Let's Play: Star Wars Empire at War

[White Haven]

In a burst of whimsy that was sadly absent at work today, I would request that White Haven's warship be known as the INS Big Damned Hero. Such hubris could never possibly tempt fate.

[Necromancer of Rath]

It can't be any worse than the INS Indestructible and its replacement. Though it was highly amusing to see them both lost in their first (shown) combat encounter.

[Chris OFarrell]

On behalf of the Moff's council, I move we promote Brigadier Drason to Marshall Drason, for excellent service to the Empire, keeping a cool head under fire and holding the line against the forces of Chaos.

Not to mention making a direct and valuable contribution to the space battle

[Admiral Drason]

On behalf of the Moff's council, I move we promote Brigadier Drason to Marshall Drason, for excellent service to the Empire, keeping a cool head under fire and holding the line against the forces of Chaos.

Not to mention making a direct and valuable contribution to the space battle

I am honored to receive such a recommendation sir. I was doing my duty in the name of the Rationalist Empire. But the true heroes of the battle were Captain Onasi and Captain Solarun, for without their sacrifice by drawing out the space battle as long as they did my gunners would never have been able to knock out that Cultist Cruiser.

In viewing the aftermath of our latest victory I recommend that we start fortifying all our major worlds with planetary batteries as they can make any invasion force pay in blood for every fallen Rationalist.

[Samuel]

On behalf of the Moff's council, I move we promote Brigadier Drason to Marshall Drason, for excellent service to the Empire, keeping a cool head under fire and holding the line against the forces of Chaos.

Not to mention making a direct and valuable contribution to the space battle

I am honored to receive such a recommendation sir. I was doing my duty in the name of the Rationalist Empire. But the true heroes of the battle were Captain Onasi and Captain Solarun, for without their sacrifice by drawing out the space battle as long as they did my gunners would never have been able to knock out that Cultist Cruiser.

In viewing the aftermath of our latest victory I recommend that we start fortifying all our major worlds with planetary batteries as they

Batteries are expensive and take value machinery that could be allocated to other purposes. I don't know how the economic state is (do mines take the cake?) but I believe each one is a major investment and opportunity cost. A mobile force can counter enemy fleets- but at a higher cost in lives. Of course, by building them we delay our advance, costing us time and the trillions who suffer under the rule of our insane, callous, brutal and blood thirsty foes.

Also, the taint appears to be everywhere- all your screenshots have it now. Can we contain it or will it eat at our empires heart?

Long live the Empire! Long live reason! Death to Zhan!

[Darth Yoshi]

[Incoming transmission]
[Protocol: Imperial HoloNet]
[Identification algorithms: acknowledged]
Heathen fools! I am Darth Yoshi, Chosen of the Blood God. Know that He has generously granted you a reprieve, so that when the marrow is squeezed from your bones and your flesh scattered to the stars your despair will be all the more delicious. Indeed, your forces believed that they had vanquished me once before, but for the Chosen of the Blood God, death is but an annoyance. We will come for you, your wives, your husbands, your children. We shall drink from their still beating hearts, and make trophies of your entrails. Know this, and despair! Blood for the—
*static*
[Control override: acknowledged]
[Transmission terminated]

[Crossroads Inc.]

Such Epic battle, such a display of bravery! and I wasnt a Part of it!!!
I must have a ship back! I wish to join my Sister in arms as soon as possible! Being without Darkevil, just isnt the same, we must be re-united!

[Lord Relvenous]

So, erm, am I dead? I couldn't figure out if my Victory was one of the ones at the battle. I thought Thanas and I were the only Victorys, but he wasn't there. Really, I just got all confused as to who exactly was stationed there.

Great defensive battle of the ground, Darson. I commend you for your cool head and sharp tactical thinking.

[Necromancer of Rath]

It would seem that both yourself and Captain Thanas are still alive as it was Onasi and Solauren commanding the ships in the first battle.

Unless you have had some sort of accident. Or got ambushed over some other world.

