AAR: The Spartan Federation - Will to Power

[lolada]

M.Y. 2205.

Conflicts were erupting on Chiron at the beginning of 23th century. While The Spartans were trying to scramble the defenders ahead of Believers and Gaian attacks and Morgan was frequent quest on comm links. Latest, he was imploring Santiago to help him defend versus Peacekeepers who initiated attacks.



Santiago could delay conflict this time, but Morgan will certainly become unhappy with his ally eventually. He could defend for while as Morganites had good economy and weaponry, but their weakness was in limited production capacity, as they only controlled 3 bases.

Far in the north upsetting news – Miriam somehow managed to capture two Hive sea bases. These were likely Probe Team infiltrations. Good news is that Miriam is focusing on The Hive for now.



But it didn't take long to see their Probe foils near The Spartan territory. Hurrying efforts failed and there was no Probe defense in Admiralty Base.



Even worse, Fleet Anchorage was unprotected as well and the funds were scarce. Santiago ordered immediate security tightening all over the faction putting Fundamentalist politics to the forefront.



It would not guarantee immunity to attacks, but it should be significantly harder for Miriam to subvert another base. And the measures paid off when Miriam Probe hit Fleet Anchorage, this time they only stole one technology. Later on Miriam stole second tech and after that The Spartans had Probes of their own to stop the attacks.

Fundamentalist shift also topped Spartan's military readiness to best in the world and industrial capacity was heightened. One significant downside was in research departments, but Santiago had all the tech she needed at the moment. There were other sources of technology besides investing in research, one being faithful ally. Morgan was again happy  to trade and in the end he even gifted one tech to Santiago.



Apparently Morgan can be a gentleman as well. It also probably had something with the fact that Santiago was in war with Praving Lal as she refused his ultimatums for help. Pravin declared vendetta and Morgan could not be  more happy. Santiago hated Peacekeepers anyway.

First blood

It was Peacekeepeer first who fell  victim to Santiago's attacks. One of the Elite Chaos Cruises produced in Assassin's Redoubt made its way all the way around the continent to bombard Admiralty Base, now renamed to port Grace.



Peacekeeper Chaos Foil snooped around and was promptly destroyed. Untrained crew had no chance against Spartans. Chaos Foil proceeded to bombard Port Grace and destroy another Believer's Chaos Foil.
By. M.Y. 2020. Foils were preparing to try to conquer the base. Two of them should be able to kill the defenders, but Santiago ordered caution and wanted to wait slightly longer because the weapons could be further upgraded. Prototype was build in one of the inner bases.



Meanwhile, Spartan probe teams used the opportunity to infiltrate Believer's Datalinks.



Surprisingly, Miriam was in unholy alliance with Peacekeepers, the two found common enemy. And as expected she pursued her own Fundamentalist views to the maximum. This also meant that her security and defense versus probe teams was top notch and Spartan's probe teams could not subvert its base back.

Further infiltrations revealed her world map.



Santiago was baffled with her terraforming techniques. Believer's did not remove the fungus from its land and as a result half of their land was very unproductive. They were no by any means experts in Planet understanding and certainly could not extract resources from fungus like Gaians for example. The map also revealed that Miriam had limited sea access and Santiago was sure that she could take control over the seas and in time overpower Miriam and her minions.

Miriam shared the sentiment as she notes The Spartan's rise in military strength. She came knocking on comm frequencies with interesting offer.



Santiago accepted as it was convenient. She would probably take back the base soon anyway, but it would damage its infrastructure and in process one of the Chaos Foils could be destroyed. She could now focus on Peacekeepers and try to gain foothold on their continent. Her wording of the offer was interesting to Santiago; it was likely that Pravin Lal bought her in to this war with some kind of bribe.

Seething Pravin Lal actually showed up on comm links soon after.



His peace offer was way worse and Santiago easily declined. He felt he is stronger and he was economically as his bases were large and well built. Santiago had both him and Morgan infilitrated and could now observe their development. Lal managed to build Human Genome Project and The Maritime Control Center in recent times – but all this infrastructure building meant that his army was lacking a bit.

Santiago had the option of building The Virtual World at this time. The project could put Network Nodes in great use as Hologram Theaters and be used for virtual training exercises, something that would Spartans fully enjoy. But the project would take Sparta Command anywhere between 20-30 turns to build and there was no guarantee that it could be finished in time before someone else build it. Besides, several bases already had Hologram Theaters built.

