OSG-33 The Beautiful Brains

[Ianus]

I've rolled us a start that I predict just by star layout will be a fun challenge.
   
Settings:
Race: Psilons
Galaxy Size: Large
Difficulty: Impossible
Other Races: 5
Patch version: 1.40m

Roster:
Ianus (Now Playing)
haphazard1
timmy827
Anyone else who finds the time or desire to jump in and play even a single turn set.  All are welcome!

Starting save attached for posterity.  Report to follow shortly.

[Ianus]

Played!  I have seriously hamstrung us by choosing Range 4 over Range 5, but other than that our two planet empire is doing well
Save and report attached.

timmy and haphazard, whoever posts a "Got it" first is welcome to play the next 15 turns, then whoever is left plays 15, and then we are off to the races!

[haphazard1]

Was going to post a comment, and now there is already a report to read! Thanks for getting us started, Ianus. Will read and then comment.

Edit: And back. We are off and running. We have a bit of a rough start here -- a poor planet for our second world, and some hostile environments around us. Plus Orion nearby and a no planet system. Yuck. But we are the mighty Psilons, and we will dominate the galaxy anyway!

Bit of a tough break with the range 4/range 5 choice, but it happens. With the number of systems within range 4, that would normally have been a pretty good bet. In this case it is not working out, but we can manage.

Improved Eco and Terraforming+20 both look good to me, and will be very useful. Hopefully we will have a little time before we encounter other races, and will not need to push weapons or force fields just yet while we get some more range and worlds.

Hmmm, humans are always a threat diplomatically, and rocks spread everywhere with their early cheese alliances. I am not too scared of the Sakkra, Mrrshan, or Bulrathi just yet, although of course any of them could grow powerful. Especially if one of them is free to grab the southwest quadrant of the galaxy without competition.

[RefSteel]

Way to get things started, Ianus! I enjoyed reading the report! I would also argue that taking R4 over R5 wasn't a mistake as such; it was a reasonabe gamble given your knowledge at the time. I pretty much never open Propulsion right away in 2300 though, for more or less exactly this reason. (That is: I probably won't want to really seed it until later on when I have enough scouting reports to know what I'll really need.)

Not sure if I'll have time to jump in for a turn-set, but it looks like it'll be a fun game!

[haphazard1]

OK, got it! I will take the next 15 turns, and then timmy827 can grab the set after that. And maybe an additional player might even show up?

I will see what I can do to keep us growing and developing.

[Ianus]

Thanks Ref! Yes I have certainly learned an important lesson from this experience. What I SHOULD have done and what I wanted to do was basically exactly what I did: open planetology and grab Improved Eco, and at the time I thought that it would be helpful to know what my propulsion options were at the same time. I thought for a long time looking at my map screenshot and debating between the cheaper and more expensive options before choosing Range 4 because it would finish quickly and the map LOOKED to be accessible with just Range 4. But as you say I didn't win that bet this time around. Plus there was no reason to open Propulsion then as every RP I generated had to go to Planetology to get IER done in 17 turns (a decent achievement if I do say so). The other thing that influenced my decision was that I thought I would research IT10 AND Range 4 at the same time before putting everything into Improved Eco. Ah well, you win some you lose some. Lesson learned. At least we are the race LEAST penalized for wasting research points on useless projects!

[haphazard1]

Emperor Ianus has begun the Psilon expansion throughout the galaxy. Our next task is to continue the spread of our people to more worlds, and to develop the two planets we currently control while researching more technology.

Our biggest issue at the moment is range. There are three habitable worlds at 5 parsecs range, but none at 4 parsecs range. So we must proceed to range 5 technology as rapidly as possible. No other research projects are as important right now, so our entire focus can be on propulsion. Terraforming+20 would be nice to have, but at this point it is an expensive project and our planets still have room to grow anyway.

As a poor planet, Mora is better suited to grow pop and spend what it can on research; it will carry the research load for now while Mentar industrializes. I order our scout at the planet-less system in the east to head west; there are four systems that will be within extended scout range once we have range 4, and three of them are to the west. It will take time for our warp one ships to position themselves, so might as well start now.

A few years pass quietly, with Mentar building factories and Moro shipping population back to the homeworld to work the new industry. In 2324, research on range 4 completes. We have a nice selection of options:

Right now we just need range 5 so we can reach those three habitable worlds. Better engines, range 6, and the inertial stabilizer will likely get some attention one day, but for now the cheapest option is the one we want. Mentar pauses factory building to seed the new research project. Scouts are dispatched to systems newly in range.

In 2326 Mentar has maxed out, with help from pop sent from Moro. Range 5 is already into the percentages, and we get the first new scout report:

Not a very good world, but it is habitable. Except...wait, what is that? A dome? The Silicoids have already established a presence on this world.

Well, here are the Silicoids right on our doorstep. Preventing them from grabbing all the hostile worlds around us is going to be a difficult task. And we need to grab the habitable worlds, and get some kind of defensive force in place over them, as rapidly as possible. At least the rocks' point world is poor; that should slow them down a bit.

To avoid damaging relations, I withdraw our scout from Omicron orbit.

With range 5 in the mid-teens, Mentar shifts spending to begin construction of a colony ship, with Moro continuing to fund research. This is a bit of a gamble, but hopefully it will work out.

In 2328, a Silicoid scout arrives in the Rana system (the steppe 60 between us and Omicron). The rocks retreat from our scout for now, but we will need actual force here and soon.

In 2329, scouts report from the Quayal system:

Hmmm, we are not likely to prevent the rocks from grabbing this rich system.

In 2330 another intruder enters the Rana system -- this time a Sakkra scout. Alliance with the rocks for range, maybe? Or are the lizards also close by? Our scouts force them to retreat.

Mentar finishes the colony ship, but range 5 continues to be stubborn. More funds are put into research to try to force the tech to completion.

Well, my gamble on popping range 5 is officially lost.

In 2333 a scout reports back from the Spica system: a lovely world, but claimed by the Sakkra. The lizards are already terraforming.

I retreat our scout to avoid damaging relations.

Range 5 finally pops (forced), and the waiting colony ship sets out for Rana. I design a standard cheap little laser fighter and have Mentar produce a batch to send to Rana; they will arive one turn after the col ship. Hopefully not an error.

I choose Nuclear Engines as our next proopulstion tech, and after producing one batch of laser fighters Mentar takes a turn to seed the tech. Being able to respond faster will be important with two alien races right on our doorstep.

And that brings my turnset to an end. Not very good, overall. But we have a colony ship on the way to Rana and some (very) minor force following it. We can start building colony ships for the other habitable worlds which are now in range, or more laser fighters, or whatever the next player feels is best. Mentar is maxed out and Moro has plenty of pop to ship to new worlds if we can grab them before our neighbors do.

Good luck!

[Dark Savant]

I was about to post to discuss the game, and I find it's already started! 


Please slot me in after timmy827, I'll need to catch up on what's happened so far.  I can play tomorrow if timmy827 can't.

[TheArchduke]

This was a bit quick. Gonna shadow this one probably.

[haphazard1]

Welcome, Dark Savant! Glad to have you on the team. Turn pace will not remain this fast, obviously. But the early turns go quickly with not much to manage, and the timing just happened to work out nicely for me to play after Ianus got things started.

And we are happy to have readers, too! Welcome, TheArchduke!