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Turn 18 update:
After some rounds at war a first summary: The Mercantile Alliance is trying to advance on Earth and Jupiter against us and on Mars against our friends from the Trade Federation.
Their most successful attack is on Mars.
On Jupiter our artillery and superior troops have done extensive damage to the advancing MA columns. A fleet battle next to Earth is inconclusive with us killing 2 shields and some small crafts while loosing a shield and a destroyer. As a retaliation we do heavy bombardment damage to the militarily used station from the MA and kill several enemy troops.
Reinforcements are coming in from our Mercury colony which should help to balance the situation soon.
Most importantly however is to make sure we will not come into a two-front-war. With the Explorer Guild pushing very effectivly back the Trade Federation this becomes a danger to watch out for...

Turn 19 update: We sent out an expert spy (see upper right corner) to get us a detailed view of our enemy, the Mercantile Alliance. This is very very expensive but just plain necessary.
We learn that our fears are true and the MA do have a strong position:
- They control Saturn alone and are finishing up with TF on Mars
- They have a strong base on Jupiter (which we knew already) and a fleet nearby which is far superior to our
- They have found the wormholes to Wolf359 and to Alpha Centauri and seem to be settling there
- They have some asteroid and minor bases scattered throughout
All in all a formidable opponent. As our war has not brought much advance it might be time to look for more fruitful endeavours like finishing our development and building some more bases.
Also we research small vessel technology to prepare for our next goal which we have codenamed "order 66"...

About turn 23:
Here is the newest update from the solar system. I have created a map which shows areas of influence as far as I now them. Might not be 100% accurate. Any recommendations for better graphics software are gladly received.
We made a fragile truce with the Mercantile Alliance as their navy is just too strong ... for now.
Also we build spacedocks on Lalande and on Uranus to ramp up production although this was very expensive (200 political points).
Atmosphere: The calm before the storm.

Turn 28:
Things have developed rapidly in the last turns.
After long pondering we have decided we can no longer share the upper right quadrant with our former ally, the Trade Federation. In a quick commando raid we seize all main bases of the TF on Mercury and Uranus while our new friends from the Explorer's Guild bomb the Earthern spaceport of the TF. Having not a lot left to fight the Trade Federation resigns and fades into oblivion.
Not a nice move but then as the saying goes in a game of Thrones either you win ... or you are dead.
This leaves only 3 factions remaining and due us being closer to the assets of the Trade Federation we managed to increase our empire. Also our two competitiors are at war with each other (which suits us nicely) and after some more buildup we can go for the final battle:

We are now at turn 35.
Turn 33 saw the sudden but long-expected start of war between the Mercantile Alliance (Green) and our Future Foundation (Yellow). It started over the incident but a MA fleet attacking a raider which led to the Future Foundation taking over the MA spaceport on Earth. MA retaliated by a full-scale assault on Jupiter which was followed by a FF invasion of the MA Mars colony.
The Mercantile Alliance war plan seems to be to take over the vital spacedock of the FF on Jupiter. We(FF) are playing the Jupiter gambit: Our large 1st Fleet is tasked with taking over Mars with Jupiter being ordered to dig in and defend itself as long as possible. Once Mars is ours the 1st Fleet will come to the defense of Jupiter. Risky but the best chance we see to win the war which otherwise might become a stalemate.
Additionally 2nd Fleet is tasked to move towards MA bases at Saturn and block any fleets leaving from there against Uranus.
3rd Fleet is being build on Lalande and will try to attack the MA mines on Pluto.
4th Fleet is stationed near Mars to defend if Explorer Guild starts an attack out of the lower right sector.
Our production base is larger then the MA but if the insidious Explorer Guild meddles in the war this might get nasty....

