Galactic Dreams(Stellaris, Interactive/Community)

[JonInMiddleGA]

I'm afraid that the information gained from combat in Tenecca outweighs the sacrifices that would have to be made. And perhaps we could discover that our intruders are taken aback by resistance.

[chesapeake]

I agree with Jon. They didn't come for tea. We're going to take some heavy losses, but we need to have the first combat to gain an understanding of their strengths and vulnerabilities so we can refit and expand our fleet to exploit their weaknesses and minimize ours.

[tarcone]

Sorry I missed my assignment. I kept checking, but I missed the update after the big one. And it kept shuffling down. But I agree with your choice.

I agree with the 2 gentlemen above.

[SirFozzie]

agreed. we built the fleet on the greatest traditions. Sadly, we need this information. And we need allies.

[ntndeacon]

can we start any research on these invaders? IF not, the moment we are able to do so, we should.Otherwise I am in agreement withthe others in terms of Tenecca

[Brian Swartz]

FYI researching them isn't really a thing. The Prethoryn aren't like other empires in our galaxy, in the sense of researching communications, then diplomatic relations(defaulting to peace), etc.

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

FYI researching them isn't really a thing. The Prethoryn aren't like other empires in our galaxy, in the sense of researching communications, then diplomatic relations(defaulting to peace), etc.

yeah, this is what's referred to as an "Endgame invasion" type thing.

[Brian Swartz]

The attack in Tenecca is ordered, and the Fist of Boojie proceeds with orders to engage only if the situation is favorable. They are in Tadasca, just into the outer arm and seven jumps away Cknoor, the nearest system with Prethoryn ships. The other 'garrison' task force is rerouting to our home systems. Until we know more of their capabilities and tactics, a measure of caution is in order.

On the diplomatic front, as mentioned there isn't a whole lot we can do. The rivalry with the Qravadox, which in their weakened state is giving us very little of something that we have a lot of already(influence), is revoked. Their messages amounted to 'Begging for mercy already?' and 'Don't think this changes anything between us, Architreuthis'. Not particularly encouraging.

In the broader scheme of things, the opening of borders across the galaxy months ago indicates that the Prethoryn are seen as a serious threat. If this invasion happened in one of our neighbors, we'd certainly respond -- but might well take our time in doing so, at a time and place that was convenient. It's likely that many empires will take a 'wait and see' approach as one of the strongest powers in the galaxy takes the brunt of the assault. It's logical ... but it still sucks, being that it's us.

Tenecca: Ground Zero

The nearest group of Prethoryn contacts are a group of six, designated 'Swarmlings'.




From what we can tell, they are fairly lightly armored and, by comparison to our ships, of average size; they are larger than a destroyer, but not nearly as big as a cruiser. The other two groups are composed of the same type of ... not really ships, are they? They just have 7 and 8 in a group instead of six. Regardless, we move to intercept, and find out more of what weapons and defenses they possess through the trial of combat.

The other groups react quickly. They 'swim' through space, launching greenish projectile weapons at our stations. These have been designated as 'Scourge Missiles'.




2321.09.24 -- Engagement range reached with the largest group.

09.29 -- The Qravadox have reciprocated by ending our rivalry from their end. This is good news, although their war with the Vun-Okon Dominion is still very much underway, and they are still losing. Aid from them is not expected to be forthcoming.

09.30 -- Pretty much irrelevant, but Gabbog finishes its final mining network.

10.16 -- As the first volleys have been exchanged, we have learned that our weapons can damage them, which is good; and that they, like many organic entities, can heal themselves. That's not so good. It also appears that they do not use any kind of shielding mechanism.




11.01 -- As the battle in Tenecca is heavily underway, it seems clear that we are probably going to lose. And then there's this:




For whatever reason, these new fleets are known as 'Star Broods'. Three of them in each of the four 'target systems'. Each of these new dozen groupos is estimated to be slightly more powerful, in and of itself, than our entire fleet if concentrated. This is not particularly encouraging. Sensors indicate that the so-called Swarmlings are the smallest of their 'minions'.

One of them in Tenecca moves to intercept us. Already overwhelmed by the Vanguard and more than half of our ships in the system lost -- though we took a few of them with us, three I think -- we realize there is no point in fighting further. The order is given for an emergency hyperspace jump. The battleships and cruisers all survive(3 of each), but all 3 destroyers and 9 of 10 corvettes are lost. Readouts of the larger ships show they are at least moderately heavily armored, and are more than twice the size of a battleship.

Isn't that just lovely?

The Fist of Boojie is ordered to maintain a cautious distance.

11.18 -- Having escaped to Rantor, the remaining ships notice a different class of ship split off from the others, by itself in nearby Bax. They head in immediately to investigate this. Meanwhile the unsurprising news that Quannaga Prime Spaceport has dropped off the grid is received.




2322.01.02 -- Deaconi Palmieri Jr. has reached **** skill. Also, Arc Emitter research has been completed.

[Brian Swartz]

A bit more of an update on the Prethoryn, as we have enough info to form a strategy; then we also have a new research path to choose.

Several different lone contacts, without escorts, have headed off to various systems. We're still chasing down the one in Bax as mentioned; it appears to be 'building' something. The Prethoryn apparently assemble space-based life forms similarly to how we might build ships. This type of genetic engineering is well beyond anything we can even contemplate. The Fist of Boojie happened upon a similar ship in Saphiban and immediately destroyed it ... or killed it, perhaps? Their travel range is considerable as was feared: we have spotted others in Chi Draconis, but also Tibor and Sadalbari across the galactic arm.




These 'constructors' have been shown to be quite weak in terms of combat. All of them that have been spotted so far have moved to systems where there are no habitable planets. This tactic reeks of incredible arrogance; the Prethoryn clearly have as much regard for us as we might have for plankton or other species would for an insect. To not even bother guarding these expeditions in our territory shows a total disregard for our military. Patriarch Glosch has put plans in motion to extract a price for these expansions -- all spaceports near systems where the Prethoryn presently have ships will begin a buildup of corvettes, so that we can have mobile defences to wipe out these incursions wherever they occur. Initial readings of Saphiban indicate it may be possible for our science ships to gain useful data from the remains of these creatures as well once they've been eliminated. In classic resistance fashion, we will seek to thwart and delay their plans, or at the very least force them to divide their forces a little more, while gaining whatever knowledge we can from those we are able to destroy.

Elsewhere the signs are not so positive. More organisms of unknown purpose have appeared in some of the systems with the Star Broods. Additionally, they appear to be preparing an invasion of Quannaga Prime. It seems inevitable that it will be the first planet to fall to the Prethoryn. Several orbital stations in the occupied systems have also been eliminated.


Research Director's Briefing: Dr. JIMGA Jr.

Here are the latest Physics options.

** Shields(Field Manipulation, 36 mo.) -- These replace our current deflector technology. They are stronger, which will allow for more effective shielding on our ships, and an increase of 20% in the toughness of planetary fortifications.

** Subspace Sensors(Voidcraft, 23 mo.) -- Survey speed increases by 5%, and sensor range from planets and ships is slightly increased also.

** Neutron Torpedoes(Particles, 93 mo.) -- Improvements over our current Proton Torpedoes. The main advantadges of torpedoes are range and the ability to ignore shields. The latter would seem less important right now, as the Prethoryn don't employ shielding.

** Gravitational Analysis(Computing, 47 mo.) -- This one we haven't seen before. Hyper-accurate readings of local conditions allow for a 5% reduction in all building costs.

** Interlinked Support Systems(Computing, 3/29 mo.) -- Upgrade to our point-defense weapons systems. This is the only potentially useful option out of the current reverse-engineering possibilities.

Dr. JIMGA Jr., you are now on the clock.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Umm... thoughts before I make the call here.

