((X-Fire was being a jerk and refused to upload the first few pics. Fear not, I will get everything!))
Year 2232, Part 2The Yor were contacted with an offer for Interstellar War Colleges in exchange for attacking the Drath Legion. They readily accepted, declaring war the next week.
The Drath, oblivious to our duplicity, called and smugly told us about a new weapon system they were developing: Singularity Drivers. Terran scientists were somewhat nervous at the implied power of the weapon.
Scientists came up with a way to (theoretically) increase the defensive power of several ships:
Fleet Defense. Leads to technologies that act like the Fleet Warp Bubble, except for defense rather than speed.
News came from the Chevychev system that the local Armok cruiser (one of the older ones) had finally killed enough Krynn ships to reach level 11; the crew were hardened veterans who kept the ship running against all odds. Their ship was renamed "Champion" in honor of their achievement.
News reached the Alliance that the Thalans had defeated the rodent-like Snathi and wiped out their civilization. Aside from a few refugee vessels, the species was gone:
Phalanx Systems, a major computer manufacturer, announced the invention of the Xanax Defense Coordinator, a supercomputer that could focus the defensive abilities of ships in a fleet to withstand more damage:
A couple of caveats about the XDC:
One, it's massive. It should be carried only by specialized ships.
Two, it only boosts defense. A ship without defenses will not gain any benefit.
Though it was unofficially known for years, the planet of Ymir I became formally recognized as the Alliance's manufacturing capital:
In deep space, a group of pirates discovered an ancient vessel with an unprecedented find: Ultradrive. Far superior to anything the galaxy's inhabitents had been able to produce, it had the capability to substantially boost any engine in existence. The pirates sold the secret to the races of the galaxy and became multi-trillionaires overnight:
Not to be outdone, scientists perfected ECM:
ECM III. Final stage in the ECM tree.
Still, the war waged on. The planet of Himalaya IV was captured by Terran Marines:
An obsolete technology was uncovered from the ruins:
Fleet Warp Bubbles II. We already have FWB III from the Snathi (god rest their souls).
Pelagon III, the closest shipbuilding world to the military resource, finally completed five constructors. Defended by two Armok cruisers, the constructor fleet set off:
Sadly, the constant shipbuilding and maintenance fees once again sent the Alliance's treasury into a downward spiral. The regretful decision was made to cut espionage spending.
No new spies for now, but we still had five in reserve and one on a Krynn world that for some reason was being ignored. That agent had survived the most recent purge and had been in position for almost two years.
Scientists excitedly announced the invention of the next level of point defense, called:
Point Defense. Yep. Twice as powerful as ECM.
The massive constructor fleet reached the military resource undisturbed (though it was a close call), and in record time forged a massive bastion against all foes:
Suddenly, the unthinkable happened:
Faced with either a life of servitude or a repeat of the Snathi purge, the Iconian leader surrendered to the relentless Thalan assault. Their surviving ships pledged loyalty to various alien races; four ships chose to defect to the Alliance:
Sadly, the distance was too great, and the crews were forced to enter hibernation until a friendly outpost was in range.
A minor race that was in the area took a moment to introduce themselves:
The Thalan fleet, no longer needed, proceeded to fly through Alliance space. It was the first look High Command had managed to get of the Thalan's rumored technological superiority:
Aldra III announced the grand opening of a massive transponder receiving device, which could detect ships anywhere in the galaxy:
After a fairly substantial assault failed to destroy a single Alliance ship, the Krynn ambassador contacted High Command with an offer for a peace treaty. On advice from the council,
MAX POWER! rejected the treaty, electing to continue the war.
A method of reliable interstellar banking was perfected:
Xeno Bank Construction. Upgraded economic building.
The Eyes of the Universe, aside from showing all ship on sensors, dramatically boosted the range that normal sensors could "see". Alliance officials had an unprecedented look into Krynn territory, including the massed fleets of fighters waiting to attack:
More importantly, however, was news that High Command immediately suppressed. A single Armok was dispatched towards Krynn space, and soon disappeared inside their borders.
