MOO1 Humans Average Difficulty

It has been a while since I have tried this, and the American Football season ended last weekend, and the Groundhog saw his shadow so it should be 13 more weeks of winter.

The first time I tried this in MOO1, I was playing the Klackon in a huge galaxy on Normal and it was a messy stomp fest. Then I tried the Sakkra on Impossible in a Medium Galaxy, but never finished it. So here is another game:

Emperor Durash IV of the Humans
Huge Galaxy
Average Difficulty
Five Opponents

Here is what the start looks like:





The gridlines are on. Using (x,-y) coordinates, with 0,0 located where the gridlines cross in the upper left hand corner, we are located at 22,10. It is pretty center.

Here is a list of stars:


Sure enough, a Huge Galaxy has 108 stars. I counted 16 Blue B-Class stars, 21 Green A-Class stars, 9 White F-Class stars, 22 Yellow G-Class Stars, 34 Red M-Class Stars, and 9 Purple Neutron Stars.

It is hard to tell from the map, but 11 stars are within Scout Ship Range. 3 of these are within Colony Ship Range.

I will hold back the Colony Ship until all three of the planets within Colony Ship Range have been explored, then choose the best one. The next issue is up for question:

We can build a new Scout Ship for 8BC, and we would need to build at least 10 of them to keep opponents from scanning those systems. Or we can build only 3 of them and keep maintenance at zero. What I do not like about a low maintenance cost is how the truncation works and how 1BC per turn works out to 3BC.

This might be small potatoes.

EDIT: Moved saved game zip to Post 1.

Here we just played from 2300 to 2307 and made our first colony.

After thinking about the number of Scout Ships to produce, I decided for the very beginning the correct number is 5, plus the two original Scout ships. This allows us to see everything that is within range fairly quickly. The plan is shown below:



The Colony Ship is just going to stay put for four turns to see what the systems within range look like. Sending the Colony ship to the best guess for a good planet is likely the best strategy. Odds strongly favor (106/107) the Colony Ship not blundering into the Guardian and getting blown up, which would suck really bad. There is also the situation where the Colony Ship goes to one system, and the best colonizable world is clear across. So the cost of the sub-optimal strategy of staying home is a 4-turn delay in starting.

2300: The ships are finally ready to leave the Solar System and explore strange new worlds, boldly go where no man has gone before, and try not to get brutally killed. The plans are drawn up for five more Wanderer class ships to be produced within the next two years.

For reference, Sol is located at (22,10) using (x,-y) coordinates. So with the grid (Alt-m) on, and with the origin in the upper left corner, Sol is 22 Parsecs to the right and 10 Parsecs down on a map that is approximately 36 by 32. Dimensions are approximate for the purpose of estimating distance.

Scout 1 to F(22,8)
Scout 2 to A(25,11)

2301: Three of the Wanderer Class Scout Ships are produced at Sol.

Wanderer 1 to B(21,12)
Wanderer 2 to A(25,8)
Wanderer 3 to N(17,9)

2302: The last two of the Wanderer Class Scout ships are produced at Sol. Production on Earth now shifts to gearing up more Production.

Wanderer 4 to A(24,5)
Wanderer 5 to B(24,13)

Meanwhile, Scouts 1 and 2 are reporting in their results:



2303: Plans for a new Colony are being finalized.

Scout 1 to M(20,5)
Scout 2 to F(27,12)

Let's see if Wanderer 1 finds us an Ultra Rich planet on that Blue Star.....



2304: The Colony Ship is launched!

Colony Ship to Exis A(25,11)
Wanderer 1 to M(22,14)

Meanwhile, Wanderer 2 has arrived at its destination, A(25,8) Rana:



2305: The exploration continues.

Wanderer 2 to G(27,8)

Reports are flooding in:



2306: The Colony Ship finally arrives at Exis and we have our first colony!



Meanwhile, the scouting reports are flooding in.



