Turn 210 cont’dOperation Blitzkrieg is a go. News channels across the Federation play out the war declaration endlessly, sparking a wave of militarism.
The first battle of the war is at Minos Korva. Our troop transports warp in just in time to join the battle.
The transports are the key to victory here. The Outpost is almost certainly done for, but if they take down the lightly armored transports before we can kill them, we’ll have to postpone the invasion. We’ve decloaked all our ships before the battle, so hopefully the outpost commander will target anything else other than the transports.
He chooses to target the scout vanguard instead of the transports. The outpost outranges us, so we cannot fire back this turn.
He goes down without taking a single Romulan vessel with him. The scouts’ torpedoes mainly did all the work here – the slower cruisers didn’t even fire their weapons.
At Ariannus, the Strike Fleet destroys the Outpost with no losses, thanks to their powerful torpedoes that down it instantly.
At Blue Horizon, Force 2 achieves surprise as they turn their weapons on the Federation Outpost.
At Ekos, we… wait, what?
Damn Ferengi! We direct all fire on the lead ship, but its shields hold.
Welp. We didn’t destroy a single Ferengi ship.
News of the defeat is overwhelmed by the victories against the Federation, with almost no airtime devoted to the Ferengi threat. However, some popular editorials criticize the betrayal of the Federation, calling it a stain on Romulan honor. But honor is for the Klingons; we Romulans value pragmatism above all else.
The defenses on Minos Korva are stronger since last turn – the Federation powered up the planetary shields over both planets in the system. This decreases the effectiveness of planetary bombardment, and since our troops in space are already disadvantaged against the Federation’s ground forces (180 to 202 in ground combat strength), I elect to postpone the invasion for a turn while the other ships take down the orbital batteries and planetary shields. If we fail this invasion, we can’t bring in extra troops from elsewhere, so discretion is the order of the day here. Otar is still being invaded this turn, though.
To the south, I decloak the fleets over Ariannus and Blue Horizon in preparation for their planetary bombardments next turn, and order in the troop transports so we can invade the turn after. The uncertainty here is the Federation’s final fleet over Sarona – 6 Light Cruiser IIs and 8 assorted smaller vessels. These lighter ships can move at 2 sectors per turn, fast enough to intercept and force the inbound troop transports at Blue Horizon into a space battle. We will be able to defeat them, but they still threaten our vulnerable transports. The Second Fleet is ordered toward Sarona, hopefully catching the slower Light Cruiser IIs halfway.
Turn 211The Second Fleet instead nabs the Federation’s 5 Miranda-class destroyers north of Blue Horizon.
They are destroyed instantly. Perhaps they were rushing to Ariannus?
Our assault on Minos Korva goes okay-ish. We only destroy 1 orbital battery in exchange for the loss of 2 Scout IIs, but we kill 6 million, dropping the ground combat strength to 190.
The simultaneous invasion of Otar goes swimmingly, with minimal collateral damage.
We also get a breakthrough in Propulsion tech. This extends the range of our long-range ships (only scouts) by 1 sector. As we have level 5 in all tech fields, we get improved laboratories, intel centers, and some special structures. The Singularity Plant would have been a great boon to us 50 turns ago, as it provides +2 dilithium for the hefty cost of 800(!) energy. As we’re currently in a recession and unable to build any more ships, it isn’t useful for now. The Naval Academy is our version of the Zakdorn Academy, only available in Romulus and providing +1 morale as well.
Now that we’re at tech level 5, we have 2 research targets to pick from, both concerning defense. We can go for the
D’deridex Warbird, a short-range command ship, or the
Romulan Starbase. The Starbase is cheaper, more heavily armed and shielded, but it is immobile, whereas Warbirds can be shifted around our key systems to counter the enemy.
A look at the newly acquired system of Otar – it pretty much sucks. They are ‘disgruntled’ about being conquered and due to the credit deficit, can’t build anything.
The invasion of Minos Korva, Blue Horizon and Ariannus are ordered simultaneously.
The Federation’s remaining 6 Light Cruiser IIs are seen here departing from Sarona. They could interrupt the Blue Horizon invasion, so the Second Fleet is sent there to pre-empt that.
Turn 212Oh yes!
Oh no!
Oh yes!
The Federation cruisers diverted north, possibly to rescue the besieged system of Minos Korva. The failed invasion of Ariannus cost us two troop transports and the scout there, but we destroyed the orbital battery. The Strike Fleet’s ships are all still intact, and they will continue bombing the system.
Force 2, involved in the successful invasion of Blue Horizon, lost its scout to the orbital battery. It’s replaced by the RNS Dark Raptor, which was originally for the battery. In the north, Force 1 at Minos Korva cloaks in preparation for the Federation cruisers, and the 2 leftover troop transports get to work building an outpost.
Force 2 and the leftover troop transport at Blue Horizon will proceed over to Ariannus to help the Strike Fleet with bombing.
An inside look at the system of Minos Korva, probably the Federation’s first colony. Level 5 structures of all types make this more advanced than any of our own systems, but the morale penalty squashes production.
