On Azure Wings - An Apocalypse AAR

[RossN]

I have to admit I wasn't delighted to see the Unbidden appear. I know late game crisis appear but I'd somehow assumed the War in Heaven was it. This was not a pleasant surprise.

For all intents and purposes I've had to abandon directly fighting the Reshethi but I am still treating the Unbidden war as a part of the overall War in Heaven.

I wasn't able to fit it into the post proper but here is the map with the initial Unbidden entry point:

stnylan: I am proud actually. I had plans about dealing with the Reshethi - who are a very tough nut to crack. Unfortunately the Unbidden have thrown a wrench into those plans.

Surt: Sorry about that. I'm using the same size settings as usual but border gore has made it tricky to read. The above maplet shows the initial Unbidden space and the rebellious Yibrak states that were the only 'new' powers around.

Specialist290: Very much. The plan was not to outright defeat the Awakened Empires but simply fight them to a standstill.

Idhrendur: It didn't but the timing of the Unbidden invasion almost could not have been worse. I haven't played past 2461 but it looks very possible that the Reshethi won't clash with them at all while I get hammered repeatedly.

Nikolai: Well they are still very busy on the southern front, overrunning the Hytheans.

Bored Student1414: I like the Thrawn reference.

At this point even if I wanted to the resources to build a superweapon are completely beyond me. I'm working with a badly diminished fleet against the Unbidden

 

[Nikolai]

Oh man, that is a huge loss for the kingdom as well as the galaxy.

 

[Telcharinogrod]

Oh. Oh my. That is not good at all.

 

[crisrko]

Looks like the Unbidden will have enough time to bring down the Yibrak, probably undeterred too.

 

[stnylan]

And I thought you were already in a War of Survial. This is something else indeed.

Please remind me - are there any other Fallen Empires kicking around that might awaken to fight the Unbidden?

 

[Surt]

Oh man, that is a huge loss for the kingdom as well as the galaxy.

Yes the loss of Yibrak was a huge loss ... the rebel alliance is shaken.

 

[Surt]

Oh man, that is a huge loss for the kingdom as well as the galaxy.

Yes the loss of Yibrak was a huge loss ... the rebel alliance is shaken.

 

[Specialist290]

Out of the frying pan, into the fire...

 

[Bored Student1414]

There is no peace among the stars. Only an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and the laughter of thirsting gods.
The War in Heaven will soon reach its 40th year and now the Unbidden have arrived with a direct link to Baviir space. Until now, the war has been a distant affair for most subjects of the Kingdom. Now, it is a fight for survival and its going to get much worse for the galaxy if the portal is not closed soon.

Who is winning the War in Heaven. The Reshethi faction seem to be losing to the Juvan faction as the Reshethi allies keep losing territory, having their planets destroyed, and now have the Unbidden on their territory but I could be completely wrong.

 

[LeiaBlaze]

Oh, dear. Oh dear oh dear oh dear.

On the plus side, maybe the Unbidden are pretty enough that dying to them might not feel like such a bad thing?

 

[Viden]

Well, this was unexpected. The AAR has become much more... interesting.

Oh, dear. Oh dear oh dear oh dear.

On the plus side, maybe the Unbidden are pretty enough that dying to them might not feel like such a bad thing?

LeiaBlaze's Unbidden :

 

[LeiaBlaze]

I'm genuine on the Unbidden looking pretty. I love the shimmering blue in the portrait; they are like living light shows, or more interesting versions of the Drej from Titan AE.

 

[MK1980]

stumbled over the AAR yesterday and caught up with it now. really enjoyed the style of writing.

unbidden showing up in the middle of the war in heaven is harsh. would be bad enough if they were on the other side of the galaxy, but with that wormhole right into your newly acquired territory they are the top priority target now.

it's unfortunate that AI allies are so bad at using the federation fleet. i guess the war against the xenophobic AI could have been won at least a decade earlier if the federation allies were more competent (or if control of the fleet didn't change every 10 years)


from my last encounters with the unbidden, i remember that their ships used to have no armor - only lots of hullpoints and decent shields. and their matter disintegrators (or whatever the weapon is called) have relatively short range. so you can more or less hardcounter them (or at least trade losses at a favorable ratio) by refitting your capital ships to long range kinetic weapons (kinetic batteries/artilleries and mega/giga cannons)

 

[qrtxian]

Just wanted to take a moment to drop in here and say that this is perhaps my favorite AAR on this forum to read. Here's hoping you survive the Unbidden.

