Welcome to the Home of Game Strategies and Stories
19 May 06
I think I'll finish up this game of Sword of the Stars this weekend. I'll give you the general overview of the strategy for the sweep and report back on Monday how everything went. Hopefully, it will be a nice victory summation, but if not, there should be some spectacular battles to describe.
I'm going to employ a simple hammer and anvil strategy using a blitz style. I have technology and resources to sustain drives deep into enemy territory. I'm not going to waste the time and money securing each system I take. With my economic edge it's more important to deny resources to the enemies.
The Hammer will be my stapler fleets. They will sweep in, clear defenses and reeducate the populace. They'll then have the planet's resources to repair and refuel. After a brief rest, they'll move on to the next enemy planet. Sure, the enemy might be able to take some back, but they'll pay a price for it and won't have those resources until they do.
The Anvil will be my planet killers. They'll also sweep in and clear defenses, but they'll just focus on crushing the worlds. I won't worry about holding the space. They'll go from enemy planet to a neutral star, repair, refine and refuel. Then it's on to the next world. Once again, even if they hold onto the world, they won't have the resources.
With a few fleets in each group, their economy will collapse while mine continues to expand. I'll cut back on research to keep additional light ships and support ships coming to the assault fleets. Even if they do successfully counter attack somewhere, I can afford to lose more planets than they can. The countdown is ticking to H-Hour, D-Day. I take full responsibility for the success or failure of this mission.
Jason
Read/Post Comments
17-18 May 06
Sorry for the delay. I was expect a big lightning strike or two or three. Instead I got many forking strikes of lesser intensity. It's been a fun ride, but I'm still waiting for the 'epic' battle. Since it's one I intend to win, I guess it makes sense that my enemies would want to avoid it.
I have to say this about the Humans. I like their strategy. It feels completely different than the Liir. Perhaps it's due to their drive technology, but they are constantly challenging me in ways the Liir never did. I have to give the Liir some credit. They made me earn the planets I took from them all the while expanding away from me to try to build strength. Ultimately, it hasn't improved their lot, but it has kept them alive far longer than I would have expected.
So what's the situation now? I know there are still doubters out there, but I will win this game. I control over half the galaxy now. I have a strong economy, a huge industrial base, and the best technology out there. On the down side, I have almost no cash reserves as they have all been turned into dreadnoughts. I have huge numbers of border planets to defend. I have two enemies. And the Humans have dreadnoughts.
After the initial Human assault was beaten back, the plan was to take the fight to them. Having to defend a planet makes any battle more difficult. Plus if they were beaten back, colonists could be sent in, the Empire expanded and the fight taken to the next planet. Wash, rinse, repeat. The key, of course, is winning the battles. You win the battles with dreadnoughts.
I wanted to get a quick attack in, but the Humans had attacked from the opposite side I had been battling the Liir. Beyond defensive and exploration fleets, I didn't have much. I started a massive building program to fix that, but it would take time. I found something amazing though. One of my first dreadnoughts off the line was near. It had been left there since its engine technology was so outdated it couldn't keep up with the speed or range (or firepower for that matter) of my more modern fleets. Even if it didn't have cutting edge weapons, it was still armed to the teeth and had reinforced armor. I didn't have anyone to support it ready, so it launched with only a tanker for support to lead the charge into Human space.
It took a few turns to get to its target, the lightly defended planet Auryn. As it approached I could see there were only a few cruisers and a dozen destroyers. That should be enough to take on an outdated dreadnought, but with a little luck and tactics, there was a chance the old barrage ship could prevail.
If the Humans have a weakness, it's that they are often short on command and control craft. It's a problem that has shown up several times. If they don't have the command craft, that means less ships in the fight at any one time. Fortunately, for the old dreadnought, that problem cropped up at Auryn. So as the hyperdrive engines cooled down, a line of destroyers made for the dreadnought. The number was about half of what was expected and there were no cruisers to be seen yet.
I mentioned that the Human ballistic weapons was a feint. They were actually heavy into beams. Their beams didn't have huge ranges, but the old barrage dreadnought was loaded with missiles and heavy beams. As soon as the battle started, the dread seemed to explode with missile launches. Despite its poor speed, it had a huge range advantage. Several destroyers popped before they got in range to fire any weapon. More died as soon as they reached beam range since they couldn't take what they were trying to give.
The dread's slow speed turned into an advantage since Human reinforcements were arriving close to the planet and the dread was still approaching. The destroyers had been mostly thinned out by the time the cruisers arrived. I tried to ignore the remaining destroyers to focus on the cruisers, but the dread had so many weapons that even opportunity shots were taking out destroyers. After two cruisers went down, the dread was in range of the planet. Planetary assault was what the old dread had been designed for, so the heavy beams opened up on the planet. In a surprisingly quick time, the planet fell silent. After that the remaining Human ships tried to flee. A couple more fell to the dread's long range weapons before the old bird's guns fell silent like the dead planet below. A relic had won the first assault into Human space.
