Ideological War

Operation Icos 15 Oct 2227-1 Apr 2228
The plan is to destroy the ships above Iconia before they developed space weaponry. Then once I have researched Planetary Invasion technology I will invade. If that is successful then I will try to take Iconia V in the same attack and wipe out the Yor for good (literally).

I send the TAS Spitfire (fast in name only) to destroy the ships in orbit of Iconia while I finish researching planetary invasion. I meanwhile acquire Trade and Scatter Blaster II technology from the Iconians and Alterians.

On 15 Oct 2227 the TAS Spitfire emerged above Iconia. It fires the first shot of the war. Both Yor ships are destroyed.

The operation works perfectly except for the problem that Planetary Invasion is still 6 weeks away from being perfected. The Iconians already have a fighter and it won’t be long before the Yor do to. The TAS Spitfire stays in orbit of Iconia and shoots down everything launched from the surface.

Finally after weeks of research and production the TAS Warhammer sets of from Earth with 2 billion troops bound for Iconia.

We don’t have enough logistics to escort the TAS Warhammer, so it was vulnerable to enemy attack. But on 15 Jan 2228, after three weeks of worry the first marine pods launched. I chose information warfare because we could get anywhere from 1-2 billion extra troops. Meanwhile back on earth the TAS Cleansweep left space dock with another 2 billion troops to reinforce the Iconia campaign.

The first invasion of Iconia can only be described as a complete disaster. The information warfare didn’t work well, and we landed in between several major Yor positions. It was a disaster, but luckily the TAS Cleansweep is coming and will arrive in three weeks. Until then the TAS Spitfire is on its own. Also the Yor are putting agents on earth and bogging down production of Transports. It has really saved their neck because the one factory they have sabotaged was the difference between a Transport every two weeks and one every three. I still hope that the TAS Cleansweep will arrive before the Yor get weapons. But wars never go as planned.

I order the attack.


It is the first battle where both ships have weapons. The TAS Spitfire easily wins this engagement. Now both the Drengin and the Torians have battleships. Now all hope in this operation’s success is getting the TAS Cleansweep to Iconia, and then winning the invasion. The Yor have another fighter on Iconia V and I am assigning the TAS Valiant to clear it out.

The TAS Cleansweep first fires gas at the planet that is supposed to dissolve Yor drones. All hopes ride on this invasion. We are outnumbered more that 4 to 1. Will our 2 billion troops be enough?
The answer: no.

We landed farther away from the main Yor force, but they still won. The one bright side is that the TAS Hugo is ready on earth and there are only about a billion Yor left on Iconia. I am altering the operation plan. Since the Yor now have weaponry I am going to switch back to H-Wings until the space in the Icos system is under my complete control.
I also designed the Y-Wing for surgical strikes.

The TAS Spitfire attacks the new Yor ship in orbit of Iconia while the TAS Hugo moves in. Also the TAS Valiant is redirected to Iconia instead of Iconia V.

However there isn’t enough time for repairs from previous engagements and I lose the TAS Spitfire.

A bad defeat, but the TAS Spear is on its way there and the TAS Valiant is in orbit already.

On 22 Feb 2228 the TAS Valiant comes in and finishes the job while the TAS Hugo prepares its invasion attempt. Due to the last invasion attempt the Yor are down to 1.7 billion troops, could now be the time of Yor defeat? That is the question as the TAS Hugo sprays gas onto Iconia.

The Marines land far away from the Yor army and using rocked attacks destroy them. Iconia is mine with over a billion troops left. There is the problem of the Yor fleet over Iconia V, but I have yet to see a transport. It is a wonderful day for the Terran Alliance. Meanwhile the TAS Sword and the TAS Spear set off for Iconia V.

The Yor don’t seem to be mounting a counterattack on Iconia. Also reports are coming in that the Yor colony of Iconia V might rebel. I think I will destroy the orbiting ships and leave the colony to rebel on its own accord.

As the 1st and 2nd fleets move in on the last Yor world I begin to prepare for my next operation.
The first fleet moved in and took out both of the Yor fighters.

The operation will be officially closed next week when I destroy the 3 non combat vessels in orbit of Iconia V.
However Iconia V rebels on the planned closing day of Operation Icos. Operation Icos is over on 1 Apr 2228. We only lost one ship and 5 billion troops, but the point of the operation was to quickly conquer the Icos system in about 3 months. It took 7 for the Yor to be defeated. That’s four months that I could have been worrying about the rest of the galaxy.

