Part 116: Episode X: 2700 - 2725
Episode X: 2700-2725I start things off by solidfying our Bulrathi allies further, boosting trade from 1225 to 3450 BC, nearly a tripling.
Technology gap is almost gone, although it's not as close as it seems; the advanced researches they've done don't count for much here but allow them to pack a ton of stuff on their ships. But what I like the most is the direction of that planets comparison.
Look at the green flags. We're the least contiguous empire in the galaxy by far. It's like I'm one of those deranged Silicoid AIs that gets early alliances and just spams all the hostile planets.
** Silicoid -- 20(-3). Second cycle where they've lost a trio of systems. Writing's on the wall, folks. They're probably only nominated in the Council for one more vote at this rate.
** Bulrathi -- 18(-1). This I'm quite happy with. I don't want the Bears above 20, they're strong enough as it is. Their fleets have a simply stupid amount of capital ships.
** Sakkra -- 14(+4). Lots of recent acquisitions here. +1 in developed worlds to eight, which only equals our best showing.
** Mrrshan -- 9(--)
** Meklar -- 1(--)
** Alkari -- 1(--)
A big key is going to be how busy the Bulrathi can keep our enemies. If we can hold onto some or most of the new systems, and then start taking some Mrrshan planets, we could start snowballing in a big way here soon. But the galaxy is a fickle mistress and that may well not occur.
The Computers advance is Robotics VI, which isn't going to help us now that we already have VII. This here is going to be the big one though that lets us start thinking about being more offensive and aggressive. Missile bases have been ramped up again; Rigel's at 100 and there are several other planets at 80+. Almost all production is being funneled into research here which is why the investment is as big as it is. That'll change once we get this project finished.
Stuff we need:
** Better armor. Andrium is only a little more than half as good as what the Silicoids have(Neutronium I think).
** Bombs are coming, though the Death Ray will work in a pinch just fine.
** Scanners we'll have to steal, but knowing how fortified the various planets are will be important.
** Faster engines are also coming, and will really help.
** No biologicals anywhere in our tech tree, as Planetology Experts. Go figure. The Guava Plan doesn't work if we don't somehow acquire the BioTerminator.
More than anything, general advancement up the tree so that we can start putting more and more firepower into the ships and close that gap with the superpowers. Best way to do that from here is to invade a bunch of Mrrshan planets, and preparations for that are about to commence. The Sakkra have waited a long time, but the wait may well be nearly over.
In 2702 this arrives, a vital subsystem in making the floating battlestation approach viable. Time to see what we can make. Adamantium Armor will be up next, filling one of our needs to take the concept further.
Introducing the Dragon series. Only one Death Ray would fit -- that's typical initially. Takes a lot of work to drop the size down to a more workable amount. Best engines, armor, shields, and computing -- no ECM since our tech for that sucks. Megabolt Cannons for chewing through smaller targets, and it was a pretty close call between sticking with the torpedoes and going to the heavy phasor for the other weapon system. I went with the more consistent damage here since our battle computers are pretty outdated. HEF to let us strike from basically wherever, ADC to keep these things operational, and as always the Scanner so I know what we're up against and can make future design adjustments accordingly.
This is the 'Dragon I' since with each re-design I'll up the roman numeral designation. A starting point to see where we are at. The Silicoid capitals we've run into have 2400 HP instead of the 1500 here -- we're still well behind the 8-ball but enough of these might put us in the game at least. Time to find out.
Most of the old cruisers are gone; those you see here are all at Orion to handle any small incursions there. And the new Colonizer moves down to destroyer size, with plenty of them floating about to handle any needs.
This choice arrived the next year. While the Oracle Interface is an interesting and powerful system, the Death Ray, once minimized more, will make it somewhat less attractive. And I really just need better computing. Mk. XI will be a quantam leap as we are currently at VI. That's the choice.
Third straight year of this by a Meklar colony ship. Weird things happen in the super late-game. I'm tolerating this because what ships we have are staying at Orion. Priorities. Once we get some Dragons going issues like this will be swatted like flies.
Feels like we're getting some momentum stealing from the Mrrshan now. I think our tech levels have surpassed them a bit. This is better than our current ECM III standard.
In 2705, the first Dragon I arrives at Crius, which is probably two years away from being destroyed. By a stupid colony ship. That nonsense is quickly dealt with. The first several of them are going to be spread around to our developing worlds, one to each, so that we can better maintain control. That won't stop a significant task force from taking them but we won't have any more nonsense with a handful of destroyers taking down our fledling holdings, and we should be able to retain more of them. I don't have to worry about the established ones; Silicoids can't crack them and the Mrrshan haven't even tried.
With Personal Absorption Shields in our troops should be roughly the equal of the Meklar now, and they are already quite superior to the Mrrshan. On to better ship shields.
In 2712, the Mrrshan struck at one of our developed systems for the first time. First real battle of the war, potentially.
https://youtu.be/TyPE1OJ7atw
Got a bit of a picture here. They can do plenty damage to our Dragons, but if they have any ships that carry the Neutronium Bomb that our spies report they have, they weren't here. Our missile bases can handle anything else they throw at us pretty well. So much like the Silicoids, looks like we're just fine on defense, but not yet ready to go on the offensive until we have overwhelming force.
