame
Sticky mouse button "clicked" on "I accept" before I could even read what the Darloks were asking for. Oh, well. Fortunately...
It turns out we now have a 275 BC/year trade agreement with the Darloks, and neutral relations. Not bad! Apparently, he was hypnotized into a trade upgrade I would have accepted anyway! I give him a relatively local patrol instead of an asteroid outpost, and write a thank-you note to Narzina. While I'm at it, I call up Igneus, and see if he's willing to trade in light of our new peace agreement - and he is, to the tune of 110 BC! While I have him on the line, I do a minor miniaturization trade as well: His Hyper-X Rockets for my NPGs.
As this year-old image shows, Rrrhet's spies have scouted Paladia for us as well as taking out some of its bases, so with Dolz's defenses seeming impenetrable, Ursa sends transports here instead. We'll also have plenty of fighters around to make sure our troops aren't shot down by anything other than bases.
2469-72: Various enemy fleets make their choices to retreat or perish at the hands of my point worlds' numerous bases and defensive fleets. Paladia's fate is sealed of course, as almost two thirds of my troopers land through its defenses; I can't understand why Yalara declared war in the first place, never mind refusing so often to make peace with me. Yes, we're outnumbered almost two and a half to one on the planet's surface. No, it doesn't matter. Since last we fought the cats, we've upgraded from Zortium to Andrium armor, and they've upgraded nothing at all. Our kill ratio is six to one. Though she's down to a single world, Yalara still won't talk peace, but with no more transports on the way anywhere, I'm soon ready to make a similar proposal to CB-715, and at least it agrees. I'm not going to attack Yalara's last remaining world, and she has no effective means of attacking me. The Sakkra worlds are too far away to worry about, and their fleet too is helpless against my defenses. So, in spite of our two still-active wars, I am ready to try the path of peace.
2473-5: In spite of my attempt to start down that path, and in spite of the manifest superiority of our rich culture and capabilities, informed as it is by all the galaxy's history - so manifest that even these lunatic aliens should be able to see it, if only in the sheer power we've shown we can project across the galaxy...
...the other emperors refuse to listen to me. We can now support a factory for every 200,000 bears on each of our worlds, and develop Gaia environments simultaneously, rejecting an incredibly powerful battle computer and extreme ecological restoration techniques in favor of Hyperspace Communications and Improved Terraforming +60, the fastest ways to improve Rrrhet's agents and our worlds' populations, respectively, but no one outside our empire seems to see how overwhelmingly powerful this will make our people. Indeed, just as Arrrt devises a way to cut our factory costs in half, some enemy agent takes out eight Obaca factories; for some perspective, an earthquake that happens to hit Klystron the same year destroys almost 27 times as many, as well as killing millions. Considering the aliens' intransigence, Powered Armor might be a good idea for our next technology, but I'm trying to take the path of peace and hoping that they learn, so I seek to advance the field as quickly as possible with Advanced Damage Control instead. It seems however that the path I choose is closed to me; rather than recognizing my ascendance, Igneus complains about how powerful I've become. I sigh and direct him to the grizzly. With my attempts to make peace with Sauron and Yalara also failing, I am forced to recognize, as always, that nothing will come of our foolish council meetings unless I conquer the galaxy.
Even with Narzina's support, I am three votes shy of victory. Of course no one else will ever win one of these elections, with more than half the votes belonging to me. I attended on my own this time, as Yalara didn't ask me to join her. Considering we're officially at war, and I lost a bunch of fighters destroying most of her fleet when it attacked Paladia earlier this year, this comes as something of a relief.
2476-80: Alien fleets keep arriving at our worlds, only to retreat. Where Swipes are present, they destroy some of our enemies before their warp engines can engage, mainly just for practice and to prove our space superiority. There would have been a more serious battle at Incedius - with almost 50 Annihilators, CB-715 would have done some damage before I (ahem) annihilated his fleet - but our recent peace treaty holds, and no combat takes place. He nonetheless calls to complain, along with his buddy Igneus, so I put up a sign to help them find our complaints department more easily in the future.
Arrrt brings in designs for a cloaking device, and starts work on a Zyro Shield, but at this point, I think he's only keeping up work in the field for his own amusement - not the worst reason in the world, actually. Rrrhet also brings me plans for Anti-Missile Rockets from some backwater Sakkra lab someplace, but it's hard to imagine actually caring about them.
2481: What's this? What a pleasant surprise!
Yalara calls and appears to believe she has the upper hand in some fashion - something to do with not accompanying me to the council meeting; I'm supposed to have been "stewing" over it or some such feline metaphor, suffering terribly. She offers me a stinking, disgusting pile of raw meat, which I infer is the cats' version of an olive branch, and I accept it gladly: We are finally at peace! As soon as I've made sure everything's working properly in my empire, I call Yalara in turn, and offer her an even smellier pile of disgusting meat as well as a 25 BC per year trade package. She accepts both, and is feeling neutral toward me, so perhaps there is some hope for her after all! Of course, her feline pride would never allow her to admit it, but is it possible she finally noticed she's down to a single world, and my colonies are completely immune to attack from her fleets? Hrrrm. Whatever. I'm just glad we've gotten this peace thing to work out, finally.
2482: Wellllll ... that was a pretty quick turnaround. So much for galactic peace. Oh, Yalara's fine, and of course our peaceful projects keep bearing fruit: We'll probably never build any Star Gates, but I do agree with Arrrt that they're pretty neat, and they've opened the way to High Energy Focus technology. Even Rrrhet's spies are helping out with our peaceful initiatives, helping us grow our worlds via Improved Terraforming +40!
This is quite a nice bonus from our largely phony war with the lizards - phony because Sauron's fleets can't hurt our worlds, and apart from all this spying, I'm ignoring the war completely. No, the trouble is that our peace treaty with the Silicoids has apparently expired, at least according to Igneus, as he declares war on me. His decision is regrettable, but inevitable, I suppose; he wouldn't break his Sakkra alliance, Sauron wouldn't make peace ... and Igneus was my election opponent anyway; he wasn't about to vote for me.
2483: Spy hits against the lizards on consecutive years earn Rrrhet my congratulations, but he shrugs it off easily. He points out that we do have at least four separate spy rings in lizard territory and a significant advantage in computer technology, so his job is pretty easy. Hard Beam isn't too impressive as a weapon, but I'll take it, certainly. More importantly, his agents come through against our newest enemies: One base goes down at Silicoid Tyr, the green star closest to our own territory, and the agents responsible report on landing sites from the planet's surface. So be it! Even with eleven bases remaining, I'll get transports underway immediately! Peace just doesn't seem to convince these aliens of anything unless I prove I can crush them by actually doing so. It's time to return to conquest! ... Which makes it more than a little ironic that this is the year Sauron surprises me with an offer of peace! Naturally, I accept his offer; I don't want to be a hypocrite, and I've been promising peace for years now, if only my neighbors would accept it. When an idiot like Igneus declares war, then war he shall have, but when a foe is ready to concede a war I'm not even really fighting, we're more than happy to demonstrate how peaceful our people can truly be.
_______________
Next: Endgame
Imperium 14 - Taking on the Galaxy
2451: 17 Silicoid Sharks arrive at Celtsi. With heavy ion cannons and death spores, they definitely have me worried, but my Warp Dissipator actually works on them, and so they are safely destroyed. 16 Meklar Ajax cruisers hit Incedius at the same time, but they have a Kodiak, a Bear Hug dissipator cruiser, and scatter/stinger bases to contend with, and so perish utterly. My fleet also kills some Sakkra fighters with reactive fire at Klystron before I realize which of my ships have weak enough shields that they have to retreat before the lizards realize they have no chance in the fight. That's not all though! We've gathered our most diverse fleet of dissipator ships ever at Klystron - three different kinds of cruisers and a number of destroyers - and they're actually effective occasionally! We lock up all the ships in the enemy's small (for them!) assault fleet, and though we lose a few of our own in the process, we destroy a dreadnought and over a dozen cruisers before energy depletions and emergency auto-warp systems send our ships back to their spaceports and the enemy's back toward Vulcan! And ... hrrrrm. Klystron does seem to be getting a lot of action this year.
It ends with a bit of comic relief, as three Darlok transports make it through my screen (Yes, Darlok. They sent them years ago when it was a Meklar colony over which they briefly had a ship in orbit). With entrenched ursine warriors directed by General Grrropo and fairly severe technological superiority, we take no losses in killing them all.
2452: Yalara calls, and I ask if this means we can talk again, but she didn't have talk in mind I guess; she just declares war right away. This makes me sad, but I'm not sure why exactly. I guess I'll have to go and take over some of her worlds, since we'll never get right of passage for our archaeological teams restored at this rate. I consult with Arrrchie about it, and he cheers me up immensely. He's sure, once we capture those worlds, if the habits have any history, we'll be able to infer from the historical record what all those one-eye-closing and teeth-showing and lip-licking behaviors are supposed to mean. We probably won't learn anything really surprising - I'm pretty sure they're just signs of being sleepy or hungry, especially considering the way cats spend their time in general - but it's always good to know for sure, and it's great to face the prospect of new discoveries!
2453: We hold Klystron against another assault fleet, and each year that passes improves our chance of holding it permanently! The Meklar also bring a fleet to our rich colony in the south...
...but Fortress Incedius is up to 24 bases, and when its Scatters take out the lone incoming Ajax, the three Nemesis dreadnoughts retreat.
2454: A Silicoid Shark flees from our fleet and base at Rhilus, our Kodiak shows up in time to kill all the Meklar transports just arriving at Klystron, and Narzina complains that I'm too strong. She's directed to the complaints, debates, arguments, and getting-mauled-by-an-angry-grizzly department. I'm getting tired of these blow-hards; it's almost as if these crazy aliens put their politicians in charge of their empires!
2455: The main Meklar war fleet arrives at Klystron again ... but this year is very different: We have five dissipator cruisers of three different designs, a trio of dissipator destroyers ... and the Kodiak itself! The enemy is once again warped out as emergency energy reserves are exhausted, and they do kill our Growl cruiser ... but not before we destroy their Nemesis, Annihilator, and three Tornado dreadnoughts, and all 27 of their Ajax cruisers!
2456-8: The war is going our way. We dismantle small enemy fleets with nothing resembling losses, and when Arrrt finally develops ECM Jammers at the same time as a Bio Toxin Antidote, he comes through with better news still: Robotic Controls V is available for research (skipping ECM 6) alongside Advanced Soil Enrichment! Then, with GNN reporting that we're still the galaxy's technology leaders, I decide it's time to spring for still more, and give the lizards my IIT 8 for Controlled Dead Environment. The trade won't really do much for either of us, but it gets something out of the way ... and if it's a good thing, it's done just in time, as Sauron declares war on me the following year! Of course, that's also the year when our first wave of transports hits the kitties.
