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A beautifil new ocean to explore. - 3/26/2010 9:52:20 AM

Okim

Posts: 209
Joined: 1/29/2010
From: Russian Federation
Status: offline

Hi.

I decided to share my first impressions of DW.

I started DW 4 times and each time i felt too overwhelmed with extremely self-aware activity in my empire. I though that automation should help me focus on learning the game, but in fact it turned out to be much easier to learn DW while keeping everything under mine control. I replaced all automation to suggestions and turned off ship designs and etc. This way it was more obvious what decisions and in what circumstances should be taken.

I started my fourth game as Weekarus - a very funny crustaceans race - in a small galaxy (100 stars) with 5 players and pirates set to 'rare'. I tend to role-play in most of my games so i planned my race to be a bit slow, but well-protected and cautious. This resulted in major redesign of all my civilian vessels and bases to be armed and have some extra protection (mostly armor), military ships were set to retreat at 50% of shields to represent lobsters 'jumping' away from danger.

I was quite lucky to start in an extremely habitable system Maelstrum with 2 continental and one ocean planets + my homeworld. The abundance of resources of all kinds at first made me happy. Imagine that the majority of your upstart civilisation`s resource base is situated in one system. However i soon recognised that my system had less than 10 resources of available 40t.

First thing that i`ve order was construction of a small fleet of my slow juggernauts (4 escorts, 3 frigates, 3 destroyers with torpedoes). Homeworld was set to colony ship production - my crab-like fellas impatiently awaited a moment when they dip their 'ironclad' bodies into fresh waters of neighbouring planets.

Construction ships were send to expand mining operations on a neighbouring huge gas giant with 4 barren moons.

I noticed that my freighters were drifting around HW with no mission. I thought that resource transportation consists of constant inter-base/colony resource exchange. It seems to be more transport-on-demand like than i expected.

While my crabbies were slowly awakening from their pre-warp slumber i decided to leave them to their orders and focus on exploration. I`ve send my exploration ship to travel to a nearby star and noticed that i started game with several neighbour starts already discovered. I was quite rejoiced to see that my mining vessel was already pumping resources from one of these star`s planets. Actually i was so interested in this kind of activity that i wanted to order more mining vessels, BUT (!) civies didn`t allow me to construct any of their ships.. Well, let`s hope they better know how to do these kind of things. BTW i wonder how do i refit civilian ships and what exactly does 'upgrade' button in ship designs do?

While my explorer was quite slowly traversing to its destination i was looking at one of my mining stations that was pumping some resources from a planet furiously scattering clouds of dust and ramble into space. Suddenly an unknown vessel emerged not far from it and turned towards it with obviously unfriendly intentions. A pop-up window emerged telling me what i already was observing - a PIRATE destroyer was after my base in my home system! And this was happening near my HW, what an insolense! I reacted with sending everything i was able to scramble - two escorts, frigate and destroyer answered the call of their dirt-prospector fellows. Pirate managed to 'unseal' two of my crab-like escorts that did not have any armor at all and were easily damaged beyond ability to counter-attack. I was glad to see how battle in DW looks like and how badly-damaged ships are shown. However i noticed a small glitch when one of my escorts was blown to bits - one (or several) of the explosion frames had white corners that made an explosion end in a square-like image. It seems that there is some problem with alpha in these frames (if they use alpha channel at all).

While i was trying to figure out how to refit my ships and bases an explorer ship reported finding nothing at its destination. What a pity, i hoped to find something interesting in my first exploration expeditions.

There were some other stars in the vicinity and i ordered my explorer to travel to a nearest unexplored.

The design flaw of default ships not having armor is a tough one, so i ordered more of my armor-clad military ships to be build to counter future pirate activities. Newly constructed vessels were set to automation and they instantly picked their escort/patrol targets. A very useful feature when you have multiple freighters/stations that are endangered by these dare and greedy pirates.

Some time has passed and my empire now had all 4 habitable planets in my home system under my control. I imagine the joy that my crabbies take crawling in fresh yet-unpolluted waters of these new worlds. Let`s hope they will remain joyful and obedient for a long time.

I was prompted to construct a new exploration ship and decided to build 2 extra ships in addition to it. There were many alluring stars nearby that were crying to explore them ASAP. In a few following minutes i would regret not ordering these ships at the very beginning... My only explorer discovered ruins in one of the systems and harried to it just to find it empty. A few moments later an exploration ship of another race was found stalking nearby. The new race turned out to be a group of insectiod-like creatures calling themselves 'Dhauyt Territories'. Man i was so afraid of the new neighbour that i did not know what to do for the first few moments. I opened 'introduction of alien races' thread and found out that these buggies are quite aggressive and probably will not be so friendly towards me. I wonder why i actually referred to that thread and not to galactopedia that also had that info :)

I decided that i need to focus on defending my territories from these buggies. As time passed i was able to scramble a little fleet and found out that i can`t give it multiple patrol orders (i see patrol as a set of waypoints where each waypoint is a planet or a base). While trying to uncover the secret lore of how to set waypoints and whether they actually exist in DW i was contacted by my 'friends'. As i expected they were not playing friendly. The first message that i received from my rival player in DW was a demand of some money for the protection of my ships on their territories from their ships. Lucky me.. This message actually brought a lot of new excitement rather than disappointment - in such a bad manner was i introduced to a diplomacy screen where two contacts were shown - the one that mistakenly thinks that i cannot protect myself in his territories

and the second is a group of Slukan pirates!

