"Let's get outta here."
"You said it, man. Sol blows."
"Yeah, the solar winds blow, let's find out where they'll take us."
"Heheh, prepare for hyperspace."
"Okay, I'm strapped in, you're strapped in, we're out of the gravity well, just have to signal our intent to nearby ships and..."
"None of that matters out here, just press the button."
"Alright, alright. There, are you happy?"
"Took you long enough."
"Speaking of taking long enough, this is boring."
"What, you've never left the system before?"
"Heck no! How long does it usually take?"
"Just a day or so in a ship this size."
"You mean we're stuck cramped up in this shuttle for twenty-four friggin' hours?"
"Uh-huh. And that's just until we're in Centauri."
"This is insane! Who invented these crazy hyperspace drives anyway?"
"Dude, you do know how long it would take to get there without one, right?"
"Shut up."
"I'm serious."
"Whatever... Let's play cards."
"Okay."
"Here, you deal."
"No! Don't toss the Moron! Why don't you have magnetic ones?"
"Are you gonna sit there yelling or are you gonna help me pick them up?"
"You're the one who wanted to play, go right ahead. 'Fifty-two card pluck out of the air in the cockpit' we'll call it."
"I hate you."
"Welcome to the Centauri System, come visit Alpha Centauri and sample some of our many fine foods. Have a nice stay."
"Ah, I can't wait to get out and stretch my legs."
"Not here. Nothing happens here."
"And just where do you propose we go?"
"There."
"What's there? Isn't that Voinian space? Are you trying to get us killed? What's wrong with you?"
"Don't get a blood clot in your arteries, it's just Bakka."
"You mean, as in Outpost Alpha?"
"You're like a babe in the woods."
"You've been there before?"
"Let's just say I know what's what."
"So you haven't been there before?"
"There's a first time for everything!"
"Hey! Only the Captain gets to press"
"I still can't remember how you got to be captain anyway."
"Hello! This is my ship."
"Just because you've got rich p... Nevermind. Wake me up when we get there."
"Another day in this unbearable seat!"
To be continued.
Oh, you wanted stories of conquest? Well fair enough. I used to use a UE Cruiser. Then I used to use an Azdara. Now I just do it with a Dreadnought or Enhanced Arada. Not much strategy involved in using those last two. Most important thing to remember is that you can kill part of the fleet, take a break, and kill more of it later. This is especially useful when conquering Council Station (or Earth, Voinia, Igadzra, etc.) as you can simply land on Gadzair (or equivalent) to replenish your shields whenever you need.
There are two main strategies in combat:
One I call Zerg and it involves having intense firepower and killing many enemies quickly before retreating to recover your defenses and rearm. When fighting defense fleets this way I recommend using Defense Pods and Neutron Turrets and sitting atop the spöb. Get shield and armor upgrades. A UE Cruiser is well suited to this style. So is a Voinian Cruiser, especially in the Crescent. Other capital ships aren't bad either.
The other strategy is not to take any damage and win the fight in a prolonged single battle. This requires a fast ship with good shield recharge. An Azdara with Dospect can last essentially forever. Just strap on a swivel phase cannon and go to town.
Don't forget about your escorts either. One strategy I developed involves having escorts with carried Voinian or UE fighters and strong weapons, and also having a cloaking device. Demand tribute and cloak. When your fuel gets low uncloak and board a disabled ship (one of your escorts' fighters) and steal its fuel then recloak. When you have 6 Dreadnought escorts you are unstoppable. Of course, with those escorts you ought to be unstoppable regardless of the battle tactic you use, so nevermind.
Welcome to the boards!
No story, sorry. If I HAVE to dominate a planet, I capture carrier escorts, either CW or Voinian. To be honest, I find dominating planets tedious work. When I get toward the end of a game I sometimes get quite bored dominating planets, so I open up ResEdit and wack it with a spanner a few times to speed things up a bit.
Qaanol ++
I'm pretty sure I used an Azdara with the dospect. Those things will take a beating.
Also, the forklift is fun to mess with when taking over planets. You can take out like three fighters at once.
"Yikes!"
"What's the matter, never seen a little neutron fire before?"
"Neither have you, and if that United Earth patrol hadn't been around we wouldn't be around either."
"Heheheh, it was just a Supply Ship, and it wasn't firing at us."
"Hello? Our shields are at forty percent."
"Fine, you don't want to stick around? Take us a jump to the north."
"We only have half a tank."
"If you want to fly through the crossfire and land at Outpost Alpha, be my guest. I'll just wait back here by the Escape Pod."
"Sheesh. Three days without a shower, here I come!"
"What is this place?"
"Who cares, just go another jump north."
"You're kidding, right? Right? Oh geez. We only have a jump of fuel left."
"Let me guess, you want to run back to Outpost Alpha?"
"Well, yeah, just a little bit. We're only, you know, lost in the great beyond!"
"So what's a little bit further?"
"Do you know something you're not telling me?"
"Why, whatever do you mean? Dost thou insinuate that I am withholding information from your grace?"
"Cut it out."
"Outpost Theta. Didn't you ever pay any attention back at the Academy."
"Yeah. Sometimes."
"Okay, what's the principle export of Telnan?"
"This is stupid."
"You don't know, do you?"
"Whatever. Fine. We're jumping to Outpost Theta."
"You don't just to stations, you jump to systems."
"Well, what system is it?"
"How should I know?"
"Weren't you just bragging about how much you knew?"
"No, I do seem to recall making fun of how little you knew, though."
"I don't know why I invited you on this journey in the first place..."
"See? Another thing you don't know!"
"Shut it."