While continuing the hunt for anomalies, the Terran Flagship, the oldest surviving ship in the fleet, was destroyed by a Krynn fleet:
The ice world of Chmmri I was captured. It suffered from a distinct lack of usable space:
The research theories captured from the planet, however, were far more interesting:
Interstellar Republic. The first in a short series of government techs. Switching from a dictatorship to a republic provides economy bonuses, but it also opens the possibility of the Industrialist party losing their majority, and the bonus along with it.
The solitary Armok that had been launched three weeks ago had finally reached it's destination: A massive starbase, deep within Krynn territory, which had been mining huge quantities of an influence-boosting substance. Top intelligence operatives believed that the substance gave users mild mind control abilities, making their words carry more weight.
Though the base had only token weapon systems, it had pretty much every mining module known to man installed, boosting the output to insane levels. This base was the reason low-class Krynn worlds could resist every effort to counter-influence them. It was the source of the Krynn's power. And on October 22nd, 2232, the base was annihilated by the cruiser known as "Ambush".
Ambush was assigned to hunt down and destroy a couple more starbases, though it's job was made more difficult thanks to every Krynn ship in the sector coming to full alert. It succeeded in destroying an economic starbase and an influence base before being forced to retreat. It returned to Earth and the crew were hailed as heroes.
In celebration, the final iteration of Stinger missile was perfected:
Stinger IV. The smallest and most expensive of the lot.
A number of Thalan fleets were observed in Krynn territory:
Alliance military vessels began encountering Krynn ships using an unusual tactic: stacking several small fleets in a single parsec of space, rather than lumping them all together in one large fleet:
With powerful point defense guns and smaller stingers, approval was given to further upgrade the Armok class, making it more powerful than either of the previous iterations:
Despite the continuing conflict, tourism in the Alliance suddenly skyrocketed. This, combined with the Krynn's waning influence, meant that the war was firmly in our favor.
Still, Thalan fleets continued to emerge from deep space...
The Krynn, sounding considerably more humbled, once again requested a peace treaty:
Since they were still unwilling to pay up, the treaty was rejected.
With the year almost over, the Alliance launched humanity's largest invasion to date on the world of Saba III. Four billion Alliance soldiers grappled with eight billion Krynn defenders, and emerged victorious:
((pretend that there is a pic of Saba III here *headdesk* ))
An intact power plant was recovered, and with it the principles to create our own:
Quantum Power Plants. More powerful than Anti-Matter plants, and much more expensive.
In honor of the S.P.Y. network, and as a sort of condolence to cutting funding,
MAX POWER! renamed the Zalr system Yeoman, and the planet of Zalr I became Yeoman Prime:
Xenosociologists came up with a new theory to convince alien worlds to join the Alliance:
Cultural Dominion. +5 to influence and unlocks the Franchise Center starbase module and the Re-Education Center improvement.
UP vote came up, for taxing foreign starbases:
Despite a massive influence loss, the Krynn came out on top yet again:
The closest thing we have to allies, the Arceans, Yor, and Drath all voted alongside us. Sadly, all of us put together are still the smallest voting block. We didn't stand a chance.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hey, we survived another year, without serious losses!
A few things that were not important enough to screenshot:
- The Ascension starbase has been rebuilt. A couple of Krynn attempts to destroy it were thwarted, and there is a small military starbase nearby to assist in defending it.
- The military mining starbase has been upgraded some more. Mining rate has increased.
- Some Iconian worlds in our territory are now owned by the Thalans. I'm not bothered by this, as their influence is weak and we have an influence starbase nearby to hopefully convert the masses.
- While upgrading the Mk 2 cruisers to the Mk 3 is tempting, keep in mind that each upgrade costs 690bc, and resets the ship's level to 0 (meaning the ship loses it's boosted health). For ships like Champion, which was level 15 last I checked, it could actually make the ship weaker for a time.
- Boatmurdered, like it's namesake, is doing awesome. The Armok defending the world has fought off (at last count) four separate Krynn fleets, each consisting of five heavy fighters and all in a short timespan. I'm looking for suggestions to name it.
Also something to vote on: Should we upgrade to a Republic? Our approval rating is in the mid-60s or so, which oughta be enough for this level of government, and the economic boost could be helpful. However, I do not believe that we can change back to a dictatorship once we make the choice. Vote wisely.
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Topic: Let's Play GalCiv 2 - Twilight of the Arnor! (Dead) (Read 52889 times)