The Torians have a large military and they are right on Earths doorstep. The Drath aren’t much of a problem but are still a nuisance. The Torians will be my next priority and they will be dealt with in several Y-Wing lightning raids in Operation Sudden Death…

Kudos! Love the H-wing design.

Great screenshots.

Hehe excellent Bertio  :CONGRAT: 

Sweet! :CONGRAT: 

Thanks guys.  

Operation Sudden Death 1 Apr-1 May 2228

The Torian Confederation has been growing in power and they are right on earth’s doorstep. They have large fleets in orbit of their planets. I have assembled the 1st Lightning Squad to attack the ships in orbit of the Torian worlds and then retreat. This will buy time for the TAS Rifle and the TAS Pistol to arrive from Iconia and blockade Toria IV so a transport can arrive from Earth.



I am researching a Mass Driver Invasion tactic and it will be ready in 8 weeks. Once it is ready then I will invade and gain my beachhead in Torus.



I had to put Scatter Blaster MK IIs on the Y-Wings to make room for the engines. They only carry half the fire power of the H-Wings but the Torians are no match. Their ship is destroyed with only 1hp of Damage to the TAS Intrepid.



In fact the operation was such a success that I am now going to take out the influence Starbase nest to Toria. I think that the Torians have been worn down by the Iconians because the only ship in orbit of Toria only has 1 attack ship.



However there has yet again been a change of plans. The Torians built another ship over Toria IV. My transport will be ready on earth in 1 week and the TAS Rifle and TAS Pistol are still two weeks away. I will move the Starbase to the end of the operation and use my Y-Wings to hold Toria IV.

The TAS intrepid takes heavy damage but the Torians are destroyed.



The TAS Mars sprays gas down onto Toria IV and the Marines land.



It is a blowout victory for the Terran Alliance. We lose almost no troops. Also we capture the design for the Laser weapon system. Now we have basic weapons in every category.



I will now research defenses for my ships. I will go for beam ones because that’s what everyone’s using. I have yet to fight a ship that has more than 2 attach while off planet.

Toria IV is now mine and the 2nd Fleet will arrive in 2 weeks. Then I will take out the Starbase and conclude the operation. I will stop short of invading Toria because Earth is running low on population.



The Starbase is mine and I call operation sudden death to a close. The Torians have been weakened at the loss of only .3 billion marines. It only took 1 month to gain my beach-head in Torus. The Drengin are a rising military power because of how far away they are from the other nations. However the Drath are unarmed and are right behind me. If I take them out now then I won’t have to assign ships to that theater any more. The Drath are my next target in operation Cleansweep…

Question, does placement of "armies" on the Invasion Screen really matter or was your description made up to give your losses a more realistic feel? Otherwise nice AAR.

The Latter. I was just trying to make it more interesting. But I do hope in GCIII that they allow you to actually command troops in planetairy invasions so that you can have a planet be jointly occupied.

This is awesome, bertio. Keep it coming. :CONGRAT:  :CONGRAT:  :CONGRAT: 


Etrius

Thanks.

PS. I have annother one written about levle 1 of the ToA Campaigne, and I don't know if I can post it because it might be a spoiler.

Just put a spolier warning.

OK thanks.

Operation Cleansweep 8 May-15 Sep 2228

My plan is to have the 2nd Lightning Squad destroy the Drath economic Starbase in my territory and then to have the TAS Sword and the TAS Spear go in and take control of the Drathis system. Then I will have a transport from earth pick up troops on Iconia V and invade Dratha.



The 2nd Lightning Squad begins to move towards the Starbase while production on earth is switched to transports.

Also the 1st fleet destroys the Drath mining base in Icos asteroid field 3



The 1st Lightning Squad destroys the Drath Economy Starbase while the 1st fleet moves in on Dratha.



The Torians have just built a military Starbase that I sent the 1st Lightning Squad to destroy. Meanwhile I send the TAS Crazyhorse to Iconia V for more troops.

The H-Wings of the 1st fleet destroy another Drath Starbase near Dratha and move on to destroy the Drath Flagship. They are an old design now and they still dominate the battlefield. The 2nd Lightning Squadron destroys some mining.



I now completely control Drath airspace.

