Part 3: The First Battle of Cera
Welcome to the battle screen. I’m still figuring out how I’m going to handle showing off the battles; I would think that they could get pretty tedious to read. I’m just going to cover the very basics in this first one though so I at least have something to talk about in the future.
Starting with the basics, the red bar is the unit's HP and the blue bar its energy. Actions cost energy. That’s pretty self explanatory. You can see how much it costs to move the Sunrider around the map, and in the lower left how much the various attacks cost.
There are three damage types in the game: lasers (called trinities in dialogue), kinetic (saviors and hell darts in dialogue), and missiles/explosives. Accordingly there are three types of defenses: shields, armor, and flack. You can probably figure out what defenses are effective against what attacks on your own.
Our opponents are two PACT missile frigates. As you can see they don’t have any shields or flak, so we’re going to fire some lasers at them.
(Yes, lasers curve in this universe. Just go with it.)
The Sunrider’s lasers damage one of the PACT frigates heavily but there isn’t enough energy for a second attack, and the enemy remains out of range of the kinetic weapons. However, since they lack any anti-missile defenses …
The frigate’s armor also nullifies some explosive damage, but not anywhere close to enough to save them.
As you probably also noticed, missiles are in short supply; the Sunrider can only currently use that attack once during a battle. Once you use your missile up, they’re gone for that battle, so you have to be pretty picky about when you’re going to use them. Unless you are a specialized missile unit, like these frigates, in which case you have unlimited missiles.
Speaking of which …
Unlike the frigates, however, the Sunrider does have anti-missile defenses, which shoot down two of the incoming.
Our armor ensures that the remaining missiles don’t do too much damage. And so we use lasers to mop up the last frigate, ending the battle.
Our forces are pushing the remaining PACT units back. The PACT frigates are no longer a threat.
Join the rest of our fleet. Let's pitch in with the mop up operation. Aye captain. Two missile frigates down with hardly a scratch. Not bad for my first command, huh Ava?
Charge up trinities again. Let's give the rest of those missile frigates a parting gift before they warp out of Cera. Aye captain. Charging trinities. They must have been trying to warp in missile frigates and take out our ships before we could respond. Given how small the attacking force was though, I'd say the entire operation was ...
Alert! New contacts on scanner! More missile frigates?
No ... It's unlike anything I've ever seen before.
Sweet mother of god... What is that thing, Ava!? I don't remember PACT having anything that colossal! I'm just getting intel from HQ... It's the PACT Super Dreadnought-class warship Legion. That thing is Veniczar Arcadius' personal flagship! Warning! I'm detecting a massive power surge coming from it ... Wait! Brace for impact!
Damage report! Hull breaches reported on section 34-A! Our port trinities are no longer operative! Break away! Our ship doesn't stand a chance against that! What’s the status of the fleet? Battleships Gallant and Behomian Maiden have been destroyed! The Fearless has sustained severe damage! …
HQ has issued a general retreat! All units are to fall back! The Prime Minister's office has been advised to issue an immediate unconditional surrender. Retreat? It's over already? Power surge on the Legion!
R-report! Direct hit on Cera City. I'm still trying to figure out the scope of the damage, but... U-unbelievable … To use a weapon of that magnitude on a civilian target … All contact has been lost with civilian and military leadership! The rest of the Cera Space Force is scattering! We're going to get overwhelmed if we don't get out of here! … What are your orders, captain!? ... CAPTAIN!! Fall back … … Fall back! Warp to the nearest safe system! Understood.
Navigator, punch in the fallback coordinates into the computer. Spool up the warp drive and prepare to jump! Warping out in 3 … 2 … 1 …
Next time:
Episode 2: Picking Up The Pieces