Game Stories
 

I'm starting this thread as a place to post stories about the SEIV games you've played. I know that I, for one, have enjoyed reading about the various situations that players have found themselves in. I know, I need to get a life...But hey, I love this game and everyting about it. Would prefer to see stories/descriptions of completed games but situational anecdotes are fine as well.

I'm hoping that this will not only entertain but also be a place for newbies to glean some tactics and maybe even teach some old dogs some new tricks.

PBEM stories are also welcome!

If anyone thinks this is a good idea....well then start typing!

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"He's dead, Jim."-- Lt. Commander Leonard "Bones" McCoy |Chief Medical Officer / USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

[This message has been edited by DirkHowitzer (edited 18 February 2001).]

Re: Game Stories
 

well, once the new patch comes out, I plan on having two races available, I guess thru the MOD forum (not original shipsets). The Brachyura (have unique AI-sorta) and the Orion Faction (based on Star Siege and the squad I am in there)--this will also have a somewhat unique AI. Shipsets will be colorized Versions of default races.

oh well, but I will post short stories on events (eg The Battle for Warp point 9, etc) if anybody would be interested.

Re: Game Stories
 

I'm writing a gamestory for the pbem game I'm in right now, but we're only at turn 27 so you won't see it for quite some time yet as I don't want to tip my hand to the other players.

Re: Game Stories
 

Truly a sad day for Terra. After fighting deserate battles against the Phong for the Aldan system and losing the colonies Aldan 1 and Aldan VIII; the Amokrie, using stellar manipulation devices of some kind, closed off the warp point for the Ibsunk system back to Terra. A rather forlorn convoy of Utah class light cruisers, Kentucky class light carriers and a lone Washington class colony ship are fighting their way from Ibsunk back home to Terra (envision the Battlestar Galactica fleet http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/ima...ons/icon12.gif ).

[This message has been edited by pathfinder (edited 19 February 2001).]

[This message has been edited by pathfinder (edited 19 February 2001).]

Re: Game Stories
 

yet another story from a test game I am having with a new race:

The Orion Faction should be proud, yet sad over the events of the Last 24 hours.

Orion Faction Battle Fleet Beta was ambushed by the Vesudans in the Xiria system while on routine patrol. The OF battle fleet managed to wipe out the Vesudan Fleet of two light cruiser after suffering grievous loses. The frigates Ryoken and Stompy were severely damaged during the battle and were barely able to break away. The Ryoken limped home after sustain several hull breaches and the loss of 2/3 of her crew to include the captain. The Stompy suffered the loss of food locker #1 and survived the flight home by eating cheesy poofs.

The OF Main Battle Fleet is assembling and a call has gone out to activate naval reservists and pilots.

Re: Game Stories
 

Over the weekend I got a little way into a game. I was goofing off researching stellar manipulation and other non-military technologies. I was in 1st place about twice the score of #2 and with 50 techs to any other player's 37. The new Ixaris sail into one of my systems (first contact) bLast one of my frigates (largest hull I'd researched at that point) with a light cruiser decked out in large-mounted phased polaron beams. It sails up to one of my planets and wipes out three small weapon platforms and some 60+million people, then wanders off. I build a fleet of frigates with boarding parties, but they get shot to pieces before they can get through the shileds on the cruisers. I lose 3 more worlds as the Ixaris and I both try to colonize the same system. Finally I get lucky and in a different system I find massive shield depleters in a ruin about the same time I get destroyer tech. I emergency build a new boarding ship and park them over the nearest warp points into my turf after I'm driven out of that system we'd been fighting over. It's quiet. I go back into the contested system and it's empty except for an unescorted colony ship which I board and capture then send home for reverse engineering. I colonize a world and emergency build a resupply depot and shipyard.

It continues to be quiet for half a year and so I send a ship through one warp gate to scout. He finds a nebula with only one other gate. So he heads for that one. On the other side he finds the Ixaris homeworld with a slew of sattelites and some support ships. The scot moves one square from the gate (all the range he's got left), and a pair of Light Cruisers appear through it behind him on the Ixaris turn. Apparently we missed each other while passing through the nebula. There's only one other warp gate in this system so he runs for that one. Another Ixaris system, mostly empty, again with only one other warp point. The light cruisers are just behind him so he runs for the next warp point. A planet launches a cruiser while the scout is passing through, it joins the chase. The next system has three warp points, one I just came through, one that leads I don't know where, and one that leads back to the system he and I were fighting over. I'm about to run out of fuel on the scout so I head for home. A second cruiser comes through the unknown warp gate and I've got 4 ships chasing my poor destroyer (three of them are only 2 moves behind him). He makes it through the warp point into my system and runs out of fuel on the "safe" side. I send a fleet of 4 more destroyers to go rescue him and get him to the ressuply point. They end their move 2 squaress from the scout. That turn both cruisers and one light cruiser come through the warp point, kill my helpless scout and turn around and leave.

After that though it went all downhill for the Ixaris as had fleets of destroyers equipped with massive shield depleters and boarding parties parked over the warp gates and I captured about a dozen of his ships piecemeal and in fleets of up to three. I ended up gettng three levels of shield, light cruisers, cruisers, two levels of armor, and five levels of PPB off of him in short order. But that one captain's scouting run was one of the highpoints of my weekend. Died within sight of an allied colony and in spitting distance of a fleet that could have saved him after running through four enemy-held systems. Glorious.

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Compete in the Space Empires IV World Championship at www.twingalaxies.com.

Re: Game Stories
 

A Capture operation to save the Empire!
Part 1 of a slightly connected series:
(These are 99.9% accurate, following the real adventures of a virtual race)

A dark cloud hangs over the empire. A peaceful, intensely religiuos people, dedicated to improving and terraforming every object in the universe, from moons to planets and eventually stars.
The Phong and Jreanar have declared war, after a decade of peaceful relations.
With only two out of six controlled systems having planets, we are no match for the two galaxy-spanning empires 10x our size. Fortunately, they are at war with each other, but this has left them with unfathomably powerful military technologies.
Ships the size of a moon, shields of fantastic strength and regenerative capacity. Weapons of mass destruction.

It is only a matter of time before the defensive perimeter of Minefields currently 3000 mines strong is breached in various places by sweepers, and the empire crumbles.

In an effort to stave off the looming collapse, the emperor has Decreed that the entire Navy should participate in an dangerous tactical operation, known only as "Plan Nine-Seven-Two"

Plan Nine-Seven-one, minefield traps, weren't working, but I noticed a lone Phong DN just barely within my fleet's range.

-=<Plan Nine-Seven-Two was born>=-
I would attack with the Tachyon cannons, disabling the weapons, and proceed to carve up the helpless victim with DUC for capture & analysis.
The technology aquired would advance the Empire by decades, and possibly allow us to fend off the invaders.

My Fleet: 17 ships
-4 Boarding party & DUC Combo Escorts (single 10kT shield-armor)
-4 DUC Destroyers (light shield-armor)
-1 MineLayer Destroyer
-2 Caldera class DUC/Tachyon LCs (medium shield-armor, 1 tachyon, 3 DUC)
-4 Tachyon Raider class LCs (heavy 70kT shield-armor, triple tachyon cannons)
-2 Healer class repair LCs

One Phong DN, with 3 Shard Cannon X, 2 HEMagnifier "deathbeams". 2,500 shields! With 100 regen per turn!

I gathered the Fleets (Tachyon-armed ships & DUC only ships)

The Phong DN moved in and SKEWERED the closest Tachyon LC. Ripped it to shreds.

All Tachyon ships (except the obvious one) made an immediate charge towards the DN while it reloaded, boxing it in.

All batteries FIRE!!!

Crap. Nothing.

The damn Heavy-mount guns are just too tough to hurt with the tachyon cannons. Not a scratch on the thing.

Another Tachyon Raider Spins off, engulfed in flames.

[Ponder]The entire Space Force trapped in one sector, Nowhere to retreat, plan in shambles, enemy reloading for another attack. Better to go down fighting.[/ponder]

The lightly shielded "clean-up" fleet of ES&DS charge in, spitting shells at the boxed-in DN. Minimal damage. DN Shields regenerate to full strength.

Shard Cannons rip into another Tachyon Raider, but shields hold (barely), and it pulls back.

Half the ES&DS are at short range now, and unleash a barrage at the DN. 50% misses.
DN shields holding strong.

*BLAM*
One more Tachyon Raider is lit up by the dual-HEMs and burns off into the cold night.

Point-blank range, now, the ES&DS are supposed to be hitting 75%, but barely manage a pitiful 50% accuracy.
Reloaded tachyon BLasters manage to pick off one of the smaller Shard cannons.

The DN fires Shard cannon at the still-intact Tachyon Raider that is falling back from the battle (with crushed shields), but misses.

Maybe the practice is doing good, the ES&DS manage a decent hitrate @ 80%, point blank.
The DN shields are showing the strain, but still over 1000.

A DUC LC gets blown apart, and the wreckage drifts off. I'm running out of LCs.

Another great volley of fire from the DS&ES send the DN's shield generators into overload, but don't quite penetrate.

Shard Cannon digs into the shields of another DUC LC, but they hold, and the LC falls back.

ES&DS finally bLast through the DN's shields and begin tearing up the internals. Armor Crushed, Shard Cannons destroyed, one HEM crystal shattered, shield generators down 80%.

A final searing HEM burns into the Last Tachyon Raider, burning out shields, but the hull is only lightly damaged.

The Escorts now fire slowly, and pick off the crew quarters & SDD. One moves in and the Elite commandos board & quickly subdue the surviving crew.

Not much remains for salvage. A single operational Quantum 3 engine, an ECM 3, a supply storage bay, and two living quarters.

The minelayer outlines a defensive perimeter with 20 mines.
Repair ships dock and tow the 4 ruined LC hulks back to the fleet, and settle in for nearly a year's worth of work before the fleet arrives at HomeWorld.

Everybody knows that this winter season will be filled with sleepless nights as the fleet limps towards the safety of the Empire's Defence MineFields.

http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gifWOO HOO http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif
But, its not over till the blue alien sings!
I took heavy (70%) LC casualties, and now even 1 DN would be able to crush my lightly shielded ES & DS.

[This message has been edited by suicide_junkie (edited 28 April 2001).]

Re: Game Stories
 

The game I remember the fondest at the moment was also the most bloodless I can ever recall playing to its conclusion. I began with the intention of being a near-Neutral race, content to live peacefully without expansionistic bent. Imagine my delight when my home system ended up with _two_ huge native-atmosphere planets in addition to my homeworld; I'd be able to build up a nice little civilization without having to spread out at all.

Despite our lack of expansionistic intent, my people were still highly inquisitive and interested in what lay beyond their horizons. After colonizing those two big new worlds, we sent unarmed long-range scouts out through our home system's two warp points to see what lay beyond. One warp point led to the home system of the Zynarra Holdings, and the other led to the home system of a people known as the Praetorians. The Praetorians were engaged in rapid expansion, so there was some initial concern over their intentions towards us, but it seems they were happy to focus their attention in directions other than our home system and so we forged a secure and long-Lasting alliance. Ditto the Zynarra, who like us weren't interested in occupying every system they could reach.

Ah, good times, peaceful times. My little unarmed scouts penetrated all of the accessable universe on epic multiyear journeys, making contact with alien civilizations and then making peace with them so rapidly that they never wanted for resupply; there was always an ally nearby who was willing to send them on their way with a full load of fuel. The three worlds of my home system were fully developed with a population of around eight billion in total, most of them devoted to pure research.

And then those researchers reported a disturbing discovery; there was a plasma instability in the core of our sun. They predicted that it would continue to magnify, and that in three years' time our home system would be destroyed in a supernova.

Naturally, this information was a major shock to me and the ruling council. There was no explanation for what had caused this so suddenly, and no way was known to stop the explosion from happening. We had three years in which to evacuate our race's entire population, but no transports to do it with and nowhere to move them to. Furthermore, although our neighbours were our allies, how would they react to our sudden desperate need for new living space? We had only limited weapons and shipbuilding technologies, and no navy beyond a small coast guard fleet.

Fortunately, panic was not in our peoples' natures. First and foremost: Suspend all current pure research projects and devote all effort into designing bigger transport ships and cargo-hauling technologies. Second: find someplace to move our people to. There was an excellent planet in the home system of the Zynarra holdings, and since they neither breathed the same atmosphere as us nor had the technology to colonize that type of planet we felt it was a reasonable request to put a colony there. The Zynarra were most agreeable.

Still, just one planet in just one system? This sort of all-eggs-in-one-basket is what got our people into this desperate situation in the first place. The Praetorians also had a planet that was ideal for our people, though they had already colonized it with a small domed outpost of their own. We purchased it off of them in exchange for some of our technological advances.

With destinations secured, and our tireless researchers producing plans for population transports capable of hauling a billion people each in quick order, the Exodus began in earnest. It was a heart-rending experience leaving behind our race's home like that, with no overt indication that anything was even slightly awry. We'd had to keep the information secret from our own people until just a few months before we started shipping people out, in order to prevent our allies from learning of our dire straights before we'd ensured they would welcome us.

We stripped the home system bare, even taking the constellations of defence satellites with us and dismantling our planetary facilities for raw materials to rebuild on our new homes. But on each planet approximately a million people refused to the Last to board the evacuation ships. We respected their wishes, as much as it pained us.

The Last transport dropped a few sensor buoys to record the death of our star and left. Our former home system was destroyed the next turn.

Coming soon: Part 2, in which a peaceful people turn paranoid. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Game Stories
 

(In which the 3rd placed player in a large pbem game attempts to ensure revenge against his foes by surrendering his entire empire to the second place player)

*Senate Homeworld; Productivity, Aldan System, Central Military District, Shards Protectorate*

Unified Galactic Calendar 2404.1

Dusk on Productivity is a time of peace and pause, a contemplative period of self-examination and gentle jest in company or isolation. The million lights of the city of industry are dim suggestions of the gleaming majesty to come. The factories are still, the process silent, the crystalline spires of vision cloaked lightly in the ironic murmurs of a populous at play.

Today the world is host to guest-ambassadors from the great and glorious Playbodium consortium; a loose affiliation of pornographers turned merchant adventurers and free-lance spin-doctors from the spinward reaches of the galactic cluster.

The Playbodium/Shards relationship is an old and an odd one; and in the years since first contact, the Senate had endeavoured to build friendship and cooperation with the eccentric pervert-forces of Playbodium Primus. In recent years this relationship suffered greatly when the Playbodiums attempted to interfere with the Senate’s rimward expansion into contested space, culminating in the “broken peace” atrocity when Playbodium forces were intercepted by a Senate carrier group in the process of invading the Wertreken system with a “Jiz” class mine-layer.

In recent months the truce had been restored with the Playbodiums agreeing to cede the Qornor system in part-payment for their past infractions in the field of espionage, disinformation and (albeit) talentless martial aggression.

Now the Playbodium ambassador “Girthus Stem” had come to Productivity in an heralding bow-wake of diplomatic froth and high-handed incivility. Refusing to discuss politics by sub-space, the obese Playbodium claimed his right to speak before the gathered Senate of the Shards Protectorate and the ambassadors of many allied and assimilated neighbouring species.

Galadan hall of public works had been cleared and appointed with the accouchements of diplomacy for the occasion; seven full senators of the oligarchy were standing present and serene, while a host of lesser dignitaries lined the approaches to the glittering splendour of the adamantine conference chamber.

To the left “Girthus Stem” lurched past quarrelling ambassadors from the Shanshu Imperium and LGM Collective. The Shanshu dignitary cloaked in a shadowed robe of star-silk and counter surveillance drones; the LGM diplomatic staff croaking complaints and inducements in a pointed barrage of lisping undertones.

To the right the Playbodium trundles past the waiting agents of the Emphirian Hive and Sarnek Pash. The Emphirian’s anxious and agitated; the Sarnek Pash leaking swamp-stinking liquid from their poorly-designed environmental suits.

Now approaching the conference hall Girthus Stem draws up his not inconsiderable bulk and belches once, twice, and a third time for luck, before breaking wind in the general direction of the representatives of various minor non-aligned pocket empires and twilight powers.

“Representatives of the Senate of Shards”, the Playbodium begins without preamble, “I am here to strike a mighty blow against the tyranny of your empire, to roar defiance at the plans you have set, to begin the struggle which will seal your doom … to break the crystal table settings of your hopes upon the brushed-steel ornamental dildo of our revenge!”

Rising silently to address this tirade, the seven senators of the oligarchy gaze with polite smiles at the impromptu theatre of the absurd being re-enacted for their pleasure.

