Let's Play! Master of Orion II - Of Klackons and Gnolams

[psilontech]

With a little extra time on my hands, I'm considering running my first Let's Play!

As you've probably gathered from the title, it's going to be a game of Master of Orion 2.



If this gathers enough interest, I'll be letting you guys make several decisions - Starting with what race we're going to play as.



As it stands, I'm thinking of a few archetypes:
The Warlord
-Bonuses to Ship Defense and Offense
-Warlord Special Ability
-Feudal
-Spying Bonuses to make up for Feudal Shenanigans.

The Borg
-Cyborg, simply for flavor reasons.
-Telepathic, for the assimilation of planets.
-Unification, again for flavor reasons. Plus, Unification rules something fierce.
-Bonuses to Ground Combat for reasons of assimilating enemy ships once we have Assault Shuttles, Transporters or Tractor Beams.
-Repulsive. Became we are the Borg and you will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.

The Techno-Geek
-Creative. +/- one of the 'I win' buttons for the game. Antarans have trouble attacking these guys worlds even early on.
-Research Bonuses.
-Democracy. Enlightened society and all that. Plus, goodly research bonus from Demo.
-Low-G Homeworld. Weakling nerds.
-Ground combat penalties.
-Whatever else needs to be taken to free up the points needed.
-Basically Psilons.

I'm also considering a heavily industry race, but those tend to be even more easy-modo than creative races.

Leaning towards Hard difficulty right now. If you guys really want Impossible, then EVERYTHING is going to get repulsive. Cuts out the extorting me for stuff part of the Meet->Ridiculous Demands->Declare War cycle.

I'm certainly open to any racial suggestions, be they refinements of previously mentioned races or an entirely new one.

So, what say you?

Episode One: Where The Hell Are We?
Part One
Part Two
Part Three

Episode 2: Of Space Monsters and Other Extra-dimensional Threats

Part One
Part Two
Part Three

Episode Three: Of Battleships and Squishy Things
Part One
Part Two

Episode Four: A Sack Full of Kittens
Part One

Part Two of Episode Four will be up sometime Today.

[Winterwind]

Oooh, nice - always sweet to see Let's Plays of what is perhaps my most favourite game ever.

My suggestion would be "Anything, barring Creative, Lithovore and Repulsive". Because each of these three removes a major part of the game and thus makes it more boring - which is the worst quality you want in an LP. When showing off the glory of this game, show off its full glory, do not remove the struggle to get one's hands on technology one missed out on because of lacking Creative, do not remove the struggle to keep the population well fed and yet the industrial centres still running, do not remove the entire aspect of diplomacy.
(I also happen to think Creative is the single most overcosted, overrated ability in the game, but that's beside the point - I'd advise against it even if it was the best ability there is, because it removes one of the most interesting things about the game)

EDIT:
My proposal: Extradimensional Invaders! If the Antarans can, why shouldn't we, only we'll do it better and actually conquer this galaxy!
Picks: Transdimensional, Warlord, Production+1, Telepathic, Rich Homeworld, Feudal, Ground Combat-20, Population Growth-50%
Between Transdimensional and Warlord, we'd probably have the best ships in the early game, and could move around more quickly than anyone else, too, to beat them at the strategic game; Telepathic would allow very early and easy conquest (and completely negate the disadvantage from Ground Combat -20), and between Feudal, bonus production and a Rich Homeworld, it would be possible to send out ships early to conquer other stars (so quickly, in fact, that the lower Population Growth wouldn't even begin to matter)!

Oh, and, by the way, Impossible doesn't mean everyone gets Repulsive. A few races sometimes get it randomly (Sakkra almost always, Trilarians and Meklar quite frequently, the others only sometimes), but the vast majority will still be non-Repulsive. They are treacherous bastards who like nothing better than hating your guts, obviously, but it's quite possible to get them into treaties and pacts nonetheless. One just has to be aware they might backstab one at any moment. I've won Impossible games without firing a single shot, other than at monsters/Antarans (granted, that was with a Charismatic/Telepathic race, which is the most broken combo in the game by far in my humble opinion).

[psilontech]

I know that on impossible not everyone has the Repulsive trait, it just seems to me that diplomacy on impossible is sometimes a lot more trouble than it's worth.

