Turns of AXT-042, third thread

[cbn]

Aboard the bridge of the scoutship Defiant


" Captain ! Incoming !"

Before anyone could react the tiny vessel was bracketed with fire. The radar officer exclaimed excitedly, "Sir I have them on the scope now but they are out of range"

The vessel rocked violently as a shell exploded mere meters off the port bow. The Captain picked himself off the deck " Evasive maneuvers. Hard a'starbord and head for the fungus. Break radio silence and call the task force for something more powerful to help us out here. Where's our damn air sup---"

The vessel shook as shell struck it full astern.

"--port. Engineer. I need more speed"

"Captain, I'm already at 120%. I don't think my poor bairns can take it much longer.

"Engineer, If we don't get out of here we're dead so more speed !!!

The ship rocked as another shell hit the foreward gun turret . . . .

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Report coming in from task force Delta. The Defiant reports being under fire from an Iowa Class Destroyer"

The Commodore looked at the admiral, " Sir, the Defiant is no match for an Iowa. We could delay Operation Overlord and render assistance with Beta group"

The admiral considered the tactical displays before him and a look of grim resolve hardened his features, " NO the Beta task force has their own mission and you and I both know that nothing else can get there in time to save the Defiant. Perhaps the other Delta scoutships can help but its really up to the Defiant to find a way to survive"


The admiral stormed from the room into his inner office. The admiral's aide slowly approached the Commodore, "Just so you know sir, the admiral's youngest. . . . you know Ben jr. . . . . he's the conn officer on the Defiant . . . With respect sir but leave him alone for a while in there. Our plans were made and really there's nothing we can do until we hear from the task force"

The commodore shuffled into his own office off the operations center and gazed at the vid-image of his three children, Jason 8, Claire 5 and little newborn Tommy-- "His own kid. . . damn . . . . "

[Walt]

The bravely dying lads of the 41st mobile jump infantry, Drone Faction, are set to exterminate the peaceful (but scheming, let's not forget that) settlers of the last Morganite stronghold.

:-)

It's been fun, guys. I wish you both well. I'll read the board every so often to see how this plays out.

2218 to cbn.

Ciao!

Walt

[cbn]

See you Walt and I hope for another game involving you in September. I'll email you then to see if you are still interested.

[Tenchusatsu]

Thanks for playing with us, Walt. Also, thanks for setting up the TCP/IP games way back during the early game! (Wow, how long ago was that?) And of course, thanks for being a great ally! I hope you'll still be around in September; I'd love to start another game with you then.
_______

Transcript of Publicity Video
Produced and funded by the National Fundamentalist Party of Gaia

(Scene of Cult Worshipers dressed in salmon robes and transparent breathing masks kneeling in rows before a monolith. The background music is gloomy.)

Narrator (a deep male voice with very melodramatic intonations): First, it was the environment-loving Cult of Planet ...

(A bright flash, and the scene transforms into the smoldering ruins of a Cult base.)

Narrator: ... oppressed and later forced to commit mass suicide ...

(Fade into the plush interior of Morganite headquarters. Many Morganite citizens are wandering about in the spacious lobby.)

Narrator: Then Morgan Industries. A peaceful nation of merchants and scientists ...

(Another bright flash, and the scene transforms into a charred battlefield sparsely littered with burnt bodies of soldiers.)

Narrator: ... brutally murdered without provacation ... And who is responsible for all of this? That's right ...

(Fade into a grainy black-n-white aerial view of factories, all belching dark smoke.)

Narrator: ... the EVIL Drones. They seek world domination!

(A bright flash into a video of Drone choppers firing fusion lasers at fleeing Gaian formers and workers.)

Narrator: They seek to rape Planet!

(Another bright flash into black-n-white video footage of a scenic wasteland, the color seemingly sapped away by a maroon-colored factory in the far distance.)

Narrator: They even seek to exterminate all wildlife on Planet!

(Yet another bright flash into a boil of mindworms succumbing to flames shooting out sideways from a source outside of view.)

Narrator: Are you going to sit there and do nothing? Or are you going to do something about it?

(The scene slowly fades into a tight shot of a waving flag proudly displaying the Gaian emblem. In unison, the music fades into the Gaian national anthem.)

Narrator: Join our stalwart military! Only we Gaians can resist this terrible plague and bring peace, justice, and ecological wisdom to Planet!