A more conventional fleet attacked the planet of Oskara. The planet had been used as a launching point for the initial Human attacks. The assault fleet was only a half dozen cruisers with a few support destroyers. They had a couple of advantages though. One, the Empire had revived the venerable torpedo boat and outfitted them with latest technology. The result was a surprising punch with an inexpensive price tag and quick build speed. Secondly, two of the cruisers were armed with the latest WMD's from the research boys. If they could get in range of the planet, it should fall despite the otherwise limited firepower of the fleet.
The initial fight wasn't even funny. They only had a handful of destroyers and a couple cruisers. The defenses were quickly rolled up and soon the special payloads were on their way to the planet. Shortly after, that assault fleet orbited a dead planet as well.
This time the Humans had a much better response. Though I had a chance to repair the damage to the assault fleet, reinforcements were still building when the counterattack began. It was an impressive fleet with twenty destroyers, five cruisers and two dreadnoughts. The initial defense was valiant as destroyer after destroyer fell, but soon, the Human cruisers were pounding on the weaker of the defense cruisers and the first dreadnought reached firing range. The captains decided to try to concentrate fire on the huge circular node drive on the dread in hopes of stranding it there for future destruction. Unfortunately, their best efforts could not break through the armor. Soon, cruiser after cruiser fell under its heavy beams. All that was left was a repair cruiser and a couple of torpedo boats. I gave the order to beat a firing retreat. Their dread could not keep up, so the enemy strung out in pursuit with the destroyers leading the way. Two more Human destroyers died before the forced retreat.
It was going to take two turns for the heavy response fleet to arrive to relieve the battered 'defenders' of Oskara. So they spent the next fight using their range and speed advantage to pick off more of the enemy. Four more destroyers and a cruiser fell to our losing only a destroyer. The dreads never got within range.
Unfortunately, that big battle with my reinforcements never arrived. The Humans decided to flee before they arrived. When the fleet arrived, there were no Humans. All they could do was patch up the heroes of the battle of Oskara.
The war with the Liir continued as well. My formerly vulnerable forward bases were now strong and kicking out ships. Since the Liir were less of a threat, their territory was the testing ground for new Tarka technology. The new 'planet killers' worked as advertised. They managed to take out an entire planet's defenses while the rest of the fleet held off Liir ships.
The other technology was more insidious. Our scientists had figured out a way to enslave the other races. They had some fancy name for it. I called it nerve stapling in honor of the early space colonists and their resolve in the face of drone rebellions. It didn't turn out to be the cure all that the white coats had promised, but it did work and brought on what I consider the Liir's finest hour.
The initial test was on a size 10, fully developed planet. It would be a sore loss for the Liir. My assault fleet cut through the space defenses and allowed the special ships to deploy. There was no immediate change, so the fleet continued to wipe out the defense fleet and platforms.
It wasn't long after the battle that the effect was noticed. The Liir noticed it right away as well. Faced with near certain slavery, they chose scuttle the planet, destroying it's entire infrastructure and purging part of the population. It must have been a hard choice, but while it impressed me, it didn't save the planet from its fate.
Jason
Read/Post Comments
16 May 06
I'm feeling a bit under the weather so I'll keep this short. Tomorrow or the next day will probably be the big update. I have a lot to do (both in and out of game), so we'll see.
I'm down to five or so known Liir planets. They must have more beyond that, but some are beyond scanner range while others just haven't been found yet. They haven't massed a fleet beyond 20 ships for a while. I still haven't seen a Liir dreadnought.
The Humans were moving lots of ships around my borders and a couple recon fleets in my territory. So it wasn't much of a surprise when the suddenly canceled our non aggression pact. They launched a couple of attacks on border planets. It was immediately clear that the ballistic weapons they showed me were just a ruse. They were heavy into beam weapons. Of greatest importance was the fact that the Humans do have dreadnoughts.
The first Human/Tarka battle was a slaughter. They sent a half dozen cruisers against two dreadnoughts, four cruisers and a bunch of destroyers. The planet also had a line of well developed defense platforms. Their quick destroyers almost broke through the defense line before they were eliminated, but the cruisers couldn't stand up to the combined firepower. One lone destroyer escaped the battle.
The other battle was a bit more interesting. The Humans brought four cruisers and a dozen destroyers with a dreadnought. The planet, Talos, had only six cruisers and a handful of destroyers to support the defense platforms. They had to stick close to the planet to maximize firepower. Unfortunately, that meant that some of the human weapons would be in range to attack the planet.
