Shoo t'Rgt: Honour and Reason [DiD]

[Nathancros]

Further maths exam tomorrow, so no chapter, if anyone's reading. Or cares.

Still here, still waiting, still IMPATIENT AS HELL!!!

Hurry up and make an awesome post already!!!

[Buck_Rogers]

Further maths exam tomorrow, so no chapter, if anyone's reading. Or cares.

Of course we read, AND care. You numpty! lol

[Master of the Blade]

Back again with another chapter. Been insanely busy recently, work experience last week (plus a visit to Oxford university which took two days out of that which was a bummer), two days in college then a visit to York uni, then Cambridge uni today, and a concert with one of my bands tomorrow. It's crazy. This chapter would've been called, 'through the fire and the flames' if I hadn't already made that reference somewhere in this thread (IIRC). I also think I've used the title video before (perhaps while bemoaning the clunky hacking of #cafe?) but it's funny and appropriate.

Chapter 46: HACKING!

It isn't interested in me yet, so I watch it from afar as it shoots down salvoes of missiles originating from a Gannet somewhere it the sector, those devastating beam cannons proving a rather effective missile screen. Even with it distracted by the M7M, I don't think the Agamemnon is quite up to getting anywhere near the alien battleship intact, nor is the Sturgeon. My Megalodon, on the other hand, should be capable of getting in close enough to use the SOS while keeping those Kyon emitters out of action. I request the jump, with special orders that under no circumstances should Ogden Suffras' Green Wing be launched. They'd probably do reasonably well against the capital beam weapons, but I really don't want to risk the destroyer having some Beta Kyons as well, which most certainly are effective against fighters. Ogden's been around a long time and I don't want to lose him, even if I didn't forget about him at all. I transfer all the necessary equipment along with myself to the sufficiently titanic Waldorf and begin approaching my foe, less titanic in appearance but certainly more so in its vicious weaponry.

As I make my approach, the Teladi M7M's missile barrages stop and the Adv. Destroyer begins swinging its bough towards me. It's not long before that familiar, sickening crackling of the Gamma Kyon Emitter begins sounding through the metallic components of Waldorf's hull and the shield counter begins ticking down scarily fast. I tried to approach in such a way the destroyer wouldn't be able to get me with many turrets, but I think it managed to draw a bead with its front, up and right broadside turrets when I came in range so I'm taking rather a beating. I push on, cursing the short range of the Ion Cannon.

Finally, with only 30% shielding to spare, my cannons open up and within a few seconds my shields stabilise at 12%, just about keeping up with the rather less voracious attacks now that I've drained the destroyer's laser batteries. Now for the hard part: moving into the SOS's 2km range without letting the Adv. Destroyer recharge its lasers. That means keeping the frontal and left broadside turrets on target. On a four kilometre long ship where said broadside turret is mounted to the rear, and the SOS apparatus is mounted approximately in the midsection. This can only end well.

As I gingerly manoeuver the Megalodon, my foe begins firing off into space. Turns out that Gannet was just taking a breather, and has now sent a few more volleys in this general direction. With the destroyer unshielded and incapable of firing quickly enough, and myself in a position where if I stop preventing it from firing I get zapped I can only watch as my prize goes up in a swarm of Hammers. Well, it was fun while it lasted. Since I'm already in my destroyer, I may as well tool around in it a little more. I set a course for Nyana's Hideout.

As I fly through the sector I spot a P attacking local shipping, though mainly a Goner M6 Truelight Seeker, fast and heavily shielded ships with large cargo bays but poor weaponry. They're at a little bit of an impasse, with the P unable to draw a bead on the goner long enough to hit and the Goner insisting on standing and fighting with only four rear weapons. A few freighters've been dragged in too by the P's turret fire, though even the combined fire of the Truelight Seeker and about five TS ships can't even scratch the P's shields. I pass them by.

Then I turn around.

