So yesterday I managed to buy Earth 10 more years time. Actually felt terrible playing Stellaris for the first time, guilty that we were surviving. I look back on this thread and instead of proposing how to survive, everyone's thinking about how many robots we can build. This UN simulation is too realistic
The Belmacosa Republic joins the Bright Entente, massively increasing the federation's fleet size. I also pick the galactic defender ascension path and the force projection ascension path, two perks I have never used hitherto now before, but have become immediately necessary to our survival.
Mankind begins repurposing all of her industries towards the production of peacekeeping materiel.
A good long, last look, at the world that once was.
The Prethoryn reach the Sirius star system, invading planet Muwanga. Although Earth's advanced shipyards have spent 24/7 producing peacekeeping ships, we still possess nowhere near enough ships to directly challenge the Prethoryn assimilator fleets. However, we note a pattern of behaviour that is exploitable: Upon subduing a planet, the prethoryn assimilator fleets warp off to other rally points or planets to subdue, leaving their troop transports behind in what they believe to be subdued and safe territory.
This allowed us to swoop in, destroy the transports and liberate the world, thus preserving the Sol System's buffer zone for longer and increasing the time it takes for the prethoryn to assimilate further worlds. The success of this strategy would result in it becoming mainstream UN doctrine against the prethoryn, in such time as we could build up a larger fleet to engage in more conventional strikes.
:|
All Synths are illegal now, sentient or not. Our ships shall be controlled manually.
Planet Muwanga is liberated!
In the two years it takes to dismantle all remaining CyberIA units, one of the labs AI malfunctions.
We discovered it had effectively self-terminated itself.
We will defeat the Prethoryn, whatever these remnant AI believe.
Mars engages in similar raids. Everywhere from Mandasura to Suter, Empires are sending forth their best to hold back the ocean. The prethoryn redirect hundreds of thousands of their ships to eliminate the intruders, this slows their rate of expansion, but does not stop them from claiming many more worlds.
In these black times, we at last stood shoulder to shoulder with Mandasuran and Adnori as friends.
The screams in the shroud hailing from Alpha Centauri go silent, replaced by the sound of hunger. Planet Sidsmeiera is lost, and the Prethoryn gain their first foothold within our solar cluster.
2405:12:07: Massacre at Round Nut sees many allied fleets from two federations entirely eliminated by the prethoryn.
2406:02:04: Disturbed by the rogue AI's calculations that we were all going to die, our telepaths looked to the shroud to see if they could divine portents of the future. We saw Earth, littered with millions of bodies, all of them human, the stench of decay inescapably putrid, her skies adrift with orbiting wreckage. Our telepaths pondered if this was a possible future, but an indomitable will, not of human origin answered us.
"
NOT ONE OF MANY. THIS FUTURE SHALL COME TO PASS, AS SURELY AS THE SUN RISES. IT IS YOUR DESTINY."
This will dissipated in a maelstrom of psychic energy, which we successfully channeled into an avatar of the shroud.
Let us hope the AI and the shroud are wrong.
The UN and UM blocked all attempts at expelling the Mandasurans from the Bright Entente, claiming solidarity in the face of the prethoryn.
Also that month, where our liberations had succeeded from Albion Loft to Muwanga, our first attempt at raiding an infested world ended dramatically.
We sent forth our psionic avatar alone, gauging whether it could feasibly cleanse infested worlds and retreat before being destroyed by the prethoryn immune system. Admiral D'Agostino managed to warp the avatar out before the next wave of scourge missiles would've destroyed it, but not before taking down 3 prethoryn vessels and the prethoryn spaceport over Sidsmeiera.
The Prethoryn response was... Overwhelming. I felt nothing but despair seeing how we could wipe out a dozen Prethoryn ships and thousands would take their place.
All spaceport efforts moved to the construction of the humble workforce of the peacekeeping force. The Port Moresby class destroyer was so constructed that humanity could amass as many long-range kinetic artillery batteries as possible, to fire off the first salvo against the prethoryn. Equipped with series of anti-scourge and anti-strike craft artillery, the destroyers would be able to snipe prethoryn ships, survive the first wave of strike-craft and missiles, before warping out of the system for repairs - thus inflicting casualties upon the prethoryn whilst minimizing our own.
This allowed us to taste the insidious hope of victory.
2408:08:01: The Blessed Sibulan Grand Duchy joins the Bright Entente. At this point I'm not paying much attention to the federation, and simply allow all the members to vote in additional members as they see fit.
The Prethoryn invade the Sol system.
Earth falls.We had a choice then, to expire or survive. There were many worlds we could've fought to defend, many peoples we could've fought alongside, we could've accepted our fate honourably and died buying the galaxy more time. We didn't. Most of all, I didn't. World after world sacrificed to the Prethoryn to buy us more time. We had done more than survive, I had caused us to betray every ideal we stood and was prepared to die for, we sacrificed friends and enemies we spent centuries nurturing and knowing, building ties of family and friendship across the stars. Even now the entirety of Earth and its populace is devoted to the construction and procurement of further peacekeeping ships. I gave up everything just to buy a few more years of time. We left Earth.
Instead of sending forth our fleets to launch one last stand, I hid them. When the prethoryn fleet ventured forth to extinguish more worlds, I let them go. Our fleets returned to the Sol system.
While we liberated Earth, everywhere species were falling. The Curator Enclave were wiped out, the Empire of Suter joined us in their last stand, the Mandasurans were annexed by the Adnori, now locked in an epic battle to the death against the scourge.
We witnessed the Empire of Suter's grand Imperial Navy strike into the heart of the Prethoryn scourge and die alone.
We turned infested Mars into an ashen grey waste.
I sent forth our fleet of construction ships and gave the 5th fleet their last order. We could perhaps build a series of interlocking orbital Fortresses, strong enough to withstand the prethoryn, because with the destruction of our spaceport and the elimination of all planets that served as a buffer between us and the prethoryn, there was no way we could produce enough ships to withstand the scourge. If the Fortresses could not be constructed in time, if the Fortresses could not hold, there was nothing more we could do. Thus the 5th fleet was told: Use your jump drives, strike into the heart and capital of the scourge's territories, attack the heart of the swarm and cause millions of scourge ships to retreat from the border worlds. If the Fortresses are constructed in time, retreat, otherwise take as many worlds down as possible.
This is our last forlorn hope.
2411:07:01:
But others fight the good fight. By their example they inspire us, by ours we inspire them.
We will not surrender quietly into the night.
Witness the end of the galaxy
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Topic: Stellaris: Never leave Earth (Read 90796 times)