Part 7: Loads o' Money

Chapter 7: Loads o' Money




Alright. I am quite done with this. An entire convoy eaten by that damned thing? Enough is enough. I need options on how to deal with it, pronto.


Our expeditions at various Progenitor ruins are producing incredible scientific insight.






Yes, but how much of it can be used now?


Admittedly little, but the resources retrieved from the northern alien skeleton have allowed us to sustain and even improve augmentation. Many original colonists are now opting to undergo surgery. Aside from the obvious benefits in survival and longevity, provided complications aren't too severe, I believe this is also to show solidarity with the struggles of the Augmented. The enhanced population is now large enough for us to rely on them in military recruitment.






Should we focus on finding people with enhanced reflexes and sight, or enhanced regeneration and organ redundancy? We can also introduce voluntary programs to encourage these things, but limited government resources and the risk of organ rejection mean we can only choose one.





That level of Supremacy has given us our first unit upgrade, each of which improves the abilities of our units and lets us choose one of two perks.


Good, good. I need to speak to some people first, but I'll get a decision on that back to you before the end of the day. Anything else?


We could also build ultrasonic fences. It wouldn't protect us very far, but it would keep even the great worm away from our cities.


That's a good idea too. Hm. Before I adjourn this little meeting, what else is going on in our little slice of paradise?


The settlement of Rangi is—


Neo New Zealand.


Pardon?


The city is going to be called Neo New Zealand. Trust me on this. The name is polling wonderfully.




If you say so. Okay, the settlement of Neo New Zealand is well underway. If we are able to fund its initial growth as well as Jimboomba's, it will be a very prosperous colony, especially once the road there is complete.





Using our mad money, I purchased both an Old Earth Relic and a Clinic in Jimboomba. It's no longer possible to purchase Trade Depots or trade units with cash, otherwise I would have done that too. Speaking of, I also purchased a Recycler in Freeland before building the Colonist.





Trade routes to our own cities give Food and Production. Initially, only the starting city gets a bonus, but eventually both will. Even so, this is probably the most powerful use of trade.


We have also discovered what can best be described as an alien nest, which was even hatching sea creatures. Unfortunately, we lost contact with the, ah... manticore and its handlers shortly after the find. I'm told the people on the xenobiology team feel that if we can mount an armed expedition to the site, we could learn a great deal about life on this planet, possibly enough to give us a decisive edge in eliminating the threat of the worm.






That sounds like a good plan. That reminds me, how is the crop engineering program going?


Very well. Thanks to the construction of a cytonursery, the project should quickly bear fruit with only a little more research into the local environment.






'Bear fruit.' Good one, buddy.


Thank you.


The vote is now on: do we recruit soldiers with better attack capability, or better healing capability? Also, we have enough culture for a new Virtue. The only new one is below, which would be rather useless since we can't even build manufactories yet.



The other choices are: Adaptive Tactics (+50% military unit XP gain), Frugality (+10% Food retained after city growth), Foresight (+10% Science when Healthy), Commoditization (+1 Energy on every basic resource), Interdependence Network (+25% yield from internal trade routes), and Scalable Infrastructure (+15% Wonder production)