The TAS Crazyhorse prepares to land its Marines on Dratha.



The Invasion is a failure, but the Drath lose over 5 billion troops in the process. And the TAS Bladerunner and TAS Remnant are both still heading for Dratha.



The 1st fleet still holds the area around the Drath planets.



Once again the Torians try to draw me away from my objective by attacking the TAS Rifle while it is in orbit of a planet and therefore with 3 attack to their 1. Talk about stupid.



The TAS Bladerunner begins its attack on Dratha. The Drath defenses have been weakened by the first attack.




We lose lots of troops at the beginning of the battle and even though we do a lot of damage it can’t compensate for the original loss. Luckily there are only 2.7 billion Drath left on Dratha and the TAS Remnant is heading there to finish the job. One thing I have learned by now is that race home worlds are very difficult to invade, however I don’t have a solution.

Finally the TAS Remnant begins its final attack. It is my last transport in the area. There are only about 3 billion Drath left on Dratha.



I finally take the planet ant gain the technology Xeno Industrial Theory.



I am just going to wait for Dratha IV to rebel. It is in my influence area so it can’t be long.



I just found out that Dratha IV only has .6 billion troops on it. I designed the Lightning Transport that only carries 1 billion troops, but is very fast. This will conquer Dratha IV.



However yet again there had been a change of plans. The Drath world is rebelling and so I won’t invade it. I will reassign the transport to Toria IV.

It has been several weeks now and the Drath world still hasn’t rebelled. I will call the operation to a close and leave the 1st fleet to babysit it until it rebels. Technically it has taken four months to complete, however the action only lasted for 3 months. The last one was just waiting for Dratha IV to rebel. I only lost 5.7 billion troops and no ships in this operation. I have gained new technologies so I will need to give my civilization a rest. I also need to get more agents to kill all the ones on my planets. Finally I need more population to fight in coming invasions. However how can I do this without other civilizations attacking me while I rest? My only solution is a massive attack on all fronts followed by a quick withdrawal back to my territory. Will this succeed and allow me to recuperate, or will it mortally wound my forces opening me p to invasion? Next in Operation R&R…

Nice. I wonder how your allies have been doing?

The Iconians come up later, but the Alterians never really did anything. I would guess that they got into an economic Death spiral bacause they never got a militairy.

Never knew how this much action could occur in a Tiny galaxy. Thanks for your answer to my question by the way.

Well... I am kind of over dramatizing it but not much.

Operation R&R (later called Toria) 15 Sep-22 Oct 2228

My plan it a massive attack on the Torian Confederation who are the only nearby civilization with a sizable military. The 1st Lightning Squadron will attack starbases while the 3rd Fleet (consisting of 3 state-of-the-art A-Wings will attack Toria itself. Also the 2nd Lightning Squad will destroy the defenses on Kwilas I (a small Torian base world and their only colony) and the Lightning Transport TAS Nimbus will invade it and attempt to wipe out the 2.5 billion Torians in the world. The Iconians might help, but they probably won’t.



The 3rd Fleet wipes out the ships in orbit of Toria. Meanwhile the 1st Lightning Squadron takes out the Korx Military Starbase. The 2nd Lightning Squad is engaged with a Torian Fighter they meet between Kwilas and Torus and can’t arrive at Kwilas I in a week, but planetary bombardment will be ready in a week, so no problems there. I also move the TAS Agincourt to Toria V for a second invasion wave if the TAS Nimbus fails.



An Iconian fighter helps me take over the skies of Toria. The 1st Lightning Squad destroys the Torian Starbase near Toria.



Also the 2nd Lightning Squadron takes the space above Kwilas I.



The TAS Nimbus and 1 billion troops attack Kwilas I in a Mass Driver attack this is my first time using that tactic.



It is a complete victory on my part. I didn’t lose a single marine. I also get the basic rail guns technology which will come in handy if my enemies’ develop anti missile weapons.



The attack was such a success that I will do a mass driver attack on Toria itself. Now I have the weaponry and the advantage I will take advantage of it. I will rename this “Operation Toria” and I will begin to make transports which I will man from troops from Toria IV.



don’t believe it. The invasion fails but we take out 10 billion troops. Now I will send in the heavy transports with gas attacks to preserve the infrastructure.

I fire what could be my last shot at a Torian ship. It is destroyed in one volley. Now the TAS Hood is about to invade.



