OSG 23 - Cuban Isolationists in Space!

RefSteel

RefSteel

Pacifistic Technologist
Joined
Nov 29, 2007
Messages
257
So, everyone knows the story of the Cuban Isolationists by now: Sirian and Sullla, two of our fellow RBers and long-time MoO enthusiasts (following in the storied footsteps of Sirian and Charis in Civ 3) reported the Cuban conquest in spectacular fashion way back when Civ 4 was a brand-new game! But what's a Cuban Isolationist to do when he's got the whole world in his hands, and no one left from whom to be isolated?

Well, isn't it obvious? He heads out to conquer the galaxy!

Maniac Marshall and I are taking up the cause as another two-player SG team, in a truly insane game of Master of Orion - with turn reports that are going to get even more insane! We'll talk rules and background in the next two or three posts, and then jump right into the game!

Sullla said:
I also have to say that the report-writing has been of extremely high quality so far, and highly entertaining. Just remember that you don't *HAVE* to create a report with 100+ pictures, ok?
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RefSteel said:
Wait ... we don't?!?! Thank goodness! I'm pretty sure my Imperium 12 report will only have ninety-something pictures!
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Maniac Marshall said:
Stop me before I hit "print screen" again!
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This one's going to get ... interesting!
 
So Maniac Marshall and I were discussing ideas for future Imperium games, and he brought up the idea of a Communist variant he'd dreamed up ages ago for use in a succession game environment. The rule set was a little complex for an Imperium, so we were trying to work out ways to simplify it when...

Maniac Marshall said:
You know... Regarding the Communism idea... Would you be up for a 2 player succession game of the kind Sirian used to play with Charis and Sulla? The idea being we'd write a story intensive bit about each set of turns, each time as the next in a successive line of party chairmen, each with their own personality and such? We could play at our leisure, making sure to take plenty of time to write a good story for each turn set....
Click to expand...
Well, I wasn't about to say no to that! And so a new succession game was born. We hammered out the rules a bit more, and I rolled up a galaxy and got things rolling. Of course, playing as Communists, in the grand tradition of Sirian's games with Charis and Sullla, particularly with the spying/security rules we were going to enforce once we met other races, there was really only one way to start things off:



The Castro succession of Isolationist Cuba has taken to the stars!

Race: Humans
Difficulty: Hard
Galaxy Size: Medium
Opponents: Five
Color: Communist Red
Events: On
Leader: Castro
Homeworld: Cuba
Variant: We are Cuban Isolationists! This means:

  • We embrace our Communist Cuban heritage, taking from each (planet) according to its ability and giving to each according to its need ... by means of a massive, ever-growing communist bureaucracy!
* The reserve slider in the planets screen must be set to maximum taxation throughout the entire game!

* When we spend reserves (drawn from taxation and/or other sources) we must give them to the most "needy" planets first, defined as follows, from most to least needy:
​
Spoiler nitty-gritty details :
1) Planets suffering from bad events (e.g. Plague, Supernova)
2) Planets building shields or bases while under attack (i.e. with enemy ships in orbit or apparently incoming)
3) Planets still building factories
4) Planets not under attack building planetary shields or stargates
5) Everything else

Furthermore, "neediness" ties are broken according to the strengths of the planets themselves, again in order from most to least needy:

1) ultra poor planets
2) poor planets
3) normal planets
4) rich planets
5) artifacts planets
6) ultra rich planets
7) Orion

  • We are ISOLATIONISTS! We don't like other races. We don't trust other races. We want to avoid meeting other races, and if we do meet them, we must prevent them from having their way with us at all costs!
* At least 20% of gross production must be devoted to espionage against each race we encounter. Internal Security spending counts toward this total for EACH race we have encountered - thus, if we spend 20% (the maximum possible) on Internal Security itself, we need not use any other espionage spending. Note that this means Internal Security must immediately be set to at least 10% (half of the bar) as soon as we meet another species!

* We are permitted to trade with other races, much as the Tokugawa dynasty (whose policies were perhaps the most isolationist in human history) permitted trade with the Dutch and Chinese at Nagasaki; remember, it was not Cuba that instituted a trade embargo against the United States!​

Now, granted, to fully imitate the Cuban Isolationist games, we should go with a much simpler, though equally far-reaching rule set .... and maybe we will someday. But this time, we're going with rules befitting our overwhelming Communist bureaucracy ... which has grown into a monster by the year 2300!

(That's 2300 AH - Anno Hydra, obviously!)
 
As long as you use the Hide/Show for screens, it should not matter about the numbers. It has been some time since we last heard from the Maniac around here.

You could allow one show case planet as most communistic regimes have one or two. Look forward to the reporting.
 
I like the ruleset, very much in theme. I thought you might play as Darloks to encourage mistrust by others. However this would put all the spying required to your strength, whereas with Humans you have to spend a lot of production where it is not best used. Besides I do not know if there is a Cuba on Nazin!

Reporting, judging from the participants, should be very entertaining!
 
RefSteel has provided a bit of information to past Cuban Isolationist games, so now it's my turn to provide some information. There was a request over at RB that I explain how the rule set came into being, and, believe it or not, we have to go back more than 4.5 years to see the earliest ripples in the water which lead to the tidal wave that brought this game into being.