“No more will the Playbodiums suffer the insufferable good-natured cooperation of the fragile nithling wisp-born shards!

*Some gentle applause from the Senators*

“No more will the Playbodiums play games of diplomacy with a race determined to avoid the pigsty ambience of debauched malignance!”

*A few murmurs of “bravo”, “extraordinary”, “it is most convincing”, from the gathered Senators and audience*

“We will now undo your plans in one foul swoop, oh how you will gnash your teeth with rage when you understand the immense cunning and deplorable insight of our mighty ruler!”

*The onlookers are entranced and spellbound at the sight of the purple-faced fat-man from the Playbodiums ranting in animated zest*

“How? You ask, How? Muhahhaaha, muhahhahaha, muhahaha … muhahaha … muhhahhhaahh HA! I’ll tell you!”

Gilthus Stem now wheels about with wild staring eyes and spittle-flecks arching in astonishing trajectories up and above his bloated sweating features.

“How? How? – Know this Shards, in one gesture we undo you, we consign your future to oblivion, we bind your dreams in the used condom of our cunning lust”.

Struggling now to breath, the Playbodium staggers forwards a pace and drops his voice to a not entirely affected wheezy-rasp.

“We ……”

*Choking and spluttering*

“Weeeeee ……”

*The beginnings of something like a death rattle*

“Weeeeee eeeeee … We …”

*Girthus staggers to his knees*

“We … offer unconditional surrender … to … The Sarnek Pash!”

*Silence*

*Then a ripple of applause*

The playbodium is clearly in great difficulties; the years of eating to many diplomatic feasts and indulging heavily in every vice know to the prodigious imaginations of his people have taken their toll.

The Senators rise to their feet and offer their own gentle applause for the amateur dramatics of the Playbodium ambassador. A medical team approaches discretely and with the aid of a anti-gravity lifting platform, they convey the unconscious form of Gilthus stem to the hospital facility.

“Ahem,” a small voice is heard. “Ah, I say!”

A slight-formed sub-clerk from Girthus’ retinue addresses the Senate.

“We meant what we said Senators, the Playbodium Eroticarchy hereby surrender life, liberty, and the pursuit of sexual experience to the amphibian mercies of the great and glorious Sarnek Pash”.

The Senators are silent for several moments.

The clerk continues, “From this day forward the Eroticarchy is no more than a subject people destined to exist on the sufferance of our greater neighbours, we kneel before the Sarnek Pash, we crave the attention of their shock-rods, we worship their dank crevices, and we will pledge ourselves to the maintenance of their every physical need and pleasure. This, by order of our Primus, is our revenge against the Senate of Shards”.

The Senators now turn as one to address the ambassador from the Sarnek Pash.

“In view of this surrender, will your empire honour the commitments previously offered by the Eroticarchy in the Qornor system and beyond; will our relations continue essentially unchanged?”

Approaching the snivelling playbodium clerk with flurry of slick-footed movements, the Sarnek Pash ambassador dips his eye-stalks in affirmation, answering the Senators with a quick and steady response.

“Indubitably kind hosts, we accept the playbodium surrender with pleasure and will happily maintain those commitments they made before assimilation. I am sure that the Sarnek Pash will make good use of our new food; the storehouses of the Commonwealth are bottomless in their needs”.

*A whispered exchange between the Ambassador and an aid*

“Friends … not food of course”, his amphibian features wrinkle in pan-cultural amusement, “you’ll pardon the eccentricities of our prototype translation software I hope sirs”.

And thus the pinnacle of the Playbodium hopes had passed into History. New friendship gleamed between the Senate of Shards and the Sarnek Pash, and having been most fittingly (self-abused), the remaining population of the Playbodium worlds was taken into bondage and servitude by the smelly fish people.

Unconfirmed rumours tell of the ontime Playbodium Primus working in a organ-farm under the close attentions and lash of a Sarnek Pash overseer (third class) on Lapzooli IV. Of Girthus Stem the news was perhaps a little happier; for having made such a successful debut appearance (and subsequent recovery) in the field of comedy-drama on Productivity, he was catapulted to pan-galactic stardom in a continuing panoply of such genre-defining roles as “fat-man runs amok”, “the flesh is not weak” and the eternal classic “the price of blubber”.

The End (of the playbodiums)

Re: Game Stories
 

(Sorry about splitting the posting in two like this, had to leave the terminal for a while)

Part 2: Diaspora

We spent the next few years getting settled in to our two new homeworlds, rebuilding our infrastructure and erecting an understated defence grid around them. Our allies were understandably surprised and unsettled by what had happened, especially the Zynarra and the Praetorians, and we didn't want to cause further offence by building fortresses inside systems which were still their own territory. Fortunately our neighbours forgave us readily enough; we'd established a good enough reputation in our previous relations. It looked like perhaps we _could_ return to our previous state of secure serenity, in two systems instead of our original one.

And then a war broke out, between the Zynarra Holdings and the United Flora Empire. We never learned what caused it, exactly, but it must have been grevious; the United Flora seemed bent on exterminating the Zynarra entirely. Naturally, we were quite dismayed; the Zynarra had graciously allowed half of our population to take refuge in their system, and on top of that their philosophy of neutrality had always been close to our own. We pleaded with the United Flora, we offered to mediate, we even _demanded_ that they cease their attacks, but despite their own alliance with us they refused our requests.

The Zynarra were hopelessly outmatched, and we had no significant warfleet to help defend them with in any case. Certainly no match for the United Flora. I regret to admit that we panicked, and saved the Zynarra species in the only way we could think of; we requested that they surrender their autonomy to us and declare themselves a part of our own governance. It must have seemed like a bitter betrayal, but the Zynarra had no choice; their homeworld had already been heavily bombed by the Flora and their other colonies destroyed.

It was at this point that we finally decided that, even though we were on excellent terms with every intelligent species in the galaxy, it would be a good idea to construct a defensive fleet sufficient to conduct a war. With the entire Zynarra system now under our administration, we had a good foundation upon which to build real fortifications again. The United Flora had proven themselves to be unpredictable irrational savages once already, after all, who knew when they might turn on us to finish off the surviving Zynarra under our protection?

It was only shortly afterward, while our society was still reeling from the shock of what had just transpired, when our researchers made another deeply disturbing discovery. Since our sun had mysteriously exploded much of our effort had gone into attempting to understand the science of stellar manipulation, perhaps one day to give early warning of another such event or even find some way to stabilize an unstable stellar core. We had expected that any such results would take centuries to achieve, it was a very long-range goal of ours. But instead, we discovered stellar manipulation techniques that were surprisingly easy. Theoretically, we had discovered a way to build a device that could fit onto a starship and induce a catastrophic instability in an otherwise perfectly stable star.

We already knew that it was possible to build devices that could obscure a starship from our most capable sensors; we'd researched such a device ourselves only a short time earlier. We also knew that our sun had apparently been perfectly stable until only a few years ago. Although there was no direct evidence, the implications were too important and frightening to ignore; some intelligent agency could have been responsible for the explosion that destroyed our home.

Someone out there had tried to exterminate us, someone who had technology far in advance of our own. This information was deemed of the utmost secrecy classification; now we _knew_ we couldn't completely trust our good neighbours. We needed a new strategy.

By now the galaxy was extensively populated by the more expansionistic races, but there were still many systems scattered throughout space that had small uninhabited planets well-suited for our kind. We began the Diaspora; seeding the far reaches of the galaxy with small colonies, fortified resupply depots and spaceyards so widely dispersed that no single agency could possibly attack them all at once. Although we continued devoting some effort to researching stellar manipulation technology, we started a crash development course on improved cloak-penetrating sensors. Soon our fleet of scout ships, long mothballed after having explored all reachable star systems, were again patrolling the far reaches. But we never spotted a single cloaked ship, even after our researchers had developed sensors capable of penetrating any theoretical cloak believed to be possible. It was unnerving and frustrating. But it would have been suicidally foolhardy to return to our old state of blissful neutrality; we knew better than anyone that there's no going home again.

We eventually had outPosts and colonies scattered almost _everywhere_, and our agressive population dispersal program resulted in rapid expansion. We had become exactly what we resolved we would not. But even so, we never claimed the systems we planted our colonies in; they were outPosts, not posessions. We never crowded our allies when we could help it, and tried to keep our military understated. It seemed to be working well; our allies remained brotherly and seemed to accept our assurances of peaceful intent.

Until, over the course of three dark months, every civilization in the galaxy suddenly turned on us as one and declared war. It was a brutal shock, even considering the other shocks we'd come to accept already in our recent collective history. There was no warning, no indication that anything like this had ever happened to anyone else before. Fortunately, nobody except us seemed to be _prepared_ for war; we had almost a full year after the great betrayal to prepare and try to figure out what had happened.

Our researchers came through for us again, discovering techniques to subvert and confuse other empires. It became clear what our mysterious enemy had done; unable to exterminate us any longer by destroying single star systems, they had executed a massive communications mimic operation and turned everyone against us.

But who _were_ they? And how could we find out with everyone in the galaxy at war with us? Frustration, frustration. But at least we were prepared to face the challenge this time.

The Great War was essentially won in the course of only a single year of actual fighting. Each of our far-flung outPosts had its own garrison of warships and troops, and each was behind enemy lines; the only "border" we could be said to have was the Zynarra's home system. Almost simultaneously, our troop ships landed on and captured the core worlds of every empire. Without a common resource base, none could maintain a large fleet on their own; they rapidly fell. As we captured each, we very carefully interrogated their leaders and searched their planets for signs that they were the ones who had destroyed our homeworld.

Finally, the only species left unconquered were the Sagella. Their home system was remote, in a far corner of the map beyond a string of nebula systems and a black hole. They'd never expanded far beyond it, and we'd never set up an outpost inside it due to a lack of suitable unoccupied planets.

Nebula systems and black holes; the perfect inspiration for researchers working on cloaks and star-destroying weapons.

We began massing a combined fleet just beyond the black hole. It was time to make the galaxy safe again, once and for all.

Re: Game Stories
 

There's an amusing little epilogue to that story which kind of creeped me out at the time. As I gathered my ships to invade the Sagella, it occurred to me to switch sides and see if I could stop the juggernaut that I'd created. The Sagella had only a couple of planets in that one system, but it was extremely defensible with those black hole and nebula neighbours and the Sagella had decent technology. I set about frantically building warp point defences.

A few turns later, I get the message: "Our researchers have discovered a plasma instability in the core of the star <insert home system's name here>, and predict that it will go nova in 3 years." Of course, this time there were no allies for me to take refuge with. the Sagella were doomed. And since the explosion would destroy all evidence of their civilization, my people would forevermore remain convinced that the Sagella had destroyed their home. And perhaps had found some unknown way to escape, covering their tracks with another destroyed star system.

I've got to play a sequel to that game someday... http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Game Stories
 

Great stories!
Are you all a bunch of writers in real life?

Re: Game Stories
 

Well, I do write short stories as a hobby, but nothing published. Perhaps one day. Practice, as they say, makes better.

Now that finals are over, I've been thinking of getting involved in a multiplayer game and writing a chronicle of it as it goes along. I love the RP side of this game, however irrelevant it may be to the victory conditions. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Game Stories
 

The running commentary does make the game "feel" better.
I was particulary interested in SJ's attempts to stop the massive DN onslaught with cruisers.
I have enjoyed reading all the commentaries. Thanks guys.

Re: Game Stories
 

Pretty good writing there BD.

Re: Game Stories
 

Cruisers?
I only had 8 LightCruisers in my whole empire, and a handful of escorts and destroyers. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Game Stories
 

They fought like they were cruisers or BC's. Brave ships they were http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif!

[This message has been edited by Nitram Draw (edited 25 April 2001).]

Re: Game Stories
 

Thanks, Lupus. Though I think Mordante beats me hands down when it comes to dialogue; none of my race concepts have ever made references to "the brushed-steel ornamental dildo of our revenge" before. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Game Stories
 

*grins*

I kid you not, the Playbodiums were a real player-designed race (not mine) that were very accurately represented in that story of their ending. Galactic pornographer-monopolists of extremely unsaviory mien - came as a great surprise when they surrendered to the fish people...

Re: Game Stories
 

Part 2 of a slightly connected series:
(These are 99.9% accurate, following the real adventures of a virtual race)

This is why I play without saving very often. You gotta make the best of every situation, 'cause you can't go back. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Historical Note: The heavy bombardment missiles are similar to CSMs, except that the bombard missiles are nuclear (as opposed to shaped chemical warheads), twice as large, quad armor on the missiles, and do quad damage to shields.
The Jreanar had HBM Vs, while the empire's fleet was armed with HBM IIs.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

2426.7:
5 years after the sucess of Plan Nine-Seven-Two, the empire has grown, but alien attacks on our borders have increased greatly. During the past year, citizens have rejoiced as the long-standing domes on the colony worlds were torn down. Resource production has been converted to monoliths 3, and the budget is continually balanced with the help of the empire's resource converter. We have doubled the shield strength of our ships, and have developed satelites capable of mounting Siege weapons, but are still far behind in every technology. Unfortunately, section 31 has been unable to find and eliminate the source of the comm mimics that have kept friendly races at war with us, though we suspect the Jreanar. Jreanar forces have been very active in the X19 system, and the empire's defensive minefields have nearly been breached by continual assaults. A Cochrane class Science BC has been commisioned and been given command of our entire military force, all LCs, consisting of 2 heavy Kalashnikov class Boarding ships, a Tachyon Raider II, 2 Healer-class repair ships, 4 Candu-class heavy bombardment ships, and a minelayer. Their mission, beginning 2426.7, is to strike back at the Jreanar and attempt to stop the raids on our borders. Secondary goals include the capture of Jreanar missile and ship technology.

2426.9:
All hands were at battlestations as the fleet prepared to traverse the X19 wormhole, but it proved to be unfounded. Upon entering the fearsome Jreanar territory, all that our sensors could detect was a few undefended civilian colony worlds and a colony ship. The fleet proceeded to pursue the colony ship into Phong territory, and the Jreanar captain surrendered uneventfully.

2427.0:
We are travelling back through the X19 system, and the Cochrane has made tremendous progress in propulsion techniques and has transmitted the schematics for the Ice colony back to HomeWorld. Long range sensors have just picked up a Jreanar Dreadnaught entering the system, and we have changed course to intercept. The fleet will be tested today.

The fleet lines up, PDC/PDLs charged at maximum.
Suddenly, the Jreanar DN flashes away from the planet at an incredible speed. It appears to be travelling at the speed of our LCs despite being over twice the mass. Our bombardment ships will not be able to maintain their distance.
The Bombardment ships move into range and deploy eight Tactical Nukes.
Collision alert! The Jreanar ship had launched 3 Nukes, and they are already halfway to their target. PDLs fire frantically from the fleet, but two of the missiles are still locked. PDCs on the Kalashnikov bLast fire at the missiles and disable them only meters from the ship.
The Jreanar ship slips past the oncoming nukes, and pours antiprotons into the heavily shielded Kalashnikov, whose shields flare brightly, but hold at 80%
The bombardment nukes detonate simultaneously just behind the Jreanar DN, sending a massive EMP into the ship. The shield bubble of the Jreanar DN is visibly distorted, and fades rapidly to 20%
Another wave of Nukes lauched by the DN is immediately shot down, while the DN continues to fire into the Kalashnikov.
A second wave of Nukes detonate in front of the DN, tearing its shields to pieces and causing electrical arcs across its hull. Armor is stripped away, a missile bay detonates and shield grids trace a web of dim fire across the hull.
In a desperate change of tactics, the DN moves to point-blank range with the Capture ship while transmitting some sort of coded message and releasing two more Nuclear weapons. Hitting the shields before any PD can react, the Kalashnikov's shields are torn apart by the EMP and the shockwave sends a 100kT of shield-armor debris spinning off into space.
Two more nuclear bombardment missiles streak in and impact the DN, shredding a pair of engines and detonating the second missile launcher, which bLasts a large hole in the living decks.
Antiprotons scream through space, and the kalashnikov's regenerators manage to deflect a quarter of the beams before they rip into the hull, burning off another 30kT of shield-armors.
More nukes are released from the fleet bombardment ships, and the DN deploys one more nuke while spraying PDC and antiproton fire, bLasting 20kT of shield-armor shrapnel off of the besieged Kalashnikov.
The DN cuts down half of the bombardment with PDC, and fires another burst at the Kalashnikov, which shatters into pieces, revealing the core of the ship.
It's shields and armor gone, the Kalashnikov turns and rapidly retreats, having lost half of its original mass, while the second capture ship moves in.
More nukes detonate beside the DN, and it turns to retreat, its antiproton beams melted.
The bombard ships give chase, and launching missiles in sequence, as the DN attempts to escape, the second Kalashnikov pacing it, waiting for an opportunity to pounce.
Explosions rip through the aft section of the DN and its engines take heavy abuse from the nuclear bLasts behind it.
The dreadnaught, slowing from engine damage, a burning hulk, activates its self destruct as it's Last engine flickers out, destroying all hope of technology salvage. The mission an absolute failure, the LCs slowly come about to rejoin the command ship.


