Part 152: Episode XIV: Opening
Episode XIV: Opening
Once again we end up with none of the top enemies. It's really been a good stretch of games for that -- I forget how many since we faced the Psilons now. This is frankly nearly a perfect set of foes. An early Silicoid explosion seems the top threat; Sakkras could also start fast of course and the Meklar are always capable of being a pain. Either I'll lose to someone besides the Psilons or Humans for the first time in this LP, or I'll win a third in a row for the first time.
I also wonder how many are stuck together in that cluster of potential homeworlds on the right side of the map.
Here's a new type of start; the Ring. You can see that effect better on the previous galaxy map; a circle of planets surrounding Cave and one other one. This comes up every once in a while. There's no need to speculate on where we'll head first. That green star to the right is the only option. It's also already obvious that after that we'll need better propulsion research. I can already tell it's going to be a pain right off the bat without even touching a single setting.
It's no artifact system, but it's nice. Immediately we spot a Darlok scout, apparently en route. Now I could basically care less if this is a quick attack by them; we'd only lose maybe 6-8 million troops to any attack they could send this early in the game. Definitely looks like they are off to our right though, and we may indeed have to fight our way out. The Recon count is exceptionally high for a Medium galaxy; we need 11 more of them, almost twice the usual number. That's probably a good thing, even though it'll slow us down a bit, taking over two years to build.
2306. Our first batch of Recons along with the first million transports from our Cave got here at exactly the same time. That meant they didn't even get to scout it and try to attack. First skirmish to bearkind.
Same year. This is very much a potential super-early target, depending on what the scouting and range research turns up. Took about a year longer than usual, but the Recon Rush is in full swing and transports leave annually for Reticuli.
This does not happen often. 2309 here. Scouting an enemy homeworld. They had 49 fighters here. All of them were scouts though. So now we have hard intelligence on their location. 69M population, while Cave stays at 50M due to the outgoing colonists. 95 factories to our 54. Jerks.
This isn't looking encouraging.
At the edge of our scouting range, but the best thing we've found so far.
Another lovely ball of drek.
Those aren't too bad either. Nothing great, but a few decent/fairly good options.
Almost homeworld-quality. Best thing we've seen so far, and the last of the first wave in 2312. We chased away Darlok scouts here. We've seen nothing but scouts for them.
Here's a possibility that's setting up for us. If we get Hydrogen Fuel Cells(range 4), there are only two possibilities within range. One is invading Firma, the red D the cursor points at here. A
Darlok planet, and we need it to get to Vox, best system we've yet seen - the yellow terran directly below it. The other is Volantis, large poor planet, the green terran above our territory. If we get Deuterium for better range, all that gives us in addition in Anraq(70M Steppe to the left).
Right now this is setting up to play very much to the Bulrathi way of going about things. This start seems to be strongly encouraging me to attack the Darloks immediately, and largely because it's so contrary to my typical playstyle I really want to do it. Colonizers are expensive this early in the game. If I can get another planet with a fairly minimal amount of initial population investment, I think it's a net win -- and it's hard to imagine a more inviting scenario. But we must act quickly before they build up the system. Nonetheless, I still must max out Cave and get the range required before I can even consider this.
A quiet period through 2325, and then we found out what we had:
** Computers: Deep Space Scanner
** Construction: Improved Industrial Tech 9
** Planetology: Controlled Barren Environment
** Force Fields: Class II Deflectors
** Propulsion: Hydrogen Fuel Cells
** Weapons: Hyper-V Rockets
Not a single solitary choice to be made. And also Hydrogen. So I made my choice: the Firma Plan it was. Or to put it another way -- "colonization by alternate means".