Part 119: Episode X: 2750 - 2775(I)
Episode X: 2750-2775
With the Mrrshan going away, it's increasingly a three-horse race with us still the clear third wheel. That's about all there is to see here.
** Bulrathi -- 24(+2). Still growing, but only a modest rate. Frankly that's the best we can hope for at the moment.
** Silicoid -- 21(+1).
** Sakkra -- 15(+2). Both of us(meaning the Silicoids as well of course) profiting from the Mrrshan conquest is just about the best I could hope for, and that's not quite done. Ten developed worlds, down one from our peak. Six are shipbuilding worlds, four are research systems(Orion, artifact worlds Crius/Iranha, and Whynil, mineral poor, which serves as both the staging system for the fleet and first choice for sending out population for invasions etc.). What we need most are most systems suitable for shipbuilding.
** Mrrshan -- 4(-3). Best-case for them is they are allowed a single world a decade from now. Their fangs were sharper in this fight than any before it, but self-destructive tendencies once again did them in(namely, picking a fight with both superpowers at the same time. Just no.)
** Meklar -- 1(--)
** Alkari -- 1(--)
I don't think the Universal Antidote will help enough to matter -- the Bulrathi often attack with hundreds of BioTerminator ships, plenty to wipe us out in a single attack. Maybe in an edge case.
The biggest difference-maker coming is the Plasma Torpedo, a weapon that is literally effective in any scenario regardless of the tech. Unlike the Death Ray, all the Tech Nullifiers in the world won't affect it. Like all torpedoes atmosphere halves the effectiveness, but at at 150 damage it still has more than enough to penetrate any shielding. Once we get it, the Colossus will cease to be necessary.
Thorium Cells(unlimited range) and the Class XV Deflectors that the Bulrathi and Silicoids already possess are the other two significant projects already outstanding. After that it'll basically be a matter of increasing efficiency through tech; reducing costs, cramming more on each ship, etc. And a few new toys like the Oracle Interface, Lightning Shield, etc. that we won't be using, at least in the short term.
Last time around the plan went well; we built up a reasonable fleet and went after the Mrrshan. That conquest will wrap up soon, probably in about five years give or take. Here's how it stands:
This is the majority of the Mrrshan fleet, which destroyed our Dragon II at Escalon. Unfortunately for them we have a few dozen more cap ships, and they have none remaining. The Sabertooth, which was roughly an equal to our Dragon, have all been eliminated(by the Silicoids, not by us). There are two more planets more or less directly below Denubius; Fierias the homeworld and then Cygni. We intend to take Escalon, then Fierias, and depending on what the Silicoids do, Cygni if practical.
It's important to make sure that we do not destroy the last Mrrshan world and get the genocide hit. Right now the Bulrathi only attack us when we are in their way. I don't want to give them any added motivation for doing so. In terms of the economic picture, military maintenance is just over 28%(22.7% fleet, 5.5% bases). As you can see by those numbers, missile bases are now an afterthought. It is now SOP to build 100 bases on any developed world. That's far more than we need against the Silicoids who can't penetrate our defenses, and we could have 10,000 and it wouldn't matter against the Bulrathi. I do think having around that many does still serve as a deterrent, up to a point, against the AI sending a fleet to the planet in the first place. That's really the only reason for not having like 10 everywhere to keep the rocks away. But the expense is no longer an issue.
And Then There Were Three
Two things are beyond obvious:
** The Bulrathi aren't losing in the Council, so we'll eventually have to fight them.
** The era of effective planetary defenses is over, as mentioned above.
Our main weapon then, will be a fleet capable of cutting through enemy defenses as quickly as possible. We're definitely working in that direction, and will continue doing so. Silicoid and Bulrathi shielding is considerably more robust than the Mrrshan(they both have the maximum possible, Class XX Planetary and Class XV Deflectors, for a total of 35 damage absorbed per attack). That means only high-end weapons can penetrate(or biologicals).
** We are highly unlikely to ever get the BioTerminator. Smurch isn't willing to trade it, and wisely so, and nobody else has it. That means we'd have to steal it either via espionage or by force. Invading Bulrathi planets is possible. But very hard under the best of circumstances. So the Guava Plan, much as other aspects of this game lend themselves to it, seems to be off the table.