2427.1:
The fleet is cruising through the X91 system towards deeper Jreanar territory, repairs are half-complete on the shattered Kalashnikov. Without warning, SEVEN Jreanar dreadnaughts are detected only a few kilometers from the fleet. The solitary DN must have transmitted our location to it's home base before it was destroyed. Ships scramble to get into formation, but the fleet is seriously outclassed and outgunned and even outnumbered in fighting craft.
Forming into three lines as the minelayer retreats, the Tachyon Raider II leads the row of 4 bombardment ships, followed by the repair ships with PDLs while The Kalashnikov-class capture ships fly at the side.
The fast DNs close rapidly in a 'V' formation, and just as the fleet enters formation, the tactical screens light up with 18 new small targets. The new contacts are IDed as Tactical Nukes, all heading for the damaged kalashnikov.
Waiting just long enough for the Jreanar Leader to come within range, the Bombard ships deploy all 8 nukes, turn and fall back, while the Tachyon Raider, Kalashnikovs and Repair ships stand their ground.
PD fire crisscrosses space, two Jreanar Triads detonate early, while half of the Fleet's missiles slam into the leading DN, waves of energy coursing through the energy field and draining half thier strength.
The Tachyon Raider moves in to fire, miraculously getting three solid hits where one hit was expected. Unfortunately, only a single PDL on the leading DN was disabled. The closest DN's open fire with Antiproton beams, the damaged Kalashnikov's shields drop to 70%, and the Tachyon Raider has picked up a triad of missiles, closing fast.
An incredibly intense bLasting of PDLs and PDCs cuts down most of the Jreanar missiles, luckily, the few that were missed failed to detonate.
The DNs are eating up space, and closing fast. The leading DN knocks another 5% off of the Kalashnikov's shields, and the rest of the DNs unleash a furious barrage of antiproton fire which instantly overloads the Tachyon Raider's shields, burning out 20% of the generators.
While the Fleet continues to fall back, the DN's unleash another barrage of missiles.
Fleet missiles are launched, and the DNs continue their charge, the leading DN misses from point blank range, but the other DNs heavy antiproton fire collapses the Kalashnikov's shields, and one burst of fire shuts down another generator on the Tachyon Raider.
PD screams, and Antiprotons flare, crushing the shield-armor on the Kalashnikov & taking another chunk out of the Tachyon Raider. Nuclear bLasts rock the lead DN, nearly shutting down it's shields. The Tachyon Raider turns and dives towards the leader, smashes through the shields, detonating and leaving a hole in its armor. The shattered kalashnikov rams itself into the hole and commandos spread out into the DN. The panicked Jreanar DN self-destructs, spewing flames & microparticles everywhere.
Stunned by the loss, the Jreanar ships pause, allowing the Fleet to form into a tight 2x4 square formation before they swarm angrily.
Both sides lauch all missiles, and the point defence flares once again. Two missiles impact the closest DN, but its shields hold at 80%, tight Fleet PDC fire cuts down all the incoming missiles.
Continuing to fall back, another missile salvo results in the new lead DN's shields down to 70%.
Now, a mysterious repulsive force prevented our fleet from continuing to retreat, and the DNs pounced.
The ships of the fleet peeled away to one side, but the DNs were too close, and raked the Last Kalashnikov with antiproton fire, dropping its shields to 50%
Reloaded, all ships loose missiles, and the point defence flares everywhere.
Both fleets have a tight PD formation, and no missiles get through, but the DN's continue to pour antiprotons into the Kalashnikov, and its shields sputter out.
The DNs pursue the tattered fleet, and though the regenerators manage to block the first hit, antiprotons score the hull of the Kal.
One more wave of antiprotons, and the shield-armors are totally destroyed. The kal starts to fall behind with engine damage.
Now, the DNs turn from the wounded Kal to concentrate their antiproton fire on the nearest bombardment ship, the light shielding is cut through and explosions ripple across the armor. The DN that was hit before turns away and heads for the minelayer, who is trying to quietly deploy mines on the other side of the sector.
Missiles are launched, and the wandering DN returns with full shields, but is too late to prevent two nukes from slamming into one of the other DNs. A blaze of light, and the Last Kalashnikov turns to dust in a nuclear bLast. Antiproton beams rake the exposed hull of the bombardment ship, annihilating the atoms of the starboard sections.
Once again, the fleet has run into an invisible barrier and are forced closer to the DNs
One DN moves alongside and vapourizes the bridge and lifesupport with antiprotons and nukes the area for good measure. The rest of the DNs rip into another bombardment ship, stripping it of its shields and armor before launching another salvo of nukes.
The bombard ship explodes in a blaze of nuclear fire, and the DNs methodically turn to the next ship in line.
Spotting what may be the Last opportunity to hurt the enemy, the bombard ships drop missiles in space as they retreat, hoping the enemy will run ito them. Unfortunately, the enemy DN moves to the side, giving his wingmen's PD a clear shot, and the missiles are of no effect.
Something strange: most of the enemy DN fleet is falling behind with some sort of engine trouble! The closest DN rips into the bombard ship's internals and launches nukes before falling behind, while the wandering DN comes in range and opens fire on the Last bombard ship, dropping its shields to 50%.
Both DNs fire antiprotons and the shields of the bombard ship are down to 10%, with nukes en route.
The remaining PDLs in the fleet barely manage to disable the three nukes, and antiprotons rip through the shields of the bombard ship, causing one of its shield generators to flare on the hull. Now even the wanderer is showing engine trouble, and is falling out of range.

The four remaining ships pull away from the enemy DNs, failures, but alive.

2427.1:
As the Fleet was shifting to long-haul drive, one of the mines detonated, revealing a Jreanar DN with severe damage to the forward armor and a ruined bridge area. The DN carreened into two more mines before exploding. Section 31 will need to look into this new information.

2427.19:
The fleet has just entered the secure territories of the Empire, and is proceeding to Starfleet Academy for additional training while they await the construction of reinforcements.


[This message has been edited by suicide_junkie (edited 28 April 2001).]

Re: Game Stories
 

As has been said, great stories guys. They're almos on the same level as some of the sci-fi novels I've read. Very good work.

------------------
Rules? What Rules?

[This message has been edited by Maverick (edited 27 April 2001).]

Re: Game Stories
 

Excerpted from a report by Chancellor Naiduin to the Industrial Planning Committee at the High University of Kaffaljihma, dated 2407.5:

Another of the new Djusholm class light cruisers reached Corcaroli today. We now have the capability to produce ships that can engage the Xi'Chung on more equal terms. We expect no longer to sacrifice two or three of our Drammen class destroyers for each of their Kamikaze class LCs crippled or destroyed. The heroic efforts of the two shipyards here in Kaffaljihma to put out enough ships to stop the enemy's incursions for the past year can no longer be sustained, but the Corcaroli and Ibsunk yards remain at full normal production. We intend the new ship yard planned for our outpost in Baten to provide the extra capacity to build additional Ikaalinen class colony ships to allow further expansion of our intelligence and research facilities, and a new scout design with which to contact the Cue Cappa, for whom our partners the Eee have refused to sell us the comm channel. The Eee have not expressed any opposition to our occupying more ice worlds in their space, but the recent discovery that they have entered a trade and research alliance with the Xi'Chung forces us to prepare the best defenses for those worlds that we can muster. The recent Xi'Chung raid that wiped out the picket watching our border with the Cluk-Ruk proves the necessity of advance preparation; we were forced to place a minefield at the Ibsunk-Deneb warp point rather than the original plan to block the border at Deneb-Merga. We intend to place the next minefield at the Kaffaljihma-Deneb WP, then fortify the Corcaroli border.

We believe the Xi'Chung to be psychologically incapable of the logical debate which we Tictsin normally use to resolve disputes; we have never found a rational explanation for their unprovoked attack on our Skotselv scout escort four years ago, or their declaration of war immediately thereafter. We expect this wasteful war to continue for many years.

[The Eee have also shared a Xiati ship design, but I haven't encountered them. The current standings are Xi'chung 1st, my Tictsin 3rd, Cue Kappa 4th, Eee 5th, Cluk-Ruk 7th out of 10 on a medium galactic edge map, in an unmodded 1.35 game. The Tictsin are Peaceful Scientists from an Icy/CO2 world, with Organic Manipulation, Advanced Power Conservation, and Emotionless.]

(Hey, I just noticed that I made Sergeant recently. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif)
------------------
Cap'n Q

[This message has been edited by capnq (edited 27 April 2001).]

Re: Game Stories
 

Chancellor Naiduin addresses the Shipwrights Guild Convention at Ibsunk Shipyard, 2408.4:

I commend you all on your exemplary performance of your craft. The prototype population transport, which was constructed at this shipyard in record time, performed flawlessly in the evacuation of Ibsunk I. The untiring efforts of the Guild made it possible to successfully evacuate 96% of that doomed world's populace before the incoming firestorm sterilized the planet.

Unfortunately, the war situation does not allow us to rest on our laurels. The new Djusholm light cruisers are not performing as well as hoped. This does not reflect in any way on your construction skills; the casualty rates are due entirely to the unexpectedly high technological superiority of the newly encountered Xi'Chung Terror class LCs. In our recent defeat in the Corcaroli system, a fleet of seven Djusholm and three Drammen was wiped out by three Terrors and three Kamikazes, although our brave crews managed to destroy the Kamikazes in the course of the battle. The Djusholms' Point Defense Cannons were very effective against the Xi'Chung seekers, allowing our ships to close within our own weapons' lesser range. Despite the horrendous casualties, our defensive efforts did convince the Xi'Chung to withdraw without attacking either of the Corcaroli colonies.

We have committed to an empire-wide reconstruction effort to build more research centers, in an effort to close the military gap with our enemy. Until this program bears fruit, the entire Tictsin Society is depending upon you to rebuild our warfleet.

[Heavy fleet losses have dropped my Tictsin to 5th; I doubt I can hold Carcaroli if the next wave hits before I can mine the WPs. If the unmodded Xi'Chung are this tough, I dread to see how the ModPack has beefed them up. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/ima...ons/icon12.gif]

------------------
Cap'n Q

Re: Game Stories
 

Part 3 of a slightly connected series:
(These are 99.9% accurate, following the real adventures of a virtual race)


It has been 3 years since the star fleet was decimated at the battle of X19. Multiple, uncomfirmed declarations of war have been recieved, and Section 31 reports no indications of enemy agents within the empire. It is now believed that the ememy agents have infiltrated our neighbour's governments instead. In an attempt to counter the Jreanar's medium range firepower we have spent much of our research time on developing a new particle weapon, a "polaron" beam, which gives us 20% more range and firepower. Jreanar activity is still on the rise, and the Empire's defences are at an all time low, with less than a hundred mines remaining at some points. With the defense situation approaching critical, the Empire can delay no longer. The entire military force of the empire is placed in the (Elite +27%) Special Task Force, under the direct command of the veterans of the battle of X19.

Special Task Force:
2429.7:
The fleet forms up around the science vessel Cochrane, an impressive mix of 18 ships, including six new CANDU-2 bombardment ships, 2 new Kalashnikov class assault transports, and five of the high-tech Ubernaught class Battlecruisers with quad polaron beams. The veterans of X19 are already in position, the Cochrane, two healer-class repair ships and a single Bombardment ship. Long-haul drive is engaged, and the fleet departs for HomeWorld.

2429.8:
As the fleet enters the home system, the X19 defences report two minesweepers attacking, leaving less than 50% of the field intact. A tanker is sent up from the surface of HomeWorld to top off the fleet's supplies, and they immediately take off under maximum thrust for the defense line.

2429.9:
Another minesweeper and 5 DNs made an assault at the border, but the fleet is still too distant. 83 mines remain, down from a high of 600 a decade ago.

2430.0:
The wormhole opens and the fleet dives through. Initial scans no longer show undefended civilian colonies... In their place stand worlds ringed with defense satellites, and twenty Dreadnaughts patrolling the area. Six Dreadnaughts are already moving to intercept the fleet, along with a slightly smaller craft bearing a strong organic signature.
The first two Jreanar DNs are engaged by the Fleet, and the Ubernaughts form into a PD Block formation, with the Kalashnikovs right behind them and the Bombardment ships standing ready as backup.
Five missiles are launched from extreme range by the DNs, causing confusion aboard the command ship Cochrane. Jreanar have always used triad missiles before.
PDCs blazing, the Ubernaughts move in to weapons range of the lead DN, and consulting their Talismans, slam a wall of Polaron beams into the first DN. With a halo of purple fire trailing from severly weakened shields, the DN sweeps its antiproton beams across the nearest Ubernaught, but only catches a corner of its shield.
The Cochrane returns with a report on the second Dreadnaught: they only launched two missiles because that is all they have. Most of the ship is taken up by enourmous shield generators which are giving readings that are off the scale. The bombardment cruisers are ordered to immediately move in and attack, launching a volley of missiles.
The Kalashnikovs accelerate around the Ubernaughts just as a second wave of polarons slam into the first DN, stripping away its shields and armor. Plasma streams from the heavily damaged engineering section and oxygen vents from the secondary life support systems. One of the Kalashnikovs drops its shields, turning to ram its nose into the broken hull. The forward section opens and elite troopers pour out directly behind the bridge. In a quick assault, the ship's command crew are taken, and the ship is turned to limp through the Ubernaught lines.
With the successful capture of the first DN, the Ubernaughts move forward to box in the Last DN.
The second DN fires all weapons at the captured ship, but the antiproton beam slices through empty space where an engine pylon used to be, and copious PDC fire shreds the missiles almost before they leave the ship.
BLasts of intense white rock the DN's forward and starboard sections, shields flicker out for an instant, but then two backup generators kick in at full strength.
More missiles are launched and the Ubernaughts continue to pour polarons into the intense shielding as the DN struggles to hit the weaving Ubernaughts.
Another two nukes explode near the DN's midsection, piercing the shield and melting away the armor. Oxygen leaking from its mid decks, the DN is ripped into by a well placed polaron bLast, ripping through the gash in its side to destroy two of the shields and a number of engines from the wrong side.
The second Kalashnikov spots an opportunity and dives in, disgorging commandos, and quickly siezing control of the DN.

Wasting no time, the Cochrane slices off samples of the Dreadnaughts' components, but unfortunately is unable to find a way to remove the heavy shield generator from the larger DN.

With a Jreanar sector fleet hot on their tails, the victorious ships retreat through the wormhole to the remnants of the empire's defense wall.

2430.1:
The Fleet looking on in amazement, a sequence of twelve Jreanar DNs slide through the wormhole and are torn apart by mines. A minelayer approaches and deposits a measly six more mines to deploy.
During this break, we have some good news; the technicians on board the Cochrane have made another breakthrough in propulsion and they were mumbling things about relating it to the shield technology recovered from the DN. I don't get it, but oh well, they know what they're doing.
Entering the X19 system once more, the fleet moves in to orbit of the system's main supply base, and levels the colony before bLasting the defence satellites. With one DN left in the system, the fleet prepares to attack the local shipyards before moving on into the Yoshri System.