I really enjoy the idea behind your race, I've played something similar on a few occasions. Find a race early on in the game and just gobble them up.
The real problem comes later on with the huge research disadvantage of the Feudal system of government, especially if you don't find the Psilons until mid-game. The Telepathic trait's spying bonus is what keeps you from being squashed by everyone else with phasors and Class III shields while your empire is still toiling with Mass Drivers and Class I shields.

If no more votes are cast before Midnight EST, I'll begin with your Antaran off-shoot. Any ideas as far as naming the race?

[Kzickas]

I vote with Winterwind.

Also for some strange reason the first post didn't appear when I tried opening the thread before he posted, anyone have a clue why?

[Winterwind]

I know that on impossible not everyone has the Repulsive trait, it just seems to me that diplomacy on impossible is sometimes a lot more trouble than it's worth.

Well, a two-front war is still better than a four-front-war...
Also, having the possibility to trade for some technologies for the really important and/or useful stuff - Missile Bases, Heavy Armour, these things - helps a ton.

I really enjoy the idea behind your race, I've played something similar on a few occasions. Find a race early on in the game and just gobble them up.
The real problem comes later on with the huge research disadvantage of the Feudal system of government, especially if you don't find the Psilons until mid-game. The Telepathic trait's spying bonus is what keeps you from being squashed by everyone else with phasors and Class III shields while your empire is still toiling with Mass Drivers and Class I shields.

Yeah, pretty much.

If no more votes are cast before Midnight EST, I'll begin with your Antaran off-shoot. Any ideas as far as naming the race?

Uhh... no, no particular ideas (sorry, just back home from work, my brain in general and the parts in it responsible for creativity in particular have for the moment completely shut down ). Go with whatever you like.

Also for some strange reason the first post didn't appear when I tried opening the thread before he posted, anyone have a clue why?

It didn't initially appear for me, either. I went back an hour later, and then there it was, much higher up in the forum than before and perfectly readible this time. I just assumed psilontech had deleted the post initially and reposted it later, or something like that...

[psilontech]

I had attempted to post the thread several times last night, each time receiving a network error. It is entirely possible that some of the information went through before the error occurred.

Just checked - Yes, there are two threads created for this, one good (This one) the other a jumbled pile of nothing.

I lack the option to delete the thread for lack of proper formatting in the corrupted thread - If anyone with moderator privileges reads this, I would appreciate the other thread being deleted.

[Irbis]

I know that on impossible not everyone has the Repulsive trait, it just seems to me that diplomacy on impossible is sometimes a lot more trouble than it's worth.

But... but... I won diplomatic victory on impossible...

The Telepathic trait's spying bonus is what keeps you from being squashed by everyone else with phasors and Class III shields while your empire is still toiling with Mass Drivers and Class I shields.

Actually, to me, spying was the most overrated, boring and giving the least returns part of the game. Even when I made spy civilization making almost nothing but spies returns were pretty slim...

I'd pick 'subterranean' for your race, otherwise it's good.

[Aidan305]

Winterwind's suggestion sounds good. Why let the Antarans have all the fun?

[sonofzeal]

My 8-Player Impossible win was with a Winterwind-type. Feudal, Warlord, Telepathic, and as many combat bonuses as I could fit. Advanced start. I remember that I managed to take out two of my immediate neighbours right away, and that give me a solid hunk of worlds and resources to work with. Bunkered down for a bit, built up my forces, and managed to scrape together a victory.

I don't recommend making this LP an 8-Player Impossible though.

Actually, to me, spying was the most overrated, boring and giving the least returns part of the game. Even when I made spy civilization making almost nothing but spies returns were pretty slim...

That was my experience too. In MoO1 I'd win as Darloks with a diplomatic victory just for lulz, but in MoO2 I found spying worthless. I always thought I was just missing some essential part of the mechanism, but maybe not.

IMO diplomacy in general became a bit easier between the two though, and I generally refuse diplomatic victories just on principal. I tend to get them when I'm not even looking for them, and often right as I gear up to take out Antares.

