Part 35: Episode IV: 2328 - 2349

Episode IV: 2328-2349




2329: our third world here. Vega will start dripping in more population this way, bit by bit. Brings three more systems within our scouting range that we don't have the ships to explore yet. More importantly, it appears that I miscalculated: the big artifact world on Quayal(red star below and to the left) is just 3 parsecs out now, in range. Cryslon will rush a colony ship that way ASAP. I thought it would still be 4 parsecs. From there we also could have more possibilities -- bottom line is the research push is on hold. Vega will still put some effort into tech, but most of the spending gets shunted into building the recon ships we need to scout further.




Both colonies will send their ships on to Toranor via the RELOC option, as that's the direction that all this excitement is happening in right now.




2331, and we add a 4th to the growing empire. Now Vega will shift gears a bit. 5M have been sent to Toranor. The focus will switch to Yarrow, then transfers will alternate until they've got enough to hit the 1/3rd threshold.

The next year, Vega switches to put some effort into industry, having built four Recons in three years to get our numbers back up to where they are needed. Then ...




Nothing exciting but another world we can colonize without extending range: once we are in place on Quayal that is. It will take a ship eight years to get here from our homeworld, even using the reloc trick via Toranor. The distances are starting to grow, but all that can be done is to get ships in the pipeline and headed this way as fast as we can.




Note the location of the cursor here. That green star is Reticuli; as mentioned Quayal above and to the left comes first. There's a red and green pair to the right, and we should be able to grab one of those hopefully: this would potentially bring the string of systems that we have picketed already on the right side within range -- a couple of them at least. We may be able to follow this around like a string. At least, that's the plan.

2335: Both of our latest colonies have reached their population allotment, but Vega will continue sending anything above the midpoint there on to Toranor; that will facilitate getting colonists to our new prospective worlds more rapidly.




This looks like our next victim. Looks better than most of the crap we've scouted, and of course it would be a decent world for other races -- if we permitted such insolence. A year later, Quayal is settled, and ...




Not as valuable as Tauri, but we'll add it to the list all the same.




Yippee. Shoe is on the other foot now.




But they only have two planets! Hopefully we can keep them that way, but this is a major bit of good news -- at least for now. The Psilons and the others are still out there somewhere, but the bugs won't be a runaway threat. It looks like the only other planet within range for them is the green one directly above them ... which is an inferno planet. They probably scouted it and ignored it as uninhabitable, and lack the base to develop better range so far. This is a great example of how the Klackon weakness in propulsion can really bite them in the behind.




Things don't look so hot for us now, but with a 5:2 edge in planets that could well grow, they'll eventually improve.

Quayal did give us the range to scout more off to the left, but just two systems as it's a lot of dark space that way. It'll be several years to reach that pair as it is. Below us are just the Klackon planets, so we didn't really get a whole lot there. In terms of population, Toranor doesn't have enough yet so I'll only send a single transport each year until it can grow a little more. Vega will shift back to getting more Recons going for a few years. Constant little tweaks. It's costly having a Poor planet doing that work, but the only other option is diverting resources from pumping out colonizers on Cryslon, and that's just not going to happen.

Relations with the Klackons looked dicey as they started out fairly distrustful(Unease), and we have literally nothing to offer as tribute(nothing in the reserve, no tech advances). Fortunately they were willing to sign on to a 50BC trade deal, which can go either way in such circumstances. They are Aggressive Diplomats, which seems like a contradiction in terms.




The Igneous Cookie Monster ... I mean, our scientists ... knocked out a range boost the next year. Nuclear Engines were the only option for the next tier. Right now I think we're better served by just growing, growing growing, so I thought about just terminating what minimal funding was going to research. Getting the cheap 10M terraforming seemed worth the effort though, esp. with it coming from Vega, which wouldn't make very effective use of the investment elsewhere.




2343, and we're up to six. I've sent a recent colony ship to left(into that small nebula). Mobas(Poor, max. 70M) looked like a big enough planet despite the bad production to settle, and I also just want to grow in multiple directions here. The next couple at least will be back to heading in the lower-right direction.

This is close enough for our scanners to see the ships in orbit of Kholdan ...




Four colony ships just hanging out, eating up all their resources. This kind of thing really hamstrings AIs that start out in a bad position. Toranor is now in the position that Vega was a decade or two ago: alternating population transfers between two startup colonies. Fortunately it's just gotten up to the midpoint in it's own right, and drips keep coming in from Vega, so the situation isn't too sparse.




Nothing special; the most important piece of information here is that it hasn't been occupied yet. We grab Tauri at the same time. Now Toranor has three colonies to feed.




Well, if we want them later on, the riches are in our neck of the woods. Much later on, of course.




More unclaimed territory in the center.




Staking our claim to the nebula. Three more systems come within range: scouts were ready to head out to two of them, but one was a surprise. I still get caught by that too often. Vega will divert it's excess population for Mobas for a bit; Toranor will be on it's own.

Then, in 2348, our homeworld reaches max. population. Took almost half a century. That's ... glacial.




That could be pretty darn fine in time.

50 years in, we've got 8 colonies, 3 ships out to settle new ones, and have met only the Klackons with their two-planet 'empire'. If someone -- we all know who is likely -- isn't blowing up on the other side of the galaxy as well, this could end up looking quite favorable. We've only got information on 21 of 108 planets, so there is much that is not yet known.