Turn 61Opinion is divided in the Senate about whether to take sides in the Federation-Ferengi war. Some feel we should join on the Federation side, while others advocate for Romulan neutrality.
Captain Pisskop is assigned to further reconnaissance toward Ferengi space.
Turn 62We continue terraforming in Zakdorn.
Turn 63The Cardassians offer us a non-aggression treaty, which we will accept. This will cut off our main route into Ferengi space, but Romulus is overly diplomatically isolated at the moment - the Cardassians, even 'uncooperative', are the most friendly of the major powers.
The other system in disputed space is Rigel, with 210 population maximum. North of it, we again see the Ferengi outpost. In the northeast, we detect a Ferengi Explorer, equivalent to our scout.
Turn 63In the far east, we can see that Ferengi influence does not cover this system. Perhaps it is a minor race system?
Turn 64Sarthong is apparently the end of Ferengi space in this direction, which is unusual. We expected the Ferengi homeworld to be still further east, but the evidence suggests it is actually in the northeast.
Captain Mal Devious reaches the Mintaka outpost and will proceed to guard it.
Turn 66We meet the Klingon Empire.
And they are
scary. They are ahead of us in all aspects, and have a whopping seven systems. Given their morale level and extra dilithium, we think one of those is a conquered minor race system.
Their scout entered our space southeast of Mintaka. While Captain Mal Devious could pulverize it in an instant, he is ordered not to. It would be unwise to provoke the Klingon Empire at this stage.
Turn 67In the northeast, Captain Pisskop transmits this disturbing image of Ferengi military might. Their War Cruisers and Light Raiders are superior to our Cruisers and Destroyers. It is undoubtedly an invasion fleet, bound for Federation space.
We rush another cruiser. It costs us most of our treasury, but we need to be able to stand up to the Ferengi. And the Klingons. And maybe the Federation.
We also finished terraforming in Zakdorn. Now our colony ship will make the long trek to Mintaka.
Turn 68We have underestimated the Ferengi, it seems. To the east, the invasion fleet we saw previously, to the north, a lone War Cruiser, to the west, FOUR War cruisers and an outpost, and to the southwest, an unprotected colony ship and troop transport building an outpost.
Captain Pisskop is ordered to make a daring attack against them. It is dangerous, given that any of the warships in the vicinity could move in and crush him, but we cannot allow the Ferengi to finish the outpost unopposed.
Back at Romulus, the RNS Petrel A is our second warship to be commissioned. It is helmed by Captain Haspen, and will join Captain Mal Devious in the defense of Mintaka.
Turn 69The element of surprise is always crucial, and we have achieved it.
Captain Pisskop annihilates the Ferengi colony ship, but the troop transport slips away.
It appears our analysts were partially right all those turns ago. The Federation put down a whole colony instead of an outpost at Sarona, and now these humans are under Ferengi rule. With those War Cruisers in the north alerted, it’s time to make a quick exit from Ferengi space.
Turn 70The Ferengi make sure to guard their troop transport this time – unfortunately it’s too late for the hapless colony ship. Captain Pisskop makes his way back to Mintaka.
Turn 71Uh-oh. The Ferengi seem to be in pursuit, and their five War Cruisers could easily obliterate our ships at Mintaka.
Turn 72We get an upgrade in Propulsion, making our techs level 3 across the board. That gives us improved intel centers and laboratories, and the Imperial Senate which boosts morale empire-wide, but can only be built in Romulus. It takes 170 energy to power, so we won’t build it just yet.
The Propulsion upgrade also boosts our ship range – compare this to turn 71. Our medium range ships (cruisers) can travel one square further. Also, the Ferengi have withdrawn – presumably they are afraid to confront us in our space, given the uncertainty of cloaked ships.
Turn 73The Klingons send us a demand, which we will accept. Romulan pride chafes at this subservience to the Klingons, but we simply cannot survive a war on two fronts, considering our new view of Ferengi might.
I group all our warships into one fleet. Shown here is Captain Pisskop’s scout, which has 310 experience but is still at the first level. More experienced ships get bonuses to firepower and survivability (I think).
Turn 74The Bay12 fleet will circle around Cardassian space and strike at Sarona again, which our cruisers can now reach with the propulsion upgrade. The Ferengi probably restarted outpost construction, but we’ll (hopefully) be able to take out the escorts and disrupt them.
Turn 75We spot a Federation scout at Malcor – both the Federation and the Cardassians are now ‘friendly’ with the Malcorians. Perhaps Federation diplomacy will overcome the Cardassian’s headstart in relations with the Malcorians?
