Part 56: Any Ball of Rock in the Storm

Teeth came out about 24 hours ago. There was a lot of wrenching and twisting, and for a while the left side of my head didn't like too much (afterwards, when the anesthetic wore off). But all is well and healing now. So I figured I'd get back to business. Here's hoping it's not another half-a-month in between updates.

Any Ball of Rock In the Storm

** Note: I gave up tracking the various wars partly through this. They just keep spamming on and off and so really I'm just looking for significant gains at this point, actual states of war/peace are just repetitive and pointless




Now the Bethmoora system is full. A quick peace is also signed between Gnolams and Darloks.




Flattery will not avail you, dark Morfane.




On the opposite side of the galaxy, available through a wormhole from Galos. We are throwing colony ships out as quickly and as far as possible. I'm frankly quite surprised by how many planets the others have chosen to leave available.




As a result, these screens may become spammish for a while. The Overmind seeks a decisive long-term size advantage, and is gambling that shorter-term delays in pursuing the Meklar campaign, researching, etc. will be sustainable.

Also, peace between Bulrathi and Trilarians.




Nazin looks like it was labeled by the designer of Skittles. Bizarre to see that on a homeworld system.




It'll be a while until these can be deployed on an imperial scale, but they should definitely help the treasury invest in startup colonies that need the boost. Naturally Astro University is next, and war between Trilarians and Silicoids is announced. Our conflict with the Meklar is going exactly nowhere - a single frigate maintains a blockade on Meklon.

SD 3517.4 - Meklar/Alkari peace, and the Silicoids kick us out of Meklon.




It appears that I severely, drastically underestimated how much work there is to be done in expansion. I don't think we're even close. Zin and Pegasus here, in the lower-right corner of the galaxy, are almost as far from us as it is possible to get. I think they are space monster-guarded systems. I have a nagging sense I may be getting overly greedy, but the land grab continues.

SD 3517.5 - We sign a NAP with the Darloks, only because one of their fleets is holding up one of our colony ships. It didn't work though - we are still prevented from colonizing in the system because of something that I'm sure is really simple but I don't quite understand.




I don't get how we can colonize here, but not in the other Darlok system with an identical situation; NAP and colony ship present. I'm even more confused. But I'll take it - Katab is our stepping-stone to reach those unclaimed systems in Gnolam territory.




A barely-there ball of rock.




Jerks. Not totally suprising, but still ... jerks. Also, the Trilarians sent a Battleship/Colony Ship combo to Zin, one of the assumed monster systems ... and it survived. Looks like I've run out of time. I might just have to settle for leftovers.

SD 3518.1 - The rocks destroy another one of our just-made colonies. We still aren't at war.




Peace is worth this price. Also, Zin is left empty, no systems taken. Were they defeated by the monster and just waited an extra turn to attack it? I'm confused.




Galactic Unification would be fantastic, but also expenses. Time to go back to Computers and boost research.




One of many tiny balls of rock.




Also, the Antarans are back. A destroyer and two frigates, and I guess they really like Bethmoora because they're headed back there. We'll rush a Battlestation to do what we can to hold them off, everything else is already in position. If they take any of the three small colonies in the system I'll just be thankful.

Also, it'd be nice if they'd go pick on someone else.




We've been waiting for Ursa to clear out so we could take this ... and there are two other planets we might eventually get as well. None are particularly exciting.




Ensuring nobody else can peacefully get a foothold here.




Ok, this is bizarre. I have to think somebody else killed whatever monster is here ... and then just left?!? Regardless, I was already working on building up a group to attack here, and we have one colony ship en route. Others will be sent post-haste, and at least having a frigate on station lowers the chance a bit that someone else seizes it. But still ... weird. We've been seeing a lot of colony ships from rivals out elsewhere, and generally beating them to the targets. And nobody wants this?




Silicoids are leaving us alone, but the Meklar getting in on the act here. It's not frequent enough for me to be concerned though.

BethmooraDefense (Again) (3:14)

Once again we just barely survive. The Battlestation is lost, but that can be rebuilt.


SD 3518.9 - The Meklar destroy another colony in Ursa. So much for that particular expansion endeavor.




Yeah, that's not happening. And more war we have now. This is also really makes it difficult to find more ways to usefully expand. The one outstanding 'monster system' in Pegasus can't be reached without an outpost ... and outpost in Gnolam territory. I doubt that's going to go well.

I think it's time to turn our attentions to the Meklar.




This is the ship that will do the job ... I hope. Mass drivers instead of fusion beams, because we can.