[lolada]

Pre-Sentient Algorithms

In following years probe teams started to roam the seas quite frequently, especially those of Believers. Peacekeepers were the first to start the efforts on the secret project to protect themselves from this new threat; Santiago only accidentally found out about it by stealing Pre-Sentient Algorithms from U.N. Aid Station base.



She immediately commenced the project in Sparta Command fully knowing that it may be in vain due to late start. Sparta Command had good production capacities, but Spartans were not really industry infrastructure experts and it was hard to expect to outmatch large Peacekeepers cities. 



In order to have the chance of completing the project the faction started to save every energy credit it had. Santiago even contacted Morgan for generous energy sum loan, but unfortunately his reserves were emptied out by constant fighting on the borders.

Spartan probe teams continue their operations stealing another technology, this time from Peacekeepers northern coastal base.


Ecological engineering of the Peacekeepers was technological marvel. Peacekeepers also completed The Weather Paradigm project and had terraformed large portion of their continent. Spartans stealing the tech was vital for their own expansion as they now had the option raising up the land and securing more expansion space. Hydrodock sea base that was stuck in deep ocean could also be made more productive and finally, Spartans could create a landbridge that connects their land to either Morgan or Peacekeepers.

Next interesting change in Spartan society was shift towards more Cybernetic society, unlocked by findings of Pre-Sentient algorithms. Many young Spartans were enhanced with high-tech chips improving variety of their skills. It made Spartans also much better in technology sphere, they were lacking in, due to Fundamentalist security measures enacted as protection from Probe teams.



Bad news come in a few years after, U.N. Humanity Base is on verge of finishing Hunter Seeker project. Sparta Command needed at least 5-10 more years even if Santiago ordered rushing with all the energy the faction had. Peacekeepers getting Hunter-Seeker also meant that no Probe team actions were going to be effective against them giving them large war advantage. Spartans relied on their combat expertise, but Morgan was much more fond of his Probe Teams – it was possible that the project would shift the balance of the war to Pravin Lal now.



Sparta Command had one more chance to save built up infrastructure – Santiago orders refitting infrastructure into making Virtual World project a reality. It was already debated and rejected project in Spartan’s circles – this time it got support. The alternative was worse, to waste everything done in Sparta Command in last decade. Few years laters, after rushing the project as much as possible, Sparta completes The Virtual World.



Techno Network Nodes serving as training centers made Hologram Theaters practically obsolete and subsequently scrapped and recycled. Resources were used to rush Network Nodes in few bases that did not have it completed yet.

Terraforming efforts

Terraforming was proceeding well: Comander’s Keep was selected to create a land bridge towards Morgan territory. It was too early and too reckless to build a large build near Sparta Command as the base could have come under attack. Next task was to raise land enough to make it possible to terraform ocean tiles around Hydrodock base.



Doctrine: Air Power

M.Y. 2258. marks the year of completion of first air unit of the planet. Spartans combined Mobility, Flexibility and Initiave into developing the most advanced weapon yet on Chiron: first tactical needlejet starts to raid Peacekeepers formers deep inside their territory.



Santiago initiates the production of two more needlejets, but soon notices drone problems due to faction’s abysmal police ratings. Free market was starting to make young Spartans weak and greedy.



This was a big problem, far from a simple issue. Santiago decides to go light with Needlejets, preparing the sweeping changes in the faction. For now, limited raiding of Peacekeeper’s formers will be in action.

The bases were finishing up their Genejack Factories, Energy Banks, Network Nodes and Fusion Labs. It was the basic infrastructure Santiago considered needed for effective technological warfare. Developed bases proceeded with Command Centers and troop build up. New weapons and armor were engineered as well. Pravin Lal actually had technologically superior weapons to Spartans, something that needed to be changed. Santiago contacts Morgan who was, as usual, happy to trade. Between technological exchanges and own research Spartans got Tachyon Bolt (10) weapons, Quantum Reactors (lvl3) and several more useful techs. Lastly, just before Santiago considered to initiate first ground attacking movement Morgan pops up with another interesting suggestion.



He managed to engineer Hybrid forests, finally succeeding in making earth plants live in symbiosis with alien life. It was one of the fundamental problems colonists couldn't solve from the beginnings on new new planet.

