Dominus Galaxia: text only lAAR (Oye Province)

[Zed-F]

Well I wrote this up thinking that I might share this game in DG v0.7.0.16. I probably should have taken pictures along the way rather than thinking I might go back and take pictures by relying in save files. Also the format of how frequently I try to write something is wrong; rather than trying to describe stuff in 5 year increments, the time blocks need to be larger and more flexible as to whether there is anything interesting going on.

I recognize that this might be a particularly dry AAR since I don't have pics to include to show, rather than tell. Not my best work.

But since I wrote it up, maybe it will be interesting to someone anyway.

[Zed-F]

Oye Province 01
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Playing on: v0.7.0.16 Static Master Normal 100%
Global Production 125%, Global Research 60%
Starlanes, starports, static wormholes; design crafting DISABLED
100 star Team Deathmatch, Infinity, Average player density
Playing as Humans; allies: Zero, Mizuro, Xygob

Rename initial colony to Oye (provincial capital)
Looks like I may be boxed into a corner by allies so we'll see how much that hampers expansion.


I don't seem to be able to attach DG save files, are attachments working / allowed? Do I need a particular extension?

[Zed-F]

2200

Building factories max rate w/ stimulus for my usual 4 turns on Oye. This gets me to 114, which is a bit higher than normal due to global production setting. Probably too soon to go over ~100 but shouldn't be a big problem.
Scouting 4 systems in range:
- Ufandi: Arid 90 (pirates)
- Vurrela: Terran 138 fertile (pirates)
- Joyeuse: Steppe 50 Gold

Send 8 pop to Joyeuse, design & start construction of large laser boat (mostly heavy lasers, some normal). This ship has anti-pirate duty. Turn off stimulus as I need the last 100ish BC for pop transport.

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2205

Colonize Joyeuse, turn on stimulus. Micro stimulus on Oye to complete large in 5 turns. Send fleet to Vurrela; it should win. Also send colonists to Vurrela, assuming the victory. Once ship is built, turn off ship production & start research without stimulus at Oye:
- Terraforming +10 (No Impoved Eco), Factory Automation III, Factory Construction I (No II, but interceptor is available), Theoretical Force Fields I, Logistics I (good), Theoretical Weapons I.
I don't expect to be getting into a lot of combat soon and want to see options at the next tier before taking mega missiles or a low-level force field tech. I boost Biotech at a slight penalty to force fields & weapons, as it has a lot of useful stuff and I need to find a cleanup tech after terraforming +10, if possible.

This could be a crappy start location; there are a number of blue stars around.


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2210

Autoresolve & win at Vurrela, it is colonized immediately. Send fleet to Ufandi except for a scout. I might normally consider switching stimulus to Vurrela instead of Joyeuse, but it looks like I need my first starport at Joyeuse instead.


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2215

Not much, waiting for fleets to move. Send colonists to Ufandi timed to arrive with fleet. Joyeuse starts starport.


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2220

Fleet wins autoresolve at Ufandi & Ufandi is colonized. Waiting for starport on Joyeuse.
Check up on my allies; Zero has 5 worlds, Mizuro has 3, Xygob have 4. Most of these are average or worse, but Zero have one nice size 75 gemstone world. Probably better expansion prospects than me as well, with yellow & green stars nearby.


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2225

Terraforming I comes in, sepect Theoretical Biology I. I don't start terraformimng yet, I want Logistics I to finish before I turn down research. Starport completes @ Joyeuse & I have 3 more systems in range but the star colours don't look too promising. Vurrela begins starport, but without much stimulus since I need to rebuild cash reserves for potential pop transport.


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2230

The bad news on exploration from Joyeuse, is there is nothing very good near Joyeuse:
- Zeuxo: Tundra 30 Rich
- Caphaurus: Inferno 15 Rich
- Vuples: Asteriods, further progress toward Zero may not be possible without a lot more propulsion tech
But, there is an upside - a wormhole leads from Caphaurus to Mizuro territory:
- Fthel: Desert 40
- Noag: Terran 90 (pirates)
My fleet is in the area and finding pirates to hunt is a good deal. I can probably get both of these worlds right away, before Mizuro or Zero, since my fleet is concentrated and theirs are not, so I can clear access through the pirates. Colonists are enroute and Joyeuse is backfilled from Oye. From there I could at least in theory send ships up to Zero territory, though it's a long trip. I might be able to snag Tikopal in Zero territory, guarded by a Remnant destroyer, if they are slow enough about grabbing it.  