2430.2:
As the warships moved into position to attack the shipyards an intense jamming signal blanked out direct communication from the command ship, and there was nothing we could do but watch as the Ubernaughts closed with the planet and were torn apart by wave after wave of missiles from the surface. With standing orders to destroy the shipyards, they held position as the bombardment ships glassed the planet with their nukes. Only one Ubernaught returned from the battle, with heavy scars on its armor.
A Jreanar Dreadnaught heading for the weak point in the Empire's defences has been intercepted, and this time, the Cochrane is staying close to prevent another disaster.
An early scan of the DN reveals it to be another heavily shielded design. The ubernaught's shield-armors are only functioning at 50%, but it takes the lead, followed by a squadron of Bombardment LCs and the two Kalashnikovs.
The DN launches missiles from extreme range, but they are completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of PDLs in the fleet. Purple fire bubbles across the DN's shields as the Ubernaught opens fire, but there is little effect. Behind the battlecruiser, fourteen nukes are released and streak towards the DN, which fires a single PDL in vain, and misses the Ubernaught with antiprotons as it manouevers.
Still charging the DN at full speed, the ubernaught and the Kalashnikovs move to point black range as a missile pair arrive and bLast an EMP through the Dreadnaught, whose shields ripple but hold.
The DN drops a pair of missiles right beside the Ubernaught and streaks away, but is caught by another pair of missiles, whose bLast causes one of the heavy shields to overheat and shut down.
The Ubernaught executes a swift dodge, and antiprotons singe space behind it while the DN comes around behind the Kalashnikovs. Four missiles impact the DN's shields, but fuel exhausted, they fail to detonate, and bounce harmlessly off the shields while the rest of the missiles drift off into space.
Another volley of ten missiles are launched and the DN's PDL is again helpless to stop four missiles from slamming into it and severely depleting its shield strength. Four polaron beams slam the DN and it trails a purple haze as it attemps to run from the missiles.
Two more nuclear bLasts and a stream of polarons overload the second shield generator, and it too shuts down.
Suddenly, nuclear fire rips across the surface of the Ubernaught, its shields collapsing, and antiprotons from the DN skim the hull, barely missing. With the Ubernaught and the kalashnikovs hovering close to the DN, the bombard ships cease fire to avoid hitting the friendlies with splash damage.
Executing a loop-the-loop, the Ubernaught avoids another antiproton burst, and slams a beam of purple fire into the aft shields of the DN. The Ubernaught launches its nuclear missiles, but the Ubernaught twists away, avoiding one more antiproton beam, and hammering the DN with a solid polaron stream.
WIth all three heavy shield generators shorting out, only a single shield-armor manages to hold off the attack long enough for the DN to fire back. With one Last skillful dodge to the left, the Ubernaught bLasts through the shields and burns a chunk out of the hull. The kalashniovs have their opportunity and unload troops through the hole, and the commandos efficiently subdue all resistance.
The Cochrane takes what it can into storage, and it looks like we got some really good pieces of their missiles intact.

Proceeding through to Yoshri, we find three DN on an intercept course.

2430.3
Two heavily shielded DNs are approaching, and the Ubernaught moves forward to protect the fleet. Missiles launched by the DNs as they come into range are easily handled by the massed PD, while the Ubernaught leaps forward to get the first hit, and causing a flaming aura around the lead DN.
A wall of missiles streak out towards the second DN, as the Ubernaught continues to splash purple fire across the defenses of the lead ship. Still unable to get a lock on the wild Ubernaught, the DNs fire blindly, and distracted by the attack, the missiles reach and detonate bLast after bLast after bLast of crushing hammer-blows to the port side of the second DN, shredding its shields to a ragged 15%. The Ubernaught turns, and Space fizzes purple around the disoriented DN, digging another 10% out of its shield energy.
The Kalashnikovs send a warning, and bLast at the DNs with their PDCs, but before the Ubernaught can react, a missile detonates just ahead of the Ubernaught. Shields losing power and sensors blinded, the ubernaught turns to follow the path of the DNs, and a second missile slams the Ubernaught from behind. Though the shields deflect most of the bLast, they collapse, and a nasty scortch mark shows where one of the shield generators was melted into scrap.
Fearlessly pursuing the DNs towards the line of bombardment ships the Ubernaught's Talisman allows a perfect shot on the weakened DN as the sensors are clearing, and breaches the shields. Swiftly, a highly trained Kalashnikov's crew manouevers through the ships to ram another group of commandos into the corridors of the DN.
Success is confirmed as the Jreanar DN breaks formation and flies to the Cochrane with weapons and shields off-line.
The surviving Jreanar captain has other plans, and manages to plant a solid beam of antiprotons from long range onto the retreating DN distorting the support structure of one of the heavy shield generators.
Launching missiles and pursuing the captured ship, the Jreanar fires antiprotons, but the commandos have re-activated the shields, and the bLast is stopped short.
The Ubernaught keeps pace with the Jreanar DN, shields back to 45% strength, and splashes polarons across the aft shields, while the commandos twist to evade another antiproton charge.
A purple blaze trailing from their shields, the Jreanar DN fakes left, and nails the commandos with an antiproton beam as the dodge right, the aft shields flaring violently, but holding at 6%.
Suddenly not interested in the commandos anymore, the Jreanar come about and fly off to the left, still trailing fire as the Ubernaught slows to make the tight turn. Reversing course once again, the Jreanar comes directly towards the Ubernaught, firing wide just as a nuclear bLast erupts. The shockwave catches the Ubernaught from behind, spinning it out of control, and overloading the shields again. Even spinning out of control, the Ubernaught's Talisman-enhanced weapons just can't miss and the shield energy of the DN continues to bubble away. The Ubernaught stabilizes just as the Jreanar loops around behind and takes off ahead. Not to be fooled again, the Ubernaught fires all aft PDCs and drives forward, still locked on with the polaron beams.
The quick start threw off the Jreanar gunner's aim and a quick PDL assist by one of the repair ships results in no damage to the Ubernaught. A dip in the Ubernaught's course, and antiprotons sail harmlessly overhead, while the purple fire of the polarons drains the DN's shields further down to 30%
Another sweep behind the Ubernaught then away, and the Jreanar captain is fooling nobody. Aft PDCs blaze and the Ubernaught continues to strip shielding. Unfortunately, the Kalashnikov is out of range, attempting to block the DN's path, so the commandos speed in and bLast at the Last missile with their single PDL, but cannot do enough damage. Another nuclear bLast rocks the Ubernaught, stripping away the half-recharged shields and burning out another generator. Firing blindly through it's own flaming aft shields, the DN misses completely, while its reserve shields begin to overload.
One Last missile drop is attempted, but the kalashnikov is at point-blank range with the DN, and cuts down one of the missiles, while the Ubernaught finishes the other and drains the DN's shields to 7%
Polaron fire rings the entire Jreanar ship, but the shields somehow remain active until a fresh bLast from the Ubernaught collapses the shields and burns a hole through the armor for the kalashnikov. The elite commandos encounter almost no resistance as they take the demoralized Jreanar ship.

With the capture of two more DN's and no Jreanar ships left in the Yoshri system, the fleet will remain here to find a way for the Cochrane to carry the Heavy Shield Generators so they can be analysed. The Cochrane has sucessfully duplicated the Jreanar missile technology, and is installing the new heavy nukes on a few of the bombardment ships. Supplies are running low, so the Healer-class repair ships have broken open the emergency packages of Cheesy Poofs.

2430.4:
We are departing the Yoshri system, for the Premius system, from which we can reach the entrance to the southern defence line of the Empire. Just after passing throught the wormhole into the Premius system, explosions rock the fleet, and the new Jreanar missile tech on one the bombarment ships proves unstable. Internal explosions rip apart the Last veteran warship of the battle of X19, while bLasts continue to rock the fleet. The Ubernaught is hit, flames erupting, and the entire port shield-armor grid goes dark. Two more CANDUs in close formation are knocked into each other by a bLast, shredding armor everywhere, while one of the ships suffers a deep hull breach, cracking the engine core and irradiating the crew quarters. Another bLast lights up the repair ships as they move to assist the CANDU with the leaking reactor (hey, thats kinda funny - a CANDU with a leaky reactor http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif) (PS. I'm not making this up. I named the ship, SE4 says it's got engine damage), armor is melted, rehardens and peels off of both ships in large, dark chunks.
Finally the carnage is over. The crew of the irradiated ship have been moved to the laboratory stasis pod of the Cochrane, where they can stay in suspended animation until we reach the medical facilities of the Empire. A temporary radiation barrier has been set up around the engineering section, and the bridge has been decontaminated, but the living decks were ruined and will have to be rebuilt. Fortunately, there is only a small defence fleet of two Jreanar ships, but they lie directly in our path home, and our Ubernaught is damaged. The re-reprocessed Cheesy Poofs don't quite taste the same anymore. Even so, that's the Last of the good food, since we're down to 40% of our reserves, and the Healers' processing plants are now building replacement shield-armors and engine repair equipment instead of supplies. It's dehydrated TKL rations for a while.
We are drifting insystem at a slow pace, while we attempt to repair the fleet. Engine cores are tough to build out in the field, with incredibly fine tolerances, but it is our top priority.

2430.5:
The Jreanar wasted no time intercepting our fleet, but with them on the other side of the Premius Star, we had time to install a new, mostly stable engine core in the crippled CANDU. Everybody helped, and I must say that that kind of work makes you feel good. "See those bolts over in the corner, on that warning sign? I did those! http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif" With all that engine work to do, we never got a chance to install the new shield-armors on the Ubernaught. Got them built, but not installed. Anyways, they've still got 40% of their shields working, and those guys are famous among the fleet for their acrobatics and dodging skills. We'll see if they can keep the two dreads occupied long enough for us to nuke 'em.

The Ubernaught moves ahead of the line of ships, just inside PDL range and waits for the Jreanar.
Four missiles fire, and the Jreanar have arrived. As the Jreanar approach, the Ubernaught follows, parallel to the fleet, and hits the lead ship with a solid beam of polarons, and causing the characteristic purple afterburn to sear the front lobe of the shield. The six remaining CANDUs release thier missiles as the DNs sweep to the side of the line, and the Ubernaught follows closely, sweeping polaron fire across the port side of the DN as it cruises to one side. Antiproton fire sprays but not at the Ubernaught! The newly refurbished CANDU breaks formation on its new engines to get behind the lines, while a pulse of energy from its missiles tears at the shields of the DN.
Diving in towards the line of ships, the two DNs unleash a stream of antiprotons, clipping off a PDL, and bLasting a chunk out of the newly rebuilt engine room.
Breaking formation, the kalashnikovs and a CANDU with intact shields form a wall in the path of the lead dreadnaught at the crippled CANDU limps away behind the fleet. Missiles trailing thin exhaust fumes curve and detonate beside the DN, pouring incredible amounts of energy into the lead ship's port side. Already weakened from polaron fire and the first nuke, the shield generators overheat and shut down with some extra encouragement from the Ubernaught's weapons. The kalashnikovs, already close in the wall formation, dive in and take over before the jreanar know what's happening.
The Last Jreanar DN rushes towards the captured ship, but the shields are already recharging, and he cannot penetrate them with antiprotons. Instead, the Jreanar fires down the length of the fleet, but the group splits and the shot misses everyone.
A second volley of missiles are launched from the CANDUs, and the Jreanar fire back, but PDLs cut down the missiles. With devastating force, nuclear bLasts light up the forward, port and aft in sequence, and the shields of the DN fade rapidly. Purple flames lick at the shields from the aft across to the port side as the Ubernaught manouvers around the kalashnikov.
With a sudden move, the Jreanar darts around the still-forming box, and dives towards the fleet, spraying antiprotons towards the crippled CANDU, but misses, while the Ubernaught turns to pursue, and the purple polaron flame drains the Last of the shield energy and punches a hole in the armor. The second kalashnikov moves in to take over, and the battle ends.

Damn, it hurts to see your hard work go up in antiproton fueled flames. My little warning sign bolts are just a puddle of bubbly metal. Now the fleet will be slow for another month while we rebuild those engines again. At least the main reactor didn't crack, and so the ship is still livable, just slow. Another supply warning over the fleet comm today. All that weapons fire has severely depleted our already low supplies and even the TKL rations are being hoarded. The repair ships have transferred their supplies to the warships, they are down to 10%, so the ships of the line have 40% ammo remaining. While we were fighting, three more Dreadnaughts have entered the system, and a fourth dred has been reported in the X42 system by one of our border defence minelayers. We've cut up on of the captured DNs, and since the Cochrane cannot hold any more in it's research labs, we've decided to bring the other DN along to help the Ubernaught in CQC.
The Cochrane has detected a small storm in the system, partway towards home, but way off to the side. It has been decided that we shall hide in it until repairs are completed or we have a clear path through to X42.

2430.6:
After taking refuge in the nebula for two weeks, the Jreanar ships have drifted far enough away for us to make a break for the border. At full speed trying to outrun the Jreanar patrols, we never saw it coming. As we approached and attempted to open the warp point, we were besieged by mines. The ubernaught, in the lead, took a furious pounding, but one too many deep hull hits cracked the main support structure, and the ship broke up. At the same time, mines swept in and explosions rippled through the CANDUs and the kalashnikovs. Reactors went critical, and we lost a Kal & two of the CANDUs. Heavy damage was taken to every ship in the fleet, but the Cochrane took the worst of it. The first bLast ripped up most of the shield-armors on the hull, while a second detonated just aft of the ship, shredding the remaining armor and damaging the engines. A third bLast to the starboard side tore a wide gash in the hull. Oxygen & crewmen sprayed out into space in a horrifying shower of red and white. And yet it did not stop. Another bLast pierced the engineering area, and half the engines were gone, along with a toothy bite from the lower decks. More bLasts amidships ruined the PDL and took large chunks out of the lab areas. In all, she must have taken five or six for the fleet. The repair ships are a mess too. The forward sections were totally destroyed; no survivors. Half of the supply tanks were ruptured, and the aft engine sections were blown clean off both ships. Surprisingly, the repair bays are relatively intact. Only one of the CANDUs escaped damage, and the mines never went after the captured dreadnaught, so the surviving command officers have relocated there.
We've got a total of six ships with active lifesupport, and only the DN, the Kal, and three CANDUs with undamaged internals. You know that CANDU with the rebuilt reactor? She got really messed up. Looks like a deformed ghost fighter, with only the bridge and a PDL recongnisable among the twisted wreckage. Definitely a bad end for my carreer. Don't get me wrong, I still hope to survive this, but I don't expect to. It'll be less of a let-down this way. With nothing to do but attempt repairs to the fleet's engines, we wait.

2430.7:
The Jreanar forces seem unconcerned about our presence in their ex-minefield, and we have rebuild the engine core of the "Scotty's Hell" as we now call her. We've got a basic lifesupport unit working, and are using refurbished cargo pods as crew quarters. We managed to crape a working missile launcher together, but there's not a whole lotta ammo to go around now. Just over 7000 supplies for nine ships. The status Boards look like a bunch of christmas trees, with all the blinking red and amber lights. We are so close; just one empty system between us and home sweet home. So close, and yet we cannot move while our supplies run low. The Kalashnikov picked up a transmission from HomeWorld, saying that a pair of rescue ships are on the way, fresh out of the academy. Not exactly a whole lotta help there. Two rescue ships, captained by novices, but apparently they were the top in the class for fleet actions in the simulators. I know, what you're thinking is "hey, thats a simulation, this is real life." Just don't say that to the crew around here. Just mention the fact that they're coming with a pair of Ubernaughts.

2430.8:
We've finished off the repairs on Scotty's Hell, and did some major work on another CANDUs engines. All of our attack ships are mobile and armed, even if not fully operational. It'll still be a while before we can get outta here, since we can't make it home without the Healer class ships' help, and they are still hostile environments, with no decking to speak of and certainly no lifesupport. Two Jreanar dreadnaughts are currently heading in our direction, and a third has entered orbit of a planet in the system. The rescue ships report being most of the way through X83 and approaching the warp point to X42. We have moved most of the personnel to the Kal, the CANDUs and the dreadnaught in preparation for battle.

2430.9:
One of our Healer class repair ships is mobile again. The crews have been doing a fine job despite being stranded without any Cheesy Poofs for close to six months now. We haven't moved from this accursed patch of space for what seems like forever. Even the XXXX Star is nothing to look at; out here on the edge of the solar system, it looks like nothing more than an ordinary star. Everyone in the Fleet knows where to find HomeWorlds Star. Some gaze longingly during off-hours, some ignore it totally, perhaps pretending that they are home, working in the shipyards. We are fortunate that the Jreanar have ignored up for so long, but our increasing power output was ultimately bound to draw attention. But my mind wanders. Woah. During a battle alert even. It seems two Jreanar Dreds are attacking simultaneously from insystem.

