OSG-31: Land of the Lounge Lizards

[Ianus]

Summary:
I repelled two harmless Klackon attacks at Thrax.  Easy peasy.
I stole NPGs from the Alkari and Planetary Shields V from the Klackons.  Definitely keep espionage going on both of them!
IRC3 discovered midway through my set and all planets but Spica will max factories next turn.  Spica will take a while.

Now is definitely the time to start planning war with the birds.  They have some key techs that we need to grab, and we are at the point now that we really need to expand.  The bugs are currently the galaxy leaders in tech and as you can see in my report they won't be pushovers.  However if we can swallow the birds relatively quickly we should be able to roll on to the bugs next without too much trouble and before they tech too far out of reach, but that is a little ways away at this point.

I didn't even think about designing any warships other than to notice that we can now fit Nuke Bombs on a small hull.  We do still need engines though.

Roster:
Ianus (just played)
haphazard1 (up next)
Psillycyber (on deck)
shallow_thought (in the hole)

[haphazard1]

Some very nice turns, Ianus! Grabbing a couple key techs from the birds and bugs is especially helpful for us.

I have the save, and will try to play sometime later today. With the new factories from IRC3 about done, we can begin the process of dealing with the birds. The NPG tech we stole gives us a weapon that should be very effective for space superiority, although the Alkari racial bonus will still make hitting them a little tricky. And for now some nuke bombers should be sufficient to deal with their missile bases. (The bugs would be a tougher problem given their PS5, but that can be a worry for later.) I do worry a bit about the birds' new sub-light drives -- that big a speed edge will be annoying. But they will have to build new designs with it, and hopefully the AI will mix any new ships with older designs and slow their fleets down.

[haphazard1]

Looking at the state of our empire in 2370, our position looks pretty good overall. We have five planets, with four of them almost at max factories and pop. The exception is Spica, which is just beginning to build out its IRC3 factories since it carried the research load while the rest of the empire built factories. One more turn will see the rest at max, and then Spica can catch up.

Diplomatically we are at war with the Klackons, but have decent relations with the Alkari. Both the bugs and the birds are at war with the Darloks, whom we have not yet met. Apparently the shifters are their usual popular selves. The bugs are also allied with the Bulrathi and Meklar, whom we have not yet met. Looking at the galaxy, we can guess that the unmet races' homeworlds are at the (to us) unclaimed yellow stars in the east or perhaps the yellows south of us.

We can see some Bulrathi colony ships near Phantos, a dead world to our east, so they seem likely to be at one of the eastern yellows although it is possible they are just using their ally's range to reach that far. We do not know if the bears have the tech to colonize Phantos; this is something to watch to get an idea of their tech level.

We do have current reports on the Alkari and Klackon tech progrss:

Lots of techs here that we would love to have. Anything in Propulsion especially would be a nice gain, but construction, weapons, and force fields would also be quite useful. Some better missiles would be especially welcome. Even computers would be a gain, though much smaller, and it would boost our spying ability. So we are spying against both the bugs and birds, even though it could cost us diplomatically with the birds.

For our own tech we are currently going almost all out on Duralloy, which is in the mid teens. Hopefully it does not take forever to pop.

Our entire fleet strength consists of some laser fighters at Thrax. But since we just recently obtained some better weapons tech by stealing NPG, there was not much we could have built earlier. We still are not really ready to begin major fleet building -- some better engines would be especially helpful before we put a lot of money into ships. It would be nice to steal some faster engines, or we can research nuclear engines ourselves. Some investment in spare parts placeholders looks like a good idea while we try to get some better tech (one way or another).

We are also rather lacking in defenses. Only one base has been built, at our most exposed world of Thrax. But with our default nuke missile tech, we can not count on bases to do all that much good. Still, it would be nice to have one on our border worlds. However, our recent steal of PS5 means that we will have to build shields before we can build bases. Whether or not it is worth investing in defenses...hmmmm, needs more thought.

There might also be a council vote in 5 years. Getting past that before launching hostilities also seems like a good idea. So I will finish maxing our planets, push some research and some spying, and put some money into pre-production for a few years and then re-assess our situation. Time to advance the clock!

2371

A quiet year. All our planets except Spica max factories. I redistribute research spending to get some progress going in other fields. A big year of spending on research will help get some initial seeding of the non-construction fields. Durally is at 24%.

2372

GNN sends out a bulletin:

Hmmm, possible big tech gains for the Darloks could help them in their wars with the bugs and birds, which might be good for us. But if the Alkari or Klackons capture those techs from the shifters that could be quite bad for us. A quick check...the bugs have acquired Class VI deflectors from somewhere, but that could have been their own research. Still, not good news for us that the bugs have such good shields.