In tech news, Factory Construction I completes and Theoretical Construction I is next. I also switch to Tundra colonization at a small RP penalty to be able to colonize Zeuxo.


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2235

Fthel and Noag are colonized. I send my fleet back toward Vurrela but it will take them some time to arrive.

Turns out I will need them; from Vurrela I can get to Oamara, a Terran 100 guarded by pirates.

Check up on my allies; where I have 6 worlds, Zero has 7, Mizuro has 3, Xygob have 8. The latter have gotten lucky with almost no hostile worlds in their area; however I don't expect they'll play any role this game since they appear to have to go through my space to get anywhere... at least barring another wormhole.


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2240

Logistics I comes in and I pick Theoretical Propulsion I next. Othwewise just waiting for fleets to move, infrastructure to build, & techs to complete.


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2245

Theoretical Force Field I comes in and my options aren't great; I pick Force Field IV to have something available but am not really thrilled. Still waiting for fleets to move. I do time some colonists from Vurrela to coincide with my fleet's arrival at Oamara.


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[Zed-F]

2250

Apparently there is a Repter enemy squeezed between me and Zero, on the far side of the Antimatter nebula. I don't think I'll be meeting them anytime soon. They can't have a lot of room to work with.

Oamara is cleared of pirates and colonized, now I need a starport to keep going. Tundra colonization comes in and I send colonists to Zeuxo.


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2255

Zeuxo is colonized. Oamara builds a starport and I continue exploring.


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2260

Theoretical Weapons I comes in; there don't appear to be any bombs in my tree thus far.

I could choose Cluster missiles, but I don't think I'm actually going to be attacked this game due to the antimatter nebula between me and my Repter neighbor. I guess I could pick an early beam weapon with which to fight Remnant, perhaps; I select Mass Driver.

Theoretical Construction I and Propulsion I also come in; I pick Theoretical Construction II next, not needing the other options I have available at the moment, and Sublight Drives.

I explore Thrintun and find it's Toxic, but there is one other star I can reach without more logistics. Unfortunately it's only got another asteroid belt. I'll have to wait for the Xygob to build a starport at their closest world to proceed further to the last unexplored star between us.

Theoretical Biology I comes in and Enhaved Eco is available, so naturally I pick that first. Factory Automation III comes in and I pick Theoretical Computer I next.

Research is definitely going slower than I expected. I thought production would increase basic income of a planet, which could then be applied to other projects like research, so I turned research farther down to compensate. Instead, I think the global production modifier acts like a rich/poor bonus to all production of factories, ships, bases etc at a planet. Perhaps I turned down research a bit too much? Moreover, most of my planets actually seem to be producing closer to 50% or less research, rather than 60%, so there could be some bugs involved here.


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Wait a whole bunch of turns.....

2290

I have picked up Enhanced Eco, and am working on Terraforming II, due shortly. In Computers I got Theoretical Computer I and went straight to Theory II. In Construction and Force Fields I am working on Theory II as well. I now have Sublight Drives and am working on Maneuver III. And in Weapons I am close to getting Mass Drivers.

Xygob have finally built a starport on their closest planet, and I have discovered Zephrain Desert 63 fertile, so that is the last planet I can get in my area of influence. There's still a Remnant-guarded world Tikopai I may someday be able to get in Zero space, but I am unfortunately short on battle computers. After that it's wait a long time to be able to have fleets fast enough to cross the map and accomplish something with a huge logistics train through Mizruro and Zero space. Looks like Nurg are one of my opponents so we'll see how challenging that turns out to be.

Terraforming +20 completes, pick Controlled Dead environment to take a gamble on trying to get a couple forward bases in Zero space. Theoretical Construction II completes, pick Factory Construction IV.

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2295

Mass Driver completes; I pick Theoretical Weapons II next. Theoretical Computers completes; I have yet to find any battle computers in my tree. Pick Active Sensors and plan to take Factory Automation IV next. Dead Colonization completed and I take Biology Theory II next. Attempt to settle Byzas and Urkab in Zero space; we'll see if the colonists get there in time. Zeuxo starts storing production for ship construction; soon I'll want to try to take out the Remnant destroyer guarding Tikopai but I need a couple techs first.