I enjoyed communicating with these buggy criminals as they provided me with coordinates of a ruin in a previously overloked star system. It is needless to say that for this kind of info these greedy bastards demanded 10k of credits! I wonder if the money i gave them will actually result in an increased pirate activities in the future.

Another explorer made contact with a new race - Securans. Man i was so rejoiced to find a 'sane' and peaceful neighbour in this dangerous space that i even ordered my construction ships to move out of my system to the vicinity of my space and construct a mining outpost in a large asteroid cloud orbiting one of the stars and a recreation base at a beautiful planet with a spectacular ring over it. I wonder does mining station have any kind of 'mining range'? Do i need to build multiple bases in that asteroid field - it seems to be composed of numerous asteroids (or fields) that have different resources. Also how can i figure out how attractive the planet with rings is?

This is an end of the first part of my AAR. Hope you`ll find some useful info here. I`ll try to post some new info in a day or two )

< Message edited by Okim -- 3/26/2010 9:57:28 AM >

Post #: 1

RE: A beautifil new ocean to explore. - 3/26/2010 11:13:23 AM

EisenHammer

Posts: 440
Joined: 9/1/2008
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Nice... this is closer to what I was looking for in an AAR. way to go Okim

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Post #: 2

RE: A beautifil new ocean to explore. - 3/26/2010 11:23:35 AM

Sarissofoi

Posts: 329
Joined: 2/1/2010
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Good writing Okim.

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Post #: 3

RE: A beautifil new ocean to explore. - 3/26/2010 11:35:51 AM

Wade1000

Posts: 771
Joined: 10/27/2009
From: California, USA
Status: offline

Well done, Okim.

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Wish list:population centers beyond planetary(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Culture):Ships,Ring Orbitals,Sphere Orbitals,Ringworlds,Sphereworlds;ability to create & destroy planets,population centers,stars;AI competently using all advances & features.

(in reply to Sarissofoi)

Post #: 4

RE: A beautifil new ocean to explore. - 3/26/2010 11:36:50 AM

Okim

Posts: 209
Joined: 1/29/2010
From: Russian Federation
Status: offline

It lacks images and i`ll try to fix this issue when i come back home. Reading an ARR that has some shots showing dispositions, a pirate attack and other things that are present in it is much more easy and interesting )

BTW it seems that in other AAR there is a shot that shows a scenery percentage for a black hole. It is a good answer to my question about tourism. I must have missed that line in planet descriptions or perhaps it appears only at places of real interest )

< Message edited by Okim -- 3/26/2010 11:41:12 AM >

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Post #: 5

RE: A beautifil new ocean to explore. - 3/26/2010 3:23:32 PM

Vlad77

Posts: 23
Joined: 3/26/2010
Status: offline

Okim,

Excellent writing. I was drawn in to your report as if it was a short story. Had you given planet names and characters' personalities, I would have thought I was reading the first draft of a fun short story. I will remember to beware out there of the dreaded crabbies. (Okay, that didn't QUITE sound right, did it?)

:)

Vlad

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Post #: 6

RE: A beautifil new ocean to explore. - 3/26/2010 3:42:03 PM

Okim

Posts: 209
Joined: 1/29/2010
From: Russian Federation
Status: offline

I played about an hour in DW, so i haven`t learn much about it. For example i didn`t know that we can rename planets :)

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Post #: 7

RE: A beautifil new ocean to explore. - 3/26/2010 3:44:41 PM

Vlad77

Posts: 23
Joined: 3/26/2010
Status: offline

And we can rename stars, and well, virtually anything except the name of the game itself. I love the fact that the editor is in game.

Again, splendid AAR Okim!

Vlad

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Post #: 8

RE: A beautifil new ocean to explore. - 3/26/2010 6:34:50 PM

Antonov

Posts: 2
Joined: 3/26/2010
Status: offline

Okim, great AAR. Thank you for pointing me in the direction of Distant Worlds. Been looking for a SoTS replacement like this for a long time. Looking forward to your mods already ;)

~Antonov

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Post #: 9

RE: A beautifil new ocean to explore. - 3/26/2010 9:06:01 PM

Darthcaboose

Posts: 31
Joined: 3/22/2010
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Okim

I wonder does mining station have any kind of 'mining range'? Do i need to build multiple bases in that asteroid field - it seems to be composed of numerous asteroids (or fields) that have different resources. Also how can i figure out how attractive the planet with rings is?

