Imperium 13 - Post-Game Notes

Just some of the basics, since this report is already long enough: (Screenshots taken after reloading my 2449 save and abstaining from the vote.)

The victorious Alkari star fleet:

The power graphs:

And the map from the beginning of Yreet Kree's glorious reign:

I found this game absolutely thrilling - a terrific challenge, and just tremendous fun to play. Many thanks to Sullla for sponsoring the event!

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Back to the Front Page

Imperium 13 - Conclusion

With the war happily ended, I scrap our ancient Talon 2.0s in favor of a new Nest 5.0 colony design to reclaim the Sakkra worlds I glassed recently, and after a Darlok colony ship retreats from our Kestrels and Talons at Drakka, Darquan complains that Yreet Kree is way more powerful than him. He's going to have to get used to it, so I spend some time discussing her policies with him and help him to look forward to the end of galactic war, the end of Sakkra treachery, and the prosperous future we face under the rule of the strong, wise, benevolent heir to the galaxy. He seems convinced, but after my experience with Sauron and the usurper's agents, I'm not taking any chances; my agents continue to work in Darlok space, and even do some good work, bringing us Improved Industrial Tech 6 in 2449, just a year before the election mandated by the ancient Kree dynasty. And so Kestrel prepares at last to fulfill the requirements they have left us and take command of Orion and the Guardian.

2450: Our symbolic victory over our nearest rivals is complete...

...as Sssla, Dolz, and Romulas become our final colonies. Then the galactic council is held, and I am opposed by Sauron as usual. For certainreasons, he has fewer votes this time though - less than half as many as last time in fact, though there are more total votes on the table than ever before! After the "pacificst" has cast 6 votes for himself, Krungo casts his 4 for me, INT-986 abstains with his irrelevant 1, and Zygot and Darquan give me 3 apiece. That leaves 29 votes for me to cast on my own behalf.

The Alkari I represent have thoroughly dominated the galaxy, having stopped just short of tpta; galactic conquest when it became clear there would be no need to go to such extremes. I accept the Council's ruling, but will not rule the galaxy. As I tell the gathered leaders and all the people of the galaxy, there is another of my people to whom I must defer, the true ruler of the Alkari, and far more suited to galactic governance than am I. So I step aside and look to my dear foster-child, my Kestrel. She stands forward, the true heir, Yreet Kree, and she accepts the mantle of power. The Guardian of Orion awakes and with the throne world it guards, answers her will like a puppy, yielding the forgotten secrets of the ancient Alkari.

Yet even in her triumph, Yreet Kree turns to me, and says, "You have been my spokesbird for more than a century, Royal Battle Officer Yref Treek. You have done well, and while I rule, I hope you shall still speak for me."

So I arise once more and speak again to the assembled peoples of the six sentient species.

So the glorious new era begins, under the rule of Yreet Kree; may it last another millenium, at least!

Thank the heavens and their winds: For once, the droid isn't bearing bad news!

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Post-Game Notes

Imperium 13 - Rolling Thunder

We have reclaimed or destroyed the Sakkra colonies at all but one of the worlds that should have been ours, and we are ready to soar on toward victory.

The galaxy looks very different now than it did after the lizards took Selia and Firma ... and the hopeful trend will be continuing! Our northern Bolt ion fighters have done their work, and are ready to be replaced, as stage two of the war will be fought in the south, at warp 3! The old design is scrapped in favor of a Kite 3.0, with the best computer and maneuverability ever installed on a modern Alkari starship, supporting its twin NPGs. These go into production alongside atmospheric terraforming at key worlds immediately ... while transports launch toward Giena!

2439: The second and last battle of Artemis pits 10 Colossus planet killers against our far-superior fighter fleets, as the Kites see their first live combat! We lose three in the battle, but wipe out the enemy completely. With Sakkra transports just arriving and our own one year away, we delay colonizing Drakka, only to discover there will be a Dragon there next year. Oh, well. Nothing we can do about that now.

I hate to lose the Farcries - there are actually a few planets in the southeast I haven't even scouted yet - but war ships take priority, so the Farcry design is retired, and we put together a Thunder 3.0, similar to our Kites, but with a Fusion and Nuclear bomb rack in place of the NPGs.

2440: One last Sakkra fleet attacks us at Selia. They take out two of our fighters, we kill 16 of their cruisers, and their five survivors retreat. Then, discovering that the Psilon-Darlok alliance is no longer at war with the Sakkra, I remind them of our common cause, and they both sign on once more to overcome the treacherous spore-spreading killers who hide behind a false mask of pacifism.

Hedging my bets in case of future Sakkra shield advances, I also trade Zygot our Trilithium Crystals for Omega-V Bomb technology, and accept Darquan's Reduced Waste 60% for our Atmospheric Terraforming, thereby at once helping our economy and increasing the anti-lizard voting bloc for the upcoming election! I also give the 'Loks our Trilithium Crystals for Controlled Dead Environment just for the slight boost this will provide to our productivity, and to allow him to reach more Sakkra worlds with his fleets.

2441: We finally colonize Drakka, hoping we'll somehow get to keep it in spite of a deadly incoming fleet.

2442: The immense three-Dragon fleet arrives at Drakka, and destroys over 300 of our fighters ... but we prevail! The colony ship and every one of the 23 enemy cruisers is destroyed, and the Dragons fall back on using their torpedoes as long-ranges stand-off weapons, allowing our Star Wing Clan pilots to dodge them until energy stores are exhausted and the Dragons are forced to return to their nearest base! Our incoming transports are safe, and Drakka will stand after all!

2443: The battle for ultra-rich Whynil commences in the south! The lizards' defense fleet of five new Hydra cruisers appear to be essentially similar to the new Juggernauts that did so much damage to our forces up at Drakka, but they aren't a real threat to our bombers in numbers this small. Our Fusion bombs take out all but one of the enemy bases, and the follow-up nukes finish the job! Our Thunders retreat, their work complete, though I do lose a few to Hydra fire, and my fighters take out the remaining Hydrae with ease! With a technological edge and more than three times the enemy's numbers, it is inevitable that we will also conquer the world outright and turn it into another powerhouse colony. First though, our spies infiltrate the Meklar automated defense net! With the Meklar still refusing to join the Sakkra war or to make so much as a NAP's empty promise of peace, I order an attempt to take out some of their missile bases. There are three purposes to this move....

...but their defense net reacts too quickly, and only one of the three comes through: No bases are destroyed, which means the place won't be softened in advance should we be forced to invade, and of course we can't plant false evidence pointing at Sakkra agents, since there's nothing for which to frame them ... but by infiltrating the planet deeply enough to make the attempt, our spies were able to bring us a scouting report, which means if an invasion is necessary, we can send our transports to arrive at the same time as our fleet! (Note the "before" and "after" images for the attempt, first with the world unexplored, then with its name and planetary features displayed).

It's our turn to glass the spud world of Dunatis since it's a Sakkra colony at the moment, and we happen to have a fleet ready, so we do so, just before our noble warriors soar through the skies of Whynil and claim it for our people, along with 122 fully-functioning factories, the state-of-the-art but essentially worthless Class VII Deflector Shields that utterly failed to save the Sakkra from our Thunders, Anti-Matter Torpedoes for still more weapons miniaturization, and Fusion Beam, which saves us the trouble of completing our own research in the field. Faced with a bunch of expensive choices for our next weapons tech project, Kestrel considers a Fusion Rifle for still more overwhelming ground fighting power, but instead takes my advice to pursue a Megabolt Cannon, which will be terrific if we can ever fit one aboard a fighter (or even finish the research project) before the final end to war in the galaxy!

