Let's Play Stellaris: Part 15 - All the Science

"Up until this point the threats from neighbouring civilisations were naught but theory, conjecture, a collection of' 'what ifs' and 'could be' scenarios bandied around by military and political advisors. That has now changed, the Dyss Marauders extorted tribute from the Cartel under a threat of conflict, the cost was paltry in what they asked for however it only reinforced the Cartels military focus further, plans for defence platforms were prototyped and rushed into production. They no longer felt as safe, the hubris they had accrued by defeating the mining drones was quickly eroded by the reality of just how vulnerable they were right now. That would change soon enough. "

Stardate: 16-02-2257

Once again, here we sitting in the over-sized and highly comfortable leather chair of the Oligarch, leading the Fox Cartel to glory! The head of our physics division starts us off today by succumbing to the rigors of time and keeling over at the ripe old age of 96, his replacement not the same genius he was but he was the youngest so I figured he'd at least level up enough to make up for the lack of good traits on offer. And he starts us off pretty darned well by finishing off the research complexes technology, so before we run off and upgrade our labs, let us see what is on offer next. (I wonder if I should start naming leaders after twitter followers?)

Hmmm, FTL inhibitors again but this time they may actually be useful in closing off our territory. Better lasers, better plasma throwers, chemical plants which will allow us to create even more volatile motes and surprisingly, even better research labs. I am already stockpiling volatile motes as is and currently am not using them so getting more seems superfluous right now. Let's get these FTL inhibitors just so we can hold enemy fleets in range of our defences longer. Afterwards I make sure to upgrade both research labs on Vulpinus. That will put more of a strain on our consumer goods but we can fix that further down the proverbial road.

The first planet the Cartel sets it's sights on for terrarforming.

Next objective is something a little different, after selling off yet another pile of minerals on the market to avoid maxing out I decide to spend the energy credits on terraforming the world in the Bir Zun system. A size-22 Savannah world, it's expensive at 5000 energy credits, and takes about 10 years, however with little other options for expansion right now I think it'll be worth it. At least far more worthwhile than expanding north seems to be right now. I also don't want to claim too many more low resource systems due to already being over the admin cap, that and there has only been a single potentially habitable planet found so far up there and it's a good 5-6 jumps away. Not worth the increase in tech cost and such it will cause.

Then we have yet another empire make first-contact with the Cartel, the Galactic Ymacera Assembly a race of erudite explorers they only hate us a tiny bit so that's good. What is less than good however is we have yet another group of marauders, the Husko Raiders, luckily they are well on the other side of the galaxy so are of no immediate concern right now. Hopefully they'll annoy those two big empires in the south-eastern quadrant rather than concern themselves with the Cartel. I say full of bushy tailed optimism.

The Hades colony continues to grow at an impressive rate despite it's modest habitability, we can now upgrade the basic colony shelter to a full-fledged planetary admin and have another building slot to make use of. We'll worry about the extra building later as right now food and consumer goods are starting to move toward break-even rather than surplus so we'll see which we need first when we get there. Then yet another empire makes contact with us, the Skanuri Bloc another bunch of hegemonic imperialists, this galaxy is becoming a veritable powder keg so let's hope no-one lights the proverbial match just yet (unless it's us that does the lighting.)

Things are starting to get very crowded.

Since I haven't been spending my influence for quite a while I bump my fuzzy fox ears into the limit so let's see if there is a useful edict we can spend it on for now. Research grants seems like a good one, really helping the Cartel pile on that research speed, signed and approved, off you go science boffins more funding!

After scanning the wreckage of the mining drones it helps nudge our engineering research to completion giving us access to auto-cannons, it will soon be time to redesign the Cunning-class corvettes. First, let's see what we can research next though and we have a lot of options. Rail-guns, crystal mines, crystal synthesisers, exotic gas refineries and the next step up in alloy foundries this is actually a really tough choice. On top of that due to getting some progress points toward them we have two additional options, ion thrusters and more engineering research. I think however we really really need more alloys, so lets get holographic casts so we can build far better foundries.

Capella station in the home system has just finished building a full complement of 6 Gladius-class defence platforms so let's now actually upgrade the station itself too. Just as I notice our food and consumer goods production drop into the red, not good! Let's get an agriculture district up and running on Hades, if need be we can buy consumer goods from the market until Hades has enough workers to use it's building slot for civilian industries. The deficit isn't crippling and we have over 6K stockpiled so we'll be good for a while, those new research labs really eat through them though, yikes.

The new head of our physics division knocks the FTL Inhibitors off his to-do list and now gives us some frankly amazing options to choose between. So let's start with the more mundane offerings to choose between, mining drone lasers and improved reactor boosters sit alongside the disruptor weapon tech. Gravitic sensors which would give us a star-base module and improve our ships sensors and then we have two rare tech options available marked for us in shiny purple. The curator archaeology lab is handy as it boosts anomaly discovery chance and research speed though it feels a tad late for it. The next one however, Null Void Beams, capable of actually destroying energy somehow making them the ultimate anti-shield weapons. Without even hesitating we set them to be researched. Adding one of those to my ships will basically ensure enemy shields become virtually irrelevant which is a massive force multiplier for our fleets and star-bases.

And then we get yet more research finished as our social division finally brings us something as they finish their last project and even gives us some useful options for the next one. Extra naval capacity, increased occupation garrisons and a military academy, more star-base buildings in the form of a fleet academy and a naval logistics office. Followed by increased star-base capacity, a crime reduction and bonus to amenities and the energy siphon sitting at the bottom. We need the naval capacity badly though so that is what I send them off to research, that way we can expand the fleet to something more grand and then kick down the Uriy Suns door and take their space loot.

It's at this point another election pops up and for the first time since we started we actually have the influence to select a candidate. There is just one frustrating problem, they are all really really old, the youngest is 57. Whilst I am loathe to not keep the research bonus from our current ruler I throw my influence behind Vopisca Laenius, at 74 his main focus is improving our industry whilst giving us bonuses to planet build speed and trade value. May he rule well or we'll shoot his fuzzy orange backside into the sun.

Capella station now has new Gladius defence platforms which give it as much firepower as the first fleet.

