Part 62: Turn 122

TURN 122


Since the Cardies and Feds can sign affiliation treaties with the Romulans, we have to assume they'll be able to strike our empire. We can no longer write them off. We'll take a morale hit for this, but we're in no position to go on the offensive.


The Federation declares war against the Romulans out of nowhere.


That should complicate things for them. We have spread out defense ships between Caldonia and Yridia so we can determine where the big Federation fleet is heading and defend one system or the other. It looks like their target is Yridia. But if they're no longer in an affiliation treaty with the Romulans, how can they get the range to attack us?


TURN 123. Looks like the Cardies really can't tell whether or not they want peace with us.


The Federation, it seems, has made up its mind about us. But it's unlikely they can war against us and the Romulans at the same time.


The Romulans have the smallest empire so their demands are the smallest. We'll pay them, because frankly we can't deal with attacks from invisible fleets at the moment.


The Federation fleet has pulled back, perhaps due to its loss of range. It has also shrunk in size. We only see medium-range ships now, so their short-range vessels may have been scrapped or something. Another real possibility is that the Romulans attacked the Federation fleet now that they're at war. We don't have enough scan strength to see the Romulan ships unless they're next door to our Starbases. Notably, the Federation has invented the Heavy Cruiser II. Their next invention will be the Defiant, presumably. It's a reminder that although we're inventing new stuff, so are the other empires. The Feds are best at research, but it won't be long before other empires are inventing ships like the Battleship II, Marauder II or Warbird II.


We have spotted our very first intergalactic traveler. It took a long time--123 turns! It is the Chodak Juggernaut. It's a menace, but not to our defended Starbases.


TURN 125. The threat from the Federation has passed, it seems. The Chodak Juggernaut wanders back into unscannable territory.


TURN 126. Picard is off his meds again, it's the only explanation.


The Cardassians send a small force by Mintaka, which the Romulans still have not colonized yet.


TURN 127. The four light ships head toward Yridia, which they obviously couldn't scan from their earlier position. It's time to remind the Cardassians how much things have changed.


Our ships and the Starbase all target them and open fire. The enemy run away like cowards.


We actually fail to destroy even a single one of their ships. But a victory is still a victory.


Because all the Romulan warships are cloaked, we have no way of measuring their strength. Out of nowhere, we see 3 decloaked Strike Cruisers. There are only two reasons the Romulans would decloak their ships: To do a planetary assault, or in response to a retreat. Whenever a cloaked ship retreats, it is automatically decloaked and sent to another sector. It appears a Romulan fleet may have been defeated in a major battle with the Federation.


TURN 128. The Cardassians' 4 light ships plus another 3 return to Yridia. Those other 3 came out of nowhere.


The enemy fleet is more willing to stick around this time.


We've done little damage to the little buggers, but we'll have a second chance.


We manage to squish a few bugs before they escape.


The Federation has come to its senses and signed a peace treaty with the distant Ferengi. Their Cardassian allies won't like this, but the Federation can't go on the offensive against such a remote target anyway.


The Klingon empire celebrates the completion of its very first Bird of Prey, the IKC Klag. May she see many glorious victories.


TURN 130. We've been getting attacked by Cardassian saboteurs again lately. If we didn't keep around extra structures, attacks like this would be a real pain in the neck. It's a disappointment, since until recently we had done a good job of repelling attacks with our present intel strength.


TURN 132. Volon finishes building its on Bird of Prey, the IKC J'Ddan. Our intention is to keep our Birds of Prey massed together in one fleet at all times to maximize the effect of its cloak attack round. Forming one solid fist of these ships is our best hope of being able to go on the offensive.


TURN 137. Our intel strength is up to 1789 points, but we'll need more to protect ourselves. Unfortunately this means staffing more intel centers on Qo'nos, one of only two systems we have that can build ships quickly. As always, the left-hand column's information is out of date, but we can count enemy systems. The Federation-Cardassian alliance has a total of 14 systems, and the Ferengi have 12.


We have always made sure we had fewer systems than the Ferengi so that we are not seen as the primary threat. The Ferengi's expansion and our loss of Mintaka mean it's about time we added a system or two to our empire.