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Wouldn't the Sakkra be pretty decent at pulling a similar very-early colony-invasion gambit considering that they, of anyone, might easily have the population to spare?
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Jan 22, 2018 20:34
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PurpleXVI posted:Wouldn't the Sakkra be pretty decent at pulling a similar very-early colony-invasion gambit considering that they, of anyone, might easily have the population to spare? well the defenders have a home turf advantage. it is not a huge amount, +5 or +10 on the ground combat rolls, but when everyone is just in titanium combat armor it makes a difference. and even if you win, what's the next step? you now have 3 planets, all with very small populations, and no good way to concentrate them to actually start making a substantial number of babies. it's also worth noting that thot definitely does not have the range to launch a counter-invasion right now. if you are within the normal range of a planet (that is, you can reach it with ships that do not require Reserve Fuel Tanks), you are assumed to have established contact with the race and normal diplomatic relations commence. the fact that those transports were able to be sent in the first place is obvious and serious cheating by the AI. since thot did not research anything, it is clear the only reason contact was even established last update is because the cats had a breakthrough (probably range 5) Coolguye fucked around with this message at 21:05 on Jan 22, 2018 |
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Jan 22, 2018 20:53
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Just to clarify on the invasion thing; their attack was most definitely a raging pile of unadulterated horsecrap. However, contact happened, and I have the range to counterattack, because they colonized Firma(3 parsecs from Yarrow, see the posted map after contact with the Mrrshan). I did also say this:Thotimx posted:Sending an invasion to Firma would be pointless; we can't take on their fleet. The big difference between them and us is, in one of those Impossible-difficulty imbalances, they have a sizable(for early-game) starting group of ships. I could still do it of course, and probably some of the transports would get through. But, the 26 destroyers that chased off my ships from Firma would take out a significant number of them if they were still there. And they'd come back even if the invasion worked and bomb the thing, so I would need to at least be able to be within spitting distance of their fleet for this to be beneficial. Fighting them this early is basically impossible and even if it wasn't, I'd have to stop expanding/researching to do it and I might as well just delete the save file and start over at that point. It basically hurts both sides -- so even if we 'win', like we did on Yarrow, the growth curve for both is reduced while the other races get further ahead. Sort of a Pyrrhic Victory kind of situation. So while PurpleXVI is correct about the Sakkra being good at this because of the growth rate, doing it as a player-empire on Impossible really isn't particularly useful. I will say that I may have to explore this possibility more when we get to the Bulrathi, who often need to start an early offensive war -- but it's dicey and you have to pick your spots. Late enough that you can build a credible fleet, early enough that it helps you grow. I've really never been successful at that because it's not my typical playstyle, but that's a bit down the road yet. EmptyNull posted:I've been really enjoying seeing you curbstomp Moo1. Thanks! I wouldn't say curbstomp precisely, but it's nice to have won more than I've lost. So far. On MOO2 I'm probably roughly equal to Hard difficulty last time I played. It's definitely a different aminal. Coolguye posted:it is not a huge amount, +5 or +10 on the ground combat rolls, Correct. It's +5, for the record. Strategic Sage fucked around with this message at 00:17 on Jan 23, 2018 |
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Jan 23, 2018 00:15
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This is an out-of-character announcement post which has nothing to do with the current game in progress. The TL:DR here is that starting with the next game, I'll be doing both the current screenshot format and a raw video of the relevant quarter-century gameplay, with audio commentary by yours truly. For those moments that I've been doing brief videos for, I'll note the time on the video here in the thread so those who would prefer mostly screenshots can keep that reading approach. I'll also be curious as to which format people prefer, when we get to that point. For anyone who's interested in more, read on. I'm mentioning this now because I'm going to have a couple videos go live on my youtube channel today for a filler project I'm doing, and they'll be the first publicly-available commentary videos I've done in a long time so I figured anyone who might be paying close attention would wonder what's going on given what I've said about doing that kind of thing in the past. As reasonably brief as I can make it, I'll say that my personal history with gaming has taken many twists and turns. These have included a couple of fairly serious but ultimately unsuccessful attempts at becoming a programmer myself, a stint for about 1.5-2 years as a Community Manager for a startup in the world of sports simulations that didn't go very far though it's still operational, and in general a shift towards more strategy/simulation interests whereas I did a lot of RPG stuff when I was younger. I spent a ridiculous amount of time of MUDs back in the day as well. Emergent stories have become more interesting to me rather than those in which I know the exact outcome -- even in a simulation that you know you are going to 'win' eventually, it's not the same as a story in which you meet the 'bad guy' on such a such a crossroads with predetermined dialogue and impact on other characters in the game, etc. That's not a slap to those who enjoy those games, I just really find it difficult to get interested in RPGs the last few years, no matter how good they are. Over the years I've done some modding but more than anything else I've been a prolific 'dynasty/AAR' writer, going back to well before I knew what the term 'Let's Play' even means. I made a couple attempts at doing youtube videos but they never went very far(on my end), never completed any projects that way -- I was just more comfortable with writing, doing what I knew. Over the past several years, a couple things have happened. First, the communities where I was involved in these things have been gradually dying. The sports text-sim niche has mostly gone the way of all flesh, there's some interesting stuff that happens over at Paradox but I can't stand the way their forums are formatted -- what I write for anywhere else didn't translate there, and it was too much work to re-do it -- etc. The second thing is that to increasing degrees, I've found that I play better and have a lot more enjoyment of it and motivation for it when I'm writing about it. At first that was just a simple preference, but it's gotten to the point where I do very little gaming without the intention of putting my thoughts down and sharing them. So basically I wanted to write more and more, but had less and less of an outlet for it. I looked for somewhere that would be a better outlet for this sort of creative energy, and at first I didn't find anything. Then almost two years ago I discovered the SA community, and that, as Paul Harvey might have put it, has been the rest of the story. As I've worked on this Master of Orion project and gradually added in