To finish off this part for today we get one more technology to choose as the engineering division not to be outdone by the physics division finishes off the improved alloy forges. Let's see what they can offer us next. Robotic workers, improved destroyer hulls, extra city district housing, improved civilian industries and a rare tech in the form of improved defence platform hitpoints. Alongside the thrusters and bonus engineering research. Taking the rare tech doesn't seem worthwhile, tempting as it is because it's shiny and purple but we need consumer goods a lot more than we need tougher defence platforms (hope that's not famous last words.) So more consumer goods it is.

Whilst this part has been anything but action packed a lot happened in regards to new technology and a lot more new victims.. I mean, neighbours. Keep your eyes peeled for more Fox Cartel adventures soon!

I do hope you enjoy reading and don't be afraid to leave feedback, comments, ideas, tips, suggestions etc here or on twitter, until next time, stay awesome!

If you missed the last part, you can find it here!

Let's Play Stellaris: Part 14 - Emerging Threats

"The early years of the Cartels space exploration had them wondering if they really were the only sentient beings in the galaxy, how wrong that preconception had been. There were much larger and more powerful civilisations on all sides and the very nature of the hyper-lane network meant they were beginning to feel more than a little penned in. What these galactic nations likely didn't realise yet was the Cartel simply viewed this as a challenge, one they accepted all too readily. For better or worse, they would find out soon enough."

Stardate: 25-01-2254

With the victorious first fleet returning to it's home system for repairs I start eyeing up the Uriy Suns to the east. A quick check of the contacts screen and the power gap between us has narrowed considerably, we match them for technology and economy leaving only the power of their fleet being a concern. Better ships is one way to fix that, more ships is another but let's try and do both!

The biggest bottlenecks to improving my military right now are a lack of naval capacity and limited alloy production. Let's see if we can't address both of these to some degree in this part today, as I am planning to quite literally stomp on the Uriy Suns, hard. It also means we are going to need to expand our military capacity with ground troops. Our social division gets us rolling by finishing the terraforming tech, that will be very helpful in the long-run now let's see what they can do for us next.

Two technologies in the selection are for removing planetary tile-blockers, we'll ignore those for now as we aren't short on space and we only have two planets. An energy siphon weapon, gene clinics, extra social research and last but not least, the planetary defence grid tech which unlocks a fortress building but also improves our defence armies. Not a great selection to choose from so I default to more social research.

I can begin to address the alloy production issue right now as Vulpinus has a building slot available so I set an alloy foundry to be built, the minerals to keep it producing are not a problem (in fact I keep having to sell the excess minerals.) For a while not much happens beyond the general ticking over of science ships surveying and investigating anomalies. At least until another power makes contact with the Cartel.

The Ziiran Mandate, Democratic Crusaders who hate the Cartel's fuzzy orange backsides, good thing they are on the other side of the galaxy.

The Ziiran Mandate, they are not as close to me as they first appear being on the opposite of the void at the galactic core. They also hate us so that is probably for the best, they are democratic crusaders, so naturally the very idea of a corporate crime syndicate makes them want to laser me into oblivion. For the Cartel it just means they now have the potential for some long-range business opportunities. The way the branch offices work basically means it's more expensive to establish one the further from your territory it is, good to know for the future but I am better off spending my resources elsewhere for now.

The Uriy Suns border is now right up against mine making me a little nervous as to whether or not their hatred of the Cartel will turn to aggression before I can make my move. Then yet another empire makes contact with us, the Prossnakan Star Hunters, a militaristic race of fanatic purifiers. The Cartel simply tells them to respect our authority or else. A quick look at the galaxy map shows whilst they are technically right next to us the only hyper-lane links are well to the west and around the Yeon Progenitors territory. I know I was going to make a point of this being a campaign of Stellaris filled with battles but I think that turned out to be more prophetic than I would have believed.

The Prossnakan Star Hunters, a face of fanatic purifiers who are right next door.. Good thing they'd have to go the long way around to get to us. Yikes.

At least the physics division manages to cheer up the oligarch by finishing the research on improved ship reactors, let's see what they have for us next. More energy credits from technicians, a building which improves energy credit generation and improved orbital research stations. Last but not least, research complexes, basically improving our current research capabilities so that is a no brainer of a choice. It does mean I may have to start worrying about consumer goods production more as the research labs eat them pretty ravenously.

Then we get yet another alien race making contact with us, the galaxy is getting a mite crowded. The Alvothari Hegemony, basically imperialists who think they are the rightful rulers of the galaxy, they sound fun. Though having said that of all the more typical empires they hate us the least, as I said in a previous part. We need bigger guns.

The Hades colony suffers a little unemployment issue and seems to not have enough amenities so that is an easy fix, a city district should fix that for the short term. Now it's time to send the first fleet off again now they are repaired and take out another system infested with mining drones. As to investigate these supposed shrines to the 'old gods' I'll have to clear these hostile fleets blocking my science ships. We may well get a lot of space battles afterall!

This will be a much closer fight than the last one, the fleet power of the mining drone fleet matches the first fleet, so here is hoping that this doesn't go horribly wrong. They also have the support of a station so it would be best to engage them away from it if I can.

The first fleet engages a large fleet of ancient mining drones in the Rixim system.

Whilst the battle in the Rixim system rages yet another empire makes contact with us, they sure do pick their times to call. It's another megacorp, the Fiiral TransStellar, they seem far too legitimate a business to be any threat to us.

The mining drones, once an early nemesis to the Cartels fledgling military now laid low. The scattered remains of those ancient machines now floats harmlessly through the Rixim system and whilst the battle was far from one-sided it was decisive. A single destroyer and half a dozen corvettes were lost in the battle but the entire fleet of drones and their station were obliterated in kind. So the first fleet gets sent home for repairs and a pay-rise however that brief victory celebration ends on a sour note.

The Dyss Marauders start threatening the Cartel for resources on pain of them blowing our stuff up and taking it anyway.

The Dyss Marauders demand tribute or face them in battle, now the Fox Cartel may be a proud race but they are far from stupid. Defeating old mining drones and angry space crystals is one thing fending off these marauders is quite another. With only a single star-base and no defence platforms plus the first fleet returning for repairs and in need of fresh ships and crews it is decided to offer these upstarts something we have in excess, minerals.

After that it becomes clear to the Cartel that improving their defences was now a more immediate concern. With an ever growing list of potential hostile powers it was decided it was high time a defence platform was designed and deployed.

The Gladius-Class defence platform.

