Part 21: Episode III: 2350 - 2366

Episode III: 2349-2366




Equaled the Psilons with 9 colonies each, but they are still kicking our butts in every other department. Particularly considering the ground we lost with the Escalon Campaign, we need to focus in now on building up our economy. Kholdan and Kulthos have terraformed, but none of the other planets are ready for that yet; four have 7 factories or less. Only three have a population larger than 26M. Building up as fast as possible is job one.

Until the Colonizer X is finished(7 years out), only Kulthos can put any consistent investment into the reserve or research. And after that we have one more smallish desert planet to settle. So it's going to be slow, but we've got to the best we can. A 50-50 split to start on the Kulthos spending.




Vega and Iranha mostly, and Escalon some as well, will continue to send out population to mostly Imra and Ryoun here. Still don't have the colonists we need, so it's just a little at a time. Bottom line is, it's going to be a while before we can put in the investment we really need, but the faster we can get there the better.




Apparently the kitties haven't given up. 31M incoming to Escalon. I doubt they'll win, but it's not likely to be pleasant. Maybe our 11 fighters will take out of a few of the transports, but I'm thinking not many. Most likely they'll end up taking out most, but not all, of our defenders.

We've also signed a middling 100BC trade deal with the Psilons(again). Didn't go for higher so as to strike a balance between relations-building and causing issues for our economy during the buildup.




Another nice system. It is also out of range for the moment. Then the Mrrshans arrive, and they might have succeeded without our fighters. They took out 7 transports, and Escalon remains ours, though we did lose 20M brave colonists in the fighting.




2354. Crap. Upon further investigation it is clear what happened here -- the Mrrshans were pissed at being defeated at Escalon ... and got the Psilons back in an alliance. That led to them honoring that alliance by declaring war on us. And so we are screwed.

Most of our planets aren't developed enough to even try and build missile bases. We'll get a couple going on Kholdan here -- but the Psilons can pretty much take what they want. Our only hope is that their heart really isn't in the war.




We've snagged Eco Restoration and now have new choices. Controlled Dead will give us access to a few new planets and move the tree forward. It's also time to split into the usual research ratios: focus on construction, minimal propulsion.




We've seen the Silicoids expanding as well, but this is our 10th, giving us the lead I think. At this point most of our colonies are well into the development phase, some are terraforming; it only takes about 30 or so BC of annual transfers to keep the younger ones boosted. A couple of missile bases are up on Kholdan, and most of the effort is now going into research.




This is of little direct consequence, but only the Psilons could have done this. Our security services were unable to determine the culprit though.




A few years later, and the Psilons also have an alliance with the Bulrathi now. You can see they've got a nice healthy head start in tech as well. Only good news here is they haven't gotten anything yet that would improve their ground troops.




I expect it to be short-lived as it looks like the Psilons have ships on their way -- and it's too far to even send our fighters. Nonetheless we do get to Kailis first, in 2360.




The Psilons are willing to speak with us again, and we suggest they break their alliance with the Mrrshan. We'll wait a little more and butter them up possibly before trying again. If we made peace with them directly, they'd just declare war again. At least they haven't attacked yet.




Spoke too soon. A year later and they've got four destroyers, apparently on their way to Escalon. Work on a missile base there has already started; we'll need to transfer more in from the reserve to get it done in time though. I don't think our fighters can handle this on their own.




The Psilons reach Kailis ... but they have six destroyers here, not enough to do any significant damage. There are only 2-3M people though, so it wouldn't take much to knock out the colony. This was the only factory.

2363, and the Psilons have transports en route to Kailis. We can't stop them. We basically saved them the price of a colony ship, and they will add an artifacts world to their empire. Superb. Their ships also bypass Escalon, which got it's missile base up just in time.




Looks like they're going to Ajax, and there's a second group incoming of about the same size. We have a missile base there and will likely have a second up by the time they arrive. I'm not particularly worried about this unless they come in larger numbers. After Kailis falls, I'll probably try again for peace.

The economy has matured to the point where there's nowhere else that we need to transfer funding to: all of the colonies are well on their way to finishing up the industrial base or already there. A lot more funding is going into research these days, though we still have little hope of matching the Psilons on that front.




We nab Class II shields, which will help a bit as the Psilons arrive. Once again we have no choice here. The Psilons take Kailis at the same time, in 2366. And then there's this.




Damn. The Psilons and us each have 10 each. We're definitely behind the 8-ball compared to the rocks, who now have a quarter of the galaxy locked up. I knew they were expanding, but I didn't know they were moving that quickly.

It looks like we are third at best here. Can the Klackons hope to survive against the eggheads and the rocks?