2444: The battle for Gienah comes, at long, long, last, to reclaim this beautiful world for the Alkari! The enemy frankly has no chance, in spite of 15 Juggernauts, against over 600 Divebombs and over 500 Kite and Talon fighters. Overconfidence leads us to lose about thirty ships before we shred the planet's defenses, but shred them we do. Seidon, meanwhile, is defended by a Dragon, but has only 16 bases, and the outcome is not in doubt - indeed, the Dragon retreats. As at Misha, the Thunders' Fusion Bombs do the heavy lifting, and their nukes immediately follow for the kill. I was just going to glass the planet, but upon discovering that it's ultra-rich, I elect to let it live; this will save me lots of time turning it into a full-fledged Alkari world!

In the meantime, our first wave of 144 transports hits Gienah, which should be sufficient to handle their 109 troops on the ground. So it proves, with 40 survivors ready to explore 378 factories. Plans are discovered there for Improved Terraforming +40 and finally, at long last, the very last tech the Sakkra have that wasn't already known to the Alkari: We catch a huge blue lizard trying to simultaneously eat the last hard copy and keep the electronic records out of our talons through the use of a nefarious device called a pRNG, but it's too late this time, and finally, finally...

...we discover Impulse Drives! Did I mention, "Finally!!!"? We had nearly completed our own research on them in spite of the gigantic drag the war has placed on our research economy for the entire course of the project! High Energy Focus will be our next target in the field, and our scientists will complete it sometime after Kestrel ascends the high throne of the galaxy. Then I'm wanted in the holochamber, and poor Sauron is weeping openly as he begs me to end "this horrible war," which he and his people "can no longer sustain." I inform him however that his crocodile tears will not buy peace with me. He has spored, bombed, and blasted untold millions of Alkari and refused peace for decades on end, and will not be permitted to end this war the moment it becomes inconvenient for him! I would not have made this decision without consulting with Kestrel of course, but when I told her of the possibility, she was right on the same thermal with me: "We will not make a false peace and stand idly by while he murders millions of our friends among the Darloks and Psilons and Bulrathi! He has proven he can't be trusted; when deadly treachery is no longer in his power, only then dare we give him his peace." With that established, over 300 Thunders head for his Dolz colony, transports depart to take Seidon, and all of our Divebombs take off for Sssla itself, to hasten the time when, by Kestrel's terms, we can safely grant Sauron peace!

2445: Seidon builds another Dragon, only to see it destroyed at the cost of a few of our Kites. Next, our spies work on social engineering, trying to ensure that Sauron understands the cost of using bioweapons: They take out 8 missile bases at Sssla, and three more at Meklon, in each case planting evidence to implicate the other species. When Sauron, his massive power base crushed by our bomber fleets, faces war from every quarter in the galaxy, perhaps he will remember what "pacifist" means, and come to see the true value of peace! We seem to be on a roll here too, as our scientists finally come through with soil enrichment technology after promising it was right around the corner for literally decades on end! Improved Terraforming +50 is the way of the future, so they get started on the project right away. And last, but by no means least, with the colonization of the Morrig inferno in the far northeast corner of the galaxy, we receive a GNN special report containing no bad news at all: Yreet Kree, heir to Altair, heir to the galaxy, rules the first civilization to control 26 star systems, and is poised, at long last, to return to the high perch of Orion as the true and benevolent ruler of the galaxy!

2446: Seidon tries building Hydrae instead of a Dragon. That doesn't work either. I'm surprised to discover that Dolz has only 6 missile bases, and our Thunders put the poor, lonely things out of their misery. After taking out four more bases at Meklar, unfortunately with no chance to frame the Sakkra for the deed, we discover Dolz's problem: It's ultra-poor. That's so very sad that the Thunders have to put it out of its misery as well.

Back at Seidon, with only 41 transports in the first wave, we don't expect to take the planet (yet!) from 72 million Sakkra. We are correct, even running into some pretty bad luck in the fighting ... but remember that I said it was the first wave! Meanwhile, since there's nothing for our last Plover to do, we scrap it for parts and a new design, named after a swift-flying, beautiful, fighting hawk - and namd as well, unbeknownst to any but me and the one after whom they are named, after the most important living being in the galaxy: The Kestrel 5.0!

(OOC: Actually, I made a silly mistake with this design; the second NPG should have been in a separate slot from the first. Fortunately, it won't make the slightest difference at this point in the game.)

2447: The first, smallest enemy fleet hits Selia, and our Kestrels see battle for the first time! Some of our Kites are killed, but the Kestrels come out without a scratch ... and with nothing remaining of the Sakkra fleet! Seidon tries building Hydrae to defend itself again, a trick that doesn't work much better than it did the first time. Also, we arrive at Sssla. It's defended by 33 Hydrae and 39 bases, but with over 150 Kites and almost 600 Divebombs, we simply slaughter them until the last two Hydrae retreat. Romulas only has two Hydrae to begin with over its 28 missile bases, so when our 300+ Thunders smash the bases in one volley, even before the Nukes have a chance to hit, the Hydrae there also retreat. It turns out to be mineral poor, explaining the small base count (Sssla's was explained by our saboteurs) so we'll have to put the poor thing out of its misery, like Dolz ... but not before we glass Ssssla! This has nothing to do with misery; it's just an object lesson for the "pacifist" lizards who refused to make peace with me until I proved the horrors of war upon their stinking, scaly bodies! Oh, and I believe I said something about last year being the first wave at Seidon. The second wave has just arrived, with more than twice as many transports against depleted Sakkra forces! The lizards get lucky again, but this time, luck can't save them. 44 million Alkari take over the planet and its 167 factories. This time, when Sauron comes up on the holoscreen begging and pleading for peace, I accept after brief consultation with Yreet Kree. His production base is shattered, his ships can't stand up to our fleets, and he is no longer a threat to the galaxy.

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Next: The Conclusion

Imperium 13 - Stormbreak

2429: The battle for Firma commences! This is the first time we'll face a Dragon in battle, and it's got dozens of cruisers in company! I have over 400 fighters trying desperately to defend, and ... our stellar pilots achieve a complete victory! No harm comes to Firma, and we destroy the enemy fleet to the last ship, losing only a handful of fighters! We can do this!!! Even the Dragons can be defeated - individually at least! Seeing this, Sauron comes calling, finally ready to offer the olive branch. I am tempted to take it, but with over a hundred transports en route to Paranar, to say nothing of my bombers, I fear there's just no way for me to accept in good faith.

2430: The Sakkra reach Vox for the first time, but the fleet they sent - no Dragons - is a joke ... in comparison with the ones that are to come, already detected and moving in at long range!

2431: Our Incedius fleet arrives as planned, fighters from Ajax in coordination with our southern bomber fleet, in spite of a scare with nebula delays. The Bolts and Talons kill most of the 19 Valkyries in orbit, the Divebombs take all 29 bases, and we only lose about 20 fighters. Our Star Wing Clan pilots can't be beaten in a nebula; we grew up here on Altair, after all! Better yet, we get a spy hit on the Psilons, with all fields available where we're not beating them already! Desperate for infrastructure help, we select Construction, knowing we'll get Improved Industrial Tech 7. Next up? A new colony to take advantage of the theft, at ultra-rich Herculis in the far west! And since the nebula and our warp 1 transports will make invading the place a nightmare, we deal with Incedius the easy (and diplomatically effective!) way:

By making glass! Note the approximate current state of the galaxy (it's hard to keep track of the Bulrathi/Darlok spuds in the east) including the fledgling acquisitions that are technically part of our empire but not fully functioning yet. Also note the huge difference three worlds makes, even in this large galaxy (Incedius, just glassed, plus Rotan and Selia, the two fledgling worlds nearest the Sakkra). Zygot is certainly pleased with these results - he thinks I now "realize the incredible threat the Sakkra empire poses to both our worlds" - as if I hadn't been struggling against the overwhelming Sakkra threat continuously for three decades! Oh, wait, wait, no; now I see what he means: Incedius was the Sakkra's closest world to "both" of the two Psilon colonies! He thought I was bombing the place out as a favor to him! It didn't even occur to him that - unlike him - I've been seeing actual Sakkra death fleets, and might have wanted to do something about them! Darquan also calls to congratulate us, in somewhat more sensible fashion - of course, unlike the Psilons, he's actually been fighting Sakkra, so this is unsurprising. Anyway, next up? Drakka! It's going to be a near-run thing to smash the not-quite-in-the-nebula ocean world and still make it up to Paranar in time for the invasion ... but it would have a dramatic effect on the Sakkra economy, and cut their fleets off from the north, allowing us to consolidate our defense fleets. I'm convinced that we can manage it ... and fortune favors the bold!

