The Quests of Infinite Space, Part 4: Urluquai Crusade

The Quests of Infinite Space, Part 4: Urluquai Crusade

"As close as it gets to a race of pure evil..."

Introduced in v1.0 of Infinite Space III: Sea of Stars, the Urluquai Crusade is one of two new quests in the game, although this one was derived from a mod for its predecessor, Weird Worlds. This quest involves attacking and boarding an Urluquai space station somewhere in the sector, before delivering the prisoners of war held there back to their homeworld. Afterwards, you will be forced to defeat an Urluquai flotilla before it destroys Glory, the Terrans' home system. This quest can be challenging at times, particularly on higher difficulties, since the Urluquai deploy their ships in two waves with the second one arriving after the first (and directly opposite them on the battlefield). I will now explain how to conquer this crazed race of evil megalomaniacs.

"I never believed that the Urluquai could ever build anything as huge as this!"

Before the quest can actually begin, you must find the Urluquai Station somewhere on the map. This station can be disabled, but not destroyed (except with a Limited Vacuum Collapser, although doing so will also obliterate the prisoners of war inside, thus ending the quest before it can begin). Disabling the station is challenging, however. It carries two fighter bays, a Multibot Repair Drone, a Proton Matrix Shield, and some short-range weapons for defense. You will need some fairly powerful medium- or long-range weapons to deliver damage faster than it can be repaired, as well as for shooting down the endless waves of fighters sent at your flotilla.

"They won't keep anyone or anything in that station after that!"

Upon boarding the Urluquai Station, the last surviving Sardions of Sector Prime will board your ship, and order you to return them to their homeworld, which will be marked on the map. As soon as you deliver the Sardions to their destination, they will establish a colony there. Doing so for the first time gives you the achievement "Fresh Fish". In addition, you will receive a Sardion Maximizer, an even faster and more accurate version of the Sardion Optimizer.

"So we've delivered the Sardions back to their homeworld and received their Sardion Maximizer. What do we do now?"

"Aha! The most effective targeting computer in the universe!"

You will soon find out what the Maximizer is for. The Urluquai crusader fleet will spawn in orbit around Urlu, the Urluquai homeworld (or just outside the sector, if there is no Urluquai homeworld on the map), as soon as the Sardions have been delivered. You must destroy the entire fleet before it reaches Glory, otherwise the Urluquai will destroy the system within two years. There are two ways to prevent this catastrophe from happening.

"I knew they'd take a really dim view of our prison break!"

One way to end the Urluquai Crusade is to find a Limited Vacuum Collapser (or, if it doesn't exist already, create one with a Timeless Bauble, assuming you can find that particular device), complete the first part of the quest, go to Urlu (or any star system that the Urluquai will visit before reaching Glory), activate the collapser, then deliver the Sardions to their destination. Make sure to time the detonation so that the Urluquai will be caught in the blast, but at the same time, you must ensure that your flotilla will be unaffected. Now fast-forward the timer and watch the fireworks. This method is reminiscent of the "easy way" to stop the Kawangi, as described in a previous post, but it's even more satisfying to tackle the Urluquai head-on with your flotilla.

"So be it. We'll crush the crusaders before they can eliminate us!"

The crusader fleet always consists of a carrier, at least two scouts, and at least one Deep Hunter. In addition to adding enemy ships guarding the station, increasing the enemy presence at the setup screen will also add more Urluquai vessels to the crusader fleet, and if you engage them at Urlu, you may even have at least one extra Urluquai fleet to contend with, although you only need to defeat the crusaders to complete the quest. In general, you should attack this fleet as you would any other Urluquai flotilla, but you may need more advanced equipment to make your task easier, particularly since the Urluquai employ lots of skilled pilots and gunners. Moreover, always try to move out of the center of an Urluquai ambush as soon as reinforcements arrive. As always, a cloaking device is very useful, particularly since the Deep Hunters carry it by default.

"...And thus ends the Urluquai Crusade!"

Destroying the entire Urluquai crusader fleet will reward you with 5000 credits, as well as the achievement "Defender of Hope" for the first successful attempt. It is also theoretically possible to earn two other achievements in this quest: "Blind Shot" (for destroying a cloaked enemy vessel) and "Purple Peril" (for destroying both waves of an Urluquai Ambush), if you haven't done so already. This quest can only be attempted and completed once, since there can never be more than one Urluquai station in the sector map. Good luck in rescuing the Sardions and defending Hope!