Thread: Master of Orion!

Grimm: Loved the propaganda poster! Thanks for sending it. And you're in luck, the Vendetta debuts in this update.

Baron: I'll do what I can to make sure that victory's realized.

War continues, part 1/4

It looks like now that they've declared war formally, the Alkari are bringing more weapons to the frontline.


Grimm was eager to develop a new craft that used the gatling laser design.


We'll start production immediately. They'll take awhile to the border, but once they do, they should help immensely.


3DO's ample mineral supplies mean the Alkari want it, and they're not taking no for an answer. Let's hope our defending forces are enough to keep it safe for awhile.


Oddly enough, they're attacking it with an armed colony ship. It's large and tough, but it shouldn't be able to beat a squadron of dedicated fighters, right?


Our Fegeleins fight bravely...


...but are ultimately forced to retreat. They weren't going to win, and we needed to preserve the remaining ones.


We've made contact with the Psilons, and they seem to be just as xenophobic as the Alkari. Lovely. This leaves the Silicoids as the only alien species that possibly aren't douchebags.


The Psilons only hold two planets, but they surpass both us and the Alkari technologically. First contact could've gone better, but it'd probably be in our best interests to try to maintain good relations with them - they likely have weapons we'd benefit from.
And that right there is everything you need to know about how broken they are.


And what better way to cultivate friendship between races than with sweet, sweet space crack?

[hr]

2/4

Not only do the Psilons have a technological edge on us, but so do the Alkari. I've set up an espionage program to see what tech they've developed and, if possible, steal it.
Spies can do one of three things: Hide (no action, but will rarely be caught), espionage (attempt to steal tech), and sabotage (attempt to destroy factories or bases, or incite revolt). As long as you have at least one spy infiltrating another race, you can see all of their technological developments. We have on in the Alkari, so we select the "Report" tab then choose them to see what tech they've got.


They don't have many significant technological developments on us, but it appears our computer research has been faltering. We'll have to make stealing their computer tech a priority.
Techs highlighted in white are ones they have that we don't. The computer tech levels of each race involved determine the odds that the infiltrating race will get a chance to steal something, so this is further incentive for us to try to get their computer stuff - once we have that, the rest will follow.


Klendathu has fully industrialized and is no producing ships for the war effort. This should significantly ease the strain on our border worlds.


We'd sent our Mimirs and a few Fegeleins over to try to kick the Alkari fleet out of 3DO's airspace, but bizarrely they left on their own just in time for their dropships - and our fleet - to arrive. We were able to chew up their transport ships pretty badly.


Annoying as these constant ground battles are, that's better than the Alkari using their citizens to produce more ships. After all, we tend to win on the ground.


It looks like we're not the only ones who are getting in the infiltration business - one of our factories was just destroyed by a car bomb. The report says it's Psilons, but I'm skeptical - they're not currently at war with us, and they have no reason to do this. A single factory can be easily replaced, and counterintelligence is expensive, so for now we'll keep putting the money towards spacecraft production.


We've finally developed better terraforming! It hasn't opened up any new techs, so for now we'll just work on making our terraforming even better.
Our planets don't start off with an increased population cap - we have to put work into ecology, which gradually raises the planet's cap to the new one. This doesn't take long, so we'll go ahead and do it for all of our planets now.


The Alkari offensive continues. Can our newly-arrived Vendettas turn the tide here?


We're about to find out. We'll pick off their smaller ship first, then try to hit the big one.


We lose a few Fegeleins, but our Vendettas stay strong and manage to destroy one of theirs! So far the battle is going well, now we just need to drop the colony ship.

[hr]

3/4

The colony ship's just too tough, it'll slowly grind our ships to dust before we can destroy it. Unfortunately, I accept this too late and I've already lost a Vendetta to it by the time the remaining one can retreat. I just hope that, having seen the design, they don't reverse engineer it - the last thing we need is an Alien Vendetta.


Once again, 3DO comes under attack. As long as the Alkari are nearby, it seems this planet will never know peace.


Four Mimirs, and plenty of lasery death backing them up in the form of our Fegeleins. We should be able to win -this- time, right?