The Gladius-Class defence platform, a light station section and a heavy, the heavy section features a plasma thrower in a large mounting. The light section features 2 smaller plasma throwers and a pair of blue lasers. A full complement of six are readied for construction at Capella star-base to protect Vulpinus. The idea is the heavy section provides the punch against larger targets whilst the lighter section provides the rate of fire and better tracking to counter smaller ships like corvettes. That is the theory at least.

And with that let's draw this part to a close, I was genuinely expecting it to be another quiet session, more planning and building up than excitement but luckily it was anything but. We have a whole host of other empires around us, threats from the marauders and plans to start terraforming in Cartel space whilst building up to take on the Uriy Suns before they get too big for us to challenge.

I do hope you enjoy reading this as always the support, feedback, comments and you just taking the time to read this is greatly appreciated. Until next time, keep a look out for more Fox Cartel fun!

If you missed the last part, find it here!

Let's Play Stellaris: Part 13 - One Mans Junk

"The list of serious threats to the Cartels future was an ever growing entity now. From a pair of highly advanced fallen empires and hostile crystalline entities all the way to a roving band of nomadic marauders and an ominous mystery from the past. So it was only natural for the militaristic Cartel to continue the military build up, bigger ships, more powerful weapons and improved defences. Whether or not they would win any future conflicts it was clear the Fox Cartel wanted to ensure they survived."

Stardate: 04-04-2248

Here we are again, back in the decidedly opulent hot-seat of the fledgling Fox Cartel, the current objective is still to prepare to take out our nearest rival in the form of the Unified Uriy Suns empire. More immediately I need to improve my economy further, namely in the area of alloy production so I can more freely build up my fleet. Also I will need to start looking into defences, more star-bases, more defence platforms just to make sure if those marauders get any funny ideas we can hold our own.

It seems the Uriy Suns are really adept at shutting down my branch offices as they close down the one on their capital of Uraya again. They will pay for that, in time. It's a minor set-back hopefully we'll find juicier targets soon, just one more reason to work on improving my economy further. The newly surveyed Uzun system now infamous for the battle against the mining drones has a fair amount of useful resources in (22 minerals, 2 energy & 3 rare crystals) making it a good next system to claim.

One of our science ships finds a ship inside the atmosphere of a gas giant so I approve a project to see if they can retrieve it. The capital world opens up another building slot in the meanwhile, I'll wait until all the current jobs are taken before I build something though so we'll come back to that later. Meanwhile I drop a mining district on Hades, still a little on the fence whether to specialise or generalise it.

From weird injections to free resources being handed out, the Cartel begins to wonder if the Homolog Continuum is just a bunch of robots a few thousand years overdue for maintenance. 

The Homolog Continuum had been quiet for some time only to suddenly out of the blue open a comm-link and offer us free resources. The Cartel is naturally dubious of such an offer but they take it regardless as they are a firm believer in never being able to have too many resources. Then a curator station contacts us, preservers of knowledge, now this could be helpful so let's see what they have to offer. So, 1000 energy credits to improve our research speed by 10% for 10 years that is what the Fox Cartel refers to as a bargain so we do that. Every little helps when surrounded by more advanced empires.

The science ship that claimed to have found another ship in the atmosphere of a gas giant actually managed to recover it, it is far larger than anything currently in the Cartel navy. Even larger than the Heuntzelman-Class destroyers, a cruiser class ship with more advanced weapons and armour than anything else we have available, that was surprisingly good. I was half expecting it to be filled with flesh eating aliens.That ship alone has the same power rating as a third of my current fleet, a little scary.

A cruiser-class ship is salvaged from a gas giant and pressed into service with the first fleet.

Something a little unusual pops up after finding a drifting stealth bomber it appears as though we may have discovered some hidden labs filled with weapons technology. Needless to say that got a science ship rerouted to explore that possibility rather quickly indeed. It seems our science ships are finding us all kinds of goodies today a good omen perhaps? (If the Cartel believed in such superstitious nonsense.) Once that new cruiser arrives at the home system I will add it to the first fleet and send them off to deal with some of the weaker crystalline entity fleets nearby.

Meanwhile it seems our neighbours have expanded to yet another planet and their borders are getting worryingly close to mine, so I do the neighbourly thing and establish a branch office on their new planet. It's population is too low for us to do anything else with right now but hopefully that will mean it doesn't get shut down just yet. Also I finally get around to getting our social division to seeing how the 'zeta aliens' actually are, let's just hope they aren't yet another powerful empire who despises our fabulous foxiness.

Figuring we have enough excess food to support it now I make use of a planetary decision on both Vulpinus and Hades to encourage population growth, another thing that will help our economic and military build up. Again our science ships find yet another ship adrift, this time in an asteroid field with our scientists recommending we send a constructor ship to tow it out, it's going to be a long trip and this is a timed one so, let's see if one of our constructor ships can get there in time.

With the cruiser finally arriving home it is examined, crewed and pressed into service and the admiral given the order to clean out the Bikhul system of hostiles. Just as at long last the physics division enters the office informing us they have finished researching improvements to physics research speed, so let us see what they have to offer next.

Better lasers, unlocking disruptors (tempting), chemical plants which are able to turn minerals into volatile motes, better reactor boosters and better reactors. A useful if largely dull collection of offerings but for now I will research better reactors for my ships, what good is a big gun if you don't have the juice to fire it?

Well, that is all kinds of disturbing.

To say our research of the weapons lab was wholly disturbing would be an understatement and I find myself actually glad that whatever was in them seems to have been destroyed. Bio weapons and other such things are not something the Cartel would consider using at the moment, they prefer to have stuff to take and people to press into service for profit, killing everything is wasteful as far as they are concerned. Then the engineering division not to be out-done finish researching star-holds, the next step up from our current star-bases, so let's see what they have for us now.

A new utility item in the form of afterburners, a new weapon in the form of the auto-cannon (my admiral would be grinning from ear to ear at those), improved planetary building speed, improved city districts. The last two being improved mining stations and more engineering research, some tough choices but I already know which I am picking. The auto-cannon, this will be the primary weapon of my Cunning-class corvettes going forwards. Swarm combat role, auto-cannons, full of foxy fury, also it looks pretty awesome seeing space filled with tracer fire.