The Tarka cruisers concentrated their firepower on the destroyers first to reduce the fire volume. Then each human cruiser was targeted in turn. One cruiser got a few rounds off attacking the planet, but the rest were destroyed before they could damage the planet. The crews were just starting celebrate taking down the last cruiser when the dreadnought appeared.
The Human dreadnought didn't have overwhelming firepower, but it was able to engage multiple targets simultaneously. It was also able to take a beating. I kept my cruisers alive while pounding on the dreadnought, but it was barely showing any signs of damage. When the dreadnoughts heavy beams opened up on the planet, things looked bad. Time was running out however. All Tarka fire was focused on the Human command section, but it would not give out. When the Humans did withdraw, the dreadnought looked barely scratched. There is no point in pursuit since node ships cannot be intercepted in transit.
Two things are now clear. It's time for some dreadnought on dreadnought battles, and it's time to repay the Human treachery. Too bad for the Humans but two new Planet Killer dreadnoughts are just coming online. We'll see if they are a worthy opponent for the Empire.
Jason
Read/Post Comments
15 May 06
It's Question and Answers time. I have unanswered questions that I'd like to answer the best I can. If I miss anything, feel free to send them to me or comment here. Off we go . . .
Why are you doing a Q&A when we just want the story?
I admit I'm doing this loosely. No one actually asked that question yet, but I mean to cut it off at the pass. First, I don't want to get too far out from when the questions were asked so I might not be able to answer them. Second, our readers are important, and I don't want them to feel their concerns are going unnoticed. Finally, at the end of my last game session, the expected explosion of combat didn't happen yet. I couldn't bring myself to write another tease. It will be more interesting to write up a summary of preparations once the action resumes.
What's taking so long to get back to the action?
Again, I'm paraphrasing, but the sentiment is right. Several things are causing the delay. The deeper you go in the tech tree, the more ship types you have in the fleet. That means more design revisions when you get a new technology. Not all new tech needs to go on all ships. These are interesting decisions during play, but describing them resembles accounting.
Also, the larger the Empire, the more maintenance. I need to make sure production centers are working on the right ships. I need to keep the scout fleets surveying and colonizing. I need to beef up defenses and fight off random encounters. My fleet maintenance costs are rising, so I have go through and scuttle outdated fleets while not leaving planets too vulnerable.
Finally, it's a sound strategy to attack systems with overwhelming force, but it doesn't make for good stories. I once had a fleet of two dreadnoughts and three cruisers take out a large fleet of Liir destroyers. I didn't even lose a ship. The best I could say was that the exploding ships made a nice fireworks display. I also want to finish the Liir (mostly or totally) before I engage the Humans. That may turn out to be a decision that haunts me, but part of me is curious to see.
What's with the 3, 4 or 5 minute combat turns and is that enough time?
From what I understand 5 minutes was the original turn length. Four minutes is the current default. You have the option to set if from 60 to 600 seconds in 15 second increments. The Tarka game I'm describing uses 4 minute turns.
Sure, sometimes the time limit is frustrating, but mostly it increases the fun. If you're desperately defending a planet with a shoestring fleet, too much time means it's not worth the effort. The clock keeps things interesting. Do they attack the planet and risk letting your fleet pound on them? Do they go after your fleet at the risk of not having enough time to take out the planet? Then you never know what reinforcements might arrive next turn if the job isn't finished. Overall, I think it's good.
Are your story descriptions literally what happened in the game?
I reserve the right to embellish for dramatic effect.
Since I'm playing against the AI, I can't find out what it's thinking. I tend to attribute their actions as if they were a human opponent that I was trying to understand. It may or may not be accurate. But overall, you could look in the events log and find every battle I've described. The overall situation in the Galaxy is accurate to the best of my knowledge. The Liir, for instance, had more colonies left than I thought when I reported them near destroyed, but I was making game decisions as if they were near gone so that's the way I wrote it up.
Aren't you just acting as a shill for Kerberos now?
No, if anything, I'm acting as a shill for Talk Strategy. I believe in the great stories that arise out of the increasing freedom offered players in games. Right now, I believe that strategy and tactical games are at the forefront of that trend. I created this place to let other gamers share their stories and find some good ones to read. I think there are some great stories here now, but I always want more. I keep thinking this place is close to the critical mass needed to inspire stories on a regular basis. Then this place will be a resource to both gamers and writers.
Also, I've read great stories about games I've hated. I've read boring stories from games I loved. I happen to be enjoying the current game of SotS that I'm playing, and I hope it shows in the story. I don't guarantee that I'll love every game of SotS I play nor do I guarantee that anyone else will like playing it. I've enjoyed the conversations I've had with Kerberos, but their game will stand or fall on its own merits. No story will change that.
Are you sure the Hivers are destroyed?
