Part 34: Episode IV: Silicoid Start, 2300 - 2328

Episode IV: Silicoid Start. 2300-2328




So here we go with the opening. White theme this time, and Cryslon of course as our homeworld. Emperor Carnax leads the space rocks. We're back down to the normal starting production amount, but as mentioned no ecology spending so we can still get more factories going right away. There are two stars in range here, the blue and green to the left.




As far as the map itself goes, we're in the upper right here. Biggest question is whether we have any rivals in that stretch of yellow stars along the right edge. To the left, the other direction, it looks like we'll have room to expand for quite a while. One scout will head to that green star below and to the right, to give us a better heads-up on what's out that way; the other heads to the blue star on the left. The green one is the clear best choice for our colony ship. Now we can land almost anywhere, but it's more likely to be a better planet and also will be a little better for extending range.

Huge is ... well, huge. 40 parsecs corner-to-corner, give or take. Travel times are going to immense early on, and attention to detail when scouting will be more vital then ever. Our rivals will also be given their greatest freedom to expand ... but contact will wait longer, giving us more time. That can be good, or bad. We'll see.

The draw of other empires is definitely the toughest we've seen. Both power rivals, Psilons and Klackons, and the others are capable of being trouble if they get off to a good start. Still 2300 and I'm feeling the pressure already. Hopefully the big shots will meet with unfortunate circumstances early on. Also, no Meklars for the 4th straight time! Odds of that are just 4%.






You were saying?!

That's not encouraging -- Vega isn't the powerhouse it was last time. It's better than the alternative though, which ended up being a 25M max. Dead world.

\


Nine Recons are needed for our initial wave, which will take at least a year. Also, we're already a few million population behind where we'd normally be. The homeworld will only be able to spare 1M a year at best for the moment, so Vega will grow slowly. There's nothing to be done about this, it's just all part of the Silicoid Experience(tm). New colonies grow excruciatingly slow without an influx of rockpower, and we'll need to keep that always in mind.




A bit of good news here as we reach that star off to the right. An unimpressive desert environ, but no sign of any other empires out this way yet.




This would be a rough starting position if we weren't Silicoids. Toranor is the second of two hostile worlds within range. We'll colonize both of them, but I think everything else is going to be 4 parsecs or more away so we'll have to research once we get to that point. Won't get much out of either one of them right now, but we'll take what we can get.




It's 2311, and we've found mostly crap. One barren rich planet(40M), a couple jungle planets and one of them poor. Kakata here is the best thing we've run into, and the bugs show up the year after we scout it. Looks like they are over on that right side somewhere, which means either they run over us or we have a chance to maybe close them in. It's just the usual scout chase, but then this:




Fertile + Artifacts? Very nice. We get nothing, which means somebody else has already been here. Must be from that yellow star directly below. We've got a handle on where two enemies are, and we could be boxed in except for the left flank.




On the homeworld, it's time for accelerated breeding ... or crystal growing? Whatever you want to call it, we've got enough factories for the current population but Vega needs more population still, so the industrial buildup has to be sidetracked for a bit. Expensive, but there's no good options. A year later, I use a bit of the overflow, because why not, to get a look at our initial tech options.

Options is a kind word: Deep Space Scanner, Industrial Tech 9, Class II Deflectors, +10M Terraforming, and Hydrogen Fuel Cells(range 4) are all forced choices. Part of that is because reduced industrial waste, eco restoration, etc. are not part of our tech ladder at all.




Here's our one and only real choice, and Hand Lasers will get the ball rolling. After a few years, Cryslon can begin growing again ... but not in the normal, natural way.




Spending is balanced between industry and ecology, so that enough factories are built for the population but some workforce increase is also funded. The exact mix changes each year a bit. It's an open question when the best time is to switch over from that to building colonizers and just let the population grow the last bit on it's own. I decide to do that when it reaches about three-quarters, 75M pop, which is about 190 BC; a third of the price of a ship. We hit that mark in 2321, by which time as Klackons we'd already have one finished, but a few years before other races would have started.

By 2328, both colony ships are on their way and attention has turned to fuel cells research.




Vega will do what little it can to assist, but mostly Cryslon is going to have to do the heavy lifting.

And so the opening has concluded. The planets off the the right require more range than we are going to be able to get. We'll be pushing downwards as much as we can but mostly expanding to the left it appears. It remains to be seen how that'll go. We'll see how that fares, and get a better picture of how that the galaxy shapes up, in the next couple of decades.