WAR OF THE DARK SPIREPART 4: BOMBSHELLGreetings, adveturers! Welcome back to the War of the Dark Spire. Previously, I managed to capture Orsha, a planet which hosts a blueprint for sniper ships.
I, umm... misnamed the relevant save, as you can see. Regardless, there is little to be done but proceed onwards.
I WELCOME YOUR CHALLENGE, HUMAN - THOUGH IT WILL BE IN VAIN IN THE END.
The first order of business is to recover my fleet, set up better defenses for Orsha, and overall lick my wounds from the Dire Guardian guarding the planet.
And there they are. I don't know much of their capabilities but infinite range is nothing to sneeze at.
Well. It would seem the AI is not wasting any time. Best get better turrets up quickly.
Not the prettiest but it will catch any AI ships trying to beeline for the home base from any wormhole.
I suspect this battle will be hard-fought. 50 strength is nothing to sneeze at. Still, at the end of the battle the AI probably won't be able to make another attempt like this for some time.
Eh, for good measure.
Oh, no you don't. I always forget that the force fields can move, heh.
The bulk of the force is Guardians. the Nucleophilic turrets will pull their weight, I hope. Still, this doesn't seem overwhelmingly dangerous.
Indeed, the force is defeated, though with some losses.
hiss... Some gate raiding may be in order.
Raid starships and sentinel starships will be ready soon, or at least that's my hope.
I suspected this might happen... I'll have to make do without engineers for a bit.
Atanasoff, thankfully, has already been cleared out. My sniper turrets can simply be redirected to take on the warp gate and the issue will be resolved, at least temporarily.
Destroyed. My hope is that the wave, when inevitably reassigned to another warp gate, will be sent to Gyarm instead.
Only one engineer, the autobuilt one, remains on Orsha. In the meantime a Vengeance Strike is inbound, though I suspect it will not have a major impact based on the last one. The question becomes... what now? There is a data center and a zenith power generator, and from Orsha their distance is not so terrible. Despite that it would require another pilgrimmage to reach either of them. For now, while regaining my metal, I am going to simply continue to scout and decide how to proceed from there.
Damn. The Wardens. I need to set up a new honeypot to trap them, now that the old one is gone. Just outside of Orsha is not a terrible idea, now that I think about it. But just outside of Gyarm is perhaps even better. I will see what I can do with a few mobile builders once the scouting run is complete.
That may be one of the worst scouting runs I have ever completed. Whatever the case, it didn't reveal much and I will attempt to look at a few more planets as soon as the ships are rebuilt, but in the meantime I will try and set up a honeypot back on Alterra.
Here we are. Alterra. A mark I planet bordering Gyarm. Hopefully I can lure the Wardens here, and use that to remove most of their forces. I can also hopefully take the Hunter Fleet on with the honeypot here, and if they break through they will still have Gyarm itself to deal with. A solid plan, or at least that is my hope.
Oh, no... not now. Ugh. This will be painful.
EXACTLY.
Damn it, an incoming wave on Gyarm destroyed the energy generator. Things are going to get interesting soon, I think.
I did not realize a Turtle type AI makes it this much more troublesome to scout. I find myself more than a little concerned by this point... I think knowledge hacking will be in order to power up my fleet.
All I can do at this point is shake my head slowly. 349 strength... The words "critical warning" could not be more true.
It begins. And on Orsha, too. I'm not surprised they would target Orsha but I am concerned. My best bet, so far as I can see, is to put up the best fight possible, lose, and rebuild my fleet at Gyarm in time to fend off the rest.
mouth hangs openHAHAHAHAHA. ENJOYING MY TREAT, HUMAN?
All right. So, the instigator base is on Dietz, and is thankfully close to my own territory. I will destroy my raid starships and rebuild them on Gyarm to take it down. In the meantime, I will do my damnedest to keep the AI from taking Orsha - though, I do technically have everything I need here, so it wouldn't be the end of the world.
Hmm. Been a little bit, but the AI has yet to make any serious moves with the fleet. It's a bit nerve-wracking.
This... this is going to be tough to defend against, once they attack.
Aaaand, they're all dead. Hmm.
A second attempt gets to Dietz. Oh, dear, it's like every planet got enormous reinforcements.
This instigator base may just have to wait. That is unfortunate, since it will make the next CPA even worse... but I simply do not know what else I can do.
Well, time to do something risky in the hopes of ending this stalemate. I will send my fleet to Atanasoff and try to bring the wrath of the AI down, so that I can clear out its threat. I've taken the liberty of saving first, since this is such a dangerous idea.
Some beam cannons did a number on my fleet but it's within reason. Meanwhile, another recapture is inbound... to Orsha, again. Urgh.
It's gonna be one of *those* attacks. I see.
My fleet is vanquished, but I still have a fighting chance... maybe. I have a save from just before the attack launched, so I may try a second time.
The station is down, but I shall continue fighting.
This will be close, that much is obvious. The victor is not yet evident... though I do suspect it will not be me.
Or... perhaps!
Well, they've been repelled, though only just. Honestly, I'm not even really sure what I can do at this point.
FEELING STONEWALLED?Yeah, that's a good term, AI. Everywhere I go is too many ships to count. I suppose all I can do is get started clearing them out, you know?
All right. The fleet is rebuilt, and the game is quicksaved. I shall now move to Denning, and attempt to cull the herd.
The number of ships present is ludicrous. It would be nice if I could deliberately drag them into Orsha but alas, I have no ships with that capability on my side. As it stands I will hole up in a corner and try to clear through them as best I can.
