Me vs the Super Testers

[yandonman]

Ok, I'm like a 100 turns into a single player game vs the computer (3 of 'em). I've got control of a very sweet arm of the galaxy - two lanes in and out - I got that shit baracaded. I click on a planet and who do I see that I'm up against? Da Super Testers. Dem punks gonna die... (I say as I loose a whole squadren of Solar ship to dinky Mark VIIIs )

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I'm addicted

[Geoff the Medio]

I suppose having Super Testers in your opponents' empires is the FreeOrion equivalent of a difficult mode... Until you capture some of their planets and start using the Super Testers yourself.

[eleazar]

It was never my intention that super-testers be an opponent. But there's no way currently to allow them as players, but not as AI empires.

They are really overpowered, so let me know how it turns out.

[yandonman]

Me vs the SuperTesters - Chapter 2

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~150 turns later, the Union of Crystline[sic] Entities has finally managed to gain complete control the "North" head/arm of the galaxy.

----

For many turns, the duel entry points of Avior and Dvorak were besieged by fleet upon fleet of SuperTester ships - Mark VIII Bs, with a paltry 24 offense, 12 hull and 15 shields assaulted our positions in the hundreds. Heavy garrisons of ships prevented breach into our territory and the orbital dry-docks at both systems assured our ships were repaired and in top shape for the next turn's assault.

Our offensive forays past Avior and Dvorak were not so successful, at first. Having control of asteroid belts in both systems, we produced fleets of Heavy Asteroid hulled ships and sent them out to engage the enemy. Ishtar was our target, a system that contained ancient ruins whose secrets we coveted. We entered, and were defeated. At first, we clearly lost ship engagements. We had the technology advantage - our ships offensive capabilities 10 fold more powerful - but our opponent had sheer numbers. After losing five fleets of 50 or more vessels the Union changed tactics - if numbers were to rule the sky, then the sky was to be ruled by our numbers. No fleet left the safe harbors of Avior and Dvorak without at least a hundred vessels.

Battles at the planetless Alcor and the deep-space between Alcor and Ishtar met with success, mostly. Ishtar, however, was an enigma. Our fleets would go in, wipe out the opposition, and then vanish on the next turn before the troop ships could arrive. Then the troop ships would arrive and be slaughtered by freshly arriving SuperTester fleets. Chato scientists, affectionately known to be "dumb as rocks", theorized cloaked fleets, at first. Larger fleets paid the price for our scientists' ignorance, including freshly produced Quantum and Solar hull based ships, sporting the latest Death Ray I weaponry. The cost to the Union was enormous.

Elsewheres, our garrisons were taking loses, as well as our offensive fleets into Alcor and the surrounding areas. The Chato military, less affectionately known to be "stubborn as a rock", redoubled its numbers at Avior and Dvorak. We would not break. The more aggressive elements of the military, however, were taking losses that could not be sustained, and a gradual change began to take place in the military elite. After many turns, after the aggressive leadership had literally been blown out of the sky enough that they no longer maintained a majority, more defensive leadership arose. This new leadership realized that while our warships' weaponry was 10 fold more powerful than the opponent's, our hulls were only 2x stronger. The sheer number of ships the SuperTesters were fielding against us were destroying our ships in a mere few shots.

Almost serendipitously, Crystal Armor Plating had just started to be mass produced. And suddenly, our warships were stripped of two of their weapon slots and crystal plating installed, massively increasing their hull values. Death Ray Is were replaced with Death Ray IIIs. Solar vessels were given four layers of Crystal Armor Plating. Our fleet would not suffer silly defeats at the hands of mere flies.


On the Ishtar front, progress was being made. UCE scientist had a new theory - a Gateway to the Void, or something like it, must exist on one of the planets at Ishtar. The technology, having just recently been discovered, baffled scientists, politicians and military minds alike. A test, it was decided, was in order. The new colony at Molyneux II, having just completed the creation of Molyneux II from a gas giant, was given instructions to build a new facility. All 35 million inhabitants threw their collective efforts into completing the new structure. They were, of course, not told what the facility was. The first Gateway of the Void was completed ahead of schedule... and the hard working inhabitants of Molyneux II started dying by the millions. Dying or disappearing, it wasn't clear which sometimes. A lone military scout ship was ordered to report to Molyneux. Her disappearance confirmed UCE scientists' theories about the Gateway. Further tests were envisioned, but the inhabitants of Molyneux II revolted and destroyed the Gateway. To this day, the system of Molyneux is under quarantine for some "unknown space pathogen" and no ships are allowed entry to the system - but the population on Molyneux II stopped dying, and eventually recovered. Inhabitants of that system proudly, and sometimes vehemently, refer to themselves as the "MolyX's"

