My First Real AAR -- Also My First 8/8

[Radiant Phoenix]

Things I remember from the last try:

• Popping the barracks will kill my champion. Not that I care that much, but it's the principle of the thing. I'll bust the Mk1 Ion Canon, and beachhead the system.
• I need better defenses in the BHM system. Mk3 Lightning Turrets seem wise, as do tractor turrets in places I would prefer enemies to be. Maybe a gate-raid is in order...

Okay, that's done, and the BHM system is now renamed The BHM System. Some other worlds are also renamed.

Champ is patrolling Sofo, and all unlocked Offroad ships are built, and in the East Fleet. Also, some Neinzul Roaming Enclaves showed up.

[Radiant Phoenix]

The AI likes its Plasma Siege Starships, I see. Wait, captured human settlements are immune to forcefields? What does that even mean?

... Oh hey, I have an economy again. Time to beachhead. With some cloaker starships to hide my beachheadding supplies.

Raiders from the north of SCL 1, but I expect to repel them easily.

... oops! I left my beachheading supplies behind! Better fix that...

"Waiting AI Threat on Raid Engine 1 Border North is  Spawning a Warp Relay (50%)"

Okay, you know what? I'm done with this "sabotage hacking" plan. It's time for my Champ to pop the raid engine. I'll take the wave, and the AIP.

[Radiant Phoenix]

Alright, Raid Engine down, Warp Relay disrupted. Champ, clear what you can in that system and drive over to Sofo to re-clear it. (No, you're not ready for a Fortress 3)

Oh, hey, my economy started back up. Build some raid starships. What, that won't cut it? How about some lightning turrets? Riot Control Starships?

Whatever, time to build some turrets.

[Radiant Phoenix]

Raid Engine down, Warp Relay disrupted. Champ, clear what you can in that system and drive over to Sofo to re-clear it. (No, you're not ready for a Fortress 3)

Oh, hey, my economy started back up. Build some raid starships. What, that won't cut it? How about some lightning turrets? Riot Control Starships? Whatever, time to build some turrets.

"You thought it was just some minor Sniper Turrets, but it was us! Missile and Needler Turrets!"

... I think I just killed so many AI ships I got reprisal up to level 1.

[Radiant Phoenix]

Okay, turrets up, pop the barracks, kill the things that come out, and... don't take the planet, encapsulating a group of the AI's forces, because I forgot to do that. Didn't pop the CS, though. Next step: SCL2. ... after a quick tachyon-pop. Also, put some more mobile defenses on SCL 1. Like some Leech Starships, a flagship, and some spirecraft. Wait, does everything on SCL1 have a Heavy hull type now? Better fix that somehow... maybe some Bomber Starships.

SCL2's AI CS is popped... maybe I should have hacked the fortress? Too late for that now. Let's see if I can pop it from outside my radar-dampening range. Yes! Yes I can! Now I just wait a bit...

Also, definitely not going for the Super Terminal for more than a couple seconds. SCLs are much more reliable.

[Radiant Phoenix]

WOOT! Spire Shadow Cruiser unlocked! Not that I'm going to use it right now, seeing as I don't have its special modules...

Oh, some waves on SCL1... Heh, look at those translocators kick that Leech Starship around the system... it's like they're playing football, and it's the ball.

Fortress down in SCL2, freeing me to put ships on FRD there, as long as they're immune to the Ion Cannon. In you go, offroaders!

Next stop: actually putting a Command Station in that system without getting the SCL killed. Maybe Riots are the way to go?

[Radiant Phoenix]

A new day dawns, time for more AI War. Unlock Forcefield-3, plop one over SCL#2 with a mobile builder before it gets Ionized. Repair the Offroad fleet, and send the champ to capture Sofo.

Oh, look, the Broken Golem Exo-wave announced. Let's build more spirecraft. And turrets. Oh look, time for some Matter Converters (3). And scrap half the science vessels, for +30k energy. Haha, look: my economy is crying.

And... Shadow Battleships unlocked.

I think I should do a teensy bit of gate-raiding, maybe. You know, clear out some of the threat avenues to make the Exo-wave come the long way. But first, delicious guard posts. Also, capturing SCL 2 now that the forcefield is up. And more scouting. ("Many Scout Drones died to bring us this information...")

You know what? Capturing SCL 2 needs a higher priority than building turrets. Snooze some in Inner Gate South, along with some of the Spirecraft under construction.

[Radiant Phoenix]

... WTF? The SCLs ticked 3 minutes before the hour! ... or maybe it was just on-capture? Either way, I've got turrets to build, and AI stuff to kill. And planets to scout, now that a few more Tachyon Sentinels are down; can't forget that... Finally! A Broken Golem! Oh, wow, repairing Ion Cannons is expensive. That can just go out the window, then.

Anyway, capturing another planet, hoping to get CS-Mil 3 before... "Incoming AI Exogalactic Strikeforce detected (50%) [Spirecraft - Hard]" ... that. Golems at 62%. In the good corner, IMT showed up. I really want those Insanity Inducers, though...

CS-Mil 3s up. Back to building turrets and killing threat. Wave hits CS-Mil 3, but is basically eaten by the Offroad fleet with a little turret-help. Hmm... since I can't really hold Ion Cannons, how about I just don't worry about capturing them, and pop them for easier beachheading?

Exo-Wave 3 announced: Champion Nemesis. I'm going to build a Survey Ship and gather the whole gang. Broken Golems at 70%... no, you may not have a warp relay! Beachhead, kill them all! Even the special forces!

[Radiant Phoenix]

Hmm, I think I'll pop the two interior planets, to keep defense simpler... oh right, stupid Barracks. Beachheading, assemble!

