Quick and nasty: a Securan story (SPOILERS)

[Grotius]

Bless her heart, she's got a little diplomatic skill. OK, so maybe she shouldn't be running our Tourist Bureau. But at least she knows not to munch on Shrimp Cocktail when calling on the Gizurean Foreign Ministry.

I wish I'd tried this earlier, with my one other existing Ambassador. Maybe it's a coincidence, but for the first time ever, the peace lasts more than a few weeks.

[Grotius]

The galaxy is quiet. (Note, again, how little of it I can see.)

I crank out military ships, exploration ships, a couple more colony ships, hoping against hope that the peace will hold. I still don't have enough ships to mass them at Almas-3; they're still doing the Battlestar Galactica thing, heading out into open space to hide.

[Grotius]

During this time, my advisers periodically suggest that I offer a Mutual Defense Pact to our cousins to the northwest, who adore me. But I worry about getting them crushed, too; their military isn't any great shakes either, and they represent my only safe haven. Also, they keep rebuffing my other overtures, and I worry that proposing a defense pact might worsen relations. So I keep declining the suggestion.

Finally, though, the cousins made it easy for me. They offer me a Mutual Defense Pact, and I accept. In an instant, I can see the whole galaxy! I'm not sure why this is, but I suppose their military now feels comfortable sharing maps with me.

I don't know what's more beautiful -- the main map or the mini-map in the lower-right.

[Grotius]

The defense treaty also reveals a half-dozen new races to me, all in an instant. Suddenly the victory screen has 17 empires on it, and for the first time in recorded memory, I'm not at the bottom. In fact, I'm right in the middle, a notch above my Securan cousins.

Notice my tiny sliver of yellow, though. That corresponds to my measly single colony. But now I'm busy building Exploration ships. Maybe I'll find a place to colonize. It sure would help if this peace would hold. I'm hoping the defense treaty will help with that.

[Grisha]

Almost in the same boat as you, Grotius. Just started a new game with modded Humans(MercantileGuild) and no victory conditions. Have the Fruit Flies (Boskarans) as my first non-Ancient encounter. At war now, and they've gone an bombarded my first colony into the stone age. Bastages! Caught me as I was in the middle of a splurge of private vessel construction. Now, add a long line of military ships too. Home world is safe for now. Got an advance capital ship but their plasma beams x15 wear it down PDQ. Military ships starting to see the light of day since the private freighter orders are done for now. What to do?

One thing I do know: the fruit flies are going to pay.

[martok]

Looks like you're finally getting a bit of a breather. Here's hoping the Guizereans stay off your case for a little while!

ORIGINAL: Grotius

I have no refueling stations at all, and for some reason a couple of my ships wanted to refuel off-map, or at least in the far northwest corner. Not sure if this is a feature or a bug.

Apparently this is a bug, and has been fixed in one of the beta patches.

[Grotius]

Grisha, I wish you well against the fruit flies. Bring some RAID.

Martok, thanks for the info. I haven't been playing with the beta patches. I'll patch to the new "official" version when it releases. In general, the release version works fine for me, so I'm in no hurry to upgrade.

[ASHBERY76]

Do you think this AAR inspired this fix to the next beta patch.[:)]

- increased troop levels that AI uses to invade colonies

[Grotius]

Finally, thirty years after game start, I found my second colony! Most Distant Worlds players probably do this in year 1 or 2, eh?

[Grotius]

Quite possibly! I was thinking of pointing it out to Erik, and I notice he did post in this thread. I withstood dozens of inadequate ground-troop attacks. They didn't come close. One attack had maybe 1/3 my troops, and the rest less than that.

ORIGINAL: ASHBERY76

Do you think this AAR inspired this fix to the next beta patch.[:)]

- increased troop levels that AI uses to invade colonies

[Grotius]

I'm so excited to have my second colony that I take multiple screenshots. Colony p0rn. That neighboring gas giant has helium but no hydrogen or caslon. Hey, you can't have everything.

[Grotius]

A wider view. Sexy!

[Grotius]

The new colony barely makes a bump on the outside of my curvaceous territory, but I'm not complaining. (My empire is the blue one at the top-center of the image.)

[Grotius]

Updated galaxy map, with my blue empire in the middle. OK, so I'm not dominating yet. I'm still thrilled to have come back this far.

[Grotius]

Peace continues to hold, as I gradually build my military. I have built only DDs and CAs so far; I'm not sure I have the tech for effective Carriers. Is there a particular tech I need, other than just higher levels of fighter tech? I'm already plotting my revenge against the crustaceans.

Also, I plan to upgrade my starports so that they are both Large.

I've always had positive cash flow. Not sure why, but I'm not complaining. I've got the luxury to build Research outposts now. I've even been building Resort Bases, but for some reason I've got zero tourist income so far. I expect that will go up as tourists discover my romantic getaways.

[Grotius]

I'm pleased to notice increasing trade with the shrimp. Here we see one of their freighters, just east of my spaceport at Almas-3, bringing in Iridium.

[Grotius]

In fact, the Gizureans now have a volume of 6K trade with me. (Er, 6K credits, I assume?) That makes them one of my better trading partners.

Note also my military power...

[Grotius]

... and compare it with the Gizureans'. I'm approaching parity!

Shrimp Scampi: it's what's for dinner! Or Jambalayah. Or maybe Paella.

[Grotius]

In the meantime, some new guys come a-calling. I confess I've never seen much of the storyline in any of the three versions of the game, as up to now I've never gotten this far into a game. So no spoilers, please.

[Grotius]

They look friendly enough, but if you want peace, prepare for war. I've finally started defending Almas-3, after decades of hiding. Here we see the 2nd fleet, composed entirely of CAs and DDs, in an odd triangular patrol pattern.