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Backdrop1
In MY 2189 several factions discovered the wreckage of a Progenitor interstellar spaceship on the farside of Nessus. After much investigation it was determined that the ships star charts were intact, and that the hyperdrive engine could be cloned.
By MY 2201 the first fleet of scoutships were built and sent out with a mandate to investigate all of the habitable planets catalogued in the ancient Progenitor ships start charts. The results of the expeditions were mixed: some scoutships returned with exciting news of “Eden-class” planets, while other scouts returned telling tales of planets who had degraded over the eons. Still other scouts failed to return at all….
By MY2223 the “Great Diaspora of Man” had begun in earnest, with spaceships being built poste-haste by all the Factions, and sent out with the soul purpose of colonizing far-flung worlds. It was a race to “get there first”, and to report back that the targeted world had been claimed for their Parent Faction.
One unintended side effect that the “Diaspora of Man” had was that this continual manpower drainage weakened the Parent Factions that existed on Alpha Centauri’s Planet, with the end result being that the Peace Keepers were able to unite all of the Factions under their banner in MY2249. But with their dream of uniting Planet fulfilled, the Peace Keepers then almost immediately turned their ambitions to the stars, and of uniting all the far-flung colonies of Man under the Peace Keeper banner as well. Much thought and energy was put into this: emissaries were sent far and wide across the realms of Man cataloguing the various civilizations that were developing, and documenting what adversaries might come to pass, and how it might be best to deal with each accordingly.
The Peace Keepers, heeding the advice of their emissaries amongst the stars, formulated a plan that was still in essence the core of their creed, while laying the framework to advance their new ambitions of interstellar conquest: to offer themselves on the behalf of the downtrodden, and when necessary to “protect” these peoples from aggressor states. Their emissaries and diplomats preached this mantra wherever they traveled across the galaxy, allowing those who heard it to interpret it as they might, and planting the seed of thought that the Peace Keepers would come to their assistance if they were threatened.
The Peace Keepers waited, and watched, and prepared themselves for the day when someone would ask for help….
Backdrop 2
Planet MY2254-443 had somehow slipped through the cracks. Although it was geographically “right around the corner” from the Alpha Centauri solar system, it had not been one of the planets documented in the recovered Progenitor starlogs, and so had been passed over for colonization during the first phases of human expansion. An experimental Gaian Terraforming starship had accidentally stumbled onto the planet during its maiden voyage in MY2252. The crew scanned the planet and determined that it had once been a Progenitor colony, as there were still many Progenitor artifacts and ruined cities scattered across the surface. After documenting the status of the planet, the Gaian expedition continued with their original mission and began the terraforming process by seeding the planet with kelp and trees, and established a small colony to monitor and oversee the process.
The Gaians, always concerned about the destruction that Man always seemed to wrought on the ecologies He encountered, tried to keep this planet a secret from the rest of humanity, and so did not publicly acknowledge that they had discovered a new habitable world. However the Morganites, possibly through the use of spy software inserted into the entertainment packages they had sold to the Gaian explorers, learned of the planets location. The Morganites, always shrewd businessmen, realized that a) since the planet wasn’t officially registered, that they could claim finders fees (even though they had never stepped foot on the planet!), and b) once the planet was registered, they could pocket even more money by selling sections of the planet to several different Splinter Factions, as opposed to trying to sell the whole planet to one Splinter group. Thus it came to pass that Splinter Factions of the Believers, University, Spartans, and Hive came to settle various regions of the planet. In one final brutal act of legal manipulation the Morganites, after filing claim to the planet, had the authorities declare the original Gaian terraformers as “illegal settlers” on the planet they had founded, and seized the Gaian’s terraforming stations. They then expelled the Gaians from the planet. There are rumors that a few Gaians are still on the planet, but if its true, they are few in numbers, and keep mostly to themselves….
