-
We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Rage against the Machine
Rage against the Machine
In 2306, as the war against the Hive drew into its final phase, further advance was complicated by the conquests of Hive territory by the Tebrid Homolog. It was at this point that Saiiban intelligence estimated that the Homolog fleet was substantially weaker than the Saiiban murders already in the area.
The galaxy is our expanse
Victory is our desire
And looking at you sitting next to us
It is time for you to sleep now in the fire
Your would make us sing your song
One united, single singer
But to us the song comes out wrong
Harmony comes from many voices
But they now all sing together to one united purpose
We, each of us free, we have made our choices
Your song will be silenced now
That is our desire
It’s time to go now
It is time for you to sleep now in the fire.
You think strength comes from becoming one
But the strongest song comes from many
Not from one voice, one note
But many voices in a symphony
You think we will join you in your song
Assimilate ourselves to your vision
Well, in a sense you are not wrong
We are united now in one task
We have debated and made a decision
It is time time now, to end your song
Your colonies, your “civilization” entire
It will end now, at the end of this song
It is time to sleep now in the fire.
It is the end now
For you, of your history
But ours will continue, and still sing
And echo what we heard
and learned from you
To allow but one singer to sing one song
For all, without other voices
Is to kill the very song itself
Since to sing requires choices.
And so we will silence now your song
And eliminate your civilization entire
It is time now, take your bow
Time to sleep now in the fire.
In a different context, the decision of the Confederacy to sing the song of conquest and declare war against another species might have drawn criticism or debate. In the context of the Saiiban having just survived and effort to literally consume them and now faced with the aggressive efforts of a machine intelligence which was clearly bent on “assimilating” all organic life into its matrix, the debate was much simpler, and war was declared 4/1/2306.
The immediate engagements between the Saiiban murders against the Homolog Machine fleets were very lopsided. The Saiiban held the edge in numbers, in the technology of their ships, and in the experience of their admirals. The outcome of the war was not really ever in question.
Last edited:
Let us take what is ours
chew and eat our fill,
none can deny us.
--
Ya'll get an early update because I will be traveling this weekend.
Reminder: The 2021 Yearly AARland Year-end AwAARds are taking votes, head on over there and vote.
A quick attack, a promised sack
And though the war is not all just
We do our best to watch our back
And turn our foes to cosmic dust
Before on us they choose to snack
And though the war is not all just
We do our best to watch our back
And turn our foes to cosmic dust
Before on us they choose to snack
Knock you Out
Knock you Out
Even before the war against the Hive started, the Saiiban had seen its possibility and devoted some serious effort to revamping the training of both their fleet officers and the logistics operation charged with keeping ships flying. The challenge of supplying massive fleets across interstellar distances via hyperlanes was a new one.
Don’t call it a comeback
We’ve been here for years
Getting ready to rock our peers
Become their worst fears
Over the competition we’ll be flying
Meanwhile they’ll be busy dying
Getting ready to murder with our murder
You won’t have to the opportunity to study further
The lessons we teaching are final
Getting ready to get primal
We’re done being nice
Better get ready to pay the price
By the time the war began, the work of preparing a fully professionalized Interstellar admiralty had mostly been finalized, something that would be crucial to surviving the early years of the war and eventually turning it around despite initially being outnumbered. In many ways, the victory of the Saiiban murders over the Hive fleets using clever manuver to defeat their superior fleets in piecemeal battles was the proof of the validity of the work put into training the admiralty and fleet.
Yeah the flock said we’re gonna knock you out
So we gonna go knock you out
Momma said knock you out
So we about to knock you out
Get ready to shout
Outcome never in doubt
We’re back in the scene
Ready to get mean
Gonna reboot these stupid machines
It’s becoming routine
Like an ice cold wind, we’re a killer
Gonna throw your remains in the chiller
Becoming a death wish fufiller
It’s gonna be sweet
When our fleet
Is bringing down the heat
Yeah, our General said knock you out
So we gonna go knock you out
Daddy said knock you out
So we gonna knock you out
Death’s what I’m talking about.
By the time the war was expanded to include the Tebrid Homolog, the fleet composition, fighting technology, and training of the Saiiban Murders made the encounters between the Saiiban and the Homolog very one sided.
