General Lama dti was led our forces to Proteus this year, and the results were astonishing: Even within the year 2402, we had learned not to trust the Silicoids in time for our arrival there, but this year, with a smaller force - of course facing a much-smaller one from the Silicoids, General Lama dti proved there is always more to learn. She landed with overwhelming force and offered terms to the Silicoids just as was done on Uxmai - but she kept several transports in reserve, having plotted the landing ground ahead of time, identified terrain from which it could be ambushed, and prepared a counter-ambush directly from space against the forces that she knew would move to violate the parley. She offered quarter to the enemy with snipers and stealthy scout observers ready, and when groups of supposed-surrenderers were packing themselves with weapons and explosives, she used various means to detonate those very explosives remotely and prematurely. Every deception and war crime the Silicoids attempted, she anticipated, and arranged to use their positioning against them, ultimately swarming over their labs before they could be destroyed and claiming them, pristine and intact, along with the planet itself, after suffering much lower casualties than even our most-hopeful projections had decreed. We had expected to recover one of the Silicoids' unique technologies from each of Uxmai and Proteus, and hoped one of them might yield two. Instead, by the time we took Uxmai, their labs were all destroyed - but on Proteus...
General Lama dti claimed three! An ECM Jammer will help protect our bases from missiles, bombs, and even bioweapons should any be deployed, and help our intelligence networks in enemy space. Better still, Irridium fuel immediately extends our effective civilian and military range, meaning we can take this battle to more of the Silicoids' worlds - and even, as the Humans are attacking us again, to Sol if necessary! But last and far from least, our soldiers triumphantly claimed the Silicoids' personal shield technology, bringing us near at last to ground combat parity. No more can their soldiers sit behind the safety of their energy shields and slaughter ours with their lasers; ours too can be protected, affording all of us another measure of safety.
It was going to get even better.
When I was made commander in chief, the Silicoids' worlds outnumbered ours by fully four to one. We're a long, long way from making up that difference, but we're closing the gap: They now have little more than twice our numbers, and though there's little more I can do in the next four years, I hope and trust we aren't done! And more importantly still perhaps, you can see a new addition to the map of which we were previously unaware: The Meklar people, with their empire as large as ours used to be before Longlast and Uxmai and Proteus took part!
Whatever unforeseen event precipitated the sudden change in Alexander's and possibly Granid's reputations decades ago seems to have affected the Meklar people too: I don't know what M5-35's used to be, but being known as a pacifistic militarist cyborg takes some doing! The Meklar are also allied with both the Silicoids and Mrrshans, which does make me leery of trade - Granid could ask them to join its war with us at any time! - but we have to do something to try to make friends in this galaxy, and perhaps the "pacifist" label is better earned than Alexander's used to be.
At least M5-35 seems to be willing to give it a chance as well: 75 billion galactic credits was the minimum meaningful level our empires could establish in trade, and we've begun as of this year - but that's not the only thing we've agreed to trade!
Our Hyper-V rockets will be a small upgrade for Meklar missile bases - and perhaps their fleets - making them slightly more secure against Silicoid invaders in case their alliance breaks up, whether or not as a result of demands that they declare war on their new friends. In exchange, they have shared designs for their miniature laser weapons, small enough for a Psilon to carry in one hand and wield effectively with just three!
Our intelligence nets got an update on the Humans as well, revealing still more potential means of achieving space superiority with their repulsor beams - ahead of our own - and warp dissipator devices, though it's not yet known whether either is deployed aboard any of their actual fleets.
They do have a number of "Dreadnought" destroyers due to reach Silicoid Centauri within a couple of years, but what the state of alliances will be at that point is hard to say. I've also made note of the true dreadnoughts and supporting destroyers the Meklar are fielding at their two nearest stars to ours - all five in their empire are visible here - as a reference in case M5-35's militaristic nature eventually gets the upper hand over any real or imagined pacifistic tendencies: It's a reasonable guess at least that ships with that match that combine these hull appearances and names in just this way, whenever they appear, will still be using 24th-century technology, which may be valuable information to have when the time comes - and, I suppose, though the cynic in me hesitates to waste the breath on the little word, if.
The galactic census of 2407 suggests the population figures are mostly unchanged, though our potential has increased at the expense of the Silicoids'. Many of their planets are still very underpopulated though; had they accepted the opportunities they were given to evacuate ... but that's wishing for a long-lost, empty dream. And meanwhile, the Humans are bringing war to Paradise next year. We'll have seven missile bases to face them - I didn't bother with fighters given the presence of those Warships and the helplessness against our shields of all their non-bomb technology. I'll have to hope it's enough!