a couple more, I've realized that while images and text works well for telling most of what MOO has to say, for many other games it doesn't really suffice -- and even in MOO's case, I've put up videos here and there. The big 8-10 minute battles in the Human game simply can't be adequately described in words, and I think that tale, good as it ended up, still lost something in the telling esp. the last 100-150 years because the whack-a-mole grind, constant battles, two steps forward and one back, etc. was something that I was only able to summarize and give a couple of examples of. It'd be interesting to go back and see just how many tens(hundreds?) of thousands of BCs-worth of warships were being incinerated on a regular basis. How many millions were being slaughtered, etc. The full picture would require really seeing everything, or at least the option to do so, not just the highlights. I thought about this, and about how to approach one of my other LPs that I think really right now suffers from being mostly screens instead of video just because of the nature of the game, and I also thought about my personal experience. There's always some hesitation when joining a new community, but I felt fairly comfortable jumping in here because I'd gotten mostly positive feedback on past projects elsewhere; I had reason to think I could do something that I'd enjoy and would potentially be of value to others. I've also long-advocated that any 'AAR/LP/whatever' should be done for it's own sake; that is, if you aren't motivated enough to do it without others enjoying it, then you probably aren't going to stick with it anyway. Action, not positive reinforcement(though both are of course valuable) begets motivation. I came to the conclusion that I'd never really done video commentary enough to have a chance to be nearly as practiced at as writing. And perhaps I never will, but I was convinced that in order to make the contribution to the community that I would like to make, I needed to try again. So to a large degree, this thread is now officially being declared my guinea pigs. What, you didn't sign up for that? Feel free to exit stage right :P I've recorded the first few sessions of the game after the one we're currently on, stopping there for now so that events here can catch up. One obstacle in the past was not having a quality microphone; I've got a decent one now, enough for my present purposes I think. Since I was already thinking about this anyway, coolguye's suggestion about streaming MOO got me thinking and I looked on Twitch and YouTube to see what new Master of Orion material is out there. And my oh my it is a sorry state of things. Sulla, as has been mentioned multiple times in this thread, is absolutely the man. He also appears to be on hiatus again, and hasn't put out any new original MOO stuff in almost three years. There's another channel(Nameless One) that out some Impossible-level runs and is probably at least as skilled as me; it's been a year and a half since he put any MOO up and nothing at all several months. Get Daved does one every once in a great while, last series was on Hard(Humans) about a year ago. I think he started his channel out with his original MOO run in 2009(Impossible, Klackons), but those are the only two he's done -- moving around a lot to different games. And nothing wrong with that in the least, the point I'm making is that there really isn't much recent content out there. On Twitch it's even worse: within their limited search timeframe, I found nothing on MOO3(because people have sense, sorry Libluini!!), a couple for the new reboot, and a handful on MOO2 from some guy who I think was speaking Russian, my language skills aren't developed enough to be certain. Definitely not one that I or anyone else who doesn't speak his native tongue could benefit from though.The point of all this is that, similar to how I chose MOO to be my first LP here(nobody else was doing it or had done it), there's just a hole there where this game is concerned. That's not just selfish 'opportunity for a potential audience' speaking there. The reason I haven't done a couple of my favorite games here, Freespace and Homeworld, is that well, they've been done. I'd be doing nothing more than repeating territory already covered, and anyone here who wants a good treatment of those games can readily go to the Archives. And then there's the fact that this year, on September 6 to be exact, Master of Orion will reach the 25-year anniversary of it's release date. It cannot be allowed to die. It MUST not be allowed to die. This is a holy mission -- ok, no it isn't. But it is something I'm interested enough in doing that I am tentatively working towards getting more comfortable with the audio commentary side of things as a first step towards being able to fill part of that space, particularly given the positive reaction here(which I am quite grateful for). It seems a sensible thing for me to practice while working on the second half of this particular LP. Your regularly scheduled Sakkra Empire adventures are anticipated to resume in this space tomorrow.
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Jan 23, 2018 23:48
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I'm cool with a switch to more video-based content, I wouldn't normally consider a turn-based game ideal for it, but I'm game to see how it turns out. 
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Jan 23, 2018 23:56
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I prefer screenshots LPs rather than video. Anyways, do what you gotta do.
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Jan 24, 2018 00:17
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I have a project in the works for a very old game which is going to do what you were thinking. A link at the top of the post going "Here is this update in video format", followed by a SSLP post. So go for it, and if you feel like you need some random Goon to talk to over videos, I can throw my hat in the ring!
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Jan 24, 2018 01:56
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Kanthulhu posted:I prefer screenshots LPs rather than video. This. I read LPs over a remote connection while at work half the time, and I often have to drop things and then try and remember where I was in a video because I left it running. But hey, as long as we get the screenshots still, it's all good. I'm enjoying reading these.  And hey, fellow MUD goon  Makes me wonder if I knew you back in the day (you'd certainly know me by my name here - it hasn't changed since the early 90's )
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Jan 24, 2018 02:13
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MUDs were the best tool for learning touch typing.  At least if you were a PKer.
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Jan 24, 2018 03:50
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I prefer the screen shot as well, but I'm happy to be a guinea pig! I just demand 24/7 access to those tiny wheels 
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Jan 24, 2018 04:32
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Count me in with the people that are more interested in a screenshot LP, but it's your LP, so do what you want. Speaking of freespace and homeworld, is be interested in seeing those if you plan on LPing then in the future.
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Jan 24, 2018 04:36
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Count me as someone else who'd be interested in seeing you LP Homeworld, Thot. Sure, Homeworld has been done before, but that doesn't make it any less great a game that can still garner discussion (and likely lots of passionate gushing).
