Alia Latinus Titulus: A Birth of the Federation AAR

Started by BanzaiCat, January 18, 2014, 03:33:59 PM

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BanzaiCat

I was very impressed by Martok's Birth of the Federation AAR ("Ex Astris, Scientia": a Birth of the Federation AAR http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=7030.msg170826#msg170826). So much so that I decided to do my own.



While he did the Balance of Power mod, which I'm honestly not familiar with as I've not played it extensively, I am doing the "All the Ages" mod, which more closely resembles the 'true' Star Trek experience, from the NX-01 Enterprise era to the Nemesis-era Enterprise-E.



I will play the Federation in this one. I never liked playing the others as much, even though I've done all of them. I'd like to think that the Federation's rosy, hippy-fueled outlook of exploring for its own sake is the best reason to undertake a journey to the stars, rather than exploiting resources or trade routes (the Ferengi), or being a conquering neandrathal (everyone else, pretty much). You could certainly play the Federation as a conquering force, but their population of weed-smoking liberals will not tolerate that for more than a planet or two before they go into some serious levels of rebellion.

I'm going to write this as I play it, so if it implodes partway through, you'll know why. I mainly do this to keep it fresh in my head, rather than play through a hundred turns and decide then if I have something good or not. If something amusing or interesting comes to mind, it will do so while I'm in the moment, and not days down the road.

One last note before I begin: I don't claim to be an expert at this game, nor am I going to make all the right choices. The only thing I hope to have here is (a) a good time, and being able to (b) write something that you guys enjoy. This means I'll probably not take myself terribly seriously while running through this, so expect some humor/humour. Or attempts thereof.

Now, on with the show...

BanzaiCat



After years of crawling through the ruins of a nuked-out landscape, humanity has barely crawled its way back to pertinence. Thanks to a philosophy of 'learning from your mistakes,' humanity has decided that fighting is a very bad thing and results in lots of ashen cities and ashen citizens. Humanity has, in general, risen above petty arguments and conflicts and is on the path to greater arguments and greater conflicts, especially once they run into one of the other major players in this game.

Until then, humanity has mastered some of the technologies of the past and have forged new ones based on their new brand of enlightened thinking, and have managed to not only exceed their previous society's levels of science and knowledge, but they've begun a philosophy that encompasses no less than the pursuit of science and knowledge for the sheer sake of learning and discovering. Truly a novel concept, considering mankind's history.

Once Zephram Cochrane was able to discover the secret of warp technology, entire sectors of space were suddenly open to us. (Sure, okay, Zephram is supposed to be from Alpha Centauri and have two thumbs on each hand. I'm going by what First Contact taught us: that Zephram ain't no dirty alien, he's a 'Muric...err, I mean, human. 'Muman?) Rudimentary warp probes were launched into the void, and soon after that, ships were built to launch bodies into the void (without an inkling as to what awaited them).



The USS Seadragon, named apparently for some vague Asiatic/Americas pan-Pacific involvement in its construction (and making me wonder if we're in the Firefly 'verse), is the first true exploratory vessel built to go "where no man has gone before." And yes, I said "man," not "person" or some other PC bullcrap. There's women on these ships. I mean, if there weren't, how would the sandwiches get made or the ships stop to ask for directions?

We've also constructed the world's first colony ship, capable of carrying thousands of passengers in relative comfort (akin probably in size and comfort to the train cars of Auschwitz, as this is not yet a perfect science), which we plan on sending after the NX-01 Seadragon makes discoveries. Hopefully, we'll find something out there.

Before we do, though, as the player of this game and therefore the despot/autocratic lord of the Federation (e.g., a Democratic President), I get to also choose what technologies our scientists will pursue. There are six tracks to choose from, displayed here.



The voices in my head say it's better to put all of your research eggs into one track instead of spreading them all out. This means faster advancement, and in this case I'm choosing Construction. The next tech level means we'll have a working knowledge of 'integrity fields,' which my scientists need to explain to me as I begin to get cold sweats and shakes, thinking this field is going to bring actual honesty and truthfulness to the Presidential offices. Imagine my relief to learn it's for actual reinforcement of actual buildings and ships and such things. That was a close one.

Our warp probes have discovered two star systems in neighboring sectors. Both have a blue sun, which means something awfully scientific. My researchers had a whole PowerPoint presentation they gave that they were really proud of with lots of graphs, but I yawned through most of it and played with the model of the Seadragon that the newly-founded 'Starfleet' had given me to mark the occasion of, yadda yadda, something about the ship going off into space.