[The Yosemite Bear]

now I've pulled it out of my closet, I hope your happy....

[Starglider]

So, erm, am I dead? I couldn't figure out if my Victory was one of the ones at the battle.

No, you were guarding the recently taken Shroom system while the defences were built up.

I thought Thanas and I were the only Victorys, but he wasn't there.

There are lots of currently-anonymous Victories, Acclamators and Guardians scattered about the border regions on garrison duty.

[Force Lord]

Reason has won today. I can only hope we have better luck in defending planets.

[Darkevilme]

That was pure of awesome. Somehow the best bit for me was the enemy's reaction to the HAB's new toys. Personally i want to see them tear apart the Death units though this may be a bit of revenge showing through for how they destroyed some of my precious strike cruisers.

[Thanas]

I am relegated to garrison duty?

Damm.

Peacemeal indeed. I guess some higher ups do not like my views.

[Samuel]

I am relegated to garrison duty?

Damm.

Peacemeal indeed. I guess some higher ups do not like my views.

Or they don't want you to die. How many ships have we lost so far?

[Thanas]

^What do you think to be more likely - surviving as the sole defender of a system or surviving as part of a massive fleet?

[Vehrec]

I'm going to request that the next update be delayed in favor of a special 'state of the Empire' message from our glorious Leader to brief the staff and officers on the state of our defences, ecconomy, production and research. As well as a quick snapshot of each of our planets-I haven't seen a planet snapshot since the first update and I want to know what all these systems we have are good for-if anything.

[Darth Onasi]

O fallen defenders of ASVS, we have been avenged!

On a side note, what do you tweak to allow more than one Mandator-II? The mod will only let me build one.

[RogueIce]

That was a costly victory. I didn't know you could actually ram in FoC, though IIRC it happened in earlier updates. Guess I should have caught on. Ah well...I'm just a ground pounder, after all.

Would've been nice to know we had a hypervelocity cannon though.

We got lucky though. If they'd sent in a sufficient ground force, we would have lost ASVS. Not to belittle Brigadier (Marshal-designate) Drason or his brave men, nor their sacrifices, but it's true. They didn't even use a bombing run or bombardment?

[Starglider]

"The holocamera feed is working correctly?"

"Yes, Grand Moff." The Bothan technician actually bowed. "We are transmitting live on a secure holochannel." Stuart made a dismissive gesture, and she scurried out of the briefing room.

"Excellent. Council members, and Imperial officers cleared to view this transmission, this will be the first of three high-level briefings. It is essential that our key decision makers understand the big picture, so that they can put their local challenges in context."

"Our research, development and recovery teams have been making excellent progress of late. Several new ship designs are ready to begin production, most notably the famed Imperial class Star Destroyer. They are formidable ships, but currently we only possess three shipyards capable of restoring these hulls, SDN, ASVS and HPCA."



"The Bayonet class is a further advance on the Guardian class, and we will begin switching over our gunboat production to this new design as soon as possible. Responding to the concerns several officers have expressed about the extent of our fighter coverage, I ordered a detailed design study into a very light 'escort carrier'. I must say though, I do not recommend this design for production. The recent cultist attack on ASVS illustrated the vulnerability of such ships in heavy fleet combat."

"The TIE Phantom is not a frontline starfighter, but is a viable replacement for our TIE Scouts which will hopefully reduce attrition to those squadrons. The Aardvark... well, let us just say that that is the pet project of Comptroller McNamara and I have some doubts as to its combat value."

“Strategic Space Command have been continuing to run their own parallel research program, which has produced additional designs. As usual for SSC, they are highly effective on paper but also highly expensive to construct. These designs can only be built at the SSC drydocks over HPCA.”



“I must say that I am impressed that SSC beat our primary research team to production of a viable interdiction craft. However the Rapier is a disappointment – I cannot see how any anti-starfighter escort could possibly be worth four times the cost of a standard gunboat. Moving on... Emperor Wong! I was told you were unable to make it to this briefing.”