(The scene suddenly shifts to a shot of Gaian regiment of soldiers. The drill sergeant looks over his shoulder at the camera, a stern look in his eyes.)

Sergeant: I'm doing my part!

(Shot of a mindworm trainer. She is cloaked in a black robe and wears a tight-fitting black body suit. She is waving her arms up as looks up at the sky. In obedience, a boil of mindworms starts shooting up in a spiral around the trainer.)

Trainer: (still looking up) I'm doing my part!

(Shot of a factory. A partially-assembled needlejet is seen in the factory-hanger. A worker wearing a hard-hat and carrying a concussion hammer is walking at an angle away from the camera. He looks over at the camera.)

Worker: I'm doing my part!

(Fade into the shot of the Gaian flag again.)

Narrator: You too can do your part! Would you like to know more?

(The video freezes and a dialog box pops up, echoing the narrator's last question and presenting two choices: 'OK' and 'Cancel')
_______

Anyone who's seen the movie Starship Troopers will immediately recognize the last part of the Gaian publicity video.

[NorthSwordsman]

Originally posted by cbn
See you Walt and I hope for another game involving you in September. I'll email you then to see if you are still interested.

(jumping up and down) Don't forget me!

[cbn]

I hope we can get the same four

---------------------------------------------

Gang

I am having a problrm related to eradicating Walt's faction. As soon as I do I get the message that they have been eradicated but then it gives me all the end of game messages, you know the score and even the replay of the world maps and how the factions grow. Then I get a popup like the beginning of any turn-- the one where you can enter your password and hit "ok" or "save and exit". Both times I entered the Pword and hit ok. It exited out of the game and just gabe me the standard SMAX choices screen-- "Load game" Start new game "Multiplayer" etc.

I will try this again-- The thing I do not know is what happens if I hit "save and exit"--The solution I am thinking of is for me to do EVERYTHING else I want to do on the turn before the eradication. Then when I get the message I will hit "save and exit"- and give the turn a very unique name-- If it defaults to Allen's turn well no harm done. I will try to open it first since for all I know it might still be my turn.

Contrary to Gaian propaganda, I have never eradicated anyone before so may be this is all regular well-known stuff. I will make the attempt as outlined-- If anyone can tell me what's up and what I should have done, please let me know.

[cbn]

Curiouser and curiouser


I did as planned

1. played out everything else on the turn
2. eradicated Walt (attacked his defended size one which went down to 0 when the attack was successful.

3. Saw a bunch of messages about retiring including My AC score-- had no option but to hit OK throughout.

4. Got the turn start/end popup-- Hit save and exit

5. I gave the turn a unique name

6. The game did not EXIT all the way out of the game but instead took me to the screen where I hit "Multiplayer" and on up through a normal game load

7. I loaded the turn and it came up with my faction and the correct game year-- and accepted my password and let me in

8. The screen immediately focused on the one unit still capable of moving (the one that killed Walt's base

At this point I was ready to hit turn end when I noticed -- hey didn't I have a base there. A quick scroll around the map revealed that although I seem to have all my military, Dozens of bases are missing!! Also the Cult is back as are the Morganites !! The gaians are down to 6 bases and they are all size 1. IN fact all the bases seem to be size one.

Everyone seems to be researching the same tech as before so I do not know what is up. Do any of you have any ideas??

I'll be back to this in 3 or 4 hours and hopefully you guys can tell me something simple I did wrong. Otherwise we might need to find another way to eradicate Walt.

Help!!

[Walt]

The civilization-gone-bye-bye bug is well known, at least to me. I've been a victim of it previously. I've replayed the last turn, leaving my base open. Play the newly sent turn, take the base (first or last, whatever) and get back to us on what happens.

I think it's still anyone's game between you and Tench, and I'd hate to see the game brought to a premature end by this bug.

Walt

[Tenchusatsu]

Originally posted by Walt
The civilization-gone-bye-bye bug is well known, at least to me. I've been a victim of it previously.

Well, this is new to me. Thanks, Stephen, for the step-by-step report of what is happening to you. I'm sure we can craft a Star Trek kind of storyline around that. Something that involves disrupting the space-time continuum due to some weird doomsday device left behind at the Morgan base. It'd be great! It'd be ... er, nevermind.

