Part 112: Episode X: 2600 - 2625

Episode X: 2600-2625




Thus the fourth century of play begins. We are approaching the point where the technological edge of the great powers begins to matter somewhat less, simply because they are starting to reach the top of the tech tree. The Silicoids already have Advanced Construction Tech I, for example. Their ships will still be better than ours due to space and cost concerns, but economic/planetology advances will go in our favor simply because we are still inventing some while they've done most if not all of what they are going to get.




Bear in mind that these numbers are a snapshot of a very and increasingly fluid situation.

** Silicoid -- 24(-1)
** Bulrathi -- 16(-1)
** Mrrshan -- 9(-1)
** Sakkra -- 7(+2)
** Meklar -- 5(-1)
** Alkari -- 1(--)

We're literally the only empire that holds more territory now than it did 25 years ago. That's a trend I like. Also interesting is that the Mrrshan core worlds are fantastic, as shown by the fact that they have only a little more territory but almost twice the population.




The stuff we are researching now is too expensive for an empire of our size to accomplish it in anything resembling a reasonable timeframe. The next two will be important though. The shown terraforming will give us 30M more for each planet(excepting those like Rigel which was already terraformed better than we could by others), and the range from propulsion will get us to one more system, which will by process of elimination identify where Orion is, one way or the other.




It's hard to show the broadening sphere of chaos in still-image form. This purple system is Nordia, the green one to the lower-right Iranha. Both were solid Mrrshan worlds until recently. Well below this, Rayden is still constantly changing hands. Aside from that, the Silicoids recently mounted a failed attack on Ukko(Bulrathi rich world), we have Rigel again but it's virtually unprotected, etc.

There is little point in trying to fortify worlds or invest in transports to accelerate their growth. All I can do right now is attempt to magnify and profit from the chaos. Any system in range that looks like it's about to be attacked or is currently empty gets a colonizer sent to it. Targeted defense is possible when there are smaller fleets incoming, but increasingly difficult given the speed at which everything goes. The situation has truly devolved into a catastrophic grinder, just as the Human game did.

Maximizing production on developed worlds, resettling destroyed ones as I am able to rebuild them, snagging any that become available due to other empires getting their worlds bombarded so that rivals can't claim them and creating more opportunities for those rivals to destroy each others' ships in the process, these are the tools now available. Much different than the early-game fortification concept. I will not build beyond 50 missile bases on any planet, and only that as a basic level of deterrent that encourages enemies to send their ships to more opportune targets. Similarly, fleet concentrations are done with the idea of defending strategic/valuable planets that do not have Bulrathi ships in orbit, hoping to act as a deterrent more than an actual defense.

At Nordia, I was hoping to win a colony-vs-colony combat, but was surprised by their firepower. I guess I need to lure them into range to give myself the opportunity fire next time .. if possible.




This fleet paid a visit to Rayden and was too large for me to oppose. However, I was interested to see what they had here. Lots of Tri-Focus Plasmas, and Andrium Armor which is the same as what I'm using. Decent shielding but the Tornadoes in particular are interestingly slow. If I had enough ships to take out the other ones quickly, I might be able to make a fight of it. Interesting to note for the future.




The new terraforming came in, and as interesting as Universal Antidote is I'm really past the point of caring about it. I'll go for the next Terraforming level.




Relations are still positive after this, but significantly reduced. I definitely can't afford to lose the mighty bears as an ally.




2608. With all the up-and-down, another system joins the developed-and-contributing roster.




Here's a look at what the Silicoids fielded as they smashed Rigel again a couple years afterwards. Better armor than we have, better torpedoes, etc. And also more ships, so there was no point in fighting.




A long-standing Meklar world, and as you can see a pretty good one, joins the ranks of the chaos. At the moment though the Bulrathi appear to have a grip on Rigel with Rayden still up for grabs, so we have seen some reverses. Rana and Altair are still solid, with our total at 6 not counting Kulthos. As of 2612. Wait five minutes, it'll change.

