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23 Jun 06
Well, this session was a mixed bag. On the plus side, I took the lead in most major categories. My research is yielding dividends. My fleets are swelling. It's just the actual winning battles part where I'm having trouble. Sure I'm winning the defensive battles for my planets. The Liir have had only one minor victory there. They had a fleet of ten destroyers wiped out, but they were able to take out my gate ship there. Since it was a world I couldn't colonize, the fleet was trapped there until I could get another gate out there by slow boat.
Let me break down the situation. I have about twelve colonies. The Liir have five that I know about. Considering I surround them now, that's probably a good number. I have the overall technological lead, but have spread my research around to industry, growth, command and control as well as combat capabilities. The Liir seemed to have focused almost exclusively on combat tech. In short, ship to ship Liir firepower slightly exceeds mine.
I had just started cruiser production so the first battle fleet I sent out had a pair of cruisers along with a dozen destroyers. That included a couple of assault shuttle destroyers to make some strafing runs at the planet. It seemed like a good plan.
You can't have too many cruisers with destroyer level command and control. There just aren't enough command points to field a good spread, and destroyer C&C ships don't stack. So it's not like if I had waited I would have had much more firepower.
The idea was to try to engage the defense fleet, swing the assault shuttles around to make a run for the planet and then reengage those destroyers from the rear. If things started going badly, pull back, fight defensively around the command ship. Then if I held out, I could deploy the gate. If the gate survived, I could gate in heavy hitters. That turned out to be too many ifs.
The initial engagement started well enough. I drew the destroyers to my plasma cruiser. They focused fire and my shuttles broke for the planet. Then things fell apart. I didn't have reinforced armor yet. I don't have shields or reflective coating. My cruiser just couldn't take the pounding and the destroyers weren't popping fast enough. The cruiser's reactor blew too soon. I had only taken out one destroyer.
That meant I was out numbered and seriously down on firepower. My shuttles were getting to their launch window, but the Liir had already started focusing on my second cruiser. I probably should have kept it further back since it was primarily a missile boat. I had wanted to make sure I got all the destroyers attention so my shuttles could break. Now I had more attention than I wanted.
I needed to get my shuttle destroyers back to help even the odds. I had to launch the shuttles without getting as close as I wanted. I also didn't get in to try to clear out defensive satellites. The shuttles were on their own as their ships wheeled around to reengage.
Right after that, the missile cruiser lost its engines. It was about to blow. I pulled everyone else around the command ship as the cruiser exploded. Time ran out with me losing only one more destroyer, but I seriously doubted I would have the forces needed to defend the gate.
I really didn't have a choice though. If I could defend the gate, the cavalry would arrive and the Liir would be down a planet. If I died or ran away, the results would be the same, no damage to the Liir. I deployed the gate. The battle began as expected. I was far out and set up a screen in front of the gate. I sent one armored destroyer out to try to draw off some of the ships, but every one of them was focused on destroying that gate.
I took out one destroyer, but lost two of my own. Then the enemy fleet started pounding on my gate. It held out surprisingly long, but with a little over a minute left, it gave up the ghost. The Liir quickly mopped up the rest of my fleet. No cavalry this time. The death fleet was dead. The next fleet has more firepower. It had better perform.
Just a quick site note before I sign off. I have updates to put on the site this weekend. Hopefully everything works out seamlessly. If the site is briefly down, don't panic. Even if I totally screw up, everything is backed up and can be restored. I don't expect problems, but you can never be sure.
Jason
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22 Jun 06
It's good to have money again. That multiplanet expansion really pinched the pocketbook. Things are looking up now. I haven't colonized too many more planets, but costs are down and income is up. It's about time to teach the Liir a lesson.
It seems the Liir are learning how to fight the Hive. After a few more minor skirmishes where a couple Liir combat destroyers ran into overwhelming force, suddenly multiple fleets started to appear on my scopes at the same time. Instead of two to three ships, these fleets consisted of 10-12 destroyers ready to make assaults on my gate ships and planets. That required a scramble.
Coming out of the financial hole meant that research was back on track. I had just upgraded designs to green lasers and faster engines. It looks like they'd get an early combat test. With the gates it didn't make any difference that my command and control ships were scattered through the empire. They were gathered, along with my new combat destroyers at each of the targets. I started to build a couple of defense satellites to defend the planets. I had a couple of turns left. More new destroyers were commissioned for immediate transfer to the front.
Suddenly two more fleets appear. Only they were blue, not Liir pink. Not only were the Tarka in the neighborhood, but they were paying a social call (with heavy weapons). A quick change of plans and reshuffling of the fleets later, I was ready to take on this new threat. Fortunately, the smaller Tarka fleet was attacking the vulnerable new colony. It was only a couple of ships so I should be able to hold them off.
The first Liir fleet was the most successful. They charged in with ten ships. Once engaged, they broke of four ships to make a turn wise run at the planet. The four took out a defensive satellite while I scrambled to get some ships in pursuit. Soon the Liir destroyers opened up on the planet. They didn't seem to have any heavy weapons, but the blasts were starting to take a toll when my pursuit finally caught up with them. In the end, I lost two ships to their six. The planet was still mine, but some of the enemy escaped.
The second battle, I kept a tighter leash on my ships. I had them arranged in a simple fan formation that could easily be swung around to attack a flank. It seems the Liir have better scanners than I do since they were able to swing turn wise and make a strafing run at the planet. I noticed it before they got in range of the planet. I wheeled around and was just able to cut them off from the planet. Eight of their ships were destroyed to no losses for me beyond a satellite and some surface damage on the planet.