Well, hopefully we can get around this bug. If not, we'll just have to let Morgan go to the AI and leave them as a castrated faction.

[cbn]

Well Tenchusatsu-- I wouldn't mind playing from the mofified positions LOL. About half the bases are empty and I have enough drop probes to get them all but yours.

Seriously though-- thanks Walt for the resend-- I will get bask to the game in about 2 hours so hopefully it goes well this time (whew-- reflects on all that i did last turn and the task of doing it over)

[cbn]

2119 to the gaians

------------------------------------

Tales of the demise of the Morganites may be premature. Every attempt at eradication caused a rift in the space-time continuum resulting in their immediate reincarnation. Attempting the eradication in alternate realities was equally futile.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------


"Base , this is Falcon one."

"Go ahead Falcon"

" Base, we cannot raise the Defiant on any channel and have spotted debris at the last known coordinates - -- wait there's her sister ship Glory Cloud - -- -- she looks damaged---perhaps the comm is damaged . . . . I'm going in for a closer look . . . WHAT THE F--- !!! We are being fired on"

The comm went silent for several seconds while the base staff waited tensely. Finally a voice burst through the static.

" Base, Falcon One here. We just sunk Glory Cloud and two Spartan ships. We retrieved some survivors and can confirm that Glory Cloud was captured and the Defiant was sunk , repeat SUNK with all hands. No sign of that Iowa class . . . Repeat no sign of the Iowa class"


Back in the control center, the communications officers all studiously avoided eye contact with the admiral who stood there stunned at the news of the death of his son. The admiral's eyes were cold as he looked to the commodore and casually stated "Implement Operation VENGEANCE".

The Commodore looked visibly startled but recovered
quickly, "Aye Sir"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Free Drones televid ( a ripoff of Gaian propoganda)


The Drones have always been a peaceful and hardworking people

(scenes include a family picknicking, schoolchildren, factory workers -- all attractive, smiling and prosperous)

Then without warning we were attacked by the cowardly Cult

(scenes showing actual footage of the massacre of 2172)

We reacted to protect our people and quickly defeated the Cult forces
(various Drone victories are depicted)

And being a peaceful people we graciously accepted theiir surrender and returned to the ways of peace. As a peaceful people we grew to pre-eminence on Planet

(again scenes of happy people, new bases, each Special Project etc)

But as we attempted peace and grew what was the Gaian respone

( an accurate computer generation of the Gaian leader is seen saying in a perfect copy of his voice " Nothing that a few missiles couldn't fix"

When we built schools and hospitals

" Nothing that a few missiles couldn't fix"

When we governed over the longest reign of peace on Planet

" Nothing that a few missiles couldn't fix"

When we achieved the most efficient and ecologically friendly industry on Planet

" Nothing that a few missiles couldn't fix"


War has been forced upon us by a scheming enemy that was jealous of our power. Our strong Drone forces stand between our people and a callous enemy that views a few missiles as the answer to their problems

(Scenes depict the sinking of the Sword of Gaia and the defeat of Gaian ground troops)

But we need your help. Contact your local recruitment office to find out how you can help protect the Drone way of life.

[Tenchusatsu]

Year 2219 to Stephen and Walt. I guess we're going to stick a fork in the Morganites. They're done.

By the way, Stephen, I loved the last post you made. Nothing like propaganda wars to stir up the primal human need to blow themselves up back to the Stone Age.
_______

Personal Log, Corporal Dean Daniels
Sunny Mesa Listening Post

Things are finally starting to look up.

After the swift destruction of the other Sunny Mesa colony at the hands of the Drones, I thought our main colony would be finished as well. I guess the top brass thought so, too, since they ordered all non-combat personnel to evacuate the base. I watched as the Drone air force took out all ground defenses at the main colony, leaving it defenseless. Then I saw ground units closing in on our position here, no doubt to take out this listening post and continue on to take over our base.

Then I saw Gaia send an angel. And it took the form of a needlejet.

Specifically, it was our squad of prototype aircraft. No longer are the skies the exclusive domain of the Drones; now we are taking to the skies as well! What a majestic sight it was to see this squad of Gaian needlejets flying in a V-formation and proudly displaying our national emblem on the underside of both wings.

But even this sight cannot compare to the glorious events which happened next.

