OSG-28

[DaveV]

Got it, should be able to play at lunchtime today (in about 3.5 hours).

[haphazard1]

Sounds pretty good, RefSteel! More worlds, bigger worlds, and in the not-too-distant future more factories per world. No advanced eco makes going back for Reduced Waste 80% look even better, and I thought it was a decent move to begin with given how cheap it is. Hopefully we will have the next tier up for eco.

Darloks and Klackons as early contenders for elections...hmmm. I don't really like the news that the bugs have that big an empire already. Nothing we can do about it right now but keep growing ourselves, but that is a sign of trouble coming down the road.

Good luck, DaveV!

[DaveV]

Darloks and Klackons as early contenders for elections...hmmm. I don't really like the news that the bugs have that big an empire already. Nothing we can do about it right now but keep growing ourselves, but that is a sign of trouble coming down the road.

The other thing that worries me is that an early vote means the galaxy is already mostly full. Our only option for expansion beyond our starting worlds is probably going to be to take worlds away from someone.

Good luck, DaveV!

Thanks!

[Ianus]

We could conceivably get an early diplo win if we can manage to outgrow the Klackons. As long as it is us against the Darloks we could wind up pulling a lot of votes. Of course it would help to actually meet some more of our neighbors, but that will come in time.

[haphazard1]

That is a good point about the galaxy filling up. Maybe this speed is just the usual for impossible, but I am thinking the rocks are going nuts and grabbing a ton of worlds. They are not an election candidate because they probably have like 10 pop on each planet right now. But there may be a lot of Silicoid worlds out there.

[DaveV]

Here's the overview at the start of my set:





I'm paranoid, so I put a few clicks into missile bases on Incedius and Mentar.

2361 - Shield II comes in; only Shields III available. Kulthos finishes terraforming, switches to max factories. I sign a NAP with the Bulrathi, since the colony ship is only one turn away from Argus.

2362 - Argus colonized, transports start the long 5 year flight from Kulthos and Gion.





2363 - Tauri completes its missile base; I switch to max factories.

2369 - IT8 finishes; I pick Duralloy out of the many option (also available: IT7, Automated Repair, 60% waste).

2370 - Inertial Stabilizer finishes; I pick Sub-Light instead of Range 7.





I've already sent five transports from Kulthos to Paranar (following three more groups of five); feel free to cancel them.

[shallow_thought]

Got it. Won't be playing until Saturday (UK time), so comments and advice are welcome.

On hard, I'd be feeling fairly comfortable with our share of the galaxy. On impossible... I don't know, it looks OK to me, at least as Psilons.

Noob question: what are all these big ship builds for (the Theory 1.0)? I can understand not wanting to build factories we can't yet use, but why dump into ships not tech? Is it purely a matter of wanting to be able to summon a fleet from thin air sooner rather than later?

[DaveV]

Noob question: what are all these big ship builds for (the Theory 1.0)? I can understand not wanting to build factories we can't yet use, but why dump into ships not tech? Is it purely a matter of wanting to be able to summon a fleet from thin air sooner rather than later?

For me, it's exactly that. Money spent on the placeholder Huge ship is essentially being spent on your latest design when you need it. The money invested in ships doesn't compound like factories or tech, but you don't have to pay maintenance on a potential (rather than actual) fleet.

[shallow_thought]

Noob question: what are all these big ship builds for (the Theory 1.0)? I can understand not wanting to build factories we can't yet use, but why dump into ships not tech? Is it purely a matter of wanting to be able to summon a fleet from thin air sooner rather than later?

For me, it's exactly that. Money spent on the placeholder Huge ship is essentially being spent on your latest design when you need it. The money invested in ships doesn't compound like factories or tech, but you don't have to pay maintenance on a potential (rather than actual) fleet.

Thanks. I was a little surprised to see so much this early in the game, but that's impossible I guess.

Anyway, some reaction to the Darloks:

On the surface, second contact was a lot smoother than first. While the Bulrathi had needed to be coaxed into getting their crude computers to interface properly with the Psilon systems, these "Darloks" seemed (almost) to match the elegant designs of the Mind.  The Bulrathi had required crude images and sounds to communicate; the Darloks were keen to offer sophisticated processing algorithms and virtual intelligences.  

Perhaps the Mind was fortunate to have met the Bulrathi first. They had certainly triggered unusual resonances and ideas - it had taken only a few short years to miniaturise the lasers that ships used to protect themselves from space debris into something that might allow a Psilon to defend themself against the terrifying creatures. More valuably, they had forced caution upon the Focus, and those amongst the Transcendant who dealt with them. This caution served them well - they politely refused to run the Darlok designed patterns upon their core systems, and were alert enough to notice effects on the interface systems where it did run. The Darloks lied. The software they had provided lied for them, adjusting at local speeds to the expectations and desires expressed subconsciously by those Thinkers directly working with the aliens, colouring every interaction. That this could be done at all was impressive. That it could be done for a foreign species - for the Psilons - was terrifying. That the Transcendant had nearly been exposed to this outrage...  

Communication with the Darloks would also be restricted to sound and images; the title "Emperor" would also be retained. It seemed appropriate for the interaction with this species.

[haphazard1]

Looks like another nice turnset, DaveV. Several of our worlds are still quite new and immature, but our empire is growing and becoming more glorious.

Hmmm, I have never used the placeholder ship building approach. Interesting. Have to make certain none of these theoretical ships ever completes by accident.

I am not sure how this spending compares to more resources put into tech research. If we want defense, missile bases are likely to work better. (For those planets capable of building them, at least.) And we are the psilons, so research spending gets a big multiplier.