While we await for the first fleet to reach it's destination we find the 'zeta aliens' are in fact nothing more than docile space-faring creatures who feed on gas giants, at least they aren't hostile. Meanwhile our research on the 'Prince' project seems to be important documents from some other civilisation, so we'll return it to them. It gets us some energy credits not amazing but again, at least it wasn't something else trying to explode our stuff, eat our face or enslave us. After the longest time we actually get another tradition to choose, extra clerk jobs for city districts or extra housing from the prosperity tree. I opt for more housing for now.

The first fleet then finally arrives and moves to engage the three crystalline entity fleets in the system, let us see how this cruiser we found fares.

The first fleet and it's new cruiser engage the crystalline entities.

To say it was a largely one sided battle would be selling it short, the 1st fleet so utterly pulverised the crystalline entities three fleets that they only lost a single corvette and a single destroyer. The cruiser we found proved it's worth by far, often engaging multiple targets simultaneously making our admiral politely ask when we might actually research larger vessels such as this. The first fleet are now at two victories for three battles, let's hope they continue their streak, I have a feeling we will need it in the future.

We got to end on a space battle at least! I know there are a lot of lulls and slow patches but that is basically just how Stellaris is so I hope you enjoying reading and I thank you for taking the time to do so. I greatly appreciate any feedback or support you give, keep being awesome folks!

If you missed the last part, you can find it here!

Let's Play Stellaris: Part 12 - Planning Ahead

"The battle between the first fleet and the mining drones was played on a loop for months, parts of it were used for military recruitment, others to help advertise weapons technology propaganda at it's finest. It was the Cartels largest success since settling the Hades colony and there had growing concern as to whether the Cartel could defend itself from the growing number of rival empires nearby. The Cartel naturally had greater ambitions than besting a few rusting mining drones, plans were drawn up for a larger fleet, more star-bases, defence platforms and even an invasion of the nearby Uriy Suns. One thing was certain, the Cartel would not sit idle for long."

Stardate: 09-08-2244

Here we are once again, at the helm of the Fox Cartel, with the first fleet returning for repairs and a distant science ship being rerouted to scan the wreckage of the mining drones we ended on something of a high last time. Just as I am sat pondering what I need to do next the physics division barges in gleefully proclaiming they have finished researching mote stabilisation, good start, let's see what our options for the next project are.

All five options available unlock some kind of ship component which is good as we are going to need the best ships. First up we have a new weapon type, disruptors, these things are nasty bypassing both shields and armour. Next we have better reactors followed by better reactor boosters, useful if not terribly exciting. Better hyper-drives is similarly bland a choice followed last but not least by improved lasers. In order to future proof my ships and make sure they are the best in every way rather than just guns for now I opt for better hyper-drives, so it won't take a few years to get from one side of Cartel space to the other.

Another group of caravaneers enters Cartel space and this time rather than sending them on their way, let's see what they have to offer as I have a surplus of energy credits. However their offer is not quite what I expected. At a cost of 500 Unity they wish to offer us some specialists who will stay on our star-bases for 80 years increasing our trade value. It is definitely a tempting offer, whilst it will set back our next tradition choice for a long time the extra energy credits from the increased trade value could be useful. So I opt to go for it, give me your nutrient paste fed specialists!

Those caravaneer ships sure are shiny.

Hades finally hits it's first population milestone giving us our first building slot to work with. Now what to build, alloys or mote production we kind of need both and may even soon need consumer goods. For now though I'll go for mote production so I can get a bit of a stockpile going. Then the society research division finishes the fleet command limit upgrade and then gives us some actual decent options for the next research project (for a change.)

More fleet command limit, nice but I don't have the naval capacity to make use of it yet. Terraforming is very very tempting so we can turn some of these less useless planets into something the Cartel can use. More food from farmers, not really sure I need that right now. Increased naval capacity now that is very tempting too. Then lastly we have off-world trading companies, a star-base module that increases trade value.. Not quite as useful as the rest. I am briefly torn between higher naval capacity and terraforming but terraforming wins, I have 4 planets in my space that could become useful with terraforming. With expansion options drying up quickly I feel that would be the best long-term bet.

We then find a floating databank written in a strangely familiar language so I set the society research division to decoding it with a special project. Who knows, maybe it's instructions to conquer the universe in three easy steps? Then the caravaneers moving through my space decide they are going to litter. So I bill them for the trouble and get us a nice big pile of consumer goods, filthy vagrants, they dump in Cartel space again they'll get the business end of the fleet rather than a bill.

Think you can dump your broken ships in Cartel space? Enjoy the bill for services rendered.

It's at this point I notice the Uriy Suns borders expanding rather rapidly toward ours, I may have to look at building the outposts on my borders into full on star-bases. I notice they have a new colony so I give them a helping paw by establishing a branch office on it as well as a new one on their capital. Given I will need to deal with the Uriy Suns sooner rather than later I use the building slot in the branch office to get us a wrecking yard, we will need the alloys. The new branch offices also give us some intel on our neighbours. They have 2 fleets sitting at around 1.5k fleet power, so their navy is twice as powerful as the Cartels. Not for long I think, forewarned is forearmed.

So individually my fleet is more powerful than any one of theirs so any kind of war could still potentially be won if I can destroy one fleet before the other arrives. In theory. For now I will play the long game and improve my fleet and economy a bit more before I get ahead of myself but we are coming for your stuff Uriy Suns (soon.)

The engineering division finishes researching exotic gas extraction finally giving our two constructor ships something to do so I send them off to start building some gas extractors whilst I have a look what the engineering division has to offer next.

First up is star-holds, basically bigger star-bases with more module capacity and given the Uriy Suns get ever closer it is very tempting to build a few of these. Next up we have space torpedoes which are basically big, slow missiles which don't care if you have shields. Better armour in the form of plasteel, better missiles and finally destroyer hull improvements giving them a nice chunk of extra hit-points. I have to mull this one over for a few minutes, do I start preparing to defend Cartel space by getting star-holds or continue improving my ships weapons and defences ahead of taking the fight to them? I opt for star-holds for now as I figure I can get more out of them.

To end this quiet part of the let's play for today we get one final research project finished from the physics division again giving our ships better hyper-drives. FTL inhibitors keeps popping up as a choice so often I almost want to pick it just to get rid of it. Extra physics research, extra energy credits, a new energy credit boosting building or better shields form the remaining options. For now though I'll go for the extra research, playing the long-game is currently the Cartel's plan.

