Part 8: 2380 - 2400
Episode I: 2380-2400Last time we were nominated in the initial High Council, which ended inconclusively as most empires chose not to pick a side. We also discovered, unsurprisingly, that we are way behind the curve in fleet strength: the new Star Blazer was designed to try to keep us from getting overrun, packing a bigger punch with the Heavy Laser. Onwards now:
I've mentioned missile bases in passing; as our 'point planet', Tyr is going to build up just a few of them here(DEF category). Already we have 1 in position. They're quite a bit cheaper than ships for planetary defense, but of course cannot be moved. Each base comes with a supply of your best available missiles, have 50 HP to start(that's between destroyer and cruiser size on the ships) and uses your best available shielding. I hope we don't need to use them, but it's best to be prepared. This will be very short-term spending, as nobody can reach Tyr quite yet. Meanwhile Mentar is able to knock out nearly three Star Blazers a year, so in a few years a decent force to replace the Starfighters should be on it's way.
Definitely taking a risk here by pushing planetology at the expense of the other fields. I don't even know if we're going to have Radiated as an option, but from this vantage point it looks like our best chance at a decisive advantage.
A couple of years later, the Silicoids take Selia, that distant Tundra planet. They now have five. It's even more vital now for us to match them ... I also notice that their on-again, off-again alliance with the Humans is over. Another option is to take Kronos while it is off and try to tip the scales that way. It's risky though: I don't think we have the fleet to do it without a bunch of Star Blazers. We'll push for this first. By 2385 we've got 14 of the new ships, and I call it good. All in on the research now.
Just two years later. Jackasses aren't screwing around, and they're really putting the Psilons to a tough decision here. Essentially this is a 'fight-or-flight' situation; we can try to fight them now, or we can turtle and try to fight them later, hopefully with friends.
Here's our latest empire comparison. Our fleet sucks; even the Alkaris are building up. Clearly we remain #3 overall, with the Silicoids taking the lead in almost everything. They're threatening to stampede the galaxy and basically daring us to do anything about it. Going for a Non-Aggression Pact at this point would just make things easier; they won't even have to fight us for control of Arietis, they'd just colonize it.
There's nowhere else really for them to go other than Arietis, so I'm expecting them to come and come hard, soon. The two planets in the upper left are Sakkras, and the only other options are all either taken/uninhabitable as well. So we can either try to fight them now, or turtle up and wait for them to send enough ships to take Arietis from us, hoping to strike back at them later, presumably with friends.
I don't particularly like either option, but I don't see a door #3 here. Turtling can work, particularly as Psilons, but in this case they'd have at least 7 planets to our 4. That's too much of an edge to give up in my opinion, particularly to an Aggressive opponent who is likely to just decide to attack us once it has built up.
Fighting them doesn't have to mean a hot war though, continuing our 'cold war' is an option. Either way we need to keep shipbuilding. Mentar goes back into Star Blazer production; research continues everywhere else. Hopefully we can knock out enough to keep them from taking Arietis ... but it will also slow down us getting there ourselves. We've got to get a competitive fleet though.
2390, and the Silicoids are back!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZy1F2Urw8A
Well that was our first real fight. They went after our Starfighters which was fine by me. Took out the Colony Ship first because they tend to have weaker defenses(due to packing on the colony base). Wasn't doing much damage to the Whale compared to the number of weapons firing, probably due to shielding and I think it's got an Inertial Stabilizer which makes it harder to hit. On the other hand we've got numbers. Could be a battle of attrition if they send more of them next time.
Even so, losing two cruiser-size ships is much worse for them compared to what we lost(eight strike craft). Definitely a victory. Meanwhile our trade balance is almost up to break-even, so I decide to re-up. It probably will seem weird to many that we are increasing trade even as we are blowing up each others' ships, and anticipate blowing up even more of them -- but it actually makes sense in game terms. Essentially it helps balance out things, we'll take a relations hit for the combat losses but the more trade we do, the more positivity we'll get. New amounts are 275 each for the Darloks and Silicoids(up from 225) and 125 for the Alkaris(up from 25).
Haven't showed the planets/ledger in a while. With the new deals we have a sizable trade deficit again(-11 or 12%), but it'll recover once more. Also, our ship maintenance is creeping up as you can see, and we are paying a small amount for the 3 missile bases on Tyr and our minimal spying efforts. Our fleet strength is growing compared to everyone except the Silicoids: they are building ships like it's going out of style, which forces us to keep going as well. I don't want or need a fleet as big as theirs; it just needs to be vaguely competitive, and we aren't there yet.
The new eco restoration tech is here ... but that's not the best news. Bio Toxin Antidote protects against biological attacks, essentially neutralizing Death Spores; terraforming is always good; but all that can wait until we snag Controlled Radiated Environment. We've got it!! It'll take a while to research ...
I also start build a new ship, with identical specs to the Star Blazer, called the Star Wing. Another 'strange' decision but it has a purpose in the game mechanics. Individual ships can't be scrapped; only designs. If I only want to get rid of some of them, but not all of them, at a point in the future, having duplicates allows for that. With only six designs, sometimes you can't afford to do this though -- it's a situational thing.
Here they come again ... but just the lone Colony Ship this time. We'll handle it easily. Actually didn't even have to, since they retreated immediately.
I keep a sharp eye on the Status screen, hoping to see our fleet strength get close enough to the Silicoids for us to stop building. The goal here is to have a fleet big enough to win the border disputes, but not an overall better or even that close to equal one to fight a war with. That'd be a waste of resources right now. But they keep on building, and so the arms race continues. The biggest beneficiary of it are the Darloks.
The Silicoids return to Arietis in 2398 ... again with just a colony ship, and they retreat. We seem to be almost maintaining the status quo -- but not quite. Slowly, sometimes almost imperceptibly, slipping further behind in tech and production. That's not sustainable indefinitely of course, but we don't need it to be; it just needs to last until we can add a couple planets.
2399, and it looks like we're good to suspend shipbuilding at least for now. Even one year of Mentar researching could produce dividends.
This is a big one information-wise.
Definitely going to snag the Battle Computer Mk. V here. That's a big hole to be filled.
The 24th century is over, and the High Council meets a second time. The Silicoids have replaced the Darloks as our opposition.
I messed up taking the shots of the voting here: the Darloks started things off by abstaining(3 votes), and the Sakkras did the same(2 votes).
Humanity does the same with it's single vote, failing to buck the trend. Once again we've locked in no Emperor being chosen. Note there are 16 votes here instead of 14; the number of votes isn't limited, but will grow with population. Huge galaxies can result in the total reaching around 100. Everybody's guaranteed at least 1 vote, but that's it.
Of course.
All hail Emperor Nobody, the clear choice of the High Council!!
We once again cast our four votes for the opponent. It's really looking like it's going to come down, assuming our current plans succeed, to a Psilons vs. Silicoids situation. The Darloks were off to the early lead, but relatively crappy planets(as can be seen by their stable and fairly low population) and limited range stunted their growth. They'll still be a factor, but it's the brainiacs against the rocks basically here. So far nobody else has chosen a side. If either we or the Silicoids can get the smaller races to come our way, it could be a decisive factor.