Part 19: Episode III: Opening

Episode III: Opening

Species: Klackons
Galaxy Size: Large(70 stars)
Emperor: Kaxal




I swear there are often hard choices to make on where to colonize first. For the third straight game, we don't have any: this green star below us is the only one within three parsecs. Bizarre luck I'm having with that, but it is what it is.




Unfortunately that will not extend our range further into the galaxy. A couple things about large/huge maps: it's a lot harder to guess at where the AI homeworlds might be with all these yellow stars. There are still some 'dark space' gaps but a lot more clustering as well.

Our selection of rivals is almost the same as last time. No Humans to trouble us, but they've been replaced with the Psilons. That's not an improvement. Silicoids can be particularly troublesome in bigger galaxies too, because in general there's more room to stretch your legs before running into opposition.




Could be better, but pretty good. The initial build of needed Recons numbers seven this time. We're close to the edge of the galaxy which limits it. There are two possibilities for more colonies; a green and a yellow star to the left or right of Kulthos. Quite good odds of at least one being habitable: both could be. So we shouldn't need to worry about researching better range anytime soon.




Nice! One our first two scouts went here, and we are rewarded.




There are more useful things to get, but this will definitely give us a nice boost. Up to TL5 in Weapons without really doing anything. Kailis is 5 parsecs away, and we probably won't get to it until we extend range as there is a bit of a gap there.




Wow. This puts our homeworld to shame. 120M is the largest a planet can be without terraforming, and it also is better than the green star on the left in terms of pushing us away from that edge of the galaxy and extending our range. Pretty much doesn't matter what the other one is, this is where our next colony is going.

Between Vega and Kailis, this is a really fortunate start. Looking further ahead, the green star above and to the right of it would then be within range: that's not impressive at a size-40 steppe, but that's 2-3 more colonies without needing any research. Should make for a strong beginning.




How nice: the purple Psilons are neighbors. This is a fast first encounter -- it's only 2311! We chase away their scout and discover a fairly good arid planet. Also ...




It's raining artifacts!!




Nice. If we have to fight any early ship battles, this will be a big boost. The other planet near Kulthos, by the way, royally sucks. Dead, minimum size of 10M. So it looks like Vega, then Ajax, then research: I think everything else will still be four parsecs or more away.

Just like last game the first Colonizer is finished in 2320. Might be able to get it done a year earlier if the first colony was particularly low-population, but that seems to be pretty much the standard limit here. It's super-fast anyway. On to Vega, with Kulthos pumping out more Recons as needed.




It's 2324, and time to see our first tech pulls. Big bonus here as a result of getting that artifact battle computer: we can take Robotic Controls III as our first choice! Yes please.

Reduced Industrial Waste 80%, Class II Shields are the only options in their fields.

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All three options here. Haven't found any Barren planets yet. The usual plan of knocking out the terraforming quickly and then coming back for the Improved Eco.




I almost always take Range 4 if given both choices, though there are rare cases where 5 is needed. This isn't one of those, they are at least a few more systems that we'll be able to get to with range 4.




And we can get to the next tier of Weapons right away as well. Hyper-X Rockets for missile bases is hard to pass up.

Vega is colonized and the new Colonizer built and bound for Ajax. Busy year. We'd like to get 40M to Vega right away, but don't have the people for that. The usual plan of keeping Kulthos at half-way full and shipping the rest there will have to suffice. That means 11M for now. Ajax will need some soon as well. Sort of a victim of our own success in expanding, as can often happen.

Those artifacts have given us a nice early boost.