...That battle cost us fighters and we have nothing to show for it. These bastards are just too hard to hit!


Worse, their force at 3DO is now heavily armed enough to begin orbital bombardment. Right now we're replacing factories at a faster rate than they're destroying them, but it's still obviously a bad sign.


The ground war continues to be a different story. As long as we can keep our planets reasonably well-supplied and healthy, they'll never raise a flag on them.


What's this? A pleasant surprise from an alien race for once? I'll gladly accept this - the Psilons are too tightly entrenched in their worlds to fight effectively, and with this pact we may be able to talk them into helping us fight the Alkari.


Now this is good news all around. We've slightly strengthened our industrial base, and it's opened up Duralloy Armor (3000 RP) for research. Duralloy is 50% stronger than titanium, meaning 50% more HP for any ships we design that use it. It'll also give our ground troops a slight boost.


Speaking of, this will let us punish those bastards if they dare step foot on another one of our colonies. They may dominate the skies, but we will rule the ground. This opens up Shields IV (3520 RP).


The deflector shields weren't developed a moment too soon, and it's time to put them to the test. 3DO is attacked again - how will its army fare with these new weapons?

[hr]

4/4

Pretty damn good, as it turns out! Their 35 million troopers were only able to kill 11 million of ours. Even if we can't shoot down their transports, by this point their invasions are actually doing us a favor. That's 35 million citizens they don't have building ships, after all.


The good news continues to roll in. With CD-I having completed its factories, it's now the technological center of our federation.


And we're on a roll! One of our spies has broken into an Alkari robotics laboratory and is ready to steal schematics. He's given the order to steal computer tech and comes out with...


Excellent. We haven't had to deal with enemy missiles yet, but this means our own research towards Mark II battle computers wasn't wasted, and this will still make it easier to conduct further espionage operations in the future.


And now the good news comes to a screeching halt. The Alkari have reinforced their fleet at 3DO and bombardments are intensifying. We're starting to lose a lot of colonists in the bombings, and at the rate they're wearing us down, they may get enough of a numerical advantage to take over the planet.


Inexplicably, they continue to assault LJN. Our army there once again makes short work of them.


Klendathu has become a rallying point for our spacecraft that were forced to retreat from other planets, and we now have a fairly impressive fleet there. Impressive enough, possibly, to swat down the buzzards that have made themselves at home in the orbits of LJN and 3DO. It's time we found out.


Alkari troops continue to pour into 3DO.


Even with our deflector shields, these are turning into Pyrrhic victories. A couple more invasions like that one, and they'll have their hands (wings? claws?) on one of the best industrial planets in the known galaxy.


We are, however, on the verge of developing several new technologies. The improved battle computer, in particular, should improve our performance in space battles.
In case you're confused by the tech info, here's how it works: Once you start researching a new tech, its lightbulb is empty. As you put points into it, the bulb gradually fills up, until it becomes a percentage. That's your chance of developing the technology at the end of your turn, and if you fail to develop it, that percentage also goes up according to your research until you get the tech.

Mini-update coming in a bit, which has me talking about my upcoming strategy for the war and asking for another new ship design.

So, uh...on second thought, I'll put the strategy at the beginning of the next full update.

For now, I'll just announce that I need a design for a dedicated bomber. We only have nuclear bombs for now, but they'll do. The bomber can be any size, but a small ship will be able to hold one nuke launcher and basically nothing else. Also, if you want a Battle Computer II in the design, just say so - I'm almost done researching them anyway.

We need more people in this war? Then I have just the thing...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpwukbCso-8

Also, what weaponry are those large colony ships using? I may be able to counter-act them. If our problem is that they destroy us too quickly, knowing which defense measure to use will help.

On the other hand, if we need more damage just give me the weight of everything and I'll come up with a better ship.

As for dedicated bombers, I've already submitted mine.

(also, nice DooM reference)

Originally Posted by Heresiarch Grimm

We need more people in this war? Then I have just the thing...

No you don't. I'm in charge of propaganda here, you just sit there and nod.