The four remaining CANDUs form a line, while the Kalashnikov and the Drednaught pull ahead to draw fire.
The Jreanar reach maximum range and lauch nukes at the Kalashnikov while the fleet comes to a halt and waits. AS the Jreanar approach, the rear line of CANDUs release their warheads and fall back with PDLs covering the Kalashnikov. Missiles streak towards their targets and PDLs blaze through space. Though the Jreanar score a few hits, the heavy missiles are still locked. Fleet PDLs are much more effective, cutting down all of the incoming targets.
The Jreanar are rapidly pressing forward towards the damaged fleet ships, so the CANDUs dive to the side in an effort to draw the Jreanar away from the rest of the Fleet, but the Jreanar are intent, and loose missiles at the immobile repair ship. Jreanar PDLs disable a missile, but seven more detonate and distend the heavy shielding of the DN, but the shields hold. The fleet DN adds two more nukes and a bLast of antiprotons point blank, but the Jreanar ship shrugs it off and continues its run towards the repair ship. Desperate now, the CANDUs move together to attempt to form a wall with the dreadnaught and kalashnikov to slow the progress of the Jreanar. The DN slows slightly as it pushes around the group nearly within antiproton range and the second Jreanar ship launches its missiles, but they are quickly cut town by a blaze of PDC from the kalashnikov.
The CANDUs turn to follow the Jreanar leader and form a 5-ship box against forward movement while releasing nukes at extremely close range. With PD unable to react in time, eight missiles slam waves of energy into the DN, collapsing its shields and burning a hole in the armor. The kalashnikov deploys commandos and turns to join the 5-ship box being formed by the other ships.
Unable to proceed forwards, the Jreanar ship bLasts antiprotons into the nearest unshielded CANDU, which is forced to break from the formation, leaking heavy engine plasma. The Fleet DN pours antiprotons into the Jreanar, but it's vast regeneration capacity soaks up the damage, leaving the shields at full strength. The dual bombardment nukes blaze white light across the starboard shield of the Jreanar ship, stripping off almost 20%, while the CANDUs reload and deploy their own, smaller but more plantiful warheads. Jreanar missiles aimed at the Healer are easily shot down, but it sweeps antiprotons towards the Kalashnikov, whose shields are still weak after deploying the commandos. With a flare of energy the shields collapse, but the hull is spared.
Antiprotons again lash out at the Kalashnikov, this time the regenerated shields deflect only part of the beam, leaving more dark scoring and the flash of a burning shield-armor glittering on the hull.
The Fleet DN releases its own missiles and probes the shields with its antiproton beam for a weak spot, finding none. The heavy nukes bLast again at the immobilized DN, and the shields flicker dangerously near collapse. CANDU missiles are deployed, a double bLast rips into the starboard shields, and as the DN tries to compensate, a second double bLast smashes the forward shields, leaving scortch marks directly on the hull. The third pair of missiles tear into the hull on the port side, bLasting free one of the heavy shield generators and knocking our one of the DN's engines. The Jreanar fire their antiproton beam towards the Kalashnikov, but it has gone into evasive manouevers and slips out of the weapons lock. A well aimed antiproton beam from the Fleet's DN slices off another shield leaving power conduits sparking in space. Regenerated shields provide only a moment's respite from the vicious antiproton beam as it cuts back the shielding and burns the PDL from the surface of the Jreanar ship. Still unable to lock the Kalashnikov, the Jreanar fire blindly. Two missiles bLast into the Jreanar ship, melting the antiproton beam crushing the shield generator and disabling half of the engines. Now the Jreanar ships attempts to run, but it is too late, and the Fleet's Dreadnaught burns through the vehicle leaving nothing but shrapnel burning the the rapidly dispersing oxygen cloud.

We have only one ship left to rebuild engines for, and then we can move out. Another Jreanar DN is coming up from in-system, and the rescue ships report an enemy DN heading for the wormhole and about to come in right on top of us. Though they are already in the X42 system, they doubt they can intercept in time. The Jreanar DN we captured had a good supply of missiles, which are being spread amongst the CANDUs, but that still leaves less than 30 missiles per ship at a rough estimate. The heavy antiproton beams on the dreds are real power hogs, and we may have to shut them down to conserve our limited resources.
Coming up on a year away from home, and it's going to be more fighting the Jreanar instead of celebrating with friends.

2431.0:
Well, no attack has come. The Jreanar ship we were tracking has stopped at a resupply base and another DN just came through a wormhole from deeper Jreanar territory, while the inexperienced rescue fleet lost track of thier contact while passing through an asteroid belt. The ubernaughts expended most of their supplies getting here, but with the protection of the new ships, we should be able to get the Healers operational and reach the safety of the Empire. In fact the work on the Healers is going quite well, all things considered. One of them is operational and even has limited shielding on-line. We are still having trouble starting an engine core for the other, and the lack supplies is not helping. A request has gone out for all batteries and hand weapons to be turned in, so we can scrap them for radioactives needed in the core. News from home indicates that we have achieved a sort of legendary status among the population for having survived so long, deep in Jreanar territory. I much prefer this "living legend" status to the alternative.

2431.1:
The Jreanar have ignored our fleet, but thier forces in this system are clearly too thin to compete with our new Ubernaughts. We also suspect a renewed Phong offensive may have distracted their forces from our weakened and immobile ships. While we are still working on the reactor for the Last Healer, structural work is being done on the Cochrane. We've doubled the habitable volume in there and most of the engines are Online now. With a wormhole behind us, and the real threat of a DN coming through to attack our support vessels, the repaired Healer will follow the ubernaughts through the wormhole on a scouting mission, and remain on the other side with one to guard against an ambush.

2431.2:
We had to halt repairs this month to replenish our supplies. More missiles and food are the order of the day. Jreanar forces are only passing through, still ignoring us.

2431.3:
With its PDL and control systems back, the Cochrane has traded places with the Healer, and we are almost ready to install the new engine core. There are a pair of Jreanar DNs approaching from insystem, but their course may just be taking them to the resupply depot here. Over in X42, two dreadnaughts are heading for the southern minefield and imminent destruction.

2431.4:
With the new core, the Healer has reactivated half of its engines, but before we could escape through the wormhole, the two Jreanar picked up another ship at the system supply depot, and attacked.

The two Dreadnaughts, one ubernaught and the Kalashnikov take up a wall formation and charge towards the incoming dreadnaughts, while the crippled ships of the fleet limp away.
Scans reveal one old-style heavy weapon DN and two of the heavy shield Versions. Dreadnaughts enter missile range and deploy thier nukes on both sides as PDLs charge. With beams crisscrossing space between the two fleets, half of the missiles go dark. The lead Jreanar ship slams into a wall of polarons and antiprotons as missile bLasts tear into its sides, shields blazing, and recuced to 20%. The Fleet attack ships form a wall to slow them down, but content to fight head to head, the Jreanar ships rake antiprotons across one of the dreadnaughts.
Finally in range, the CANDUs spray PDL fire into the remaining Jreanar missiles and launch thier own missiles towards one of the heavyshield Jreanar ships while, with a splash of purple polaron fire, the lead ship's shields collapse, leaving a trail of burning generators across the hull.
More Jreanar missiles are lauched towards the CANDUs, but a blaze of PDLs and PDCs cut them down, and the fleet dreadnaughts fire their own salvo back Too quickly for the Jreanar PDLs, a pair of missiles slam the lead ship with twin fireball, bLasting through the regenerated shielding and shredding armor all over the ship. With the Jreanar defenceless, the Ubernaught opens fire, and the inside of the DN spews debris. An antiproton bLast, and the Last weapon aboard the lead DN falls silent. As the striken DN turns to retreat, the ubernaught moves in and with a final bLast of purple fire, the engine core goes critical and the Jreanar ship explodes in a giant orange-red ball of fire. With ten missiles rocketing towards the next DN, the ubernaught adds its polarons to the stream of antiprotons flaring off of the already weakened shield of the DN, reducing them to 40%. BLasts rock the DN, hammering its shields into nothingness, and the fleet dreadnaughts add four more missiles which bLast through engines shields and weapons, stripping the DN to the bone. Antiprotons combine with polarons and the Jreanar ship breaks up in another giant fireball.
Still absorbing streams of antiprotons from the Jreanar, the fleet's DN regenerators are overloading but manage to keep the shields over 90% while the fleet turns all weapons on the Last Jreanar ship.
Moving around to get behind the Jreanar, the Ubernaught drags a beam of polarons across the shield of the DN, cutting them to 80% as twelve missiles close simultaneously on the ship. With incredible fury, the missiles envelop the ship in a wash of intense light and radiation, but the DN pushes through, shields gone, but with no appreciable hull damage. With no shield barrier standing in its way, the Kalashnikov moves in and its legendary commandos swiftly take the ship with minimal casualties.

With the sucessful defence of the fleet, we have proceeded to move through the wormhole to meet up with the other ubernaught and the Cochrane, and are now proceeding through the X42 system, using the star's gravity to speed our passage through the inner system.

2431.5:
We nearly overtook a Jreanar ship on the trip in-system, but by the time we arrived at the wormhole, the Jreanar had already been annihilated by the vast minefield in the sector. Finally safe within the borders of the empire, we now have only the long trip through uninhabited systems until we arrive home with our captured dreadnaughts in tow. The vast knowledge of Jreanar technology we have collected will enable the empire to build an entire new generation of ships perhaps even able to fight one on one with the great empires around us. Homeworld reports that many more assaults on the depleted defences of the home system were repelled, and the fields are holding near a hundred mines.

Re: Game Stories
 

S_J,

You know CANDU is a type of Canadian Nuclear Reactor design? They are the most efficient reactors in the world.

I'm guessing you're from Ontario, Calafornia not Ontario, Canada - so how did you know about that term?

------------------
Visit the Spoogy Federation at:
http://spoogyfederation.tripod.com

Re: Game Stories
 

I'm from Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. They were nuclear bombardment ships, and the name fit. I can't believe SE4 set me up with that engine damage, just begging to be called a reactor breach. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif All of that is true, and happened in a straight-through no reloads game of SE4.

[This message has been edited by suicide_junkie (edited 28 April 2001).]

Re: Game Stories
 

Keswick?

Re: Game Stories
 

Kitchener-Waterloo, Oh yeah - I forgot about that...

Toronto here.

Re: Game Stories
 

Part 4 of a slightly connected series:
(These are 99.9% accurate, following the real adventures of a virtual race)

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Historian's note: ADU stands for Arbitrary Damage Unit, commonly used to describe weapon, armor and shield effectiveness. 1 ADU is roughly the strength of a large handheld weapon, while most ship based weapons are rated for hundreds of ADU<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

It has finally happened. The great defensive minefields of the empire have fallen under the relentless Jreanar assault. The ship yards of HomeWorld are currently working overtime to build the first "Galaxy" class prototype Dreadnaughts from the Jreanar technology recovered during the Special Task Force's legendary adventures, but are far from completion. Only two half-trained Ubernaught II class ships are in the system, and must fight back the incursion long enough for the Special Task Force to return to HomeWorld...

2432.1:
The Last mines holding off the Jreanar detonated today, as a huge force of Dreadnaughts attempted to navigate the X19 wormhole to HomeWorld. The system's minelayers are blocked from resupplying mines to the wormhole by the six immobile dreds, but three additional ships escaped major damage and are currenly threatening the mine production moons of HomeSys IV. This would be a no-win situation, but with our new quantum drives, we can strike both targets before the wormhole recovers from the mass of the Jreanar ships and becomes navigable again. It is decided that we should stike the disabled ships Last, and remove the threat from the moons first.

As the Ubernaughts approach to attack the Jreanar force, a spacial distortion appears and when it clears, a fourth Jreanar DN has appeared, dropping the odds to 2:1 against the Empire's forces.
In a V formation, two of the Jreanar enter missile range, and five missiles streak towards the Ubernaughts. Maintaining distance for now, the Ubernaughts attept to fly around to the short leg of the V, trying to get a lock on the triple-missile Jreanar ship. Four more missiles are launched and the PDCs begin firing on the incoming seekers while the Ubernaughts try to find an opening.
Unable to get close enough to strike at the Jreanar without exposing themselves to heavy missile damage, the ubernaughts decide to attempt to drain the supplies of the enemy, forcing a retreat.
PDCs spew shards at the incoming missiles and beat back one more wave, but there are still more, and new missiles are already being launched.
The Jreanar fleet turns, exposing the weapon-heavy DN, but with only enough power for 75 full polaron bursts, and half of that already depleted during the patrol, the Ubernaughts are forced to ignore the tempting target.
PDCs fire madly taking down another pack of missiles, but five more missiles are within striking distance. Retreating full speed as the Jreanar wheel around behind them, the ubernaughts manage to cut down the nearest pair, but there aren't enough PDCs to strike down the triple missiles, which speed to within one distance of the ubernaughts as missiles continue to stream from the Jreanar ships.
Under full acceleration with PDCs firing madly, missiles continue to close on the ubernaughts to within one and two distance, but the equal engines and lesser mass of the Empire's ships soon allows them to pull away from the DNs, where the missiles fade out before impact.
Eventually, the heavy-weapon DN falls behind the fleet, engines failing, and its shields flicker out. The ubernaughts begin a wide turn around the enemy fleet, PDCs firing continuously, but as the DNs catch up with the turn, two missiles slam one of the ubernaughts, whose shields ripple and fade out, but hold just long enough to prevent serious hull damage. Purple fire streams from the leading ubernaught as it comes within range, searing the armor from the defenseless DN, and bLasting half of its now-useless shield generators into shrapnel.
Combining their fire, the two ubernaughts burn off the weapon bays on the DN and tear through the engineering section. The DN breaks apart into a glowing spray of hot metal, but three final missiles fly out of the cloud of plasma. The Ubernaughts go to maximum speed, with more missiles from the fleet right behind them, but the Jreanar missiles are too quick, and the PDCs are overwhelmed. The regenerating shields of the second ubernaught hold off the first bLast, but the second pierces the defenses, burning into the hull armor, and the third nuke wraps the ship in white fire. Surging forwards to escape the sweeps of antiprotons from the Jreanar fleet, the damaged ubernaught trails streams of gas and plasma from its shredded shield grid. PDCs burst fire, and the Last two unexploded missiles break up.
The lead DN slows, dangerously low on supplies, and the ubernaughts turn to ply a wide circle around the enemy fleet, missiles fighting a losing battle with the aft PDCs.
With a new round of missiles launched from the Jreanar, the ubernaught signals that shields are back to 60%, the maximum that the remaining generators can maintain.
With four missiles streaking towards the ubernaughts from relatively close range, the PDCs are overwhemed, and one gets through, rocking the damaged ubernaught again. Shields flash and collapse, but manage to just barely prevent further damage to the hull.
With a Last shot from its antiproton beam, the final Jreanar DN slows to a stop, power depleted, and the ubernaughts accelerate out of missile range.

With no time to continue the assault on the defenseless Jreanar ships at the mine facilities, the ubernaughts move to attack the six damaged DN at the minefield. Preliminary scans indicate two fully operational DNs protecting the four ships that were hit badly by the mines. One ship has its all of its weapons and most of its shields torn from a huge gash on its underside, another's missiles must have been detonated, with no shielding and a third of the crew decks missing. A third ship managed to maintain lifesupport on all decks, but is down to a single missile launcher and no shielding. The Last DN has only minor damage all over the hull, and its shields are operating at 60%. Four of the Dreadnoughts move to attack while the unarmed ship retreats.
Seven missiles fly from the Jreanar warships as the ubernaughts come into range, and PDCs begin firing The lead, full-strength ubernaught darts into the Jreanar formation to stab at the unshielded DN, nailing its missile launcher and reactor core with a pair of polaron beams, causing the ship to destroy itself in an intense explosion before the ubernaught turns to pull away from the missiles. Three missiles burst early from PDC shards, then three more, but a single missile sneaks through the defenses to slam the damaged ubernaught from behind. The bLast rocks the ubernaught, stripping the shields with raw energy, but the shields hold, with only 25 ADU to spare. Antiprotons flash around the ubernaught, but skilled use of ECM causes the Jreanar to bLast away at a ghost sensor image while the ubernaughts move around to attack the other unshielded DN before it catches up to the enemy fleet.
Taking a half-power burst of polarons squarely on the hull, the crippled DN goes dark as purple fire envelops the hull and sprays atomic residue into space.
The Jreanar DNs pursue too late to help, and the lead DN takes the full force of both ubernaughts' weapons into its shields, which flicker, but stabilize at 50%. Missiles are launched and hungrily seek out the regenerating ubernaught, but aft PDCs are on the job, and the retreating ubernaughts manage to stretch the distance enough for the PDCs to disable all of the incoming seekers. Purple fire courses around the shields of the Jreanar ship and they fall to 30%.
With a sudden course change, the Jreanar move out of range of one of the ubernaughts, and the two strain to turn back towards the Jreanar. A second quick turn by the Jreanar fleet brings them head-to-head with the ubernaughts, and a storm of vengeful polaron fire which drains the shields to 10%. Quickly deploying missiles as the ubernaughts fly between thier ships, the Jreanar leader smashes the freshly regenerated shielding of the ubernaught, but again they hold with nothing to spare, and the ubernaughts respond with a crushing blow. Half of the polarons are deflected, but the damaged ubernaught spears the Jreanar forward, starboard and aft, melting the antiproton beams and imploding two of the three heavy shield generators. Coming about again, purple polaron fire from the ubernaughts sweeps through the Jreanar ship and it explodes silently into a burning plasma.
The next Jreanar ship feels the wrath of polarons from close range, but drops a nuke directly on the pursuing ubernaughts. With shields only back to 30%, the nuke burns through the shield and a generator flares up on the surface of the ubernaught.
Raging polaron fires cling to the Jreanar DN, and its shields begin to fade rapidly. Swinging around the ubernaughts, the Jreanar drops another missile, but trained on this well known tactic, the ubernaughts accelerate quickly to follow the ship and continue to pour polarons into its shields, which have faltered and hold at only 30%. The unforgiving energy of the polaron fires burns bright as the ubernaughts swing around to strike both sides of the ubernaught's shields. With the ubernaughts keeping pace, the shields of the ubernaught finally give out, and polaron fire burns across the upper hull, vaporizing armor, detonating a heavy shield generator and shorting out an engine. Looping around once again, the Jreanar tries to limp away, but a burst of polarons directly on the hull burns through another shield generator before cutting a hole through most of the crew decks. A second burst of polarons from the other ubernaught rips through the engineering section, and the ubernaughts turn away, heading towards the Last active DN as a pulse of light from behind signals the destruction of the enemy.
The Last fighting Jreanar ship has only two of its shield generators operational, but is retreating while firing missiles. PDCs easily cut down the two missiles fired by the Jreanar, and purple fire erupts on the DN's shields as the first ubernaught comes into range. The DN makes a turn, and the ubernaughts pounce, moving to point blank range and ripping into its remaining shields, dropping them to 50%. PDCs fire bLasting two more missiles from the sky while the ubernaughts move in to bracket the ubernaught and tear its shields to 20%. More polaron fire rings the ship, its shield generators overloading and shattering under the strain. The Jreanar ship releases two missiles from point blank range just as the polaron fire sweeps through the rest of the ship, and the ruined DN breaks up. PDCs only manage to destroy one of the missiles before the ubernaught is slammed hard. Reeling from the impact, the ubernaught's shields collapse, fire scortching the hull but doing only superficial damage.
With no resistance remaining, the ubernaughts chase down and easily destroy the Last helpless DN.