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Jan 24, 2018 04:39
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Thanks all for the comments and feedback. One thing I've already learned here: a lot of people around here like screenshots. Just for clarification as I'm not sure it got through clearly: the current screenshot will remain for the rest of this LP. That's a promise. I definitely don't want to upset the apple cart in midstream, so to speak. There will be just be gameplay video added to it as an option to take or leave at your discretion. Don't like it? Don't watch it. No problemo.
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Jan 24, 2018 04:41
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POOL IS CLOSED posted:MUDs were the best tool for learning touch typing. Playing MUDs for 20 years is 100% of the reason I type 90-100WPM now. Edit: I think most of us picked up that you weren't dropping the screenshot format. We SSLP lovers just love to talk about how screenshots are so much better.
Epsilon Moonshade fucked around with this message at 05:09 on Jan 24, 2018 |
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Jan 24, 2018 04:57
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Def interested!
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Jan 24, 2018 07:11
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berryjon posted:So go for it, and if you feel like you need some random Goon to talk to over videos, I can throw my hat in the ring! Yeah, ditto that. I work weekday evenings and my schedule changes a lot (perks of working at a hotel), but if the stars align I'd definitely be down with MOOing together for awhile. And I hear you about the reason for wanting to do videos; that's part of the reason I wanted to do the "stock race" challenge thing too. Of the limited amount of MOO2 content on YT, a lot of them are overpowered race combinations. And that's part of the fun, don't get me wrong; but it gets a little boring watching someone beat the AI at their own game. There is some audience for it, too. I've been uploading an old stream archive of MOO2 for Christmas last year and it's been getting more views than anything else lately (which is like 20 per , but still).Going back to the game, the Sakkra always struck me as a race whose advantage was their tech discount, not their "special power." Planetology is the tech that raises the base production of your citizens, and Sakkra get those citizens faster. It makes me consider basically going all-in on it (and it's a strong field anyway, with Terraforming and waste reduction being great economic techs and Controlled Landings possibly getting you access to great planets) and trading for weapons and stuff.
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Jan 24, 2018 07:37
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if you want help sorting out the technical aspect of the junk you're going to have to do on the video side feel free to holler at me. i'm always happy to help folks get through that particular wall (it is a thick one).
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Jan 24, 2018 08:24
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Epsilon Moonshade posted:hey, fellow MUD goon Makes me wonder if I knew you back in the day (you'd certainly know me by my name here - it hasn't changed since the early 90's ) I don't think I recognize it, so probably not. I only played on one mid-level one; not a huge pbase but a consistent one for many years until it finally died. Funniest thing I remember is this guy, fairly strong character, standing a recall and IRL drunk. Junking all his elite gear. People were telling him 'hey, you might not want to do that, sleep on it first, blah blah blah' and he was like 'what, you think I'm a panzy! Think I don't have the guts to junk this rage ring ... unholy sword ... ceremonial mask of sacrifice ... etc", all crap that took a good-sized skilled group to get, rarely popped, and so on. Then he posted a message on the general board the next day that basically said 'hey, I got real drunk yesterday and I'm not sure if I logged on here but I'm missing a bunch of stuff. If anyone knows what happens please let me now, thanks'. He, uh, wasn't seen around much after that. Ahh, the mammaries. Anyway. berryjon posted:if you feel like you need some random Goon to talk to over videos, I can throw my hat in the ring! Thanks for those who have made this offer, I'll think about that some more down the road. coolguye posted:f you want help sorting out the technical aspect of the junk you're going to have to do on the video side feel free to holler at me. i'm always happy to help folks get through that particular wall (it is a thick one). I think I'm ok in terms of recording videos, though I'm always open to advice. Generally I use FRAPS or the innate Dosbox capture utility depending on what the game is. Either Megui with Avisynth scripts for editing for raw video, or in the case of combining commentary with it I do some editing stuff in Cyberlink PowerDirector, which I got a number of years back. Streaming though is another animal and once I get more comfortable with the act of basically talking to myself out loud while playing, I'll need to find answers to things that I don't even know what the questions are yet. At the moment, my main issue just needing to upgrade my storage space since raw, unencoded video is such a space hog. That's a pretty simple fix though. Wayne posted:Going back to the game, the Sakkra always struck me as a race whose advantage was their tech discount, not their "special power." Yeah let's go back to the game. I think these are sort of hand in glove; the growth lets you expand quickly enough to make more use of said discount. But in the long-term, the Planetology expertise is really a pretty good thing to have.
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Jan 24, 2018 22:14
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Episode IX: 2322-2350 This is the worst kind of situation for the Sakkra; having to wait on research while they're about to finish filling up their planets. The fast growth has already hit it's limit. Research begins in 2322, with Sssla maxing out it's industry the next year. In 2333, the Humans send a colony ship to Selia just as we are finishing up the research. It's chased off, but that's our next target.  I think we need to keep going with range here. Irridium fuel cells are next. We'll switch to quickly grabbing terraforming in terms of research spending.  That's a first. A year later, the Mrrshan arrive at Selia -- but only have a scout and a colony ship. We are just a couple years out with ours.  Terraforming comes in, and in the interests of being able to continue to expand I think we've have little choice but to rush Tundra landings here.  Same year, 2338. Now we'll see what's going on down that way.  Oh let's!! The Humans are honorable diplomats, and allied with the Psilons. 75BC for our initial trade deal.  Looks we can either expand into the upper-left corner -- or not at all.  They've got the lower-left on lockdown, and already at five systems. It's looking so far like Alkaris and Humans are the stronger foes. We've got another standard colony ship built, but it will do us no good as there's nowhere for it to go. In between terraforming a bit, we'll have to rush Tundra landings to get another system and build our range upwards as fast as possible.  Oh good, more crap.  Nice!! And occupied by the Bulrathi. It's looking like there isn't much room for us to carve out for ourselves here. We're pretty boxed in.  A nice cash cow up in the corner. Pretty much looking like a must for us right now.  A second dead system. Would be nice to get this before the humans do, but it sure doesn't look likely.  And now -- even less so. This is a far cry from 'working for a mutually beneficial relationship.' Our scouts have been to their planets too often, antagonizing them(most of them were en route before we knew they were there). I think that caused this. Either way, if they take this seriously we are screwed. I ask the Mrrshan to join us in war, and they predictably refuse.  Tundra is in, and we're going to stay right here in planetology for a while. There are 2-3 dead systems out there that we might potentially nab, but first Improved Eco Restoration to get the economy moving a little better. Meanwhile construction begins immediately on Colonizer T models(Tundra-capable).  We've now seen everyone aside from Alkari, and just under a half-century is gone. It's a very active start. Still highly unlikely that we get Mobas, but at the very least nobody else has it yet.