What do I stand for in this universe? I campaign for justice and honesty, fighting the good fight. I nearly left those traders and pacifist Goner to die fighting hopelessly against a merciless war machine. The Argon couldn't help - they've been decimated by repeated Terran attacks, and probably don't care either way. I've made it my damn job to care and if I'm going to earn money from mercenary work I may as well save a few innocents while I'm at it. And damn, was that the most satisfying corvette kill I may have ever made.

I've got a reasonable amount of cash again, so I decide to fill up more of the docking space my fleet has available. First I buy another wing of ten Pikes, set up similarly to Blue Wing. They go to the Coelacanth. Next is eight Skates, set up like Green wing, to fill up the docking space on the Hammerhead. I think I'll use ten Barracudas and another eight skates onboard the Coelacanth, and I have yet to finalise a flight wing for the Artemis or Tern, let alone #deca or my J, but either way those fighters cost me nearly all my money, and that means Xenon bashing is iminent.

[Buck_Rogers]

and that means Xenon bashing is iminent.

YAY! Time to show old 'chips for brains' who's boss again! lol Shame about the hacking incident though. Better luck next time!

[Master of the Blade]

YAY! Time to show old 'chips for brains' who's boss again! lol Shame about the hacking incident though. Better luck next time!

Change of plan. I just got the coordinates for Khaak Sector 841.


Chapter 47: RAMMING SPEED

I continue floating about in the Waldorf, not doing much until I come to Ocean of Fantasy, which is where that Advanced Kha'ak Corvette I stole while testing the System Override Software is parked up. Now, believe it or not, I found a completely derelict standard Korvette, moderately damaged but fully tooled with BKyons (*True story! It's the one that randomly spawns naturally in AP*) some time ago, which I forgot to mention. I think. It's safely docked at the asteroid base, so I have the lasers ferried to me and then to the Adv. Korvette, which I then enter myself. Slow for its class, maybe the slowest, but shielded like a frigate and monstrously well armed. I want to test it out. I jump to a sector named Soulstar, thought to be on the border of Kha'ak space, and an all round dangerous place to be with the characteristic purple fog restricting visibility and the Xenon from X534 using the place as a thoroughfare to the rest of the universe. A small Kha'ak battlegroup consisting of two Korvettes and a Military Transport is hanging around near the North gate, and an independent trading station is near the West.

I should go into more detail about those, shouldn't I?

Since trading laws were relaxed somewhat, some entrepeneurs and companies have set up free trading posts, technically not aligned with any race or organisation, which sell mostly innocuous goods such as food and tech. However, they support a massive barter based black market, where rare weaponry and illegal infantry equipment is traded alongside Nividium and electronics. Some dealers also provide information on the elusive corporate research stations and unreachable sectors, and it is one such dealer I meet on this station. For the sum of 600,000 credits he'll sell me the jump coordinates for Kha'ak Sector 841. Wonderful! I'd been getting a little bored with Xenon. After buying, I undock and start taking hits from one of the Korvettes which has worked its way to the station. I open up with my main bank of 10 BKyons and nearly evaporate its shields, but its friend starts frying me from behind, causing slightly worrying damage so I break off and hit the jumpdrive - Kyon weapons tend to cause combat HUD lag if they hit the hull cameras, which makes the affected ship almost unpilotable. When you're outnumbered two to one and unable to aim your shots, it's best to retreat.

Since discovering the joys of unofficial bartering, I jump around border space looking for more sector coordinates and interesting tech. Some people are batch selling kyon weaponry - one guy's even selling GKyons, and another's got their hands on something like 60 AKyons. Others are pawning off Xenon guns, but I don't have the cargo bay to hold any of the big guns I need to fit out my J. With no more jump destinations forthcoming, and the Adv. Korvette fun but a little small to do anything meaningful with, I jump to Xi and switch over to the Kvasir Harbinger Angel to poke around in X347 - I want to look at the Kha'ak sector, but I need money first.

