Part 173: Episode XVII: 2350

Episode XVII: 2350 -




A crucial point in the land-grab has been reached. We've got six systems with a 7th coming soon. It's nice to know that nobody has hit the first milestone yet, which is I think 13 in a huge galaxy. That means we're vaguely competitive on territory at least ... for now. Nobody's forgetting how much our rivals, esp. the Silicoids, can blow up once they start expanding. The cursor is pointing to a red star that is the key right now. Recons will arrive in two years, and we have three on the next Colonizer so I can afford to wait for them. If we get lucky and that's habitable system, we'll go there. If not, I need to go to a battleship-sized ship with reserve tanks; we've got two systems available for that but the green one just to the right of that line of stars we're trying to get to at the top of the galaxy is definitely the most important. Missing out on range 5, range 6, and nuclear engines is not particularly lovely in a huge galaxy.




Tao is on the rim, but ready to start flowing people towards the galactic centre. We've got enough headed to ultra-rich Artemis now, and with Tao's size and fertility 5-6 million colonists will depart it's surface annually. It won't be long until we don't have a population problem for new colonies in the forseeable future. The colonists will route to Kailis first, and then go wherever they are needed from there.

The main problem at the moment is that there's very little research coming in, but with the constant need for more Recons(28 right now and not enough yet) and the limited size of first-colony Endoria, there's nothing to be done about that until some of the others get industry built up.




Draconis, thy name is stepping-stone. This is excellent news, and will allow the expansion to continue with no massive fuel tanks required.




Making a beeline for that line of stars is looking more and more vital all the time. At least they are hospitable so far. It takes almost a decade to get to the closest ones from our homeworld on Fantasia, so travel time is really starting to become a bigger issue. It will get worse.




Here's a rare but annoying case where range really seems to be calculated weird. This yellow star is 7 parsecs out from Artemis, just within scouting range. The red star just below it? Not one, but two parsecs more; 9 away. Eight I could buy, but nine? Really??

We also scout Galos, another big terran fertile. Not as big as Tao, but still very nice.







I've never seen this many naturally fertile systems. This one though, has already been claimed by the Silicoid, our first encounter of any kind with another race. It is 2354, and continually we are pushed toward the top of the map.




Also Silicoid. A couple years later, one of their Morey-class destroyers shows up at Galos, the terran fertile in that upper band of planets. No colony ships yet, but you know they'll be coming. Whoever controls that area of space first will have a big advantage. It's vital to us getting enough territory to be competitive.




Yet another Silicoid system, and closer to our targets. That's a concern. It's got a bunch of rocks on it(60M) so they've been here for a while. We've got as many Recons in the pipeline now as I think are useful, so I yank funding from that project. We've reached critical mass on population, so most of those transfers stop as well.







Our first clue as to the location of the birdbrains. It was a lone fighter, Pelican class.




Yep. Blocked off here as well; that's four confirmed Silicoid systems. This one looks more recent. They're unlikely to be happy with us when we establish relations, what with all this flitting about their planets. Nowhere else for our Recons to go at the moment until we add to our empire and extend the reach.

In 2362, we arrive at Draconis with our Colonizer. And two Alkari Pelicans are there. That really sucks, because it leaves two other colonizers in limbo. We need Draconis as our link. Those birds better leave soon ... one year earlier and I wouldn't care.

A brief Klackon visit to Obaca didn't last long. The Alkari went to Helos, then left after a couple of years. That's the typical -- but they hung around Draconis longer, for whatever reason.




After we spent an unacceptable five years cooling our heels, held at bay by two freaking fighters, they finally decided to go do something else.




They're lucky we bother to acknowledge their existence. Aggressive Industrialists, already allied with the Alkari.




They have nine systems, we have eight. That's not too bad, although one gets the feeling they are in the early stages of blowing up. We sign a trade deal for 200 BC, and start investing significantly in a spy network before the ink on it is dry. I'm gambling that we won't get caught; the earlier we start the easier it will be to be successful in espionage. I'm going computing first to maintain as much of an edge as we can.

Unforunately for our colonization efforts, Gorra and Galos are still one parsec out of range. That means we can only go to Helos next ... and it will take six years to get there. We'd almost have it by now without the delay at Draconis, but now there's much more time for us to be delayed further or even have one of the others snatch it. There is good news elsewhere, as Arietis begins to fund reserve transfers to accelerate growth.




Welp, that didn't take long. One year to insert, one year to steal. I frame their ally as breaking up alliances would be nice, esp. if they catch us. Hopefully we'll be seeing this screen a lot. Our current report says they have 10 more things we can take. Let's get busy, shall we?




Long-awaited and much-needed in the early 70s. Some of our systems were approaching spending half on waste cleanup. Barren and Tundra landings are next up; we've got Tundra out there so I'll take that route. Seems best to me to continue crashing it with everything we've got available.




I'm clearly being trolled. This is literally the next thing that pops up after I click on the Tundra research selection. Meanwhile the Silicoids have caught a couple of our spies. I might have had a bit of beginner's luck.




They left it alone, and now our bridge to the top of the map is complete. Also a quality planet in it's own right.

2374: Unsurprisingly, the Silicoids take Primodious. A nice-sized barren like that is basically a jewel for them.




Yep. We end the quarter-century on this. It's not a bad thing so long as they don't end up with 40 systems or something. I often like a fairly big Silicoid empire to check the growth of the others, but they'll be a real threat if they get TOO big.

It's worth noting that I had 15 systems as the Silicoids at this point in my other try at Huge. And still lost, though the planets weren't nearly as good as the ones I have now(lots of small/poor ones).