We're outnumbered more than two to one at each feline world - our first wave at Helos, and at Imra the following year - but the enemy has neither hand lasers nor battle suits nor Zortium Armor nor General Grrropo on their side, and it's a slaughter. The 48 factories at ultra-poor Helos, and 180 at Imra, between them yield designs for Death Spores, which we will never be put to any use, believe me; Irridium Fuel Cells, which are nearly worthless, but at least they're out of the way now; Improved Terraforming +30, which is not worthless by any means; and ECM Jammer Mark IV, which at least makes Chief of Espionage Rrrhet slightly pleased. Meanwhile, the enemy's most effective bid against us is a sabotage attempt at Kronos that takes out ten factories ... and GNN reports that we nearly control a majority of the galaxy.
2459-66: We destroy the remains of the Meklar death fleet as CB-715 starts putting a new one together: One based on Stinger missile cruisers, which - if built in numbers - could live up to their name: Annihilators! In the meantime however, we're destroying or chasing away alien fleets of all descriptions, and arriving in numbers at the last feline world we've scouted to date. Almost two thirds of our transports get past seven Mrrshan missile bases at Mobas, and we're only outnumbered about four to three, so the outcome is foreordained. From the factories we conquer, Arrrt and Arrrchie reverse-engineer all the Mrrshan technology we don't know about already:
Mass Driver isn't too useful, and the less said about Gatling Laser, the better, but Graviton Beam is the kitties' best weapon, and Controlled Barren Environment serves the same purpose as any other obsolete planetological technology. Not a bad haul from 124 factories! With that accomplished, I find that Yalara is willing to talk again, but apparently only so she can call me names. She flatly refuses my offer of peace.
Arrrt does even better work on his own than when reverse-engineering alien technology. We develop Andrium Armor, Anti-Matter Torpedoes, and Impulse Drives in the course of just a few years! With several great choices, including Tritanium, Reduced Waste 20%, Auto Blaster, and Pulsons (as well as not-so-great ones like Trilithium Crystals) we elect to move forward as quickly as possible with Improved Industrial Tech 3, Scatter Pack VII Missiles, and Intergalactic Star Gates. In between, Narzina warns me that, if I continue to expand, the ineffectual fleets she keeps sending in my direction might officially be called war fleets. She is directed back to our complaints department - the one with the angry grizzly. Apparently, she gets along with him though: To my absolute shock, the following year, she agrees to 50 BC in trade!
All of this brings us to the next - and hopefully last - stage of our galactic war. As Rrrhet's spies destroy feline missile bases at Paladia (and fail, as they've been failing for decades, to accomplish anything in Meklar space) huge fleets of transports set out from Ursa and Celtsi, converging on the very first world the Meklar conquered from me: The lush, terran world of Dolz!
Along with my transports will go hundreds of war ships of our latest design, now being assembled all across the empire: The Swipe 5.0 is the fastest, most accurate Ion fighter I can create, intended to cut enemy fleets out from planetary orbit before they can retreat to bases on the surface, preventing them from firing on our transport fleets. Finally, I call up Yalara to offer the olive branch again, but she turns her back and says she doesn't eat leaves. Hrrrrrrm. We seem to not be communicating terribly well here. Maybe things will go better with the machines.
2467: Or maybe not. My Swipes do their jobs quite effectively, but even without any ships to assist, 18 Stinger/Scatter bases are apparently too much for even 77 Impulse/Andrium transports. I lose them all. With more (doomed) transports on the way, I can't even accept when CB-715 shows up to offer peace.
_______________
Next: Okay, so ... peace?
It ends with a bit of comic relief, as three Darlok transports make it through my screen (Yes, Darlok. They sent them years ago when it was a Meklar colony over which they briefly had a ship in orbit). With entrenched ursine warriors directed by General Grrropo and fairly severe technological superiority, we take no losses in killing them all.
2452: Yalara calls, and I ask if this means we can talk again, but she didn't have talk in mind I guess; she just declares war right away. This makes me sad, but I'm not sure why exactly. I guess I'll have to go and take over some of her worlds, since we'll never get right of passage for our archaeological teams restored at this rate. I consult with Arrrchie about it, and he cheers me up immensely. He's sure, once we capture those worlds, if the habits have any history, we'll be able to infer from the historical record what all those one-eye-closing and teeth-showing and lip-licking behaviors are supposed to mean. We probably won't learn anything really surprising - I'm pretty sure they're just signs of being sleepy or hungry, especially considering the way cats spend their time in general - but it's always good to know for sure, and it's great to face the prospect of new discoveries!
2453: We hold Klystron against another assault fleet, and each year that passes improves our chance of holding it permanently! The Meklar also bring a fleet to our rich colony in the south...
...but Fortress Incedius is up to 24 bases, and when its Scatters take out the lone incoming Ajax, the three Nemesis dreadnoughts retreat.
2454: A Silicoid Shark flees from our fleet and base at Rhilus, our Kodiak shows up in time to kill all the Meklar transports just arriving at Klystron, and Narzina complains that I'm too strong. She's directed to the complaints, debates, arguments, and getting-mauled-by-an-angry-grizzly department. I'm getting tired of these blow-hards; it's almost as if these crazy aliens put their politicians in charge of their empires!
2455: The main Meklar war fleet arrives at Klystron again ... but this year is very different: We have five dissipator cruisers of three different designs, a trio of dissipator destroyers ... and the Kodiak itself! The enemy is once again warped out as emergency energy reserves are exhausted, and they do kill our Growl cruiser ... but not before we destroy their Nemesis, Annihilator, and three Tornado dreadnoughts, and all 27 of their Ajax cruisers!
2456-8: The war is going our way. We dismantle small enemy fleets with nothing resembling losses, and when Arrrt finally develops ECM Jammers at the same time as a Bio Toxin Antidote, he comes through with better news still: Robotic Controls V is available for research (skipping ECM 6) alongside Advanced Soil Enrichment! Then, with GNN reporting that we're still the galaxy's technology leaders, I decide it's time to spring for still more, and give the lizards my IIT 8 for Controlled Dead Environment. The trade won't really do much for either of us, but it gets something out of the way ... and if it's a good thing, it's done just in time, as Sauron declares war on me the following year! Of course, that's also the year when our first wave of transports hits the kitties.
We're outnumbered more than two to one at each feline world - our first wave at Helos, and at Imra the following year - but the enemy has neither hand lasers nor battle suits nor Zortium Armor nor General Grrropo on their side, and it's a slaughter. The 48 factories at ultra-poor Helos, and 180 at Imra, between them yield designs for Death Spores, which we will never be put to any use, believe me; Irridium Fuel Cells, which are nearly worthless, but at least they're out of the way now; Improved Terraforming +30, which is not worthless by any means; and ECM Jammer Mark IV, which at least makes Chief of Espionage Rrrhet slightly pleased. Meanwhile, the enemy's most effective bid against us is a sabotage attempt at Kronos that takes out ten factories ... and GNN reports that we nearly control a majority of the galaxy.
2459-66: We destroy the remains of the Meklar death fleet as CB-715 starts putting a new one together: One based on Stinger missile cruisers, which - if built in numbers - could live up to their name: Annihilators! In the meantime however, we're destroying or chasing away alien fleets of all descriptions, and arriving in numbers at the last feline world we've scouted to date. Almost two thirds of our transports get past seven Mrrshan missile bases at Mobas, and we're only outnumbered about four to three, so the outcome is foreordained. From the factories we conquer, Arrrt and Arrrchie reverse-engineer all the Mrrshan technology we don't know about already:
Mass Driver isn't too useful, and the less said about Gatling Laser, the better, but Graviton Beam is the kitties' best weapon, and Controlled Barren Environment serves the same purpose as any other obsolete planetological technology. Not a bad haul from 124 factories! With that accomplished, I find that Yalara is willing to talk again, but apparently only so she can call me names. She flatly refuses my offer of peace.
Arrrt does even better work on his own than when reverse-engineering alien technology. We develop Andrium Armor, Anti-Matter Torpedoes, and Impulse Drives in the course of just a few years! With several great choices, including Tritanium, Reduced Waste 20%, Auto Blaster, and Pulsons (as well as not-so-great ones like Trilithium Crystals) we elect to move forward as quickly as possible with Improved Industrial Tech 3, Scatter Pack VII Missiles, and Intergalactic Star Gates. In between, Narzina warns me that, if I continue to expand, the ineffectual fleets she keeps sending in my direction might officially be called war fleets. She is directed back to our complaints department - the one with the angry grizzly. Apparently, she gets along with him though: To my absolute shock, the following year, she agrees to 50 BC in trade!
All of this brings us to the next - and hopefully last - stage of our galactic war. As Rrrhet's spies destroy feline missile bases at Paladia (and fail, as they've been failing for decades, to accomplish anything in Meklar space) huge fleets of transports set out from Ursa and Celtsi, converging on the very first world the Meklar conquered from me: The lush, terran world of Dolz!
Along with my transports will go hundreds of war ships of our latest design, now being assembled all across the empire: The Swipe 5.0 is the fastest, most accurate Ion fighter I can create, intended to cut enemy fleets out from planetary orbit before they can retreat to bases on the surface, preventing them from firing on our transport fleets. Finally, I call up Yalara to offer the olive branch again, but she turns her back and says she doesn't eat leaves. Hrrrrrrm. We seem to not be communicating terribly well here. Maybe things will go better with the machines.
2467: Or maybe not. My Swipes do their jobs quite effectively, but even without any ships to assist, 18 Stinger/Scatter bases are apparently too much for even 77 Impulse/Andrium transports. I lose them all. With more (doomed) transports on the way, I can't even accept when CB-715 shows up to offer peace.
_______________
Next: Okay, so ... peace?
Imperium 14 - Beware the Meklar
I was sure the Meklar death fleet included at least some retro engines ... but I was wrong: They're moving at warp 3! And when I say it's a death fleet, and when I say it's moving....
I mean 15 dreadnoughts and 33 Ajax cruisers, known to carry at least heavy blast cannons - plenty to break through even our new planetary shields, and among the most advanced weapons extant in the galaxy! I've been trying desperately to turn Klystron around ever since we conquered it thirteen years ago - it's been getting all the reserves I can give it every year - and by the time the fleet arrives, I can finish its shield and add four missile bases to the one already there ... but I know very well it won't be even nearly enough, even with a Kodiak to help, and fighters rush-built and shipped over from Rhilus. That's all we can do, with that starfleet due in next year. We're going to lose this battle. Grrrrrrrrrr! Well, if CB-715 wants a fight, it's going to get one ... and I'm going to fight on my terms! Ursa sends transorts down to Incedius to claim the rich world to which the robots beat us decades ago, and we get ready for the real war - as yet a cold war, but no less real for that - to begin.
