2300
We-are-back!!!
Our starting neighborhood looks reasonably decent, though that nebula directly north of Nazin is going to cause problems down the road. Nothing much to be done about it though.
Overall the galaxy looks pretty standard, with a fairly average group of AI races. The Silicoids are always frustrating in their land grab phase, so we should be prepared to fend them off as much as possible. Other than that I don’t see anything to be concerned about. We are on the edge of a relatively thick cluster of stars so hopefully we should have enough targets for early expansion to keep things going. I’ll start fanning out scouts and get the lay of the land.
Only one star within 3 parsecs, so our starting colony ship heads there. At least its in a good direction for expansion.
Did I mention that the nebula will cause problems? Because the nebula is already causing problems. I’m going to wait three turns to start building scouts. I don’t see any benefit to starting early.
Our second starting scout is going to the eastern purple star, and if there is an AI at either of those two yellows just beyond we are going to be under early pressure. We will find out soon enough.
2303
Ugh, really? So its going to be like that. Keep Out seems fitting. I’ll start sending 3 pop per turn next turn when Nazin hits 51. Usually I would’t send much to a poor world but we need a population source for further colonization. Time to build some more scouts.
2304
Two scouts fan out to the east as that looks like the most likely source of pressure. Two more will follow next turn. For now I plan to stop at 6 to save money on ship maintenance. That may change depending on what I find later.
2306
Asteroids to the east. Good for a buffer, but that cuts both ways, limiting our own expansion. I’ll see what those yellows hold.
2307
Now that population has started to increase at Keep Out, and since building factories is basically useless at the moment, I open research there on Propulsion and Planetology to see what we have available.
2308
Improved Eco (over Controlled Barren) and Range 4 (only choice). Could be worse. I willl spend the turn seeding Propulsion from Nazin and let Keep Out finish the tech while its population builds before tackling Improved Eco.
Vega looks nice if we can ever make it there. I foolishly bypassed the blue star in the nebula to get there, so it will take a while for my spare scout to make it up there now. Sloppy!
2309
Oh no! The bears are after our picnic baskets! Fortunately its just a scout.
And what a picnic it is! We may need to push for Range 6 ASAP!
2310
We scout the Moro asteroid belt and minimal 35 Gion. I’m much less excited about that. Scouts push on. I send one last colony transport to Keep Out and call it a day. That should put us right around 32 pop in three turns. From there Keep Out is on its own.
2311
Another Bulrathi scout at Terran 90 Collassa to the east. Those stars are PRIME real estate! There just isn’t an easy way to get there. Curses!
2313
Two more prime worlds scouted at range including Artifact 60 Kailis (no tech found). We are going to have to push for advanced range, and unfortunately we will have a lot of ground to hold while we do so.
2315
We repel a Meklar scout at Vega in the north. At least we aren’t under a lot of early pressure. We also have a nice path to two good worlds to our northwest once Range 4 comes in.
2318
Range 4 discovered. Range 6 next over Nuclear Engines AND Inertial Stabilizer. I hate to pass up an engine upgrade but the range is just too important. I just wish I had the production to spare for the three colony ships we need right now, but with only 109 factories on Nazin and none on Keep Out we just can’t do it.
This is where having a Poor second colony hurts the most. We need to be building colony ships AND researching for increased range while maxing our home world, and we can’t do either of those things because Keep Out produces 12 production or 24 research per turn. Ugh! I hate to say it but the difficulty level may have to save us here. I don’t even think its worthwhile to build long range laser fighters to hold our coveted colonization targets because our production is so limited and there are so many planets to cover. Or maybe I just rely on a farmer’s gambit too much and don’t know what I’m doing.
2319
The Mobas asteroid field is scouted in the northern nebula. We are really confined until we extend our range! Since we have one extra scout at the moment I send it deep into our back lines to investigate the two stars that I couldn’t reach before. Oh I also apparently seeded Range 6 from Nazin, so Keep Out goes back on research again.
2320
And that will do it for me.
So far we have two planets, with prospects to pick up three more. There are four more prime worlds just out of reach, but we have the tech available to reach them all if we push for it. We are way behind in just about every way though. Save attached. Good luck!
.