@Gaudron & Craigbic: Thanky you. Much appreciated.



@all readers of the thread:

Exams are looming on the horizon and the need for study doesn't permit dailyish updates anymore. (-.-)

This will continue only a little slower.

The year 3038 saw a development in the field of thermodynamics as well as improvements of shielding technology. Because of several findings of structures of unkown origins and other anomalies on the moons of several systems the Imperial Academy concentrated its studies on the subject of determining the purpose and the origin of those buildings.







Also because of the growing distances between Terra and the colonies a new type of Colonyship was introduced into service. Due to more efficient use of the available room on the ship it was possible to fit it with larger engines which resulted in much greater speed.







In 3040 Battlefleet Solar arrived in the Cadia-System and „Cadia II“ astablished a colony on the innermost planet. Admiral Naratya decided to do a grandscale investigation of the systems security forces, which was met by objections and even a formal complaint to the Throne by Administrator Zatonyhu.

The formal complaint was noted but Naratya insisted on the investigation. Since an answer from Terra would need at least several month to reach Cadia and Naratyas military rank was higher in the Empires hirachy then the civil one of the Administrator she got her will.

The investigation lasted for month with officers of the fleet testing every aspect of the Cadian security measures. During the investigation an express courier arrived with the answer of the Throne concerning the investigation. The Throne fully supported the Admiral in her request and gave His belated permission to carry out the investigation. The Emperor also stated that Admiral Zantonyhu was selected by Him to protect the Empire and consequently she was the extension of His will. Her orders were not to be questioned.

While within Imperial standards Admiral Zatonyhu felt, in retrospect of what happend in Kuat, that the Cadian security measures could not withstand a dedicated effort to disrupt Imperial Order. In her final report to the Throne she stated that, as the Imperium was growing rapidly, Battlefleet Solar could not reach every crisis were it might be needed and therefore dedicated system defense forces would be necessary in the future to guarantee order in the Imperium and the wellbeing of its citizens.







Later in the year the Imperial Academy found a way to test the buildings found on the moons orbiting several planets of the Empire. Now local studies would be needed to determin their origin, purpose and wether or not they would be useful to the Empire.



Useing the developments of 3038 imperial engineers came up with a new type of ship: The Stormhawk.

The Stormhawk was equipped with 2 launchtubes for the newly developed torpedos with warheads made of unstable materials in its bow and 10 Laserbatteries on each side.

Due to the newly developed weapon systems the Stormhawk would also carry new defense Systems: Energy shield generators to dissipate incoming high-energy rays and point-defense systems to deal with torpedo and missle threats.

Furthermore it was equipped with a specially developed AI and robots to support the damage-control teams.







The Terran Shipyards were tasked with the production of a prototype: the „Implacable II“.

Very nice job, really enjoying this. Keep the good job!

3041 the United Imperium of Mankind had colonies on 8 different planets (not including Terra I) in 4 systems.

The Terran shipyards finished the type 2 Colonyship „Kuat III“ and started working on the „Cadia III“. In the Cadian-system Administrator Zatonyhu finished building huge systemwide shopping malls so that the imperial citizens could benefit from all the products produced all over the Imperium. Meanwhile the colonists of „Artemis I“ finished setting up grand system of farms all over the planets surface.







Early in the year 3042 on the bridge of imperial Flagship „Implacable“ at the edge of the Cadia-System:

„Sir the wormhole opens. It seems that something is coming through.“

„What?!?!“

„The wormh...“

„I did understand you the first time. Give me a full sensor scan of whatever it is thats coming through. Navigation get us in a blockade position relative to the objects calculated destination after leaving the wormhole and someone inform the Admiral. She should see this.“

„Yes sir. Understood.“

„Sir. The object left the wormhole. We are getting sensordata. It is... it seems to be a... I have no idea what that is, but one thing I know for certain: this is not natural, somebody built this. Sensors indicate a propulsion system on what seems to be the rear end of the object, it might be a spaceship, but its none of ours.“

„Bring us closer and power up the weapon systems.“

„Aye Sir.“



„Captain whats going on here?“

„Admiral our sensors spotted an object that came through the wormhole and indicate that it was built by an intelligent lifeform. So far we could identify a propulsion system.“

„What were your orders?“

„The fleet is on an intercept course and powering up weapon systems.“

„Very well, continue.“

„Yes Ma'am.“



„Ma'am?“

„Yes Lieutenant?“

„We are in range for a visual.“

„Put it on the main viewscreen.“

„Yes Ma'am.“









"What in the name of the Throne is that?"