Premise
After settling the planet that came to be called “Sanctuary” in MY2261, the various Splinter Factions almost immediately fell into conflict. The University, using their superior technology and weaponry, initiated a brutal war of conquest against their neighbors the Believers. Begun in MY2271, the University continually used their technological edge to push the Believers back. However in MY2285, almost in desperation, the Believers nominated a peasant girl named Joan to lead their remaining forces. Joan had claimed to have had a vision of defeating the University on the field of battle and leading her people to glory and victory in Gods name. To the surprise of many this prophecy was born out, as Joan went against every military convention and led her force directly between two University Armies, and, before the University commanders could recover from this unexpected military maneuver, Joan struck and destroyed first one Uni army, and then wheeled to face the now much smaller remaining Uni force. The Uni’s fell back in confusion. Joan pursued, and now aided by captured Uni equipment which put them on an equal footing tech-wise, were able to defeat the remaining Uni field armies at Agincourt. The University leadership, realizing their cause was lost, surrendered the following year.
Meanwhile the Spartan Splinter Faction had fallen into conflict with their neighbors, the Hive. A war of attrition that ended up resembling the trench warfare of World War 1 ensued, with neither Faction making any headway in the early years. However as time progressed the Hive, understanding its strength was also the Spartans weakness, began to mass produce units with the idea of simply wearing down the Spartans. The Spartans for their part also recognized this, and in an astonishing turn of events appealed to the Believers to intervene on their behalf. The now defacto leader of the Believers, Joan d’Arc, agreed to assist the Spartans against the atheistic Hive, and almost immediately began augmenting the Spartan units with her own already battle seasoned units.
With this turn of events the Morganites, who had thus far followed the mantra that war is bad for business and had stayed out of the conflicts on this planet, saw the prevailing winds turn in favor of the Believers and Spartans at this time, and closed their borders to the Hive. In what many believe to be a contrived event, the Morganites then claimed a border violation by the Hive, and requested Believer assistance, which then allowed the Believers to base aggressor units in Morganite territory along the previously neutral Hive flank. In little more than five years the Hive Splinter Faction went from winning its war against the Spartans, to fighting for its very survival against the rest of the planet. In these most desperate times the Hive remembered the promise the Peace Keepers had made some years ago that they would come to the aid of those threatened by “aggressor states”. It is now MY2299.
The Game
The Hive Splinter Faction on Sanctuary has contacted you asking for assistance. They have asked that you place Peace Keeper units into “Observation Posts” along its borders, in order to establish a buffer between themselves and the other warring Splinter Factions. In return the Hive have offered you the services of several cities in which to base your operations from, which they state should also be considered as part of the buffer zone between themselves and the “aggressor states”, meaning it is your responsibility to keep the warring factions apart.
Because of Sanctuary’s proximity to Alpha Centauri the Peace Keeper leadership realize that this is an ideal situation in which to inject the Peace Keepers into, with the end goal being of adding this world to the Peace Keeper fold. And so while your “official mandate” is to keep the peace by separating the warring factions, your unofficial goal is to bring the various Splinter Factions under sway. To that end you have been given units that are technologically superior to those already existing on Sanctuary, but not overly so. You have been given standard Peace Keeper Police Units in order to carry out your mandate. But so what if your troop transports are overly armed and armored and resemble tanks more than cargo carriers, and that your “counter-battery” units are far superior to any ordinance in existence on this planet? Its not like these few units would ever be expected to conquer a whole planet, right?
As your units disembark from their planetary drop pods and assume their posts on Sanctuary you chance to catch a local broadcast: the local Believer Splinter Faction is incensed by the arrival of your Peace Keeping units, and is accusing the Hive of “striking a deal with the devil” by allowing Peace Keeper forces to intercede on their behalf. The Hive response is tepid at best, and you begin to realize that this Hiverian leader does not possess the same fortitude that Yang always had in the face of adversity, and that this Hive leader may already be rethinking whether it was a wise decision to involve the Peace Keepers in this “local squabble”….
This is a SMAC game. Standard everything. AIs enhanced considerably via factional editing, base placement, and units available via the default available units.
Directions: download the attached file and unzip into your scenarios folder. Start SMAC, select "Scenario/ Play Scenario", and choose the attached game (SotR). The game will then automatically start as the Peace Keepers.
Good luck to the ACDGers!
Note: for those who wish to download and play this game as an SP Challenge: please feel free to do so. However please refrain from posting any results/ observations in this thread.