2440: It's worse than I feared! The Meklar are using death spores! Biotoxins capable of ruining biological samples that had been preserved intact for centuries are fitted aboard every Ajax cruiser! Our fleet does what little it can before the fighters are destroyed and the Kodiak is forced to retreat, and our missile bases take down almost half the cruisers, but by year's end, all five bases are destroyed, along with over a hundred factories, and one hundred million of Klystron's people are killed, all its carefully-preserved bio-artifacts ruined, and its habitable area cut to less than a fourth of what it should be! Its last five million people struggle to put their world back together, with little hope that they can ever succeed! I must rescue these poor, lost souls if I can ... or avenge them if necessary!
The good news is that we're already developing the means! Our new battle computers are ready to go, and so is our cloning technology! ECM Jammer Mark V is the only computer project Arrrt's bears can work on, which is painfully disappointing, and though planetology options include advanced soil, (and something called a doom virus, which is too horrible to even contemplate) we elect to go to work on a Bio Toxin Antidote instead, to help ensure that the atrocities at Klystron are not repeated ... maybe! Another fleet of Meklar dreadnoughts is already mustering!
2441-2: Klystron is lost, and I might have saved it: An unmitigated disaster, with only myself to blame. Our pilots were too scared to fly straight, but it was I who put them in such a position that a little poor maneuvering on their part could cost all their lives, their ships, and the colony. Once the first battle was lost, it was folly, or worse than folly, to try to defend Klystron against that fleet, at least before the second Kodiak could arrive together with a real fleet of fighters from our rich colonies. It was folly, but I tried, and countless innocent bears perished, together with half our star fleet.
True, the Meklar don't control the colony either, having spored it out of existence entirely, but it's only a matter of time until they do. I failed my people at that world, and I'm prepared to resign from my post in the imperial government ... or I would be ... if anyone wanted my job but the stupid politicians who would be even worse than me! Grrrrrrrrumble. Well, I'm not lettng those idiots take my place! It looks like we're stuck with me!
2443-6: I may have failed to save Klystron, but I shall not fail in everything. I must teach these machines to fear me, and so take my revenge. Every armed ship still surviving in our empire is sent to Incedius, to claim the world and its riches that the enemy took more than seven decades ago. And as Yalara's main fleet arrives at Selia, and retreats at once - I order my bases to hold their fire entirely against the poor, confused kitties, none of whose weapons can penetrate the planet's shields - as another massive Meklar death fleet gathers at Vulcan, as CB-715 responds to my people's continued "expansion" with threats of war, as though we weren't at war for all meaningful purposes already, Arrrt comes through with critical new technologies. Our new Warp Dissipators are our best hope of dealing with the Meklar doom fleets, and in addition to an option for more range should it be needed, they open the way toward Impulse Drives for true strategic speed! The new advanced deflectors and Stinger missiles developed soon thereafter will help our worlds defend themselves effectively, and Arrrt is getting to work on the new techs these suggest, a Cloaking Device and Anti-Matter Torpedoes, already! Last but not least, our cleanup costs are sliced in half as our new reduced waste tech comes in, and rather than returning to exoskeletons as planned or trying for advanced IIT, we're going to reach for Andrium Armor to advance the state of the art and improve all our forces' defenses. Still, we might have been better served had we developed those exoskeletons from the start!
Six enemy Scatter bases kill fully two thirds of our forces at Incedius, and outnumbered two to one, in spite of our superior ursine tactics and zortium battle suits to their duralloy shirts, we nearly lose the battle! The enemy has planted autolaser nests at critical archaeological sites, and dug up valuable historical artifacts and fossils to use as de-facto shields! General Grrropo had to adapt and find ways to overcome them, and by year's end, only a million bears are left standing, of the 72 million I sent! We're busy rushing to recover and restore the dig sites and cultural artifacts the Meklar treated so harshly, and don't have the time or resources to recover any technology from the world's 148 factories, but fortunately, we've re-taken Klystron as well! The Meklar fleet departed soon after claiming it as their own colony, and we took the planet's orbit, chasing off Mrrshan and Darlok colony fleets with our new fleet of shield-6 fighters, and conquered it easily. Their colony was so new, of course, that in spite of the 204 factories (built by us prior to sporing) that we recaptured, the only technologies present were their factory-design stuff - Improved Industrial Tech 6 and Improved Industrial Tech 7 - plus the obsolete Class III Deflector Shields they were trying to put up as placeholders for more advanced defenses. At least that should clear the rubbish away for future spies and invasions.
CB-715 makes our war official in response, which at this point is a technicality ... and Narzina - who has rejected my overtures of peace repeatedly since Rhilus was taken - surprises me!
It seems she is prepared to end the strife between us after all, and I accept her offer readily. One war is enough for anybody - especially since it's not going to be a one-front war much longer, especially considering CB-715's alliances, and his allies' refusal to talk to me.
2447-50: The Silicoids join their ally's war against me immediately, and the reinforced Meklar death fleet returns to Klystron; there's nothing we can do to stop all those ships. I do manage to assemble some Warp Dissipator craft, and get them into position, but the enemy ships appear to be all but immune (or we're very unlucky) and our ships are forced to retreat again and again, while wave after wave of Meklar troopers arrives at the planet, faces off against our entrenched forces, and - thanks to our superior technology and General Grrropo's superior tactics - dies without taking our world.
At decade's end, Yalara asks me to join her at the high council again, even though she was refusing to talk to me last I checked. Rather than trying to puzzle out feline logic, I accept. My election opponent this year is Igneus, who gets votes from his own people and allies, while his enemy Narzina votes for me. This is still a stupid exercise, so I abstain in protest, with over 40% of the galaxy's voting power. While everyone's getting ready to go home again, Sauron stops me to say I need to stop becoming so powerful, thereby reminding me that - in spite of his alliances - we aren't at war for some reason. I file his concerns under "complaints" in my wastebasket. Yalara gossips about the other leaders all the way back home, but as soon as we get back to our part of space, she goes back to refusing to talk to me. I don't understand cats at all.
_______________
Next: Taking on the Galaxy!
I mean 15 dreadnoughts and 33 Ajax cruisers, known to carry at least heavy blast cannons - plenty to break through even our new planetary shields, and among the most advanced weapons extant in the galaxy! I've been trying desperately to turn Klystron around ever since we conquered it thirteen years ago - it's been getting all the reserves I can give it every year - and by the time the fleet arrives, I can finish its shield and add four missile bases to the one already there ... but I know very well it won't be even nearly enough, even with a Kodiak to help, and fighters rush-built and shipped over from Rhilus. That's all we can do, with that starfleet due in next year. We're going to lose this battle. Grrrrrrrrrr! Well, if CB-715 wants a fight, it's going to get one ... and I'm going to fight on my terms! Ursa sends transorts down to Incedius to claim the rich world to which the robots beat us decades ago, and we get ready for the real war - as yet a cold war, but no less real for that - to begin.
2440: It's worse than I feared! The Meklar are using death spores! Biotoxins capable of ruining biological samples that had been preserved intact for centuries are fitted aboard every Ajax cruiser! Our fleet does what little it can before the fighters are destroyed and the Kodiak is forced to retreat, and our missile bases take down almost half the cruisers, but by year's end, all five bases are destroyed, along with over a hundred factories, and one hundred million of Klystron's people are killed, all its carefully-preserved bio-artifacts ruined, and its habitable area cut to less than a fourth of what it should be! Its last five million people struggle to put their world back together, with little hope that they can ever succeed! I must rescue these poor, lost souls if I can ... or avenge them if necessary!
The good news is that we're already developing the means! Our new battle computers are ready to go, and so is our cloning technology! ECM Jammer Mark V is the only computer project Arrrt's bears can work on, which is painfully disappointing, and though planetology options include advanced soil, (and something called a doom virus, which is too horrible to even contemplate) we elect to go to work on a Bio Toxin Antidote instead, to help ensure that the atrocities at Klystron are not repeated ... maybe! Another fleet of Meklar dreadnoughts is already mustering!
2441-2: Klystron is lost, and I might have saved it: An unmitigated disaster, with only myself to blame. Our pilots were too scared to fly straight, but it was I who put them in such a position that a little poor maneuvering on their part could cost all their lives, their ships, and the colony. Once the first battle was lost, it was folly, or worse than folly, to try to defend Klystron against that fleet, at least before the second Kodiak could arrive together with a real fleet of fighters from our rich colonies. It was folly, but I tried, and countless innocent bears perished, together with half our star fleet.
True, the Meklar don't control the colony either, having spored it out of existence entirely, but it's only a matter of time until they do. I failed my people at that world, and I'm prepared to resign from my post in the imperial government ... or I would be ... if anyone wanted my job but the stupid politicians who would be even worse than me! Grrrrrrrrumble. Well, I'm not lettng those idiots take my place! It looks like we're stuck with me!
2443-6: I may have failed to save Klystron, but I shall not fail in everything. I must teach these machines to fear me, and so take my revenge. Every armed ship still surviving in our empire is sent to Incedius, to claim the world and its riches that the enemy took more than seven decades ago. And as Yalara's main fleet arrives at Selia, and retreats at once - I order my bases to hold their fire entirely against the poor, confused kitties, none of whose weapons can penetrate the planet's shields - as another massive Meklar death fleet gathers at Vulcan, as CB-715 responds to my people's continued "expansion" with threats of war, as though we weren't at war for all meaningful purposes already, Arrrt comes through with critical new technologies. Our new Warp Dissipators are our best hope of dealing with the Meklar doom fleets, and in addition to an option for more range should it be needed, they open the way toward Impulse Drives for true strategic speed! The new advanced deflectors and Stinger missiles developed soon thereafter will help our worlds defend themselves effectively, and Arrrt is getting to work on the new techs these suggest, a Cloaking Device and Anti-Matter Torpedoes, already! Last but not least, our cleanup costs are sliced in half as our new reduced waste tech comes in, and rather than returning to exoskeletons as planned or trying for advanced IIT, we're going to reach for Andrium Armor to advance the state of the art and improve all our forces' defenses. Still, we might have been better served had we developed those exoskeletons from the start!
Six enemy Scatter bases kill fully two thirds of our forces at Incedius, and outnumbered two to one, in spite of our superior ursine tactics and zortium battle suits to their duralloy shirts, we nearly lose the battle! The enemy has planted autolaser nests at critical archaeological sites, and dug up valuable historical artifacts and fossils to use as de-facto shields! General Grrropo had to adapt and find ways to overcome them, and by year's end, only a million bears are left standing, of the 72 million I sent! We're busy rushing to recover and restore the dig sites and cultural artifacts the Meklar treated so harshly, and don't have the time or resources to recover any technology from the world's 148 factories, but fortunately, we've re-taken Klystron as well! The Meklar fleet departed soon after claiming it as their own colony, and we took the planet's orbit, chasing off Mrrshan and Darlok colony fleets with our new fleet of shield-6 fighters, and conquered it easily. Their colony was so new, of course, that in spite of the 204 factories (built by us prior to sporing) that we recaptured, the only technologies present were their factory-design stuff - Improved Industrial Tech 6 and Improved Industrial Tech 7 - plus the obsolete Class III Deflector Shields they were trying to put up as placeholders for more advanced defenses. At least that should clear the rubbish away for future spies and invasions.