We'd lost a couple other Dragons in unfortunate encounters but still had 10 in the field at this point, with one at each colony. We've expanded to 17 systems at the moment, a number that is still in flux. Still only 8 fully-developed ones and wherever the Silicoids or Mrrshan throw their weight around, we get out of their way. I think we're going to get a good number of the growing systems up to developed status though. A couple of them are getting close, and I order the last of old cruisers decommissioned.
Disaster strikes in 2715. The Bulrathi attack Rayden and Romulas, two systems that are close to being developed. In fact, here at Romulas, the shield was finished and the first missile bases went up just this year.
But it didn't matter, because BioTerminators.
Go suck an egg Smurch. A big one. All bets are off now. Just last year, relations were at Peaceful and everything was hunky-dory. So now what? Technically we are still at peace(amiable, LOL) and have the trade deal with the Bulrathi as they destroy two planets of ours. Researching Universal Antidote might help a bit, but not much I don't think. The volume of ships they are throwing at us, it isn't going to matter. We really can't fight back against the Bulrathi in any way that I can see. Anything of ours they want, they are taking. Nothing we can do about it.
We could try to befriend the Silicoids but the last thing we want to do is make Smurch more aggressive towards us. The Mrrshans made peace with the Bulrathi, so the Silicoid are now the common enemy. Making peace with the kitties doesn't really seem to help us, because I don't expect it would last long. Attacking the Silicoids would quite possibly get us back in the good graces and allow a shot at re-establishing the Bulrathi alliance, but the likelihood of that happening seems small. So I'm left with hang onto what we can and keep narrowing the tech gap until we can combat their fleets.
This could get ugly. It's going to be a lot harder for us to put our two cents in on any open systems now, though we'll keep trying. With both Bulrathi and Silicoid fleets gunning for them, we're going to have to try and just survive the chaos. Smurch, Smurch, Smurch ... there's still plenty of Silicoid systems out there. Why'd you have to take mine?
Next year, a single Silicoid capital ship(Kraken), is destroyed for the first time. It took five Dragons, and we lost three of them. Their darned Tech Nullifiers ensured that after the first couple of volleys the Death Rays missed, and it was really the torpedoes that did more damage than anything. They might be best in any prolonged engagement.
Oh why not. We have everything of theirs that we intend to take. I also stop building the current Dragons because more of them isn't going to help right now and I want to significantly adjust the design ... after I finish up a couple more projects. So I dump everything into research for a bit.
2718 brought some good news. First off, another espionage success against the Mrrshan, and the first time I've seen this in many moons. Who do we want pissed at the Mrrshan more? Definitely the Bulrathi I think, so I frame them. Biggest reason is probably just that I don't want the Bulrathi and Mrrshan on the same side in the Council. But petty revenge for the betrayal works too.
And then there's this. Elusive developed planet #9. Not just any planet. And best of all, with our alliance dead I'm confident this is out of Bulrathi range. It's the only planet of ours that I can say that about. So in a few years it'll be pretty much secured for the time being. Also, we haven't been attacked again. Seems Smurch just got a burr up his arse and has gotten over it. Or something.
By the way, that incoming Mrrshan fleet is dinky and nothing to be concerned about.
That's one thing I was waiting for. Next up is the Inertial Nullifier(+4 Defense, +2 Speed, 2 Defense better than the Stabilizer). Both superpowers are using those a lot. And it just makes sense really. The less you get hit, esp. with floating battlestations, the longer they survive.
I'm on a roll -- 4th tech I've taken from the Mrrshan in a decade I think. And a nice one in a large galaxy. The other powers have had these for centuries.
Normally I'd say yes ... but they aren't a threat right now and I'm enjoying stealing their crap. On the other hand, there are potential diplomatic benefits down the road(in the Council) to being on their good side if things stay as they are. Tough call from where I sit, but generally I find it useful to not have everyone mad at you. I accept and call off the spies.
The second advance I was waiting for, but it took long enough I'm going to hang around for a third before doing the next design. Especially since things look real stable for us. Scatter Pack X is up next against stiff competition. We haven't gotten a new missile in roughly forever.
Unfortunate, but it's one of our smaller worlds making it best-suited to research anyway. And Crius finishes it's planetary shield, making it our 10th developed world. Each new one makes it less problematic to lose any single system.
There it is. Now I'm ready for the new design ... but it'll have to wait(cliffhanger alert!) as it is voting time. We'll follow this up with the slightly better Neutronium Armor, best in the game.
Galaxy and Silicoid totals remain unchanged.
Only one more for Smurch. New high, but this is the kind of stability that works. The Mrrshan are down to 11, and vote Smurch -- so much for my framing, they still hate Granid.
Another +4 for us, so the Sakkra are the big gainers with 23 now. We can't vote Smurch without putting him over the top this time. Too bad, as I don't have many options for gaining his favor. I abstain, next-best choice. Smurch leads Granid 55-34.