On jumping in, I see some NMMC battleships getting torn apart by the local Z - a Phoenix and Condor, both old models from back when the Kha'ak were first seen in the universe. The Condor goes down quickly, caught in the crossfire from the Z, a J and a C, but the Phoenix proves extremely powerful, even managing to take out a C before succumbing. I want to steal the one remaining C, so I need to lure the J away and kill it without annoying the C. That goes... Well. My PSP turret, set to attack any capitals in range, targets the C first and scores a hit, drawing its attention at the same time as my FBC turret hits the J, so I have two very angry Xenon warships out to get me, one of which I need to avoid killing. As I try to angle my ship to best kill off the J, I start taking hits from the Z, J and C, so have to disengage.

After pulling the two fast battleships away from the command ship, I try again to take out the J, but again get repulsed by the combined firepower of the carrier and cruiser. A couple more goes at it and I decide I'll just go straight for the hack. I bring in the Agamemnon and transfer over, but quickly get bored of waiting for the gap between the C and J to widen, so go after the J with my PSGs. I manage to get it caught between myself and the Z, and with the other Xenon battleship helping take it out quickly, even managing to nab the bounties on it. Of course, this puts me in the firing line of the Z so I move out of range and lead the C away, where I prepare to hack it.

This one's a fighter - it resists my hacking attempts for a good twenty minutes but in the end I grab it at 74% hull integrity, good for a 40MCr cheque at the shipyard. The Z's got bogged down with a Phoenix which was passing through and gave me a bit of a scare when I looked and it wasn't on scanners - fortunately that was just because it'd fallen so far behind as I hovered above the C. I ponder what to do about it for a while, then decide I want to try hacking it. Now, neither the Sturgeon nor the Megalodon alone will be able to hack it due to its colossal laser generator, so I call both in while I fly back to carry out the hack using the Aggy. The Z mops up the Teladi again, and starts heading for my little battlegroup, as I give the order to advance. I request Ogden Suffras to take the helm as highest ranking person onboard - the fighters won't be needed and I'd like this operation to be handled by someone a little more intelligent than the warship's AI.

The Z opens up first with DMBCs, but the two superdestroyers close quickly enough that the Megalodon's ICs actually get the first hit. Trollmeister engages soon after, and between them the two Boron ships quickly drain the Z's laser reserves, though it still deals heavy damage to the Trollmeister, which has strayed into the arc of its broadside turret. The Z's shields go down in record time and odds of getting close look good. Then the Waldorf starts to accelerate.

Ogden must have panicked or something, because he had the Waldorf head straight for the other battleship and collide with unshielded flank, crumpling the heavy armour like it's nothing using the Megalodon's vast mass, and smashing it in half. Half of me wants to stick him in the brig (do any of my ships even have a brig?!) and the other half wants to promote him to permanent captain of the Waldorf for managing to destroy such a powerful foe using nonlethal weapons. He scratched the hull a little, but it's nothing five minutes at the asteroid base won't fix.

[Buck_Rogers]

Oh dear. Not having much luck are we? lol I would stick Ogden in the brig.

[Master of the Blade]

The game must have taken pity on my failures to hack. I did a Xenon patrol and got three Cs and a G, along with about 20Mcr bounty. I've also been in that Kha'ak sector. Man, it's rough. I'll put up a chapter some point today or tomorrow.

[Master of the Blade]

Just did something awesome. And it might not fit into this chapter for all the other awesome things I've done recently.

Twin Phoenix

After the fiasco at X347, I decide to roam the Universe in the Aggy (Named Subversive, by the way) for a while to build up funds and follow a few unexplored gate connections. Eventually, this brings me to Heaven's Assertion where the Xenon are suspected to be planning a major attack. The base pay is good, but bonuses are terrible. I can boost that by taking any capital ships they bring as my own. So, Xenon, bring it!

The first wave is two Cs, a G and some corvettes, along with a few fighters. First order of business is to skirt the G's range so it wastes its missiles on me. Unfortunately, one of the Cs locks onto me and I have to get a little creative to stop it catching up while I avoid getting nailed by missile barrages. Once the torpedoes stop coming I turn to face off with the C. My game of keep away with the G has put me to the far North-East, well away from the rest of the Xenon, who, enjoying the artillery cover from the G, have devastated the local defenders and are picking off the civilian traffic. I couldn't survive against two other cruisers simultaneously, especially not with the G, so the deaths are sadly unavoidable. It's better that I can come back to limit damage than go out in a blaze of glory. I'd dearly love to, but I have a vendetta to fulfil. Either way, with being so far from the rest of the Xenon, they surely won't notice if one of their cruisers goes missing?

