First attempt at a DW AAR

[Fallschirmjager]

Like it says, this is my first try at a DW AAR. I purchased the game over the weekend and this is pretty much my first game. It should be fun and a learning experience and everyone can laugh at my mistakes. I am also sure I will have dozens and dozens of questions.


First off a little about my game. I started off with a tiny galaxy of 250 stars set up in a spiral formation. so as to not overwhelm myself. I made myself the humans. Everything about my game is set to 'normal'.
Government type was set to random and it gave me Republic which has some nice bonuses.
I also only populate the galaxy with four races so as to give myself plenty of room and give me less things that would like to kill me.
Victory conditions are to have either 50% of the galaxies population or 50% of it's colonies. These victory conditions will kick in after seven years.

I am blessed by a nice starting solar system around a white main sequence star with a two continental planets and one continental moon.
My home world has a 95% rating and is 31k KM around. It should reach a nice population. It is called Tukan 2. Tukan 1 is right next door and is considerably warmer due to being the closest planet to the main star Tukan.
It is 24k KM around and has a 95% rating as well. It has a mining station but is not colonized. That will change soon.
The third colonizationable body is Sehilpui, a moon of Tukan 3. 20k KM around and rated at 80%. It shall also be colonized. It already has a mining station.

Besides this the Tukan system has Tukan 4 which is an ice planet which unfortunately has no native population. Tukan 3 is a gas Giant which is being mined. Tukan 5 is a frozen gas giant.

My civilian fleet is already nicely built up with several freighters and a passenger ship.

I have a single exploration ship. I will build another after my two colony ships.

My military is pretty pathetic with 1 escort, 1 frigate and 1 destroyer. I don't know my military plans yet but after building colonization and exploration ships I will need to add to this. My biggest fear early on is pirates stumbling upon my home system or me stumbling upon some pirates. I won't put up with pirates and I will ruthlessly hunt them down and annihilate any that are found.


I am a bit overwhelmed to begin with but I am going to try and keep my wits about me and keep clear goals in mind.
I am going to start off with three goals.

1. Fully colonize my home solar system ASAP. This is my #1 priority. I want to turn the Tukan system into a economic haven and military fortress.

2. Build up my economy. Get mining operations underway in nearby systems and get some freighters running in and out of them and get some money pouring in so that I can fund my empire.

3. Explore, explore and then explore some more. Build some exploration ships and get them out there and exploring. I need to uncover what is around me and find more colonies and economic opportunities. I also need to uncover any pirate havens or space creatures and clear them out so that I do no lose money.


So here we go. This should be fun [:)]

[ehsumrell1]

Nice start Fallschirmjager! Awaiting your initial exploration and expansion reports.

[Fallschirmjager]

Things heat up fast for the newly space ready humans. We explore our first star and it is full of planets but nothing useful or exotic. There are however some nice resources and I intend to build another construction ship to make it's way to this system and set up some mining outposts. This will be our first interstellar leap.
This will also require some smaller military ships to keep this system clean of space trash like pirates and monsters.

I build two colony ships to colonize the Tukan system. I also build a second exploration ship and send it to a nearby star.

I have plans for a third exploration ship but these plans are interrupted when the federation military is shook to it's very core by long range scans. Two unidentified small ships are detected. They are classified as small escort class vessels. They are labeled as part of the Grim invaders. They have been seen in our skies before and contributed to a lot of the 'UFO' reports over the decades. They are pirates.
I immediately lay down a destroyer class ship named the Swordfish. It will be a while until it is done. I plan to pair it with my existing destroyer named the Colossia. This will be a pathetic 'battlegroup' but for the fledgling humans will be the best there is for awhile. Once I find the pirate base this will be the fleet sent to destroy it.

Meanwhile two pirate vessels jump into the Tukan system. It took them only three months to find our home world
They do however pick a bad place to jump in. The orbit of Tukan 4 with it's mining station. This world has a small fleet patrolling it consisting of an escort and frigate vessel. The pirates jump in with half shields (is this a game feature?)
The fight would be pretty even but my vessels are tightly grouped and can concentrate fire on one ship at a time and have full shield strength. The first ever human naval shots fired in anger will be decisive and these pirates won't be making the return trip.