In MY 2189 several factions discovered the wreckage of a Progenitor interstellar spaceship on the farside of Nessus. After much investigation it was determined that the ships star charts were intact, and that the hyperdrive engine could be cloned.
By MY 2201 the first fleet of scoutships were built and sent out with a mandate to investigate all of the habitable planets catalogued in the ancient Progenitor ships start charts. The results of the expeditions were mixed: some scoutships returned with exciting news of “Eden-class” planets, while other scouts returned telling tales of planets who had degraded over the eons. Still other scouts failed to return at all….
By MY2223 the “Great Diaspora of Man” had begun in earnest, with spaceships being built poste-haste by all the Factions, and sent out with the soul purpose of colonizing far-flung worlds. It was a race to “get there first”, and to report back that the targeted world had been claimed for their Parent Faction.
One unintended side effect that the “Diaspora of Man” had was that this continual manpower drainage weakened the Parent Factions that existed on Alpha Centauri’s Planet, with the end result being that the Peace Keepers were able to unite all of the Factions under their banner in MY2249. But with their dream of uniting Planet fulfilled, the Peace Keepers then almost immediately turned their ambitions to the stars, and of uniting all the far-flung colonies of Man under the Peace Keeper banner as well. Much thought and energy was put into this: emissaries were sent far and wide across the realms of Man cataloguing the various civilizations that were developing, and documenting what adversaries might come to pass, and how it might be best to deal with each accordingly.
The Peace Keepers, heeding the advice of their emissaries amongst the stars, formulated a plan that was still in essence the core of their creed, while laying the framework to advance their new ambitions of interstellar conquest: to offer themselves on the behalf of the downtrodden, and when necessary to “protect” these peoples from aggressor states. Their emissaries and diplomats preached this mantra wherever they traveled across the galaxy, allowing those who heard it to interpret it as they might, and planting the seed of thought that the Peace Keepers would come to their assistance if they were threatened.
The Peace Keepers waited, and watched, and prepared themselves for the day when someone would ask for help….
Backdrop 2
Planet MY2254-443 had somehow slipped through the cracks. Although it was geographically “right around the corner” from the Alpha Centauri solar system, it had not been one of the planets documented in the recovered Progenitor starlogs, and so had been passed over for colonization during the first phases of human expansion. An experimental Gaian Terraforming starship had accidentally stumbled onto the planet during its maiden voyage in MY2252. The crew scanned the planet and determined that it had once been a Progenitor colony, as there were still many Progenitor artifacts and ruined cities scattered across the surface. After documenting the status of the planet, the Gaian expedition continued with their original mission and began the terraforming process by seeding the planet with kelp and trees, and established a small colony to monitor and oversee the process.
The Gaians, always concerned about the destruction that Man always seemed to wrought on the ecologies He encountered, tried to keep this planet a secret from the rest of humanity, and so did not publicly acknowledge that they had discovered a new habitable world. However the Morganites, possibly through the use of spy software inserted into the entertainment packages they had sold to the Gaian explorers, learned of the planets location. The Morganites, always shrewd businessmen, realized that a) since the planet wasn’t officially registered, that they could claim finders fees (even though they had never stepped foot on the planet!), and b) once the planet was registered, they could pocket even more money by selling sections of the planet to several different Splinter Factions, as opposed to trying to sell the whole planet to one Splinter group. Thus it came to pass that Splinter Factions of the Believers, University, Spartans, and Hive came to settle various regions of the planet. In one final brutal act of legal manipulation the Morganites, after filing claim to the planet, had the authorities declare the original Gaian terraformers as “illegal settlers” on the planet they had founded, and seized the Gaian’s terraforming stations. They then expelled the Gaians from the planet. There are rumors that a few Gaians are still on the planet, but if its true, they are few in numbers, and keep mostly to themselves….