I'd say shields except that (if I understand it correctly) we would have to rotate ships out of combat to be re-fit ... not sure we have that luxury, do we?

That leans me toward the ISS, which would complete slightly quicker at least.

A bit torn tbh.

[Brian Swartz]

Both of them would require ships to be taken out of combat to be refit. However, our larger ships aren't in combat or expected to be right now ... no suitable targets for them attack. What happens by the time these are finished is unpredictable. The shields would also help with planet fortifications, but that's really just a matter of delaying an invasion.

Refitting is going to be a touchy thing I think. We might well be in a lot of situations where we can't really afford the delay, but at the same time we're going to need every edge to have any chance of winning battles or at least inflicting significant damage, so that might work both ways. I don't really know.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Shields it is then.

[Brian Swartz]

2322-25

01.15 -- Prethoryn armies land on Quannaga Prime. They are estimated to be about three times as strong as ours.

01.25 -- One of the Prethoryn 'fleets' has arrived in Saiph, another of our prime systems in the outer arm.

02.01 -- Combat begins in Bax.

03.01 -- Constructor in Bax eliminated. A couple more have been spotted closer to our home systems, and corvettes are being dispatched to deal with them as quickly as possible.

03.12 -- Terraforming on Hark completed. It's been easy to forget about this with all the recent focus on the invaders.

03.19 -- Quannaga Prime has been overrun by the Prethoryn. Unfortunately the fate of the Architreuthis there, a dozen pops, is not pretty. A campaign of systematic 'purging', aka genocide, has begun. It is estimated that all of them will be wiped out in six months. The Prethoryn really are assholes. Enslaving us would have been bad enough ... it seems they intend to wipe all traces of us from the galaxy.

03.29 -- Weggri Spaceport in the Khagaton system has been destroyed. Unfortunately we can probably expect many more such notices ...

04.01 -- Interesting observation about the constructors: there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to where they 'build' -- often it's in the middle of space, not in orbit or even nearby a planet. They are also much faster than we are at interstellar travel, probably twice as fast. Relocating to their next target system is going to require a fair number of ships to cover all possibilities.

05.05 -- Gwesibor Regime declares war on the Cormathani Star Combine. Clearly they are not overwhelmed by our troubles.

05.13 -- In Tibor, the work was completed before we could eliminate the constructor. The resulting station has been designated a 'Star Hive'. Sensor reports indicate that it is several times more powerful than any starport we have, and has a dozen strike craft in support. It would take a dedicated attack by a sizable portion of our fleet to take one of these down. It will not go well for us if they are able to build very many of these ...




05.26 -- Uldrugg Spaceport in Saiph is the latest to be defeated.

06.05 -- Star Hive completed in Sadalbari as well. So far we've taken out three constructors, but they've got two of these 'stations' up. We need to do better than that.

08.05 -- Constructor eliminated in Jinkath.

09.05 -- Debris analysis finished in Saphiban. We have three other systems to search, but it was not encouraging ... no significant breakthroughs were hinted at.

09.17 -- Constructor in Piddhafir defeated. That's the good news: 5 down, 2 Star Hives built, and no more ongoing construction that we know of. However, we have a name for a new kind of Prethoryn ship: the Infestor. In the outer arm, in the Urallion system, one of them is, as we describe it, 'infesting' an entire planet. Whatever biological material they are using, it is corrupting and spreading at a remarkable rate throughout this tropical world. Once again we estimate a six-month process. Disgusting.

09.25 -- The Prethoryn invasion of Weggri(Khagaton system) has begun.

12.05 -- Debris analysis in Thegglan fares no better.




12.19 -- Weggri ground battle has been lost. As before, the purging begins. Meanwhile, Prethoryn combat fleets have left Tenecca ... but a trio of Infestors have arrived there. A half-dozen corvettes are sent in to 'sanitize' them, if possible. Similarly to the constructors, they have no escorts and do not appear to have offensive combat capabilities.

2323.01.19 -- One of the Star Broods 'investigates'. On second thought, maybe it's time to leave then. A planet in Saiph is being infested as they continue to establish their beachhead, so to speak. There is no sign of any assistance from the rest of the galaxy as of yet ...

03.09 -- Same disappointing results for the Bax debris. Two more to investigate, but not much hope for them.

04.15 -- They've arrived in Rantor, and what few ships we have, are pulled back. It looks like we've reached a new phase in the war. The Prethoryn appear that they are simply going to methodically smash us, one system at a time. We can either keep retreating ... or we can fight. The Fist of Boojie holds at Ovastivum, and will provide what resistance it can when the invaders come here. With the exception of the corvettes scatterred about to hunt down any stragglers that might appear ... though we haven't seen any in months ... the rest of the fleet, including all of the heavy ships, will concentrate there. The best we can hope for is probably to cause significant damage to one of 5 or 6 main Star Broods that are floating around, but even that could cause a delay in their attacks. After that, it would be a matter of rebuilding whatever we can, and hitting them again. What choice do we really have anyway? We either do this, or we might as well surrender. A new battleship with the Arc Emitters is commissioned; Laren-class, in honor of our former Inquisitor.

05.10 -- First contact with the Xeltek Allied Nations. Umm, who cares? They're a vassal of the Condeferation of Ir-Vol-Ta, on the opposite side of the galaxy.

05.28 -- Invasion begins on Uldrugg(Saiph system). Once the Scourge is done there, Ovastivum may well be next ...




06.13 -- Debris in Jinkath tells us nothing new.

06.26 -- Rantor Spaceport destroyed.

07.25 -- Uldrugg garrison defeated.

12.08 -- The Bhenn'Thell declare war on the Gwesibor. Yes, yes, keep fighting amongst yourselves. Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

2324.03.24 -- Invasion of Rantor begins.

06.11 -- Rantor occupied. The next lower system in Yssom, and another Star Brood is on its way there.

08.03 -- Whoo'tar Spaceport(Yssom) eliminated.

11.13 -- And here we go. Only two of the new Laren ships are in position. A Star Brood has been detected en route to Ovastivum.

11.20 -- They arrive. It's the largest concentration I've seen yet. We are outgunned more than 3:1.

12.09 -- The Gwesibor Regime's ambassador sends this highly important thought:

"Your sickening species is definite proof that the universe has a sense of humor."

I have better things to do than to reply.

12.28 -- The largest, most desperate battle in the history of our species begins.




2325.01.03 -- We've now researched shields. And we don't really care.

03.20 -- Most of our ships are heavily damaged, but still in the fight. We've taken out about a sixth of the attackers, including at least one of the bigger ships, which appear to be carriers of some kind.




04.10 -- Last of our destroyers goes down. The corvette screening force has been long since annihilated. All of the battleships and most of the cruisers are still around.

06.01 -- Only a few battleships are left. The Fist of Boojie has been annihilated. We've taken down almost half of the attackers, giving far better than we took, but it's not nearly enough.

06.26 -- It's over. Admiral Garma has been killed, along with the spaceport and every last ship. 44 Prethoryn, though none of their largest, were eliminated. Based on what we've seen, it was between 5 and 10% of their total strength if it were combined that we took down.

Nothing to do now but rebuild as many ships as we can, as fast as we can, and try to find a decent spot for our next stand. There's no question that we are doomed if we don't get help. Before we rebuild though, we'll wait a bit as we're about to get one more toy ...

08.02 -- Precognition Interfaces research finished. There it is.

