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AAR/Story
The setting:
Galaxy: Huge, 1400 stars, 15x15 sectors
Expansion: Old
Aggression: Chaos
Difficulty: Extreme
Research: Expensive (999K)
Space Creatures: None
Pirates: Few, Normal strength, do not re-spawn when destroyed
Colony Prevalence: Scarce
Independent Alien Life: Rare
Colony Influence Range: 106
Race: Zenox
Home System: Excellent
Size: Old
Tech Level: 7
Corruption: Normal
Starting Empires: 20 (all Excellent home systems, Tech Level 7, etc.)
Independents allowed to start new empires in game
Events: Race-specific, Disasters
Sandbox game: Territory, Population and Economy Victory Conditions all set to 100%
No Tech Trading
No Giant Kaltors

Background:

As the Zenox on the planet Vrilja emerged from the Long Night and re-unified and re-built their world, emerging from the utter destruction of the First Galactic War, the ruin of the Galactic Archives figured prominently in the interminable social discourses that served as an underpinning to the their newly- budding civilization. The Archives clearly pointed to the culprits behind the near-annihilation of the entire Galaxy, to who among the Galactic races had aided the Great Enemy. There was always great speculation as to which of the other races- if any- had survived the Fall. As the Recovery progressed and speculation turned into certainty as independent traders and Pirates brought news from the rest of the Galaxy, a change began to make itself evident in the Zenox character; a certain near-messianic compulsion to safeguard the renewed Galaxy against the races that had collaborated with the Enemy long ago. Drawing on the myths and legends culled from the surviving fragments of information from the ruined ancient Galactic Archives, the Zenox rebuilt the Archives; they heavily fortified Vrilja with the Merkidor Planetary Fortress and the Bakuras High-Speed Shipyards. On other Zenox worlds, they made innovations in improving social cohesion and morale with the Holographic Universe wonder on Ikkuro 1; they improved their economy and the art of medicine with the Trade Guild and Koloros Medical Academy on Usoquod. And they advanced medical science with the Advanced Medicomplex on Garus Major 2.

By the time that Gyut Gokaal became First Minister of the Zenox Concordat on 7 February CY 2350 and three months later- against the advice of the entire Concordat Supreme Council- ordered an all-out assault against the neighboring (and more powerful) Ikkuro Empire the otherwise quite passive Zenox supported his decision. Perhaps because he had shown that he was dedicated to improving the lives of the Zenox and to prevent at all costs a return to the ancient times of despair and destruction the Zenox worlds- initially skeptical- tolerated the risk of the war. The result is now legend. All Zenox learn of the days when Gyut Gokaal was in sole command of the Concordat space and ground forces; of how Zenox fleets destroyed all of the Ikkuro space ports and then, piecemeal, the Ikkuro fleet. They learned how the ground forces were at first annihilated- but regrouped, learned from their defeats and came back with a force that eventually- 23 years later- resulted in the fall of the Ikkuro homeworld and major worlds and an Ikkuro race reduced to subjugation to the Zenox Concordat. During the same time period, the Quameno and Caleph had also become subjugated by the Zenox. With such an accomplishment behind him and an economy still healthy after two decades of war, Gokaal was by now practically worshiped as a demigod. The entire Concordat bureaucracy supported the First Minister’s guidance and direction. And so it was when, less than a year after the fall of the mighty Ikkuro, with a time of peace and promise seemingly ahead, the XHumans of the Lipis Council declared war on the Concordat on 4 April, CY 2377.

Promising start

You have played 27 years after generating the game? In which you built wonders and set up the current war?

Thanks! I will post screenshots as soon as I am able. Setup is DW:U AI improvement Mod. The game is Old start, so the Zenox began with 11 systems at start. I think I was probably lucky to finish the Merkidor, Archives, Trader's Guild and Holographic Universe early in the game- nothing was added via the Editor. I have learned that Zenox ground forces are hideously expensive to maintain: in quantity, murderously so, especially the PDUs. Also, I had some really interesting space battles that I thought I had in the bag but had to reinforce because the AI had upgraded its ships during the war. I had to re-take conquered planets sometimes more than once, with rebellions going at the same time. Lots of fun. I am playing totally manual, so it is so much work I do not go back to previous saves. I end up taking my time and carefully get things set up etc. before moving on. AI intelligence attacks occur at a good clip. Checking on the empire comparison screen I am watching the various races developing- future wars are going to be awesome as there are 6 AI empires that are as or more powerful as I am.

Anyway, future posts will be in story format along with screenshots. [8D]

Situation Report- 24 June CY 2383 (Part 1)

The Second XHuman War has just been concluded. The following is an assessment of the current general condition of the Zenox Concordat at war’s end.