2432-3: The war goes well! Another spy in Psilon space nets me their Battle Computer Mark IV, which will help with even more spying, and the second battle of Vox goes a lot like the first. It's the third through fifth that are going to involve Dragons! Our main fleet also arrives early at Drakka due to nebula silliness, and discovers that the Sakkra have replaced their old juggernauts with a shiny new version: A heavy torpedo cruiser. Our fleet elects to retreat for now and rejoin the battle when its friends arrive for the party. Sauron takes advantage of the temporary reprieve to offer peace again, this time offering almost 4,000 BC as an extra incentive ... but our transports en route to Paranar can't turn around in mid-space! I could take the money and run, but that's not the way of honor, and I must protect Kestrel's good name! Sauron had his chance for peace - again and again and again, in fact - and now that he finally wants it, I'm in no position to agree.

2434: A fleet of 13 Colossus cruisers comes for Selia, but finds almost a hundred of my fighters waiting for it. The outcome is not in doubt. The enemy kills seven of my fighters but are screened from the planet and utterly destroyed. Then it's our turn.

With our attack fleet fully assembled at Drakka and Sauron's sub-par missile bases - still nuclear missiles, no ECM, and no planetary shields! - the planet is doomed from the start. We lose about three dozen total ships - mostly Divebombs - and the only Sakkra who survive are aboard the ships that retreat. Then, since our transports are still too hopelessly slow to make conquest realistic, we end Sakkra possession of Drakka the easy way. Its vast oceans are restored to their pristine, native beauty, and its few sandy island beaches become ... shiny. Meanwhile, with the tide of the war turning in our favor, another usurper agent does his best to sabotage us, starting a massive chain reaction among Rotan's factories that irradiates the entire planet ... the more fool he! Rotan is the one planet where a radiated world is actually of strategic value, as the Sakkra can no longer live on my frontier world nearest the heart of their empire! Kestrel does her best to help the victims of the "accident" recover, but in spite of all he's done to innocents - in which he and his ilk seem to take pleasure - I suspect the usurper's sleeper agent would be horrified at the results of what he's done ... if he ever emerged from his radiation-poisoning induced coma.

(OOC: Here's an interesting trick I discovered accidentally: It's actually possible to complete a stack's move after firing all its weapons, if you act quickly. Notice in the screenshot that the bases are being blown up by my Divebombs, but that my cursor - in "move stack" form - is visible three spaces south. By clicking there before the bomb animation was finished, I caused the bombers to move down there with their weapons already used up. This would be particularly effective for a large ship with four different slots of weapons, all of which have to go through their animations before the ship's turn ends, but it worked here too, obviously. Somehow, this seemed kind of appropriate for the Alkari, and I tried it intentionally a few times in this game - sometimes to good effect, sometimes resulting in a misclick, sometimes clicking too late - but in the end, it seems too reflex-based to really plan for and use in a strategy game, at least to me. Still, I thought I'd put it out there, to add to the store of knowledge in the community.)

2435: The third battle for Vox is on, and this one will be decisive! We're up against one of each type of Sakkra dreadnought, two colony ships, and no less than 47 cruisers! For our part, we have 633 fighters, most of them Talons of one type or the other, with a few dozen Bolts mixed in.

Once again, our amazing Star Wing Clan pilots prevail, destroying the entire enemy fleet at the cost of less than 50 fighters! (We also kill almost 20 Colossus cruisers at Drakka, losing maybe half a dozen Talons in the exchange.) With Rotan's polution cleaned up and its surface still too radiated for the Sakkra to land there, I feel secure in the south, and almost as safe in the east as well, where the Meklar's wars with every other species have apparently kept them too busy to send fleets against their one friend in the galaxy. It appears that breaking our NAP was just INT-986's feeble way of asserting Meklar independence, kind of like a fledgling that chirps and squalks and flaps its useless wings because it doesn't like being too young to fly.

2436: The fourth battle for Vox is won handily as expected, though we lose about 50 fighters. There will be a fifth and last battle next year involving two Dragons ... but it won't be long before Sakkra lack the range reach the planet, if all goes well! Better yet, our spies come through in Sakkra space once more! They have nothing we lack in computers, and in spite of tempting options in every other field, we make another try at the lizards' propulsion labs, and...

...finally nab Sub-Light Drives! True, it's nowhere near their state of the art, but it finally means our transports will be moving above warp one! That's cause for celebration by itself!

2437: The first battle of Artemis sees four Colossus cruisers wiped out at the cost of a single fighter. I remember the beginning of this war, when we had to scramble to keep from losing a colony to a fleet like this. Thirty-odd years later, it's an outright joke fleet. The fifth and final battle of Vox pits our brave defense fleet against two Dragons, nine Colossus planet-busters, and 23 Valkyrie assault ships. Fortunately, the defense fleet in question now consists of over 650 fighters! We lose almost 100, but eliminate the enemy! A similar (in fact, even larger) fleet shows up at Drakka to escort a colony ship, so our much smaller fleet there is forced t retreat, but their new colony won't last long, believe me! Ultra-Rich Gion becomes an Alkari world, way off in the far southeast, and with no incoming Darlok fleets there, I sign emperor Darquan up for a NAP. Seeing that Krungo and Sauron have made peace, I also approach the crazy Bulrathi leader, and remind him of how the vile Sakkra glassed his Whynil and Dunatis spud-o-matic colonies. Furious, he declares that the Sakkra empire must fall before our combined might! Indeed they shall, Krungo - if I can conquer Paranar next year! The Meklar are also at peace with the evil lizards, but INT-986 still isn't talking to me.

2438: The decisive battle of the Sakkra war is upon us! If we can't take Paranar, we'll never stop the lizards ... but if we can take it, we'll be on our way to victory! We're facing a Dragon and 45 missile bases there ... and we expect to win! And in moments, the Dragon shows that it agrees: It retreats without harming our ships, and we lose only two bombers in the course of wiping out the planet's bases!

I may have gone a little overboard with our transports, especially as the Sakkra just sent half the world's population away to Drakka ... but better safe than sorry! Here you see the maximum number of forces that can reach any world alive; there's only so much room for massive transport ships to land on a planet's surface without crashing into each other - no matter how skilled their pilots! We'll lose almost as many people here to overpopulation as to Sakkra ion rifles, but there were a lot more Sakkra on this world when our 'sports started setting out literally 12 years ago, with no idea of whether the enemy's ground fighting tech would improve in the interim!

Naturally, our ground troops find plans for Death Spores among the 351 factories that survived our assault on the planet, since it's the lizards' most worthless technology, but we also pick up Atmospheric Terraforming, which will be terrific for our rich, hostile worlds. In Propulsion, we get Trilithium Crystals because why would we want warp 5 engines when we can have still more and more and more range than we will ever begin to even pretend to need? Personal Absorption Shield however, is another matter entirely, swinging the ground combat advantage back to our side! Class IV Deflector Shields prove me wrong about the spores, as any planetology tech should at least improve my empire's producton slightly; that makes these the most worthless junk the Sakkra have! That brings us to Zortium Armor, our final find at Paranar, completing our construction research project for us, and notching up ground combat odds just a little bit more in our favor. Reduced Waste 40% will be our next project in the field, with no other choice (since I don't count backtracking for autorepair as a meaningful option). Also, it had been so long with such a small investment, and with so little interest in them, I had forgotten our scientists were working on the very class 4 shields I just called worthless wastes of space! I guess that means they're not so useless after all, as they pave the way toward Repulsor Beam. We could also have gone with class 6 shields, and will eventually have to work on class 7s if we can't get Kestrel elected empress before the repulsors come in, but the price tag on those projects is ridiculous considering their near-complete lack of utility.