Rebuilding the biggest fleet we can afford to try and whittle them down a bit more is the next goal, and time is of the essence -- presumably the Prethoryn are going to continue taking over more of our systems as time goes by. Ships smaller than cruisers seem relatively useless against them; those big enough to have significant defenses in terms of armor are far more effective. Our new shields look to be almost as useful as armor, though not quite so. We'll still increase our use of them, as they may prove effective against Prethoryn weaponry and a varied defense seems better than putting all our eggs in one basket. Point defense appears to be fairly important as they do have strike craft all of the larger variants. From an attacking point of view, a mix of raw damage and armor penetration looks to be our best bet. A lot of Arc Emitters with some Proton Torpedoes thrown in are probably best. Plasma Accelerators have better armor penetration but don't do enough damage to really make them worth it.

Current fleet doctrine aims for mostly battleships with long-range ordnance, with a moderate amount of cruisers to screen with point-defense fire. Perhaps the occasional battleship in that role, but not many. Having the hitting power to take out significant numbers of the enemy at range before their strike craft can reach us appears to be as effective as anything.

We also have a huge energy surplus right now while that happens. Patriarch Glosch intends to embark on a fairly aggressive colonization initiative in the interim. We can't come anywhere close to replacing the numbers we are losing -- but even if all we do is give the invaders more systems and planets they have to take in order to eliminate us, we can still slow them down. The focus will be on larger planets as far away from the path of conquest, which so far has been restricted to the outer arm, as possible. This is viewed at this time as being a useful endeavor whether we find some way to win this war or not.

The new Admiral, Shugglerm, is known to be unyielding. His fierce demeanor grants a 20% survivability bonus, and one that will be well needed. The cost is that any engagement under his command cannot use emergency FTL retreat -- as a motivating factor, much like Cortes, he has stripped these components from all ships. It goes without saying that advice on these matters from the Collective's leadership is highly valued.

[Brian Swartz]

Research Director's Briefing: Dr. JIMGA Jr.

Not to put a hex on it or anything, but the doctors really have no idea why, at 146, you are still alive. They say there's nearly a 1-in-4 chance of you dying any given month. And yet here you are.

** Focusing Arrays(Particles, 47 mo.) -- 5% increase in energy weapons damage. Unfortunately, energy-based weapons, at least the ones we've developed, don't pack enough punch for what we need right now.

** Phase Disruptor(Particles, 93 mo.) -- Decent upgrade using phasing technology on our disruptors. As an anti-shield weapons system, they are unfortunately not helpful against the Prethoryn.

** Gamma Lasers(Particles, 93 mo.) -- Latest development in laser weaponry, upgrade over our current X-ray variety. This would make lasers a lot closer to being a viable option. They have 33% armor penetration, and the damage still wouldn't be as much as an Arc Emitter ... but if we wanted to go with a more defensive configuration, they don't suck up as much power so there would be more room for armor and shields. Gamma Lasers would make that at least a conversation worth having, but I don't know that they would actually help us. It would just make it debatable.

** Advanced Shields(Field Manipulation, 55 mo.) -- An increase of a third in effectiveness would make these, on balance, the best defensive system we have, somewhat superior to durasteel armor even. Planetary fortifications would be bolstered by another 20% as well.

** Interlinked Support Systems(Computing, 3/29 mo.) -- An upgrade to our point-defense, which would seem to be useful with the strike craft we are up against with the Prethoryn.


Research Director's Briefing: Dr. Tarcisius

** Xeno Integration(Biology, 20 mo.) -- Unlocks the ability to have alien leadership.

** Sentient Resource Management(Statecraft, 44 mo.) -- The latest development in galactic governance; our leadership cap is increased by 1.

** Tropical Colonization(New Worlds, 20 mo.)

** Massive Glacier Removal(New Worlds, 8 mo.) -- Once again, terraforming of Arctic worlds has made this a non-issue.

Dr. JIMGA Jr. and Dr. Tarcisius, you are on the clock. Woe to all who live to see days such as these, but neveretheless the responsibility is yours.

[chesapeake]

Would Interlinked Support Systems give us the biggest bang for the time we have left to us? It sounds like they use missiles and "fighters", so the more we can shoot down, the longer we last in a fight. The other technologies are 4+ years away.

[Brian Swartz]

Point Defense is not used to shoot down missiles, only fighters. Having said that, it's definitely the only one that could help us that soon.

[tarcone]

With Xeno Integration, can we recruit some of those bad ass leaders that are kicking are ass?

Or does it reeally matter what I research?

[Brian Swartz]

Xeno Integration doesn't let you recruit enemies, it's other races within your empire. I.e., non-Architreuthis like the Shantari, Theq'lak, etc. that we have enslaved.

[tarcone]

Xeno Integration, I guess.

That space ship looks like a big vagina

[JonInMiddleGA]

Interlinked Support Systems it is then

(based on " it's definitely the only one that could help us that soon" ... time appears to be of the essence ... for both me & our entire race)

[Brian Swartz]

Indeed it does. At least two years faster than all of the other options will hopefully mean something.

I thought it might be worth mentioning here that I think a lot depends on what path the invaders take. They're not far from the border with the Qravadox/Scyldari, at which point they'd be spending roughly half their fleet conquering other empires for a change. Pretty clear we're going to lose the outer arm of the galaxy ... but at point they'll eventually have multiple options as to which way to go. Best projections right now are that we at least lose most of our territory, but depending on what they decide to do, not necessarily all of it, at least before they run into a number of other empires. Even that may not be enough to stop them, but it's at least a hope.

[Brian Swartz]

The new fleet will consist of three ship types. All have the new precognitive interfaces.

** SirFozzie-Class Cruiser -- Mostly Sentinel Point-Defense with a few Plasma Accelerators on the medium hard-points. Defenses are as much crystal-forged plating as we can pack on. These are named in honor of our former admiral.

** Laren-Class Battleship -- These have been modified to still carry mostly Arc Emitters(4) but also two spots for Proton Torpedoes. Mostly plating with a bit of shielding and armor armor for defensive purposes.

** Corperial-Class Battleship -- Named for our longest-serving scientist, these have a dozen Sentinel batteries each, and also 3 Arc Emitters. They also have the Nanobot Cloud special, which is power-intensive but repairs 5% of all ship hulls in the fleet per month. Like the Laren, defensive systems are focused on crystal plating with a little armor and shields thrown in.

The fleet will be focused on the Laren. 5 of them will be built for every 2 SirFozzies and 1 Corperial.

2325-27

08.28 -- Another slave pop has been smuggled out of the empire. We barely take passing notice.

2326.01.07 -- Tsondek Spaceport destroyed(Edor Vang system).

01.17 -- Small comfort, but we've eliminated another constructor in Bion Dazat, along the Scyldari border.

02.23 -- Invasion of Whoo'tar(Yssom system) begins.

05.27 -- Most of our troops are lost, but we have defeated the Prethoryn armies on Whoo'tar! Apparently they took us too lightly. This is the first time they have lost such an attack ...

2327.02.30 -- The Prethoryn advance has stalled ... but not completely stopped. Perhaps they are having an issue with their ground troops, as we haven't seen any of them recently. They have moved into Haribas and begun eliminating our stations there, and worse yet their fleet seems to have actually grown. There is an increasing sense of hopelessness at High Command. However ...




Unfortunately, this system is deep in Prethoryn territory. We have to get a science ship there somehow to take advantadge of this. The only way there is any chance is to come from 'above' ... and nobody is close. The decision is made to build a new science ship at Guraschim Spaceport(our only secure location in the outer arm, a few jumps away from the border). That's much faster than rerouting one of the existing ships. Lots are drawn among the survey scientists as to who will be sent via a fast courier ship for this quite possibly suicidal mission. Dr. Suggron is chosen. The fleet that has been assembled so far will move into position to serve as whatever support it can be as well. However, it may well be that the science vessel will better be able to sneak into Prethoryn territory relatively unnoticed. There's no way to bludgeon our way past their defenses ...



03.02 -- Interlinked Support Systems and Xeno Integration research have both been completed.

