Turn 234We catch that Galaxy-class defending Canopus.
Even without the advantage of cloak, our captains take it down without issue, using only torpedoes.
After 234 turns, the Romulan Star Empire finally secures its second source of dilithium. We’ll begin producing scouts at Ekos to take down the orbital batteries.
And in the southeast, the Klingons unveil what can definitely be termed ‘deathfleet’. That’s 5 destroyers, a troop transport (another is to the east), and
20 of their dreaded Battle Cruiser IIs. This is definitely an invasion fleet bound for Cardassia, and it seems unlikely the Cardassians will be able to hold them off this time. Second Fleet is ordered to set a course for the galactic core, but they won’t reach here in time.
Turn 235Cardassia is all but defenseless before the Klingon hordes. The lone troop transport rushes back to Cardassia in a brave but ultimately futile show of resistance. The Listening Post at Mintaka further reports the presence of an additional 3 Scout IIs under cloak – worrying, as we did not detect these before. It may be that the Klingons are finally taking a page out of our book and installing cloaking devices.
To the east, there’s 2 Ferengi War Cruisers at Sarthong which Force 2 will set course for. Strike Fleet will hang around and hopefully catch one of the 4 Assault Transports at the Klingon’s orange star outpost.
Turn 236In just one turn, the tactical situation worsens alarmingly. Firstly, the Klingons conquer Cardassia, reducing our ship ranges in the far east and we are unable to reach Sarthong or the Ferengi outpost at Trill (the Ferengi cancelled our non-aggression pact again). Secondly, the X-ray pulsar once again blinds us to the location of Klingon ships. I’d hope that it’s wrecking just as much havoc with the Klingons, but I doubt the AI cares about such trival things. Also, that Cardassian troop transport fled again, but they can’t keep running from the Klingons forever.
On the upside, Second Fleet arrives at Cardassia in two turns. After some consideration, I decide to bring Force 2 and the Strike Fleet together again – guerilla warfare isn’t exactly working in these conditions.
Turn 237The Klingon Deathfleet splinters apart, with a significant contingent over Mintaka. The only thing protecting them is that the Klingons have to take a turn to declare war before bombing, a turn in which the forces of the Empire can reach Mintaka. If we lose the shipyard at Mintaka, we lose all ability to operate in the galactic core (the Cardassians don’t have any more shipyards) and effectively lose the war.
To the south, there’s a lone Klingon Assault Transport. I set Force 2 and the Strike Fleet to travel southwest and hopefully intercept it – even if the Klingons do declare war next turn, they can still reach Mintaka in one turn from there.
Turn 238It looks like they got more than they bargained for, though.
Opposing them are 8 Klingon Battle Cruisers IIs. These ships are both better armed and shielded than our Cruiser IIs or Strike Cruisers, and they outnumber our 7 ships. The only advantage we have is that of surprise.
After some deliberation, the assembled captains decide to go against doctrine and attack. They know some of them might not survive this battle, but it is their best chance to take down the Klingons when they are not assembled in the deathfleet.
Our ships decloak and open fire. The Strike Cruisers in particular launch a barrage of torpedoes, and explosions light up amongst the Klingon vessels.
Their crews are inexperienced, though, and many more torpedoes miss their mark.
When the dust settles, we see that we have eliminated 3 of the Klingon ships. The RNS Dark Raptor darts in to hopefully sow panic in the Klingon ranks.
The next few moments see a lightshow of disruptor fire erupt between the two sides. The Klingon captains react admirably, launching their own torpedoes with haste. Screams are heard over our own comms – Romulan ships are going down.
There is only one more Battle Cruiser left, but our own Strike Cruisers are not in good shape either, with damage control crews scrambling to extinguish plasma fires across their hulls.
A well-placed disruptor shot from the RNS Petrel helmed by Captain Haspen marks the annihilation of the Klingon fleet.
The Empire is victorious.
Our victory is not without cost, though. Besides the scout RNS Dark Raptor, the Strike Cruiser RNS Blue Falcon went down to enemy fire. A moment of silence for Captain Lal Devious and his brave crew, killed in the line of duty.
