Well that was a doozy. This game certainly ramped up in challenge fast. I like it.
It started out simply enough. Since the upgrade to full-on Pain Trains, I haven't seen any Astro Trains come through - though that likely just means that they're lying in wait for me somewhere. Instead, something else showed up on my homeworld...
After I got over the initial panic of WHAT THE HELL IS THAT GIANT THING THAT JUST CAME THROUGH A HOSTILE WORMHOLE, I got down to some serious being disappointed about my economy not being nearly powerful enough to sustain one of those things. No real matter, though. I had bigger things on my mind: namely, gate-raiding Bobo and swiping whatever Knowledge I could.
I set about building a pair of Knowledge Hackers and a Mobile Builder, while I sent a fleet of Fighters, Bombers, and my Heavy Bomber Starship to take out the gate and the Wormhole Guard Posts.
Only it turned out to be... yeah. Not as easy as I thought it would.
The AI's fleet ships weren't much of an issue, but it did turn out to have several Guardian ships, which I had never seen before. It took me a minute to figure out how best to deal with them, but then I was able to take them out with my Fighters (fortunately, I had upgraded to Mark II not long before). Even with my Fighters and Space Planes covering my nearly-full-cap fleet of Bombers, along with my Starship, the Force Field protecting the Warp Gate just refused to
die. Note to self: taking out FFs via brute force is extremely slow work.
Meanwhile, the AI decides to launch a wave of Microfighters at Mike. Fortunately, I've got my Cruisers on standby there, and plenty of Flak/Tractor Beam turrets set up to chew them up as they come through. A few Sniper turrets in the back provide insurance against any of them that get through.
As expected, that wave is repulsed easily. Meanwhile, I finally get my Mobile Builder and Force Fields set up on the other side of the Bobo wormhole. I'm now ready to begin Knowledge-raiding, and so I dispatch my two Knowledge Hacker facilities. Unfortunately, the Wormhole Guard Posts have proven to be very, very durable; taking them out really
is inefficient. And the AI has lots of long-range weaponry parked around other areas on the planet.
...which promptly destroyed my Mobile Builder and my first couple Engineer Drones. Well. That's wonderful. My FFs are quick to fall after that, and it becomes a scramble to get another Mobile Builder and Engineer Drones out while my fleet holds off the massive AI counterattack. I've got no idea where these ships are all coming from, unless guards behave very differently from how I think they do (and they might, I'm still new to this).
I manage to get twin FFs up, and three Mark I Engineer Drones in there to keep them up. I shuffle all my ships under the FFs, toss my Knowledge Hackers in there, and brace for impact.
...Which promptly comes in the form of a Raid and Spire Starship jumping through a wormhole directly onto my home planet.
WHEEEEEE
Meanwhile, the AI is
also retaliating against my hacking force. All of a sudden, there are Guardian ships
everywhere. Zombie Guardians, Teleport Guardians (or whatever those are actually called, I don't remember), Laser Guardians... These things are coming from
everywhere, but between my two FFs and my rather impressive fleet I'm holding them off.
...Until, that is, around two-thirds completion, when both FFs suddenly fail. I still don't know what caused it, but both of them implode, exposing my fleet to enemy fire. They're not entirely gone, but they've shrunk enough that they're no longer actively shielding most of my units. And then the battle begins in earnest.
Especially because some Human Marauders decide that it's time to throw in their chips with the AI. Seriously, these things just cruise right past multiple AI installations on their way towards my fleet,
then start dishing out the pain. Meanwhile, back on Forrester, my reserve forces are fighting off the two Starships that are chewing their way through my Command Center FF.
But I manage to hold them off just long enough to finish my hacking and run the hell out of there, as well as destroy the two Starships back on my home planet. All in all, I think I lost a total of about a third of my fleet from that battle, which is much more than I've ever lost before. I would have lost much more if it weren't for setting up dual FFs before beginning the actual hack, as well as the presence of Tom Servo, who apparently leveled up from the battle (though I'm not sure what concrete benefits that has just yet). With my remaining ships being repaired and my Dock busy replenishing the lost ships, I set about using those 3000 Knowledge points I just stole from the AI.
First off, Mark II Scout Drones. Mark Is just aren't cutting it any more. I send my new Scouts out to check out the rest of the nearby planets, and turn up several very interesting places, the most notable being...
A Mark III planet with a Mark V Space Plane Fabricator. Papa
like. The Space Planes have really saved my bacon multiple times during the last session, whether it's acting as rapid-response to various Guardians showing up where I didn't expect them or keeping the MicroFighters off of my more valuable ships. Having a Mark V set of them is bound to be incredibly helpful. I'm making that planet my top priority.