So, we are now in the year 2307, and here is a map of our situation:



The Blue circle shows what we have colonized. The Green circle shows the systems that can be reached by our Colony Ships, and the Red circle shows the range of our Scout Ships. Three new systems are within range of Exis.

It looks like a very good start! We delayed it a bit and could have gained four turns if we had the foresight to go straight to the A-Class star. It had the best probability of having a good planet.

However, we still have a large second colony, and it brings two more colonizable systems into range. Further, colonizing Rana will bring our crown jewel Reticuli into range. So we have our work cut out for us.

The real question is, how many Factories to build, and how many Wanderer Class Scout ships to build before building two Colony Ships. There is some time, as we are only seven years into the game, and we have seen no signs of alien activity.

The prospects look good for finding aliens at G(34,8) or G(18,2). If we do not find them there, the we will have a lot of map to play with.

I generally don't build any extra scouts and I guess at where to send the colony ship, sending the scouts elsewhere. If I run into the guardian I reload or start over. 4 turns of that colony ship maintenance is quite a bit of bcs. The reason you probably don't need extra scouts is even just a couple will scout quicker than you can build colony ships.

Building factories is all about balance. If you have more planets you want to colonize immediately I do not transfer colonists but I let him homeworld build up so I can produce a colony ship in 4-5 turns. A lot of times you also have to research fuel cells 4 or 5 but looks like your ok with the ranges on this map.

I would let your homeworld build factories and people (naturally, no excess production) until you have another planet, then even out your population transferring colonists so your new colonies can grow. What races are you playing against? Hitting map button will tell you. It affects how quickly you need to expand and how much defenses you need.

civvver said:

I generally don't build any extra scouts and I guess at where to send the colony ship, sending the scouts elsewhere. If I run into the guardian I reload or start over. 4 turns of that colony ship maintenance is quite a bit of bcs. The reason you probably don't need extra scouts is even just a couple will scout quicker than you can build colony ships.

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If my unarmed scout ship encounters my opponents unarmed scout ship, the opponent will retreat. So the concept is to have unarmed scout ships on star systems before any opponents get there. Then the opponent does not get to scan the system and when you colonize the system, the opponent cannot send transports because he has not scanned the system.

Building factories is all about balance. If you have more planets you want to colonize immediately I do not transfer colonists but I let him homeworld build up so I can produce a colony ship in 4-5 turns. A lot of times you also have to research fuel cells 4 or 5 but looks like your ok with the ranges on this map.

Click to expand...

I thought about it, and given the cost recovery of a factory is 20 years, the total number of colony ships that need to be built should be done in the same 20 years. So, if we plan to build 3 Colony Ships at 570BC, the net ship production should be about 3x570/20 = 85.5. I generally like to get a colony ship off before the population is maxing out.

I would let your homeworld build factories and people (naturally, no excess production) until you have another planet, then even out your population transferring colonists so your new colonies can grow. What races are you playing against? Hitting map button will tell you. It affects how quickly you need to expand and how much defenses you need.

Click to expand...

I am playing blind, so do not know what races are out there. One thing I like about MOO1 is the feel from skirmishing with opponents ships before actually being in contact with them.

We shall see how it goes. I am up to the year 2329 and will post an update in several hours.

I knew the enemies would retreat but didn't know about the scouting aspect.

In my first forum game here, vxma was trying hard to straighten me out. He said I needed to build scout ships and place them everywhere. I did not listen to this advice, then encountered the Silicoids. He explained that this was exactly the reason for building all those scouts. When I find the link, I will edit it in.

EDIT: Here it is - My Klackon Game

Meanwhile, slowly but surely, the march of Human History into Space continues.

2307: We transferred 25 Colonists from Sol to the newly established colony on Exis.

Scout 2 to F(30,11) arrives in 4 years
Wanderer 2 to A(27,6) arrives in 3 years
Wanderer 5 to A(27,15) arrives in 4 years

With production being already disrupted with moving colonists and building yet another Wanderer Scout Ship, we decided to open up a couple of Research Projects, putting 2BC each into Propulsion and Planetology. We got:



All research will be dedicated towards getting those Hydrogen Fuel Cells up and running. Meanwhile, Wanderer 4 has made it to it destination, Aquilae A(24,5)



2308: Wanderer 6 is produced at Sol and it travels to Ukko.