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[Zed-F]

2300

Active Sensors completes, Factory Automation IV is next. Theoretical Force Fields II completes, pick Theory III. The tech trees are really not liking me much this game, but since I am stuck behind allies and an antimatter nebula it doesn't matter as much. Theoretical Biology II completes and I don't get Soil; I pick Controlled Toxic next but Terraforming IV is also an option.


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2305

Completed Maneuver III, Picked Inertial Stabilizer next. Completed that, took Propulsion Theory II next. I'm about as ready as I am going to get in the near future to design an anti-Remnant ship, though it won't be all that good. I had scrapped my navy earlier, now I scrap all the designs and come up with a couple new ones. First I design a scout with sublight engines, then I design a cruiser with Computer 1, Shield IV, Sublight, Maneuver III, 31 mass drivers, 9 nuclear bombs, Active Sensor, Inertial Stabilizer. The math didn't work out nicely for a destroyer size hull and I figure I would need ~5 destoyers anyway since I have no armour tech and the Remnant has shield penetration. Conveniently, I have just enough combined annual and stored production that I can build it in 1 year; I do so and send it to Tikopai, along with some colonists. After that it will contribute to the defense on the Repter front.

In other news, Urkab (Dead 23) is colonized. Acheron, the Zero colony closest to the Repter, is destroyed. Maybe I do need to worry about missile bases for defense since I am attempting to colonize Byzas (Dead 38), which is next to Acheron.


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2310

Theoretical Weapons II comes in and I pick Stinger missiles next. Omega V bombs are also available to pick up later but I probably want base defenses first.

Zero people managed to recolonize Acheron so my new colony at Byzas seems safe for the moment.


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2315

Theoretical Propulsion II comes in and I pick Impulse drives next. Factory Automation IV comes in and I pick Computer Theory III next; however, large scale increases in industrialization rate will wait for Factory Construction IV, which is due soon.

I also build a second cruiser to send into Zero space, this one will contribute to defending the Nurg front.


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2320

Controlled Toxic comes in, opening up several new colonization possibilities, which I immediately jump on:
- Thrintun: Toxic 27
- Capharus: Inferno 15 Rich
- Volfrit: Toxic 15 Gold
- Maia: Inferno 27
These are spread about the map but mostly safe from any potential aggression. I pick Terraforming IV next.

Acheron is nuked by the Reptar again. Not much I can do about this yet. Zero people do reclaim air superiority though and will probably try to recolonize.

Theoretical Force Fields 3 comes in; I still don't get a planetary shield, but could pick Zyro Shield or Cloaking Device. I think the latter could be useful for large bombers with Omega V bombs, and want to try it; +15 levels of defense sounds like a lot; about triple what it was in MOO as I recall, although defense works differently in DG so it might not be quite as good as it sounds. Still, getting that many levels of defense advantage is really tough otherwise. I might also get Zyro shield later, we'll see.


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2325

One of our cruisers arrives at Tikopai and has no trouble dealing with the Remnant destroyer; we colonize the world. We also have a scout peek at the Nurg defenses at Varna; their bases look fairly primitive apart from having pretty decent computer tech. They do have a handful of antimatter bomb frigates on hand as well, but these don't look especially impressive either. I think the global settings are playing hob with the AI just as much as they are with me, if not moreso.  

Let's check on colony counts now after our recent wave of colonizations. I'm now up to 16 worlds, though about half of these are hostile. Xygob are at 12, none hostile, but they have no real contact with the wider universe and are content to sit in their corner.  Mizuro are still stuck on 3 and are pretty much irrelevant. Zero are at seven, having lost Acheron again, which has now been colonized by Repter. This is the first time a world has actually changed hands all game. However, unless my cruiser can make a difference, Acheron is probably doomed to be a hot potato for at least the near future. I don't want to try to colonize it myself until I am sure of my ability to defend it.

Factory Construction IV comes in and I pick Interceptor hulls next; I may or may not choose to use these a lot this game, but I might need a fast response ship design and want to be prepared. Autorepair might combo well with Cloaking too, so I should consider that next, though I really could use some armour.


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2330

My cruiser shoots down about half the Repter transports trying to move past Acheron to take Sepias, so I fall back to defend that world from the remainder. Maybe I need another cruiser over here to help deal with Repter transports.

Stinger Missiles and Terraforming IV come in, I pick Omega-V Bombs and Biology Theory III next.

Tikopai completes a starport, so now I am able to send a scout to investigate the closest Repter colony of Iyollo.


