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I am trying out my hand at another AAR after I don't know how many years. I did an early EU3 gameplay AAR with Bohemia (EU3+Napoleon's Ambition+In Nomine+MEIOU-mod) which I finished a couple of decades before the enddate because it turned into an endless and tedious slugfest against the Ottomans, a Greek EU:Rome AAR that never got past two updates and an early EU4 AAR with Sweden, which also didn't get past two updates. My record on AARs is thus far from stellar. However, this game is called Stellaris and contains the word stellar, so let's hope I am on to something.
The setup:
- started in 2.7.1
- all DLC on, except Distant Stars and Leviathans
- no mods
I restarted the game until I got Sol placed more or less where it should be, halfway between the core and the outer edges of the galaxy:
And here is the condition of the solar system at the very start of the game:
ISS Ptolemy::Ship's Log::2200/01/01 Maria Quadrini::Captain's Log
I came aboard my vessel yesterday afternoon. MY vessel. I still almost can't believe I can say that. This ship will be the first to leave the solar system. Alpha Centauri will be our first stop. We will continue with a tour of the star systems surrounding Sol reachable by hyperlane.
The construction crews were just leaving the ship when I arrived yesterday. I knew something was up when several gave me a broad smile or a wink. When I actually arrived at my quarters it was stowed to the brim with boxes containing festive supplies. It dawned on me that in my excitement about this command, I had forgotten there were two reasons to celebrate. It was New Year's Eve too.
In 2200 humanity took it's first steps in interstellar travel. In the three-quarter century before that they spread from their home planet Terra to establish permanent footholds on other economically or scientifically interesting bodies in the Sol system. Initially this expansion was slow, as the planet had not yet been united.
Up until 2149 Terra was ravaged by multiple proxy wars between the democratic and autocratic national governments. However public opinion and dwindling planetary resources forced these two bickering sides to compromise to ensure the survival of all. At the Second Congress of Vienna in 2149 the Solar Commonwealth was born. Although the terran nations remained, the rule of space was left in the hands of this new governmental body.
The Solar Commonwealth in 2200 was a government where only those who served a tour of duty in the military (be it a national military on Terra or in the space forces of the Commonwealth itself) could vote and hold offices. State exams were implemented to ensure all positions were filled by capable people, rather than wealthy magnates or politician's friends.
The head of state of the Solar Commonwealth was called the Consul. As mentioned before, he or she was elected from among those had done a tour of duty in a polity part of the Solar Commonwealth. In 2200 this Consul was the Singaporean Chinese Wei Shen. Historical records indicate his platforms were (predictably) space exploration and smoothing and refining the cooperation between national governments and the Solar Commonwealth.
ISS Hubble::Ship's Log::2201/11/11 Eduardo de la Guardia::Captain's Log
It surprised me to be chosen for this mission. I believe there are much more capable people. Most of those I'm thinking of are quite a lot older, so maybe they were against digging around on the Moon in bulky spacesuits and all. Can't say I'm disappointed though, far from it! Luna, here I come!
Late January 2200, as the ISS Ptolemy passed Luna on it's way out of the Sol system the science ship picked up a number of unusual readings on several frequencies. The science vessel had the very best gear installed, better than anything ever produced on Terra. The scientific community expected new finds, but not on Luna, Terra's moon, probed and studied for two and a half centuries already.
Between the discovery of the lunar anomalies and the start of the archeology project slightly less than two years passed. Digging started with the new ISS Hubble as initial basecamp. Meanwhile, the ISS Ptolemy charged up her jumpdrive and started the exploration of the Alpha Centauri trinary system.
Ship logs retrieved from the data banks on Terra reveal that the ISS Ptolemy had made two major discoveries by late 2201. The first discovery was an ancient vessel for sublight space travel with huge sails to catch the solar winds.