The Unified Uriy Suns are expanding at an alarming rate, my only options for expansion lie to the north or just taking the Uriy Suns on.

My current main goal is to build up my military enough to go and turn the Uriy Suns into a subsidiary of the Cartel. That may take a while to achieve given they are currently more powerful than us but it is the goal for now unless something changes along the way.

And on that thank you all as always for reading, leaving feedback, support and the like, it is ridiculously humbling and greatly appreciated! Stay tuned for the next part soon!

If you missed the last part, you can find it here!

Let's Play Stellaris: Part 11 - This Isn't War, This is Pest Control!

"Many in the Cartel felt that life was going to become interesting sooner rather than later. As avenues of expansion and exploration dried up and rival empires borders expanded as shown on yet another status report on the Oligarchs desk. Conflict seemed as if it would be an inevitable part of the Cartels future which was a more daunting prospect than it had first seemed when they had launched into the stars. They were surrounded by more powerful neighbours and nearby systems were dotted with hostiles. The oligarch, a venerable old fox simply looked stoically from the office window, standing at the figurative peak of their civilisation, muzzle fur greyed with age. They were ready to make their mark on the galaxy for good or ill. They were ready."

Stardate: 17-03-2240

Here we are again, seems we are in a bit of a lull but I have a feeling that won't last all that long mainly as I am going to make sure it doesn't. I feel as if my best course of action right now is to build up enough and then take out the Uriy Suns before federations and defensive alliances start to form, unless we find a weaker empire nearby it feels like a good goal. Also it is very Fox Cartel, to hit them over the head with a stick and take all their space candy. A lot of nearby systems and hyper-lane routes are blocked by either mining drones or crystalline entities which is yet another reason to continue the military build up.

Alloys continue to be something I am running out of and trading the vast surplus of minerals on the internal market to keep buying them is just a short term fix. Something I'll need to try and improve going forward as well, I have a feeling there will be a lot of exploding ships in the not so distant future. The social division finishes researching the increase to our admin cap just as we get started, that should keep our research nice and speedy for a while longer, let's see what they are offering us next.

Increased population growth, increased habitability, more social research, higher fleet command limit and gene clinics. All of those are kind of useful but nothing jumps out at me as super important so I am keeping with the military improvement strategy, higher fleet command limit is next. Not that we have the naval capacity to make use of it yet but it is good to have for later.

Oops, seems we caused them to get hit by a comet..

Seems us trying to warn those time-travelling aliens before resulted in them colliding with a comet, so we technically caused it? Time travel is tricky, ah well, we tried at least. It's at this point our furthest flung science ship runs into a system filled with stations and ships, assuming hostile intent they flee. They get labelled as 'Xi Aliens' so let's get the social division working on figuring out who our newest neighbours are. Meanwhile I queue up another mining district on Vulpinus ahead of potentially expanding alloy production later on (not to mention the need for more consumer goods.)

Then something worrying happens, the 'Xi Aliens' turn out to be an entirely space-borne race who live on their vast fleets and stations known as the Dyss Marauders. This could potentially be either really good if they weaken our neighbours or really bad if they decide to kick our front door down and take our stuff. We make contact with them in which they basically tell us if we send any ships into their space don't expect them to return and only contact them if we want to offer tribute or need mercenaries. Well, such insolence will be (eventually) punished so we close the comm-link and get on with more important things.

And now we have marauders nearby, this is going to keep things interesting that is for sure.

A nice shiny new gun for our ships, the plasma thrower causing the admiral to essentially skip to the shipyards as we figure out what we want to research next from our physics division. So let's see, FTL inhibitors, more physics research, better sensors, auxiliary fire control for our ships or mote harvesting. Not the most fantastic selection but whilst my resource income is solid I figure we'll see if we can get an early start on those motes, so let's research Mote Stabilization.

I opt to replace the blue lasers on the Cunning class corvette with two plasma throwers and for the Heuntzelman class destroyer I replace the two stern mass drivers with plasma throwers. I don't want to completely remove mass drivers as they do better against shields. Now we retrofit the new hardware onto our existing ships as I begin preparing to finally let the first fleet loose again. Only for the engineering division to give us improved mass-drivers in the form of coil-guns to add to our fleet as well. Not that I am complaining it just means payback will be a couple of months longer a wait.

We have some interesting options for our next engineering research choice, so let's see what we have. Extra engineering research (pretty standard), exotic gas extraction, rare crystal mining, robotic workers and improvements to corvette build speed and cost. A quick glance at the galaxy map to make sure we have a couple of places we could build gas extractors so that is what I choose to research next. It's then the Yeon Progenitors the second of our fallen empire neighbours makes a slightly worrying request of the Cartel.

Now weird injections from alien robots is one thing but these guys want some of our population for conservation purposes. Now a single unit of population isn't the end of the world but it will naturally make the Fox Cartel a bit unhappy overall, but can I risk annoying a fallen empire this early on? However they may help us in the future so with (probably not a lot of) reluctance I agree to their demands for now. They then immediately open their borders allowing my science ships a route toward the rest of the galaxy at least.

Don't worry Foxes, when we have bigger guns we'll come rescue you from the weird bird-people.

Whilst I wait for the first fleet to retrofit (again) with the new coil-guns we get a new tradition to choose, it's been quite a while since the last one. Continuing with the prosperity tree we have two options, city districts get given an extra clerk job or reduce the build time and cost of planetary buildings and districts, I'll go for the latter for now.

The first fleet makes a flyby of Vulpinus after being fully upgraded, out in front the new Heuntzelman-class destroyers make an impression on the rich and famous gathered to watch as they plot a course to the Uzun system. It's pay back time. The journey will take almost a year but let's hope they fare better this time than they did the last time they entered that system.

The first fleet makes a flyby of the homeworld before heading into battle.

As the fleet arrives in the Uzun system the mining drones hanging in orbit immediately fly into action, engaging the first fleet but this time the outcome is vastly different. The new destroyers and the improved weaponry pulls apart the fleet of drones with frightening ease, plasma fire and mass driver rounds blasting apart their ancient hulls like the scrap they are. Only a handful of ships are lost to the drones, one destroyer and four corvettes however they destroyed all eleven mining drones, seven combat drones and the three larger destroyer sized ones. Not to mention blowing up the abandoned station.

