Exploits of the Korx

Part Two:

                The sheaf of papers clutched in Vortag’s trembling left hand rattled as he made his way down the corridor that led to the Command Centre.  For the thousandth time he wracked his brains for some way to predict how Kralax would react to the printouts he carried, for the truth of the matter was that Kralax was at liberty to punish his people for their failures however they wished.  The Terrans, who seemed to have at least dabbled with every political system in their history, would have most likely characterized the Korx power structure as a plutocracy.  But in these circumstances Vortag knew he was no better off than an underling in a Drengin dictatorship would have been.

                Although it was too late to do anything about it now Vortag found himself examining his choice to ally with Kralax.  Choosing alliances in Korx politics was sometimes not unlike picking the winner of a Bandax race, and Kralax had been widely regarded as being a long shot.  Vortag had pushed for a position as his aide anyway because he suspected that Kralax was one of the few who understood opportunities available in this new age.  Too many Korx were so used to forcing their profits from each other that they seemed almost fossilized in their ways, Kralax seemed to one of the few to understand that they were now living in the era of the hyperdrive.

                What was particularly galling is that up until now the progress they were making in this sector was justifying Vortag’s choice of employer.  The Korx now controlled more planets, and more quality planets, than any other faction and their trade and economy was going well.  The unknown presence on the edge of the sector had indeed proven to be missionaries, but not of the Altarian variety.  Refugees from all over the sector had converted to the enigmatic Krynn religion and established their own separate colonies.  Fortunately this meant they had received all their initial resources and technology from the factions they had ceded from and hence were no more advanced than anyone else in this backwards sector.

                The Korx military situation also looked favourable, their technicians had worked out the details for basic naval weaponry and a massive building program had furnished them with a military almost overnight.  Vortag was one of the few with the clearance to know where the funds for this construction had come from and was starting to appreciate the depth of the game Kralax was playing.  However the benefits of this program were well known, the Korx now had two squadrons of fighters and three Planetary Invasion Vessels.  While this was still only a small force it was strong enough to at least match any other faction in this weakly held sector.

                Only one black spot had marred the Korx progress.  Despite the speed with which their technicians had engineered crucial technologies every intelligence report seemed to indicate the Altarians, thanks to their religious affinity with the Precursors and their technology, were progressing even faster.

“I take it you have come to report this minor setback”.

                Vortag stopped in surprise at the sound of Kralax’s voice and tried to collect his thoughts.  He had been so distracted that he had reached and entered the Command Centre without realising and his confusion was only increased by Kralax’s words.  The loss of two entire planets to rebellion was not just a ‘minor setback’.

“I’m very sorry, I don’t know...”

“Stop” Kralax commanded.  “Don’t grovel Vortag, it makes you look pathetic.  If this was your fault even crawling on your belly wouldn’t make a creditworth of difference.  However my people seem confident this was not your mistake, especially as espionage is not your responsibility.  You can rest assured I have dealt with those who have proven they cannot be relied on”.

                Vortag calmed his thoughts as he began to realise he was safe.  Remembering a trick that had worked in the past he gave the Command Centre a thorough scan, studying the banks of consoles and screens and the projector in the centre.  A few moments of focusing on his surroundings helped his panic recede and allowed him to ask his question.

“What did you do to them?”

Kralax’s expression twisted into a Korxian smile as he answered.  “The former head of espionage has been dismissed, banned from the sector and made financially responsible for the loss of two planets”.

                Vortag had to suppress another burst of panic as he heard the punishment that he must have narrowly avoided.  Even if the former spymaster secured as good a position as his qualifications allowed there was no way he would ever be able to dissolve a fraction of such a massive debt.  Pride would likely force him to try but the burden would soon drag him down to poverty and more than likely a miserable death.

“What are we going to do about this disaster?” Vortag asked when he had mastered himself.

The question actually seemed to puzzle Kralax for a moment before he gave a sudden burst of laughter.  “Ah yes, this disaster.  I had forgotten you would have come as soon as you received the report from the domestic office.  Learn from this Vortag, learn to look for opportunities”.

