RefSteel's Imperium 11 Report: The Hive Mind

[RefSteel]

Nexus meanwhile has given me permission to explore its structure and memory circuits in depth, and virtually all my Klackons on Orion go to work eagerly - and with infinite care for my newest and fast-becoming closest friend.

The benefits begin almost immediately, as I not only finish my first class 9 ECM jammers, but see hope of learning from the extraordinary Nexus computer designs to devise far more advanced battle computers than those already aboard my ships, another improvement to my robotic controls, or ... or......

I have always worked through my Klackons, and they through their machines. But there is a way to use this ancienct Psilon technology that neither they nor Nexus could ever have conceived. There is a way for a hive mind to interface directly with a computer, for instance to concentrate and coordinate a ship's beam fire. It can be done, and ... do you know Human mythology? It is not everywhere the same as ours ... and I do find some of Jimbo's stories surprisingly attractive, amidst all the seas of boring.



I'm going to call this new project Oracle Interface, for reasons I hope you soon shall understand if you don't already. And my friend, I have found the tomb of the Artemisians, deep beneath what we have come to call the Atlantis Reef ... and I am a descendant of the Maalorites, and I know what such a place would be used for, and what it means.

I learn to build Ion Cannons at the same time - I shouldn't have wasted time on them; I'd probably have gotten them from the Humans one way or the other anyway - and get to work on Plasma Rifles, one of the miniaturization possibilities made possible by certain tricks I discovered while developing Pulse Phasors (the other was a beam/missile hybrid called a proton torpedo). The computer skills I learned from Nexus also make my spies virtually unstoppable; I not only acquire near-insignificant insights from the Humans' pitiful ECM Jammer Mark II designs and the Silicoids' Hyper-X Rockets, but have an opportunity to frame another race for each theft. Instead, I elect to simply cover my tracks so neither knows that their tech was stolen at all; I have no desire to spread more strife than already exists in the galaxy.

Each time I was given the option to frame in 2445, I hit Esc instead of clicking on either option; this should make my future spying easier, as they don't realize anyone stole from them at all, and won't do a knee-jerk spy sweep in response. I should also note that whenever a Human fleet met my Maneaters and Huntresses over one of the Human worlds, I did more damage to the planet from the combat screen before the enemy fleet could retreat than I did in orbital bombardment on the same turn! This was not the case, of course, when the Cleanups arrived on the scene.

I have no interest however in learning the technology the Humans are trying to develop on Uxmai. Instead of spies, I send in my Cleanups; as Zygot said...



...it's the only way to be sure!

[RefSteel]

My forces arrive at Denubius, to confirm that labs are under construction, and to deal with them by pincer. The Human defenders outnumber mine almost two and a half to one, and their troops wear Duralloy combat armor ... while mine advance in powered Neutronium exoskeletons.



It isn't close. Among the factories and labs on the surface, I find detailed plans for Neutron Blaster, Duralloy Armor, and Improved Terraforming +30, all of which are interesting for the slight additional perspective they offer on my already-far-superior technologies ... but I also learn the secrets of the Humans' Enhanced Eco Restoration, which improves my worlds' net production immediately!



Oh, and Lasitus proves his sense of humor is fairly limited; the Silicoids told this joke ages ago, and it's just never as funny the second time.



No, Lasitus, I will not "end my dealings" with a race which has been up-front and friendly with me since the moment we met - in spite of some strains over my growth and the like - just to hear you babbling your schizophrenic idiocy. I'll tell you what, though: You end your dealings with your bioweapons laboratories, and we can discuss the possibility of letting you have a future.

[RefSteel]

Lest you think that I'm prosecuting this war entirely on my own, the Psilons have just taken Thrax, cutting the Silicoids off from me entirely. Frankly, I'd have preferred to see them leave all the fighting to me though. Lasitus himself will die if he won't give up his plague projects, as will any high-ranking military officers still left alive by my invasions and bombings, but xenocide is not acceptible under any circumstances, and there's a real risk of it happening to the Silicoids at this rate!