In March of 2005, Zed-F posted a thread over at RB which said simply this:

Zed-F said:
vmxa was interested in the possibility of another OSG starting. I don't have any ideas at this time, but we might be able to pull enough people together to start one. Who would be interested in sponsoring an OSG?
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The entire contents of that thread can be found here. It's a very long thread, however, so I will provide the highlights of that thread below.

Over the next few months, the thread received exactly 2 responses by someone other than Zed-F or vmxa, both were non committal. It looked as though the game was dead in the water, but then in late September:

catwalk said:
Some of you may remember me from earlier, I was the guy who kept failing to participate in any games because of computer problems. They have been solved now, and I would love to sponsor a succession game if anyone is interested in participating.

Ideas:
- no missiles on ships
- no threats
- Darloks/Huge/Impossible/5 players
- no Espionage until Final War
- scouts may not be used to "defend" planets from enemy scouts and colony ships, you may only send warhips and colony ships to scouted planets

These restrictions are meant to curb some of the imbalances in the game and help the AI where it is weak, providing a greater challenge.
Click to expand...

While that game idea never happened, that post restarted the discussions. Eventually d0om and Captain Bob joined in the discussions with counter proposals.

By early October, they were joined by some random lamer who, as it happens, had been thinking for some time about what would make a good game with the humans, who usually get very little love among MoO players, and he posted this:

Maniac Marshall said:
Hi guys. I haven't had a comp for a while, but Civ 4 just convinced me to buy one. I'm expecting my gf home soon (expected her a while ago actually), so I haven't taken time to carefully read the whole thread.

If everyone is still interested and can wait a week or so to start, I'd be interested.

How about my "communist" idea? Medium (or Large), Hard, Humans, Red 4 (or 5) opponents. Varient: Planetary Reserve Tax Slider set to maximum for the entire game. That should give us a crippling ecconomic penalty, AND provide everyone lots of discressionary spending.
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The idea was immediately seized upon and expanded upon by Zed:

Zed-F said:
This looks like a good starting point for an idea, though I'm not sure whether we should do it on Hard or Impossible -- we thrashed the AI pretty thoroughly on Hard last time we tried a variant. Of course we also got a good start and the restrictions were purely military, so our economic power wasn't really diminished very much.

I would like to see some kind of diplomatic restrictions added in here. The diplomatic AI is pretty easy to abuse; something like 'cannot initiate diplomacy with the AIs' might help take care of that. Perhaps we shouldn't just be Communists, but Paranoid Communists? And since espionage was so important during the height of communism, perhaps it makes more sense to be Darloks... who already have a crappy economy to start with, whereas the Humans can make up for a crappy economy to some degree with trade and with bonuses to research. I'll draw on some of Catwalk's suggestions to fill this out a bit more:

The Paranoid Communists
------------------------
We're the lone red communist society surrounded by a pack of imperialist dogs! We shall not allow our culture to be contaminated by contact with the enemy. Instead we will show them the merits of our glorious system and promote the inevitable rise of the working class throughout the galaxy!

Medium (or Large)
Hard (or Impossible)
Darloks
Red
4 (or 5) opponents

Variant Rules (marked with C or P to denote Communist or Paranoia flavour):
C1: Planetary Reserve Tax Slider set to maximum for the entire game.
C2: Espionage must only spread propaganda (forment revolts) unless in Final War.
P3: No initiating diplomacy with AI. No accepting trade agreements.
P4: No unarmed ships. Planets must spend 4% or more on DEF. No scrapping bases.
P5: May not invade planets. Nuke from orbit, it's the only way to be sure!

--------
Thoughts? We'd definitely be running the risk of getting wiped out early or losing by vote on Impossible. Are we up to that challenge, or would it be tough enough on Hard?
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It seemed that after several months, RB finally had enough interest, an agreed upon idea, and another MoO SG was almost ready to go. There were some more discussions before the final rules were laid down, but finally, on November 3rd of 2005, we finally had a game ready to go, and in fact, we did. The final rules looked like this.

The Paranoid Communists
------------------------
We're the lone red communist society surrounded by a pack of imperialist dogs! We shall not allow our culture to be contaminated by contact with the enemy. Instead we will show them the merits of our glorious system and promote the inevitable rise of the working class throughout the galaxy!

Medium
Hard
Darloks
Red
4 opponents

Variant Rules (marked with C or P to denote Communist or Paranoia flavour):
C1: Planetary Reserve Tax Slider set to maximum for the entire game.
C2: Espionage must only spread propaganda (forment revolts) unless in Final War.
C3: Must spend at least 1.2% on propaganda per civ we have contact with.
P4: No initiating diplomacy with AI. No accepting trade agreements or alliances.
P5: No unarmed ships. We can keep the colony ship and 2 scouts we start with, but only until we've scouted everywhere within 6 parsecs of the first 2 planets, then they have to be scraped. Planets must spend 4% or more on DEF. No scrapping bases.
P6: May not invade planets. Nuke from orbit, it's the only way to be sure!

Our brutal extermination loss at the hands of runaway Meklars can be found here Be forewarned, this game is NOT for the squeamish.

