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| The First ever Birth of the Federation br ( and my longest )! | | | Author: | | | IP: | static-9XXXX | | Date: | 05/21/00 09:05 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | none | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 0, Max: , Min:
Lifetime Rating for |]agomar: 8.6667 | |
Welcome to the first ever BOTF battlereport!
Hello there, and welcome to another |]agomar battlereport - my fifteenth, I believe. Wow. Gosu. Everybody give me $15 and I'll be even more happy - and, WC3, write your report ;)
You'll notice that this br didn't have a very long download time; to some, that may be extremely gosu, but to others a disturbing sign of chobality, for it implies a distressing lack of pics. Haha, too bad for you. If you feel like leaving after that, I couldn't care less. kekeke. ( Korean terms getting to you yet? Good. That means you'll want me to move on to the main part even more than you already do *huk* ).
Very well, it's on to our feature presentation! Get ready for the long journey to Galactic domination - or a devastating trip to complete humiliating ruin! ( audience shivers and gasps with anticipation )
Welcome to the Galaxy, my friend.
It was very early in the morning, and slowly I rose from my bed, just after I had dreamt I was being attacked by 20 zealots, 8 carpenter ants, a corsair and two scouts, all either 3 inches tall or long. I tried to bottle the aircraft, yet only managed to capture the corsair, which got out soon after. I ran away to my dad's studio, and shut the door, yet somehow hydralisks about two thirds my gosu hieght managed to get through. I started to pound on them, killed three, then the last one turned into a black labrador dog. For some reason I continued pounding, yet then it turned to a big unconscious man, who died soon after I pounded him once. Very strange. I'll leave that to the psychiatrists though.
Anyway, the point is I stumbled to the computer in the darkness and utter silence, quietly turning on the power button while I eased into my seat. I flicked the Birth of the Federation CD into its slot . . . .
I clicked on New Game, and chose a medium Spiral Galaxy, selecting the races as being advanced to 3 degrees, developed. For some reason I didn't want to start as a primitive civilization just struggling up from the black lagoon of near savagery, but rather as an advanced society capable of interstellar travel. The four races soon appeared; the Federation was mine. I am, after all, still human, last time I checked.
Now, to all those who have never watched Star Trek and don't ever intend to ( although you probably should; once you grow into it it's really quite intriquing ), here is a brief overview of all the races. If you know this already, just skip this next part.
The Federation are humans, a rather pacifist people who are experts in diplomacy and research. Their technology is the envy of other species, with their sleek, extremely sophisticated ships ( and believe me, these things are nasty ) having strong hulls and very powerful shields. The Federation's biggest gameplay disadvantage is probably their negative morale reactions to conflict and treachory - although they always like a good victory.
The Klingon Empire is, of course, a Klingon institution. These people are honourable warriors, fanatically divulging in warfare and easily the most feared race in the galaxy. They feast in battle; the utter destruction of a helpless planet makes them deeply satisfied, ( "it shows that we are still Klingon" ), while the complete destruction of an enemy fleet is viewed as deeply inspiring and truly glorious. Naturally, they can smash many of their opponents like bugs, but diplomacy is not exactly a highpoint, nor is intelligence gathering, which they view as dishonourable.
The Ferengi are money hoarders, believing that the only goal in life is the accumulation of credits ( "A Ferengi without profit is no Ferengi at all" - their 18th rule of aquisition ). Their empire, named theFerengi Alliance is really a corporation, and their ships have names like "Wealth." They are certainly not warriors, their ships are not very impressive compared to those of other empires ( although they have reasonably strong shields and a few extra torpedoes ), and research is not a highpoint. Neither is diplomacy a very strong area. But it is just this that makes them perhaps the most dangerous people - that it is so easy to underestimate them! Money works wonders . . . .
The Romulans, my favourite race, are an enigmatic people, who formed the Romulan Star Empire after fleeing the planet Vulcan and their former neighbours, who had adopted the purely logical of their new master. This society is cloaked ( literally ) in utter secrecy - their intelligence is the best in the Galaxy, while every single one of their deadly, sweeping, beautiful warships has the ability to cloak - thus hiding from enemy sensors and remaining unseen. They like to keep their appearance hidden from minor races, and their attacks come by complete surprise - like a horrifying whirlwind from the depths of cold black space - crushing a planet and dissapearing before you even knew anything was there. Their craft also benefit from devastating torpedoes of unique power and efficient targeting systems.
Finally, there is the Cardassian Union. Once a spiritual and deeply enlightened people, they were forced to change their ways due to a series of terrible natural disasters, becoming an intensely state-oriented culture with no room for individuality or disloyalty. Territory is their biggest concern, and they will do anything to gain more of it. What's more, their intelligence agency rivals that of the Romulans, and their ships have simply awesome structural durability with extremely intense beam weapons - yet fight poorly in small groups or individually, requiring a massive armada to truly come into their own.
And there are also up to 30 Minor Races ( ! ), the number which I chose for this game. They can be conquered or absorbed into our empire through diplomacy, or simply remain as friends or affiliates. They vary as widely or even more so as the major races, and their relations to your empire depends on whether their society is in any way compatible to your own. There is also the Borg . . . .
By the way, I don't at all remember the players. I simply have vague recollections of talking with some people with utterly incomprehensible names ( worse than [=o=] or whatever his crazy name is ), setting up a match with a myriad of wildly excited exclamations which were not responded to ( grrr ) and watching my future foes entering the game. Speaking of a game . . . .
Slowly, the Galaxy blossomed to view in my screen, me having selected a small map, only seeing the single quadrant of the vast stellar whirpool in which my home system, Sol, was housed. Quickly, I assumed the royal mantle of Emperor, rubbing my hands in anticipation of the epic struggle which was to follow . . . .
Rise of the Federation
I checked my miniature fleet, consisting of a single tiny scouting science vessel with super long range ( for reconnaisance ) and a helpless unescorted colony ship. Bah, pathetic. Me being at the bottom center of the spiral, I sent the scout on a long trek to the west, ordering it to move four sectors ( a sector is basically a square grid into which a single star can be housed, and the distance a ship can move per turn ). Next I turned to the colony ship, commanding it to move to the star only a single sector away, to the north west. Very well.