2309: Wanderer 2 has arrived at Zoctan A(27,6):



2310: More scouting reports have come in.



2311: With all systems within scouting range already scouted, we decided to do something completely unthinkable. We scrapped Scout Ships 1 and 2 for 5BC and funneled the money into our new colony, Exis.

2315: With the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Project nearing completion, research power is diverted into Computers, Construction, Force Fields, and Weaponry, 2BC into each.



2317: Our scientists have made a breakthrough in improving the range of our ships, and have continued on in proposing further improvements.



However, we can grind research to a halt while we focus our efforts on completing the Reticuli Colony Ship.

2321: Our High Command has been so focused on building the Reticuli Colony Ship, they forgot to give orders to the Wanderers!

Wanderer 1 to G(22,17) arrives in 4 years
Wanderer 6 to M(31,12) arrives in 5 years

2323: The Reticuli Colony Ship has been produced at Sol. It will take 6 years to arrive at the Reticuli System.

2324: Wanderer 1 has arrived at Rha G(22,17) and we have our first skirmish in the game:



Of course, the scaredy-cats would retreat from a direct confrontation! Wanderer 1 will stand guard at the Rha system for a while to see if they come calling again. However, it does not appear to be a very important system.

2325: Wanderer 6 has arrived at its destination, Rhilus M(31,12)



2328: This is the moment we have been waiting for - Our colony ship has arrived at and colonized the Reticuli System!



Here is a map of our situation:



The Blue circle represents our colonies. The Green circle represents the range of our Colony Ships. The red circle represents the range of our Scout Ships. There are three systems now in range that we have not explored and they are circled in white.

Reticuli will have some population in about 6 years and should be a decent production powerhouse. Exis has decent production, with 78 Population and 62 Factories. It is further building its industry then working on those research projects. Sol has 94 Population and 99 Factories and it is working on the next Colony Ship.

Of course, the next target for colonization appears to be Zoctan, even if it is moving us in a direction away from the Mrrshan.

We will find out very soon if there are any signs of civilization on G(34,8). Our Red Circle has almost reached that system. If not, then we have the upper right corner, nearly one quarter of the galaxy as our playground!

Having the scouts block so the AI doesn't invade is awesome, but how long will it stop them from colonizing? Will they eventually send an escorted colony ship to an undiscovered planet?

Yes, eventually they come in with armed escorts and armed Colony Ships, but a few turns bought might be all you need. Also, if they never scanned your system, then they cannot send Transports after it.

Here is Post #14 by vxma on my Klackon game.

Meeting the coids is why I suggested cranking out some newly designed scouts saving the 2BC each. If you leave a scout over a planet, you can force them to retreat and they do not get to scan the planet.

The value of that is two fold at this stage. 1) the ship willl have to return home, before it can go out again. 2) They cannot send a colony ship to it nor send troop to it after you found a colony.

You also gain the faster scouting of the universe, by having many scouts out. I would think 15-20 for huge. Leap frogging the scout, when the planet is colonized.

Click to expand...

This is a shorter round. I just explored a few more worlds and colonized Zoctan. I took the afternoon off of work to focus on this game.



2329: With Reticuli colonized it is time to populate it. We sent in 35 Colonists from Sol and 25 Colonists from Exis. They will arrive in 6 years and 4 years, respectively.

Wanderer 2 travels from Zoctan to F(29,5) and arrives in 3 years.
Wanderer 6 travels from Rhilus to M(32,8)Rhilus to M(32,8) and arrives in 5 years.

2331: Wanderer 2 has arrived at Whynil F(29,5) and it is another Barren world.