I order the fleet to return home for repairs and have one of our science ships chart a course to Uzun to scan the wreckage for any useful data and finally survey the Uzun system. The plasma throwers definitely proved their worth and there is talk among the admiralty of making it the Cartel's standard weapon.

For now though, bringing this part to a close and I am glad we ended on a space battle again there will be many more and they will be far more epic but the Fox Cartel has only just begun! Thank you for taking the time to read this, I hope you enjoyed it and I welcome all the feedback and support!

Take that you stupid old scrap robots!

If you missed the last part, click here to go read it!

Let's Play Stellaris: Part 10 - Bigger Guns

"It was the Cartels first battle since flinging themselves into the vast unknown of space, the first fleet had been tasked with clearing Uzun system of some ancient mining drones. The leftovers of some former civilisation which seemed intent on carrying out their tasks despite their creators long since turning to dust. They were definitely hostile, the engineering division theorising that the materials of their ships just registered as more resources to harvest to them so they had to be removed. However there were more of them than anticipated, as the fleet arrived they were set upon almost immediately. Laser fire and mass driver rounds tore through the void with agonising silence as the fleet simply fought to survive long enough to perform an emergency jump. A bloody nose for the Cartel's first foray into interstellar combat but they would learn the lesson well and return ever stronger."

Stardate: 28-03-2236

Here we are again, continuing our journey toward galactic domination with the Fox Cartel crime syndicate. Things get immediately more interesting as another empire contacts us, the Yeon Progenitors, another fallen empire which is less than good for a few different reasons. Firstly it heavily limits our expansion options both in terms of territory but also branch offices and secondly we have no idea if they are going to be as quirky as the Homolog Continuum. Only time will tell but we are slowly being penned in with only hyper-lane routes to the North and North-West being open for us to continue exploring so long as we can clear our the hostiles in them.

The Yeon Progenitors, yet another fallen empire within a handful of jumps of Cartel space.. Potentially all kinds of not good.

The remains of the first fleet finally limp back into the home system meaning the survivors can repair and I can start replenishing the ships. However rather than simply going back to Uzun with corvettes I'll be getting destroyers at some point so perhaps that will prove to be the better option. Bigger guns. Maybe even a bigger fleet, let's see what our scientists give us to play with though it seems the society research division is first into the oligarchs office today giving us two new buildings to play with. The planetary capital and the hall of judgement, the next project we finally are starting to get some interesting options to play with. Extra food and a food boosting building, not so useful right now. Extra star-bases is interesting but I barely have enough alloys to get my navy back up to scratch much less build more star-bases. An increase in the admin cap however now that is useful, so that's what we'll do. I also make sure to upgrade the planetary admin building on Vulpinus with the far superior planetary capital building.

The admin cap basically means if you go over it that the costs of technologies, traditions, leaders and such gets more expensive and it's worse for a Mega-corp like the Fox Cartel but that new tech should take the edge off. I claim a few more systems before they get gobbled up by the rapidly expanding Uriy Suns to our east, we are going to have to deal with them at some point before they get any allies to help them preferably. However for now we can't even handle a bunch of old mining robots so perhaps it's best to wait given they are actually more powerful than we are.

Our science ship finds evidence of a shrine to some old gods from the Cartels ancient past. To say this is all very weird and a little worrying would be understating it but let's see how far this goes before I need to apply explosive ordinance to it. Hopefully it's just some elaborate hoax or cosmic coincidence rather than anything sinister. Meanwhile our other science ship finds a capsule ticking down to a date 42 years and 3 days from now. It could be a bomb but it could just be someones alarm clock, so I opt to keep an eye on it. The shrine contained a vast amount of initially hard to read text but as to what it all means we'll have to wait and see what our science ships discover.

It's hard to figure out where this trail is going to lead in regard to our 'old gods' but our scientists will figure it out, it's what we pay them for after-all.

The physics division finishes researching the extra research alternatives which will be a big help in the long-term so let's see what goodies they have for us to research next. Improved reactor boosters, plasma throwers, improved hyper drives, more energy credits and more research from orbital stations. Now that's a lot of useful options with the possible exception of hyper-drives for now, however sticking to my goal of improving my military I opt to research plasma throwers to give us some much needed firepower. Much the the glee of the admiral who practically skipped out of the oligarchs office.

I now start building up our new planet, Hades by adding a generator district not sure yet if I want to specialise the planet or just keep it balanced yet though I am leaning toward balanced. Mainly as for now it doesn't look like we are going to be getting a lot of planets anytime soon. Then our engineering division finally finishes researching, an entire new ship class, destroyers!

Before I get ahead of myself with ship design let's choose our next project from the available options. Unlocking fighters, star-holds which are basically the next step up of star-base, coil-guns (I can already see the admiral grinning again), extra housing and more minerals from mining. There are genuinely no bad options in that however I am sticking to my guns literally and I set the coil-guns to research. I see war in our near future and I intend for the Cartel to win it.

Now for something more fun, designing our first destroyer class ship now typically I design my destroyers as picket ships. They will have flak and point defences to screen the larger ships from fighters and missiles, however I feel at present I have more need of something that can destroy lots of smaller ships as quickly as possible. So I opt for the gunship bow to get the most weapons possible, the artillery bow was tempting but I feel the gunship suits better what we are designing right now. For the stern however, sticking with the more is better approach, I choose the interceptor section for it's two weapon hard-points. I give it an even balance of shields and armour in the six utility slots and slap a reactor booster in for good measure. Weapons wise I give it a blue laser in it's medium hard-point and four mass drivers in the smalls. This shall be dubbed the Heuntzelman-class destroyer named after a hero from the Cartels ancient past.

Our newest and largest space faring military vessel to date the Heuntzelman class destroyer.

Now to add them to the 1st fleet and begin construction, they may be retrofitted in future before we take them into battle but I figure it's best to build them now. I add five of them to the reinforcement queue along with six more Cunning class corvettes which entirely depletes my alloy stockpile. This is as big a fleet as any single admiral of mine can currently command so let's hope it's going to be enough. I am still considering waiting for one or two more weapon techs to boost firepower let's see how much our scientists want a bonus in their wages. 

It's at this point something very strange happens, a wreck we discovered some months ago leads to a strange encounter with a worryingly similar ship though this one is crewed. It seems at least as if they are from the past or that ship was from the future (time travel, oof.) We have a choice do we avoid potentially contaminating the timeline and close the channel or tell them?