So, what went wrong in that game? Here was one of the participant's takes:

ToddMarshall said:
@ Bob - I hope you are still reading this and following along. I'm pretty sure I speak for everyone here when I say we're sorry to see you go. The reason we're in this hole, quite frankly, is we did 2 games worth of varient rules in one game :lol: It had absolutely NOTHING to do with your skill level, I promise you.
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After the loss, I suggeted this in my last post in the thread: Thats it folks. Game over. I'm not even going to upload the save. NOthing in the universe can save us from 42 of those transports. We have 12 pop. GG All. Lets start the RBO6 Discussion thread over at RB. PErsonally, I'd like to cut this into 2 varients, or try it again as is with the humans (but espionage allowed).

One interesting response was this one:

dathon78 said:
Well comrades, it was a glorious fight, even to the end :salute:

I'd be willing to give this another go, and maybe we should just do one variant this time :lol:

My initial, just-woke-up-a-little-bit-ago suggestions would be:
*Paranoid Darloks. All rules but C1 and P6. C2 modified to "Espionage must only spread propaganda to any race we are not at war with" In other words, if somebody declares on us, we can use our spying for anything. The propaganda will provide a significant economy drain, but at least we'll have SOME production to work with. And the invasions/tech spying will allow us a gateway to keep up in tech.
*Communist Humans. Rules C1, C2, and P5. Adopt C3, but I would suggest backing off the requirement, maybe 0.4% per race. No alliances. The goal here would be to play a duplicitous diplomacy startegy, trying to keep them happy with trading while pissing them off with propaganda. Kind of like the old USSR or China, unlike this last variant, which played more like Cuba or North Korea.

My personal vote is for the latter, as it sounds more interesting to me.
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Hmmm, CUBA? But no... not yet anyway.

In the OSG6 Discussion Thread the ideas originally were about which pieces of this variant to keep, and what to discard for a second go around. Again, the thread is very long, so I will provide highlights.

Not long into ther thread, Zed brought up a great point:

Zed-F said:
was thinking, we have some new players (to RB) around in Prudence Moon, D0om, and Captain Bob... it would perhaps be wise to have our next two SGs be one normal game and one variant, so that anyone who isn't yet comfortable with the idea of variants will have a game they can feel more comfortable participating in. I got the impression that Captain Bob in particular felt intimidated by the challenge level of the last SG, and certainly our aim is not to scare people away.
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As it would turn out, SG6 would be that vanila game on hard. Meanwhile, the other game quickly turned into a three way runoff of ideas.

Maniac Marshall said:
Looks like, to me, that we have THREE doable games here.

1 - Allways War
2 - One of the 3 Darlok varients (I prefer mine, but I'm kinda biased that way )
3 - One of the 2 "Communist" Varients

We still haven't heard from doom, or, perhaps vxma or somone else? (I see lots of people lurking annonamously here... come join the fun

My preference would be to run one of each. I'm not particular about the order really.
Click to expand...

Eventually, we put it to a vote... which predictably ended in a three way tie :crazyeye: . Since I was setting up SG6 for the "newbie" game, and was short on time, I left it up to Zed to pick which game would be next. As it turns out OSG7 was a glorious destruction of the AI in an always war game with the Mrrshans. The general consensus at the time was that we would revisit the communist idea in one of the next few games. Meanwhile, life got very busy for me... other things and other interests took over my time... a second attempt at a Communist game never happened, and after OSG8, I basically disappeared, having no real time to invest in MoO at that point.

Then, about a year and a half ago, Sulla revived the Imperia I hadn't visited RB in some time, and strangely enough I just happened to drop by RB and notice his post about them restarting! Having played all the original ones, I, of course, HAD to play in the new ones. Well, that lasted all of a couple games before life, once again, decided I was short on free time...

I'd hadn't had the itch to play MoO much at all in a year or so, when, one day, my gf happened to be playing a game. I helped her with a couple of things, then, after she went to bed, I decided I wanted to play a game myself.

To plagiarize Charis: "Itch... scratch... intense rash like reaction." A few days and a few games later, I decided to drop by RB again. I was amazed to see that someone there named kyrub was actually working on a patch to correct all the things that were still screwed up in the final 1.3 patch! (Seriously, this is awesome stuff if it is ever completed!) Not only that, but, to my delight, the Imperia were still going on. There was a game in progress that I thought I could squeeze in and get completed before the deadline. I wasn't sure I could post a good report in time, though. About that time, my fellow conspirator in this game made this post.

RefSteel said:
It's good to see you around again, Maniac! I must admit I really miss your Imperium reports, though I realize they can take a lot of time.

I hope the problem you were encountering was in fact the one you discovered; random side-issues are always a potential problem when playtesting this sort of thing....
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Well, gee. Someone actually missed my reports?! I was, well, flattered, and now determined to make the best report that I could. It was a lot of work, but, hopefully an enjoyable read. It can be found here.

I'd always wanted to retry that Communist idea, and really wanted it to be with the Humans. I was never really happy we had used the Darloks in that game so long ago (I wasn't pissed off about it, just, it wasn't how I'd envisioned it to be). Since RefSteel was now in charge in the Imperia, I thought, perhaps, I'd suggest some of my ideas for Imperia. The Communist idea being one. After giving some thought to the Communist idea, and throwing out most of the rules we used in the first go around I sent this suggestion (and two other ideas, both of which may surface at some point) to RefSteel:

Maniac Marshall said:
I actually have 3 ideas:

A) Communism - I suggested this for an SG a long while back, but I don't know if it was ever done.