I decide to use Mass Drivers because there are still about 5 billion Torians on the planet.



The invasion is a success. I gain the Laser II technology.





Operation R&R/Toria was both a success and a failure. The idea was to regain population on earth and my other colonies and to get rid of the agent problem. Both of those goals weren’t accomplished and I just reached further into my population reserves. However I destroyed the Torian Confederation now only leaving the Drengin as a threat. Also I don’t need as many troops for my Mass Driver invasions. Agents are taking so long to make that I will just conquer the Korx and Arceans to eliminate their spies. It only took me five weeks and 1.3 billion troops to conquer my most powerful enemy so the unarmed Korx and Arceans shouldn’t be a problem. My only worry it that the Drengin might help their allies the Korx. I am still waiting on the Drath world to rebel. I will now take out both Korx and Arcea in the same attack in Operation Arrowhead…

Operation Arrowhead Oct 29 2228-8 Mar 2229

My plan it to quickly conquer the Arceans and the Korx before they can mount a response. They are relatively unarmed so I will only use the 3rd Fleet and the 1st Lightning Squad. I will have the slower and heavier 3rd Fleet attack the home worlds while the lighter and faster 2nd Lightning Squad takeout the smaller colonies and other targets like asteroids and Starbases. The whole time I will be building transports on Earth.



Then suddenly a stroke of luck came. Reproductive rats are doubled. This could help man the transports for the invasions.



Also Dratha IV finally rebels. There are no more Drath to worry about. This includes their agents. Immediately four of the eight agents that were attacking me are gone.



My ships begin to close in on Arcea.




The 3rd fleet dose 11 hp of damage and the Arcean ship dose only 4.



The defenses on Hammer II aren’t very much more effective.



The TAS Hood moves in to invade.

Suddenly disaster strikes. I sent the 2nd Lightning Squad to destroy a seemingly unprotected Economy Starbase. However it had defenses and it wiped out all of my ships. The 1st Fleet is coming and will fill in for the 2nd Lightning Squad. This is only my second defeat in a space battle. It had taught me two important lessons. To always do intelligence work and also never to be overconfident. I didn’t even bother to get a screenshot of the battle because I was so overconfident. However this isn’t a total disaster. The rest of the Arcean military is gone and the 3rd Fleet is more than a match for them.

The TAS Hood invades Arcea with Mass Drivers.



The attack is a success and Arcea is mine. The TAS Falcon is coming with 1 billion more troops to take Hammer.

Another Arcean fighter is gone.



Another battle has what seemed like an attempter Kamikaze, but the Arcean fighter just bounced off the shields.



It seems that Hammer II might rebel. It is home to almost 4 billion Arceans so it would be wiser to let them rebel on their own and therefore have a new population center. My population is dangerously spread out and low.



I defeat a Korx fighter with the 1st Fleet.



On the 22 Dec the Iconians launched a massive attack on several starbases. In the course of it they lost their main fleet the same way I lost the 2nd Lightning Squad but destroyed several starbases.



However after all was said and done it was a useless sacrifice because the Arceans rebelled the same day. Hammer is now the most populous planet in the Terran Alliance.



1 pirate can’t be of much hindrance to my fleets. But he might attack a transport. I spotted a fighter heading towards Korx territory but the TAS Excalibur was too damaged to pursue. I can only assume that’s him. I will send the 1st fleet to look for him.



And what do you now, he shows up for the party.



The TAS Pistol and the TAS Rifle take him on and destroy him.



I begin to move on Korx. The Korx M 1 fighters are extremely weak. The one problem is that they use mass drivers and I have shields. However they are still no match.



The TAS Falcon and 1 billion marines prepare to Mass Driver Korx.



We lose but kill 15.3 billion Korx troops. There are only .7 billion left on Korx.

Sidetracking for a bit my treasury has been in a steady downturn for the whole game but now I’m making money because of 344 bc per turn from tourism. That is giving me half my budget.

The TAS Andromeda begins its gas attack. I am using gas because there are only 1 billion Korx left on the planet.



It was a blowout victory for the Terran Alliance. We only lost .1 billion troops. Now it’s on to Korx II.

I attack the last Korx fighter and they manage to destroy the TAS Pistol. However they are still destroyed by the TAS Rifle. I fold the TAS Rifle into the 3rd Fleet.



