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The Chosen Ones


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"Did it crash?"

"Nope. You saw it decelerate, didn't you? But it must have been quite a rough landing." He thought about what they have seen for a moment. "That was a rocket engine as far as I can tell, this thing must be from space."

 

"What is it?" she asked. Marwen asked this question even though she was well aware that Ted wouldn't be able to answer it. Being farmers on Tau Ceti's most agricultural world for all of their lives hasn't given them much insight into space-faring technology.

 

Marwen took a step closer to the half-buried object. "Are you sure it didn't crash? It looks so beaten!"

"Yeah, looks like something I'd weld together. But I see no holes in it. At least not from here."

"When did you learn to weld?"

"I didn't."

 

Ted unholstered his gun and moved toward the smouldering heap of metal. "Wait, do you think it might be dangerous?!", Marwen interfered. Ted scowled, somewhat annoyed: "How should I know? That's why I want my gun in my hands!".

 

The couple got a bit closer to what seemed to be some sort of makeshift pod. They circled the pod at a distance. "Look, the top is open!", Marwen whispered. An animal, looking like what Marwen thought a rat should look like, crawled out of the pod and looked at them, showing its teeth and squealing. "Ted, we need to call the authorities. If this is not the only rat the whole planet's income might be endangered, especially if a quarantine is enacted! Kill it, than call officer Darless and report the incident. How did these creatures get onto a space ship?!"

 

"Just a sec, honey, just a sec…" Ted brought out his communicator and searched the database for a rat. "That is no rat, Darwen. Look. This creature's head is way too big and teeth are not those of rodents."

"Than what is it?"

Ted raised his gun; "I have no bloody idea but I as sure as hell am not going to wait to fin…"

 

"You will not touch my spawn, food", a voice in Ted's head echoed, unbearably loud.

 

"Why don't you shoot it, Ted? It's gonna flee!"

Ted realized Marwen did not hear the voice. And he could not move his arm.

 

Two more creatures crawled out of the pod and all three started to descend. "Shoot, Ted, shoot!" Marwen looked at Ted and saw him turning towards her, bringing the gun to bear. She could see the horror in his eyes. "Ted…" A bullet through her eye stopped the words.

 

Ted was screaming, but on the outside nobody would have known. His face was motionless and as blank as a rock. Only his unseeing eyes might hint of the anguish inside him. His body turned back to the pod for him to see creatures approach. First one jumped, biting into the thigh. With a jerk it tore a piece of meat off. Ted was still standing, despite the incredible pain in his leg. He wanted to fall but couldn't.

 

Then something else climbed out of the pod. It was unlike the three around him but relation was clear.

Fairytales his grandmother told him when he was young rushed through his mind. Myths from Earth itself she said. This is what a werewolf should look like. It was not supposed to be real.

Its eyes seemed to be glowing. Ted knew this stuff of nightmares was controlling his body, ravaging through his mind.

 

Two other two younglings tore more flesh from him. Legs gave way and he fell into the dirt.

 

"Why…" he thought.

"Don't ask questions you can't understand an answer to, food. We are the Zuul, the Chosen Ones. Our arrival marks your departure."

 

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"Don't ask questions you can't understand an answer to, food. We are the Zuul, the Chosen Ones. Our arrival marks your departure."

 

There's nothing quite like making new friends, is there? And that is nothing like making new friends. Bloody Hell.

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There's nothing quite like making new friends, is there? And that is nothing like making new friends. Bloody Hell.

Aaaaahhhh, the Zuul. :P This is as friendly as Zuul get - in SotS1.

 

I didn't think I'll be doing this AAR, but you know, SotS2 is not yet here and my comp will not be up to the challenge even when it does come, so what the hell.

 

Zuul are a race most different from the rest so they call for an AAR. I haven't even started the game though and time resource is scarce lately so it will be a slow digest. Starts in a week or so.