Race: Humans
Setting: Hard (Or maybe Average, I'd have to playtest it.)
Galaxy: Large
Opponents: Four or Five
Color: Red.

Variant Rules:

1) The reserve slider in the planets screen must be set to maximum taxation on turn one, and remain there for the rest of the game.

2) Once another race is met, overall security must be set to maximum and remain there for the rest of the game. Furthermore spying must be set to 4% each time a new race is met and remain there the rest of the game.

3) On each turn reserves are spent, they MUST be spent on planets to within a click of them being doubled the following order... SNIP
Click to expand...

I was still thinking of the game in terms of a USSR approach at the time. The response was:

RefSteel said:
A) Communism: This probably will need a fair amount of playtesting and time before it's done as an Imperium, but sounds promising for some time down the road. Security might be scaled, especially since it's such a total waste (at least outside of tactical spending in certain war situations) - in fact, I might phrase the spying rules this way: "You must spend at least 20% of your budget on espionage against each race you encounter; spending on Security counts toward this minimum for each race you have met. Thus, if your Security slider is set to the max, you are not required to use the espionage slider for any species." In the end, I think the hardest thing about this ruleset though is remembering all the specifics of what can and can't be done (especially with reserve spending, since the tax slider is being used constantly) - if those rules were suggestions/examples, with the variant rule more general though (something like, "Reserves should be spent on poorer or more needy planets before they are spent on rich or thriving worlds") I think it could work quite well, and make for a very interesting game!
Click to expand...

Well, yeah, he was right, the reserves rules would be a little complicated, especially for a competitive game where a few missteps in spending could cause people to think theirs had to be a shadow game, and I definitely didn't want that... then, suddenly, a lightbulb came on:

Maniac Marshall said:
You know... Regarding the Communism idea... Would you be up for a 2 player succession game of the kind Sirian used to play with Charis and Sulla? The idea being we'd write a story intensive bit about each set of turns, each time as the next in a successive line of party chairmen, each with their own personality and such? We could play at our leisure, making sure to take plenty of time to write a good story for each turn set. Might make for a unique SG that might draw in some new players.

If the idea works well, it could still be done as an imperium several months down the road. I mean, always war started as an SG idea, and was done many times for the epics.
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And then, a brilliant idea happened

RefSteel said:
Okay, well, if we're doing this in the style of Sirian and Charis/Sullla, and we're playing a Communism game, I know what our homeworld will be called ... and our leader! Castro of Cuba is ready to take on the galaxy!
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Cuba? That wasn't my idea at all... Now, really, when it comes right down to it, the Soviet game used more Cuban feeling rules, whereas this one uses more Soviet feeling ones, but the logic involved in why we should be the Cubans for this particualr SG, one in the style of Sirian/Sulla/Charis just overrode that concern in my mind. Being Cuban's in this game, with this style of report made PERFECT sense!

There was only one thing of concern:
Spoiler :
He rolled up a medium map instead of a large one, which I figured we'd need to keep from killing our economy. But this really sealed keeping the map:

RefSteel said:
I'm willing to reroll on a Large map if you'dprefer; the reason I'm tempted to keep it is a little silly: That buffer zone of hostiles consists of Kronos, Mobas, and Zhardan, size 20, 35, and 50 TUNDRA worlds, which, with Mañana being a Steppe world and our spy/security rules, make us legitimately ICE-olationist Cubans! Besides, an unbeatable challenge might be just the ticket for the two of us! I don't know...
Click to expand...

Yup, I couldn't argue with ANY of that logic.


Well, there you have it. The history of a succession game four and a half years in the making. Couple all this with the fact we're trying to be as entertaining as three of the greats... yeah... no pressure though, right Comrade RefSteel? :lol:

Hopefully, at the very least, we'll be able to produce a good read, and a revenge for all those from the first Communism game that will be worth the wait.

- Maniac
 
vmxa said:
As long as you use the Hide/Show for screens, it should not matter about the numbers.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tip! I think I'm going to just stick with relatively small screenshots (i.e the size of the one in my intro post above) that you can click on if you want to see them at full size, [EDIT: And I'll separate individual game years in spoiler tags as well, to make it easier to scroll past reports you've already read. My computer can't really handle image-intensive pages very well with or without spoiler tags though, for some reason, so....]

ToddMarshall said:
Couple all this with the fact we're trying to be as entertaining as three of the greats... yeah... no pressure though, right Comrade RefSteel? :lol:
Click to expand...
Yeah, I have no illusions about equaling the epic Cuban Isolationist threads (Sirian & Sullla's especially was quite a special case) - we're approaching this in an entirely different way anyway. And after all, we might not get revenge for the Double Variant Commie Game after all these years (we might get blown to bits again!) ... but following in their footsteps as best we can (errr ... hopefully not the commie game's "getting exterminated" footsteps though) is going to be a barrel of fun!

sargon0 said:
I thought you might play as Darloks to encourage mistrust by others. However this would put all the spying required to your strength, whereas with Humans you have to spend a lot of production where it is not best used. Besides I do not know if there is a Cuba on Nazin!
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Yup - plus, I figure (even as Humans) our constant spying will likely provide all the mistrust we need! (And of course, see Maniac's post above....)