OOC Note: Rather bad luck all around in my 2446 invasions, but I figure that's payback for the equally good luck I had with tech recovery at Darlok worlds.
CB-715 makes our war official in response, which at this point is a technicality ... and Narzina - who has rejected my overtures of peace repeatedly since Rhilus was taken - surprises me!
It seems she is prepared to end the strife between us after all, and I accept her offer readily. One war is enough for anybody - especially since it's not going to be a one-front war much longer, especially considering CB-715's alliances, and his allies' refusal to talk to me.
2447-50: The Silicoids join their ally's war against me immediately, and the reinforced Meklar death fleet returns to Klystron; there's nothing we can do to stop all those ships. I do manage to assemble some Warp Dissipator craft, and get them into position, but the enemy ships appear to be all but immune (or we're very unlucky) and our ships are forced to retreat again and again, while wave after wave of Meklar troopers arrives at the planet, faces off against our entrenched forces, and - thanks to our superior technology and General Grrropo's superior tactics - dies without taking our world.
At decade's end, Yalara asks me to join her at the high council again, even though she was refusing to talk to me last I checked. Rather than trying to puzzle out feline logic, I accept. My election opponent this year is Igneus, who gets votes from his own people and allies, while his enemy Narzina votes for me. This is still a stupid exercise, so I abstain in protest, with over 40% of the galaxy's voting power. While everyone's getting ready to go home again, Sauron stops me to say I need to stop becoming so powerful, thereby reminding me that - in spite of his alliances - we aren't at war for some reason. I file his concerns under "complaints" in my wastebasket. Yalara gossips about the other leaders all the way back home, but as soon as we get back to our part of space, she goes back to refusing to talk to me. I don't understand cats at all.
_______________
Next: Taking on the Galaxy!
Imperium 14 - The Darlok War
2426: The battle for Klystron commences! My Kodiaks will have to prove I was right when I sang their praises, because they're facing what looks like the main Darlok combat fleet! Fortunately, the only weapons the enemy's got that can get past our repulsor beams are rockets and heavy lasers on their 11 Cobra cruisers and four colony ships. Most of their Cobras and twin-neutron-blaster Hornet destroyers perish in the battle, and their swarm of helpless Bumblebee laser fighters retreat along with the limping survivors. Then, once I've colonized fiery Kronos in the far southeast, beyond Yalara's space, the real battle for Klystron begins!
Our troopers are so careful to preserve the world's historical treasures that there's no damage done to any of its factories, and in spite of their relatively small numbers, we're able to reverse-engineer their Improved Industrial Tech 9! Better still, Arrrt's people, with help and guidance from Arrrchie and his ingenious means of collecting data from ancient, erosion-damaged sources, are able to recover plans for a Neutron Blaster from a data center the Darloks had intentionally sabotaged to prevent just such a discovery!
2427-8: One of our agents snooping around a Silicoid laboratory on Misha finds plans for Improved Terraforming +10 in one of the dumpsters out back. Better than going for the gold and just getting killed, I guess. Besides, that kind of "spying" apparently doesn't bother Igneus, as he agrees to a large upgrade to our trade package. Perhaps this will lead to peaceful relations eventually and - best of all - historical preservation and excavation agreements!
2429: Grrrrrummmm ... uh-oh. The Darlok colony at Rhilus has two missile bases up, and a fleet in orbit. Most of my transports can probably get past those bases, and my Kodiaks could handle the fleet even if our crews were in hibernation, but the Shifters know that as well as we do. Their fleet retreats to shield-sheltered starbases on the planet's surface, where we dare not fire on them and risk harming the planet's historical treasures, and though in no danger from the bases' missiles, my Kodiaks can't escort the transports into the atmosphere itself! As soon as our troop ships reach final approach, the Darlok star fleet joins its firepower to the bases' and...
...it's a disaster. There will be no chance to conquer this world while that fleet is present without some highly advanced technology. Arrrt does console me a bit though, with the news that we've got Zortium armor ready, and there are some tough choices heading forward: Do we research Armored Exoskeleton, or the means of cutting our current factory waste in half? I'd like to have both, and decide in the end on Reduced Industrial Waste 40%, as helping the economy first will speed research into the exoskeleton or whatever else comes next.
2430: The Kodiaks split up last year, and that seems to help a lot. One destroys a bunch of ships at the second battle of Rhilus, and the other defends Klystron easily, dismantling still more Darlok ships. Better yet, our spies have stopped dumpster-diving and are now infiltrating actual Silicoid labs! At Draconis, they learn how to build an Improved Space Scanner, a tremendous leap forward for us all! At virtually the same time, the GNN droid announces that the heavy metals have been depleted at Draconis as well, but my agents swear up and down that they deserve no credit for that. Still, I have a feeling that's what's in Igneus's ... well ... in whatever jagged lump of rocks he calls his mind ... as he threatens us with "consequences" and relations with him go tense. Considering what he's done to us in the past though, if I'm forced to make the choice, I'd rather have his technology than his friendship.
2431: Taking my stance on Igneus to heart, my spies come through again, no doubt thanks in part to the new technology they just brought in! Rrrhet, our fifteenth officer and chief of espionage, reports that the Silicoids have a mark-3 computer, and his spies are ready to claim it. I make appreciative noises, and ask for a look at their report, but find the lab they're ready to penetrate has lots of other projects running too. The computer would be great, but right now, I think I'd rather gamble on something a little more timely, and order Rrrhet to direct his spies to the lab's construction wing.
Oho! And the gamble pays off! With our new Zortium Battle Suits, our troops will be all but invincible, and will be able to conquer worlds without risking any of their valuable historical sites! Of course, Igneus calls me up again to say I underestimated his patience with technology theft. Hrrrumph. I suppose that's true: I was expecting the NAP to be gone at least after getting caught two years in a row! I think he meant to bluster that I overestimated his patience, but his slip of the vocalization crystals seems to be more accurate than his intent!
2432: Small enemy fleets at Rhilus and Obaca retreat to each planet's surface, there to lie in wait for my transports where my Kodiaks can't reach. Thankfully however, Obaca has no giant battle fleet like the one that protected Rhilus a few years back. With just a pair of little missile boats and a single base to pass, nearly our entire giant fleet of transports - all sent at once from Ursa many years ago - make it through to land! Once our warriors hit the ground, of course, it's no contest. General Grrropo's brilliantly-orchestrated attacks with great war bears in zortium battle suits, bearing personal shields and hand lasers, make mincemeant of the Darloks and their duralloy suits in spite of equal shielding. So, with Obaca as our 18th system, GNN announces that we're well on our way to control of the galaxy! I certainly hope so: The aliens' notions of historical preservation are worse than ignorant, believe me.
It isn't long before Arrrt returns with his reverse-engineering team's discoveries: Hydrogen Fuel Cells are pure, unadulterated junk, but it's one less worthless tech for Rrrhet's spies to accidentally steal from someone. A Neutron Pellet Gun might be useful if we decide we need real fighters at some point, and - as with otherwise-obsolete Duralloy Armor - will help some with miniaturization; as Arrrt likes to say, all knowledge helps in the long run. More importantly, Battle Computer Mark IV immediately becomes our new state of the art (at least for a year or so) and should help Rrrhet's spies do their work even better than before. No jackpot here - the Darloks use improved robotic controls and planetary shields - but still more than I was expecting, thanks to the brilliance of Arrrt and Arrrchie's recovery teams, and it comes with another bonus: I finally get to meet Sauron!
He's a pacifistic technologist, my favorite kind of emperor, and he's doing pretty well for himself when you consider that he only owns four worlds. (Only the Darloks have fewer, and only because I just conquered two of their stars.) They must be pretty large worlds, but I guess they would be, naturally or not: From a visit one of my ships made to Sssla, I know he has at least Terraforming +40. He also seems a relaxed kind of guy, perhaps because I voted for him recently, so I call him up right away and sign him up for a huge trade package and an N. A. P. That worked out so well, I think I'll call up Yalara ... and indeed, she purrs that she'd love to have a NAP with me! Errrrr, and she does that one-eye-closing thing again; I wonder what that means. Maybe she wants to double our trade package? No, for some reason, she doesn't want to discuss that and just gets upset with me. What did I miss? It couldn't have been anything important, could it have been?
2433: After Darlok fleets flee from Klystron and Obaca, I receive a report that Silicoid spies blew up seven factories at Obaca. I scratch my head. "Why would they do that?"
Rrrhet's messenger shrugs and says, "Because they're aliens, I guess," but that doesn't sound right exactly. Maybe it's because they didn't, and it was the Darloks with a frame job. That makes a bit more sense to me. On the other hand, Igneus does break his Non-Aggression pact, which could mean trouble brewing. I enlist Sauron in my war against the Darloks, just in case.
2434: There are a lot more little Darlok missile boats at Rhilus than there were at Obaca a couple years ago, hiding under their planetary shield, but it's not enough to thwart the transports coming in! General Grrropo's forces are only outnumbered three to two by the time they make planetfall, and we lose even fewer of our forces planetside than we did in space! And Arrrt and Arrrchie's brilliant partnership cleans out the last Darlok technologies!
Controlled Tunra Environment, Class V Planetary Shield, Improved Robotic Controls III, and Inertial Stabilizer are all discovered among the ruins! Now, that's what I call good fieldwork, everybody!
2436-9: Perhaps because of the growing power of my people, with three new worlds since the last election and hundreds of new factories, the rest of the galaxy seems to be turning against me. Sauron breaks our NAP in spite of the way I've just crippled our common enemy, and immediately sends a fleet to poor Obaca, and once Rrrhet's agents steal Battle Computer Mark III from the Silicoids and GNN reports that we're the tech leaders in the galaxy, just edging out the Meklar and the Sakkra, Yalara decides I'm showing her up, and cancels her NAP with me. Of course, I never had a NAP with CB-715, and as my Snuffle arrives at Vulcan to scan its fleet, I get the gravest news I've yet seen in this galaxy: The death fleet is there no longer. It's coming for me.
_______________
Next: Never Underestimate the Meklar!
Our troopers are so careful to preserve the world's historical treasures that there's no damage done to any of its factories, and in spite of their relatively small numbers, we're able to reverse-engineer their Improved Industrial Tech 9! Better still, Arrrt's people, with help and guidance from Arrrchie and his ingenious means of collecting data from ancient, erosion-damaged sources, are able to recover plans for a Neutron Blaster from a data center the Darloks had intentionally sabotaged to prevent just such a discovery!
OOC Note: While all this was happening, in anticipation of the Meklar developing Controlled Inferno or better, I was building up bases at my closest world to their space. At this point, the colony I was calling Fortress Berel already had more bases than I ever built across my entire empire in both previous Imperia combined! Unfortunately, Klystron would not have leisure to do the same - at least, not for some time to come....