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Quite deliciously, little by little, we are extracting information from one of the ape-things. Soon we shall have the necessary attack vectors!!

 

::

 

And, dare I remark it, such a sweet disposition on Your Lordship's part can only mean more feasting awaits. My mucous glands writhe already, oh Most Supreme Executor! :P

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

I feel two years younger... Meaning that I'm battling with video encoding once again. Serves me right, installing a new version of MediaCoder when I had it all figured out last time around. For reasons unknown, I can not view the encoded mpg, latest codecs and all, but I can upload it to YT and see it there with the rest of the world. And that is a result of a long battle with codecs, a gazillion of options... :confused:

 

For people that loathe watching a vid; a game was started on normal difficulty, we as Zuul, colour red. I added all races as diversity is good, 148 stars rift galaxy.

 

All enemies got three starting colonies. Zuul start with one more than the rest, but to keep things interesting I lowered our initial colonies setting to 1, which means two, as we are Zuul. Now we will need to catch the rest before they outrun us in research, civilians and trade. Which can easily happen in a 150 star galaxy.

 

Our goals? Kill, murder, enslave. In gameplay terms we want to get to cruisers ASAP, especially rend drive with its node canon that can shatter whole fleets.

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Some game time finally!

 

Here we go!

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0002-46.jpg

 

What we do is hurt space time. We fold space and build our own node lines. But with current tech level we can only have three node lines from and to every planet. This is not a huge problem in a how to get to each star way but if you wanted an efficient net you need to be a bit careful.

 

We use Drill class destroyers to hurt space time continuum.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0008-33.jpg

 

And we prepare to drop pods, like the one Ted and Marwen were unlucky enough to meet.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0009-24.jpg

 

For now we have not even started to research as we went far into debt.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0010-26.jpg

 

Our node bore ships fold space behind them (green line).

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0011-26.jpg

 

The net spreads with second wave.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0012-22.jpg

 

Oh, look whom we meet...

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0014-22.jpg

 

And we meet it A WHOLE DAMN LOT!

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0016-17.jpg

 

Crap, 4 out of 6 explored systems hold damn derelicts!!!

 

I replayed the setup vid just to see if I didn't accidentally set randoms to some incredible number but I did not... It is just luck. MY luck.

 

Starting on research.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0017-15.jpg

 

And at least something that feels like home. Not sure Asimov would like Zuul on his much revered world though.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0021-16.jpg

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4 derelicts = +25% research boost for 16 turns (right?). That's nice. :P

It should help you catch others in research.

That is the plan. But it also means that I can't colonize worlds that would soon help me more than bonus from derelicts. CnC tech would help a lot in disarming derelicts but that is not projected for the immediate future. So I'll have to do with destroyer swarms and lasers.

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The dancers.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0001-51.jpg

 

To fulfil Jman's command, we design a lasers only ship just for stripping the derelicts.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0002-47.jpg

 

State of the empire.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0003-44.jpg

 

Finally we establish a peachy colony.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0004-42.jpg

 

Then we start with the derelicts.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0006-30.jpg

 

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0005-37.jpg

 

Frankly stripping the derelicts is a boring job, targeting weapons' turrets and dancing out of their line of sight. This is one of the least loved parts of the game for me, micromanagement in its full bloom. Skill my arse. Still, I've never shown it before so here is a two stage disarming if anyone wants to see it. Trust me, if you watched 30 seconds you have seen it all. The only difference is that towards the end you usually need to get a bit dirty as you take on the least visible turrets - some I have not even noticed until then...

 

EDIT: There is a lot of annoying zooming in and out, necessary for targeting and moving at the same time in RT.

 

 

 

We find first asteroid monitor. As Zuul we get a bonus at stripping down everything in the game so we start the research immediately. Bonus is otherwise also seen as Zuul being the only race to have a chance of salvaging a technology even when they (we) have no salvage and repair ship in the system.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0007-33.jpg

 

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0009-25.jpg

 

Next research.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0010-27.jpg

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State of the empire.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0001-52.jpg

 

We still have two completely separate parts of our node network. I'll have to join them than build some network-dedicated bore ships to maintain the node lines. Otherwise the first ones will soon begin to falter.

