OSG-39-B - The Meklar Revolt (Again) for Freedom

[SpaceOWL]

Good set shallow_thought,

I took a look at the save, it's a very strong position. I'm here itching to play the next set but I have a busy weekend ahead, even for an apparently straightforward set of 10 turns.

[haphazard1]

Looks like some good turns, shallow_thought. Having Tundra as our only option is unfortunate, but it is what it is.

With SpaceOwl being busy for the weekend, I guess that makes me up next. Unless DaveV (or someone else?) is around and wants to play? I should be able to play later today or early tomorrow, but if someone can grab it first feel free.

We should get another col ship out to grab that desert 70 -- this galaxy has been so much more habitable than the previous one . And we should get a scout over to the yellow beyond the nebula. Otherwise I think we need more factories, and an initial defense base at each world that has enough factories to build one in a reasonable time frame. I think shallow_thought is correct and we will see pressure from the birds very soon. Building lots of pop gun laser fighters is not very appealing. But we may have little choice. Getting some research going for weapons and force fields should be a priority, we will need better options soon.

[SpaceOWL]

If I were to play I'd have 3 main goals for the set

1. Forward pop aggressively. It is bad to have meklon full pop and a fertile world almost full pop. We need max pop the outer worlds ASAP (ie the rich worlds), and refill the intermediate colonies from meklon /growth. I would overcrowd canopy to kick start the Desert 70 right after colonization in about 9-10 turns
2. Restart research. Begin from Growth (right away) and Meklon (in 2 turns after the last colony ship is ready). I'd focus in what is needed to defend Shieldless. That is, DSS is important, BC2 is important, Hyper-V is important, duralloy is important although very expensive. DS2 not so much. Seeding Tundra is also important because controlled Inferno/Toxic can be of vital importance
3. Buiid some reserves with the slider, if an attack comes we need to crash build on the target colony.

[RefSteel]

Looks to me like a great set of turns, shallow_thought! Sorry for posting my thoughts on tech too late, but I approve of your choices anyway; the discovery of Gorra (the far-off barren world) makes me want to get Duralloy + Tundra in and expand through there with a long-range colony ship! (And depending on what's at the seven-parsec blue star another of our Scouts is about to reach, this might be even more significant!) Besides, even though Zhardan is mineral poor, it can grow 70 population, and it'll be worth grabbing when we can do it with a regular long-range colony. And all that's without mentioning the other benefits of Duralloy, including the fact that it might open the way to RW60!

Right now, I think I'd open Computer and Weapon research, probably picking Scanner over Battle Computer over ECM and Whatever Weapon Is Cheapest (Hyper-Vs in a nebula only help against medium and larger ships; against typical Alkari small stacks, the key as usual for weapons is to get to the better options in the second tier ASAP - in my opinion, at least!) and then depending on what we get, either make them priorities now or put one or both of them on hold for a bit; either way, I'd want to start Duralloy soon and Tundra not long thereafter. Shield 2 still seems like a lower priority, but if we get contact with the Alkari other than through Shieldless (e.g. if they get Range 7, which should put Understory in their range, or if they get Range 6 and steal Poor Zhardan before we can get there) this could well change: A single base with a Class-2 shield is the best answer we can build to their typical laser fighter fleets, rendering our planets immune to them entirely.

Apart from that, I mostly agree with SpaceOWL, except I think we're past the point where I'd want to run the reserve slider: Too much of it will be taken from Shieldless and Selia - and if we're aggressive about sending pop to Selia and keeping it on industry, it'll finish its factories and be able to start building reserves directly within the next ten turns, I think! (Shieldless will take longer because it's newer, but not that much longer if we commit to it.)

Of course, I may be posting too late for haphazard to see this before playing, but hopefully these thoughts are still helpful for thinking about the game and this galaxy!

[haphazard1]

Your timing is good, RefSteel. I am about to start the turns. Thanks for the advice. And I think SpaceOwl's advice is also good. I will do my best to get our new worlds populated and up to speed as quickly as possible.

In case it was not already obvious, this is a GOT IT.

[haphazard1]

2350 (inherited)

We have a bunch of very nice planets...and far too little population to go around. It is almost like we are the Silicoids. Still, this is much better than not having planets to develop. As SpaceOwl suggested, I send pop from Meklon and Growth forward to speed the development of our newer worlds. This will slow factory building in our core, but there really is not a better option.

I also start a trickle of tech spending at Growth, opening the remaining fields to see what is available.

I note a Sakkra scout near Misha, the inferno planet just SE of the nebula. The lizards may become a worry soon, as waves of invading lizard troops would be a very serious problem for our lightly populated colonies.

2351

Our scout reaches the blue star NW of the nebula. Helos is a Klackon colony with 38 pop and 18 industry, so fairly new. It also has 5 armed destroyer-class ships (no missiles launched), so we retreat.

The Sakkra scout retreats from our scout at Misha.

Computers has a full slate of options:

As per RefSteel's advice, I take DSS to expand our early warning range and get a relatively quick advance to the next tier.

Force Fields is of course Deflectors 2. Weapons has more options:

I take the cheap Hand Lasers for a boost to ground combat and to more quickly advance to the next tier.

2352

Meklon completes a colony ship, which sets out on a long (7 turn) trip to the desert world in the north. Meklon goes full industry -- we need to develop our core. While more science would be nice, I think we need more production capacity ASAP.

2353

Pop arrives at Shieldless to help development.

2354

Our scout arrives at the yellow star NW of the nebula. It is Kholdan! 75 pop, 175 industry, 25 missiles bases, and 8 destroyers in orbit. We retreat, obviously.
Pop arrives at Understory to help development.

2355

Pop arrives at Canopy to help development.

[haphazard1]

2356

Meklon reaches the point of having enough factories for its population. Spending is shifted to research, taking the load off Growth so it can finally start focusing on industry.

2357

Nothing much

2358

Selia maxes factories and starts putting some funds into reserves for emergencies.

[haphazard1]

I get errors if I try to post more than about 3 lines of text. No idea what the problem is.

[haphazard1]

Here is the save, can't post anything.

[haphazard1]

Trying again. Settled Dusty in north, council met, abstains for all but Alkari.

RefSteel is UP next.