Yeah. So, these ships would seriously do a number on our existing fleets. We'll need better maneuverability, such as comes with Fusion Drives and Inertial Stabilizers - or heavy beams and repulsors, or some combination - to handle them in space. Fortunately, they have a total of zero bombs on this fleet, which means the seven missile bases I built were six more than I needed. Oh, and our Ultimatum, which was nearer than you might think, could have handled them if well-piloted, but the Ultimatum was busy.
That's the Toxic world at Tao, one of the nearest exoplanets to our homeworld, where the Silicoids have established a colony. Even with just seven missile bases there, now that they're firing merculite missiles, they were damaging our ship at first faster than our auto-repair could heal the damage - but that only lasted until we managed to bomb out a couple of the bases, and they were still a long way from penetrating our armor to actually kill anybody. This attack run was just for the purpose of clearing those bases ahead of a possible future attack: If they don't rebuild the bases, we'll have an easier time claiming Tao for ourselves when our planetology tech comes in, and if they do, that's more production dumped into something other than attack fleets near our core worlds. Of course, with a huge Silicoid battleship due at Proteus within three years, I'll have to send the Ultimatum back over, so it won't be in position to clear any more defenses soon, but at least it's doing something for us instead of waiting around for the enemy to arrive! Also in the category of Psilons not sitting around and waiting for something to happen:
Our spies. Once it became apparent that we were going to be at war with Granid and de-facto war with Alexander, I gave our networks in Silicoid and Human space permission to look for opportunities. Here, we had a chance to land a battle computer twice as powerful as our own, against largely lack-luster possibilities in other fields (at least as far as I knew) and I'm content with the consolation prize we got instead, merely doubling the ECM defenses at the missile bases on our core worlds.
Our agents also brought in a report on the Meklar, and I want practically everything they have available - their overboard militaristic focus on weapons technology is obvious here though - but still hoping for sustained peace - you'll notice that, though allied with the Klackons, they've broken off for the moment with their Silicoid and Mrrshan one-time allies - I haven't authorized any actual espionage on them. As for our own weapons technology, our scientists are reporting a chance of success this year for the very first time - though still a small one.
So we come to the end of my tenure - at last! - with a chance for another leader to show better devotion - perhaps! - to the war we're prosecuting. The only "attack" made by our forces this year was this one, checking on the extent of Silicoid defenses at Kulthos. Sixteen merculite bases are more than our Ultimatum can handle by itself, I think, but the planet looks like one we can claim if we can break through them. Also, if you want a good laugh, check out the designs of their Sharks and new colony ships.
The Silicoids are still powerful, but we have new technology coming in soon that may help, and we've already started making progress around our core and their periphery. If they start to collapse, the Meklar might yet be a greater long-term threat!
I haven't spoken to M5-35 in four years, so you should hopefully have some options available - but Granid was refusing to talk to us until just this year, so I doubt if it would actually be willing to say anything helpful even if we wanted to let up on the pressure we've started putting on it. The Humans, of course, have refused to allow diplomatic contact since setting our non-aggression pact on fire and using it to ignite a pyre beneath a Psilon effigy.
Such is the shape of the galaxy you inherit. Well, you inherit military command over a sixth of it, I mean. But it's a start! May you have - or at least give our future - opportunities to research in peace!
I kind of ended up rushing through the end of the report, but I hope it's enjoyable anyway! I may have time to post more comments tomorrow; in the meantime, here are some random notes thrown together on the fly:
- Our Ultimatum dreadnought just arrived at Uxmai this turn. I've sent it on to Proteus to defend against the incoming Silicoid huge ship (which is two years out to its one) but you can veto this if you want to for any reason. I don't know what's on that design, but we do have up-to-date spy reports. The other Silicoid Huge design (the Monitor) is loaded mostly with gatling lasers and gets eaten alive by the Ultimatum but would cause heavy attrition to fighter fleets. Fortunately it's extremely slow, so if we ever need to face it and something that does threaten the Ultimatum, our faster ships can divide and conquer tactically.
- The Silicoid Sharks are unshielded heavy laser destroyers with only minimal targeting. It would take huge numbers of them to threaten anything more than a token fleet (like the token fleet at Zoctan, admittedly...). Their colony ships are not a threat to basically anything.
- I ... um, only finished one planetary shield. Mentar is close, and Stepstone has started on its own, but I ended up prioritizing research over shields for most of my turns - my theory was that I would mix in some defensive spending while doing so, and I did but most of that spending ended up at Paradise since I didn't know enough about what was on the Human fleet to be confident one base could hold them off.