The wormhole now clear, the minesweeper moves in and scatters twelve mines before moving off to collect more and continue its duty.

2432.2:
The wormholes are secure for now, and the remaining Jreanar DNs are leaving. Unfortunately for them, they'll all be dead within a month as they try to navigate our minefield from the wrong side. The now-legendary Defence Force Alpha has returned to the nearest shipyard for repairs and supplies while they await thier next call to action.

[This message has been edited by suicide_junkie (edited 29 April 2001).]

Re: Game Stories
 

Alrightie, here's a prototype; a chronicle of the first hundred turns of the single-player game I've been playing over the past two days. Written as I went along. Boy are my hands tired. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

Prefaced is the description of the race I made up for it. Pretty basic characteristics; home planet rocky/none (I like moons http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif, worker culture, enhanced shipyard and resource production. When I'm done the game I'll go back and edit it, hopefully giving it more of a consistent character in the process.

Re: Game Stories
 

Quote from BeeDee10 Chronicle1.txt <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Could it be normal for intelligent biologicals to greet a newly encountered intelligence such as ours with initial hostility, and then if the outcome is to their liking propose peace? The pilot-programs of my Tracer-IIIs have expressed the sincere hope that this is not so, and I heartily agree with them.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

ROFL! http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/ima...ons/icon10.gif I love the way you work in the quirky SEIV ai behaivor into the story, and then try to explain it in real life terms.

BeeDee, this is great stuff. You have some talent there. How would you feel about me posting this on my website? http://daitoon.cjb.net

I am planning on having a large fan fiction site.

Geo

[This message has been edited by geoschmo (edited 03 May 2001).]

Re: Game Stories
 

Great story BeeDee!

Were you using tactical combat or strategic plus replay?

Re: Game Stories
 

geoschmo&gt; Thanks, I sometimes like to try figuring out the "logic" behind the things that happen in fictional settings as a sort of game. You should hear some of the stuff I've come up with for explaining Star Trek. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif I would be flattered if you posted this on your website, all I request is that you include my name and email address. Also, since this is just a work in progress, I'll eventually send you a finished Version to replace it with.

dmm&gt; I've been using tactical combat, but except in one or two special cases I've been allowing them to resolve entirely under Auto. I can write descritions of the battles as they unfold that way, without knowing the outcome ahead of time (though so far most fights have been pretty straightforward scream-and-leap affairs).

Re: Game Stories
 

From Chancellor Naiduin's personal journal, dated 2411.9:

After almost eight and a half years of warfare, I have finally gained an insight into the Xi'Chung's tenacity. The new starmaps from the Eee's long range explorers indicate that the only connections between Xi'Chung space and the rest of the local cluster run through Alioth, either directly via Carcaroli, or by a longer route crossing both the Cluk-Ruk and Tictsin home systems. As an interesting sidenote, the Eee maps also imply that an isolated subcluster of five systems lies coreward from Alioth, with no warp points connecting them to the rest of the cluster. Professor Guakiih, the most brilliant theoretical astrophysicist in Tictsin history, believes it may be possible to generate an artificial wormhole to reach these systems, and is lobbying for more research into stellar manipulation technology, but our military efforts must remain a prority.

We have finally taken the war to Xi'Chung space. An assault fleet consisting of four Drubak cruisers, the newest Enkoping light cruiser, and two prototype designs struck the Xi'chung research base on Curyok VII. The first Flekkefjord light carrier, with its complement of Flen and Falun fighters, lost an engine when it underestimated the range of the planet's weapons platforms, but the Trellenborg troop transport remained untested, because our lack of experience in planetary assault caused us to misjudge how much firepower was necessary to suppress the defenses; the base was completely destroyed before we could land any troops. Our second assault, on the Curyok VIII mining complex, went perfectly; the sole defending platform was devoured by a single wave of Seeking Parasites before it could return fire. Once we evacuate the twenty-six million Xi-Chung survivors, we can settle our own people there and dismantle the habitation domes. If we successfully take Curyok VI next, most of the prisoners can be relocated there.

Intelligence reports had led Admiral Taaguur to expect to face twelve LCs patrolling the system, but he discovered that the seven actually encountered were mostly derelicts; only two of them had undamaged weapons left with which to defend themselves. Apparently the Eee have been quite sucessful since joining our war against the Xi'Chung. Five more enemy LCs are approaching Curyok VIII, plus two in reserve protecting Curyok VI; Queen Kazitkra flatly refused our demand that she withdraw her forces.

[The Cue Kappa dropped into 5th behind my Tictsin about 20 turns ago, due to losses in their war with the 2nd place Sergetti; the Xi-Chung are still solidly in 1st, Eee 3rd.]

------------------
Cap'n Q

Re: Game Stories
 

*gasp pant* Okay, I'm done. 160K of describing rigidly mechanistic events while at the same time trying to develop a personality for my race... whew.

And then, just as I reached what looked like Peace In Our Time, MEE kicks in. I thought I'd disabled that, darnit!

This has been spellchecked but not really edited yet; for now I'm just sick of looking at it. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif Later on I guess I'll try to turn it into something less like a list of events and more like an actual story.

Re: Game Stories
 

This is some really good stuff. I used to do similar things with an old (but still wonderful) tactical game, X-Com: UFO Defense (and even really enjoyed its two increasingly less-wonderful sequels, probably as a result).

I'll have to see if I can submit my own SEIV stories, and see if you guys enjoy 'em.

'course, if I'm even half as good as BeeDee, I'll be impressed. You're GREAT!

--Chesh

Re: Game Stories
 

BeeDee,

You said, <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Later on I guess I'll try to turn it into something less like a list of events and more like an actual story.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
This is just one reader's opinion, but I like it the way it is. It kind of fits with the mechanoid race.

I kept reading this and thinking, "This could be how the Borg race got started."

Very well done BeeDee.

More please sir.

Geoschmo

Re: Game Stories
 

Thanks! My initial intention had been to make the Irha-Nrr a bunch of "innocents" trying to understand the universe, but when all they found out there was violence and anger they started to go a little astray fom what I had planned. I think I'll keep them, though; I like the idea of a bunch of anti-Berserkers flying around the galaxy working hard to make sure biological species don't hurt themselves.

I can't wait to see what happens when these guys encounter the Rage. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Game Stories
 

From Chancellor Naiduin's personal journal, dated 2413.3:

I long ago reached the conclusion that the entire Xi-Chung race is insane. I can find no other explanation for their actions. What rational species would deliberately annihilate its own people rather than let them live under another race's rule? The massacre at Curyok VIII was the rationale I gave for our subsequent sterilization of the entire Curyok system. Recent reconnaissance indicates that the Xi-Chung have resettled two of the worlds, with a colony ship en route to a third.

Our two species have been at war now for almost ten years; today I read the after action report of the largest battle to date. Rather than attack our two underdefended colonies in Olontra, all of the Xi-Chung ships in the system combined into a single fleet and headed for the warp point to Carcaroli. Admiral Taaguur ordered every ship that was capable of an intercept to a rendevous point, then attacked the ten enemy light cruisers with a combined force of 19 ships: one of the new Abisko battlecruisers; six Drobak cruisers; an Enkoping and six Djusholm light cruisers; two of the obsolete Degerfors frigates; the badly damaged Flekkefjord light carrier, with 14 fighters left, less than half of its normal complement; a Mandal minelayer; and the original Regna class repair tender, still in service after all these years, and overdue for another retrofit.

The engagement began with the two fleets approaching each other in good formation, but once they got within each others' point defense umbrellas, the battle degenerated into chaos reminiscent of a podball scrimmage. When the Last plasma charge dispersed, the Xi-Chung had been annihilated, at a cost of one Drobak and the Enkoping destroyed, plus the other five cruisers and the Flekkefjord crippled, with no fighters surviving. Once the Regna gets an engine functioning on the most battered cruiser, the Degerfors will escort the damaged ships to Olontra IV, where I've ordered construction of a new shipyard to assist in the repairs. The remaining undamaged combat ships have been joined by the newest Trellenborg troop transport and an Ikaalinen colony ship, to make another attempt at wresting Curyok from the Xi-Chung.

[My Tictsin have passed the declining Sergetti to pull within 75K of the 1st place Xi-Chung, who've dropped to 411.8K after losing nearly a third of their total fleet in this battle.]

------------------
Cap'n Q

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the
human mind to correlate all of its contents. We live on a placid
island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was
not meant that we should go far. -- HP Lovecraft

Re: Game Stories
 

Hello ... I like a lot to read all this story ... some of them are really well written, congratulations! ... is there somewhere an "ufficial" galaxy story ... I'm thinking something about the history of the different races and so on ...?

thank you anyway
Liga

Re: Game Stories
 

Closest thing to an "official" storyline is just the stuff that's in the various racial descriptions, and most of that is purely background prehistory (the Drushocka/Eee rivalry is the only counterexample that comes to mind).

It's probably for the best, because unless you're an ancient race how do you explain having a long history of interaction with some other species that you haven't actually met in your current game yet? Not to mention the way your technology and population keep mysteriously being reset to your starting homeworld... http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif I think each game is a story unto itself, without much in the way of outside referents.

Re: Game Stories
 

Hey, SJ... it's been eleven days since you posted anything about your game. What happens next? http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Game Stories
 

Well, I haven't been at it much.

Too much work, plus I've been working on Counterstrike maps. I think I've got one of the best idea-pack maps ever. Its got a totally breakable village, hospitals that regenerate your health slowly, and a GIANT, 20 story tall, drivable T-zilla!

It was great. As a CT, I grabbed a big pistol, and defended the villiage. Suddenly, my bro comes around the mountain with the huge Terrorist-bot, and I look up, up, up. Enormous Terrorist with a goofy grin. My little DEagle.
Oh, crud. *rumble**bang**bang**rumble**bang**bang**rumble* *smush* http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif
Its something you gotta see to believe.

Anyways, with the SE4 game, it looks like the Galaxy class won't work combat-wise, though it looks great. I'll be coming back to it by the weekend.

[This message has been edited by suicide_junkie (edited 10 May 2001).]

Re: Game Stories
 

SJ & capnq

My compliments. I am really enjoying the chronicles of each of your games. It has rekindled my interest in SE IV. However I am holding off for the next patch that will hopefully fix the fighter problem mentioned in another thread.

I enjoy both of your writing styles and I just wanted to thank you for the inspiration & entertainment.

Bravo!

Tarkin


[This message has been edited by Tarkin (edited 11 May 2001).]

Re: Game Stories
 

Part 5 of a slightly connected series:
(These are 99.9% accurate, following the real adventures of a virtual race)

The Empire's defensive minefields have been wiped out in HomeSystem, the Jreanar and Phong making alien incursions a part of daily life. Citizens of the old colonies have built up small but effective minefields of space junk, but newer colonies live in constant fear of annihilation. Only Six ships (Ubernaught2 BCs) are available in HomeSystem, with the legendary Protector leading the Guardian and the Stalwart in patrols of the Phong wormhole, while the equally famous Valiant leads the StormCloud and StoneWall in patrols near the Jreanar front. Three BlackHole class dreadnaughts are under construction, but even our primary ship yards have only completed 50% of the work on their ship. Rumours of invisible Phong ships are being denounced as just that; rumours.