Time travel.. What could possibly go wrong?

The Cartel opts to tell them to avoid the pulsar that killed their future selves, however rather than replying to us after a brief exchange among themselves they simply power up their engines and leave. Well, your welcome I guess, don't let that pulsar hit your tail on the way out, the Fox Cartel may be criminals by they are good mannered.

To finish off this part we hit our next election however as before I lack the influence to favour a candidate so it comes down to essentially chance, let's see where the dice of fate land. Our current Oligarch Faustus Volcatius remains in power even at the age of 72, a venerable fox indeed. It's both a good and bad thing though, we keep the research bonus but it won't be long before he pops his clogs and we have to elect someone new anyway.

As always thank you very much for taking the time to read this, keep your eyes peeled for the next part soon! All feedback, constructive criticism and comments are greatly appreciated too!

If you missed the last part, find it here!

Let's Play Stellaris: Part 9 - Mysteries, Ancient Threats & Conflict

"The Cartels spread across the galaxy had gotten off to a worryingly slow start in the eyes of some experts. A lack of viable colony prospects, even the planet that was found is far from ideal and will likely cost the Cartel a lot to maintain in it's early development. Star systems infested with hostiles and a neighbour as powerful as they are strange known as the Homolog Continuum. However progress is made, technology reserached, the fleet expanded now the Cartel merely needs to make itself into a true galactic power so that our people never again want for anything."

Stardate: 02-01-2230

Here we are once again following along on the Fox Cartel's campaign of galactic criminal domination, we are about to establish our first colony, the fleet has been expanded. I can only hope this is where things start to get truly interesting for this run! For a change the sociology division is first to burst into the oligarchs office waving their new cabbage growing tech and even offer some interesting choices for the next project.

So let's see what they have for us, unlocking a new capital building as well as halls of judgement now that is tempting for the capital alone as it gives a nice boost to jobs and housing. Next is the extra research, always a safe bet followed by terraforming, oh my. Last but not least an extra boost to naval capacity. Terraforming would help make so many worlds in my borders worthwhile it does however take about 10 years to terraform a planet as I recall. As we already have at least one colony about to begin it's settlement, I opt to get us that new capital building by researching Colonial Centralisation.

It seems those injections from our quirky robotic neighbours actually had a distinctly positive effect giving us a 5% bonus to population growth and increasing our leaders lifespans by 10 years. Maybe they do know what they are doing after all?

Worked out better than expected.

The city district on Vulpinus finishes construction but means we have no extra jobs for the rapidly growing population, so, time to make use of that building slot at last. Two options stand out as the most tempting for me right now, a stronghold for that extra naval capacity or an alloy foundry. For now as I have a lot of  'pest control' to get done I think I'll get the stronghold. Mainly as whilst I have a massive mineral surplus I don't really have the tech to make bigger fleets than 20 right now.

It seems a roving group of caravaneers have entered Cartel space babbling something about a goddess of fortune and sailing on cosmic energy (earning a decisive scowl from the Oligarch) I don't have a massive surplus of energy credits after opening that branch office so for now I tell them to move along. Just as the comm window closes the notification that our first colony ship has landed arrives, it's been a long time coming but we are finally out among the stars taking what is ours and eventually what is everyone elses too.

It took a long time but our first colony finally!

More physics research complete giving us better shields (we'll install those shortly) so let us see what to aim for next. FTL inhibitors aren't really going to be useful until later, extra physics research as always a safe choice, more powerful blue lasers or an energy boosting edict and a new energy credit boosting structure. Given I want to start clearing out these mining drones and angry space crystals, lasers it is much to the barely contained glee of the present admiral. Made even happier when I update the Cunning-class design to incorporate the improved deflectors that we just researched and then retrofit them into the existing ships.

Time for another district on Vulpinus, we don't need minerals yet for a good while, we are also good on energy and housing so for the sake of future proofing lets throw another agriculture district down. Its at this point one of my science ships stumbles into what looks to be the central crystalline creature area and I think we are going to need much bigger guns to deal with them all. The Karazit system is marked as off-limits and the military begins planning on how best to deal with the crystalline menace infesting these newly scouted systems.

We definitely need bigger guns.

The blue lasers research is complete and whilst there are plenty of good options in the list I am determined to improve my military so fusion reactors for my ships is chosen next. As the mineral stockpile hits capacity I opt to sell some of them off for more alloys to ensure I can keep building up my military and even build another star-base somewhere. I opt to reinforce the 1st fleet up to it's maximum capacity of 20 Cunning class corvettes as I prepare to head off into battle and deal with those mining drones.

The engineering division finishes researching it's further improvement to orbital mining stations, they also offer up a new ship hull as one of the options. With an ever widening grin on the admirals face the destroyer hull research begins in earnest, I think we are going to need them too. In the meantime the Hades colony finishes establishing now meaning we now have two planets properly, victory! Kind of.

I opt to allow the physics division to finish researching fusion reactors so I can retrofit them into the 1st fleet before sending them to clean out the mining drones in the Uzun system. They even give us some fun options for the next research project, they really are bucking for a promotion. Whilst extra research and FTL inhibitors pop up again, improved sensors and extra research alternatives are more interesting and of course I choose self-evolving logic to get that extra research alternative. Maybe that'll give the society researchers the chance of giving us more useful options. With the extra power I change the Cunning-class design to incorporate 2 blue lasers replacing 1 of the 2 mass drivers for now. As soon as the retrofit is done, it is time for battle.

Whilst waiting for that however the Uriy Suns crack down on crime, shutting down the branch office I had on their world. Now for a while I won't be able to do that again but it's not a massive concern right now. Our scientists discover a shrine to old Fox religions with talk of a great destroyer, whilst most dismiss those as nonsense from our ancient past however this thing has been in space longer than we have been so I decide to delve for answers.

This is too strange to not investigate, the Foxes may not be spiritual anymore but this has worrying ramifications.

The course is set, the 1st fleet begins their journey toward their first battle the very first of many to come. It takes them almost a year to make the trip, in the meantime we select our next tradition further improving the resource output of specialist jobs. It's at this point we realise our intel was off by far, the drones are present in far greater numbers and strength than initially predicted. They are too close to the edge of the edge for the system to avoid detection as the drones scream into combat leaving the admiral little choice but to engage in kind.