- Note the SIlicoids now have Merculites, which are much more effective against our Ultimatum than Hyper-Vs. It can still take on single-digit base counts in relative safety though (at least, it handled seven easily). And I've yet to see a Silicoid starfleet that can impress it even slightly. It's great for taking down weakly-held worlds, and for parking in orbit while waiting for transports to arrive, wrecking any bases the enemy might manage to build and scaring off or wiping out any Silicoid fleet that might happen by. (That Human death fleet might be another matter, but it's slow and can't get through our shields. When we remember to build them, I mean.)
Thanks for the report, RefSteel. Looks like some very busy and complicated turns. But overall good ones, as we made significant progress against the rocks.
That Meklar tech report is scary. Some very dangerous weapons with Stinger missiles and anti matter torperdoes, although at least for now no improved bomb tech. Controlled Radiated, RW60, and Inertial Stabilizer are all very tempting, if we could find a way to obtain them.
Nature going fertile is nice, as we need a good source of pop for invasions.
More thoughts tomorrow, once I have had some sleep.
I'm glad to see some tech captures and steals; I was disappointed that we didn't gain any techs from Uxmai but it looks like Proteus more than made up for it. Nice job minimizing the collateral damage, Ref.
But we're still lagging the pack on technology, which is an awkward position for the Psilons.
I should be able to get to this tomorrow, it's just that today has been busy and I want to go cycling tomorrow morning so it may be technically more than 24 hrs before I actually claim it.
It may have looked easy, but that is because it was done correctly - Brian Moore
It's funny how the RNG plays a big part in this game. I "shadow-played" some turns from the 2400 save (don't worry I'm not gonna tell any details of what happened, as it can be seen as a spoiler) but it played out totally different from the official turns played by Ref.
Thanks, DaveV. I should say that I included the bit about preserving infrastructure mostly because it was a very small cute thing that I liked and fit well with the narrative. Tactics like this are much more important when the numbers are bigger than they are here. It happened that my bombing runs on the planet brought the last base down to just 4 hp and I had seen the heavy beam weapons alone were doing enough damage to knock that down, so I realized that "taking a step back" would prevent the bombs for coming in for overkill. It only made a difference of one or two factories at most, each with just one chance in fifty of providing a tech, but it's possible that was the difference between getting or not getting the Personal Deflector Shield!
Also - I don't know if I expressed in the report how great it was to have that Ultimatum design on hand - in all of its evolving roles as the turns continued. It'll be helping for a long time to come!
(June 23rd, 2023, 14:38)shallow_thought Wrote: I should be able to get to this tomorrow, it's just that today has been busy and I want to go cycling tomorrow morning so it may be technically more than 24 hrs before I actually claim it.
Have a great time cycling! (Because putting together my pictures and reports always takes so much time, I always have this worry that I'm taking too long, and then when that finds expression in my e.g. apologizing for taking an extra half a day (ish) I end up worrying that by doing so, I'm implying I think it's a big deal to get through the turns on time - when actually I'm just glad we get to play together again no matter when! So ... I guess this is me expressing that worry as a roundabout way of saying what haphazard told me more clearly: Please don't worry if it takes time to get to and/or through the turns!
(June 23rd, 2023, 14:51)SpaceOWL Wrote: It's funny how the RNG plays a big part in this game. I "shadow-played" some turns from the 2400 save (don't worry I'm not gonna tell any details of what happened, as it can be seen as a spoiler) but it played out totally different from the official turns played by Ref.
Yeah, there are huge swings possible just from pRNG; even just the combat results can be wildly swingy as we saw with the super-unlucky events at Uxmai and the almost-as-lucky events at Proteus, but then there are random events and AI decisions that could be utterly different between two playthroughs of the same game or even a few turns! The randomness is a good thing though; it adds a lot to the replayability of this old game!
(June 23rd, 2023, 14:51)SpaceOWL Wrote: It's funny how the RNG plays a big part in this game. I "shadow-played" some turns from the 2400 save (don't worry I'm not gonna tell any details of what happened, as it can be seen as a spoiler) but it played out totally different from the official turns played by Ref.
Thanks for commenting, SpaceOwl! I hope you will mention what was different in your playthrough, once we complete the OSG. I am curious what you saw. As RefSteel said, the RNG can make a tremendous difference sometimes.
Got it. I'm surprised how strong the Meklar are compared to the Silicoids, particularly as we know the Mrrshans aren't lightweights easier.