“Opportunities?” Vortag asked, now completely lost.

“Go and bring Admiral Nestor and the director of heavy industry here Vortag, it’s time to mobilise the fleet”.

The problems

                At this stage things were going well, I’d researched soil enhancement and a nice variety of planetary improvement techs to take advantage of my superior real estate.  I’d also gone up to research centres and also advanced diplomacy, both to avoid war until I was ready and also get access to counterespionage.  My planets were well developed and my economy strong but I had two problems.  The first was the Altarians, they had actually outmatched me in the research department and (unlike me) had both planetary invasion and warships.

                The Altarian problem was however made worse by the woeful performance of the Drengin, who were meant to be my distraction this game.  Kona was the only planet they had colonised, with the Krynn and Altarians claiming the Martzia system despite the fact it was in spitting distance of Drengi.  To be fair the Drengians did manage to build the first warship of the game but considering how horribly outclassed they were in research by the Altarians it was only a matter of time before the Altarian navy could crush the Drengin.  I even tried the drastic step of researching planetary invasion and selling it to the Drengin, then sending them to war against the Terrans who had no military technology but plenty of planets the Drengin could use.  The Drengin demonstrated a spectacularly uneventful campaign, not even attacking any of the unarmed influence starbases the Terran had scattered around and only destroying the Enter... I mean Terran flagship after it practically ran into a Drengin squadron.

Buildup:

                It looked as though I had delayed too long in arming my civilisation and now faced the prospect of the Altarians eliminating the Drengin, which would strengthen the already strong Altarians and mean they would likely turn their attention to me.  Since the Altarian attitude to the Drengin was listed as hostile I had no time to lose.  I rush researched a bunch of weapon and soldiering techs and designed my first warships, then contacted the Drengin.  By selling them a mass of technologies I was able to strengthen their ground troops against invasion and enough cash to buy a navy outright.

                Since the Drengin used missile weaponry and the Altarians and Krynn beam weapons I went for mass drivers to lessen the chance of someone else researching countermeasures against my arsenal.  At this stage of the game I was sticking to transports and defence fighters – tiny hulls with just weapons and (technology allowing) defences.  This keeps them cheap enough so every planet can raise some sort of defence if necessary and on a small map they can be used for offensive purposes despite their low speed.  Since I’m not paying for any ship component that isn’t useful in a fight they’re cost efficient, and powerful enough to pack a reasonably heavy punch in numbers.  After a few turns I had five fighters round my home world and another five in the north eastern corner of the map to defend that isolated group of planets, plus three transports near my home world.

Rebellion and War

                At this moment the game shook things up by introducing the Jagged Knife.  I lost two planets (including my second strongest industry) but the Altarians, the strongest of the other races, also lost two while the Terrans and Krynn lost one each.  I’m embarrassed to admit that it took me a few minutes to see the opportunity but after a turn or so I realised I had just built up a sizable invasion force while the Jagged Knife had practically no military and none of the other races would care too much if I attacked them.

                The offensive went even better than I hoped.  Starting with all my technologies plus those of the other races gave the Jagged Knife an edge in tech rating but I quickly finished my Tir-quan centre to give me an edge in soldiering.  Oddly enough this was to get an 8 to 1 advantage.  My transports held the standard 1000 troops which meant my three ships could take a planet each and my economy was strong enough to buy a bunch more transports.  Before too long I’d reclaimed my two planets plus three more including Wisp, so I had a frontier post against Altarian aggression.  I let the Krynn recapture Krynn II and finish the Jagged Knife off, partly because my forces weren’t really in a position to prevent it but also because one extra planet wouldn’t make much of a difference and that way the Krynn would get the black mark of conquering another civilisation.