This is an end of the first part of my AAR. Hope you`ll find some useful info here. I`ll try to post some new info in a day or two )

I've noticed that with a constructor selected you cannot build another mining station in an asteroid field when one already exists there; so the mining station probably can reach all the resources in that field.

You can figure out how attractive the planet with the rings is by mousing over it and looking in the info box at the lower left. Should be some field called "Scenery" or something like that.

(in reply to Okim)

Post #: 10

RE: A beautifil new ocean to explore. - 3/27/2010 10:58:30 AM

Okim

Posts: 209
Joined: 1/29/2010
From: Russian Federation
Status: offline

I`ve encountered a persistent CTD that ruined my Wekkarus game and this AAR

I reported this bug and started a new Weekarus game. If you wish i can start AAR anew with this new game :)

(in reply to Darthcaboose)

Post #: 11

RE: A beautifil new ocean to explore. - 3/27/2010 12:36:20 PM

Sarissofoi

Posts: 329
Joined: 2/1/2010
Status: offline

Start new AAR.�Your writing is good and I will read this with pleasure.

< Message edited by Sarissofoi -- 3/27/2010 1:14:48 PM >

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Post #: 12

RE: A beautifil new ocean to explore. - 3/27/2010 3:09:21 PM

Erik Rutins

Posts: 37503
Joined: 3/28/2000
From: Vermont, USA
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Okim
I`ve encountered a persistent CTD that ruined my Wekkarus game and this AAR �

Argh! Sorry to hear this, we hope we've fixed the reported crashes for the first update. Did you have a save you could upload? Even the error message would be useful.

_____________________________

Erik Rutins
CEO, Matrix Games LLC

For official support, please use our Help Desk: http://www.matrixgames.com/helpdesk/

Freedom is not Free.

(in reply to Okim)

Post #: 13

RE: A beautifil new ocean to explore. - 3/27/2010 3:32:16 PM

Okim

Posts: 209
Joined: 1/29/2010
From: Russian Federation
Status: offline

Once again i started to play as Wekkarus - i just fond of any kind of crayfish creatures. In addition i enjoy their�income and�mining bonuses, both are very helpful in DW. I picked Feudalism as my goverment as it better suits my crabbies way of life.

As�before i choosed a small galaxy with minimal threats and troubles. I started to play in sandbox mode since i constantly get crashes when playing with any of the victory conditions. Let`ss hope this game will las longer than the first one. I added humans as i intend to repay them for all their attrocities towards crustaceans of their world :)

Galaxy settings
Starting conditions
Race settings

The game starts and this time i get�quite a�poor system with three habbital planets (including my homeworld). My wekkarians have overharvested their homeworld and now rely on multiple gas and ore mining station all over the system. The good thing is that i have two ruins in my system and one of them is at my homeworld. Legends says that an ancient advanced civilization inhabbited this system a long long time ago. Where they are now and what was the cuase of them living - is a mystery to me.

System map

My homesystem lacks several important resources (silicon, polymers and acylon), so obtaining these resources is a�primary goal�of my expansion. Without them my workers will have difficulties with constructing ships.

My biologist have found a good way to make some of the finest alchohol in my empire. They even found a very spicy appetiser for that Vodkol drink - drops of a 4-legged ice-dwelling birds called Terallian. My gourmets have heaped me up with requests of immidiate exploitation of these resources, so i ordered my constructors to�establish all necessary farms and hen-houses�for producing these luxuries.

Galactic sector

While zooming out to the galactic plan i was once again struck by randomizer`s bad humor... I managed to start the game with a pirate base in a nearby gas cloud, with a blackhole and a system with only one barren planet. Moreover one of my most greedy businessmen even managed to construct a gas mining base in�pirates space and ofcause it immidiately came under attack!

Pirates cloud

I`ve send my ships to aid that station, but i feel that they will not arrive in time...

The outcome of this attack as well as further report will be available later ;)

< Message edited by Okim -- 3/27/2010 3:34:19 PM >

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Post #: 14

RE: A beautifil new ocean to explore. - 3/27/2010 3:33:53 PM

Okim

Posts: 209
Joined: 1/29/2010
From: Russian Federation
Status: offline

To Erik:

I already reported that crash and send dxdiag and save to you in tech support forum in 'repeated crash' thread.

(in reply to Okim)

Post #: 15

RE: A beautifil new ocean to explore. - 3/27/2010 4:18:06 PM

Erik Rutins

Posts: 37503
Joined: 3/28/2000
From: Vermont, USA
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Okim
My biologist have found a good way to make some of the finest alchohol in my empire. They even found a very spicy appetiser for that Vodkol drink - drops of a 4-legged ice-dwelling birds called Terallian. My gourmets have heaped me up with requests of immidiate exploitation of these resources, so i ordered my constructors to�establish all necessary farms and hen-houses�for producing these luxuries.

