Part 26: War Is Upon Us

War Is Upon Us



These similar but not identical statements pretty well sum up the advice of the thread. I'm going to take the risky step of delaying following the advice of more experienced readers in this case though. I think there's something more important to do.




We have increased research significantly, and to get more I want to produce the recently-acquired Holo Simulators and Planetary Supercomputers on as many planets as possible. Once our economy gets that boost, we can see to the business of teching up much more efficiently, and also deal with whatever needs the war demands.

The High Council Convenes


Everyone abstains. Noncommittal fools. We play the game by voting Sauron, even though I don't think it has as much effect in this game.




What's this? Friendship??




Lol. We're not handing over the treasury to the weakest race in the galaxy.

"You will pay for that decision, foolish TechnoGeeks dog!"

I ... do not think so. You'd think this means a declaration of war - but it was idle bluster, at least for now. Relations remain Amiable.

Hostilities Commence


So basically the Mrrshan have no problems shooting down our missiles, and the Antarans destroyed Irra as expected. I think the felines will smash our small planets in Lerion, but I hope and expect to stop them from coming much further




We grab the artifacts planet on the other end of things.




Next turn, I focused fire on the Mrrshan frigates and that worked a little better. We lost two more of our Raiders, but also took down two of theirs. This did not stop us from losing a planet though, as several transports came in.




This came in as well. I think it looks rather like a bomb, but there's no good reason not to add it to our cruiser designs. The resulting design has less firepower - 2 standard mass drivers along with two heavies, instead of 4 heavies from before. But it should be harder for the Mrrshan to hit - they're deploying more beams than missiles it seems, so it appears worth it to me.




Going for the better shielding as suggested. Most of our Holo-Sims and research computers are up, so it's time to get those cruisers out there and show the felines we won't be pushed around this easily. I authorize the treasury to release more funds than usual to get that done more quickly.

SD 3518.2 - Lerion III is taken. My remaining five Raiders focus fire on their destroyer, but it is a disaster. Their big ships shoot down all but one of our missiles.




This, on the other hand, is quite welcome news. Our last colony ship for the time being - and for quite a while I imagine. The Meklar sent an escorted colony ship to Thesbia, so we lose that one. It wasn't nearly as good anyway. We still have other rich systems to nab, but we are otherwhise occupied.

The Meklar also warn us to 'Beware'. If they expand, it'll be either through us or the Alkari. Both races steadfastly refuse any diplomatic agreements. Research has ballooned to twice what it was a few turns ago at nearly 400 RP per. We have only three planets building cruisers right now, with the homeworld working on upgrading to a battlestation. But the next cycle, two more planets in Bogina begin laying down warships, and the first Interdictor is completed.

SD 3518.4

I think it took five whole turns for our last research project, so we turn to Ion Fission for the shield capacitors. Meanwhile, any new cruisers to come out now will have improved Class III Shielding, which is what the Mrrshan ships had. The latest version for now costs 2.7% more, but has a third heavy mass driver and auto-fire modifications on the two standard ones.




SD 3518.6

Guh. Since they are repulsive, we can do nothing about this. However, GNN reports that they were also 'first on the scene to bring you this headline':




The Mrrshan might disagree, but cool. I assume by 'first on the scene' they mean 'only one on the scene' as they culled this vital data from the loud pronouncements every race makes whenever they add a system. But I'll still take the endorsement.




The Sakkra relations bar hasn't moved an inch from what I can tell.







Going mostly just for the cheap one here. Took a whopping three years to get those shield capacitors in, and this should come at least as fast.




Made some significant changes here. Down to 2 & 2 on the weapons again, and I exchanged the ECM Jammer for the Shield Capacitors. I just can't fit everything on and have any significant amount of weaponry on a cruiser hull. I don't think we're at the point where I can afford to go up to the battleship level yet - they take too long to construct. So the idea is that if they go MIRV their missiles won't do much against our shields, and if they don't they hopefully won't have enough ordnance to make a big difference. This is the design I want to try to counterattack with.




This is the first time I've ever seen the Refit screen. It brings up all your ships in orbit. We've got one Interdictor in position and another en route that will need the treatment. The Raiders will get scrapped as soon as we need to command points.




Selecting the cruiser, this comes up. Apparently you can only refit to the same size hull. What a silly limitation :P. Then it is added to the planetary build queue once I select the right design. I'm told it will require 62 industry to make the adjustments. That's about one-ninth of a new ship. I think it's a little cheap, but I'm not complaining.

Not only have the Mrrshan not pressed their attacks, but feline ships have been spotted heading upwards towards Umm. It's not that I'm unsure, they are literally going to the Umm system, which is Silicoid. And the Antarans just vanished after smacking Irra out of existence. So it's been quiet for us while we go about the business of preparing retributions.

** Don't Be Dumb Like Me Tip: When redesigning like this, be sure to replace all the old designs in the planetary build queue. I almost didn't notice that the several systems now working on them were all building 'old' Interdictors, which would then have needed to be refit once finished.

SD 3518.9 - Silicoid spy steals Troop Pods. Ok, I think I need better espionage tech next.




Starting to get into new technologies that we haven't seen before.

** Cyber-Security Link - +10% to all spy rolls. That's why I'm getting it, to boost our agents some more.
** Emissions Guidance System - For a hefty price (4x cost and size), missiles that penetrate the shields can bypass armor and apply all their damage to the engines of a target.
** Rangemaster Unit - Range is thirded for the chance to hit calculations only. Makes using heavy beam weapons more viable I would think, but since we're using mass drivers it's kind of irrelevant.

This is a bit expensive, but we're cranking out enough RP that it won't be much of a delay.




Ok, now I'm pissed. They also killed one of our spies to get it done.




The Alkari asked for a tribute again. And gave us the same pointless bluster when we refused. Then this.




This is annoying. I rush-jobbed an Interdictor here, but then the Star Base was blown up so I can't build it. Got replaced automatically with Trade Goods by the game, and now I can't make that money go to anything else. I'd much prefer it just auto-cancelled the purchase. Arghzorz.

Then I get the 'trade goods is above an item, do you want to delete before exiting', I say yes, and it does so. So I can't change it after I purchase it, but I can change it? I'm confused, game.




Didn't do anything, but still - jerks. We are now at war with two races. More protected on the Mrrshan side, but I think they are still the most dangerous and want to focus there. And the same turn, a freighter transport arrived at Xiphias. The citizen was killed - but the freighters weren't blown up. So ... how exactly did the blockade kill them again? Why not just make me lose the freighters??




We'll end on this note - a nice promotion for one of my most important leaders. Within the next year I think we'll be ready to start throwing our weight around.

Also: am I screwing up by having a full roster of domestic leaders? It's been a long time since a military one even became available - do I need to keep an open spot for each??