Let's Play The Last Federation! playthrough 1, part 1
Right then! I recently got a copy of The Last Federation, which was introduced to me by a friend I visited a week or so ago... I'm just going to document this second playthrough. In my previous one I ended the game with a two-race Federation, so I'm going to try to better that this time.
So - a bit of background - I'm the last of an alien race, that was bombed to death for being naughty to the other races in the local solar system, and now I want to unite all the races in Federal Solar Peace. To that end, I have a spaceship that zips about the solar system like anything, and lots of tech and things!
The game randomly started me out with the Burlusts, who are more or less a Proud Warrior Race... Race. They have warlords and things, and I'm going to have to try to keep killing those off so they don't overtake half the system. I balanced out the space race by gifting space tech to the Andors (a pacifist robot diplomatic race that never ever takes over other plants), Skylaxians (a senate-controlled race), and Peltians (suicide-bombing weaklings).
To earn credits (the in-game currency), I'm going to be doing a lot of attacking. At this stage it'll be pirate bases, but later in the game I may need to do that to other races' armadas to stop them from overrunning each other's planets, which will cost influence - the other in-game currency, which is a sort of thing that measures the race's attitude towards you.
...the Peltians have caught a disease. I'm going to need a Space Outpost to research a vaccine for the Maggot Pox, but no race has enough raw materials (they need to do some mining for that) to build one, and neither do I. A couple of months later, so have the Skylaxians. I've brokered trade deals between the three of them to encourage economical growth and friendliness.
In the meantime, the Acutians are now space-faring. This is dangerous, because the Acutians are very acquisitive.
I decide to buy 10 each of Construction and Scientist goons from the black market. I need them to help me increase the strength of the Andors, which will make the Andors friendly enough to me that I can plant a bunch of outposts around them and have them act as interim security if any attackers happen to pass through their space on the way to my (coming) outposts.
I spend five months researching Fleet Nanorobotics, three months on Quantum Computers, and five more on Gluon Computers (during which the Acutians research new ships) with the Andors; then five months on Meson Computers with the Skylaxians.
And now the Acutians are attacking the Burlusts, which doesn't mean anything yet; the Burlusts, like the Thoraxians, are militarily extremely strong and shouldn't have a problem holding off the attack. In the meantime, I advise the Skylaxians, Andors, and Peltians to colonise every moon they have. Which turns out to be a mistake - years elapse while I colonise the Skylaxians' INCREDIBLY MANY moons (they have over 70), and almost miss a Boarine request for terraforming technology, which I fulfil for the influence boost. The Thoraxians, Evucks, and Boarines also achieve space technology in this time, which means the entire system now has space ships. Further, the Acutians are attacking the Thoraxians and a couple of new viruses have popped up. Fortunately, the Skylaxians are being helped by a random Doctor event to keep them going.
I broker a few more trade deals since the Skylaxians' moon colonies are creating resources for them, and the Evucks decide to attack the Thoraxians.
I gift some technology to the Andors, which makes me Liked by them (at the moment, I'm Neutral or better with everybody but the Burlusts, who detest me). I spend another 8 months constructing a University for them, and the Boarines attack the Thoraxians. Why does everybody seem to attack the Thoraxians first? I decide to spend 6 months improving the relationship between the Andors and the Burlusts as a prelude to possible Federation backdooring. I also create a trade route between the Peltians and the Evucks, and colonise two Peltian moons.
With nothing to do until the Andors gain enough resources to construct an outpost, I attack pirate bases until there aren't any left, then spend another 8 months on a university for the Andors. There's a Hydral signal coming from the Burlusts' planet, but they hate me so much that I can't search for the signal emitter from there - I have to build influence with them either by giving them technology or helping them in the war against the Acutians, which I don't mind; the Acutians have been very aggressive and do need dialing down. However, I need 100+ Influence units, which means quite hefty helping, so I regretfully turn away from the Hydral signal in favour of Andor.