Discovery was having such a huge effect on economy on Chiron that Santiago delayed the military plans until Tree Forests were completed in her bases. M.Y 2273. Spartans were building their their Tree farm all over the continent. The bases were well populated and prepared for war operations.

Map of The Spartan Federation M.Y. 2273.

[Tayta Malikai]

Jeeeezus that's a lot of echelon mirrors in the PK's territory. How come AIs never did this when I played the mod?

You don't seem to have done too badly for yourself either, considering the crappy island start.

I am greatly amused by the image of Spartan adolescents becoming glued to their BrainPhones^TM and jacked into VR Call of Duty all day. The youth are becoming soft with all these damn technogadgets!

[Alpha Centauri Bear]

Jeeeezus that's a lot of echelon mirrors in the PK's territory. How come AIs never did this when I played the mod?

Lolada, are you playing with Thinker or WTP terraforming? Can you check ai_useWTPAlgorithms parameter in thinker.ini?

[lolada]

Lolada, are you playing with Thinker or WTP terraforming? Can you check ai_useWTPAlgorithms parameter in thinker.ini?

It is set to 1. AI is doing pretty good job terraforming this game from what i can notice. Lots of terraforming, raising, lowering terrain, i checked Miriam at one point she terraformed almost all squares. Transcend AI does build up very quickly so they do eco dmg and spawn some fungus but they seem to handle it. I see enough trance units around probably it helps a lot.

Jeeeezus that's a lot of echelon mirrors in the PK's territory. How come AIs never did this when I played the mod?

I don't know There's even more to the north they went crazy with it. He's the guy who got Weather Paradigm and almost all other secret projects - that might have to do something with this insane terraforming.

You don't seem to have done too badly for yourself either, considering the crappy island start.
I am greatly amused by the image of Spartan adolescents becoming glued to their BrainPhonesTM and jacked into VR Call of Duty all day. The youth are becoming soft with all these damn technogadgets!

Haha yeah I did my best to develop the island, but this youth need to toughen up ^^. Police State and Power SE incoming .

[Tayta Malikai]

That explains things. I forgot you added that new terraforming routine right after I started playing. v66 was a long time ago!

[lolada]

M.Y. 2276.

Spartans started to stage units on the land bridge, while needlejets made detailed map of Peacekeepers territory.  They were huge on infrastructure building large array of solar collectors and farms, drilling aquifers and even several times raising or lowering surrounding terrain. But as that may be their biggest strength, it was also a weakness; they did not have large standing army due to their focus on building infrastructure. Santiago’s scouts observed several skirmishes between their and Morgan forces and managed to destroy several stragglers and low armored units.



Lal also had no chance in rare sea battles. Santiago had minimum defensive force and it was enough to control the straits. Morgan on the other hand was failing badly, but at least he was on the attacking side.



Morgan did better in builder tasks, making more expansion space for himself impressively raising up large mountain. Not that it could made up for his earlier lack of expansion. He then proceeded to settle two more sea bases on the newly built coastline.



Supreme Leader

Pravin Lal gives it a go, but it was never to work. He had a huge voting advantage, but with crazed leaders such as Yang, Deirdre and Zakharov there was no ever chance to guarantee unity. They all went to war with each other and situation in south was barely better.



Orbital Spaceflight and Power shift

M.Y. 2285. Santiago stages a Power shift in the faction in final preparation stage before initiating the attack. First Cybernetic focus was shut down to restrict indiscipline in the faction and then Police state regulations were introduced. It was the means of restricting the freedoms, while still keeping the economy benefits of free market. Finally Santiago forced in Power survivalist policies as war-time measures to fully focus on supporting and strengthening military force.



Far behind the front lines scientist develop yet another weapon of doom. Long range missiles with power (18) that could in no time bombard Peacekeepers defenses over the seas. Santiago orders production of several missiles; expecting them to be soon ready to support attacks.



Ground forces initiate bombarding. U.N. Planning Authority does not have many defenders, but Spartans notice first Copters on Chiron. The base was also on completing new prototype of Probability Probe with even stronger armor (10).



First Copter attack comes soon after, Peacekeepers try to raid Spartan formers.



Fusion Tactical was ready, but it was the only one Spartans had as Peacekeepers had no airforce earlier. One Tactical would not be able to stop more than one attack. After bombardment Spartan infantry initiates attacks on Peacekeepers base.