With all that accomplished, I pause to take a call from Krungo, who wants to pledge his "eternal friendship and loyalty." With his erratic personality though, "eternal" means "for roughly the next ten minutes," and Kestrel would gain nothing from his in-name-only alliance, so I thank him for his friendship, and thank him for his loyalty, and tell him to go peddle his alliance to someone more gullible than me. We've just won the decisive battle of the Sakkra war - the war caused by the final murderous death throes of the usurper - and we're ready at last to restore Yreet Kree to her rightful place as ruler of the galaxy!

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Next: Rolling Thunder!

Imperium 13 - The Gathering Storm

2417: We colonize Darrian as a Hydra retreats from our starfleet at Firma, and start to prepare our empire for the first offensive phase of our war!

2418: We scan a Titan at Paranar just before the Sakkra reach Willow with their death fleet! (Yes another one; the lizards have death fleets in plenty!) The tiny colony is doomed of course, spored down to nothing in the course of the battle, and we lose several dozen Talons to the two Titans, dozen cruisers, and colony ship, but the Sakkra pay dearly: Also in the course of the battle, before any can escape, we wipe out their entire fleet! Almost simultaneously, a similar battle occurs at Firma, except that no harm is done to the world and a single Titan manages to retreat ... because Firma - for now! - is a Sakkra colony! Then another of my spies infiltrates a Sakkra research lab at Dolz! Rather than impersonating a computer scientist and risking a lame battle computer, we let him convince the computer he's a propulsion specialist, risking lame hydrogen fuel cells, and get ... Uridium Fuel Cells, which we would have developed for ourselves in a few more years anyway. Disappointment turns swiftly to hope however: Though we didn't manage to steal them, we'll now get to start research on Impulse Drives of our own! (Or I could go with more fuel cells! What a difficult decision!) And there's still more good news: Even though we didn't bomb any Sakkra worlds, our good work in destroying their fleets brings Krungo calling to thank me! If only he weren't completely insane, this might even have meant something! In fact ... it even kind of does ... because he's just voicing the general opinion of the entire non-Sakkra galaxy! Both he and Zygot are now feeling affable toward me, and even Darquan is more neutral in his feelings than he's ever been before! I open a large trade agreement with the Shape Shifter immediately, and even give him my IIT8 for Gatling Laser, strictly for miniaturization purposes. This is also a kind of a thank you to Darquan for glassing the lizards' Misha just as its first Sakkra transports were about to arrive.

Vega goes to work on ship parts at once, and our fleets move into position to take and hold our target worlds ... starting with the re-acquisition of Firma!

2419: As it turns out, our Talons have to retreat from Firma, as the Sakkra managed to put up a last-minute single missile base. To my relief however, a single nuclear missile base kills (slightly!) fewer of our transports than 168 of our fighters killed of theirs. Our surviving troops still outnumber the enemy by a reasonable margin, and are wearing battle suits, so 30 million live to retake the planet and its 167 factories! Our Talons there will immediately return from their "retreat," to become what they were meant to be all along: The planetary defense force! And in the meantime, among the factories at Firma, we discover Improved Robotic Controls IV, which will be a nightmare for our many immature colonies, Class V Deflector Shields, which is frankly of no use to us whatsoever, and Controlled Barren Environment, which might be the least valuable technology the Sakkra possessed. Still, I'm not complaining: My spies should be more effective than ever, and Vega is going to be a massive ship-building powerhouse! Plus, we're now in touch with another old enemy of Sauron's, as the Proxima colony we built this year gives us contact with the one-planet Meklar empire! The xenophobic ecologist Meklar, whose interracial relations differ from Sauron's in that there is one emperor with whom they are not at war (Yup: Ours) are pretty calm considering their ugly situation. I get to speak with their emperor, INT-986, put together the biggest trade package they can handle, find out there is little our scientists can offer them (meaning there's nothing theirs can offer us), and set up a non-agression pact with them. I also spring for a NAP with the Psilons, and even with Krungo, in spite of the fact that he's out of his mind.

I'm well aware that he will gleefully go to war with us, pact or no, if he finds the wrong letters in his alphabet soup. Until he does though, my work will be a lot easier if I don't have to worry about cold war with him.

2420: Three Colossus cruisers reach Firma, and die under the guns of our defense fleet, doing us no harm ... and we discover Scatter Pack V Rockets, which is terrific news! They might even give our missile base (Yes, "base." I've only bothered building one so far, before I discovered what the Titans were packing, since they frankly can't do anything against the current Sakkra fleets...) a reason to exist! Though I consider bigger bombs briefly (and don't consider hard beam at all), after consulting with Kestrel, I decide our next project must be a Fusion Beam, for space superiority!

Onward, then! Our last remaining warp-one starships, the Farcry 1.0s, are scrapped for parts. They did yeoman's work, and we couldn't have saved Ajax without them, but their time has passed, and our empire is in desperate need of minerals to build up our factory base - an understatement if ever I've made one. We'll scrap our Clouds next year as well, assuming any survive the fighting at Firma and Selia, for much the same reason.

2421: One more fleet hits Firma, but the Star Wing Clan lives up to its reputation, taking out the enemy at the expense of a little over a dozen Talons! Meanwhile, the Sakkra fleet at Selia has left, leaving the assault fleet I sent to destroy it with nothing to do but watch our transports land! We still have superior technology - everything they've got, plus battle suits - and outnumber them almost three to two, so it's no surprise that we take the world with nine million survivors. The five factories yield no new technology, but I wasn't really expecting anything. What matters is that the nearest neutronium-rich world to Altair is back in Alkari talons again!

2422-3: Small alien fleets are repelled or destroyed, and the Darloks take care of Misha for us - just recolonized by the Sakkra the year before - by bombing the poor spud into the ground again ... and the Sakkra have scrapped their Hydra design in favor of a new dreadnought called the Dragon, with Impulse Engines to judge by its speed. That's worrisome to say the least. I put together a new, no-frills Hawk Eye 2 to check it out, but that's all I can spare for now, as I also start work on the heart of my new fleets-to-be: The Divebomb 2, with a fighter hull, is a fusion bomber, with a stabilizer, a mark 1 computer, and all the maneuverability we've got, is under production at Vega, and our new Ion Fighter, the (Thunder) Bolt 2.0, fitted with our best battle computer, goes into production at Guradas and Ajax for the latter's defense. As an afterthought, I call on Zygot ... only to find that he's willing to make some trades that might help us tremendously!

I take his Personal Deflector Shield for my Scatter Pack V Rockets because the only thing I care about right now is killing lizards before they kill us. He's also willing to give me Neutron Blaster for my Uridium Fuel Cells, and I don't even hesitate. At that, I decide Darquan might be able to provide something worthwhile, and accept Improved Robotic Controls III for my Inertial Stabilizer. If only he'd been willing to make this deal before I got RC 4! Still, it'll help with miniaturization and spying, both of which are critically important.

2424: I'm glad I traded for that personal shield, as the Sakkra now have the advanced Absorption version! They've also got a Dragon at Gienah, and its design and destination will determine the success or failure of my attack on Rotan (unless the Sakkra pick up a bunch of superior techs in the next two years and slaughter me regardless of their Dragons). As of now, my main attack fleet is departing from Vega to take the world!

2425: After my Farcry dances around with a Valkyrie at Misha and eventually retreats, my spies come through against the Sakkra again! Only Propulsion and Computers are possibilities, so I decide (perhaps incorrectly) there's no hope of acquiring sublight drives and go with computers for the obvious Battle Computer Mark II. At that point, the Galactic High Council convenes once more, with no change in the nominees, unsurprisingly. Sauron's vote total hasn't changed, but this is not so for the rest of the galaxy! The glorious Alkari fleets and their de-facto allies have contained the lizards effectively, while our total votes have been climbing steadily, and Yreet Kree now controls fully a quarter of the votes in the galaxy! Let's try and accelerate this trend then, shall we?