Through my vid-screen, I was able to watch what the pilots saw as they made their attack run. They first flew over some Drone scout troops, who fired their hand weapons into the air in vain. However, the pilots ignored the troops and instead locked their targeting computers onto the Drone rover squad behind the troops. Multiple crosshairs, one for each of our strike jets, locked onto enemy rovers, one by one. Once all of the crosshairs found their respective marks, the commander gave the order to fire.

What I saw next was the most awe-inspiring sight I've seen in my life.

Bright-blue energy beams instantly shot out and struck the rovers. Interestingly, each beam did not follow a straight path other energy weapons like lasers would. Instead, they curved, shook, and vibrated, yet the endpoints of each beam remained attached to their targets. They resembled blue snakes, composed of pure energy, hooking onto their prey and wiggling back-n-forth. This continued for several seconds before each rover in turn succumbed to the snake beams in violent explosions.

Then I heard the commander give the final order of the strike, "Mission accomplished. Return to base for refueling." All was silent after that. I returned to my duties with a warm feeling in my gut and a renewed hope for all of us in this war.
_______

By the way, if you guys didn't notice, I took some creative license in my depiction of a Chaos Gun. The firing of caseless ammo just doesn't sound as cool as snake beams!

[cbn]

2220 to tenchusatsu

I played as the Morganites and obliterated them. Hopefull they will reappear no more. Now we are down to a 2 player battle that is too close to call. I finally took the "overall lead" for whatever thats worth but the bar graphs are sooo close. With the gaians started to utilize their air power well, we will see what happens here

---------------------------------------------

Military command is pleased to announce the capture of 4 spartan bases and the destruction of the bulk of the Spartan military forces. It was necessary to reduce the threat from this faction as they have been unwilling to talk peace.The bases have been renamed by the Department of Urban Habitation-- DUH

Spartan Northwest
Spartan North Central
Spartan Northeast
Spartans Don't come here

--------------------------------

Heard on the public audiocomm


The troops in the field have been fighting hard to protect our way of life. Recent victories over the Spartans and Morganites show the strength and commitment of our fighting men and women. But they need YOUR help. Buy Free Drone War bonds and support the war effort.

Do your part-- buy war bonds today!!

[NorthSwordsman]

I think you two have captured the spirit that existed during WWI and WWII in various countries around the globe with your propaganda efforts. It was very similar in nature to what you are doing. It's interesting that man's nature never changes- he remains a rather primal beast despite the efforts of civilization to place a veneer of sophistication over our most deepest , primal feelings.

Never mind the color commentary. Just had to make this observation.

[Tenchusatsu]

Year 2220 to Stephen.
_______

To: Druid Tenchusatsu
From: Gaian Defense Minister
Re: Assessment of the war

It seems the Drone blitzkreig came to an end a year or two ago and that we are finally able to shore up our front-line defenses. The problem is that the Drones can pretty much choose where the next battle takes place, while we are still limited to defense. Plus our intelligence reports that the Drones are also able to achieve spaceflight. They have not started any spaceflight projects yet, but it will only be a matter of time before they beat us to the space race.

I suggest that we somehow seize the initiative away from the Drones and start attacking them soon. We cannot continue to fight a defensive war. Already the Drones have restarted their research efforts and threaten to extend their technology lead, while our labs continue to serve as nothing more than hospitals for the wounded. If they can do this and at the same time continue to pin us down on all fronts, they will soon be unstoppable.

[cbn]

2221 to Allen
I'm out of town this weekend and will be unable to play until Monday (sorry)-- I may be able to play later today if the turn gets back before I leave

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Foreman cbn read the memo from the gaian defense minister, obtained after great effort and addressed the assembled generals.

"They seem to be gaining confidence. What is the cause of this?"

"Well foreman, we turned our attention to the Spartans in 2219 and captured 4 of their bases. You will recall that in 2219 we won 18 battles and lost only 3.If you care to look at the executive summary you will see our 2220 accomplishments"

The foreman looked at the document before him

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2220

New Virgin Soil (Gaia) captured
Hydrodock (Sparta) captured
2 conciousness bases captured
4 native life destroyed
5 choppers completed
First Centauri Preserve on Planet completed
First AAA upgrades completed


"Well this all looks fairly favourable but what is the downside. There must be a reason for their confidence"

"Sir, the Gaians now have an airforce thereby forcing us to invest in AAA protection. They have tacticals protecting key areas from our air power and have perimeter defenses around most bases. They are pumping out cheap trained troops from new recruits and then outfitting them with the latest armour and AAA equipment. Frankly sir, we will take considerable losses in any future attacks."