Uh..What?
An old guy on an escalator that falls down? What?

Hey, no need for that, Baron. There's room for two propagandists here!

Grimm, from what I can tell the colony ships only have heavy lasers. The problem is that they're big and take a lot to drop, so they wear us down over time.

Originally Posted by Dr. Killjoy

Hey, no need for that, Baron. There's room for two propagandists here!

Grimm, from what I can tell the colony ships only have heavy lasers. The problem is that they're big and take a lot to drop, so they wear us down over time.

Weights of all shield units please, aswell as all weapons.

Also if you want a bomber suggestion, Swap the missiles for bombs on the Mimir and call it the Hiroshima

Update time! I've got a bomber design now, Grimm sent it over Steam.

Something bad happens, 1/4

Our fleet at LJN got in a fight sooner than expected when an enemy colony ship attacked the planet.


It didn't want to stick around against the forces we'd amassed there, though. I'd hope so, since this is most of the federal fleet.


Ah, good! With this, we should be able to actually hit the chickens. We don't get any new research options from this, so let's go ahead and start work towards the ECM Jammer II. It'll be useful against planetary defenses.


Our fleet at LJN is headed towards 3DO, with the Fegeleins we'd sent to Denubius backing them up. Not like Denubius was being threatened, after all.


And yes, I mentioned planetary defenses, which brings me to my new strategy. We won't be able to beat the Alkari if we keep letting them wear down our defenses. They have a stronger economy and better technology than us, and until that changes, things won't go well for us. However, in their haste to attack us, they have left many of their planets poorly defended, which is where this new bomber design comes in. The Hiroshima has no anti-ship weapons, because all available space has been reserved for bombs. It'll need escorts, but it'll allow us to do what we need to most - strike the Alkari planets.
As you can see, bombs hit hard. Too bad they can only hit planets.


Also, neutron pellet guns have been researched. The bad news is they're still just a hair too large to mount on fighters, so we can't refit the Fegeleins with them, but hopefully this will change as our technology improves. Researching these opens up the following:
-Scatter Pack V Rockets (3630 RP) - Each rocket splits into 5 weak, inaccurate missiles, but together, they really hurt.
-Merculite Missiles (5580 RP) - Better missile that gets an accuracy bonus.
-Neutron Blaster (6570 RP) - Nothing to fancy. It's a beam weapon that hits hard.
For now, since we're targeting their planets and the technology's cheap, we'll just work on getting ourselves some Fusion Bombs.


With this new tech, I've gone ahead and made some minor improvements to the Vendetta design. It's got a better battle computer and one of the lasers has been replaced by a neutron pellet gun. I did this without Grimm's permission, hope he's not pissed.


Except, oh wait, the game the federal fleet database only has room for 6 ship designs at once. You'd think we could do better in the 24th century, but you work with what you've got. Since there's not much need for our basic scout ships anymore, we'll go ahead and scrap those.
Scrapping a ship's design causes you to lose all of those ships, but you get 1/4 of their cost back in your reserves. Scouts are cheap, so this isn't much.


Our industrialized planets will start producing Vendetta IIs and Hiroshimas for the war effort.


Good thing we finished the Hiroshima design. Our scanners have detected an enemy missile base on our first target.
Planetary defense bases are automatically given the best armor and missiles you have. They only ever use missiles, something to keep in mind when designing bombers.

[hr]

2/4

Typical. As soon as our fleet leaves LJN, the Alkari land dropships on it.


But they'll never take it. It's not even that good of a planet, guys!


Here we are at 3DO, and we get a nasty surprise - the Alkari have bolstered their fleet. We won't be able to take them all on, but we'll destroy as many ships as possible so we can hopefully reduce the bombings to a manageable level.


And it's in this battle that we learn that Space Gulls have missiles. Our Mimirs fire on the enemy Sky Hawks to hopefully get them to back away.


It works for awhile. Our Fegeleins have been engaging the enemy fighters, but despite our superior numbers, we're taking heavy losses.


Our Mimirs, having run out of missiles, are the first to retreat.