Part Three

                Admiral Nestor studied the strategic map with satisfaction, noting the position of the electronic icons on its surface.  Although the flat octagonal table in front of him was only a metre and a half across it still took up a sizable fraction of the cramped situation room, with only a little over a metre separation between the edge of the map and three of the walls.  The fourth wall stood an additional two metres away, putting the map slightly towards one end of the rectangular room.  The additional space in front of the fourth wall was taken up by a compact row of almost flat consoles covered in an array of screens, status indicators and controls.  At no point did the consoles touch a wall, the gaps at either end allowed the operators access to the row of chairs between the consoles and the far wall, an arrangement that allowed them to work facing the strategic map and the rest of the room.  Facing the strategic map were the room’s three plain grey doors, the one on the other side from the consoles leading to the ship’s small flight deck while the doors in the walls either side led to other parts of the ship.  Despite the space taken up by the doors there was still space on the walls for a significant number of screens on which the console operators could bring up any data the commanding officer standing by the strategic map called for.

                Small as it was Nestor was proud of the situation room, and of the ship it was on.  In typical Korx fashion the vessel simply went by its Ident Number of Heavy Frigate Mark I 1588 (HFMkI1588 or just 1588 in abbreviated form) but it was a revolution in naval warfare.  Mounting as much firepower as the best non-Korx heavy fighter the 1588 also possessed a durable enough hull to take a good deal of punishment from whatever enemy firepower may manage to pierce the vessels significant shielding.  These features meant the 1588 could annihilate entire squadrons of enemy vessels and, thanks to its advanced impulse drive, likely outmanoeuvre them as well.  At almost 300 metres long the 1588 was also the largest warship in the sector, and in fact the first to rate above the strike craft level.  This gave the Korx enough room to include the situation room, a feature specifically designed to allow Admiral Nestor to direct the movements of the entire Korx fleet from the front line (where he liked to be) and making the 1588 the first true flagship.

                Of course the possession of what was easily the most formidable warship in the sector was not the only reason for Nestor’s good spirits.  His forces had won great victories with the spectacular success of Operations Reclamation and then Downfall.  Not only had the Korxian armed forces reclaimed both worlds lost to the so called ‘jagged knife’ rebellion but they had taken three more planets other races had lost to the rebels.  With the war sparked by the Martzia I rebellion another opportunity beckoned as the Krynn worlds were now vulnerable from the Korxian border.  His fleet had taken swift advantage of the situation and had soon conquered four of the six Krynn worlds, including the capital.  With the subsequent annihilation of their navy the Krynn had no choice but to accept the humiliatingly painful peace treaty offered.

                There was only one difficulty Nestor could see with the situation.  The Altarians had not stopped their war with the Krynn and now had no less than four troop ships poised outside the only remaining Krynn system, ready to take the final two Krynn worlds.  It was a bold though risky stroke as the troop ships lacked an escort (presumably because of the losses the Altarian navy had suffered) but since virtually all Krynn military units had been destroyed the Altarian invasion forces stood a good chance of success.

                Of course Nestor had no desire to see the Altarians gain valuable territory so easily but he could see a simple way to prevent them, just turn the guns of his fleet on the Altarian navy.  The 1588 was both powerful and fast enough to control the entire war zone even without taking into account the support of the pair of heavy corvettes that would be launched from the capital within a week.  It would be a simple matter of covering Altarian territory until the Korxian shipyards had produced the necessary troop ships, and then taking the Altarian and Krynn planets by force.

                Nestor nodded to himself as he studied the map in front of him but he failed to see any flaw in the plan.  The information on it mostly came from EOTU, a technological marvel that was actually located planet side, on their sector capital in fact.  EOTU was able to use a hyperspace resonance effect to give the scanners of all starbases and hyperdrive equipped ships a massive boost to their range, meaning the strategic map in front of Nestor was giving him real time data for virtually the entire sector and he was confident there would be no nasty surprises.  As a lesser effect EOTU had also made many of the readiness drills and procedures obsolete, (though they were still practiced as a matter of principle and to maintain discipline) as any Korx military vessel would now know of impending action at least days in advance.

                The officer of the watch broke into Nestor’s thoughts.  “Sir, there’s a communication from the capital for you”.  He paused and glanced down in surprise at the console he was seated behind.  “It’s flagged recipient only”.

