Part 17: Turn 157

TURN 157


A Cardassian Cruiser flies into one of several Starbases we have dotting the southwestern quadrant of the galaxy. He is fried like an insect.


Our intelligence analysts circulate their favorite story yet: Somehow a Romulan agent managed to bluff his way into command of a Cardassian Strike Cruiser II and fly it all the way back to Romulan territory. When stuff like this happens, you can be sure that our intel power is far, far superior to the enemy's.


The Cardassian Strike Cruiser is comfortably docked at our Benzar Starbase on the Ferengi border. It will assist our Warbirds in defending the station. It will also be bait, since it cannot cloak while our other warships can.


TURN 158. This time a pair of Cardassian Cruisers get caught next to one of our Starbases in the southwest and are pelted out of existence by torpedoes. Our empire is vast, and the Cardassians obviously don't have a map.


The Starbase on the Ferengi border finally sees some action.


Our captains are thrilled to see that the Ferengi Marauder has made an appearance.


The Marauder may have had an easy time dealing with the stolen, uncloaked Cardassian Strike Cruiser, but the 2 Warbirds are a nasty surprise. The Ferengi are now down one of their vitally important battleships.


TURN 158. After the Strike Cruiser got stolen, our spies have been doing everything they can to top each other. This time one of our agents (that's right, one) manages to blow up an entire Cardassian Outpost. The Outpost was in sector c5, which supports the theory that the Cardassian homeworld is somewhere near the northwest corner of the galaxy.


We're getting serious about mapping the Ferengi empire. Our Scout has spotted what is believed to be the Ferengi homeworld, as it hosts the 23-ship fleet we saw earlier. This is only 4 sectors away from our nearest system.


Though we have a robust defense team on the border, the actual location of our main fleet has been Betazed. Now that we've gathered enough ships, it's time for them to roll out toward our next invasion target: Acamar. The Troop Transports are slow and vulnerable, so our warships will take their time and escort them. The Starbase at Myrmidon will be our staging area, and all newly-built ships in the east are being sent there directly.


TURN 159. Our saboteurs continue their diabolical work. This time they report the destruction of 5 type 8 intel centers. That's a major source of intel power. This will further erode Cardassia's ability to resist our agents.


It's almost as if Cardassian agents have caught wind of our intentions. All of the light ships they had parked at Acamar have scattered. Only a few Klingon warships remain.


TURN 160. Another Cardassian ship bites the dust near the northwestern corner of the galaxy.


Since we produced so many Scouts earlier, we've been assigning them to watch over various enemy territories. Our Scout in Klingon space spots the Cardassians' deadly fleet of 6 Battleships on Dimorus. They're poised to defend the Klingons' home systems, but will they be willing to remain there?


TURN 161. Whilst making the rounds through uncharted Ferengi space, another Scout is able to confirm that the Ferengi have at least one more Marauder out there, far from the frontlines.


TURN 162. Our spies never fail to one-up each other. This time a single agent is credited with the murder of 50 million people. He is affectionately dubbed "Agent Mao". This is bad news for the Humans, as Umoth was one of the systems Cardassia enslaved.


TURN 163. In the southeastern corner of the galaxy, the Ullians join our empire.


Ullia already has sufficient industry to begin producing ships at a good rate. Our intelligence officers are also keenly interested in the Ullians' unique structure, a building which will give our empire a 25% bonus to all forms of intel. This is equivalent to another Tal'Shiar headquarters. When this is combined with the Tal'Shiar headquarters and Ktarian gaming center, we'll have an obscene 100% bonus to sabotage.


TURN 164. The Klingons capitalize on our absence in the northeast by raiding some systems. We lose some cash, but it just keeps pouring in from all our colonies.


TURN 165. Our grand invasion fleet finally arrives on Acamar. The cowardly Klingons have all but retreated, leaving a single command ship behind.


The Klingon ship is merely a Klingon Battle Cruiser, which is weaker than our own Battle Cruisers. In addition to our 9 Battle Cruisers, we have nearly 30 Destroyers and Scouts in this fleet.


It looks like we're going into warp, but no, it's just the disruptors being fired by all our ships at a single target.


Bombs away!


Though ordered to focus on military sabotage, a spy sees an opportunity to rob a Cardassian bank and forward the funds. In other news, another spy detonates the Cardassian dilithium refinery on the Ledonia system.


Ledonia, of course, is the other Federation system that was conquered by the Cardassians. We have a Scout working through this area of space now, as well. At first it is hard to believe, but he spots no less than 5 different Outposts built by the Ferengi and Cardassians in the former Federation space. Despite all the Outposts, there are hardly any ships around. It's likely these were built a long time ago to extend range as the two empires began feeding on the Humans.


Before ordering the invasion, the Acamar fleet must first organize itself a bit. This takes awhile.


The ships participating in the attack will primarily be a mix of Scouts and Destroyers, followed by 13 Troop Transports. Acamar has as many as 7 Orbital Batteries and a huge population of 390 units. If the invasion fails, we should have enough ships leftover to launch a second wave.


TURN 166. An imperial holiday is declared to celebrate the long-awaited news of a successful invasion of Acamar. This system has been a thorn in our side for a very, very long time.


The Acamar fleet has so many ships leftover that it will remain the spearhead of further invasions. After all, we have an entire salient to crush here in the northeast. Obviously a victory Starbase will be built on Acamar. In the meantime, a small invasion party will also go to Arvada, which should be almost undefended.


Acamar is a powerhouse. It even has Type 9 factories, which are beyond our technological level. The only weakness is a lack of morale.


Fortunately the Acamarian unique structure provides a bonus to morale. But even before this takes effect, the system will rapidly produce new ships for new invasions. Troop Transports are being ordered here because we don't want to wait for them to travel all the way from our other production centers. We have more work to do right here in the northeast and it's handy to have a local supply.


Just for good measure, a spy also stole a Cardassian scout ship.


Somehow the spy flew the ship all the way to the eastern edge of the galaxy. We have 12 Starbases throughout the galaxy and a constantly growing fleet, but our credits continue to pour in at a faster rate. (It doesn't hurt that when we invade and a bunch of ships get culled by Orbital Batteries we no longer have to pay for their maintenance cost.) All of our little colonies are really contributing now.