[Brian Swartz]

Research Director's Briefing: Dr. JIMGA Jr.

** Particle Lances(Particles, 73 mo.) -- We've seen these once before. They have 75% armor penetration, as good as anything we have, and high enough damage to be more effective than anything we are currently using against the Prethoryn. They come in large size only, like most of our most destructive options.

** Capacitor Fields(Field Manipulation, 44 mo.) -- These come in several variants, but the ship-mounted ones increase shield regeneration by 20% per month for all allied ships in a battle. That would definitely make shields a more viable option for lengthy engagements.

** Assembly Algorithms(Computing, 48 mo.) -- Construct times reduced by 5%.

** Subspace Sensors(Voidcraft, 22 mo.) -- 5% survey speed increase, small improvements as well in sensor range and weapon accuracy.


Research Director's Briefing: Dr. Tarcisius

** Xeno Diplomacy(Statecraft, 20 mo.) -- Unlocks Federations as a diplomatic option.

** Doctrine: Reactive Formations(Military Theory, 11 mo.) -- Increases naval capacity by 10%. We've lost some with the spaceports being destroyed, but are still at 629. The navy's never been above about 300, so we're still good here(presently 137).

** Combat Training(Military Theory, 13 mo.) -- Army Upkeep reduced by 10%.

** Xenology(Biology, 11 mo.) -- Reveals the strategic resource Alien Pets.

Gentlemen, you are both up again.

[tarcone]

Xeno Diplomacy.

Maybe we can talk some of the other empires into joining us through diplomacy

[JonInMiddleGA]

Particle Lances.

As this is virtually certain to be my final act as a Director, may Boojie grant it be a good decision.

[Brian Swartz]

2327-29

2327.03.13 -- Tuggam Spaceport(Haribas system) destroyed.

04.01 -- Siggwal Spaceport(Haribas) eliminated.

04.28 -- Gluggaben Spaceport(Omagus system) is gone. We have only a few planets left on the lower end.

05.26 -- One of the Prethoryn combat groups has been spotted across the galactic arm in Peith. We have no planets there, but they probably didn't visit just to sample the local cuisine.

06.14 -- Time for our scientists to attempt to sneak through the chokepoint system of Haribas and into Prethoryn territory ...

07.09 -- Just made it through to Rana, as the Prethoryn were busy cleaning out stations and barely far enough away. Two jumps left now to Bijh ...

08.01 -- Arrival in Bijh. There are a few stations here that we'll need to circumvent ... Dr. Tarcisius and the rest of the Society Dept. research teams are on standby. Meanwhile, we continue to lose spaceports so fast that it is pointless to mention them individually ...




09.27 -- We've reached the injured Queen, and so far no obvious response though there is movement in the surrounding systems. It's estimated we'll need two months on station ...

11.26 -- Queen Captured!




By itself, the queen as powerful as any two ships we can build. Getting it out of hostile space will be no mean feat however, but we were able to get in, so it may be possible.




2328.01.21 -- Fortunately, the Queen uses the same 'warp drive' transport as the rest of the Prethoryn. It was able to bypass the chokepoint in Haribas completely.

04.21 -- One of our governors has died, and another constructor defeated. Meanwhile, the queen has arrived in Dawcan to rendezvous with the rest of our fleet. Apparently this 'growth' happens automatically; one each of the smallest two variants(swarmling and warrior, the only combat ships we've managed to destroy so far) have been reproduced. This behavior also explains the growth of their numbers: unless we are able to mount a large enough assault to at least take down one of their queens, we aren't even going to be able to do any permanent damage it appears. Splendid. We are theorizing -- and so far it's just a theory -- that each queen will regrow more 'ships' until it reaches whatever it's maximum capacity is.

Also, the Scyldari have been brought into the fight; the Prethoryn have begun expanding into their territory.

06.07 -- First ground invasion we've seen in quite some time, on Ovastivum.

08.30 -- Terraforming on Ustir complete. This will be the 4th new planet in our current colonization push. Meanwhile, the fleet is nearly as large as the one we sent into the last battle. Clearly we'll need more, but we're ready for another desperate engagement if required. One limitation on our new 'allies' is that only the captured queen can command them. Putting them into battle means risking her survival. For now we'll simply let their numbers continue to grow. We won't take that chance unless we are able to find a favorable engagement somehow, or unless the situation becomes even more desperate.

09.10 -- Ovastivum has narrowly defeated the attackers! That's two in a row, in terms of successful ground battles. Clearly the Prethoryn are having trouble getting enough ground troops. This suggests a plan to hold them off: all border systems will reinforce the numbers of defensive armies, allowing us to somewhat keep them at bay as long as this continues. They can still destroy our stations and infest any habitable planets we don't control, but the resources and population on our colonized systems will be safe as long as this holds up.

10.15 -- All of our SirFozzie and Corperial-class vessels now have the improved Barrier point-defense batteries.

2329.01.02 -- Standardized Battleship Patterns research has been finished. This allows for us to build Battleship Assembly Yards, for faster and cheaper construction of our biggest and most powerful ships. These will be built immediately at our primary construction spaceports at Humboldt and Bakangi, and perhaps more other places later.

03.02 -- Xeno Diplomacy research completed. Here's the lastest star chart:




You can see where they've started to move across the galactic arm. The area in the bottom that says 'Gamus Veil' -- that's a nebula that used to belong to the Scyldari. The 'striped' areas are places where control is disputed. We still hold a planet in the Haribas, Yssom, and Ovastivum systems. We get less resources from the ones that are surrounded by Prethoryn territory, but it's better than them taking over and exterminating us by a long shot. Just 'above' this area, on the outer arm, is Dawcan -- that's where the Guraschim Spaceport is, and where our fleet is mustering for the time being.
2327-29

2327.03.13 -- Tuggam Spaceport(Haribas system) destroyed.

04.01 -- Siggwal Spaceport(Haribas) eliminated.

04.28 -- Gluggaben Spaceport(Omagus system) is gone. We have only a few planets left on the lower end.

05.26 -- One of the Prethoryn combat groups has been spotted across the galactic arm in Peith. We have no planets there, but they probably didn't visit just to sample the local cuisine.

06.14 -- Time for our scientists to attempt to sneak through the chokepoint system of Haribas and into Prethoryn territory ...

07.09 -- Just made it through to Rana, as the Prethoryn were busy cleaning out stations and barely far enough away. Two jumps left now to Bijh ...

08.01 -- Arrival in Bijh. There are a few stations here that we'll need to circumvent ... Dr. Tarcisius and the rest of the Society Dept. research teams are on standby. Meanwhile, we continue to lose spaceports so fast that it is pointless to mention them individually ...




09.27 -- We've reached the injured Queen, and so far no obvious response though there is movement in the surrounding systems. It's estimated we'll need two months on station ...

11.26 -- Queen Captured!




By itself, the queen as powerful as any two ships we can build. Getting it out of hostile space will be no mean feat however, but we were able to get in, so it may be possible.




2328.01.21 -- Fortunately, the Queen uses the same 'warp drive' transport as the rest of the Prethoryn. It was able to bypass the chokepoint in Haribas completely.

04.21 -- One of our governors has died, and another constructor defeated. Meanwhile, the queen has arrived in Dawcan to rendezvous with the rest of our fleet. Apparently this 'growth' happens automatically; one each of the smallest two variants(swarmling and warrior, the only combat ships we've managed to destroy so far) have been reproduced. This behavior also explains the growth of their numbers: unless we are able to mount a large enough assault to at least take down one of their queens, we aren't even going to be able to do any permanent damage it appears. Splendid. We are theorizing -- and so far it's just a theory -- that each queen will regrow more 'ships' until it reaches whatever it's maximum capacity is.

Also, the Scyldari have been brought into the fight; the Prethoryn have begun expanding into their territory.