2432.8:
The Jreanar minefield outpost signals an attack, and the Valiant's Alpha wing arrives to find the outpost decimated by a minesweeper. The fleet also discovered the wreckage of an attack DN slowly dissipating near the wormhole. Despite having 6k shields, the unarmed minesweeper is quickly surrounded and overwhelmed. Only an instant later, the wormhole wrenches, spewing forth a fleet of five Jreanar dreadnaughts. Although taken completely by surprise, most of the ubernaughts' crews were already at battlestations for the attack on the minesweeper. Polaron beams, still warmed up, pound against the tough shielding of the lead Jreanar ship, overloading a single Heavy generator to cut its shield strength 30%. The ubernaughts go to full acceleration and begin to pull away from the Jreanar, antiprotons slicing through space behind them. The Jreanar are already pursuing at top speed, and launch a volley of ten missiles. Twisting and sliding through the storm of polarons and PDCs, two missiles escape destrution long enough to slam the Valiant. The heavy shielding on the ubernaught ripples from the first bLast but holds. Shields down to 40%, the ubernaught shudders from the second bLast and as fire sweeps across the hull, a wave of darkness follows, shield generators overheating and shutting down.
The Jreanar leader's shields absorb another wave of polaron fire, showing distinct signs of imminent collapse. A quad burst of polarons from the StormCloud finally breaches the shielding of the Jreanar ship, melting through its armor. The Stonewall spreads four shots of polarons across the hull of the DN, and is rewarded by two fireballs erupting from the Jreanar's Heavy shield generators. Shields cycled and recharging, the Valiant digs a lance of polarons deep into the central structure of the DN, disabling the PDL and gutting most of the crew decks. The Valiant tears a gash from the antiproton beam up to the bridge before stabbing a fiery bolt into the engine core. A nuclear bLast erupts as stored missiles detonate, and the engine pylons peel back from the ship like petals. One final sweep of polarons bLasts into the missile launchers, and the Jreanar ship breaks up in a white burst of light.
The ubernaughts have not gained much distance from the Jreanar, who launch eight new missiles towards the Valiant amid a spray of ineffective antiprotons. With Alpha wing being driven too far from the wormhole, the ubernaughts break formation to attack the DNs while the Valiant falls back to regenerate.
Shields flare and bubble away purple polaron fire from the second Jreanar ship, but the Jreanar are not to be defeated easily. PDCs whirr, and bLast six missiles from space, but click empty as the Last two missiles slip past. A bLast from behind pierces the shields of the Vailant sending another cascade of overloading generators across the hull. With shields down, the second missile slams a wall of fire into the aft hull of the Valiant, burning deep gouges into the armor panels. A third of the ubernaught's shield grid bleeds plasma into space through cracked armor.
Weaving through the DN fleet, the StormCloud and the StoneWall slam their target with polarons and dive in front, forcing it to slow to avoid a collision. The ubernaughts pull through and accelerate through the enemy fleet towards the lead DNs which continue to spray antiprotons around the retreating Valiant. Aft polarons slam the Jreanar ship from both ubernaughts, one beam piercing the shields to scrap an engine, and the next burns through the antiproton beam. Slipping past Dreadnaughts at high speed, the ubernaughts move to the front of the Jreanar fleet to block their advance on the damaged Valiant. Jreanar ships launch another volley of missiles and the PDCs are overwhelmed again. Fortunately the Valiant manages to stay ahead of the missiles long enough to reload PDCs, and the Last missile twangs off the Valiants shields harmlessly.
The damaged Jreanar ship turns away, and the ubernaughts ignore it to concentrate a furious bombardment on the new lead ship. The valiant, shields back to a maximum 70%, moves in to help pound the Jreanar. With three ships from each empire head-to-head, the lead Jranar DN absorbs a terrible pounding, and two of its heavy shields overload. Another volley of polarons from all three ubernaughts hammers the DN, whose shields collapse, leaving polaron fires to scortch the armor on the hull. The Jreanar ships respond with a missile salvo, and the Valiant turns to get some distance. PDCs blaze fire between the ships, but the Valiant's PDCs fail to catch the Last two missiles, and it is slammed hard on the port side. Shields barely hold the searing bLast from the hull, but the second missile tears through the ragged shielding to light up the armor. Fires erupt, tracing lines across the hull as more of the Valiant's shield grid burns into the night. Fighting back, the Valiant stabs purple fire at the lead DN, polarons scattering off the regenerating shields before penetrating the forward defences to bLast away the starboard missile launcher. More polarons cut into two of the DNs engine pylons before a fourth beam bLasts a wave of polarons into the dorsal shield generator. The StormCloud moves to the side of the DN to bLast away another shield generator, and then carve out a thick slice out of the forward hull, separating a missile launcher and the antiproton beam. Continuing on behind the DN, it stabs fire through the main engines on the DN, to burn deep into the aft living quarters. A final stab into the ship results in the Last shield generator burning free from the ship to shear off another engine pylon.
With another DN disabled, the ubernaughts close on another target to drive a series of polarons across its shields from point blank range. Circling like flies, the ubernaughts continue to pour purple fire into the DN, and its shields drop to 30%. Again the Jreanar have reloaded and scatter missiles to home in on the Valiant. PDCs blaze away but again are overwhelmed. The Last rounds from the Valiant's PDC clip the Last missile, but it rights itself and returns to smash the Legendary ship. Waves of energy slam into the ubernaught's shields, but the fireball breaches the defences and two more shield elements flare up on the surface of the ship. Combined bLasts from the ubernaughts doggedly trailing the Jreanar ship finally pierce the shields, but the armor does its job and protects the hull from the Last of the polaron fire. Shields hold against the first polaron beam from the Valiant, but as the Jreanar ship sails past, the ubernaught's weapons penetrate to crush the antiproton beam emitters and slice off an engine pylon. The Last burst of polarons from the Valiant catches the aft shield generator, which burts into a shower of shrapnel. Allowing the DN to pass, the Valiant makes its way back towards the crippled DNs while the StormCloud and the StoneWall engage the damaged DN and its wingman. Jreanar missiles are launched, and the Valiant skewers one of the crippled DNs, which explodes into a giant orange fireball.
PDCs from the other ubernaughts pick off three missiles from behind the Valiant as the StormCloud claws at the slightly damaged DN. The DN's shields are breached on the first shot, but a second bLast is required to finish off the heavy shield generator. The Last shield generator melts down in a wash of polaron flames, and a fourth beam cuts into the engine core. A succession of internal explosions tears apart the aft half of the ship, but the dreadnaught somehow manages to hold together. Unable to escape, the DN is helpless as the StormCloud slices it in two with a finely focussed polaron beam; within seconds the ship breaks up into a cloud of debris.
The Valiant's PDCs fire madly as two missiles from the Last crippled ship scream towards it. One bursts, but the other takes only a glancing blow, and swings back around to hit the Valiant from behind. 16 ADU from the maximum 35%, the ubernaught's shields buckle under the bLast, white fire gripping the aft end of the ship with fingers of flame stretching to the forward sections. The Jreanar ship fares much better, as its regenerated shields hold at 20% against the polaron assault. Closing to point blank range, the Valiant hammers the Jreanar with full-power polaron beams, but the Jreanar's shields continue to hold.
Spraying wide angle polaron flames into their DN, the other two ubernaughts' dodging manouevers are interuppted by a missile launch. With both DNs shields collapsing, the Jreanar deploy missiles point blank, and the quick PDCs are not quick enough to cut down all the missiles. One lands a sledgehammer blow to the Valiant's forward shield, bLasting through the remaining defences and bLasting apart all but one element in it's shield grid. The StormCloud braces for impact, but none comes. The missile loops around to head for the Valiant, giving the ships plenty of time to cut it down with PD. The StormCloud burns the nearest DN with polarons, breaching the shields and scortching the armor. With a clear shot, the StoneWall proceeds to carve out two shield generators, the antiproton beam and a missile launcher in sequence. Two beams from the Valiant pierce the shields on the other DN, bLasting a shield generator and an engine. The Jreanar's supplies and defences depleted, the ubernaughts dig out greedy hunks of hull, and both ships detonate in large fireballs.
A wrenching of space, and two more Jreanar DNs appear directly behind the ubernaughts. The Valiant leads the ubernaughts away while aft polarons strike deep into the nearest Jreanar ship. Missiles are launched, and the darkenss of space is lit by crisscrossing PDC tracers, polarons and antiprotons. With only four missiles to target, PDCs emerge victorious, and the constant stream of polarons burns through the shields of the Jreanar ship. Antiprotons cut across the path of the Valiant, but swift manouevers keep the ship one step ahead. The StoneWall slams two polaron beams into the forward shields before piercing the defences and tracing a flaming line down the starboard side of the ship, disabling antiprotons, a missile launcher and severing an engine. Four simultaneous beams from the StormCloud wash fiery polarons across the hull, imploding two shield generators, melting and twisting the engine pylons into scrap. The Valiant lines up a double shot and bLasts into the Last missile launcher, detonating it. In a fiery spray of rubble, the ship breaks up and the ubernaughts turn to the Last Jreanar dreadnaught. Unable to slip any missiles past the intense PDC fire from the ubernaughts, the Jreanar ship absorbs a furious pounding. Surrounded by a withering cloud of polarons, the shields of the DN fade rapidly, and after three more charges of polarons are added, the shields of the DN collapse, allowing purple fires to burn through the hull. An instant later, the polaron cloud puffs out and is dispersed by the exploding dreadnaught.
Still undeterred, three more Jreanar DNs appear from the wormhole, and immediately launch missiles. The ubernaughts return fire with polaron beams and PDCs, but there are simply too many missiles too quickly, and the Valiant is struck. Twin missiles burst through the weak shielding on the ubernaught, scattering the remaining armor into space and severing power feeds to one of the Valiant's polaron cannons. The Valiant breaks formation to retreat while the others attempt to slow down the onrushing DNs. Polaron beams slam into the weakened Jreanar leader, penetrating the shields and bLasting away most of the forward section. Hits to the aft section smash the engines, and the ship drifts helpless. Missiles launch from the remaining Jreanar ships, but with time and ammo to spare, PDCs easily block the attack. Ships weave around but the Jreanar cannot get a lock on the nearly defenseless Valiant with their antiproton beams. The second DNs shields waver and collapse amidst the furious beams striking from the ubernaughts, and the ship simply turns to flaming dust as polarons sweeps through the ship.
The Last Jreanar DN tries to pull away, but the faster ubernaughts hang on and slam polarons into the aft shields. Caught unawares by the Jreanar's distracting move and a pet razorbeast loose on the bridge, the Valiant fails to avoid the missiles dropped point blank by the Jrenar ship. A bLast cuts through the 50 ADU shielding provided by the remaining regenerators, and burns through the engine wings, while the second missile sails over the ship to bLast the dorsal surface. The bridge is completely vaporized, PDC turrets and a second polaron cannon are reduced to slag, and the ship's talisman shatters.

2432.9:
Somehow, Phong dreadnaughts have penetrated deep into HomeSystem, to strike two of our undefended colonies. X100 I, a peaceful solar research world, and X100 V, one of Section 31's main intel worlds. Somehow, six million tons of military hardware got past our defence lines from Phong space, and even I am starting to believe in this invisible ship thing. After the short campaign against the Jreanar attack forces, both wings of ubernaughts have been forced to turn in-system to combat this new Phong threat. The Valiant is making her way to the spaceyards on X100 III, and will have to spend at least two months in radiation decontamination before workers can even start repairs. The Guardian and the Stalwart have been transferred to Alpha wing, and will strike the large Phong force at X100 I, while the Protector will proceed alone to confront the single Phong DN at X100 V.

The protector arrives at the planet to find a calmly swirling gas giant. All traces of the floating colony have been swallowed by the giant planet, and only a guilty lookin Phong DN remains. As the ships enter weapons range, the Phong DN opens fire. Swerving left, then right, crystal shards zing past, but the Protector gets hammered by a HEM beam. Shields flaring from the impact, the ubernaught crashes right through the second HEM beam. The ubernaught slows to fire polaron beams into the Phong ship before turning away to get some distance, crystalline shards sparkling all around. With shields recovering to 50%, the ubernaught drives another quad burst of polarons into the Phong shielding, blinding the Phong sensors and avoiding the return fire of the shard cannons. A glow on the forward hull indicates a locked HEM, but the ubernaught dives to the left and the dual beams sear space beside the battlecruiser. Four more polaron beams spray a purple glow around the forward shields of the DN, while a quick right-left shicane manouever avoids more crystal shards. With shields falling below 30%, the Phong ship drives the Protector into the corner. Despite closing the gap between the ships, the Phong is unable to track the ubernaught's quick course changes or get a weapons lock, and HEM beams cross in front and behind the nimble BC. Closing to within a distance of 4, the shard cannons are still ineffective, and the polarons dig deeply into the Phong's overloading shields. As the Protector begins to pull away again, it dodges sideways to avoid both a HEM bLast and crystalline shards, but the move was predicted, and the second HEM flares against the Protector's recharged aft shields. A polaron beam heading the other way wraps fire around the forward shield of the Phong ship, while a second pierces through to burn away armor. Another wash of polarons dulls the Phong's scattering armor and the fourth stab breaks up the Last of the DN's armor.
The ubernaught turns and flies around behind the DN, whose shard cannons spray deadly shards just behind the swiftly moving BC. Polaron fire overloads the DNs shielding once again, and a second burst burns through a shield generator and shatters a HEM crystal. More fire melts down the aft shield generators and a shard cannon, then a final stream of polarons rips through a shard cannon to bLast an engine. Buzzing over the larger ship's hull, the ubernaught avoids the HEM bLast, and passes too fast for the Last shard cannon to track. Polarons cut furrows in the dreadnaught's hull, bLasting the starboard shields and shard cannon, then smashing through the engine section. Carving a giant smiley face through the hull, the ubernaught turns back towards the forward section, bLasting the Last weapons from the ship and opening the bridge to space. One more stream of polarons tears into the forward electronic warfare pod and targetting arrays. Circling back, the ubernaught fires a final bLast of polarons which pierce the shields of the dreadnaught to burn through the living quarters and structual supports. As the enemy ship breaks up, the Protector returns to the planet to search for survivors.

Meanwhile, at X100 I, the four ubernaughts arrive to find four Phong DNs and a carrier. Fighters race ahead to meet the ubernaughts, but the long range weapons of the capital ships reach out first. All weapons seeking the Stalwart, the Phong unleash a barrage of HEM beams and crystalling shards, but the veteran crew of the ubernaught keeps their cool zig-zagging around to avoid tagetting locks. With the Phong also in range, the ubernaughts lob polaron beams through space, the talisman guiding each shot true to the target. Trailing long tendrils of purple fire, the Phong DN's shields fall to 30%. PDCs blaze from the ubernaughts, and a large number of the Phong's small fighters blossom into puffs of fire. The more heavily armed medium fighters deflect the occasional shot from their armor, and dive in to spray shard cannons wildly throughout the fleet of ubernaughts. Though the fighter's attacks do little damage, the sheer volume of fire manages to overload the regenerators on the StormCloud, draining its shields. With the fighters hindering the movement of the ubernaughts the Phong ships close in, straight through bursts of polarons. The weakened DN took the worst of the polaron sweeps, its shields breached. Two additional quad bursts from the Stalwart and the StoneWall tear into the ventral hull of the ship, gutting the engines, shield generators, and smashing through most of the forward weapons. PDCs whittle away at the dense armor of the Phong's medium fighters. The phong fleets regroup and the fighters turn to pound 20% out of the Stalwart's shields. The Phong DN fleet surges forward with a lock on the Stalwart, firing all weapons. The first HEM beam strikes dead center on the Stalwart, bLasting its shields down to 50%. Turning quickly, the ubernaught avoids the second bLast through the same spot, but a second DN lights up the starboard side of the ship with its own HEM. With shields collapsing, the ubernaught dodges two more beams before the Last Phong DN punches a beam of energy through the aft shields, ripping away half of the armor on the ship. The Phong fighters dive in to attack, overwhelming the PDCs on the fleet and driving crystalline shards through the Stalwart's armor. One of the Stalwart's polaron cannons misfires and detonates, tearing a ragged hole if the port side where the shield regenerator and a PDC used to be. Oxygen leaking from the gash burns with the plasma leaking from the ruptured shield grid to form a spectactular trail of fire. One Last burst of polarons from the crippled ubernaught melts down the damaged Phong DN, only a single lifesupport module remains spewing gasses into non-existant decks.
Overheating PDCs finally finish off the Last fighters and power down to standby while polaron beams continue to sweep across the Phong fleet. Pouring on full speed, the Stalwart is missed by the Phong shard gunners and pulls out of HEM range. One of the Phong DNs shields are weakening, so the remaining ubernaughts lock on and bLast away. The Last few polaron beams pierce the shields, but are refracted away by the Phong's armor.
The lead Phong ship moves in to fire a Last burst of shard cannons at the distant Stalwart, but then unexpectedly fires its main guns into the Guardian at the same time. Quickly going into evasive manouevers, the Guardian slips away from the next five beams from the fleet, and its shields regenerate to 75%. Eleven polaron beams stab out from the fleet of ubernaughts to bLast chunks of debris from the weakened DN, until nothing remains but flaming dust and loose metal struts. With the Phong DNs passing around the ubernaught fleet to pursue the Stalwart, the ubernaughts have no choice but to close with the Phong and attempt to slow them down. Polarons smash the shields of the Lead Phong ship, but the StormCloud falls behind, supplies depleted.
Polaron fire rages across the shields of the lead Phong ship before they collapse and fire burns deep through the armor, disabling weapons and exposing the bridge to space, but a navigational error on board the Stalwart allows the Phong to close to HEM range. Partially regenerated shields barely withstand the first bLast and despite the best efforts of her crew, the Stalwart is skewered by a second hit. The Last of the armor and shields break away and fall behind as the Stalwart accelerates back to full speed, but another Polaron cannon is sparking dangerously, and only a fitful snapping of the starboard shield regenerator provides 25 ADU of shielding.
With the lead Phong ship crippled, the ubernaughts concentrate fire on the Last DN, and send bolts of polarons cascading around the shields. Weapons recharged, lead Phong ship nails the StoneWall with a HEM beam, draining 40% from the shields while the other DN pounds its own intense beam into the Guardian. Polarons flare up against the shields of the Last Phong DN leaking through to burn off the ship's armor. Fires burst from the Phong hulls as one more wave of polarons burn across the surface, from the three ubernaughts. All Phong weapons have been disabled, and there is nothing left but a cleanup operation for the ubernaughts.

The fleet has been broken up, with the StormCloud proceeding via tug to the nearest supply depot. The Stalwart is forced to travel to Curyok to find the only available shipyard left. The Protector, Guardian and StoneWall will rendezvous at the X100 IV mine factories and resupply depot to prepare for the next attack. Although our force of active ubernaughts has been cut in half, our main shipyards report the installation of the first shield generators on the BlackHole class ship "Avenger". She may be able to help defend the system if it becomes absolutely nessesary.

Take a moment to remember those who have fallen...

Re: Game Stories
 

Thanks, Tarkin. My first Tictsin game is closing on its 15 year victory condition, so I'll have at least one more summary coming up. I've begun a second game with this race in a TDM-ModPack game, but they started inside an isolated cluster, so I don't expect much of interest to happen for quite a while. I'm working on their AI files so I can eventually release them to the mod community.