Phantos remains uncolonized, and the Bulrathi colony ships are no longer on our scanners. Scrapped? Gone elsewhere? It seems the bears do not have tech for dead planets yet, anyway.

I shift Thrax and Rayden to investing in future space ship parts, as our worlds closest to the future front lines. Gorra and Sssla will continue funding research, while Spica finishes maxing its factories.

2373

Zzzzzzz

2374

A Klackon fleet shows up at Thrax, but it is zero threat to our lone missile base due to our class II deflectors:

They retreat after I retreat our laser fighters; no point losing any of our ships (obsolete as they are) to destroy a handful of these ineffective bug ships.

An enemy spy (race unknown) destroys 7 factories at Spica.

Durlloy is now into the 40s.

All our spies in bug and bird space have been killed. But our reports are still current. The bugs have picked up IIT7.

The Bulrathi have a colony ship in orbit over radiated Phyco, which we did not see previously -- evidence their homeworld is south of us, maybe? Anyway, good luck putting settlers on that unpleasant rock, bears!

2375

Highsoar calls us up:

Looks like the birds are coming for us, and most likely sooner rather than later.

2376

Duralloy finally comes in. Our choices:

Automated Repair System and RW60 are the options that would advance the tree. IIT8 does not help us much right now since we have built out our IRC3 factories. As nice as RW60 would be for our economy, I think we need to go with the war tech. I select ARS and hope we can pick up RW80 from one of the AIs that have it. I also reshuffle research spending to put a bit more emphasis on propulsion and force fields.

Checking the galactic map, I note that the bugs have picked up a ninth planet in the east:

Perhaps a Darlok world taken during their war? A quick check of bug tech shows no new planetology tech to settle something they previously could not, but they have gained range 7 tech. So it might have been a world they could not previously reach. Anyway, the bugs are getting even more powerful. Also, they now have an alliance with the Alkari. Given the birds' cancellation of our NAP, this could definitely spell trouble.

In fact, there is a Klackon fleet approaching Thrax.

We know the Cutlass, Sabre, and Dagger designs are no threat to our missile base, but the Horseman design could be something quite different. I consider converting Thrax' space ship parts investment into ships for defense, but I really do not want to build ships that will be instantly obsolete. Also, the bugs' tech report does not show anything new under weapons, although ion cannons could hurt us. I decide to keep our parts in the queue and see what happens.

OK, just heavy lasers. Whew. I think we can survive this, although it might be close with only the one missile base. I focus fire on the Horsemen first, and decide to keep our laser fighters for the battle. They will be destroyed, but they will buy time and do some damage before they go.

It turns into a slow slug fest, with each side doing tiny damage per round. But we destroy the three Horseman ships and one of the colony ships, and our (thankfully duralloy reinforced) base is down to 20 HP when the battle ends by hitting the maximum number of rounds limit. Don't see that too often. But we have held. I do not know if this counts as the bugs getting space supremacy and exploring the system, since they were not driven off or destroyed.

I take a look around for bug transports, and do not see any yet. But I do spot this interesting item:

Wonder where the bears are going? 32 bear transports is a pretty hefty force.

Also, Spica finally maxes factories and shifts the excess to space ship parts placeholder spending. I would like to get more tech before actually building ships; checking our research, Nuclear Engines are up to 12%. Other fields are slowly building up as well. I have been spreading the research spending across fields, as we need improvements everywhere. The need for better missiles is starting to get critical. We could also very much use some more missile bases, but would need to build PS5 first. Hmmmm. There are lots of bug and bird ships flying around -- improved space scanner would also be great to have.

I decide that we really must get better defenses in place -- the enemy threat is growing and we barely held at Thrax last time. Some bug ion cannon ships would most likely take the planet. So I set our border planets to start building shields, to be followed by a missile base for each. With 7 points of total shielding ion cannons will be no threat. This will drop research spending badly for a while -- Gorra is farthest from the front and will keep research going at a minimal level.

I also decide to cash in Thrax' placeholder investment for some actual ships. There is an incoming bug force, plus several groups of bird ships all flying about. I design  a medium NPG ship with 3 NPGs, duralloy for more hit points, deflectors II to reduce vulnerability to lasers, and BC1 to help hit the enemy. Not a great design, and terribly slow since nuclear engines are not yet available, but it should hopefully do the job. With its pre-built parts Thrax will turn out 17 of them.

2378

The Klackons show up at Thrax and their new design does have ion cannons:

I concentrate fire on the Lancers, as they are the only real threat to the missile base. It costs us 5 of our new BBs, but we destroy everything but the colony ship which retreats once it is the only bug ship left.

The birds have picked up Warp Dissipator tech. The bugs have had the repulsor beam for a while. Either could be a serious problem for us if the AI uses them effectively.

