We last left off with two of our neighbors - the Cardassian Union and the Romulan Star Empire - at war. Two of the four major powers at war with each other is a major event. Even though we're not directly involved in hostilities, the Federation must still reckon with some of the fallout from this clash. Star Trek Infinite represents the overall political climate of the known galaxy through a system called Galactic Tension.
Aggressive actions like starting wars and getting caught spying on your neighbors are the main contributors to raising tension, while diplomatic actions like making treaties lowers it. As tension rises, planetary stability (which is sort of a combined metric of how happy and productive your pops are) goes down, making your empire harder to manage. Galactic Tension isn't necessarily a bad thing, though; at least, not if you're of the warmongering inclination. Unlike in Stellaris, Infinite has a hard limit on the number of systems you can claim from your rivals at a time, limiting the speed of aggressive expansion. As Galactic Tension goes up, so does the claim limit, and claims become cheaper to make. Wars of conquest generate tension, which enables you to take even
more territory in the future - an ideal arrangement for someone like the Klingons, for example. For the peaceful United Federation of Planets, not so much. Not only do I not plan on waging many aggressive wars, I don't want my rivals expanding too much through conquest either.
Players of any Paradox game can probably think of a time when one AI country rapidly and unexpectedly collapsed, getting gobbled up by some other AI nation and creating a monster in the process. I don't want anything like that happening here, especially since I'm still learning the ropes of the game and what to expect, particularly in terms of the AI's competence and how the various powers tend to perform. For all I know, the Cardassians could be this game's version of the big blue blob, or maybe the Klingons are the blitzkrieg in space waiting to happen. Winning wars is a dice roll for me right now, whereas I'm pretty confident that in the long term I can win the peace, and thus I'll be trying keep tension as low as possible. Fortunately, this jibes entirely with the default playstyle of the Federation anyway, since I'm going to be doing plenty of diplomacy.
That doesn't mean we're idle in other fields. In fact, this seems like a good time to complete a mission I've been saving up towards for a while now.
I finally have enough alloys stockpiled to complete Build the Enterprise. And so, on December 11, 2360, our first Galaxy-class starship, the USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-D, is put into commission at Earth Spacedock.
And here she is in Earth orbit. A nice looking ship! The Enterprise comes complete with her registry number, courtesy of being a hero ship and thus having her own unique in-game model.
3500 alloys is an expensive investment this early in the game but it's worth it. The Enterprise alone costs more than a fleet of Mirandas would but, as you can see in the ledger, it's combat power is about equal to a squadron of the smaller ships. That number will go up over time, as the Enterprise gains experience and unlocks improvements. Unique in our fleet, the Enterprise is both a warship and a science ship, able to survey systems, research anomalies, boost research, and so on. Now, from a purist perspective,
most Starfleet vessels should be able to do this given the organization's commitment to science and discovery, but I understand the gameplay conceit. I appreciate that the flagship at least can fulfill its mission of seeking out new life and new civilizations.
Finally, the Enterprise is immortal. If it takes too much damage it will instantly warp out of the system, but it cannot be permanently destroyed. A touch unrealistic, perhaps, given how the movies go through Enterprises with abandon, but an important QoL mechanic given that the Federation has a number of missions involving Picard or the Enterprise.
Our ambassadors stay busy, signing protection and research pacts with the J'naii Council, and completing two more missions from our mission tree along the way.
Below Multilateral Accords, the mission tree forks into mutually exclusive paths. We have the choice of staying true to the Federation's founding ideals or aligning with Section 31 and other rogue elements that advocate a more militaristic and cynical stance toward the galaxy. I'm going to be sticking with the "canon" route and keeping my faith in the Federation's utopian idealism.
The integration process with the Idanians finishes. Convincing a 2nd minor to join the Federation allows us to complete yet
another mission in quick succession and netting some nice permanent bonuses. We've been cruising through missions, but this is as far down this particular route as we're likely to get for a while.