2427-8: One of our agents snooping around a Silicoid laboratory on Misha finds plans for Improved Terraforming +10 in one of the dumpsters out back. Better than going for the gold and just getting killed, I guess. Besides, that kind of "spying" apparently doesn't bother Igneus, as he agrees to a large upgrade to our trade package. Perhaps this will lead to peaceful relations eventually and - best of all - historical preservation and excavation agreements!
2429: Grrrrrummmm ... uh-oh. The Darlok colony at Rhilus has two missile bases up, and a fleet in orbit. Most of my transports can probably get past those bases, and my Kodiaks could handle the fleet even if our crews were in hibernation, but the Shifters know that as well as we do. Their fleet retreats to shield-sheltered starbases on the planet's surface, where we dare not fire on them and risk harming the planet's historical treasures, and though in no danger from the bases' missiles, my Kodiaks can't escort the transports into the atmosphere itself! As soon as our troop ships reach final approach, the Darlok star fleet joins its firepower to the bases' and...
...it's a disaster. There will be no chance to conquer this world while that fleet is present without some highly advanced technology. Arrrt does console me a bit though, with the news that we've got Zortium armor ready, and there are some tough choices heading forward: Do we research Armored Exoskeleton, or the means of cutting our current factory waste in half? I'd like to have both, and decide in the end on Reduced Industrial Waste 40%, as helping the economy first will speed research into the exoskeleton or whatever else comes next.
2430: The Kodiaks split up last year, and that seems to help a lot. One destroys a bunch of ships at the second battle of Rhilus, and the other defends Klystron easily, dismantling still more Darlok ships. Better yet, our spies have stopped dumpster-diving and are now infiltrating actual Silicoid labs! At Draconis, they learn how to build an Improved Space Scanner, a tremendous leap forward for us all! At virtually the same time, the GNN droid announces that the heavy metals have been depleted at Draconis as well, but my agents swear up and down that they deserve no credit for that. Still, I have a feeling that's what's in Igneus's ... well ... in whatever jagged lump of rocks he calls his mind ... as he threatens us with "consequences" and relations with him go tense. Considering what he's done to us in the past though, if I'm forced to make the choice, I'd rather have his technology than his friendship.
2431: Taking my stance on Igneus to heart, my spies come through again, no doubt thanks in part to the new technology they just brought in! Rrrhet, our fifteenth officer and chief of espionage, reports that the Silicoids have a mark-3 computer, and his spies are ready to claim it. I make appreciative noises, and ask for a look at their report, but find the lab they're ready to penetrate has lots of other projects running too. The computer would be great, but right now, I think I'd rather gamble on something a little more timely, and order Rrrhet to direct his spies to the lab's construction wing.
Oho! And the gamble pays off! With our new Zortium Battle Suits, our troops will be all but invincible, and will be able to conquer worlds without risking any of their valuable historical sites! Of course, Igneus calls me up again to say I underestimated his patience with technology theft. Hrrrumph. I suppose that's true: I was expecting the NAP to be gone at least after getting caught two years in a row! I think he meant to bluster that I overestimated his patience, but his slip of the vocalization crystals seems to be more accurate than his intent!
2432: Small enemy fleets at Rhilus and Obaca retreat to each planet's surface, there to lie in wait for my transports where my Kodiaks can't reach. Thankfully however, Obaca has no giant battle fleet like the one that protected Rhilus a few years back. With just a pair of little missile boats and a single base to pass, nearly our entire giant fleet of transports - all sent at once from Ursa many years ago - make it through to land! Once our warriors hit the ground, of course, it's no contest. General Grrropo's brilliantly-orchestrated attacks with great war bears in zortium battle suits, bearing personal shields and hand lasers, make mincemeant of the Darloks and their duralloy suits in spite of equal shielding. So, with Obaca as our 18th system, GNN announces that we're well on our way to control of the galaxy! I certainly hope so: The aliens' notions of historical preservation are worse than ignorant, believe me.
It isn't long before Arrrt returns with his reverse-engineering team's discoveries: Hydrogen Fuel Cells are pure, unadulterated junk, but it's one less worthless tech for Rrrhet's spies to accidentally steal from someone. A Neutron Pellet Gun might be useful if we decide we need real fighters at some point, and - as with otherwise-obsolete Duralloy Armor - will help some with miniaturization; as Arrrt likes to say, all knowledge helps in the long run. More importantly, Battle Computer Mark IV immediately becomes our new state of the art (at least for a year or so) and should help Rrrhet's spies do their work even better than before. No jackpot here - the Darloks use improved robotic controls and planetary shields - but still more than I was expecting, thanks to the brilliance of Arrrt and Arrrchie's recovery teams, and it comes with another bonus: I finally get to meet Sauron!
He's a pacifistic technologist, my favorite kind of emperor, and he's doing pretty well for himself when you consider that he only owns four worlds. (Only the Darloks have fewer, and only because I just conquered two of their stars.) They must be pretty large worlds, but I guess they would be, naturally or not: From a visit one of my ships made to Sssla, I know he has at least Terraforming +40. He also seems a relaxed kind of guy, perhaps because I voted for him recently, so I call him up right away and sign him up for a huge trade package and an N. A. P. That worked out so well, I think I'll call up Yalara ... and indeed, she purrs that she'd love to have a NAP with me! Errrrr, and she does that one-eye-closing thing again; I wonder what that means. Maybe she wants to double our trade package? No, for some reason, she doesn't want to discuss that and just gets upset with me. What did I miss? It couldn't have been anything important, could it have been?
2433: After Darlok fleets flee from Klystron and Obaca, I receive a report that Silicoid spies blew up seven factories at Obaca. I scratch my head. "Why would they do that?"
Rrrhet's messenger shrugs and says, "Because they're aliens, I guess," but that doesn't sound right exactly. Maybe it's because they didn't, and it was the Darloks with a frame job. That makes a bit more sense to me. On the other hand, Igneus does break his Non-Aggression pact, which could mean trouble brewing. I enlist Sauron in my war against the Darloks, just in case.
2434: There are a lot more little Darlok missile boats at Rhilus than there were at Obaca a couple years ago, hiding under their planetary shield, but it's not enough to thwart the transports coming in! General Grrropo's forces are only outnumbered three to two by the time they make planetfall, and we lose even fewer of our forces planetside than we did in space! And Arrrt and Arrrchie's brilliant partnership cleans out the last Darlok technologies!
Controlled Tunra Environment, Class V Planetary Shield, Improved Robotic Controls III, and Inertial Stabilizer are all discovered among the ruins! Now, that's what I call good fieldwork, everybody!
2436-9: Perhaps because of the growing power of my people, with three new worlds since the last election and hundreds of new factories, the rest of the galaxy seems to be turning against me. Sauron breaks our NAP in spite of the way I've just crippled our common enemy, and immediately sends a fleet to poor Obaca, and once Rrrhet's agents steal Battle Computer Mark III from the Silicoids and GNN reports that we're the tech leaders in the galaxy, just edging out the Meklar and the Sakkra, Yalara decides I'm showing her up, and cancels her NAP with me. Of course, I never had a NAP with CB-715, and as my Snuffle arrives at Vulcan to scan its fleet, I get the gravest news I've yet seen in this galaxy: The death fleet is there no longer. It's coming for me.
_______________
Next: Never Underestimate the Meklar!
Imperium 14 - End of an Era
2400-01: Hraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrr!!! This should show Igneus how to take a world properly! Not only have we preserved its cultural artifacts intact, its factories too remain unharmed, meaning we'll be able to build up the world quickly ... and keep our conquests, unlike him!
Firma is ours, with all its factories, and we have discovered the secrets of the Silicoids' Fusion Bombs among the ruins! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! To think that he might equip his star ships with such horrifying weapons, with no purpose other than senseless destruction of the valuable living history book that is a planet's surface! We shall never use these, but neither shall we forget that he has made them!
Well, with the century at an end, I reluctantly accompany Yalara to another stupid council election. I'd rather not attend at all - we never decide anything anyway - but she insists that I must go, and I suppose it would look bad if I didn't, since everyone always shows up - probably for the same reason as me. I'll bet if we all voted on a resolution to not bother holding one next time, it would pass unanimously.
It's no surprise at this point that I'm nominated again, and as for my opponent, it's ... hrrrrg? Yalara? The Mrrshan lady who keeps dragging me to these things? Urrrrm ... well, okay. She votes for herself while showing her teeth and doing that closing-one-eye thing at me. I just don't understand it. Doesn't it make it harder to see? She has five votes of her own, and I guess I'm not surprised to see Igneus give her his four; he is at war with her opponent - that is to say, me - and CB-715 is officially her ally this year, so she's up to a total of 13 ... but the scaly Sakkra abstain with four votes - I don't think they've spoken to either of us officially - and Narzina for some reason gives four votes to me - probably just because she hasn't met Yalara outside of these meetings. So that leaves me to cast my ... urrrm, 10 votes - not quite a veto, but close - for ... hrrrrrrm. Well, Yalara is saying that of course I'll vote for her again, and doing that one-eye-closing thing which doesn't make any sense, but wouldn't that make her emperess of the galaxy? Also, it isn't proper protocol to vote for your election opponent; at least, none of the others ever have. I'm not sure exactly what the protocol is really, so I abstain. Yalara does something with her lips which my advisors claim is called "pouting." Apparently it's not supposed to be funny, so I try very hard not to laugh. Honestly though, I don't think a cat would be a very good ruler for the galaxy. It's one thing to go into hibernation from time to time, but it's another to just go off and take a nap in the middle of an important cabinet meeting.
As you can see from this map from the turn of the century, I've saved such archaeological treasures from Igneus as I can for the time being. I'm going to have to wait for superior technology, as I certainly don't plan to damage his remaing worlds' surfaces by attacking them with a fleet! Seeing how severely the war has swung my way, I therefore offer Igneus a chance for peace, and ... hrrrrrrrumph. He demands 200 BC before he'll agree. Reluctantly, I submit to this extortion. I'd rather have the money - and peace of mind - I'll save by building fewer defenses at immature colonies in the north than the credits he's requesting here as a flat fee.
2402: Hurrraaaaaaaaah! Sublight Drives are finished! This presents me with a tough choice, as Fusion Drives and Warp Dissipator might each be extremely useful, and though Energy Pulsar is probably a device of little importance, I'm concerned about our lack of range - still restricted to a 5-parsec radius without reserve fuel tanks. I therefore suggest that our scientists backtrack for Dotomite Crystals and put off the next decision until I have more information.
2403: Hurr...rrumph. Well, it's great that we finally got a new computer technology, but ... it's still just ECM 2. And worse yet, the only project we can devise as a result is ECM Jammer Mark 3!