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2335

Scouting Iyollo shows the Repter bases are better armed and defended, but with much worse computers than the Nurg bases. Good thing I did this since it shows a large fleet of unescorted Nurg transports heading to Tikopai.

Automated Repair comes in and I choose Battle Suits next.

I spot an unknown alien ship hiding at Vuples. This is an asteroid belt on my side of the Antimatter nebula. How did they get there??? I build a scout to check it out.


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2340

A whole slew of large transport fleets are heading to Tikpoai slowly through deep space. I have a couple cruisers to help the bases at Tikopai stop them from landing, but this is pretty odd-looking. So far every cruiser I've built to defend the Nurg border has been diverted to the Repter border, but the Nurg haven't attacked so it hasn't mattered in that respect.

There is a Spixik bomber at Vuples, presumably sent as a scout. I've no idea where they live or how they got there. Maybe this map has some kind of weird shape that allowed them to get through a gap in the nebula somehow?

Oddly enough, Zero hasn't bothered to reattempt to colonize Acheron, and instead the Mizuro now have control. Let's see if they can maintain it for more than a few turns.


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2345

Battle Suits, Impulse Drives, Biology theory III, and Computer Theory III come in, and I pick Construction Theory III, Propulsion Theory III, Atmospheric Rejuvenation, and Targeting Computer VI. Sadly, controlled radiated is not available so I won't be getting those planets too, but Atmos is a great pickup for my empire. I still don't have ECM in my tree but getting a better targeting computer is a must, and much more important than Factory Automation V would be right now. I need a bomb better than nuclear bomb to make any headway, though, so I can't re-design main combat ships yet. I do design an armed scout though, and take out the Spixih frigate at Vuples.

Repter showed up at Acheron with 150 frigates and a destroyer. They aren't impressive but there are a lot of them. My one cruiser on station is not enough for that, and is forced to retreat after killing several of them. The Repter nuke the colony again.


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[Zed-F]

2350

Repter try to establish a colony at Acheron, but our cruiser returns, chases off 26 bombers, and destroys the colony. Meanwhile the Xygob take their crack at establishing a colony there.


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2355

Omega-V bombs and Contruction Theory III come in, and I select Fusion Rifle and Andrium Armour next. I spot a slow-moving attack crossing the void to Tikopai, consisting of 150 Nurg frigates plus a whole bunch of Spixnih transports. Fortunately I have plenty of time to make sure my defenses here are up to snuff. But while my cruiser is away from Acheron, it gets nuked again.


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2360

Propulsion Theory III completes and I select Maneuver V next. I expect to be shifting from defense to offense soon so Fast Launch system seems secondary in priority to ship-oriented techs.

I don't yet have the Cloaking device, nor a proper battle computer, but I will need a better defense cruiser to hold planets after I take them, and my main rich world has stored up as much production as possible. I design an upgraded version of my mass driver cruiser, incorporating auto-repair, Impulse drives, and about double the number of mass drivers. I'll pump out 2 of these in quick succession before returning to storing up production for better ships to come in the next 5-10 years.

Then Cloaking Device comes in, and I pick Zyro shield next. My cruiser manages to push small Nurg and Morion fleets away a from Zero colony at Sepias and helps them re-found Acheron colony. In other news, it looks like Xygob have gotten their hands on Controlled Radiated so they are likely to grab a few worlds off of that.


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2365

Atmospheric Rejuvenation and Batle Computer VI come in and I choose Biology Theory IV and Factory Automation V next after quickly grabbing Particle Scanner for a small sight range boost. I also defend the new Zero colony at Acheron with a cruiser; it now has a few missile bases, so if the enemy fleet looks threatening but doesn't include a lot of bombers I can play ring around the rosy and let the missile bases do the work.

It's time to design a new bomber, now that I have a battle computer to use with it. I create one with Computer VI, Shield IV, Impulse drives, Maneuver III, Auto-repair, Cloaking device, 34 Omega-V bombs, and a mass driver. I can make 2 of these immediately and then after that it will depend on how fast my rich and other worlds can finish atmospheric terraforming and industrializing some more after that. My next combat design will wait for Andrium armour to come in.


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2370

Not much other than defending my colonies and helping Zero defend theirs. Reshuffling population to prepare for an eventual invasion of a Nurg colony at Varna, but my navy and troops have a long way to travel.