 

Busted another one.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0002-48.jpg

 

Just for the beauty of the pic.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0003-45.jpg

 

We meet our first foe.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0004-43.jpg

 

What?! Didn't we just destroy the derelict here?!

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0005-38.jpg

 

Ahhhh, it is not a derelict...

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0007-34.jpg

A system can hold more than one random.

This one held a derelict as well as a colony trap. For the first time so early in the game and no PD have I seen a colony destroyer escape.

 

Next research.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0015-16.jpg

 

And another!

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0017-16.jpg

 

I'd love to keep them alive a bit longer and use them later when their contribution would be far bigger but having them in the middle of the network is far too annoying.

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More derelicts.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0001-53.jpg

 

At least some are disarmed.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0002-49.jpg

 

And we meet an enemy we can not survive through at the moment.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0004-44.jpg

 

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0011-27.jpg

 

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0012-23.jpg

 

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0013-17.jpg

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I take it the swarm are bad? Are they another alien race, or are they like the derelicts?

Swarm are not that bad. If you have point defence they become a source of money. One can destroy it even with a handful of laser armed destroyers - the ones I'm using against derelicts should do just fine - but not without quite some casualties. Unless you have point defence it is very hard to profit from them. Your scouting parties are definitely doomed, no way to escape them.

 

They do multiply though and I have seen pars of galaxies in bigger maps completely infested. But they are only really problematic if you find yourself surrounded by them at the beginning of the game.

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State of the empire. Our web has increased a lot, though we still lag behind other empires. We started with a third of their power after all.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0002-50.jpg

 

Another Swarm infection found, another piece of expensive equipment lost. The Zuul inside were expendable.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0001-54.jpg

 

We are closing the network rings and starting a standard node drilling duty. A bore ship is sent to do a couple of circles.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0006-31.jpg

 

An enemy colony is found.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0003-46.jpg

 

We start looking at Zuul-only slave gathering ships we have in our design arsenal. We might just send them off when a CnC ship is available. We won't wait for PD or the blasphemous rebels might grow too much.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0005-39.jpg

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Right now I'm more worried about them feasting on us but feasting on them seems like a nice idea anyway! :P

 

Oh man, what NOW? I rechecked the random encounters numbers, it really was on normal...

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0001-55.jpg

 

Another one of these.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0002-51.jpg

 

If you look at the photo a bit closer you will see planetary missiles fired from the monitor.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0005-40.jpg

 

Luckily bore ships are insanely tough and both our ships make it to asteroid shadow.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0006-32.jpg

 

Zuul are crap at research and we have the least rich tech tree, but we sure are able to make a breakthrough more often than others!

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0012-24.jpg

 

State of the empire, with current state of randoms. I forgot an existing derelict but I'll change the game reality to suit this pic rather than take another screenshot.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0007-35.jpg

 

Finally, CnC ship to lead our packs.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0010-28.jpg

 

Keep fingers crossed for a PD link!

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0009-26.jpg

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You win some and you lose some. Than you lose some more. And you bury yourself in research.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0021-17.jpg

 

And as there is never enough losing...

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0017-17.jpg

 

When I saw it coming I knew I can not defend the colony. I could try but would only throw away some scrapheap challenge winners. He who defends everything... is not Zuul. Errrr, defends nothing.

 

Funny I was just saying it is not that bad. Tell that to the 28k+ Zuul on the planet.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0023-19.jpg

 

A small patch for our wounds.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0025-13.jpg

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Didn't I tell? We were able to research PD, so Swarm seems a bit less of a threat.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0001-56.jpg

 

Preparations are made to go for some bug mining.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0003-47.jpg

 

After we have been reminded of VN, all our colonies got a 5 DE defending force.