[psilontech]

Starting now, as I'm snowed in and given the ice, may lose power at some point.
Settings:
6 Player.
Hard Difficulty.
Large Galaxy
Medium Organic and Mineral settings
Antaran Attack, Tactical Combat and Random Events set to yes.
__________________________________________________ _______________

The Torian Empire was once contained to a small sector of space, a pocket dimension. We had expanded to the edge of space and found that there was nothing beyond it, for at the edge we simply found ourselves at the other end of our solar system.
For eons we sat and waited, plotting against one another in small bids of power. Any sense of ambition in our race was slowly disappearing, our Science Caste left to toil with whatever scraps the Emperor would grand them on a whim.

But then everything changed, the Science Caste had come to a startling conclusion. There was something beyond our dimension, something much larger than many could imagine. Funding was slowly increased as the scientists began to learn methods of punching out of our prison into the greater expanse that lay beyond.

At long last, a breach was created and a cautious exploratory force was sent though the portal. The initial horror of these first explorers. Distant points of light indicated billions of suns, suns! Impossibly far away!
The very laws of physics were drastically different and radically alien to the Torian mind.
While life as we knew it was still possible, it was rendered nearly impotent.

Eventually 'permanent' sensors were set up on the other side of the portal, allowing the Scientist Sect to devise a way of setting up a permanent colony.

Spatial alteration devices were placed throughout the solar system the portal had punched into to alter the space to be more suited to colonization of the Laborer, Farmer and Scientist Casts. Warrior Caste members were deemed hearty enough to experience the Materium Beta without excessive pampering.

With the thorough creative naming abilities of the ruling Warrior Caste, this colony was named:


Within the altered space, the homeworld selected with suitable enough.


Construction on freighters to bring samples back to the homeworld was immediately begun upon...


But disaster strikes as it generally does when the Scientist Caste has its way. The portal to the home dimension has collapsed and... the fabric of space-time in the area seems to have been damaged. At the moment it does not appear to be possible to reopen the portal for some time.

We've been cut off.
We're all alone in a strange new place.

...We need to find an alien to work off a little frustration on.

[psilontech]

Even in our altered space, things don't react in quite the manner that we expect them to. This could cause several complications as far as scientific progress is concerned.

Extraction of nourishment from the planet we have settled is exceedingly inefficient at the moment. We are planning on creating a smaller area of much more pure altered space in which to grow our food stuff more efficiently.

But the going is slow...



In the meantime, we have begun sending out our preexisting scout ships to nearby systems in search of... something. We're not quite sure.
Some have given the opinion that this existence is... chaotic. We cannot limit our presence to just this one, potentially destructible world.
A larger freighter has been fitted with space altering devices and materials to create a crude settlement.

--
Within a cycle, one of our scout ships reports back through subspace, it has found several worlds orbiting a yellow sun but-
"Oh Emperor! What is that thi-*Static*"


--- Connection reestablished. Ship withdrawing to a safe distance.
It seems that this... this monster is capable of sustaining its self in hard vacuum. It only attacks ships when they near the planets. Perhaps some sort of nesting ground?

What kind of reality Are. We. IN?

Gods, they don't pay me enough to manage this operation!

The scout ship is ordered to another system, it isn't currently equipped to deal with something like this.

Though... Soon. Yes, very soon - The hunt will begin. I like the idea of having this abomination's skull as my new throne.

--
Scout ships have encountered other systems with nothing quite as exciting -
Wait, the colony ship is reporting having found an interesting system. There seems to be substantial damage to sub-space in the area -
We've lost contact with the Ishimora colony ship.
--
Contact has been established with the Ishimora colony ship, it reports a significant shift in spatial position, it's on the other side of the sector.
It is signaling significant structural damage and is being forced to land on a nearby habitable planet - Deploying Reality Altering Devices in orbit now.

[psilontech]

The new world, again thanks to the creative genius of the ruling caste, named 'Outpost Alpha', has been experiencing unrest. Suggestions of creating a central Marine Barracks has been well received by the planetary baron.

Supposedly the unrest is being caused by strange signals being directed towards the colony. Wait - We're receiving a transmission being routed through the colony's subspace relay -



...
...
Transmission cuts off there.
They... didn't seem surprised at all to have noticed our existence.
None to pleased about it either, considering their message.