Wellll ... we can try, at least! Sauron just got Zortium Armor, possibly the single tech that will be most effective for him in the battle for Rotan, and he now has two Dragons at Gienah, while the first is incoming to Firma with a lot of company - to the tune of 31 cruisers, almost all of them Colossus f-bomb/spore ships! Rotan meanwhile has 13 Valkyries in orbit, and will likely have more by the time the battle begins. If we lose either one of these battles, it could decide the war ... so let's make sure to win them! Onward! To victory!

2426: We start with a scan of the Dragons, and find that their weapons are limited in number but potentially deadly to planets and ships alike, while their huge duralloy hulls, swift combat speed, and Class 5 shields make them very hard to kill. It's a good thing none of them showed up at Rotan!

With only 13 Valkyries present, our bombers take out all the bases then lure the Valkyries into attacking them from afar while our Talons tear the enemy apart. We destroy six before the rest retreat, and are sorry they didn't stay longer to lose more! And then our troops hit the ground, and we're ready for the moment of truth: Thanks to their new shield and zortium armor, we're biting our wingfeathers, here ... but we outnumber them more than 3 to 2, and it's enough! 12 million Alkari survive to claim Rotan and its 121 factories! We manage to take Hydrogen Fuel Cells from the ruins, which ... well, it'll help our spies net something better, at least ... plus a Hard Beam that should be great for miniaturization ... but that's all there is. Oh, how I long for an engine!

Daunted by the sheer number of years it's going to take to invade another Sakkra world, I approach Sauron the pacifist once more to request peace. He won't accept unless we hand over enhanced eco restoration, so I clench my talons on my perch, and glare, and tell him what he can do with both his demand and his "pacifism." I've had enough. If he won't end this war, we'll have to do so ourselves, the hard way. Next target: Paranar! This is going to take a massive concerted effort from virtually all our worlds, but if we can somehow claim it, the battle should be decisive, and after years of struggling for our very survival, give us a chance to win this war. In the meantime, our existing Divebombs head in approximately that direction. They're going to make a stop-over on the way though ... at the Sakkra nebula world of Incedius!

In the meantime, looking ahead to the battle for Firma, I design a new Talon 2.1, identical to the 2.0 except for a Mark 3 battle computer. This is the closest thing I can devise to an answer for the Dragon. It's not a good answer, but it's what I've got!

2427: The huge Sakkra death fleet at Ajax seems so cute and cuddly now that I've seen what some of the Dragon doom fleets look like. Four huge Titans? A dozen Colossus bomber/sporer cruisers? Just four Valkyries? Come on! It does kill some of my fighters before being completely destroyed, but two kinds of Talons and a big fleet of Bolts keep the Titans away from the planet and blow everything to pieces. And since the Meklar don't feel quite right with only four enemies....

... they cancel our NAP agreement. Looks like we're going to be facing attacks on two fronts now (and more diplomatic penalties for breaking treaties that were broken by others against my most emphatic protests). Well ... it's a good thing we Star Wing pilots enjoy flying combat missions....

2428: The erratic Bulrathi are tired of watching us grow in power. This is odd, since I honestly don't feel strong at all. Now, if I were at peace with the Sakkra, or if their war was phony, or if they didn't have Dragons, I might understand ... but under the circumstances, I have enough trouble just fending off saurian death fleets without worrying that I might make Krazy Krungo mad at me! The Psilons and Darloks choose this year to complain about our strength as well, but ... don't they want someone strong enough to take on Sauron in this galaxy? Do they have any idea what will happen to their people if he has his "pacifistic" way? By the wind! Now, hopefully this will get better when my Divebombs reach their next target ... but that's a long, long ways away at our miserable speed. Fortunately, no one in our ad-hoc anti-lizard coalition actually hates us, no matter how much they may complain. Darquan is even willing to offer Hyper-X Rockets for our Ion Cannon technology. This is mainly a move for miniaturization purposes, but technically, the X Rockets will allow our missile base (yes, we still just have the one) to do minimal damage to a ship bearing Class 6 or 7 shields. Not enough damage to matter, but it's not quite nothing.

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Next: Stormbreak!

Imperium 13 - Never Surrender!

2412: An emergency fleet just built at Firma destroys the Sakkra colony ship, losing just two Talons in the process. There aren't nearly enough Talons to deal with incoming transports ... but the transports are coming from Drakka instead of Gienah, and so not yet there! They'll have to get through the fleet I sent from Esper, with enough Talons to outnumber them almost three to one, so it looks like the planet is saved! It also turns out to be a good thing that we never managed to renew our Darlok trade, as the Bulrathi have just gone on a 'Lok-killing rampage, and we're out of contact with the 'shifters again. As well, Kestrel orders our small fleet of Talon 2.1s scrapped for their minerals and fuel, badly needed across the empire right now. We're holding our own in this war so far - barely! - but we can't imagine making gains, we're yet to see the worst of the Sakkra fleets, and mere survival is straining our entire economy!

2413: The second battle for Esper commences! This time, the enemy is screened off the planet long enough for us to destroy them completely, at the cost of just five Talons and one of the new Farcries. And then a spy calls in on the emergency channel from a Sakkra lab! He's broken an encryption sequence, and can convince the laboratory server that he's a member of the Sakkra research team; no cross-over is allowed for their scientists, but he'll be able to emulate anyone but a Planetologist as far is the machine is concerned! It's a tough choice, but Sauron is the only one in the galaxy whose ships move above warp 2, so we're going to pretend we're a propulsion specialist! The download sequence runs, our spy decrypts the data, and ... I'm repudiated with Irridium Fuel Cells, almost a complete waste. Oh, well. One less useless thing to steal in the future, I suppose. May we have many opportunities! We colonize Willow and Crypto in spite of the fact that the Sakkra will destroy the first in short order, and might well go after the second too ... and ... somehow, at Firma, 168 Talons only managed to shoot down seven transports as they were coming in. I ... I ... .........

The good news is, the techs they steal - NPGs and IIT8 - won't give them much of a strategic edge. The bad news is ... um ... fairly obvious. This makes the Sakkra the official runaway race according to GNN, with 17 worlds to their name. By the time we get transports to Firma, it will be maxed out on population by their lizard growth rate and Warp 4 transports that are apparently all but immune to our fighters. That's the second world we've lost in this war already, and it won't be the last ... but 55 million lizards died to take Firma, and dozens of their cruisers have burned in our skies. They may grind us down - their empire is immensely more powerful than our own - but we will fight to the end, we will never give up, and if we do go down, we'll make them pay! Already, in spite of the long odds against us and the hopeless speed of our transports, millions of Alkari soldiers are heading out to reclaim Firma for Yreet Kree!

Besides, there's more news this year, and it's hopeful news, at that! Our new Crypto colony has put us back in touch with the Darloks, this time perhaps permanently - or as long as we survive, at least! And while they were away, the 'Loks ended their war with the bears, turned it into an alliance, and declared war on Sauron instead, finally recognizing the threat he represents to the entire galaxy! The only people with whom the lizards are not at war are the Psilons, and that's no fault of theirs: Zygot hasn't met anyone but me! Still, don't expect any of this to work in my favor if, as Kestrel's family legend holds it someday must, a Galactic High Council ever meets: The Sakkra control enough of the galaxy to hold an absolute veto on any possible council resolution, and are drawing ever closer to conquering the galaxy outright, depending on the size of the Meklar empire, which we have yet to meet.

