Part 10: 2425 - 2450

Episode I: 2425-2450




Still definitely trailing in fleet and production, but population is the biggest concern at the moment. There's way too many rocks out there, they clearly have some good planets.




Even the Darloks are in a more friendly mood. They're not quite ready for an alliance yet, but I'm still hoping to get there eventually.




Slowly but surely getting our latest Star Streaks built up. Once we have defenses built up on all the planets, we'll get rid of the obsolete Recons. They've seen a full century of service at this point.




Generally speaking the military maintenance(ships + bases) I like to keep at about a third in wartime and as low as I can manage in peacetime. 20+% ships, 10% bases. Just a general rule, but definitely want to keep gradually improving and modernizing the fleet from here on out. Can't afford not to. And Arietis/Willow will be adding bases before we put any more on the established worlds.




Roughly midway through the latest round of research, with new battle computers a little closer than the others to finishing.

Two years later, we got the 'industrial accident' event. On Arietis. That's hilariously good bad news. It irradiates the entire planet ... but Arietis is already radiated. Anywhere else the max. population would have been permanently reduced. As it was, a minimal amount of cleanup(2 waste was generated and that's it, I think a random factor plus planet size is used). This might be the best negative event I've ever endured.

The rival fleets are blowing up. We're at about half of the Darloks now with the Silicoids close behind. I've got little choice but to accelerate shipbuilding on Mentar and Imra. It'll slow down our research, but we're going to get overrun here otherwhise. I decide to risk holding off until we get our next round of research finished ... then we can catch up with more modern toys.




2 million were still killed, and the max. population cut in half. Basically we have to re-terraform the thing now. Willow's ready to terraform also.




2430, and here's Arietis fully terraformed. Previously the max. was 25M, so it did still take a hit. I guess it went from Radiated to "Even More Radiated"? That kind of sucks but doesn't matter much in the grand scheme.




We got quite lucky and finished Battle Computer V very early, in 2432. A few more choices; more computers and jammers and another scanner. I think we need the jammer more(Mk. V), having just learned that the Silicoids have discovered Merculite missiles. We'll definitely want the scanner eventually, but don't need it quite yet.




This is the big one I've been waiting for. I don't think anyone else has it yet, and it will give us a big edge against anyone without heavy weapons or missiles.




New options here, but the Planetary Shield is the only choice. We were missing the first one, Class V, which is one of the most important early options. They are pricey, but well worth it, absorbing a lot of damage from all attacks. They also combine with the regular shields on missile bases. Once we get this, we'll absorb 14 from all attacks, which at this point of the game means only bombs are going to get through. Everything else just bounces off. It's been an even playing field so far with nobody else having planetary shields either ... so this could be a real game-changer.

Improved Industrial Tech 6 was next; we take Armored Exoskeleton, another toy for our ground troops who haven't gotten all that much yet. Darlok and Silicoid trade deals are bumped up to 350 each as well.




Another year, and we snag both Fusion Drives and Stinger Missiles. Had an 8% shot at each, so a very small chance of getting both. But I'm not arguing. Our high-level options are things we don't really need; range and the Warp Dissipator. The Reajax II Fuel Cells would move us to the next level, but I think it's time to go backwards and grab that Inertial Stabilizer. Past time, perhaps.




This right here is a wealth of riches. The Ion Stream Projector is great at damaging enemy ships ... but can't kill them outright. It's really good for wearing down large enemies. The Omega-V will decimate any bases at this tech level, and torpedoes do a lot of damage(30 each in this case) but can only be fired every other turn. Unlike missiles, they don't have limited ammunition. I go with the torpedoes; once we get them, they should be a versatile solution to a variety of combat problems for a while.

I was planning on a ship redesign here, but I'm going to wait a bit longer. Shipbuilding will go on pause while we arrange a crash-course for the stabilizer. That'll make our efforts a lot more effective, and remove one of our weaknesses.




This should do the job; raided most of the other fields by half, and we ought to be able to get this done within a decade or less. I left Planetology alone because that terraforming will be huge as well.

Took four years -- even less than I hoped. We hop on the fuel cells to move things forward after that, and restore the usual ratios.

Ahead of the ship design, I did a quick comparison of the best combat tech the three powers have:

** Battle Computers: Mk V. Darloks are at III, the Silicoids, astonishingly, have none. Sucks to be them. Advantage Psilons.

