Facing off against the Khan: a Stellaris AAR

[Martok]

Rather than continuing to monopolize the screenshot thread, I figured it might be better to simply do an actual AAR. 


This one will be a little different, in that I'm already around 100 years into my current game:  The Great Khan, Stellaris' primary mid-game crisis, has recently spawned, turning their Marauder Clan into a formidable Horde (and overall worthy foe).  Consequentially, there's probably going to be a greater percentage of pew-pew and general military affairs, at least for now. 

While I'm reusing my screenshots from the other thread, along with some of the commentary, I've otherwise largely reorganized everything, and most of the AAR contains new/additional narration/commentary.  I wanted to start from the "beginning" (inasmuch as this AAR has one), plus include story elements and background/context where I felt it was appropriate.  So my apologies in advance for any walls of text (though I'll still do my best to avoid them).   


Anyway, enough prefacing rambling.  Here we go...!












The Great Khan has arisen, and has quickly been making alarming headway in his attempted conquest of the galaxy.  He has already caught me off-guard by making a play for the strategically-critical Terminal Egress system and its master L-Gate, far sooner than I was anticipating. 

Fortunately, I was not completely unprepared:  I had earlier constructed a standard Gateway immediately adjacent to the L-Gate, which allowed both of my primary fleets to quickly counterattack and engage the enemy.  The Khanate would learn to be more careful in the future. 





My empire's Talon Fleet and Peregrine Fleet come to the rescue of my starbase (just to the right off-screen) in the Terminal Egress system.  Sending in both fleets was admittedly overkill, and a bit of an overreaction on my part.  In hindsight, however, it worked well from a role-playing perspective:  My head-canon at the time was that my empire was saddled with a somewhat weak-minded government, and I think this is more or less how they would have responded to such a move by an aggressive "barbarian" conqueror anyway. 

[Martok]

The galaxy is dealt a major blow in its struggle against the Great Khan, as the first empire submits to the Horde. 





I'll admit this one stung on both a personal level and on a meta level, as my girlfriend created the Londinum Star Empire.  I typically make a point of including it in my playthroughs. 




Calling them "spineless cowards" for becoming a satrapy of the Khan might be a little unfair, however.  They didn't exactly have much of a choice -- or a chance, for that matter... 





This screenshot doesn't really do it justice (especially since i don't have a "before and after" comparison, unfortunately), but Londinium lost fully half its territory to the Lavan Horde (the Great Khan), including their capital of Elizabeth.  To date, they have borne the brunt of the Khan's brutal expansion. 




The Khanate's subjugation of the Londinium Star Empire came as a massive shock, to both the galaxy at large, and ourselves in particular.  While we'd had no formal alliance with them, we had otherwise established strong diplomatic ties with each other; we'd definitely considered Londinium a friend.  Combined with the reports that some our vassals were now daring to fight the Khan with inferior forces -- while own technologically advanced fleets remained docked safely in port -- it roused in us a mix of shame, deep-seated anger, and a great deal of soul-searching.  How could we have fallen so low?  How could we have any aspirations of leading the galaxy, if we did not actually *lead*?? 


The matter quickly became the catalyst for a political earthquake:  Pearlfeather Tenju, Director-General of the Yv'Zorak Interstellar Dominion, was soon forced to resign from office, and early elections had to be called.  Ironically, it was his own son, Shimmerplume, who had agitated for a more proactive course of action against the Khanate from the beginning, that was chosen to replace him. 

Almost immediately upon his election, Shimmerplume was able -- with wide backing from amongst the general populace, the military, and even a sizeable portion of the academic & technocratic elite (many of whom had not cared for his father's policies) -- to push through what many had long been agitating for: the restoration of the nation's ancient monarchy.  Wishing to honor a beloved great uncle from his time as a nestling, he changed his name to Denak Tenju and took his place on the Celestial Throne -- the same throne his grandmother Star Queen Kethari Tenju ruled from a century ago, when the Yv'Zorak first rediscovered the secrets to FTL travel and began exploring the galaxy once more. 