 

[Ol' Johnny]

I enjoy it too. I hope you manage to defeat the Unbidden, or at least survive.

 

[Rensslaer]

RossN, I'm still back on page 10, but you mentioned Star Fleet Battles, so I had to comment.

I was 12 when the boxed set first came out (pictured above) and I HAD to have it. I played it for a decade, and have many times since wished I had time or partners to play with. Awesome game!

I went through the Boxed Set, Expansions, Commander's Edition, and reluctantly bought the Captain's Edition when my competitors insisted on an updated version. Must have spent $1000.

I still occasionally pull out Star Fleet Commander (?), the computer-based version, and one of the novels I'm working on is based loosely on SFB.

Great to hear you're a fan too!

Rensslaer

 

[RossN]

The Unbidden infestation in September 2462 (note dimesional anchors would subsequently be built at Azha and Snotalitvish-Qa.)​

Chapter Twenty Six: The War in Heaven, Fighting Back (2461 to 2471)

There were several immediate consequences of the destruction of Snotalitvish. The first was Admiral Yel tal Oln's order to cancel all Royal Navy operations until the Admiralty could come to terms with the crisis. The Vrinn commander personally advised the High King and a full session of the Princes of the Two Hundred (via transmission from the bridge of RSS Regal Hatchling) that any aggressive move, even to fend off another attack by the enemy was tantamount to throwing ships and their crews into the maw of a black hole. The fleet desperately needed time to recover.

Despite tal Oln's personal plea the battered Meta-Baviir ships were obliged to put up a last token defence at the First Battle of Baidaan at the end of February 2462. The Baidaan system, north west of Waiphrid, was home to the world of Eldetha, a planet of seventeen billion mostly Ekwynian inhabitants. It ended with yet another retreat but this time the Royal Navy had made the Unbidden pay for their triumph. Indeed so mauled were the victors that the Unbidden would subsequently withdraw without directly attacking the planet.

Even before First Baidaan High King Skeerid had declared martial law in what had been the Snotalitvish Sector. It was completely impossible to evacuate the forty billion or so citizens of Eldetha, Pildara and Paragima Secondus but the Stellar Kingdom was desperate to avoid a panic among an already traumatized, terrified populace. Four fifths of the sector's inhabitants were Ekwynians and having witnessed their species homeworld devoured alive by transdimensional demons morale was rather poor. Given that the territory was still only a generation removed from conquest the fears of rioting and collapse were very real. In fact as a concession to the Ekwynians Admiral Yel tal Oln's role as commander in chief was downplayed in the reports of the was - a disservice to a loyal and capable officer but born from fears that having a Vrinn in such an obvious position of command would stoke the perpetually smouldering tensions between the Vrinns and Ekwynians. Instead Reebik the Younger took up the reins with tal Oln eventually taking command of the League Navy once it reverted to the Stellar Kingdom in 2463.

By July 2463 the Royal Navy had manage to recover sufficiently to face the enemy in open combat again. The sixteen months between the First Battle of Baidaan and the Second had seen the damaged Meta-Baviir ships repaired and consolidated into a single fleet. In pure numbers the fleet was well below the strength that had been fielded a decade before but it was still a powerful concentration of warships as Admiral Yefa tal Gun proved at the Second Battle of Baidaan, wiping out an Unbidden fleet. Second Baidaan, the first outright triumph over the murderous invaders lifted spirits across the Stellar Kingdom. Tal Gun had won by drawing on the number one lesson of the war against the Juvans: 'never, ever fight fair.' Or, with more appropriate gravity: 'a victory with the odds is as much a victory as one without - and far easier.'