This brings us closer to reaching that blue star where I think Orion is, but not close enough -- 14 parsecs, two out of range. All I need is to get a planet for one year that is close enough, and I can send a Recon there(we have a few of them with Impulse Drives) even if I later lose the planet. I don't think I'll lose the ship until after it arrives and scouts things due to the range issue(that's how I think the mechanics work), and at that point I'm not going to care, since if it is Orion the Guardian's going to blow it up anyway. But we're not close enough just yet.




Same year. Rana is one of our two weaker systems(along with Hyades) but beggars can't be choosers. It now joins the ranks of developed worlds -- we have six. In fact, from now on 'developed worlds' is going to be a lot more important metric than mere numbers of systems. I think I'll include that at the start of each update as it will be much more indicative of the rise and fall of our fortunes than 'hey, we just settled Planet X for the 14th time and had it destroyed again two years later' kinds of systems.




Here's the Rigel and Rayden situation I mentioned. It looks like Rayden will go Meklar for at least a bit. That Mrrshan fleet in orbit has only a colony ship and a troop landing they just made failed to take the planet. The Bulrathi could of course intervene but I don't see any evidence right now that they intend to. Some things go our way, some things don't.




Also the same year, we re-up trade deals for the first time in over a century. This is a questionable call given the current chaos, but it's the first time we've been able to double them. Previous deals were in the 525-600 BC range. The Meklar deal wasn't quite a doubling, but it was close enough that I did it anyway. A strong argument can be made for leaving the Mrrshan/Meklar deals where they were and just doubling the Bulrathi one. If we do go to war, I want it to be on my terms, and my sense of things right now is that 'spoils of war' situation is going to last quite a long time, particularly given how slow we are researching. If I'm wrong about that, increasing all the deals will probably end up being a bad move.

It costs us over 800 BC per year at the moment, which is roughly 13% of what our combined income(trade + production) was. We still have a positive trade balance but it is only a fraction of what it had been. Of course it's the potential long-term gain that is in view here.




2613, the next year. First time we've been able to get a foothold here as well. The Sphere of Chaos has shifted upwards it appears. We were able to time this arrival with a Bulrathi fleet, but they may not hang around. There are increasing signs that the tides of this war are shifting in favor of the Silicoids. Ironically it may be because of us, as there are significant Bulrathi fleets 'guarding' three of our worlds. The Meklar joined the war officially a while back on the side of the bears and have been in decline ever since, to the point where our production is now superior to theirs. Part of the reason for this is that the Mrrshan have joined the war on the Silicoid side(though they are not allied with them).

Still, we regularly refuse Silicoid entreaties, which come multiple times a decade now, to break our Bulrathi Alliance. We've made our bed, and those guardian fleets would quickly eviscerate our territory if we switched. There is no real choice here.




A couple years later, and unsurprising. More surprising though is the large Bulrathi fleet holding at Nordia. We may retain that system longer. And Rigel is now in play again, though the Meklar grip on Rayden remains.

A new dynamic over the past several years is that galactic fleets are exploding in size. We can't keep up, which means we can't really join in the fight at all to help out our allies as the tide looks like it's turning against them.




2618. It was only a matter of time. I expect they'll be spending more time fighing the Bulrathi than us. The biggest loss here is honestly a third of our trade income.




Here you can see how stupid-advanced the Silicoids are, but also the distribution of the war thanks to recently signed alliances. Everyone is now officially on a side. Rocks-BirdsStillExist?-Kitties vs. Bears-Lizards Rising-Cybernetics Declining. Honestly it's still pretty darned even. The latest fleet figures have the Bulrathi with a much stronger force than anyone else and equal tech to the Silicoids. If they weren't safeguarding our worlds, they'd be doing a lot more damage elsewhere.

A rather disquieting stability settled in for no apparent reason the last few years before the Council vote. Only Kulthos continued to be fought over actively.




Granid and the galaxy are both +5 this cycle, confirming my observations that it was a strong period for them.




Now a full two votes shy of a veto bloc, and eight shy of their rivals. It's not time to panic yet but there is some concern in our camp.

We are up to 11, +3 from the last time out so we did pretty darned great for ourselves also. That's still 4th behind the Mrrshan, who remain at 15. Granid holds a small but significant 57-48 lead, even with our support.