His Royal Majesty, several years after his coronation and the restoration of the monarchy.

For better or worse, I didn't get screenshots covering the governmental aspects, but events really did pretty much play out as described:  I had, in fact, started out the game with the Imperial government type, later switched to the Oligarchy government type, and then switched back to Imperial (monarchy) -- partly for the narrative/roleplay reasons alluded to above. 

[Martok]

Star King Denak wasted little time in going about setting his house in order:  The Admiralty was instructed, in no uncertain terms, to begin preparations for hostilities against the Khanate.  Even before that, however, they were to dispatch immediate assistance to the Kithrian Consciousness and Republic of Sivron, our vassals whose fleets were currently operating in Horde space...and who were reported to be on the verge of being overwhelmed and destroyed.  "We will never claim to be saints", Denak would later say in an interview, "but we had always promised to do our best to be good stewards of those under our care and protection, and it was painfully clear we had not been living up to that promise.  It was way past time that we began rectifying that." 

In truth, the Admiralty was only too happy to comply with the Palace's instructions.  They had been pleading with (now former) Director-General Pearlfeather to let them do something, *anything* to help Londinium and the rest of the galaxy fight the Khan and his fanatical Horde warriors; but he'd steadfastly refused, ordering them to only engage the Khan's forces if & when our own territory was attacked.  Now the leashes were off, however, and the Khan was about to find out that his dream of conquering & uniting the galaxy under his banner might not be quite as easy as he'd originally anticipated... 




In the Xikksei's Doom system, hours of desperate -- and increasingly hopeless -- battle was drawing to a bitter close:  Admirals Smeggle and Kiy tal Oln, commanders of the joint Kithrian-Sivron task force, had been ordered by their respective governments to try and secure the system from the Lavan Horde, so as to deny them access to the L-Gate located there.  Sadly, it appeared their efforts would end up being for nought. 




Fleets from two of my subject nations fight a losing battle against a more powerful Khanate/Horde fleet.  Brave idiots... 




As the Yv'Zorak Interstellar Dominion's two strongest vassals, the Kithrians and Sivrons had watched with increasing fear & alarm as the Great Khan's fleets swept across the galaxy in a lighting-fast campaign of conquest...while their overlord did nothing.  After quietly taking counsel with each other, it was quickly decided that if their masters wouldn't act, then they must do so themselves; and so their navies were deployed to Xikksei's Doom. 

Things went wrong from the beginning, however:  Both nations had grossly underestimated the size & strength of the Khan's forces, as well as how rapidly he could redeploy them.  Even worse, a bureaucratic error caused a major delay in the Yv'Zorak being informed about the movements of the joint Kithrian-Sivron fleet. 

The result was that the Kithrians & Sivrons were almost immediately beset by a Khanate florce far superior to even their combined strength...and with no potential backup coming anytime soon (and that was if the Yv'Zorak should even decide to send any).  The sailors & solders of the allied fleet fought valiantly, but it was a losing battle from the start.  With most of their ships by now either destroyed, critically damaged, or otherwise out of action, the two admirals reluctantly agreed they had no choice but to withdraw their remaining forces and yield the system to the Horde. 


Just as they were about to issue the order to retreat, however, the task force's sensor net exploded with dozens of new contacts, while fleet tactical officers announced something had just come through the L-Gate...   




GERONIMO!!  Admiral Yuruuk and Peregrine Fleet come riding to the rescue at last. 

(One of the many things I love about Stellaris is how it lets you pull off Big Damn Heroes moments like this.)




Immediately launching massive volleys of missiles and waves of starfighters from their cruisers and battleships (respectively), the Yv'Zorak quickly began inflicting horrendous damage against the Horde fleet; and the situation only worsened for the enemy once Admiral Yuruuk's corvettes and frigates also entered the fray.  Galvanized by their unlooked-for salvation, the Kithrians & Sivrons fought with renewed vigor as well.  [Seriously, their waning combat power actually increased a bit after my fleet showed up to the fight!]  