Fantastic AAR so far, you have a talent for writing these. Thanks, I'll be reading along and I hope we'll have all the issues sorted out quickly!

_____________________________

Erik Rutins
CEO, Matrix Games LLC

For official support, please use our Help Desk: http://www.matrixgames.com/helpdesk/

Freedom is not Free.

(in reply to Okim)

Post #: 16

RE: A beautifil new ocean to explore. - 3/27/2010 6:02:29 PM

Fishers of Men

Posts: 329
Joined: 3/27/2010
From: Fishers, IN USA
Status: offline

Okim,

I am enjoying your wonderful AAR. I know it is hard to stop playing to take a few notes about what is happening in your game, but please keep up the good work. I have learned a few things about how to play just from reading your story.

FoM

_____________________________

Old............but very fast

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Post #: 17

RE: A beautifil new ocean to explore. - 3/27/2010 6:33:05 PM

Okim

Posts: 209
Joined: 1/29/2010
From: Russian Federation
Status: offline

Thanks )

A bit too late

As i predicted my reckless business owner lost his base at the very moment my fleet arrived at gas cloud. In a brief fight my brave cray-pilots heavily damaged pirate escort, but the lucky bastard managed to get his pitiful life out of the way of my lasers. My ships stayed for sometime near what was left of the mining station looking for survirvors. Unfortunately they found no one. Well, let`s hope that this will be a good lesson for�other enterprising businessmen of my empire and will�keep their greed and lust-for-money at bay.

While fighting that escort i noticed how long it survived my ships` punishing blows. It seems that it had�lots of�armor.�I ordered my ship engineers to design a ship wholy clad in pretty fat layer of armor - it�turned out�to be a good strategy when you need to buy some time for your ship`s hyperdrive operators to ready it and allow the ship to get out of trouble.

A true Crayfishy design

I ordered my fleet to assault the pirate base that was located few clicks away from their current possition and in a brutal fight i managed to score a victory losing only one escort (once again a lack of armor and shield on escort did not give it any chances of surviving an assault on a well-armed base). One of the ships reported intercepting a distress call right after my ships made a final blow to the pirate base. Not long after that signal was transmitted i was contacted by another Pirate faction that asked me to join my ranks. A nice addition to my expanding empire :)

Pirate surrender

Pirates were inhabiting a nice starbase orbiting a huge gas giant in a distant star Anzat. Both pirate groups actually we not pirates as we thought at the first time. They are indeed murderous scum and pillagers, but the whole bat-like species were acting like that, not just a group of their civilisation. It seems that other pirate parties of the same species are likely to be encountered at this sector of the galaxy.

While checking pirate archives at their base�we found out that they were constantly harrasing a colony of some aquatic race in Anzat system. Achive stated that raids were constant, but they never ended up in massive violence. The last entry reported that a raiding party found the colony abandoned. No bodies or any leads of what has happened to the inhabitants were found. People just dissapeared.

Pirate leader confessed that after that colony was abandoned pirate`s situation became dare - nobody to raid, nothing to pillage. No wonder why they joined our ranks )

While my agents were analysing any piece of info that pirate cap and his base`s archive gave us i was contacted by another pirate group. As i foresaw - this were also the same species. They also received the distress call of their fellas at gas cloud and were quite angry and wished me a long and painful�death. Nice! Things are getting even more interesting :)

I received a report that my colonisation efforts at homesystem are going well and both designated planets are now swarming with my life-loving people. My constructor was delayed while on the way for building drop-refinary, this resulted in a wave of protests all over the new colonies. Constructor pilot said that his 'fuel' reserves were low and he desided to restock at a nearest spaceport.�I wonder why he was so 'in-spirits' after visiting the hydrogen-processing station...

A high-priority�message came from one of the ships stationed at my 'pirate' base at Anzat. Message said that they found an abandoned ship drifting in the rings of a gas giant in that system. No wonder that pirates overlooked it - their primitive sensors are nothing compared to our highly-sensetive antennaes!

The ship turned out to have a�10 million of Quameno cittizens. Unfortunately navigational systems were too badly damaged and we were unable to find any maps or other useful information in ship`s systems. While interrogating the awakened citisents we learned that a ship was send to the colony, not from it as we expected, so it wasn`t an exodus. As i predicted these fellas did not know where their civilisation is located. After some time i decided to complete their journey and recolonise the lost planet they were travelling to. A mysterious dissappearance of its former inhabitants remains a mystery, and quite a disturbing one.

Quameno joining our ranks

Quamenos were rejoiced by my generocity and offered their intellect as a payment for my protection. Good, their abilities will�compensate my people`s lazyness and uncreativeness. While reestablishing the colony quamenos found a documentation of hyperdeny device and willingly shared it with us. Thats was quite rejoicing as my slow ships will no longer loose their coward preys!

