Part 13: The Second Sparta-Gaia War - aftermath

Personal Log of Deirdre Skye - Highly Confidential

Victory



...is a word, my press spokesman reminds me, that must never be used. On the flipside of victory is defeat, and the Spartans will never countenance the idea that they are defeated.



Rather, the public stance is that the misunderstandings that led to the war has been resolved, leading to a peace treaty, and a period of adjustment leading to 'harmony'. Already, a 'marshal plan' has been drawn up, with a package of peaceful technologies being sent over to aid rebuilding.



Korenchkin's goons have also agreed to end the provisions of the Emergency Powers Act, albeit with some reluctance and copious bribes.



Not everyone follows the official message of a non-triumphalistic settlement, though. Armed troops in the spearhead regiments of the mechanised battalions paraded themselves through Spartan towns, and certain segments of the press - and enthusiastic members of the occupational authority apparently never got the memo.



Meanwhile, scattered elements in the towns now under 'provisional' Gaian control have vowed to fight on. Ironically, the bases still under Spartan government control are also seeing unrest - from a new generation of oxymoronic spartan pacifists angry at how long it took for the surrender.



In the exuberance of victory, it has become difficult to make people obey orders. The governor of the isolated northern settlement Velvetgrass Point announced recently the start of a new civilian transit system.

For all the advertising / Backup I'm not sure it would be a good idea, especially on an environmental level. In the end though, it's already too popular to shut down.



The large army we are left with is also proving to be a drain on our resources, let alone a strain on negotiations. While the decimated Gore Corps are now happy to disband, their comrades elsewhere would be harder to persuade.



In the end, though, things are better than expected. The war had not ended in the quagmire that many had predicted, nor has, despite rumblings in the press, led to any significant degradation of our diplomatic image. While the Peacekeepers are still unwilling to talk to us, the University has been cooperative with our research.



...and in other issues.





Our own research is making great strides forward. Of particular interest are the works of Dr Scott's research team. While more established members of my research council are still dismissive of his work, the good doctor has managed to start to capture the thoughts of the populace.



I'm not sure if I believe his conclusions myself. Scott suggests an acid test - isolated 'reserves' of native lifeforms kept near bases. If there is some sort of society amongst the mindworms, this would dissuade further attacks. I posed this idea to the committee and governors. Predictably, none agreed. Keeping uncaptured worms within city walls is far too dangerous to attempt without better evidence.



Yes, things are good. Much better here than on the second, war-torn continent, by the looks of latest intel summaries. Yang, Miriam, and Lal are really going at it - a bloody meatgrinder from the sounds of it.

If only sleep can come easily to me. The doctors say that I'm perfectly healthy, but the nightmares - no, not quite nightmares, more strange dreams - continue.

Lady Deirdre Skye, Private Logs, X-X-2280

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SMAC kinda suffers from the traditional problem of Civ/4X games - about midway through, if you've done well, you've pretty much won. At this point, the Gaians have almost double the score of their nearest competitor, and really aren't under threat from anyone. So playing to win would probably result in victory very quickly, which is a shame, since the late game stuff are pretty cool. To an extent, I can remedy this by intentional fuckups.

However, I can also switch sides, using the scenario editor option, and possibly switch back later. The advantage is that we can have some different perspectives going, if environmentalism is getting a bit boring. Potential problems, though, are that it would mark us as having cheated, and so affect scoring at the end (if we care about that...), it might break the fact that the Spartans are surrendered, and finally it might break interludes. (I can probably hack those in again, or capture them from a separate savefile when they are appropiate.) If we are switching sides, I'd suggest Hive, Believers, or Morganites as most different. So...

Choices:
-Stick as Gaians for now
-Switch sides (and say which)

Also, suggestions for names for the 4 main continents are welcome: Our continent, the 3-way war continent, Zakharov's continent, and Morgan's island.