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2375

Biology Theory IV completes, start Biology Theory V. Still waiting for troops and ships to gather.


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2380

Maneuver V comes in, choose Fast Launch system. Design a new combat ship with Computer VI, Andrium Armour, Shield IV, Impulse drives, Maneuver V, Auto-repair, Cloaking device, Inertial Stabilizer, 42 mass drivers. But even with stored production I can probably only get a couple of these built in time for the attack on Varna, the closest known Nurg world.

In the meantime, the Nurg have glassed and resettled Xiphias, the closest Zero colony to Varna. I'll have to go through Xiphias to get to Varna; hopefully either my fleet is strong enough to take theirs out, or they have moved their fleet away. I might perhaps be able to reclaim Xiphias for myself enroute to Varna, since any fleet going there will probably attempt to do so via Varna (or go very slowly) so I may have a chance to build up some defenses there, assuming I can take it.

Most of my fleet is on the Nurg border now; if the Repter (or the Nurg) come calling on Zero's other border, there's not much I can do. Apparently there's not much Zero can do these days either; they aren't really increasing their number of bases and their fleet doesn't amount to much. Even if it was more potent, it's not guarding their borders effectively.


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2385

My fleet advances on Varna, and I glass and recolonize Xiphias along the way. Meanwhile I found out where the Nurg fleet that attacked Xiphias went, they are attacking my colony at Maia. Fortunately I have a couple reinforcement cruisers and enough missile bases to make that a losing proposition for the Nurg fleet. Their tech is overall pretty impressive, but they are missing planetary shields. Unfortunately I can say the same.  

Zero or Mizuro have scouted out Rheia in Repter territory, which has a wormhole off to parts unknown. This map is much bigger to the east than I thought it was. I am guessing the Nurg have colonized a whole bunch of it and that's why they are doing so much better than the other AIs I've encountered so far. It looks like my side has control over less than 50% of the total map area.

Hopefully I can capture some of that good tech when I invade Varna; I have 113 troops enroute. My fleet engages the bases at Varna with minimal support from the Nurg fleet. I don't lose any ships but it's a close thing, even with cloak active the Nurg can do about 50% damage to one of my Omega bombers. I probably need to make a new bomber design with Andrium armour. I might make a new scout design too; my invasion was successful and I picked up Dimensional Warp Generator and Fusion Beam. Faster retreating scouts might be useful, or I could try a missile boat using Stinger-2 and Dimensional Warp Generator to see if that is a good firepower supplement for my ARS cruisers. But I don't have unlimited design slots, or unlimited production...

I press on with a scout to uncover next targets, discovering Miyagi (Tundra 67 rich gemstone) which I want to take from the Nurg. However it's going to take another 10 years to get invasion troops into the region due to my spread out empire. At least local population growth is bound to improve as I capture more Nurg planets upon which to grow more invasion troops.

In all the hullaballoo I almost forgot that I completed Automated Factories V and Zyro Shield, and started research on Computer Theory IV and Force Field Theory IV. I reset industrialization empire-wide accordingly.


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2390

Weapons Theory III comes in, I pick Auto-Beamer next. I also would like Cluster Missiles II, but I might be able to capture Antimatter missiles so I hold off for the moment. Later I also get Fast Launch system, and pick Propulsion Theory IV next.

While my main target for invasions is the Nurg, I also spot Calydon (Toxic 68 Gemstones) on my border, a Morion colony, and resolve to pick it up as well while I wait for troops to arrive from further afield to get Miyagi. To do this I take pop from Xiphias and Varna, which is a bit greedy but I want more tech and more logistical buffer between my production centers and enemy starports... for which purpose it is easiest to take starports away from the enemy. Morion missile bases are as dangerously armed as Nurg ones, but not as well defended by ECM and armour. I take Calydon and get Subconscious Conditioning and Temporal Compressor; the former is nice as I don't currently have a lot of sources of reserve funding and need it to boost newly captured colonies.

These caputred colonies have allowed me to find another couple Nurg colonies:
- Princeps: 141 Ocean Fertile
- Nero: 97 Desert Fertile
Hmm... looks to me like someone has Soil Enrichment. That's probably a big reason why the Nurg had been doing well. I'd love to capture that...


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2395

14 Nurg destroyers retreating from attacking Maia arrive at Varna, but my fleet is ready to meet them and I also have rush-built a dozen bases here. We take out 9 destroyers but the rest flee toward Miyagi, which could complicate things later.

