"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.
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| 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!
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| 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.
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| 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!
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