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Jan 24, 2018 22:28
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Geez, humans. First it's all lovey-dovey, then EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE. Humans aren't allied with the Psilons are they? I hope not.
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Jan 24, 2018 23:45
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When I met them . ... me posted:The Humans are honorable diplomats, and allied with the Psilons. In true MOO fashion, this alliance wasn't always on, but from what I remember it was a pretty steady thing.
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Jan 25, 2018 01:20
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Episode IX: 2350-2375 The Humans are spread pretty thin -- they should have a bigger economy with as many systems as they control. Still, they get my vote for the power in the galaxy early on. We're doing quite well compared to the over-aggressive Mrrshan, but in the big picture we sure have challenges. The Humans haven't sent any attacks our way, but their diplomat hasn't returned yet either.  7 systems for the Humans, 3 for us, 2 for the Mrrshan. We're about to make our bid to get back in the game though. A Tundra-capable ship will depart the homeworld next year for one of the white star on the left edge. That should give us the range to send an already-waiting standard colonizer on to Thrax, the nice 100M terran(yellow in the middle of the 'reticle' here, upper-left quadrant). From there, the U in the nebula is Zengara, and the ultra-rich proteus in the very corner, figure to be our most likely targets next. We're making a play to at least be vaguely relevant, and it remains to be seen how many we can get.  Sssla is now in max-colonizer-build mode, Yarrow is doing what research we are getting in and is almost maxed on industry. I'll get a base or two up and running there soon in case the Mrrshan get any ideas. Selia is still fairly early in the development cycle and unfortunately easy pickings for the humans any time they feel like it.  Not much, but it works as a stepping-stone. 2354, and Thrax is indeed just within range; the standard Colonizer sets a course for that vital system. So far so good with the expansion plan.  The Bears are making their presence felt even further in this sector. There's just no room. They call this rock Dolz, about two dozen pop and a few factories.  Lots of rich systems around. And also hard ones to acquire. Meanwhile Improved Eco is here, and we move on with Dead to try and snag what we can -- there is little choice with how hemmed in we are. I do think it's time to spread out though, so we'll start working on all fields now.  Here's the linchpin. Nobody else seemed interested in it. 2359 as we arrive.  Yes, it is a lovely day isn't it? The sun is shining, flowers are blooming, birds chirping ... no? Ok then. They are Erratic Expansionists, one of the worst kinds to deal with.  Seems like whoever has red is a pain in the arse. Usually it's Psilons; right now, Humans. Maybe I should go red one of these times, just because. The Bulrathi aren't particularly strong at the moment, but with their ground combat abilities we don't want to be on the wrong side of them.  Good old MooPlomacy here. Ursa is way down there by the humans, but thanks to cheesy alliances they got their holdings up at the top. And blocked us off. Thanks a whole heap. We have a bit of a 'situation' now. That ultra-rich in the upper corner is still out of our reach -- 6 parsecs out and we can't get closer. We've got two colonizers out there and one of them is en route to the last thing we can current settle. And as for Thrax -- a Psilon colony ship is a year or two away. That would have been bad if they beat us to it. No point in building more Colonizers that can't land anywhere: Sssla will throw it's weight into research for a while, get a few things moving there. It's looking pretty rough still. The next year ...  This just in: GNN sez we suck. Oh, and the Psilons get to Xengara before we do. That's two Colonizers out there sucking up maintenance that we don't have a home for. Arglebarglezorz.  Honorable technologists, allied with Mrrshan and Alkari. So really, how honorable could they be?  Translation: we now have good seats to watching them strangle the life out of Humanity(and the rest of the galaxy). That whole start-fast thing is now officially dead. We are reduced to being a second-tier empire at best, hoping to be given an opening to become more sometime down the line.  If things go well, we might get as many planets, eventually, as the Humans and Psilons have right now.  LOL. This game ... this game. It's 62 years in and I already want it to be over. After taking a break since I didn't really know what to do, I came up with a few options: ** Send a big Colonizer XL to Proteus. I don't think I can really afford that kind of investment right now. ** Scrap both of the current Colonizer Ts, which are eating up about 23 BC a year in maintenance, 4-5% of our economy. ** Rush Dead Environment Landings. By itself that would give us only one, crappy planet. ** Rush Irridium Fuel Cells. I think it's also too late in the game to not be doing a broad-based research approach. The long-term health of the empire requires that we get going in that direction, but so does the diplomatic situation. We really need something with which to bribe the Humans and Bulrathi and get them back in the peaceful column. There's useful stuff in several fields that we need to acquire -- it's just time. First, we established trade with the Psilons(125 BC) and also upped our agreement with Jasana of the Mrrshans to that amount. Keeping the friends we have. Then, I inquired about tech trades to get range 6 or better. Both were interested in Improved Eco Restoration, but not enough to hand over something that good. The Humans are allied with the Mrrshans, so if we don't get peace with them our enemies could multiply. We offered them everything we could: Tundra Landings and Improved Eco. They said thanks, but we're still at war. Go screw yourselves, more or less.  Up from Feud to Troubled, but still not great. We need more. Then the question became whether it would be better to scrap the colonizers or wait until we get more range and then send one on to Proteus. Tough call, but I decide to get rid of them. Either way, it's a big economic hit at this stage of things. By making the tough call to cut our losses, we can re-invest the amount we get back into our newer colonies. We'll come out ahead unless we get Irridum Cells in less than 15 years. Which isn't likely. We could use a break right now. Several of them, in fact. Two years later we get the cheapies, ECM I and Hand Lasers, in. Robotics III is next in Computing, Fusion Bomb the only Weapons choice. So we're still stuck with nuclear missiles. Awesome. The Humans don't want either one.  