And then the Warrior Caste went insane.
Immediately the ship designs began to pour in. Several with weapon loadouts that could easily vaporize a skyscraper in seconds.

The most reasonable were the Z.E.M. Series. The mantis and Harlequin class destroyers. Harlequin being the missileboat sistership of the Mantis.



Production begins effective immediately.
--

Preliminary diplomatic relations have begun with the bugs.
"But insects to be squashed beneath our boot!" once declared the head of xeno relations, once laughed as a joke position.
I can't imagine peace lasting long.
His first communication with these 'Klackons' was to demand compensation in the form of technology for their grave insult in their first communication with us.



... And the supreme surprise in this instance, even beyond Minister Adian's demand was:



They agreed.

By Aquias's Lance, there's something wrong here. Maybe they had a similar method of filling the 'xeno communications' post as we had?

THE GALAXY AS IT STANDS AS OF THE END OF THIS UPDATE:


--

So: What do all of you think thus far? Where should we go from here? Still working on Farms, but we got new fuel cells from the bugs. Obviously more exploration is to be had, but what else?

[sonofzeal]

Research!

You are trapped, isolated from your homeworld. It is only natural that your science cast would seek a way home. To this end, progress made in the area of computing would be valuable in the long term.

It is also probably that any breakthrough to bring you home might involve some quite substantial engineering to build. Thus, the field of Construction may prove invaluable.

[Winterwind]

My 8-Player Impossible win was with a Winterwind-type. Feudal, Warlord, Telepathic, and as many combat bonuses as I could fit.

"Winterwind-type"...
Actually, this race is quite different than the ones I play with most of the time privately. My usual builds tend to be more along the lines of "Unification, Production+2, Subterranean" (plus disadvantages, maybe Rich or Large Homeworld, too) or "Production+2, Subterranean, Warlords, Charismatic, Feudal" (plus other disadvantages, maybe Large Homeworld, too). I figured this one might be more interesting though.

So: What do all of you think thus far? Where should we go from here? Still working on Farms, but we got new fuel cells from the bugs. Obviously more exploration is to be had, but what else?

Awesome! Interesting to read, and with just the right amount and kind of humour. I was quite amused.

It took me a while to realize you didn't use a Pre-Warp start, as I pretty much always do. That confused me a bit.

In any case! I don't know if it has reached your audio-sensory organs, but there are some within the Warrior Caste conspiring with the Science Caste to make a point that securing nutrition of our people is a pointless endeavour if we can't secure our people themselves. We will need technology that works in this strange cosmos we were tossed into to protect ourselves, and for that, we will need to build facilities on our new colonies where we can study this strange dimension's properties. Installations where we can allow small pockets of this odd space to retain its natural properties so we can research it. Obviously, such facilities would have to be far away from the population centres, and the technical difficulties in creating small, controlled pockets of weird-space within the greater field of our alteration devices are astounding, I'm given to understand, but they say if we redirected our research efforts to that, we could have such facilities within a few cycles - making it that much easier for us to figure out more about this dimension. The farmers may protest, but all food in the universe won't do us any good if we are suddenly overrun by enemies, or if we misunderstand some fundamental law of this weird dimension and accidentally turn our planet to jelly, or something like that. And I have to say, I find myself agreeing with these Warriors and Scientists myself.

Obviously we want the threat of these "Klackons" negated as soon as possible - but the faster we can research, the faster we will have the means to negate that threat, even if it means temporarily directing all our efforts towards getting these research facilities at highmost priority!

(If you haven't finished Farms yet, I suggest redirecting to Research Labs. The 5 RP from Research Labs are not affected by Feudalism, so this amounts to +5 RP from every world we control, and +5 RP per world every turn quickly adds up, making it so much easier to get everything else. My usual research order - when playing Pre-Warp, mind - is Research Lab -> Automated Factory -> freighters, colony ships, all the stuff required for building vessels -> rest)

[Coidzor]

I'd have to echo switching over to research labs unless farms are almost done, which they didn't look to be from the screenshot.

[Winterwind]

I'd have to echo switching over to research labs unless farms are almost done, which they didn't look to be from the screenshot.