Update Turn 40:
Our strategy has paid off so far. We have liberated Mars and hold on to Jupiter. Since our combined 1st and 2nd Fleet is stronger than Vics fleet Vic retreated all his fleet elements to Saturn into his impressive Grand Fleet (we again paid a lot of money for a spy).
With no defense fleet left near Jupiter we are sieging the enemy position and slowly advancing there, too. Also we are successfully moving towards Vics colony on Pluto. It looks like the lower left quadrant will fall to our offensive.
However we think that now is the time to shift focus. We leave the very thinned out 2nd fleet to hold or at least delay Vic if he counterattacks from Saturn while all forces are moving to the lower right to meet for a decisive battle with Seille's Explorer Guild which so far seems to have been happy to take profit from Vic, too ...

Turn 41 (edit: Wrong turn number corrected)
Suddenly things seem to heat up very fast. After some ominous warning from our neighbour, the Explorer Guild, one of our scouts accidentially stumbles upon a heavy invasion fleet loaded with troops only one round away from Mercury. This is more then a declaration of war and we remind ourselves that we simply have been too trusting in our relationships with our neighbours.
We immediately give out all necessary orders:
4th Fleet will group around Mercury and try to hold the planet although invasion cannot be prevented.
1st Fleet will do a Rücksturz to Mercury and try to join the expected space battle on the left flank of the enemy.
A scout is dispatched to the Mercantile Alliance to offer generous terms of an immediate armistice to join forces against the threat of the Explorer Guild but is sent home with the message "NUTS!". Feeling betrayed on all sides we order 3rd Fleet to start an invasion of Pluto and 2nd Fleet to hold of Mercantile Alliance Grand Fleet in the upper left sector.
The endgame seems to have begun and there can only be one faction to remain.

Turn 42 (Edit: Wrong turn number corrected):
The expected attack did not happen. Obviously we managed to scare away the Explorer Guild from an outright attack.
When looking at the strategic setting we need to consider that we are being sandwiched between the Mercantile Alliance in the upper left and the Explorer Guild in the lower right. Therefore we decide to take the opportunity to take the battle to the enemy while our fleets are concentrated. The whole uppe left sector is "defended" by only 5 scouts and 2 raiders and we hope to achieve tactical superiority in the lower right.
Since initiative is very important tactically we move into striking distance (=half movement range) of Seilles fleet and see if he takes up battle....

Update Turn 43:
The slightly nervous commanders of the Future Foundation look across towards Venus and await movement of the enemy but apart from eliminating the misplaced(misplayed) scout nothing happens.
Now we are in a strategic dilemma. We could take on the Explorer Guild Fleet straight on which is slightly weaker than ours (but technologically more advanced). However if we do battle in enemy territory we open ourself up to a devastating counterattack from ground-based artillery and bomber squadrons. Additionally our scouts have reported an intrusion by a strong warfleet of the Mercantile Alliance towards Mars or Jupiter. After doing a deep analysis on psychohistory the Future Foundation decides to play it more safely. We retreat the 4th fleet for upgrading into its Mercury bases. 1st Fleet and 3rd Fleet will try to parry the thrust of the MA.
The attached map shows our estimate of the status. We are very unnicely sandwiched between MA and EG but we are stronger then they (but a bit behind in technology). We could easily win against either of them but both together at the same time are difficult to take on. We have also included our estimate as to fleet strength on an arbitrary scale...

Start of round 45:
We invest in another spy to understand the fleet setup of the Explorer Guild.
The Explorer Guild has setup their fleet for a defense of Venus. Their fleet consists of
1 Dreadnought
1 Carrier
17 Carrier II
19 Destroyer II
75 Fighter II
38 Bomber II
and supporting vessels. The fleet is spread out due to the 10 ships per hex limit.
On the other side of the solar system the Mercantile Alliance has started an invasion/bombardment of Mars against we cannot defend as we do not have enough fleet strength there. Therefore we have but one choice and that is to engage in a full naval battle. We have the advantage of having the first shot and the disadvantage of having to expend half of the action points to close into fighting range.

End of Round 45:
And this is the result of our attack. We closed in with 4th Fleet from above and 1st Fleet from the center. We suffered heavy losses but also dealt some blows to the enemy.
Now the need to wait for the counterattack of the Explorer Guild.
This might become the decisive space battle of the game...

