Part 157: Episode XV: 2350

Episode XV: 2350 -


https://youtu.be/_UFqy58eB_A



Well. That should have been easier. But we won. By the skin of our teeth. Really surprised there weren't more factories here.




Anything this side of not killing us works for me.




Yeah, we'll do that. That one remaining battalion of troops got us both of these.




This was a Colonizer that I was planning to send on to Volantis. Well, we do still have another one ... and didn't have anywhere to send the extra one anyway. But the second one is further away, at Ajax. You can also see here that Mrrshan ships have abandoned Xudax, so I sent more troops there with haste.




This tells us what we already pretty much knew; it's going to be fun trying to keep in the game with the Psilons and Klackons. Trade deals of 75 BC each get things started with our new contacts. Alkari are Xenophobic Militarists(that Xenophobia really is flavor of the month), Psilons are Honorable Militarists. So the whole galaxy believes in military buildup pretty much.




We haven't met everyone, but it's no longer a real mystery where they are. Psilons or Silicoids will eventually lay claim to the rest of the upper-left. Klackons clearly in the lower-right, and we probably haven't heard a ton more from them since they are limited by Psilons/Alkari. There is a silver lining here. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see nobody get a huge amount of planets.

Expansion Plan




We actually do have some things we can do. That one colonizer will head to Volantis, which for some reason the Alkari haven't snagged yet. That's the white star just to the right of Misha; it's an artifacts world. When we get Dead landings we'll head to Ryoun(red in the upper right). We're hoping to retake Xudax, with all the Mrrshan ships headed back to Fierias. Rather fascinating that we appear to be winning a war in which we had not the slightest chance at taking on the enemy fleet. I don't think I've ever done that before. And there are two more that require extended range below this; Keeta and Willow. Combine all of those with the four we have, and you get a total of nine.

That's a pipe dream, I'd be fortunate I think to end up with seven. Six is probably most likely. That would make us a middle-of-the-pack empire in size, and behind even more than usual on tech due to all the fighting(though necessary) draining our resources. It's not rosy, but it's not first-century extermination either. The best real chance I see here is a relatively equally divided galaxy, with the Psilons, Klackons, and Silicoids essentially cancelling each other out and forming the early Council favorites. We hide in the reeds ... ok, a bear isn't hiding anywhere. We stay out of sight in the forest/caves, or whatever analogue you prefer, try not to be too inviting a target, and when war breaks out hopefully we can snag a few prizes via spoils of war and eventually get in the game. It's a longshot, but it's there. The key component of this, balance among the power empires, is almost completely out of Grunk's hands.




I'll keep these fighters around; I haven't built any more for a couple years now. They'll probably have some potential use for a few more decades.

No system aside from Ursa is above half population right now. It's going to take a while for us to get on our feet, but it's time to try.

2353: The invasion of Xudax fails. We should have had enough. I need to leave more of a margin wherever possible ... and fire every last general. As much as it pains me, there's no choice but to send another sizable group from the homeworld, which leaves us with no real production center.




It's taken some extra stupidity by the Alkari not to claim this already. I'm not complaining. I'm blaming their Klackon alliance, which probably has them exploring Toxic systems on the other side of the galaxy.




Pretty much validates our view of things. The Mrrshan have two systems, one of them embattled, and are producing more than our five. Wonderful.




This would be quite nice. And it's in range, once we get the new environmental gear.




A few Mrrshan cruisers ... and almost 200 fighters ... arrived here at the same time as our troops. 26 million more Bulrathi are slaughtered and sent into the void. That is some crap luck. One year different, and we sneak them in and maybe keep it. Now we may not get the system at all, at least for a while. We don't have the economy to build the ships we'd need. If they leave again, I'll have to keep trying to sneak more groups in.




We don't encounter the bugs often. They are almost never nice about it when we do. Eight systems, basically the entirety of that lower-left quadrant as speculated. Erratic Militarists. Allied with Psilons and Alkaris. Sigh. They better not wake up on the wrong side of the bed anytime soon. This isn't the Orion galaxy; it's the Militarist galaxy. That ultra-rich we just found? It's right at the crossroads of Psilon-Alkari-Klackon-Bulrathi space. Lower-middle. That could get ugly. I send the fighters there just for the heck of it. There's a chance it might buy us some time.




2363 or so, Dead Environs arrive. That could give us two more systems; the race is on to get the ships built. We could use all three of the new options very much. The chance of getting Toxic before the Silicoids claim the only such world we know of seems remote, so I go with the Terraforming here.