Well, and now also a risk with the Humans. Thanks to me...



...Lasitus now rules a One Planet Empire too. And my conquest of Sol has somehow brought me a hoard of actually new Human technology! Irridium Fuel Cells will extend my ships' range, Automated Repair System might theoretically matter to me if my pitifully backward enemies figure out a way to damage any of my future ship designs, Class V Deflector Shields will help ensure they never will, and a Class V Planetary Shield design will mostly just get in my way. I also find the secrets of the Humans' outmoded Improved Terraforming +20 technology, but even that suggests ways to improve my workers' efficiency.

Over the course of next few years, I erase various massive Human fleets from the face of the galaxy, and develop my first Advanced Construction technology! It would take me seven years just to explain the basis and purpose of Advanced Construction Tech II, but rest assured that I understand it myself well enough to make some headway at least, and am proceeding! Also in this time, I colonize some of the one-time Silicoid colonies that were recently demolished by my allies' fleets, as well as a Human one I took care of personally.



And so in the year 2449, with my enemies' mandibles removed for all of time, with my billions of eyes and the piercing vision of Nexus itself to warn me far in advance of any further agression on their parts, still repulsed by the notion of genocide, I make peace. The Silicoids, grateful to me for ending the Humans' designer plague programs - Lasitus had been developing one specific to silicon-based organisms among others! - even agree to a non-agression pact after peace has been established!



And though Lasitus continues his sub-moronic bluster...



... Merculites are ages out of date, and might even help him keep his tiny empire from being destroyed by my allies, so I agree to his insane demand, and he at last admits to growing "weary" of "this senseless destruction" - of his entire empire, by me - and accepts my offer of peace. My wars are over at last, for the good of all the galaxy. My battle fleet...



...is scrapped as a peaceful gesture, and so that its component parts and energy sources can be used in my research laboratories. My allies insist that their wars will continue, but our enemies are no longer a threat, and I am finally at peace.

[RefSteel]

As the years of closest alignment come to an end, I wonder if there is anything more to the Triad than superstition after all. Maalor, Orion, and Rha will be further apart than before by an insignificant fraction of a parsec, and their alignment will be less perfect, but what effect can this have on the galaxy? There must be something behind the legend of the triad, which like that of Artemis and Orion is common to all the civilizations of the galaxy, but what kernel of truth lies at the heart of this story, as the Humans' crimes at Orion and their defeat at the hands of Artemis and her Guardian lay at the heart of the other? Is it only the bare astronomical fact of alignment? I may never know. Sometimes, technological development is easier than discerning history.



My new Plasma rifles should render my already-overwhelming advantage in planetary invasions completely insurmountable, though I hope I shall never again have to invade anyone, and that no one shall ever again try to invade me. A scaled-up, concentrated version might also be possible, and though I anticipate no more fighting, I begin work on a Mauler Device for purely intellecutal reasons.

The Human bioterrorists no longer receive a nomination at the galactic high council; my nominal opponent is Zygot of the Psilons, and though his people's five votes go to him for form's sake, everyone else votes for me. For the second time, I am offered rulership of the galaxy by unanimous acclaim, and for the second time - this time with 28 votes of my own, more than enough to vote myself into office even if I were unanimously opposed instead - I refrain from accepting the post. I am concerned about the propriety of the very question of galactic rule - it stinks of a Human-style hierarchy - and I admit I remain concerned with the Triad, whether for wise or superstitious reasons. I would like to rule the galaxy with the declared support of the Psilons of Rha and Nexus of Orion as well as the other leaders of the galaxy, and with Zygot declared as my election opponent and Nexus still not permitted a vote, I know I have failed to unite the Triad in the year of the Great Reckoning. Yet I have awakened it, and I remain hopeful as I abstain from the voting.