In M.Y. 2290. U.N. Planning Authority falls to Spartan Forces. Peacekeepers armors ( 8 ) proved unusually strong and death toll was high as the attack was rushed. Commando Spartans made a mistake of moving armored units too early in the back ranks and Peackeepers copters killed several artillery units and Probe teams. They even attacked main force, but sentinel defender downed the copter. Infantry had to initiate attacks without thorough bombarding and it was risky to wait for completion of conventional missiles in backward bases. In the end it was Rovers who killed last defenders and there was only one Probe Team protecting the base in case of counter attack.

Following the fall of the base cowardly Pravin Lal comes in requesting peace deal for measly sum of 275 energy credits for compensation. Santiago accepts buying time to reinforce the city with Probe Teams and road the terrain.

M.Y. 2293. Map after U.N Planning Authority fall

During short peace-time Santiago reinforced ex U.N. base with extra units and sent formers in to road the terrain. The front was wide and further attacks would have to be supported by conventional missiles as Spartans could not risk losing too much units in direct base attacks. Threat of quick copter or probe team counter-attacks was too great.

[lolada]

Missile barrages

Morgan and Lal continue their skirmishes with Lal’s needlejets hitting Morgan Sea Platform several times. Base was recently founded and weakly defended, which led to its fall. Lal continued to hit Morgan more with both missiles and needlejets, he likely found Morganites as much easier targets.



Morgan hits the comms immediately requesting help and Santiago obliges. Spartans were again in war vs Peacekeepers. Morgan Sea Platform is first hit and the base gets completely ruined and sunk.



Morgan Sea Platform is first hit and the base gets completely ruined and sunk. Miriam had a Pact with Lal and joins on his side turning the conflict into small world war. Lal uses the opportunity to summon Planetary council and ask for more funds. The votes went 3 vs 3 with Santiago’s vote being deciding YEA. She counted on Spartans using the funds more effectively than Peacekeepers; they were sure to waste it on bloated bureaucracy.



Intel reports The Nethack Terminus super project nearing completion in U.N. Headquarters prompting Santiago to delay attack shortly. The project would be valuable asset to Spartan Probe teams as its goal was to improve probe teams with enhanced algorithms that could break through Hunter-Seeker protection. Peacekeepers had more than 10 secret projects completed by this time. Anyone else managed to grab 1 or 2 only.



As soon as the secret project was online Spartans strike the base with missile attacks.



U.N. Headquarters had only 4 defenders, two being Shard Copters that were weak defenders. Peacekeepers counted on new Probability Sheath (10) for defense, but armor could not withstand such strong missile weapons. Spartans move in and attack U.N. Commerce Committee base.



Peacekeeper south was much weaker defensively and smart course of action was to invade in weakest spot trying to reduce front width. In direct combat Spartans were easily outmatching wimpy Lal’s troops. Reinforcements were also incoming. Survival base was built near the land bridge to control strategic pass. The base started with better infrastructure from the get go, now thanks to the seat of Planetary Transit System, which was captured in U.N. Headquarters.



U.N. Commerce Commitee

After initial bombardment two missiles hit the base killing and wounding defenders.



Last surviving defender is killed by Elite Shard Squad and the base conquered. Peacekeepers were defending badly sending some of their units all the way to south near monoliths. They might have been distracted by Cruiser’s bombardment. They also kept building secret projects, latest one being The Cloning Vats. Looked like Pravin Lal wanted to turn this into Clone Wars as if he did not already had enough population.

But for that to work he needed more time and came again begging for peace. It was in vain. Santiago last heard some babbling about slavery.



The Cloning Vats

Peacekeepers finish The Cloning Vats surprisingly quickly. They likely rushed it with their huge amounts of energy; lots of it coming from global commercial pacts. Santiago considered attacking the base once more, but the defense was unbreakable for the moment.



U.N. Aid Station was no so lucky. After bombardment rounds, with both artillery and missile weapons from the other side of the continent, the base fell to attacks.



M.Y. 2304.


The Spartans overrun eastern side of the Peacekeeper territory. U.N. Equality was next logical target, following by U.N. Planetary Trust. U.N Planetary Trust was the site of many secret projects and the most important base to conquer. Conventional Missiles were proving very effective in weakening base defenders making Santiago order more and more of them.