I suddenly had a moment of inspiration, looking at the map of known space. I decided to send the Seadragon to one star, and the colony ship to the other. The scientists looked at each other and seemed to get really uncomfortable at the notion of sending thousands of colonists off in a city-sized, unarmed transport boxcar with warp engines welded on. But nay, I said. This would save us precious time, and there's no such thing as aliens. They didn't laugh at my joke. I made a note to get funnier scientists to advise me.



Well gee whiz, look at what happened. Nothing! Our colony ship arrived safe and sound into the star system to our Galactic East, which was named Tohvun. They couldn't tell me why they named it Tohvun, so I tried my little Google computer, but the only thing that came up were these weird sci-fi websites from before the global war. Bunch of no-life having nerds talking about places that didn't really exist! Imagine that. Anyway, Tohvun it is. And to our Galactic West, we found Altair, which at least was a name that sounded somewhat familiar, even to me.

It's a bit more fortunate that the colony ship went where it did, because the Tohvun system has the potential for a population cap of 265, whereas Altair (where the Seadragon is) only has potential for 165. I congratulated the crew of the...of the...well I forget the name of their ship, but I congratulated them anyway at arriving safely and ushering in a new dawn of peace and prosperity and inexhaustible supplies of ore and raw materials. Wait, strike that last part, it wouldn't do to let the people hear me say that out loud.

Next: ALIENS?

undercovergeek


bayonetbrant

OK, I gotta ask...  why aren't we running this on the front page?!
The key to surviving this site is to not say something which ends up as someone's tag line - Steelgrave

"their citizens (all of them counted as such) glorified their mythology of 'rights'...and lost track of their duties. No nation, so constituted, can endure." Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers

Martok

LOL.  Good so far, BC!  Looking forward to further adventures.  :) 

"Like we need an excuse to drink to anything..." - Banzai_Cat
"I like to think of it not as an excuse but more like Pavlovian Response." - Sir Slash

"At our ages, they all look like jailbait." - mirth

"If we had lines here that would have crossed all of them. For the 1,077,986th time." - Gusington

"Government is so expensive that it should at least be entertaining." - airboy

"As long as there's bacon, everything will be all right." - Toonces

BanzaiCat

Quote from: bayonetbrant on January 18, 2014, 04:52:55 PM
OK, I gotta ask...  why aren't we running this on the front page?!

I dunno, BB. Up to you of course.  8)

BanzaiCat



Fortunately there are no alien life forms in the Tohvun system. While this is a sad little system with tiny little planets (two Barren, one Desert, one Jungle, and one Arctic), the Jungle planet has a food bonus for its fertile soil, and the Desert planet has some great angles or something to it so it catches lots of rays for solar energy absorption. Or something. It's pretty scientific, you probably wouldn't even understand.

Those brave colonists immediately began to terraform the planets in the Tohvun system. Meanwhile, I took a look at how things were here in the Sol system. That's where Earth is, don'cha know.



We've managed to terraform Mars, but not Venus, Mercury, or Pluto. Right now we have room for about another 80 population, but if we terraformed those three planets we'd have a shot at really growing our britches off.



We have quite an infrastructure already in place, with tons of buildings not even being used yet. That's okay, because as I said, we're going to be fornicatin' like bunnies to churn out lots of little humans to throw recklessly through the void. Although upon closer inspection, I realize that there's no population manning either the Databanks or the Universities. The Databanks, I can understand; that churns out Intelligence, which is used to protect us from big aliens (pshaw), so it's not needed right now. Research, though...yeah, I kinda wasted a turn there by not assigning any scientists last turn. I order "off with their heads," but they tell me I can't do that. These people, I swear. If only there was a race in the universe somewhere that appreciated a good old fashioned off-with-their-heads mentality...hmm.



Well, since this is about spreading our human seeds throughout the known universe, I've ordered the construction of another colony ship. The lottery selection process is in place and already has begun, even though it'll be a while before the ship is built. After that, I've asked for another NX-01 craft to be built. Then, we'll get a Troop Transport built, which will be used to expand our horizons and the range of our ships.



From the looks of things, we'll need a LOT of Troop Transports.

Next: ALIENS?!?!?!?

BanzaiCat

Wait...hello, nurse!