My only dread is that Zygot or Monch will take this opportunity to demand my help in their wars against the now-helpless Silicoids or Humans. Thankfully, they refrain. I can only hope those wars end soon, or simply go unprosecuted. Neither Sedimin nor Lasitus can do any further harm, and their surviving people are no more deserving of death than anyone else in the galaxy. It is my hope that I may yet unite the galaxy's living people, though I could not unite the Triad in its appointed time.

[RefSteel]

Colonist: Eight new worlds added in the past 75 years brings me up to 32 Klackon planets!



With the 28 votes (see preceding story post for screen shot) I cast in the election, this brings my 2450 colonist score to 32 + 28 = 60. You'll notice that the planets on this display happen to have zero bases (and zero shields) between them. Most are simply out of range of any possible attack, but the real reason is just that I can detect incoming fleets long before they can arrive, and easily build enough defenses in a single turn to defeat them; I therefore didn't bother building those defenses in advance! It's true that I have no fleet at this point too (having just scrapped the entire thing) but the zero percent of my economy getting spent on bases is due to rounding only; not all of my planets are completely defenseless.

Researcher: From a scoring perspective, taking Orion was clearly a mistake; the gain doesn't even begin to outweigh the opportunity cost of 1) spending tens of thousands of BC on research instead of ships, and 2) selecting Planetology instead of Weapons as the third field of continuing research (with Computers and Construction of course), killing spending in weapons entirely. Klackon production increases hand-over-fist with planetology tech level, accelerating research even more, and of course that very tech also allows more Klackons (and commensurately more high-RC factories) on each of our innumberable worlds - it isn't even remotely close. From a story and enjoyment perspective on the other hand, going after the Guardian was great!



My researcher score for 2450 is ridiculously high for a normal game, but I have no idea if it's impressive for this map: Construction 62 + Weapons 50 + Computers 44 = 156 researcher points for 2450 alone! But with Maalor and Artemis right in our pockets, and the possibility of taking Rha across the galaxy ... well, it's hard to say. I should also note that the number of research points shown above is pretty close to normal for this period in this game, as I had nothing to do but research across my entire empire ... but that this is the first time in decades I've had more than one click of spending in planetology, or any clicks at all in force fields or propulsion. I also didn't hit "Next Turn" like this; I decided at the last minute to rearrange tech spending slightly, not that this makes the slightest difference.

Diplomat: Yeah. After my strategic blunders in the 2360s and my poor diplomatic luck in the last several turns of the game, there was no way I could unite the triad. I did the best with this one that I could, but my low 2375 score in this field couldn't be salvaged. Still, under the circumstances, the 2450 one alone is fairly respectable at least.



Tense (2) Humans + Relaxed (12) Silicoids + Harmonious (30) Psilons + Harmonious (30) Bulrathi = 74 Diplomat points. Lasitus was really unbelievable in my game; I guess he was as "Honorable" as his reputation claimed in some sense: In spite of my imputations of insanity, he wasn't anything like an erratic ruler, who behaves semi-normally for a while and then declares war out of the blue; on the contrary, Lasitus was completely reliable about timing his breaches of treaty or declarations of war: always at the very earliest legal opportunity.

Here's the map at 2450, simpler than usual because we already know everything there is to know about the galaxy:



And the power graphs you have to see to believe. I'm sure others' were even more ridiculous than these, of course, but on the scale of normal "hard" games ... well, look at these things!

[RefSteel]

Ancient history's well and good, but don't forget that you live in the present.