"So what are our plans"

"Well sir we have operation Juno prepared for this eventuality. essentially we move Force A here --

SCRRREEEEEEEEEEEEE
A high pitch whine shreiked through the audiocomm while a bright flash signalled the end of the vidcomm transmission. The Gaian spy picked up the discared mop next to him and tossed the screen and receiver into the refuse bin where, seconds later, a small pop signalled that the destruct sequence was successful. His movements were quick and precise but then suddebly he was transformed as he adopted the shuffling gait of a man 50 years his senior (only apt considering his altered appearance) and exited the maintenance room, pushing the mop and bucket, and moved up the main hall toward the exits and freedom. He knew that within 5 minutes the building would be sealed and his credentials would not stand up to close scrutiny. he held his breath as he nodded to the guard and stepped outside . . .
.

[Tenchusatsu]

Dang, had I known Stephen would be away today, I would have held the turn until I got back home on Sunday. Oh well. In any case ...

Year 2221 to Stephen.
_______

Senior Advisor: Minister, New Virgin Soil just fell to a Drone attack! What should we do?
Defense Minister: Excellent, the Drones are getting reckless.
Senior Advisor: (look of shock on his face) Sir?
Defense Minister: You heard me. This is the mistake I've been waiting years for. Now's our one and only chance to capitalize. Gather the rest of the senior advisors and call an emergency meeting ...

[cbn]

2222 to Allen. I am gone for the weekend now so take your time. I feel a major Gaian counterstroke coming on.

------------------------------------------------

Notable Drone achievements


Entire Peacekeeper air force eradicated
Iowa sunk-- avenging the Defiant

[Tenchusatsu]

I've got the turn, and I've done part of it already, but I'll wait 'til I get back home on Sunday before completing it.
_______

Covert Ops Center
Fallow Time

We have good news to report! We were able to mind-control two bases occupied by the Drones: New Virgin Soil and Hydrodock. We were also able to take control of the Drone units in those two bases, including two Chopper units in NVS.

Even better, we spotted a massive Drone chopper fleet stationed near our NW territory. We sent one of our mind-controlled chopper units toward the location in an attempt to bypass their early warning systems and weaken their fleet as much as possible. Despite already being moderately damaged when we took control, the chopper unit was successful in destroying over half of the Drone fleet before going down. Not only did this sneak attack throw a monkey wrench into their plans for invasion, it also testified to the awesome power of these Drone choppers.

We are taking the second Drone chopper unit back to the mainland for repairs and study. But even before that, our people have already reversed-engineered the design and have hastily drawn up plans for building choppers of our very own. We recommend building these choppers in all of our major bases as soon as possible.
_______

Command Center
Gaia's Landing
Transcript of Security Camera Video

(Lady Deirdre Skye and Druid Tenchusatsu are both looking over the shoulder of the tech who just received the report from the Covert Ops Center. Deirdre is dressed in her work uniform, a chocolate-brown bodysuit, while the Druid is dressed in a blue jumpsuit. The two leaders rejoice in glee after reading about the first major victories against the Drones. They start hugging each other in joy for quite a while. Then Druid Tenchusatsu suddenly breaks the hug, takes a deep breath, and starts walking toward the exit.)

Deirdre: Wait, where are you going?
Tenchusatsu: To my quarters.
Deirdre: What for?
Tenchusatsu: To take a nap. Now that I know this war isn't as hopeless as I once thought, I can finally catch up on my sleep.

[Tenchusatsu]

Year 2222 to Stephen. Couldn't wait to get back home ...

[cbn]

2223 to the Gaians-- good playing Allen-- those probes really were used to maximum effect

The terranx bug reared its ugly head and crashed the game each time a Gaian jet scrambled-- Ouch

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


The foreman addressed his assembled generals

"Gentlemen , I know that you are discouraged by the mind control powers exercised by the Gaians. We lost some good units to them. But we always knew that this war would be difficult and we are far from beaten. We remain ahead in most categories and are beefing up our probe defenses. We hold the bulk of territory on Planet and our military remains first rate. We have had some setbacks but we remain strong. Our inner lands are strongly defended and we maintain the ability to strike at the gaian interior. Just this year, an impact jet totally destroyed a Gaian base in the interior . We must regroup but with cunning the war may yet be ours.

