Part 18: TechnoGeek Opening

TechnoGeek Opening




This time we're not in a corner. Remains to be seen if that's good or bad, but at the very least we'll have more exploratory options. Everything looks a little smaller because of it being a huge galaxy.




I have to talk about this, since there were no brown stars in the first galaxy. What even is this description? This is just lolrandom - I'm sure they were trying to funny, but I would have preferred if somewhere in there was the slightest inkling of what, in gameplay terms, brown stars are likely to have.




We have four stars we can reach initially. Two red, two blue-white. Everything within several parsecs is a hostile star type. So much for organic rich. We are in the worst part of this galaxy it would seem in terms of habitability.




At least we have a starting fleet. Two Scouts and a Colony Ship, just like in the original. Scouts will head out to the blue-white possibilities, and I'll keep the colony ship around until I get more information.




Our starting planet. Ocean. We are underwater. Don't think too much about the background, or you'll realize that, for example, our Starbase is submerged. One would think that would hamper the effectiveness. Aquatic here gives us a farming boost so that we only need three farmers to feed eight citizens instead of the usual four, and population growth is a little higher than normal as well.

Two workers to stockpile industry until we have enough (60) to build the first thing we're going to research. That'll take a full year, everyone else taking the Scientist job. That's what our skinny blue smartdudes are best at.

Having our second planet be Toxic sucks, but the fact that it is Rich is very nice. Should be a fine incubator planet quite early on.




All of the 'everybody gets these' advances have been granted us, but that's it. Here you can see Creative in action, as we don't have to choose. Optronics first to start us on the path to getting basic research and industrial improvements.




This will be a fine planet ... eventually. But it's too early to make effective use of a toxic, high-gravity world.




Better, but we'd still need to import food. I'd like a second farmable planet in order to build up and then use that to spread people throughout the surrounding area. I decide to wait a few turns to scout the red stars, hoping for something more along those lines. Hilarious to me that we have the inhospitable, industry-rich area of an industrially-challenged galaxy.




Ooh, Natives! Nice little early boost to the work force. The pop-up here pretty much says what they do.




This is where they are. Obviously the planet being poor isn't great but I can't complain about anything else. I think we need to grab this, take the extra labor, and work on this being a farming colony initially while Mentar builds stuff. The others are a gas giant and two Low-G worlds; Tiny Tundra Poor and Medium Barren Ultra-Poor. So they'll suck at everything.

Two turns to the final scouting location in range, but I'm not waiting. Vela it is.




A good candidate for buying stuff early, since everything will take a longer time to build.




Here's what happens if you test the game and try to move the Natives. They don't pay taxes either, the lazy louts. Still, we have three million of them! We are forced to have plenty of extra food here. No freighters to move it, but soon. Could start stockpiling, but I think it's more valuable to accelerate our early research. So the Natives are going to free us up to do that and give us some extra cashola for our early reserve.




This is definitely OP IMO. Why is a more primitive race better at farming than a more advanced one? I get that they are an agricultural society ... but certainly a warp-capable race would have the technology and equipment to more than make up for that. At any rate, it won't last but we now have a 467% profit margin. 17 BC income, 3 BC going out to support the starbase and barracks on Mentar. For less than a year into the game, that's pretty darned incredible.

I began to ponder whether or not I should just build a freighter fleet or two right away, since that would allow shipping food back to Mentar and even more productivity there. I decided not to do it just yet, but this kind of find does provoke some decidedly non-standard strategic considerations.




Dang. I still picked the right place to settle first, but yeah. Food will most definitely not be an issue for us assuming we get this. The other two are medium planets, Barren Abundant and Desert Ultra-Poor LG.




Below Vela at the bottom of the map, and our first friendly-type start system. The third planet here is an excellent fit for us. Also:

** Medium Desert Rich
** Medium Swamp
** Medium Barren Rich

I'll take 'em all, thanks. I'm already shelving concerns here about whether we'll have enough good places in range to land. Now it's more of a 'how do I get enough Colony Ships out to all these juicy targets' deal.

SD 3501.0 - With enough industry stockpiled to build the Research Lab, I would normally switch to having everyone as a scientist to wrap it up. I this case though I keep stockpiling, because I want to get some freighters going immediately afterwards. I'm not sure if that's best or not, but it seems right.




Last scout for now. Figures to be a fine industrial world through sheer size.




SD 3501.3. Optronics is in a turn earlier than expected, and now we'll beat a path to Automated Factories.




With as much money as we're making right now, I see no reason to turn this down.




Well ... that kind of stinks. The way the math works, tipping us over into pollution territory, we actually gain nothing from him quite yet.

3501.5 - I spend 40 BC to get a freighter fleet three turns early. A bargain as far as I'm concerned, as it will allow us to ramp up quicker.




The next turn. Now we've got a whole lot of research happening, and still plenty of excess food.

SD 3501.8 - Advanced Engineering is in. One more project till we get our factories.

SD 3502.0 - Another 40 BC to get another batch of freighters in early.




SD 3502.4. Advanced Construction, the automated factory and other goodies are in. I still like the idea of Astro Biology here, both for price and for getting Biospheres available this time.




A bit expensive but I don't want a delay. About half our annual profits are being eaten up by the food transfers, and I'm pouring a lot of cash into getting things going faster. Also, Vela I isn't growing at all now that I've recalled our colony citizen to the homeworld - natives apparently only reproduce enough to sustain their numbers. Too busy in the fields I guess.




We've a lot to do here, and have encountered no resistance. The main question is finding the best order to do it in that I can.




One other thing - MOO2 was a bit ahead of its time on this screen, which I didn't show before. Game and IRL date being thrown in there is a useful thing.