Princeps is a Nurg Ocean 141 Fertile adjacent to Calydon, which is somewhat isolated from the rest of the Nurg empire by starlane travel as the only route is to Calydon. It currently has only 8 bases and no ships defending. I don't have a lot of troops available apart from what is on Calydon, but I want to deny Nurg the ability to use this planet, and so even though I'll have to bomb it almost flat to take it with the troops on hand and won't get tech out of it, I decide it's worth doing. My bombers can get there and then still get back in time for the push on Miyagi. We are successful and I capture the world with 9 pop left and a handful of factories on the planet, but as expected obtain no tech. Still worthwhile as a pop growth center and for denial.

I design a new Stinger missile destroyer with Computer VI, Impulse drives, Maneuver III, Interceptor Mod, Dimensional Warp Generator, 6 Stinger-2, 1 Nuclear-2, 1 Laser. It's a light cavalry unit designed for scouting, picketing, harassment, and fire support, and will replace my single-purpose corvette scouts with something more pricey but far more capable and flexible overall.

My attack at Miyagi goes off as planned; Nurg have 18 destroyers and 8 missile bases. I chase off the destroyers (unfortunately only killing 1) and eliminate the missile bases, for no losses. I do bomb the planet to some degree as I only have so many troops but successfully take the world and get Construction Theory IV, Weapons Theory IV, and Ion Rifle for my trouble. Not the best picks as I was just about to finish the former, but every bit helps and I take Advanced Damage Control next. I also secd scouts to peek at a couple more presumably Nurg stars in the vicinity.

However, the Nurg have counter-attacked at Calydon, have eliminated the bases, and seem likely to take the world. This is, to be honest, an acceptable exchange; I'll happily trade losing a relatively immature colony for claiming a relatively mature one from the Nurg, and one that's rich to boot so it will be easier to defend. Also this lets me potentially counter-attack the Nurg at Nero (Desert 97 fertile) from which they staged their attack at Calydon, which will hopefully prevent them from continuing on to hit Princeps.


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[Zed-F]

2400

Counter-attack at Nero is successful, depriving Nurg of another colony and getting me a fertile world, but I only have a few pop there and did not get any new tech, and I lost an Omega bomber. I probably need more bombers, potentially of a new design; this attack might need to pause soon. However, Nurg has left his fleet at Calydon waiting for an invasion force to arrive, while I continue to take worlds away. Since I took Nero, his troops are going slowly through deep space; if he wants to pin his own fleet at Calydon while I continue to take worlds away from him that's fine with me.

Qeb is next up on the list, and another world I scouted recently after taking Miyagi. I do have more troops trickling into the area, but not enough to land a lot at once and capture a lot of tech. I still continue to feel that pinning the Nurg's ears back is more important than maximizing tech captures at this juncture. Nurg has just a handful of bases here and I take it with a few troops and no other incident. Next turn I'll explore an adjacent system, which turns out to be Fieras (171 Fertile). Yes please, I want that world! It does have a good number of missile bases though, so we'll see if I can get it.

I have a couple of my StingDDs and am curious to see if they will be able to help whittle down the attackers at Calydon, without my needing to relieve it with my main fleet. This might also be an opportunity for me to use up some of my older model cruisers too, so it seems worthwhile to make the attempt. I am able to do some damage to the Nurg fleet, force them to glass Calydon, and don't lose any Sting DDs, but the defense isn't entirely successful as I lose all 3 of my oldest model cruisers and am not quite able to send their fleet packing. I'll be able to try again in another 2 years, though.

Simultaneous to the defense of Calydon, I also launch an attack on Fieras. I lose another Omega bomber, but take out all the bases and bombard the planet. I plan the invasion for the following year.

In tech news, Biology Theory V completes and Advanced Soil Enrichment is in my tree -- so of course I immediately choose that. Far better than another expensive terraforming tech. I could also pick up cloning +50% afterwards if I want, which could be useful.

On the following year I launch another harassing attack, this time on Iyollo, a Repter colony (33 Minimal Gold), with a handful of Sting DDs. They have some scary Hercular missiles! I am able to take out a couple bases before retreating, though. At this rate it will take a while to reduce the defenses, but the planet is pretty small, so maybe this could work? I probably need either a lot more ships or better ones for it to really be likely though. To be honest I need more money in the reserves than I need to continue harassing the Repter here if it's going to be that ineffective, so I scrap most of those destroyers for cash and only keep a couple back for scouting purposes.

