"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.
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| 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.)
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| 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.
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| 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!
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