The ruling party on Andor is the Pharmacists, so I send medical aid to the Peltians and Skylaxians. To earn some credit, I spend 12 months building the Andor armadas and then 3 months researching Photon Mechanics, 1 month on a Solar Shield (during which the Skylaxians develop a vaccine for their disease entirely on their own), and 5 months on Industrial Nano Robotics for the Andors. Another 5 months goes into their Space Elevator, but I decide to use the resource-rich Skylaxians for my outposts instead from now on. Unfortunately, helping the Skylaxians means antagonising the Thoraxians who are warring with them. Another race for the Andors to backdoor later!
I spend 20 months building a Science Outpost for the Skylaxians, which I promptly attack to take over and staff with 15 security goons just in case; the Skylaxian army is not yet strong. But before that, the Peltians are under attack from splinter factions, and it's a toss-up on whether to help them; they are at war with the Skylaxians, which I didn't notice until just now. So I don't help the Peltians, deciding instead to build Quantum Power for the Skylaxians. At the moment, I've decided that to gain credits I'll work with the Andors to build their armada, while using the Skylaxians to build and secure my outposts.
So that's another year on the Andor armada, upon which the Skylaxians attack the Thoraxians. Again. I spend 11 months with the Skylaxians to upgrade my ship's defensive/ offensive capabilities, and 10 months for a Skylaxian university. The Peltians get sick (again), and the Acutians attack the Thoraxians (again). I put a few years into Andor research, taking out every project of four months or less. Then I repeat for the Peltians and Skylaxians, and then gift technology in between the three so they're all on equal standing. At this point the Peltians and Skylaxians have finally stopped warring, but I still need to boost their races towards each other. I make the Peltians share technology with the Andors to boost the Andors' opinion of them, and then I spend another year on the Andors' armada.
A new Hydral signal, but because I have an outpost in the ice belt myself, I can search for it without having to suck up to the Burlusts! I gain Disruptor and Eject Garbage; the first is a new gun type, that partially bypasses shields but isn't very powerful damage-wise, and the second one creates a bunch of debris that swallows up incoming shots. There's still a signal, so I go searching again, now gaining Mercenary Hotline (which calls in mercenaries at a cost to Influence) and Operation Raptor, which deploys smaller ships that help me. For Influence, I spend 34 months with the Skylaxians doing research.
In the meantime, the Skylaxians wiped out the Thoraxians, but the Boarines promptly took that planet over. The Acutians also built a new outpost, which I also capture. To regain Influence with them, I give them some technologies and, again, research anything that takes less than 4 months; then I colonise their moon and broker some new trade routes. I take all these technologies back with me and gift them to the Andors, Skylaxians, and Peltians, further boosting Influence there. The ruling party of the Andors is the Traders, so I also get them to boost trade for my three core races. While I'm helping the Andors further construct their fleet, they protect my outpost by defeating assassins.
A new disease appears amongst the Boarines, so I research a vaccine for that and build an industrial building (Waste Management) for the Acutians to stave off the Influence drop. Then I capture the manufacturing outpost that the Skylaxians just built. I hire a few more security goons just in case, and proceed to research a whole slew of things with the Skylaxians. I colonise two more Skylaxian moons and broker another trade deal, upon which the Skylaxians go off to attack the Acutians. Another year of armada building for me! My earned credit goes towards additional trade routes - the Skylaxians are going to be insanely rich. I do some more research - and I find the Andors attacking the Acutians for being bullies. Literally - it's an attack of honour. Meanwhile, the Acutians are abandoning their planet to become pirates, as well as turning on the Burlusts. That being the case, I put another year into Andors' armada, then proceed to do a bunch of short research stints with the Skylaxians.
The Peltians are also abandoning their planet for piracy, so I tell them to focus on their medicines and colonise a few moons. I also research a vaccine for the disease they're currently suffering from. The Burlusts are finally wiped out, and the planet passes rapidly from the Burlusts to the Peltians to the Skylaxians, who are dangerously overrunning the place now. I broker some more trade deals between the Skylaxians and the Peltians, and then go back to the Andors for Influence-boosting and credit-earning. I interrupt that to help the Peltians research yet another vaccine (their work on their medicine is hardly up to snuff). Upon which the Peltians take that planet back from the Skylaxians, and your computer says "D'awww". My work with the Andors is interrupted again by another Hydral technology signal, and searching it out gets me Deployment Jammer and a Transfer Shielding, which are nice but not terribly useful. The second search gets me Transfer Power and Cloaking Field.