Also, thanks very much for the compliment! Now let's see if I can go ahead and earn it, shall we?
 
Cuban Historical Archive: Excerpt from Presidente RefAcero Castro's inaugural speech before the Partido Communista de Cuba said:
Bring to mind once more our conquest of the Earth, when we built our world-spanning worker's paradise - on an Earth that would be Earth no more, but Greater Cuba! It was perhaps the most glorious moment in the history of our civilization ... but shall we be content with this, our single world? With those who came before me and built our present star fleet, I answer a resounding no! As Chairman of the Cuban Communist Party, I shall lead us forth into space, to conquer the galaxy! By the spirit of San Roberto, San Miguel, and San Charisso, and by the spirit of the lake on which Havana first was founded, the people of Cuba must arise together now, as one, to prove the greatness of our Isolationist policies - of the mighty Hydra and our communist bureaucracy - upon the bodies of the galaxy's alien beings! Let's do this thing!
Click to expand...
Spoiler 2300 :


The Colonial Secretary is late again. I drum my fingers on my desk, and look over my flags and trophies - meaningless distinctions now that I've reached the pinnacle of my career, Presidente para la Vida of Greater Cuba. All the accolades I once earned from my teachers, colleagues, and superior officers - even from members of the ruling Communist Party - now mean nothing. I have no one left to impress, to convince of my worthiness for office. I have instead what remains of my lifetime to establish Cuba's presence in the galaxy by force of will and strategy - and underlings to work with who appear incapable of telling time! Does Diego realize what it means to keep the President-for-Life waiting?! If only there were someone better to take his place....

I'm reviewing our starship deployment reports, canceling orders for unnecessarily bulky, expensive military craft, when he finally arrives, sauntering into the room without knocking, and as if without a care in the world: Colonial Secretary Diego Velázquez, perhaps the fattest man I have ever met in government service. In spite of his bulk, he seems to take up little space in the room, so self-contained is he in his quiet contentment, and though the chair he takes groans under his weight, he doesn't seem to notice. He wishes me a pleasant day as though there was nothing wrong with being nine and a half hours late for an appointment with the Chairman, and his smile is so winning, his tone so friendly, I find myself almost ready to forgive him. In any case, I've shouted at him often enough in the past to know it's of no use. A nuclear device might ruffle him, but I'd have to see it tried. I switch on my holosimulator instead. "I assume you have reviewed our situation, Diego?" Of course I assume nothing of the kind.

"It is perfectly simple," he tells me, looking over our map of the nebula that surrounds us as if - and very likely - for the first time. "Three stars within three parsecs - how very convenient, when that is just the range of our colony ship!"

"Precisely so," I answer drily. "Nothing simpler than to split our ship in three."

He waves the matter off as a triviality. "Of course we will be going to the yellow star. As Greater Cuba lives under a yellow sun, so too shall our second colony. Blue ... it is cold. People do not live there. It is useless. Let it go."

Slowly rubbing my temples, I remind him, "There are two yellow stars, Diego, in nearly opposite directions."

"And so? We have two of Sebastián's Scouts, don't we? They will tell us all we need to know."

We have indeed commissioned two of the Scouts requested by Sebastián deOcampo, Secretary of the Galactic Survey, but that's hardly to the point. "In three years, yes, if we send them to those yellow stars, and delay their reports of other stars still more. Where do we send our Colony Ship in the meantime, while it eats even more of our production potential each year than our vital taxation itself?" 20% gross taxes, before pollution cleanup, and it's still eclipsed by colony ship maintenance. It's a wonder we can build any factories at all!

"Mañana," he answers, drawing it out, slow and easy: Tomorrow - or eventually. He'll deal with it tomorrow, or some day - perhaps when he has time to think of it, in half a hundred years. "Mañana," he repeats, contentedly.



Three weeks have passed since my meeting with Diego; unable to delay any longer, I have dispatched our ships: The colony toward the coreward yellow star circled heavily on my map in Communist Red, the Scouts toward the other two stars in colony range, in hopes of gathering information about their nature in time to redirect the colony mission if either is too valuable to wait. Diego's opinion is clear: We should delay, and learn more - always delay. Diego is clever, but ill-informed, too lazy to research the subjects on which he speaks. Our top cryptologists have discovered traces of radio disturbance in the background radiation of the galaxy suggesting that five other races share the stars with us - hulking Bulrathi warriors and deadly Mrrshans gunners to challenge us on our worlds and in space, Silicoid crystals already prepared to spread to nearly every star in the galaxy, Psilon scientists capable of leaving us in their intellectual dust, and Meklar cybernauts poised to turn entire star systems into gigantic warship-building factories - and I fear we must act swiftly if we are to claim anything at all. The sooner we move coreward, the further our fleets can reach, and I suspect we will need all the space we can get! The greatest challenge the Cuban people have ever faced has just begun.