[lolada]

Believers invasions

In M.Y. 2307. Miriam invades Spartan's mainland for the first time. Attack caught Spartan's by surprise, but luckily attackers couldn't storm the base the moment they landed. Still nothing was left to luck, as the base was lightly defended, invaders were bombarded to death with two conventional missiles. Armored probe teams die to collateral damage.



Such carelessness could not be tolerated and Santiago orders reinforcing the side bases. Hydrodock Cruisers and Foils start to patrol the area as well. One of them sinks now empty Believer's Cruiser transport.
Miriam also invades eastern side, this time near freshly conquered Peacekeeper's base. Scouts spotted the Cruiser transport, but were unable to stop it in time.



It was in vicinity of the front and invaders did not fare well. Miriam's troops also had now obsolete Silksteel armors that were no match for Shard weaponry. This time she did attack with Probe teams immediately upon landing, but U.N. Equality Village had two Probe defenders.

Another Cruiser transport was sunk in the south near Port Grace. Spartans never renamed the base to never forget the shame of defeat there.

Defensive measures

Peacekeeper's step up their game in defensive department. They are now fielding Neutronium (16) armored units that will be very tough to bring down. They did lose lots of their bases already and are unlikely to be able to produce many. Conventional missiles would probably have to be used more, but even then their attacking power is barely stronger than that of Neutronium.



Spartans start missile barrage on U.N. Planetary Trust killing most of defenders.



Elite Infantry Squads move in to mop up defenders. Pravin Lal did not have enogh time to build Neutronium defenders and the base falls. Several secret projects are capture by attackers including The Empath Guild. 



Base is secured with strong defender and probe teams, while the rest of the force prepares for next attack. The base itself was technological marvel with several built in secret projects in its infrastructure.



It did not bode well for its population though. Overcrowded city was in warzone for some time already and in full starvation mode. Following the conquest many died to hunger and disease, others ran away as far as they could.

The Empath Guild and The Planetary Council

With base secured Santiago turns to Empaths. Empaths were partly influencing vote outcomes in Planetary Council sessions and were one of the reasons for Peackeepers diplomacy dominance. Now when they have lost so many bases and The Empath Guild Santiago summons the council.



This time Pravin Lal loses his advantage and new Planetary Governor is rightly the strongest leader on Chiron. Santiago takes over and firmly decides to remove Pravin Lal from the scene completely. Morgan was wise enough to support Santiago in election; he didn't even ask for compensation.

Fall of U.N.

In M.Y. 2314. Education Agency falls. Peacekeepers counterattack with Quantum Weaponry (16) and now even strike Shard Rover in the base behind Perimeter Defense. Spartans had very few frontline units, but with heavy missile bombardment from Spartan mainland conquest continues.



M.Y. 2317. U.N. Information Agency falls with several secret projects, including Theory of Everything and Hunter-Seeker Algorithm.



Year after Spartans catch up on weaponry tech as they prepare to wipe out Peacekeepers from Chiron. U.N. Humanity Base was last bastion of Pravin Lal on Chiron. Quantum weaponry came too late to be used in this war, but Santiago had plans for Miriam who still raided Spartans coasts occasionally.



Just prior to ending attack probe teams steal one last technology from Peacekeepers. Adv. Ecological Engineering unlocked Super Formers and Soil Enrichers; both will help greatly in efforts to revitalize ruined Peacekeeper's landscape.
Spartan land also got hit, but by natural disasters. Global warming floods were severe, Fort survivalist and Training camp are hit hardest, but Pressure Domes were engineered in time. Still some of lowland terrain was under the sea level now and many improvements above land got swept away during the crisis.



M.Y. 2320. Spartan soldiers enter U.N. Humanity Base and Pravin Lal is captured. Peacekeepers were gone for good from Chiron.

[Tayta Malikai]

"Peacekeepers gone for good", you say, as Lal escapes in a colony pod.

I'm surprised there was any land left for him to restart on, though. Another island maybe? This map seems to have several of those.

[lolada]

Hm I presumed that the message is bugged  Isn't there some rule that AI can't respawn if turns > 50 or something or there is no space available. I was under impression that AI respawns only if killed very quickly at the game start. He might be somewhere on island. I played a bit ahead, didn't meet him yet, I think he's dead.

[Tayta Malikai]

I've seen Morgan respawn after 150 turns, but he basically got shunted to a very small volcanic island, which was the only non-settled territory available at the time. I saw on your minimap that some islands remained unrevealed, so I figured Lal landed there.

