Part 17: Episode II: 2350 - 2363

Episode II: 2350-2363




Definitely falling further behind here in multiple areas and overall. A lot of that though is because the Humans aren't expanding anymore, while we still are -- their worlds are a lot more mature. So some of that we'll eventually gain back, esp. if we keep picking up territory.

Relations have degraded to 'neutral', and are just a bit above average. Hoping that bounces back soon as it should, but I think it's because we keep running into their scouts and chasing them away.

Population movements are balanced right now between getting people to all the new colonies and keeping Primodius well-populated, so that it can do research and push us towards Tundra landings. There's not enough to do both of those things, or even handle the rate of expansion as well as I'd like, so it's just a matter of doing what we can.




The next year, our first sign of trouble comes at Reticuli -- the Mrrshans send a cruiser they call a Leopard there, and it's armed. Also ...




That sucks. A LOT. 2351 will not be remembered as a good year in Klackon histories. This will bring a halt to our colony-ship production, at least temporarily, while we rebuild. That's exactly two-thirds of the industry; one hell of an earthquake. It'll take several years to get it back up and running close to where things were.




The second fertile planet. Along with Vox, it gives us a pair of excellent incubators for that whole corner. Everything above Rana has stopped sending colonists now: they wouldn't get down here in time to do any good. There's enough critical mass in the pipeline.




Last of the lower-right trio. Significant population has started to reach them. This also brings us to nine total colonies, the same number the humans have. We've got one more ship en route to Misha, the first barren, but no more for a while as Kholdan rebuilds.




Onward, although this will be the last one for a while. It will let us scout a bit further though.




Wasn't expecting this to come so early, though in retrospect I probably should have. Since we've only met the Humans, we'll get a look at the relative balance of power here. Humans and Bulrathis lead the way. A little surprising to see the bears doing that well.







One vote shy of a veto block for the Humans. They can be a real terror as a nominee, because other races will tend to side with them.




Looks the Humans have a decent lead as the most numerous species -- so far. Still, all it will take is one more vote for anything other than the Humans to prevent an election, so we can guarantee they aren't in power for now.




First look at the cats as well -- they side with Lasitus.




Looks like the rocks had a real bad start here.




We can just barely get away with voting for Lasitus. No point in endearing ourselves to Monch, when we haven't even met the Bulrathi. That ends things 13-5, one vote short of election.

Most importantly, at least in terms of population, the rankings look like this.

1. Humans.
2A. Bulrathi
2B. Klackons

Followed by everyone else. Once we build up, we should be able to at least take the #2 spot. It's shaping up as another three-way tussle ... and while I don't know that there is much we can do about it, we may find ourselves very hard pressed to keep everyone from eventually voting Lasitus. Getting expansion going again to get ourselves closer to a veto block is huge. We're only about halfway there right now, and some of our planets are starting to fill up. We may well have our hopes rest on getting veto power with the way the galaxy is shaping up.

This vote took place in 2357: we have 17 years till the next one. The humans love us now:




Ok, not love, but that's a big boost mostly from voting for them. They also have tech advances in almost all fields, including Fusion Bombs and Anti-Missile Rockets, and they have Alliances with the Bulrathi and the Mrrshan. Super. So when we do surpass the bears, they'll vote Human. If that had happened in this election, they'd have had enough votes to win.

I think we might be in trouble here. One bit of good news did strike though; Kholdan was ready to begin shipbuilding. Also, we're able to get some research out of Escalon, so Primodius can do so as well. We'll crank out the remaining colony ships as fast as humanly ... I mean, klackonly ... possible and see how far we can push our population up.




The next year we snagged up Tundra Colonization. Obviously getting a ship to Vulcan was priority #1 here. As for these choices, we know of only one small planet that is Toxic. It's definitely the terraforming given our need for the most population we can possibly get. It was also time to set some standard investment strategy:




The idea here is to invest heavily in Construction, our best area, and get an advantage there. Propulsion funding is reduced because we suck at that anyway. We'll try to trade for stuff there from time to time if we need to.

2359: we bump up to 275BC trade with teh Humans, more than doubling our current deal. I want to work my way towards an alliance with them if we can swing it. Unlikely they'd agree to a third ally right now, but you never know how the winds can change. Maybe we could even get them to break one of their current ones, if they like us enough.




That's interesting. Orion is in the corner where only we and the humans can reach it.




Our first new system in a while. We found an unarmed Bulrathi colony ship here, but they almost certainly aren't ready for radiated landings yet.

I cut it off here because there's still a fair amount of time and stuff happening to go. Expansion continues, and fairly unimpeded so far with the Humans acting as a fine 'galactic shield'.