Part 158: Episode XV: 2375
Episode XV: 2375 -
I think this is a critical moment. If we can survive and eventually get out of these wars without losing much, there's a legitimate shot at an eventual, long, comeback victory. I'm not saying I like our odds but we're far from out of it. Big IF. The Silicoids have no allies(for the moment). We sign a max 150 BC trade deal as a first step towards keeping it that way.
Some planets just starting, some well-developed, some in the middle. And we just recently finished our first missile base.
We'll get a few initial advances in soon, and I'm going to be aggressively swapping them around to races not at war with us, in order to hopefully get things we can use to bribe races who are at war with us. Normally I split base-building and tech investment down the middle, but I'm going to lean it towards research given how far behind we are, and how vital it is going to be in terms of gaining peace.
For now, I've given up on Xudax. No ships there at the moment but they have a base up, and unless they leave it unguarded for an extended period I'm just asking for any transports to be blown up.
Ok then. 2376. Several hundred Mrrshan fighters in orbit. They're done playing around. We do have three techs they are interested in: Hand Lasers, Dead Environs, Industrial Tech 9. Time to try for peace.
"Perhaps you mistook us for gullible fools ... " after we hand over all three. We've only upgraded relations to Troubled. I've never seen three tech gifts make such a small change. And they've now included the Silicoids in their alliance. Well that went nowhere. I don't think I can save Ajax. It's a good thing it sucks, but we need every system. Wasn't far from getting a base up ... but I sure am now.
Hyper-V Rockets and Reduced Waste 80% are first to arrive. I screwed up here by taking a first-tier tech in the missiles. Not sure why I didn't notice that. Only construction option was Duralloy Armor. Here, at this point, I think I just need to go cheap no matter what, which means the bomb.
23 Mrrshan transports land on Ajax. They've stopped bombing. 5 of 16 defenders are killed. Of course they are using the Hand Lasers I just gave them. A similar story plays out on Spica the same year.
I cheer way too much for how small this news is. Now that we've repelled their attacks, perhaps they'll be more amenable to peace.
This trade will help us regardless of what else happens. Gave them the Hyper-V Rockets for it. Now that we've got some new toys, it's time for some serious bribing. I do not care ... at all ... how far behind I fall by doing this. This is purely and soley a play for time. Peace at ANY price. I throw Reduced Waste 80% at the cats.
"We respectfully decline your offer'. And they don't want anything else. Closer, at least. Up to Restless in relations. We need at least one, maybe two more things. I then remind myself that they are Xenophobes, which I've been forgetting. And it's why we haven't been able to mend the fence yet.
The Klackons are not though. We might have better odds there, and if so we could keep the Alkari(their ally) neutral. Dead Environ is the only thing they want, and it's not enough. It's risky because it would paint a bullseye on Dunatis. So we don't do anything there yet. Then Class II Deflectors come in, leaving only Class III available. I suppose they'll give some marginal protection against bombardments at least. It's of no diplomatic use, being everyone's first force field project.
If they come any stronger, they're going to wear us down. Still hundreds of Ferrets in orbit. This is clearly their top priority.
Got sick of waiting I guess ...
If I knew a way to keep the Silicoids away from these(they haven't buzzed around once, which is stunning), I would definitely jump on it.
2384. Suffice to say we're in big trouble(and will have all our gains of the war reversed) if we don't make peace before losing this. The Mrrshan finally bring in the Silicoids on their side of the war at the same time, increasing our problems. Only the Alkari remain neutral.
We fight off the next wave of transports at Spica. Will the Mrrshan destroy this system as well? There are no colony ships around ... meanwhile Volantis is adding in to the research effort as we desperately look for some kind of diplomatic chip to play.
Wouldn't want to be left out of the fun, now would you.
2386. Just because it's worth noting when everyone in the galaxy is literally at war with you. I've seen the Mrrshan tick everyone off like this before, but really only had one game(the first Sakkra one) where I was remotely close to this myself. The main Mrrshan fleet meanwhile is coming for Spica. We have only a few years left to save what could potentially be our biggest population center(115M without terraforming). If not, it's really going to start looking bad for us.
Because we don't have enough problems.
Alkari here. It's really turning sideways. We have enough factories to rush out a couple bases though. I think.
After their latest invasion of Spica fails. Gee, let me think. Um, sure?? Trade deal follows as well. Ok. They have no allies anymore, which may have prompted this. That's one problem. The Alkari attacking Volantis, our artifact system, is the next.
We actually proposed this last year, when you wanted peace. You refused. But we'll take it. Also, Battle Computer II is in. We get Robotics III next, which is a much-needed bit of good news. I have bases up on Dunatis, Iranha, and Ursa. If we can hold off the Alkari on Volantis, which isn't looking good, I might get out of this without losing anything else.
https://youtu.be/xNu17gbrkiM
Well, bases aren't going to work against the birds.
And they've got better ground tech. We still fight better than them but not by that much. If they are determined, Volantis will soon fall. And right now, their embassy is closed to us.
Two down, but Volantis is about to fall and the Silicoids have taken one of the Toxic planets. The other is sure to follow.
They actually did us a favor here. Had transports on the way and we had almost no population left. This way they don't steal anything. We get peace with the Silicoids the same year. Interestingly, they and the Psilons are at war with the Klackons(which is just fine with me). Took ECM I and half our reserve to do it.
That leaves us still at war with the Psilons and Alkari, who are allies. And we're down to five planets, including just losing our artifacts system, which makes us only slightly more relevant than our new 'friends' the Mrrshan.
Psilons. You might as well stick a fork in us. Contact is hilariously broken with the Mrrshan.
This comes a little bit too late, and may be very temporary ... the Alkari still refuse, despite being offered the house and having relations boosted into the positive realm.
This game just keeps getting weirder. This is a Klackon fleet that just annihilated Misha. The Alkari now have problems of their own, clearly. This allowed me to sneak a colony ship back onto Volantis. Not only that, but the Psilons didn't colonize Spica, and the Mrrshan didn't settle Ajax. None of the systems we lost have actually been retaken. Colonizers are en route to both of those as well. Of course keeping them would be another matter, but ...
If this goes well, I need to send a gift basket to the Klackons. Who will probably interpret it as a pipe bomb from terrorists and wipe us out. Also, there's a Jungle 110M max planet at the very top edge. Out of range, but it's not been colonized yet despite being right next to the Silicoids.
I basically understand not one stinking bit of what's going on here. The whole game has just been bizarre. Then the end of the century comes ... and the High Council is in recess. Enough systems have been destroyed and not re-settled that there isn't even a vote. So there's a previously-unseen feature for the LP. I was really worried about the Klackons going to war on us(they could do it any time anyway) because I'd end up having to abstain. Gives them one less reason to.
I have no idea what is going to happen next. I do know that the Bulrathi Empire is really up against it ... but if the Klackons somehow can cause enough chaos with the others, and we are fortunate enough that they leave us alone for a long while, there are still things that can happen.