At this point I customise my ship's weapons and abilities properly; I use Mass Driver/ Energy Blaster/ Disruptor, which are fairly effective and have good range; my offensive abilities are the Gigacannon and Anti-Swarm Lasers; my deployables are nine Wolf Predators, and I can instantly repair 100% of my shield in exchange for 5% of my hull strength - aptly named the Emergency Shield Repair.
The Acutians are attacking the Skylaxians, so I defend them and gain a little more credit in the process. However, since the Acutians are this aggressive, I'm going to stop maintaining neutrality with them and start overrunning all their outposts (they have a lot of outposts). Similarly for the Peltians, who are under attack by the Boarines. After I deal with invading armadas, I capture an Acutian manufacturing outpost and destroy a military one.
After that, I attack the planet's defensive armadas. I don't aim to destroy the flagships, but I do want to get as many of their satellites and defensive structures as I can. I succeed in one attack, but fail to get any satellites; I do find another military outpost, and destroy it. I then proceed to attack a series of Acutian armadas, racking up the credits that way and plunging my Influence with them into the heavy negatives. Unfortunately, the Skylaxians and Peltians promptly formed a Solar Axis Pact, which I now need to break up if I'm to win - which is to say, I have to make them incredibly unhappy with each other. Hologram channels will help there, and so will breaking off any trade deals between them. I also defend my outposts against Acutian attackers.
I find, at this time, that breaking off trade deals gains positive influence, and so does encouraging them to build things that the other race hates. Meanwhile, the Skylaxians destroy both the Acutians and the Boarines, which makes them likely to form the Fear Empire when they break out of the SAP. I decide to start manufacturing conspiracies between the Peltians and Skylaxians - but that is impossible between members of the same alliance. I gain a Cloaking Device and a Gravity Lance from searching an asteroid belt, and go through a burst of research with the Andors - which I do not share with the Skylaxians or Peltians this time!
A side-note: I am, at this time, idolised by all four still-living races.
So - a bit of background - I'm the last of an alien race, that was bombed to death for being naughty to the other races in the local solar system, and now I want to unite all the races in Federal Solar Peace. To that end, I have a spaceship that zips about the solar system like anything, and lots of tech and things!
The game randomly started me out with the Burlusts, who are more or less a Proud Warrior Race... Race. They have warlords and things, and I'm going to have to try to keep killing those off so they don't overtake half the system. I balanced out the space race by gifting space tech to the Andors (a pacifist robot diplomatic race that never ever takes over other plants), Skylaxians (a senate-controlled race), and Peltians (suicide-bombing weaklings).
To earn credits (the in-game currency), I'm going to be doing a lot of attacking. At this stage it'll be pirate bases, but later in the game I may need to do that to other races' armadas to stop them from overrunning each other's planets, which will cost influence - the other in-game currency, which is a sort of thing that measures the race's attitude towards you.
...the Peltians have caught a disease. I'm going to need a Space Outpost to research a vaccine for the Maggot Pox, but no race has enough raw materials (they need to do some mining for that) to build one, and neither do I. A couple of months later, so have the Skylaxians. I've brokered trade deals between the three of them to encourage economical growth and friendliness.
In the meantime, the Acutians are now space-faring. This is dangerous, because the Acutians are very acquisitive.
I decide to buy 10 each of Construction and Scientist goons from the black market. I need them to help me increase the strength of the Andors, which will make the Andors friendly enough to me that I can plant a bunch of outposts around them and have them act as interim security if any attackers happen to pass through their space on the way to my (coming) outposts.
I spend five months researching Fleet Nanorobotics, three months on Quantum Computers, and five more on Gluon Computers (during which the Acutians research new ships) with the Andors; then five months on Meson Computers with the Skylaxians.