„Ma'am? We are being hailed.“

„We are being what? How is that even possible?“

„The ship uses an imperial frequency and the video signal seems to be compatible with ours.“

„Lets get to the bottom of this. Answer them and put it on the main screen.“

„Yes ma'am.“







„This is Admiral Naratya on the imperial Flagship „Implacable“ representing the United Imperium of Mankind. Who are you? Identify yourself!“



„We are the Horatios. Once we were a part of you Imperial, but now we are of our own.“

The voice sounded like a chorus



„I don't understand. Clarify.“



„Horatio left the Terra hundreds of years ago in an experimental ship. After an odyssey through space he found a planet with ruins of the ancients on it. In these ruins we found a machine that made us able to improve and duplicate ourself. We are now of our own. We are a collective.“



„Unacceptable. You are decendents of a citizen of the Imperium. Therefore you are citizens of the Imperium. You will refrain from using this machine, you will reintegrate yourselves in the United Imperium of Mankind and you will acknowledge the supremacy of the Undying Emperor on his Throne.“



„No. We will not go back. We need the machine to keep our perfected form and we will be ruled by our collective. The Emperor has no rights among us.“



„This is insanity. The Emperor warned us about the mutant, madness lies in that direction. Lieutenant close the connection, lock on targeting sensors. I want these... … Abominations destroyed. In the name of the Undying Emperor: Open fire.“



The Battle was fierce but short. The alien vessel was no match for Battlefleet Solar and after it exploded under the concentrated fire of imperial torpedos and railguns the Admiral herself wrote a transkript of the first contact with the Horatios and sent it along with the video data to the Emperor on Terra.

@ThePurgatoryFire: The Imperial palace? The Palace is run by the Emperor on his throne! And that's no Xeno.. thats an.. uhmm.. ahh.. a Psyker (^^,) (No I was bothered by that to but the only Human i could have recruited was a pure Admiral and I really need an Administrator (^^,) )



@fellidan: in the System screen click on the name of the System in the top left(!) corner then you can rename it.

Looking forward to it

As the scouts Sensors probe the Solar System thorougly Mankind discovers it is not alone among the stars. Settlements are detected on Terra II and Terra III. Colonists are armed hastily and ordered to colonize Terra II and if necessary erradicate the Xenos.







First contact goes well and it is discovered that the Settlers on Terra II and maybe those on Terra III are what was called „Astronauts“ in a long gone century, who were sent to the planets of the system in primitive rockets and were forgotten over time.

The Emperor promises to reunite them into what will be the „United Empire of Mankind“.







As the scouting ship leaves the Solarsystem it discoveres a wormhole right at the edge of it and 2 celestial bodies at the edge of the sensor range. The crew doesn't dare to enter the wormhole and sets course for the nearer one of the two. They should reach it at the end of the year.



The first sensor sweep of the newly discovered system:





Research as it is planed for the Imperial Academy for the next decade:





About the AAR: If anyone has a question about how I played the game and why feel free to ask I will try to answer all questions as I go along. Also if anyone has suggestions about improving anything just post them, I will consider them.

I also forgot to rename my home System... It will be called "Terra" later on.

I always wondered if someone was going to do an AAR. Done it one some other games I've played, always fun.

There is another one somewhere out there in the dephts of the forums for the Sophons but I can't find it anymore in the chaos.

Why not rename Pavo to Terra? Seems a tad strange to refer to it as Terra and not actually have it named Terra.