We've lost roughly 75% of our Fegeleins, but we've at least managed to take out the enemy Space Gulls. This fleet has no other bombs or missiles, so that should make things a lot easier on the planet.


That's all we're able to do before we're forced to retreat back to LJN. Will it be enough?


Don't insult us, chickens. We've already taken one of your planets, and we're gunning for another. Don't start fights you can't finish! When we've devastated your fleets, taken control of your industrial base, and reduced you to a pathetic shadow of your former empire, then we'll talk peace!


The Fegeleins from Denubius are late to the party. Let's see what damage they can inflict, though.

[hr]

3/4

They manage to shoot down a couple of Sky Hawks before retreating, and now we have basically no Fegeleins left.


New technology! This doesn't really change much, aside from letting us reach enemy planets easier. This only opens up Dotomite Crystals (Range 7) (4700 RP), so let's research those. It would be nice if we could work toward a tech that actually makes our ships faster...


The enemy's sent a small fleet to attack LJN. Strange how both they and we only have one fighter. This'll be the first trial of the Vendetta II. How will it fare?


First, let's get our bombers to safety.
If you order a ship stack to retreat, but win the battle, they'll stay on the planet after it's over rather than running to another.


So far, so good!


They're down to their last ship, and we're ripping holes in it fast.


Today is an historic occasion, citizens. We have finally managed to destroy an Alkari fleet. It's a shame that our Vendetta IIs didn't survive, but we've got more on the way.


Alkari troops continue to pour into 3DO.


Our forces mow down yet another wave, but they're running out of soldiers and with Alkari fleets orbiting the planet, we have no way to send in a relief force. How long can the planet hold out?


Not very long, as it turns out. The enemy has captured 3DO. This marks our first major loss of the war.

4/4

We've researched better terraforming, but we won't upgrade our planets just yet - we've got a planet to liberate and a war to win. Discovering this technology has opened up the following for research:
-Enhanced Eco Restoration (4050 RP) (More efficient industrial waste cleanup)
-Improved Terraforming +30 (4700 RP)
-Controlled Toxic Environment (5400 RP)
We'll start on Enhanced Eco Restoration. This will allow us to put even more of our resources into weapon production, which is just what we need.


We now have a suitable attack fleet assembled at LJN, and here I've outlined our battle plan. It's pretty straightforward - destroy each planet's fleet and defenses, capture with ground troops from LJN and Klendathu, then establish a defensive line across the three planets we capture. That will leave us a good buffer zone, and hopefully free up our industry for research and terraforming.


Speaking of terraforming, one of our spies has infiltrated an Alkari terraforming plant! I'll give him the order to steal a construction tech.


It's not terribly impressive, but it will allow us to industrialize the planets we capture more quickly. This will help in our offensive.
It normally costs 10BC to produce a factory, so this is only a 10% bonus. Still, I'm not going to complain.


LJN has built as many factories as it can support, meaning we have yet another planet producing spacecraft for the war effort.


And our fleet has arrived at the Alkari planet. Let's turn the tide!


They've got another planetary missile base built, but hopefully our bomber force will still be sufficient. Curiously, it decides to attack our Fegeleins, which probably can't even hurt it, instead of our Hiroshimas.


The enemy fleet runs off, leaving the planet to fend for itself. Bad news is their missile command smartens up and starts aiming at our bombers.


It can't fire missiles fast enough. Soon, our fleet reaches the planet and begins chipping away at their defenses.


And a rain of nuclear fire from our Hiroshimas turns the missile bases into craters. The battle is won, the planet is ours for the taking!
You might have noticed the asteroids suddenly changing position...long story short, I was too slow getting a screencap of the planet being bombed, so I had to do the battle over again. Luckily, it went basically the same each time.

This campaign has been difficult, and we've suffered heavy losses. But now, it looks as if the end may be in sight.

Remember the sacrifices our soldiers have made! For instance, here is the death and funeral of one of our Fegelein pilots:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi_cK...eature=related

I've found an excuse to use a Wing Commander video. My life is complete.

Time to break out the propaganda machine...

They'd do the same, don't give them the chance!