Just to check: inviting the Meklar to declare war on the rocks would be allowed if I decided it would be a good idea (so long as we are still at war ourselves and planning to continue)? It's not clear that they would, and not clear it would do anything other than leave us with an even larger, better equipped foe to face further down the line, but I'd like to check if it's an option if we end up under pressure.
EDIT: of course, that would require them to be out of alliance first; we'll see if Ref's trade agreement nudges them at all.
It may have looked easy, but that is because it was done correctly - Brian Moore
(June 24th, 2023, 05:04)shallow_thought Wrote: Got it. I'm surprised how strong the Meklar are compared to the Silicoids, particularly as we know the Mrrshans aren't lightweights easier.
Yeah, indeed. The Meks don't need many worlds to become extremely dangerous!
Quote:Just to check: inviting the Meklar to declare war on the rocks would be allowed if I decided it would be a good idea (so long as we are still at war ourselves and planning to continue)? It's not clear that they would, and not clear it would do anything other than leave us with an even larger, better equipped foe to face further down the line, but I'd like to check if it's an option if we end up under pressure.
Yes, requesting that someone join us in a war that we're already fighting ourselves is legit. (The AI is also not nearly as likely to agree under kyrub's patch as in the base game, I believe.)
Quote:EDIT: of course, that would require them to be out of alliance first; we'll see if Ref's trade agreement nudges them at all.
Wow, yeah; they were briefly out of alliance, but apparently only very briefly! (I didn't think to check in 2410 until just now, but you're right; they're allies again.) Here's hoping!
[Moderator Edit: Fixed the spacing since the forum software wouldn't cooperate with the poster's attempts to do so.]
Psilon society has (almost) always found a place for those of us who are "Unbalanced". Individuals captured by a single idea or area of interest can comfortably follow their fascination, so long as they are few, and divergent, so that society as a whole progresses evenly. However, we do tend to be viewed as ... odd, even if our focus carries us to quite a professional height. I was therefore very surprised to be selected as the one who would give direction to our entire civilization for the next 10 years.
They said that they wanted someone who had a deep understanding of the alien mind. I pointed out that I had spent my time studying (even living with, during our short-lived treaty of friendship) Humans, and I believed that our war was against the Silicoids. I suggested an alternative Unbalanced who specialised in the rock-based lifeforms, but they told me that the lava machine he used to "get into the right mindset" had malfunctioned, and he wouldn't be available in time.
I then pointed out that my understanding of and feelings towards the Humans was hardly the stuff of peaceful progress. They are so vicious that their own historical records have been left sparse and warped by their internal wars. Any kind of analysis of their past requires extreme care and intelligence (my own higher doctoral thesis had been on LC Sulla - the ruthless dictator and suprisingly early advocate of AI simulation of possibilities as a means to conquest). They haven't changed: for the modern Human, look at the initial attack at Paradise, their unapologetic attitude about it, and the way they cancelled our friendship treaty without any provocation on our part. They are vicious, unprincipled, backstabbers who wouldn't hesitate to switch alliances at a moment's notice to further their own aims.
"Exactly", I was told. "You understand this, and that is why you have been chosen".
T2410
I decide we can gamble on not bulding shields at our non-front worlds for the moment, but I think we need to start reserve-pumping Uxmai so as to get a shielded, rich world up an running ASAP. Paradise goes onto that duty.
As there are (temporarily) no more rock worlds to conquer I'll try to cope with just one Ultimatum. Will perhaps look at a new design as more tech comes in. If I get the chance I may look to reduce the bases at Anraq - as a Radiated world it's a candidate for complete obliteration.
If we get spy hits, we want propulsion from the Humans, and computers or propulsion from the rocks.
T2411
And there comes the Meklar declaration. That may be very bad news indeed. Our scout can go take a quick look at Meklar and see if we can spot any of their ship designs. I guess we might as well start spying properly on them - we match them in computers. Priorities are weapons and that Controlled Radiated they have ...
I decide Nature can help fix the missing pop on some other worlds, starting with Proteus.
T2412
No ships at Meklar - just 46 bases.
The Silicoid Polaris design is everything we have come to expect from them, fortunately. I manage to lose one fighter to a missile, trying to keep them around long enough to destroy, but decide not to take any further losses with transports incoming and they retreat once I retreat our light forces. We destroy all their transports.
Uxmai fills its factories and completes a shield. Get a few bases up (3 a turn with reserve spending, which is probably enough) and it can switch to reserve filling.
The Silicoids are escorting their colony ship to Laan with one of their Monitor huges. If I get the chance I will engage with the Ultimatum - if they reterat, it's a big delay at their speeds. I move our ship back to Uxmai in order to keep flexibility.
