Turn 34

The new Caffeinian capital of L13 unsurprisely immediately falls to an invasion by the Fleet.

F16 is handed over to the Sagittarians by the Clangers. This was an agreed invasion but still resulted in the loss of nearly half of the invading Sagittarians.

Nigel, due to work pressures, resigns the position of the Kallikanzaroi. As this was late game I took over the running of this empire (which, to be fair, isn't too much of a problem as they are on the decline and unlikely to recover in the long term from the attacks of their neighbours).

Turn 31

In D16 the Regul and the Kallikanzaroi again clashed as Kallikanzaroi scout ships encountered a Regul troop transport. In this case the Aurons became involved as they had an armed scout ship present which then aided the escape of the Regul Troop Transport when the Kallikanzaroi opened fire.

The Clangers had been moving a warship towards the Kallikanzaroi homeworld. This warship was now in E13 but was being very polite so as to disguise its intentions.

The Fleet also continued to attack the Jerandi People's Republic (as well as planing revenge on the Caffeinians) and captured K17.

Turn 30

The Caffeinians knew that the counter-attack against them would be coming very soon and that it was unlikely that the would be able to defend their homeworld from the invasion. So they made an agreement with Strata Inc. to take over one of the Strata Inc. worlds in return for providing marines as required. The Caffeinians started sending ships via P12 and P10 towards the chosen world of M9.

At E12 both Regul and Kallikanzaroi colony ships arrived accompanied by armed escorts. A shooting match resulted following the orders with the Regul fleet. This was a very close battle with the Kallikanzaroi on the losing side but with the Regul losing one ship and having a second badly damaged.

The Kallikanzaroi achieved Tech Level 5 in Computers while the Drahmini reached the same level in Communications. The Fleet's Tech Level 5 in Maneuver Drive meant that three empires reached Tech Level in a research area during this turn.

Turn 29

The Aurons now scanned the Kallikanzaroi homeworld making it easy for the League of non-Aligned Worlds (Sagittarians, Regul, Aurons and the Clangers) to plan their attack on the Kallikanzaroi.

The Fleet acted against the Caffeinian invaders and destroyed the fleets above L13 and M16 (and placing those worlds under interdict). Meanwhile the Worati landed 66 marine companies on N13.

Turn 17

The Caffeinians now moved onto L21, the Worati homeworld and on N11, a second Worati colony. The sideshow of N11 fell easily to the attacking Caffeinians. However, at L12, the Worati had managed to arrange a deal with the Fleet. The fleet had two fighters of an identical design to that of the Worati and so by repainting the ships and by using Worati communication officers from their trading fleets these were sent to aid the defence of the Worati Capital.

This, the first major space battle of the game, ended in victory for the Worati. The two major factors:

1. The two extra ships from the Fleet meant that the Worati defenders still had ships available even after taking the initial hits from the Caffeinian attackers
2. The diversion of forces to the attack on N11 meant that the attacking forces counldn't destroy the defending ships fast enough.

The result left the Caffeinians with only one fighting ship (at N11) while the Worati and Fleet still had most of their ships.

The Fleet achieved Tech Level 4 in Maneuver Drive while Strata Inc. achieved the same level in Communications.

Turn 16

The Caffeinians launched their attack with overwhelming force on N13. The defenders didn't manage to inflict a single casualty. The only Worati ship in-system surrendered immediately on seeing the three size 20 Caffeinian frigates entering the system. The Worati were not expecting the attack and the political situation looked bleak as it looked like the Alliance would also attack. (In practice, this worry was ill-founded as the alliance had no plans to attack) and the Fleet sounded unwilling to help.

The Saggitarians and the Chroniomancy of Iyanden set up their joint colony at G19 making this the third joint colony on the map.

Turn 27

The attack on the Jerandi People's Republic continued with the Clangers using the interdiction of F16 to move marines to F16 and cpature this world as well.

Meanwhile the Fleet attacked and captured J18 as part of the joint actions. I'm sure that this attack would have continued to mop up most of the remaining worlds if it hadn't been for the opportunistic attack and capture by the Caffeinians of the world of M16.

Elsewhere a fleet of Kallikanzaroi colony ships arrived at E13 and discovered it had already been colonised by the Regul. Since there were no Regul marines there a joint colony was formed. This, indirectly, led to the start of another major war in the cluster.

Turn 23

The offer of peace by the Caffeinians was rejected by the Worati. The Worati managed to scan the Caffeinian homeworld and, after the earlier indiction of N11 and N13, had a higher production rate. It was now just a matter of time before the Caffenian homeworld would fall.

Strata Inc. had been dabbling in small amount of research trade but now decided to go for it in a big way with its neighbours.

The Gobbannaen Principalities and the Clangers had encountered each other's scout ships and now managed to set up a trade deal. Both sides main aim in doing so was simply to keep the other side quiet while their concentration was elsewhere. (For the Clangers on the Sagittarian-led plans for the attack on the Jerandi People's Republic while for the Gobbannaen Principalities on their exploration, research and trading elsewhere in the cluster.)

The average Imperial production for the next turn reached 1,000 points with the Jerandi People's Republic, Strata Inc. and the Kellesonians all on around 1,500 to 1,600 points.