The 1st fleet valiantly attempts to destroy the ancient mining drones despite being vastly outgunned and outnumbered.

The battle rages on for several days, some ships manage to retreat before they are destroyed by the mining drones cutting beams, laser fire and mass driver rounds tear across the cosmos as the two fleets fight. The first fleet destroyed 6 enemy ships at the cost of 8 of our own, it could have been far worse had they stayed and fought, many of the drones were several times larger than our corvettes. The retreat was necessary lest we'd have lost all 20 ships, we'll return later with better firepower and finally clear our territory of pests.

And that brings us to the end of today's part, it ended a little more excitingly than most have with our first actual space battle, it will likely be the first of many to come. I do hope you enjoyed reading and as always I welcome all feedback, constructive criticism and support that gets sent my way! Watch this space for more Fox Cartel soon!

If you missed the last part, you can read it here!

Let's Play Stellaris: Part 8 - Branching Out

"The Cartel is abuzz, nervous excitement, anxious pondering and fevered debate are abound in the head office of the Oligarch. Admirals, generals, governors, scientists and every other kind of important figure had been in and out with suggests, requests, forecasts of both doom and destruction as well as endless prosperity. Only one thing was certain and that the future of the Cartel was one of near infinite possibilities."

Stardate: 11-06-2226

Here we are again at the helm of the Fox Cartel with the galaxy spread before us just waiting for us to take all it's shinies and scream "Mine!" At the other races. For now though we have to play nice until we have a bigger stick to fend them off with.

Let's start things off by finally claiming the Bonos system and getting a colony ship building so we can finally get our first colony up and running. At the end of the last part we had another system filled with apparent hostiles which sent one of our science ships running, we dubbed them 'epsilon aliens' for now. So let's get that studied and find out just who else is in the Cartel's back yard and whether we need to enter aggressive negotiations with them or not.

The physics division is definitely hankering for a pay-rise as yet another project completes nudging our energy credit income a little higher. So we have extra physics research, more powerful blue lasers, FTL inhibitors or more powerful point defences as our next option. Whilst I know the fleet is likely looking at me with fox-puppy eyes for better guns I opt for the extra research for now. Then the engineering division comes running up as they finish powered exo-skeletons. It's at this point I notice we have passed the admin cap, meaning everything gets a little more expensive, oh well, it was bound to happen sooner or later given how much I am expanding.

Robotic workers, more engineering research, better mass drivers or more hit-points for corvettes. Again I opt for more research but the military is definitely next on the agenda given how we have a few systems to clear of pests. Then the Homolog Continuum throws yet another batch of strange into the mix, they apparently detect widespread biological vulnerabilities in our species (what nonsense) and they are sending inoculation units to safeguard our population. Naturally I am a bit wary of them after they thought it best the Cartel try to colonise a tomb world last time.

I have no idea what is with these robots but they seem to have taken more than a passing interest in the Cartel.

It does reduce happiness of my population by 5% but after annoying them last time I'd rather them not decide to cure the disease by killing the patient so for now it's a wary acceptance. Our scientists analyse the sensor logs from the science ship and give us the option of being able to destroy them for resources, or study them. The Cartel decides some of those crystals would look nice decorating head office so we opt to destroy them making the military all the more gleeful that finally they might get to do something.

The colony ship is built, the colonists are aboard now all that remains is to tell them where to stick the flag, to Bonos II, soon be renamed to something more appropriate. Given it's low habitability and keeping with the Roman space fox theme, I call it Hades. Just as our sociology division sidles up mumbling about farming tech or something, so I finally relent and opt to improve our farms given Hades might need the extra food. Now we get a more interesting choice with our next tradition!

Administrative Operations for reduced building and district upkeep is tempting even if we don't have that much yet, more tempting for now that reduced build cost and increased build speed for districts, so reduced upkeep it is for now.

It is now time to introduce ourselves to the neighbours in a more Cartel appropriate way, establishing our first branch office on their capital world. They even have a high enough population to support a Cartel building, how very nice of them, let's see what we want to do!

So many options to consider for the budding crime syndicate!

The branch office options for a criminal syndicate are particularly interesting, everything from bio-reprocessing plants which turn disloyal employees into food to things like illegal research labs and pirate free havens which give the controlling crime syndicate more naval capacity. As you can tell, it's a tricky decision but right now it is between two options for me. The first is an illicit research lab, that extra science is always a plus if you ask me. The second choice will be addressing our alloy production with a wrecking yard, victims of pirate attacks who have their ships stolen will likely find what's left of them here being broken down for alloys. So for now a wrecking yard is my choice so I can actually start building my military up a bit more. I am sure the Uriy Suns won't mind the increased crime rate it brings (I sure don't as it improves my branch office value giving me more energy credits!) It does give the Uriy Suns a Casus Belli against us but they hate us anyway so it doesn't really change much if you ask me.

Our science ships are running out of routes to explore that aren't blocked by hostiles, one more reason to work on the military as a priority. What I do notice is that I have an absolute excess of minerals at present, so using the internal market I decide to sell some off so I can use the energy credits to buy a stockpile of alloys to really expand our navy. Now that we have a stockpile of alloys it's time to start militarizing heavily. I reinforce the first fleet from 8 up to 15 Cunning-class corvettes just as we get yet another potential reason to be glad of having more firepower, more aliens.

As before I get my sociologists researching that instead of how to grow bigger carrots for now, if it's another empire the sooner I know the sooner I can branch office them to death. The physics division once again barges into the Oligarchs office bragging how much better they are than the other science departments with a new tech. Of the four options available for the next project it's a toss up better shields or unlocking chemical plants, I have a feeling we'll need the volatile motes they produce later. However as conflict is on the horizon I opt for better shields next, ships are expensive so best to keep them as unexploded as possible.

The first fleet in all it's glory, fifteen Cunning-class corvettes.

Another building slot and some unemployment on the capital world of Vulpinus, for now I drop down a city district so we don't run out of housing and I'll leave the building slot til we have enough workers to make use of it. The engineering division finishes their research so now I set them to further improving our orbital mining stations, improved planet building speed doesn't feel as useful as it used to but maybe I am wrong.

For now though this brings another part of the Fox Cartel's campaign to a close, I do hope you enjoyed reading it and as always I appreciate any feedback either here or on twitter. Watch this space for more Fox Cartel fun soon!

If you missed the last part, you can read it here!