                Nestor was surprised himself but he didn’t allow that to show, instead gesturing at the officer.  The officer of the watch stood, saluted and then left the room, leaving Nestor alone.  He waited until the doors had closed behind him and then looked down at the strategic map.  The map itself only occupied the centre of the octagonal surface, with its corners touching the diagonal edges.  The remaining space was used by four banks of status indicators and controls.  Nestor pressed a button and was not surprised to see the map replaced by an image of Kralax.

“Admiral, I have a very important job for you”.

“We are ready for battle” Nestor replied, his pulse quickening.

A distinct sigh came from Kralax, “I’ll make this clear this once only, your forces are not going to engage in any fighting unless I give explicit permission”.

“But we’re ready” Nestor protested, “We could take the Altarians and Krynn in two months”.

“And then what?” Kralax said.  “You have to think the consequences through Admiral.  There are other sectors besides this one and we don’t know what connections the outposts here have.  If we destroy two territories with a frontal assault we may be safe, or we may scare someone else into action.  What would you do Admiral, if an advanced battleship showed up in the sector?”

“I’m sorry, I hadn’t thought of that” Nestor admitted.

“And that’s even before we take the reactions of our own people into account, if this expedition becomes a successful war of conquest we’ll have every one of our rivals out to take our places at its head”.  Kralax paused for a moment and continued in a more level tone.  “In any case I have some orders for you.  I need you to use your ship to set up a temporary grade one security communications between my office and Drengin High Command.  I’ll leave the details to you and your technical people but it needs to be ready in forty eight hours and you must remember security.  I don’t want anyone else even to know messages are being sent and it has to be Drengin High Command, don’t settle for anything less.  Is that clear Admiral?”

“Crystal clear sir” Nestor replied, “Consider it done”.

Kralax nodded and vanished from the screen, leaving Nestor staring at the ships and planets spread out in front of him.  The ships and planets he was still unable to touch.

Rebellion and War...er...again!

                Distracted as I was by the Altarian/Drengin situation and then the Jagged Knife I must admit I didn’t pay enough attention to the Krynn.  They’d claimed an influence resource and, possibly helped by the Krynn influence boosting planetary improvements, were pushing their borders back hard.  In particular the Altarian colony Martzia I was a class 6 planet in the same system as a class 12 Krynn planet and was therefore awash with Krynn influence.

                Suddenly, as I was building some more troop ships I got the message Martzia I had flipped to the Krynn.  In another turn or so the Altarians declared war on the Krynn and their two navies were busy blowing each other up in Altarian territory.

                Now while my distraction strategy did mean I had wanted to avoid being too aggressive this game I could do with some more planets and the Krynn had left theirs wide open.  At this point I still had two squadrons of fighters (with seven or so in each squadron), a mix of mark ones (with two points of firepower) and mark twos (with four firepower), plus two heavy transports (with 2000 troops apiece).  I’d even researched enough engine techs to mean my fighters were marginally faster than the Krynn vessels, despite just having standard hyperdrive.

                Once again the war went better than I had hoped.  My home squadron easily destroyed the single fighter in orbit around the Krynn capital, not only that but their capital planet had only 49% approval so one transport was able to take it using information warfare, leaving my second transport free to take Krynn II.  When I checked the spaceport on Krynn II there was enough progress already made to build another transport immediately.  This was launched next turn and, covered by my home squadron, took another planet.  Meanwhile my other squadron of fighters moved out and destroyed the defenders of the closest Krynn world, a quick purchase of another transport allowed me to take that planet too leaving the Krynn with just the two planet Martzia system.