------------------
Cap'n Q

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the
human mind to correlate all of its contents. We live on a placid
island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was
not meant that we should go far. -- HP Lovecraft

Re: Game Stories
 

2433.1: A major expansion of the shipyards on X100 II has increased their output to almost one component each day, and their work on Avenger's critical components has been completed. Her ultra-heavy armor will require almost a year of additional work, but can be postponed indefinitely. The Valiant has been cleared of radioactive contamination, and lifesupport has been restored to all decks. Engineers estimate a four month job to replace the wings, weapons and shield grid. The StormCloud has finally arrived at the X100 II shipyards for refueling, but will have to remain there for a few weeks of testing for hull damage from the tugs. Over in Curyok, the repairs to the Stalwart will be completed in three months due to a shortage of shield grid elements. The Jreanar and Phong have both attacked our minefields simultaneously, but only the Jreanar used a minesweeper. Two Phong dreadnaughts were confirmed to be destroyed before we lost contact with our mine station. A total of two Jreanar ships and five Phong ships have entered our HomeSystem, so the Avenger has been ordered to X100 IV to join the three remaining ubernaughts. With the Avenger leading the ubernaughts in a flying V formation, they move out to attack a cluster of four Phong ships.

Entering the sector, all the preparation seems to be unfounded. The Phong ships fail to raise shields, and a graviton scan reads low, indicating moderate damage or empty storage areas. Since there is no visible damage on the ships, the only answer is that they have run out of fuel. It is quite clear that the Phong are not going to go quietly, as the charge weapons from some emergency backup system.
As the ubernaughts approach, four HEM beams strike out across space towards the Avenger. One beam glances off the port shields of the dreadnaught, another slams straight into the forward shields. Already glowing a watery blue at 50%, the shields absorb one more bLast to starboard while the Last HEM beam misses.
As its regenerators kick in to boost shields to 40%, the Avenger leads the ubernaughts within range of the enemy. The Protector bLasts chunks of hull out of the nearest Phong ship, splashing molten armor and bits of a shettered HEM crystal into space. The Avenger takes aim and nails another Phong DN with its Heavy-mount Polaron Cannons. One shot bLasts most of the armor from the enemy ship, and another digs through the Last armor to bLast and engine and a shield generator away. More bLasts rock the DN, cutting loose a shard cannon and slicing open an empty supply bay. Shrapnel rises from the ship in sparkling clouds as two more shield generators are shredded by polarons, before the ships Last HEM crystal succumbs to the intense bombardment. The Avenger's Last beam cuts deeply into the Phong ship, and the engine core erupts from the far side sending flame and debris everywhere.
As the Avenger turns back to reach maximum range, the Guardian washes wide beam flames of polaron death across the crippled ship. With massive damage to the outer hull, lifesupport fails across most of the Phong decks and their Shard cannons fall dark. Another hit of polarons removes the Last hint of life aboard the ship, and it breaks up silently.
The StoneWall adds fiery beams to the hull of the first Phong ship, smashing shield generators and PDLs. Purple beams bLast craters in the Phong hull, and the DNs HEM crystals shatter explosively. A final slash of polarons burns into the engine section before catching and vapourizing a shard cannon.
The Avenger loops and zigzags through space, and the four HEM beams from the two slower Phong ships burn past on all sides. Now, with the Phong recharging, the Avenger dives back towards the Phong fleet. Six Heavy polaron Cannons slice and dice, separating one of the Phong dreadnaughts into quarters while the ubernaughts cruise past, stabbing lances of fire into the other ships. The Phong leader disintegrates under the heavy pounding from the Guardian, and the Last DN is stripped to the core by the StoneWall and Guardian.
Feeble Shard cannon fire goes wide, and the Avenger dives into the two disabled Phong, polaron cannons burning a hole right through both ships.

With the defeat of the Phong forces, the Avenger proceeds alone to the wormhole to finish off the Last Phong ship, and the ubernaughts turn to attack the Jreanar forces.
Arriving at the wormhole, the Avenger finds only a severely damaged warship, enourmous bLast holes in the engine core, weapons array and shield grid. The Avenger drives forward, only to detect a distortion of the starfield across a wide swath of sky. A sensor probe is launched, but as it approaches the distortion, it vanishes in an silent puff of fire. The distortions twist space and fade, revealing a minesweeper and eight more Phong warships.
Unable to escape, the Avenger sends a distress signal to inform HomeWorld of the threat, and surges forward to meet its fate. As the Phong ships enter weapons range, closer scans indicate moderate to heavy damage on most of the vessels, but all of the ships are still mobile with weapons and shields. The Phong leader opens fire, nailing the Avenger with its only operational HEM crystal. Shields glow as energy curls around the forward hull, but hold at 75%. The Avenger dips in close enough to unload a barage of polarons into the leader's shields but they withstand the beating. Phong wingmen move into position and fire three HEM bLasts at the Avenger, but it is moving swiftly and slips around them. Firing aft weapons, the Avenger pierces the weakened shields of the Phong leader, bLasting away shields and Shard cannons. Shields climing to 90%, the Avenger speeds ahead, the Phong ships hanging on.
With their leader hit, the Phong ships break formation and begin to swarm. One HEM beam cuts just below the Avenger, who fires back at the attacker, piercing the mine-damaged shields to silence the HEM. Now the sector boarder is approaching quickly, so the Avenger, shields restored, swings around to port in an attempt to reach a less dangerous position. With the Phong weapons recharged, the Avenger dodges and slides as HEM beams come tearing from the fleet. Shields flare from a hit to port but the Avenger dips and bobs to avoid the next two shots. One more slams the Avenger from behind, and two beams quickly follow. Twisting sideways, the Avenger slips past one, but its shields burn brightly from the other. One Last HEM goes wide, and the Avenger shreds 40% from the shields of the nearest, undamaged Phong. Shields down to 30%, the Avenger attempts to pull away, but five Phong ships with full engine capacity are not giving ground. Shard cannons fire blindly, and the Phong ships swing behind the Avenger which rips another devastating hit into the latest target. The Avenger's shields reach 42% as the Phong's drop to 20%. A dip and a slide left avoids three HEM beams, but a fourth catches the Avenger to burn deeply into the shields. Two beams strike out, and dodging the first drives the Avenger directly into the second. One Last beam, aimed perfectly, glances off the shields despite the best efforts of the crew. Regenerators on overload, the Avenger's shields blink and recover to 5%. With another bLast from the Heavy Polaron Cannons, the Avenger's target loses shields and its armor trails polaron fire.
Undaunted as the Avenger's shield regenerators feed emergency power directly to the shields, the Phong spray Shard cannons and pursue. Defences critically weakened by the previous hits, the nearest Phong DN is slammed and shredded. All that remains of the ship is a small chunk of hull with lifesupport, a shield regenerator and emergency supplies. The Avenger's shields approach 35% as the Phong DNs open fire again. Bumping up against the sector border, the Avenger rises to avoid a Hem beam and slips left to dodge a second. Lucky number three strikes true, and the dreadnaught's shields flicker, dangerously weak. A double HEM shot cuts off the Avenger's manoeuverability and one rakes across the port shield. Piercing the Last 10% shielding, the HEM beam scrawls a squiggle across the heavy outer armor of the ship. Only one target is in range, and the dreadnaught returns a stern reply, purple polaron fire ringing the Phong ship.

Without warning, the universe declares "The parameter is incorrect" and time itself grinds to a halt...

Arriving at the wormhole, the Avenger finds only a severely damaged warship, enourmous bLast holes in the engine core, weapons array and shield grid. The Avenger drives forward, only to detect a distortion of the starfield across a wide swath of sky. A sensor probe is launched, but as it approaches the distortion, it vanishes in an silent puff of fire. The distortions twist space and fade, revealing a minesweeper and eight more Phong warships.
Unable to escape, the Avenger sends a distress signal to inform HomeWorld of the threat, and surges forward to meet its fate. As the Phong ships enter weapons range, closer scans indicate moderate to heavy damage on most of the vessels, but all of the ships are still mobile with weapons and shields. Two HEM bursts lance out, but the Avenger swerves sideways, the beams cutting through empty space. The Avenger responds with a heavy bLast from its Polaron Cannons, hammering the Phong ship, but its shields hold.
Phong manouevers carry the Avenger's target out of range, so the avenger turns to port, waiting for a chance to strike. The Phong leader comes into range and fires its only HEM beam just wide of the Avenger, and absorbing a heavy dose of polarons on its shields. With their leader under attack, the Phong fleet breaks up and the ships swarm forwards two HEM beams falling short of their target as the Avenger accelerates away. Crystalline shards bounce off of the Avenger's aft shields, their reflections throwing off the ship's sensors, and a pair of HEM beams slams into the shields. Her defenses glowing bright blue at 45%, the Avenger sprays polarons into the onrushing dreadnaughts while continuing to retreat. Another wave of polarons cuts deeply into the Phong shielding, but the defences hold, and the fleet returns fire with a glittering light show of crytalline shard scattering widely through the darkness.
With the sector border approaching quickly, the Avenger is forced into a tight turn to port, and the Phong close in. With a dip, the Avenger lets one HEM beam sail harmlessly overhead, but a second beam is ready, and slams the regenerating shield back down to 50%. Two more beams lance out, but the Avenger slows just enough for them to pass in front. A heavy surge of polarons washes over the weakened Phong ship, piercing the shields to burn away a large portion of the forward and dorsal sections. With weapons shattered, and engine power failing, the dreadnaught turns to retreat. Shard cannons blaze, but the wide angle fire fails to score a hit. The Avenger drops another polaron surge into the Phong fleet, and turns further to port to avoid another sector border. Making the turn slowed the Avenger, and the Phong fleet takes advantage of the opportunity to close with the ship. A massive volley of HEM shots fill space, but the Avenger slips over, under, left and right slipping between four shots. Two coordianted HEM beams force the Avenger to choose, and it takes a solid hit to the aft shields. Sensors blinded from the clash of energies, the Avenger fails to predict the shot, and is slammed from the port side by another bLast. Shields down to 25%, the Avenger switches targets to bLast through the mine-damaged shields of a nearby Phong DN. With shields down, and its main weapons torn from the ship, the DN turns to retreat. Shard cannons again prove ineffective, and the Avenger's shields rise to 40%, fed energy directly from the auxiliary reactors. Polarons cross space to hammer the regenerating shields of another Phong dreadnaught, but they hold, scattering the beams into a smoky veil behind the ship. The Phong HEMs bite back, and despite the best efforts of the Avenger, they are pinned down by four beams while two more deliver devastating blows to the aft shields. The Avenger's shields dip critically low, and flicker out before stabilizing at 3%. Polarons cut through space past the glittering crystalline shards to slam the Avenger's latest target. Shield flare up and break down, but the ship's armor stops most of the bLast; only a small stream of atmosphere leaks from a crack below the charred armor.
Slowing to keep a lock on the damaged Phong ship, the Avenger bLasts a wall of polarons through its shields, and the Phong dreadnaught catches a crushing blow. Tumbling powerless, the core of the Phong DN burns with the eerie purple glow of a polaron fire. The Avenger slams the nearest Phong ship with another polaron burst, but shields hold, and the phong fleet responds with their own main weapons. A HEM beam scrapes acros the port side of the dreadnaught, but the Avenger's regenerators have done thier work, and the shields hold while the quick moves of the Avenger throw off the aim of three more bLasts. Polarons sweep through the Phong fleet, but their shields still hold out. Two other Phong ships move in with charged HEM beams to stab three shots at the Avenger. Flying a chicane left, the Avenger swerves around the first beam but is hit by the second while the third goes wide. Shields flare again and drop to 20%. Swerving right, a HEM beam sears space beside the dreadnaught. Sliding left then right, another two beams miss, but a fourth beam nails the Avenger dead center. With regenerators unable to compensate, the shields fall to 10%. Polarons sweep through the Phong fleet, and one of the DNs flares up, shields depleted. Awash in flames, the Phong ship falls behind with severe engine damage. More HEMs from the Phong fleet burn towards the Avenger, the first beam strikes the shields, sending them into overload. Another beam slips between the unshielded engine pylons of the Avenger, and the Last scrawls its shaky signature across the heavy armor of the dreadnaught. Polarons strike back, averloading the shields of a Phong DN, but failing to do any damage to the hull. With a burst of speed, the Avenger skips ahead of one HEM, then slows to slip behind the second beam. This time, the polarons smash through the depleted shields of the Phong DN immediately, and the purple fire sweeps through the mine-damaged hull. As fire engulfs the ship, it pauses only to explode into a shower of red-orange fragments.
The damaged avenger is forced to make another slow turn around the fleet to avoid being trapped, and the phong ships close in again. A dip in the flight path sends a solitary HEM beam sailing harmlessly overhead, and the Avenger turns to attack a solitary Phong ship with a devastating blow from close range. The Phong ship opens fire but the Avenger makes a tight turn to get behind the HEM crystal. Two more bLasts from the side distract the Avenger long enough for a fourth beam to find its target. The Avenger's shields burn, but hold at 5%. With the fleet approaching, the solitary Phong ship moves to join the safety of the group, absorbing another wave of polarons as it passes the Avenger. Another phong ship moves in to cut off the Avenger's retreat, but its single shard cannon fires wide, and a single HEM beam from the fleet falls behind. Locking onto the closest ship, the Avenger's polaron cannons rip through the weak shields to gut the ship. Weapons, engines and shield generators spash off into the night, trailing fire, and the DN tumbles away. With the fastest Phong ships all burning wrecks, and its shields back to 25%, the Avenger turns to meet the remaining enemy forces. With a sickening lurch, the Avenger's engines fade out, and the crew reels forward in the artificial gravity. Supplies depleted, and four Phong ships still fighting, the Avenger is in trouble. A HEM beam glances by, but the laboring Avenger, is helpless to avoid the next accurate hits. Her forward shields flare up, wrapping fire around the ship, but holding barely. A second beam breaches the shields and burns fire across the hull. A third beam tears up the starboard armor, and the Avenger's shield grid leaks burning plasma. Return fire sends polarons raking across the shields of the nearest Phong ship, before burrowing in to burn the hull of the ship like a dry leaf. Now trying to get some distance, the Avenger's thrusters hiss, and though they could easily catch the Avenger, the Phong ships wisely stay just out of weapons range. With main power offline, the Avenger is forced to reroute all auxiliary power to lifesupport, and her shields go dark. Shard cannons are still too inaccurate, but one Phong ship moves in to dig into the Avenger with dual HEM beams. The Last shield generators in her grid burning, the Avenger's stealth armor explodes into dark red fragments, but the Last of the HEM energy is refracted from the scattering armor.
Just at that moment, the Guardian and the StoneWall arrive from behind. Weaving between crystalline shards, they sweep past the Avenger and slam quad bolts of polarons into the nearest Phong ship. Sliding sideways, the StoneWall absorbs a HEM beam meant for the Avenger, and the Guardian pierces the shields of the Phong ship, bLasting debris from the surface. Just as the Phong ship fires, a bLast of polarons hits, causing an explosion in the engine core and twisting the ship's aim away. The next Phong ship in line throws a double lance of fire towards the Avenger, but damage to the Phong's targetting sensors and the screening battlecruisers cause the shots to go wide. Polarons break through the dreadnaught's shields, but the HEM crystals refuse to break, reflecting the polarons deep into the crew decks. HEMs recharge, but the Avenger is too distant for a lock, and the beams miss once again. Now defenseless, the Phong DN is hit with the full fury of the ubernaught's polaron beams, and explodes into a flower of orange light. Following the trail of broken ships, the ubernaughts sidestep a crystalline shard and pierce the shields of the next Phong ship. A short second burst of polarons, and the ship breaks up into a ball of plasma. Another ship fires a shard cannon, but the ubernaughts easily avoid it, and hammer through the ship's shields with polaron beams as they rapidly pass, and it too explodes in a fireball. The Last four Phong ships are all unarmed, and blaze brightly for a few seconds before fading out permanently.

With the Phong force defeated, the Guardian and the StoneWall proceed to rendezvous with the Protector again, then attack the Jreanar ships in the system. One Jreanar dreadnaught and a minesweeper are quickly put down, and the Protector returns to cover the Avenger in case of another attack, but the Guardian and the StoneWall have already pushed their engines to the limit and cannot make it in time.

Re: Game Stories
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by suicide_junkie:
Without warning, the universe declares "The parameter is incorrect" and time itself grinds to a halt...
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thank you, universe http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Game Stories
 

It appears that Avenger was caught in some sort of Temporal Causality Loop. Perhaps the close proximity of the mine explosions has caused the wormhole to destabilize and leak tachyon emmisions.

(I have watched too many Trek episodes. That almost sounded plausible. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/ima...ons/icon12.gif )

Geoschmo

Re: Game Stories
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>It appears that Avenger was caught in some sort of Temporal Causality Loop. Perhaps the close proximity of the mine explosions has caused the wormhole to destabilize and leak tachyon emmisions.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Yep! Just say (anti- or polarized) Chronoton particles instead of tachyons, and you're there!

The anti-cronotons annihilated regular cronotons in that sector, causing the short reversal of time.