It's not so much that I'm doing badly; it's that the Altarians are a monster. They're currently largely a sleeping giant, but they have a lot of planets under their control. Several other AIs are pretty huge as well.

Update will come soon.

For the record, barring some kind of catastrophic real-world disaster, I will finish this game, so I can say that even if I do decide to abandon the detailed AAR (not that I'm planning to), I should be able to make a summary post about how things turned out.

Im loving this QR..well wirtten and good detail..whats your end game plan? Conquest,acension etc? keep up the good work.

Very enjoyable!  Is it easier to write and maintain momentum for writing this AAR since it is more straightforward?  I've got several 1/2 or 3/4 AARs that I'll never finish and I wonder if it would be easier to start out with a less complex method.

Anyway, keep it up as the New Year approaches!

I've found an effective way to get back into the colonization game is to buy AI's small and tiny warships and scout ships and upgrade them to colony ships, using a purchased planet in their space.  They value these ships little, and I often spend a turn or two researching minor military (usually defensive against enemy weapons) techs just to trade for ships.  

My allies are the Krynn, the Korx, and the Altarians. I've tried the "ally then assimilate" trick before, but not on anyone I've fought a war with. So no alliance with the Iconians.

I'm cheering for the other guys! Humans are filth

Part 10: The Decline and Fall of the Drengin Empire

The game resumed with simultaneous outbreaks of xenophilia...

...and disease.

Once again, the neutral option proved most reasonable, though overall I was still leaning Good. The outbreak of xenophilia, meanwhile, meant that I had to slightly slow down my efforts to culturally conquer the Iconians, as all races received an influence boost.

As October 2232 began, I assessed the various threats that I was facing. The Torians continued to surpass everyone else at just about everything, and as this screenshot suggests (in the upper corner), they had just claimed another ascension crystal, leaving them with less then three years until ascension victory.

The Korx, despite the blatant lies of this news report, continued an increase in aggression. They were still my ally, and I had no fear of them breaking that alliance, but their threatening of other friendly powers was something that I couldn't tolerate - unfortunately, there was very little to do about it.

And both these problems were combined in the extreme hostility between both powers - it was quite possible that I would soon be faced with a choice between either fighting the most powerful civilization in the galaxy, or breaking my alliance with the Korx. Neither was an attractive option - unlike the Altarians, who I was able to quickly re-ally with after having to sever my alliance earlier, the Korx alliance could not be easily reformed, thanks to their evil alignment and the number of extreme planets they had colonized in my space that were now threatening to defect.

And on top of all that, with some assistance from the other good races, the Iconians had resurged again and were gunning for the Carinoids. I had little hope of saving them, and the best realistic outcome would be that the Korx conquer them instead.

For the first time, the Iconians were sporting shields - though useless against the mass drivers that were most races' weapons of choice, they were a counter against my beam weapons. Clearly, they still saw me as their primary threat.

There was one bit of good news, though - the recession was over.

I set two primary goals at this time for the Terrans. First, I would attempt to colonize as many available planets in the vicinity of Torian space as possible. In addition to simply continuing my expansion, should a conflict actually break out, they would serve as a base in the event of any conflict. To this end, I traded with the Altarians for the techs needed to fully use my new planets.

Secondly, I would expand my military as much as possible. One-on-one, my ships were the equal or better of those of any major race (although, amusingly, not of the Scottlingas:)

However, both the Torians and the Korx could simply field a lot more ships then I could. I would never be able to match their production rates, so I made my primary focus logistics. The first step was to research Interstellar War Colleges, which would give me the one point needed to use fleets of two medium and two small ships, as well as providing a bonus to soldiering. I also tried trading around for more military techs, though this was generally unsuccessful.

This was a trade I was very dubious about, but I wanted their shield technology, and they wouldn't take anything else for it except for weapons.

As 2232 drew to its close, several events dominated the news of the galaxy. My expansion continued, with various ethical events popping up on the new colonies...

...as well as at home.