2332: Wanderer 2 travels from Whynil to M(32,6) and arrives in 4 years.
2333: Sol has completed another Reticuli-Class Colony Ship and we send it to Zoctan. It arrives in 7 years.

Wanderer 6 has arrived at Maalor M(32,8) and it is a colonizable Steppe world.



2334: Wanderer 6 travels from Maalor to Whynil and arrives in 5 years. This is just to place it in a closer spot for exploration when Zoctan is colonized.

2335: Wanderer 2 has arrived at the Rayden M(32,6) System and found a resource Rich, but currently uninhabitable world.



2339: Another colony has been established at Zoctan.



Here is a map of our situation.



We will explore M(28,2) which is circled in White in 4 more years.

Research on Eco Restoration 3 is almost close enough to completion to justify delaying the next Colony ship for one more year. We are also working on Class 2 shields because the technology is so cheap and a little more economically effective to get it out of the way early.

Colonies so far:
Sol: 85/100 Population 119 Factories - Production Center for Colony Ships
Exis: 79/95 Population 101 Factories - Research Center
Reticuli: 79/110 Population 19 Factories - Industrializing Give it 10 years
Zoctan: 2/90 Population 0 Factories - Just colonized

Simplest would be to just send 15 or 16 Colonists from each world to Zoctan to populate it. Exis might soon shift from Research to producing Colony Ships. Similarly, Reticuli will shift from Industrializing to Research.

Research Projects are:
480 Deep Space Scanner
750 Industrial Waste 80%
280 Class 2 Shields - We are working on this because it is cheap
600 Restoration 3 - Near Complete at about 13% Probability of Breakthrough
1940 Irridium 6
750 Gatling Laser

I've become a huge fan of using a couple extra scouts, especially on large and huge maps, for the purposes Harv described. Even if you only turn back a couple of scouts and colony ships, it slows down the AI in the critical early expansion phase.

I don't go up to 15-20, but on Large I'll usually have around 5 and on Huge maybe up to 10. Depends on the situation, I usually don't guard the hostile planets.

(Also, subbed.)

This short segment features another system colonized and a neat little surprise.

2340: We sent 16 Colonists each from Sol, Exis, and Reticuli to populate Zoctan. The colonies seem to be going up pretty fast.

Wanderer 6 travels from Whynil to M(28,2) and arrives in 4 years.

2342: Another Reticuli Class Colony Ship is produced at Sol and it travels to Aquilae and arrives in 6 years.

Meanwhile, at the Laboratories on Exis, Scientists have developed improved means of eliminating toxic industrial waste.



The next project proposed is improved terraforming for increased population capacity. This will come in handy soon.



2343: If only this breakthrough had come a couple of turns sooner. We redesigned the Colony Ship into the Aquilae Class Colony Ship, for 483 BC - a huge saving from 567 BC.

Meanwhile, Wanderer 6 had a surprise waiting at M(28,2)



Zap!



BOOM!

We will build a replacement as soon as there is a production slot available on Sol.

2347: The Colony Ship has arrived at Aquilae and we have another fledgling colony.



Here is another map of our situation.



The blue circles represent our five colonies. The green circles and lines are where the next Colony Ships are going. The white circles and lines are where the scout ships are going. We will find out if anybody is home at G(18,2). I think there is nobody home and have a huge part of the galaxy carved out for ourselves.

We do not have any ultra-rich or artifacts planets, but colonizing 3 Terran worlds is a sweet start! On top of that, we have found Orion and it is in our back yard. We can go grab it as soon as we have the technology and industrial power.

We have not contacted any neighbors, but had one skirmish with the Mrrshan.

Seems like you have a pretty big portion of the galaxy for having 5 opponents. Should be an easy game.

Harv, can i get you to upload a 2300 save state?

metatron said:

Harv, can i get you to upload a 2300 save state?

Click to expand...

I should be able to put all the save-states from the updates above and put them in a zip-file and upload them. This will be in about 9 hours from this post. Sorry about not doing this sooner - I wanted a directory full of save files from this game before uploading a zip file.