Several quantitative measures are used to assist in judging the overall health of the Concordat at any given point in time; among the most important are those designated ʖ (average planet quality), ʗ (average colony happiness) and ɵ (tax/GDP). An All-Concordat Survey (ACS) is typically conducted every ten years- the latest wars caused the most recent survey (ACS3) to be postponed until now. ACS1 (24 colonies) took place in December 2360, ACS2 (29 colonies) in December 2370, and ACS3 (39 colonies) in June 2383. The Concordat consisted of 11 colonies when First Minister Gokaal assumed power in CY 2350. ʖ1=78, ʖ2=73, ʖ3=77; ʗ1=46, ʗ2=27, ʗ3=23; ɵ1=32%; ɵ2=26%, ɵ3=37%. ʖ2 reflects the damage caused by both the First XHuman War and the Second Ikkuro War which saw deep penetrations by marauding Lipis Council and Ikkuro fleets, while ʖ3 reflects repair to the effected colonies, the effect of improved defenses preventing enemy attacks and higher-quality colonies being captured from enemies during the subsequent conflicts; the picture painted by this series is entirely positive. The ʗ series, on the other hand, is entirely disconcerting, displaying as it does a continuing deterioration of overall morale in the Concordat. This has prompted immediate and significant policy initiatives (the Paklidu Initiatives) designed to, among other things, arrest and reverse this decline as quickly as possible without resorting to the extremes of Slavery or Extermination policies being enacted against alien populations which, as is well known, are strictly prohibited by Concordat law. The ɵ series is equally disturbing as it reflects the cumulative effect of the inexorable growth of military spending resulting from the various wars since CY 2350, which have occurred at too-rapid a pace to allow the civilian economy to compensate for. The ɵ3 value represents a near-complete erasure of the significant economic improvement ushered in by First Minister Gokaal’s economic program concurrent with the beginning of his expansion program. This is further exemplified by the fact that the Concordat has failed to keep pace with the Galactic average of economic growth, the civilian economy’s share having fallen from a high of 6% of Galactic GDP six years ago to the current 5%. The conclusion here is that, with a view to improving its economic condition the Concordat should expend every effort to maintaining the peace as long as is necessary to return to satisfactory growth; this is imperative.

-Prepared for the Galactic Archives, Concordat Chancellery Historical Service 6/24/2383

Situation Report- 29 May CY 2386

Nearly three years of peace has followed the conclusion of the most recent round of wars and things have developed nicely in the Zenox Concordat. A ring of Monitoring Stations has been constructed outside of Zenox territory to act as advance warning of incoming threats. The Ground Forces consist of 497 Infantry brigades, 26% of which are Elite status and these have been distributed as garrison forces to the various colonies. A couple of new Space Ports have been built to aid in the development of the newly-conquered territories; foreign trade and tribute are increasing, resource levels and distribution are all fine, colonies and the economy are growing and the people are happy.

HOWEVER... an opportunity has arisen. The Paratis Hive are 3 colonies 6 Sectors removed from the Zenox home world and have long been trade partners to the Concordat, a Protectorate for the last 5 years or so. The Ketaros Confederacy are 16 colonies as close as two Sectors from the Zenox home world who have long belonged to a competing alliance structure. Days ago, the Ketaros declared war on the Paratis (whom are already at war with the Rukhi Major Commonwealth (Humans), the Leentar Group (Ikkuro) and the Lipis Council (XHumans). Yes, the aforementioned antagonists to the Paratis are all allied to each other (designated as the Oriek Treaty Organization, or OTO). SO, even at the risk of engaging in what looks to be a another developing alliance war, the Zenox decided to come to the aid of their ally, for two primary reasons: 1) it provides the opportunity to absorb the Ketaros colonies,which are very close to Zenox territory- one of these colonies is Cappa Minor 1, the last source of Zentabia Fluid outside of Zenox control; and 2) it provides the chance to improve the Concordat's Reputation from Satisfactory to Respectable.

(Note: about a week away from finally posting screenshots)[:D]

Here are screenshots of the current state of this game. A new alliance war is on the verge of exploding... the first shot is a close up of the Zenox Concordat territory; the second is the Galaxy view (Zenox territory being the dark blue at the 12:00 position); the third is the latest Empire Summary and the fourth is the most recent Diplomacy screen.

Zenox territory in dark blue at top center position.

Empire Summary

Current diplomacy status.

And this just came in:

If you keep posting. I'll keep reading [:D]

Thanks, you talked me (back) into it!

Enjoying this very much! [:)]