The diminished Force 2 and Strike Fleet will head south, where the transport has been switched for 3 Scout IIs. Our military leaders wish to see the Klingons’ cloaking capability in battle. Meanwhile, Second Fleet will also head south to catch 5 Destroyers east of Mintaka. Note that our other Strike Cruiser escaped being destroyed by just 20 hitpoints.
Turn 239They don’t get the trio of Scouts, instead vaporizing the troop transport there originally.
The five destroyers have apparently joined their battlecruiser comrades in the 16-ship fleet over Mintaka again. Our analysts speculate that they are trying to provoke us into a decisive battle here. Opinions differ as to whether the combined strength of Second Fleet, Strike Fleet and Force 2 would be enough to win against the Klingons. However, even if we win, the survivors won’t be able to hold off further Klingon ships (there are at least 9 more battlecruisers, as seen on turn 234). It chafes at Romulan pride, but our ships are ordered to stay away from Mintaka for the moment. Instead, they will assemble south of Mintaka.
Turn 240Some good news at least – our advance in weapons tech now allows us to build
D’deridex-class Warbirds. Romulus and Ekos are busy churning out scouts to support the invasion of Canopus, but we’ll try to build one soon to gain superiority over the Klingons.
Meanwhile, the Klingons depart Mintaka – they’ll probably be back next turn. Our ships spread out, hopefully to catch this lone Klingon transport which we think is heading north to Adelphous.
Turn 241Instead, the transport disappears back into Klingon space. There’s another at Cardassia, but our sensors confirm this is a different one than the one we saw last turn. Also, the Klingons surprise us by not going back to Mintaka.
Up in the north, we continue to assemble forces for the invasion of Canopus. There are 4 scouts at Canopus already along with Force 1, 2 troop transports waiting to the west at Tama, and 2 more scouts making their way north from Romulus and Ekos.
Turn 242Our attempt to catch the Klingon destroyers fails as our vessels warp past each other. That’s a troop transport two sectors east; no sign of their battlecruisers now. Also, it’s not quite in the picture, but our range in the northeast has expanded, likely due to the Cardassians building a shipyard at Adelphous.
Our forces over Canopus decloak in preparation of being given the order to attack next turn, when the extra scouts arrive. As per the recommendation of an up-and-coming officer named Ivan, we will first bomb the system for a turn to take out the orbital batteries before sending in the troops, instead of doing both concurrently as was done at the Tama debacle.
Speaking of Tama, as it has finished building ancillary structures (like the subatomic simulators), I rededicate the entire free population to man the level 9 labs, providing 650 research points per turn and boosting our total to 2500. We should get level 6 construction much sooner than before.
Turn 243We chase the Klingon Destroyers, but they get upgraded to Destroyer IIs. This means they can now move 2 sectors per turn and run (more) rings around us.
And to the north, our sensors pick up what our analysts refer to as ‘absolute bullshit’ – the Ferengi conjure up 12 War Cruisers out of nowhere. They’ve also recolonized their homeworld of Ferenginar (with a level 2 colony ship, which starts with 20 population). Our fleets divert north to put them down – while the Ferengi aren't at war with us yet, they are allies of the Klingons.
Turn 244We believe the Ferengi to be headed for Malcor, so our forces will assemble at Vadris.
Also, I realize I forgot to give the ‘attack system’ order last turn (whoops), so I do so this turn.
Turn 245This was very unexpected. We lost 3 scouts for only 2 orbital batteries, so now we have 3 scouts against 4 batteries. More pertinently, the minute amount of collateral damage (only 4 million killed) leads me to believe that Force 1 is insufficient to bomb Canopus into submission by itself. We should add in the Second Fleet and/or Strike Fleet, but they’re busy chasing down the Ferengi.
The combined strength of the Second Fleet, Strike Fleet and Force 2 moves to attack the Ferengi fleet at Malcor. Let’s hope they don’t move somewhere else.
Turn 246Unfortunately only 2 War Cruisers remain, and we obliterate them without issue.
This was pretty much what we expected. At least we struck the first blow.
Our forces will pursue the Ferengi ships, now east of Malcor.
The last ship to be launched from the shipyards at Ekos is the RNS Night Raven, another scout to be thrown at the Federation’s orbital batteries.