Turn 76We don’t know who these Yridians are, or why they’re declaring war against the Klingons, but they do provide a timely reminder of the importance of diplomacy.
We propose short (25-turns) non-aggression treaties to the Federation and Ferengi, who are still at war with each other. Empires at war are much more likely to accept peace treaties with other empires – except if you’re the player on Impossible difficulty. Our main priority is not to get dogpiled by the other empires.
Of course, in true Romulan fashion, we prepare to backstab the enemy – this time even before we’re at peace. That’s a colony ship, two troop transports and only one War Cruiser at Sarona. Since all the planets are terraformed, the colony ship will probably depart next turn, but we can get the three ship task force.
Also, that’s a Federation colony ship terraforming Ariannus, and their scout in Vadris.
Turn 78We ambush the enemy at Sarona.
Our primary target is the FMS Lessor A, a Ferengi War Cruiser. Individually, it is more powerful than our cruisers, but we have the advantage of cloaks and outnumber him.
All ships target him in the decloaking round. Disruptors and torpedoes stream his way, but we have successfully surprised the enemy and there is no return fire.
He goes down in the first round. Credit for the kill goes jointly to Captain Haspen and Captain Mal Devious – our first kill of an enemy warship.
With their escort gone, the troop transports stand no chance.
There are no survivors. Interestingly, the report says ‘outpost destroyed’ twice – maybe because the outpost was scheduled to be finished this turn, but was aborted.
A shot of the Ariannus system, which the Federation apparently intends to settle. Good luck to the colonists!
In the meantime, our ships remain in the Sarona system.
Turn 78We sign peace treaties with the Federation and the Ferengi. Now we only have to worry about the Klingons – for 25 turns, at least.
Also, as a result of the peace treaty, the Ferengi helpfully tow our ships back to Mintaka, the nearest Romulan system, saving us a three-turn voyage. If you have ships in an empire on the turn you sign a non-aggression pact with them, they get displaced to the nearest friendly system.
We won’t be remaining idle, though – the Bay12 fleet will escort our last troop transport back to construct an outpost on Ekos, which we’ll colonize eventually.
Turn 79Apparently the Klingons are going to beat up the poor Cardassians – we get an invitation. I ignore it, as well as the Ferengi demand.
Turn 80I didn’t mention this when it was signed, but the non-aggression treaty shows the extent of Ferengi space. The Ferengi homeworld is probably in the northeast cluster of stars along the galactic ring. The Federation core of Sol isn’t that far, probably explaining why they got into an early war.
Of note, Ferengi space extends quite far south – they’ve colonized Sarthong and another system beyond. The southernmost Ferengi system is probably a minor race, given that they’ve got two minor races now according to the intel screen.
Also in Romulus, we build a third cruiser, the RNS Albatross A, which is making way to Ekos. We’re building another colony ship to colonize Ekos.
Turn 81Nothing much happens.
Turn 82The troop transport arrives and starts building the outpost at Ekos.
Captain Pisskop is promoted to the RNS Albatross A for exemplary service (c. Ambush at Sarona) and the RNS Darkfeather A will serve as auxillary to his fleet.
Turn 83I suppose it’s too much to hope that the Ferengi and Klingons go to war. We also ignore the Federation demand (which is bigger than our entire treasury).
Turn 84We get another random event! Romulus I, previously a Y-class volcanic planet, shifts to a J-class barren planet. In the process, we lose 5 maximum population (not a problem) but we also lose the 100% energy bonus. Well, at least we get to build wind turbines.
Romulus finished building its colony ship, so we’ll build the wind turbines, another factory, and then continue on a cruiser.
Turn 85Mintaka is fully terraformed, so we’ll move the colony ship to Ekos to help terraform that too.
Turn 86Apparently they left Mintaka just in time. The outpost is ordered to battle stations as Klingon ships appear.
Bad news – it’s a pair of Klingon Battle Cruisers, more heavily armed than our cruisers.
The outpost commander orders all fire to be concentrated on one of the Klingon ships. He knows that he will not survive, but perhaps they will take the Klingons with them.
Even as the outpost explodes, its plasma torpedoes find their mark. One of the Klingon Battle Cruisers is destroyed.
His sacrifice will not be for naught. The Romulan fleet is ordered back to Mintaka without delay. We were careless in trusting the bloodthirsty Klingons, but they will pay for it.
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Topic: Let's Play Star Trek: Birth of the Federation! (Read 31931 times)