The Tarka either sent some older ships to check me out, or they're way behind the Liir in technology. The Tarka ships were just shredded by my weapons. Neither fleet presented much of a challenge. No survivors escaped to tell the tale either.
Now it's time to go on the offensive. I've had two exploration fleets destroyed when I discovered Liir planets. My revenge fleets are being constructed. The first Hive cruiser has just thrusted out of space dock. It's time to see if the psychic fishes can read what's on my mind.
I took a little battle footage. If it turned out ok, I might have another movie for you.
Jason
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21 Jun 06
I think my string of bad luck has ended. I've gone from my initial two planets to an empire of nine. I think Arakor is the crown jewel of the expansion. It's a size 10 planet loaded with resources. Unfortunately, planetary development costs are slowing my economy way down. If I can survive this growth spurt, I should be able to out produce and out research the Liir at the same time.
The war is at something of a stalemate. I took one new colony from the Liir. It's now one of my colonies. I've destroyed a couple of their scouts. I didn't find their home world, but I did find one of their developed planets. Unfortunately, my 'assault' fleet consisted of four destroyers. One was a tanker and another a gate ship. That would have been fine against a new colony or a small defense fleet. They have a fully developed planet with twenty one destroyers in their defense fleet. My fleet was wiped out in their first pass.
My research is slowed by planetary development costs. I can't build too many exploration fleets for the same reason. I can't build the death fleet needed to take out developed world I've found. I do like the accelerated Hiver growth rate. It means all these problems will go away in a few turns as my colonies develop. Estimating from the numbers, my income should at least triple and my expenses should drop considerably. So I'm playing defensively for a while to get there.
I can't be sure, but it looks like the Tarka aren't as comfortably far away as I had hoped. I just need to buy a little time. I don't want to worry about lizards before I finish my fish fry.
I have just a couple of site notes quickly. Since some people have asked, Talk Strategy is the main page for the site and news stories are posted first there, er here. I also post a copy in the news section so people can post comments (if you're reading this on the main page, see the link at the end of the block). I like to keep the main page HTML in case the database or PHP goes down. At least something will be up. If you're looking for updates to the story, check the main page or you can look in the Front Page articles category. I hope that clears things up. Also it looks like people are enjoying the movies. Comments or suggestions are appreciated.
Jason
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20 Jun 06
I apologize for the slow start to this story, and I'm afraid it's not getting better fast. To make up for that I have a little present for you. I finally got the movies working. Admittedly they're short, but now that I've worked out the kinks, perhaps there will be more in the future. You can check them out Here. I did mention that I made all movies open to the public didn't I?
You know what's worse than having to wait forever for your fleets to arrive? It's shooting craps again and again. My first three planets were all unable to be colonized. The fourth had some kind of alien defense that vaporized my fleet so fast I didn't get a good look.
The empty planets weren't a complete loss. If you recall, the number of ships the hivers can gate around in a turn is limited by the number of gates deployed. So I deployed my gates and jumped my ships per turn from four to ten. Those empty planets are now jumping off points for the next wave of searchers. Since enemy ships are still slow, they also let me deny those planets to my enemy. If enemies show up on the scope, I can gate in a defense fleet. We'll see how that plan works.
Speaking of enemies, I discovered my neighbors, the Liir. Generally that's pretty good. The Liir ships slow down as they approach planets. That will give me opportunities to gate in the appropriate defenses before they arrive. The Liir ships aren't known for being tough, but my Hiver ships are. Early skirmishes seem to have born this out. I've just taken out a couple of scout ships. I did notice their latest ship build seems to have Hammerhead command sections. It's a good thing I just got them too.
I have a slow gate fleet headed in the presumed direction of the Liir homeworld. I think I'm closing in on one of their colonies as well. It's so tempting to just pound the end turn button a few times, but if I lose momentum in my expansion, especially with my run of bad luck in planets, I could fall hopelessly behind. The Liir will just have to wait for their doom. It's coming with the sound of millions of buzzing wings.
Jason
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19 Jun 06
It's story time again. I've started a new Sword of the Stars game playing as the Hivers. Once again we have four player each representing one of the races. Each race was given two starting planets and two starting techs. This time I have a hourglass galaxy with 50 stars. The hope here is that each end of the hourglass will have two races. Like tournament brackets, the winner from each end will face off in the middle.
I appreciate the confidence the voters have shown me this time. However, after starting out I'm worried it might be misplaced. You really can't be impatient with the Hivers. You have to plan ahead, prioritize and stick with your plan. However, I'm already itching to speed things up. What do you mean it will take twelve turns to get to the planet next door?
I'm beginning to realize I have to rethink my entire play strategy for the Hivers. What good does it do to send a lone scout out to a planet when it takes 20 turns to get there? If you want the planet, it will be ages before you can get a gate ship there.
I could send colonizers out with the scouts hoping to find good planets. Then I could colonize and hope to build up to the point of producing a gate ship. Unfortunately that sends out weak groups as far as fire power and no way to increase it. It also leaves a vulnerable colony with no hope of support until the gate is built.
Alternatively, I can send out gate ships. Unfortunately, they're quite expensive and vital to expansion. They require an escort. That means more resources tied up in fewer exploration fleets. However, colonies can be set up quickly and heavily supported if the need arises.
The economics really worry me. I can't afford to just have a couple scout fleets checking out planets. If I happen to hit a bad run of uninhabitable planets, I'll be hopelessly behind. I have to try to expand out everywhere. New fleets must be constantly searching out on the edges of my empire. But fleets cost money to build and maintain. Then again, I need money for research so I don't fall behind there. It's a tricky balancing act, but the hardest trick may be balancing my need to consider each move with my desire to speed things up. We'll see how I do.
Jason
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