2404: Hrrrrrrrm? Igneus is calling, is he? What could he want? Probably to start trading with me, I suppose, since he rejected it as my idea three years ago. ... Hmmmmm, no. He wants a non-aggression pact, does he? ... What kind of trick is this? Ah ... naturally he wants those rich radiated worlds scattered around the galaxy. Welllll ... I don't think I'm prepared to defend them from him right now, and if this is an overture of true friendship, he's welcome to it. I could use another friend in this galaxy. Before we get too excited about it though, remember what he did at Ryoun ... and what we had to do just to get peace!
He's still feeling restless, so it's hard to imagine this lasting unless I take corrective measures ... but the pact itself should help a little at least.
2409: Ha! We now have Class 4 deflectors! They won't save us from the Heavy Blast Cannons on the new Meklar Tornado dreadnoughts, but they'll help at least! We'll go to work on a Repulsor Beam mainly because it's something different and simple enough to advance the state of the art as quickly as possible: I want planetary shields as soon as I can get them! Fortunately for my hopes of peace in the meantime, Igneus seems to have settled down a bit, though he's still wary of me. He gives me a semi-normal greeting and finally agrees to trade again. We'll see if we can drag relations out of the sewer, but it's going to take a while even in the best case, and I know very well that there's no guaranty.
2412: We've learned to enrich the soil of all our habitable worlds, and will go on to develop Cloning techniques to swiftly grow soldiers in case of another war, to grow replacement organs for the sick, injured, and elderly - and most importantly, to recreate ancient species from any tissue samples we might find at fossil sites throughout the galaxy!
2413: Hrrrrummmmph. Yalara cancels our non-agression pact. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised; it was just a Cat NAP, after all. You can't expect a feline to be consistent. Oh, well. I design a Snuffle 3.0 to take the place of the old Scent - just another long-range scan ship, this one armed with an Ion cannon, to see what the cats are using for a fleet.
2417-20: Grrrrrrrrrrumph! We finally have our new ECM defenses in place, and what are our choices going forward? Nothing but Battle Computer Mark V. At least better news is coming, as we eventually put together an autorepair system, and have hope of a way to someday make actual armor for it to fix!
Zortium Armor will be our next project, as more factory miniaturization seems fairly pointless to me at this stage. And after hanging just on the verge of a breakthrough for years on end, my engineers finally figure out how to refit our star ship engines for Dotomite Crystal fuel cores, and our missile bases with scatter packs. They're all relieved, and eager to start work on new things, so I assign them to development of a Warp Dissipator and Stinger Missiles, to help protect the valuable historic sites on our worlds from enemy bomber fleets. I also considered Fusion Beams, but didn't really give Graviton Beams a second thought.
With all of this accomplished, I try to convince Narzina to let us explore the stars she controls, and examine the planets' surfaces for archaeological records. I promise to share all our findings with her, to operate entirely within Darlok law while on her worlds, to ... bah! It doesn't matter what I promise. She refuses to allow any of our people to explore a single world. She won't even agree to exchange information about the galaxy's history! The Darloks seem to have a strict closed-door policy toward archaeological discovery. This is so disturbing, I request a meeting with all the officers of our government, and even Arrrchie takes time out to attend, even though he's got the latest results in from the newest Rha dig, reportedly including what appears to be an ancient metallic water basin beaten into its present intricate form directly by the ancestral Silicoids' rocky fists! I briefly outline the diplomatic situation in the galaxy, the speed of our ships and transports, the threat and size of the Meklar and Mrrshan fleets, and the current distribution of missile bases across the galaxy. I do my best to explain our options for future dig sites, and especially the need to make contact with Sauron of the Sakkra if we are ever to hope to learn about his worlds' histories, and after Arrrchie comments on the liklihood that the most valuable historical discoveries are likely to be achieved by field work near the heart of the galaxy, agreement is universal: We must take the coremost worlds of the Darloks. Our first transports are launched immediately!
2422-4: My old friend Arrrt comes by the office in person to surprise me with the news that we've developed a repulsor beam, and can start work on Class VI Deflector Shields! No other options, but that's okay: There's another project the new repulsors allow me to finish right away!
Just in time to meet my transports at their first destination, Rana and Selia each build a massive Kodiak 3.0, each with a repulsor, auto repair, and no less than 58 Ion Cannons! They'll be more than a match for anything currently in space except for a true Meklar death fleet! You can also see the Sniff 2.0s due to be scrapped as soon as the 3.0s arrive to take their places, the poorly-named Rocks that held the Silicoid front for us briefly, our most advanced colony ship design (the long-range Fire Den 3) and the Snuffle scanner that just examined the cute, harmless gatling-based kittens' fleet. Now that I've seen she doesn't build vile planet-wrecking, historical-artefact-destroying bombers or spore ships, I call Yalara up again, and she reluctantly agrees to talk to me. Still, she refuses to break her alliance with CB-715 because I "have broken so many past treaties"! Grrrrrrrrrrrrmmm? I've never broken a treaty yet! She must be thinking of the treaty she broke. I suppose her feline pride couldn't stand to admit that she had done wrong though. Oh, well.
2425: I'm in the middle of examining some amazing pre-Orion fossils from Firma - it was very kind of Arrrchie to share his discoveries with me - when Yalara calls to ask if I'd like to escort her to the council meeting again. Grrrrrrr. Stupid council meeting. I hate to put off examining those fossils, but I suppose it's my duty. Anyway, I guess it's nice that Yalara's still talking to me. I suppose that'll change after we have to face off against each other again ... except, she isn't nominated this time! Sauron is back in the mix, and I'm up against him! How they all decide these things is beyond me, frankly. As long as they keep nominating me and don't vote someone else emperor though, they can work it out however they like. Igneus abstains with four votes, and Yalara with five - she gives me an angry look as she does so, I guess to show me she's still mad at me for ... once having a non-aggression pact with her that she later found inconvenient and tore to pieces? Um, anyway, it doesn't really matter, since I have more than a third of the galaxy's population, only Sauron and his robotic ally vote for the lizards, with five votes each, and Narzina actually votes for me with her four, probably because she can see my transports coming, and she knows the only way to stop them would be for me to recall them by imperial fiat as the ruler of the galaxy. I'm tired of never even casting my votes at these elections, and I want to make a statement about how dumb they are, so I give my 13 votes to Sauron, leaving him still just short of the two thirds majority he needs. That leaves him grinning and chuckling to himself, but I don't get to find out what's so funny because he and the others all promptly leave. Yalara lets me accompany her back to our part of space as if she's doing me a big favor, but I don't try to talk politics - or anything else for that matter. I think she needs to cool down for a few years and get herself sorted or something. That seems to be normal for felines ... if "normal" is the word I mean.
_______________
Next: The Darlok War
Firma is ours, with all its factories, and we have discovered the secrets of the Silicoids' Fusion Bombs among the ruins! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! To think that he might equip his star ships with such horrifying weapons, with no purpose other than senseless destruction of the valuable living history book that is a planet's surface! We shall never use these, but neither shall we forget that he has made them!
Well, with the century at an end, I reluctantly accompany Yalara to another stupid council election. I'd rather not attend at all - we never decide anything anyway - but she insists that I must go, and I suppose it would look bad if I didn't, since everyone always shows up - probably for the same reason as me. I'll bet if we all voted on a resolution to not bother holding one next time, it would pass unanimously.
It's no surprise at this point that I'm nominated again, and as for my opponent, it's ... hrrrrg? Yalara? The Mrrshan lady who keeps dragging me to these things? Urrrrm ... well, okay. She votes for herself while showing her teeth and doing that closing-one-eye thing at me. I just don't understand it. Doesn't it make it harder to see? She has five votes of her own, and I guess I'm not surprised to see Igneus give her his four; he is at war with her opponent - that is to say, me - and CB-715 is officially her ally this year, so she's up to a total of 13 ... but the scaly Sakkra abstain with four votes - I don't think they've spoken to either of us officially - and Narzina for some reason gives four votes to me - probably just because she hasn't met Yalara outside of these meetings. So that leaves me to cast my ... urrrm, 10 votes - not quite a veto, but close - for ... hrrrrrrm. Well, Yalara is saying that of course I'll vote for her again, and doing that one-eye-closing thing which doesn't make any sense, but wouldn't that make her emperess of the galaxy? Also, it isn't proper protocol to vote for your election opponent; at least, none of the others ever have. I'm not sure exactly what the protocol is really, so I abstain. Yalara does something with her lips which my advisors claim is called "pouting." Apparently it's not supposed to be funny, so I try very hard not to laugh. Honestly though, I don't think a cat would be a very good ruler for the galaxy. It's one thing to go into hibernation from time to time, but it's another to just go off and take a nap in the middle of an important cabinet meeting.
As you can see from this map from the turn of the century, I've saved such archaeological treasures from Igneus as I can for the time being. I'm going to have to wait for superior technology, as I certainly don't plan to damage his remaing worlds' surfaces by attacking them with a fleet! Seeing how severely the war has swung my way, I therefore offer Igneus a chance for peace, and ... hrrrrrrrumph. He demands 200 BC before he'll agree. Reluctantly, I submit to this extortion. I'd rather have the money - and peace of mind - I'll save by building fewer defenses at immature colonies in the north than the credits he's requesting here as a flat fee.
2402: Hurrraaaaaaaaah! Sublight Drives are finished! This presents me with a tough choice, as Fusion Drives and Warp Dissipator might each be extremely useful, and though Energy Pulsar is probably a device of little importance, I'm concerned about our lack of range - still restricted to a 5-parsec radius without reserve fuel tanks. I therefore suggest that our scientists backtrack for Dotomite Crystals and put off the next decision until I have more information.
2403: Hurr...rrumph. Well, it's great that we finally got a new computer technology, but ... it's still just ECM 2. And worse yet, the only project we can devise as a result is ECM Jammer Mark 3!
2404: Hrrrrrrrm? Igneus is calling, is he? What could he want? Probably to start trading with me, I suppose, since he rejected it as my idea three years ago. ... Hmmmmm, no. He wants a non-aggression pact, does he? ... What kind of trick is this? Ah ... naturally he wants those rich radiated worlds scattered around the galaxy. Welllll ... I don't think I'm prepared to defend them from him right now, and if this is an overture of true friendship, he's welcome to it. I could use another friend in this galaxy. Before we get too excited about it though, remember what he did at Ryoun ... and what we had to do just to get peace!
He's still feeling restless, so it's hard to imagine this lasting unless I take corrective measures ... but the pact itself should help a little at least.
2409: Ha! We now have Class 4 deflectors! They won't save us from the Heavy Blast Cannons on the new Meklar Tornado dreadnoughts, but they'll help at least! We'll go to work on a Repulsor Beam mainly because it's something different and simple enough to advance the state of the art as quickly as possible: I want planetary shields as soon as I can get them! Fortunately for my hopes of peace in the meantime, Igneus seems to have settled down a bit, though he's still wary of me. He gives me a semi-normal greeting and finally agrees to trade again. We'll see if we can drag relations out of the sewer, but it's going to take a while even in the best case, and I know very well that there's no guaranty.