A brief period of time passed without any significant events. My explorer discovered�several rich systems full of common and uncommon resources. Some of the resources even turned out to be very rare. My private mining ships flocked to the new systems as soon as�they were declared secured - good, it seems that recent events made some people think twice before doing anything stupid.

Another explorer found a new ruined site at one of the stars nearby. These turned out to be of the same origin that ruins at my homeworld. They even had some kind of a diary that said smth about a strange visitor race that entered our galaxy long time ago. After reading this report i began to feel a strange uneasiness - what if this race did not leave their homes voluntarely, what if someone, perhaps even these mysterious visitors, 'helped' them to 'evict'?

While trying to fight these troubling thoughts i was contacted by my expansion adviser. He reported that our scouts have found and boarded a station that was a long-abandoned monitoring outpost. In its systems they found coordinates that might be of some interest. No further info on what might be waiting for us there was found.

As soon as its sensors were turned active they detected an unknown ship moving fast towards it... Mom is that you

Galaxy map

< Message edited by Okim -- 3/28/2010 10:22:25 AM >

(in reply to Erik Rutins)

Post #: 18

RE: A beautifil new ocean to explore. - 3/27/2010 7:39:00 PM

Gertjan

Posts: 698
Joined: 12/9/2009
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Thanks for the AAR. Well written and funny. How do you upload the images in the posts?

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Post #: 19

RE: A beautifil new ocean to explore. - 3/27/2010 7:42:06 PM

Okim

Posts: 209
Joined: 1/29/2010
From: Russian Federation
Status: offline

I use my ftp server and post links to images here.

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Post #: 20

RE: A beautifil new ocean to explore. - 3/28/2010 12:00:32 AM

Okim

Posts: 209
Joined: 1/29/2010
From: Russian Federation
Status: offline

Let`s continue.

The Cats

A ship that was previously detected by my newly acquired monitor station`s powerful long range sensors turned out to be a mere exploration ship of a Zenox Territory faction. These funny-looking creatures seem to have friendly intentions. Well, having met so many guys that wanted to harm my people i`m really happy to meet someone with a nice and peacefull smile at their furry faces.

One of my explorer reported sighting a strange space-dwelling creature. My bio-genetics said that crew of my scout got drunk or under some other drugs or just too tired and had an hallucination. They stubbornly refused to belive that such kind of life is possible. After seeing video report all those guys�begged me to send them to study that creature. One of them even bubbled something about ancient Gods or something.�An exploration team was sent to�learn more about that creature and warn us if it acts aggressively.

Another two exploration vessels reported back about two other space-dwelling creatures. Both seemed to be of a different kind. My bio-gens got crazy about the idea to capture one of these things for experiments and other science nasties. My military said that we should first learn as much about these creatures as we can. For the first time in my life i was surprized by my military not rushing mindlessly into battle. What`s going on?! I sometimes feel that there is something that i`m not being told about...

Increased civilian traffic

My expansion advisor reported that privates are happy about security of their bussiness that my military provides. Thats good to hear. Advisor also mentioned that privates have�put a large order on mining and freighter ships, so my spaceyards might be busy for some period of time.

I started to receive personal messages with threats from Dark Gang - the other and currently only one still breathing pirate group. They constantly spam me with 'offers' of protection. Guys, let me only find out your whereabouts and my battle-crabbies will show you who actually needs who`s protection! For now i was unable to locate any pirate activity in nearby space.

An alien derelic

While i was adjusting my galactic mail application to autoblock pirates spam i was contacted by communication officer on a high-priority channel. One of my scouts encountered another space creature that was quite aggressive and forced my scout to flee. While running away explorer managed to make some pictures of the area. On one of them these is a clear siluette of a large space station or something similarly large. I requested my war-ships to clear the area, but they refused to act immidiately reffering to ships being too scattered all over the empire. I checked my holomap an indeed found out that my ships wont consolidate faster than in a day or so. I need seriously consider creating an emergency fleet that would be ready to react quickly.

Another high priority message stated that there is an unknown ship apperared at my homesystem! I was so pissed off of�my patrols being unable to detect it earlier that i ordered an immidiate extermination of that vessel. Unfortunately it run away probably transmitting its findings to its superiors. Not a moment later a new race contacted me - Humans. These creatures reminded me of demons from our civilisations legends. I demanded my researches and engineers to develop a long range scanner to prevent any future suprise incursions into my space. Scientist were uncertain how long will it take to develop such device.

Salvaged a tech

A meeting that was called to discuss the recent encounters was interupted by another high-priority message. An expedition team sent to investigate a distant world of Kareda 11�reported that they found some kind of a beacon that was incidently triggered. Fearing worse expedition crew retreated to their ship right in time when a small alien fleet of three vessels appeared on orbit of that world. Aliens called themselves Ketarov and said that they have retreated from an enemy that was devastating their empire. They asked for refuge and i had no�other choice but to�accept it. Two of their advanced ships were send for tech salvaging, while the largest - cruiser Oslo V -�was enlisted into my military ranks. That is defenetely the most intriguing encounter i ever had. It produces a lot of questions answers to which my new 'friends' will give in some near future wish they or not. Past events makes me think that what i encountered is just a mere piece of what awaits me in the future.