It was drifting around Alpha Centauri A 2, with a huge gap in the sail where an asteroid passed through it. No information could be retrieved about who built it, nor where it originally came from. Initially it was thought it might have come from the next planet orbiting Alpha Centauri A. That was a world not unlike Terra. However, after some careful scans and ground reconnaissance it was determined no spacefaring life had lived on this planet in at least the last half billion years.
The ISS Ptolemy continued it's tour of the stars surrounding Sol in early 2202. One asteroid in the Hark system turned out to be a mass grave for drones. Enough information could be uncovered to keep a science crew at the asteroid for years, but the Ptolemy had orders. The site could be studied further in a couple of years. The Ptolemy made for the next interesting object orbiting Hark.
The robot site wasn't the only discovery Hark had to offer. On another asteroid a small ship had crashed. The wreckage dated back approximately two million years. The scientists of the ISS Ptolemy believed the ship had been a courier vessel.
The vessel had flown for the 'First League'. The interior of the ship indicated this had been some sort of interspecies confederation. Hark and Sol appeared to be in the core of the ancient polity, that made up at least a fourth of the Milky Way at it's height of power.
ISS Ptolemy::Ship's Log::2206/07/29 Maria Quadrini::Captain's Log
It's been six years since I left Earth. Six years of travellling the galaxy. Boy is space travel slow, no matter the hyperlanes. Luckily me and the crew will soon be able to get out and visit Sirius 3 without space suits very soon. Some R&R will do wonders.
I don't know if I should be envious of Eduardo. Being able to hop over to Earth once in a while, doing big research on the Moon. I wonder if those sites on the Moon were made by the same people that liked that play so much. Who'd have thought ancient spacefarers would return us a long lost piece of human art.
In 2204 humans made their second giant leap in interstellar spaceflight with the colonization of a new world. No longer could a single catastrophe mean the end of the species. Alpha Centauri A 3 was renamed Alpha Colony. Initial settling was done by equal amounts of people from the South African Union, China, Indonesia, the US and the EU. The Solar Commonwealth was still fairly young and relations between the national governments and the overarching Commonwealth were still in flux when it came to major issues. This agreement about the first colony made sure no one nation could claim a world for itself and undo the (inter)planetary unification.
The Ptolemy paved the way for the second extrasolar colony in 2207. In January of that year the crew surveyed Sirius 3. Although an Earthlike world, it had a very bleak colour palette to human eyes. Plants were fewer than expected, as nutrients were comparatively scarcer in the soil and air than they were on Terra and Alpha Colony. Sirius 3 would never become a bread basket. On the flipside, the world did provide excellent opportunities for energy production in the form of wind farms.
Eduardo de la Guardia and his team of scientists from the ISS Hubble concluded their lunar archeology project in May 2207. The readings from the surface of Luna turned out to be laser pointers. It had already been surmised that these were a roadsign to another object in late 2206. However, it turned out the lasers pointed at nothing. It took the crew another half year to realise they had to account for microshifts in the orbit of Luna due to asteroid impact and the fact that Luna drifted away from Terra a couple of centimeters each year. Once the calculations were done the lasers pointed towards Callisto, one the four large moons of Jupiter.
2209 was another momentous year in human history. In the Sirius system the outpost established in 2208 reported contact with what seemed to be spacefaring creatures who didn't need spacecraft. These were of course the Tiyanki. It would take until 2214 for scientists to get the required funding. A year later in 2215 they made their initial findings about the Tiyanki life cycle public.
Furthermore the new science ship ISS Gagarin was launched in December 2209. Captain Afiya Ekwensi and her crew would survey the star systems west of Sol and even be the first humans to reach the Scutum-Centaurus Arm.
ISS Hubble::Ship's Log::2214/08/06 Eduardo de la Guardia::Captain's Log
Well, these benefactors or whatever they are really have us going over the whole solar system. Finish up one site, get the coordinates for the next. It's like a treasure hunt.
Two digs in the Jupiter system and now we are off to Neptune.