[ external image ]

The hack goes off without a hitch, and I manage to snag the other C by killing off its escorts, then slotting in above it in that position where it can't quite get enough damage on me to break my shields. It takes me a long way North, so I send both frigates further off the ecliptic to prevent them from getting caught in the fight. I grab the G for good measure and another wave arrives, this time with a lot of corvettes but no frigates, so I just take them out. PSGs are wonderful for killing all types of ship, and have no problems hitting the nimble corvettes. The final wave gives me a shock, though.

[ external image ]

I certainly can't take an I on my own, but I can try to steal the C. I pull it away from the destroyer to prepare for the hack. Unfortunately, not far enough - when the AI succumbs, the I manages to catch it before I can get it to the area where I put all my other captures. It was nearly intact before that, too! I put myself between the I and my C, and fortunately manage to pull its attention away and get the C out of there with 73% hull integrity. With only the I remaining, I call in the Statler to deal with it. Between me and the Pteranodon, it falls fairly easily and I get a sizable bounty from the Paranid.

After the sale of all those Xenon frigates, I have somewhat over 400MCr, and am in dire need of a new arch nemesis to do battle with. The Kha'ak in 841 seem like a good target, but first I want some more firepower. The Pteranodon has served me well, so I purchase two Phoenix destroyers from Seizewell to act as escorts for my heavy battleships and general damage sponges. Should be handy when I make the jump.

[Buck_Rogers]

Looks like your luck has turned. Nice one. I would like to make 1 suggestion though? Find another image host! I can't read anything on your screenies! Even if I zoom in on it.

[Master of the Blade]

Yeah, imageshack is pretty sucky, but I haven't bothered looking for another host. I'll see what I can do. I actually had to cut that chapter short in order to walk my dog...

[Buck_Rogers]

I recommend Photobucket. Works for me

[Master of the Blade]

Well, I'm afraid the news is only terrible. I was infected by a decidedly nasty virus and had to reinstall Windows, losing basically everything. I've rescued some of my X3 saves which I'm pretty sure are my DiD ones but I'm not sure. What I didn't rescue were my screens of the awesome thing I did. It'll be a while before I can get this going again, since I'll have to reinstall TC, AP and XRM and depending on whether I've got the right saves out of the mess restore my fleet and stations.

[Master of the Blade]

Reinstalling TC now, will restore AP when it's done. Then I'll find out if I got the right saves.

For now, I'll try recounting some other stuff. EDIT: I quite like how this one turned out. Little short, but I've got to go now. I'll write more at a later date - this chapter isn't done yet.


Chapter 49: Attack Attack! Retreat! Retreat!

After christening my new destroyers Rampart and Bastion I take the helm of the Statler and jump into K841 to gauge the opposition. Instantly I'm caught in a net of kyon beams with the missile alert siren wailing madly as several odd craft named Sentinels, identified as bombers, begin pelting me with torpedoes. Even though I immediately hit the jumpdrive to escape I'm reduced to 10% shield integrity, such is the ferocity of the Kha'ak defence. Hm. Maybe attacking the insects isn't such a smart move after all. Still, I shouldn't give up so soon. Maybe giving them two targets to shoot at while I stay in the safety of my home sector to coordinate the attack is a better course of action. I have Bastion and Rampart make the jump in and watch the sector map closely. The pair do well at first, though Bastion takes a beating and has to retreat to recharge its shields. Eventually, with the Phoenixes tag-teaming the Kha'ak, the swarm around my jump in point begins to thin out and I withdraw Rampart, the current attacker in preparation for my own return.