Now, for those of you who might be getting worried about a boring campaign, I can reassure you that just because we've chosen to stick with utopia doesn't mean we'll be eschewing conflict. Ironically, the next mission in the "peaceful" branch of the tree all but guarantees at least one war. The problem, you see, is Bajor.
Bajor starts the game as a Cardassian subject state (which is a bit odd since I'm pretty sure that this should be the height of the Cardassian Occupation right now). The mission description explains that there are two ways to change this: war or diplomacy. We'll try diplomacy, but I'm not holding my breath. Given that the Cardassians are currently embroiled in a war, I throw a Request Subject Liberation their way just for the heck of it. Predictably, they refuse. The Cardassians seem to be doing fairly well against the Romulans, and I don't have the economic or military weight behind my request to daunt them, so it makes sense that they're blowing me off. They're refusal doesn't come free of consequence, however. By saying no, they give me a Liberation War Casus Belli to free Bajor if I so choose, which forces my first major decision of the playthrough. Do I try and free Bajor now?
It's a difficult question. Sooner or later the Cardassian A.I. will get around to integrating Bajor, which will make it harder to pry the planet out of their claws. The Cardassian fleet is presumably poorly positioned right now to defend against an attack, with their fleet engaged in operations against the Romulans - my spy ship confirms that there are no Cardassian ships over Bajor - and they'd be forced to split their strength to fight on two fronts. Additionally, having just finished the Enterprise, I have a powerful flagship that one-on-one outclasses anything the Cardassians have.
But it's not all pros. An early war wasn't part of my gameplan and as a result, other than the Enterprise, I haven't built any more combat-capable ships. I've upgraded the ships in my starting fleet as I've researched new technologies, but that doesn't change the fact that I only have a handful of escorts to throw at the enemy. My lack of intel is very dangerous here, because I have no idea how large the Cardassian navy is relative to mine. If it's only slightly larger, then launching a rapid ship-building program might be enough to catch me up and even overtake them if the Romulans continue to tie down a chunk of their forces. But if their navy is large enough to hold me off
and fight off the Romulans at the same time, I could be in real trouble. I haven't unlocked any additional ship classes yet, and I suspect the Cardassians haven't either, which means we'd both be fighting with escorts (plus the Enterprise, but I can't build any more of those any time soon), and in an escort fight the Cardies are going to have a strong advantage. The reason is this:
One of the Cardassian's civics gives them a bonus to ship damage. The Hideki-class is their escort, which means they have a whopping +20% weapon damage on all of their ships. This is a really strong argument for waiting. Larger ship classes have a smaller damage bonus, meaning less of a damage advantage for the Cardassians if we have cruisers slugging it out as opposed to escorts. I'll also have more time to research more offensive and defensive technologies, further leveling the playing field since I'm very confident in my ability to out-tech them.
There's one final consideration. The temptation to go to war now springs entirely from the fact that the Cardassians are fighting the Romulans. The opportunist in me sees the opening and wants to seize the moment and plunge a dagger into the back they've so obligingly left exposed. But therein lies the danger, because I'm pretty sure I can
only beat the Cardassians right now so long as their stuck in a 2v1. There's a very real risk that they could peace out with the Romulans and turn their full attention towards me, in which case the best I can probably hope for is an expensive white peace. As co-belligerents, not allies, I wouldn't have any way to make sure the Romulans stayed in the war to my advantage, and it would be entirely too in character for the both the Romulans and the Paradox A.I. to leave me holding the bag.
That's what eventually decides it for me, as tempting as the opportunity is. Better to be patient, wait 30 or 40 games years, and attack them when I'm ready with overwhelming superiority. Your day will come, Cardassia, but not today.
As it turns out, this was almost certainly the right call. Just a few months later the Cardassian-Romulan war ends with a white peace. Since I didn't attack, I'm glad for the status quo. I don't want the Cardassians getting carved up until I'm the one doing the carving, and I need the Romulans to stay strong enough to feel threatening to the Klingons so that I can buddy up to them.
And then we receive another report of strange and troubling sightings on the edges of our space. It seems we might have bigger things to worry about than Bajor coming our way.