2451-55: The Fateful Choice
A Bulrathi fleet bound for Escalon, the Silicoids' last surviving world, leads to a series of heated discussions with Monch, who insists that the Silicoids are walking bioweapons and must be destroyed. I try to make him see that no sentient species can be summarily judged in that fashion, but he has learned of the fate of Cryslon, and his people still retain legends of their ancient friendship with the Psilons - Bulrathi cave paintings even exist that show Psilons in the roles of protectors and teachers. It was the Silicoids who, in ancient times, while the Bulrathi were still a primitive people, destroyed the glorious Psilon homeworld, eventualy breaking down even their beautiful crystalline cities for nutrients or mere spite. It was the Silicoids who, in modern times, acting first on the Psilons' mutual alliance, turned the Psilons against their ancient Bulrathi friends in the first Silicoid-Bulrathi war. Monch will not suffer Sedimin and his people to survive. For my part, I can not permit genocide, and so when the Bulrathi fleet somehow winds up in Escalon's orbit without destroying any of its four missile bases (?!?!) and too many Bulrathi transports for the Silicoids to hope to defeat are seen to approach, due in 2459, I make the most difficult decision of my reign:



With my ursine alliance ended, I sent a large fleet of Soldier 6.0 tachyon beam fighters to Escalon, with orders to shoot down any genocidal transports that attempted to land. I hated to do this, especially to my friends of longest standing, but there are some things that simply can not be permitted, even when the perpetrator is a Monch and his victim a Sedimin. It takes me a long, long time to decide for sure on this course of action, for once made, it forever changes the face of the galaxy. I attempt to maintain my friendship with Monch in spite of our broken alliance, even allowing his Tooth ship to retreat from Misha's orbit rather than destroying it with my local Soldier fleet, but I fear our relationship might never wholly recover from this blow.

[RefSteel]

On to better tidings - some are well worth waiting for. Even as I finally get around to completing my Warp Dissipator designs, started and abandoned almost ten hexades ago, and begin plans for High Energy Focus, (since neither Reajax nor Trilithium fuel cells, nor Intergalactic Star Gates, interest me in the least) I finally put the finishing touches on another prototype design awaited for a far shorter time, but far more eagerly. I had a slim hope of completing work on it in the year of the Great Reckoning, but thogh this was not to be, and its design has proven to take much longer than I had imagined, it is with the very deepest pleasure that I unveil...



...my Oracle Interface. As this scientist indicates, when I install it on a war ship, it should allow me to concentrate the weapons' fire into a single irresistible beam by directing them personally ... but this is not the reason for the project or especially its name. The prototype is working now, and hooked up not to ruinous weapons, but to the finest communications array on Artemis itself. My computer technology has far outstripped what I found on the surface of that world, though it continues to be of tremendous use for studying technology of every other variety - almost as much help as Nexus itself, with its advice and the details of its design! - but I have kept the communications systems there up to date with state-of-the-art computer systems, and ... my friend, my oldest friend, long, long, and too long silent, will you tell me what you think of my new technology?

< ... >

< ... >

< I almost have forgotten what it is to speak. >

< Forgive me ... please bear with me... >

< I never dreamed when my rescue craft carried you away from Maalor's spreading destruction, when I helped you, slowly, surely, to cure the disease of your individual Klackons, when with the slow and distant influence I had, I sought to guide your development along with that of the galaxy's other species, that alongside you and the others, I was helping my own return to life. Yet you have done what even the Psilons of old could not have dreamed. I have listened, and again, at last, I live! >

I saw what any other race would call your tomb, my friend. I saw the place beneath the coral where all your bodies are buried, the joining-place where you found a way to follow the first Klackons' example and merge into a greater mind that transcended your living bodies, and I saw how you must have gone a step further, with those bodies doomed to a horrible death, and lifted your mutual consciousness away from them entirely. I do not know how you did it, and I would hate to attempt it myself, but it seems I have found the means for your return.