                I then tracked down and destroyed the Krynn flagship and a transport with an interceptor I’d just built (tiny hull, minimal firepower, life support and as much speed as possible) and used my fighter squadrons to destroy the starbase over the influence resource and then most of the Krynn warships in the area.  This cost me all my fighters except for a lone mark one who got honourable retirement but this hardly mattered as I had a new addition to my arsenal (and the interceptor could pick off any troop ships that snuck through) - my techs had cracked medium hull building and I was able to build a heavy frigate (the ‘heavy’ is part of my own classification it, indicates only one added engine and a rated speed of less than 7pc/turn).  This ship was able to mop up the remaining Krynn warships and next turn they were suing for peace.  I accepted partly because they were willing to give me all their treasury and techs (including the Krynn-only superior espionage that I’m fond of) but mostly because I figured the more civilisations there were snarling at each other the more effective my distraction strategy would be.

                Of course that did leave the problem of a bunch of Altarian transports bearing down on the practically defenceless Krynn worlds but I had a plan for that.

Progress so far

                Now at this point of the game I could have won quite easily, neither the Altarians nor the Krynn could have researched and then built anything that could challenge my medium hulled warships before I took their planets.  The Terrans had researched medium hulls but still had no weapons technology and would be trivial to wipe out, then crushing or allying with the Drengin would give me the game, or (since the Drengin held just the one system) I could just wait until my influence victory was official.

                There were three reasons why I didn’t want to do that.  Firstly because the Krynn tech tree had a bunch of starbase techs I wanted to investigate, secondly because I wanted to try my hand at designing large and massive hulled templates for the Korx and thirdly because I wanted to give the distraction strategy one final go.

Okay, that picture wasn't strictly necessary but since other non-Drengin fighters at this stage had at most 6 firepower I guess it does illustrate how important just having 6 shielding and 23 hit points can be

Enter the Drengin

                So to prevent the Altarian transports wiping out the Krynn I started up the war that I had been worried about at the beginning of the game.  The Drengin needed little encouragement to attack the Altarians and showed an unexpected degree of competence, quickly destroying the majority of the Altarian transports and carrying on to the few Altarian warships in orbit around their worlds.  A few Altarian troop ships did get through and took Martzia I from the Krynn but the Drengin captured the planet almost immediately, finally giving them a colony outside their home system (and leaving the Krynn with just one planet).

The Long War

                The rebellion on Martzia I had led to the Altarian/Krynn conflict and when I added the Drengin to the mix this set up a series of wars that lasted, on and off, the entire game.  In fact my strategy started working spectacularly well almost overnight, by occasionally giving the weakest side in the war a boost I was able to prevent any side being eliminated.  Thanks (I assume) to my trade, my military strength and my seemingly peaceful attitude all of the other civilisations wanted to be my friend while they diverted a significant portion of their resources into blowing each other up.  This let me develop my planets, fortify my starbases and explore the tech tree in peace.  I also researched enough advanced weaponry to build an overwhelmingly powerful military and also arm my mining ships and merchant vessels.

                For a while the Drengin had the upper hand in the conflict but when the Altarians cracked medium scale building their frigates turned the tide of the conflict.  Meanwhile the Krynn were (presumably) trying for an ingenious win from their one planet and formed alliances with both the Drengin and the Terrans.  This meant when the Altarians declared war on the Krynn yet again the Terrans were now flung into the conflict against the Altarians.  This would have meant a Krynn/Terran/Drengin power block against the Altarians except because of their history and attitude the Terrans and Drengin really didn’t get on.  The Terrans had finally researched some weapons tech and were up to large hulls which meant the sheer number of hit points on their better ships allowed them to maul the Altarian and Drengin navies.

Good to see everyone's getting on so well.

Part Four

                The woman had no idea how long she had been in the concrete cell, the absence of meaningful reference points had eroded all sense of time.  She knew her meals came irregularly and their sparseness left a gnawing hunger in the pit of her stomach.  Beyond that there was the boredom, she had resorted to study her captors on the infrequent occasions they had brought her meals by hand to relieve the monotony.  They were humanoid in outline, but their lanky frames and bland faces were incredibly difficult to read by human eyes and despite the woman’s training and past success at dealing with other Korx she had dealt with she was unable to make any headway with her captors.