Spoiler 2301 :
Secretary Sebastián approached me again this morning to ask me about new scouts, and I could only spread my hands and explain the dire situation to him. With the massive costs of taxes and maintenance - over half our net production after waste cleanup - we can't spare a single credit, never mind the eight billion needed for a new Scout 1.0.



Our highly efficient government, totally free of corruption and graft, has preserved nearly half of last year's taxes - almost nearly - for reinvestment in the economy, with only these twelve months' delay. The rest goes to feed our all-important communist bureaucracy. Nevertheless, as I pour all our recovered tax dollars back into Cuba (where they will be taxed in turn at the usual 20% rate, naturally) it seems like a pittance thrown into the maw of a hungry beast. How can we think of starships now? Through all of last year's efforts, we only managed to complete a single factory! Remembering Diego's response when I asked about plans for colonial spending at the coreward yellow star last week, I hear out Sebastián's urgent requests for reconsideration, and sigh. "Mañana," I tell my Surveyor-General, wearily.

Spoiler 2302 :
By a miracle, we just managed to eke out two new factories last year, making full use of the partly-built structure of one from the year before.



It may not be much of a cause for celebration, but at least our new factories will be producing more than they cost us to maintain -- and with our perpetual taxes and current miserable rate of ecological restoration, that's by no means guaranteed! We need to improve, and quickly; to this end, I finally managed to corner Diego this morning and ask how much he expected our new colony-to-be to contribute to our research efforts when it begins. I needn't have bothered however: "Mañana," was all his answer, I suppose predictably, with a lazy wave of his pudgy hand. For now, at least, I have to accept his judgment. We'll have to wait for tomorrow to know enough to form a hypothesis ... or for next year ... or indefinitely.

Spoiler 2303 :
Has tomorrow come at last? The Scouts arrived at their destination in the course of the past few days, exactly in the order I expected and intended! The yellow star between us and the near corner of the galaxy will be an excellent future colony, with cold winds blowing over rolling steppes with the agricultural potential to support some 80 million people. Colder still is the little tundra world at the blue star of Kronos - a world where 20 million Silicoids might someday thrive, but not a single human unless we can improve our habitation technology. This we must do though, and shall - in commemoration of our people's ICE-olationist beginnings! And so, with those reports filed, I only await our Colony Ship's planetfall at the coreward yellow star I chose for it - a wait that is about to end!



Fire and ice! The yellow star of Rhilus harbors only a tiny fireball of a world - an inferno where even Silicoids, were they to someday reach it, would hardly be able to pack in 15 million of their crystalline people! As for our colony mission, there is no hope for it there; our bodies of flesh and blood would be incinerated long before we reached the surface. We have no choice but to send the colony ship back past the Cuban Nebula to the Steppe world our first Scout discovered; we must wait yet five years more before we form our first colony - and before we can finally stop spending billions of credits a year sending fuel, supply, and maintenance skiffs across space to support the Colony Ship's existence! My task as Chairman of the Party - which, given the tax rates necessary to feed the great Hyrdra, and the isolationist policies whose costs will begin to hit the moment we make contact with another race, were difficult enough already - just became more challenging still! The Colony Ship is redirected immediately, and I call Sebastián deOcampo in for a meeting. Unlike Diego, he is prompt - almost breathless in his hurry, as though he has been waiting for this opportunity. "We may regret making no new Scouts before this," he warns me. "If we delay any longer, there will be no chance to claim the star systems we need. I entreat you, Presidente..."

I stop him with a motion of my hand. "I see that now, Surveyor General. Until now, I have perhaps given your words less weight than they deserved; you will find in me a better listener hereafter. I called you here not to dismiss your continuing requests, but to review the plans for our new Scout 1.0s and to ask where they should be dispatched when we complete our first set of them next year."
 
Spoiler 2307 :
In the past few years, I have begun to see that I should have relied more upon my advisors and less upon my own arrogance. Perhaps the taste of power was too strong and too new in the first years of my reign; nevertheless, I am working to correct it. I thought to save three years in building our first colony by ignoring Diego's advice and sending the Colony Ship coreward directly, but lost two years instead; had I listened, our first world outside the Cuba system would already have been founded last year. Yet whenever I speak of the matter to Diego, he waves it off with the same unshakable aplomb. "The delay is unimportant," he has told me again and again. "The colony will be ready. Give it time. All will be well mañana." I can only do my best to take his advice in this, having failed to accept his wisdom when my reign began.

I'm trying to lend a closer ear to my other advisors as well, beginning with deOcampo. Our Scout 1.0s are crossing the galaxy at last; many are en route even now to the most distant stars within the reach of their reserve fuel tanks, and another will be built next year, with more perhaps to come, depending on the effectiveness of the fuel base at our new colony-to-be.