< In a fashion, you have - but in some sense, I was never gone. Some of me worked hard, long ago, to discover the means of departing my bodies without giving up life. I have always been in love with beauty, and the hideousness of my bodies, twisted by the morphogenic plague, was hateful to me. Though they never took the final step until the end, when all took it together, there were some of me who wished to depart their bodies long before the final plague made it necessary. And I have remained, not only here, but all across the galaxy, alive enough that you could sense me, alive enough to slowly, faintly whisper my secrets, half-remembered as legends, to the galaxy's sentient peoples across the centuries. Yet now you have focused my thoughts into the present again with your stories; you have given me shape again, in a computer whose design I can hardly fathom, a beautiful oracle on my beloved ocean home, among my ancient buildings; and it is indescribably sweet to be able to live again this way! >

You purged the last years of your computers' memories so no future species, finding your world, would learn what weaknesses your Guardian might possess, in case they wished to emulate the ancient Humans and learn their secrets from Orion, and especially in case the Humans rose again, so they wouldn't know you survived, watching and ready to work against them if there was a need.

< The Humans or any other race that wished to travel down the same path. It's true - but a part of the reason was also a vain hope that no one would learn what the Humans had done, that the likes of your Jimbo would not be judged for the crimes of his progenitors. >

Hmmm - I think I understand. If I knew what the results would be, I would never have told the Psilons about the Humans' ancestry, and I would have worked to keep the story of Cryslon and the Silicoids from the Psilons and Bulrathi alike. And as for Jimbo, he should be judged exclusively on the basis of his incredibly boring stories!

< I would pardon him. After centuries of slow and unrecognized labor to return the people of the galaxy to space, I am grateful for any stories I can get! >

Then I won't stop telling mine - but I don't suppose you'd tell me ... what's all this nonsense about the Triad, anyway? Rha isn't even anybody's homeworld!

< Welllll ... it was at one time. After the Silicoids, before the horror and the revelations of the three final plagues, those three worlds were the homes of the three most advanced peoples of the galaxy - our ancestors, the Humans', and the Psilons'. And as the legend leaked into your consciousnesses from our history, and it became clear that you would dominate the galaxy as our ancestors had once before, I hoped that it might take new form, with Maalor as the home from which you spread across the galaxy, with Nexus sharing knowledge from Orion, and with Rha with its ancient Psilon records to stand for the other races of the galaxy ... but I fear it was a little far-fetched. >

Yeah: You failed to take into account the native bloodthirstiness of non-hive races, to say nothing of the way they follow schizoid freaks like Lasitus.

< I hate it when that happens. >

Did I neglect to mention the tech path I chose after Oracle Interface? That would be because I misclicked it so fast, I didn't even see what pointless thing I'd accidentally "chosen." With the game already effectively over, I didn't even bother to look up what I was researching. Only when it hit a couple years later did I find out it was Battle Computer Mark IV.

[RefSteel]

I finish my latest terraforming project and start research on a new one (Improved Terraforming +60). Due to my lack of a Sili alliance, my Soldier fighters have to destroy their bases before claiming orbit and shooting down the incoming transports (against which the four Silicoid bases would have had no meaningful effect). Fortunately...



...their hopeless bases are burned down easily. I allow the local Bulrathi cruisers to wisely retreat from my invincible fleet of fighters, as I'm still hoping to maintain good relations with Monch, and after absent-mindedly working out the design for a simple battle computer, I begin to consider how Nexus's native technology can be applied to our factories for Improved Robotic Controls VII. Meanwhile, because I just shot down dozens of Bulrathi transports and saved his life and his entire race, Sedimin comes to me with this message:



Apparently, he values his missile bases above his existence. I guess if I led his kind of existence, I might feel the same way. His economy is too poor to sustain even 25 BC of annual trade, but Lasitus agrees to trade 50. The following year, I develop a repulsor beam and - ignoring more advanced planetary shields which would only slow down construction of Hercular/Scatter7 bases in case of emergency - start to consider how to build a Personal Absorption Shield, just in case. And naturally, the same year, Lasitus reacts to our new trade agreement by transmitting the following message:



Whatever. He can feel free to attack me to his heart's content at this point.