Research points aren't wasted anyway - if we have 70 (out of 80) research points in farms and we switch over, we will have 70 (out of 150) points in research labs - so there is no harm at all in switching, no matter whether something is almost done or not (as long as one switches to something that takes as many RP or more as whatever one had been researching before, anyway; excess RP are lost).

[sonofzeal]

Research points aren't wasted anyway - if we have 70 (out of 80) research points in farms and we switch over, we will have 70 (out of 150) points in research labs - so there is no harm at all in switching, no matter whether something is almost done or not (as long as one switches to something that takes as many RP or more as whatever one had been researching before, anyway; excess RP are lost).

To echo this, the same trick works for production. In the earliest stages of the game (at least in pre-warp) there's often nothing you really want built but things you're going to want built as soon as the research finishes. Putting your production towards housing or whatever is horribly inefficient; you're better off telling them to build something giant you're not actually ready for, like a colony ship, and then switching over to what you really want when the tech comes online.



One of my other races is the Turtle - Large Homeworld, Subterranian, Artifact World, Research +2 , Creative. I can't remember if I had enough points for Rich World too. End result either way was an absurd population on a fantastic planet, and I wouldn't even worry too much about colonizing. Just fortify, research, and generally stay out of the way of other races. I find you draw far less aggro if your footprint's small, and you don't have to worry nearly so much about defense. It's risky for obvious reasons, expansionism has its own rewards, but sometimes I enjoyed this style. The key is to tap your homeworld to its fullest and build up a research lead; once you start getting the higher-end techs, you can take the galaxy by storm.





....oh, one other thing - I find on newer computers, the battle screen scrolls far too fast, and that makes it impossible to control. What's your recommended solution to this problem?

[Winterwind]

One of my other races is the Turtle - Large Homeworld, Subterranian, Artifact World, Research +2 , Creative.

That's impossible, that's 24 points in picks. Even before the patch that increased the cost of Creative from 6 to 8 it would be 22.

....oh, one other thing - I find on newer computers, the battle screen scrolls far too fast, and that makes it impossible to control. What's your recommended solution to this problem?

Rather than scrolling, click on the minimap. Much easier to control.

[psilontech]

Next Update should come Tonight or Tomorrow. There have been some power issues here due to the ice, so I've had to start over a few times from the last save-point. Also a few screenshot issues - Coming up corrupted and such need to be dealt with.

Some exciting things have happened, though. I'll tell you that much!

[sonofzeal]

That's impossible, that's 24 points in picks. Even before the patch that increased the cost of Creative from 6 to 8 it would be 22.

I may be misremembering. It was something along that line, at least - get maximum benefit from homeworld, and bunker up there. Tended to produce much faster games, since there's less to worry about and keep track of, but wasn't really a great strategy in Impossible-level games.


And thanks for the minimap tip. I still miss scrolling though.

[Douglas]

I may be misremembering. It was something along that line, at least - get maximum benefit from homeworld, and bunker up there. Tended to produce much faster games, since there's less to worry about and keep track of, but wasn't really a great strategy in Impossible-level games.

Hah! Tell that to my multiple victories - by sole survivor - playing on Impossible on the largest map size without ever acquiring a planet other than my homeworld. Large Rich Artifacts homeworld, Subterranean, and Creative. Bunker up, play nice with the neighbors, focus research, improve your home planet with everything in the game, and when you reach max tech break out the steamroller doom stars. Even without such exploits as Phasing Cloak + Time Warp Facilitator, it's easy to design ships that can take 30 to 1 odds against the AI designs and win, and it's reasonably feasible to actually reach that level of technology before the AI does despite only having one planet.

I have, in fact, won such a game despite one of the AIs winning the diplomatic victory vote. I refused to abide by the vote and, when the entire galaxy responded by becoming a single empire and declaring war on me, I just merrily continued on my way, blowing up planets just like I'd always been planning to. The game ended when every hostile colony in the galaxy had been reduced to asteroids.

[sonofzeal]

Bunker up, play nice with the neighbors, focus research, improve your home planet with everything in the game, and when you reach max tech break out the steamroller doom stars.

I found that rather difficult on Impossible.