2414: More Sakkra cruisers die over Esper, at the cost of a single Talon. A Sakkra colony ship attacks Vega as well, but we destroy it and all two million of its people, losing one Talon there too. Especially after Firma, you can bet I didn't leave our most important world without a defensive fleet! At the same time, our scientists develop shields that everyone else in the galaxy considers completely out of date, and will work on Class IV Deflector Shields next since they can't think of anything else to make - for instance, how to make planetaries like the Darloks are using. (OOC: This might be the worst tech tree I have ever seen in a game of Orion. Yes, it could be worse - especially in Weapons - but the probability against it is overwhelming! The potential strengths and challenges this galaxy offers the player are simply incredible.) I also notice that the Sakkra have a simply ridiculous number of Titan dreadnoughts - which, when not escorted, move at or above Warp 3! If they have decent combat speed, and their primary weapons are fusion beams or bombs or death spores, we may as well coat ourselves in bread crumbs and honey to save Sauron the trouble. If they don't have decent combat speed ... well, we'll just have to see!

2415: Another battle at Esper, but this time it's a forgone conclusion; we destroy two Colossus cruisers at the cost of a single Talon. And with the formation of a Sakkra colony at Misha, the High Council finally meets! As expected, I am nominated to face Sauron. He turns out to have (just) less than half the votes to himself, with 16 of 34, while Krungo (4), the Meklar (1 - uh-oh...), Zygot (2), and Darquan (4) all vote for me.

This is pretty ugly news, as on the one hand, I'm nowhere near a veto, with only 7 votes of my own, but on the other hand, I can't vote for Sauron in hopes of achieving peace, as it would make him emperor of the galaxy. Sadly, that's pretty much what I expected going in however; the only surprising thing is the terrible Meklar showing. I had hoped that the mighty cyborgs could be an effective distraction at least, but now they're more likely to be exterminated and contribute more stars to the Sakkra empire than to do any damage to our enemies. If we're going to win this war - and somehow, somehow, we must! - we'll have to do it virtually on our own. As Kestrel reminds me, however, we've done it before, and we may yet manage it again!

I said virtually on our own. Krungo at least can help out by giving me Ion Rifle for our Controlled Toxic Environment. I'm not at all happy about giving that tech away, especially to an erratic ruler, but at this point, nothing matters except defeating the Sakkra, and Ion Rifle not only improves our odds in ground battles but immediately becomes our state of the art weapons technology, which should allow significant and desperately-needed miniaturization. I also give him our IIT8 for Hyper-V Rockets for yet more miniaturization. This still isn't enough to make a difference for our fleets, so I approach Zygot and accept Reduced Waste 80% for our new Ion Rifle, yet another move I would probably never have made except in such desperate straits (and with such stunted Psilons) as these. Finally, in the most insane and desperate move of all, I give Zygot our Toxic base technology for Ion Cannon blueprints. Then, in continuing desperation, I scrap the Nest recently and foolishly built at Ajax in favor of an ion fighter, the Cloud 2.0, meant to send charges of lightning through the nebula. Ajax will build fifty, but this is not expected to be enough to deal with the monster fleet - no less than five huge Titans! - expected to arrive next year. I've really been misplaying my defenses badly, I fear - but I'm not sure what more could be done against these enemies. There's a chance of developing scatters by next year, but it's just too small for building an Ajax base to make sense. "We can hope for a miracle," Kestrel reminds me, "...but don't count on one." I must agree.

2416: Our Hawk Eye scans the enemy designs at Selia - everything but the Titan itself - and retreats, allowing Sauron to make the place his nine millionth colony. Then the enemy reaches Ajax. The Titans move at combat speed 1, are fitted with Titanium armor only - thank the heavens and their winds! - and appear to have heavy lasers as their only ship-to-ship weapon, except for a handful of missiles. It must have bombs or spores or something though, because it fires at Ajax itself in preference to our ships with all its weapons as soon as it can in spite of its complete lack of bases, and keeps trying to advance toward the planet's surface. We screen it off as best we can, but only manage to kill two of the five ships before they reach orbit anyway and prove to have both spores and bombs! The enemy cuts the planet's population almost in half before we can kill another Titan, and virtually destroys the planet before we can kill the next-to-last ... but the last one runs out of spores, and retreats without further bombing! Barely - barely! - Ajax is saved ... for now!

The Alkari populace is also terrorized by another GNN special report, but for once it doesn't directly pertain to us: Just the Psilons finding one of our ancient derelicts from the time of the Kree ascendance, several of whose systems they manage to reverse-engineer. (OOC: Apparently, this event can happen before 2450....) In spite of their limited size, especially in light of the techs I've traded to them, they may yet become a significant threat in their own right. Even so ... when the message came on, I dreaded I'd learn that Vega nor Vox had mined out the last of their most valuable natural resources, or gone into rebellion, or worse! Compared to what might have been, this news is great!

The news it followed was even beter though: We have finally developed an Improved Space Scanner, simultaneously making our spies competitive and finally allowing us to accurately determine enemy starships' destinations and ETAs. I cannot overstate the importance of this device for our defenses, especially since our backward missile and shield technologies mean our only hope for protecting our worlds is with our fighter fleets. If not for the brilliance of the Star Wing Clan, the greatest pilots short of Yreet Kree herself in all the galaxy, our worlds would be burning wrecks or Sakkra colonies already, and we would have no hope in this galaxy. But we have them, and now we will know where to deploy them with certainty, and that might be enough to turn the current of the winds! And in case they hadn't done enough for us already, our computer science teams reported that Improved Robotic Controls IV (or another battle computer) was available to advance in the field!

With the miniaturization provided by our new scanners and last year's technology trades, some serious combat designs are finally possible - and between this and the security our scanners offer, I'm ready to mount an offensive for the first time in this war! I explain my plans to Kestrel, and at first all she says is, "It'll be a long, long time before they arrive," but it's our best hope to make inroads against the Sakkra - we can never hope to win so long as all we're doing is desperately trying to fend off enemy fleets - and at last, she says, "I trust you, Yref. I trust your judgment. Without you, I'd never have reached this high perch at all. Your words have the ring of truth, and we must act, to reclaim what by rights was ours."

I bow with a full sweep of my wings, and give the orders to our Clan shipyards. We need transports, and in numbers - to reclaim Selia ... and the long-time Sakkra world, poached from us decades ago when a Penguin was already en route, of Rotan!

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Next: The Gathering Storm!

Imperium 13 - Against the Wind

2400: We lose contact with the Darlok empire as unknown parties - presumably the Meklar or Bulrathi - destroy their colony at Misha. Under the circumstances, this probably isn't a bad thing, though I'm sorry now that we started a trade agreement with them. I consider our other options, but conclude as Kestrel already has that there's nothing more we can do until new technology comes in ... or until the Sakkra force us to act.

2401: We colonize Guradas, ever hopeful in spite of the manifest danger we're in. Unfortunately, I also spot an absolute death fleet: Fully a dozen cruisers of three different designs escorting two Titan dreadnoughts and a Colony Ship, and bound for Vox as best I can determine. My only hope for keeping the planet would be making peace before the fleet arrives, which might be impossible - if they're all fitted with Sublight Drives, my best calculations put them at Vox in 2405!

2402: We finish work on our new battle suits, and begin on Zortium Armor as the only way to advance the state of the art. Meanwhile, our last Plover 1.0 reaches Selia, and its design is replaced with a faster, reserve-fuel-equipped Plover 2.0L as soon as it finishes constructing a colony there. Meanwhile, my best data analysis teams go to work on the Sakkra death fleet, using combined location information from the past two years.

As you can see from this double-exposure image, centered on Orion, we have determined that their most probable target is not Vox but Selia, that at least some of their ships lack Sublight engines, and that they will therefore arrive sometime in the range of 2406-2408. Also visible are some of the many transports making the long, slow journey to Ajax, northeast of the screen. Our rich, new colony has no hope whatsoever of survival, but at least Vox is safe - for the moment, at least! This level of intensive scanner data analysis will continue as long as the war lasts, or until we finally design a better scanner capable of determining destinations and ETAs automatically.

