PTMC - Facepunch Empire War

Historical Event

PTMC - Facepunch Empire War
Start Date
2011-01-23
End Date
2011-01-27

Overview

The PTMC - Facepunch Empire War was a war that occurred during the Pre-PGW time period of the Third Universe.

The War

Lead up to war

MrBob, the leader of the Facepunch Empire at the time wrote an apology to the PTMC apologising for a supposed griefer that had attacked the PTMC in Facepunch's name, but the attack on the PTMC had happened up to a week before MrBob publicly apologised. In the interim, the PTMC had already began moving a fleet of warships towards Facepunch space.

He also called out the PTMC for immediately retaliating against the Facepunch Empire, noting that the colony of New Snode had managed to withstand the PTMC's tech level seven warship.

MrBob called for a peaceful resolution to the conflict, which the leader of the PTMC, initially declined but later accepted, on the term that Facepunch would never again enter the Valhalla region of PTMC space.

A short time later NumberZero broadcasted an image showing evidence of Facepunch Scouts remaining in Valhalla. MrBob protests, but the PTMC declares war on the Facepunch Empire around the 24th of January.

The PTMC claim that the true reason they wiped out the Facepunch Empire was because they were tired of them laughing at their tech level seven ships.

The Conflict

The Facepunch Empire was not especially technologically advanced - they had barely producing tech level twelve ships at the time of the PTMC attacks, and the PTMC's tech level fourteen and above easily steamrolled over the Facepunch's weak border force, entering the main empire region and beelining towards the capital.

A few ships resisted the PTMC's assault on the capital of Discusio Genera, but the attackers quickly landed their troops and began to capture the flag bases. A squad of brave players (made up of ARock, Johnny QuickDeath, Con7Con, and Lazers) fought a vicious battle against the invading forces for several hours with the assistance of garrison troops, with the city changing hands several times. The Facepunch Emperor, Master Bob, attempted to capture the landed naval forces personally, and actually managed to fight his way to the bridge of one of the cruisers before being shot down by security forces. Eventually, the PTMC was able to establish a solid supply link and land overwhelming forces, annihilating the resistance forces.

Facepunch forces withdrew to several of the colonies, and attempted to recapture the capital, proving futile as patrolling PTMC ships took out the Facepunch ships shortly after they entered the system. Colonies were deprived of vital resources from the capital as well as the main naval shipyard. Facepunch, now in disarray, rapidly began to shatter.

Facepunch Exodus

Colony after colony was being captured after fierce but inevitably lost space battles. By the 27th of January, it was clear the empire could not stand. A final plan was devised to escape the catastrophe. The emperor rallied everyone at the last major colony left, General Games Discusring, a ringworld. On one of the outlying planets, three multi-purpose ships were prepared within half an hour and loaded with colonists and supplies for a new beginning.

As the ships were being prepared for launch, disaster struck. A PTMC ship, far outclassing anything the Facepunchers had, transited into the system. This forced the immediate launch of the three escape vessels. In this panic, one of the ships was not properly manned, stranding it (and its cargo) at the spaceport to be destroyed by the cruiser. The other two took off at once. The FPN Liberty, commanded by the reinstated emperor, deadheaded to escape the cruiser, while the other ship took a wormhole route.

The journey was a long and hard affair, taking several days of constant travel. The trip meandered through deserted territory, dodging PTMC listening posts and natural hazards. In the end, only the FPN Liberty made it to the destination, the other one becoming lost in interstellar space and crushed.

The Facepunch Empire was well and truly destroyed by this point and the majority of members had left, leaving only a few to build up the Facepunch Exodus empire.

While the Exodus initially flourished, and attained a tech level of around seventeen, it eventually died an entropic death due to lack of members. It is unlikely that any of the Exodus colonies stuck around for long due to their relative separation from populated space at the time, and in the intervening time they most likely decayed before they were discovered again.

Aftermath

Most Facepunch Empire members have since left the Shores of Hazeron; a few joined The Toucan Empire, but some are unaccounted for.