I'm using HyperSnap, and for some reason, the suns aren't appearing in the screenshots. Nor are the dilithium displays. So, I've downloaded Fraps to capture these things, so let's see if it's done right.



Looks like it.

So, the Seadragon moves into the Sarona star system and finds not only lots of big planets with energy and food bonuses...but dilithium as well! This is huge news, because dilithium is what makes starships move, and starships moving means the Federation becoming big and powerful, which means we're safer when we run into ali-err, I mean, IF we run into aliens, of course.

The unfortunate thing about Sarona is, you'll note that it's outside of the range of our Colony Ships. That green box around Sol in the last screenshot is their range, which means only Tohvun and Altair can be reached right now. That Troop Transport has suddenly become much more important, so I will fast track it to first.



Huh. I'll lose 62 industry if I stop the Colony Ship. I don't see why they can't just...build around it or something. It's not like they've spent a lot of time constructing it. But once the engineers come into my office with their PowerPoint and their lectures on 'frame stress' and 'worker's strike,' I kind of doze off and let them go to do whatever they think is right. And that means, leaving the Colony Ship as is for now. But, I will strike the Science Vessel (the next NX-01) and put a Troop Transport in there, then allow the NX-01 to be constructed.



I'm sure the unions are just going to love me being in charge.


BanzaiCat

While the terraforming goes well on Tohvun or Tenpin or whatever it's called, the NX-01 Seadragon continues its clockwise path around its outer range.



We come across the star system that the Department of Galactic Naming calls Hurada. Note to assistant: mandatory drug tests for the Department of Galactic Naming. What they're coming up with sounds like what my bowels did last night after that plate of ripe Ga'hk.

Hurada looks like a decent enough system, with an Oceanic planet that has a food bonus. That'll be on the list of future colonies, to be sure; at least for now it falls behind Sarona.

Finally, those slackers on the first Colony Ship finish the work of terraforming the planets of the Tohvun system. I might have been off by a few pop points, but this system can handle 270. Since every 10 pop points equals one slot in the production queue, that's 27 potential workers for the Federation's glory. Not too bad. Could be better, but definitely could be worse. And if I were playing the vanilla version of Birth of the Federation, it likely WOULD be a lot worse.





On new systems, I like to balance the construction of farms and replicators. Inevitably this will not work down the road as the population's randy habits outpace the growth of actual food to feed their snot-nosed offsprings (excuse me, The Future of the FederationTM). For now though, this will serve as a good foundation that won't need to be acted on for some time.

I've also managed to uncover (as I am taking personal credit for all the hard work of those little e-crewmembers out there) two more star systems: Suvin and Boreth. Both are okay. Boreth is loaded with energy opportunities, which is probably good.



A breakthrough in science! SCIENCE, I SAY!



QuoteStructural Integrity Fields: Structural integrity fields allow large structures (such as starships) to be made from heavy materials without suffering the stress caused by the mass of such materials. As a result, stronger alloys may be used in all forms of construction, including the fabrication of starships.

Allows: Type 2 Mass Replicator

So this means I...that is, we...are on the road to building bigger, better starships. Wonderful. I decide to start the eggheads on looking at ways to make farms more efficient, so I put all efforts into Biotech now. As the population of Sol starts to go up (as well as on other planets), making my food-production structures more efficient means more population that can go do other things besides sit around and grow dope. I mean corn. Of course, I meant corn.



Meanwhile, the latest Colony Ship has been constructed. I immediately put it to work on terraforming the remaining planets of the Sol system. This comes none too soon, as working on Biotech and having better farms will help make Sol a hub of production. Not to mention the new Rome of the Empire! And by "empire" I of course mean "all-inclusive Federation."

Looks like my Troop Transport finally got built! Now we're starting to really stretch our star-legs, as it were...

Next: Manifest Destiny Begins...!

Martok

Quote from: Banzai_Cat on January 19, 2014, 11:20:59 AM
So this means I...that is, we...are on the road to building bigger, better starships. Wonderful. I decide to start the eggheads on looking at ways to make farms more efficient, so I put all efforts into Biotech now. As the population of Sol starts to go up (as well as on other planets), making my food-production structures more efficient means more population that can go do other things besides sit around and grow dope. I mean corn. Of course, I meant corn.
LOL!  I do love the narrator's droll humor and general irreverence.  :D 


Congrats on the Sarona system!  Stumbling upon a star system like that -- one with lots of big, juicy planets -- always makes me excited.  (And yes, exactly in the way you think.) 