** Shields: Mk. IV. Darloks have the same, Silicoids have V so they get a slight edge here. Nobody has planetarys yet as mentioned.

** ECM: Mk. I. Same all the way around. Missiles figure to be an effective tool right now.

** Armor: Duralloy. Darloks are still stuck with Titanium, but the Silicoids recently acquired Zortrium, the next step up. Advantage Rocks.

** Engines: Sublight(Warp 3). Darloks are STILL stuck on warp 1 retros, while the Silicoids have sublight as well.

** Beams: Mass Driver. Darloks have the Graviton Beam and Neutron Blaster; Silicoids hilariously have nothing better than the Gatling Laser. Big edge to the shapeshifters here.

** Missiles: Stingers. Darloks are in the stone age with the Hyper-V, Silicoids have Merculite. We're top dogs in this.

** Bombs: Nuclear. Darloks are still there as well. Silicoids have the Fusion Bomb. The absence of planetary shields makes this less of an issue, but it's still a definite plus for the Silicoids.

** Specials: Everyone has stabilizers now. Darloks got the Repulsor Beam at the same time we did(probably stole it), both of them have Automated Repair. Edge to the Darloks but it's not a big one.

On the attack I think we'll do best with hit-and-run missile ships; the lack of ECM and our Stingers should be a strong combo. Those don't do well for system defense. Will have to rely on missile bases there. Any darlok ship will probably crush our mass drivers, and we don't have any weapon worth having with the range to use with a repulsor beam. We'll probably want some bombers also.

I've already sent a single mass driver destroyer, the Star Streaks, to any planets that need a picket. It's time to say goodbye to the Recons. And hello to this:




The Sting Raid will be built in relatively obscene quantities, the better to be effective. I don't normally do missile boats, but making it a Destroyer was really the only option. Cruiser-size was just less efficient no matter the design. The idea is to get as 2-pack shots off(they also come in 5-pack launchers) as possible, then get out. Reload the missiles, lather-rinse-repeat. One hit from a Stinger will do 10 damage against the best shields anyone has. No shields, ECM, or armor because we aren't planning on hanging around long enough to get hit.

The six worlds of the Psilon Empire are now divided into three categories. Imra/Mentar are on Sting Raid construction, Denubius/Tyr will ensure that we continue doing some research, though at less than half our previous investment, and Arietis/Willow are working towards having a decent level of missile-base protection. The Silicoid and Darlok worlds I can see have about 20-25 bases each, so they are well ahead of us when it comes to that. Ours are better with the Stingers but we'll also have to rely on them more; I'm thinking at least 12-15 on the border planets is where I'd like to be(each has three missile launchers so that's a lot of Stingers). With this approach we can build about 6 ships a year. As the numbers increase, I'll eventually want to scrap our Heavy Laser Destroyers, which are quite obsolete now.




This is another positive event; the Humans will receive multiple tech advances from this. If they weren't stuck on Sol that'd be a real problem for us. After a few years of building, I try some more diplomacy. A Non-Aggression Pact is signed with the Alkari, but my attempt at getting an Alliance with the Darloks is met with a blank stare. They 'do not consider your offer a fair one.' I haven't seen them at war or in an alliance yet. Still, if I can get the birds back on the fence potentially with the new agreement there, I'll take it. Tension is definitely rising; even the maxed-out agreements with the Silicoids and Darloks are only able to keep things where they are. Pleasant, but not enough to forge stronger ties.

The next yeaer, 2444, GNN informs us our fleet is dead last. Thanks for the reminder, although we are closing the gap; about 80% of the three races we know. We're in an arms race.




I happened to notice the Alkari had a big fleet headed for Kronos. They lost ... badly, though I think they took out some Silicoid ships at the same time. Fine by me. Their fleet is almost down to nothing though. Not sure what prompted this, and they aren't officially at war, but it could well tilt them away from the rocks with a vote coming up soon.




Well, this is something -- they are off the fence, at least for now.




The Silicoids maintain allies, the lizards stay with them.




Same thing with these dorks.




After the Silicoids predictably choose themselves, the Alkaris at least were neutral this time around.




We abstain and are safe again. Granid was two votes away from winning, but if we keep the Darlok on our side we've got a veto bloc.