Seems like you have a pretty big portion of the galaxy for having 5 opponents. Should be an easy game.

Click to expand...

First three colonies:
Size 95 Terran.
Size 110 Terran.
Size 90 Terran.

It is hard to beat a start like that. Those colonies develop fast! The game is not yet in cleanup phase - it is still execution phase.

It's a great start, but since it's a big map there could still be a decent AI empire out there.

Yeah but it's also only average difficulty which is why I think it will be easy. We already know mrrshan are nearby and they are pushovers.

The Humans are also a pretty good race to play, or so I have read. I have seen them ranked among the strong races, third of ten. The Mrrshan were similarly ranked at the bottom, but with all these worlds and Orion in the backyard, this would be a very good map for the Mrrshan. If this game has a clean execution, then I might be inclined to try another game at the same settings with the Kitties.

We are playing out a few more years at a time and watching everything unfold. Since these rounds are so short, I might try to copy and mark up the map so that it is easier to visualize the action.

2348: A Colony Ship is built on Sol and it is sent to colonize Nitzer and will arrive in 4 years.

Wanderer 3 travels from Misha to M(18,4) and arrives in 6 years.
Wanderer 4 travels from Volantis to G(18,2) and arrives in 4 years.

Meanwhile, we finally had our breakthrough in Force Field technology. Further development is proposed and funding will be doled out later.





2350: A Colony Ship has been produced at Exis and sent to Ukko and arrives in 3 years. We will have two consecutive years of colonization.

2351: The Colony Ship has arrived at Nitzer.



Wanderer 4 has arrived at Pollus G(18,2) and gives its scouting report.



2352: 15 Colonists are sent from Sol to populate Nitzer.

Meanwhile, Ukko is colonized.



2353: We sent 10 Colonists from Exis and 8 Colonists from Reticuli to populate Ukko. It is not that much, but it is a start. These are not very big planets anyway.

Colonizing Ukko has opened up quite a few systems for exploration and it is going to take a while.
Wanderer 1 travels from Rha to M(18,16) and arrives in 4 years.
Wanderer 5 travels from Tau Cygni to B(29,17) and arrives in 4 years.
Wanderer 7 is still on route to Rha. Hindsight says it should have stopped at Nitzer.

Wanderer 4 has arrived at G(18,2) Paladia.




Meanwhile, our scientists have come up big!









So the research projects available so far are:
1920RP Improved Robotic Controls 3
1920RP Industrial Tech 8
1800RP Class 3 Shields
1530RP Terraforming 20
1940RP Irridium Range 6
750RP Gatling Laser

There is a lot to choose from in this list. Since colonization has just reached a wall, it might pay to research Irridium Fuel Cells. Our current research budget stands at 495, so we can knock that one out pretty quick - or we can split it with Terraforming 20. This will give us more directions to expand and also put us into contact with the Mrrshan.

Speaking of the Mrrshan, the newly developed Deep Space Scanner has revealed the location of the Mrrshan Colony, Nordia.



Nordia is that red star, M(18,16). Very likely Fieras is G(16,15).

Here is a map of our situation. I have circled our seven colonies and Sol. I have also shown the known location of Orion and the suspected location of Fieras. The lines are the likely paths I will choose for the three scout ships exploring the area that just opened up.



EDIT1: Uploaded zip link. I believe this contains the save files for all the updates up to this point.
EDIT2: Marked up the situation map.
EDIT3: Working on another update. I think it is looking interesting!
EDIT4: Moved zip link to Post #1.

Yes humans are really good. They're definitely a step down from psilon and klackon, but they're a solid 3rd. The reason is they have no poor research areas, are good or better at 3, no one attacks them early and their trade agreements are super strong. If you have 2 or 3 of them you can equal 1-3 extra planets in bcs from trade and their agreements are profitable from turn 1.

Do you find huge maps to be really slow in between turns? I fired one up yesterday but it was way too slow for me to keep playing past turn ~30. I can't imagine what it'll be like end game. Really sad, huge maps are fun. Even going down to large is like 4x faster for me.

