"New planets had been surveyed, resource deposits marked, orbital research stations built but as yet no other sentient species. The Cartel did however stumble across evidence of a long dead space faring race who called themselves the Yuht, they hoped there would be more living beings to exploit in the future but for now they plan, they build and prepare for first contact."
Stardate: 24-03-2203
So here we are again in the early game, the exploration and discovery phase of Stellaris, sadly no more habitable planets for us so far but so long as we get a couple close by we should be alright. There are at least some resources nearby to exploit with mining and research stations so for now the Fox Cartel will build their economy up. Our governor, the venerable Faustus Volcatius leveled up but gained the stubborn trait giving him a -25% penalty on experience gain, well, not great but it could have been worse.
The Jor Mon Dir system currently being surveyed is proving to be a veritable treasure trove of resources so far and it's not even been fully surveyed yet but the minerals a lone mean it's going to be the next system I claim. Minerals make the galaxy go round, at least according to one Cartel philosopher. An anomaly is also detected just as the capital finishes a generator district taking care of the minor unemployment issue for now, after some pondering what to do with the building slot I opt for a corporate culture site, I know we have a unity penalty but as I see it traditions are still a massive help.
The Cartel's scientists decide that due to a complete lack of habitable worlds found in close proximity that we should undertake a massive survey effort to find more, I can only agree with them on that. However being a megacorp tends to mean you go tall rather than wide, besides, I can set-up 'employment opportunities' on other empires planets soon enough, ahem.
The Jor Mon Dir system gets claimed by the Cartel and all those tasty resources get a nice shiny mining station and we get another tradition to choose! I opt to go for the 'To Boldly Go' tradtion for increased surveying speed, super helpful this early on. An anomaly we examine turns out to be the wreck of a cruiser being crushed in a gas giant, sadly we can't add it to the 'mighty' Cartel navy but it does give us a nice pile of engineering research points. With not much happening I opt to let the game run at full speed for a while so we can get to the good stuff a bit quicker!
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| Expansion is slow and only a single unsuitable planet has been found not to mention unruly neighbours. |
Right, something happening at long last the administrative AI research finished meaning a nice shiny boost to research speed so now, what next for physics research? For now I go for AI Colony Ships, on the off chance we actually find a world we can settle, even if the only one the Cartel has found so far is the wrong type having only 15% habitability for us, ick! Another tradition, this time I take databank uplinks so our orbital research stations give us that little bit of extra science.
Things take a slightly ugly turn when the FCMV Agathodaemon enters a system only to flee in terror from some alien scum.. I mean, potential customers. Sadly a fleet power of about 1000 means my frankly pathetic navy stands no chance. However, engineering research finishes so time for the next project, extra mining station output is tempting but with hostile aliens next door I opt to make my military happy and research ceramo-metal materials for better armour as well as design my first ship.
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| The first military ship of the Fox Cartel, the Cunning class corvette. |
A missile boat is tempting simply for the range they have, a picket ship this early on likely won't be as useful as later so I opt for the interceptor for the 3 small weapon slots. So I throw in a pair of small mass drivers and a red laser as it's weapon loadout, a reactor booster, two armour and a shield. I don't have much to work with yet so it'll have to do. I name it the Cunning class corvette, long may she serve the interests of the Fox Cartel. I also retrofit the existing 3 ships to the new design and increase the fleet to more than double, having 8 Cunning class corvettes set to roll off the production line. Also for good measure I recruit an admiral, Mettia Carvilius whose starting trait sees her having an extra 25 years lifespan.
To end this part as society research finishes I don't have many good options to choose from, Hydroponic farming, offworld trading companies for starbases or the option I chose, ground defence planning, more naval capacity from soldier jobs and better damage for defence armies. These foxes are all about that military so it fits.
I am thinking that we won't be seeing much exciting happen for at least the next few parts, the early game of Stellaris can be somewhat slow and I am almost wondering if I should have set the galaxy to a smaller size. However, I feel that later on this is going to be a lot of fun as disgruntled neighbours try to put us out of business whilst the (eventually) mighty Cartel navy plies the starlanes.
Until then however thank you very much for reading, keep your eye out for more Stellaris on the blog soon!
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