Thank you for engaging with and providing critique to my thought process.
Immediately after I posted my reply, my next thought was that now there is a very real chance of Final War in 2400, and I need to solve that problem before thinking about anything else. Yes, that means I need friends yesterday. Actually, my best friend is running against me in a few years, and I just convinced my other best friend not to like my first best friend so much.
To be clear, I'm not planning an offensive any time soon. Expeditionary operations are right out - I'm not getting through missile bases even with dedicated bombers at any reasonable price - not to mention defending against the counterattack. The only real offensive weapon I have is the Hyper-X missile, and a missile boat currently costs 80 BC (medium, Mk I cpu, 2/2 speed.) Invasions are a utopia, rocks with 0 gropo do not stormtroopers make. What would now happen in an ideal world would be that I max every planet and begin teching, adding bases as necessary. I really have no tech, it was a conscious choice to sacrifice research except for the absolutely crucial techs in order to expand and grow. The real reason I considered a threat against the Sakkra was that I'm sad to lose an ultra rich.
I do have a NAP with the Bulrathi and the Meklar, and I'm Affable with both of them.
That looks like me v Bulrathi (Silicoids leading in population…) - I don't think the Sakkra can outgrow them in 3 years, can they? Not an expert here.
Current alliances:
Bulrathi - Alkari
Alkari - Sakkra
Sakkra - Psilon
If I were up agains the Sakkra, I could just ally with the bears. Alas, as I said above, I'm not. The problem is, I'm much better friends with the Bulrathi than with the Sakkra, but I'll be running against Bullux.
The Alkari will vote against me no matter what. I expect the Sakkra to do the same. I'd need the Meklar to support me and the Psilons to abstain and then I should be safe.
It looks like I'd need to ally with the Meklar to be safer (so much for their juicy facts.) They are about to take Arietis (50 v 9) from the Sakkra who took it from me, which again points to a war with the Sakkra, and then I could try and draw the Bulrathi in and play for buying time to consolidate. That would probably put me, bears, mechs against the lizards, birds, brains, with a chance that I can turn the Alkari to my side if the cards and dice play right.
To add to my headaches, a Bulrathi Tooth class cruiser is "investigating" Drakka in 2 turns. I'll rally ships from Drakka and Esper and see what I can do (Drakka can build a base with max reserve support in THREE turns, of course.)
Since the expansion phase is over - thanks for reminding me, it somehow didn't click in my brain - I can go ham on NAPs.
To sum my thoughts up, I need a formal alliance with the Meklar to survive the vote, and as soon as the Meklar-Sakkra war breaks out, I need to convince the Bulrathi to participate. It might even be appropriate to sign the bears up for an alliance. Anything to get my strength up as I basically have the Western Silicoid Empire, the Northern Silicoid Empire, and the Southern Silicoid Empire, and the latter two are more like ragtag starving hamlets than empires.
This is the longest I'm-not-feeling-safe period I had in any of my games so far. On to serious experimentation with diplomacy. I'm playing this to learn, after all. Serves me right for playing as greedy as a pelican*.
Oh, and we are DEFINITELY the bad guys.
Another note to self: I need to beg, steal or borrow FORCE FIELDS.
*
A wonderful bird is the Pelican.
His beak can hold more than his belly can.
He can hold in his beak
Enough food for a week!
But I'll be darned if I know how the hellican?
And now for something completely the same.
- wrapping up 2396 -
Time for even more diplomacy… with the I don't wanna do it penalties adding up for multiple actions a year.
I trade T+30 to the Meklar (brrr) for class III shields. Warp 2 fleets are still slow. I'm planning for a long friendship with the mechs, and I need more protection. It will also tell me if I have the possibility of researching the first planetary shield.
That's the spirit, INT-986, in whatever base that number's supposed to be, go rox&mex! Now just please don't re-ally with the Bulrathi.
That's the spirit, Bullux! Now just please don't re-ally with the Meklar.
I up my trade agreement with the 'borg&bear to the max; 450 and 300 from 50 and 100. And that puts all my planets' eco spending into waste, oh wait.
Neither the Sakkra nor the Alkari believe that a non-aggression pact is a good idea. Can't blame them.
Cryslon is getting its final population next year, maxes facts for now, builds a base and I OPEN UP FORCE FIELDS. I can see cracks appearing in the Diamond Council members.
Can't do squat about RR Obaca, the lizards will have it. I couldn't even get the first year's worth of fighters (10 in total, should I try) there before the invasion force will arrive, not that they would matter.
Those planets that can will build a token base.
Definitely a year for the history books!
- 2397 -
Yes yes yes yes yes!! Our salvation is soon at hand.
The most insidious of computer viruses destroys 0 points of my computer research.
The Sakkra colony ship chases my scout away from RR Obaca.
Cryslon is maxed! I forgot how research looks like. It's all the way to Planetary Shield V, and then I'll spread to all the fields. Now all I need to be safe for the time being is a battle computer, and, well, time.
No new or broken alliances this turn.
I switch to only supporting my unmaxed R and RR planets, as I will run out of funds if I don't. They're absolutely top priority to get going, so they can support the rest faster.
- 2398 -
I get to explore one more planet to the very north due to the bear alliance. Scout dispatched.
The Sakkra allied with the Meklar. I convince them to stop that silliness.