As�my scouts were�searching for a suitable planet for the refugees to settle on one of my scouts made the most important discovery on one of the worlds. Under the layers of snow and ice a vast complex of alien origin was waiting for the first sentient being to enter it. As soon as the first of my scouts entered its enourmous halls his mind almost blew up as it was inprinted with images and sound of an ancient lore. The only thing that the poor explorer was able to tell is that a long time ago human (yes yes! those humans that i have encountered not long ago) bravely fought a deadly and vicious invaders that came to our galaxy to consume it. The guy passed away before his was able to tell us about the outcame of that battle and any attempts to reactivate the complex were unsuccessful. Whatever was the outcome the humans that we have encountered does know nothing of that. At least their technological�achievements does`t seem to be so advanced. I ordered my scientists to 'crash research long range scanners' in order to quicjly set up a perimeter of detection bases between our territories. For some reason i do not trust these creatures, especially when our legents about two-legged pink-skined creatures flying on grotesque air-bugs and throwing�deadly firebolts�could turn out to be true.

Another unidentified space vessel entered orbit of one of my colonies. This time my military ships were prepaired to meet it. A ship`s cap introduced himself as a member of independent traders. He offered us to buy a large cargo of Carson gas and asked a permission to start his little bussiness in our territories. Trade seems to be good, so i ordered my military ships to leave it be, but to watch it closely. This 'trader' could actually be an enemy agent or a pirate infiltrator that was sent to map my space in order to find an ideal target for a raid. Thinking of this i almost commanded my officers to blow that ship just in case. The poor bastard didn`t know that his life was saved by the emmisar of a furry cat-like friends of mine who interrupted my violent thoughts.

Zenox contacted me and offered a trade treaty. Once again i thought that trade is better than war (or at least than nothing) and signed the agreement. However i ordered my intelligence agency to send some agents under cover of simple traders. Knowing who your neighbours are is a very useful thing.

A time has passed before my trade advisor sent�a message that our finest drops-snacks did not inspire our new trade partners. However one of the traders that illegaly kept a flock of Terallions aboard his ship bartered these birds at a very high price. These birds were quite old and actually did bad as drop-producing 'devices' so trader gladly exchanged them for a good sum of money. Advisor suggested that we trade Zenox our old birds that produce bad-quality drops rather than the spicy product itself. A good tactics i must confess - a man is defenetely�a true trade specialist, the best from the whole Wekkarus empire (speaking of which - it now has 5 stars under control and numerous civilian and military fleets).

After sending another whipping on request for my scientist to develop LR sensors ASAP one of the bravest of them dared to propose me to construct a�research facility near the black hole. He said that emmitions of some kind of particles that are able to escape black hole`s gravity could result in tachy-something... agh dammit! All he ment was that this should increase our research. After getting rid of that mind-flaying scientist i ordered my engineers to prepare all necessary blueprints for such a facility. While they were busy working on it my trade advisor expressed a nice idea of adding some spa and resort facilities to that station. He said that many crabbies might be interested in looking into the 'eyes-of-the-end-of-the-world'. Man i love that creative guy!

Galaxy map

< Message edited by Okim -- 3/28/2010 10:33:58 AM >

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Post #: 21

RE: A beautifil new ocean to explore. - 3/28/2010 1:34:07 AM

Erik Rutins

Posts: 37503
Joined: 3/28/2000
From: Vermont, USA
Status: offline

Excellent, enjoying your AAR a lot Okim.

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RE: A beautifil new ocean to explore. - 3/28/2010 3:12:26 AM

mbar

Posts: 492
Joined: 3/17/2010
Status: offline

I'm enjoying your AAR too Okim. Entertaining reading. You must take copious notes. I'm having a fun time in my little "Solar Republic" and things are happening that I should just jot down and share too.

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RE: A beautifil new ocean to explore. - 3/28/2010 7:11:21 AM

EagleMountainDK

Posts: 517
Joined: 5/3/2005
From: Denmark
Status: offline

Thanks for writing this Okim. You are a truly gifted AAR writer.

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RE: A beautifil new ocean to explore. - 3/28/2010 12:37:09 PM

CV Zuikaku

Posts: 442
Joined: 12/18/2008
From: Legrad, Croatia
Status: offline

My new favourite AAR

Can't wait for a new update of this epic tale!

< Message edited by CV Zuikaku -- 3/28/2010 12:38:27 PM >

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Post #: 25

RE: A beautifil new ocean to explore. - 3/28/2010 12:57:29 PM

lenin

Posts: 349
Joined: 1/19/2005
Status: offline

Thanks from me too, Okim! Can't be easy writing such a good AAR, in your second language, too. It has really made me want to buy the game.