The battle is a short and violent one. The Fearsome Fate jumps in alomost on top of my defenisve fleet of two ships. Fighting is done at 'knife' range and the shields are quickly down and destructive beams begin to impact the armor. The armor of this escort ship is brittle and does not last long and eventually after being holed a dozen times the entire ship disintegrates after it's reactor erupts.
Meanwhile from Tukan two my lone destroyer receives a call that the system has been invaded and uses it's regular drive to speed out to the systems rim planet. It wants to be in on the kill.
The Wrathful Eclipse is brave but stupid as it seeks to engage the human ships. It arrives into weapons range as it's brother ship is erased off sensors.
Lasers begin to eat away at the shields and a long range torpedo shot from the Colossia finishes off the shields and even impacts the hull. Lasers punch easy holes in the armor and this ship too is gone. It does not explode but becomes a floating twisted hole that you can see the other side of space through the many holes in it's hull. In years to come this will become sort of a naval relic to take new recruits to see this historic battle ground and also become a target range of sorts after the wreck is pulled into the gravity field of Tukan 4.

The Human navy has it's first victory and some much needed battle experience. The lasers work as well as expected and the previously untried naval torpedoes prove to be accurate and deadly.

Meanwhile news comes into that the first ever human construction outside of the Tukan system is complete. At nearby star BE125 (Tukans closest neighbor and first discovered by ancient astronomers over 6000 years ago) a energy research center is constructed. The star gives a 200% bonus to research and due to being a gorgeous icy blue Neutron star it also has a scenery bonus of 53%. This quickly becomes one of the most sought after scientific jobs in the galaxy.
As soon as my destroyer is done I am going to build an escort vessel to protect this vital station.

Up next my humans take their first baby steps into the galaxy around them by exploring star systems close to Tukan.
With my two colony ships completed we will also colonize the rest of the Tukan system.

[Aures]

Good stuff Fallschirmjager.

About the pirates with half shields, when you start the game their shields are totally uncharged. They probably haven't had enough time to reach full shield strength. I have had a few games where I have taken out a pirate base early, before it has a chance to charge up its shields.

[Fallschirmjager]

I finish colonizing my home system. My two exploration ships have so far combed through about a dozen systems. Most are useless having only gas giants or barren rock planets. These are good for resources but not much else. However the nearby Dranassian system proves to be the discovery we have been looking for. Habitable planets outside of our own system. We immediately build two colony ships and colonize a continental planet and a swampy marsh moon. On the continental planet I start the immense project of a medium space port. Not sure if this is such a good idea, I didn't realize it would take this long to build with only 10 million people.

I also need to construct a defense force for this system ASAP. Two destroyers and a frigate should be enough early on to deflect the occasional pirate attack. Hopefully it will be awhile yet before I run into any more races.

Meanwhile my second exploration ship is exploring far to the north of my position at some stars at the edge of the known galaxy. It discovers a system with two moons that are habitable!
The bad news is that there is a base orbiting one of the gas giants. A pirate base!
Naval intelligence code names this base Eagles Station. The technology of this base looks different however and it appears that this is a different group of pirates than the three ships that we have so far destroyed.
The base also shows it is armed and has shield. Naval command immediately starts coming up with a plan to deal with this base. The system shows no signs of any ships under the pirates command. I order the exploration ship to get the hell out of the system.

This is going to be a tough nut to crack early on. I have no heavy hitters yet for my navy. My lone offensive ships are destroyers and I only have two. I will need probably two more for a fleet of 4 to try and get rid of this base. It is also going to be a long haul in and out. If any ship is damaged then a repair ship will have to be built and dispatched to bring it back home.

I decide to be bold and go for it however. Naval command and intelligence begins the immense task of planning the very first ever human offensive outside of it's own solar system. A four ship strike dozens of light years away against a station of unknown capabilities. It needs to be done however. We have pirates to our north and south and they must be gotten rid of.

Meanwhile my commerce fleet is coming along nicely. I have 15 or so cargo ships shuttling around the galaxy and more being built.
My next task besides the pirate base is figuring out what the hell I need to do for research and get to it.

The biggest hurdle to overcome is going to be shipyard capacity. I need to pump out military ships and I really only have one planet that can handle it at the moment. It looks like triple shifts and overtime are in the cards. My fleet right now is a paltry 5 ships.
I need two more destroyers and then a fleet to defend the newly colonized Dranassian system.
This game can really fray your nerves!

[Fallschirmjager]

Here is a screenshot of my place in the Galaxy. As you can see I am mid rim in the north center of the galaxy. The pirate base is far to the north. I have a nice little chunk around me explored.

[Grotius]

Nice report! Keep 'em coming.

[Fishers of Men]

Be cautious about your construction plans. The maintenance costs will bankrupt you before many years are past. You're right to question the building of that medium spaceport. A small one might be better for now. You can upgrade to medium later, if you need to.

If pirates get too destructive, try paying them off, for now. More cost effective than building a lot of expensive ships.

FoM