2379

Nuclear Engines come in. Our only option is Dotomite Crystals for Range 7, which the Klackons already have, but it is the only option so I choose it. More range would not hurt, but it is not a priority for now.

Sssla completes its shield and a missile base, so should be safe for a while. Rayden completes a shield and will have a base next turn. I am feeling more secure already.

2380

Spica and Thrax complete their shields. Spica is building its first missile base and will be done next turn (spending can be adjusted if desired, but we should get one base at least). Thrax finished a second missile base from overflow. With the PS5 and 7 points of shielding total, it should be safe from ion cannons. Another Klackon force is incoming:

I have set Thrax back to parts pre-spending, but this can be changed as desired. Be aware that Rayden also is on parts, and has a fair bit of spending invested. Do not let it finish! Spica has a litle bit of parts in the queue.

All our worlds except Gorra in the far northwest have a base and shield now. So we should be pretty good for defense for a while, unless the AIs get better tech. Speaking of which...the bugs just got neutron blasters.

The bug/bird alliance has dissolved. Both are still at war with the Darloks. The bugs are allied with the Meklar.

Those 32 Bulrathi transports are northeast of Kulthos and heading into bird space, or maybe to some distant planet beyond? Not coming towards us, at least.

Personal Deflector Shield is at 12%; everything else has a ways to go yet.

Overall, I am not very satisfied with these turns. I did not obtain any tech from the AIs or manage any offense. We did research a couple useful techs and we held steady on defense from several attacks. Our worlds are maxed out (but all except Spica were almost already maxed by Ianus) and have shields and at least one base in place (except for Gorra with no shield yet, and Spica which has the shield and will have a base next turn). We have a big chunk of spare parts ready to convert into whatever we need at Rayden and a smaller chunk at Spica. But we did not really gain much, while the bugs especially are growing more powerful. Maybe I should have tried to be more aggressive and launch an attack on the birds? Not sure what would have happened at Thrax when the bugs attacked. But it may have been an opportunity missed. Oh well, can't change it now.

Good luck to the next player! I believe the roster looks like this now:

Ianus (in the hole)
haphazard1 (just played)
Psillycyber (UP!)
shallow_thought (on deck)

[Ianus]

Sounds great haphazard1. I understand your frustration too not feeling like you accomplished a lot. Heck just getting planetary shields built is a good result and will help for the rest of the game. But yes, placeholder turns are much less satisfying. I'll bet that once we rotate back around to you things will be a lot more exciting though!

As for the state of the game those bugs are looking really scary! As I've been saying we need to crash through the birds ASAP to remain competitive, hopefully before the Klacks research themselves totally out of reach. I'm glad they are in lots of wars so they have other things to focus on!

Are there any other techs we are waiting for besides engines? Because if not I'd say that as soon as nuclear engines come in its nuke bombers and npg fighters and then we push into bird space. Charge!

[Psillycyber]

Got it!

I've also had a look at the save.  Here are my preliminary thoughts:

The good news:  we’ve successfully defended ourselves against what is surely the strongest power in the galaxy.  

The bad news:  we are in a very tricky situation.  If we go to war with the Alkari, then whenever the council pops up the Klackons will get votes from everyone except us and the Darloks.  I estimate that the Klackons would win the game in that scenario.  The Alkari also have more than 300 fighters buzzing around.  If we could tech up to class IV shields, we could likely neutralize almost all of that fleet (although some of their newest fighter designs probably have NPGs on them).  But as it stands now, we’d need something like 600 fighters to go toe-to-toe with them (with nuclear engines on our ships, and assuming their fighters don't have any battle computers, we are at a 2-to-1 disadvantage rather than a 4-to-1 disadvantage). Alternatively, if we could tech up to automated repair system, we could likely build a huge ship with duralloy, class II shields, and ARS that would survive and whittle down the enemy.  In any case, I am hesitant to start a war against the Alkari until I can get better tech and a firm grip on the timing of the council. 
 
Nevertheless, I may very well end up at war with the Alkaris anyways, since they are erratic and likely to be miffed at our spying on them…in which case, I’ll see what we can do to them offensively.  It might be possible to distract them at ultra-poor Collassa while we take and build up their artifacts planet.  Even if they regain air superiority over Collassa, it will be difficult for them to take back the planet through ground invasions.  We will have good gropo tech and fast-breeding lizards to meet them.  They can bombard the handful of factories on the planet, big whoop.  As long as they don’t bomb down our pop, we could likely stall their fleet there for a long time while we get the artifacts world defended. 

One useful thing I can do right away is finally colonize that barren world off to the bottom-left of our core 6 parsecs away.  I can easily fit a tundra base and reserve tanks on a large hull, along with nuclear engines, so that is what I will do.  I can build it in 2 turns and likely have it colonizing Ajax within 5 turns. 

