Part 89: Episode VIII: 2400 - 2425

Episode VIII: 2400-2425




We were even in production about a decade ago, and then both other empires got one of those magical boosts. Been creeping up again. Hard to see us not passing them eventually though. The next sign of progress here will be starting to close the technology gap.




The Psilons took a rich planet along our border recently, boosting them to nine systems(they have Toxic landings already). Overall though they and the Sakkra are still pretty static and we have more territory than both combined. I'm curious about the Humans, but they haven't done anything else with Lyae after we just beat them there, and we only see them buzzing around our more remote Recons occasionally.




In the past decade, we've started getting a few planets maxed out in industry and switching over to building bases and contributing to research. Been a long time coming but finally starting to happen, so we're starting to get some progress here. Shields and missiles look like they will be the next customers. We're investing 10x what we were a decade ago, and rapid growth will continue periodically.

Three years later the last standard Colonizer arrives at Guradas, which you'd be able to see if I didn't delete the screenshot before uploading it because brain fart. Research has already doubled again to nearly a thousand annually. Two cycles later we get deflectors in 2405, with Class III Shields the only choice afterwards. Getting some bad prototyping luck at the moment but we've got enough invested to brute-force these quick ones within a couple extra years anyway.




What the ... That's really weird this early on. Nice thing about a big empire is you don't miss one minor planet as much though.




These waited until the chance of discovery was 92%. I stuck with missiles, going Hyper-X next; the Ion Cannon, which is a lot more time-consuming, was the other choice. Meanwhile it doesn't look like we can increase trade much more, and we're starting to get some cash flow from that as well. Only a couple of systems still need payments from the reserve.




Robotics(also late) and nuclear engines show up in 2407. The usual detour to expand the economy will now be taken. Mk. IV Computer is the only real choice here, and while Sub-Light drives aren't urgent, they are the cheapest option to move propulsion forward. We have a couple of range options as well but I don't see a great need for that right now.




The Sakkra have a few destroyers here and we're still slowly building up this world. Were. Not ready to build combat ships yet. They may send in more ships, but we're building almost twice this much every year so this is not a concern yet. Also, we are almost to our factory-building discount so I keep some of our funding going to research; that'll speed up the building once we get it.

The next year we liberate Stalaz, at the cost of about 25M Meklar troops. Also this ...




It was only a matter of time. One of my favorite war messages by the way. You can just imagine the 'great emperor Hissa' staggering out of some swamkp in a bong-induced haze before making this profound, eloquent announcement. The good news is that they could change their mind any moment if, say, they simply get bored of being at war with us or they decide peace is a good thing to do after reorganizing their sock drawer or whatever. In terms of our readiness, we've got at least one base on a few worlds(5 out of 19). If the war is still going on when we finish our robotics upgrade, I'll consider throwing some missile ships at them. The most concerning part is that they are allied with the Humans and Klackons. A hilarious 12 transports are incoming to Mu Delphi. No way their tech is good enough to take it with that many at this point in the game. We've got over 100M there.




The Psilon tech edge is showing itself as they continue to gobble up planets nobody else can land on, including this one: Maalor, a rich inferno behind our lines. If we ever do go to war with them, this could get complicated. They're up to 11 planets.

Meanwhile, more Sakkra ships are inbound to the nebula. I notice some incoming ships several years away that look like they are headed for Rhilus, our other large/poor world. I switch to bases there since most of the industry is finished. We offer the Psilons an alliance, and are refused for a second time.




The factory discount arrives, and I think Battle Suits are an appropriate choice now. Cheapest forward option as well.




Almost held our own; they have better armor material but that's it. 15M lost, took 12M with us. They have a few cruisers in orbit now too though and their bombardments are starting to sting more.

2412: they are slowing wearing Mu Delphi down, and will probably take it eventually, but a few systems have now finished their new factories. That brings us one step closer to striking back, and when they reach Rhilus I now have a base up there and more being built.

Another year and I'm ready to start building some ships.




