Looking at the start, the real risk here is that there is an AI at the yellow 9 parsecs north, and that we are then in a race to get control of the stars between us, particularly the red at 4 and yellow at 5 parsecs.
I'm therefore going to commit the colony ship to the northward green (same move that with haphazard suggested). And yes, I'll escort it with a scout, just in case (I did know about this trick, but I only picked it up recently, probably from a comment in an IMP 42 thread).
The second scout will head to the other green.
If all goes well, the first scout can then head north to cover one of the key stars. I want another scout ASAP to cover the second, so will build at one additional scout on the first turn. The second can switch to backlines scouting after checking the other green. I'll build two more scouts on turn three ready to roll if we do get a colony on the northern green. We may want to cover the new colony if it is in scouting range of a possible AI colony on the red at eight parsecs, but can build another scout after confirming what's in range. That'll give us six, which I'd like to stick to for a little while if it's safe to do so.
I'm not planning on opening any tech until we've got some scout reports back (in case the key green turns out to be barren and we need CB in a hurry, for example).
T2303: We get to the northern green, and discover the Steppe 55 world of Trax - and it's poor
.
![[Image: iJMY5Es.png?1]](http://i.imgur.com/iJMY5Es.png?1)
I decide to colonise it straight away despite this: the location is too important to delay. It will serve as a pop-pump and maybe to provide some early RP. To add insult to injury, the other green of Simius is a Jungle 75.
![[Image: Hi6udEP.png?1]](http://i.imgur.com/Hi6udEP.png?1)
I'm a bit surprised to find that the new colony only brings one new star into scouting range (the blue to the north of Kholdan is now at 5 parsecs). This means that I didn't need both new scouts for the front-lines, let alone another one to cover Trax, so I guess I can speed up the back-lines scouting a bit. In the absence of a significant barren world I'm happy to open planetology early, so that's where the 2 BC from Trax will go. I also send some pop from Kholdan (5 out of 47).
T2304: Only planetology tech is IT10. Still worth getting an early seed in (although I will simply use all the production from Trax after first turn, so trickle may not be perfect). Let's say 20%, which is 32 - 2 from Trax, 30 from Kholdan. Kholdan regrew four pop, so I send three. The same again next turn will take Trax to 13 out of 55, where it can grow.
T2405: A scout gets to the red north of Trax - Mu Delphi is a Terran 80. I'm feeling better about my decision to colonise Trax straight away! Kholdan goes back putting all its production into factories, while Trax's 2 RP is enough to keep the LED lit. I will keep pushing IT10 from Trax rather than true trickling - Kholdan will reach 50% pop soon enough and benefit from the expansion.
T2406: The nearby yellow is Rotan, a Terran 95
. So much for this OSG not having a lush map. So, now the question is whether we can grab Rotan and Mu Delphi (and Simius) in peace or whether we're going to need fighters over the front lines. Antennae crossed...
I realise that I've made a mistake - we are in scouting range of the other red (at 8 parsecs from Kholdan) after all. That's an annoying error - I should have had another scout en-route rather than mucking about in the back-lines. Don't know how I got that wrong - I was specifically checking
. Kholdan builds another scout and relocates it to Trax. As I've not seen any other scout ships around, I probably don't need to cover Trax in the short term. I don't risk leaving Mu Delphi or Rotan uncovered though. Note that the yellow north of Rotan is 7 parsecs from Trax.
T2307: Quiet.
T2308: Oh, for crying out loud. I promise, I did
not fix this map. The blue south of Kholdan is Iranha - only a Minimal 45, but it's Rich. The scout heads back to wait at Simius for us to research a range tech (or for Artefact boosted AI scouts to appear...).
![[Image: xeauop7.png?1]](http://i.imgur.com/xeauop7.png?1)
T2309: The white star west of Kholdan is Escalon, a Dead 10. Not Rich. I'm not complaining, given the other planets. That scout heads for Trax, again to provide cautious cover.
T2310: We may need that Rich, backlines world. We're not alone in this corner
. Alkaris at Rotan. With a laser fighter, not a scout. No warning of this. I try to play games with a patch of asteroids, but no luck (although the scout survives with 1 HP when I retreat). Kholdan switches to laser fighters itself; I even switch some of Trax's production to get another one out in a couple of turns (leaving some in tech). Bug production against birdy maneuverability. I'm not confident.