I continued to go good when it didn't hurt me, and neutral when the benefit was useful enough.

My exploration frigates used the new colonies as bases to begin a full-scale exploration of Torian space. The objective: find their ascension starbases, in case it became necessary to take them out. Thus far, they'd had no luck at it, though they did find various objects of interest.

The Scottlingas-Iconian war continued in local space, with the Iconians getting the worse of it repeatedly.

This wasn't solely through incompetence on their part - I've observed in test games that the AI is often unwilling to send most of its ships against a relatively minor threat, and while the Scottlingas had made themselves a nuisance, they posed no existential threat to the Iconians.

The Iconians suffered another setback when their remaining colony in the Scottlingas home system finally defected to me.

I faced influence problems of my own at the former Altarian colony on Gabe V, deep in Torian space.

Relations with the Torians finally slid to "cool".

A few capitals were built.

Yes, the Iconians had apparently gone all this time with no economic capital. No wonder they were struggling to recover from the war.

And the Krynn and Torians continued their campaign against the Drengin, as observed by my bases and scout ships.

To all appearances at this time, it looked like the Drengin had had it. Their military was hopelessly inferior to the coalition forces, and my spies had now seen evidence that their planets had begun to fall. But the green guys could not be counted out just yet:

This was an infuriating turn of events. Once again, to honor my alliance would mean severing my treaty with the Drengin and taking a massive hit to my diplomatic standing. I was forced to desert the Altarians. What really made this irritating, though, was that the Drengin had been "close" for some time - if I had simply allied with them, I wouldn't have had to get involved one way or another.

I went ahead and called them off, though I didn't sign an alliance - they simply were too weak to make it worthwhile.

The year concluded with a few events. I built a Political Capital on one of my planets with many Korx worlds nearby, in hopes of persuading them to defect.

First contact was finally made with the elusive Arceans when one of their constructors entered the Carinoids Cluster, just in time to participate in the UP meeting.

The Arceans seemed a solid civilization, though I found their treaty with the Iconians cause for concern.

The Arcean frigate was considerably more advanced then what they usually use.

My overall position at this time, just before first contact with the Arceans. Although I remained dwarfed by the Torians and Altarians, my overall position had improved slightly.

(part 2 coming soon)

Still enjoying this and looking forward to the next installment.  

Part 10: The Decline and Fall of the Drengin Empire (continued)

The opening news report as 2233 began was more then a little alarming:

The Torians continued their march towards galactic dominance over the crumbling remains of the Drengin Empire, with my spies reporting that the Krynn-Torian coalition had actually mounted a ground invasion of Drengi, though it was unsuccessful. Meanwhile, I was still a mid-ranked power, and my only hope of defeating the Torians in a conflict was by pursuing a strategy of quality over quantity. Unfortunately, the curse of Twilight's "tech inflation" was slowing down my efforts to build up my military.

I continued to try and shore up the Drengin for as long as possible, giving them techs and a few of my ships, including the top-of-the-line cruiser TAS Avenger. I wasn't going to ally with them, though, as there was too high a risk of more races "dog-piling" onto them.

The Arceans were also providing heavy support to the Drengin, and I made friendly overtures to them, trading for some of their more significant techs. Enhanced Miniaturization was particularly crucial, but Fertility Acceleration would also play an important role in getting the new colonies in the "north" up and running.

Closer to home, the Carinoids were on the verge of succumbing to the Korx onslaught. I offered them everything I could in exchange for their weapons modules, and they finally agreed. The shields would also be useful in case something happened with the Korx, who, while still allied, were growing increasingly resentful of my influence (and I didn't like them much either).

The Korx and I could at least agree on helping the Drengin stay alive, and they too were donating ships. But it wasn't proving enough - only two weeks into the new year, Kona was overwhelmed by Krynn invaders (and amusingly defected to the Altarians the next turn).

A few other memorable events occurred this month: the Drath made their first entry in the field of capital ships...