Should I get tired of this career I'm set for life. Weylandt Pictures has bought the rights to make a movie of the Hubble's endeavours. They'll get access to the censored ship's logs. I better start being more mindful what I write in these.
In 2210 Wei Shen was reelected for a second term as Consul of the Commonwealth. Meanwhile the Hubble continued it's archeological work around Jupiter.
The site on Callisto was finished in August 2211. It was an underground facility consisting of four chambers. Three of them contained riddles that, once solved, caused a hologram of the solar system to lighten up, indicating a new site on Ganymede, along with information on materials technology that would strenghten human corvette hulls.
The dig on Ganymede turned out be exactly that: a straightforward dig towards an armoured chamber deep in the icy crust of the moon. In 2214 the underground chamber was breached by the Hubble crew. Inside they found leads to another alien site at Triton, as well as insights on production techniques which would prove useful in streamlining corvette production.
While Eduardo de la Guardia and the ISS Hubble were doing their digging in the Sol system, the new science ship Gagarin had reached it's final destination in the Scutum-Centaurus Arm without incident. The closest hyperlanes connecting the Perseus and Scutum-Centaurus Arms had been surveyed. Captain Ekwensi was ordered to return to the Perseus Arm and survey the stars north of Sirius in December 2213.
The oldest of the three science vessels, ISS Ptolemy was still on it's original orders from 2200, although the crew could see the end of the line. While the Gagarin began it's return journey Maria Quadrini and her companions where surveying Theemin, with only Barnard's Star left to finish their loop around Sol.
In the Theemin system they encountered a moon of special interest. A fairly large body orbiting around Theemin 3, it was as tectonically active as Io. However research found it was possible to stop this hellish churning with the right amount of energy and good timing and it would turn this moon into something that might be habitable, if not immediately then in the future with the right technology.
In October 2214 the first successful terraforming project was conducted by the Solar Commonwealth. The moon was turned into a sweltering world, starved for water, yet capable of hosting permanent life.
Barnard's Star didn't reveal anything out of the ordinary. After a stop at Terra for some rest and some replacement crew in early March 2215 Captain Quadrini received new orders. The Ptolemy had a long journey along the hyperlanes south of Terra ahead, with the end point just south of where the Gagarin had entered the S-C-Arm.
ISS Gagarin::Ship's Log::2215/12/14 Afiya Ekwensi::Captain's Log
I just heard the news from Earth. Apparently we've had 'first contact' that really matters. Quadrini and the Ptolemy encountered a space ship in the Theemin system. Terra is still figuring out what they got from the transmissions between the ships. Meanwhile I'm three hyperjumps over surveying a godforsaken junkyard! Relegated to a footnote in the history books as the first human to hop over to another galactic arm.
One of the most important dates in human history is December 14, 2215. That was the day the Ptolemy science vessel encountered a vessel from another spacefaring race. It took seven months, until July 2216, to decipher their communications and establish meaningful contact with the 'Cydran Stewards'.
They were a robotic race, governed by a central processor on their homeworld Shazuu in the Shazka system.
Relations between the two star nations grew quite sour right from the start. The Cydrans closed their borders almost immediately after the Solar Commonwealth made contact with them. The dislike of the Commonwealth for the machines stemmed from the fact that they were essentially a robot race who oppressed their biological creators (who made their robots more or less in their own image). Although the Shaz were treated and cared for very well, they were not allowed to make their own choices. The Cydran robots and their central processor ran everything on the ocean planet Shazuu, down to the reproductive rights of the biologicals in their care.
The Commonwealth did not close borders for them until 2240, when both had grown a lot in size and closing borders meant cutting off an exclave from the machine empire.
Earlier in 2215 the second colony of humans was established in the Sirius system. Tian Yi (named after a famous Chinese eunuch during the Ming dynasty) was mostly settled by Chinese, although smaller settlements were set up by other nationalities.