Premise
After settling the planet that came to be called “Sanctuary” in MY2261, the various Splinter Factions almost immediately fell into conflict. The University, using their superior technology and weaponry, initiated a brutal war of conquest against their neighbors the Believers. Begun in MY2271, the University continually used their technological edge to push the Believers back. However in MY2285, almost in desperation, the Believers nominated a peasant girl named Joan to lead their remaining forces. Joan had claimed to have had a vision of defeating the University on the field of battle and leading her people to glory and victory in Gods name. To the surprise of many this prophecy was born out, as Joan went against every military convention and led her force directly between two University Armies, and, before the University commanders could recover from this unexpected military maneuver, Joan struck and destroyed first one Uni army, and then wheeled to face the now much smaller remaining Uni force. The Uni’s fell back in confusion. Joan pursued, and now aided by captured Uni equipment which put them on an equal footing tech-wise, were able to defeat the remaining Uni field armies at Agincourt. The University leadership, realizing their cause was lost, surrendered the following year.
Meanwhile the Spartan Splinter Faction had fallen into conflict with their neighbors, the Hive. A war of attrition that ended up resembling the trench warfare of World War 1 ensued, with neither Faction making any headway in the early years. However as time progressed the Hive, understanding its strength was also the Spartans weakness, began to mass produce units with the idea of simply wearing down the Spartans. The Spartans for their part also recognized this, and in an astonishing turn of events appealed to the Believers to intervene on their behalf. The now defacto leader of the Believers, Joan d’Arc, agreed to assist the Spartans against the atheistic Hive, and almost immediately began augmenting the Spartan units with her own already battle seasoned units.
With this turn of events the Morganites, who had thus far followed the mantra that war is bad for business and had stayed out of the conflicts on this planet, saw the prevailing winds turn in favor of the Believers and Spartans at this time, and closed their borders to the Hive. In what many believe to be a contrived event, the Morganites then claimed a border violation by the Hive, and requested Believer assistance, which then allowed the Believers to base aggressor units in Morganite territory along the previously neutral Hive flank. In little more than five years the Hive Splinter Faction went from winning its war against the Spartans, to fighting for its very survival against the rest of the planet. In these most desperate times the Hive remembered the promise the Peace Keepers had made some years ago that they would come to the aid of those threatened by “aggressor states”. It is now MY2299.
The Game
The Hive Splinter Faction on Sanctuary has contacted you asking for assistance. They have asked that you place Peace Keeper units into “Observation Posts” along its borders, in order to establish a buffer between themselves and the other warring Splinter Factions. In return the Hive have offered you the services of several cities in which to base your operations from, which they state should also be considered as part of the buffer zone between themselves and the “aggressor states”, meaning it is your responsibility to keep the warring factions apart.
Because of Sanctuary’s proximity to Alpha Centauri the Peace Keeper leadership realize that this is an ideal situation in which to inject the Peace Keepers into, with the end goal being of adding this world to the Peace Keeper fold. And so while your “official mandate” is to keep the peace by separating the warring factions, your unofficial goal is to bring the various Splinter Factions under sway. To that end you have been given units that are technologically superior to those already existing on Sanctuary, but not overly so. You have been given standard Peace Keeper Police Units in order to carry out your mandate. But so what if your troop transports are overly armed and armored and resemble tanks more than cargo carriers, and that your “counter-battery” units are far superior to any ordinance in existence on this planet? Its not like these few units would ever be expected to conquer a whole planet, right?
As your units disembark from their planetary drop pods and assume their posts on Sanctuary you chance to catch a local broadcast: the local Believer Splinter Faction is incensed by the arrival of your Peace Keeping units, and is accusing the Hive of “striking a deal with the devil” by allowing Peace Keeper forces to intercede on their behalf. The Hive response is tepid at best, and you begin to realize that this Hiverian leader does not possess the same fortitude that Yang always had in the face of adversity, and that this Hive leader may already be rethinking whether it was a wise decision to involve the Peace Keepers in this “local squabble”….
This is a SMAC game. Standard everything. AIs enhanced considerably via factional editing, base placement, and units available via the default available units.
Directions: download the attached file and unzip into your scenarios folder. Start SMAC, select "Scenario/ Play Scenario", and choose the attached game (SotR). The game will then automatically start as the Peace Keepers.
Good luck to the ACDGers!
Note: for those who wish to download and play this game as an SP Challenge: please feel free to do so. However please refrain from posting any results/ observations in this thread.
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