However, the Nurg also react to the fact that Calydon is no longer colonized by splitting their fleet and launching an attack, at Nero. I've only had time to build a couple missile bases and my fleet is all elsewhere, so that didn't go well. But I might be able to relieve the planet with a cruiser, while it looks the remainder of their Calydon fleet will be attacking Varna next year. I expect to have a lot more missile bases there to ward off that assault.

Finally, I have a scout take a peek at a planet neighboring Fieras and find it's Theoros, the Nurg capital. It has over 40 bases so I'm not cracking that soon, and probably not without redesigning my Omega bomber, or otherwise coming up with an entirely new bomber design. I'll have to pause my campaign, which will at least give me a chance to restock on population.


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2405

At Varna, our bases and Sting DDs chase off the Nurg and do some damage, but they are retreating through Calydon so I'll have to defend my new colony there next, with just 3 pop at the moment. Similarly at Nero our cruiser is able to scare off the Nurg, who will retreat via Fieras, which we just captured and where our main fleet is defending at the moment.

Next year we chase off the final Nurg fleet retreating from Nero and passing through Fieras, and then we'll hopefully be taking a break from war for a while as we restock on population and replenish our supply of bombers. To that end I design a new bomber with Computer VI, Andrium armour, Impulse drives, Maneuver V, Auto-repair, Cloaking device, Zyro shield, 31 Omega-V bombs, and a laser. Perhaps if I'm careful I can boost my cash reserves as well while I wait for more ships to amass.

Computer Theory IV completes, I pick Battle Computer VIII. Force Fields IV completes and I pick Class IX shield.


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2410

I have a few slow Nurg transport fleets to wipe out as they try to invade my colonies, but otherwise it's nice and quiet for a change. Just have my own population transports to manage, and new colonies to grow.

I complete Propulsion Theory IV and pick Maneuver VII next. I could pick High Energy Focus, but if I have cloaking, then I'm not sure I need it; I'd rather miniaturize the stuff I have first with a higher TL tech, and then come back for High Energy Focus.


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2415

AutoBlaster comes in and I redesign my combat cruiser to use those instead of Mass Drivers; that should roughly double the ship's firepower against typical shields. I have a bunch of bombers enroute to Fieras for the final showdown with the Nurg, but Miyagi is Rich, just finished maxing factories, and should be able to pump out a couple of these before all of the bombers arrive on station. I pick Cluster Missiles II next, since I am still expecting to capture better single target missiles when I assault Theoros. If I am going to start fighting the Repter, they have a lot of corvettes with nuclear bombs... I don't have planetary shields or any ECM yet... so cluster missiles could be critical.


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2420

I think I have enough ships headed for the Nurg front, although a lot are still going to be enroute for quite a while yet. I'm ready to consider opening up a second front against the Repter, so I've redirected some of my ship production in that direction, but it will take a while for enough ships to be constructed that I can schedule an attack against the closest Repter colony at Iyollo.

Something has happened to the Mizuro colony at Vrax (Arid 65 Poor); there's some allied Xygob destroyers there, but no colonists. Maybe some enemy shipping crossed the long gap across the void from Hisium and wiped it out while I was paying attention to other more important things. I send a combat cruiser over to investigate; maybe I can get another colony here.


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2425

Troops are finally being issued embarkment orders for the invasion of Theoros, as the last bombers approach the staging point at Fieras; boots are scheduled to hit ground in Y2433. We are also planning out the invasion of Iyollo in Repter space; boots hit ground there on Y2435.

We chased away an unescorted stack of 150-ish Morion bombers from Vrax, killing about a third of them with our combat cruiser before they fled. Our colonists landed immediately and we'll start rebuilding this world. My Mizuro allies are sadly not up to defending anything, since they've been stuck on three (now two) planets all game. The Mizuro stood no chance against the Omega V bombs the Morion bombers were packing. Hopefully we will fare better if they come calling again.


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2430

Our forces are too much for the Nurg at their capital; 49 bases are not nearly enough when I have cloaking device, auto-repair, and Andrium armoured cruisers. So long as I remain cloaked on the stack the missiles are attacking, my fleets can barely be scratched. I have about 50% more troops attacking than they have defending, and this proves sufficient. I capture many techs; highlights include Battle Computer VII, ECM VII, Advanced Eco Restoration, Soil Enrichment, Radiated colonization, Improved Defense base, Battle Pods, Tritanium Armour, Personal Absorption Shield, Geology Manipulation field I, Logistics Range VI, Antimatter Missiles, Gauss Autocannon, and Hellfire torpedoes.