Months after the initial colonization contact with the Cydran was made and the fears of the Commonwealth about individual Terran nations taking over colonies were mostly laid to rest. In the months following the discovery of the machines several differences between national governments and the Commonwealth were solved. Unsurprisingly, most agreements were in the Commonwealth's advantage. The influence of Terran nations on the space government was greatly lessened. The Commonwealth would forever be the single entity representing humanity on the galactic stage. Much like the small and disorganized Greek city states were relegated to the past when the Diadochi and Rome became the big players in the Mediterranean, now the nation states of Terra were relegated to the past as a viable form of interstellar government.
Two more (potentially) habitable worlds were discovered in the systems lying between Terra and the Cydrans by the Gagarin and the Ptolemy. One of them, a mountain world that would take scientific advancement to settle, was is in a chokepoint system called Uran Tokh. Both the Cydran Stewards and Solar Commonwealth bordered it. For the Commonwealth it was absolutely necessary to occupy this system as soon as possible or the humans would be cut off from one side of the southern reaches of the Perseus Arm. In May 2218, a little less than two years after it was surveyed, Uran Tokh was home to a human outpost, which was immediately being upgraded to an actual starbase, only the second in Commonwealth space.
ISS Hubble::Ship's Log::2217/01/17 Eduardo de la Guardia::Captain's Log
Well, we are heading down a dark rabbit hole now. We first imaged the underground facility from topside before starting the dig on Triton. All corridors on 90° angles. One open space at the very bottom, but a lot of cave ins in between. So we start our digging, reach the corridors and the walls are full of inscriptions. Literally every square centimeter is covered in them, but our xenolinguists can't crack the language. The only possible explanation: they are names. The walls of this complex are covered with millions of names.
Then we get to the lower chamber. All that's there is an eerie recording about the makers of the complex being attacked and beaten by some as yet unknown foe. The Relentless, the builders call them. And about the builders fearing that the Relentless will find their wards. It is widely presumed that's us. But nothing else. It feels wrong that there is nothing else. I'm ordering another search of the complex this afternoon, top to bottom.
Simultaneous with the push to claim the Uran Tokh hyperlane chokepoint. The ISS Hubble and it's crew made important discoveries in their ongoing research into the sites left behind by the 'Benefactors' or 'Builders' as they became known by the Terran population. Research at the Triton-site was largely finished by January 2217. It turned out to be a memorial for the 'Benefactors', built by what might have been the last of their species. Inside were found references to the 'Relentless', the species that had attacked and defeated them, as well as to their intention to affect a change on the cognitive abilities of their 'wards', the human species.
A building on Titan, clearly several thousands years old, was the next stop for de la Guardia and his crew on the Hubble. It was the first and only 'Benefactor'-site not built underground. The crew determined quickly that this had been a staging area and research site for the intended mind-altering of their species.
Several digital archives were found from which the researchers could extract snippets of information. The 'Benefactors' plan had succeeded. The human race had been set back a thousand years. They had been given the basics of agriculture and masonry, but their knowledge and memories had been taken.
It was also clear the 'Benefactors' had resented their actions towards their human 'wards'.
The last in the string of 'Benefactor'-sites unearthed was the cave on Mercury. It turned out to be a natural cave, repurposed by the last of the 'Benefactors' to store their last industrial supplies, to be used by their 'wards' when they found that site, as well as a recording, explaining why the 'Benefactors' had done the mindwipe. From this recording humanity learned the name the 'Benefactors' gave themselves and the name of the 'Relentless': respectively the Thwaa'Phyr and the Vemetosha.
ISS Ptolemy::Ship's Log::2221/11/13 Maria Quadrini::Captain's Log
I am now 49 years old. Over half that time I've spent in space and still we've only scratched the surface of what is out here. 19 years it's been since we first found something about the 'First League'. Well, technically it's been only 17 years, but Ekwensi couldn't spare the time to research it yet. And now here's me digging up a First League prison complex, decayed corpses of several species included. Still waiting on that film deal like Eduardo got though...