On entering, I first target the corvette class ships, as the Beta Kyon Emitter is incredibly deadly, and my GCs are best suited for destroying M6 class ships. The only remaining capital class ship on the Kha'ak side is a Destroyer, which delivers a nasty sting, but falls fairly easily to my cannons. With the most pressing ships destroyed, I move on to the static Guardian class defense platforms. The Gauss Cannon is ideal for attacking static installations, as it outranges all other known weapons, This means I can pull up 10km away from the fortification and pound it without fear of retribution. I do this to the two nearest Guardians, but am stopped cold by the flashes of jumpdrives signalling the arrival of reinforcements. Gah, get away before the torpedoes arrive.

My conclusion based on that foray is that the Kha'ak are most certainly not to be trifled with. One of my new destroyers took some hull damage, but it's mostly superficial so not worth fixing. A battleship is respected more if it has a few scars. The Kha'ak are neither profitable to fight (since Operation Final Fury was an apparent success, governments stopped paying bounty for the destruction of Kha'ak ships in their own sectors) nor easy to hold back I feel it's best to leave their sectors be until I can afford to use heavier battleships disposably. The risk of losing a cornerstone of my fleet is far too high at the moment. So, anyone remember the #EFAA? It's still in 023 according to that tracking drone, and I think I'm strong enough now to storm those sectors and reprogram it. The #DECA replica Dark Space have constructed is at least similar in power to #EFAA and I can have it assist in the hacking process. I'm assured it has failsafes and the best available anti-hacking systems should #EFAA attempt to turn the tables.

I gather my fleet of destroyers and jump them to Twisted Skies, the Split controlled sector in the Zyarth region. This will be my base of operations and a fallback point should a capital ship encounter troubles. I bring along Harbinger Angel, Titan's Gaze and Discotheque for extra support, though I only intend to bring them in when the worst fighting is done. But before I begin my crusades anew, I've decided my heavyfrigates aren't good enough as personal cruisers. The Cyclops is far too reliant on its target being ahead of it, the Kvasir's weapons are unreliable and the Agamemnon can't stand up in heated combat, being set up for espionage. So, I think I want a light destroyer. The Aggy has been a good ship, so I'll go Paranid - theirs is called the Poseidon and is built around its devastating broadsides...

[Buck_Rogers]

Ooo. This should be fun!

[Master of the Blade]

Indeed it was. I finished this escapade before the virus hit, so it's all good. Also, as far as I can tell, my saves are working fine! So yeah. I can continue. Think I burned out though, so I'll finish this #EFAA arc and hold off for a bit. In other news, I just noticed this thread has 13678 views! Didn't realise I was that popular. So thanks everyone who's watched this thread - I know my sucky update schedule must be a real pain in the posterior.

[Buck_Rogers]

I just noticed this thread has 13678 views! Didn't realise I was that popular. So thanks everyone who's watched this thread - I know my sucky update schedule must be a real pain in the posterior.

Well. It's a good read mate.

[Master of the Blade]

Don't think I thanked everyone enough last time, so once again, everyone who reads - or even just has a looksie - has my gratitude for making this feel worthwhile.

Once I get back into X3, I'll be starting a youtube series - probably going to be named 'Gratuitous Space Battles' - and which will be exactly what it says on the tin, two (or more, if I can set it up) fleets duking it out in a battle to the death. More on that as I get things sorted, and please post as to whether you think it should have voice commentary, annotations or nothing of the sort so I know what people want.

EDIT: This is meant to be the other half of the previous chapter, which was interrupted due to canine activity, hence the odd numbering and short length.

Chapter 49b: The Technocrusade

As promised, I buy myself a Poseidon and have it pick up a full complement of PSGs and EMDAs. Since it doesn't have to do delicate things like control enemy shields, I forego TBCs due to their poor damage and range. The sheer power of the PSG should be enough to tide me over. No time to test drive, but my fleet has spotted something in my staging sector: a Kha'ak Advanced Destroyer. These things are getting more and more common...

