Second game due to install problems that I actually haven't fixed still but have ignored cause I'm used to games that never work properly on a toaster.
Out of a total of over 15 systems, I finally got an alien race to spawn. Tried talking to them even though I discovered them through what I named, hull-wise, a Jump Stealth Recon Fighter on thermals without ever once showing my face to them cause the cloaking device made an already tiny ship down to 3% cross-section. Who knew that aliens don't want to talk to people they only know exist through communications, and also I should probably have used something else other than "Fighter" for that hull designation, since it's unarmed. . . but moving on, after getting to the "Communications Impossible" message, I sent my 60k ton survey ship with the same cloaking to go around what turned out to be a 60k ton carrier to survey jump points in hopes that they had expanded into different systems. . . okay, it was actually to make sure I wasn't about to get curbstomped by a race that I couldn't blitzcrieg, cause I literally had no warship of any kind when I found them XD. Plans were already made and ready to be built, but since there was no threat I never tried making that first gen and just researched nonstop.
After finally finishing some laser battlecruisers and unarmed carriers, cause who needs frigates and cruisers anyways, I attempted to make legit contact with them. . . only to find out that I'm an idiot that can't even figure out how to jump in the battlecruisers that had no jump engine. For now the carriers are my command ship and my jump tender and my sensor ship, just an fwi. In the end since it was late and I was basically half-asleep while high on anxiety and anticipation, I went to battle with two unarmed carriers, 150k tons with 20 490 ton meson fighters and 1 JSRF (500 tons) each.
We checked each other out through sensors, of which mine were superior though that didn't really matter much in a carrier fight where both sides had assault craft with their own sensors, and yeah I go down that route that loses me 50 tons of space as default, then sent the fighters at each other. The fight was 21 750 ton FACs with a class name Murature, 1 meson cannon with 1 rate of fire, looking back they're nowhere near as scary as when I knew nothing about them
, versus 40 of my fighters. End result, 21 destroyed on their side, 3 on mine, though there was a fourth that barely survived thanks to me getting its carrier over to it to pick it up, but the crew ended up dying anyways to failing life support which resulted in the fighter's scrapping.
Besides the Guerrico, the carrier, there were 5 other ships 5700 tons called the Frontin, which I have no idea even now what they do, just sitting on the planet the carrier was camping on. Since my actual combat ships were stuck on the other side of the jump point thanks to my noobery, I just packed my things and went on my merry way.
First combat, first victory. Love it
. If anyone wants to know the actual stats on my ships, just let me know.