The effort to train and professionalize the admiralty expanded naturally into the realm of reforming and revamping the government to prepare it for the expanded role it would take on. No longer would the Saiiban confederation rule over a small handful of worlds, it was understood that now the Confederation might very wlel consist of a few dozen planets, multiple species, and a vast expanse centered on most of the northwest quadrant of the Galaxy.
Seems we’ve acquired this tradition
Of eliminating the opposition
We’re on a mission
To fulfill our life long ambition
No longer need to ask for permission
Gonna do what we want
Gonna take what we want
Becoming some sort of killing savant
Yeah, our admiral said knock you out
So we gonna knock you out
Our teacher said knock you out
So we learning about knocking you out
In addition to its fleets, Nova had continued to grow and develop and now represented a truly formidable force equivalent to a powerful battleship in its own right. The Saiiban were able to use Nova as a independent “cleaning up” force to eliminate small fleets and stations. There was hesitancy to use her in more serious engagements despite her abilities, since she was a popular “Mascot” and valuable for public relations from the standpoint of the Admiralty. Many songs were sung about her both among the civilian populace and the Flocks which manned the Murders.
The war against the Swarm lost relevance as time went on as their efforts focused more on the Homolog. By 2313, the logistical situation dictated that the Saiiban accept the Hive’s increasingly desperate pleas for peace, leaving it with a small rump of its former self in place. It had already been decided that these remnants would be eliminated in good time once the dust from conflict settled a bit.
We’ve done taken stock of the situation
Learning all about domination
All it takes is some force application
And we can expand our nation
All it takes is a little education
And we can eliminate your population
Yeah, we about to take our capital out
We about to knock you out
Time to knock you out.
In the last quarter of 2314 the Saiiban Murders reached the capital of the Tebrid Homlog, Tebri. Per the practice they had developed as the war continued, they assured control of local space, then bombarded the defending armies from orbit to soften the defenses. Once they had an overwhelming advantage, they sent down their forced, invaded and seized the planet. The Homolog would continue to function for a little while longer, but the war was essentially over at this point from a practical perspective.
Last edited:
The eaters have now
truly become the eaten
our hunger expands, grows.
--
I hope you all are having a lovely holiday. My little one received an absurd number of train related toys and enjoyed himself immensely, and as a parent this is the mark of a successful Christmas to me.
We have roughly two updates left in this movement. In case you can't tell, I'm moving more quickly through things right now, although honestly, as the entry should be clear, the war against the Homolog wasn't really all that interesting from a strategic perspective, the result was pretty much baked in from the moment I hit the declare war button, the work of building my fleet into a fearsome force had already happened.
As I mentioned earlier, I've never quite experienced this wild a swing in my power level in Stellaris, where in a 30 years period during a war I go from struggling to a dominant galactic power. Exactly how dominant will become clearer in the next updates.
Reminder: The 2021 Yearly AARland Year-end AwAARds are taking votes, and now the Q4 ACA's are also open for voting. Head on over there and vote when you can.
I deeply appreciate every one of you who vote for this ARR, it's difficult to express how much it means to me and has kept me writing this ARR for drawing on close to 2 years.
Last edited:
Song of Death
Song of Death
By the later part of 2315, the Saiiban had captured about half of the Homolog’s territory and was moving in to seize the rest with no effective resistance from the Homolog.
What few fleets the Homolog were able to put together represented little more than an annoyance to the advancing Saiiban fleets.
Death is not the final end
But simply another beginning
Regardless of what you might intend
Your actions always have a reckoning
We do not have time to keen a sad song
The future hurries onward, relentless
To kill our enemy may be right, or wrong
But we also see no way to prevent this.
Murder was the case we were given
Survival the only task we received
And though our actions cannot be forgiven
We also cannot say that we grieved
Sing!
A song of death for those we murder
Who would have murdered us in turn
We have hunted our quarry,
Talons strike true, our beaks pierce
Our Murders prove their name
Who can mourn the death of an enslaver?
Who can regret the act of killing, those who would kill?
But nonetheless we have taken a mind
That peered at the stars, sought answers,
Their song is but echoes now,
Contained in our song
Raising up into the skies
Flying into the sun
Like the wind, like freedom, like ashes, like dust.
Their death is not an end, but it is their end
And it is not our beginning, but a beginning
Let us then rise then and spread our wings
And see what new sky the wind brings.
In 2318, the Saiiban finally arrived at the last defenseless colonies of the Homolog to put an end to 24 years of war and destruction.