And now the Acutians are attacking the Burlusts, which doesn't mean anything yet; the Burlusts, like the Thoraxians, are militarily extremely strong and shouldn't have a problem holding off the attack. In the meantime, I advise the Skylaxians, Andors, and Peltians to colonise every moon they have. Which turns out to be a mistake - years elapse while I colonise the Skylaxians' INCREDIBLY MANY moons (they have over 70), and almost miss a Boarine request for terraforming technology, which I fulfil for the influence boost. The Thoraxians, Evucks, and Boarines also achieve space technology in this time, which means the entire system now has space ships. Further, the Acutians are attacking the Thoraxians and a couple of new viruses have popped up. Fortunately, the Skylaxians are being helped by a random Doctor event to keep them going.
I broker a few more trade deals since the Skylaxians' moon colonies are creating resources for them, and the Evucks decide to attack the Thoraxians.
I gift some technology to the Andors, which makes me Liked by them (at the moment, I'm Neutral or better with everybody but the Burlusts, who detest me). I spend another 8 months constructing a University for them, and the Boarines attack the Thoraxians. Why does everybody seem to attack the Thoraxians first? I decide to spend 6 months improving the relationship between the Andors and the Burlusts as a prelude to possible Federation backdooring. I also create a trade route between the Peltians and the Evucks, and colonise two Peltian moons.
With nothing to do until the Andors gain enough resources to construct an outpost, I attack pirate bases until there aren't any left, then spend another 8 months on a university for the Andors. There's a Hydral signal coming from the Burlusts' planet, but they hate me so much that I can't search for the signal emitter from there - I have to build influence with them either by giving them technology or helping them in the war against the Acutians, which I don't mind; the Acutians have been very aggressive and do need dialing down. However, I need 100+ Influence units, which means quite hefty helping, so I regretfully turn away from the Hydral signal in favour of Andor.
The ruling party on Andor is the Pharmacists, so I send medical aid to the Peltians and Skylaxians. To earn some credit, I spend 12 months building the Andor armadas and then 3 months researching Photon Mechanics, 1 month on a Solar Shield (during which the Skylaxians develop a vaccine for their disease entirely on their own), and 5 months on Industrial Nano Robotics for the Andors. Another 5 months goes into their Space Elevator, but I decide to use the resource-rich Skylaxians for my outposts instead from now on. Unfortunately, helping the Skylaxians means antagonising the Thoraxians who are warring with them. Another race for the Andors to backdoor later!
I spend 20 months building a Science Outpost for the Skylaxians, which I promptly attack to take over and staff with 15 security goons just in case; the Skylaxian army is not yet strong. But before that, the Peltians are under attack from splinter factions, and it's a toss-up on whether to help them; they are at war with the Skylaxians, which I didn't notice until just now. So I don't help the Peltians, deciding instead to build Quantum Power for the Skylaxians. At the moment, I've decided that to gain credits I'll work with the Andors to build their armada, while using the Skylaxians to build and secure my outposts.
So that's another year on the Andor armada, upon which the Skylaxians attack the Thoraxians. Again. I spend 11 months with the Skylaxians to upgrade my ship's defensive/ offensive capabilities, and 10 months for a Skylaxian university. The Peltians get sick (again), and the Acutians attack the Thoraxians (again). I put a few years into Andor research, taking out every project of four months or less. Then I repeat for the Peltians and Skylaxians, and then gift technology in between the three so they're all on equal standing. At this point the Peltians and Skylaxians have finally stopped warring, but I still need to boost their races towards each other. I make the Peltians share technology with the Andors to boost the Andors' opinion of them, and then I spend another year on the Andors' armada.
A new Hydral signal, but because I have an outpost in the ice belt myself, I can search for it without having to suck up to the Burlusts! I gain Disruptor and Eject Garbage; the first is a new gun type, that partially bypasses shields but isn't very powerful damage-wise, and the second one creates a bunch of debris that swallows up incoming shots. There's still a signal, so I go searching again, now gaining Mercenary Hotline (which calls in mercenaries at a cost to Influence) and Operation Raptor, which deploys smaller ships that help me. For Influence, I spend 34 months with the Skylaxians doing research.
