18.Two weeks pass without nothing interesting happening.
Then we acquire Level 5 in Physics. Charge Collectors will be built on many worlds, and the cheap and efficient (50 food for 10 energy!) Federation Replicators are queued everywhere for construction.
Next week the second Galaxy cruiser, USS Gloucester, is completed at Shelia. We are also reminded that Galaxy-class ships have 'green' range, and thus, this ship will have to wait until Cpt.Dell returns, or, we liberate, acquire and reinforce Deneb system.
Few more turns, nothing happens.
Turn 175: We had to destroy those platforms, you know.
Week later we receive news - the Cardassians are on the move; seven cruisers, three destroyers near Harod, and seven scouts + cruiser near Morikin. They might be reinforcing Harod system or maybe preparing to strike against our borders. Or both these things in the same time. Local ships and outposts were put on yellow alert.
Klingons asked us for a donation, to which we complied. Transport fleet is en route to Deneb as we speak.
Week later, our outposts are bothered by four Ferengi and Cardassian scouts, which are all destroyed.
Preposterous! Our diplomats are currently busy with finding a way to keep Klingons in the war, at least against the Cardassians.
This increases range of our 'yellow' grid ships by 1. We're also ready to liberate Bandi, again.
*facedesk*
Honestly? There is no orbital platforms, ground defense is minimal!
CPT.DELL Y U CANNOT WIN BANDI FOR US!?
The fleet has been ordered back to Dimorus where it shall be reinforced by USS Gloucester. For now we're abandoning Ferengi space, it is time to prepare to fight the Cardassians. There are plans for conquering Harod, reinforcing it and use the system as a supply point for our invasion further into Cardassian space, possibly against Cardassia itself.
Shiela shipyards are also constructing a pair of Miranda-class starships for Cpt.Cain as his fleet consists of only six starships, which is quite small for the kind of strategic system (Morikin) he is stationed at. Ambassador-class cruiser is being constructed at Yridia for Cpt.Kor, stationed at Ariannus. He has large fleet, but it's composed mostly of Miranda-class destroyers, with only one cruiser.
The simultaneous breakthroughs in Construction and Weaponry allowed us to perform refits on Ambassador-class cruisers and transport ships. Utopia Planitia Yards will be constructed shortly.
USS Saratoga, first of two Mirandas for Cpt.Cain, is completed at Shelia, whilst USS Zhukov, the Ambassador-class ship, is completed at Yridia and was immediately sent to Cpt.Kor.
Klingons rejected our war pact for second time (we even wanted to give them money), so we won't be tugging them into our wars. They can have fun with Ferengi.
Starfleet is also pondering about constructing several Nebula-class cruisers. Whilst their overall weaponry is better than Galaxy-class, they are behind it in terms of armor and shielding. They use 'green' range as well, which limits their useability. Quite possibly we will leave the matter to the Captains who are interested in Nebula cruisers in their fleets.
Ah by the way,
Captain Jack Roberts is being transferred to the Third RNZ Task Force, stationed at Altec system.
He shall take command of one of the Miranda-class destroyers in the fleet. The destroyers in question are USS Sitak, USS ShirKahr, USS Lantree and USS Tian An Men.