The territory held by the Confederation after the conclusion of the war. The territory gained as a result of the war is highlighted in red. The Saiiban noew dominated the western and northwest sections of the Galaxy.
The expansion in territory also resulted in a new addition to the growing diversity of the Saiiban confederation. The Tebir had been the developed of the Homolog and their first victims. Freed from the grip of the Homolog Collective Consciousness, many of them had to readjust to being their own independent thinking beings. At the same time, the remaining Homolog drones, now completely unresponsive with the “death” of their collective unconscious, needed to be eliminated. Finally, the Saiiban had captured a variety of new worlds in various states of damage and with a variety of climates. The end of the war resulted in a multiplicity of problems the Confederation needed to resolve as it worked to clean up the aftermath of the conflict.
Peace at last, peace at last
But will peace last? Or just fly past
Tightly tuned for termination
How much is left of our old nation?
Our chorus has machines and men
Mice and mollusks sing and then
Will Saiiban voices be drowned out?
Or will they stronger, louder shout?
But will peace last? Or just fly past
Tightly tuned for termination
How much is left of our old nation?
Our chorus has machines and men
Mice and mollusks sing and then
Will Saiiban voices be drowned out?
Or will they stronger, louder shout?
Fourth Interlude: Spread your Wings
Fourth Interlude: Spread your Wings
Fly! Feel the wind, spread your wings,
Marvel at a galaxy now grown small
But still wonder at what the future brings
Knowing that despite it all we cannot see all
Our wings spread ever farther, faster
Drinking the space, taking our fill
Shall we become a teacher, or a master?
Shall we do whatever it is that we will?
Having fully mastered the winds flow
We master now our flights direction
And so our altitude and power grows
And so we find ourselves at a point of inflection
What kind of fruit will our tree breed?
In the future’s past, what will songs say of our deeds?
Government Information, Modifiers and Rough Breakdown of the population of the Saiiban Confederation in 2320.
Detailed demographics of the Confederation in 2320. The Saiiban were no longer a majority, but still represented a plurality of the Confederation’s population.
Political makeup of the Confederation. By far the largest shift was the growth of the Alien Rights Society into the second largest political block.
General Diplomatic situation, sorted by relative power compared to the Saiiban Confederacy. Among the “younger” more active races, the Saiiban were now one of the “Great Powers” of the Galaxy, and they has a friendly relationship with two of the other Great Powers.
Galactic Situation of the Saiiban Confederation in 2320. Note that powers which are in a Federation or similar relationship share the same color. The Galactic East was dominated by many of these types of arrangements, some more equitable than others.
- 1
That which is old dies
passes on into the past
each of us born anew each day
There is another
possibility not named
many voices: a harmonious chorus.
--
I finally get to play the game again! Yay!
As is custom now, some fun facts about our progress:
1) The previous update was the 84th update.
2) 2200-2230 was 26 updates and took about 2 months (May 27th, 2020 to August 6th, 2020).
3) 2230-2260 was 25 updates and took about 7 months (August 6th, 2020 to April 4th, 2021)
4) 2260-2290 was 23 updates and took about 6 1/2 months (April 4th, 2021 to October 24th, 2021)
5) 2290-2320 was 11 updates and took about 2 1/2 months (October 24th, 2021 to Jan 9th of 2022)
As you can tell, I am moving faster now. Partly that was because the war took up most of my attention, but also after a certain point there wasn't too much more to say about it.
My plan is to have the next "movement" look similar to this one and to move things very close to wrapping this up with the next series of updates and finish up around the second year anniversary of this AAR in May or so, hopefully before V3 comes out.
Reminder: The 2021 Yearly AARland Year-end AwAARds are taking votes, and now the Q4 ACA's are also open for voting. Head on over there and vote when you can.
After the War
After the War
The next hundred years in the confederation would be ones of peace, prosperity, growth, and a full flowering of the promise of Saiiban scientific achievement.
After the war I went back to Sabak
After the war I went back to my lab
I finished up my studies and studied some more
Getting to study more science is what we fought the war for.
And even though a bunch of species started around the same time
We here in the confederation, we started to climb
How to account for our rise to the top?
Birds the word, man, we’re just non-stop.
Fellow flock members, are you aware we’re making history?