[lolada]

A new era

After a long time ambient changed in Spartan faction. Biggest threat was eliminated and things qot quieter for a time. Spartan mainland bases focused on building newest Robotic Assembly Plants to automate production. Technology came originally from Morganites who used every opportunity to increase their industrial productivity and profit. Santiago wanted these Plants to perfect the production of high tech weaponry. But, there's always a catch, soon after completion of first of these Plants some downsides came to light.s



Assassin's Redoubt boasted with huge mineral production finishing Aerospace Complex in record time when it got hit by large scale alien attack. Such high extraction of resources with ruthless Free market economy was devastating for ecology of the planet; aliens  have been known to aggregate on such locations.



Three groups of aliens aggregated on the hills above the base. Fungus quickly spread in the area and overran nearby forests and farms. The base could not withstand such massive force and defenders tried to attack in panic and kill the aliens on stack, but they fought at low odds and badly failed.



Alien creatures proceeded to raid and ruin the base in M.Y. 2326. Wounded Trance Scout Patrol performed admirably killing at least four or five creatures before finally dying in terror. Countless civilian died and half of the base infrastructure was completely destroyed. After another similar attack, that was much better defended, Santiago realized that the planet and aliens are the toughest threat left on Chiron. It was time to change faction priorities and finally give up Free Market economy.



Shift signified both much lower energy production and consumption in exchange for efficiency of Green economy.  Santiago also focused resource into research pursing Knowledge policies, now when hardest battles were already fought. Still, the faction was in war and Probe security measures as well as combat readiness were preserved at high level. Economy overall was still highly focused and energy credits used to rebuild infrastructure in ruined Peacekeeper bases. Most of these were now producing Super Fungicidal Formers who were terraforming the landscape at impressive speeds. One of these could build advanced improvements, like Condenses or Echelon Mirrors, in only 4 years. Spartans often paired them to finish even earlier.

In M.Y. 2324. Spartan marines spot the weakness in Believer's defenses and attack the sea base.



From there on the plan was made to invade Miriam's mainland bases and the production of Drop pod Quantum Infantry initiated. With ship bombardment and missile support Divinity base is conquered in in M.Y. 2130. Believer's were using obsolete Silksteel (6) armors and were no match for Spartan superior weaponry.



In M.Y. 2134. Spartans deal significant blow to Miriam by sinking transport foils with large number of units. She apparently planned another surprise invasion. Not the smartest plan as more drop pod units invade her territory.
Godwinson Hope falls in M.Y. 2336. The base was holding both Miriam's secret projects, The Command Nexus and Citizens Defense. Her faction was already broken.



She had not fared better on waterfront where Spartan heavily armored Cruisers and Foils decimated everything in sight. By M.Y. 2343 Miriam was left with only two most northern bases that she infiltrated from Chairman Yang in previous century.



Plans

Santiago considered her future steps – this whole Miriam war was a breeze. Soon here two bases will fall and she will be captured and executed.
Morgan is silent, he does not seem to object to Spartan Green economy shift. Deirdre noted the change and signed th treat of friendship. Mad Provost Zakharov earlier considered Spartans as the most sever threat and declared vendetta, although he did not try to invade and attack yet.
Santiago had prepared solution for Morgan in case he has a change of heart. In M.Y. 2331. Spartans trained  to adopt new anti-alien skills capturing large number of creatures during one of the fungal blooms near Spartan bases. It was the first time that troops didn't have to annihilate aliens, cooperation with Gaian's gave Santiago some new insights with dealing with this threat.



Alien creatures with their trainers were routed to Survival Base to monitor the border with Morgan. He would have very hard time stopping them in case relations go downhill.
As for further warfare, logistics were the problem, but there was a solution.



Spartan scientists had recently significant breakthrough combining alien Psi expertise with quantum physics to create so called Psi Gates – matter transition tunnels. Spartans now had the ability to teleport troops between two gates anywhere on the planet, provided they build them first. Sparta Command started first prototype.



Santiago planned to use Cruiser Probe teams to subvert one of Provost Zakharov bases – as University was known to be vulnerable to Probe team attacks – and then to rush build Psi Gate there and use the base as invasion point further in his territory. For attack, Spartans now also could employ Blink Infatry, another side benefit of matter transmission technology, units with ability to bypass perimeter defenses. Production of first prototype was in process. Commander Keep's bases starts a secret project: The Bulk Matter Transmitter – ultimate adaptation of Matter transmission – creating useful materials out of energy of empty space. When completed the project will significantly increase production capabilities of all Spartan bases.

