Klackons declared war for no reason, but that's normal. Kinda surprised that they're sporting a battleship already. No big deal though, my weapon tech is pretty good, so my starbases can probably hold them off. I form an alliance with my Alkari trade partners just in case.
Next turn a Sakkra battleship arrives at Aquilae, the only colony outside my home star. They demand the colony, and politely declare war when I refuse. Fair enough, I spitefully sell off the automated factory. The next turn they help the Klackons bomb it almost into rubble, then the Klackons land troops on the undefended surface. Again not a big deal, just a barely-started colony. My home system is quickly throwing together a light cruiser full of fighter bays. While my researchers desperately work on anti-matter torpedoes for my starbases.
Then everything goes wrong.
I check my Alkari allies and notice they haven't declared war on either of my aggressors. Weird since I allied before the Sakkra declared war, and it's the turn after I had a planet conquered from me. I demand that they declare war on the Sakkra. "Of course, friend!" I demand that they declare war on the Klackons. "How dare you, we declare war on you for the suggestion." They send their fleet (ALSO a battleship, for some reason, with no transports or anything) to harass my home system.
Fortunately the thing is barely FTL-capable, with basic lasers and nuclear missiles. No shields. But because they're freakin Alkari bird-dragons, the flipping BATTLESHIP survives my starbase's beam cannons long enough to take out my freshly-build cruiser with the fighter bays. The Klackon battleship+cruiser arrives long before I can build another.
Fortunately, my researchers developed antimatter torpedos just in time! Which it turns out... Starbases don't equip
The Klackons are using yellow beams which readily cut through my level 1 shields. Systems start failing on the starbase in turn three (I love how detailed the combat is in this game). But, my light torpedo-boat took out their antique cruiser, and their battleship's armor is almost gone. Desperate for an edge, I have my unarmed 5-man scout vessel fly directly up to the battleship. By overloading their warp core, they should do enough damage to expose the battleship's systems - and thin out some of the missiles on course for my wounded starbase. It's a desperate gambit, but their sacrifices will be -
Why did my STARBASE explode? Oh BUGGER it automatically unselected the scout after moving since it had no weapons. I self-destructed my starbase.
Yeahno, autosave loaded.
Master of Orion 2: Battle at Antares
Uncreative Telepathic Democracy
It's not a bad combo, but I really need to get assault shuttles so I can start capturing enemy ships for their tech. (I can climb the tiers super fast, but uncreative means I don't get to choose what 1/3 of each tier I actually get. High research tiers miniaturize and refine ideas... But I basically need to trade or steal those ideas.
And "telepathic" is super fun. Boarding ships captures them instantly instead of disabling them (mind-controlling the pilots?) and my capital ships make undefended enemy colonies instantly join me. No invasion, no lengthy reeducation period. It's not even evil, it's a democracy! I figure I'm just telling them the truth, efficiently.
Another neat thing is that conquered aliens populations stay aliens, just under your new government. So it can be useful to assimilate certain races with useful skills, like industry or research bonuses. Like Klackons. (Though freeing them from the hive mind replaces most of their food/industry bonus with democracy's research/economy)