The central component of the Stellar Kingdom's war against the Unbidden was a commitment to local dominance. It was better to be strong enough in one place to defeat the enemy there, than too weak in multiple places. Not only did the concentration of ships matter, their composition was just as vital. Battleship construction was stepped up, their greater range and resiliency being a better bet than swarms of gossamer-delicate torpedo boats. The gauss cannon, technology originally of Juvan origin became the weapon of choice against the eerie craft used by the Unbidden. Against conventional armour the projectile weapon had been found wanting but the bizarre materials employed by the extradimensional beings had no such armour. In fact everything about the Unbidden remained a mystery, even when their wrecks were available for study. Invariably when facing defeat the enemy fought to the death rather than retreat, yet tentative explorations of their hulks revealed little trace of their occupants. Scientists theorized that the Unbidden, existing half-in and half-out of an alien dimension vanished after death - a theory that did nothing to quell the supernatural aura these wraith like creatures seemed to inspire.

Admiral Campramara leading the 'heavy raider' squadron of the Royal Navy in 2470.​

One person who benefited from the Unbidden - perhaps the only person - was a woman who at any other time would have been seen as mercenary scum at best and a pirate and a barbarian at worst. Campramara was a Triech female, slender and graceful but with muscles like steel cables and a natural skill at the art of death. In 2460 her successful career as a warlord had very nearly come to a premature end when her flagship exploded around her after an ambush from a rival. Fortunately for Campramara she made it to an escape pod and thence to Stellar Kingdom space where she was rescued - and immediately volunteered her services to her adopted home.

Campramara's immediate enrollment and brevet promotion to full admiral - she was handed her pips [1] practically in the same breath as she swore allegiance to 'His Radiant Majesty High King Skeerid and all his heirs' - ruffled many feathers. As a younger woman (she was forty at the time of her rescue) Campramara had served as a mercenary in Ekwynian service and had almost certainly been the cause of numerous deaths on her 'new side'. Nevertheless the High King himself was prepared to vouch for her, as was Admiral Yel tal Oln. The Royal Navy could not afford to throw away so deadly a warrior out of priggishness. As for her experience... well, she did know the local spaceways very well and ironically her very foreignness would play well with the Ekwynians, suspicious and tetchy over Vrinn and Meta-Baviir admirals. Finally, Campramara proved a major asset in understanding an abandoned Triechi fleet found adrift in Stellar Kingdom space in 2466 and quickly pressed into service. Though obsolete by modern standards they could still perform service for a Royal Navy frequently low on ships.

The clash at Yrogglia, April 2464
​

Campramara would take command of the Royal Navy at the Battle of Yrogglia in April 2464. The system was home to the colony of Pildara and there was no possibility of letting the Unbidden run loose. Yrogglia marked the first time the recovered Royal Navy faced a full scale Unbidden fleet - at Second Baidaan the enemy fleet was merely two-thirds strong, a so-called 'secondary fleet'. It was a bloody, exhausting nerve shattering battle and the Royal Navy lost five battleships and fourteen corvettes. In return the foe was completely destroyed, twelve battleships and eleven smaller vessels reduced to radioactive vapour. There would be many more bitter battles to come and many fine Baviir warships would not survive but Yrogglia marked the true turning of the tide, the moment when the Unbidden lost the initiative.

In 2463 the Stellar Kingdom had again assumed leadership of the League of Non-Aligned Powers. It was even more of a poisoned chalice that year than usual with the Unbidden on the doorstep and the once potent League Navy reduced to a smattering of mostly Knatza corvettes. Prior to the emergence of the Unbidden Skeerid had seen the need to pour resources into the League Navy and build it back up into some sort of fighting force. That hadn't changed simply because the enemy had and throughout the 2460s the 'Beleagured' as they liked to call themselves served alongside the Royal Navy, gradually growing in size and reputation (constant losses kept that growth slow.) Yel tal Oln and several other old hands had been transferred to the League Navy, giving much needed stability and leadership to what remained the most diverse military in the galaxy.