The shipyards at Zakdorn take over shipbuilding duties, and immediately begin work on a special project. We’ll need it if we are to be victorious against the Klingon hordes.
Turn 247The Ferengi seem to be fleeing back to their system of Yridia. I’m going to take a gamble here and send all our forces back to Canopus to assist in the invasion. It’s dangerous, given all the enemy ships threatening Mintaka, but there don’t seem to be any troop transports in the area. We need Canopus conquered already so that Force 1 can join the central theatre.
Turn 248The Klingons claim to hate peace, but apparently that only applies to us.
We get that breakthrough in construction tech, allowing us to build starbases. I doubt we’ll be building one anytime soon, because spare troop transports are always better off being used for invasions.
The Ferengi head to Klabnia. That probably doesn’t bode well, since it seems they are heading for our space.
Turn 249The Klingons have assembled another fleet over Adelphous, but there’s again no troop transport evident. Meanwhile, the Ferengi fleet go to Malcor, and our ships decloak in anticipation of arriving at Canopus next turn.
Turn 250The ships in Canopus are given the order to attack. We have the entire spaceborne might of the Romulan Star Empire here, twenty-four warships coordinating to overwhelm the Federation defenders in orbit and planetside. The two Strike Cruisers especially are in their element – with multiple torpedo launchers and the targeting systems for them, they are built for precise planetary bombardment.
In the core, the Ferengi are apparently content to relax at Malcor, while the Klingon fleet disperses to the south. Still no sign of any troop transports yet.
Turn 251This was an unexpectedly good result – 6 batteries destroyed for no loss of ships on our side. We’ll bomb for another turn to give time for an additional troop transport to arrive, and then the troops go in.
However, inspection of our ships reveals that the orbital batteries did do quite a bit of damage before being shot down. I believe our larger fleet allowed us to ‘rotate’ ships in and out of the line of fire, preventing any one ship from getting destroyed. It may be better to bomb with our entire fleet to minimize losses, but that would necessitate giving our enemies free roaming in space.
In the rest of the galaxy: three things of note: the Ferengi split off 9 of the War Cruisers to venture east, there’s a Klingon colony ship II southeast of Doraf probably hoping to colonise Doraf, and two of their Assault transports are 86% done constructing an outpost in Metaline – so that’s where they went.
Turn 252The bombardment of Canopus proceeds as planned, with the enormous casualties helping to lower the system’s ground combat strength. The invasion will come next turn.
The Federation doesn’t take this lying down, and conjures another Light Cruiser II out of nowhere, despite not having any more dilithium to fuel it. Another troop transport just built in Romulus lays in a course to meet our fleets later, while the Ferengi have switched ships around, with 9 at Malcor and 1 east of Sarona. The Klingon colony ship prepares to offload their colonists on the desolate mechanical wasteland that is Doraf, ravaged by the Borg nearly 50 turns ago.
Speaking of Klingons, they’ve assembled an invasion fleet bound for Kholfa, with a single Assault Transport backed up by six battlecruisers. Hopefully the Cardassians will fend them off, but I’m not too sure if they can. The Klingons have also completed their outpost at Metaline, not that it matters.
Turn 253The invasion of Canopus is a resounding success, some reassuring news after the debacle that was Tama.
Canopus is a good system, with level 5/6 infrastructure, but its morale is in the dumps, as expected of a conquered system. We’ll build the Subatomic Simulators first to start the system contributing to the Empire, then begin a tribunal to weed out malcontents.
The majority of our combined fleet will head for Sarona to smash that impudent Starfleet cruiser, while the troop transports meet up with another while escorted by Scouts.
Of note, the Klingon invasion fleet has arrived over Kholfa, while their colonization of Doraf begins in earnest.
Turn 254The Ferengi offer us a generous amount in return for peace. I’ll accept so that I can focus on the Klingons for now. Also, the Cardassians’ attitude toward us has dropped to icy – I don’t know why.
In Rigel, the Klingons have assembled yet another invasion fleet. This one is notable as it has the IKC Qar’dus, the first
Negh’Var-class Strike Cruiser that we have seen. These ships have much lighter shielding than the Battle Cruiser IIs, but boast a more powerful complement of weapons. Also, the Klingon invasion of Kholfa is unsuccessful, though they do put in a dent in the system’s population (129 to 112).