I turned to my colony management screen, where I discovered that I had already moved up to Light Cruiser technology! Gosu! However, I couldn't build a thing without a proper industry and a good amount of food for my 300 units of people ( max for the Sol system is 335, my growth rate was, I believe, 2.6% ), so I immediately set to work on a number of mass replicators ( factories ) and automated food plants ( farms ). I sent most of my people to my industries, and told my citizens to energize the shipbuilding planet, along with the dilithium refinery ( I need 1 dilithium point for each ship that I can build on a planet, the number of ships I have is dependant on my dilithium, which is dependant on the number of solar systems I have and my total population ). Slowly, I clicked on turn.
My colony ship had arrived at its destination, and the solar system it had explored lay spread out before me, the name being Gendil. I looked, then winced. Huk! What was this? Two pathetic little Mercury sized worlds - and one of them is volcanic?! I wasn't about to accept this! Defiantly, and with more then a little cursing at the time I was losing, I sent the blundering craft to the star system only a sector below it, right beside my homeworld.
My Science Vessel had finished its journey - and had discovered my first Alien Civilization! First contact!
This were a society of intense researchers - just what I needed for my human society. But how was I going to assimilate them into my Empire, me not wanting to resort to bloody and barbaric warfare to achieve my goals. Very well, I thought, I won't bother with them for a little while, even though their relationship bar was up a notch at Cordial. I sent my Science Vessel for another scouting mission to a North, then checked up on that crazy colony ship, which had by now reached its target - Sirius, a brilliant blue star housing another two Arctic planets with low population limits. Although this was far from satisfactory, it would have to do, having a possible population 15 points higher than that other miserable little rathole, at 85. I started terraforming, and later, colonization.
As humanity stepped out of its cradle, becoming an interstellar Empire, and while my people celebrated this momentous event, raising their moral up from apathetic to content, I started construction of my first beautiful warship - an Ambassador class Light Cruiser. Now these ships are some of my favourites, being rather inexpensive but giving excellent bang for their buck - and sporting the sleek, graceful looks reminiscent of the Enterprise. When my Warship ( There are Colony ships, Scouts, Command Ships, Warships, Strike Cruisers, Raider ships, Troop Ships, Starbases and Outposts ) soared out into space, emptying my entire treasury when I bought it, I started work on another colony ship, which soon terraformed and colonized the miserable Gendil system. Now I toiled to build a Destroyer or Raider ship, of the Miranda class. These super fast craft are designed to invade a system and raid it of all the cash it gets in a turn, and are excellent for hit and run. They also serve as decoys in battles to distract the enemy from your main ships, and can zip in and out of formations, blasting the opponent's shields and sometimes doing even more damage than the entire rest of your flotilla ( they are capable craft ). The Mirandas are fantastically ugly, though, and it was with a begrudging smirk that I bought off the last two turns of its construction. I now decided to build a troop transport, while I sent that brave science vessel on another 5 sector journey - this time to the unexplored east.
Another civilization was found! The Selay are a people with an amazing hatred of another race, a loathing which has reached epic proportions, my Ambassador reported. Although they would have us believe they are a very advanced species, my diplomat warned, they are actually rather primitive, and are very set in their ways. Seeing that this culture had an immediate hostility towards me and that their relationship bar was down to icy, I wrote them off as useless for the moment, but maybe later suceptible to a large bribe. Soon after, the Chalodans ( or whatever their name was ) were discovered. This was a race that would've fared much better in Klingon space - entirely dedicated to warfare, combat and personal strength. They already had a healthy hostile relationship with me worthy of any warrior race ( huk ), so I decided that they would be completely uncooperative, and would only be absorbed into my Federation with an enormous bribe or a military takeover. But, that would have be in the future.
Now there was a bit of a problem with these two cultures - they were directly in the way for future expansion. Since I could not colonize them, I would have to let their star systems be for now, forcing me to build a multitude of range-increasing outposts there if I ever hoped to grow in that direction. There was only one star system between this north and south eastern duo of stars, located two sectors to the east of Sol, and that was another small, nasty system whose name was Mercidon. It would have to do . . . .
I grabbed my troop transport and ordered it on a northern trajectory. When it had traveled for two turns through the same number of sectors, I ordered it to scrap itself and convert to form an outpost, bastion of civilization in the cold dark depths of deepspace, allowing me to explore farther than ever before, expand my territory and increase my sensor range by two full sectors. While an outpost is defenseless and very vulnerable as it is being built, when it's finished it has roughly the power of a Light Cruiser. I decided not to defend the thing in the four turns in which construction was active, instead ordering my three-ship fleet to remain in Sol. My science vessel had now explored to its full range, but, as I was about to order it to coast along the bottom-most sectors of the map, an unknown ship suddenly became visible to me in the Chalodan Star system! I quickly canceled my orders and commanded my ship to retrace its steps. Very rapidly the unknown ship image dissapeared to form the menacing purple crest of the Cardassian Union. I hailed the enemy craft so conflict was avoided, then headed on back to Mercidon, after seeing that my outpost was completed and being satisfied that the newly discovered border with the Cardassians was safe for now.
It seemed that the first major race I had discovered was in a very good shape indeed. The Cardassians had expanded throughout the more central regions of that unfurling spiral, taking a large number of Star Systems and planets under their fold. In order to match them, I saw, I would have to expand again. I bought a colony ship, sent it on its way to Mercidon, watched it terraform for two turns while I was expanding my industry on the other systems, then colonized when I was finished. That's the third system to be colonized now, but Sol still had easily more people than my other planets combined.
That's one thing I like about Birth of the Federation, by the way: the fact that you can't transfer people from colony to colony. It's much more realistic; the thought of transporting 100 million people in a ship is perposterous.
In my western Star Systems, I was buying large amounts of special structures, like wind turbines for energy and Private Farms for food as well as morale. I also built the occasional Mass Replicator, in between the larger construction projects. Notice that so far these solar systems have contributed very little to my empire, instead sucking money from my treasury. I should have built a starbase there, maybe a University ( more research ) and certainly a dilithium refinery, or a perhaps a databank ( more intelligence ) now that I had discovered an Alien culture. But, I'm still a newbie to this game, I haven't even been able to beat a computer on Simple mode ( and that's the easiest setting out of 5 possibilities, lol ) . . . .
Suddenly, the Alarms blared to life! "Ship combat occuring in Sector 5!" my female announcer cried. Oh no, what now!?
