59 replies to this topic

[silencer_pl]

I promised so I deliver. Here is the beginning of probably long and not so exciting AAR of me playing Sword of The Stars Ultimate Collection.

We begin with standard settings:

Galaxy: Real Space,
Number of Stars: 200
Distances: 7 light years
Size: 0%
Resources: 0%



No alliances and teams means it is Free for all. Random Encounters I leave 100% as I don't want to be battling swarms every new planet.

I leave AI to randoms. I know I will know sooner or later who I will be fighting against - but for you it will be long time mystery.



We start at this point



Our starting techs looks following





So we can have UV lasers from the start, but that is not for now. We begin with standard Waldo units.

We also redesign our first scout unit with lasers and name it Sparrow and build 4. (Yep the names of the ships will be based on birds names)



They are sent to the nearest stars.



The first scout that arrives is greeted by some unknown menace



It is luckily alien derelict - so I proceed to 'disarm' it



In the mean time - waldo units are researched on time - it provides armour against lasers and orbital foundries which are researched next.
Our other scouts reveal 2 suitable planets to colonize and we do so.

The battle against alien derelict goes slowly - at 3rd battle turn I have managed to destroy first weapon systems and by 6th battle turn the derelict is neutralized.





Orbital foundries have finished 1 turn ahead of schedule, so since we are colonizing I started to research first bio technology.

P.S.

People please help me with naming of the ships - example what type of ships should be named after what bird - my suggestion is that Destroyers should be named after little ones like named one Sparrow or for example Nightingale.
Cruiser named after middle ones like Raven, Crow, Pigeon and Dreadnoughts after big ones like hawks, eagles and vultures.

[Space Voyager]

All RIGHT!  

Bold choice, 200 stars and real space!

[silencer_pl]

Indeed it is....

Ok, so we explore and colonize planets that are good for new colonies at this stage. Soon our scouts locate a Hiver planet on the verge of space



Unlucky they don't want piece...



... also we know where their home world is. Battle plans are being prepared as we don't want Hivers to expand.



Because our exploration goes fairly well, a disaster happend - a meteor storm destroyed one of our colonies.... Grumble grumble....
New ships are build to re-establish colony



On the bright side our researchers are able to research Point Defence systems... we can be safe from most missile/torpedo attacks



Because new planets are deeper in space I design a ship that will make space travel a bit faster...



As the game really doesn't like us, The Herald pays a visit in our home world... Even if I had 100 DE's I wouldn't be able to destroy him.... He is fast and armed to teeth - and for each 5 second or so morale of planet drops (or something like that).



Moving on - green laser tech allows us to go for beamers - more powerfull lasers, but lesser range - still the alpha strike effect is better than range - in most cases at least.



And the effect of Herald has started



Our scouts makes contact with Tarka... Our red lasers have range but their bullets have the punch and are lucky in accurate shots...



Finally the Herald effect has finished - but our Home world will not be as efficient as before - at least for some time. If I were playing humans - a fast propaganda ship would restore 100 morale in no time.



Our research against Hivers goes as planned - we now have Cruiser sized ships - no we just need better weapons...



We are being scouted by Liir ships... It has plasma weapons so our tankers go up in flames fast - luckly planet defences manage to destroy it.



Our scouts make contact with Silacoid swarm - it was fast and very painful.



Again we make contact with same Liir - luckly our colonizers devastated their ship in no time.



It's time to create some first defender type ship - with beamers and upgraded pulsed fission engine.



Also something bothers me... although I have researched Photonic Torpedoes and it states that I can make other ships modules, in reality Assault and Barrage can be added only after Heavy Lasers research is done... Shame that there aren't better versions of those torpedoes as they are the only ones that can't be destroyed by point defence systems.



Our scouts explore further deep into space - and we meet another Liir planet... our scout isn't fortunate to come back.



With our primary weapons researched we prepare for Invasion on the Hivers. Following ships are designed and ordered for construction... Also we begin the research of Fussion technology I fear that I will be the last to reach it as it will take 17 turns.











And our basic attack formation - after fusion engines I think I will increase the cap size for armada.



Fleet is assembled and we take of to invade Hivers - colonizers are sent afterwards for eventual planet capture and refuel station. I don't have repair ships yet - too many things are needed hard to pick those useful for quick assault.

Checking our standings we aren't doing that bad - but can be better.



Also I made contact with Asteroid Monitor on the outer planets - special project has been started to take control of it.

[Thorondor]

Whoa! Pretty cool ship designs those!

::

A most daring AAR. Good fortune then, and may you extend your wings to rise above all who challenge you, silencer!

[silencer_pl]

One question though - probably to Pete - why the oversized images sometimes don't encapsulate into - 'click to enlarge' frame ? Is it FF fault ?

[silencer_pl]

Our first campaign starts. First encounter battle went almost flawlessly. 0 ships lost 2 badly wounded including our point defence ship - I wish I had repair ships but oh well.







