Bay 12 Games Forum

Score one for (what I assume are) humans!

This is a weird way of playing. How are you gonna handle multiple ship orders at once?

Oh, and posting to watch. Hope this thing gets off the ground

There are only two real ways to improve the Comp112s: More speed, or more troop capacity. Since transports, like colony ships and constructors, are used up, they should be as cheap as possible. Adding guns or defenses is an exercise in futility, as cargo hulls have only a single hitpoint. Adding life support is pointless as we have a dozen or so good targets in easy range, and they don't need sensors as they are defended by warships.

If you want to increase capacity, I recommend to R&D that we get advanced troop transports. Though they are more expensive, they carry double the number of troops for the same amount of space, bringing us to 1 billion soldiers per transport. You can also add more transport modules per ship; once my miniaturization tech is high enough I typically build transports that can carry a whopping 3 billion troops each. However, that is usually overkill and much more expensive anyway.

((Mini update. War is HELL))

Year 2231, Part 1

The year that saw the Terran Alliance's first interstellar war started quickly and wouldn't slow down. Before the first week had ended, scientists figured out a way to transport troops and war materiel across the gulfs of space:
Following the Alliance's design philosphy, engineers developed the Comp112 transport, a fast (but short-ranged) troop carrier:
Production commenced on Earth, drawing troops from the homeworld's massive population surplus.

Fueled by marital zeal, a young woman attending West Point figured out a way to shrink the Stinger missile launcher while maintaining effectiveness:

The Krynn demanded a modest sum for protection money. Once again, they were told to stuff it:

The Seeker Swarm declared war on the Arcean Empire and the Akillians.

The Thalan Empire demanded an outrageous sum in tribute from the Terrans. MAX POWER'S! insult seemed to bemuse them:

Since our future allies (the Arceans) were going to war, the Impulse Drive was given to them, free of charge.

A rare and valuable plasma was discovered deep in the Earth's core:
Sensing profit for the upcoming war, MAX POWER! decided to launch an immediate and rather unsafe mining operation.

The Krynn cemented their status as an espionage superpower by creating a sort of ultra-KGB:

Recognizing the importance of defending starbases, a constructor created the Alliance's first Deep Space Weapons Platform:

With a suddenness that turned the entire game on it's head, Akillian government officials approached the Terran Alliance with an interesting proposition:
An emergency meeting of the council was declared. After much deliberation and testing the waters, the Alliance managed to secure the following deal:
This could well decide the outcome of the rapidly approaching war.

Plans for a new, powerful missile cruiser were drawn up and approved. It would be known as:
It boasted an impressive missile armament and was faster than a Phoenix. Ymir, a major shipbuilding world, was assigned to build the prototype, and it was decided that the Armok would fire the opening shots.

It was discovered that the Thalans had colonized a world inside the Alliance's borders. Since it was a backwater system far away from terran worlds, high command decided to let the Thalans have it for now:

Advanced hulls were perfected, though they were now somewhat obsolete thanks to the Akillians:

Reasoning that perhaps the best offense was a good defense, scientists began thinking about ways to defend ships against missiles, thanks to the springboard provided by the Akillians:

Excited by the possibilities opened up by what were essentially daydreams, high-paid military scientists came up with the clever idea of duplicating ancient flak technology. He made millions:

Things suddenly got more complicated. The Drath Legion, long accustomed to being the hillbillies of the galactic community, were unexpectedly cut a break by whatever intelligence rules the universe:
Though potentially serious, MAX POWER! put the issue aside in order to concentrate on the coming war.

A number of technologies were perfected in the weeks leading to the first strike. They included Smart Chaff:
ECM:
and Basic Logistics:

And finally, after a number of spies began wreaking havoc on Krynn worlds...
In A.D. 2231 war was beginning...
(The following is a translated recording of the first casualty in the Terran-Krynn war)
*explosions*
Kyrnn Captain (KC): What happen?
Krynn Executive Officer (XO): Someone set up us the bomb!
Krynn Comm Operator (CO): We get signal.
KC: What?!
CO: Main screen turn on.
KC: It's you!!
??: How are you, gentlemen?
MP: You are on the way to destruction.
KC: What you say?!
MP: You have no chance to survive, make your time.
CO: Captain!
KC: Take off every ZIG.
...
XO: Sir...we're IN a Zig.
KC: ...shit.
*total system failure*

The testing of the Armok cruiser was a complete success, obliterating the fighters defending Pelagon III while sustaining repairable damage. The actual invasion, however, was almost catastrophic:
High Command had vastly under-estimated the number of troops that would be needed to secure a planet, and had also neglected the training of the soldiers in the rush to kick some ass. Pelagon III survived three full invasion attempts, despite High Command attempting Information Warfare the first two times and Gas Warfare the third time in an act of desperation. The green troops were decimated by the Krynn garrisons fighting in defense of their planet, resulting in the loss of 1.5 billion soldiers. The fourth invasion transport finally managed to secure the planet, though only 11 million troops survived.

