Part 176: Episode XVII: 2425

Episode XVII: 2425 -




We continue to look at a 5-way tussle here(minus the Humans, but plus the clearly strong Alkaris who we haven't met). In general that usually bodes well. There are no runaways in this game. Our technology is better than it usually is thanks to the rampant espionage. These days I'm usually trying to steal from an average of three empires any given year. We've surpassed the lowly Humans, and only the Klackons are really far beyond us. Right now they and the Bulrathi both have Robotics IV so it'd be nice if the bears happened to 'misplace' those blueprints.




We haven't been caught in a while, so things are actually looking relatively rosy here. After this shot, due to the boost to Amiable from our Council vote supporting them, the Klackons ... were nicer about rejecting our trade offer; 'we respectfully decline' and withdrew their ambassador. Sigh.




Couldn't resist the chance to get this earlier than we would have on our own. Cost Battle Computer V, which we stole from ... someone. Don't remember who. We'll move forward now with the always-useful Repulsor Beam, at the cost of our deflector tech still being terrible(class II). I need to upgrade that as soon as we can.




Inertial Stabilizer was the price for this.




And Inferno landings here. I don't want to do a ton of trading in this game, but each of these fills a hole for us. Esp. the planetary shields. We gave the Bulrathi a massive leap forward in battle computers but aside from that I don't think we helped the others much.




The purple star in the upper-right is Maretta, the only remaining option for us. It looks like the Bulrathi take Bootis from us, and we get that one when Radiated comes in shortly. It's not as good as Regulus, but it's still another rich system. Only reason it's still there I think is that it's out of Silicoid range. Assuming that's how things shake out, the planet distribution will read like this:

** Silicoid - 22
** Darlok - 18
** Klackon - 15
** Bulrathi - 14
** Human - 2

Alkari would seem to be in the 15-20 range, probably closer to the top end of that. I wanted to be in the low 20s, so while we didn't quite make it we're a serious player. I don't see any easy wars presenting themselves. Right now it looks like the Bulrathi are the most diplomatically isolated, but they've got good missile tech and shields, which combined with their natural strength would make them a tough one to crack. Doable, but I'm really hoping that a Spoils of War situation presents itself. Either way, I'll be looking at getting some kind of decent ship weapon and building up a fleet before too long. Not quite time for that yet though. It also looks like this may well be a game where going for Orion at the proper time could shift the momentum. Right now:

** Finish Radiated Landings
** Colonize Maretta
** Terraform
** Use reserve funding from the rich systems to boost research until we're ready to shipbuild.
** Continue stealing every last tech we can get our hands on.

And one more thing ...




Base-building has a decent start, but we have a long way to go there as well. And of course the shields need to go up before that can happen.




The next year. Onwards!




Since we stole 30M terraforming it seems clearly best to bypass that. Soil Enrichment, then Atmos. Really nice to get that combo here. Over the course of this century we should be able to see an explosion in our total Council votes and economy.




There's still some things we can take from these guys.




Same year from the space rocks. This is getting fun! Also, it does upgrade our bases from the starting nuclear missiles a bit.




Chased the Silicoids away when we arrived ... they had a destroyer but still ran. I don't know how long it'll take, but I'm sure they are coming ... and I'd like to beat them. I think our chances of doing it are fairly remote, but I transfer extra funds to get the closest decent planet, which is Fantasia, to pump out a ship to come here in two years. It's worth the effort to try - but the very next year the effort is abandoned as a Bulrathi group is spotted on approach. They are rising to join the fray as a full equal among the Five.

Silicoids caught us stealing the missiles so we have to take another 'operational pause'.




I'm going to keep asking until you say yes. You might as well just give in.




In 2430, with the Bulrathi invasion force a year away from Bootis, we made what is our final piece of the colonization push. It's now officially the start of the mid-game.

We are now dividing our resources between research, building planetary shields, and enough factories to keep up the population growth after terraforming. This has brought the problem of waste to the front again, as we're really behind where I'd like to be there and it's becoming a significant drain. We got Improved Eco but nothing since, though the construction geeks are working on reducing waste levels to 60%. This is also one of those times when having a reserve really helps. The few growing systems left can still get their full aid from the reserve system, because I had enough stored up for that. It's not convenient to dump any more in right now because even the rich systems have to re-max.