Unfortunately, I have only so many resources to divide among Cuba's countless needs. One of our brightest lights, Maria Soldasca of the Ministry of Science and Technology, has urged me again and again to resume government spending on scientific research, always with well-reasoned arguments, always with sympathy for the many needs of the empire and its limited production capacity. She always looks so earnest and hopeful that in spite of her unfashionable haircut, the bulky thermal/spectral/micro-analysis HUD glasses she wears pushed up onto her forehead for ready use, and her shapeless lab coat, I find her almost pretty. I hate to always give her bad news, but there's no room in the budget for research yet, and we still know almost nothing about our galactic neighborhood. "Mañana," Diego tells me again and again whenever I raise the question. He'll think about it when we know more ... when we've built more ... after another little delay.... I have disappointed many men and women whose worthy causes I could not support as I rose through the ranks of the Party, and more than ever now that I have assumed the role of Chairman and Presidente para la Vida, and I have become inured, but something about the way Minister Soldasca lowers her head in acceptance but not defeat, her conviction that I'm making a serious mistake coexisting with her respect for me, still cuts me to the heart. Here is a patience and a wisdom perhaps as great as Diego's, or greater, though less apparent on the surface. I fear in the back of my mind that I may be following the wrong advisor. Her arguments are strong - and could it not be by chance alone that Diego was right before? I won't change horses in mid-stream; it would be folly ... but I wonder.

Spoiler 2308 :
The Cuban people are finally forming an interstellar colony! At long last, we watch the Colony Ship descend through the chill winds of the atmosphere to the steppelands of the planet's surface, and I turn with a proud smile to Diego to ask the world's new name-to-be. There are many thoughts in my mind - worthy people and causes, from Karl to Fidel to The Worker to The People, together with a faint and prideful hope that he might name it after me. Diego smiles his patient, abstracted little smile, and he speaks...



...and so we form the Mañana colony. Oh, of course Diego meant he would decide another time, but we have to call the world something - and considering how long it took us to get there, I think it's only appropriate. So too for the quirk of our planetary identification systems that don't support an eñe unless we constantly add a squiggle mannualy; nothing ever seems to go right with this colony! I can imagine a confused poet some ages into the future, trying to rhyme it with banana. It would be only fitting.

In honor of San Charisso's ancient work on growth curve mechanics, I send a single massive shipment of 25 transports to our new colony - enough to leave Cuba a little above a third of its maximum population while bringing Mañana's just above a third of its own. They're supposed to arrive in three years, but that's over-optimistic for a trip through the warp-disrupting Cuban Nebula. Minister Soldasca says it will likely be a four-to-six year journey. Diego isn't worried about it in any case: "They'll get there eventually."

Spoiler 2309 :
Sebastián deOcampo is with me at the Keckastro Observatory; we didn't want to wait even long enough for the reports to be relayed to Havana. Our Scout 1.0 has arrived at the red star of Tauri, on the far side of the nebula, and the images relayed through the massive telescopes here, displaying a windswept desert world with so little water that even the most advanced hydroponics will likely only support a population of some 40 million, but the latest images of its rolling dunes and weather patterns are not the reason for our interest here. Reports from last year of a Bulrathi Scout passing by, out beyond Mañana, suggested that it would reach the nearby white star sometime this year or next. With one of our own Scout 1.0s about to arrive early next year, we are eagerly awaiting the latest update from the Mañana relay, for what should finally be a conclusive read on the Bulrathi Scout's ETA.



My Surveyor General grimaces painfully "We ask for an ETA, and are told it's there already." He strikes his palm with his fist, less in anger, I think, than disgust. "One year!" he tells me grimly. "If we finished that ship just one year sooner..."

I shake my head. "A year is a long time, Sebastián. We simply lacked the resources. We'll be there soon enough, and deal with the Bulrathi presence then." I do my best to smile the way Diego would, but he doesn't seem convinced.

Spoiler 2310 :
Reports are coming in from all around the nebula, and it seems Sebastián's worries were in vain! There are no habitable planets around white star the Bulrathi reached last year, and their Scout had already departed by the time ours arrived. Even the Silicoids couldn't live at that star system; it has no planetary bodies, but only the endlessly tumbling maelstrom of the Guradas asteroid field. Meanwhile, on the opposite side of Tauri, deOcampo's survey teams have explored the green star of Misha, and discovered a world whose environment is so like Cuba's that, in spite of its smaller surface, it is projected to support some 85 million people! Yet the near side of the Cuban nebula reveals still more propitious discoveries!



Three of our nearest worlds are frozen solid, covered in a mile-deep blanket of permafrost and snow! The grand tradition continues, from San Charisso, San Roberto, and San Miguel! Cuban ICE-olationists ride again - in Outer Space!
 
Spoiler 2311 :
Long since recovered from the ordeal of 2309, my Surveyor General is beaming with excitement and energy, explaining the incredible scouting reports that now rolling in from the stars nearest the heart of the galaxy. On the far side of the nebula, the yellow star of Whynil is virtually a twin of the Cuba system, while the green star of Vulcan just beyond fiery Rhilus harbors a planet that, while barely habitable, may become a stepping stone toward the yellow star of Tyr, almost at the galactic core, with a world whose endless seas will one day support a vast ocean-based economy! I make an appointment to discuss our colonization plans with Colonial Secretary Velázquez in an hour, not expecting him to arrive until well after Sebastián brings in his final reports later this week, and go to discuss the situation with Minister Maria Soldasca. Unlike Diego, who is always off vacationing on some island-hopper's paradise, she is easy to find: Though science projects have as yet received no meaningful government funding, independent researchers continue to do what they can, and our Science and Technology Minister helps them out as best she can, comparing experimental results as she works from her minimalist lab here in the capital.