Oh look, another warp relay. I need to beachhead three more planets now. Stupid threat, NOBODY LIKES YOU!

[OutOfGame]Ohfor... my computer had a couple momentary freezes, and now has a stack of crash reports a mile high. Those would probably have been terminal freezes before I upgraded my kernel and graphics driver. At least nothing important crashed. Also, left-alt got stuck for a moment, but pushing it unstuck it, so I think things are good now.[/OutOfGame]

More Beachheads, more Matter Converters. 83% to Exo Wave: Golems. 63% to Warp Relay. One Barracks popped.

[Radiant Phoenix]

Alright, popped the two inner planets, so I can colonize them, which incidentally disables the AI fortress inside my borders. Both are colonized with CS-Econ, and my beachheading supplies move to the Western Front.

[Radiant Phoenix]

Beachhead and subspace scan. Seems like good things to do in parallel. INSANITY INDUCERS! YAYZORZ!

Wow, Self-Destruction guardians are good against turrets. Let's upgrade. Also, a shard showed up when I surveyed. Seems good. The named exo-waves will strike soon. As opposed to the AI just being slightly aggressive.

And... shard is back, building transciever. Economy's singing a sad song from paying for all those Mk4 turrets I'm now building.

Huh, the golem Exo-waves don't look so impressive, but... 14k strength? I'd better tanky up... Or maybe not? Things seemed to go well.

FortifyFortifyFortify... oh hey, the AI wiped out the Engies and rebuilders in one system, better fix that. The Subspace Survey completed too. Time to do that, while my Champ Tachyon drills. Maybe also push the Eastern front? Only after some scouting.

[Radiant Phoenix]

Some surveying has revealed an alien refugee ship. I'm sure you can imagine how this goes, but 500k is quite expensive for me right now. Meanwhile, after some vigorous tachyon drilling by Champ, the first Vengeance Generator is discovered in the northern wilderness, and the third SCL in the South-central Wilderness.

2.5k mysterious strength showed up, probably from an exo-wave that had its leader popped, so my champion will have to deal with that before going back to tachyon drilling. (Ugh, an Arachnid guardpost under glass)

Oh, look, a 2,200 ship CPA... should I worry?

EDIT: Actually, it's only 2,202. I misread.

[Radiant Phoenix]

Moar scouting! Capturing Kiasnoquon so I'll get some salvage there from Exo-waves, and back to tachyon drilling for Champ.

Oh look, a Vengeance Generator and a Spire Civilian Leader just kind of chilling together in the northern wilderness... I'm sure that will be fun. Subspace signal on SCL 1. Survey Ship! To the Empiremobile! Dyson Sphere found in the southern wilderness. It's in a target-rich environment, so I'll let it vent its rage right now. I also found a Zombard design backup in SCL 3. Time for le sabotage.

Plasma Siege Cannons unlocked. That's 2.5kdps/mark/slot against the right targets, when I'm in spire mode. I also have a pile of extra metal, so I'm going to build that MkV Zenith Starship I have a fab for... oh wait, I need better defenses -- my BHM was nearly popped! Spire ModFort time! (Yeah, I know I'll have to rebuild it later at a choke. I'll be able to take it by then. I think I'll also gate-raid the Super Terminal system...

Here comes the CPA. How do these things work, anyway? I see a carrier in Choke South, but it seems to be just faffing about. Oh look, two waves and an Exo-Wave of Champs. I think CPAs are just balls of threat? Still, that can be annoying until I get my Spire Cities up...

[Radiant Phoenix]

Finally, my first data center! And SCL 5!

Carriers are popped, and I my champion should be able to mop up the mess in a few respawns... wait, is that another carrier? TO THE WARHEADS! (Lightning 1) ... I clearly didn't resort to enough, because half the fleet's still there. Threat dropped by about 9k strength, though. After much fiddling, I decided to beachhead. That went well, and a cap of Mk4 Missile Turrets and Mk4 Needler Turrets, supported by my Champ, was quite able to mop up the remaining ~3-4k threat in the system.

Whoa, SpecFor is swarming all over that Zombard Design Backup... hmm, can I still hack it?

Champ is busy clearing out guard posts in the outer ring, so I won't have to worry about as much resistance when I capture those in the future. Luneiock has nothing important on it that can be killed, so I can just capture it and put some of the neutered planets on alert. Hmm... let's see if my Spire Refugee Fleet can take down wormhole guardposts in a reasonable amount of time... wait, why am I bothering? I was going to capture this planet anyway, let's just expedite that.

So, I've got another planet under my belt, and yet another to capture before I step out of my outer ring. Oh hey, I have a bunch of K. Let's get Econ 3.

... SpecFor is driving right through my shiny new planet. I'm not sure whether to be happy that they're showing up to die, or upset that the paint keeps getting scratched.

[Radiant Phoenix]

I think I'm ready to take Choke South, and put a city there. Once again, nothing terribly important here, other than the location, so I'm not to worried about beachheading or whatnot. Station pops, colony ship and science vessels go in, fleet goes in, champ goes tachyon drilling. A forcefield will go up, because the city isn't there yet. Turrets won't go under the forcefield (Except Lightning), because that's dumb, so I'll have to move them later.

Unlocking Lightning Turret IV and Sniper Turret IV for defense. Time to beachhead the Zombard system and hack it... actually, maybe I'll go man-mode and not beachhead it... nah. Some of the outer ring systems do need beachheading, though. Zombard hack is successful, time to colonize before the hour, so we go into the black red on AI Progress over time.

I have decided to "always display planet names", for the benefit of all y'alls watching out there.

EDIT: I think now is the time to unlock Scout IV, and drive all over the galaxy scouting everything