Turn 213The bombs continue to rain down on Ariannus.
The Federations tries to force a non-aggression treaty, but we’ll reject it.
The Outpost finished construction already, thanks to the improved capabilities of the Troop Transport II. We’ll send the other one to Ariannus, escorted by Force 1. The two Scouts at Otar will head on over to investigate the unknown star, as suggested by Captain Haspen. The extra range allows Second Fleet to continue pursuing the Federation cruisers (now lessened to 4, as 2 others split off to north of Sarona).
Turn 214Oh, are we at this again? The Ferengi can’t really threaten our systems, as they’ve got no troop transports and only a handful of ships.
The Federation cruisers look to be threatening ours at Ariannus, where Force 2 just starting bombing. I’m confident that Force 2 and Strike Fleet, even uncloaked, will be able to handle them, so I send Second Fleet on to Canopus to strike the outpost there.
In the meantime, I just noticed this – a sizable Klingon Fleet over Cardassia. It includes 2 of their assault transports, making it an invasion fleet. Cardassia has also been bombed, reducing their population and severely damaging the orbital battery defenses.
Turn 215A Ferengi Explorer II blunders into our new outpost on Minos Korva.
Second Fleet encounters half of the Federation cruisers at the Canopus outpost.
They are destroyed easily in the initial decloaking round.
The Outpost attempts to return fire, but not for long.
The Federation also send a single Destroyer to relieve the bombardment of Ariannus. It doesn’t go so well.
Bleh. We’ll have to rebuild those, and the Listening Post will be offline for a while.
Our ambassador makes an unfortunate sashimi joke during first contact with the Antedeans, sending our relationship into the toilet. Well, we don’t need them anyway.
The Mintakans cheer us on against the Ferengi, but I decide to accept peace with them. I’d rather not have them threatening our southern front with the Klingons.
We can’t see it now that the Listening Post at Mintaka is offline, but the Klingon fleet is still there. Cardassia decreased to 248 million population from 312 last turn.
Second Fleet shall move on to pulverize the Tama outpost as well, while the scout duo continues on to the last uncharted star in the galaxy. Also, note that we’re (just barely) out of the deficit, which means we get to start producing again.
Turn 216We get the pair of Tamarian Defenders, appropriately enough, defending the Tama Outpost.
The system of Invernia isn’t that interesting, but apparently the Federation (partially) terraformed it.
The Federation’s last forces are now 2 Light Cruiser IIs and a troop transport in Canopus, as well as a Command Cruiser newly built on Tama. We order the (second) invasion of Ariannus this turn. It’s supported by Force 1, Force 2,
and the Strike Fleet.
Turn 217Second Fleet doesn’t manage to catch the Federation cruisers in Canopus, but the Command Cruiser had the same idea to join up with them.
The Galaxy-class is formidable, but it’s no match for the combined firepower of Second Fleet.
The invasion of Ariannus is a success! … but that’s a lot of collateral damage.
The Federation builds its universities well, it seems. Nothing else survived the bombing.
Damn. The Federation’s level 6 farms are so expensive that we can’t buy them now. We can’t even afford a charge collectors+replicators combo, so the people of Ariannus have to starve for now.
From here, there are 4 Federation systems left. Bryma is the easiest target, with only 38 million population and no orbital defenses, but it’s currently out of range. Tama and Canopus are both fortress systems, with 315 million population and 6 orbital batteries. Sarona is less so, but still boasts 5 orbital batteries.
Turn 218Not much happens this turn. I’m shifting fleets around trying to catch those Fed ships, and shuttling over new scouts on Romulus.
Turn 219A breakthrough in energy tech gives us Subatomic Simulators. They provide +150 research for 80 energy. It’s expensive, but well worth it.
Somehow I find it suspicious that the Federation is building ships so fast. They’ve also got a Destroyer II down near Romulus.
Turn 220Force 2 and the Second Fleet obliterate 3 Light Cruiser IIs outside Sarona.
Two bitter enemies making peace. Oh, the wonders of galactic diplomacy.
Turn 221We steamroll the remaining Federation ships at Sarona.
Hmm, I’m tempted to accept this. We’re sort-of not-quite at war with the Klingons, but it’s been more of a cold war since the peace treaty expired.
But that’s a whole lot of Klingon ships around Cardassia. Ten Battle Cruiser IIs and 5 Destroyers in all. The Cardassians seem to be losing badly – Cardassia has been in for another round of Klingon bombing. They’ve not yet lost, with a force of 10 cruisers in the south, but we’ll pass on helping the Cardassians for now.
And here’s a look at Mintaka, now back to its pre-comet strike glory. We’re feeding the entire population on one farm!
Turn 222A pair of scouts from Romulus hunt down the USS Montreal, which was the destroyer in our space.
The Ferengi are back to saber-rattling. Undoubtedly the Federation nudged them into it.
Klingon ships are coming out of the woodwork. It looks like the Cardassians are really done for this time. Also, to the east, the Klingons colonized Sarthong and the Ferengi probably built an outpost on Trill.
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Topic: Let's Play Star Trek: Birth of the Federation! (Read 31919 times)