Do you find huge maps to be really slow in between turns? I fired one up yesterday but it was way too slow for me to keep playing past turn ~30. I can't imagine what it'll be like end game. Really sad, huge maps are fun. Even going down to large is like 4x faster for me.

Click to expand...

I have not had any trouble, since I am the one playing slow, not the computer running slow. What do you use to play MOO1? I am playing it on my laptop, running Dosbox on Windows 7.

2354: We divided our research capital into Terraforming and Irridium Fuel Cell technology. Both are very useful and we can make immediate use of them.

2356: Wanderer 1 has arrived at the Mrrshan-occupied of Nordia with some very interesting results.



The Mrrshan have stumbled upon and colonized an Artifacts world! I wonder what neat technology they got their paws on?

Meanwhile, Wanderer 5 has arrived at Bootis.



2357: Our scouts continue to move.

Wanderer 1 continues to explore Mrrshan territory, travelling from Nordia to G(16,15) and arriving in 4 years.

Wanderer 5 travels from Bootis to F(27,17) and arrives in 3 years.

Wanderer 7 travels from Rha to B(19,18) and arrives in 4 years.

2359: Wanderer 5 has arrived at F(27,17) Inraha and given its scouting report.



Meanwhile, the Deep Space Scanners on Wanderer 1 have detected another unusual vessel. Further study and triangulation indicate that it is heading to the unclaimed and undefended Misha System.



2360: Wanderer 5 travels from Inraha to G(24,17) and arrives in 3 years.

Wanderer 1 has arrived at G(16,15) Tauri and found another world claimed by the Mrrshan.



Wanderer 7 has arrived at the B(19,18) Talas System.

Talas


Meanwhile, our scientists have made a breakthrough in fuel cell technology! The next project is improved warp speed.





Here is the moment we have been waiting for. It is no longer a well documented secret. Little green kitties have been visiting our planet and abducted and mutilated our rodents for centuries and we have kept it quiet until this moment. We are not alone in this galaxy! We have our first contact!



If I might say so, it is an impressive empire they have built. You would think they had spent 500 years building it.



Here is a quick comparison of our empires and progress so far.



It looks like stumbling into the ruins of Nordia have really helped the Mrrshan out a lot. They must have colonized Laan and sent the scout to Nordia and picked up Deuterium Fuel Cells. This would have allowed them to expand like crazy. If they have Deuterium then they can reach our worlds.

I have not called them yet, so do not know what exact technologies they might have. Very shortly I will do so. Maybe they have Barren landing tech!

In the mean time, it looks like a Non-Aggression Pact and a Trade Treaty. We are, after all, cute, cuddly, adorable kitties humans. Send one spy in to find out exactly what technology they have. I have not decided anything about pursuing an alliance or not - probably not because we have plenty of space to settle for ourselves.

Here is a list of our planets. We have 7 planets. They have 6. We have a population advantage. We probably have more big Terran worlds, but the two we have seen are pretty hard to beat. So we know they have a Size 100 Terran World, a Size 70 Arid Artifacts World, a Size 95 Terran World, and three more that may be gold or may be garbage.



EDIT1: Added a situation map.



The Mrrshan have a nice central position. Too bad they stink at diplomacy.

This is a short update, 5 years. However a lot can happen in just a few years and it is very useful to know that I should have done something 3 years ago than 23 years ago.

2361: The first thing we did was ring up Kitty, our charming Mrrshan Ambassador.



The first order of business was to settle a Non-Aggression pact. We do not want transport ships calling on Nitzer when it is too much of a fledgling colony to defend itself.



Next in line is a Trade Agreement, for 100BC. Naturally we will profit from this very quickly.



And - It turns out they do have Barren Landing Technology! We obtained it from them in exchange for our Deep Space Scanner.



I think it was a very good trade. They can have fun with their new toys. We certainly know what to do with ours! We immediately draw up plans to colonize the rich Vega system.

