Part 18: Episode II: 2363 - 2375

Episode II: 2363-2375




It's 2364, and the Sakkra just sent an armed colony ship to Reticuli. So that ends our expansion in that direction. Not entirely unexpected.

Sauron is just such a lovely name, don't ya think?!? It's only their third colony, the other two being directly left of the nebulas. We don't have much to fear from them directly, and they have no alliances or wars. As a Pacifistic Expansionist, Sauron is looking for new territories but isn't willing to fight over them basically; Pacifists, as you might expect, will try to have peaceful relations even after being attacked.




The population here is grim for them. Also, we appear to be making up little ground if any on the Humans, and we're done transporting colonists for the moment. I was hoping it'd look a bit better of us by now.




Hand Lasers are in, so what next? Hyper-X Rockets for use in missile bases, which we'll be getting into before much longer.




What the ... This was definitely unexpected. So much for being pacifists. Only thing I can think of is they were put up to it by another race. If this becomes a ground war of attrition, their population growth will be a big problem. We're in no condition to fight. Wait and see what they do for the moment; a bit more into spying so we can see what their tech situation is. The only planet of ours they could likely reach is Misha(Barren). If they come there, then I'll worry about it.




This report comes in 2367. So we're ahead of somebody at least ... We've also finished colony-ship building for now, with several out there. Any planets not building up are diverting their resources between research and the planetary reserve. After we've got enough to fund increased growth on the new worlds, we'll switch to missile base construction and gradually work into a vaguely defensible state ... hopefully before it's too late. Really don't see anything out there that we want ships to try and defend at the moment. There's Vulcan, but I think only the humans can reach it right now and they are behaving honorably ... unlike the lizards.




Another mid-level barren, in the upper right where nobody can reach it. Getting starter colonists there is exceedingly simple; ultra-poor Endoria is close by. We also get the Sakkra tech report and it is not inspiring. They've got battle computers and ECM jammers, duralloy armor, but no new weapons and I have no idea how their production is so close to ours.




We've got Class II shielding now. We'll go with the personal one this time, to get to the next tier faster. I also don't think we'll be in ship combat anytime soon -- but if someone invades on the ground, those will help.




A full dozen now, and this of course is the big, rich one. If we manage to hang onto it, this will be a huge center of industry.




GNN even takes a moment to celebrate our success. Kakata, another barren on the far right map edge, follows a year later. I decide it's time to bump up trade with the Humans(275 to 475BC), and we also sign a Non-Aggression Pact. They are allies only with the Silicoids at the moment, which is a good sign. And the Sakkra have done not a darned thing, even though we are technically at war and they won't talk to us. It's looking a little better for the bugs these days, with only a few years until the Council meets again.




We've got the Deep Space Scanner, which will give us a little more early warning if the Eye of Sauron moves. Here I can't turn down Robotic Controls III. The Humans have had it for quite some time. The Sakkra are willing to speak ... but they turn down our peace proposal. Don't know what got a bee in their bonnet. They say that we are 'a people of much wind and little action. We tire of your prattle.'

We tire of Sauron's pretension, but there's nothing to do about it at the moment.




This is our 14th, and the last we can grab at the moment. All that's left really are the two at the top, and we are still short of the range to get there.




This took a lot longer than I wanted it to: only the most recent set of planets have a lot of factory-building left. It'll still help though. Next up is another step down the Reduced Industrial Waste path(60%). Still spending too much there and Planetology has been ... uncooperative so far.




And here we go: gotta survive this vote. The pool has expanded by a full third: a veto share is up to 10 now. Figures that Sauron goes with the not-Klackons, as we are now the other nominee along with Lasitus.




They're up to 9: I figure we have about six or seven. We definitely will need someone to at least abstain here. Please. The Bulrathi don't oblige. Damn then and the cave they crawled out of.




Crapola. That ends it, because there's no question who the rocks are going to vote for; they're allies. Until they abstain with their single vote, which doesn't really matter, since Lasitus already has enough.




It doesn't matter what we do. Doubled our vote count, but it wasn't enough. So naturally I vote for myself, because screw those high and mighty humans!!




Go find yourself a nice black hole to visit, kay? After accepting the ruling, the following occurs ...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFdLShkDM0k



I'll show not accepting the ruling another time. And there will be another time, of that you can be certain. The annoying thing about this is that I probably would have had a veto bloc by the next Council vote, and with 14 planets(and quite possibly two more later) enough of a territorial edge to be almost decisive in the long-term. This is a great example of how humans can be a dangerous enemy if they get off to a fast start. After the first 20 years they did basically nothing but suck up to everyone, and it won them the game. And what if we didn't get hit with that earthquake? I don't think it would have been enough, but it certainly would have helped.

Well, that was certainly a short game. Looks like the Klackons will have to live on for at least one more try.