The Great War - Part One
I saw the combat screen and the matchup, seeing that a Cardassian Raider Destroyer was attacking my outpost. This should be an easy win for me, and a chance to put those Neutral Cardassians in their place. I thus decided not to click on hail, which would have probably ended the conflict, but instead selected Attack. The Tactical viewscreen whirled in upon me, showing the opposing sides with the awesome graphics that are so characteristic of this game. The Cardassian craft did a Flyby of my vast, towering outpost, firing its disrupters and torpedoes in conjunction, zipping past lightning fast. I replied with a devastating volley of phaser fire, and my opponent, realizing his likely inability to win, probably debated with himself whether to Ram my outpost and have the slight hope of destroying both combatants, or retreat safely to interstellar space. He wisely chose the latter.
However, not hailing an enemy ship at a possible confrontation is at least an act of hostility, and at most can be conscrewed as an act of war. My foe understood this, and, seeing how his empire at least looked larger than mine ( all he could probably see is the terriotory occupied ) and deciding wrongly that I may have acquired a taste for his precious territory, he promptly declared war, issuing forth a friendly bulliten that he would vow to see me exterminated and my people annihilated. Nice folk, those Cardassians.
I smiled grimly. So it was war, eh? Very well, I'd show him. Never underestimate the power of even a single Federation ship . . . .
I quickly discovered another marauding Destroyer pursing about the outer reaches of my Empire, so I sent one of my own Raiders to show him what I was made of. Tactical combat soon began, and I charged his ship furiously, which soon retreated in panick, barely avoiding the last phaser blasts which would have spelled its doom.
My second victory, and first of the new war! Smiling, I ordered my fleet of three ships to take the trip up to Sirium, a star system near the lower western edge of the Cardassian Union, right beside the sector which was now officially marked as disputed territory. On the way to their destination, my flotilla encountered yet another Cardassian destroyer, which quickly fled after I attacked and nearly destroyed the blasted yellow thing. As soon as my ships ciasted into stellar orbit around Sirium, I realized it was not a bad place to start a colony. Grinning, I sent in a colony ship I had just produced, ordering it to terraform the place to colonizing standards.
Now as this was happening, I suddenly spotted another Cardassian destroyer screaming into my territory - only this time from the East! WTF, I had no defense there, I had never expected anything to invade from that direction! Nervous, I sent in my big Light Cruiser ( large for this stage of the game, that is ), slagship of my fleet, together with a destroyer to fend off the threat. The enemy destroyer raided Mercidon, capturing a measely two crdits, but fled before my fleet, escaping out of my territory once again. Now why would my enemy have done this, which gave him so little and forced him to journey perhaps a 6 or 7 turn trip, for next to nothing?
Ever heard of a decoy, Starcraft fans?
Suddenly, the alarms blared to life again! A mighy Cardassian fleet had roared out of the unexplored reaches of their territory, barring down upon my now alone destroyer and helpless colony ship while the better portion of my distracted fleet was still two sectors away, at the Selayan Star System! Two enemy Command Ships ( the equivilent of my Ambassador-class ship ) and a destroyer smashed my Colony ship to bits, and forced my destroyer to flee squealing to my outpost! My first defeat, and how!
Now I was angry. A third destroyer rolled off the assembly lines of Sol ( which is, by the way, the more scientific name of our Sun, for every star is a Sun to the culture living there ), and I ordered it to move to my outpost. However, I detected a Cardassian destroyer ( do these things ever stop coming?! ) at my North Western border, and thus had to divert this ship to obliterate that threat. My other two ships made it safely to the Outpost, though, and the combined fleet moved up to Sirium, which I suspected the Cardassian ships were still orbiting, gloating at their success. Indeed, I recieved official news that I had been ridiculed for my defeat at that blasted star, and my morale had sunk to apathetic. That would have to change . . . .
The next turn, my ships entered battle! The two Cardassian cruisers, each about twice as strong as a destroyer, faced me in even conflict. I zoomed up to a birdseye view of the battle, then ordered my two destroyers to Charge a single enemy, while I commanded my Light Cruiser to Assault ( fire at medium range ) the same miserable ship. The battle unfolded quickly, with my two Raiders zipping in and blasting the resiliant Cardassian ship, which lumbered forward together with its companion and fired back withering bolts of Disrupter fire at a single destroyer, leaving it with shields down and a single hitpoint left ( ! ) as tactical combat ended. Infact, explosions already had started to riddle its structure, before the computer realized it was not yet destroyed and left it be!
My plan was to distract the two Cardassian vessels with the destroyers blasting them at close range and annoyingly buzzing through their formation, while my Ambassador class did the real damage. The battle was getting very close together, and I beheld with pride the graceful sweeping shape of my Flagship drawing nearer. I ordered that ship to Charge, it now being at close range, while I commanded my destroyers to do the same, again to that single craft which they had targeted last turn. The Cardassian leviathans tore through my whirling formations at extremely close range, roaring slowly by my viewscreen and destroying that miserable Miranda-class Destroyer which they had blasted nearly to death just seconds ago. My Ambassador, however, was untouched, and swung its enormous saucer about, hanging vertically in Space, firing furiously at that single Cardassian vessel. Shields were finally down, but in the next turn the Cardassians destroyed my last remaining destroyer, a devastating blow. Things were looking bad until my flagship suddenly swung in, again with orders to Charge, finally blasting that rotten ship to spacedust with searing volleys of its blue-white phasors. I now faced a Cardassian Light Cruiser one on one with my own similar craft, which is a very bad thing to do against Federation vessels. My glorious ship lost half its shields before it broke through its opponents force fields in a Harry maneouver, then finally tore through that resilient armour and smashed my last enemy to oblivion!
The greatest battle was over, and I had won!
 
And as if to add a final zest to my amazing victory, I bested that Cardassian destroyer in conflict as well, blowing it to oblivion before it could retreat!
With the skillfull destruction of the Cardassian fleet, the enemy player was willing to recognize my strength and sign a Non Agression Treaty, signing over the disputed sector to me in the process. It certainly is a good thing that my foe didn't know my strategic situation; I didn't have an outpost near enough to Cardassian Territory to even be able to reach a single occupied Star System! Had he continued, being as invulnerable as he truly was, he probably could have destroyed me with his better economy!
But never mind. Perception is everything.
The Galaxy Expands
While I sat back and savoured my victory, I certainly wasn't inactive. I developed my two Western Star Systems of Gendil and Sirius into half-descent economies, energized all my special structures but one in the Sol System ( special structures being Private Farms or Bunker networks, both of which I had built there ). I also constructed an outpost in the furthest sector to my east as my tranport could reach ( one sector past the duo of minor races, in deep space ), getting ready for further expansion. What's more, I pursued diplomatic relations with the Cardassians, eventually being rewarded by establishing a friendship treaty of indefinate length and creating trade routes to Cardassia and its colony of Gemulon - and all this with a formerly hated foe! I also gave a rather large bribe of over a thousand credits to that race of researchers, in exchange for another friendship treaty ( I love those Federation diplomats - 2gosu4u ).