The ruler of the Rationalist Empire looked older, worn down somehow, yet more dangerous than ever. Clad in black robes, he was accompanied by a familiar armoured figure.

“I have had some success in the field of 'research and development' myself. Special Operative Stark here is the result.”

“I live to serve the Emperor once more.” The voice was familiar, yet somehow flat, deadened.

“I was not aware that the difficulties with brain imprinting were...”

“They were not. I used... special techniques to force the personality transfer. Oh, but I do not wish to interrupt.” The Emperor smiled sarcastically. “Do proceed, Grand Moff.”

“Yes, well... we have also been making progress in improving our ground units.” Grand Moff Stuart continued to glance at the Emperor nervously. The AT-AT is finally in series production, though at a low rate given the cost inflation the program has experienced.



“We learnt a lot from Dantooine. For defence, the walker group came up with a design mounting dedicated anti-speeder weaponry. For attack, our techs have been scouring the depots for repairable airframes, and they've come up with two designs we can make airworthy on short notice. Finally, we received this infantry weapon design from the 'HAB' laboratory. The suggestion that it should be fired from the hip was obviously meant as some kind of joke, but we have succeeded in designing an appropriate stabilised tripod for it, so it is now ready for mass production.”

“Finally... I have decided to partially declassify the Arc Hammer project. You can understand the necessity of keeping the details from you during the development phase, given the apparently extensive infiltration of our data networks.”



“You will find the full details in the appropriate archive file, which you should now be able to access. Colonel Pace assures me that the prototypes check out and full production is ready to begin at our discretion.”

“Now, we must once again address the question of where to allocate our scarce resources...”

Moff O'Farrell interrupted. “Before we do that, Grand Moff, could you at least tell us where our fleet is? I understand that both our battlecruisers were ordered away to an unknown destination.”

“That is classified at this time. Let's just say that they're attending to 'unfinished business'.”

[Starglider]

That was a costly victory. I didn't know you could actually ram in FoC,

Technically, you can't, but I'm eager to try out this 'artistic license' I've heard so much about (I wonder what you have to do to get it revoked).

On a side note, what do you tweak to allow more than one Mandator-II? The mod will only let me build one.

Edit the <Population_Value> value in the mod\Data\Xml\Units_space_empire_mandator.xml file.

[RogueIce]

That was a costly victory. I didn't know you could actually ram in FoC,

Technically, you can't, but I'm eager to try out this 'artistic license' I've heard so much about (I wonder what you have to do to get it revoked).

Ah, so it just looks like you did. I see.

Speaking of 'artistic license' that first shot of the Cultist fleet in the nebula was fucking awesome. Given my experience of the 'movie-cam' with EaW I'm sure luck was involved in that it had that view at the right time, but it was still damned cool.

[Thanas]

Captain Thanas suggests building at least one Escort Carrier. When well protected, they can spawn up to 12 squadrons a piece.

He also suggests building a few starscream wings - their missiles are deadly to enemy fighter swarms.

Captain Thanas wishes to convey his dismay that a second mandator-I class Dreadnought was built - their hyperdrive is very, very slow. The money would have been better saved for the new advanced SD designs.

[Bluewolf]

"I full echo the sentiment that at least one Escort Carrier should be build. They can launch many TIE's into battle including TIE Defenders which would be more than a match for more advance enemy fighters. Several Bayonets would be useful too as they can swiftly enter a fighter swarm, do damage and fall back quickly when it gets too much.

I also feel that we now have enough Mandator I's. We should be focusing on more advanced and functional designs like the Imperial Star Destroyers and the Dominator. They can act defensivly, offencivly and generally useful.

For ground forces, T-800 War Droids and LAAT/I are reccomended as well as E Web's. All three are very potent."

[Imperial Overlord]

Thanas, did you run over the Emperor's dog or something? You seem to have negative pull within the High Command.

Why don't you try reverse psychology and advocating for projects that you actually disapprove of?