The 'trade' is now complete. I stopped building factories when I saw them coming, so they wouldn't gain much, and just threw what little the colony was producing into research.




We have three ECM techs, the worst three, and all taken this way. I wanted robotics from the Bulrathi, but that's not the way it worked out. They threw us the usual warning about our bungling efforts, but only dropped to Wary; nothing a Deep Space Scanner couldn't fix.

Also: literally all five other races in the galaxy are connected by Alliance right now. Those things have come and gone quite easily this game, but it's still a dangerous situation.

Arietis completes it's shield in 2433; the others will start coming in soon. A couple years later we get up to even in trade for the first time, as the economy drags itself upwards step by step.




Our second robotics advance, like the ECM all achieved in underhanded fashion. Just as the economy was getting close to a peak, the bar is raised higher.




Same year. It probably won't be relevant by the time we start building ships, but it's better than anything we have to put on them right now. Bad year to be Bulrathi; we stole something from them and blamed it on their birds so they don't even know we did it, while framing them for another theft they had no part in ... in related news, they are back to be isolated diplomatically. The master puppeteer behind the curtain has struck again.

Going for trade with the Klackons ... 'your offer does not seem fair to us.'




They must have just gotten this, because a couple years ago we had all their computer techs. Saves us the trouble of doing the work ourselves, which was progressing slowly. Our next computing project will be Battle Computer MK VII. Let the record reflect that this is the third Robotics advance(V is in that tier) in a row that we did not get. In other words, if we weren't robbing the galaxy blind we'd be so very, very screwed.

23 systems are remotely scouted. One is a small, remote rich inferno out of our range -- which naturally has a Silicoid colony ship incoming.




The Humans only have two things left for us to steal. Before long we may be able to save some money and only periodically do espionage against them.

2443: I decide to bribe the Klackons with something crappy; Industrial Tech 7, which I just stole. They still refuse our trade deal.




Our second engine tech advance ... both acquired in the same manner.




Been a while since we took something from the Silicoids, and it wasn't much.




I wanted reduced waste, but ok. Alkaris blamed of course.




Worth noting to see how the Alkaris are doing. We surpassed some of the others for a while, but they decided to match our economic boost. We're not as far behind as this would indicate.




Now we're in business! Ecology spending will take a big hit here, down to what I would consider reasonable or a bit better levels for this point in the game.




This is phrased a bit differently than the others - quite reasonably. This time they seem more serious, and relations are reduced to Tense. Battle Computer MK III and Nuclear Engines should ease the pain. Although I didn't realize they were still using Retros. Whatever. I want to keep spying, so it's still worth it.

Trade deals with the Silicoid and Bulrathi are boosted to 1850 BC. If we lose those down the road, both sides will really feel it. And the trade balance goes down to just over -500 annually. Ah well.




Not at all worth it. The current one is 200.




Haven't seen these much in this LP. In 2449, we also get Dotomite Crystals(Range 7) as a wave of research is coming in. Energy Pulsar and the Fusion Beam are next. The latter is fairly expensive, but it looks like it'll be the backbone of our first serious fleet the way things are shaking out.




I thought about another tech bribe, but I didn't want to give up anything they wanted.

Same nominees for the council this time, but in opposite order; Farseer the Unseen of the Alkaris has surpassed Kaxal. The galaxy exploded that last cycle, with 79 votes now(+21!).

** Bulrathi(11) - Farseer
** Humans(2) - Farseer
** Alkari(17, +5) - Wow. This has to be the strongest Alkari empire we've faced. Although we haven't actually faced them yet ...
** Klackons(17, +3)
** Silicoid(16, +6) - Farseer

46-17 in favor of the popular Alkari. It looks like I've been backing the wrong horse. We have 16(+5), and you can see it's one heck of a four-way race. We'll abstain here and let this play out, see what happens. That could put us at war with the Klackons before too long, as we have no agreements with them -- but if I keep opposing the Alkari and they do end up being the one everyone sides with, we'll be in real trouble. The shadowy Darlok are the only abstention, and Farseer comes up seven votes short. A little too close for comfort, but as long as the major powers remain balanced like this it's going to be hard for anyone to win.