I did. I just forgot to do it before I took the first screenshots -.-' my bad but from turn 2 on everything is named correctly. (^^,)

After cartographing the system which the crew of the scoutship nicknamed „Spica“ they plot a course to the 2nd system in sensor range. 11 month later they get close enough to the System they nicknamed „Artemis“, decide to bypass it and push further in their quest to gather sensordata of the galaxy.



In the 3rd year of mankinds conquest for space the following edict is made public by the Imperial Administration:





Imperial Edict 2563.9

The Administrator Hilera Zatonyhu is to come to the Imperial Palace. To receive his promotion to System Administrator.

The Emperor protects!





Only a year later the Imperial Academy reports a technological breakthrough:

They found new ways to aid crop-growth and per Imperial Edict all Farmers in the Empire are to implement those new techniques immediatly. The Academy now concentrates its efforts on finding ways to settle colonies in cold environments.





Those farming techqniques where as the Edict stated immediatly implented by the farmers of Terra I and II.



But the settlers in their own solar system made the Emperor thoughtful. What if space wasn't as empty as it seemed to be at the first glance?

What if danger awaited them amongst the stars? At least to himself the Emperor had to admit that he wasn't prepared to meet resistance. Something had to be done about this...

I'm enjoying this mate, keep it up.

United Empire fits this like a glove, and it's the best fit too. I like that design inspiration comes from separate games/cultures, and with subtle and non-subtle changes to avoid copyrights.

The emperor would never employ a filthy xeno to run the imperial palace. Burn this creature!

Quick question StK, how did you edit the name of your system?

(AAR) The Emperor of Mankind



This will be an attempt to an AAR with the United Empire, there also will be RPG elements (I will borrow heavily from different Sci-Fi settings but mostly Warhammer 40K).



Settings:

Speed: normal

Difficulty: hard



Galaxy:

Shape: Spiral-8

Size: Large

Empires: 6

Age: normal



Index:

Post 2 (#3)

Post 3 (#8)

Post 4 (#18)

Post 5 (#20)

Post 6 (#22)

Post 7 (#24) & Post 8 (#26) & Post 9 (#28) (These are very close together and easy to find)

Post 10 (#32) & Post 11 (#33) & Post 12 (#34) (Edited #33: The pictures of the battles now have headlines)

Post 13

Post 14

Poat 15



Again if someone has ideas or question feel free to post in this thread .. the links should make it easy enough for everybody to find the story related posts.







Imperial Edict 2343.5:

In his endless wisdom the Emperor decided it was time for mankind to reach for the stars.

Two ships are to be built: one to bring brave pioneers to the stars and one to explore the galaxy.



Also the Imperial Academy is advised to concetrate it's efforts on finding new ways to improve food production on Terra, because we don't know if our colonies will be able to sustain themselves or if they need to be fed from Terra.

The Emperor protects!



At the beginning of the 3rd Millenium both of the ships are finished and launched.

Mankinds journey to the stars has begun and who knows which wonders or horrors they will find in the vast nothingness that is space.



(This is just to show you the setting a little. I will make a gameplay update as soon as I'm done with the screenshots.) I hope you will in enjoy it.

I'm looking forward to see this continue, hopefully it will show me how to probably play the game so I can win at least on Newbie...

Cheers mate!

@Thomas:

There is a good trick for the start.

First put the production of your home system on industry to dust for the first 2 rounds so you can drop your taxes really low to get your people to very high moral that will do wonders for all of the FIDS (Food, Industry, Dust, Science) your home system produces.. but see to it that you make +11 dust both turns so you can hire your administrator at the 3rd turn (don't forget to set it back to the Food exploit though after you hired the administrator (^^,) ).

And your first research should always be the one for the better farms.



If you have specific question on how I played or anything else just ask, I will answer to the best of my knowledge



@teqx: It is, isnt it? Just looking at my Avatar picture reminds me of an Imperial Commisar, the ships have uncanny similarities to the Imperial Battleships of Battlefleet Gothic and all that makes it feel like the Imperium of Man.