Nice job holding Rotan. Sounds like we're still in for a rough ride up there. I'll try to grab the chance to look at the save later, but off the top of my head the following options are springing to mind:
- some sort of diplomatic play to get peace (tribute followed by an offer? would we have anything they would want?) - not my area of expertise;
- switch Kholdan to reserve spending and force up as many missile bases as possible;
- switch Kholdan to research and push the techs (FF then Hyper-X) and hope to get them before the birds get there (as suggested by hap);
- just rely on whatever Rotan and Mu Delphi can put together - could they be coming for Mu Delphi instead, BTW? - so as to avoid delaying our growth any more.
This is one case where I think Hyper-X over Ion cannon may pay off; we're on the defensive, and our core problem is the birds' defense. Our existing missile bases at least get one level of attack (compared to zero for our fighters), and Hyper-X would add another. I'm also very happy to see Duralloy waiting in the wings, although it's a ways off.
It is possible the Alkari fleet is headed for Mu Delphi. Without improved scanners it is hard to tell; maybe another turn of movement will make the destination clearer. It just appeared this turn, and was not previously visible, so I am not certain.
I don't know if trying to push for more tech is the best approach; I was just mentioning it as a possibility. Deflector II is at 20% so we have a decent chance of it coming in before the birds arrive, assuming their colony ships hold the fleet to warp 1. A lot depends on what is on that War Eagle design. More shields would be very bad news, as would bombs of any kind. We could try building more fighters -- they did some damage in the previous battle, just not a lot, but enough numbers can make up for a lot. Both Rotan and Mu Delphi have more factories than earlier, so they could build a decent number to increase our swarm. (Amusing that we are using swarms of small fighters againt the Alkari building large ships! )
Anyway, I did not want to commit to one course and then leave the next player with the invasion to start their set. Did not seem like a friendly thing to do.
No idea what my strategy will be. Probably nothing too crazy, just staying defensive, building up our planets, colonizing, and trying not to lose an early council vote, as is typically the bane of my MoO1 playing.
If the Alkari are heading for Mu Delphi, I'll try and get a scan of that new large design (maybe with a medium scanner design if there is room in our design slots) and then rally effective counter-measures in time to stop transports. If the new large design has class II deflectors (+ good evade), I'm really not sure what laser fighters will be able to do against it. (On the other hand, if they are heading to Rotan, I'm not worried at all).
Since photobucket has chosen to be a douchebag, I will now be doing my reports as PDFs like Thrawn does them. The report is attached. The save is coming next.
P.S. I forgot to mention, I have a little bit invested in planetology as well, so make sure to keep a trickle in that at the very least so we don't lose that research. I know controlled dead is not an immediate priority, but we will want better planetology tech eventually for eco restoration, controlled environment techs, terraforming tech, and just higher tech levels for more production from population. So I decided to start a trickle into it for the long term.
Looks like some good turns, Psillycyber! The War Eagle design is not too different from their earlier warbird -- they dropped the regular lasers for more heavy lasers, other stats all the same. Less effective against swarms of laser fighters since it has fewer total beams, but a little better against missile bases.
The humans did have some scouts moving around in Alkari space earlier, so they at least scouted some planets up in the northwest. I did not see any human colony ships, but our scanner range was so limited that maybe one got up there via alliance range?
Nice to see some good factory building, and also some real research getting going. Our early defensive needs against the birds definitely slowed our growth curve a lot. But hopefully we can now start getting caught up.
Interesting council vote -- it appears the various eastern races are all fairly small in planets and pop, probably from starting all close together at those clusters of yellow stars. We got the southwest, the Alkari got the northwest, and the others are bunched together in the east and middle. If none of them manage to grow large, then we could be in a very strong position just from conquering the birds. Assuming we can manage that, of course -- they have a bunch of planets and I expect their tech situation will improve a lot once they get fully industrialized. But overall I think our situation is promising.
I may have to try the PDF report option. I don't know what PhotoBucket was thinking. What is their reason to exist at this point? Do that many people want physical prints of their photos? I would be willing to pay a modest fee for third party linking of pictures with decent tools/options, but what they are asking ($400/year?) is crazy for a small user such as myself.
So, my plan is basically to follow Psillicyper's advice: Get Duralloy Armor, build a long-range colony ship and settle Beta Ceti. What I'm still thinking about is whether it would be a good idea to send some long-range fighters in the meantime. I don't think we can afford a long-range fleet that can defeat a War Eagle, but one that can fight off a colony ship with weapons or a small fighter escort might make all the difference. I've also spotted another red star in scouting range which we might settle when we build long-range colships. I don't think I'll get around to attacking the Alkaris in my turnset, but I hope I can set up the next player with a bunch of bombers. There don't seem to be any emergencies right now, but I'm sure something will come up!
Good luck, RFS-81! I am surprised the Alkari have not already grabbed that world, given how much they have already expanded. With their propulsion excellence, I would expect them to have sufficient range.
I considered building long-range ships to defend Beta Ceti, but it just didn't seem cost effective. The best I could do was a medium ship with 3 lasers. A handful of those were not going to stand up to much of anything the Alkari would throw at us, even an armed colony ship, considering the Alkari evade bonus. Maybe researching Duralloy will let you put lasers on a small design, though. But at that point you can just build the colony ship itself.
Here's one (kinda silly) idea: throw as many bombs on the long-range colony ship as you can. That way, if the Alkari colonize Beta Ceti while your colony ship is en route, and assuming that their escort fleet promptly leaves to go rally back at the AI's main rally point (as is often the case), you'd have the option of immediately bombing the planet, destroying the colony, and founding the colonize yourself with that very same ship...perhaps not right away (because Alkari transports will be on the way), but after the transports crash and burn...which would give you time to send long-range laser fighters to defend the colony for when it is finally planted (after the Alkari transports crash and burn on the uncolonized planet). Just an idea. Any calculations of how many bombs would be needed to kill at least 1 million birdies per turn?
)
The War Eagle design is not too different from their earlier warbird -- they dropped the regular lasers for more heavy lasers, other stats all the same. Less effective against swarms of laser fighters since it has fewer total beams, but a little better against missile bases.
But hopefully we can now start getting caught up.
What is their reason to exist at this point? Do that many people want physical prints of their photos? I would be willing to pay a modest fee for third party linking of pictures with decent tools/options, but what they are asking ($400/year?) is crazy for a small user such as myself.