The last of the humans were relatively secure in their recent position. While K-Raiding the eastern front (which apparently always spawns +1 MK from current tech level) largish waves hit Macross and were able to be turned away with the help of recent research and the Zenith Trader's deliveries.
The Zenith Trader's builds were progressing nicely on Twycross, having gotten a Radar Jammer II, a Cloak Killer, and an Armor Inhibtor up by now. Construction was progressing nicely on the Armor Booster.
Recent researches into Neinzul Factory Craft had progressed nicely, and they were now able to generate Neinzul Factory IIs.
The foreign colonies had been converted to Mil IIIs and Econ IIIs, as thought appropriate. The Rebel Colony at Argyle had kindly provided a small fleet to assist in the endeavour.
At 10:45 game time, the human fleet took Eridani and the AI's ARS stationed there. The two fortresses went down without a hitch and the humans also captured a Spider Bot V fabricator. The Spider Bots would do very nicely against the massive volumes of Cutlasses being sent at the fleet. At 10:55 the human commander realized there was going to be a significant warp gate problem. Clipping the wings off Confederation wasn't going to be the problem.
After a discussion of suicide tactics and the necessity for the human race, 6 Raid Starships head into Kirk to remove the dual Warp Gates stationed there. Their job was further compounded by the need to continue to nerf Kirk to help avoid significant AI logistics due to alerting them to the nearby capture of the system, made necessary by the CSG-A.
The humans stationed a Mil III on Eridani and the fleet dug in, waiting to take on the raid as it crossed the wormhole into controlled space.
The humans, hoping that direct confrontation before releasing the waves into known space might help save the satellite colonies, stand tall in Eridani. Twycross command realizes the situation and stop calling for immediate support from all known fleet elements, and digs in. C&C is moved to the chapel. It can't hurt.
The Engineer corps head for Argyle, to help with their rebuilding efforts once the main fleet has been damaged. Colonists the galaxy over pray for the safety of the fleet. It was in vain.
Twycross's defenses hold with the help of the autobombers, who did the best they could in spite of the enemy missile frigates ignoring their area blasts. With that, everyone turned towards Eridani in hope. A transport had arrived dropping off the last of the fleet reinforcements from Kerensky, where the Fab Warp Gate had pulled the new Spider Bots to.
The wave heads into Kirk, and beelines for Eridani. Local guardian defenders on Kirk join the parade of AI forces pouring towards Eridani. The first guardians come out of the wormhole and the fleet pounds down a few bomber starship IVs and assorted guardians. Then the raid starts to pour through.
The cutlasses, in spite of gravity altering structures, pour through the nearby Military command station's force field and proceed to chop it to finely carved bits. The soul who thought putting the command station on the wormhole to Kirk would be courtmarshalled, but he's dead now, lost in the firey explosion of the tactical center supporting the fleet. Once the tactical center fell, the fleet had no chance.
The 2500 MK IV ships poured through our mixed fleet of 1200 ships in a sheerly fear inspiring array of death. Our maws and Blade Spawners tried to get out of the line of fire, doing what they could to pick off as many ships as they could before they escaped into the colonial areas.
As I stand here in the cloaked starship on the edge of the galaxy, it's a sad sight. There's nothing left of the fleet. Nothing. All of our brave souls are dead except for a handful of ships trying to race back to the homeworlds to help, and they're being heavily outrun.
When the wave hit Cyborg, the cutlasses split off, beelining for the western colonies. The rest of the wave poured into Kerensky. Emergency power was recently brought back online, activating the 3 fortresses on the planet. Troops manned the Ion V cannon with effeciency, but again, the defense was in vain. Kerensky fell along with our Polarizer V fabricator and all hands lost on the Military III station. In a fit of pique, the AI left us a fortress behind. Without supply, though, we hear reports of hunger and cold from the men manning the station. They request assistance as soon as they can, so they can go back to their duty of helping to protect the last of mankind.
The cutlass troop of over 300 MK IV cutlasses poured into Solar Moon and destroyed our token defenses there. They did the same in Jumping Jax, destroying both Military Class III stations. The main force, heavily blunted but by no means less dangerous by the war in Kerensky, of around 900 ships continues to travel through the AI neutered systems towards Twycross.
On Twycross command, a larger chapel is hurredly built. Construction of the Armor booster is taken offline to help rebuild the fleet. Whispers across Twycross state that homeworld command has dictated that Twycross MUST hold. No matter the cost. If Twycross falls, humanity is over.
The Merchants at Argyle are hurridly trying to build off a replacement fleet from the rebel colony, getting a pair of Heavy Beam Cannons and a large gravity well to help deal with the marauding cutlasses. There's no chance they'll be getting pilots from homeworld with the mass fleet cutting them off, so anyone able to fly is being hurridly trained and pressed into service. When the cutlasses arrive, only 20 ships have been able to be brought online.
There's no reason Argyle should still be alive, but they are. The Cutlasses were apparently getting horrible orders from the AI with the confusion at Twycross and must have crossed its circuits. As the cutlasses arrived the rest of the raid began its assault on Twycross. The cutlasses took out the HBC inside the gravity wells, and with still 280 cutlasses left, must have gotten orders to come to Twycross and assist the assault. Yet, they were stuck in the grav well. Our fleet, maneuvering the best it could, thinned out the ranks of the cutlass forces by half as the cutlasses retreated back into the wild.
On Liao, two starships have shown up to menace our Factory IV. The Bomber IV that's pounding on the forcefield is popping the 4 HBC cannons as quickly as they rebuild while our 3 sniper turrets harass it, barely scratching the paint. With the FF 50% down a Leech starship joins in, but the HBCs are finally able to overcome the Bomber starship and the leech retreats.
Twycross has held. As the enemy fleet poured into the system, our civilian engineers continued fighting in the midst of heavy firepower raining down on it, holding the forcefields up. The rest of the raid died in what's known as the 'Land of Lightning' on Twycross, amongst the Riot II tazer region.
At 11:15 into the war, humanity has been hammered back to a whisper of its previous glory. In one bold stroke, the AI that nearly destroyed all of us has beaten us down again, reminding us of why we must utterly destroy the machines we made if we ever hope to live.
Fleet's been erased, utterly. I've lost pretty much all the fabricators except for the Fact IV on Liao and that's only because the AI didn't really go after it, I got some token drifters. It was a risk and a price. I HAD to shut down the warp gates on Kirk, or I'd be eating CPA waves when they ran over Eridani. I knew it was going to be inane but YEAOW! At least I know what I'll be dealing with later after I'm done banging away on Riker. The core economy's still strong and the last defensive line is still up. The Zenith toys on Kerensky are gone so they're a moot point at this point.
1) Get the fleet back up and rebuild the economy.
2) Finish improvements on Twycross.
3) Don't put the darned Mil III station right on the wormhole again INTO the raid area (dumb ass....)
4) Proceed as planned, with a 2 hour delay (roughly)