Most League ships were very similar to their Royal Navy counterparts give or take a weapon emplacement or shield cowling; they were built in the same shipyards after all. However the one specialty of the League little seen in the Royal Navy ranks were carriers. Briefly utilized in the fighting against the Juvans the Meta-Baviiri had abandoned them in favour of their beloved battleships but the Knatzans had great faith in their strike craft so the shipyards at Etan Stela dutifully turned out three carriers (which even their critics in the Royal Navy admitted were strikingly beautiful warships.) As if to reassure themselves the shipwrights also built a titan for the League. RSS Imponderable Hatchling carried the usual perdition beam, still the mightiest weapon known. Her secondary armament was more radical however; eschewing the traditional neutron launchers she carried gauss cannons and the exotic matter disintegrators, plundered technology from the Unbidden. Unfortunately (or not), by the time Imponderable Hatchling went on her shakedown cruise in July 2471 the Unbidden had been driven from local space.

The post-Yrogglia offensive against the Unbidden consisted of a mix of 'heavy raiding' and outright battle. 'Heavy raiding' - the term was coined by Campramara consisted of taking the twin Royal Navy titans and a supporting force of battleships and striking at systems with enemy starbases [2]. The theory was that while the Unbidden stations were formidable enough for space stations they lacked the range to inflict substantial damage on the heavy ships of the Meta-Baviiri, who could blaze away at range with perdition beams and focused arc emitters without risking graver damage than their front shields getting scorched. It was an attractive strategy but there was the obvious risk that the enemy fleet might chance upon the battle squadron at play and turn the tables. Fortunately the Meta-Baviiri battleships with their dark matter propulsion were fast for ships of their size and Campramara mixed a streak of caution with her flamboyant star pirate manner. The enemy followed but never caught - at least until it became convenient for them to be caught.

The last moments at the Battle of Hizar, August 2469.​

The Battle of Hizar in late August 2469 marked the final major battle in local space. The Gilded Star Flock under Campramara reeled in the last Unbidden armada [3] to an ambush by the Nimini Armada (ie. the League Navy) under Yel tal Oln. Though the Unbidden outgunned either fleet alone the combined Royal Navy and League ships proved too powerful. For the Meta-Baviiri it was yet another grueling victory, costing four battleships and nine smaller vessels but it ended with the extradimensional fleet utterly destroyed. Hizar did not mark the total end of the infestation in local space - it would take another year and a half to eliminate the dimensional anchors in close systems but it did destroy the threat for the moment.

The war against the Unbidden had lasted a shorter period than that against the Juvans, but it had been even more destructive. The arrogant ancient avians had been a high handed and fierce foe, but they had taken prisoners and been willing to talk. More however they had not attacked any inhabited worlds of the Meta-Baviiri and the Till'Lynesians, even if events in the galactic south west with the colossus suggested this was more a matter of luck and timing than anything else. The only positive thing that could be said about the Unbidden was that they and their ships had a strange phantasmal beauty, creatures of strange dark energy flickering blue in the visible spectrum. Otherwise they were a terrible, scarcely comprehensible foe.

With the final expulsion of the Unbidden on the eastern side of the galaxy in May 2471 the Stellar Kingdom was left with hard choices and hard opportunities. There was the burning question of what to do with Snotalitivish; whether to restore it as much as possible via terraforming or leave it as a silent memorial to the slain and found a second Snotalitvish elsewhere. Even in wartime such matters could not easily be pushed aside for the moment.

As for the war, and as much as the Stellar Kingdom might desperately wish for a period of recovery, the conflict showed little chance of ending. The Royal Navy was faced with unappealing prospects. Either as the Juvans and Unbidden had devoured their vassals (literally in the latter case) the Reshethi had remained untouched and powerful. After a decade of delay and loss the Stellar Kingdom still had to come to close quarters with this behemoth...

The galaxy, May 2471.​

Footnotes:

[1] The Royal Navy employed rank insignia, though uniforms necessarily varied by species - Baviiri (who found clothes other than the loosest and most delicate of garments uncomfortable) wore stylized cravats around their necks, the Till'Lynesi wore their traditional 'diving suits' and the Vrinn, Korinths and Rihi'Nar all wore 'conventional' uniforms with more exotic officers fit on a case by case basis - Campramara speciffically wore a slightly altered Vrinn female officers uniform.

[2] Or 'dimensional anchors' as the scientists termed them. The Royal Navy, concerned with more pragmatic matters consistently called them starbases on the grounds that they functioned like such and needed to be destroyed as such.