Korx II is now rebelling. It has 7.5 billion people that I could use as troops against the Drengin. I will wait for them to rebel while I rally my forces for the final push.

I also design a new ship with the new medium sized hulls.



The TAS Enterprise finally rolls off the assembly line.



Finally the Korx rebel.



The Galaxy is almost mine. I lost 5 ships and 1.6 billion troops and took 4 planets. The Drengin are the only ones who stand in my way. My economy is under control and there is new Battlehammer squadron that will spearhead the attack on Drengia. I will finally bring the galaxy under control in Operation Final Victory…

I tkink you should re-name the Drengin invasion 'Operation Mop-Up'. :LOL: 

True, but Operation Final Victory sounds cooler.

Or, you could throw in a Starship Troopers reference and call it 'Operation March To Victory'.

Meyby, but if you read my next one, then you will have enough obsqure referances to last you a lifetime.

Operation Final Victory 15 Mar-22 Jun 2229

To make up for the limited range of the A-Wings and Battlehammers I made the Military Starbase Deep Space 9 to give us more range. Also I researched more logistics. No sooner had I combined the 1st and 3rd Fleet into a fleet of 5 ships then it was attacked by a Drengin Fleet of 3 fighters. It was the first space battle where both sides were fleets. The Drengin Fighters swooped under us first.




Then we came around and fired, but didn’t hit very well. Still we take out one Drengin fighter and injure another.



The last two ships are destroyed relatively easily.



The result was a clear Terran victory.



But the Empire did strike back. The next day two agents appeared on Earth and one on Dratha. The question is: “is this the Drengin, or are my allies trying to weaken my hold on the galaxy?



However the ships I have on the front lines are all I need to conquer the Drengin. The fight begins above Kona.



The Battlehammers see their first action above Drengi. The enemy ship is destroyed in four shots.



This is what the Drengin front looks like now.



The Grand Invasion Fleet begins its Mass Driver attack on Drengi.



The Invasion loses but we wipe out 15.2 billion Drengin troops. I will build more transports and go for it again. I hold the space above Drengi but the Battlehammers are so damaged that I need to withdraw them.

Meanwhile I invade Kona with Mass Drivers. I really just did this for the photo ops of ending the war on a capitol world.



It works and I only lose .1 billion troops.

I am about to invade Drengi. The TAS Finalist begins its Mass Driver invasion.



We win. The skies of Drengi are filled with smoke.



I rename Drengi New Hope. My fleets happily parade around it. The entire Galaxy celebrates.



Operation Final Victory lasted four months. In it we only lost 3.1 billion troops. The galaxy is now united under the leadership of the Terran Alliance. Today is proclaimed Galactic Peace Day.





Overview

So there it is. I won the game in less than three years. I only lost 5 ships due to my early buildup and technology. Only the Iconians had better research that me, and I traded for their technologies. I lost 18 billion soldiers in my numerous invasions (mostly in Operations Cleansweep and Icos). This made it harder for my economy because they couldn’t make my population grow more and I started my invasions when my population was still small. I only lost 2 battles and both were due to overconfidence and lack of observation.

Lessons I Learned

1. Quickly conquer your close neighbors before they can build up militaries.
2. If you conquer a home world your influence will increase in the system and the other planet will rebel. You don’t need to invade it.
3. Specializing ships can be advantageous, but don’t be afraid to improvise with them like using fast ones to protect planets.
4. Conquered planets will always need a lot of social work done to make them worth having. Don’t bother sending them funds for social production or you’ll go bankrupt.
5. Always take the initiative. If the enemy is helpless then follow up on it.
6. Sent in one transport with 1 billion guys and use Mass Drivers when invading and then send in the rest with gas warfare. That way you keep the planet intact.
7. Naming ships is both fun and it helps you remember which ones are where and how experienced they are.
8. Always be careful to have your ships avoid asteroid fields. They aren’t the millennium falcon.
9. Always do intelligence work and never be overconfident.

PS. Keep an eye out for ToA Campaigne AAR. This is level one, and I will mention that there can be spiolers. However I don't go deep into the plot so it should be fine.

A wicked AAR Bertio-very enjoyable  :CONGRAT: what difficulty setting were you on again>?

I thought it was only on simple, but I think that it was actually challenging, because when I checked the intelligences they said "Bright".

Great AAR!

Terrific screenshots too. What service do you use?

Hydro