Um, sure. They come to the 'proper' conclusion on their own in 2366, and agree to a trade deal of 175 BC. According to Bladrov IV's representative, the only reason was our earlier tribute. So it did accomplish something.  I am shocked to see this the next year. Population growth or no, how do we have more people than the Psilons? ** Alkari(4 votes) -- Abstain ** Humans(6 votes) ** Bulrathi(2 votes) -- Bladrov IV. Enemy of my enemy ... ** Psilons(3) -- Bladrov IV. ** Mrrshan(2) -- Bladrov IV. Heh. That's not close or anything. 13-0 out of 21 possible as our four votes come up. Almost lost this one real early; one vote from it. We abstain. We won't be nominated for long I don't think, but either way we have a real problem.  Here's real problem #2. These are headed for Thrax I think, and were unfortunately expected. It's all going to depend on what tech they have -- we're definitely going to have the numbers, but even in the best case it's another economic hit we can't afford. I also try another round of tech-trading to get more range, and it is suggested that we go piss up a rope(not literally, but that's the gist of it). Selia becomes the third system to complete it's industry, and I decide we can afford to split off some effort to build massive colonizers -- esp. since we have enough in the reserve to add to the effort.  Absurdly expensive as always, but this thing can get to Proteus for us.  A year later, the bastard Psilons show up with a colony ship of their own. And it's armed. Grrr. So much for that plan. Back to research. That's at least 8-9 parsecs away from their nearest system. Didn't think they could reach it. Obviously I was wrong.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhV9XtZDvS0&feature=youtu.be That went better than expected. All they had was the same Hand Lasers we've got. Still lost 15-20M citizens there, but I'll take it. The next year, we get Class II Shields in(Personal Deflectors are the only choice) and the Psilons take Mobas as well, the big rich one in human territory, Dead and out of our range. Might as well get the Psilons fitted for the crown of High Master at this point, really. And it all freaking started with the Mrrshan. Without their attack, if we'd gotten Firma, we might have gotten to Xengara before those twits. If we did that, they don't get Proteus either, and we have a real chance. IF. IF. IF. Woulda coulda mighta, we didn't. So here we are.  '72, the next year. Industrial Tech 8 is cheaper than Duralloy Armor. It's pretty much going to be all about the cheaper for us, because we're one of the runts. We also get Non-Aggression Pacts with the Mrrshan and Humans.  Controlled Dead Environ comes in. There's still one crappy system we can get with that. I think we can, anyway. And there are a couple radiateds around yet, so our main goal is to hope against hope we can get that in time. Any of these three will move us forward to that tier; Enhanced Eco is a little more expensive than Inferno Landings but a heck of a lot more useful, so we'll go that route.  Hmm. Too bad it wasn't Mentar. Not that I'm bitter or anything.  Somehow we get nominated again. I demand a recount. But anyway, the birds still don't care. Will it be enough to keep things stable? To be totally frank, there's a part of me that just wants to lose this thing right here and now.  They get one of the three new votes.  Of course  Another goes here. More importantly of course, this guarantees that the Humans don't wear the crown. ** Mrrshan(2) -- Bladrov IV. Allies. Four votes for us again. So we're tied with the Psilons and Alkari. I think we can stay ahead of the Bulrathi and Mrrshan. Don't know about anything else. Voting for Bladrov would give him just enough to win, so tempting as that is we abstain once more.
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Jan 26, 2018 23:37
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This is almost more absurd than that one run that was nothing but a natural disaster showcase.
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Jan 26, 2018 23:57
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Use your aggressive feelings, boy. Let the hate flow through you.
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Jan 27, 2018 00:00
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Personally, I always play red. I like the ship designs. Can you take those two northern Bulrathi colonies? That would’ve been my first impulse.
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Jan 27, 2018 06:48
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BurningStone posted:Personally, I always play red. I like the ship designs. If by "Take" you mean "glass and resettle" then maybe. Bulrathi are utterly ridiculous on the ground at any stage where they equal or better you in tech. To put it another way, to get a sakkra soldier to have a 50/50 chance we'd need duaralloy battle suits, personal deflectors, and the hand lasers...and that's if the Bulrathi only have titanium combat armor.
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Jan 27, 2018 09:54
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Yeah, you're not going to seize a Bulrathi colony. Starve out by seige and bombadment, sure. Take in ground attack, nope.
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Jan 27, 2018 10:21
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OAquinas posted:If by "Take" you mean "glass and resettle" then maybe. Is that factoring the defenders bonus into account?
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Jan 27, 2018 12:36
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Colonies that far from their main planets usually have very low population this early. You have a shot at rushing them. Have to see the actual numbers, of course.
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Jan 27, 2018 18:58
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BurningStone posted:Colonies that far from their main planets usually have very low population this early. You have a shot at rushing them. 
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Jan 27, 2018 19:44
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my dad posted:________________/ Since when have the Bulrathi belonged to House Harkonnen?