2412: We've learned to enrich the soil of all our habitable worlds, and will go on to develop Cloning techniques to swiftly grow soldiers in case of another war, to grow replacement organs for the sick, injured, and elderly - and most importantly, to recreate ancient species from any tissue samples we might find at fossil sites throughout the galaxy!
2413: Hrrrrummmmph. Yalara cancels our non-agression pact. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised; it was just a Cat NAP, after all. You can't expect a feline to be consistent. Oh, well. I design a Snuffle 3.0 to take the place of the old Scent - just another long-range scan ship, this one armed with an Ion cannon, to see what the cats are using for a fleet.
2417-20: Grrrrrrrrrrumph! We finally have our new ECM defenses in place, and what are our choices going forward? Nothing but Battle Computer Mark V. At least better news is coming, as we eventually put together an autorepair system, and have hope of a way to someday make actual armor for it to fix!
Zortium Armor will be our next project, as more factory miniaturization seems fairly pointless to me at this stage. And after hanging just on the verge of a breakthrough for years on end, my engineers finally figure out how to refit our star ship engines for Dotomite Crystal fuel cores, and our missile bases with scatter packs. They're all relieved, and eager to start work on new things, so I assign them to development of a Warp Dissipator and Stinger Missiles, to help protect the valuable historic sites on our worlds from enemy bomber fleets. I also considered Fusion Beams, but didn't really give Graviton Beams a second thought.
With all of this accomplished, I try to convince Narzina to let us explore the stars she controls, and examine the planets' surfaces for archaeological records. I promise to share all our findings with her, to operate entirely within Darlok law while on her worlds, to ... bah! It doesn't matter what I promise. She refuses to allow any of our people to explore a single world. She won't even agree to exchange information about the galaxy's history! The Darloks seem to have a strict closed-door policy toward archaeological discovery. This is so disturbing, I request a meeting with all the officers of our government, and even Arrrchie takes time out to attend, even though he's got the latest results in from the newest Rha dig, reportedly including what appears to be an ancient metallic water basin beaten into its present intricate form directly by the ancestral Silicoids' rocky fists! I briefly outline the diplomatic situation in the galaxy, the speed of our ships and transports, the threat and size of the Meklar and Mrrshan fleets, and the current distribution of missile bases across the galaxy. I do my best to explain our options for future dig sites, and especially the need to make contact with Sauron of the Sakkra if we are ever to hope to learn about his worlds' histories, and after Arrrchie comments on the liklihood that the most valuable historical discoveries are likely to be achieved by field work near the heart of the galaxy, agreement is universal: We must take the coremost worlds of the Darloks. Our first transports are launched immediately!
2422-4: My old friend Arrrt comes by the office in person to surprise me with the news that we've developed a repulsor beam, and can start work on Class VI Deflector Shields! No other options, but that's okay: There's another project the new repulsors allow me to finish right away!
Just in time to meet my transports at their first destination, Rana and Selia each build a massive Kodiak 3.0, each with a repulsor, auto repair, and no less than 58 Ion Cannons! They'll be more than a match for anything currently in space except for a true Meklar death fleet! You can also see the Sniff 2.0s due to be scrapped as soon as the 3.0s arrive to take their places, the poorly-named Rocks that held the Silicoid front for us briefly, our most advanced colony ship design (the long-range Fire Den 3) and the Snuffle scanner that just examined the cute, harmless gatling-based kittens' fleet. Now that I've seen she doesn't build vile planet-wrecking, historical-artefact-destroying bombers or spore ships, I call Yalara up again, and she reluctantly agrees to talk to me. Still, she refuses to break her alliance with CB-715 because I "have broken so many past treaties"! Grrrrrrrrrrrrmmm? I've never broken a treaty yet! She must be thinking of the treaty she broke. I suppose her feline pride couldn't stand to admit that she had done wrong though. Oh, well.
2425: I'm in the middle of examining some amazing pre-Orion fossils from Firma - it was very kind of Arrrchie to share his discoveries with me - when Yalara calls to ask if I'd like to escort her to the council meeting again. Grrrrrrr. Stupid council meeting. I hate to put off examining those fossils, but I suppose it's my duty. Anyway, I guess it's nice that Yalara's still talking to me. I suppose that'll change after we have to face off against each other again ... except, she isn't nominated this time! Sauron is back in the mix, and I'm up against him! How they all decide these things is beyond me, frankly. As long as they keep nominating me and don't vote someone else emperor though, they can work it out however they like. Igneus abstains with four votes, and Yalara with five - she gives me an angry look as she does so, I guess to show me she's still mad at me for ... once having a non-aggression pact with her that she later found inconvenient and tore to pieces? Um, anyway, it doesn't really matter, since I have more than a third of the galaxy's population, only Sauron and his robotic ally vote for the lizards, with five votes each, and Narzina actually votes for me with her four, probably because she can see my transports coming, and she knows the only way to stop them would be for me to recall them by imperial fiat as the ruler of the galaxy. I'm tired of never even casting my votes at these elections, and I want to make a statement about how dumb they are, so I give my 13 votes to Sauron, leaving him still just short of the two thirds majority he needs. That leaves him grinning and chuckling to himself, but I don't get to find out what's so funny because he and the others all promptly leave. Yalara lets me accompany her back to our part of space as if she's doing me a big favor, but I don't try to talk politics - or anything else for that matter. I think she needs to cool down for a few years and get herself sorted or something. That seems to be normal for felines ... if "normal" is the word I mean.
_______________
Next: The Darlok War
Imperium 14 - Overreaching?
2377: Yawwwwwwwwwn! Hrrrum. Let's see. Where was I? Ah. Artemis, at the neutron star south of Meklar space, is of course a radiated rich world (what else would it be?) ... and ... urm ... I spot a Meklon death fleet, probably approaching Dolz, against which I can't possibly defend adequately. I think this is CB-715's way of saying that's Meklar space I'm visiting. I won't let this spoil the celebrations when we colonize Rana next year though, finally giving us an ultra-rich world of our own to answer the Silicoids' at Tau Cygni!
2379: Well, I was right about the Meklar attacking Dolz ... but I underestimated their capacity for sheer, unfettered mayhem!
They bomb the planet from orbit, murdering nine million innocents in their homes, and destroying our few factories as well as unknowable quantities of the planet's cultural artifacts - potentially huge portions of the galaxy's permanent historical record - apparently out of sheer hatred for everything but their own cybernetic bodies! Fortunately, we were able to take some emergency measures to shield and protect the most important historical sites over the past two years. I don't know if we'll ever be able to examine those sites in depth though; how can we ever handle those fleets? GNN's report this year that the Meklar are first in fleet strength, and that we're last, should surprise nobody. Grrrrrowl. That our colony at Dolz was a bit of an overreach, I can accept. That they responded by direct bombardment however is horrifying!
2381: Ursa's scientific community develops a new battle computer, opening the way to ... ECM Jammer Mark II ... and nothing else ... so ... grrrrrrrrummmble. Also, CB-715's despicable machine-fleets kill 12 million more helpless bears at Dolz, and millions more who had been crossing interstellar space in slow transports, just as they hoped to finally make landfall. I won't even discuss what their continued bombardment must be doing to the planet's historical features. Things aren't going much better on the Silicoid front, as our first wave of troopers is defeated at Rha. We could have overcome the enemy's personal shields and portable lasers, but a poorly-constructed Silicoid skyscraper in the city of Crysglow crumbled and fell when it was hit by a misfired barrage of Silicoid gunship rockets in the course of a heated battle - much like the salvos that on other occasions had accidentally taken out entire residential neighborhoods - and in its collapse, the structure fell across a strategically important Bulrathi position, briefly throwing our conquering forces into chaos in the city. By the time the dust had settled, the Silicoids' forces, who were lucky enough to be completely outside the path of the building's collapse, had the upper hand in the lynchpin city and went on to kill all our troops, though not without massive losses.
All will yet be well though: A second wave will reach Rha soon enough! Our brave civillians at Dolz meanwhile stave off attack from 17 million invading Meklar, but we lose more of our own than we should have because of a grim last stand at the Agrrraar dig site, protecting its precious ancient sculptures even after a tactical retreat was clearly called for. If only we could be sure CB-715 would still preserve these when it inevitably conquers that world! There is also the danger of losing contact with the Meklar and our opportunity of studying their strange cybernetic culture - we needed reserve tanks to reach Dolz in the first place, and I don't expect the cyborgs to talk to us when they're out of basic range - so, after one of my Fire Dens colonizes Xengara...
2382: Another takes Berel, a fiery world close to Meklar space that shouldn't tempt CB-715 since his people can't survive on its surface. Our second wave of troopers hits Rha as well, and in spite of the Silicoids' new Duralloy armor, our superior tactics win the day, and we liberate the world and the relics of its history! The news from Dolz is worse of course, as the Meklar assault troops outnumber us there by more than three to one, and we lose the world. We won't know if the Agrrraar sculptures have been preserved until the Meklar grant us the right to send research expeditions in ... or until we reclaim the planet again in war! Hrrrrrumph. I have little hope of the first, considering the horrors their starfleets perpetrated ... and then, considering the massive Meklar battle fleets, I'm in no hurry to test the second either! Still, someday....
Between Rha and Berel, in spite of losing Dolz, we're still making gains after a fashion, and so the GNN droid informs the galaxy that we're the first to twelve star systems! Hrummm. Not bad. Through Berel, we're also in touch with the Darloks and Narzina, their Xenophobic Technologist queen.
She's got five planets to her name, and is uneasy with me as soon as we meet, but agrees to a small trade agreement anyway. I have to take her word for it that she's a female, by the way, but I have to take her word for it that she's corporeal! All I can tell for sure is that she wears a cloak and her eyes are red. Now, if she had lived ten thousand years ago, and we were examining her skeleton or her mummified remains, why then we'd have something!
2384: My scientists decide to accomplish something for a change, and complete work on factory miniaturization. Rather than more of the same, I have them look into an Automated Repair System, though it won't be of much use unless we can someday come up with some armor.
2385: We see a Sakkra fleet for the first time! Their alliance-aided Valkyrie cruiser chases our Sniff away from Uxmai for a moment, while our brave soldiers repel a Silicoid invasion at Rha. Hrrrrumph! That world is ours now, and the rocks and their horrifying bombardment policies won't be getting it back while I'm on watch!
2388-92: Three Silicoid Mako cruisers come after Ryoun. I've been rushing a missile base there in case of something just like this, but it still won't be ready quite in time, so I order Rana to send a mobile defense fleet. After ... urrrrm ... accidentally going into hibernation again - there's something about ordering fleets around that always seems to do that to me; the command console is too close to the air conditioning or something - I fortunately sleep through what I'm told was a show of absolute incompetence by our pilots and another unspeakable bombing run by the rock-heads in 2390. I make sure it's not repeated, destroying the last of the Makos and slaughtering the would-be conquering forces, this time while I'm awake. In the meantime, we manage to colonize fiery Tao south of Ursa, and get ready to start the preliminary land surveys that will confirm where we can construct factories without harming the world's vital archaeological record!
