OSG-33 The Beautiful Brains

[haphazard1]

The Psilon Empire is in a period of growth and expansion, as the recently discovered technology to allow settlement of all but the galaxy's harshest worlds has now opened new systems to colonization. Our previous emperor has set everything in motion to claim new worlds, with colony ships already built and on their way to the new worlds. My current task is to manage the initial development of the new colonies.

To begin this task, I organize seed population for the freshly settled worlds of Artemis and Endoria. Sadly our transports are still traveling at warp one, so it is going to take a long time for them to reach their destinations. But there is nothing to be done except start them on their journeys. Research into Sub Light drives will double the speed of our transports, but it is a long way from maturity.

Almost all of the rest of our worlds are well developed, so not much needs to be done for them right now. Checking the diplomatic screens, I decide to contact our neighbors and inquire about increasing the size of our trade deals. This will cost us for a while, but the larger deals will help us significantly in the future and should also help keep diplomatic relations stable. The Sakkra, Mrrshan, and Silicoids all agree to significantly larger deals, jumping from the token 25 or 75 deals we had to 425 BC/year with each race. That is the maximum size possible in each case; that they are all the same means the limitation is our economy, not any of our neighbors.

2391

Colony ships arrive in the Romulas and Klystron systems, adding two more worlds to our empire.

Romulas is quite respectably large for such a bleak environment; it is right on the border of Mrrshan space.

Klystron is not as exposed, but is only size 15. Still, it is another world and we need every one we can get. More S_L_O_W population transports are ordered up to seed the new colonies.

2392

A colony ship arrives at Celtsi, now the 11th planet of our growing empire.

Celstsi is a tiny world, but it is also rich. More transports begin the slow journey to seed the world with population.

2393

We establish a new outpost on the western frontier:

This brings a couple unscouted stars into long range, so I order a couple scouts to move out to explore. They will not arrive before the end of my turn set, but eventually we will learn more about that part of the galaxy. I suspect these unflagged worlds belong to either the Humans or the Bulrathi, whom we have not met but know from council votes have at least a few worlds each. Or perhaps they are extremely hostile worlds that these races do not yet have the tech to settle.

Some more transports are ordered up to seed Pollus with population. I really wish we had better engines -- warp one is just incredibly slow to get any where.

We do not have much in the way of reserve funds, but there is a little left over from planets hitting maximums. I funnel what is available into Endoria, the only one of our new worlds where additional colonists have arrived. Let's boost the growth curve where we can.

With all of our in-transit colony ships having arrived at their destinations, our fleet maintenance costs have fallen dramatically. Colony ships really do cost a lot to support.

2394

Zzzzzzz. A quiet year.

2395

Moro, our poor planet next door to the homeworld, finally maxes out. It is rare for a poor world to be worth fully industrializing, but we are so short of worlds this game that I think it was the right choice. Sure took a long time, though.

Sub Light Drives and Improved Space Scanner are into the percentages.

2396

One of our scouts explores a new system:

How the Sakkra, who are right next door, have not claimed this planet already I have no idea. But I will make an attempt to grab it for our empire. Mentar begins production of a colony ship, while Drakka builds some laser popguns to act as a (very) weak discouragement force. It will take until into the next turnset for any of them to arrive, which may not be fast enough, but we need worlds so why not at least make the attempt?

2397

Research on Improved Space Scanner completes. Finally we can see destinations of alien fleets. Our new choices...

...do not include IRC4. I select Battle Computer Mark V to give us a big upgrade and advance the tree. But lacking IRC4 is a huge blow. We are going to have to at least get our hands on IRC3 somehow, if we are to have any chance of keeping up with the AIs.

Planetary Shield V also completes. Our new options...

...once again stink: only Class V Deflectors is in the next tier; we do not have Repulsor Beams in our tree. Ouch, we are really having some bad luck with the tech trees this game. Oh well, Class V Deflectors it is to advance the tree.

2398

Zzzzzz

2399

I face a dilemma: complete the colony ship at Mentar for Neptunus with the current engine tech, or hold back and hope Sub Light Drives (currently at 29%) pops and then finish an updated, faster design instead? With the destination far enough away that the faster engines would save several turns, I decide to wait and hope the tech pops.

