Second Battle of Enif
The enemy quickly reinforced and made a second assault on the Enif station. It was a complete failure leading to the loss of the starbase and the retreat of the fleet to the Lytrin system. Had our starbase managed to complete its latest defense platform, we may have held the line. By the time our ships left hyperspace from its emergency FTL jump we quickly garrisoned in the nearby Chox system. In the two months time since our battle, swarms of Xeno ships made a determined push just outside of this star system. Realizing the futility in holding the line, our fleet retreated all the way back to Fury to reinforce. After the Chox starbase fell we heard nothing of the Xeno for an entire Earth year. With our fleet reinforced, we looked to make a jump to Lytrin, a system of one of our home worlds - and now the new front of the war. During this jump the Xeno reappeared, stronger than ever, and once again our fleet docked at Fury. Solano was cruelly bombarded for several years-our propaganda networks were now able to aptly call the Xeno "baby killers" and "space Huns" which did much to bolster our ranks with new recruits.
During this time an advanced fleet crashed into Home Space, taking most, but not all, of our mining stations. Deciding now was the time, Admiral Reginald Brown of the GA Forger was sent to stop the alien menace in Nomotar.
The cruel bombardment of Solano reached its third year. The standing armies were destroyed. The orbital strikes were not limited to military targets. Once proud manufactories and hydroponic farms laid in ruin and covered in ash. The population was nearly entirely destroyed. The Nu York Times broke from the state narrative with a front-page article entitled "Genocide might be wrong".
Fury Extinguished
Shortly into the Grand Xeno War we realized military might alone would not win this battle. This war would be fought not just at the edges of our controlled space, but also in our home territory. War strategy dictated a swift turn into a battle of attrition as we hoped the Xeno fleet would thin as it crashed against each of our starbases. Most of our territory laid under Xeno control, and while it had seemed that for a time the fleets had been stopped, they came with renewed rigor, and fanatical spirit as it entered Home Space. It had been hoped that our planets may be spared from the worst of the war, but the extermination of Solano proved the Xeno would move with determination to extinguish the great light of the Human race.
During the next three years Admiral Grishin led raids on the Fury system as Deliverance laid helpless under siege. Our new war plan necessitated small engagements to inflict significant loss to enemy morale. We, the true masters of this galaxy, would prove with ferocious might that there would be no peace for the Xeno fleet, for at any time it may be subjected to a Human raid. In time, and with enough ships laid broken in the Fury system, we believed we could force the enemy into a peace treaty before Deliverance fell to Xeno control. While we obtained an end to the war, the losses proved to be substantial. We had lost the great capital of our empire.
With the end of our 10-year war we saw significant upheaval in our remaining colonies. Much debate took place over whether we should leave this region of space. Others countered by stating the coming war would be won, for the Xeno were many, and would begin to fight between themselves should we persevere. We now stood with a fraction of our initial territory, and limited resources. A choice needed to be made, and the decision the Grand-General made was to fight.
Highlighted on map: the location of the Enif system.
A massive military buildup took place. Our remaining starbases became great star fortresses. Our fleet, by comparison, was a far cry from the strength it once moved with. It had been believed the Bad Rats would find themselves in combat with Birdmerica during the time of our peace treaty, but it would not come to pass. In 2257, a year after our peace treaty expired, we were once again at war with the Xeno.
The Xeno fleet was busy in transit from the far side of its territory, and during this time it was believed we could retake a chunk of our original territory. This plan was flawed, as alien-occupied Fury was shielded by a grand fortress, with its weapons systems aimed at the slave population of Deliverance. Instead, our fleets began to retake minor mining systems to once again begin the war of attrition.
In time the Xeno appeared in the Nomotar system. ADM Reginald Brown, a veteran of the Grand War, had a devious plan that would mark the greatest victory we would have over the Xeno.
We managed to draw the Xeno into the batteries of our star fortress as our fleet manuevered behind them. Surrounded, and fired upon by all sides, the Xeno fleet was destroyed.
However, the Xeno filth were not only cunning schemers, but cowards. They used a transport fleet as bait after the first decisive battle, and our home fleet found itself warped on by another Xeno fleet.
Months later, in broken spirit, Grand-General Omnes passed away. His name was cursed among his staff and humanity lay broken under the power of the Xeno. It was the beginning of the end.
Admiral Grishin's Last Raid
Any goodness left in the galaxy would soon die in the coldness of space. The Xeno, the threat we were preparing for before we had the misfortune of meeting them, would exterminate us all. The last of the humans could no longer mark a defense, and resorted to a series of suicide attacks, and acts of terrorism on our occupied planets.
The End
Woopsie I got all humans killed.
I feel like I made some questionable decisions. For instance Solano was a giant drain on resources. It was a size 12 world with only research tiles. So it was only ever going to offset the penalties of owning it. The mineral cost raising the army to conquer it could have been used to colonize Bounty a lot sooner. I could have had three times my mineral production from early on in the game. There isn't much to say beyond that I was roleplaying and hoping to get away with it.
My big blunder was a mix of getting screwed by RNG and not realizing that the Bad Rats decided to settle in my direction when they had four other clusters they could have gone to (apparently the other side of the Ringworld was connected to them as well). I suppose I could have stopped at the sector that had the terraforming fluids and tried to path around the hostiles outside of the Fallen Empire or the Ringworld, but the problem with this what-if is that
I wanted to settle near an AI
... but I needed either a lot less time so I could have cut production or more time to get my starbase online. I didn't expect the AI to rival me the same month they formed a border with me, which puts the AI in war plan mode.
I'll give this another go sometime next week. Currently I'm playing a practice game as some slaving ocean mollusks on admiral. ~60 years in I'm doing well, nothing decisive because I'm stuck in the middle of what seems like every civ in the galaxy and can't risk war. My greatest adversary is a machine hivemind that rivaled me and constantly hovers from overwhelming power to superior, so just surviving makes me happy. Here's a pic of some primo chokepoints.