We await colony ships that are bound 2 turns to arrive, but meanwhile one of the Liir tries to scout one of our colonies - it is greated with laser beams.



Our second battle against the Hivers. This time we face bigger force and a colony. Battle goes fairly well at first...





Their ships just fall to pieces when our HC Lasers sing.



We didn't manage to wipe them out on the first try but the outcome was very advantageous for us.



Second turn should be just a clean up mission, but unfortunetly our hole in missile defence leaves us vulnerable although we manage to erradicate them loses were high so the remaining fleet withdraw for repairs. Those Hiver ships are tough and rely on missiles more than humans.







I also tried to flank them on the other planets - but the small force I had money for was met by almost twice the large fleet... Although outnumber but not out-gunned I managed to get 2:1 kill ratio.



Unfortunely my weakness was used by Tarka who invaded my new colony on the Hiver frontline... Curse you I will get my revange.



As soon as I got Fusion power, I upgraded the drives with additional power, and increased my firepower with UV Beamers and Plasma Heavy Cannons. Also I have researched Orbit shipyards so I can pay less for the ships.

Because of my new technology I have upgraded my current designed ships. As it seems Fusion engines provide extra weapon slots - how convenient.











Not a moment too soon because other Tarkas decided to pay a visit on my other side of colonies - Those colonies aren't fully improved but somehow I managed to create 1 cruiser on time and they decided to not attack... Hmm I wonder if my solo cruiser is stronger but oh well Mk1 Destroyers are 1 turn away so I will hold for now. Also I have mass produced more scouting party to know how things are up to. I guess the expand era is over now it is command & conquer era + expansion.







I managed to build 2 light platforms... Guess I was right the battle was piece of cacke but I have lost 5 DE's - it apperas that this lone Cruiser was tanker in its explosion took away 5 destroyers the lone survivor had destroyed engine. Oh well they were meant for scrap anyway guess they will increase resources one way or another.





Oh and by the way - some tech - don't know which - gave me my own propaganda ship... Well I had another visit from The Herald on some remote colony but the rebels were swiftly put out of action. The Asteroid Monitor was captured also quite fast and it took part in defence against Silacoid Queen. It survived - which means extra cash.

Looking at my current stats I think I am not doing that well.

[Space Voyager]

silencer_pl, on 10th January 2012, 1:02am, said:

The Asteroid Monitor was captured also quite fast and it took part in defence against Silacoid Queen. It survived - which means extra cash.

Awww, will you try to grow the Swarm?

Please do, it would be great to know how much money they can yield. You have PD so they are a minor nuisance.

Can you please check the colony's income before it was "infested"? I wonder if it counts as being besieged. If not, bees ahoy!

[silencer_pl]

Monitor is not in colony region... I believe it is in unihabitable planet too. But the swarm has a nest right next to it. I took autoresolve so I quess the queen was killed too.

[silencer_pl]

Bleh - the game is throwing almost everything at me.

[Space Voyager]

silencer_pl, on 10th January 2012, 8:25pm, said:

Bleh - the game is throwing almost everything at me.

Isn't that why you LOVE SotS?!

[silencer_pl]

Should have went for long range scaners earlier - oh well....

I have upgraded my star drives so I can create better version of my gravboat:



My scouting party have revealed small Zuul Forces and medium Tarka.



Also I am battling against Hivers right outside their doorstep.



A clear victory, though few ships had engine destroyed so I left the fleet there just to guard this nice spot for colony



At this point on the right side of the map there was many attacks and counter attacks against my colonies, and still the enemy tries to harass me there.... I am like battling against whole galaxy and my economy doesn't allow me to mass produce Cruiser class ships but enemy is like hoarding them and gets fairly well with everything else.



















I don't know if I should accept this message as  a good thing or a bad thing...  So to sum up I am(was) against 2 Lirr, 2 Tarkas, 2(1) Zuul and 1 Hiver. Actualy the Hivers are the only one that don't give me a headache.



Now this is very strange encounter - got attacked by 2 fleets... So well I created 10 light defences.... guess what... I have won... I mean the auto resolve has won.





Such battles like this one next occurs every 5-10 turns and that is against at least 4 other opponents.



Always when I build colony and send my fleet to another - I get attacked again.... guess I will have to wait 50 turns to get real re-enforcements there.





On the research side - I have better CnC, all possible bio research , Mining and should have now deep scan, after that I will have to hit weapons upgrade. The good side of weapons tech is that I can have phasers. But one question irks me. Are the pulsed(?) phasers better?

[Space Voyager]

silencer_pl, on 11th January 2012, 11:55pm, said:

Now this is very strange encounter - got attacked by 2 fleets... So well I created 10 light defences.... guess what... I have won... I mean the auto resolve has won.

Yea, autoresolve... What can you do, it throws an equation, adds a dice and misses so often it hurts. This is why I was thrilled to learn that SotS2 autoresolve plays the battles. All we have to wait is for the rest of the game to work.