2400

Seed population finally arrives at Romulas to get that world started developing. Faster engines would help a lot...but are still not finished.

The High Council meets. The Sakkra and Silicoid leaders are nominated. 49 votes total, so 33 needed for victory.

Humans (6 votes) - abstain
Sakkra (13 votes) - Sakkra of course
Mrrshan (6 votes) - Silicoids
Bulrathi (4 votes) - Sakkra
Silicoids (12 votes) - Silicoids of course
Psilons (8 votes)

With the other races' votes almost perfectly split (17 for the lizards and 18 for the rocks) I could vote for either without causing a victory, but do not want to antagonize the other so I abstain. I think we still get a smaller hit for not voting in favor, but avoid a big hit with either and hopefully can stay out of wars until we are ready to make the initial move ourselves.

The galaxy in 2400 has several more Psilon worlds than it did when I started:

I have not made any moves or spending this turn. Mentar is nearly (one tick) done with a colony ship for Neptunus. It is up to the next emperor whther to finish it with the current design or wait and hope for faster drives to pop; Sub Light Drives are at 51%. ARS is at 16%; Merculite Missiles are at 12%. Soil Enrichment is nearing a full bulb but is not yet into the percentages.

I did not conduct any spying, so our reports are all a bit out of date. There has not been any fleet movement from any of our neighbors, and now with improved scanners we should see them coming if they try anything.

Our newer worlds have not been terraformed yet, as they are just starting to get enough production going to do so in a manageable number of turns. I have not built any planetary shields anywhere yet; that is something to consider, at least for our more exposed worlds.

Good luck!

Dark Savant (UP NEXT!)
Ianus (on deck)
haphazard1 (just played)
shallow_thought (traveling, currently unavailable)

[haphazard1]

Congrats on the new job, Ianus! Hydrology... sounds interesting. My materials science and mechanical engineering days are a long time ago, but I still find it fascinating.

Well, turns are played and report is up. Poor luck with the tech trees. But we added several worlds and are making some progress on techs. Hopefully things will stay peaceful; our relations are decent and our increased trade deals should help.

[Dark Savant]

Ooh, hydrology ... what comes to mind first there is environmental investigation of some kind, though that's pretty much a wild guess at what you will be doing.

Anyway, my turn roll double-play in PB39 is done; I have the save and can at least start the turnset tonight.

[Ianus]

Ouch! Lacking IRC4 and Repulsors hurts, though being stuck on default factory controls is the worst by far. Maybe IRC5 at the next tier? Otherwise things are looking up. My kingdom for Fusion Beams!

[haphazard1]

We know that the Sakkra have IRC3, and it is possible others do as well. (Still no contact with the humans and Bulrathi.) So we might be able to obtain at least one step up in factory controls via conquest or espionage, if we do not have IRC5 in our tree. But not having IRC4 really hurts; our core worlds could be building towards double their current factory counts.

[Dark Savant]

Year 2400 (Pre-Flight Check)

Hmm, AD 2400, how does that compare to other computer games?  Considering the potential future war with the cats, I think of Wing Commander, but the conflict with the Kilrathi doesn't start there until like 2650.  250 turns should be more than enough to prepare for felicide here. 

Anyway.  Things look good.    Our lack of beam weapon technology hurts, lack of Repulsor Beams hurts more, and lack of Robotics Controls most of all, but we have good technologies elsewhere, and patient build-up is what I'll be doing.

Our trade treaties with the AIs will help keep them at bay.  We still have strong relations with the Sakkras and Mrrshans, so it's very unlikely they'll attack us.  An attack by the Silicoids can still happen; I investigate the possibility of a Non-Aggression Pact with them, since now they can't steal planets from under our noses, but they're uninterested.

There's no sign of any conflict between the AIs, even the Mrrshans and Sakkra.

Did we mention that not having IRC IV is a pain, especially as the Psilons?   No interesting technologies are available for trade (I'd pay a small fortune for IRC III), though we could get non-terrible Battle Computers and beam weaponry from the cats if we really wanted to.

Actual adjustments I make this turn:

• It won't cost us much on each contact to get updated spy reports, so I do.
  
