"Whilst our modest navy hangs in orbit over Vulpinus, eagerly awaiting their chance at glory it is in fact the Cartel's scientists whom are always in the news. Evidence of ancient and advanced civilisations, new technologies and new planets even if it is something of a sticking point they have yet to find anything habitable. One day, our military will be at the forefront staking our peoples claim on the galaxy and laying low any who stand in our way."
Stardate: 04-08-2219
So, here we are again another part in this slow burn epic campaign of Stellaris I had a bit of a think pondering how to proceed to try and get us to the fun stuff a little faster. Sadly Stellaris is not a game one simply rushes and besides, I think it will pay off in the long run so here we go again.
First off, I feel I need to set some immediate goals to pursue the first of which is obviously going to be to try and find at least two decent habitable planets. Whilst the very nature of a Megacorp means they are not punished for having a small empire I am not entirely sure the idea of a 'one planet challenge' is within my ability just yet.
The second goal I feel should be to build up our alloy production and hence our military production. Most immediately to deal with those mining drones nearby and in the future to go do some hostile takeovers of alien empires. Also it fits the whole theme of the Fox Cartel, fanatic militarist materialists, they blow up your stuff and take whats left. With those goals set, let us begin!
I am almost tempted to get a third science ship out there surveying for us or maybe send one off purely to explore for a planet but for now I'll be patient. In more interesting happenings it's time for us to choose whom will be our next glorious Oligarch, out of the four candidates we obviously have our current ruler who gives us better farming and cheaper ships. However there is one thing I notice about all four.. None of them are younger than 50, yikes, for now though I opt to stick with our current ruler so I throw my influence behind the venerable Mania Pasidienus. Or I would have if I had enough influence, looks like it goes down to the dice roll. Oh well, I'm sure it'll be fine!
FaustusVolcatius is elected as new Oligarch which actually is quite fortuitous, he gets an extra 25 years lifespan and more unity as his traits and his agenda, 'scientific leap' gives us a +10% bonus to research speed, I hope it's a good omen!
Then it happened, we met out first alien civilisation and it's not quite what I expected by far. The Homolog Continuum, an ancient fallen empire of caretaker robots and they are right next door. Something tells me I better be careful not to annoy them lest they delete us with lasers. They may have given us open borders with them but yeah, the military is feeling a bit less eager now. In better news the Agathodaemon has discovered some exotic gases we can make use of later.
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| Our first contact, a fallen empire of caretaker robots right next door. |
Now for a genuinely tricky choice, our next tradition selection and as we completely finished the Discovery branch its time to choose a new one to pursue. Expansion still feels too optimistic a choice even if the admin capacity increase is always so good, everything else isn't so useful to me given I have no planets to colonise. Supremacy feels thematically apt but as my only neighbour is a fallen empire going to war with them is a one way ticket to oblivion so I opt for the next best thing. Prosperity. A good economy is always a big plus so that is what I go for much to the grumbles from the military.
I change my second science ships route away from it's previous one which is now Homolog Continuum territory, we need planets foxes, even if theirs are nice we are a about 500 or more years of research away from winning a war with them. Only for that route to make sure we meet yet another alien race, it's all happening now!
The Unified Uriy Suns, fanatic pacifist xenophobes, I'm sure they'll love us. Ahem. My military are already rubbing their paws together in delight. Now I can start making use of my criminal syndicates special traits, establishing illegal holdings on other empires worlds. Now unlike other Megacorps who need permission as a crime syndicate I can build my special structures wherever I want. There are some benign options but most of the others increase crime on the hosting planet, the higher the crime rate, the more they give me. It does mean that crackdowns from law enforcement can close my branch offices and stop me from rebuilding them for a time and the target empire usually doesn't like it but the Fox Cartel would likely tell you to kiss their fuzzy orange backsides if you don't like it.
In all that excitement I almost miss the fact we have a potentially habitable planet now within reach as well. The Bonos system is home to an arctic world which for our alpine dwelling foxes sits at about 50% habitability. However it is size 22 so I am going to start building outposts toward it to claim it for the Cartel.
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| This arctic world in a binary star system (yeah I know) looks to be the Fox Cartel's first colony target. |
As we end this part on a high note there are a few issues we are going to need to fix sooner rather than later. Firstly, we are critically short on influence, the aggressive building of outposts with two constructor ships means I don't have the influence to establish branch offices within other empires yet. Second, we are going to need a much bigger and better military which means we need more alloys not only to build the ships but maintain them as well.
I admit fox fans I was getting a little worried this would be yet another part where precisely nothing interesting happened. It seems not to be the case, thankfully so it's looking up for the fledgling Cartel and their dreams of galactic domination.
Thank you very much for reading and if you post any feedback, retweet it, like it, it's always so humbling and hugely appreciated! Watch this space for the next part!
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| The Unified Uriy Suns have no idea just how unlucky they are to have us as neighbours. |
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