Part 167: Episode XVI: 2425

Episode XVI: 2425 -




Our economy's caught up with the others, and technology is headed that way ... except for the Psilons. We're on good terms with them though, and when the time comes we can likely just steamroll them through sheer numbers.




Trade is pretty much as high as it can be for now. The Psilons deal can't be boosted much because of their economy not being big enough to support a whole lot more.




Soil Enrichment is definitely the big prize coming up here, and even in that case the majority of our systems are now hostile ones so it'll probably only give us 80M or so in additional population, maybe one more vote in the Council.




Base-building continues gradually, slower than usual but we're getting away with it so far and it allows more investment in research. Five of the current 14 systems have less than 20M population right now, and a few others aren't fully-developed yet as well. There's still a lot to do in filling out and maximizing the empire.




And we're still not finding more unclaimed territory either.




And another one ...




The way we are spreading to all corners of the galaxy virtually now, it's going to take a long time to get colonist transports there(they still move at Warp 1). That's a fantastic problem to have though of course, but Crypto will be waiting 12 years for their additional bear-power to arrive from Proteus, through a nebula.

This world re-establishes contact with the Meklar, and we sign a new trade deal with them. It is 2429. That's everyone except for the Klackons, who of course still have a hate-hate relationship with the rest of the galaxy. The next range increase should take care of re-establishing relations with them anyway. We also sign a NAP with the Sakkra. I don't think there's ever been such a wide-spread galactic love-in before in this LP. Non-Aggression Pacts with lizards, cybernetics, and felines ... and the Alliance with the eggheads. That should really help Emperor Bullux when we they all start getting concerned about how big we've become - which I think is not far from being a thing.




The Psilons have used our alliance to reach Beta Ceti. We weren't going to get it anytime soon, lacking Radiated Landings on our tree. This is probably the only time I've ever thought it was relatively safe to have them get another system.




Our fourth consecutive non-choice in this field. Also in; Dotomite Crystals(Range 7). We could get more range, the Warp Dissipator that I never actually use(though it can be helpful in long fights) ... or Fusion Drives. Yeah I think doubling the speed of our ships and tripling that of our transports is pretty important. It's also the cheap option.




This could prove to be quite lucrative in time. The new range tech gave us contact with these wonderful guys ...




We literally didn't even have a chance to TRY and discuss anything with them first. Ok then. And warnings? We've been unable to talk to you at all, and vice-versa, for decades. What in the name of Orion are you talking about?!? Good thing I don't really care whether we're at war with them like everyone else is or not.




At least for the moment, there's only more left to grab. A couple more possibilities at the top of the galaxy remain to be scouted, one out of range though. We only beat the Sakkra to Rhilus by a year, and they snagged Esper, the small nearby Inferno, well before we could get there. Could well lose Rhilus to an invasion given how far away it is -- it'll take over a decade again for more population to get there. Either way, while I always want more systems, I really have the sense of 'it's about time' here. Finally one of the other empires got off it's behind to claim these systems that I never should have had a chance at in the first place, literally on the opposite side of the galaxy.




Here's what appears to be the final post-expansion map. The green and purple stars at the top are the only question marks; all the other open ones are either Orion or not inhabitable.

** Bulrathi(17)
** Mrrshan(8)
** Sakkra(6)
** Psilon(5)
** Meklar(5)
** Klackon(1)

Somebody is eventually going to take Kholdan, but as it is we have 40% of the available real-estate to ourselves. Even if the lizards do take Rhilus away form us, we'll still have twice the territory of anyone else. We also have four rich, one ultra-rich, and only one poor system.




2435. I also spot 72M Sakkra transports headed for Rhilus. Yeah, they're going to take it ... and hopefully our, much later, colonists won't make them too mad when they arrive. Atmospheric Terraforming is next, which is exactly what we need. The combination of the two will dramatically boost the size and productivity of our now-hostile worlds, making everything in the empire fertile. Once that hits, we'll see a major boost in the economy.




The Psilons wanted Battle Suits for this. We haven't gotten any of the improved cleanup techs, and we need some. We also managed to acquire +20M Terraforming, a small boost, from the Sakkra for range tech. I tried to get a Battle Computer upgrade as well, but the price was too high for my liking.




Industrial Tech 6 showing up gives me another choice. Not all that much of one though. Reduced waste wouldn't help a huge amount now that we have Improved Eco. Industrial Tech 5 moves things forward but for minimal gain. I think we need the armor boost now; it's only 3.2k so just a fraction of pushing higher, and we're quite a bit behind in that area.

Soon we discover that the green star at the top is an empty, uninhabitable system. Eventually I'll probably get the range to reach that purple one, but for now what we have is what we have.




We've got the fusion beam in now, and no other empire has yet managed to discover the Repulsor so I think we can consider building effective ships ... once we get some computing in at some point. I'd like to fill in some gaps now. Anti-Matter Bomb first, which will be relatively quick, and then the Fusion Rifle to ensure our ground troops will be well-equipped in the wars I expect are to come.




After our troops landed on Rhilus ... and were beaten ... the Sakkra said nothing directly. As you can see here our agreements remain intact, but they are none-too-pleased.




These are about to land on a planet with 9M population, and a maximum of 10M. Brilliant!!




Took a while to get the next scanner in, but it's here and now we'll have some warning of any attacks. While I'd really like the battle computer, robotics must always come first.




This will work though. They wanted the Fusion Beam for it, which is fine with me. They've already got similar weapons tech to that anyway, if not better. We also snag the PDS from the Mrrshan for range tech.

Let's see what's changed in the High Council voting, as it meets again midway through the 25th century.

** Psilons(3) -- Bullux. Thanks for wasting your transports and losing a vote, fellas.
** Mrrshan(8)
** Klackons(1) -- They're still in 'we hate the felines, but we hate the bears even more' mode.
** Meklar(4) -- Abstain
** Sakkra(6) -- Shandra. Figures

We have a full dozen(12) now. We abstain again, making the count 15-3 out of 34 total. If we got the Sakkra back on our side and the Psilons get that fourth vote back, that'd be 22 for us. That's almost enough. With continued growth on our end, it's probably just sufficient to put us over the top. The XenoMachines are less likely to come our way. Something is bound to happen with the Klackons eventually and then another war will almost certainly break out, but winning sooner rather than later means repairing our relationship with the lizards.