Turn 46:
The Explorer Guild did some bombardment of our fleet doing mainly damage to shields and then retreated. For us this is good since it allows us to keep the initiative in space combat. This is very important since we can then groups several fleet elements for a concentrated attack. We do heavy damage while taking small losses.
On Mars the Mercantile Alliance continues to do heavy damage to our installations there which goes uncontested since there is no fleet from us there to fight back. Well they will need to wait 2-3 rounds I would estimate....

Game Ended
After last round losses we agreed that the Freedom Foundation is now unstoppable and called the testgame ended.
My assumption is that we would have suffered some losses in the Explorer Guild counterattack but the main fleet of the Explorer is pretty doomed. Then in 2-3 rounds we would have sent our fleet against the Mercantile Alliance and we think we are much stronger.

This concludes the second testgame. Attached are the final statistics with regards to total powerpoints and production. Hope you enjoyed reading this AAR.

And here is the production statistic. In the end we were stronger than both remaining enemies combined.

It was a great game and great fight especially the final one.
 
I knew i would be the underdog in the final battle, but i had to go for hoping to hit
Lunaticus unprepared. Sadly this was not the case since he saw my forces in time and concentrated
most if not all of his fleet fire power against me. And this wwas off course way too much.
 
The scenario feels very playable compared to first testgame version.
 
Thanks Lunaticus for this awesome work !
 

It was a very good game indeed. The game mechanics are very deep and if you dont think ahead for like 10-20 turns you will lose. Half way in the game i poured a lot (at that time) of resources in to a conflict over some minerals in the outerrim south with seille. In retrospect that energy should have gone into crushing Lunaticus on Jupiter and maybee hassling his mining ops much closer to home. Later on in the big fight for Jupiter and Mars, instead of fighting i retreated. In retrospect that was the moment to make a stand and call on seille to hit Lunaticus in the back. Anyway it was a good game and i have lost deservingly. Thanks to Lunaticus for making this great mod. Try it out please. It deserves to be played some more!

Best regards,
Vic

This was a very nice AAR. And, the the strategic wrap up from all the players was great.

I don't know if any of you are interested, but now that you are done, what were the strength and weaknesses of the mechanics?  For example, it be great to hear about the particular elements elements made the game deep.  It's also fun to hear the players' perceptions the major differences in the "feel" of the game, relative other game sets.  What were the unusual touches? (We can get a sense from the AAR, but it's also great to hear it from the players perspective).  Are there any elements that may have to be addressed for game balance, or is the game in great shape "as is"?  (It sure looked fun!)

Hi springer,

Actually i think it is pretty well balanced as it is. Though it requires a lot of understanding to play well. There are a lot of specialized units and you need diverse armies and fleets for victory. Especially trying to take a well defended enemy planets requires a lot of planning. And i still did not succeed in doing it properly. You need to bring assault ships to hammer bases and thus reduce local production of units and supply and reduce defences. You need to bring a battle fleet to protect those assault ships and also help block supply flowing in from other planets. Then you need to have brought cargoships or jumpships with a lot of infantry, backed up by artillery to land then on the planet and do the actual conquest. Then you must not have forgotten to bring "engineers" with you to build new bases or repair old bases to keep your own troops in supply. Also aircover will probably be needed so you would need to bring carriers stocked with fighters with you too. If it is a far away operation you must make sure there is a base between your source of operations and the target planet so that you can keep sending supplies to your fleet by transfer. And then you'll have to make sure you have some minor ships and scouts patrolling this line of supply to make sure no enemy raiders or fleets will cut it off.

Its a real challenge to play well. And you can imagine how much planning the above operation will need concerning
production, research, intelligence and assembly and movement.

I could not think about any additions to the scenario except having a random map setup with full shrowd. And maybee mines. And maybee a real PDF manual.

If you like PBEM and deep gameplay and like Space Wargames. You must give this scenario a try!

Best regards,
Vic