the Seven Clans of Una

[B'tai Hazra]

Hi,

 

My name is Peter and I’ve been playing SN:ROTE for some time now. As I really like and enjoy this kind of games I play two empires, one of them is called the Seven Clans of Una.

 

Although this isn’t the best game to write an “action report” or story about I thought it could be worth a try anyway. Originally it was for two reasons; the first to spice up the forum a little and the second as an introduction (example) to new players. What is SN:ROTE about and how is it played?

 

I’ve already played quite a bunch of cycles and written reports for them all. First thing I’ve realized is that it will take some time to “spice up” the forum. Some more action is needed for that... The second thing I realized, and about the same time as the first, is how hard it is to write about my progress when it goes as slow as it did for a while. But things are speeding up now and that will make it easier to find interesting things to report about.

 

My hope is that this will become more interesting as the time goes, when you can look several cycles back and see what decisions was made and how they later on influence the Clans.

 

Oh yeah, now I remembered the third reason I do this… It’s fun!

 

Index:

 

Cycle 0 - the beginning (below in this post)

Cycle 1 - the rush to explore Una

Cycle 2 - Vimond

Cycle 3 - Ludica

Cycle 4 - colonising Kaish Neer

Cycle 5 - the Exploration ministry

Cycle 6 - the importance of better warp sensors

Cycle 7 - the traitor

Cycle 8 - Warq Riidyer

Cycle 9 - the prophecy

Cycle 10 - the second wave

Cycle 11 - message from the past

Cycle 12 - food, food, food

 

Best regards,

 

Peter

 

----------

 

Clan Elder B'tai Hazra pondered the serene beauty of the crystal forest. It was hard to believe that not long ago this area was visited by some of the hardest and most devastating battles in the war. But that was the thing with the tunnel war, it was fought below ground, deep in the caves and habitats where the Hraas clans thrived. It had only very rarely found its way to the surface.

 

Voyager Kilanuman, whose team found the entrance to the last of the opposing clans, was somewhere up there keeping an eye on the new project. It was astounding what the Clans could achieve once they focused on something else than warring against each other. Kilanuman was now tasked with creating a fleet of exploration starships to explore Una and all the adjacent stars.

 

Una. The home of the Hraas and the Seven Clans. B'tai Hazra, who only reluctantly went up to the surface of the planet looked towards the sky. It would not be wrong to say he feared the great emptiness. Too much was unknown. He could feel its hostility towards the Hraas.

 

B’tai Hazra could not see any of the new fleet of starships, they were too small. But his sharp sight could easily spot the gas giant. It had a couple of moons which the astronomers believed could be of interest when the defeated clans was to be shipped off planet. One of them was even believed to have a breathable atmosphere. He knew there could only be one way to make the peace last - separate the clans by a distance long enough to make them able to stand each other.

 

This place is getting crowded as it is. We need some more ground to dig our roots into and why not use the other clans as colonists... That way they will always depend on his clans manufacturing power down here. And perhaps the attrition would keep them busy with other things than plotting revenge.

 

No one knew why or how the tunnel war started. It had always been and was more or less ritualised in the Hraas society. Change came with B’tai Hazra. Moving from ritualised individual combat to disciplined platoons of ordered troops had shocked the other clans and the first few conquests had been easy. But the other clans adapted to this new tactic and way of making combat. This last battle had been fought between large armies of trained soldiers and losses had been huge. On all sides. But victory was his; B'tai Hazra had achieved his first goal of becoming the leader of all clans. Certainly a major part of this victory was the development of ways to mass produce weapons by extruding light metals from the soil. As this method spread during the war armies grew in size a hundredfold.

 

This brought his thoughts to his second goal. The reason he now stood in the crystal forest looking at the sky.

 

Comments cycle 0:

 

Not that I know much about it but it looks like a pretty standard starting position. The HW is fairly good with high values of the most basic resources. It also has a hydroelectric potential of 486 allowing me to dismantle all fission power plants next turn. No resource of light metals though which is potentially bad as new troops must be built to secure the future of the Hraas.

 

The Una system also seems to have some potential as one of the moons around the gas giant have the same atmosphere as the HW. Can this be where I set up my first colony? Two asteroid fields also fill out the system but I don't know what to do with them yet.

Edited March 23, 2009 by B'tai Hazra

[ShadowKitsune]

Well done, sir!

 

I enjoyed it thoroughly.

 

-SK

[Flagritz]

Well done, sir!

 

I enjoyed it thoroughly.

 

-SK

 

Ill second that, I thought it was excellent, I look forward to seeing how the Clans progress :}

[Breoghan]

I'm a sucker for a well-written story! Nice one, mate!

[Octus Imperium]

Time wll spent, to create and to read. Thank you!

 

Octus

[Kurassier]

[B'tai Hazra]

Thank you!

 

One positive thing with this is that I've even got my wife to read them... Now, at least, she knows what it's about...

