Part 72: Meklar Preview

The vote before this game held that we should go Meklar if they showed up, otherwhise Sakkra. Well, they showed up, so Episode VII arrives as I have a 4-2 record with wins in the last couple, and the cybernetic Meklar will be next to put their two cents in. Most guides divide the races into 'Good', 'Average', and 'Poor' races; by that measure, we've now gone through the Good ones. Next three are the Average category.

Meklar Preview

** Economy -- The primary distinctive of the Meklar is their ability to operate two extra factories per population; not quite as well known is they also don't pay refitting costs which can become considerable in the mid-late game. This gives them an 80% production bonus at the start compared to standard races, though this will eventually shrink to a little under 27% by the end. It also means their ecology bill will be relatively slightly higher(because it's based on the number of factories, not production itself).

** Diplomacy -- Average. The Meklar start neutral with most races, with the same propensity to trust Humans and distrust Darloks that everyone has. They will also tend to side with the Silicoids, the only other non-organic race, and will not get along well with the Sakkra, who view machines as an inherent threat.

** Military -- No bonuses or penalties

** Research -- Definitely above-average overall. The Meklar are rated Poor in Planetology; combined with their high number of factories, this can lead to considerable waste cleanup expenses. They are average in most fields, and more than counter this weakness by being the galaxy's foremost experts in Computers. Among other things, this makes them the second-toughest race(after the Darloks) to spy on successfully.

Outlook

The Meklar are still an above-average race, possibly the last one we will be able to say that about. They tend to start slow, so a Medium galaxy won't be great for that, but once they get going, watch out. A big Meklar empire is one that can out-produce any foe. The main challenge, then, is to get big enough. If we can do that, we will likely succeed. TK-421 is not a standard name, but the Meklar use similar alpha-numeric nomenclature, and I just had to. Sorry. Blue theme, and our homeworld is Meklon.