[Tenchusatsu]

Year 2223 to Stephen.
_______

Report from Field Commander
Command Nexus, Alpha Prime

I am pleased to report that Alpha Prime is now ours and the Conciousness' headquarters are no more.

Better yet, we have occupied their Command Nexus and found a wonderful assortment of weapons labs, computer networks, military barracks, training facilities, and anything else a grunt could love. We have hastily set up a command post in the Nexus and are in the process of assimilating all of the technology and infrastructure into our own. In a few months, we should have the whole place ready for operation.

We recommend relocating top brass here, even though it is on the westernmost edge of Gaian occupied territory. In the meantime, we will quickly beef up the defenses here on Alpha Prime and impress upon the locals to serve as conscripts specializing in anti-air warfare.

[cbn]

2224 to the Gaians

Remember that saturday the 25th is moving day as I will be moving 6000km to Calgary. I may be unavailable for a week of more while I find an ISP etc.

---------------------------------------------

The Drones are scrambling to contain the Gaian attacks. Drone forces are regrouping to hold current lines and rearm for a counter- attack.

[Tenchusatsu]

I've finished my turn, but I'm having problems with Yahoo mail. I'll send the turn tomorrow morning, either through Yahoo or through my work e-mail.
_______

Battle Report
Lt. Col. Billy "Ninja" Lee, Wing Commander

I was the wing commander of the squadron that was composed of B-1 Vulture strike fighters and F-1 Falcon air-superiority fighters. Our orders were to make an interdiction attack on the Drone army and air force occupying Morgan Energy Monopoly. (Why the Drones had kept that name is beyond me.)

All of the aircraft in my wing locked their Chaos guns onto their targets and started firing. All of our weapons found their mark and explosions flashed from what used to be Drone military vehicles and hangars. After accomplishing our mission with minimal damage from Drone defenses, we started our flight back to Memory of Earth for refueling.

However, as I looked back on the base through my scanners, I noticed more explosions consuming civilian buildings that were not part of our list of targets. At first, I thought they were caused by fires from our attacks belatedly reaching synthfuel tanks or other explosives. But as the explosions continued, I noticed that there were no way our attacks could have caused such a chain reaction of destruction, unless for some strange reason the Morganite buildings are made out of dynamite.

Unfortunately from the limited resolution of the scanners on my fighter, I could not accurately determine what was causing those explosions. I did have just enough fuel to turn around and survey the destruction from a better viewpoint, but because there were still Drone military units present there, I did not want to take unnecessary risks to satisfy my curiosity. So the only thing I could do was witness the tragic destruction on my scanners as my wingmen and I continued flying away.
_______

Personal Log
Executive Producer, Propaganda Videos
National Fundamentalist Party of Gaia

My offices have recently obtained a video from the Covert Ops Center in Fallow Time. The video showed footage taken from intelligence cameras capturing the "factional cleansing" of Morgan Energy Monopoly. The video had it all, from building collapsing with civilians still trapped inside, to former Morganite citizens being lined up and vaporized by fusion laser-wielding infantry, to women and children screaming and running for their lives into the fungus-covered wilderness.

To a political publicist like me, especially one with a penchant for negative ads, this was like finding pure gold. I had my people immediately make copies of the video and start production on a series of new propaganda videos. Nothing makes a stronger statement than genocide, especially that carried out by our mortal enemy.

[Tenchusatsu]

Year 2224 to Stephen. For those who haven't figured it out already, this game is looking to be a textbook struggle between industrial might and economic efficiency.

[NorthSwordsman]

Not to mention, Ideologies. On one hand are the Ecological Guardians, on the other are the Ecological Destroyers. Should be interesting to see who wins. You both are pretty well matched, really. Let's see who the superior tactican is.

You can make all kinds of comparisons in the struggle between the two of you, if you really think about it.