Roll on Wednesday.....

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RE: A beautifil new ocean to explore. - 3/28/2010 3:17:44 PM

Gertjan

Posts: 698
Joined: 12/9/2009
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It seems that you have a rather small galaxy. A deliberate choice?

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RE: A beautifil new ocean to explore. - 3/28/2010 7:36:53 PM

Wade1000

Posts: 771
Joined: 10/27/2009
From: California, USA
Status: offline

Nice.

quote:

All he ment was that this should increase our research. After getting rid of that mind-flaying scientist...

So, how did the emperor get "rid" of that scientists. Just told hi to get back to work or killed him? Heh. Killing a productive scientist is counter productive.

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RE: A beautifil new ocean to explore. - 3/28/2010 8:23:02 PM

Okim

Posts: 209
Joined: 1/29/2010
From: Russian Federation
Status: offline

Nope, the guy is too valuable for my empire`s technological advancement. He just was sent back to his team.

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RE: A beautifil new ocean to explore. - 3/29/2010 11:09:19 AM

Okim

Posts: 209
Joined: 1/29/2010
From: Russian Federation
Status: offline

A few years have passed since my first contact with humans. These pinky ugly creatures proved to be quite cunning and unceremonious. They secretly established multiple mining sites in territories that my Wekarrus people considered to be rightfully theirs. My people started to get nervous of these neighbours and some planet securities even reported spotting more and more aggressively anti-human groups. A trade embargo was put on all human imported products after several death that were caused by poor-quality human food. This incident started a 'cold war' that was escalating with each passing day.

Long range sensor
LRMSA Spotty

My scientists whom i was so hardly pressing managed to discover long range sensors much faster that i was expecting. Each scientist was granted an unlimited supply of Vodkol and Terillion spicy drops for their achievements. People should know that 'empire forgets never' such acts of patriotism! The device that my smarty guys managed to develop was quite large. In fact it was so huge that it beat in size my light freighters! Engineers said that this is not a serious challenge for them and a new LRMSA 'Spotty' (Long Range Mobile Sensor Array) design was added to my navy archives. I decided to make my LR stations mobile in order to create a flexible early-warning system that could be easily redeployed should the need arise. 8 Spotties were constructed and deployed in a wide line between the most� probable Human space and my main colonies. As my explorers dared to venture deep to the north into Human territories i found several suitable planets for colonisation and repositioned my EWS (early-warning system) to prevent surprise attacks at these colonises.

Crayfish mkII

While i was designing my LRMSA i got a message from one of my constructors reporting reaching its construction site at Black Hole. He detected two large space stations that he believed to be Human. These cunning bastards managed to get there ahead of me... A wave of protests and anti-human mass-meetings rolled over my newly established border colonies. Fearing that my people wont tolerate any more human tricks i ordered a massive military fleet build-up. A total of 22 military Crayfish-class frigates were constructed and assigned service in two border fleets - Fleet 7 under the command of Ketarov refugee cruiser captain Burbok Slas`Ma and Fleet 8 under the command of a local Military A-student Ckick Clack. Both fleets were assigned to Sandora 2 planet and were put on a high-priority list for repair/resupply stations and recreational facilities to make ships and crew be battle-ready and in 'good-spirits' should an emergency occur.

My expansion advisor reported that a refuelling station in Anzat system is finally operational and my explorers can start exploration of the eastern fringe. This in fact allowed my scouts to reach that mysterious location that i found in computers of monitoring station. A fleet of exploration ships was sent to search for new planets and resource deposits.

A team of bio-gens that were observing local space monsters reported that creatures seem to be highly-territorial and never leave intentionally their 'hunting ground', so they believe that these creatures pose no significant threat to colonies and distant mining sites in systems that they live in. One of the chief science-boys asked permission to capture one of the beasts to study its biology and genetics. Feeling that bio-boys would incidentally get devoured by the beast i assigned Click Clack and his fleet to perform the mission of capturing the beast. I pick a monster that was guarding a derelict in an asteroid cloud to be captured and tortured by my sadistic bio-boys. This mission was a success and allowed my salvage teams to finally study the abandoned base. It was empty, but still operational and could be repaired. Station turned out to be an old ore refinery that my archaeologists believe to be a part of that mystery race that once was inhabiting my Homeworld.

I asked Zenox if they know something about this race and for the first time i heard its name... I ordered my historians to contact Zenox and share our knowledge of the past. Who knows what we may find in our ancient lores...