I tell my frigates to break off and retreat while my destroyers advance. I jump in to see the Waldorf charging at the Destroyer, with Bastion and Rampart close behind and Statler bringing up the rear. The Kha'ak battleship hits Waldorf first as I streak towards it, purple beams crackling through space and tearing up my Megalodon's shields. It's not long before my destroyer fires though, and purple is joined by vivid blue as the Ion Cannons do their work. I arrive before the Phoenix sisters and try to pick away at it from directions where turrets are busy with Waldorf, but I'm targeted and find myself taking severe shield damage. I break off quickly and only just escape the Advanced Destroyer's range before my shields give out.

By this point, my Phoenixes are pounding the Advanced Destroyer, which is no longer able to sustain the thrashing it was giving the Waldorf and has turned away, its weaker rear turret not dealing significant damage to its adversary's damaged but recharging shields. Then I realise why it turned away - I'd drawn its attention with my little gung ho charge earlier and it was trying to finish me off, having discovered that the Waldorf is incapable of harming its hull plating more than a few superficial burns. The artillery of Bastion and Rampart is wearing it down and I dance around at the edge of its range while they dismantle it. Its hull begins to weaken, and I hear a colossal boom through the onboard sound simulators.

Statler has arrived, and fires all its 36 Gauss Cannons simultaneously, the mighty barrage of shells blowing a frigate sized hole in the Kha'ak ship's armour and evaporating its innards before exiting the other side. The explosion bathes the sector in impressive but relatively harmless blinding white light as the Destroyer's generators evaporate what's left of its ravaged shell. If that's how all the battles go, I think I'm set. I take my light destroyer and jump into X598 to hunt some artillery.

My usual tactic with fleet operations is to enter the sector first with a more mobile platform which can shoot down the missile barrages from torpedo frigates and bombers, then chase them down and kill them after they expend their ammo supply. After doing that, I roll in the big guns to take out the conventional threats. 598 usually seems to contain at least 2 G missile frigates and a J with a wing of 10 R-class light bombers, modified LX heavy fighters equipped with an array of 4 torpedo launchers in place of its main weapons. They have much less cargo space than ordinary bombers, but when a carrier can hold large wings of them they become incredibly dangerous - and annoying, since they never leave the vicinity of their devastatingly powerful carrier.

The Gs go down as expected, running out of missiles to lob at me after about ten minutes then evaporating under my PSG barrages before their escorts realise what's happening. However, I am unable to get close enough to the Rs to take them out. There are enough of them that it will take at least an hour to exhaust their missile supplies so I decide to bring in the destroyers anyway.

Waldorf comes first, being the one which will get out of the way of the gate fastest, followed by the Phoenix twins then fatty Statler. I have each Phoenix pair up with a heavy destroyer and send the two pairs after the Xenon battleship groups in the sector. I move off to hunt down heavy frigates to remove the danger of enemy flanking manoeuvres. Between us, we clear out the sector of major threats. I call in my frigates to kill off the straggler fighters and have my destroyers lock down the region, while I move on to troll the artillery boats in the next sector.

[Master of the Blade]

*brushes dust off thread*

Sorry I left this so long guys, been busier than ever with college, university applications and assorted other responsibilities. And XCOM Enemy Unknown. Will try get back into a decent sort of schedule, maybe a chapter every wednesday, since that's probably when I have the most free time. I'll be starting that series I mentioned in a couple weeks, or maybe around christmas. I burned out on X, but I'm feeling it again and should start playing obsessively for a few months or so.

It's currently quarter to 12 at night so in the interests of quality control I'll put off the chapter until tomorrow, expect it then, anyone who hasn't given up on me. (Still want advice on commentating/setup for Gratuitous Space Battles)

[Buck_Rogers]

*brushes dust off thread*

Sorry I left this so long guys, been busier than ever with college, university applications and assorted other responsibilities. And XCOM Enemy Unknown.

You swine! I so want that game! I 've still got the original version for the PS1. lol Still is, and forever will be, my favorite game for the Playstation.

Oh yeah. Good chapter by the way!

[Master of the Blade]

Yeah, things just KEEP POPPING UP. I hate it so much, I try to do this, and something requires my attention before I can start. Nothing I can do about it except apologise.