The early 2220's were busy years for the discovery departments in the Solar Commonwealth. Not only did the Hubble reach the end of the 'Benefactors'-mystery, the other two science ships, Ptolemy and Gagarin, made new discoveries too. In 2217 Captain Ekwensi of the Gagarin discovered an anomaly related to the First League in the Grunthirst-system. However, as she was tasked with discovering the hyperlanes inbetween the Commonwealth and the Cydran Stewards as fast as possible she did not stop to research it. That task fell to the famous Hubble in 2223-2224, which was sent north afterwards to survey the last unknown systems between the two polities.
Quadrini on the ISS Ptolemy had in the meantime discovered and researched a First League prison complex in the Beskell-system, to the southwest of the Uran Tokh-chokepoint. Some years before that she had also spotted evidence of a hidden asteroid facility in the Pesch-system. An asteroid collision observed in 2217 had made visible a small blast door in the larger asteroid. As with the Gagarin though, it was deemed more important to continue the survey of star systems rather than hunker down and immediately research the asteroid.
The Gagarin under Captain Afiya Ekwensi made it's way west again during the 2220's, ending up in the S-C-Arm again through the northern hyperlane passage. Nothing of major interest was found, although the discovery of a crashed organic starship stirred the research community in 2225, mostly because the recent hype about the two 'First League'-discoveries had died down somewhat. It was the last discovery of the Gagarin the S-C-Arm before being ordered to the other side of the Commonwealth borders and the Outer Arm, after a layover at Alpha Colony.
ISS Gagarin::Ship's Log::2228/09/30 Afiya Ekwensi::Captain's Log
Some people just get all the luck and the rest of us must make due with the scraps they left. Like me. You run into a mysterious derelict space megastructure, a gate of some sort, and what do you know, half a year later someone else makes contact with two new species in three weeks time. I swear, I can never get into the same room with that Quadrini-woman ever again because I won't be able to keep my cool and go a-raging.
While the Ptolemy and the Hubble conducted their research on the First League the Solar Commonwealth expanded it's reach. In 2223 the tropical planet Yval 3, two hyperjumps north of Sol, was colonized and renamed New Africa.
In 2226 the upgrade of Reagg outpost to Starport was started, as it had become the next chokepoint where the borders of Commonwealth and Steward met.
As a result of the increased tension between the two nations ever since they started bordering eachother the Commonwealth navy in 2224 had upgraded their corvette design to the newest scientific standards, helped along by the discoveries made by the Hubble in the previous years. The hulls were now significantly stronger and they were now outfitted with the more powerful blue lasers. The fleet had already been expanded greatly, from 3 corvettes in 2200, to 10 just after first contact with the Stewards, to 15 in 2220.
2220 was also the year Consul Wei Shen was reelected a second time. The 'Benefactor'-discoveries solidified support for his space exploration-agenda. The anxiousness about the Commonwealth's neighbor also made people prefer the leadership stability Wei Shen offered over the uncertain policies of a new consul.
He'd be reelected a third time in 2230, after Maria Quadrini aboard the ISS Ptolemy made first contact with two more spacefaring species two years before. While the science ship was surveying binary star system Raznum in the S-C-Arm she encountered two entirely different scouting vessels in the system within one month. By the end of 2229 humans had learned of the existence of both the Tycan Consciousness and the United T'Jell Tribes to the west of them.
The Tycan were somewhat analogous to Terran spiders or insects in shape, albeit much larger, slighly larger than most humans even. They were however more fungal in nature, with each individual cell capable of surviving on it's own for some time. They formed a hive mind, with a queen, soldiers and worker drones. Their territory lay exactly west of the Commonwealth.
To the north of the Tycan, thus northwest of the Commonwealth were the systems belonging to the T'Jell Tribes. The T'Jell were the first species really comparable to humans. They were furry mammalians, but furry didn't mean cute or approachable. They weren't inherently xenophobic, but their outlook on life, as a society, was very different from humans. They were ruled by a sort of military junta and a powerful religious institution.