Now, suddenly, I met my second major race - the Ferengi. A small explorer vessel sailed into my territory, then skittered away again as the loud, obnoxious introduction of the Ferengi Alliance boomed in through the speakers. I grinned a forced smile, but quickly discovered the urgency of the situation on my Western borders - the Alliance was rapidly encroaching upon my territory, and already three sectors were disputed!
Until now, I had been a rather pacifist empire, having a very small Navy and not much of a defense, only investing in two outposts and having a combined Fleet of:
The two surviving ships that fought in the Cardassian Wars now long since over.
Yet now I was forced to go on a massive armnament campaign, constructing an outpost around both Sirius and Gendil and enetgizing the sensor arrays I had built in both systems. I even thought about building another outpost around a neutron star located at the north eastern corner of the Ferengi Empire, but decided the damaging radiation would disturb my sensor readings and negate the advantages of an outpost. Instead, I moved the slow ship to a Star System I had recently scouted, a system with a maximum population of 125! Woohoo!
The system, however, was 6 sectors from Sol - an 8 sector journey for the miserable transport! It took just that many turns to finally complete its epic journey, where it was met by a colony ship already starting the terraforming process. My Science Vessel ventured up another three sectors, trying to come into contact with the Klingons, but, failing that, instead met the Icythses ( however that was spelt ) an advanced fish-like race with a disturbing face that lived in the oceans. This society's Sympathy Bar was the lowest ever for a first contact - down to Enraged, so I got out of there as quickly as possible and journeyed down to the system ( Wolon was its name, or something like that anyway ) I had already colonized. The outpost was soon completed, so I sent the Scout out on another trip, yet nothing of any real worth was found.
At this time, I tranfered half of my industrial labour pool for Sol to research, so I could get the necessary technology to make better ships, and could finally exploit the Federation's zest for science.
In the many turns that followed, I managed to establish a Non Agression Treaty with the Ferengi. The Cardassians made a declaration, however, that I should sunder to them a single unoccupied sector to the North of Sol, a request I happily agreed too. The Ferengi also started becoming agitated with the three sectors that were still disputed, and demanded that I surrender them. This I could not accept, so the Money Hoarders to the West insisted that I pay over 3600 credits - "to help with our troop exercises"! Since I didn't even have half this some in my treasury, there was no way I could even consider accepting this ludicrous declaration, and I rejected it, lowering the Ferengi's sympathy for me to Icy.
I finally met my third Major race around now - the Romulans, who occupied the terriotry to the North West of the Cardassians and North East of the Ferengi: Far beyond my reach and range, for the moment. The only reason they could enter my territory ( from the North West; it seems everybody enters my domain that way ) is hat they had just signed an Alliance Treaty with the Cardassians - not a good thing, for it meant that the only major race to which I had signed a Friendship treaty now had split loyalties. The Romulan scout ship decloaked off my outpost at Gendil, then left, recloaking, after I hailed it. I quickly signed a Non Agression treaty with the Romulans for good form, although there was no way war could break out anyway.
By this time, my research was finally paying off. I achieved major breakthroughs in all fields, allowing me to build a variety of exciting new structures and ships. Foremost among these ships was the glorious Galaxy-class Battleship, one of the more powerful craft in the Federation arsonel, and perhaps the best looking besides the Dreadnought. With 620 shields and something like 290 hitpoints, along with a vast number of powerful photon torpedoes and phaser banks, these ships are nearly twice as powerful as the Ambassador-class, and serve as Command ships in large formations. They are also a bit faster than the Light Cruisers, and have longer range plus better targeting systems. The second ship I was now able to build was the Class 2 Destroyer, which is essentially an improved version of the Class 1. However, it is a true raiding ship; being very cost ineffective when used as a war-winning navy ( for that it's better to go with Light Cruisers ). I finally turned my attention to the construction of a fleet, building a science vessel, a Class one and Class two destroyer, three additional Light Cruisers and starting construction of a battleship and a troop transport. However, before I could finish my grand plans, a terrible disaster struck, a disaster that would threaten the very future of my Empire.
The Great Depression
Suddenly, I realized I had a dilithium shortage of -1! This meant I would not be able to build any new ships until the problem was fixed, putting both my Galaxy-class Command Ship and the troop Transport I was building on Sirius on hold. Not only was my military development stalled, and the production of my two most productive planets halted, but I was also losing a whopping 269 credits per turn, compared to the 96 I was recieving! My total credits were dipping dangerously low: they had already passed the 500 mark, so it wouldn't be long before I would have negative income and my hard-earned ships would be randomly scrapped. Frantically, I looked for a world where I could buy a dilithium Refinery and finally found the Mercidonian colony, selected a Refinery in its build que, then confidently set about buying it.
It was then that I realized that I didn't have enough money to buy a thing.
Frantically, I scanned my Federation, hoping there would be a Refinery that I had forgotten to supply energy to. I entered the Energy que for Wolon, that blossoming world so far from the rest of my civilization, and realized that here, thank goodness, was un unenergized Dilithium mine. Confidently I entered my production screen, only to see that there were not enough people to grow food and supply energy to the Refinery at the same time. I freed one of two units of population that were growing food from that category and put them in energy, checking whether I would have enough to activate the mine. No. I freed both units from food and put them in energy, but still I didnt have enough! Panicking, I watched as my strategic turn timer ticked to zero ( the limit I set was five minutes ), trying feverishly to think up a solution. Finally, I had an epipheny, and shut down the massive shipyard that had taken so long to build, transferring its energy to my Dilithium Refinery and having just enough to active my trade center as well. What's more, I realized in the dying seconds of my turn that my Federation Council was not energized on Sol, so I changed that and gave my citizens a much needed morale boost.
I clicked on turn.
To my horror, I realized that I was still losing an enormous number of credits! I changed this with haste, scrapping my two much-needed science vessels and gaining a cool 700 credits at the same time ( one of them was dismantled in Wolon, giving me money back ). Now that I had solved that problem in the nick of time, I saw that there was mass starvation breaking out in Wolon; four million people had already died! If only I could get that Galaxy class ship into orbit before everyone perished and my colony would be destroyed . . . .
Indeed, I did manage to buy off the battleship just as my population in Wolon decreased to below 20 units, and suddenly I had a +1 bonus in Dilithium. However, in Wolon there was now not enough energy to run my structures, for I had quickly tranferred my people back to food. The Refinery was shut down once more, yet my dilithium bonus remained due to increasing population in other Solar Systems.
I pumped out four more troop tranports in the next few turns, deciding that the Ferengi would have to go. I could have picked the Cardassians or even the Romulans, but I resolved that the Cardassians had good ships that now probably had large fleets they could fight in, giving them an additional bonus for fighting in groups. What's more, they also had an amazing intelligence operation, which would easily be able to force through the mere 20 points I had invested in that field. The Romulans had an even better espionauge and spying agency, not to mention their good ships and cloaking devices. The Ferengi, I thought, were not fighters, probaby just sitting on their money and building a wealth of monetary structures, simply increasing their credits continually in ever way industrial way possible while likely ignoring their fleet. I figured that if I could invade with a united fleet, I would catch the few ships the Ferengi may have made off gaurd and scattered about, easy prey for my armada. In preparation for the war I would soon unleash against those fools who would prefer the aquisition of financial power to political or military strength I started an outpost just below their empire, in a small empty sector between occupied star systems. A Ferengi Raider flew in to suspiciously to check up on the construction, and a flurry of demands flooded the diplomacy channel, ranging from the surrender of all disputed territories and the threat of war if I didn't leave, to the insistant request for me to send 5000 credits to "smooth out our hostilities." I either rejected or ignored all these requests, and the raiding ship left when my outpost was at 70% built. A turn later I flew my fleet over to this space station, now 11 ships total but with four troop transports as well. I hoped that I could catch the Ferengi unawares, and that my superior Federation ships could easily smash the few craft the Alliance had probably invested its precious credits in.
The Great War - Part Two
Now you might be thinking "why hasn't he conquered those four minor races yet, instead of declaring war on the Ferengi." Good point. That would have doubled the population of my Empire, and made me far, far stronger. However, I was now in search of greater glory. The destruction of the Ferengi Alliance would open up a whole new quadrant for colonization by my people, and allow me to truly gain dominance in the Galaxy - assuming I could hold off the Romulans, who would probably move in as well.
Anyway, the turn before I was to declare war I asked both the Romulans and the Cardassians whether they wanted to enter a War Pact with me to crush those miserable Ferengi. Both refused, but, reckless as I am, I was determined to win a glorious victory over a major race, and the next turn I entered into battle with Ferengi forces above the planet of Taken, a one sector trip north from my outpost and home of a minor race the Alliance had absorbed into their Empire through massive bribes.
The Tactical viewscreen whirled in upon the opposing forces: my Galaxy class command ship, three Ambassador class warships and three Miranda class destroyers versus a towering orange outpost, three sickel shaped Ferengi Raiders and a similar, even more sinister looking command ship with comparable power to one of my Light Cruisers. Smiling confidently, I ordered my battleship and light cruisers to Assault the Outpost, then commanded the destroyers to obliterate the enemy command ship.
My craft soared into the engagement, deftly avoiding the vicious yellow stabs of searing disrupter fire and blasting their respective targets. The Destroyers hurtled in upon the Ferengi war cruiser, which, seeing it had very little chance, nonetheless held its ground and fired furiously back, blowing a single Raider to blue dust. However it was not enough, and the sleek ship was torn apart in a brilliant yellow-white fireball soon after, while my cruiser fleet glided effortlessly into battle over the wheeling enemy raiders, wiping away the outpost with ease, in a single devastating blast of lightning blue phaser bolts. In the next turn my torpedoes screamed in upon the hapless raiders, which desperately tried to escape but were nonetheless rendered to nothingness as my cruisers gracefully, effortlessly swooped in upon them.
The battle was won!!!
Sighing with relief, I attacked the Taken system with two troop transports, believing there were no furhter defenses in that sector. However orbital batteries destroyed both ships, and I, being uncharacteristically stupid in not attacking with my entire fleet, decided to move on to another system to the East instead, hoping it was the Ferengi home system. Alas, it was not, yet I easily managed to conquer this place and destroy the pathetic orbital batteries present. Happy with my first conquest of the game, I sat back and relaxed for a second, chuckling with joy.
That was before I saw the enormous Ferengi armada bursting out of unexplored territory and descending down upon Gendil.
Ouch.
Frantically, I sent back my fleet, chasing after the enemy flotilla which had just utterly crushed my outpost above the beseieged system and now was threatening to bombard it to death. The Ferengi fled in my wake, sending me on a wild chase back to the system I had just conquered. There I finally met up with my foe, in what was bound to be the deciding battle of the war. Before I entered conflict, confident as usual, I checked the stats on the confirmation screen.
Federation ships: 5 Command, 2 Raiders, 2 support
Ferengi ships: 11 Command, 5 Raiders, 2 support
*gulp*
Never, ever, underestimate the Ferengi. With their massive amounts of money they can buy any ship or structure, allowing them to instantly amass huge fleets from the production centers of several stars at once. I breathed in, and hoped that my superior technology would win the day. I also prayed that the extra Galaxy class ship I had just managed to add to my flotilla would make the difference. Federation ships are, after all, substancially better than Ferengi ones. But are they good enough to win when the odds are 2.5:1?
As the tactical screen zoomed in upon the battle from birds eye view, I looked with fear upon the tight formation of sickel-shaped Ferengi craft, bristling with deadly weapons. Relying too much upon the strength of my ships, I ordered each one to target a different enemy craft, hoping that my superior weapons would score a couple quick kills and reduce the enemy to my number. I told a single destroyer to Harry a huge War cruiser, two others to Charge another, similar craft, and my other larger ships to each Assault a single vessel.
My ships hurtled themselves into battle, firing off a blinding volley of phaser fire and quickly annialating two of the vast enemy command ships. But the growling war cruisers ominously eased into position, wheeling up to target my craft and remaining stationary. Suddenly they shot off tremendous beams of brilliant yellow disrupter fire, illuminating the entire battlefield and riping to pieces no fewer than three of my own glorious Ambassador ships. My destroyers plummeted in to attack the Ferengi ships, loyally covering my Enterprise-like battleships which sailed in to avenge their fellows. Now things really became nasty.
The Harrying Miranda class was blown to dust by a hail of torpedoes from the terrifying war cruisers hovering over it, while both of my Enterprise ships, absorbing massive amounts of enemy fire, were badly seared and just barely clung to life. The orange War cruisers screamed in upon them, nearly blinding me with their blistering yellow disrupter fire. Torpedoes hurtled in all directions searching for their targets, swooping down upon them and detonating with devastating force. My blue volleys were utterly outnumbered by the green-yellow missiles, which streaked in upon my Galaxy class battleships in groups of destruction. Frantically I ordered my flagships to retreat, and furiously commanded my Evading troop ships ( I always give them that order ) to do the same. But before my ships could warp to safety a huge Galaxy battleship was blown to oblivion in a titanic fireball sending a MASSIVE shockwave tearing through the remnants of my fleet and straight into the sinister Ferengi War cruisers. It was not enough to do any significant damage however, and the vicious enemy armada remained unscathed. Yet I had left behind my two surviving destroyers, and ordered them to Ram the most heavily damaged war cruiser. The brave captains wheeled their battered ships about, seeing their more lucky companions warp away into hyperspace, then slammed violently, awesomely into the enemy cruiser, a final statement of my fury. The cruiser blew apart in a blazing yellow fireball, taking with it as many Ferengi lives as possible, I hoped, but my one destroyer that had survived the wild kamikaze was wiped away next turn with zero effort ( only one ship had to fire but a single bolt of destruction ). I had the humiliating experience of watching the vicious, sickel dagger shaped Ferengi craft slide, slip away into the enveloping darkness of space, seemingly chuckling a fading laugh at me for being foolish enough to challenge them.
Next turn the Ferengi leader wrote me a single word in the chat function: Fool.
My lone conquest of the war was soon retaken as I struggled furiously to build new ships, and feverishly tried to guide my remaining warship, with its two support ships, home to safety. I qued a new Command Cruiser in Sol along with a Light cruiser in both Siruis and Gendil, hoping to gather together a fleet that maybe, just maybe would be able to avenge my defeat and wipe away my humiliation. Wishful thinking . . . .
The Ferengi descended upon my distant outpost deep within their territory just a sector behind my fleeing Galaxy-class battleship, destroying it with sublime ease. To my horror, I now had the agonizing experience of seeing an outpost slowly being built but two sectors away from Sirius, just behind disputed territory. Desperately I bought off the construction time for my ships, and soon had amassed a half decent resistance. I ordered another three Ambassadors to be built while I readied the fleet to destroy the enemy outpost, now at 50% complete. If I failed, the Ferengi would be able to reach both my Western colonies, and be able to build an outpost right at my doorstep. The next step would be Earth itself.
Desperately, I turned to diplomacy, pleaing with my foes to accept a non-agression treaty - along with over a thousand credits and all three disputed sectors. But the Ferengi refused, apparantly supremely confident of an awesome upcoming victory. Frantically, I turned to the Cardassians, begging them to accept a War Pact, in order to exterminate the threat of the Alliance once and for all. Again, my suggestion was rejected. Finally I lobbied the Romulans, but the only reply I got was a statement: "If you can so easily betray your friends, we see no reason why you would keep your treaty with us." Ouch. What's more, my morale had dropped to apathetic once again, with my people generally believing that the "betrayal of the Ferengi is a betrayal of ourselves," and with the broadcast of several highly critical editorials in several major new networks.
And so I ordered my ships to travel to the developing outpost, hoping they would arrive before the largest portion of the Ferengi fleet. Two turns later, my ships entered battle, with only 2 enemy raiders protecting the completed Post. Naturally, my ships crushed all resistance with ease, Assaulting all opponents and blowing them to spacedust with zero casualties! That gave me at least another four turns, ( the time it takes for such an outpost to be built ) perhaps enough time to build a sizable armada to stave off my destruction. Praying for the best, I retreated my flotilla at the sight of the entire Ferengi navy bearing down upon me, then bought off my three Light Cruisers, rallying them to Siruis where they could shelter behind the outpost I was constructing there. I also diverted a portion of my labour pool to Intelligence, telling 50% to sabotauge the Ferengi and the other half to spy on their military, perhaps allowing me to get some advanced notice of an upcoming attack. For the first time in nearly an hour I felt confident again . . . but that would soon change.
The next turn, the Romulans declared War. And they had an Alliance with the Cardassians, as well as what was now a Friendship treaty with the Ferengi. Uh oh.
It came out of the darkness, without warning. Suddenly, an enormous fleet of 10 Cruiser IIs ( deadly things ) and 3 R'tan Strike Cruisers ( a great deal worse ) decloaked just off Gendil! Before I could even gasp in horror, the alarms screamed to life and whirled in upon the conflict - showing a single Science Vessel facing . . . nothing. The Romulans were cloaked, and suddenly rushed out of the darkness to reveal the terrifying sight a fleet of vast, winged, graceful green ships screaming down upon a tiny white speck and smashing it with the least of effort. I didn't even have a chance to do a single thing.
The Romulans were obviously not interested in the joys of conquest. They sterilized my planets in Gendil free of humans - a terrible atrocity which would have outraged all the races in the Galaxy - if they would've known about it. Next they moved in to attack Sirius, knowing they had nothing to fear. I considered defending that Star System. I had an outpost there, along with 5 Light Cruisers and a single Galaxy class flagship - my entire fleet. However, I also had orbital batteries, not to mention powerful planetary shields which I had just built - unpowered as yet, but easily activated. And yet, I saw it would be no match. Romulan Cruiser II's and certainly Strike Cruisers easily overpower Ambassadors, and with the extra turn given by cloaking the better part of my fleet would go down in a blaze of glory before I could even issue my own orders. What's more, the strike cruisers are meant to fire an utterly devastating volley of torpedoes from very long range - made to destroy ships in a single turn, but having very little hitpoints and weak shields - the perfect way to take advantage of cloaking. Given the extra turn, they could easily terminate my flagship in a single blast. My outpost would go down far more easily, and all resistance down below on the planets would certainly be crushed.
No, my plan was to retreat my mobile ships - and see just how much damage those planetary defenses could do. If they performed well and ravaged the enemy armada, I may just be able to return with my own fleet to destroy the Romulans on equal turns. It was at least worth a try . . . .
What followed was, of course, predictable. The enemy squashed my miserable defenses, but at least gave me the dignity of invading, rather than utterly destroying. Naturally a flurry of disputed sectors suddenly arose, most of which were actually in Ferengi territory - could this represent a breach in their alliance? I began to think. Let's see . . . the Romulans are allied with the Ferengi, yet both powers are encroaching dangerously near the other's borders. The Romulans also have a friendship treaty with the Cardassians . . . if I could get them into a war, somehow, with the Ferengi, who they are probably not friendly with, then those Romulans would have to chose between their threatening, suspicious semi-ally to the South and a further away, rather friendly power to the East who could help them get rid of a serious, dangerous threat at a fraction of the effort and risk it would otherwise have taken - rather than concentrate on an unimportant mini power that has been pummeled enough ( ie me ). So, how was going to do that? And would I have enough time?