The blue north of Kholdan is Yarrow, an uninhabitable bunch of asteroids.
T2311: I send the scout back to Rotan (it popped over to Mu Delphi when it retreated) in case the AI sends an unescorted colship. I also realise that the extra scout I built to head north is still at Trax where I relocated it
. It's belatedly on its way to Mu Delphi, which will allow the scout there to head to the red further north.
T2313: We've got a scout back over Rotan. Four turns before I can get fighter cover (8 ships) there. I'm aiming to get 20-30 fighters out, given that this is the Alkari. Never thought I'd miss being Mrrshan. We can build a colship in 6 turns (yay Klackons!) and I'm probably going to start sooner rather than later. Factories will have to wait.
T2314: We're at 33 fighters total, so I switch to a colship at Kholdan. If I were playing on myself and could manage to hold the Alkari at Rotan, I'd get two colony ships out before any more factories.
I'm not sure what to do with Trax. It can 1t a fighter now while trickling tech very slowly, but the reduced colship cost from getting IT10 is probably worth more. I go back to teching (in the percentages at 20 now with Trax's full production).
T2316: The Alkari turn up with a unarmed colony ship. Phew. I did have 8 fighters there, but it wouldn't have taken many Alkari to make that tight.
![[Image: Ba0yYpF.png?1]](http://i.imgur.com/Ba0yYpF.png?1)
T2317: IT10 is in. I start terraforming Trax (25BC, 2 turns), but Kholdan can focus on colships for a bit. I pick Controlled Dead over IT20 and Death Spores (we have that Dead world in the backlines). That leaves 6 RP to go into propulsion.
![[Image: tD6jiJm.png?1]](http://i.imgur.com/tD6jiJm.png?1)
T2318: We have the choice of ranges, and I go with the cheaper option of R4, which will be enough get us to that Rich world (450RP).
T2319: I finally scout the red star to the north. There's an unescorted Alkari colship hanging around, but that doesn't stop me getting a good look at the Arid 70 Alkari colony world of Celtsi. Fairly mature at 44 pop.
![[Image: 2uqjSQ7.png?1]](http://i.imgur.com/2uqjSQ7.png?1)
Our first colship is in an being relocated to Trax. I move the scout off Celtsi to avoid annoying the Alkari too much, and shift some pop from Trax (taking it down to 30/65) back to Kholdan (I should probably have done this earlier). I actually terraform Kholdan this turn (40BC as we're already up to 102 max pop, which suggests I've not been microing down the Eco build properly, alas).
T2320: All quiet - too quiet?
Here's a map summary.
![[Image: 3aOgqLk.png]](http://i.imgur.com/3aOgqLk.png)
Key things:
- Colship on way to Trax, needs sending on from there. Don't imitate my mistake with the scout and forget this!
- Kholdan still has less than half its factories, as I've gone all out to get the first two colships (it's good to be a bug, sometimes).
- 4 turns to another colship at Kholdan
- Rotan is only 3 parsecs from Celtsi; Mu Delphi is only 4.
- All the fighters (33) are at Rotan; they can get to Mu Delphi in one turn, and with a scout at Mu Delphi we should see anything incoming at warp 1.
- I don't know how much longer we can rely on the Alkari being warp-1 and range 3...
- We're on the way to Range 4
I'm annoyed that I bungled the scouting by (a) simply misreading the distance from Trax to Celtsi, so delaying the scout build and (b) leaving the scout orbiting Trax after the relocation, but it actually made no real difference. The Alkari would have got non-extended range over Rotan before I even knew they were there regardless. I'm just lucky that they turned up with the lone fighter in the first instance, not the fighter plus a colony ship.
It may have looked easy, but that is because it was done correctly - Brian Moore
![[Image: sgJpUby.png]](http://i.imgur.com/sgJpUby.png)
No Psilons, but humans can be a threat via diplomacy and the Silicoids and Meklar can make things interesting. The Alkari and Mrrshan can be tricky to deal with early if they are close by...assuming they do not spend all their time fighting one another. If none of the AIs get a huge chunk of the galaxy to themselves, it should be interesting. I guess maybe three races in the various eastern yellows, and one somewhere to our north. Hopefully not the closer yellows, but we will have to see.
.