A Road with Two Forks
After finishing up the Mrrshan campaign, we can turn our attention to either the Silicoid or Bulrathi. We need to eliminate one or at least cut them down to irrelevant size, strong as they are, so we can focus on the other. To my mind it's not a close call.
** Time is always against us. The more tech we get, the closer our ships will get to matching those of the superpowers. Attacking the Bulrathi would be taking on the true threat, but I'd rather do that when we are as powerful as we can be.
** Everything I've seen indicates the Silcoids are the easier target and will continue to be so.
** There is always the danger of the Council going against us, and if we take systems away from the Silicoids we'll be nominated rather quickly. However, that really won't matter much at this stage. In a Final War scenario, it would just mean the Bulrathi came at us harder and sooner than we want them to. But we're going to have to fight them anyway, and they won't gain much from the tech-sharing. Having said that, I'd still prefer to prevent Final War from triggering if possible.
** Our current designs are specifically anti-Silicoid(even more precisely, anti-Tech Nullifer). At least for now, the Bulrathi do not have that toy. We may want a different configuration to go up against them, so taking out the rocks means we can retool afterwards.
I could go on a bit but I think that's enough blather. Granid's Silicoid menace is the next target. The general goal, regardless of who we fight, is hit 'em where they ain't. It's about destroying their economy, not necessarily their ships -- though where given the opportunity, that's obviously a good idea too. Since we haven't acquired the Advanced Space Scanner yet, all we have to rely on are the number of ships at a system and whether it has a Stargate. That's the only information available to us. I'm also going to have to recall all of the Dragons stationed over developing colonies when this begins. That will make them vulnerable, but this will be a galaxy-spanning operation and will be about offense, not defense. We'll lose some systems for certain no matter what. It's simply going to be necessary to destroy more of theirs.
Beginning by hitting what are apparently the weakest available targets, we'll want to get a sense of what kind of force is required to take out their systems without taking significant casualties. If possible, we'll start hitting multiple planets simultaneously. Destroying a significant part of the Silicoid Empire will be the goal of the first phase of the war, seeding our colonies there to replace them as much as possible as well. Naturally the Bulrathi will probably contest this effort and snag some of them. Then we'll want to invade other systems once we've cut them down to size, as defined by having a superior enough fleet that I'm confident we can handle any confrontation between their ships and ours. That's short-cut the rebuilding efforts, give us a better chance of retaining the territory, and also allow us to steal a lot of their technology.
That's the plan. Time to find out whether it's going to work.
Our newest Dragons were sent to Escalon, but the Mrrshan fleet had left. One missile base was up, and it took out almost half of our troop transports. Which wasn't nearly enough. Time to see what we can take.
** Terraforming +20(yawn)
** Ionic Pulsar(more yawn)
** Pulson Missiles(one step above the Stingers, nice)
** Cloaking Device(might be useful in ensuring we get the first strike, which can be huge in massive fleet engagements). Cloaked ships can still be attacked, but a +5 defense bonus ensures those attacks will have minimal effectiveness.
** Tritanium Armor(we have better)
** Sub-Light Drives(triple yawn)
We get the maximum six, and a couple of useful ones. Next stop, Fierias, in two year's time.
Also ...
The only surprise is that it took this long. 451 years for anyone to officially check out. The Meklar were a middling power for a couple centuries, but were the first to really get pushed aside. At the same time that the Bulrathi were destroying Proteus, their final holdout, former homeworld Meklon was being glassed by the Silicoids. That's the kind of chaos I can really get behind.
Another casualty of not having the advanced scanners is that we can't send in troops to meet the ships -- because you can't send transports without having explored a system. Which is sensible as it might be a place too hostile to survive or uninhabitable. But we know what's here in this case. There are virtually no Mrrshan ships left. Let's see how we fare against their bases.
https://youtu.be/JeIIoaeeVbA
Losing a couple of the original Dragons isn't bad; I'll have to scrap them soon anyway. But I do like how well they survived the missile attack; the Colossus should do even better. And we get the Universal Antidote.