Birth of the Terran Republic

[Cavgunner]

Ok, so I like Distant Worlds a lot and there aren’t enough AAR's in here. So I'm giving it a try.

Here is the scenario:

Galaxy Shape: Elliptical
Galaxy Size: Small
Colony Prevalence: Occasional
Independent Alien Life: Normal
Expansion: Young
Aggression: Chaos
Research Costs: Expensive
Space Creatures: Many
Pirates: Normal (Nearby)

The Terran Republic:

Starting Location: Outer Rim
Home System: Normal
Size: Starting
Tech Level: Starting
Corruption: Normal
Government Type: Republic
Race: Human

Alien Races:

Dhayut, Naxxilian, Shandar, Teekan, Zenox, Haakonish, Mortalen. All empires except the Dhayut are Size: Young and Tech Level: 2. The Dhayut are Size: Mature and Tech Level: 4.

Event chains for the original storyline as well as the Shakturi storyline are activated.

No victory conditions- play is Sandbox mode.

Special Rules:

At the beginning of the game I created a replica of the Solar System using the Game Editor. I then made Earth the capital of the empire and gave it a Medium Space Port, while several systems away I removed the space port of the “original” world and reduced its population to about 600 million. This is to represent it as Earth's "first" colony. More on that as the story unfolds...

I tried not to go overboard in assigning resources to the planets of the Solar System, but I did take a few liberties with some of the moons of the gas giants, as you shall see.

Following this, other than changing the names of objects, no further editing will be conducted within or during the game. However I reserve the right to change this decree without notice.

Here is a preview of the Sol system at the start of the game:



Here we see the major bodies of the Sol system as well as their major moons. In order from left to right, they are:

Eris (barren rock) with Dysnomia (barren rock)
Pluto (barren rock) with Charon (barren rock)
Neptune (ice gas giant) with Triton (ice)
Uranus (ice gas giant) with Oberon (barren rock) and Titania (barren rock)
Saturn (gas giant, scenery bonus due to “Rings of Saturn”) with Titan (ice) and Rhea (barren rock)
Jupiter (gas giant, scenery bonus and energy research bonus due to “Great Red Spot”) with Io (volcanic), Europa (ocean), Ganymede (ice), and Callisto (barren rock)
The Asteroid Belt (rock asteroid field), which is just barely visible below the word “spacebar”
Mars (desert)
Earth (continental) and the Moon (barren rock)
Venus (volcanic)
Mercury (barren rock)
Sol (main sequence star)
…plus a few rogue asteroids floating around here and there.

In assigning resources to the planets above I tried to be somewhat pseudo-realistic, so this is a system with a good variety of worlds and resources, without being overdone. Overall it is a fine home for the Human race.

[Cavgunner]

HUMANITY AND THE AGE OF EXPANSION

By the early 2200’s the Earth groaned under the weight of nearly 13 billion human souls. Crippling overpopulation had finally, as predicted, become a problem of truly monumental proportions. Certain new technologies were keeping the environment from falling into total collapse, but the planet’s non-renewable resources were nearly depleted. Without a vast infusion of raw materials from some outside source, the average citizen of Earth could only look to a future with a steadily declining quality of life.

That outside source was, of course, the Solar System itself. Virtually unlimited wealth lay within plain sight, yet it was seemingly out of reach to earthbound Humanity. As dire as things were, political inertia and sheer short-sightedness kept mankind chained to the ground.

Chained, that is, except for a handful of space probe missions existing on the very dregs of budgetary funding.

On October 24, 2215, International Space Agency scientists made a shocking announcement. Earlier that year, the Prometheus robotic probe had discovered incontrovertible evidence of life at Jupiter. But not just on one of Jupiter’s moons.

On two.

On Europa, the long-hypothesized warm ocean theory had proven to be absolutely true. Beneath the moon’s thick crust of ice existed a saltwater ecosystem that rivaled all of Earth in its biodiversity. Some of the most impressive creatures included giant clam-like organisms as big as a groundcar, as well as sinuous, reptilian predators as massive as the largest whales.

