In an effort to get this thread back on track... (edit: ah, looks like someone managed it before me - serves me right for writing a short story :p)
Here's the Human Empire, circa 2053:
Sol sits in the middle of a circle of systems. In the centre of this circle is The Core - Tau Ceti, Sol and Proxima Centauri. These worlds make up 99.6% of all Human population, with Earth, Mars, Proxima Centauri II and Tau Ceti III (all terraformed to 0.00 cost) being the largest worlds. New colonies at Cotman, to exploit a naturally low-cost world, and Vernon, to exploit a low cost world that also houses ruins, are just starting up. Another colony is planned for Galloway’s Star, which contains a ruined base, bought at great cost from Precursor guards.
***
The Battles of Galloway’s Star
Galloway’s Star has been the source of much woe for the military. Discovered fairly early in the history of the Empire, a full grav survey of the system was conducted, showing no other jump points, but a number of planets, one of which looked promising for colonizing, were found and a geosurvey was planned. Jump gates were constructed, but no sooner had the survey craft started to approach one of the planets of the inner system when it detected a massively powerful targeting computer locking on to its location. It tried to flee, but was blown to pieces mere minutes later.
The untested Human fleet, 6 Spectre Mk1s, each armed with 50 missile launchers, jumped into the system, ready to avenge their fallen comrade. They detected three large ships, each twice as massive their own. With a savage delight, the Human ships closed to 34 million clicks from the enemy ships and attempted to launch their missiles… only to discover, to their horror, that massively strong ECM emanated from the craft – they would need to close to a mere 20 million clicks to fire. Sadly, at more than 25 million clicks, huge volleys of enemy missiles started raining down on the defenseless fleet. There were no survivors.
Years later, the new Human fleet, 6 Spectre Mk2s, armed with both the launchers of the Mk 1s as well as 5 CIWS each, to protect from their missiles, approached the system. To their surprise, the enemy was not detected. Puzzled, they moved to the planet where the original survey ship had been destroyed. Upon reaching orbit, two previously hidden ground bases opened fire on the fleet. The fleet scrambled to respond, but the bases were armed with scores of lasers, firing dozens of shots every second. Metal turned to steam, as the fleet was melted to slag. All crew perished.
Years later, the new Human fleet, 6 Spectre Mk3s, which boasted new engines, approached the system. This fleet ran into the massive ships which had killed the Mk1s. Knowing their missiles were useless beyond 20 million clicks; they advanced into the teeth of the enemy. Missiles pounded the fleet as it approached, and soon nearly the entire fleet was broken into separate pieces as missiles blasted armor and destroyed engines and internal systems. However, the fleet pressed on, and four ships reached that magical line in the sand and 200 missiles launched on the enemy ships. The missiles hit, and two of the Precursor ships slowed – a sure sign that they too had taken heavy damage. But then the next round of Precursor missiles hit the fleet, taking one more ship and causing another to eject most of its ordinance as one of its magazines exploded. 150 missiles went out, and one of the Precursor behemoths exploded, and another slowed to a mere crawl at only 1000 km/s. However, the final enemy ship appeared undamaged, and still closed with the severely damaged fleet at a monstrous 7000 km/s. Their magazines nearly empty, two Human ships readied their final shots as yet another Precursor volley headed toward them. Thankfully, it was only a shadow of its former self, and the now elite Human crews, forged in nuclear fire, were able to shoot down nearly all incoming shots, and the few that got through was absorbed by the buckling armor of their ships. 18 missiles headed out from the Human fleet, and the captains of the ships ordered their crews to head back to the jump point, knowing in their hearts that they would be overtaken and destroyed. But – a miracle! – after just a few missiles hit, a giant secondary explosion rocked the Precursor vessel – an engine had gone critical, and with an eye-tearing flash, nothing remained.
The crews cheered as their ships, all suffering from various amounts of internal damage, turned back towards Sol for repair and resupply.
It would take a few months, but the three survivors returned to the system, easily dispatched the lone Precursor ship, then orbited the deadly world beyond the reach of the Precursor beam weapons, raining death down on the PDCs.
***
To the North of the Empire is the Augsburg Commune. Despite early tensions when the Commune destroyed an Empire jumpgate construction ship, communication flourished between the two species, and they are now counted as allies.
To the North-East of the Empire are the Corfinium Republic and the Bandar Seri Begawan Aristocracy. The Republic owns only a single world, and has not yet discovered interstellar flight. The Empire has future plans to land several brigades of troops to ‘teach’ these natives the benefits of Empire technology and joining the Empire. The Aristocracy is currently neutral, but there is a large ruin (over 100 installations) on one of the Aristocracy planets, so the Empire is debating the merits of war.
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Topic: Aurora - The Dwarf Fortress of 4X Games (Read 2840150 times)