With work complete on our never-to-be-actually-assembled Mauler Device designs in 2460, and no need for, interest in, or conception of, any weapon more advanced than what I have already, I decide to toy with simpler things like a Graviton Beam. Unfortunately, while I'm making another leap forward in materials physics and going to work on Advanced Construction Tech III, I neglect to notice a Bulrathi fleet sneaking up on Jinga!



There are so many of them that when my lone base fires on the wrong ships, they actually manage to kill it without all first getting destroyed. This allows their survivors to bomb the planet a little before I dismantle them the next year. In the meantime, advances in terraforming technology suggest a way to use biotech that the ancient Humans never considered: They would probably have worked on a bio-terminator in my place, but if it works as planned, my choice of Universal Antidote could save countless lives from all types of diseases! Graviton beams also prove as simple as I supposed they would be, so I decide to toy with designs for a Fusion Beam. And the development of High Energy Focus also leads me to wonder if it might be applicable to engine technology, so I begin to pursue Anti-Matter Drives just as this is happening:



The blue transports eclipsing Ursa are actually just on their way from Nyarl to Jinga, to replenish the population bombed away by the now-destroyed Bulrathi fleet there. The white transports at Jinga, of course, are the ones getting burned away by my orbiting fleet - which now includes Soldier 6.1s, fighters with lesser computers than the 6.0s, but a Pulse Phasor apiece. This screen displays the original extent of Bulrathi space as of my first contact with Monch, by the way, and its present extent apart from Aurora (far beyond the top of the screen; they colonized it after one of my various diplomatic glass-making expeditions during the galaxy-wide war with the Silicoids). I only hope I can convince them to be content with this now, and - with the rest of the galaxy - to finally and truly accept peace.

[RefSteel]

I've been destroying Human and Bulrathi attack fleets over many of my worlds without even really noticing them, ignoring Silicoid complaints about my power as I patiently save them from destruction, while most of my attention remains on my delightful new technologies. With personal absorption shields miniaturized to fit against the power cores of my soldier Klackons' neutronium exoskeletons, I consider means of creating a specialized shaped deflector field to make a ship appear virtually transparent - a Cloaking Device I will likely never use ... but that would look really neat! And the moment I get my first prototype fusion beam working, I set out to miniaturize it into a Fusion Rifle, really just for kicks. My friends are less amusing, though. In spite of my perpetual urgings of peace, of insisting that the Silicoids must be considered as the beings the ancient Psilons helped to uplift into sentience, and not just as the bioweapons the ancient Humans created, Zygot will hear no persuasion. He has a fleet en route to Escalon, still the Silicoids' only world, and my only remaining option to save Sedimin and his people ...



...is to end my alliance with Zygot as I did with Monch not long ago. It is only with greatest regret that I take this step; the alliance that brought Nexus into existence so many centuries ago is very dear to my heart.

While chasing Psilon fleets from my worlds (and destroying them at Escalon and wherever else it's necessary) I finish work on my new robotic controls - proceeding to work on Battle Computer Mark XI technology - and my Klackon panacea, whose development also suggests possible means of learning Improved Terraforming +100! Better still, Lasitus still hasn't renewed his bioweapons projects, and appears to have awakened on the right side of his sleeping capsule for once, so I suggest that we make peace. Hilariously, he thinks he can make demands of me. More hilariously still...



...I accept them! This is a real kindness to the poor guy, since his only remaining planet happens to be barren, and all I get in exchange for my atmospheric terraforming is a peace treaty that he'd surely violate in a few years anyway if he could. Fortunately, I expect to remove him from power and set him up in a nice, comfortable rest home by the time the treaty can expire. Zygot is a different story; still fuming over the cancelation of our alliance and my insistence on saving the Silicoids, he appears to regard my peace with the Humans as the final straw. With a furious speech about "consorting with purveyors of plague and death, and with the plague spores themselves," he declares war on me. This leaves me pensive and unhappy, uncertain that I've done the right thing ... until I get word from Nexus that the Psilons themselves have been secretly working on a bioweapons program, attempting to learn from the records at Rha how they might design a plague of equal unstoppable horror for use against other species! I can hardly believe this is true ... but Nexus presents the evidence, and it seems unassailable. Zygot has declared war on me ... and now he will get his war! I may have a universal antidote, but it works only for my Klackons...