The invasion force against Obaca is 50 transports. I'm happy I wasn't trying to stop it. We'll still have two rich planets and one ultra rich.
- 2399 -
I take a look at the population graph, it's Bullux and Mirnaia running for High Master.
One more attempt to get the Bulrathi-Alkari alliance cancelled. And it works!
Don't see any incoming, but by now you already know how reliable that estimate is.
Major facts and chiseling and feeding everywhere. At this point the 40/pop is just a penalty I have to live with. Cryslon's the exception, as I need to get that shield.
New Year's Party time! (I win the jewelry contest.) Heavy stomach.
Mirnaia v Bullux
Round 2
FIGHT!
An unstoppable paw against an unbreakable rock!
25 votes - 17 required
Bulrathi - 5 for themselves
Meklar - 2 for the Silicoids
Alkari - 2 for the Bulrathi
Psilons - abstain with 4 - I'm SAFE! The leaders of the galaxy are now aware how a rock sighing sounds.
Sakkras - ABSTAIN with 5
Silicoids - 7 for the Bulrathi
Bullux - Mirnaia 14-2
Inconclusive.
- 2400 -
That was quite the ride, and the result couldn't have been better (well, except for me winning, but that was not going to happen, and I wouldn't have taken it anyway), I was able to vote for Bullux! Other interesting fact: mex&rox together had veto power - I did not technically need either of the two abstentions. My political shitstorm was super effective.
In 2382 Mirnaia confessed to her most trusted and well-configured councillors that the rest of the galaxy has about two decades to kill the empire, or it's all over. Now it looks more like three, but so far only a few contested fringe planets have been chopped off, of which only one hurt. Given the current state of affairs, if I reckon maxed T+30 planets + shield, at which point I can start teching comfortably = win. Even with the Hard difficulty bonuses and the Silicoid penalties, I should be able to develop faster. Hope I won't have to eat those words.
An Alkari Warbird class cruiser is cruising around the northwest - keep an eye on it!
In other news, I get a NAP with the birds. The lizzies still decline.
The unexplored northern planet comes into scout scanner range - it's a Psilon colony, Tau Cygni.
- 2401 -
Tau Cygni is 60 pop 120 fact - lazy or no IRC?
The Sakkra take RR Obaca, I take one with me, 24 other transports perish because of planet size.
The Sakkra have just colonised Mobas, the last planet I had a colony ship approach. That means I can scrap it for a bit of reserve money, which is very very useful right now.
The Warbird is cruising towards Exis. It just got its first instalment of 5 colonists (so it's at 7/60+ pop), I need ships. The 42 fighters at RR Celtsi depart, and Celtsi will spend 1 year's worth of supported production to produce 46 more. Ultra riches. Not even maxed on factories.
This puts Celtsi at 0 defense for a turn. It will be targeted, I'm sure, so more defense production will be in order probably. It's a nebula planet, remember. I decide to only send half of the garrison, should still be enough against the intruder. It's large and warp 1, so I'll actually be able to hit it.
R Esper is maxing next turn, a R60 feeding reserves is not too bad a thing to have.
- 2402 -
Two Spirit class Sakkra destroyers are up to no good, heading in my core's direction, can't tell where they're moving towards yet.
I currently have the strongest Production (well, I can't see how the Psilons are doing) and I'm not planning to look back.
Esper can finally begin to feed the reserves - development is really going to speed up. Even with the ship production detour, Celtsi is also very close to max.
- 2403 -
The Sakkra Spirits seem to just be transferring to Stalaz, the Sakkra exclave in the far west.
My rich planets have maxed out. They're building bases and feeding the reserve.
I up my trade with the Alkari to the max. I'll try to sway them to our side.
RR Celtsi begins the ultra rich feedback loop. Is this considered exploiting the game, by the way? As in, should I stop doing it?
- 2404 -
The battle at Exis commences. Sending a lot of ships was warranted, I win the fight with 23 out of 68 fighters remaining. They stay at Exis, Celtsi has bases and can build a lot in a hurry.
Planetary shield is at 11%.
- 2405 -
I get a NAP with the Sakkra. That's 2 alliances and 2 non-aggros, not something I ever had in any previous game.
- 2406 -
Planetary shield V is at 46%. I open the other fields up (10% each), bringing the shield to 39%.
- 2407 -
The shield is in! I can choose between Repulsor, which I generally find to be too situational, and Class V shields, so I choose the latter (17500).
Weapons tech is more interesting. The way forward is either Scatter Pack V (5290), Ion Rifle (6300) or Merculite missiles (8570), and I'm genuinely uncertain which one to pick. After some consideration, I choose the SPV. It's the cheapest, it offers safety, I can always bum Merculites off the bears if really necessary, and while I'm hurting for gropo, I'd rather defend my planets from orbit, and attacking is still very very off the table.
For now, I set research to Computers 16%, Construction 18%, FF 14%, Planetology 24%, Propulsion 14%, Weapons 14%. My usual nothing special's going on distribution. Research funding is at 1257 BC. Improved Space Scanner, Battle Suits, Class V Deflector Shields, Bio Toxin Antidote, Dotomite Crystals (Range 7), Scatter Pack V.
Planets that can reasonably afford to do so go on big planetary shield energy. Colonies are finally coming along nicely.
Not displayed are Paranar 130 and Gion 75, both maxed on facts. The Tao +20 are transports that came from Anraq and departed towards Exis.