This pathetic vessel was among the least advanced medium ships in the galaxy and didn't worry me much.

Another ethical event occurred - I went neutral once more. Since I still intended to go good for the diplomatic benefits, I made Xeno Ethics my next priority.

...and the Scottlingas-Iconian war finally concluded with a negotiated peace (no screenshot for this one).

February saw more setbacks on the Torian front. The Hyperion Logistics System further increased their numerical edge over me.

Not long after, they came to me with a demand for a hefty sum of tribute.

I told them where they could stick it, and relations further soured.

Meanwhile, the Drengin's status as a bulwark was looking increasingly thin. Drengi was invaded again and overwhelmed. And then came the final nail in their coffin: the Arceans stabbed them in the back.

While all this was going on, my flagship, the TAS Enterprise, continued to explore the unknown regions of space in the galactic "northeast". After several months of travel, it reached the Drath-Krynn border. I sent it into allied Krynn space for an upgrade to the first of my new Enterprise-class armed explorers, the first ships I had designed with the new Arcean miniaturization technology. While there, it witnessed an alarming development - the buildup of Drath military forces on the border.

This was worrying in more then one way. The Drath had recently built the first battleships in the galaxy - although primitively armed and armored, they were still a major step up for their military.

More alarming still, they'd recently established the first AI-AI alliance of the game - with the still-hostile Iconians.

Luckily, it looked like the formation of an "axis of good" with the Torians was still out of the question - the Drath mistrusted them as much as any of us. And with Super Abilities off, the odds were low that they'd manipulate people against the Krynn. And their relations were allegedly friendly. But all the same, it was still yet another issue to keep an eye on.

Other events during this time:

Ethical issues continued to occur, and I was still forced to go neutral.

Fed up, I met the Altarians' outrageous price to shave nine weeks off my current colonization tech and moved on to Xeno Ethics.

A report arrived that Vegans had moved into this corner of the galaxy. They weren't anywhere in known space, but I resolved to keep an eye out for them - not that Vegans are ever much of a concern.

This period ended with several positive breakthroughs for the Terran Alliance. Work was completed on the Eyes of the Universe I'd been building for a while, offering a massive sensor advantage.

The annual report for April 2233 indicated I'd was doing quite well in technology and military, despite it all.

Note that the Drengin have completely vanished from the "most powerful civs" list. They were still hanging on, but only just.

And I was finally about to finish research on Xeno Ethics - the irritating storm of ethical events was near its end.

But little did I know that, as the saying goes, all hell was about to break loose on the unsuspecting Terrans and their allies...

Waiting with bated breath.

Part 11 - The Great Galactic War

The first few news items as the week of April 8, 2233 began were mundane ones - a few alien accomplishments were built...

Neither was much to worry about.

...and I finally made my decision on Xeno Ethics.

Then came the report: the Drath had declared war - against, of all people, the Korx.

I was more then a little baffled by their decision - militarily, the Drath had improved (in large part thanks to me) since first contact, but they were still vastly inferior to the Korx. They had recently allied with the Iconians, but the AI doesn't take alliances into account when gauging military strength, so why they had done it was a mystery. There was no mystery about what I planned to do in response, though - together with the Krynn, the Korx and I could easily outmatch the Drath, and as for the Iconians, I'd beaten them before - while I would have preferred to conquer them culturally, I knew I'd have to eliminate them somehow and this would work well enough.

But there was one small problem: it wasn't the Drath who had initiated hostilities.

Apparently, in the few turns following my last visit to the diplomacy screen, the Altarians had joined the Drath-Iconian alliance. And when they became the latest victim of Korx aggression, the Drath had acted to defend them. The result: our two rival alliance systems collided, and I was plunged into war with fully one-third of the major races, including one of my long-time friends and allies (even if it had been broken off at the moment).

Worse yet, when I looked at the diplomacy screen to figure out just how this mess had started, I was enraged to learn that the Arceans had become "close" just that very turn - if this mess had broken out just one week later, I would have had a third ally for the war.

