Being lucky enough to help beta test the Distant Worlds expansion, I thought I'd try my hand at writing my first AAR, so go easy on me. Also, bear in mind this was written in the wee hours of the morning whilst on a Lightning Protection course!!
Right, onto the good bit... a bit of background. I started out as the Quameno in a 250 star galaxy, with three other randomised empires. Independent life is available, along with pirates and space creatures. Sandbox mode (no victory conditions). No spoilers regarding the expanded backstory will be found here.
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00malor's Technocracy[/center]
What follows is a tale of a cautious race trying to survive in a hostile universe. Be prepared for tears, shocks, twists and turns! Our story follows the 00malor's Technocracy, a splinter colony of happy go lucky Quamenos founded by (yep, you guessed it) a Quameno called 00malor.
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00malor McMoo overjoyed at the first successful trial run of the NovaCore NX-700 Reactor
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00malor, a legendary Quameno, rose to fame amongst the Technocratic race when playing a pivotal role in developing the NovaCore NX-700, one of the most advanced reactors ever seen by the League of Distant Worlds.
Unhappy with recent developments on the Quameno home world, and a completely unrelated shortage of Vodkol in nearby sectors, 00malor left in search of new technological challenges. An exodus of Quameno followed one of the brightest minds of the race in order to win 00malor's approval, and eventually, their position in society.
Our story begins on our newly colonised planet, Quameno's Resplendence:
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Quameno's Resplendence: A Shining Beacon of Hope (SNIP - we'll cut that there, don't want to get sued).[/center]
Whilst being brilliant at all things scientific, you may have noticed that 00malor wasn't one to manage his credits very well.
To add to the financial dilemma, a nearby colony of Shandar (Shandar...? Shadars? Shandarii?) known locally as the Arax Paradise had started muscling in on the Technocracy's resources.
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The Local Neighbourhood[/center]
Despite this the 00malor Technocracy (henceforth the 0T) had previously decided that it was going to try and befriend the Arax Paradise, purely because the Shandar look like a jolly smiley bunch of folk. With the goals of a) balancing the books, and b) making allies of the Shandar in place the 0T set to work.
The first days of the fledgling empire were stifled by raiding scum bag pirates, destroying most of the Quameno infrastructure in place. Lesson learned, 00malor ordered any future mining platforms be armed sufficiently to defend themselves, allowing the rest of the 0T to carry on furiously researching new and interesting ways to kil... I mean befriend people!
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Weapons Research[/center]
Ironically it was decided that dumb-fire missile technology would allow the 0T fleets to maximise efficiency on board their ships, dedicating the output power of the NovaCore reactor to replenishing shields. The 0T fleet hadn't survived this long by going into gunfights with their amphibious backsides uncovered! Fortunately, the 0T fleet hadn't actually been involved in any gunfights, as the pirates pretty much destroyed the doomed mining stations completely unhindered before escaping the sector.
This was soon to change. No more would the pirates rampage around the 0T system, crippling their economy... the 0T War Council had devised a cunning plan. To fight an enemy, you must use force and to use force, you must have ships! With this in mind, the War Council suggested building five state of the art combat ships.
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Advisor ship suggestion[/center]
Being more of a lover than a fighter, 00malor bowed to the superior wisdom of the War Council (and despairing looks from the Finance Minister), and allowed the five ships to be built. Whilst the ships were being put together in the space dock, an urgent message flashed across the screen:
“We have made a strange discovery at the gas giant planet Juantar 5 in the Juantar system.
Adrift in orbit around the planet is a Colony Ship, the Regal Imposter.
Though obviously very old, the ship still appears to be in good working order. We have boarded it and taken control.
Inside the colony ship are millions of Ackdarians in stasis hibernation.
The Ackdarian are an advanced Amphibian race, who are very cautious. They are gifted scientists. They are also master starship engineers.”
Advanced amphibian race who are gifted scientists?? Sounds familiar. With a general lack of decent ships, the 0T could definitely benefit from these guys. Needless to say, the Ackdarians were scooped up pretty quickly and sent to colonise the nearest ocean world. Once established, 00malor had plans for the Ackdarians. Unfortunately, the nearest ocean world was a fair old trek away. Still, it would give time for the 0T scientists to perfect technology for the Ackdarians to put into their star ships.
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Arax Paradise Offer A Territory Map Swap[/center]
The Arax Paradise have finally noticed the 0Ts presence! However, 00malor isn't convinced that it is time to start trading maps with them just yet, especially as there are no formal trade agreements in place. More time (and importantly, reputation building) is required.
Exploring is the name of the game at the moment. The pirates that reared their ugly head earlier are no more, with the remnants of their fleet cannibalised for the good of the Technocracy. With them out of the way, the mining operations can continue. Time for 00malor to build more Construction Ships to speed up the build process:
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Useful New UI Shortcuts[/center]
Thankfully, new handy-dandy short cut buttons make this operation painless enough for even the most ham-fisted of leaders! 00malor (and his ham-fists) approves of this muchly. With the new Construction Ship being built, 00malor sets about examining the current state of the weapons research. A flurry of activity later, coerced on with a smidgen of crash researching:
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Missile Research Completed[/center]
Which just so happened to coincide with:
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Ackdarians Put to Good Use[/center]
Fantabulous news! This inspired 00malor into a bout of furious ship redesign. Out with the old blasters, in with the new missile launchers. One sore head later, the first ship off the line of the originally named “0T Missile Frigate” was finally finished.
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0T Missile Frigate – Armed to the Teeth, and Ready to Rock[/center]
Followed by the “0T Missile Destroyer”, and the “0T Missile Escort”.
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0T 3rd Fleet – The Trouble Makers[/center]
All 00malor needs now is a willing subject to test them on... After a quick scanning, a nearby pirate base has took one step forward to become the first test candidate for the new missile fleet.
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Walking the Plank - 00malor Technocracy Style[/center]
Revenge is sweet... the mining stations that were eradicated from existence earlier in the game are avenged! Once the pirate scum were turned back into star dust, it was time for the 0T to expand out into the cosmos. Despite being excellent scientists, for self defence reasons the research has needed to be primarily weapon orientated. It was time to expedite research in some of other areas.
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Time to Expand[/center]
The new "Potential Research Locations" box proves extremely handy for this sort of event. The catchily named FJ633 will be useful for both an income boost and a research boost! Time to charter an armed Construction Ship.
/more to follow [:)]
