Part 85: Episode VIII: Opening

Episode VIII: Opening

The Meklar are back, with a Large galaxy this time. Standard choice emperor QX-537.




We start along the right, with a cluster in the upper-left that could house multiple foes. Some yellow stars near us stand as possible good early expansion opportunities. Candidate homeworlds are aplenty in every sector. And the empire picks are unkind. Psilons, Klackons, and Humans. No Silicoids this time, but the only prospective pushover here are the Mrrshan. Quite a tough group of rivals.




This yellow star, just two parsecs away(the minimum distance) looks to be our best option. The red one below and to the left is also in range at three parsecs and would be a little better directionally, towards the galactic centre. Both will extend our range though and everything going towards the rim is at least four distant, out of range. Looks to be a good setup, and the colony ship will make for the yellow one.




Fairly subpar but not terrible. Getting there in minimum time will help however. We'll need a healthy dose of Recons now, ten of them to bring our scouts up to a full dozen. That'll take at least two years, maybe part of a third, to accomplish. The usual 1M/year pop transfers to Dolz begin as well.




Poor, but Rhilus, the other system we could have reached, ends up being larger than Meklon by a bit. You just never know. Definitely figures as a good early pop incubator and later on research colony. Prioritizing systems in the direction of the middle of the galaxy, the Recon Rush begins.




Looks like everything's better than our first colony in the vicinity. Nine Recons are finished in the first two years, so we have to build another one in the third.




Here they are fanning out in 2307. Meklon's above the half-way point in terms of population and we'll start getting more scouting results soon.




This will definitely be low on the priority list, crap location and utility.




This is quite different and we could well be settling it soon. Rhilus is to the right of it and is our only option for settling next, and Selia is probably in range of that. We also stop sending population to Dolz at this point. Time for the focused buildup.




2309, and the scouting continues. Our first rich world, moderately hostile. We'll definitely want to keep a watch on this. That was it for the year; the bulk were slated to arrive the next cycle.




A place to live long and prosper indeed.




Boo.







It's not all good news, but a lot of it is. Big worlds plus our industrial capacity makes this promising.




A long-term project, but a second rich system in the vicinity.




Last of the half-dozen we reached this year. Haven't yet seen a single rival, and only one system remains unscouted.




That's it. Most of the crud is fairly far away.




The cursor here points to the only yellow star along the right side that we haven't explored. I think we'd have seen their ships by now if it was a homeworld, so we could have a free hand for a bit along this flank. Other than the strength of our rival selections, this is going quite well so far.

We won't need to go into propulsion research as quickly as last game either, so it's all about the industrial buildup for now. Still a question of how long to keep it going.

2317 -- Nothing has changed in terms of contacts. Dolz starts shipping people back to max-out Meklon's population.

2325 -- Meklon has max population and just over half factories(203). Time to stretch our legs. Based on how the systems are spaced, I'm certain we will be able to get two and only two additional systems at our current range tech, Rhilus and Selia. Dolz will do the initial diversion of funding to get our tech pulls, while Meklon pauses industry to get these two ships out there.

** Computing: ECM Jammer Mk. I
** Construction: Industrial Tech 9/Reduced Industrial Waste 80%. We'll happily go with the reduced waste.
** Force Fields: Class II Deflectors
** Planetology: Improved Eco Restoration. No terraforming, no Barren Landings.
** Propulsion: Deuterium Fuel Cells(Range 5). Would have preferred hydrogen but I'll take it. At least two high-quality systems will be within range once we get this.
** Weapons: Hyper-V Rockets.

Only one choice to be made here initially, and it was an easy one given how high our waste bill is going to be. We'll rush the Deuterium for range, then rush the reduced waste.