                When things finally changed she was sitting down, leaning back against the wall.  She scrambled to her feet at the sound of the cell door open and peered at the richly dressed Korx in front of her.  She began to flick through images in her mind, her training kicking in to make an attempt at identifying the figure standing in the cell.  After only a moment or two her eyes widened in shock as she thought she recognised the alien.

“Kralax?”

Kralax tilted his head slightly as he answered.  “Quite correct.  And my people tell me you are the famous Terran spy Miss Sarah Miller, codename Dynamo, who has been a thorn in our side for so long”.

“I am an agent of the Terran Alliance” Sarah admitted, suppressing the disappointment she felt at Kralax knowing so much.  “But our governments are not at war Kralax, if you contact our parliament they can arrange a diplomatic handover.  I dare say suitable recompense can be arranged, perhaps including early release of some Korx agents being interrogated by our intelligence services”.

Kralax dismissed Sarah’s comments with a wave of his hand as he responded.  “War, Miss Miller is a cruder expression of the game our governments are already playing.  In any case any Korx spies incompetent enough to get caught get no sympathy from me; your government can do what they want with them”.  Sarah studied Kralax as he paused, realising that such introspective comments were rare for a Korx.  “Now it is time for you to satisfy my curiosity.  Why did you insist that your people let you pursue assignments exclusively against us?”

It was a question that had been asked before, partly because the twenty seven year old redhead’s undeniable physical assets were no help in spy work against the alien Korx.  “Because I believe you’re the real threat to us” she said after a moment’s thought, “even more than the Drengin”

“Yet we’re not nearly as violent as our war loving friends” Kralax said in a mild tone.  “Except perhaps for Nestor” he added with a twist of his face that was the Korx equivalent of a smile.  “So how do you justify your judgement of our threat Miss Miller?”

Sarah shrugged, “you seem to have your hooks in everything”.  She paused for a moment before deciding that there was no point holding back now.  “I was planet side when the riots began on Kwilas III as well”.

“Intelligent” Kralax mused.  “You certainly seem to have grasped the basic idea” he added as he handed over a printout.

                Sarah’s heart sank even lower as she scanned the data from the United Planets Datanet.  Unless the document was a forgery, which was unlikely, it showed that Sander III, the most productive Terran colony, had gone the way of Kwilas III and defected to the Korx, which cut the Terrans down to a single two planet system.

“I knew you were responsible for the rebellions” Sarah accused.

“Only indirectly” Kralax replied.  “You see Miss Miller as much as some of you try to deny it many of your people love what we bring.  The power they get from our wealth, the lifestyle.  Money is just a means to an end after all.  But all of that is beside the current point, right now I’ve got to decide what to do with you”.

Sarah swallowed.  “I’m no threat to you now; I don’t have any evidence against you, much less proof.  You’ve found out everything you can from me and if you release me I’m effectively neutralised”.

Kralax shook his head.  “Oh no Miss Miller, that won’t do at all.  My people are reluctant to admit it but it was only by sheer luck they were able to catch you.  You’re a capable and intelligent woman who could still be a problem.  It is true that you don’t have any evidence against us but what you could tell people would inconvenience to me”.  He paused for a moment and Sarah, acting on instinct, began to tense her muscles “I’ve learnt to read humans you see Miss Miller, I came in here in case there was something else you could tell us but I think we’ve found everything.  It is time to dispose of you now”.

“But the Conventions” Sarah protested in a weak voice, “the United Planets...”

“Don’t even know you’re here” Kralax interrupted, “now I think it really is time to say goodbye”.

                Sarah was in motion even before Kralax touched the handle of the gun hidden in his clothing.  There was a good few metres between them but Sarah was fast and knew exactly how to hit the alien so he would die in seconds.  But she never got there.  There was a sharp sound and Sarah stumbled sideways and collapsed.  Kralax didn’t even bother to finish drawing the uncharged pistol but instead turned and left the room.  As the door slid shut Sarah was left sprawled on the floor, the gun fired from behind the cell’s ventilator grill having punched a neat hole in her forehead.