Oh, and a new computer.  

silencer_pl, on 11th January 2012, 11:55pm, said:

On the research side - I have better CnC, all possible bio research , Mining and should have now deep scan, after that I will have to hit weapons upgrade. The good side of weapons tech is that I can have phasers. But one question irks me. Are the pulsed(?) phasers better?

Pulsed phasers are a small turret weapon but naturally you can put them in larger turrets. I know that there was a lot of talk about pulsed phasers being pretty powerful and better choice than some weapons designed for some medium turret but I don't remember what the final decision was.

When I go about designing dreadnoughts I also try to put longer range weapons into weapon slots that are further away from the sides of the ship. Putting phasers there could be a waste as they might never get a target in range... So at least as far as this goes pulsed phasers might be a better choice. In others I'd put phasers as they look much cooler.   As you can see, I am not the person to calculate all the equations before playing a game.

Anyway, I weep for inhabitants at AC+ 656955. I hope we get to visit their nesting ground once again.

[silencer_pl]

I think I have retaken that planet, although Zuul are visiting me with 25 ships, while I am on a bermuda triangle with Tarkas....

Also something else is strange for me. Liir ships equip their heavy plasma and fire a very big cannonade of shots, while mine heavy plasmas just fire 3 shots.

[Space Voyager]

silencer_pl, on 12th January 2012, 9:07am, said:

Also something else is strange for me. Liir ships equip their heavy plasma and fire a very big cannonade of shots, while mine heavy plasmas just fire 3 shots.

Are you sure those are heavy plasma? What you describe might be projectors, which are very commonly seen with Liir.

That or - less likely - they have point absorbers and are "recharging" much faster due to your weapons. If it is projectors you will see three blob-like turrets on their command section, if it is absorbers you will see some kind of antennae on their command section. If you see both... you are doomed.

Best solution to fighting absorbers is non-energy weapons, so missiles and ballistics. This will not recharge their weapons and they will additionally suffer from reduced armour, "health" and weaponry.

Projectors though... You can go for turret sniping. With phasers you can do it quite easily, which is why I don't do it.

[silencer_pl]

http://sots.rorschac...a_Projector.jpg

Yeah - forgot about these - never used one - always fought it was heavy plasma. I think that is one of the advantages of Liir - having those on Dreadnoughts can be devastating - seen it twice...

[silencer_pl]

I am thinking of restarting this play and make one with movies. Same settings of course - just need your opinions though I think only SV and sometimes Thorondor visits here

[Space Voyager]

silencer_pl, on 13th January 2012, 7:28am, said:

I am thinking of restarting this play and make one with movies. Same settings of course - just need your opinions though I think only SV and sometimes Thorondor visits here

No problem really. But I am sure Thorondor and I are not the only ones to take a look at your AAR, others just read I guess.

[Veki]

Space Voyager said:

Best solution to fighting absorbers is non-energy weapons, so missiles and ballistics. This will not recharge their weapons and they will additionally suffer from reduced armour, "health" and weaponry.

Since he's Morrigi he might have Disruptor shield available (80% for Deflector and 95% for Disruptor shield). If you do, use it in combination with ballistic weapons.

As for movie AAR, I prefer screenshots. It's faster and more interesting for me at least.

[silencer_pl]

Yes I can have shields but in reality never found use for them. Maybe someone could show me how ?

Yes I know screenies are faster since it takes 1-2 minutes to read it all, but they take more space and not all information can be provided and I am lazy at editing them while with movies you can re-live what the author did see what he did good / bad.

[Space Voyager]

silencer_pl, on 13th January 2012, 8:52am, said:

Yes I can have shields but in reality never found use for them. Maybe someone could show me how ?

Yes I know screenies are faster since it takes 1-2 minutes to read it all, but they take more space and not all information can be provided and I am lazy at editing them while with movies you can re-live what the author did see what he did good / bad.

Both deflectors and disruptors are pretty micromanagement intensive but they can really change the course of the game. An energy weapon dependant empire may find themselves in a lot of trouble when an enemy fields disruptor shields and same with ballistics and deflectors. You need to keep your lines coherent in the battle though and keep some ships behind as well to attack the ships going past your shield line.

As far as videos go; yes, filming those and uploading barely takes any time for the AAR writer, also uploading and posting. But they are very time consuming for your audience. Even videos that encompass a single battle - or less, a single brief but interesting minute of a battle - get very little views. People want to skim through, not watch for 20 minutes.
I decided to take my time writing an AAR... Nobody thinks it needs to end in a week.

BTW, @everyone: at 8:40 of the first posted vid you can see a colony trap in action! It is codenamed Black 14 by SolForce in the SotS lore and is a remnant of ancient Morrigi empire. This encounter is triggered by colonizing a world and is not survivable before you get PD. With the sole exception (in my SotS gaming) of one surviving colonizer in my last (Zuul) AAR. My colonizer there survived because the trap drone that was supposed to drag it into the dirt got into some kind of a loop while trailing the colonizer and never fired its tractor beam.