06.07 -- First ground invasion we've seen in quite some time, on Ovastivum.

08.30 -- Terraforming on Ustir complete. This will be the 4th new planet in our current colonization push. Meanwhile, the fleet is nearly as large as the one we sent into the last battle. Clearly we'll need more, but we're ready for another desperate engagement if required. One limitation on our new 'allies' is that only the captured queen can command them. Putting them into battle means risking her survival. For now we'll simply let their numbers continue to grow. We won't take that chance unless we are able to find a favorable engagement somehow, or unless the situation becomes even more desperate.

09.10 -- Ovastivum has narrowly defeated the attackers! That's two in a row, in terms of successful ground battles. Clearly the Prethoryn are having trouble getting enough ground troops. This suggests a plan to hold them off: all border systems will reinforce the numbers of defensive armies, allowing us to somewhat keep them at bay as long as this continues. They can still destroy our stations and infest any habitable planets we don't control, but the resources and population on our colonized systems will be safe as long as this holds up.

10.15 -- All of our SirFozzie and Corperial-class vessels now have the improved Barrier point-defense batteries.

2329.01.02 -- Standardized Battleship Patterns research has been finished. This allows for us to build Battleship Assembly Yards, for faster and cheaper construction of our biggest and most powerful ships. These will be built immediately at our primary construction spaceports at Humboldt and Bakangi, and perhaps more other places later.

03.02 -- Xeno Diplomacy research completed. Here's the lastest star chart:




You can see where they've started to move across the galactic arm. The area in the bottom that says 'Gamus Veil' -- that's a nebula that used to belong to the Scyldari. The 'striped' areas are places where control is disputed. We still hold a planet in the Haribas, Yssom, and Ovastivum systems. We get less resources from the ones that are surrounded by Prethoryn territory, but it's better than them taking over and exterminating us by a long shot. Just 'above' this area, on the outer arm, is Dawcan -- that's where the Guraschim Spaceport is, and where our fleet is mustering for the time being.

[Brian Swartz]

Research Director's Briefing: Dr. Tarcisius

** Continental Colonization(New Worlds, 21 mo.)

** Hostile Environment Adaption(New Worlds, 42 mo.) -- Increased knowledge of colonial conditions allows for development of techniques that result in a 5% increase in habitability across the board.

** Massive Glacier Removal(New Worlds, 8 mo.) -- They keep throwing this one at us, regardless of how irrelevant it has become.

** Epigenetic Triggers(Biology, 21 mo.) -- Unlocks the Uplift possibility, under which we can genetically enhance and integrate species which are near-sentient ... for a price.

Dr. Tarcisius, you are on the clock again.

[tarcone]

Epigenetic Triggers

Might help. Who knows

[Brian Swartz]

So confident in your decisions are you?

[Brian Swartz]

2329-30

2329.06.15 -- The war has come to the Qravadox. Their nearest system, Dalthaana, is now begin overrun by two Star Broods. Three have moved across the galactic arm as well. These appear to be the main prongs of their attacks.

08.02 -- Mineral Processing research finished. This allows for an upgrade to our Mineral Processing Plants, similar to the Power Hub for energy in that they increase mineral output by 10% for an entire planet. Minerals have become a limitation again due to the materials required to be constantly building new ships, and these will be built on most of our core worlds, Humboldt excepted.

2330.02.04 -- New ground invasion fleet en route to Tuggam(in Haribas), but once again just three armies with it: that many we can defeat. Their incompetence in ground invasions is rather stunning, and I still don't know the reason for it. We'll take what we can get, of course.

03.20 -- Deep Space Outposts research completed. Permanent defensive stations may well help if we decide to make a stand in a specific system. Engineering moves on to Robotic Workers. We've bypassed them a few times, but they have the advantage of allowing us to literally build extra population, allowing for faster growth on newly colonized worlds. And of course they are a quick study.

04.06 -- Unfortunately it seems the Prethoryn have figured things out. There's a fleet of a dozen troop transports inbound to Haribas. No way we can repel that many.

06.13 -- We win the first battle on Tuggam, but there are more coming ...

07.27 -- The second invasion of Tuggam succeeds. Didn't even do hardly any damage to them. Overwhelming force has it's benefits. I doubt even a full dozen Psionic Armies could have held out, and we can't put that kind of force everywhere. Meanwhile we've taken out another constructor, and a second one will soon go down. Putting out fires wherever we are able.

12.02 -- Epigenetic Triggers research finished.

Having taken a closer look at some of the Star Broods, we've found that almost all of them have two queens; some have three. Our assembled fleet, if we included our queen and it's associated elements, with the bonuses from Admiral Shugglerm, is
a little over half as strong as the weakest of the enemy. Given the casualty rates we inflicted last time, it is surmised that we could do significant damage, possibly even take out a queen -- but would almost certainly lose again. At this point, we plan on taking a hard look at the situation in a year and a half, when the Particle Lance comes online. Once we upgrade our battleships some of that weapon, and we'll have a couple more by then as well, we may be close to being ready to take one of them on.

The Prethoryn continue to expand, quite slowly but inexorably. We've nearly run out of big worlds to develop now, and have slowed our pace after adding several mostly dry ones that our slaves have settled. Still, it seems to be a worthwhile enterprise. Patriach Glosch will see his term end in a little over six years, a vote which will doubtless serve as a referendum on his conduct of this desperate war.

[Brian Swartz]

Research Director's Briefing: Dr. Tarcisius

** Doctrine: Reactive Formations(Military Theory, 12 mo.) -- Increases naval capacity by 10%. The latest numbers are that we use 255, with a capacity of 569.

** Tropical Colonization(New Worlds, 22 mo.)

** Talent Acquisition(Statecraft, 49 mo.) -- Propaganda and manipulation of official records allow a 5% reduction in the influence cost of recruiting new leaders. Recent influence has not been a concern; we are at 534 out of a 1k maximum,.

** Gene Tailoring(Biology, 30 mo.) -- One extra species trait becomes available. Genetic Modification(changing species traits) and Environmental Adaptation(chance to pops adapt to better handle hostile living conditions) are also unlocked.

Dr. Tarcisius, you are up once again.

[tarcone]

Gene Tailoring it is

Do we need to be able to colonize another type of world?

Or is that something that can be done later after we defeat the bugs?

Have we thought of finding Ender Wiggins?

[Brian Swartz]

Colonizing new types of worlds can be done later if we win, though we are still trying to get new planets to aid in that(helps replace our losses in terms of pop/resources).

[Brian Swartz]

2331-32

2331.02.05 -- The Polity of Oxx-Oxx has signed peace with the Bhenn'Thell Imperium. They have essentially ceded have of their remaining territory to the Bhenn'Thell. This would register as a major concern if we didn't already have other problems.

03.05 -- It seems the Prethoryn are moving their primary assault task force, or at least the only big one we've seen, to Dalthaana. Any attack on the Qravadox is an attack not on us.

04.02 -- Robotic Workers research completed. There were several tempting options, but we select Hull Integrity. Compartmentalization of ship spaces will permit better armoring of key points on the hull. End result is a 5% increase in the amount of damage each ship can take. Unfortunately this will take four and a half years to achieve.

2332.05.02 -- Particle Lance research complete. Our engineers expect it will be about 20% more effective than our current weapons; there appears to be no reason not to mount on it on all of our Larens, as well as the three large slots on the Corperial. Surprisingly, it takes less than three weeks.

This leaves us at a crucial decision point. We've now got about two-thirds the strength of the smallest Star Broods. They appear to be continuing to increase in number, although we don't know where most of them are, as they moved back into Prethoryn territory a few months ago. They've gradually been carving a hole in our territory, and as they do so, our resources are gradually reduced. It seems they've got more interest in the Qravadox at the moment, with four of them convering on Dalthaana.

