Part 175: Episode XVII: 2400

Episode XVII: 2400 -




Planets and population are pretty even. Naturally the Klackons have an economic edge, which they've turned into big tech and fleet leads.




I expect to be able to resume espionage against the Silicoids here soon. It continues to be a balancing act, trying to stay in their good graces in between taking their stuff.




The Silicoids lead with 17 planets, we have 15, 13 for the Klackons. A little math leads to the conclusion that we are the dominant powers right now most likely. Alkari and Bulrathi would appear to be on the bottom center/bottom left areas. The Council has not convened, which it will do when 72 system have been colonized. The three of us have 45, which means 27 to divide between the other three races. It's unlikely any of them have more than about a dozen I'd say. So at worst, we're in the game here. I also think it's about time to think more long-term.




We have everything they do in computing, and the Human alliance is of little concern. I'd like their engines to get around faster, and also their terraforming advances. If we have the chance, those are what I'd go for next. I think our odds of being able to rob the rocks blind long-term are quite good.




The bugs are another matter. Their computer tech is getting away from us which is making things harder and harder. Additionally, I think they are the biggest long-term threat. Their production edge will fade as time goes by, but it won't completely go away; they have more staying power than the Silicoids do. Also, since they are Ruthless and presently diplomatically isolated, they will go on the warpath sooner rather than later most likely.

I'd rather be the right hand of the devil than be in their path. I decide to cease all espionage against the Klackons until and unless we end up in war with them. The goal is to prevent that, eventually bribing my way into being their ally if possible. Their enemies will become our enemies, and we'll aim to expand more than they do through war and eventually turn on them, assuming we don't luck out and get a Council victory somewhere in there.




After handing over a trio of low-level techs that won't help them much, they agree to this. Relations are up to Relaxed. We'll need a lot more to get them to agree to an alliance, but it's a good start. On the Silicoid side, the only thing they're interested in are Robotic Controls III, which I'm not willing to give them.



I've drained much of the funding into pursuing Inferno landings recently as mentioned. As soon as we get that, a new set of colonizers will go out ... and we'll see if Radiated landings are in our future.

Getting defenses up is going to be more and more important as well. We haven't needed them yet, but it may not be long until we do. The whole of the empire has just six missile bases operational, which is a bad joke that needs attention. Right now my goal is to spend 12% on them, until we find out about planetary shields. That means we can afford about 10x our current number. Research will remain the primary priority though, at least until our planetology push is over. Economically trade is still a significant drag and has been since we made contact with the Silicoids. Most systems are still developing their industry, so we haven't reached the tipping point of really being able to heavily invest in much of anything else yet.




Took us over a century to see our first Bulrathi vessels. We've seen everyone else. Looks like they are headed for Rha, but my guess is they just leave once they find out it's occupied, given how far from wherever home is for them they are.




This is where they are coming from. Not as far away as I thought. Looks like our hopes of getting to the bottom of the galaxy will not be realized in all likelihood. This is Seidon, a relatively recent addition to their empire. Basically it looks like the Bears expanded to the right from wherever before we could expand downwards.




Grrr. I wanted the engines; this doesn't help us. Ahh well.




They word their warning slightly differently this time. I still say they're all talk.




Eureka!! We want all the new things. Inferno shows up in 2407. We want Radiated landings the most though, and will crash-research that. Soil Enrichment and our first Terraforming upgrade as well ... although those will take longer without the extra funding. But yeah, Inferno is in and we have colonizers to build, while R&D keeps right on going. With this, we could eventually add up to another seven systems from presently scouted possibilities.

Five out of six hostile landings. I think that's making up for our bad propulsion luck. The Klackons have Terraforming +40 so either they are waiting to research Radiated ... or they don't have it in their tree, more likely. Of course that just means their economy is going to grow more, but it also means the Silicoids are the only ones who can beat us to those rich radiated worlds ...




An interesting little test of game mechanics here, as the Bulrathi don't leave Rha -- they're coming with 20M troops. We'll have more people than that by the time they arrive, but we won't be able to hold them off. However, colonizers - using the range Rha provides - are already headed to the Dead worlds beyond them.




Clearly the Alkari are more numerous than I thought. This is a good time to vote; it's 2411, so we've got some time to make any maneuvers that might be deemed necessary.

** Bulrathi(7) -- Farseer
** Humans(2) -- Abstain. Looks like they probably just have Sol and Trax, or maybe one more system.
** Alkari(11)
** Klackons(14)
** Silicoids(10) -- Abstain

It's 18-14 in favor of Farseer narrowly. We have 10, not enough to put anyone over the top. It does look like a pretty balanced galaxy; the Bulrathi are behind but not badly so. Only the Humans are a dumpster fire. I vote for Kaxal. It's a double-edged sword to so clearly declare my loyalties. It appears to be shaping up as Darlok/Klackon vs. Alkari/Bulrathi, with the Silicoids as the wild card. There could be interesting times ahead.

Our Klackon relations boost to Calm. That's not enough for a credible alliance proposal yet, but it's a good bump. I also discover that the Silicoids are allies with the Bulrathi. So you might as well add them, at least for now, to the opposing side of things.




Crap. We lost the crown jewel of the Radiated worlds. It's not at all a shock ... just ran out of time here.




Same year. It's ... well, it's something.




Industrial Tech 8 arrives. I'm willing to pay more here to get the waste reduction.




Way to screw up my entire plan there, MOO.