Several top generals resigned in shame, and the one in charge of the invasion plans committed suicide rather than face a tribunal. Not even the news of captured Krynn technology lifted the rather dark mood at home:

The few surviving transports became impromptu colony ships, depositing their soldiers on Pelagon to give the planet a boosted economy, while a flight of Phoenixes became the new world's guardians.
((I forgot to screenshot it, but IIRC, Pelagon is a great research world. Two boosted squares, and labs already in place.))

The sudden loss of so many troops led to a massive drafting program. Several shipbuilding worlds began producing Comp112s, hoping to offset the waste of life. However, the next time would be different. The disgraced generals pooled their money and founded the Alliance's first Interstellar War College:

The war colleges soon proved their worth, as the frontier world of Umeria III was captured, the single transport suffering less than 50% casualties:

And a captured technology looked to make invasions even easier in the future:

Military thinkers had the bright idea to bombard planets from orbit with asteroids, to make them easier to capture:

Furious at the loss of two planets, the Krynn launched an invasion of Harper IV, which had somehow been left defenseless:
Thankfully, the invaders were repelled, though losses were high. Several Phoenixes were launched from Mars to protect the world from further aggression. Sadly, the beleaguered planet was forced to repel another invasion before help could arrive.

Meanwhile, battles broke out all over Terran space. Armok cruisers could defeat just about any Krynn fleet, either in orbit or the void, but Krynn fighters and constructors were everywhere, and Phoenixes often required a 3/2 advantage or better to emerge victorious over the more powerful alien ships. Several starbases were destroyed by roving ships, and Armok ships found themselves being pulled in all directions.

It also became apparent that pure firepower wasn't going to win this war. The defenseless cruisers were receiving some hard knocks, and though not a single one had been lost, the decision was made to upgrade the class. Thus the Armok Mk 2 was born, a cruiser that sacrificed a little bit of firepower in exchange for two levels of point defense. Phoenix production ground to a halt to concentrate on the Armok Mk 2 cruisers, which were already performing admirably (already built Armoks would stay as they were).

The backwater world of Starbuck IV announced the creation of the Galactic Guide Book, which would allow any ship to add the survey module and explore anomalies:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And this is where we are now. I can't even keep track of everything going on, since ships are blowing up all over the place (many of them ours) and I'm constantly chasing down constructors or troop transports that get too close to our planets. It also appears that the Krynn military was larger than originally anticipated, since several fleets of fighters (not to mention the transports) are flying in from unexplored territory. Boatmurdered is in bad shape; thanks to the loss of the nearby influence starbase they are completely inside Krynn territory, and most of the defensive fleet is gone (will direct an Armok Mk 2 once one is built nearby).

Still, I'd say we're winning so far. Planets are cranking out cruisers and transports, and like I mentioned before the Armok ships can take out pretty much anything (I saw one get attacked by a fleet of four heavy fighters. All of them died, with the Armok only suffering about 20 damage and leveling up in the process). Thanks to the impulse drives they are ungodly fast and can hit isolated ships almost at will.

Right now I need suggestions on what to research during the rest of the year, and what you think about the new shipbuilding projects. Most of the major manufacturing worlds are building Armok Mk 2s, with the best rate being one every 9 weeks. Some of them are building Comp112s, typically around 5 weeks per ship. I also built shipyards on some isolated economy worlds with enough space. They're continuing the production of Phoenixes, but are rather slow at it.

Dunno why, but I rarely have problems with money. I run research, mining, industry, and (until sorium on Earth empties out) fuel refining full-tilt, and the only thing that stops me is mineral shortages. 

Once we begin conquering Krynn worlds, we'll have no shortage of useless planets. Until then, none of our planets are "useless", not even Mars. We do have some newer colonies that don't have much on them, but they're still reasonable quality levels.

Looking back at the trade screen, I have mis-identified the techs I've been able to secure. We'd get Large-Scale Building, Superior Hulls, Xeno Trade Centers, and Space Defenses.

I'd really like a member of the Diplomatic Corps to weigh in, considering that this is their area of authority. Thankfully, this is not some special event that I can't save and quit for, so there's no real rush. Once a decision is reached I'll be able to load the game and continue.

EDIT: We are currently working on Advanced Hulls, the prereq for Medium scale hulls. Advanced Hulls will be finished in about 3 weeks, but I'm not sure how long Medium hulls will take. After that comes Superior Hulls and Large-scale hulls.