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Jan 27, 2018 21:09
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PurpleXVI posted:This is almost more absurd than that one run that was nothing but a natural disaster showcase. Early on I got pretty good luck with the starts with the most part. That made a hard turn with the Human game and other than the Meklar victory it really hasn't abated. MOO's vengeance has been largely steadfast and swift. BurningStone posted:Colonies that far from their main planets usually have very low population this early. You have a shot at rushing them. Have to see the actual numbers, of course. I'm open to suggestions on this point, but I think you have to play less Farmer's Gambit than I do for this to work. This is a point in the game where the player is quite weak militarily compared to the other races -- no way I can match their production and technology, and if I do take one or two of their planets I'd better be ready to defend them because they are going to come after me with their ships. If they don't have an alliance letting them reach that territory anymore, that's one thing, but not the case here. If my playstyle was to have some fleet buildup right away(and therefore not expand as quickly), that's the only way I see this being doable. Could have built up a fleet at this point but those systems would be well-fortified by the time I get enough ships to matter. By the way, this is a really appropriate time for suggestions on this kind of play, because as I've mentioned briefly, three of the four races after the Sakkra are military in nature so these kinds of early gambits are going to be much more necessary(and effective as well).
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Jan 27, 2018 23:37
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Anticheese posted:Is that factoring the defenders bonus into account? Yes. Defender bonus is +5, Bulrathi is +25. So Duralloy (+5) Battle Suits (+10) with Personal Deflector (+10) and hand lasers (+5) bring you up to parity...IF they have zero ground techs.
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Jan 28, 2018 03:42
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Episode IX: 2375-2400 5th out of five, with the potential to perhaps slide into third behind the Humans and Psilons. In other words, it still ain't looking good for the home team.  ** Psilons(10) -- Gee, imagine them running away with it. AGAIN. ** Humans(7) ** Sakkra(5) ** Bulrathi(4) ** Mrrshan(2) If not for the eggheads doing their thing here, we'd be in the thick of it.  NAP with the Human-Mrrshan alliance, but at war with the Bulrathi still and we need to get peace ASAP before they bring in the Psilons against us. Nothing else matters in comparison.  I really want to cram those words down his throat. But we can't. Yet. I offer ECM I and the Hand Lasers -- they 'respectfully decline' our peace offer. Ok how about Terraforming +10M. Cool, thanks ... but 'we don't think your offer is a fair one'. "Pardon us, but our time is at an end". Good grief. Three techs and they still won't sign. They are now up to Wary -- I think one more will do it. If we can get 'em to speak to us again before it all goes south. Aggravating thing is, they may just go to war with us again the next year after ... but there simply is no choice. We won't survive a war with the Psilons. We do sign a trade boost with them to 225 BC -- not quite double the current amount but any little bit of relations boost there will be welcomed.  Range is coming next, but nothing is imminent. Those fuel cells will do us no good at this point. I continue the risky, yet arguably necessary plan of virtually ignoring missile-base defenses; I want to get Robotics first.  2377. Knew it was probably coming. Did everything I could to prevent it. Didn't matter. Sigh. Guess I'd better start building bases(too late) and preparing my memoirs. Even better, I discover that the Bulrathi are now allied with the Humans as well. We could literally be getting crushed by everyone soon.  Our colony ship and the Psilons arrive at the same time. Theirs is armed. Ours isn't. Although I might have lost it anyway, I think I screwed up here in not sending a least a token military force at this point giving how limited our territory is and how limited the options are for increasing it. You never know if that's going to be enough, but it's a situation where I likely should have tried.  Time for that Picard double-facepalm GIF ... 2381 is the next year, and an unidentified spy blows up a missile base. That's a third of our total defense. We offer peace to the Bulrathi, and they tell us to shove it despite also handing over Controlled Dead Environ. They are allied with the Humans, Psilons with the Mrrshan, so everyone is either an enemy or an ally of an enemy. We do manage to get the Mrrshan-Psilon one voided, but that's the only diplomatic success. And the least important goal as well. More Bulrathi diplomacy -- Red Waste 80% is our last thing we can offer them. Relations are up to Neutral. They still freaking refuse. The Psilons are willing to talk, pocket two crappy techs, and say 'that's nice but we're still going to eradicate you until nothing is left but subatomic particles'. Not a direct quote, but that's pretty much what Dynalon had to say. Up from Discord to Restless. Big whup. A couple years later, we try to get an alliance with the Mrrshan. No dice. At least this is a fake war so far. Nobody is actually attacking us.  2387. First of our next round of advances comes in. This wasn't what I was expecting to come first. It's Scatter Pack Vs or the Mass Driver, and we go with the cheaper and, for now, more important missiles.  Enhanced Eco Restoration is in, which should be a decent boost to the economy. Here we can see that Radiated Landings are not going to be a thing for us: Bio-Toxin Antidote is in that same tier. So I think we're best off getting Toxic, just in case it somehow becomes useful, before moving forward.  Let's hear it for the RNG!! The Psilons also proposed a peace treaty, which we readily accepted. Despite 'Relaxed' relations though, they decline a max trade deal(would have been 300 BC). Hopefully we can rectify that soon. Only the Bulrathi remain at war with us, still a concern because of their Human allies. We hand over the just-acquired Eco Restoration, upping relations to Neutral. And the Bears still refuse to deal with us.  Improved Industrial Tech 8 arrives. Only Automated Repair moves things along here.  Third advance in as many years. There's only option here as well, but it's a most welcome one: Class V Planetary Shields.  Four-for-four. We'll go with the scanner here as we get Robotics 3 in ... while the Bulrathi are getting aggravated with us again. I try for trade with the Psilons again, and am refused again.  Takes a few more years to get the new fuel cells in, completing this wave of research as the 24th century approaches its conclusion. Sublight Drives it is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5h_AsAUKpQQ&feature=youtu.be Good news is they'll need a lot more than that to whittle down our population. Bad news is that with Bulrathi ground force bonuses, they won't need to.  This might be the first time we've seen an Alkari nomination for the Council. It's certainly pretty rare. ** Alkaris -- 6 votes ** Humans -- 9 ** Bulrathi -- 4 for Bladrov II ** Psilons -- 6 for Bladrov II. I expect they'll be back in the saddle next time around. ** Mrrshan -- 2 for Bladrov II. ** Sakkra -- 5. We abstain.  That's, uh, really close. This almost mercifully ended here. 65.6% of the galaxy sided with the Humans.