[Tenchusatsu]

Year 2225 to Stephen.
_______

Public Announcement by Deirdre Skye

We are temporarily suspending our fundamentalist regime and reinstating democracy. In addition, we have resumed research in all of our Network Nodes and Research Labs. We realize that specialists have been carrying out their own private research projects for quite some time now, and we thank them for keeping the pursuit of science alive even as current projects were being mothballed. Now that we have a lull in the storm of warfare, we are taking advantage of this opportunity to advance our technology in hopes of catching up to and perhaps even surpassing the Drones.
_______

Report from the Gaian Defense Minister

We have begun our major thrust into Peacekeeper territory. Our first objective was the home of their Citizen's Defense Force, U.N. Planetary Trust. Our air force not only struck their base defenses, they also disabled their capabilities to launch a counterstrike. In short time, U.N. Planetary Trust became ours.

Our next target will be U.N. Disaster Relief, the mecca of the Peacekeeper nation. Not only is this base the largest in terms of population, it also houses three Secret Projects: The Virtual World, The Merchant Exchange, and The Planetary Datalinks. The conquest of this key base will greatly enhance our overall effort against the Drones. However, it will not be a cakewalk for our forces.

We recommend continued funding of our military efforts until at least this base falls into our hands. We realize that this will take some focus away from our reinstated research efforts, but I feel our mission should take first priority.
_______

Current SE settings

Drones: Demo, Free Market, Wealth (used to be Demo, Planned, Wealth or Knowledge, I believe)
Gaians: Demo, Green, Knowledge (used to be Fundy, Green, Survival)

[cbn]

Turn 2226

No time to post storyline-- I move in 2 days-- My computer is resting on the floor (where I am sitting) since ALL my other stuff is gone-- Addicted to Smax ??

[Tenchusatsu]

Year 2226 to Stephen
_______

Covert Ops Center
Fallow Time

Intelligence reports that Foreman CBN is moving and will be unavailable to micromanage the affairs of his empire for a while. This is the best time to strike! ... Wait, what do you mean we just slammed labs to 100%? Come on, we don't have a better opportunity than right now!
_______

Report from the Gaian Defense Minister

U.N. Disaster Relief is ours with minimal civilian casualties. The three Secret Projects stationed there are also ours: The Virtual World, The Planetary Datalinks, and The Merchant Exchange. Already the Virtual World is being integrated into our Network Nodes, and the nationwide response is overwhelmingly positive. We are now able to shift some specialist roles from Empath to Thinker or Engineer and boost our economy and research.

From here, the rest of our war against the Peacekeepers will be a mop-job.
_______

Journal Entry, Year 2226
Lady Deirdre Skye

It pains me to attack the nation of a friend, Commissioner Pravin Lal. We were very good acquaintances way back onboard the Starship Unity, the Ark which brought us to this Planet and started this next step in humanity. Both of us were biologists. His specialty was medicine; mine was plant life. We both once loved peace, democracy, justice, and balance between scientific progress and human rights. Had times been different, we could have been peaceful allies and partners in our collective struggle to survive and thrive on Planet.

But the dreams of peace and brotherhood are over. I was naive to think that war could be avoided at all costs. Now I know that the only way to avoid war is to give up our beliefs and our promise to Planet. It is a tragic dilemma, but I will always choose defending Planet over anything else, even peace, and even my friendship with Pravin. I can only pray to Gaia that Lal can eventually forgive me for the sins I have committed against him.

[Tenchusatsu]

Year 2227 to Stephen. Good turn rate!
_______

Personal Log, Year 2227
Druid Tenchusatsu

We got a surrender offer from Lal, and we took it, only to break it moments later. The good news is that we got quite a bit of money out of the very short-lived terms of surrender. The bad news is that our reputation is now Treacherous. I hope Planet doesn't hold that against Lady Deirdre in their daily conversations.

The power graphs now show us ahead of the Drones in Population, Technology, Military, and Overall. The Drones still lead in Wealth (although not by much) and Territory. Plus they are only several years away from Advanced Spaceflight, which will not only give them the ability to build orbital energy satellites, but also a fearsome new weapon which can potentially break through our front-line defenses. Already they were able to use their existing choppers equipped with Fusion Lasers to take over Memory of Earth. We were forced to counterattack, but in the heat of battle, MoE was reduced to nothing but rubble. It was only a minor loss, considering that base was only serving as a military outpost, but it serves as a reminder that none of our bases are safe.

I'd like to think that we have a slight advantage, but experience tells me that slight advantages are fleeting. I'm sure the Drones thought they had a slight advantage before their blunder at New Virgin Soil. I hope we don't make a similar blunder.

Sigh ... no rest for the weary.