[B'tai Hazra]

The strength of the Hraas grew by the minute. This last week had seen a multitude of construction projects being completed. After the tunnel war cheap labour was easy to find. As his own clan, the Dhalad Hur, grew to dominance the population of the other clans became the new class of slaves. Close to 9,000 mines had been finished the last weeks in the largest effort ever by the Clans.

 

The explorer fleet, directed by Voyager Kilanuman, also had positive news. One of the moons around the gas giant had a breathable atmosphere as well as a temperature that would be acceptable. Clan Elder B’tai Hazra really believed this was a perfect world to settle one of the other clans, perhaps the restless Kaish Neer. Especially since it had a very low gravity. It had quickly become a favourite joke among the inner council. The Kaish Neer floating around in their caves, unable to move around. It would keep their minds occupied with other things than rising up against their masters.

 

Unfortunately not all news from the explorer fleet was as positive. The other planetary bodies, as well as both asteroid fields, seemed to lack high yield resources. Not to mention one of the most severe fuck-ups he had ever witnessed. The pathfinder ordered to warp to the Ludica system forgot its fuel. Someone is going to loose his claws for that mistake. And Kilanuman sure needed to make sure that all routines and checks before a mission was done. At least the pathfinder with orders to warp to Vimond remembered its fuel.

 

The Imperial Naval Architects had prepared some blueprints for the ships required to colonise the Kaish Neer moon. The Rayaat was a massive colonial transport and the Subaan-Raat was a smaller freighter. An updated version of the pathfinder, the mkII, was also under preparation. This version was equipped with some extra cargo capacity for use when exploring. Massive weapon production had also started for the new armies. These would be needed both to control the other clans as well as preparing the way to galactic dominance.

 

All in all a good cycle.

 

Comments cycle 1:

 

Orders used: 79

Completed technologies: 1st Generation Psychology

 

Not much to report. Most of my first set of orders went to build mines, start production and explore the Una system. One of the moons around the gas giant looks very promising. Breathable atmosphere, correct temperature but both gravity and axial tilt is outside the norm. Some attrition must be expected but the Hraas is a fairly good coloniser race. I have named the moon Kaish Neer after the clan that will be used to colonise it.

 

I also found out that when using the RN order ships leaving a fleet takes as much fuel as they can with them. This was a good experience and missing one cycle before I can warp into Ludica is not such a major mistake (I hope). I guess it won’t be the last time I do this...

 

My first focus for research is to reach 2nd Generation Industrial Science for the 10% bonus it gives. I’m not decided where to go then but Jump Survey Sensors, better engines and weapons all have a high priority. It’s hard to conquer the galaxy with swords and spears...

[cestvel]

You could use the SPLIT option on the RN order. FUEL would be split evenly between the two fleets then.

[looker]

I have not used the split option very often, but my understanding is that split totals all installed tankage and gives each tank an equal share.

eg ship A has 1,000 tanks all Full ship B has 9,000 empty tanks.

Ship A keeps 100 fuel and ship B gets 900 fuel. Total fuel is the same, but the split is not 50/50.

[B'tai Hazra]

Cycle 2:

 

Voyager Kilanuman sat in his deep secure underground bunker and studied the reports from the pathfinder in Vimond. A supergiant orange binary star. No planets or asteroids detected. Tough luck! Only two other warp points, both hard to scan with the equipment on the pathfinder indicating that it won’t be able to survey them. Not even the mkII survey stuff the scientists brags about all the time would be enough for this. More research must be put into the upgraded jump survey sensors. Perhaps the new scholar, Shai-Elerist, would make a difference. He pressed a button and called his secretary, ‘Order the pathfinders in Vimond to head back to Dhalad Hur. They need to be refitted with better sensors before continuing the mission.’ He grunted, B’tai Hazra sure won’t be pleased by this news. Hopefully the pathfinder in Ludica would have more luck. It was just about to start its survey of the system.

 

But Kilanuman had more news to worry about. While he had been busy with building up the new explorer fleet some Hraas calling himself Evil Claw had moved into Clan Elder Hazras inner circle and become Senior Captain in charge of building the warfleet. That position was meant for him! Not this upstart piece of soft carbon!

 

Other reports were of the more amusing kind. Especially since it wasn’t his ministry who made the mistake this cycle. The army seems unable to handle this major training programme and have not been able to feed the new recruits. Something like 150 000 tonnes of grains is missing. Suffice to say that it will take a little longer to train the new marine divisions. He smiled happily with the thoughts of all the cooks who would lose their claws on this one.

 

Pain is pleasure. At least when you are delivering it.

 

Comments cycle 2:

 

Orders used: 40

Completed technologies: 2nd Generation Computer systems

New ships: 1 Subaan-Raat, 1 Rayaat and 1 Pathfinder mkII

Claimed systems: Vimond

 

Vimond turned out to be a big disappointment. A warp nexus with a D and E warp point. Not much I can do about it right now. I hope Ludica won’t stop me in the other direction, which would be a hard blow for my exploration efforts.