Turn 255The Federation also follows the Ferengi in offering us a non-aggression pact, but I’m not accepting. We’re almost through with them – once Sarona falls, Bryma is their last system and it’s practically undefended. The Light Cruiser II at Sarona has disappeared, presumably falling back to Bryma.
The Klingons assemble over Adelphous. Unlike Kholfa, I doubt the Cardassians will be able to withstand this, especially as the Klingons have dedicated Strike Cruisers in that fleet. Also, a pair of troop transports is almost (86%) done constructing an outpost over Cardassia.
The populations of Mintaka and Ekos are ordered to strengthen their defenses, building orbital batteries and bunker networks. Once the Cardassians fall, these systems are first on the invasion list.
Turn 256A breakthrough in the field of Propulsion upgrades and allows us to build Destroyer IIs, but we don’t have and don’t plan on building any. Now we just need an upgrade in biotech to have level 6 techs across the board.
Romulan ships will commence the bombing of Sarona. Hopefully we can get away with having no scouts destroyed again.
The Klingon invasion of Adelphous is successful, and the loss of the Cardassian shipyard there causes our ship ranges in the northeast to contract greatly. Notably, the short-range Strike Cruisers at Sarona are out of range, but they can still move one square back inside the green range. Our primary target in the northeast is Bryma, and it’s still in the troop transport’s (yellow) medium range. We’ll see about getting a shipyard operational on Sarona once we conquer it
Turn 257We don’t get our wish – five scouts are destroyed for five batteries – but I’m happy to make that trade. The troop transports have arrived and the invasion of Sarona will commence shortly.
That’s just as well, since I’m worried about the Klingons. The troop transport shown here is the only one we see, but if the Klingons declare war they could mount an invasion of Mintaka in two turns, too fast for our forces to respond. It could be that this transport is meant for Kholfa, though. Seven Ferengi War Cruisers have departed Malcor, perhaps in anticipation of our conquest of Sarona. Once Sarona is Romulan the sectors around it will likely become disputed, and the non-aggression pact forbids them from moving through such sectors.
Turn 258The invasion of Sarona is a resounding success, and the news of victory boosts morale across the Empire.
With that done, the Romulan Navy reorganizes itself. The lone Scout left over joins the 2 remaining troop transports to head northeast for the invasion of Bryma, the last Federation system. Second Fleet dissolves, and its ships now join Force 1 and Force 2. The reorganized navy is:
Force 1:
Captain Sheb/RNS Goshawk/Cruiser II/Elite
Captain Ebbor/RNS Kite/Cruiser II/Elite
Captain Jay Cin/RNS Kestrel/Cruiser II/Elite
Captain Dark Flagrance/RNS Osprey/Cruiser II/Elite
RNS Vulture, Cruiser II
RNS Eagle, Cruiser II
RNS Hawk, Cruiser II
RNS Raptor, Cruiser II
Force 2:
Captain Haspen/RNS Petrel/Cruiser II/Legendary
Captain Pisskop/RNS Albatross/Cruiser II/Legendary
Captain Theodolus/RNS Martin/Cruiser II/Elite
RNS Peregrine, Cruiser II
RNS Crow, Cruiser II
RNS Raven, Cruiser II
RNS Condor, Cruiser II
Strike Fleet:
Captain Monk/RNS Black Hawk/Strike Cruiser/Veteran
Captain Kai'an/RNS Red Falcon/Strike Cruiser/Veteran
Force 1 will go to and destroy the Klingon outpost at Cardassia. Force 2 and the Strike Fleet will meet up with a troop transport at Mintaka and guard over it as it builds an outpost there.
And in the west, the Romulan Empire launches its greatest ship so far – the
D’deridex-class Warbird. The RNS Fireback is more heavily armed and shielded than any Klingon vessel we have yet seen, and its cloaking device gives it the element of surprise against any foe. Captain EuchreJack is a fresh graduate of the Zakdorn Military Academy, and he will command the Warbird on its maiden voyage – to strike back in Klingon territory.
Remember Mintaka!
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Topic: Let's Play Star Trek: Birth of the Federation! (Read 31918 times)