As one-sided as the battle had previously been in the Horde's favor, it was now even more so...except in the other direction.  Very few of the enemy survived, with the majority of the Khan's warriors choosing to stand and die, rather than flee. 





Victory!!  And a wonderfully lop-sided one, at that. 

Now the *real* battle begins...

[Martok]

With Xikksei's Doom and its L-Gate now secured, the Yv'Zorak quickly moved to annex the system, along with a number of adjacent systems as a buffer.  The Khan, furious at this unexpected turn of events, launched repeated counterattacks in an attempt to recapture his recent gains, each assault more powerful than the last.  Fortunately, Admiral Makeki's Talon Fleet had already been dispatched to reinforce Admiral Yuruuk.  Even with their combined strength, however, it was hard going at times. 





Talon Fleet and Peregrine Fleet fight a pitched battle against a massive Khanate/Horde armada in the Nodox system.  (Their ships are on the left, mine are on the right.)  Not pictured are my carrier-battleships and missile cruisers, all properly standing off at range. 

Despite the enemy outgunning me by a good margin (at least on paper), my forces eventually prevail.  My losses are heavy, but the Horde's are absolutely crushing, and I know that even the Khan can't have unlimited forces at his disposal.  I allow myself to wonder/hope if I'm beginning to turn the tide at last...




While the war against the Khan and the Lavan Horde rages on, my empire reaches a major milestone in completing the construction of two vanity projects megastructures...





This was my first time building an Interstellar Assembly.  A megastructure devoted entirely to diplomatic endeavors might seem a little underwhelming, but it felt right from a role-playing perspective.  And honestly, the perks of having one are pretty sweet.







The Science Nexus is my personal favorite megastructure in Stellaris, and I generally make a point of building one in my run-throughs.  I always imagine Barthheart running it, cackling with glee as he runs his various mad totally safe experiments...




The completion of the Interstellar Assembly's construction proved to be somewhat serendipitous timing, as it roughly coincided with the Galactic Community officially appointing the Yv'Zorak Interstellar Dominion as Galactic Custodian.  It was a position we had sidestepped once before, in what many viewed as an act of cowardice and/or weakness on the part of former Director-General Pearlfeather. 

Under Star King Denak, however, this second nomination was now accepted with alacrity.  Moreover, he immediately began using our new powers & authority to further bring together the nations of the Galactic Community, along with strengthen its defenses. 


Little did anyone realize just how badly  -- or how soon -- this would prove to be necessary. 

[Undercovergeek]

🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳

Loving the big damn hero moment

Excellent stuff buddy

[thecommandtent]

Looking forward to reading more of this!

[Martok]

Thank you, gents. There's more to come!

[Tolstoi]

Great stuff Martok! Are you the creative force behind all those great names, or are they generated by the game? Gripping stuff, looking forward to what happens next. 

[Martok]

Thanks, Tolstoi!  Glad you're enjoying it! 


Most of the system names and leader names are those automatically generated by the game itself.  However, I do rename notable/important systems within my empire (my homeworld, systems with colonies and/or starbases, etc.).  I can also rename my leaders if I wish, as I did when I reformed the government, and Director-General Shimmerplume became Star King Denak. 

I do also make a point of naming my primary fleets (Talon, Peregrine, etc.).  Since the Yv'Zorak are an avian race, and my head-canon is that they evolved from a bird of prey (most likely some sort of hawk), I used that as the starting point for naming my fleets.  I've played a lot of Stellaris campaigns with this particular empire, so I already have sort of a mental list of fleet names I like to use for them.   

[Tolstoi]

Ah, you rename the important elements and let the game name the rest. A hybrid approach. I like it! Thank you for explaining how you handle all those names. Looking forward to the next exciting episode.