Off in the east, three Bulrathi dreadnoughts and a single colony ship are inbound to Phantos, probably from Misha, which I presume they glassed. I obviously can't stop them from forming an ursine colony with that fleet, so I won't lose too much sleep over it when they do. In continuing discussions with their emperor, I find many of Krungo's offers more tempting than they used to be - it's amazing how a war like this can change one's perspective! - and I agree to the ridiculously lopsided trade of Battle Computer Mark III for our Enhanced Eco, partly to strengthen Krungo against the Sakkra, but mostly to miniaturize our computers, provide us a real combat computer for the future, and increase our spies' electronic warfare capabilities. For similar reasons, and to improve my intelligence reports, I also accept Deep Space Scanner for my Controlled Tundra, especially as the latter should allow him to attack more of the more vulnerable Sakkra worlds. (OOC: Here, I saved the game and quit just for a moment, then opened it right back up again. The game's command display only checks for new scanner techs on the interturn or when loaded from the save, so this step was necessary to get immediate use out of my deep space scanner.) My new scanner reveals that the Sakkra have insane numbers of missile bases on the worlds we've scouted nearby, as well as a few more death fleets moving around near my part of space.

Hoping for still better intel reports, I design a new Hawk Eye 2, a long-range destroyer with a battle scanner, plus a stabilizer, high maneuverability, and a single NPG.

2403: Phantos is now a Bulrathi world, as anticipated, and I call on their leader yet again, as the miniaturization we managed last year wasn't all that Kestrel had hoped for.

At this point, I'm willing to accept Fusion Bombs for our Dotomite, which should give me some hope of someday damaging Sakkra bases, while miniaturizing all our weapon designs. The dotomite crystals I gave Krungo should also give the bears a chance to actually mount an attack on Sakkra worlds, though that doesn't mean they'll actually do so. Meanwhile, with little to no hope of my Nest 1.0 ever completing a colony, I scrap it in favor of an NPG fighter called the Talon 2.0, with a stabilizer, high maneuverability, and a small computer, to take full advantage of our Star Wing pilots' incredible skill in battle!

2404: Additional in-depth scan analysis suggests that an enemy fleet thought to be bound for Vega might instead be making the long trip to Xudax, but work to protect Vega continues; it's too critical a world for me to take any risks.

2405: Our Hawk Eye 2 brings in a scan of the main Sakkra cruiser designs. The good news - indeed, the great news - is that they move at a crawl in combat. The Colossus ships are planet busters, with seven fusion bombs apiece and three death spores for good measure, but with only heavy lasers for ship-to-ship fighting. The Valkyries have better shields but a weaker computer, so they should roll over in a nebula, but will be dangerous space superiorty ships anywhere else. I put our top military strategists on devising plans to deal with these fleets. Meanwhile, a group of Sakkra spies blow up a bunch of Vega's factories, and frame Krungo for the deed. The subordinates officers who bring the report to Yreet Kree all curse the bears, but she's not fooled, and neither am I.

I make a desperate bid to save both Vega and Firma, scrapping the Hawk Eye in favor of a Talon 2.1 fighter, identical to the 2.0. I also call on Darquan again, as his fleets have re-taken Misha, but he remains unwilling to break with the Sakkra in war or peace, so I don't bother trying to initiate a new trade agreement. Sauron himself is willing to talk to me again, however briefly, and I take avantage of the opportunity... but apparently, no matter what terms are offered, his pacifism does not extend to the point of actually making peace! Production of the new Talons therefore commences, and our emergency defense plan is put into effect! We'll lose Selia, of course, but there's a chance it might be all we lose - in the first wave at least! Better yet, we can begin to consider an offensive! Altair will begin with a million volunteers for a suicide transport to Paranar. They will perish, but in a noble cause, and determine the exact transport delay for that route through the Altair nebula. This single transport may help save hundreds of millions of lives, and those who will die are honored throughout the empire for their sacrifice.

2406: There is no battle at Vega! Our scanning analysis teams were correct! Vega's defense fleet will therefore depart for Xudax to meet the Sakkra fleet.

2407: The Sakkra destroy Selia as expected, but we do achieve a small victory: The planet was just able to finish a Talon 2.0 before they arrived! And ... wait a minute ... there's no battle at Firma! The giant fleet headed that way passes, and is instead on its way up to Esper! Further examination of our scanning reports suggests that the smaller fleets are mostly going the same way ... except for one that will be at Firma next year!

2408: A small Sakkra fleet reaches Firma as expected, and is destroyed at the cost of 14 Talons, just over a tenth of those present. Our survivors head up to Esper to take part in the battle there. For inscrutable reasons, the Sakkra don't wait around to colonize Selia, but fly off instead toward ... Paranar, Guradas, or Beta Ceti; I can't tell which. I would really, really like a better space scanner. Fortunately, work on one is nearing completion this minute!

2409: The enemy arrives at Xudax, and our 80 Talons respond. The Sakkra have a colony ship and three Colossus planet-busters, but thanks to the incredible efforts of our Star Wing Clan pilots, we win the battle with no losses of any kind! What's more, our spies come through against the Bulrathi, with a shot at every field but computers! This likely means Ion Rifles and Hard Beams are both out of play, so I select construction ... and get Duralloy Armor - not terrific, but definitely not bad! Next, colonizing rich, toxic Yarrow gives us contact with the two-planet Psilon empire and their leader, Zygot the honorable industrialist. (OOC: The traditional Stunted Psilons of the double-digit Imperia. This is not normal in most games ... but anyone new to the game will have to take the veterans' word for it!) After exchanging courteous greetings, I arrange for an annual trade agreement of 275 BC, and see what kind of technology he has to offer.

Since he's no threat, I accept his Improved Terraforming +10 for my Improved Eco because it's literally the first opportunity to get terraforming for our worlds I've ever seen! This lopsided deal pleases him so much, he offers Improved Terraforming +30 for our Enhanced Eco, and I agree to that one too, thereby rendering both sides of our first deal obsolete. (OOC: Here, I saved the game and quit, only to start it right back up again, again to get immediate use out of my new technology. I'm pretty sure the terraforming would have happened either way, but this causes my colony screens to display accurately, making colony management easier for me.)

2411: The biggest Sakkra fleet yet encountered (not counting the one to which we waved a white flag at fledgling Selia) arrives at our Esper colony! The Valkyrie is disposed of easily, but the Colossus cruisers are coming in with 112 fusion bombs racks and 48 Death Spore pods! Our pilots do their best to form a running screen, but with just two fleets, even Star Wing Clan pilots can't hold the fleet off forever!

Worse yet, a swift-moving Sakkra Colony Ship managed to take Firma's orbit when I briefly had no fleet there - I had forgotten the accursed Sakkra could auto-refit their colony ships continuously with their best possible (now Impulse!) engines! Only two factories are destroyed, but transports will be coming at any moment!

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Next: Never Surrender! There's always hope!

Imperium 13 - Soaring High, Crashing Down

2383: The lizards are amiable now, and at war with the Bulrathi, which probably does mean the creatures Sauron calls "those filthy, smelly, hairy bears" originate where I guessed they might, though you never can tell with these things. Also ... what is this? Trade turning a "profit" (still deeply in the red over the lifetime of the deal even without taking inflation into account) to the tune of 5 BC per year? That's completely unacceptable! Let's get this trade back into the negative numbers where it belongs!

No, I'm not crazy; I'm just all too well aware that we have no chance against the Sakkra right now. We're in this for the long haul or we're not in this at all, so I'm doubling the agreement up to 350 BC!