There were a number of ways to approach my end objective. First, I could lure a couple of Cardassian war cruisers to follow a big, juicy slow target - like a patrolling Galaxy class battleship. I could then lead this ship to a Ferengi battle fleet, and what would follow, given the animosity between both races, would probably be a mighty conflict. The loser, seeking revenge and vengeful for his humiliation, would very likely declare war, setting the scene for a tri-empire battlefield from which I would be safely, happily excluded - provided I pay certain bribes and concede to some demands. Then again, I could approach this same option in a different way - I could do everything as before, yet order my Galaxy class to enter battle as well ( commanding it to switch from Avoid to Engage just before the Cardassian cruisers would arrive in the sector ). This way, with the aid of the big battleship, I could help the hunting Cardassian fleet fight off the Ferengi - a sign of my good will and ability to be of assistance. The Cardassians would very likely be kind to me in the future, allowing me to expand again, perhaps even letting me rebuild a great empire.
The second option would be to go through diplomatic channels, asking for a war pact, perhaps sundering disputed territories or maybe paying a large bribe. I'd also approach through the chat function, growing amiable with the Cardassian Commander, planning strategies and making him enthusiastic to glorious battle with our mutual foe.
The third option would be to go through the intelligence bureau, ordering my agents to target the Cardassians with Sabotauge - while framing the Ferengi ( or the other way around ). There's only a certain amount of dissapeared Heavy Cruisers, bombed Factories and slander any player can stand before he furiously declares War - a sweet victory for my Bureau.
As the turn timer wound down to its close I made up my mind - and sent my sole Galaxy class battleship towards a Cardassian outpost three sectors away to the North East. Construction was also finished at Sol on a brand new Galaxy class ( woohoo! ), which I added to my home fleet to replace the one I might've sentenced to doom. I ordered another Light Cruiser, moved some more people to research in the Capitol System, watched as the population of far off Wolon grew to 100, ordered a Shipyard at the same place, finished my upgrades to level 4 buildings at Mercidon, raided the Chalodans with my entire fleet, stealing 114 credits, and finally accepted a friendship proposal from the Selay who were now at Cordial race relations, diverting a Solarian Trade oute to their home system. Whew.
It turned out I guessed right - there were three Cardassian heavy cruisers ominously lurking about that outpost, guarding their all-important territory from enemy raiders. I set my own ship to Avoid, and so could fly straight into their sector without engaging, letting them know of my presence. Nothing happened. It seemed like the Cardassian Commander was busy elsewhere, and didn't see my massive craft, so I switched to Engage. Next turn in the combat screen I retreated the battleship, taking only a few shots and handily avoiding what looked to be a ramming atempt. Smiling to myself, I knew I had fed his appetite for a glorious victory, and ordered the Galaxy to move a sector ahead, commanding it to switch back to Avoid. My suspicion was confirmed when another four cruisers ( talk about excessive force ) joined the taskforce and set off to kill my flagship. Anticipating this, I had already ordered it to move a sector west - towards a Ferengi outpost and a sizable protectorate fleet that I had spotted earlier with a science vessel. The chase continued for another 3 turns over 2 sectors, although I was worried once that my hunters had stopped and given up in disputed territory. I halted my battleship as well, and the Cardassians, seeing that I was again stationary and an easy target, pursued. Finally I arrived at the evil Feregi outpost, still on Avoid, and waited.
Sure enough, the Cardassians blundered straight into the cleverly staged fight, with the combat screen whirling in upon no fewer than three totally different fleets. The hoard of little angry orange, sickel-shaped Ferengi Raiders waited menacingly before the towering rectangular outpost of the same color that utterly dwarfed them. The Cardassians, on the otherhand, with their massive, golden-yellow, paper thin yet extremely wide, almost centipede like ships that exuded military stability and durability, eased forward, coasting closer to the Ferengi yet not firing. Aha! Good! I had known the Cardassians wouldn't be able to resist a glorious battle with the annoying Ferengi, to raise the morale of their citizens and broadcast their power throughout the galaxy. My plan was working perfectly . . . .
Both sides, far more powerful than my big but single ship, totally ignored my presence as I initiated Evasive Maneouvers. Suddenly, the Cardassians opened fire, scorching space with brilliant beams of purple phaser fire, directed at three rapidly closing destroyers, two of which went down in a blaze of infernel glory! The third, however, evaded two searing blasts, then arced up and accelerated wildly - straight into a heavy cruiser! The sturdy Cardassian Vessel pitched down, obviously in trouble, yet failed to detonate thanks to its amazing structural durability. A less powerful cruiser, however, wasn't so lucky, swerving aside and finally blown back and away by a swarm of viciously maneouvering Ferengi Raiders and their deadly yellow torpedoes. Another four sickel shaped wasps screamed down upon two Cardassian Heavy Cruisers, hurtling themselves recklessly at the giant ships and blowing themselves to smitherenes in a wave of apocalyptic explosions. Finally the first Cruiser erupted in a huge blazing fireball of tremendous proportions, engulfing the miserable ships nearby and apparantly causing a warp core collapse in the second flagship, which tipped down and slowly, awesomely detonated as well, creating an almost blinding ball of fire which sent enormous shockwaves rippling majestically through the entire battlefield. Ouch.
Yet the Cardassians shrugged off this double catastrophe and ruthlessly forced their way forward, violently charging another pack of 5 Raiders and scorching them with countless bolts of brilliant purple phaser blasts! The Ferengi responded with a lightning fast Flyby, blowing apart two cruisers and injuring another before they themselves were simultaneously blasted to bits by a furious volley of photon torpedoes. With only two Cardassian warships left, one a Heavy Cruiser with shields at 50%, the other a smaller undamaged cruiser, I ordered my Galaxy class into battle against the enormous outpost. As the Cardassians eased closer to the vast structure that belittled them, they fired again wildly at yet another hoard of Raiders, hurtling down out of the stars, blasting away at their lumbering yellow enemy. Suddenly, my battleship swooped gracefully into the conflict, searing the huge outpost countless times with devastating Phaser blasts! With sublime ease, my enormous ship coasted closer, unleashing a deadly volley of lightning blue photon torpedoes and blistering the far larger outpost with continued fire. The Cardassian ships joined in, forgetting about their dogged angry orange attackers, while the giant space station desperately focused its disrupters upon my flagship. Yet finally, with a last crippling volley of photon torpedoes, the outpost had had enough. As my Galaxy ship cruised majestically by, a tremendous thundering explosion buffeted the hull as a brilliant fireball blazed spectacularly from the crumbling enemy hull. With a final blast of rapidly dissapearing white-hot flames, the outpost was no more.