"Like we need an excuse to drink to anything..." - Banzai_Cat
"I like to think of it not as an excuse but more like Pavlovian Response." - Sir Slash

"At our ages, they all look like jailbait." - mirth

"If we had lines here that would have crossed all of them. For the 1,077,986th time." - Gusington

"Government is so expensive that it should at least be entertaining." - airboy

"As long as there's bacon, everything will be all right." - Toonces

BanzaiCat

Glad you guys are enjoying it. I only hope I can keep it interesting throughout. I DID choose to play the "Large" map for All The Ages, so this might take a while...

I don't want to describe each and every thing I do as that would get boring really fast, especially on this huge of a map.

JasonPratt

It's a magical world, Banzai ol' buddy. Go exploring!  :D
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BanzaiCat

While that Troop Transport makes its way to the Sarona system, where my bounty of Dilithium awaits exploitation, I've moved my Colony ship to the neighboring Altair system. Altair is not on my short-term plans to colonize, but while I'm waiting on the Troop Transport to arrive and build an outpost, I can go ahead and terraform the planets in this system so it will be ready later.



Meanwhile back in the Sol system, my next NX-01 peak of technological exploration, my spearpoint of...uh, exploration...is nearing completion. I've gone ahead and queued a couple more Troop Transports so I can send them to the Galactic North and East of Sol to help expand the borders that way.





Oh hey, the scientists came knocking at my palatial office doors to tell me about this breakthrough in Biotech!

QuoteBIONICS: Bionics are synthetic tissues which replace organics. Bionic tissues can be used to repair injuries, strengthen fragile tissues, and aid in surgical procedures.

Allows: Aquaculture Center, Type 2 Automated Farm.

Everyone's awfully pleased with themselves, but they don't quite know how to answer when I ask, "So, how is it our food supply becomes more ample...from creating "tissue?" Sounds awfully The Hills Have Eyes to me."

They didn't have a rational explanation other than some long-winded stuff about synthetically growing synthe-meat, which sounds gross. But be that as it may, somehow it's found its way into our farming system. I'm hesitant to order an upgrade, fearing I will turn the population of Earth into a bunch of degenerate, flesh-eating monsters.

Oh...wait. Yeah. Nevermind.



I'm going to pour our next efforts into Propulsion. Hopefully this will help our short-legged ships get out further. We got a LOT of galaxy to explore!



Uh-oh. Reports come in that there's starvation ahoy here in Sol. I guess my slowness to embrace synthe-guts to put on our citizen's tables might have made a few of them die from being hungry.



This is one of the conundrums that Birth of the Federation will give you. Namely, your systems with a huge pop cap will grow pretty damned fast, especially if they have a world that has a food bonus (see the little corn stalk above the Earth in this last screenshot?). That will give you tons of labor, but also will mean a LOT of mouths to feed, and that's the straight I find myself in now. Since Sol had starvation, we lost 6 pop points, down from 600 to 594. Note our food surplus is +1 now.

I wonder, "What's the problem? We have a surplus now that those pesky starving people are gone."

Soylent Green, perhaps? I make a note. My scientists turn pale. I make another note to get funnier and less squeamish scientists on staff.



I have to make some quick adjustments to the queue. Since we technically have a surplus right now (albeit a tiny one), we're not in danger of starvation again. The Troop Transport I'm building in the queue right now is almost done, so I'm loathe to cancel it. I go ahead and put an order in to upgrade our Automated Farms to the Type 2 we've just unlocked through research. I have visions of cannibalistic hillbilly shacks loading "foodstuffs" into delivery vehicles for distribution everywhere, but a little Romulan Ale fixes that right up.

Wait, we don't know what Romulans are yet. Strike that last part.

BanzaiCat

Looks like this AAR is going to go to the front page, gents. I've submitted six parts to the Grog overlords, and I've posted five of them here in the forum. As soon as there's a link up I'll post it here in the forum.

Here's hoping it stays fun and interesting.

KyzBP

Quote from: Banzai_Cat on January 20, 2014, 09:21:29 PM
Looks like this AAR is going to go to the front page, gents. I've submitted six parts to the Grog overlords, and I've posted five of them here in the forum. As soon as there's a link up I'll post it here in the forum.

Here's hoping it stays fun and interesting.

Congrats!  Keep it up.