2384: We manage to improve our ecological restoration techniques again, which leads to ... no controlled radiated ... and no terraforming options. We are missing the first four levels of terraforming technology that the great planetologist Hreet Yrra envisioned, as well as all the controlled environmental techs except for Tundra! I might add that on the whole, our opportunities to make research choices have been few and far between, with nothing but ECM available thus far in computers, no option for a personal shield, no engines yet even envisioned, and (less critically) no Fusion Bombs. What a mess! I hold an emergency discussion with Kestrel, but neither of us can figure out a way to replace our scientists with competent ones, so we need a different kind of strategy. Soil Enrichment is our next planetology project, even though an antidote would be useful against the lizards' death spore technology. It's going to be a long time before we'd have any hope of surviving a Sakkra attack either way! Rather than dwell on that, I design a Stork 1.0 long-range colony ship. At least one will even get a chance to build a colony!

2385: We improve our factory construction techniques, which will help with our future colonies (or colony as the case may be) though we're already at or near maximum infrastructure at our existing worlds ... and I'm shocked to find actual choices for our next construction project! We just went through two levels of IIT, and as for automated repair, I'd rather rely on fighters if we have to go to war, counting on our Star Wing Clan pilots to keep them from being hit at all, than on giant ships that take heavy damage and then try to put themselves together again. On my advice, Yreet Kree therefore selects Battle Suits to give us a fighting chance in ground invasions.

Meanwhile, thanks to the new construction tech, I can also design two new ships: An Emperor (Penguin) 1.0 long-range tundra lander, and a small fleet of FarCry 1.0 long-range laser fighters, the latter to be built in case we beat the Sakkra to Ajax by just a few years. At any other world, this would be folly, but Ajax is rich enough to warrant the expense, and in a key strategic location ... and its nebula will cancel out enemy shields, thereby giving our FarCries' lasers at least some hope of succes. For that matter, if we had any engines to speak of, I wouldn't bother with the reserve tanks. Under the circumstances though, long range fighters are worthwhile just to save the years of delay through which normal fighters would have to wait for the colony's construction to bring the world into range.

2393: Dotomite Crystals are ready for deployment aboard our ships, and our only choice for a new propulsion project is Uridium Fuel Cells. (OOC: For those keeping score, that's 1 controlled environment tech - and it's not among the top 4 - zero of the first four terraforming techs, and zero of the first three engines, the latter fact nearly obviating the propulsion excellence of our Alkari. Oh, and did I mention nothing but ECM in the first two tiers of our computer tree? Because this is frankly insane!) Our trade package with the lizards is finally turning a profit, and I'm going to let it keep that up this time, but I nonetheless call up Sauron ... and find he's willing to trade Controlled Toxic Environment for our Inertial Stabilizer!

He'd also have done it for Enhanced Eco, but I do not plan to help his economy get any bigger than it is already. Now, in honor of the fact that I learned to create it by cooperating with a crocodile, I name our toxic colony ship design the Plover 1.0, and our empire begins work on three!

2394: Our lazy, ECM-loving computer scientists finally devise the latest jammer, and we at last recover from the computer virus and develop a neutron pellet gun, too late to contribute to our recently-built defense fleets. The computer scientists of course want a new jammer, and ... wait ... what's this I see? They've presented a proposal for an Improved Space Scanner?! If they manage to develop that in a timely manner, I'll take back everything I ever said about them, right down to the sleepwalking! They've just won themselves some extra funding! Meanwhile, I've gone long enough without a missile, I already have hand lasers, over which Ion Rifle isn't much of an improvement, and Mass Driver ... just isn't very good, so I start research on Scatter Pack V Rockets, which should be especially valuable in all the nebulae right around here. Still no sign of life at the worlds within mutual reach of the Sakkra and ourselves; let's just hope the lizards' wars are keeping all their fleets occupied far away.

2395: Yrawk! Somebody pinch me! Are we really forming a new colony?!

For the first time in almost a quarter of a century, we land on a fresh, new world - this one, being Beta Ceti, completely covered in snow. I also design a new NPG fighter, the Talon 1.0, with a stabilizer and battle computer. Sadly, these will probably be the best design we can build for a long time, so we start limited production immediately.

2396: Yrawwwk? The star I supposed was Ursa is the ocean world of Phantos ... and it's still uninhabited somehow! In the forlorn hope that this remains the case for another 11 years, Vox builds another Nest 1.0 while our few new Talons converge on Selia! This means we can say with confidence that the Psilon homeworld is at the yellow star alone in the northeast corner, while the Bulrathi, Darlok, and Meklar worlds are all in the southeast cluster!

2398: Dare I believe my eyes? We appear to have two new colonies - including Ajax! Not only is that a terrific world in its own right, it will extend my reach ... and brings me immediate contact with two other species!

Unfortunately, the Darloks are led by Darquan, a xenophobic expansionist who's very uneasy with me, and the Bulrathi by Krungo the erratic technologist - so it doesn't matter how he feels about me at any given moment; he might well declare war anyway! Fufilling my role as official diplomat of the Alkari people, I persuade Darquan to the smallest trade agreement that would possibly mean anything given the sizes of our empires: 80 BC per year invested toward eventual peaceful relations, hopefully! I also sign Krungo up for a similar trade agreement, but this is likely to be money thrown to the winds. I'm sorely tempted to trade technology with him, and finally settle on taking his Nuclear Engines for our Inertial Stabilizer, because I desperately need faster engines, and it's the only thing he'll accept that provides no strategic (only tactical) advantages to him. This does nothing for our transports, but future ship designs will definitely benefit. Indeed, in spite of my doom-saying about the Talon 1.0, I'm able to build a superior model already, and therefore scrap our few existing NPG fighters in favor of a faster colony ship, the Nest 2.0.

2399: We reach Xengara, the fertile world in the far northwest corner of the galaxy, and make it an Alkari colony! We get a couple of scouting reports too, and ... wait, GNN? A special report? Cutting right into the middle of "Maverick's Flight?!" Uh-oh. This can't be a good thing. Well, we'll weather it! What ... Yiiiiiiiiiaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!!

It just isn't possible! It's too much to ask of our people, too much to believe! Our sinecure ambassador, Yraw Freep, was secretly an agent of the dead usurper! His last words, meaningless to the Sakkra and the GNN newsdroid, carry immense significance to anyone who knows of the succession wars and their history! His attempt on Sauron's life was nothing more or less than a traitor's strike against the heart of his own people! Like the usurper himself, Yraw Freep was willing to sacrifice not only his own life, but the lives of his entire race, for petty revenge against the true heir to Altair and the galaxy! Nothing I say or do can appease the Sakkra people. Sauron reacts to the assassination attempt by declaring war on us immediately, dooming the Alkari people! Yreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek! I rush to Kestrel's side at once, for a desperate strategy meeting, but I fear there may be no hope of saving our people! Nonetheless, we shall do all we can ... and even if victorious, our enemies shall buy their spoils dearly!

(OOC: Immediately after the Diplo event, I took a few days off from the game; I had a number of Real Life[tm] things that needed doing, and knew I would need to completely change my strategy anyway - no harm in losing track of what I had planned! I intended from the first to come back and finish the game though, and by the time I had a good block of time again, I was ready to go on - among other things, with a great way to end this report in case of defeat!)

My first strategic move, after confirming it with Yreet Kree, is to approach Darquan and ask him to join our Sakkra war, pointing out that unless we unite against the lizards, they will soon take over the galaxy. Terrified of the Sakkra however, he refuses, and instead remains their ally! With our prospects looking bleak, we go to work building ship parts at Vox and Vega - there's no point in building bases with our hopelessly backward missile and shield technology - while rearranging our research priorities just to bring in Battle Suits and their attendant miniaturization, and putting most of our remaining efforts into Improved Space Scanner, the only research project we've got that's at once valuable enough to be worth the immediate wartime investment, well enough along that there's a small hope of completing it, and not in its final stages of completion already. My espionage budget is also increased across the board, to ensure we know what our enemies possess - and with the Darloks allied to the Sakkra and the Bulrathi an erratic people, everyone is now an enemy! If we survive this, it'll be a miracle - at least!

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Next: Trying to Fly Against the Wind!