Every day it seems like we unveil another mystery
We’re unlocking the universe and making it ours
What used to take years, now just takes hours
We’ve made like the gods and created something new
Robots like us, thinking and feeling and wondering what’s true
Take what you used to know and let it all drop
The horizon’s expanding, it’s just non-stop.
Most notable among the post war series of scientific advancements was the long sought after and yet also feared development of true artificial intelligence and the complex engineering and programming problem of creating synthetic bodies to host such an intelligence. The sapient combat AI were the first true AI, but were developed for a dedicated purpose and as such were not “true” general purpose AI. The synthetic intelligence developed in the newest generation of robot, however, were true general AI in every sense of the word: they had their own individual personalities, beliefs, preferences and skills.
Why are we studying like we just might not survive?
Isn’t this finally our moment, hasn’t it arrived?
But we gotta keep moving, see your prey and dive
Cuz to deprive of us of what’s ours others contrive
And the careless galaxy, spinning, might just cast us aside.
So until our position is secure we cannot be satisfied.
Look if you wanna stay on top, you gotta hop before you pop
Because the galaxy, man it’s just
Non-stop.
The governmental reform effort started during the war would finish a decade and a half after its conclusion. The Saiiban bureaucracy and government institutions were now more fully prepare for the expanded role of the Confederation in the galaxy.
Fitting in with the times, Saiiban efforts turned next to reforming the economy of the Confederation and streamline it as it continued to expand to new planets and its population and economy went through a massive growth spurt over the next few decades of peace.
- 1
At this point I have played close to 2450, and let's just say that the late game explosion in terms of, well, everything, is something to behold. If you look at the screenshots carefully, paying attention to population numbers, you start to get a sense of it.
Reminder: The 2021 Yearly AARland Year-end AwAARds and the Q4 ACA's are both open for voting. Head on over there and vote when you can.
Reminder: The 2021 Yearly AARland Year-end AwAARds and the Q4 ACA's are both open for voting. Head on over there and vote when you can.
Big, Blue, Beautiful
Big, Blue, Beautiful
In the period of economic and scientific growth that would follow, the Saiiban Confederation would begin a massive terraforming campaign across the multiple potential colonies scattered across Saiiban space.
As the population and economy continued to grow, and as Saiiban scientists understood the songs necessary to change a world better, the terraforming process accelerated and began to include worlds that were already populated, such as Ix’Athrak, former capital world of the Swarm which had attempted to eliminate the Saiiban.
We came to each world we saw
And saw that each world was a gift
And so we sang each world a song
Until it felt like it belonged
We sang
How big, how blue, how beautiful
How big, how blue, how beautiful.
We brought water where there was none
And sung as we planted flowers and trees
We spread out across empty space
And filled it with songs from every race
We sang
How big, how blue, how beautiful
How big, how blue, how beautiful.
Every skyline we built was it’s own song
Every city crooning at its own pace,
Each adding its own special voice
And as the chorus rose, we rejoiced
We sang
How big, how blue, how beautiful
How big, how blue, how beautiful.
Let it be said we saw this empty, broken space
And filled each world with song and noise
Let this be a legacy we are remembered for
We saw precious, fragile sentience and built room for more.
And so we sing,
Let this world become big, blue and beautiful
Let space be filled with noise
And our worlds become big, blue and beautiful.
In time, Saiiban understanding of terraforming and the economic resources available for such projects meant that terraforming worlds previously seen as too much effort become practical and desirable. Part of this was the rapidly expanding population of the Confederation, which 50 years after the end of the war had more than doubled.
Hamilton is one of the central meta texts of this AAR, so you can expect to see it again a time or two, just as already have seen it a time or two, or three.
--
Reminder: The 2021 Yearly AARland Year-end AwAARds and the Q4 ACA's are both open for voting. Head on over there and vote when you can. Voting for both has been lower than usual, so make sure to head over there and vote!
- 1
Moon and Stars
Moon and Stars
The scientific progress of the Confederation did not slow down, as its population and colonies expanded, its scientific community grew and its understanding of the universe continued grow and the previously unimaginable began to be achieved.