While Europa had long been considered a likely candidate for extraterrestrial life, frozen Ganymede had certainly not fallen into the same category. Yet inside vast, frozen caverns kept marginally habitable by vents connected to Ganymede’s hot core, the dominant lifeforms included creatures disturbingly close in appearance to a large, four-legged bird.

Biological samples taken from lifeforms on both moons seemed to indicate a close genetic relationship not just between the lifeforms on each moon, but between the lifeforms of both moons. Yet the most striking revelation was yet to come. There appeared to be a clear genetic relationship to life on Earth itself… a relationship that appeared much, much more recent than some distant microbial ancestor. It was suggested that life on Earth, and indeed in the solar system, may have originated from somewhere else in the universe entirely…

Many on Earth cheered the news that we were not unique in the cosmos. However a number of traditional societal institutions teetered on the brink of chaos as those less open-minded refused to accept the stark reality of the truth. Conspiracy theories abounded, and in many regions rioting and unrest threatened to erupt into all-out war. Eventually, however, the live daily video feeds coming back from Prometheus, particularly those featuring wild, pristine Europa, overcame the doubts of all but the most recalcitrant observers.

As mankind finally acknowledged that he was not truly alone, the world slowly, painfully marshaled the Earth’s remaining resources to build the first fleet of manned, sub-light vessels. The flow of resources from this first generation of mining ships and freighters began as a trickle, but as more and more ships were built, it soon turned into a flood. By the 2400’s mining crews had surveyed virtually every inch of the Sol system.

Although man had conquered the solar system, interstellar travel still seemed like an impossibility, at least from any practical standpoint. Yet on Earth itself, Pandora’s Box was still waiting to be found…

On September 18, 2704, a group of college students on vacation high in the Himalayas detected a weak energy signal emanating from a rarely-visited mountain pass. Against the strong advice of their local guides, who were themselves intelligent, educated men and yet who vehemently insisted that the pass was haunted, the students strode forward. Reaching the site of the signal, the students stood in amazement at the scene before them. A massive avalanche had peeled away the snow, revealing an ancient, half-ruined stone temple built into the side of the mountain. Unwisely, the students entered the temple. Somehow they managed to trigger the structure’s power system, which uses a form of energy that has yet to be identified. As a result, the locator beacon that had led them there was amplified to its full strength.

On October 3, three starships of non-human origin arrived above Earth. Every attempt to hail them was met with silence. They were still ignoring all attempts to hail as they began bombarding the planet. The half-finished construction ship Pride of Sol was the first target. Then they switched to population centers.

We later learned that these ships belonged to a faction of interstellar renegades who called themselves the Vekundur Buccaneers. Earth must have seemed like such a soft, yielding target. Indeed, the popular wisdom of the time stated that any race that could achieve interstellar spaceflight could only survive long enough to do so if it was peaceful. Oh, how wrong that was.

Yet some within the military had planned for the worst-case scenario, and Earth was not totally defenseless. Earth Space Port was a military, not a civilian installation, and fixed upon its hull were no less than 18 Maxos laser blaster arrays. Perhaps the Vekundur pirates did not even realize that our primitive systems were targeting them at all, but they surely noticed when the station’s batteries opened fire on them in full fury. What began then was, perhaps, the most crucial battle in all of human history. Although each enemy ship was no larger than a medium freighter, on a pound-for-pound basis their weapons were hitting much, much harder than anything we had. After an epic firefight lasting several hours, the pirates withdrew with heavy damage, just as the spaceport’s shields were about to fail. One of their ships had been reduced to a burning hulk, slowly rolling end-over-end in view of the station. There was, however, one very important and nearly intact piece of technology that humanity was able to salvage from that wreck: a working hyperdrive.

[Data]

Ok, so I like Distant Worlds a lot and there aren’t enough AAR's in here

Man, that is a great line to start an AAR....though truth to be told, I'm not sure if there'll ever be enough of them for DW.
Biig kudos to you

[Igard]

Great job recreating the Sol system. Sorry to be an astronomy nit-picker, but Neptune is that farthest gas giant from the sun, so it just needs to swap around with Uranus. [:)]

[cookie monster]

Nice an AAR. It's real quiet here on the DW forum. Even though it's a great game.

[Shelldrake]

Looking forward to the next installment. Can you post the process for making the solar system or better yet the file?

[Data]

I think it's tedious work in the editor, no shortcuts here.

[Cavgunner]

Woops about the order of Neptune/Uranus... well let's just go back into the editor and fix that...

Data is correct, there isn't really an easy way to create a facsimile of the solar system, just a lot of editing while referring to Wikipedia.

[Cavgunner]

Within a few years humanity had managed to reverse-engineer a handful of working hyperdrive prototypes. Although they were abysmally primitive compared to the Vekundurian hyperdrive, they were reliable and they worked. At the same time, research of the “Forgotten Hall” in the Himalayas had yielded surprising results. While most of the Hall’s systems had decayed over an unknown number of millennia, a single data storage crystal was found intact. This crystal contained starcharts written in Binary language. This included coordinates matching those of a star system 18 light-years away. That in itself was not overly unusual, especially considering the discoveries of recent years; however the crystal also carried environmental data about the worlds of the system. That data indicated that one of the worlds would be highly suitable for human life.

Earth’s first manned interstellar exploration vessel reached the newly dubbed Ipesul system on May 5, 2709. The Righteous Wanderer found a new star system just as diverse as Sol’s. More importantly, Ipesul 6 was found to be a near-paradise, with predictable weather and plentiful fresh water. Ipesul 6 was appropriately renamed Avalon.



The journey from Earth to Avalon was so long (approximately 6 months with the technology of the early 2700’s) that sleeper technology was developed to accommodate mass emigration/immigration. These early passenger ships could transport over 2.5 million people at a time. Despite the challenges involved with such an arduous journey, within a few decades over 600 million people had emigrated from Earth to Avalon. The people of Avalon faced none of the stifling bureaucracy found on Earth, but on the other hand, every person was considered to be solely responsible for his or her own welfare. While Avalon relied heavily on Earth for manufactured goods, Avalon exported vast quantities of exotic luxury goods found nowhere else, such as Bifurian silk and Rephidium Ale. Avalon also performed as a much-needed populaton "relief valve" for the overcrowded Earth... not to mention as a place to send some of the least desirable citizens as well.

The starchart below provides a sense of the sheer distance separating the two worlds.



On July 6, 2758, the individual governments of Earth and Avalon formalized their economic and military ties by ratifying the Pact of the Terran Republic. Each world was considered to be a member state of a single unified government. While Avalon nominally held co-capital status, some detractors pointed out that in practice, Earth was by far the senior partner in the arrangement. Regardless, it was hoped that colonization of additional worlds would eventually expand the Republic.

[Cavgunner]

2758.07.14

All civilian and military ships are modified to include a solar collector. This will eliminate fuel usage when ships are station-keeping. Mining and Gas Mining stations are modified to include a substantial laser battery. Warships are slightly optimized for better firepower and speed; the Fox class escort, in particular, has its laser battery increased from 2 to 4. Spaceports are modified to eliminate excessive components. The "Starlab" class research station is created. While the Starlab itself is largely defenseless, it contains 8 each of Energy, HighTech, and Weapons labs.  Also, the Monarch passenger liner is reduced in size by 10 units so that current industry can actually produce it.  Silly engineers...

The Exploration vessel is completely overhauled. The new Lewis and Clark class now features 2 nuclear reactors, decent shields, 14 proton thrusters, a sublight acceleration rate of 9.7/sec, and a top sublight speed of 62 (at emergency power). They are among the largest ships in the fleet, and by far the fastest. Although they are unarmed, it is hoped that these powerful ships will make a lasting impression upon any alien race that they encounter.

Earth begins construction of 6 Lewis and Clark class deep-space exploration vessels, a Faslane-class yard ship, and an Aquilla class colony ship.

Simple improvements to existing designs are a key priority. Scheduled research projects include the following, in order:

Weapons research: Improved Maxos Lasers, Torpedoes, Concussion Missiles, Fighters
Energy and Construction: Nuclear Supercharging, Enhanced Hyperdrives, Enhanced Shields, Enhanced Engines
HighTech: Marshy Swamp, Enhanced Storage, Proximity Sensors, Enhanced Colonization, Desert Colonization

With current technology the journey between Earth and Avalon takes just over 6 months for a typical civilian ship.

2758.10.19

A rapid influx of cash from orders in civilian ship construction allow us to allocate the following:
Retrofit Earth Space Port to the larger Olympus class. This will increase the shipbuilding slips available at Earth from 4 to 8.
Build Eden class resort at Rings of Saturn.
Build ERS-1 energy research station at Jupiter.
Build Starlab research station at Earth.

2759.01.23

We’ve found an inhabitable world at the star called Xirius, but a pirate faction called the Fierce Rock Outlaws has claimed the system. Fortunately, several ships of the Fleet are located in the vicinity of Avalon. We do not negotiate with pirates and terrorists. Our warships are immediately dispatched to "deal" with the problem.



2759.02.19

An escort from yet another pirate faction arrives in orbit near the gas mining station at Saturn. They identify themselves as the Deadly Sun Corsairs and immediately attack. Fortunately, a Fleet destroyer has just arrived after escorting a mining ship back to Earth. The destroyer intercepts the pirate vessel just in time…



Although the Republic claims rightful ownership of all the star systems within a 1-sector radius of Earth and Avalon, in reality, most of these systems have not been visited by a human ship in years. It is unknown how many pirate factions exist in these wild and dark regions, however our old enemies the Vekundur Buccanneers are certainly among them.

While these pirate factions do not seem to be a part of any one civilization per se, interrogation of alien prisoners reveals that there are several true empires in existence closer to the galactic core.

2759.03.07

Earth Space Port’s retrofit to Olympus class is complete. 8 ships are under construction with 14 more ships on order.  The much smaller Alliance class space port at Avalon is also facing a serious construction backlog.

[Cavgunner]

2759.04.04-2759.04.21

The Battle of Xirius. None of the Fierce Rock ships appear to be in the system. Unwilling to wait for the slower escorts and frigates of the battlegroup to arrive, the Fleet admiral orders the attack with just two destroyers. Fortunately, the gamble pays off.  The pirate base is destroyed and we are able to recover a variety of stolen equipment worth 5954 credits.



2759.07.07

Xirius 3 is colonized.  Although it will be a strain upon the new colony, a new Alliance class starport is immediately put into construction.



2758.08.11

We have made first contact with another star-faring civilization.  They call themselves the Mortalens of the Vekundur Territory.  They assure us that they have no affiliation with the Vekundur Buccaneers.  Although the Mortalens themselves have a somewhat mercurial disposition, they seem to be at their word. 

As the national treasury contains over 100,000 credits due to the booming civilian shipbuilding business, we are able to flood the Vekundur market with trinkets and cheap goods.  (In game terms, I traded them 10,000 credits at a time for free until they liked me enough to form a Free Trade Agreement).

[Cavgunner]

2759.09.08
 
We have encountered the Naxxillian Federation.  Evidently the Naxxillians are warm-blooded, prefer icy worlds, and have a near-ritualistic obsession with a sport called Todash.  And oh yes, they look like dinosaurs.  Now we're pretty sure we've seen everything.  We swiftly open a Free Trade Agreement, and hope that we don't look like food to them.
 

 
2760.01.09
 
The Republic's shipbuilding glut continues. Unless capacity is improved this could become a serious problem.  We are retrofitting the Avalon space port to Elysia class (medium).
 
2760.01.16
 
We have encountered a mechanical race who call themselves the Ancient Guardians.  From what little we can ascertain, their technology is so advanced that a single one of their cruisers would have nearly as much firepower as the entire Republic Fleet put together.  Fortunately, the Ancient Guardians do not seem to be hostile.  In fact, they seem utterly uninterested in communicating with us at all, except for a single warning:  "Beware of beacons in the darkness." 
 
It seems that every time we learn more about the galaxy it becomes far more ominous.
 

 
2760.04.14
 
We have bought Energy Torpedo Weapons technology from the Vekundur Territory.  This shall substantially improve the firepower of our ships.
 

[Cavgunner]

2760.04.28
 
We have colonized Ipesul 7, a marshy swamp world.  From this world we can harvest vast quantities of the tangy and nutritious Megallos Nut, which shall substantially improve our food supply.  Along with Avalon, the Ipesul system is clearly the Republic's prime source of exotic organic goods.
 
2760.08.18
 
We have located and destroyed the Deadly Suns Corsairs base at Keretos (slightly to the galactic northwest of Sol). 
 

 
In a shocking turn of events, the leaders of the Vekundur Buccaneers offer their unconditional surrender.  Despite a howl of political protest, the Republic accepts.  Ironically, the Vekundurians had been hiding in plain view of Earth all along, just a short jump away at the Issuwyn system. 
 
Some conspiracy theorists whisper that their surrender was in return for star-charts and the locations of secret technologies.  It is more likely that the Vekundurians felt they had better odds seeking mercy within the Republic's justice system rather than certain death at the hands of the rapidly growing Fleet. 
 
We have vanquished the ghosts of our past at last.
 

 
2761.04.22
 
We have encountered the Shandar race of the Free Aitun Paradise.  The Shandars seem to enjoy an extremely laid-back and simple way of life.  Despite this relaxed and peaceful outlook they have formed an empire of considerable size and population. The Shandar are the first race who seem genuinely happy to meet us, and a Free Trade Agreement is quickly arranged.
 

 
 

[Cavgunner]

2761.04.17
 
Civilian commerce within the Republic continues to grow at a dizzying rate. 
 
Three mining ships harvest metals in the Sol asteroid belt under the watchful eyes of a destroyer and a frigate.
 

 
A shot showing the trade route between Avalon and Earth.  At least 16 civilian ships can be seen in the route.  To the right and bottom of the screen, a few more can be seen heading out on the long trip to the coreward empires.
 

 
Civilian traffic at Earth itself.  Note that among the ships present are 4 independent traders.  The Republic has established itself as a peaceful haven for such entrepreneurs.  Meanwhile, Earth Space Port still shows a backlog of ship construction, and the Starlab research base has been completed.
 

[Lrfss]

Cool !

[Mofouler]

Only a matter of time before he encounters some insectoid races and war ensues. Great AAR. Keep it coming.

[Merker]

Neat idea with Sol system. Always had the idea that it would be terribly powerful to have that system under my control in a game. With so many resource rich moons......[X(] At least 30 or so moons I think in the whole Sol.[X(]

Keep it coming! I want at least 24 updates per day!!!![8|][8|][8|] Who needs a life anyway when you can post DW AARs?[:D]

Cheers

[Data]

Good, transform him as well....we need more Merkers [:)]
hmm, sounds like a new class of ships [:D]

[Merker]

Ah, yes, Merker class capital ship, I might add that in my next AAR, which hopefully will be for ROTS....now go and burn with impatience[:'(]

[Data]

Damn cliffhanger...or merkerhanger. I await fo your to pour your updates for that aar...48 per day for you, to maintain the standard [:-]