2393: We manage to miniaturize our deflector shields for use by our troopers! Believe it or not, this is the first technological advance we've ever made that actually enhances our ground forces. The only option to proceed is Class IV Deflector Shields, which should protect our bases and - critically - our dig sites from the current Meklar NPG designs, but leave us vulnerable to the Silicoids and future ships the Meklar are likely to create. As Uxmai becomes our 14th world, we confirm that more Makos are almost certainly headed for Celtsi, and send our fleet to intervene. I also call up Yalara on the holophone; she seems calm for once, and is willing to let her scientists teach me to use a Deep Space Scanner in exchange for my Nuclear Engines.
This might speed up her new lines of ships, but at least it won't hurt me if she trades them away; all my enemies seem to be using Sublights. There's also a huge side-benefit: The Mrrshan scientists don't do any inexplicable things with their eyelashes or their lips, and they actually seem to talk sense! I might actually get along with these cat people! After giving the matter some thought, I also make a similar deal with Narzina for ECM Jammer Mark I, just so my spies will be a little more competitive in Silicoid space.
2394: Ho-ho! Our tech trading pays off immediately! My new spy network finds a Silicoid technology center, and supposing that the other wings would just hold obsolete terraforming and factory construction techs, I order our agents to the weapons research section ... and they bring back Hand Lasers for me! This should give our generals even more tactical flexibility!
2395: Four Makos arrive at Celtsi, but I have five bases up, and the fleet is in position.
Our ... errrm ... inaptly named Rock 2.0 cruisers are missile boats, which close as rapidly as possible to ensure the enemy can't dodge any part of their payload of 35 Hyper-V rockets apiece (in seven 5-racks). Lacking Ion Cannons, and knowing the Silicoid ships carried bombs and shields, our military leaders wanted to maximize the damage these mobile defense ships could do before the enemy could close with the planet we were defending, even at the cost of total damage potential in the course of a drawn-out fight. It works this time, as this fight is over quickly, and though most of our fighters are destroyed, we lose nothing else - and that fighter design is about to hit the scrap heap anyway: We're not lacking Ion Cannons any more! Though Mass Drivers and Neutron Blasters would have their uses as well, our next project will be Scatter Pack V Rockets, to give our bases some extra - in fact, five times as many - teeth! In the meantime, with the immediate threat disposed of, we prepare to launch another attack!
2399: Hrrrrrooooooooar!!! A victory! My fleet destroys a Mako over Firma, and now controls the planet's orbit, with General Grrropo's archaeological site liberation forces on the way! Of course Igneus responds by begging for peace. He knows very well that it is impossible for me to countermand the order to attack with my transports already in hyperspace, and so he hopes to play on my mercy to make me seem like an oath-breaker! The fool is dismissed immediately. He is pointlessly destructive, dishonorable, treacherous, and a horrible polluter, with no sense of history, and we offer no terms to the likes of him!
_______________
Next: End of an Era
2379: Well, I was right about the Meklar attacking Dolz ... but I underestimated their capacity for sheer, unfettered mayhem!
They bomb the planet from orbit, murdering nine million innocents in their homes, and destroying our few factories as well as unknowable quantities of the planet's cultural artifacts - potentially huge portions of the galaxy's permanent historical record - apparently out of sheer hatred for everything but their own cybernetic bodies! Fortunately, we were able to take some emergency measures to shield and protect the most important historical sites over the past two years. I don't know if we'll ever be able to examine those sites in depth though; how can we ever handle those fleets? GNN's report this year that the Meklar are first in fleet strength, and that we're last, should surprise nobody. Grrrrrowl. That our colony at Dolz was a bit of an overreach, I can accept. That they responded by direct bombardment however is horrifying!
2381: Ursa's scientific community develops a new battle computer, opening the way to ... ECM Jammer Mark II ... and nothing else ... so ... grrrrrrrrummmble. Also, CB-715's despicable machine-fleets kill 12 million more helpless bears at Dolz, and millions more who had been crossing interstellar space in slow transports, just as they hoped to finally make landfall. I won't even discuss what their continued bombardment must be doing to the planet's historical features. Things aren't going much better on the Silicoid front, as our first wave of troopers is defeated at Rha. We could have overcome the enemy's personal shields and portable lasers, but a poorly-constructed Silicoid skyscraper in the city of Crysglow crumbled and fell when it was hit by a misfired barrage of Silicoid gunship rockets in the course of a heated battle - much like the salvos that on other occasions had accidentally taken out entire residential neighborhoods - and in its collapse, the structure fell across a strategically important Bulrathi position, briefly throwing our conquering forces into chaos in the city. By the time the dust had settled, the Silicoids' forces, who were lucky enough to be completely outside the path of the building's collapse, had the upper hand in the lynchpin city and went on to kill all our troops, though not without massive losses.
All will yet be well though: A second wave will reach Rha soon enough! Our brave civillians at Dolz meanwhile stave off attack from 17 million invading Meklar, but we lose more of our own than we should have because of a grim last stand at the Agrrraar dig site, protecting its precious ancient sculptures even after a tactical retreat was clearly called for. If only we could be sure CB-715 would still preserve these when it inevitably conquers that world! There is also the danger of losing contact with the Meklar and our opportunity of studying their strange cybernetic culture - we needed reserve tanks to reach Dolz in the first place, and I don't expect the cyborgs to talk to us when they're out of basic range - so, after one of my Fire Dens colonizes Xengara...
2382: Another takes Berel, a fiery world close to Meklar space that shouldn't tempt CB-715 since his people can't survive on its surface. Our second wave of troopers hits Rha as well, and in spite of the Silicoids' new Duralloy armor, our superior tactics win the day, and we liberate the world and the relics of its history! The news from Dolz is worse of course, as the Meklar assault troops outnumber us there by more than three to one, and we lose the world. We won't know if the Agrrraar sculptures have been preserved until the Meklar grant us the right to send research expeditions in ... or until we reclaim the planet again in war! Hrrrrrumph. I have little hope of the first, considering the horrors their starfleets perpetrated ... and then, considering the massive Meklar battle fleets, I'm in no hurry to test the second either! Still, someday....
Between Rha and Berel, in spite of losing Dolz, we're still making gains after a fashion, and so the GNN droid informs the galaxy that we're the first to twelve star systems! Hrummm. Not bad. Through Berel, we're also in touch with the Darloks and Narzina, their Xenophobic Technologist queen.
She's got five planets to her name, and is uneasy with me as soon as we meet, but agrees to a small trade agreement anyway. I have to take her word for it that she's a female, by the way, but I have to take her word for it that she's corporeal! All I can tell for sure is that she wears a cloak and her eyes are red. Now, if she had lived ten thousand years ago, and we were examining her skeleton or her mummified remains, why then we'd have something!
2384: My scientists decide to accomplish something for a change, and complete work on factory miniaturization. Rather than more of the same, I have them look into an Automated Repair System, though it won't be of much use unless we can someday come up with some armor.
2385: We see a Sakkra fleet for the first time! Their alliance-aided Valkyrie cruiser chases our Sniff away from Uxmai for a moment, while our brave soldiers repel a Silicoid invasion at Rha. Hrrrrumph! That world is ours now, and the rocks and their horrifying bombardment policies won't be getting it back while I'm on watch!
2388-92: Three Silicoid Mako cruisers come after Ryoun. I've been rushing a missile base there in case of something just like this, but it still won't be ready quite in time, so I order Rana to send a mobile defense fleet. After ... urrrrm ... accidentally going into hibernation again - there's something about ordering fleets around that always seems to do that to me; the command console is too close to the air conditioning or something - I fortunately sleep through what I'm told was a show of absolute incompetence by our pilots and another unspeakable bombing run by the rock-heads in 2390. I make sure it's not repeated, destroying the last of the Makos and slaughtering the would-be conquering forces, this time while I'm awake. In the meantime, we manage to colonize fiery Tao south of Ursa, and get ready to start the preliminary land surveys that will confirm where we can construct factories without harming the world's vital archaeological record!
2393: We manage to miniaturize our deflector shields for use by our troopers! Believe it or not, this is the first technological advance we've ever made that actually enhances our ground forces. The only option to proceed is Class IV Deflector Shields, which should protect our bases and - critically - our dig sites from the current Meklar NPG designs, but leave us vulnerable to the Silicoids and future ships the Meklar are likely to create. As Uxmai becomes our 14th world, we confirm that more Makos are almost certainly headed for Celtsi, and send our fleet to intervene. I also call up Yalara on the holophone; she seems calm for once, and is willing to let her scientists teach me to use a Deep Space Scanner in exchange for my Nuclear Engines.
This might speed up her new lines of ships, but at least it won't hurt me if she trades them away; all my enemies seem to be using Sublights. There's also a huge side-benefit: The Mrrshan scientists don't do any inexplicable things with their eyelashes or their lips, and they actually seem to talk sense! I might actually get along with these cat people! After giving the matter some thought, I also make a similar deal with Narzina for ECM Jammer Mark I, just so my spies will be a little more competitive in Silicoid space.
2394: Ho-ho! Our tech trading pays off immediately! My new spy network finds a Silicoid technology center, and supposing that the other wings would just hold obsolete terraforming and factory construction techs, I order our agents to the weapons research section ... and they bring back Hand Lasers for me! This should give our generals even more tactical flexibility!
2395: Four Makos arrive at Celtsi, but I have five bases up, and the fleet is in position.
Our ... errrm ... inaptly named Rock 2.0 cruisers are missile boats, which close as rapidly as possible to ensure the enemy can't dodge any part of their payload of 35 Hyper-V rockets apiece (in seven 5-racks). Lacking Ion Cannons, and knowing the Silicoid ships carried bombs and shields, our military leaders wanted to maximize the damage these mobile defense ships could do before the enemy could close with the planet we were defending, even at the cost of total damage potential in the course of a drawn-out fight. It works this time, as this fight is over quickly, and though most of our fighters are destroyed, we lose nothing else - and that fighter design is about to hit the scrap heap anyway: We're not lacking Ion Cannons any more! Though Mass Drivers and Neutron Blasters would have their uses as well, our next project will be Scatter Pack V Rockets, to give our bases some extra - in fact, five times as many - teeth! In the meantime, with the immediate threat disposed of, we prepare to launch another attack!
2399: Hrrrrrooooooooar!!! A victory! My fleet destroys a Mako over Firma, and now controls the planet's orbit, with General Grrropo's archaeological site liberation forces on the way! Of course Igneus responds by begging for peace. He knows very well that it is impossible for me to countermand the order to attack with my transports already in hyperspace, and so he hopes to play on my mercy to make me seem like an oath-breaker! The fool is dismissed immediately. He is pointlessly destructive, dishonorable, treacherous, and a horrible polluter, with no sense of history, and we offer no terms to the likes of him!
_______________
Next: End of an Era