What tech level did you choose to start at?

[Douglas]

I found that rather difficult on Impossible.

What tech level did you choose to start at?

Pre-warp.

Oh, the tech that gives a diplomatic bonus is very useful for getting the AIs to leave you alone. Getting that makes a huge difference in how many empires will sign treaties with you. Also accept any tech demands, you will not be able to stand up to any significant force until late game.

[sonofzeal]

Pre-warp.

Oh, the tech that gives a diplomatic bonus is very useful for getting the AIs to leave you alone. Getting that makes a huge difference in how many empires will sign treaties with you. Also accept any tech demands, you will not be able to stand up to any significant force until late game.

Ah.... I got frustrated with Pre-Warp Impossible pretty quickly. My main memory (and this was something like 10 years ago) was that, almost every game I played that way, by the time I had my first little scout ship exploring other worlds, the Sakkra were already sitting right there in orbit around my homeworld and had already decided to do a spot of redecorating around the place, and didn't want no lip from any soft pink monkey-boy. After running some very careful simulations and determining exactly how bad the computer cheats on Impossible, I believe I gave up on Pre-Warp for that. Maybe if I'd stuck with it a bit more...

Ah well, I got myself an 8-Player Impossible eventually, I'm not going to worry too much.

[Douglas]

how bad the computer cheats on Impossible

Heh. Some players like to take all empire-boosting picks and then capture someone else's population for some population-boosting picks too (also negating any population penalty picks you took), and Impossible is great for that. Subterranean Silicoids, anyone? Yes, that's 26 points which is beyond the legal limit, no, the computer doesn't care on Impossible difficulty.

[Winterwind]

Next Update should come Tonight or Tomorrow. There have been some power issues here due to the ice, so I've had to start over a few times from the last save-point. Also a few screenshot issues - Coming up corrupted and such need to be dealt with.

Some exciting things have happened, though. I'll tell you that much!

Sounds promising!
And thanks for putting up with all these issues for us.

Ah.... I got frustrated with Pre-Warp Impossible pretty quickly. My main memory (and this was something like 10 years ago) was that, almost every game I played that way, by the time I had my first little scout ship exploring other worlds, the Sakkra were already sitting right there in orbit around my homeworld and had already decided to do a spot of redecorating around the place, and didn't want no lip from any soft pink monkey-boy. After running some very careful simulations and determining exactly how bad the computer cheats on Impossible, I believe I gave up on Pre-Warp for that. Maybe if I'd stuck with it a bit more...

Ah well, I got myself an 8-Player Impossible eventually, I'm not going to worry too much.

Generally speaking, for Impossible 8-players Pre-Warp (pretty much the only mode I ever play, really), you want a really nasty race. I generally prefer really powerful industry races, with Production+2 and often Unification and Subterranean, or sometimes Feudalism, Subterranean and some other advantages; other people swear by Demovores (not a race that eats people, as the name might suggest, but Democratic Lithovores ).

The meanest thing you can do is grab Charismatic and Telepathic, research Xeno Psychology early, build a battleship or two (they don't necessarily have to be well armed and such, they just need to be there - the computer reacts quite differently to demands if you have a fleet to back them up with than if you don't), get all the treaties with everyone you can find, and then go around your allies every few turns and go "Awwwww... that newly colonized world of yours with only 4 people on it... can I have it? Can I? Can I? Ohh, pretty please with a cherry on top, can I?", and thanks to your racial picks people will be unable to resist your puppy eyes and give in. Making you that much more powerful and, quite importantly, increasing your population.

Every time I played this race (in an "8 races, Pre-Warp, Huge galaxy, Impossible"-game) I won in under 150 turns via diplomatic victory...


And just to signify how much race matters - I've managed to win the No Workers challenge (8 races, Pre-Warp, Huge galaxy, Impossible, don't ever use even a single worker for the entire game), I've managed to win the No Scientists challenge (same, only this time no scientists for the entire game), but I've never managed to win a game without spending my racial picks (on that difficulty with these settings, anyway).

[Cieyrin]

Color me intrigued. I liked this game but I always got bogged down when I got into combat, as I never seemed to be able to design a ship that was either economical enough to make enough of or powerful enough to actually not get pasted, despite the Creative race I was playing having cool tech that seemed more advanced than anybody else in my immediate vicinity.