[lolada]

New battlegrounds

M.Y. 2344. Morgan Industries completes The Bulk Matter Transmitter project ahead of Spartans. It was very valuable project, that Santiago wanted for her own faction, but Morgan likely rushed it with his huge energy reserves. Resources were redirected to The Cloudbase Academy, the only available project to the Spartans.



Following completion of The Bulk Matter Transmitter Morgan promptly cancel The Pact of the Brotherhood with Spartans. He seems to be confident now that he does not need help when Pravin Lal is eliminated. He just could not stand Spartan economic idealism anymore, or he claims so.
Spartans in meantime terraformed most of the ruined ex - Peacekeeper's land to its former glory. Bases also grew fast helped with infrastructure rushing and The Cloning Vats influence. First orbital satellite was also nearing its completion – Santiago intentionally delayed satellite ventures to focus more on troops and land based infrastructure.



Another surprise hits few years later, Provost Zakharov first strike. His copter disintegrates four formers in first pass, two more in second, before being intercepted by Spartan Interceptor. Spartans strengthen their air control in response.



Spartans build their first Centauri Preserve facilities in effort to negate ecological impact of its bases and terraforming. Industrial production was booming in recent years and it was only responsible to do so.  Facilities could also be used offensively as training ground for breeding alien units; Santiago had some plans for them as well.



Just as the Spartans were preparing to deal the final blow to Miriam, who was left on single base, Chairman Yang comes with ultimatum. He wants Spartans to declare on Gaians. Santiago says no and Chairman declares vendetta.



Santiago response in kind with Zakharov tactics, the difference being that poor Chairman did not have any air defences. Probably a dozen formers were destroyed in following turns.



Soon after Commander's Keep finishes The Cloudbase Academy project. With Aerospace Complex in every base Spartans had unparalleled air supremacy on Chiron. Bases kept building more air units as it was somewhat neglected field so far. Lots of resources earlier was invested in Spartan navy; investement that was already well proving its worth.



M.Y. 2347. Miriam and Believers lose their last sea base.



This event triggers Morgan to summon Planetary Council. As second most powerful leader on planet he tries to fight for Governor title.



Santiago easily sway the elections in its favor. Empath Guild might had something with that as well. Following the diplomacy meeting Santiago scans updated world map and notices weak points in Hive defenses. Their sea bases north of last Believer base were poorly defended and in strike range. Spartans strike quickly and by M.Y. 2350. Yang had only one base left defending in the area.

[lolada]

Surprise attack

In M.Y. 2332. Unexpectedly Morganites Rover hits at one of Spartan Formers working on mining tasks for U.N. Information Agency. Former crew fought back, but unarmored unit was blown to pieces by Quantum weaponry. Coward Morgan hit civilians unprovoked. He never dared to officially declare Vendetta and initial sneak attack, as Santiago learned eventually, was under bribe from Provost Zakharov. Provost likely offered plenty of technologies to greedy Morgan who could not resist it.



Formers crew have already terraformed most of ex-Peacekeeper's land to state of the art improvements. Farms were rebuilt and improved with soil enrichers, Echellon Mirrors repaired, several Condensers added to improve the rainfall in arid regions. Santiago ordered all the fungus from the continent removed even though Spartans could extract moderate amount of resources from it. Unlike core Spartan land, this area had very few forests as it was much more mineral abundant.
It was not the only surprise as Morgan tried to even down Spartan satellite. That was really unexpected. Santiago had already prepared for possible ground attack as Morgan could not be trusted now when The Peacekeepers were gone.



Luckily, Morgan orbital attack failed. Spartans did not have yet orbital defenses as very few satellites were in orbit. Santiago orders change of priorities; troops would be sent to Morgan land instead to battle The Hive and Chairman Yang. A shame as soldiers were looking forward to invade another continent and use the Psi Gates for the first time.
First attack on Morgan base happens in M.Y. 2350. when trainers station with captured Mind worms in Survival base attack Morgan Constructions.