In the meantime, the Skylaxians wiped out the Thoraxians, but the Boarines promptly took that planet over. The Acutians also built a new outpost, which I also capture. To regain Influence with them, I give them some technologies and, again, research anything that takes less than 4 months; then I colonise their moon and broker some new trade routes. I take all these technologies back with me and gift them to the Andors, Skylaxians, and Peltians, further boosting Influence there. The ruling party of the Andors is the Traders, so I also get them to boost trade for my three core races. While I'm helping the Andors further construct their fleet, they protect my outpost by defeating assassins.
A new disease appears amongst the Boarines, so I research a vaccine for that and build an industrial building (Waste Management) for the Acutians to stave off the Influence drop. Then I capture the manufacturing outpost that the Skylaxians just built. I hire a few more security goons just in case, and proceed to research a whole slew of things with the Skylaxians. I colonise two more Skylaxian moons and broker another trade deal, upon which the Skylaxians go off to attack the Acutians. Another year of armada building for me! My earned credit goes towards additional trade routes - the Skylaxians are going to be insanely rich. I do some more research - and I find the Andors attacking the Acutians for being bullies. Literally - it's an attack of honour. Meanwhile, the Acutians are abandoning their planet to become pirates, as well as turning on the Burlusts. That being the case, I put another year into Andors' armada, then proceed to do a bunch of short research stints with the Skylaxians.
The Peltians are also abandoning their planet for piracy, so I tell them to focus on their medicines and colonise a few moons. I also research a vaccine for the disease they're currently suffering from. The Burlusts are finally wiped out, and the planet passes rapidly from the Burlusts to the Peltians to the Skylaxians, who are dangerously overrunning the place now. I broker some more trade deals between the Skylaxians and the Peltians, and then go back to the Andors for Influence-boosting and credit-earning. I interrupt that to help the Peltians research yet another vaccine (their work on their medicine is hardly up to snuff). Upon which the Peltians take that planet back from the Skylaxians, and your computer says "D'awww". My work with the Andors is interrupted again by another Hydral technology signal, and searching it out gets me Deployment Jammer and a Transfer Shielding, which are nice but not terribly useful. The second search gets me Transfer Power and Cloaking Field.
At this point I customise my ship's weapons and abilities properly; I use Mass Driver/ Energy Blaster/ Disruptor, which are fairly effective and have good range; my offensive abilities are the Gigacannon and Anti-Swarm Lasers; my deployables are nine Wolf Predators, and I can instantly repair 100% of my shield in exchange for 5% of my hull strength - aptly named the Emergency Shield Repair.
The Acutians are attacking the Skylaxians, so I defend them and gain a little more credit in the process. However, since the Acutians are this aggressive, I'm going to stop maintaining neutrality with them and start overrunning all their outposts (they have a lot of outposts). Similarly for the Peltians, who are under attack by the Boarines. After I deal with invading armadas, I capture an Acutian manufacturing outpost and destroy a military one.
After that, I attack the planet's defensive armadas. I don't aim to destroy the flagships, but I do want to get as many of their satellites and defensive structures as I can. I succeed in one attack, but fail to get any satellites; I do find another military outpost, and destroy it. I then proceed to attack a series of Acutian armadas, racking up the credits that way and plunging my Influence with them into the heavy negatives. Unfortunately, the Skylaxians and Peltians promptly formed a Solar Axis Pact, which I now need to break up if I'm to win - which is to say, I have to make them incredibly unhappy with each other. Hologram channels will help there, and so will breaking off any trade deals between them. I also defend my outposts against Acutian attackers.
I find, at this time, that breaking off trade deals gains positive influence, and so does encouraging them to build things that the other race hates. Meanwhile, the Skylaxians destroy both the Acutians and the Boarines, which makes them likely to form the Fear Empire when they break out of the SAP. I decide to start manufacturing conspiracies between the Peltians and Skylaxians - but that is impossible between members of the same alliance. I gain a Cloaking Device and a Gravity Lance from searching an asteroid belt, and go through a burst of research with the Andors - which I do not share with the Skylaxians or Peltians this time!
A side-note: I am, at this time, idolised by all four still-living races.
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