Part 118: Episode X: 2725 - 2750(II)

Turns out the Meklar aren't completely useless. A deal with them(for the useless Combat Transporters, everything else they wanted was top-shelf) acquires this. They were also willing to deal for the Sub-Space Teleporter, a key component of the Guava Plan. Pretty much all we need now is the weapon. Which we probably aren't going to get. Still, this and the advanced version of it are the only things missing for maxing out our planets.




Sure why not. We've had everything else. And Granid wants peace. After destroying Kulthos for the umpteenth time. While I'd like them to keep throwing their ships at Iranha pointlessly instead of elsewhere, I still think it'll help us. Sure.




Sheesh. It didn't last long at all. Where does this leave us? Well the Bulrathi are probably going to come stomp another system or two. I'll try to bribe my way back into an Alliance again but I have to wait for their diplomat to return. Silicoids are at war with everyone. We are at war only with the Mrrshan, and are nearing being ready to attack them. And it looks like the era of stable relations is probably gone.




Looks like it's going to hit one of our original three planets first. Super. Although I have little doubt that our bases can tear it apart by this point.




2742, the next year. Not the most impressive system, but it gets us back to 11. We then get Neutronium Armor and the Inertial Nullifier in, the top options in Construction and Propulsion. Only two fields to wrap up. There are still useful options in those though(Powered Armor for the ground troops, Thorium Cells for unlimited range) so I'm not diverting funding yet.

Yalara of the Mrrshan also wants peace. No point in entertaining that, we're about to invade.




I doubt it comes into play at this juncture, but the point of these is to deal with swarms of enemy ships. It is the highest-level missile in the game(TL 44 I think).




Oh my there is still a lot to do here -- but the Plasma Torpedoes scream for attention. So long as that Tech Nullifier is out there they're the best option. And I didn't realize they lose strength over distance. That's interesting. Anything right next to us, and they'd be 5x as deadly as the anti-matter ones. Across the map, only 2x.




I don't think this is worth the effort. But a bigger question is do I want to retain their recent good opinion. And for now, yes I do. So I sign the deal.

It is 2745, and it seems clear the space crystal is headed for Zoctan. I don't care. It's also time to go to crush the Mrrshan.




Their space is distintegrating. The Silicoid just took Simius, had Denubius but lost it, and this star is Argus, which was recently Mrrshan but destroyed. I plan to start there and then move on(probably Denubius). We have 10 of the Colossus and about 30 of the two Dragon types combined. Securing planets that we can invade is a priority, but we can't pass up open ones like this either. What's left of them will become ours. Better ours than Granid's.




Here's our fleet as we attack. At the bottom are the latest designs, the Dragon III and Colossus II, which we will begin building and rotating in. Better defensive capabilities with the latest shields and armor, and in the case of the Colossus about 50% larger payload. The Inertial Nullifier has also been added, replacing the Battle Scanner on the Dragon.




Argus was easily pacified against small Mrrshan and Meklar forces. And it's pretty good. A single Dragon II is left in orbit, standard operating procedure. Enough to handle any small force while the main fleet moves on to the next target. A dedicated Silicoid fleet is more than we can handle anyway.

The Mrrshan and Silicoid forces looked like they wanted to fight over Simius. That's fine, we'll move on to Denubius and let them do just that. 2747 brought the arrival of the Space Crystal at Zoctan, and also this new Mrrshan target.


https://youtu.be/x4Dud_9MncE



Well that was easy. And the BHG as well. Might well serve just fine for cutting Bulrathi battle groups down to size at some point. We're at the top of the tree, where Lightning Shield(best anti-missile system, destroys 100% of incoming - 1% per TL of the missile, or a majority of even the best) and Class XV Deflectors(best of those) remained. I'll take the deflectors first.

GNN says 'The Sakkra fleet has finally destroyed the Space Crystal that was threatening the entire galaxy'. 200 years ago that would have been a stretch. It's hilarious now.

Invasion troops are sent on to Denubius, while the rest of the fleet continues to Escalon, above it. I think this will likely be our first try at a hardened Mrrshan world, not one recently smashed. I'm curious to see how our fleet handles it.


https://youtu.be/WA4WplNRtdU



So the Bulrathi take Rana. Well if they had to take something, they took crap. The Colossus can handle the missile bases but never actually had to take any fire so we'll see how that would go. Escalon has about 750 factories so we should get some good tech there.




Total losses were 12 on our side, 102 Mrrshan. A slaughter. The Bulrathi and Meklar love us kicking the Mrrshan's butt. They have only four systems left. We'll send transports to Escalon, and look to give Fierias, the homeworld, the same treatment. If we succeed in both places I imagine we'll get a good haul on the tech.

It did not go as well as expected. A few hundred Mrrshan destroyers overwhelmed the Dragon II left at Escalon, and the one set of transports that got through narrowly defended the planet. So we'll have to try again. After the Council has had its say, that is.




Same galaxy-wide total, +1 for Granid here.




Show-offs. Almost half now. Mrrshan are down to 4. Really there are only three that matter. The Sakkra are at 23, ups and downs but right where we were last time. We vote Smurch, leaving him just shy of victory at 73-39. Granid will be ticked but so what. I can probably get another temporary Bulrathi alliance to buy more time this way.