 

2nd cycle, 2nd mistake: This time I had missed that foodstuffs also include grains, a total of four resources are needed (meat, fruits & vegetables, water and grains). Can’t say that it bothers me much as the failed production orders were saved (meaning I don’t need to enter them again, only the grain order) and I don’t have any immediate use for the troops yet. I still haven’t found any neutral “empires”. Or anything else for that matter...

 

Two new characters and one of them is a scientist. It will be interesting to see what effect he will have on research (if any). I’ll keep him at the HW until I get a second colony where he can make a living.

 

My first pathfinder mkII also became available. It will set up a colony beacon at the moon with breathable atmosphere next cycle allowing me to start shipping in colonists and construction materials.

[Drasn]

Thank you very much for sharing. The prose is fun, but what I really enjoy are the comments. It brings back wonderful nostalgic memories of my first turns and of my earliest priorities.

 

[B'tai Hazra]

Thank you!

 

I hope you will enjoy how it develops.

[B'tai Hazra]

Cycle 3:

 

With an easy click on the remote he turned off the news broadcast. It was quite an achievement of the propaganda ministry to make them sound and look as real as they do. Beneath the surface it was another matter though. The slave clans where growing restless. Clan Elder B’tai Hazra had been forced to negotiate peace with the clan in charge of the iron mines. It had been a close call, with B’tai close to calling in the army to show some examples of what could happen in a very large scale if they didn’t go back to work. With the Dhalad Hur in total control of the army and fleet the other clans weren’t in a position to fight back. At least not yet. Kilanuman, Voyager and leader of the exploration ministry, turned his back to the large flat screen. He picked up the latest news from the Ludica system. If Vimond was the poorest system he could ever imagine Ludica was quite the opposite. It had plenty of planets and moons, lots of warp points with clear signals that the current survey equipment could analyse with ease. Clan Elder B’tai Hazra and the inner circle were very pleased and it looked like he would get the new ships he needed.

 

There was a knock on the crystal door. His escort had arrived. He had decided that he would be the first Hraas to take a step on Kaish Neer and would board the Pathfinder mkII ready to depart for the moon.

 

A bit further down the high security underground bunker where the inner circle and their staff lived and worked Professor Shai-Elerist had his office. Long years of work had at last started to bear fruit. He had written several articles about the theory to harden space, creating a dense field of particles around an object to shield it. But it required some huge amount of energy and it was not possible to build a force shield effective enough to actually be of use. That problem had now been solved. With superconductors it was possible to transfer energy without loss making it viable to develop a force field that could be used on, for example, a starship. Much of the theory already existed but it would still take a few cycles before the first prototype could be built. Although this was what he lived for another more pressing project demanded all his attention at the moment. And this was the instalment of the new manufacturing bots in some of the development test factories. If this worked out well he calculated that these new devices would increase output with around 10%. Unfortunately Clan Elder B’tai Hazra preferred quantity instead of quality. Force shields would have to wait...

 

Comments cycle 3:

 

Orders used: 40

Completed technologies: 1st Generation Civil Administration, Superconductor

New ships: 1 Subaan-Raat, 1 Rayaat and 1 Pathfinder mkII

Claimed systems: Ludica

 

3rd cycle, 3rd mistake: All time goes into planning and making sure that production goes alright and somehow I missed that one of my fleets weren’t where I expected it to be. This made a total of three orders fail; first a RN, after that an OC and lastly a SCRP. Reminder to myself, do check where fleets are located before you issue orders to them.

 

This cycle also brought me my first character actions when Clan Elder B’tai Hazra boosted my iron output with 20%. And two characters (Shai-Elerist and Evil Claw) were promoted. Poor Kilanuman is already behind in the race to become the second in command after B’tai...

 

Other than that this cycle went very smooth. Ludica looks like a great system with 10 orbits and 8 warp points. I have a feeling that this will become a very important trade nexus in the future (core system status). It will be of high priority to set up a small research facility which later can be upgraded to a mining and manufacturing facility. And also, 5 of the warp points are A or B class meaning that I can unleash my pathfinders to do some real exploring. I want to quickly put some systems between my frontier and my HW giving me a ‘safe’ zone.

 

In the comments after cycle 4 I will try to expand a little on my research plan as my first goal of reaching 2nd Generation Industrial Science will be completed.

[Breoghan]

Ah, the memories.

 

I recall well the joy of discovery; the excitement of laying down short, medium and long term plans for the expansion and development of my races; the multiple practice sessions I had with sulfuric Anglo-Saxonisms when I screwed up......

 

Still, everything is a learning experience, even the negatives. I seldom make the same mistakes twice (....no, I get brand new mistakes and try them out instead!)

 

Keep enjoying the game mate, if for no other reason than that the story as it unfolds is pleasant to read.