Morgan had Antimatter (20) armored units in defense. The armor was pinnacle of technology and durability and Spartan troops would have lots of casualties trying to break in with Quantum weaponry against it. Perfect time to innovate. After several battles, four to be exact, Spartans found out that Mind worms were perfect match to Morgan Antimatter defenders. Two Mind worm creatures died, other two being gravely wounded, but Morgan lost both of his elite defenders in the base. The rest of defenders were not as strong and were swept away by incoming Spartan attackers.



Soon after Morgan Construction fall, Spartan Marines capture undefended Morgan Metallurgy sea base. Morgan scouts badly failed as he had not expect sea attack from the west. Spartan had very strong and mobile naval force controlled by The Maritime Control Center super project captured from Sister Miriam. Santiago sets eye on other Morgan sea bases as they were not tightly defended.
Next year at cost of two cruisers Spartans conquer another sea base in the north. Cruisers could deal with one or two Antimatter defenders as they could bombard the bases prior to attacking. Santiago also orders production of several new Conventional Missiles to help in killing these defenders.



One of these missiles penetrate defenses in Morgan Energy Monopoly killing the toughest defender. Several other similar strikes actually fail to kill armored defenders. Morgan also had Aerospace Complexes in his bases that were effective anti-missile defense. Traditional artillery bombardment was also inconvenient due to Morgan own artillery units which defended well.



After the fall of Morgan Energy Monopoly Morganites had only 3 large bases left. Morgan had magnificent bases, but there were so few of them that he could not fight war of attrition for long. Santiago was also training some Blink Infantry attackers to teleport units in and avoid 100% defensive effect of Perimeter defenses. New Mind Worm units were trained as well although Spartans did not have the best facilities to support their training.

Interestingly, Morgan had control of The Ascetic Virtues project in his sea base. It would help Spartans in years to come to control drones in the faction.



Following this event Santiago shifts politics in the faction and reinstates Cybernetic values. Strong Fundamentalist approach was preserved and Morale of the army was top notch, while in science department Knowledge policies were used instead of Power focus on the military. This mixed allowed Spartans to be the strongest economic and science power on the Chiron, while still having the best military as well.



The war raged on with Morgan counterattacking on sea as much as he could. Meanwhile Spartans were preparing the attack on Morgan Industries. When possible strikes were performed outside of bases. Morgan did not have airforce, likely due to Free Market drone problems. To compensate he built some AAA defenders, but unless they were Antimatter armored they were in danger.



Northern operations

Far in the north Yang had several successful fights versus Gaians, but he was on defensive side. Gaian troops were low armored and inexperienced in battles and would badly died several times to artillery attacks and rover counter attacks. Santiago traded some technologies with Deirdre giving her better tech to fight back. Spartans would not want to see Hive growing bigger as University was enemy as well.



In Sea Collective sea base Spartans had several attackers ready to invade Hive continent. The operations were delayed due to the war on mainland versus Morgan. Sea foils and cruisers were redirected to attack Morgan sea bases. Sea Collective was also nearing the completion of its own Psi Gate which would allow to transfer troops quickly from mainland to this invasion outpost.
In M.Y. 2353. Pleasant surprise, Gaians manage to liberate Greenhouse Gate on Mount Planet with Probe team infiltrations. It was their own long lost base, now completely tailored to The Hive architecture. Most of their units were in terrible shape due to bombardment, but this time Yang had no counterattacking rovers in place. They were likely subverted by Probe teams, costly mistake for The Hive.



Morgan Industries

On mainland preparations were coming together. Some Blink infantry units and Conventional missiles were closing towards Morgan bases. Magtubes were also new war lead invention that would improve logistics. Magtubes had to be built by formers, but Spartan's super formers will certainly be quick in completing the magtube network.



In M.Y. 2356. after bombardment and several failed missile strikes Morgan defenders were moderately damaged. Conventional artillery had the base under constant bombardment to stop any repairs.



Commando Blink Infantry attacks the wounded defenders and kill them one by one. Without Perimeter Defense bonus not even Antimatter Plate armor could save Morgan untrained troops. They were way too comfortable in their luxury and unprepared for brutality of combat.



Quantum Rovers and Drop Infantry attacks lighter armored units.



And then minutes before the storming the base Probe teams do their work stealing technology.



Two interesting advancement that Santiago will use to its best. Both Paradise Garden and Brood Pits with Locusts of Chiron could help in future efforts to dominate Chiron.

In M.Y. 2354. Morgan Industry base, Headquarters of the Morganites, is conquered by Spartan forces.