With diplomats come spies. We set aside enough funds to establish a spy network in Fieras. It did not survive for very long, but it was effective enough to get us an update report on the Mrrshans.



I should have known that they only had Hydrogen Fuel Cells, not Deuterium Fuel Cells. With the latter, they would have been in contact with Nitzer long ago. They also have Tundra landing technology and Hyper V Rockets.

2362: We made the breakthrough we were looking for in Terraforming technology. Proposals for landing on Inferno worlds are drawn up and we will work on them when funds are available, of course. Everything is being diverted to getting the colony ships going.





Elsewhere in the Galaxy, Wanderer 5 has arrived at the Cygni System, G(24,17) It is a terran world and it will stand guard until a colony ship arrives.



2363: Also we are quickly expanding the population capacity of our home worlds. The newer smaller ones will take a bit longer. Meanwhile, scouting reports are coming in.

Wanderer 1 has arrived at M(14,11) Moro. A Meklar scout is on its way so we will let it stand guard here.



Wanderer 3 has arrived at A(16,5) Seidon. This is isolated enough that we should only need one scout in the area, so we will relocate this ship to the Misha system where we might find another Meklar scout waiting.



Wanderer 4 has arrived at the B(16,3) Hyades system. It seems appropriate to the name that it would contain a Dead world.



2364: We had our skirmish with the Meklar at the Moro System.



2365: Two of our Colony Ships have been produced.
A Vega-Class Barren Colony Ship has been produced at Sol and will arrive at the Vega System in 3 years.
A Cygni-Class Standard Colony Ship has been produced at Reticuli and will arrive at the Maalor System in 6 years. That Sub-light drive system will come in handy once we get to it!

Meanwhile, two more Scout ships have arrived at their destinations.

Wanderer 7 has arrived at M(21,22) Phyco. The Mrrshan have a Size 65 Ocean world. That is not too shabby. We now have information on 3 or 4 of 6 of their systems, depending on how you count them.



Wanderer 2 has arrived at F(34,5) in the upper right hand corner of the map. This is the Mobas System. It is not very big, but it left us with a very nice surprise.





Inertial Stabilizer should come in handy some day. There is not much competition at this time, so eventually we will get to colonize it too.

For Technology research, we are wrapping up on the Gatling Laser Gun, simply because it does not cost very much and we will get it out of the way very quickly. It would be a dangerous toy in the paws of the Mrrshan, right? The next project to pursue should be the Sub-Light Drives, since we are still rapidly expanding and the distance from our production centers to colonizable worlds is also increasing.

By micro-managing the espionage, I learned one thing: It calculates all the expenses such as ship maintenance and espionage as a percentage of total planetary income. This percentage is rounded up to the next whole number. So if my ships are 1.2% this counts as 2.0% of planetary income. Therefore in this case, it would not affect my planets if I ran 0.4% or 0.8% for espionage.

It certainly has an effect on how much gets invested into spy networks! I will keep this in mind as we go along.

This summary is going to be short and sweet and to the point since a lot more is going on. We played up to the years 2374.

Our scouts are slowly moving around in the galaxy and here is where it would pay to have a lot more of them. Since I only have 6 of them, and their secondary mission is to spot incoming ships, exploration is at the slower pace.

We explored one Mrrshan Systems and three Neutral Systems and had another surprise.



We colonized four systems.


We developed our weaponry technology.



Continuing the Weapons research was the result of hitting the turn button before deciding where do dump the extra research. It sets the more important projects back by a few turns, but it does tell us that we can research the Mass Driver - and that technology will be useful before long.

So this post takes us to the year 2374 and Cygni is just colonized on the new frontier. It is so far away that we are waiting for Sub-Light drives instead of sending Colonists. I am thinking that if it takes 8 turns to send a colonist, then if the research takes 4 turns we break out even and gain the benefit of those colonists not being in transit. The next segment will feature what happens when basing your strategy on research dice rolls.