Part 51: Limited Options
Limited OptionsIt turns out Kronos has only the one planet the Alkari took. So much for the idea of sharing that system.
I normally wouldn't do this, instead waiting for a Colony Base. But I see no useful alternative here. We'll get a second colony up at least for the purpose of breeding, and I'm going to need every last command point for the ships we'll have to build to fight our way out of this corner. I've got to do something with the Colony Ship, and I don't think it's worth taking the super-tiny ones in Galos at this early juncture.
Of course for now pretty much nothing will happen there other than paying taxes, until I get a freighter-fleet online.
SD 3500.9 - With the freighters now operational, stockpiling resumes on the homeworld. I keep the Scouts around for now for the pretense of defense until we start getting military ships out there. There's nothing I can usefully build here, and while a new citizen every ten turns isn't spectacular by any stretch, it does more than double our current growth rate. We get 89k on our home planet.
Thee the Alkari response to another proposed economic deal is to 'find it unacceptable at this time'.
I have yet to sign an Alliance in this LP. The fish-folk are my best shot at one, and they take the next step in this probably intentionally insulting response.
I'm half-surprised it isn't the omni-present Rash-lki. An industrial assist in the early game for cheap to boost our buildup? Yes, that's a no-brainer. The initial impact is to boost the output of both planets by 0.4 each. That's another way of saying zero, thanks to rounding, so he does us no good whatsoever. But that will change.
Our scientist seems a little ... bland ... compared to some of the other portraits. He is very Klackon of course, no quibbles there.
Following the dictate that MIRV missiles are the way to go early - esp. against space monsters - I grab this for that capability, not for the range itself. Also gets us closer to those pollution-reducing techs of course.
That's a lot of pollution, but I think it's worth it - we don't have nearly enough stockpiled for the lab. Aside from the first one, the other workers produce six industry each, three taken away for pollution ... except for the last one, who got rounded up to seven and four effective industry. So I figured that was a good place to stop. No way short of buying it to get this done in a single turn anyhow.
Fun fact; as of this moment just over half (7 of 13) RP are being produced by our treaties and not our own people.
SD 3501.5 - The Research Lab is up. Now we have little choice but to prepare to fight. We switch back to stockpiling a bit with a scientist labor focus to get the next research in.
They tolerate me. They REALLY tolerate me!
Interesting factoid: the second planet in Trilar is Medium Barren Rich (4M max). I actually find myself wondering if I should have waited for the range to send the colony ship there. I'm not sure if it would have been better. This is an interesting choice as well. In the short-run Houri would be probably a hair better than Crassis. Do I hire her to sit there and do nothing? For the price, I think I do. I can switch them out if needed, and once we expand she's a good fit.
After testing it out, she is indeed slightly better. With three workers, I get 14 industry with her, and 13 with Crassis. Crassis gives us a larger gross amount, but Houri's pollution-reduction is just good enough to make up for that with a bit extra. So she gets the job for now.
SD 3502.3 - We're now up to 11M citizens on Char III.
LOL. You have done no such thing. You have repeatedly refused said access. But uh, thanks for finally agreeing? They're up to Amiable, Trilarians Affable. So a bad omen on Altair is about the only way we should end up at war for the moment. Still hangs over our heads like the sword of Damocles though.
Pollution Processor will take some while to get, but will give us that MIRV capability and help in cranking out the ships to carry them as well. Meanwhile, we can explore three new systems just because.
Is there any system in this galaxy that didn't start with hostile life? I know the space monsters probably accrue to my benefit in the long-term, but sheesh. Three habitables and a gas giant. All three are Rich or Ultra Rich.
Here's one. Long-term research colony project. Out of range for now and probably taken by someone else by the time it isn't, but hey at least we weren't under threat of being blown up upon dropping out of warp. That's a new thing.
This I don't get. An early tech lead, on Impossible MOO? That's ... well, impossible.
I give up. Has anyone ever played a game of MOO 2 without acquiring her services? Not that I'm complaining. One scout had to path through a nebula to get here, and the second had to retreat to Char after running into the Amoeba, so they took a while and arrived at the same time, sharing the honors.
Naturally she immediately takes over a Char governor.
This is the 'good' planet, to go with a Tiny Barren and two gas giants. I'd want to be rescued from there as well.
This love-in is getting flat-out embarassing.
The Alkari went all 'your military sucks' on me just as I was coming up on finishing the research. I'm not losing this final run dumbly like that, so I reloaded from a few turns before and designed this. Guess I just refit them a little later on.
This caused a substantially different response, you might say. Unfortunately, this caused me to not get a leader I acquired the first time around (Urro). So the reload wasn't without price.
Ok then. Now we can get going a bit more.
I think I want the Space Academy next.
Unfortunately without Battle Pods we can't fit a second MIRV launcher. This'll have to do. A single 5-shot MIRV, btw, would be a single space unit too big. Once we slap a Pollution Processor together, we've got a choice to make.
Either we make a play for that planet in the Trilar system, or we fight the Eel in Nir.