[psilontech]

Episode 2: Of Space Monsters and Other Extra-dimensional Threats
Part One

With the recent acquisition of Deuterium Fuel Cells from the Klackons, deep space sensors and relays have been hastily redesigned and placed further into space around our territory.

Amazingly, altered space has been detected in relative proximity to Outpost Alpha. The castes are in uproar over the necessity to explain this anomaly. Scout ships have been ordered to the sector for further investigation.

Could Homeworld have established another outpost in this dimension?

In a strange turn of events, high-ranking warrior and scientist caste members have allied to change research towards a method of creating pockets of so-called 'normal' space within our own altered space colonies to further research methods of manipulating this reality along with the possibility of finding a way home. They barely managed to scrape together the support against the ardent opposition of the farming and worker castes.



... Receiving transmission from altered space near Outpost Alpha. Patching it in now:



Heavily robed, little can be seen of these beings. What is visible clearly shifts from one form to another, enough to slowly bring a weaker Torian to madness.
Their message is clear, their intent malevolent. They are not natives to this realm, the same as ourselves. They may have some sort of technology which will allow us to create another portal to home.
They refuse to negotiate. Our only option is invasion.
It comes time to prepare the fleet.

Racial Traits:

Note Darlok: Trans-Dimensional, Repulsive.

While the colonies prepare a fighting force, our scouting efforts continue.
More abominations the size of small cities littler hard vacuum, terrorizing our ships. This one seemed to be a colossal single-celled organism intent on absorbing our scout. While it managed to escape with minimal damage, several crew members were on the verge of insanity.



Preliminary negotiation with the Klackons have begun for a research treaty.
Props must be given to the ambassador, he has somehow given them the impression that we will give them much of anything. Billions of credits are being pumped into this deal and we have to assume that it will return dividends.



--

Sorry it took so long to get this up guys. Like I said, there have been complications!

Part Two up soon!

[psilontech]

Episode 2:
Part Two.

Intercepted military chatter from the Darlok Empire has lead us to believe that they are beginning to mobilize their military. Long-range scans reveal a two destroyers in the Radiff system.

The fleet isn't ready, only the flagship produced thus far, the War-Wind.
Time is running out, we must surprise them while we have the advantage.

The War-Wind is moved through the wormhole and links up with the experienced crews of the Scout ships, Maverick and Marvin who will act as picket ships, picking off missiles and fighters as they appear.

The Radiff system contains more than expected. A fully operational starbase orbits the colonized planet accompanied by the destroyers and their frigate picket ship.

Stardate 3504.7, the First Battle at Radiff and the Darlok War begins.

<Several screenshots of the battle were corrupted and I saved after the battle due to fear of another power-outage. Suffice to say, the battle went well. I lost a single scout to nuclear fire.>



The flagship War-Wind was filled with some of the most powerful Psychics available to the Warrior-Caste. Upon entering this existence, we quickly came to the conclusion that our psionic abilities did not work through a vacuum, we needed to enter the atmosphere to try this.
We didn't think it would work.
The committee that demanded the psychics to be aboard the flagship for this purpose were largely laughed at.



Nobody is laughing now.



Except maybe the committee members. All the way to the currency exchange center.

A few of our new, perfectly loyal shape-shifting, terrifying citizens seemed to have been experts something that is incredibly close to our previous project: Intense Altered space in an area in which to grow homeworld foods.



They were all too happy to divulge the information on their inner workings to their liberators. Bwahaha.

Of course, the inevitable response from the Darloks. Should we be surprised by their response?



Warrior-Caste officer Zeal summed up our feelings on the Darloks best:
"Darloks look scary. Terrifying, even. They closely resemble the things that go bump in the night as a youngling. I feel great about squishing my childhood nightmares."

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Part Three Coming up Soon.

[Coidzor]

How'd you manage to have them not have the racial presets for the AI-controlled races?

The best part about the Darloks being portrayed as shape-shifting eldritch abominations is that they were the player-character race in the last LP I was following of this game. Definitely explains their default bonus to spying...