 

I tried to send a defence fleet to a new colony as well but I forgot that the Swarm infested more than one system.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0004-45.jpg

 

Obviously I sent 5 ships to their fiery death.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0005-41.jpg

 

They actually held pretty good with their lasers but in the end they were overwhelmed by the sheer numbers.

 

A bigger picture for state of the empire this time. Needless to say, we are not happy to see Tarkan scouts trickling in from the other side of the rift.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0006-33.jpg

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And as there is never enough losing...

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0017-17.jpg

 

When I saw it coming I knew I can not defend the colony. I could try but would only throw away some scrapheap challenge winners. He who defends everything... is not Zuul. Errrr, defends nothing.

 

Funny I was just saying it is not that bad. Tell that to the 28k+ Zuul on the planet.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0023-19.jpg

If that is in the middle of your colonies that is quite good. Every 5 turns a new queen will be sent to your colonies -> 50k - 500k credits. :P

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If that is in the middle of your colonies that is quite good. Every 5 turns a new queen will be sent to your colonies -> 50k - 500k credits. :P

He he he, that might just work... Not just on some forsaken rock, I could leave it at a colony as well. All I would need to do is only kill the "bees", not the queen. Than I can safely colonize a world and let it produce new queens. Could be annoying for travel though as at each fleet arrival there is a (high) chance of the swarm awakening and drones will need to be killed. Shouldn't be a problem with cruisers and PD.

 

I'll definitely try it out! Thank you for the idea!

 

Years ago I suggested growing Silicoids (Swarm) as bees for SotS2 but it may just be it is already in...

 

BTW, to everybody; if you have oversized pics when you open the page, refresh it (F5) and that should do the trick.

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We are speeding for cruisers as our destroyers are really weak.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0009-27.jpg

 

Infestation at Sphinx is cleared. This one was too much in the way to leave it there ATM. Also I wanted to film the encounter but when the nest was destroyed no queen or larva was found. It seems as we'll have more chances to find one to show you.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0010-29.jpg

 

Our Swarm Reapers performed admirably. The Swarm is no longer a serious threat.

 

From Swarm we turn to School. Of fish.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0012-25.jpg

 

Derelict Claws are battered from last derelict. Our nearby colony is still in it's infancy and doesn't have enough infrastructure to have the industrial output necessary for ship repair. We can not afford to wait for it to grow. We must expand and losses are acceptable.

 

While war ships engage the fish defenders our Wraith Abductors dive into the atmosphere for some canning action!

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0015-17.jpg

 

Full of fish, Abductors speed away while our attacking forces dwindle.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0016-18.jpg

 

Battle was a draw and we lost more ships than the fish. Draw...

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0018-14.jpg

 

Not for millions of killed and canned fish it wasn't. Our remaining forces are pulled back to our growing colony. It will undoubtedly make good use of slaves we bring.

 

I admit it is so nice to see breakthroughs that I don't even mind sucking at research in general.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0022-11.jpg

 

We go for CnC. Numbers and cheapness are our main advantages.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0020-12.jpg

 

Note that we have boarding researched. No, I didn't forget to post about researching it, it is a Zuul speciality. We got it for free. Our CnC and support cruisers all have pods, so a Zuul repair cruiser is not as innocent a target it would otherwise seem.

 

Slaves are brought to Adhara!

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0024-15.jpg

 

Slave manager? How cool er... Zuul is that?!

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0028-9.jpg

 

We are back at Kreelar. Our former colony.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0029-6.jpg

 

This time we leave the bugs alive in an attempt to grow them.

https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/SotS%20TAR/screen0031-6.jpg

 

A mistake. We can not colonize a world while Silicoids infest the system. Well tough luck. Honey does not come as cheap as we have hoped.

 

That does not mean we are giving up as far as growing the Swarm is concerned. If we already have a colony and it is infested we can keep them. We'll see about the hazard that brings.

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