Wow, fast group here! I wouldn't feel too bad about a Mrrshan colony ship settling that Arid 60 planet off to the west, it's tough to reach a planet at 6 parsec distance in the first 35 turns of the game. Landing Paladia, the Desert 45 planet up to the north, has become critical now as a result though. I would definitely start building the colony ship immediately and RELOC it to Darrien to save a turn on travel time up there. It will take 4 turns to build and so we won't lose anything while waiting for Range 5 to pop in the percentages. (And yes, this is one game where not having Range 4 tech available was a real bummer. We would already have a colony ship en route to Paladia otherwise. Ah well.)
A small note on population transfer: I wouldn't have sent 17 colonists to Endoria. I tend to prefer shooting for 1/4 population on new planets instead of 1/3 population, although that's a bit of a personal preference. The main reason in this case is that Endoria is a fertile world, and so it needs fewer colonists to get it started. Those colonists are going to take the world to 20/55 population, and that's more than Endoria needs to get started. (I probably would have targeted about 12 colonists in this case.) Now again, this is pretty minor and some of it is a personal preference but I thought I'd mention it.
I do want to give props for building additional scouts and having them ready to go when our range tech finishes. That's something easy to forget and it makes a big difference sometimes. On the tech front, I suggest researching both Terraforming +10 and then on to Improved Eco restoration, one of the very few times I like to research two techs in the same rung of the tech ladder. Of course, if it turns out we need Controlled Tundra to expand because we lose the northern Desert world, that could change things, of course. I would not research 80% Waste Reduction in Construction if we opt to get Improved Eco, since the latter is a much better waste cleanup tech.
Who's up next? Today is a busy day for me so letting Ianus have the next turnset might be the best plan.
(May 19th, 2017, 10:41)Sullla Wrote: A small note on population transfer: I wouldn't have sent 17 colonists to Endoria. I tend to prefer shooting for 1/4 population on new planets instead of 1/3 population, although that's a bit of a personal preference. The main reason in this case is that Endoria is a fertile world, and so it needs fewer colonists to get it started. Those colonists are going to take the world to 20/55 population, and that's more than Endoria needs to get started. (I probably would have targeted about 12 colonists in this case.) Now again, this is pretty minor and some of it is a personal preference but I thought I'd mention it.
Definitely appreciate even the small details. As it happens, I pretty much agree - this was a mistake caused by me misjudging the distance to Uxmai. I thought I was going to need to seed Uxmai as well, and I didn't re-evaluate my plan after I realized that was going to be impossible. If Uxmai had been 3 parsecs, then having a 1/3 full Fertile planet next door would have really helped for getting it established.
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Would it be worth building a colony ship at Darrian as well as Sol, since we're going to be unlocking several planets at once with range 5? Looks like Paladia and Uxmai for sure, and then Collassa (size 100 Terran east of Paladia) is probably within range after Paladia is settled, plus anything else we discover to the north.
Looks like it would take Darrian somewhere in the 6-8 year range (depending on how much we kept pushing into tech and factories), while Sol can build them in 4 years at the moment. Endoria probably needs to just focus on factories.
Hmmm, maybe 2 colony ships out of Sol and 1 from Darrian? If we will have range to grab three worlds? Collassa should be at much less risk than Paladia, given where the yellow stars are. Unless the Meklar are in the northern group of yellows and have expanded eastward, anyway.
I'll try to play this afternoon, but it depends on children so no promises. I'll post when I have the save and am play but Sullla might get to it first. We shall see.
(May 19th, 2017, 11:43)haphazard1 Wrote: Collassa should be at much less risk than Paladia, given where the yellow stars are. Unless the Meklar are in the northern group of yellows and have expanded eastward, anyway.
Well, true. I guess I was thinking simply in terms of 'planets are good', even if we're not racing for them.
Quote:We should keep some research going, though.
Well, we certainly need to make sure Deuterium actually pops. Other than that, is anything we're working on particularly urgent? I wouldn't mind cutting research to a trickle long enough to get a round of expansion done.
I would probably have the second planet work on research for the moment, although Darrien is such an unusually strong planet that building a colony ship there isn't totally crazy. The time for a colony ship build is already down to 6 turns there. Darrien shouldn't need too many more factories for the moment because we'll be shipping population offworld there to seed any northern colonies that we found. The planet currently has 65 pop and 125 factories for the curious. Perhaps if we find a couple more non-hostile planet in the north, that will be the time to go double colony ships from the initial two planets. If we can colonize Paladia, it will bring the Terran 100 planet in the northeast (Collassa) into range.
Good luck, Ianus! Kids will be kids, so who knows?
After the range tech comes in, we could drop back to trickle funding on our other projects. IIt9 would be nice to get since we will be building lots of factories on our new worlds, and Terraforming+10 would be a nice boost to our core worlds, so I think it would be worth it to keep some minimal funding going.
2335: I devote Darrian to research and put Sol on building a colony ship. ETA 4 turns. We probably should have been building colony ships a bit sooner as once we extend our range we are going to want a bunch of them. I reassign research spending as well. 1/6 Construction, 1/2 Planetology and 1/3 Propulsion. With 95 RPs that puts the Planetology bulb at half full and Propulsion at 14%. Good enough!
2336: Lots of ship movement. Planetology at 4%, Propulsion at 20%.
2337: Scouts report back from Exis, the purple star directly east of sol. It is a size 15 Dead Ultra Rich world. Some day.
2338: Scouts incoming at Mrrshan Phantos encounter two Alkari colony ships escorted by 5 small (presumably laser) fighters. The colony ships are unarmed. My scouts retreat, but are ordered to remain in-system until Range 5 pops.
IT10 hits. No Controlled Tundra but we do have Controlled Dead. For now I chose Improved Eco.
2339: Range 5 pops, Nuclear Engines are the only choice to move forward. Just in time for my colony ship to be built. It was built and moved to Darrian last turn which puts it four turns away from Paladia. Settling there will bring Terran 100 Collassa (currently 6 parsecs) into range. Yay!
I reassign research 1/3 each to Construction, Planetology and Propulsion.
2340: Ship movement. Nothing to report.
2341: Scouts explore Celtsi, a Toxic Rich newly founded Silicoid colony directly south of Mrrshan Phantos. I guess that we won’t be expanding to the west any time soon!
2342: Scouts explore Gienah, a Radiated size 15 brand new Silicoid colony north of Mrrshan Phantos. We will be in contact next year when I settle Paladia next turn.
2343: Oops! Scout discover Tyr, a Terran 100 planet just north of Paladia. Redirect that colony ship!
Upon settling Paladia I am in contact with the Mrrshans (aggressive technologists) and Silicoids (xenophobic expansionists). It is 7 turns to Tyr but I can see that the Cats have already settled Simius next to it, so we may not make it in time. I’ll try.
Looking at the map: Yikes! The entire southwest is filled with cats and rocks! I’m feeling squeezed here!
2344: I scout Simius the Mrrshan colony next to Tyr, and I am introduced to the Alkari (honorable industrialists) when they conquer Phantos. Hopefully that gives the Mrrshans something to focus on other than settling Tyr!
2345: IIT9 pops, Duraloy over Reduced Waste 80%. GNN reports that we are last in technology. Silicoids are first for what it is worth.
2346: Nope, the Bulrathi are going to get Tyr next turn. I can see their colony fleet incoming and I won’t be able to chase away those medium excorts. I just hope that the 9 turn turnaround to redirect the colony ship to Collassa won’t bite us too much!
2347: The bears claim Tyr. They are ruthless technologists and have 5 scattered worlds. That means that the Meklar are going wild up in the far north. Should be a fun game!
2348: Nothing to report.
2349: Contact broken with the Alkari. I assume that they lost Phantos but the map doesn’t say.
Colony ship incoming at Tyr next turn. Don’t forget to redirect it!
2350: Colony ship redirected to Collassa. Everything else is left up to the next emperor. Save attached.
I hope that I haven’t screwed things up too much here. My attention was not as focused on the game as it could have been. And I didn't have time to mess with images. Blame it on my kids! Save attached.
Missed Tyr by three lousy turns! Dang, that could be my fault for not being organized enough. Could possibly have gotten range a bit earlier and had colony ships ready earlier if I'd balanced my turnset better.
Still, it looks like we're going to manage at least six strong worlds, with the potential for a Tundra and Dead world later on if we can research Controlled Dead before the Silicoids reach them. Plus maybe something beyond Collassa as well. That's a solid core we can work with. Maybe the Alkari and Mrrshans will keep each other busy enough that we will have an logical expansion target once we do fill up our peaceful quota.
Roster:
Haphazard1 - Warming up
Mardoc
Ianus - Just played DaveV - UP!
Sullla - On deck
Lots of cats and rocks, and we know the machines were expanding fast from the GNN announcement earlier. How much space does that leave the birds? Sounds like maybe they are the ones getting squeezed early?
And the birds and cats are skirmishing. What a (non-) surprise. Good news for us, at least.
I worry about the rocks grabbing lots of the hostile worlds throughout our region of space. Especially those two radiated ultra-rich planets. Not sure there is anything at all we can do to prevent it, though.
Last in tech on impossible? Who would have guessed? Rocks being first at this point makes sense -- without clean up costs, they can spend the most early.
I wouldn't feel too bad about a Mrrshan colony ship settling that Arid 60 planet off to the west, it's tough to reach a planet at 6 parsec distance in the first 35 turns of the game. Landing Paladia, the Desert 45 planet up to the north, has become critical now as a result though. I would definitely start building the colony ship immediately and RELOC it to Darrien to save a turn on travel time up there. It will take 4 turns to build and so we won't lose anything while waiting for Range 5 to pop in the percentages. (And yes, this is one game where not having Range 4 tech available was a real bummer. We would already have a colony ship en route to Paladia otherwise. Ah well.)
On the tech front, I suggest researching both Terraforming +10 and then on to Improved Eco restoration, one of the very few times I like to research two techs in the same rung of the tech ladder. Of course, if it turns out we need Controlled Tundra to expand because we lose the northern Desert world, that could change things, of course. I would not research 80% Waste Reduction in Construction if we opt to get Improved Eco, since the latter is a much better waste cleanup tech. 
Not sure there is anything at all we can do to prevent it, though.