Not a bad name: we'd very much like to torment the Sakkra. Hit-and-run missile ships that fire a pair of salvos from each of two launchers. We'll rally at Rhilus, and once that's secure, head to Mu Delphi. Probably not in time to save it, but at the least to recapture/recolonize. To start with it's just one of these destroyers a year coming from Selia, but soon more systems add their weight to the production.




Crap. I was hoping to ally them. It seems they formed an Alliance with the Sakkra though. That could be trouble. At the same time though, the first Sakkra attack is rebuffed at Rhilus. I'm confident we can handle their ships with our bases, so I start sending Tormenters on to Mu Delphi. 10 were produced the next year, even as the bombardment of the system intensified ...




So far so good on the robotics as our new battle computer(and dead landings) come in. First terraforming option(+30M) arrives and work begins on that, while there are two barren systems we should be able to claim before anyone else. The Psilons continue to snag up the hostile systems though, and there are some infernos out there that we can't get.




Class III Shields come in and we'll happily snag the Planetary V here. That should help us limit the damage done by this Sakkra war. However ...




We couldn't get enough ships there in time to hold it. Close to holding out one more year, but they were killing dozens by this time annually with their bombardments. Rhilus, the other system they've tried to attack, will be the new rally point. No more Tormentors are being built at the moment(bases/research/dead colonizers) so we aren't going to be retaking Mu Delphi any time soon.




First time we've been on the losing end of this situation. It was a Recon picketing a system with no planets, so it's hardly a big concern.




Hyper-X Rockets are in. You could make an argument for any of the four here, but I'm going cheap and therefore taking the Ion Cannon. I doubt we'll ever deploy it, but who knows.




Crap. The good prospects in this galaxy just got a lot worse. The Psilons have decent range, Class V Shielding which will absorb most of the damage from even our newly-invented rockets, Omega-V Bombs which will render our planetary shields, even when we get them, basically irrelevant. I don't know how much of that they have on their ships, but if they are determined to take one of our planets, they're going to take it and there's little we'll be able to do about it. Our only hope is continuing to tech-up and keep the base-building coming ... and hope that we can get peace with them before we've lost too much.

Our next ship, the Tornado, steps up to cruiser size so I can add on the battle computer, for two reasons; to see what they have on theirs and also to hopefully give us enough initiative to move and fire first, vital for a missile boat. The damage-per-credit calculation here is not as good as the Tormenter, but the upgrade to Hyper-X rockets gives us a better chance at doing significant damage.

We've still got several more systems than the Psilons, but it's not going to end well if we can't keep it that way. The Sakkra are ultimately to blame here; they reformed their Alliance with the Psilons, and then demanded they join against us. Erratic, and yet they manage to be on stable good terms with everyone else. They're really ticking me off right now. All we need is time, to allow our tech and our military to catch up with our economic might. Bastards won't let us grow so we can bomb them back to the stone age. Who do they think they are??




So it's time to play that game now.




Back up to 19.




Well at least we're ahead of somebody. We aren't that far behind the Sakkra though, so soon we should become an 'average' race in terms of advancement. That will mean nothing though if average just means 'still two generations behind the Psilons'.




As another Sakkra group -- with over 100 destroyers -- makes it's way to Rhilus, our ground defenses get a needed upgrade. The next choice is between Industrial Tech 7 and Zortrium Armor. Zortrium is almost twice as expensive, but we need it and we just got Industrial 8. Of course none of that matters when you mis-click and hit Duralloy Armor instead. Not a terrible choice to get that quickly, but largely wasted time.




Our 20th system, announced just as the Council prepares to meet again. We face off against Bladrov IV again, and we'd better have a veto bloc here because I expect the galaxy to unite against us now.




Figured as much.







I can get nervous now, as Bladrov has the support of half the galaxy ...




Hey, thanks! Apparently the kitties have decided to go and be hostile to everyone, per usual. That means they love us, since they haven't met us, and everyone they've met, they hate.

The Klackons follow this up by abstaining with their 3 votes, and we have 13. Which is one shy of being able to veto. We still needed help, but got plenty. 21-17 had we voted for ourselves. That's a pretty evenly-divided state of things.