In any case, there's no point in holding off much longer. The fleet is close to maximum our economy can support ... and as we continue to lose territory, that situation will only get worse. There's still room to grow a bit more, so we'll do that while we wait and see what the Prethoryn do, and look for them to expose one of their weaker Star Broods to attack ...

[Brian Swartz]

Research Director's Briefing: Dr. JIMGA Jr.

** Phase Disruptors(Particles, 104 mo.) -- An advanced anti-shield weapon that is therefore not helpful, due to the Prethoryn not using shields.

** Shield Manipulation(Field Manipulation, 53 mo.) -- A subtle manipulation of existing shield technology allows for a 5% increase in strength.

** Sentient AI(Computing, 76 mo.) -- Both DANGEROUS and RARE ... though this is our second crack at it .. Sentient AIs improve research speed by 10%.

** Advanced Shields(Field Manipulation, 62 mo.) -- 20% increase in planetary fortifications, and shield strength is increased by a third. A significant jump in the effectiveness of shield technology. Engineers estimate it would make them, on average, roughly as effective as our current crystal-forged plating. Depending on the enemy's weaponry, it could be more or less so.

Dr. JIMGA Jr., you are on the clock again.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I wish the benefit of Sentinent AI was closer to the risk. We aren't dying for lack of research options or deliveries.

Therefore Advanced Shields it is.

[Brian Swartz]

Agreed. I think it ought to be more like 20%, but IMO you clearly have chosen ... wisely ... given the options before you.

Next up, the war takes an unexpected turn ...

[Brian Swartz]

2332-33

06.01 -- Two of the largest empires on the other side of the galaxy, the Confederation of Ir-Vol-Ta and the Norillga Coalition, have become rivals. This is another one of those things that would be a significant piece of news were we not otherwhise occupied.

06.17 -- Another of our governors has died. Shushk was 129, and responsible for Eskogg. At this point recruiting replacements have become trivial.

2333.02.04 -- The opportunity we've been waiting for has arrived. We can't afford to wait much longer anyway, but ...

With our fleet at Krolldar, one of the weaker Star Broods, with most of them having returned to our space, is moving to Deteenal. That's just two jumps away. When they show up, we'll be waiting for them with everything that can get there. While the war still seems to be a lost cause, based on the last battle I think we've got a reasonable chance to win this fight. All ships make full speed for Roknim Mog, our planet in the Deteenal system ...

04.02 -- The Prethoryn fleet jumps in, just after our queen gets there, with the main force already in place. Here goes nothing. If we lose this, it's over. If we don't ... it probably is anyway.




We had one big advantadge here. All the Prethoryn ships, theirs and ours, were vulnerable for a while due to the warp 'cool-down' period. Admiral Shugglerm's ships used that time to blast them. By the time the enemy was ready to engage, we'd gained a considerable advantage.

05.02 -- Gene Tailoring research finished. We'll deal with that later ...

05.22 -- Not long after it had rightly begun, the battle was over.




We hadn't just beaten them ... we'd annihilated them. Winning wasn't a huge shock; we didn't have the same number of support ships here, but had our Prethoryn 'allies' and just over double the amount of battleships, with improved weaponry. But this kind of result shocked me, the point that I was caught off-guard enough to miss out on taking any mid-battle images. Only three corvettes, added due to basically being in the area, were lost. They lost ... well, a lot more. A pair of queens, most significantly. All of the swarmlings with our Prethoryn fleet were killed as well. Still, it was a resounding and astonishing success.

It's important not to read too much into it and assume that we're going to be able to go on the offensive right away now or anything. Two main reasons for this, in my opinion:

** We were right on top of them when they entered the system, able to open up on them with almost everything we've got instead of maneuvering into position, while they couldn't fight back for a while. This part will be the hardest to duplicate. It would be possible to even be in the same system but further away, and therefore lose part or all of this advantage. We'll definitely be looking for opportunities to repeat this -- I'm confident we could beat a Star Brood of almost any size under similar circumstances, and would have tried to meet the attackers in Ovastivum a few years ago if it had occurred to me, though I'm not sure we had enough time in that case. The disadvantadge of a battleship fleet is that it can't maneuver quickly across open space.

Essentially this is a counter-attackings strategy that we are looking for: waiting for them to move, and then getting to their entry point before they arrive. It is far easier said than done, but that's the goal.

** Even with all that, I was quite surprised at how quickly our ships were able to take them down. It happened so fast that their strike craft weren't able to do much. In a more even encounter we would probably have a harder time, but clearly our Particle Lances are a good fit for the task.

So where do we stand now? The next research task will be more involved than usual. Dr. Tarcisius, you'll want to stay tuned for your briefing -- it'll be more complicated than usual. Fun thing to contemplate over New Year's, but feel free to take the full time if you need to. Watch this space, in other words. But in the war in general, here's an updated star chart:




To the right of this, we still have three pockets of resistance(Ovastivum, Haribas, Yssom) in the outer arm, and some territory above and below the Prethoryn. They've got most of it though. Their brief excursion resulted in them taking over Dalthaana completely from the Qravadox, but we now have their attention again. There are six Star Broods that we are aware of right now in this area. Two near Deteenal where our fleet is(Hixaros and Zempek), and the other four further down. There is at least one more(seven minimum) in Dalthaana, and quite possibly more out of our scanning range. We took down one(yay!) but um ... that's no better than, at the most optimistic, a nice start. All it would take is one bad battle for us to be completely at their mercy again, and at times we've seen them send multiple Star Broods to one system. If that happens when we're in the middle of a battle, well ... it won't be a pretty picture.

Economically, our energy reserves remain high(3.8k out of a 5k max). It's going to go all the way up to 5k soon, since we'll need to abandon a terraforming effort in a system the Prethoryn are invading and cancelling that gives us the investment back. There's a balance right now between keeping energy reserves high to support the fleet needing to move around, and maxing out our fleet. Mineral-wise we basically use a third of our income to keep the fleet going; the bigger it is, the slower we are able to build new ships. The good news is that Admiral Shugglerm's skill increase gives us two bonuses; slight improvements to fire rate and also upkeep. So we can afford a little more in terms of ships now, but only a little. The current balance is -1 per month; these things vary so we're basically at break-even. We'll be better than that though once a couple of systems we are colonizing finish getting set up(-16 for that).

In a perfect world we would wait for them to come to us(so that we can hit them when they come out of warp), but we also can't afford to just sit around and wait for that while they go rampaging through our territory. Once the fleet grows to a certain point(a modest negative energy balance), we pretty much need to use it to try and even the odds a little more.

Bottom line; we're still very much up against it, but we have hope now ... if only a little.

[Brian Swartz]

Research Director's Briefing: Dr. Tarcisius

There are going to be two parts to this. Feel free to ask questions if I haven't explained something well, or didn't cover something. First up, the normal choice between various projects.

** Continental Colonization(New Worlds, 23 mo.)

** Targeted Gene Expressions(Biology, 46 mo.) -- Adds another +1 to available traits. Also unlocks the Xeno Cavalry army attachment, which improves damage by 10% and health by 15%.