Also, I see no need to complete the planetary shield and missile base at Spica until we actually need it.  I am going to assume that all of the existing Alkari designs are still traveling at warp-1, so I will have advance warning if they approach.  I should only need 1 missile base to thwart any Alkari designs.  In the meantime, I want to seed our techs with everything we’ve got.

I am far more worried about the Klackons.  It is only a matter of time before they outfit a ship with class 6 shields AND death spores.  Our only counter in that case will be to try to take out those spore bombers with NPG fighters.  And if the Klackons bring along an accompanying escort fleet, our fighters will go down quick.  I would love to get Hyper-X rockets from the Klacks…

If I get a spy hit on the Klackons, I just have to pick force fields first, though, for sure.  Getting either repulsor beam or class VI shields would allow us to go toe-to-toe with the Alkari fleets.  Repulsor beams would also make us safe against the current Klackon fleets and even against any theoretical spore ships that they might show up with.  Weapons or construction would be my secondary picks.  For any spy hits on the Alkari’s, I’ll try to pick propulsion ideally, or computers/construction. 

As far as research of the non-sneaky variety, my priority is going to be Automated Repair System.  I put just enough ticks in all the other fields to take advantage of the interest bonus, and I put all the rest (about half) into seeding ARS.  Hopefully that should finish about the time Ianus’s turnset rolls around, and he can finally get his wish of taking on the Alkari at that point.  We should also have controlled radiated popped by that point and be in the process of colonizing two rich worlds, which will bring us up to 8 planets.

[haphazard1]

Check if Spica already has the shield; if it does then we might as well finish one base. I was building them there because it is close enough to the Alkari to be in range, and they have had a lot of ships moving around. Risking loss of a developed world to save the maintenance on the defences does not seem like a good risk to run, in my view. And they do have faster engines, if they happen to build some new ships, so be careful of assuming they will only move at warp one.

If we can ever manage to finish the improved space scanner, it would be easier to know what is incoming and where it is going. Having so many ships buzzing around with no way to be sure of their targets was annoying.

Good luck with going to offense against the birds! We spied on the bugs and the birds throughout my turnset and never got a single penetration. Our computer tech just is not superior to our rivals so our odds of success are quite low. So getting some conquests may be our only real shot at grabbing some tech, plus getting us more worlds of course. The Klackons are getting very strong. So we do need to do something. I defended our border and managed some useful builds and a bit of research, but at best I was only maintaining our relative position. I don't think I improved it at all.

[shallow_thought]

It's been really awkward, getting enough hostile attention from the local superpower to slow us down without it being fatal. As Ianus says, we need to find a way to take it to the birds. Real shame that they've not fallen out with the bugs.


One small thing: I'd have to go back and check, but I'm pretty sure we have antidote in our tree. Could be worth picking up. Engines, controlled radiated and antidote in that order?

[haphazard1]

I would also have to check, but I think you are right and we could go for Antidote to reliminate the threat of Death Spores. We have not seen them yet on any AI designs, but they have the tech. And with the weakness of our defenses, we would have a very tough time stopping spore ships before they could hit our planets. Some better missile tech would be really nice to have. But so would a bunch of other things. We need a lot of tech upgrades.

[Psillycyber]

Turns played, 2390 save attached.  

I ended up chickening out of attacking the Alkari during my turnset, although I think I set up the next player to get the action going.  The two big problems were:  
1.  How to avoid a diplo defeat. 
2.  How to deal with the Alkari fleet. 

Regarding the first problem, we now have a firmer assessment of it now that the council has finally met.  It popped exactly on my last interturn before 2390.  It was us against the Klackons.  The Alkari abstained (5 votes).  The Bulrathi abstained (3 votes).  The Klacks had 9.  The Meklar abstained (4 votes).  The Darloks voted for us!  (1 vote).  We had 6 votes.  We could safely vote for the Klacks, and we did, scoring some brownie points (I should mention, we also got peace with the Klacks earlier in my turnset).  I still have the sneaky suspicion that the Klackons might spring back into alliances with the Meklar and/or Bulrathi at a moment's notice, so if it were ME, I'd postpone attacking the Alkari until after the 2399 election (in fact, an attack on the artifacts planet with transports already in tow timed to arrive right after the council vote would be ideal).  It will take 5 more turns to finish our first huge ARS ship anyways. 

Speaking of which, I feel that we've partially addressed the second problem with Automated Repair System (researched) and Battle Computer Mk. II (traded for).  We also have ion cannons finished and improved space scanners about to finish (good for planning and for miniaturization, so a last-minute redesign of our ARS ship might be in order when it pops).  

The full report in PDF format will follow.

[Psillycyber]

Here's the full report with pictures (see attached PDF).