There's a global game message when a side is eliminated. I never saw the Hivers, but lots of Human scouts started appearing right before and after the Hivers were eliminated so I put two and two together.
Why aren't you attacking the Humans and why don't you recon their territory?
Don't worry. I'm making plenty of preparations for war. I have lots of recon data on their territory, but Human space is spread out like a weird spider web. I wouldn't want to have to defend that, but there you go. I'd like to have some idea of their relative strength before I attack. I'd also like to tailor my ship designs a bit. Right now I believe I have a tech and economic advantage. If I feel that's slipping, I'll react appropriately. I'm also just curious about watching the AI. Then again, curiosity killed the cat.
Will I like Sword of the Stars?
I have no idea. I'll give a more general recommendation as soon as I get a reviewable copy and play it.
What's with all this 'classified' stuff and why don't you tell us exactly what weapons and ship sections you're using?
I use the term 'classified' whenever I don't want to go into detail about something. Part of the fun of any 4X game is finding cool, unexpected bits. I won't steal that intentionally. Upper level techs and random encounters are some of the some of the areas I wouldn't want to spoil. For instance, I know why the Von Neumann are annoying and some effective ways to deal with them, but I wouldn't dream of taking away the 'shock and awe' of your first encounter.
Oh, come on, tell us. We promise we won't tell anyone. It won't ruin anything for us. Even if it did, we wouldn't hold it against you.
No.
Don't you know about tactic 'X' or ability 'Y' or tech 'Z'? They're in the wiki (or forum topic or interview, etc.).
I try to cover the strategy and tactical genres for this site. Honestly, it's a struggle to keep up. There's no way I'd have the time to read everything on one game and keep up in the genre. On the positive side, it makes for some pleasant surprises, and I probably know about at least a few games you don't. But I do miss the days of being able to focus on only one game and read everything, even pouring over text for subtle hints that others might have missed. Chances are you know more about Sword of the Stars than I do, and I've played it. Sorry. I hope my willingness to share information makes up for my lack of expertise.
Oh, and yes, you could probably beat me online. I often play more to have fun than to always make decisions to maximize winning. Don't let that stop you from gloating.
Once this story is over and you go back to whatever it is you usually ramble on about, how will we know when you're writing something worth reading again?
Well, you'll have to just keep checking back on a regular basis driving up my page hits. Seriously, if you're only interested in SotS content, I'll drop Martin a line when I start the next story. I'm sure he can post something in his forum.
Jason
Read/Post Comments
12 May 06
The Humans are working to map out the Tarka Empire. Fortunately, they withdraw when they find an edge colony. They would learn more, but they risk a war driving into Tarka space. I have to assume their sensors are good and they understand the size of the Empire. They nominally aided me in one battle. Their only ships to see action were destroyers. It looked like they were using ballistic weapons. I've directed research into ballistics to better understand their capabilities.
The Liir tried to gather an assault fleet at Prion II. Though I could only cobble together a fleet of two dreadnoughts and four cruisers, we managed to capture Prion II, destroy 27 ships with only the loss of one cruiser. That would be impressive if 90 percent of the ships destroyed weren't destroyers covering the escape of their cruisers. Still, neither the assault fleet nor Prion II represents a threat any longer. I don't have a fleet to chase after the cruisers since I'm spread thin protecting vulnerable colonies in what had been Liir space.
The Liir did make an impressive effort to retake Argelius. I had cleansed the planet with a small cruiser assault force, but my supply lines were long, and I took several casualties in the conquest including my repair cruiser. I was able to get a couple more cruisers and some colonizers there, but they arrived just before the Liir counter attack fleet was to arrive. I didn't have the ships to defend a brand new colony, so I had to keep the colonizers in orbit and try to keep them alive. It was a game of cat and mouse as I kept my colony ship on the run while trying to intercept the assaulting Liir cruisers with my cruisers. We took heavy damage and lost one colony ship, but thanks to the new repair ship, we were able to destroy four of the seven cruisers and forced the others to retreat. There's now a Tarka colony building on Argelius. Reinforcements are coming. If it survives, it will be a powerful forward base in my pincer movement to crush the remaining Liir.
I think I like the Human strategy. They've started some vulnerable colonies. They're not particularly valuable in terms of resources, but they are well positioned to keep an eye on the movements of the Liir and my fleets. They don't lose much if the colony is destroyed, but they gain valuable intelligence while it exists. They've also done a great job keeping most of their movements outside the range of my sensors. As I mentioned, in our 'joint' battle, they saw more of my capabilities than I saw of theirs. If they have the technology and production to back up their strategy, they will be a worthy opponent. They have a much different feel than the straightforward Liir.
Jason
Read/Post Comments
© Talk Strategy 2004-2006