Making them more relevant just might be good news for us. Or not. Hard to say. I've also switched into a normal research distribution now. We are behind the 8-ball for sure in getting some advances to trade/bribe with as well as just starting our way forward in that whole effort. We do acquire Industrial Tech 9 from the Alkari, but that was the only exchange I was willing to swing. Most of them wanted Controlled Dead Environ and I want to seize and secure those planets before painting a bullseye on them.




The drama here continues, and I'm not sure whether to keep trying. 2366. Part of one group makes it through. Their fleet destroyed the one the previous year, and they had reinforced the system. We got quite good luck here, taking out 27M with just 9M. They seem to be ferreting ships back and forth between here and Fierias. Literally, as Ferret-class fighters are one of their creations as well as one of the Leopard-class cruisers. An escorted Alkari group came and took Keeta as well. Frankly it was about time. So at least as of right now, that's two from our list of possibles off the board.




Surprisingly, the first one of these we've yet found.




Still low on population but growing, Spica has really become a severe example of the 'let waste accumulate to improve population growth' strategy. This is at the pinnacle of it, we'll be gradually cleaning this up a bit each turn now. We've gotten ahead on factories here a little by doing that.

2368: Our second nuclear-powered Dead Colonizer is finished. The only thing left to try to do is build an outsized one for Willow, the big poor planet off in the middle of nowhere, before the Alkari get the range to get there themselves. Well, that and keep a close eye on Xudax in case an opportunity presents itself.




If we can get this built up by the time we get Terraforming 30, it could become a powerhouse for us.




This is a tougher choice than usual. I think we'll potentially need planetary defense soon though. I go with Hyper-V as the cheap option and a missile upgrade. Hand Lasers are in to aid our troops.

Also in 2370, we snag Ryoun and an armed colony ship took Willow for the Alkari. These and possibly other acquisitions elsewhere mean that the Council meets:




Gotta love alliteration. If only the Silicoids had a leader starting with the same letter; we could call them the KKK. Nah, that's a bridge too far.

** Psilons(4)
** Silicoids(4)
** Alkari(2) -- Klaquan
** Klackons(6)
** Mrrshan(2) -- Kelvan

We have two votes, and abstain. Followed by ...




Arglebargle. They are still allied with the Alkari, but that's it. I don't see anything that I can do about this. We don't yet have enough to bribe anyone with. At the moment, our seven systems rank us second, behind only the Klackons. Factor in the Impossible difficulty and we are still definitely trailing most of the field, but not completely irrelevant. We really need this to be a fake, non-aggressive war of purely posturing though. At least for the time being. The next year the Psilons declare war as well. Apparently they have allied with the Mrrshans. So everybody we've met is at war with us or likely to be soon(Alkari).

If any Bulrathi have items remaining on their bucket list, now is a real good time to see to those things. Emperor Grunk has but one objective; survive this series of wars and find a way, any way, to get peace. Without losing half the Empire in the process hopefully. At least we don't have to worry about auto-votes against us in the Council, so we have no short-term prospects of being nominated. If we did, this might well be hopeless.




Howdy there. Aggressive Industrialists, allied with the Mrrshan. So they'll probably declare war soon also.





You were saying? They hate us. They REALLY hate us.




Aside from(thanks to our war with them) the Mrrshan, everyone has 5-8 systems under their control. At this point I'm rooting for the Silicoids, rather than the Psilons/Klackons, to expand further if anyone does. The Mrrshan are starting to send ships and transports to our systems. I don't think they'll get very far with that, our troops should be able to fight them off for now. But we definitely would like peace with them as well, sooner rather than later.

The same nominees are chosen again:

** Psilons(4)
** Silicoids(4) - Abstain
** Alkari(3) -- Klaquan
** Klackons(6)
** Mrrshan(1) -- Kelvan

We are up to 3 along with the Alkari. Mrrshan down to 1 but that's just because they have a bunch of transports out. I'd hoped one of the alliances would splinter. That didn't happen, but I have nothing to lose by voting for one or the other here. They both hate us anyway. I vote Psilon. Could have gone either way here but I think I'd rather have the bugs mad at us than the eggheads. I'll put my efforts into pacifying them, which means the Mrrshan as well. Once again neither leader has even half of the galaxy.

It remains stable, and split. That is good. There isn't a great deal else that is positive for us though.