[3] The initial Unbidden entry point on the far side of the galaxy remained open, guarded by a vast fleet but with the initial invasion armadas destroyed and the possibility of the Juvans coming into contact with the Unbidden that was a problem that would have to wait.

 

[RossN]

Nikolai: I know. I suppose the best I can say is that it lent an extra satisfaction to destroying Unbidden ships for me - I definitely wanted revenge!

Telcharinogrod: No it wasn't!

crisrko: That is exactly what happened. The splinter Yibrak states survive, including ironically their homeworld but the main Yibrak state is simply gone.

stnylan: Unfortunately no. The Unbidden arriving during the War in Heaven was bad for me obviously but I think the galaxy as a whole suffered because the nominal older and wiser galactic civilisations were too busy trying to club each other over the head.

Surt: Er... they were on the other side. The Non-Aligned types are the Rebel Alliance.

Specialist290: Very much so.

Bored Student1414: Very technically the Juvans and their vassals the Korinths, though the Reshethi seem to be disincline to take the battle to the foe despite their great power.

LeiaBlaze: Well... that is an intriguing way to look at things. I admire your ability to find the silver lining.

Viden: I like to think it was interesting before. Also... wow, that is some picture - a daemonette?

MK1980: thanks for the suggestions, they've been helpful.

Regarding the Federation I was and am extremely irritated I had to spend the entirety of my second term leading the Federation having to battle the Unbidden. With the League Fleet and my own I think I could have dealt a major blow to the Reshethi. Instead I've been unable to hurt them at all and thanks to losses fighting the Unbidden the Federation fleet I'll be handing over to the Pouz-Joks in 2473 is probably just large enough to be wiped out by a Reshethi fleet.

qrtxian: Thank you that is a very nice thing to say!

Ol' Johnny: Thanks!

Rensslaer: Oh, really glad you brought that up!

I'm actually more a fan of the setting than the game as such - mostly because I've never had a chance to play, though it certainly looks fun. What hooked me on the Star Fleet Universe were the GURPS rpg sourcebooks - Prime Directive, Romulans, Klingons and the Federation. Great books and the Romulans in particular are more interesting than their canon counterparts. I also have a soft spot for the Klingon subject races, which make a lot of sense.

Also a lot of the box art is very neat.

What struck me is that in some ways the Star Fleet Battles universe is a closer fit for a Stellaris setting than canon-Trek in some ways (at least the Next Generation version.) You have warfare, interstellar commerce a greater emphasis on things like pirates and so on.

 

[stnylan]

I have so much SFB stuff lurking in a loft. Which actually I hope to unlurk in the next few weeks.

That went well, as well as it could have done. Of course the Unbidden remain, but hopefully the Imperium can restrain them. Maybe they will even distract the Resethi.

 

[Specialist290]

All this discussion of SFB has led me to do a little bit of Internet sleuthing. Apparently, not only are the creators still in business, but they're even continuing to publish new material for the game and the expanded universe.

----

The price may have been high, but the local Unbidden incursion has been contained. With luck, this means that the Baviiri and their League allies have a little breathing room to consolidate and rebuild before finally taking the fight to the Reshethi -- though it doesn't sound like the Stellar Kingdom Fleet is going to get much in the way of a furlough according to that little bit at the end.

Count me in the "Restore Snotalitvish" camp, at least once the Baviiri have enough breathing space to make it feasible in the long term. I can see the value in its preservation as a memorial to the dead, but at the same time one cannot ignore the needs and desires of the living. The morale-boosting value of such an undertaking (showing the Empire has the strength and the means to rebuild even after the worst of tragedies, reinforcing their commitment to their Neo-Ekwynian subjects, etc.) is immense -- and, of course, there's the pragmatic consideration that one more planet means one more source of minerals for the eternally mineral-hungry war effort.

Idle thought: So the War in Heaven is nearing the end of its fifth decade. How has Baviiri society evolved, given that there is now a full generation that has hatched and fledged knowing of nothing but war? Aside from Snotalitvish the Empire's subjects have been fortunately untouched by the hand of war directly, but I would expect that the rhetoric of total war and the need of nearly every non-essential scrap of material to sustain and replenish the battle fleets have left their own marks on society.