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Jan 28, 2018 15:41
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Well, you've pulled off a surprise upset win before so... you never know.
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Jan 28, 2018 18:25
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Yes, sometimes things look good and sometimes they don't, but this is almost never over until it's over. Which is not yet. Episode IX: 2400-2425  We've surpassed the Mrrshan now in technology, and our production is at least average by galactic standards. Unfortunately, I think that's a temporary situation. We managed to get the Humans to break their Bulrathi alliance, requiring a 900-BC bribe. However, that's the only good news. The Bears continue to be hostile and their first wave of transports, albeit a small one, will hit Thrax next year. They also have an alliance with the Psilons, making a lasting peace with them unlikely. The Mrrshan and Humans refuse to ally with us.  I've shown Weapons here to demonstrate the utter futility of any defense against the Bulrathi. That Grizzly they have would take more firepower to destroy than we have any hope of marshalling. I'm not sure 20 bases would have been enough to take it down, let alone the four we had when they arrived. Nothing is close to being finished, but even with the Scatter Pack Vs we are working on we still wouldn't be able to get enough together to take it out. It appears certain that the Bulrathi will eventually take Thrax, which at the moment accounts for just over a quarter of our production. The Sakkra Empire appears doomed. I've tried everything to maintain peace, but our diplomatic weakness is really showing itself here. A small Sakkra faction is truly a pathetic thing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-usz_m0gjM 19 to 52. That's actually somewhat better than we deserved here. Thrax will spend whatever it has to in ecology to max out the growth rate, but if the Bears ever send a sizable transport fleet, it won't matter.  Second time in as many years we've had some factories destroyed. Looks like they want to pick up the pace. I re-up our trade deal with the Humans to 375 BC(was 175). I do the same as well with another race ...  Small victories. Followed by the humorous 'These talks get us nowhere. We must take our leave'. Just finally signed a trade deal Dynalon! That's not 'nowhere'!! Their alliance with the Bulrathi is no more, which is nice. Now all we need is for Smurch to wake up on the wrong side of the bed and decide Thrax isn't worth the effort. They have no friends ... for now. Speaking of which ...  This is the next invasion force, smaller than the last one. They're trickling in some help in the bombardment effort, but not enough to make a difference. The unusually high number of early ground combat techs I've gotten are saving us for now, allowing us a bad but sustainable exchange rate. I can hold off in the current situation essentially indefinitely ... but who knows when they might escalate or get something better. Still, three years into the new century we have a slightly brighter ray of hope, faint though it may be. 2405: We lose only about 40M or so in the latest invasion ... but the Psilon alliance is back on. *Sigh*.  We are pretty much done building missile bases for now, shifting back to a total research focus. So at least that will accelerate the drive towards the next wave of advances. In a year or two we should be back to a positive trade balance also. But more Bulrathi ships are inbound to Thrax. The pain of their bombardment efforts is increasing.  Two years later. Yeah, that's not sustainable.  In 2410, there is very little left when a larger Bulrathi force arrives. We'd have had a hard time fighting off this many even with a full population. There are now four Sakkra systems left. There are still two rich radiated planets out there, and only the Psilons have acquired the requisite equipment. Stealing it from them is hilariously not an option, and trying to trade gets the 'Your primtive inventions do not interest us' response. They probably wouldn't have been willing to part with it anyway. All of this slots us into a clear 5th out of 6 in the galaxy, ahead only of our ironic best friends, the Mrrshan. We also lose a Recon orbiting Arietis, an uninhabited system, due to refueling range.  Scatter Pack Vs are the first thing to come in the next wave -- well, I already got Toxic Landings, but that wasn't even worth mentioning at the time. The years have been passing quickly, mostly because there's nothing we can even try to do really. Here we'll go Stingers to try to keep upgrading our defensive capabilities as best we can.  I've proposed this at least half a dozen times. Hilarious. After accepting, I realize why they made the offer. They're at war with the Alkaris, Bulrathi, and Psilons. Sometimes it really is wise to look a gift horse in the mouth, esp. if you haven't looked at relations in a while. If they want us to get into any more wars, which I'm sure they will, we'll be breaking this alliance in short order. However, there is always that chance that, now that galactic war is breaking out, we can make gains with the 'spoils of war' tactic. After a couple years, the Psilons want us to break the Mrrshan deal. I readily agree. Then they say this:  As ever, it is better to be the right hand of the devil than in it's path. Just for shits and giggles, I talk to the Bulrathi again. They don't want any of our recently developed crapola. But ...  Lolwut? Where was this for the last, say, half a century?!? Oh yeah, you have other enemies now. Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for the galaxy to unite against the Mrrshan. I doubt very much they'll have the time to worry about us breaking the foolish alliance. The Bears agree to the smallest available trade deal, 60 BC.  Automated Repair arrives, which might be useful someday. We'll go Zortrium Armor next.  This will be important if we land any targets of opportunity. The year before the next vote, and Planetary shields also arrived. And Sub-Light Drives. It was a momentous 2424. ** Computing -- I wanted more Robotics. Not available, so Battle Computer Mk V it is. ** Force Fields -- Repulsor Beam or Class V Shields. We need the shielding.  The last three are all new. I think it's time to grab the Inertial Stabilizer though. I may want to design ships before long to try and defend territory, if we can get some.  Don't recall having seen this one before. If so, why did it take forever for you to agree to the deal? Meanwhile a Mrrshan invasion of Psilon-held Guradas fails, but leaves the planet with only 8 million citizens. Yes my 'friends', bleed each other to the max. Don't mind us, we'll be over here in the corner minding our own business, eating popcorn, and gathering pathetic little toys that you discovered decades if not generations ago. And at the moment, getting those planetary shields up and running will help also.  It's back to Bladrov II vs. Dynalon. Still, I think this is the strongest Alkari empire we've yet seen, and they are still growing, +1 this cycle. The Humans hold at 9.  This would appear to maintain the deadlock. The Psilons themselves have eight votes, having acquired Zoctan, one of the radiated worlds. ** Mrrshan -- Dynalon(1 vote). And we have a whopping THREE. How woeful. How pitiful. How useless. It's 16-14 so we can vote either way, but why offend the great powers of the galaxy? We abstain. I do rather like the Psilon-Human rivalry though and hope it continues. So long as they keep each other from dominating, and are focused on other things, we can survive in our small, insignificant part of the galaxy and hope for opportunities to present themselves.