I wasted no time in signing an alliance with them now - they could at least help me if things got worse.

But the galaxy was still in chaos.

Diplomacy

The galactic map, as far as it was known

Overall statistics

The War Begins

The Iconians immediately came swarming over my border, and the Drath did likewise with the Krynn. But my biggest concern was the Altarians. As the above sceenshot shows, their economic/manufacturing base was enormously superior to mine, and while their military was virtually nonexistant, they did have the technologies. In other words, I found myself "awakening the sleeping giant" - ironically the reverse of many wars AIs have launched against me.

If I was to concentrate on the Altarians, though, I first had to rid myself of their allies, and this became the basis for my initial war plans. The Drath were weak enough that I expected they would probably sue for terms as soon as the eight weeks before they would talk with me ended, so my priority was the Iconians. I would seek to knock them out as quickly as possible while the Korx and my outer fleets held the line against the Altarians.

My first move was to immediately devote fully half of my production capabilities to military purposes - I needed to build up fast if I was going to fight all three members of the "axis of good" at once. My second was to open communications with my allies, getting as many useful techs as I could while simultaneously getting them to end their other wars - I needed them focused on the main conflict.

The Krynn's price was hefty, but I needed all the soldiering techs I could for my blitzkrieg against the Iconians.

The Korx weren't offering a lot either, but at least I had managed to save the Carinoids after all - assuming the Iconians could be dealt with, that is.

As week one of the war ended, things got a lot worse:

The Torians had declared war on the Krynn. At this point, I could realistically fight them or the axis of good - not both. There was no choice. I had to leave the Krynn to fend for themselves, at least for the moment.

Meanwhile, the shooting had started in earnest.

The Enterprise, still in Krynn space, had luckily completed her upgrades the turn war broke out - just in time to face the wrath of the oncoming Drath squadrons. Their first fleet, a trio of pitifully-armed heavy fighters, was cut to pieces with little difficulty.

Meanwhile, on the Iconian front, several lightly-escorted transport fleets had immediately launched for Mars, left defenseless by mistake following the last upgrade of my defenders. This was one error that wouldn't cost me much, though - the Iconian invasion fleets were destroyed before even reaching my borders.

Up on the Drath front, the Krynn had also quickly destroyed the invading Drath forces, and counterattacked across the border. The Enterprise joined them, wiping out the enemy mines at Satori.

The Krynn, though victorious in their first clash, took heavy damage and were forced to retreat, leaving it up to the Enterprise to engage the newly-built Altarian defender at Satori I. This would be my first real encounter with the Altarian military, and it proved instructive.

The Altarians had matched me shot for shot, losing only because their ship was smaller. It wasn't just their use of beam weapons - something I wasn't prepared for - but their miniaturization technology, which had let them stick a half-dozen lasers on a single Small hull.

More positively, the Iconians already appeared to be in a state of collapse. The TAS Challenger and her task force crossed into their space and began laying waste to their trade routes, without any sign of military opposition.

And on a more peaceable note, my colony in the middle of Torian space, Gabe V, completed work on the Re-Education Center. It was still surrounded by more-or-less hostile space - indeed, one of the defending frigates had already launched to engage an approaching Drath battleship - but at least there would be no more threat from Torian influence.

And to throw one more wrench into the situation, on May 15th, the Drengin, still hard-pressed by the Torians and Arceans, finally succumbed.

Despite their improved outlook towards me and our research treaty, they'd been a thorn in my side for so long that normally I wouldn't have been very upset by this. But their surrender to the Iconians was a major annoyance. And in a more immediate danger, several of the ships I and the Korx had given to them (including the state-of-the-art TAS Avenger) were still within our space, and had now become pirates - one more danger to face.

The outlook was not good.

A look at just what the Altarians were capable of at this point. As can be seen, their population is nearly four times that of the Terran Alliance. The selected planet, DalNalten III, was so high-PQ that I had made it my first target despite its barren status.

What a great AAR!

Wowza, intense!