I've just found out my new install doesn't have the bonus pack installed so the BP wares are showing up as SS_WARE_ whatever. Hoping installing the BP will've fixed this. Seems harmless, but it really nukes immersion.


Chapter 50: The Road to Sentience

627 seems to have less of an artillery infestation than 598 so my job is much easier. There's a pair of I class superdestroyers floating about though, which is an extremely rare and terrifying thing to see. Fortunately I can outmanoeuvre them with ease and pick off the Gs in the sector. My battleships have finished securing X598 so I call in the Waldorf with orders to take the area in front of the gate. Then Bastion and Rampart enter, followed by Statler. As I send them out to hunt down their Xenon counterparts, watching from afar for surprise frigates, I notice the telltale signs of a confused navigation computer. Million ton hulks of high-tech military equipment begin helplessly spinning in the face of their greatest foe: the asteroid field.

Since this would result in a situation where not only would my fleet take days to reach their target but would also be in a poor position tactically, I order them to hold position well away from the field and go poke the Is. It's dangerous - the PSG is not a weapon well suited to hit and run tactics, with its poor range - but it's the only way to get a favourable engagement out of the sector. As it turns out, I take a bit of a melting from DMBCs but I can avoid the worst of it and get the Xenon craft to chase me into the 4-destroyer ambush somewhere high above the Northwest of the sector.

82 Gauss Cannons opening up simultaneously is much like 36 of them doing the same, but even louder (at least, according to the shipboard audio simulators) and more terrifyingly powerful. Between them, the two Phoenix and the Statler blast the leading I into tiny bits only shortly after it enters its own firing range, then its frigate escorts. The second I manages to get a respectable barrage off on the Waldorf before meeting the same fate, followed by its own set of lighter warships. Teladi weapon tech, huh? Who says it can't be as impressive as that of the Split?

As we celebrate the crushing victory, I spot the telltale parallel trails of a G barrage in the distance, aimed at Bastion. While not really a threat at this point, missile frigates are still a potential problem so I move to engage. It's so busy firing rockets off into the artillery storm generated by my destroyers that it doesn't even have time to react before its hull melts in my PSG storm. And that is that, painless clearing of X627. Onwards to the Core!

I pop through the C023 gate to a hailstorm of Xenon fighter fire. Even without checking the sector map, there must be thirty assorted fighters swarming this gate alone. I pull up and loop over the gate, both putting its nigh invulnerable armour between me and the furious swarm and pointing my EMDA flak weapons at them. By engaging the strafe drive, I add enough speed that I can actually escape the slower ships, allowing the flak to pick off the M5s and M4s which rush ahead. I've taken a beating and am floating around 40% shield integrity, keeping the fire I take to a minimum to try and allow recharging. Unfortunately those slower fighters are beginning to gain and there's no way a cruiser can evade the deadly accurate Xenon 'Gamma Pulse Emitter' fire. I stick around for as long as possible, thinning out the cloud but not making an appreciable dent in it. I've lead it well away from the sector centre though so instead of retreating to the now safe X627 I simply jump back to the gate I entered through.

Turns out this gives me the time to recharge to a safe threshold and I repeat the process until the number of fighters is low enough that it's safe to go artillery hunting. This is looking pretty good so far, so I also order the #DECA and my Agamemnon the Subversive to jump to 627 in preparation for the main event. There is only the one G in the core sector, but two Js and therefore an ungodly number of R class M3 bombers. I take out the G as usual and again choose to ignore the bombers. Too much trouble for too little gain. Bring on the fleet! Except #DECA. We need it at full combat capacity to take #EFAA alive. Speaking of #EFAA...

It's not actively attacking, instead skirting around the combat zone sticking to the stations. I have no idea what it's playing at - with 30GJ shielding it would be a brilliant damage sponge if nothing else. Presumably it chooses to coordinate its fleet from afar. As my destroyers assemble for the final push to the (supposedly) sentient CPU, I take my position to command my own warriors.