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Jan 30, 2018 22:35
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The struggle is real.
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Jan 31, 2018 00:21
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You simply don’t have enough planets to compete.
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Jan 31, 2018 06:08
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Episode IX: 2425-2450 Mrrshan are already doing badly here. If the galaxy gangs up on me when they're done with them, it won't be pretty.  This is looking fantastic, on the other hand.  Nothing immediately useful coming in anytime soon. The latest round of advances is almost finished.  Firma here was just destroyed, but the Humans have multiple colony ships in orbit, so it looks like they are going to snag it. It's time for me to get at least one of my own ready to go just in case. Dead environs and warp 3(recently developed sublight engines) are the best we can do there. Otherwhise the goal of the moment is the planetary shields. Ahh, good old MOO fleet AI. The entire human task force, including the colony ships, runs back to Sol because reasons. Might as well try to sneak in there -- though Alkari colony ships are inbound, two years out. We know that thanks to the recently-developed scanners. I'll beat them there ... but the odds of them just bombing the planet once they arrive are significant. I need the shields on our planets first, but after that I'm probably going to start working on some basic missile ships. We won't be able to stop any kind of serious effort, but accidental encounters we might be able to handle.  It might not get us anywhere, but we're doing something about our situation doggone it.  First chance to actually get to know the final race. Aggressive Expansionists, allied with the Humans and at war with the Mrrshans. That personality guarantees they'll attack pretty much.  Alkari have the second-largest empire, but are lagging enough in technology to make them merely a solid third. Still not the usual pushovers though.  They occupy the upper-right corner, but I'm curious about those two red stars at the top. With everyone and their mother incoming to Firma, I won't transfer any population in until I see how that shakes out.  Bio Toxin Antidote is in. Atmospheric Terraforming won't help us much, but it's the best option here.  Shocking. We had it for one whole year. I expected this to break contact with the Alkari, but it did not. Farseer agrees to 300 BC trade, which will hopefully help our tenuous relations. The next year, everyone but the Alkari leaves -- and the Mrrshan show up with one of their capital ships, chasing off the colony ships. They resettle the planet, putting things back where they were a few years ago.  Here's our first warship, nearly halfway through the second century of play. The Spirit is a mega-crappy POS that may well not be worth building at all. But it's the best we can do right now. Even with nothing else, I couldn't cram on a second rack of Scatter Pack launchers. Perhaps this will let us hold on to territory against mere colony ships if that situation arises again. Anything more, and probably not. Either way though, we aren't going to get much more research in with only four planets. So we've got to get in the fight. The next year is 2431, and the last of our planetary shields are finished.  This incredibly stupid-looking portrait is a Sakkra spy. I unintentionally hit the Espionage button again. Bulrathis were the victims here, getting the lowest-level computer tech in the game.  Is it metaphysically impossible for a system that isn't my homeworld to go supernova?? Meanwhile a major Alkari attack on Fierias fails. In 2435, Firma is destroyed again. The next year, we recolonize it ... and this time I think we have a chance to stay in control, as all others left or were outmaneuvered. Humans and Psilons are incoming but we have Non-Aggression Pacts with them. Back up to five planets ... but there is no news on the efforts on Sssla, and even maximum reserve spending isn't enough to completely top out the research spending. It's possible we could lose the homeworld. That would be a lousy trade.  That's good news. However, I clearly miscalculated Psilon ambitions ...  Friends in name only. Bastards. And the same year ...  So I ultimately fail to take advantage of the Mrrshan war in any meaningful way. Needed more alliances in order to avoid getting run over in that regard. And then there were five.  Nobody has a colony ship at Fierias yet, so I try to get in there. Meanwhile the Psilons and Humans are no longer allied, and Firma may change hands again. Things are still in flux here  2442. Here goes nothing, as all possible Spirit destoyers make their way there at maximum warp. 293 Alkari Pelicans destroy the system the next year. We took out a whole 15 of them. Might not have enough ships yet. Then the Humans and about 200 cruisers take control, claiming the system. The rich get richer, and the rest of us sit in the corner and mope. That's about the size of it. Time to stop building these pointless Spirits. It was worth a try, but we were just too far behind both in tech and production to make it work. And the other races also reacted more quickly than the last time I tried this. We're back to research and hope against hope. And wait to be removed. 2445: Psilons conquer Fierias 2446: Humans conquer Firma. Round and round the mulberry bush ... there are no official wars at this point, and few alliances. The new galacticopolitical equilibrium has not yet been found.  Got the Inertial Stabilizer in. Might as well keep upping our engines with Fusion drives.  Back and forth it goes. I honestly don't know why the Psilons can't maintain enough population here, even with the war. ** Alkari -- 8 ** Human -- 8 ** Bulrathi -- 5(Bladrov II) ** Psilons -- 8(Bladrov II) Once again Bladrov II and the Humans are a single vote shy. 21 of 32. I have a feeling they will come to rue these votes when the Psilon menace crushes all other intelligent life at some point. And we bring up the rear with three once again, abstaining.
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Feb 2, 2018 01:50
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Won't genociding the Mrrshans make the Psilons pretty unpopular with all the other factions and potentially upset things so you can snag some juicy Psilon property?
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Feb 2, 2018 09:51
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