Police cutter design

Dark Gang has committed its first dare attack on Anzat gas mining stations. Luckily my newly designed and widely used Police Cutters were more that able to deal with this raid. My intelligence reported detecting at least two pirate raid bases, but both beyond my Crayfish-class frigates range. Military advisor suggested retrofitting the whole my fleet to a new design that has more fuel storage and includes a hyperdeny device. I accepted this design and ordered an empire-wide retrofitting� project. All 22 ships were assigned to nearby docks and work on upgrading my military strength 'began to boil' (started at full strength). Both fleets consisting of fresh ships were sent to take care of pirate bases and scored victories without loosing any ships. This new design with a hyperdeny device proved to be a very effective anti-pirate measure.

Mercenaries offer
SOL Gang surprise attack on humans

Meanwhile i was contacted by a 'mercenary SOl Gang' as they call themselves. These were just a bunch of out-law roddent-like buddies that had a small fleet in a neighbouring space near the Human homeworld SOL. They offered me a nice deal that included raiding attacks on Human installations and ships - a useful crippling blow to the very ones that makes me sick with their only look. I ordered my military advisor to analyse all data that my 'new-allies' promised to provide us with. I also ordered my Intelligence to infiltrate human territories and gather as many information as they can about their fleet strength, planets and mining operations. I decided to prepare for a decisive strike at the very heart of my future enemy...

A declaration of WAR

But Humans have out-planned me! They striked first and invaded my systems that i have considered to be far from conflict zone. They quickly blasted several of my defenceless mining stations and even a not-so-long obtained derelict refinery! My people were outraged and demanded quick and brutal retaliation. While my local police cutters were amassed to repel the invaders, my both fleets were ordered to immediately strike at SOL system. My construction yards were ordered to construct troop carriers and weapon labs began working on orbital bombardment weapon. A Wekkarus war engine was slowly awaking from its slumber. Never before my feudal crabbies were working so productively side-by-side!

Fleets on course to SOL
First invasion
A forced retreat

The first strike on SOL system was a total massacre. Both my fleets were cut in half and my brave captains Click Clack and Burbock Slas`Ma were slain in seconds by three orbital defence platforms that orbited SOL homeworld planet. Disgraced and heavily beaten my whats-left of both fleets were combined to a single one and were ordered to retreat to a border colony that was the closest to Human territories. A blunt attack at Human`s heart turned out to be a total disaster that heavily undermined my empires military strength and ability to defend it. Humans understood that as well and two more mining stations fell to their surprise attacks. The fact that Human fleets were striking far away from my EWS sensor coverage only proved how vicious and cunning these pinky bastards are! It aslo meant that humans have a base of operations somewhere to the far west of SOL system. My intelligence later confirmed that fact.

Lobster-class frigate
Salvaged Devastator cruiser

Analysts suggested to design a ship that is more adapted for a long range combat and thus should be useful against orbital defence facilities. A new Lobster-class design was added to navy archives and a whole fleet of these leviathans was commissioned and readied for a second invasion. Right in the same time as my last Lobster frigate left orbital dry docks of Sondare 2 an exploration ship reported finding an abandoned cruiser that was given the name of Devastator. This powerful ship was a crucial addition to my newly re-enforced Fleet 7.

Second invasion

Second invasion was carefully planned and costed me only few ships. A full strength Fleet 7 consisting of a mix of 32 frigates and under the command of Devastator cruiser invaded SOL system and immediately blockaded SOL 6 colony. After smashing a pitiful counter attack that humans desperately launched my ships were ordered to simultaneously attack the major mining sites in SOL system as well as black hole facilities. In a few moments Humans were stripped of gas and ore mining operations all over the system. This attack attracted all human invasion fleets that were beating my defenceless distant mining stations. The final phase of the invasion was about to start when two important news came from different parts of my empire.

Mun Kalamare :)

On the eastern borders of my empire my expedition reported finding a fully fledged empire of... Wekkarus species! I mean, they are ours! Immediately a whole empire-wide shock struck my people. Who are they? How is it possible that they are... we? Archaeologists and historians were so exited that even sponsored a reuniting project with those Mun Kalamare fellas.�

The second report came from the western borders where humans made their first dare attack. People feelling that my empire is no longer able to protect them have overthrown my rule and declared independence. A fleet that was almost ready to leave for conquest of SOL 6 planet was immediately send to take care of that rebellious scum. That event forced my Fleet 7 to once again leave SOL system, but this time intact and victorious.

Both 'independent empires' joined my ranks and while on one of the worlds a great celebration took place with grand supplies of free-of-charge Vodkol and Terillion spicies being consumed in tons on the other world there was a wave of executions and arrests. The empire forgives never!

A united project to uncover the secrets of the galaxy was started. My own historians alongside with Mun Kalamare`s and Zenox consolidated their knowledge in an attempt to discover any possible clues to the past of the galaxy that all three sides might have in their ancient legends and archives.

Black Hole

In a mean time my constructor began constructing a research $ resort facility near the black hole and a set of 4 defence stations around it. Just in case :)

Galaxy map

< Message edited by Okim -- 3/29/2010 11:23:21 AM >

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