• I shift research spending away from Battle Computer V and Class V Deflector Shields to increase research interest.
  
• I invest all I can into a Planetary Shield at Rana, the system most exposed to the Silicoids.
  
• Not an adjustment: I continue the wait for Sub-Light Drives.
  

I don't shift around colonists; I want Sub-Light Drives first.

[Dark Savant]

Year 2401

A scout arrives at an uncolonized planet.




Someone, a laser scout drives away a medium Silicoid warship.



Trax is a Dead 40 that is somehow still unclaimed by the Silicoids; they apparently still lack decent range tech.  Let's try to grab that too, because why not?  

Oh, and we win the coin flip this turn, completing Sub-Light Drives.




With nothing amazing available in the next tier of Propulsion, I decide it's time to backtrack for Inertial Stabilizer.  It's now cheap, the AIs love it in trade (the Mrrshans might still not have it, as might the Humans and Bulrathi), and it's good to have in its own right.

I start shuffling around colonists, and maximize ship spending at Mentar again.

Oh, the cats have a colony ship in sight!  It's headed for ... Arietis, the planetless system near our core.

Year 2402

Merculite Missiles research completes.




Fusion Beam is available in the next tier; that's a good enough beam weapon, let's get going on it.

The colony ship for Neptunus is done and zips off.  Mentar starts another colony ship for Trax.

Soil Enrichment reaches the percentages -- that should help make up some for not having Improved Robotic Controls III.

[Dark Savant]

Year 2403

Nothing much.  Automatic Repair System is now at 49%, but we're not going to start a Huge Auto-Repair ship imminently, so I level off tech spending there.

Year 2404

Automated Repair System completes. 




I'd choose an Improved Industrial Tech technology if we could get a meaningful improvement in Robotic Controls anytime soon, but without that, I choose the next generation of armor.

Our colony ship for Trax completes and heads off.

The Class V Planetary Shield on Rana completes, and I feel that much safer against an attack by the Silicoids.

Year 2405

Nothing much, other than I note that the Humans are sending several Medium warships to the unclaimed Radiated planet near Orion.  I don't feel that's worth trying to stop; defending our new planets is more important.

Year 2406

Soil Enrichment comes in (at a ~60% chance).

]


I'm going to clean up dirt-cheap Controlled Barren just for the +1 to planetology tech.

All planets that can start crash soil enrichment programs immediately, of course.

We get a spy back in everywhere.

[Dark Savant]

Year 2407

We plant our flag on Neptunus.



We also complete a lot of soil enrichment programs, and get to resume population growth and some factory construction.

I can see a Mrrshan colony ship en route to Trax, but we can beat it there.

Year 2408

Dirt-cheap Controlled Barren Environment is in.




I now choose the most expensive option, Atmospheric Terraforming, which we need with all our hostile planets.  I considered starting Controlled Radiated Environment, since the AI likes that technology and we might be able to trade it to the Sakkra for IRC III, but it's enough of a gamble that I pass on it.

Year 2409

We lose our spies on the Mrrshans and Silicoids.  I'm not going to bother replacing them for now.  Nothing much happens otherwise.

Year 2410

We claim the Trax system for the brains!



That places us in contact with the Bulrathi.



Their leader is a Ruthless Industrialist with only five planets, the closest of which is actually Ursa.  I sign them up to 500 BC/year trade.  They don't have any interesting technologies up for trade, but I start some espionage spending on them.

Speaking of espionage, the Sakkra now have Improved Robotic Controls IV. 

Mentar and Simius now have Class V Planetary Shields.

[Dark Savant]

The overall racial stats view:



Notes to the next player:

• There is still no sign of war anywhere.  The Mrrshans and Sakkra are actually allied.
  
• Quite a few colonists are en route to Pollus (almost enough to exceed its pop limit); you should send some of them to our newest colonies once they arrive.
  
• The few long-range laser fighters in range are still at Trax, waiting for that Mrrshan colony ship.  It can probably kill a handful of laser fighters, though.
  
• Inertial Stabilizer is in the percentages; with luck, the Bulrathi won't have it and they'll trade something interesting for it.
  

The save:


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