Something tells me my current ship designs are no longer state of the art. Even so, I doubt I will be redesigning my fleets just yet. I also just completed Advanced Soil Enrichment, so since I need troops to close out the game, that takes priority over further ship construction. My existing fleet should be more than capable of handling things while I convert all my worlds to Gaia, for great reproductivity. I picked Cloning +50 as my next biotech to further boost my growth rate. I also switched my research of Computer VIII to Computer Theory V, since incrementing battle computer by 1 is not worthwhile.

In addition to the tech, I gained a bunch of map intelligence and a vassal who will join our side of the fight. The Nurg still have a fair few planets to their credit, so I might just glass a few enemy planets on their border and allow them to resettle, so they can do some of my work for me.

Computer Theory V completes and I choose Subspace Scanner next, to get a better view through the void at long range attacks from the Morion. But this should complete relatively quickly since it's from a fairly low tech level.


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2435

We capture Iyollo, but it's a bit painful. Reptar doesn't just have bomber frigates, they have combat frigates, and a lot of them, so they aren't just scared off by our cruisers. Maybe we don't have enough yet on this front to be that intimidating. Our combat ships need to uncloak to attack theirs, which means the Herculars have a good shot at hitting our combat cruisers, and Andrium can only take so much. I'm able to use a couple asteroids to thin the missiles out, so that helps, but it's touch and go for a bit. Once we clear out the bases, though, the troops go in, and we have so much gear that the ground combat is not too tough. We only manage to pick up AI banking as a reward, but hopefully we can use Iyollo as a springboard from which to launch further attacks.

There are a couple worlds that are opened up as a result of capturing Iyollo, but the latter is so small it's hard to stage troops through it. Yanna is an Ocean 145 Fertile that is on the other end of a short wormhole; it has no other starlanes. I opt to capture it first, and it proves much easier due to the lack of a significant defensive fleet. I'm guessing I broke the back of the Repter navy at Iyollo. It takes a couple rounds of bombardment to lower the population to the point where I can invade from Iyollo with success, but the objective is accomplished.

After that, our navy turns around and steams for Rheia, an even better Steppe 166 fertile. There is a large Repter flewet here, but it's mostly corvette bombers. My fleet hides amongst the asteroids while we deal with the mobile elements that don't just retreat, then after the way is clear we head for the planet and take out the bases. As at Yanna, we'll have to bombard for a couple turns before we can invade; somehow we manage to pluck Class IV planetary shield from the ruins anyway.

Meanwhile my larger main fleet is passing through the remains of Nurg territory, enroute to the Repter capital, Historia, accompanied by a small contingent of troops. On the way it passes through the Repter colony at Sirius, and glasses it. Perhaps the Nurg will recolonize here.

It's really no surprise now that I see all these high quality worlds for the Repter and Nurg, that the Zero people fell behind under pressure from the both of them. Zero just couldn't match their economy; his worlds were on average smaller, he didn't have soil enrichment, and he was under enough military pressure that he never could get factories and missile bases built up in sufficient numbers to be able to defend himself properly.

In other technology-related news, Shields IX and Cluster X complete and I select Force Field Theory V and Neutron Stream Projector. A few worlds have finished Gaia transformation and research is starting to pick up again as a result. That said, any extra techs I research now are pretty much irrelevant.


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2440

Historia falls on 2442, and another enemy is made a vassal. The tech haul this time is much less impressive but still contains some useful goodies, such as Armoured Exoskeleton, Temporal Field Generator, Ion Stream Projector, Hercular Missiles, and Pulse Phasor.

I don't think there's much point in continuing from here, but I wanted to see what interesting designs I could come up with. I now have enough tech to make a useful corvette design! It's a bomber, which is inevitable due to how miniaturization works less effectively than in MOO; bombs have higher yield against shields and tend to be smaller than era-appropriate beams in the first place. On this particular version I have Computer VI, Impulse drives, maneuver III, Interceptor mod, cloaking device, and EMP blast. Seems decent on paper and could replace my Sting DDs as scouts / bombers / support... but the obvious fly in the ointment is that the maion reason this design works is because I now massively out-tech my remaining opponents.