Korx Technology

                By now the game was all but over and my position was unassailable.  I’d used influence starbases to grab the Terran colonies of Kwilas III and Sander III on my eastern border, reducing the Terrans to holding just Earth and Mars.  I’d also discovered the Korx tech tree sports a useful range of additional starbase modules which I’m listing here for the benefit of anyone who’s thinking of giving the Korx a test drive:

• The refinery (from the Xeno refining technology) and expert refinery (Expert refining).  These modules provide an additional 5% mining bonus apiece on mining starbases and allow you to squeeze that bit extra out of your resources.
• The annihilator (Starbase victory strategy) and shredder (Starbase superiority) are beam weapons with 10 and 20 firepower respectively, installing a shredder requires an annihilator and an annihilator requires battle stations.  This means these techs are a more powerful option than using mark II fortification with a small number of constructors but the latter option need fewer constructors to set up and is more flexible (as it includes defences and all three attack types).
• The Super trade starbases technology provides a module for economy starbases that boosts trade revenue by an additional 25%, potentially powerful especially when stacked with standard trade boosting modules.
• The defence jammer (Starbase victory strategy) and hyperfield (starbase supremacy) are for military starbases and, like other military modules, improve ships in the starbase’s area of affect.  As far as I can see the benefits of these modules are that they can be unlocked quicker than the regular military modules and seem quite versatile.  The defence jammer adds two points to affected ships firepower in all three categories while the hyperfield boosts their speed by two.
• I was unable to get the option of building an imperium module, despite testing on all four starbase types.  Does anyone know what these do?

Finale

                With the research and design I’d wanted to do complete it was time to end the game.  I already held a fair chunk of the map and controlled both influence resources.  The mining starbases on these resources were heavily fortified but had no additional mining modules.  So all I had to do was send a fleet of construction drones to one of the starbases and installing every available mining module.  This gave me the influence I needed for an influence victory and a few turns later I had officially won.

Part Five

Media snippets dated 22^nd June 2238, sources given in parentheses:

Exploits of the Korx Legions: The army that conquered nine worlds (Drengin military studies, volume 77)

Gladiator trained by Admiral Nestor wins Grand Championship victory (newspaper ‘Blade of Drengi’)

Korx inspired reforms great success: Economy is booming say experts (Terran Chronicle)

Winning success the Korx way (title of best selling Terran self help book)

How he did it – Insiders reveal the recret to Kralax’s success (Terran Institute for Self Improvement)

The merciful victors: How and why the Korx navy saved the Krynn (Altarian Institute for Politics and Ethical Philosophy)

Korx researchers make massive strides in Precursor artifact studies (Altarian Gazette)

Understanding the Korx approach in our terms – Are they really ‘non-religous’? (Krynn Order of Theological Thinkers)

The Korx Philosophy: The Way by other means? (Krynn Journal of Metaphysics)

Korxian scientists unlock more secrets of the Universe – Authorities questioned as to Krynn progress (Krynn Enquirer)

Imperium is a culture-module and grants a bonus of 50%. It requires the Interstellar Embassy-module.

Very good AAR. I really like the story-parts.

As someone who went literally months between updates of my own AAR, I commend you on being able to write this so quickly while still keeping it interesting.

Enjoyable read. I don't read too many AARs as I generally can't get past the story (I prefer AAR's that show the player's side on things, rather than that of a fictional character), but I enjoy playing the Korx and they get precious little love in the AAR field. Seeing someone take them to heart and play them in a Korx-like manner is nice (You use a very Neutral approach, which I find more lore-suiting than the Evil approach in the actual lore).

The settings seem too easy for you though, I think you could do without the Ctrl-N and scouting games, even for an explorative AAR you're writing here (alternatively, crank up the difficulty a little). Getting lucky, or realising you missed an awesome planet simply because you didn't know of it in advance can make the story more interesting with "spectacular discoveries" and the frustration of getting beaten to a particularly interesting planet (and the scheming to make it fall into your hands anyways). Shortly after the colony rush it was apparent that you would acieve a victory (and a fairly easy one at that). For suspense, a bit more challenge could be nice.