Molyneux II was both terrible and a success. The facts matched the symptoms and a new fleet was assembled. More than two hundred of the latest Heavy Asteroid D3's (Death Ray 3s), 40 Quantum D3's and 20+ Solar D3s, all sporting Crystal Armor Plating were gathered. Then the troop ships were added. Previously sent in after the battle had already been decided so as to avoid enemy fire, these troop ships were added to the invading fleet itself. The number of troop ships were abnormally high for the 3 planet system of Ishtar, on order of 5 times the number of needed troops. "Normandy 1944" would have been a good fleet name, had we met the Humans yet. The fleet assembled at Dvorak, and launched the very next day.

The battle of Ishtar was decisive. The warships, including the Heavy Asteroid D3's allocated to sustain up to 50% losses, did not lose a single ship and the SuperTester fleet stationed at Ishtar fell in a single turn. The troopships were not so lucky, but only lost a handful. The remaining marines deployed overwhelming numbers on each planet on the following turn and all resistance was overcome. Ishtar fell in not quite "two turns of our homeworld's sun." No Gateway of the Void was found, however, nor did our warships disappear the following turn. The designated backup fleet, in case the primary "Normandy" fleet was lost, remained stationed at Dvorak under "garrison" orders. Scientist descended on tiny Ishar III to study the ancient ruins, but no new discoveries were made. A monument to the troops lost in that battle was erected on Ishtar I. Over the turns, the monument became known as the "Moly X Monument", though few understood why.

After the Battle of Ishtar, the system of Herbig, previously conquered by the Union, was besieged a number of times as the fleet assigned to protect her was called off to the front line. Herbig was never re-captured by the SuperTesters, merely harassed and cutoff from the Union for a few turns. A deity that went by the name of Geoff taunted us for having a "half-bazillion" ships in our fleets, but the blood of our brethren of the past was never forgotten. No fleet ventured out with fewer than 200 vessels and new, heavily armored, Logistic Facilitators joined the fleet, ensuring repair in any system. Henge and Murzin fell to the might of the Union shortly there-after. Messier, home to one of the SuperTesters' shipyards, fell in much the same way as Ishtar did, despite having the additional protection of a fleet of "Kingdom" ships.

Conquest of Balder, Rubin and Tania systems shortly followed, the method of invasion perfected. Garrisons at Tania, Balder and Aurigae protect the sole access to this arm, nae, head of this galaxy. The Union's military leaders already have plans laid on how to conquer the rest of the galaxy - the "Left Hand" arm will fall first, being easy to cut off from the Central systems. Then a long campaign to eradicate the opposing empires of the Central systems, followed by a fast and merciful takeover of the "Right Hand" arm of the galaxy. Troops have been heard taking bets on whether the system of Algol, the known space "monster" at Reber or a enemy fleet at Anarres bites it last - within their lifetime.

Our military is unmatched. Solar and Quantum D5's roll off the assembly line at a leisurely pace, and our enemies seem to be at a loss, fielding only their Mark VIII B's at best (with many older models being encountered). A new empire, the Imperium, has arrived and challenged us, but their ships are even more pitiful than the SuperTester's. The galaxy is ours, in a hundred turns.

However, as I look out across the territory that will soon be ours, I can't help but lament our success. The "upper" systems, the ones that have been protected by the "gates" of Avior and Dvorak have not known conflict for over a century of turns. The names Avior and Dvorak have been trivialized into corporate slogans and schoolyard taunts. Our scientist have not made a new discovery is nearly as many turns and have all but declared themselves omniscient. Our empire's production capacity is so vast that to blink is to waste. "Is this success?" I wonder and I feel that I will ask the same question when my brethren put the "monster" of Reber in a zoo.


-Fleet Historian: ID: YM63194, Fleet 10941

[yandonman]

Chapter 3:

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"Nothing in the 'verse can stop me."

[yandonman]

Chapter 4

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"Goddamnit! I lost that bet on that stupid monster! Damnit!"