But there were still those dogged, evil little sickel Raiders to worry about. The same pack, enraged at my back breaking attack, whirled in and accelerated towards my flagship. Uh oh. Frantically, I initiated Evasive Maneouvers, while the grateful Cardassians blasted away at the incoming craft with bolts of phaser fire. With my powerful shields at 60%, the first Ferengi destroyer blew itself to bits against the sleek, curving hull of my ship, knocking them down to 20%. Now the second raider rushed up to suicidally ram me to oblivion, yet this time I held my ground, firing away desperately with bolts of lightning-blue phaser blasts. And now, with the Raider screaming into full speed just to the bottom right of my smoothly curving hull and second Warp Nacelle, the one surviving Cardassian craft, the big Heavy Cruiser two thirds the size of my own battleship pitched up and opened fire as well, blowing away the destroyer just seconds before it would've slammed into my dangerously weakened shields. Only one Ferengi craft was left, seemingly deciding whether to retreat or attempt a Ram. Quickly, it made up its mind, whirling around below us and accelerating to warp speeds, with us firing furiously with blasts of blue and purple phaser beams. With the Ferengi thuroughly defeated, we opened hailing frequencies and went our seperate ways.
Next turn, the Cardassians, infuriated at the Ferengi but grateful to me for the much needed help, propsed a War Pact against those greedy little fools which I excitedly accepted. We reinstated our Friendship treaty, while the Romulans seemed content to simply keep things the way they were, neither attacking what was left of my Empire nor declaring War on the Ferengi. That would soon change . . . .
The Klingons
Within only a couple turns, a mighty Cardassian fleet burst out of Romulan territory at the limits of Scanner Range, plummeting deep into Ferengi territory - hopefully to the enemy homeworld. The Romulans were still not doing anything, yet had moved another two strike cruisers and a troop transport to occupied Siruis. I, on the other hand, had concluded an Affiliation negotiation with the Selay, while colonizing two more Star Systems in the vicinity of Wolon. What's more, I now had two Galaxy class ships, 6 Light Cruisers and 4 Destroyers, a half decent fleet - had it been made 40 turns earlier. It was now that something rather unpleasant befell me.
I met with the Klingons, the last major race to have been discovered.
It was not a pleasant meeting.
The first thing those supposedly "honourable" warriors did was demand a whopping 10,000 credits! I was stunned. Ten thousand?! Even the Ferengi wouldn't go that far . . . apparantly news of my woes had spread. I was forced to reject, not wanting to throw my entire Federation into massive debt, but apparantly this didn't suit those hot blooded Klingons. Apparently desperate for a winnable war to appease their crazy Apathetic fighters, they immediately entered conflict with 3 Strike cruisers, versus one of my puny far Eastern outposts. The results were, of course, predictable; I tried to hail, they crushed my cowering space station in a single turn. But that wasn't the worst of it . . . .
Now, to my horror, a VAST Klingon armada of what must have been a dozen huge, vicious Bird of Prey Heavy Cruisers decloaked just off the newly Colonized system of Albenurcon, finding only a single outpost to defend. While they screamed in to attack like their swooping namesake, I was delegated to watching the huge swarm materialize out of the darkness, eclipsing the burning orange sun, and humiliatingly blow my flailing outpost to pieces. Um, drat.
The cruisers bombarded my planets to destruction, then moved on to Wolon. Frantically I had ordered my fleet to journey to the same star system, in the hope that I could somehow stave off total defeat and beat back the super agressive Klingons. And so, arriving just before the enemy Grand Fleet, I entered battle the next turn, forcing myself to be more confident. After all, all I had to lose was any hope of expansion, and thus the entire 5 hour long game. Great.
The tactical viewscreen zoomed in as usual upon the attacking fleets and I manipulated the controls to scan the enemy flotilla as I always do. I stopped. I starred. I gaped.
Uh oh.
A swarm of decloaked Bird of Preys, looking very much like a pack of angry, descending wasps but infintely more graceful, surrounded a . . . Vor 'cha battleship.
Um, oh shit.
A Vor 'cha batteship is among the most powerful craft in the Universe, and certainly the most powerful Klingon thing ever built. Even a single one of these could probably take out most of my fleet. Glittering with sinister red lights, the monster, dwarfing the rest of both armadas, eased forward menacingly. A Sovereign class dreadnought would really have helped now. Pity all I had were two galaxy class battleships about, oh, 4 tech levels further down. I gulped. What to do?
The enemy answered for me. The enemy battleship fired great beams of red disrupter havoc, tearing apart a Light Cruiser with ease and releasing a mighty volley of torpedoes. Now the Bird of Prey swooped in to engage my flailing forces, blasting apart both Galaxy ships and 2 Light Cruisers in Vicious strafe maneouvers. Finally, three awe-inspiring strike cruisers, probably among the most striking craft in the Galaxy, fired a deadly round of terrifically destructive torpedoes, in long range Circle maneouvers, crushing three destroyers at once. OMG. A failue of such a tremendously complete magnitude I had simply not even fathomed.
Panicking, I frantically commanded my remaining three Light Cruisers and destroyer, all hanging motionless in starry space, to warp out of there, even though they had no chance of survival. Sure enough, as they turned about and began to accelerate to warp speed, a renewed storms of brillianty, blood red disrupter blasts illuminated the entire battlefield, burning through my shields and scorching my hulls. Suddenly, nearly simultaneously, all three of my Ambassador class light cruisers, seared black and pockmarked with disrupter burns, erupted in a blaze of unearthly glory just before they obtained warp one, sending great blue shockwaves expanding in their turbulent wake. The destroyer was next, rolling about and blasted to oblivion with ease. The last I saw was the gargantuan battleship and its mighty entourage dissapearing in the starry darkness of space.
Back in the Galactic screen, I looked at my "Empire," consisting of a whopping two Star System, where all other races must have had more than 15. Desperately, I tried to secure a Non Agressian truce with the Enraged Klingons, who stubbornly refused. Now frantic, I appealed to my friends the Cardassians to help me. However, the Cardassians were obviously not having | |
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