** Xenology(Biology, 12 mo.) -- Unlocks the dubious strategic resource Alien Pets.

** Cell Revitalization(Biology, 51 mo.) -- Increases leader lifespans by an additional 5 years.

That's Part I; your normal decision. Then there's Part II. By developing Gene Tailoring, you opened up a whole new can of worms. We can now genetically enhance not just our native Architreuthis, but any species within our empire. And oh my goodness are there a lot of them. More than I thought. Here's the list:

** Architreuthis(40%). We are a minority in our own empire. 287 pops on 51 different planets. And just think, most of us aren't even being systematically murdered by the Prethoryn Scourge.
** Djomar(18%)
** Shantari(10%)
** Kroll(7%)
** Thek'Qlak(7%)
** Qravadox(5%)
** Ethneri(2%)
** Pirak(2%)
** Wacegi(1%)
** Qravadox Clarus(1%) -- Apparently a modified version of the original Qravadox; they took this step already
** Tycan(1%)
** Obadin(1%)

Rather than go through and list everything for all of these species(which would take for-freaking-ever), I'll just simplify it here to the point of assuming that we'd gain the biggest benefit by starting with ourselves and working down the list in terms of numbers. This is not at all required, it is an OPTION. You can ignore genetic modification completely. If you want to go down this road, we would create a special project for modifying all Architreuthis in our empire. Less populous species would cost somewhat less, but we're talking in the neighborhood of 160-170 months for our native species ... so it would take a while.

As you probably don't remember(I didn't even recall all the details off-hand), our current traits are as follows:

** Weak(-20% army damage, -5% mining)
** Sedentary(-50% migration speed, +33% resettlement cost)
** Adaptive(+10% habitability)
** Conformists(-20% ethical divergence)
** Ocean Preference

There are a number of traits we could choose to add right now:

** Communal(+5% happiness)
** Charismatic(+1% happiness to alien species)
** Rapid Breeders(10% increase in population growth on developing worlds)
** Enduring(+30 years lifespan for leaders)
** Resilient(+100% garrison health and +50% Fortification Defensive bonus)
** Quick Learners(+25% leader experience gains)
** Natural Engineers(+15% engineering research)
** Natural Physicists(+15% physics research)
** Natural Sociologists(+15% society research)

As if that weren't enough, another option is to hold off for now and 'save up' for a more difficult genetic enhancement. These options would be available under that approach:

** Agrarian(+15% food -- increasing population growth and making more land available for other purposes)
** Thrifty(+15% energy, which we always need more of)
** Industrious(+15% mining)
** Intelligent(+10% to all sciences across the board)

If you select a genetic modification, that will happen first, then your research choice from the standard options.

Ok, that's it. Dr. Tarcisius, you are on the clock. Have fun with your wall of text, and then make your selection(s).

[tarcone]

Ok. I think this is what we should do. Lets wait on Gene Tailoring until we see how things are playing out. And since we can save up, I think that is the way to go.

And since the ground forces of the "bug" seem weak. I think I am going to help out myself. And the others around here.

Cell Revitalization As with any species, survival is always the deciding factor.

[Brian Swartz]

FYI, the ground forces of the Prethoryn are not weak ... they just don't seem to have a ton of them. They are like most other things the Prethoryn have(2-3 times as good as what we have) individually. For all I know that might be what you meant, but in any case.

Cell Revitalization it is.

[Brian Swartz]

Fair warning here -- this is a long update. Unfortunately I apparently messed something up with FRAPS so no screeshots -- I had a couple that showed the particle lances and sentinel batteries in action so that's annoying. I did go back in and at least get an updated star chart going.

2333-37

The fleet relocates to Baxom, which if you look at the most recent star chart, appears to be the best 'central' location relative to the various enemy Star Broods. Along with continued shipbuilding, our production resources are also invested in making sure all the new planets have spaceports(and then Solar Panel Networks to offset the maintenance cost).

07.01 -- Rimdur and Dontaur colonies have been established, the last two that were underway. There are no more large(20+ size) planets available to us that we are aware of, so we'll probably hold here. I think it was 6-8 new ones that were settled -- the one size-24 arctic in Zarim is the only one we missed, and that's where we were terraforming until the Prethoryn showed their faces.

08.01 -- Another Star Brood is brought into the middle arm. That's 8 total that we know about. Science ships are heading to Deteenal to analyze debris, but getting there will take some time; we didn't have any that were particularly close by.

08.30 -- We might have another opportunity. A 'medium-sized' Star Brood -- that's what we call it when they are around 80-85k in strength with roughly 45 or so total contacts -- is on it's way to Deteenal. Still two queens, but a larger complement of support ships. It's a race to see if we can get there in time to ambush them again ... the fleet is not quite fully repaired -- but 99.8% will have to do under the circumstances .

10.29 -- They had to stop over in Sadalbari before making the final leg of their journey. We were there waiting for them.

11.27 -- Second queen goes down. I'm liking our chances of a repeat performance very much.

12.12 -- Victory! We lost a corvette, our lone remaining swarmling, and a defense platform in the system. That's it. Admiral Shugglerm is up to **** skill now.

There are still eight more Star Broods out there -- not sure where this one came from but it must have been a reserve. They may have forces nearly without number, but we've crushed them two battles in a row now and are feeling pretty darn good about ourselves. Back to Baxom for repairs and reinforcments, and to see if they'll be foolish enough to try the same thing again.

They've got a ground invasion force heading for Zeldrah, but it's one of the smaller ones(three armies) and that's one of our more-fortified planets. We should be assured of victory there.

2334.01.10 -- A dozen more troop transports are headed for Zeldrah. We can't fend them off ... but there are no Prethoryn ships in that system. We've never seen more than one large task force this size of armies. If indeed their numbers of ground troops are limited, and our fleet can take them out, this could really hurt their ability to expand at the expense of our existing colonies. It's a chance too good to pass up. The fleet will head to Ullus, just one jump away.

01.18 -- Debris analysis from our battles in Deteenal has proven much more useful than that of the constructors some years back. Initial progress in reverse-engineering both Scourge Missiles and Neutronium Materials has been uncovered. The missiles are fairly good, but not as good as our Particle Lances. This is both negative and positive -- we may have actually surpassed the Prethoryn in a key area of technology! Neutronium, on the other had, could eventually be fashioned into an armor material 25% more resistant than our present Durasteel. That would be quite nice indeed. If we survive long enough, a future fleet equipped with this and the shields currently in top-secret development would be even more durable.

02.04 -- The first, small wave of transports is going to beat us to Zeldrah. The second, larger one has 'stopped over' in Bastamore. It's going to be a race, and I think we'll get there in time ... but I can't be certain. Nobody is waiting: all ships are making full speed for Zeldrah.

02.24 -- Decision point. Two Star Broods are responding, one from either side. They are smallish ones, but I'm not certain of what the outcome will be.

02.26 -- Heh. Here comes a third. Yeah, we're getting out before they show up. Zeldrah is toast, but we can't take on three Star Broods simultaneously. We've learned something valuable here though; if we ever want to get their attention, sending our fleet to a system that they've established themselves in will be a sure way to do it. That's definitely useful to know.

If we want to 'trap' their ground forces, we'll have to find a way to intercept them at a 'stopover' system. Back to Baxom.

04.22 -- Debris analysis reveals further progress on both previously discovered projects ... and also reveals a third possibility, Swarm Spawning Pools. Sounds like a Zerg Starcraft building. Essentially this would allow us to breed Prethoryn strike craft, similar to the amoeba flagella we got from the Space Amoebas, only slightly better.

05.04 -- Another of the smaller Star Broods is on it's way to Deteenal. We might be too far away this time to intercept it during cool-down, but we're sure going to try ...

06.04 -- They are already here by the time our main fleet arrives. This is going to be more of a straight-up fight. I still think we're going to win it, but it's not likely to be without casualties, particularly since our Prethoryn 'allies' will be arriving later. The difference is that in this case, they came from a much shorter distance away, not giving us time to reposition. However, we're not about to hand over another system for free, and there's still a lot of debris fields here that we want to research. Nothing is more valuable right now. Let's see what our fleet can really do in a 'fair' fight ...

06.16 -- Zeldrah has been captured by the enemy.