The Silicoids have added the Klackons to their alliance. Still no Human diplomat. For once, we have no incoming enemies reported.
T2413
The Humans are out of alliance and back in contact. Well, they were. I tried for a tech trade but they wanted IRC3 and sulked when I said no. The tone didn't make me think they were up for a NAP anyway. The Meklar are no longer in alliance with the Silicoids, but remain (of course) at war with us.
The Humans have picked up Shield VI, the rocks Shield V. The lack of PSV is their trees is pleasing.
Uxmai is now pumping the reserve, going to Proteus and Longlast, while Paradise can go back to teching.
T2414
Battle suits are in, and I start on IT6 - once that is through we can really exploit IRC4.
No incoming fleets. The Meklar just shuffle around, and I would encourage them to keep doing so.
Proteus can get a shield up in 3t (with reserve support), and we'll likely get that much warning before any Silicoid attack, so it can keep going on factories.
The Humans are back in alliance with the Silicoids, and won't break it (unsuprisingly). I note the Meklar have caught one of our spies, but we really want their tech.
T2415
Merculites are in and my choice is Fusion Beam (over Hard Beam). That's a nice upgrade when we get it.
Tao has a base up, which I move to crush next turn, as there are still no more attacks incoming.
T2416
We blow up the base on Tao and leave again. A Mrrshan colony goes poor.
Proteus maxes factories and starts on a shield; Longlast is now first the queue for reserves, and for extra pop from Nature. The Silicoids also appear to be sending an unescorted colony ship to invade Nature. I'll double-check that next turn, but it seems bonkers.
Humans won't accept a NAP without IRC3 either (and it's probably worthless given their alliance).
T2417
The Silicoids want peace. I am very, very tempted - we can simply betray them when we have Controlled Toxic, and it won't stop us blocking them at Laan. I accept. This frees our Ultimatum to do exactly that. I'm still covering Nature with some fighters though. Hopefully this means that the Humans will also stay quiet. I have no interest in trade with the Rocks though, and continue spying. This is a truce only.
T2418
A spy destroys a missile base at Mentar. The Silicoids are sending a huge to Nature as well, but we should now have diplomatic cover, right? Worst case is that they establish orbit and start sending pop before we can get our Ultimatum back - in which case, they will have just wasted a load of pop, IMO. I'll stop shipping pop out for now though, just in case.
The Meklar will talk but won't make peace yet. There is still no sign that they are serious about fighting though.
T2419
The Humans are heading for Paradise. Their tech still shouldn't let them break our shields - and we have better missiles than last time, too. I build another base out of sheer paranoia.
T2420
We have Repulsor Beams; I pick Planetary X (although PAS was tempting).
The Silicoid colony fleet heading for Laan just turns around, even although it's a neutral world. I wasn't expecting that. Shame, I was hoping we could persuade them to let us kill a huge ...
State at end of turns.
We are at war with the Meklar but it's not exactly hot; we're at technical peace with the Humans but they are incoming at Paradise (best defended by bases - I don't think they've upgrade much since DaveV fought them). We are at actual peace with the Silicoids, just to give us some freedom of maneuver. I have only consolidated this set rather than made lots of active progress in pushing our power relative to the other species; I would encourage the next player to consider restarting the war after Controlled Toxic comes in. Diamonds show systems building bases, and one of the Silicoid fleet tracks should be red (Paint is a primitive tool and I am a primitive user of it).
Big dump of status.
Final thoughts:
- I have issued orders for our Ultimatum to return to Uxmai, but this can be cancelled.
- I really expect the rocks to just turn around at Nature, given their behaviour at Laan
- I'm not fond of our diplo position for the next vote, but can't see much to do about it, other than making peace with the Meklar. However, I think that would require grovelling (offering tribute) and I'd be reluctant to do that without guaranteed return.
- I'm disappointed with our lack of spy hits; we're competitive in computer tech. We are currently trying with all our contacts, as long-term peace with Apes or Rocks seems unlikely and we're at war with the Borg.
- Paradise and Proteus are building bases, Uxmai is on reserves, Longlast is building factories, everywhere else is teching.
- RefSteel
- shallow_thought (just played)
- haphazard1 (UP!)
- DaveV (on deck)
It may have looked easy, but that is because it was done correctly - Brian Moore
Some very dangerous weapons with Stinger missiles and anti matter torperdoes, although at least for now no improved bomb tech. Controlled Radiated, RW60, and Inertial Stabilizer are all very tempting, if we could find a way to obtain them.
As RefSteel said, the RNG can make a tremendous difference sometimes.