Yeah, yeah, yeah. Espionage back on. They are allied with the Silicoids now for whatever reason, so we can expect them to join in soon also. This is exactly what I didn't need. It's not like we need any help having the galaxy hate us ... though this type of assassination plot is a very Darlok move. I just wish they'd been better about it.




Here's what I think of your little alliance ... success the very next year! Meanwhile the Klackons blow up both missile bases on Endoria, also the same year. And so the wheel turns.




As expected, we lose this battle in 2415. They have slightly better tech, and are Bulrathi. We take out 6M of theirs, while our 27M are annihilated. We actually deserved slightly better results than that, but the result was a foregone conclusion.




An AI would immediately declare war after such an affront, but I do not since I'm not a complete moron.




10 systems for them now. They are a bit behind the curve, but credible. Looks like Alkari in the lower-left will be the one we don't meet for a while. They are very typically Aggressive Ecologists, allied with the Humans and Silicoids. We get an immediate big trade deal(850 BC) and get spies going right away. Our trade deal with the rocks is boosted to the same amount and we are set to start stealing from then again as well. That'll take a sizable chunk out of our budget, but we need another race to spy on. Overall they seem a good target; a little more advanced that the Silicoids, but not as much as the Klackons.

2416: More Klackon sabotage, and we get Inertial Stabilizer. Dotomite Crystals(Range 7) is up next as we have now missed out on the first two engines.




This will basically replace Rha, only without the whole Ultra-Poor thing.




Honorable Diplomats, as usual. We can only get a 200 BC trade deal with them due to their wimpiness. I'll still put the espionage effort in, until such time as they don't have anything useful for us to steal. They are still rated as being slightly more advanced than we are.

Research levels for us are now down to just 60% of what they were before we met the Bulrathi and got into all the extra trade and spying. It's not as if there's much of a choice in the matter though.




Continuing to work our way through the cheap second-tier techs. It's Scatter Pack V rockets or Ion Rifle next. We'll take the scatter pack, being a bit cheaper and in dire need of a better missile for our bases.




We go back to computing since the Silicoids researched this. Bulrathi seem an obvious framing choice, stronger and an ally of the rocks.

We really are a race of royal bastards, truly. And the alliance is no more, at least partly because of our asshattery.




I've always considered this a key early tech. We'll go for the Advanced one next; we're 3-for-3 on those but have to see a single Robotics advance in our tree. The other choice was upgrading our ECM or Battle Computer VI, and since we just got V neither of those were compelling.




Oh, for some terraforming tech so we could make these systems not suck so comprehensively.




The bugs are getting antsy, launching a large, long-range invasion of this Silicoid system. At least they aren't attacking us - that's proven to be another fake war so far. Things could be blowing up a bit early here once more.




The Silicoids strike again. Two other races have Toxic, but nobody else has radiated landings yet. We do, but just can't get it researched fast enough. I could have done it somewhat faster, but I would have had to sacrifice other things ... in the last few decades we are picking up the crap systems and they're getting the good ones. We will definitely pay a price for that.




Finally! A faster engine.




And our latest addition, as we stay solidly in second place when it comes to planet count. I notice that the Klackons have allied with the Bulrathi ... who have allied with the Alkari and Silicoids as well. That could be trouble. I need to try to get out of this bug war.




It takes this bribe, along with Fusion Bomb, Improved Space Scanner, and Irridium Fuel Cells to make them agree. Thankfully we had about 2.7k in the reserve, so it's not a huge loss for us. I only had one tech left on the list to give them. But it's enough to avoid the threat of war with most of the galaxy, so it's a bargain at any price. The diplomat leaves before I have a chance to offer a trade deal, so I hope this holds. Espionage is turned off with them again. I also ink a NAP with the Humans, just for the fun of it.

We've got a Bulrathi fleet incoming to Bootis as well. Looks like they're going to take that one away from us.




Another hit on the Silicoids, and it's a very nice one. Those hideous Inferno systems will now be only a quarter as pathetic. Tao will climb to 180M, Arietis to 80M ultra-rich. Again the Bulrathi are the choice here. I delay this for a bit on most planets, because we're almost to our next big goal.

The Klackons refuse a trade deal; 'why should we trust you now, when you've broken so many past treaties?'. It's clear that our ambassador's failed coup is not something they are going to forget.




As the Council prepares to convene. I was waiting to go for this until we got the ability to put Inferno landings and reserve tanks on a cruiser hull ... which happened two years ago with the terraforming theft. And then I noticed the bears were already coming. This was our only shot left at breaking out towards the middle/left of the galaxy. We are now cut off.




A 25% reduction of our current 8 BC price. And we researched the PDS, thrilled to get Class V Planetary as the next option. And ...




It was a busy year. Finally the Council did convene, with Kaxal and Farseer nominated again. The galaxy is +4 to 58 votes here.

** Bulrathi(7) -- Farseer
** Humans(2) -- Farseer. I'm detecting a pattern here.
** Alkari(12)
** Klackons(14)
** Silicoids(12) -- Kaxal. They abstained last time.

11 for us, +1 from before. That puts us fourth overall but not far behind. Kaxal leads 26-21 so we could vote for either party ... I support the bugs again. I think Klackons/Silicoids, if it holds, will be the stronger pairing. And it's definitely the one most dangerous to us being our closest neighbors. We owe them anyway after that whole business with the ambassador.




ROFL. Actually it's a vote for self-preservation and later backstabbing. You don't want peace and stability any more than we do.