I can fly free past the moon and stars
(through the moon and stars)
I can fly free through all our stars
(all that’s ours)
Look at me, Look at me
Wings in the air like it’s good to be
Alive, in an era of scientific progress
Flying fast and flying free
I can show you how to program AI
I can help you build houses oh so high
And I can keep you living alive a little longer
And grow living metal structures ever stronger
I can teach you to have energy for free
It’s a little simple thing called super-conductivity
I can see the strings that control the system
help you grow in experience and wisdom
gain control of the galactic economy with no resistance
I can ascend to another level of existence
Or control our very genes without assistance
I can build on a stellar scale with mega engineering
And embrace our destiny with everyone benefiting
I can even bring dead echoing songs back to life
Among the first things the Saiiban did with their new found power to house true intelligence in robotic bodies were to upload the remnants of the beings they had found decades ago and give them another chance at life.
While the scale of civilian applications was immense, the military applications of the Saiiban golden age of science did not take a back seat. The flocks of Saiban starships experienced a radical expansion and redesign as new and more frighteningly potent weapon systems continued to be developed. Saiiban fleet power over the next few decades expanded explosively.
Yeah, I can lead our flock forward into space
(Into space)
I can see the stars and moons and make em ours
(Make em ours)
Look at me, Look at me,
I’m flying and I won’t stop
(won’t stop)
It feels to good to be alive and singing and on top
My reach is galactic
My planets secure
Technology like magic
My answers true and sure
Yeah with my zero point reactors
I got infinite energy
And I’m writing a whole new warfare chapter
with some new weapon synergy
Building new ships, new starbases
Manifesting myself my desired destiny
Gonna be claiming a buncha new places
making it a Saiiban century
And if you’re thinking of messing with us you better not
Cause we got a brand new Juggernaut
Yeah, I can fly free past the moon and stars
(through the moon and stars)
I can fly free through all our stars
(all that’s ours)
In 2345, twenty years after the end of the war against the Hive and the Tebrid Homolog, the Saiiban built the first Nova class Titan, named in honor of the mascot of the Saiiban navy. It represented the fruition of a revolution in space fighting technology.
In 2427, after a continued fleet expansion program, the Saiiban also built a starship on an even larger scale: a mobile shipyard/support warship that would help the expanded Saiiban fleets.
Beauty is in the eye
of the beholder who sees it
many new eyes are seeing
--
Reminder: The 2021 Yearly AARland Year-end AwAARds are both open for voting. Head on over there and vote when you can. Voting has been lower than usual, so make sure to head over there and vote!
Technically, Q4 ACA's are still open, but the deadline for voting is uh... today. So yeah, your time is basically up.
A hundred years since fears of death
A hundred years we still draw breath
The Saiiban reach the greatest heights
And give the galaxy new sights
But stealing fire from the sky
Brought great torment from he who smites
Should we continue to fly high
Or cowering fear new frightful fights
A hundred years we still draw breath
The Saiiban reach the greatest heights
And give the galaxy new sights
But stealing fire from the sky
Brought great torment from he who smites
Should we continue to fly high
Or cowering fear new frightful fights
Much ado about Nothing
Much ado about Nothing
For a moment, in 2320, it seems like the Confederation would face another major threat.
Yrsh na-Feljn briefly swept through the northern portion of the Galaxy. He destroyed some minor outposts of the Saiiban and the UNE, but his efforts directed themselves primarily elsewhere.
For a moment, threatening winds bring storm clouds
a new force arises on our borders, conquering, pillaging
Their harsh song says they will come and take what is ours
But with every moment their song seems to be diminishing
It is one things to threaten red war and conquest to all
Another thing entirely to rule and learn and hold and build
In the end the threat presented by this “Khan” is rather small
For what he takes and builds is lost when he is killed
For to sing a song that lasts past the echoes of one singer
Requires others to join their voices harmony to yours
A true symphony for a society requires something bigger
Than the faltering song of one lonely singer endures
And when his echo fades the song he sings with him dies
And our symphony of scientific harmony continues to rise.
The Galactic Community for the first time united against what was perceived as a common threat to all.
The Great Khan was defeated in battle twice. The first time, he was able to escape and rebuild his fleet. The second time, he was not so fortunate.
The “New Yldar Khanate” managed to keep the Yldar unified and retain some of the territory it had conquered, but it was an entirely different, and much less dangerous, presence on the interstellar stage. The ferocious conquering energy died with the first Great Khan. Saiiban admirals would go on to debate whether to call this entire affair a “war” as the Saiiban engaged in battle with a medium sized fleet of the Khan precisely once, defeated them, and then the threat on the border imploded in on itself when the Khan was killed by the Ix’idar. The rule, and threat, of the Khan lasted about six years.
Last edited: