Remnants of the Precursors Succession Game?

[Dp101]

Well, going to set the design possibilities aside for a time and just focus on playing. Who knows, we may well win before any of the ships would even make it to a fight! It takes quite a while to get a hold of the situation with how many ships are flying around, but it's basically all as Haphazard says, a tidal wave of warships and transports crashing down on our enemies. I do some micromanagement to ensure that our worlds are properly regrowing after sending transports, send out another fleet to Darwin, and hit end turn.

Well, it's not the end of the world, but it's not the ideal start to a set:

The humans then come calling asking for Phasors, willing to give us star gates, scatter pack VIIs, or a cloaking device. I figure that they're our friends for the moment, so I take the star gates and let them have the guns. The terraforming trade comes in too and I set as many planets as possible to top up, since this'll pause our invasions for a bit due to blocking us from regrowing pop. This pause lasts up until turn 193, at which point a new wave of invasions begins, just after we're done being framed against the rocks.

Turn 195 has the election, here we go.. I've been regrowing pop post-transports, but levels still aren't quite maxed, lets see where we are:

I wish the rocks weren't our enemies given that they love us for our brain-murdering, but so be it. Also still short of a veto block, and frustratingly probably unable to win but also entirely unable to safely vote for the rocks. The birds brains and bots all abstain, humans and bugs vote for us, cats shapeshifters and bears for the rocks, putting us at 65/88, definitely far enough away such that a bit of population optimisation wouldn't have gotten us there. Turns out that I've also been underestimating our invasion capabilities, +20 ground combat is.. a lot, and I'm winning at 2-1 odds. I start ordering up some more optimistic invasions. Also get a bit of the advanced weapons the bugs have, since we're capable of spying on them effectively, but it's just the ion stream projector, sadness. I tell them the shapeshifters did it, always a valid excuse. I also belatedly start setting up those star gates I traded for, having been distracted by terraforming, building them on relatively high-pop worlds/rich worlds (i.e. where they'll be done fast and have lots of ships to send) and also rally points near/on the front lines.

The bugs offer up more tech to our spies, offering pulsons or scatter VIIs, giving us the former, but... not doing a good enough job of framing, we get caught this time. I stop the spying experiment for now, it should have been safe, but "should have" doesn't mean that it is, and the relations hit hurts. Hopefully they forget with some more trade, and they don't cancel our NAP at least. I up trade agreements with everyone at this juncture, and also nab fusion rifles from the birds in exchange for ion stream projector, still not trusting the usefulness of the latter. We don't exactly *need* more ground combat, but it doesn't hurt either.

The humans come around offering to give us cloaking device for "our" pulsons. The former is at 19%, so I decline.

Some of our troops had been sent off before the new guns arrive and with no way to send extras from closer planets, and I was almost given cause to regret that:

Maybe some of those invasions were a little *too* optimistic... still, the two other invasions that turn go fine. Avicenna, Darwin, and Meitner are now ours, knocking the brains down to 3 worlds... except no, Jenner exists in the far north:

Well, the worlds we had been in scan range of have invasions headed for them (other than Vesalius, which we don't want to take) so I figure it's all fine, it just means that the war won't be over before my set is.

Anyways, the bugs break our NAP the next turn... seems like the spying was a mistake. We were solidly ahead in computing tech, but I guess just not solidly enough.. relationships down to Wary. Anyways, invasion hits at Pasteur, and the brains are down to just 2 worlds. Again, would have been a nice capstone if this was it, but close enough. A weirdly economic set despite being at war given the necessity of remaxing worlds, but at the same time, given that 9 worlds went down during it, that description is probably only true from the perspective of our citizens, the brains presumably view things differently. An overview:

Designs are definitely getting a bit outdated, but we haven't been presented with anything that makes that a problem. If the bugs go after us in earnest (though they are still at war with the rocks for now) that might change, hopefully we have enough time to wait until we get to ion drives before then. Only important note regarding the current war is not to launch any more invasions, there's already one heading for the last world we want to take and we don't want to genocide. I figure there's enough competence such that this mistake won't be made, but better to say something unnecessarily than not say anything and have it all fall apart.

Notable tech trades: birds will give us IRC IV for zortrium (my preference) or soil enrichment, nothing else particularly stands out. So, guess it's time to bow out and let Refsteel end this conflict and prepare for any future ones.

[RefSteel]

Looks like twenty great turns, haphazard and Dp101! That's a lot of new planets you've gotten for us! There's no way I should be up this late, so I'll wait until tomorrow night to actually pick this up. In the meantime, I have a question:

Any opinions on who our next target should be? Maybe the bugs since they resented our espionage so much? Or one of our weaker rivals just to bolster our planet count and population still more? Or...?

(Ship design is a sufficiently complicated question that I'll have to save it for at least tomorrow.)

Also, thanks for the reminder about the status of the last Mentaranian colonies and our 'sports, Dp101. With everything going on in this galaxy, even critical stuff like that would have been easy for me to miss!

[Dp101]

My current thoughts on future conquests are basically, wait until the next gen of military tech hits, design ships, then go after someone with it with this interval hopefully having given the time to max the new worlds and see whether or not they're enough population to win the next vote. Our current designs are a bit outdated, we can make decently improved ones now that we have phasors, but it's not as big a shift as the better drives we're about to get, which'll more definitively obsolete anything on the prior engine. That being said, if you think there's a particular fight we can win then have at it, this is just the approach I'd take if playing by myself (but I realise it's less fun to sit around and stare at tech for a turnset + idk if my caution is warranted, both of which make this approach less suited to this game). Who knows, maybe the bugs will make our decision for us.

Also, a note on proactively fighting said bugs, the whole reason I was spying on them was because their weapons tech is insane, as such I'm disinclined to go to war with them if it can be avoided. Honestly, given that the birds didn't vote for us, they might be the next best option, as they're a similar-sized empire that shouldn't be too difficult to knock over and would definitively give us enough population to win.

[haphazard1]

Looks like a nice turn set, Dp101. Getting the rebellion event is a pain, but I guess that is the rubber-banding effect in action.

IRC4 for Zortrium sounds like a very good deal (for us), and would add a ton more production. I would go for it, but I like building factories.

Birds as the next target sounds good. I suppose the other option would be the rocks, and just start taking their pop. That is less predictable since it would eventually cause a change of opponent and I don't know how the birds and bugs are viewed by other races. We would certainly have a veto block by that point, though, so it would not likely matter much.

[Fenn]

Good job working over the brains. I say we go after the birds next with our current ships while we wait for the next few techs to pop (tbh we have enough open design slots that we could make transitional ships with Phasors right now), although I recall they had an alliance with the humans - is that still in effect, and if so do we think we need to worry about alienating the humans? If not I think the birds are a shoo-in, their fleet strength is notably low

[Dp101]

Good job working over the brains. I say we go after the birds next with our current ships while we wait for the next few techs to pop (tbh we have enough open design slots that we could make transitional ships with Phasors right now), although I recall they had an alliance with the humans - is that still in effect, and if so do we think we need to worry about alienating the humans? If not I think the birds are a shoo-in, their fleet strength is notably low

Oh yeah, the alliance still exists, oops. Might be awkward then. As much as they're vaguely concerning for tech reasons I'm coming around to the idea of fighting the bugs purely because it would cause the fewest diplomatic issues.

[haphazard1]

Nasty as the bug's derelict-boosted weapons are, we are now a lot larger and more powerful than they are. And of course we could potentially capture those weapons techs from them.

[RefSteel]

Inherited Turn Report:

The argument in the conference glade, under the sun lamps that warmed artistically-placed heating stones, was languid in comparison with those of previous decades. The wealthy and successful lizards in attendance were not fighting for their lives as some of their predecessors had feared they might have to do, nor desperately trying to establish toe-holds in a hostile galaxy. On the contrary, their saurian Conclave had become by far the most powerful faction in the galaxy.




Though some of the alien peoples - including two the Conclave still hadn't yet encountered, presumably among the stars beyond Hive and crystal space - had failed to recognize it at the galactic elections five years previously, there was no longer any question of who would inherit the galaxy: Only of the path the lizards would take en route to their inevitable victory.

This didn't prevent the Conclave leadership gathered in the glade from expressing strong opinions; it just meant that their differences no longer carried the same air of urgency. When the outgoing Prime Magister suggested acquiring robotic controls from Altair that would enable the Conclave's existing factory workforce to operate a third again as many factories as they could already, and advised that Zortium armor might be offered in exchange, most of the others either voiced agreement or shrugged in silent assent - and only the Prime Magister-Elect disagreed.

"I guess I'd rather not," the new head of the conclave admitted eventually, musingly. "Not if we're pursuing your idea about attacking our uneasy avian neighbors, at least. Their missile bases don't exactly amount to much, and we have plenty of anti-matter bombs, so I'm not worried about strengthening their defenses, but their troops are a whole different story. I don't want to give up any part of our ground force's advantage. And really, if we're going to be invading them ... well, we can always pick up robotic controls that way!"

A serpentine delegate from Tessith darted its tongue out to taste the air. "Honesstly, wouldn't it be better to ssquish some bugs though? Jusst look at all the cool weapons we could ssteal from them that way!"




"Like hand phasors?" the outgoing Prime Magister asked skeptically. "And seven-merc scatter packs to swarm our bombers down? Not to mention their ships, which might be mounting autocannons. I have every confidence that we can beat them, and I'm coming around to the idea that we may have to, but are we sure yet that it's the best move right now?"

Her predecessor nodded, weighing the matter thoughtfully. "Still, I think we all share your confidence - and it would be nice to get our teeth around that technology. As the wise lizard who handed the office off to me advised, it's best to check the diplomatic ramifications of our actions - and the birds and chimpanzees are in alliance."

The point was a good one, but the wise ex-Prime Magister in question was present on the scene, and with a meaningful tilt of his eyes, asked, "Is that ... a problem? If the people of Sol 3 get upset at us for conquering their allies ... might that not just be another opportunity?"

Drawing a faint curve in the pollen dusting the gravel path by his heat stone with one claw, the Prime Magister-elect decided, "It would at least make things ... interesting. And I'm hoping to pick up some of that Hive technology by other means. If they declare war over our agents' activity, they can elect themselves our next targets, and that's fine with me. In the meantime though, they're voting for us, and they're likely to continue as long as they don't go all the way to open war: They're already at war with our crystalline High Council opposition. My feeling at this point is, anyone who wants to vote against us or declare war is welcome to take us on. With the just the power we've built up already, we're ready for them - and it won't be long before we can improve on it too!"




"Ion drives are the centerpiece of our future fleet, with lots of other attractive technology that will soon be available too. We'll be able to build another starfleet, even swifter and more potent ... which does bring up the main reason I'd prefer not to go up against our silicon rivals themselves: Any fighting we do with them is likely to involve slow, miserable crawling through the galactic nebulae - unlike with everyone else - and I'm just not enthusiastic about waiting that long for anything to happen.

The outgoing Prime Magister was still eyeing the technological report on the holodisplay projected into rainforest-simulating mist. Nodding at the entry for Andrium armor, she said, "None of the techies ever answered my question on this: What is it about construction technology that's supposed to help so much with our ships? Is it just that the armor takes up so much room, and anything we can do to get the same protection into a smaller space is especially valuable?"

Most of the others looked around - being diplomats, politicians, and interstellar leaders with little or no technical background of their own, they had no answers either. Finally, a small frill-necked lizard hovering by the display projector, nervously shuffling all four clawed feet, got enough of the others' attention to explain hesitatingly, "Madame Prime Magister, I believe it's largely a matter of improved hull efficiency: Not the armor as such, but the ratio of cargo and equipment to support structures and bulkheads and everything else that's needed to hold a ship together, and especially to keep the fuel contained without spontaneous explosions. In effect, no matter what kind of armor a ship uses, there's actually and literally more space available for everything you need when your engineers can miniaturize the ship's structural components thanks to advances in materials engineering."

Nodding gravely, the outgoing Prime Magister spoke her thanks, then turned to her successor-to-be. "Then it sounds like you'd do well to spend some time developing new technology. It might not be as thrilling as doing battle across interstellar space, but designing new ships when they're just about to become completely obsolete seems a little bit wasteful, don't you think?"

The new leader-to-be of all their people gave it a moment's thought, head bowed, eyes closed, and finally answered, "I think you may be right: Unless an emergency arises, I'll try not to build any new ships before we develop better technology." There was a pause, but only a brief one. "As for interstellar battles though ... I imagine there will be plenty, even if our insect and chimp friends don't get too upset. You're leaving me over a hundred cruisers, and nearly a thousand bombers!"




"I don't intend to let them go to waste."

Which is to say: GOT! IT! The turns may take a while, especially if our nearest neighbors decide to make things even more ... interesting. I'll try to finish by tomorrow night, but if I can't, I'll post what I have to that point, and hope you don't mind if I take a bit of extra time to finish the set!

[Dp101]

I love the presenting of discussions in the thread as in-universe communications lol. Do you know if the formula for that kind of generic construction-based miniaturisation exists anywhere?

Edit: there does seem to be a small typo here btw

As my the wise lizard who handed the office off to me advised, it's best to check the diplomatic ramifications of our actions - and the birds and chimpanzees are in alliance."

[haphazard1]

What strange. crazy schemes is RefSteel plotting now?

Thanks for the entertaining intro, and good luck!