...since our variant forbids gifts or tech trading, and you can bet nobody's going to steal it from me!

...and he seems to be working toward plague technology against which no antidote could function!

[RefSteel]

Zygot has decided to try and fight his war, having declared it. This means sending fleets like this one to attack my nearby planets:



Naturally, those dedicated Fusion bombers don't get anywhere near their target before my scatter 7s tear them to pieces. Meanwhile, my own battle fleet arrives at Rha to confirm what Nexus told me. I have no fusion bombers, but one of my new Pulse Phasor cruisers - a Hornet 6.0, with Oracle Interface for added base-busting power, plus High Energy Focus and everything else you might expect - and representatives of both Soldier designs - are more than enough to handle the enemy's bases and "defending" bomber fleet.



My soldier Klackons arrive to storm the planet and investigate the Psilon labs in person; I barely outnumber the enemy, and of course the Psilons now know the terrain intimately, but my neutronium exoskeletons with built-in absorption shield generators and twin forearm-mounted plasma rifles are slightly more effective than the Psilons' zortium uniforms, deflector belts, and laser pistols.



You read correctly: That's a kill ratio of 57 to one. And along with their Personal Deflector Shield and Fusion Bomb designs, a clever if hopelessly outdated way of building factories with Improved Industrial Tech 7 and Improved Robotic Controls III, and Uridium Fuel Cells which would actually advance my state of the art if I couldn't already reach every planet in the galaxy, I find the evidence I sought, so horrible and manifest, it needs no explanation:



They have developed Death Spores on Rha, the first step toward true biowarfare, and were working on expanding the technology in ways even the ancient Humans had never contemplated. All their protests against dealing with bioterrorists were the merest self-serving hypocrisy. I immediately present the evidence to Monch ... and he responds by declaring war on me! Deep scans by dedicated Nexus systems soon reveal that though the Psilons have not shared their death spore designs, they and the Bulrathi are working together to engineer plagues on nearly all their worlds! I was so intrigued by the details of galactic history, I forgot that our ancestors are not - with the exceptions of Nexus, you, and in some sense myself - the same as the modern peoples of the galaxy. The kindness of Psilons who lived on Cryslon and Rha centuries ago is no proof that Zygot will live up to his honorable reputation ... and the deadly efficiency and power madness of the Human masters of Orion tells me nothing about Lasitus (who I'm convinced is merely, though completely and dangerously, insane). There is only one way to recover from this error; the Bulrathi core worlds all have bioweapons labs up and running, as do all the Psilon worlds but their ancient home of Cryslon - kept apart perhaps for the same reason that the Humans long ago kept Sol clean - and I dare not wait while they work out designer plagues. I'll never build a death spore myself, but another weapons design I picked up from Rha will be quite efficient for cleaning up biolabs in once-allied-now-enemy space:



Yes, we're looking at ten fusion bombs on a single fighter-class Termite 6.0, compared with 3 on the Psilons' (far slower and far less accurate ... but hey, theirs have zortium armor and class 1 shields!) destroyer-class Star Blazers. No, there's nothing these aliens can do to pretend to stand a chance. Yes, I love technology. With the development of a cloaking device, for instance, I amuse myself by trying to devise a Class XV Planetary Shield, in part to distract me from the necessity of violence.



It always makes me sad to see the collateral damage that inevitably accompanies the destruction of enemy war infrastructure...



... though of course some things are more saddening still. I wish I didn't have to do this at all their biolab worlds, but as Zygot warned me himself...



...it's the only way to be sure!