07.15 -- Having taken out a mining station, the enemy Star Brood attacks our 'reinforcements' before they can link up. This is unfortunate, and we may have to retreat if it looks like our captured queen will be at risk. Soon Shugglerm has our ships in range though. Time to see what's what.

08.15 -- At first, our Queen's task force draws the slow-moving fire while our Particle Lances obliterate the enemy from halfway across the system. That works for me.

10.06 -- As another ground invasion occurs in Bastamore, the battle in Deteenal is over. We crushed them once again. The Prethoryn's slow-moving weapons are no match for the range and firepower of our particle lances. That's really shown to be a decisive edge here. We lost three more corvettes, a couple of warriors, and a swarmling. Also, another small Star Brood is en route to neighboring Arrakis.

No rest for the weary. Let's do it again! Admiral Shugglerm is up to max ***** skill.

10.16 -- We arrive in Arrakis days after they do, and close to their position. That was fortuitious. The enemy was still cooling down after traveling, making the result a foregone conclusion.

11.18 -- Victory. The 'Fleet Consciousness' of our Prethoryn Queen has improved to ** skill as well, which will help. With these two crushing victories, it is clear we now have a strategic advantadge; the time-honored military strategy of decimating an opposing force at range before they can inflict damage. Praise be to Boojie for guiding us to this potentially saving discovery -- and to Dr. JIMGA Jr., who had the grace and foresight to make the particle lance a reality. Patriach Glosch gives his consent for a new phase of the war; punitive strikes against any Star Broods in space still controlled by the Oncorhynchus Collective. We will eventually need to take back what they've stolen from us ... but first things first.

An invasion that once seemed to spell certain doom for the galaxy as a whole, now seems quite beatable. But there may yet be other twists in this conflict, and it's sure to take considerable resources and effort to beat them back in even the best of outcomes ...

Dr. Salve Linus is sent in to Arrakis to analyze debris from this most recent battle. The Engineering Dept. is sure to be preoccupied with dealing with these efforts for years, perhaps decades ...

The Star Brood currently rampaging through Ullus, where we have three planets under our control, is first up on the hit parade ...

2335.01.08 -- Fesh'lithi, in Bastamore, has been captured by the Prethoryn. We should be ready to hit that system soon, so it's time to recruit armies from nearby systems to take it back. All assault armies were disbanded at the beginning of the war when we rebuilt our fleet, but now that we are starting to take back the offensive, we have a chance to rescue a planet from certain extermination.

01.22 -- More progress on all three projects due to more debris analysis.

01.27 -- The fleet arrives in Ullus. Time to start clearing the path.

02.04 -- The Vun-Okon and Qravadox have made peace. Excuse me while I don't really give a crap.

03.03 -- Victory in Ullus! We lose a corvette and a pair of swarmlings. Several battleships sustained significant damage this time though, so the first thought was to head to the nearest spaceport and repair. However, the primary Prethoryn transport fleet is in neighboring Bastamore with no escort ... a juicy target.

We reach Bastamore in range of them, and obliterate the transport group in days. Bwahahaha!! Take that, Prethoryn scum!!

04.16 -- A medium-sized Star Brood is headed to Deteenal, behind us. Sigh. The jerks really seem to want that system. They're going to get there long before us. We've got to respond though, even if it is probably just a diversion.

05.07 -- They arrive in Deteenal, and our fleet is still a half-dozen jumps away. I've already sent our science ship out of the system.

06.27 -- We're two jumps away now, and sensors show a second sizable group is going to be incoming soon. Buy one, get one free.

07.03 -- We arrive in Deteenal, but are on the opposite side of the system.

08.16 -- Ok, now there are three Star Broods here. This could get interesting ...

09.28 -- Haven't taken out all of the first one yet, and all three of them are in the battle now.

10.21 -- While the battle rages, in our favor despite the odds, Neutronium Materials research is finished with the most recent round of debris study.

12.28 -- After almost five months, we've obliterated them. Half of our Corperial cruisers were lost, but that's a tiny price relatively speaking, and pretty easily replaced. Two more sizable Star Broods are about to hit neighboring Arrakis. With our point defence cover weakened, we'll be more at risk ... but we got this.

They are going to run out of ships at some point, right? Right??

2336.05.11 -- Another epic battle won. A warrior and another cruiser are lost, small price to pay. There are only two other Star Broods in sensor range right now. We'll take a moment to rest and get some more cruisers in. They've proven invaluable in slaughtering the Prethoryn strike craft.

We've failed to rescue Bastamore; the system has fallen to the invaders. I do think we've broken the bulk of their attack though. We will see.

08.17 -- Sigh. That was fun while it lasted. They're coming to Deteenal again ... just one small Star Brood so far.

09.12 -- The hilarious sighting of a Scyldari 'fleet' consisting of a single destroyer and corvette 'invading' Prethoryn territory was still welcome.

2337.01.26 -- The latest threat has been eliminated. Here's the most recent map:




They've ripped us a new one, but now it's time to return the favor. Shugglerm prepares to enter Pesch, the closest neighboring system, and basically bombard the crap out anything that moves. Whatever they've got left, time to goad it out of the woodwork to fight us on their turf.

Surprisingly no-one came -- perhaps because they have little left to send. Our scans of the Prethoryn-occupied planets, the so-called 'infested worlds', reveal that a ground assault is impossible. All we can do is bomb the crap out of them from orbit until nothing is left.

In other words, it's time to kill them. It's time to kill them all.

03.07 -- Some matters won't wait while we do this. It's time to appoint a new Patriarch. Four qualified candidates, three of them excellent, stand for the position. Of course Glosch is among them, hoping to retain his spot.

[Brian Swartz]

Election Briefing

We have over 600 influence right now so we can easily afford to spend it if desired. Votes can be cast for any of the four candidates, or Abstain if preferred. Everybody gets in on this. As a reminder, the new Patriarch will hold office for the next 40 years, or until they die.

Not shown here are the ages of the candidates, which could well play into the decision-making.

** Dr. JIMGA Jr. is 158, eight years older than any other leader has lived to. He has a monthly chance of dying at 36% and rising, and the odds against him living this long are a vanishingly small fraction of a percent.

** Deacon Palmieri Jr. is 88. He would be expected to live most of his 'term', about another 35 years.

** Patriarch Glosch is 120. In just a few years he will start having a chance of dying due to old age. Of course he could defy the odds and pull a JIMGA Jr. ... but it's not particularly likely.

** Schlurma is 132, but has natural longevity; he won't reach the 'old age' minimum for another 15 years. Still unlikely to live for more than half of the expected term, however.

How much age plays into the decision, if at all, is up to you the voters. The only drawback for an older Patriarch is the need to replace them 'early'. The clock now starts on our fourth election in this journey. Campaign as you wish, and above all vote, or don't complain about the results .

[tarcone]

Wow. This is exciting. And when my research is done, the length of life is increased. Dont forget that.

As much as I want to reward JIMGA, Jr. for his brillance, his age is a concern.

So I vote Glosch.

[muns]

I gotta say this is just a fantastic read. The whole past few "game days" have been like a book wondering how this was all going to play out.

Happy that you guys were able to turn the tide a bit. Hope that continues moving forward.

[Brian Swartz]

Thanks for saying so. I thought we were doomed, and we would have been if things didn't turn when they did.

[chesapeake]

Boojie always provides for His children.

We are still in a massive naval war. Despite the considerable merits of all the other candidates, Glosch is still the right Architreuthi for the job.

[SirFozzie]

agreed. I would like to honor Dr JimGAJr, but Glosch is still the candidate of choice

[JonInMiddleGA]

I have to read closer before I can vote but I want to formally withdraw my name from consideration for the election. It's a job for someone younger than myself.

I am honored to serve.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Given the nature of the still-tremendous challenges we face, my vote goes to Patriarch Glosch