I touch the holo-com at the door, and her distracted voice answers, "Fifty-seven seconds." I smile and wait. She isn't within scanning range of the door holoscanner, so I can't see what she's working on, but over the past few years, I've learned just how time-sensitive some of her more delicate experiments can be. Less than a minute passes, and then I see a flash through the holo-unit and hear a high-pitched, sizzling sound.

I reach for the door. "Maria?" My concern is genuine. The more I've seen of her these past years, the surer I've become that she's the most clear-thinking of my advisors, the one who has the empire's interests and my own most truly at heart, and can most clearly see the way to our success. The Party may not favor her, but her knowledge and strategic ability are the best hope for Cuban humanity.

"I'm all right. Don't worry. That's normal." She still sounds distracted, but she must have heard the concern in my voice. The door opens, and she turns toward me, tilting up the visor of her experimental headgear, above her giant radiation bib. "No trace left; its existence is very fleeting. If we could somehow find a form where Dotomite was stable ... but that may not be possible; it might not even be advisable. It's certainly a long way away."

I smile. I like the way her face peeks out from under the visor of her laboratory outfit, which leaves literally everything else to the imagination. Certain members of Party leadership have decided I should have blood heirs - the other surviving branch of the Castro line is out of favor at the moment - and I've had to put up with an endless stream of prospective mates: Party-Line idealists who do nothing to conceal the fact that they're each as hot as blazing Rhilus - and in whose presence it would be equally impossible to live. Maria Soldasca is a breath of fresh air. "I've just gotten the latest reports from the coreward fleet. Do you have a moment to tell me what you think?"

Spoiler 2314 :


Progress reports are on my desk back in Havana, recording the factory construction completed thus far by the 25 million Cubans who finally Mañana reached last year. Strictly routine, they can safely be ignored. I'm sitting on an observation couch with Maria, in the central Keckastro display chamber, lit by the warm, flickering glow of images from Arietis, still coming in from our orbiting Scout 1.0. Ruined cities flit past us - the homes of some ancient alien civilization, now centuries gone, their handiwork crumbled by time - and the gleam in Maria's eyes as she watches them go by touches me to the heart. I take her hand in one of mine, and tell her that I'm sorry the Bulrathi arrived before us as their colony base appears again, from another angle. Her eyes move to mine and she shakes her head, smiling kindly. "It's only three parsecs from their homeworld - our Scout saw that much at least before the Tooth cruisers chased it from Ursa's orbit - and four even from Mañana. We had no chance. But the Bulrathi are famed archaeologists. Think what we can learn from them!"

"Hush..." I squeeze her hand softly. Her subversive ideas are dangerous - most of all because they're so often insightful and true - and as I spend more and more time with her, they're having a growing influence on me. "Don't be heard saying anything that sounds like trust for the Bulrathi. I couldn't bear for you to..."

A sly smile at the corner of her lips, and I can't help smiling back as she tells me, "Trust them? Oh, no! We'll have to spy on them when the time comes, to learn their nefarious plans ... and the secrets they've uncovered from the ruins." She shifts slightly in her seat, the better to face me. "We need secrets of our own though, in the meantime. It's high time we started government funding for research. At least a pilot project. At least in planetology." Her free hand is on my arm. "We must, Cero. There's no more reason for delay. You've seen how you can trust me..."

She's leaning in toward me in the flickering hololight, earnest, persuasive ... Hydra, but I want to kiss her! I free one hand, trembling slightly, and gently press against her shoulder to keep us apart instead. "I can't," I whisper hoarsely. "I love you, Maria. I love you with all my soul. I dared never say it, lest our positions in government jeopardize the truth of our love, but I can't help it any more. And how can I pour funds into your ministry, no matter with what good cause, when anyone who can see my emotion will say..." I can hardly speak.

"Cero..." her voice is almost a purr, and as if for the first time, I can hear the deep and secret meaning in her favorite diminutive of my name. My heart is in her hands now, entirely. I'm helpless to prevent her from leaning in again as she whispers, "I hereby tender my resignation from the Ministry of Science and Technology. Let there be no question of a power relationship influencing our affection, or of our love touching your decisions on the ministry. There are capable people to take my place, and I love you too well, and feel your love too strongly, to let anything stand in the way." There is nothing I can do before our lips come together but beg her to marry me.

Spoiler 2315 :
Maria has appointed Pierro Curio to take her place as Minister of Science and Technology. She says he is very capable, and a good man in many ways. I can tell that he loves her in the manner of an uncle or elderly friend, and she has a deep respect for him. In another time, in another place, if their ages had worked out differently ... but I am deeply glad that here and now, Maria has chosen me.

With his pilot program complete this year, Minister Curio has presented me with his findings, and they are indeed promising.



Terraforming would improve our crop yields, allowing population increases of up to ten million on each of our worlds, and would be a simple matter to complete, perhaps speeding a distant time when we can colonize radiated worlds like just-discovered Tau Cygni ... but I fear Maria's subversive ideas have had a strong influence on me. More people on each world will only mean more people and factories to tax, whereas Improved Eco Restoration will go a long way toward correcting the most disastrous effects of our fiscal policies. Because waste cleanup can only begin after taxes have been claimed, the net loss is not the nominal ten percent (actually at least an eighth even of our gross income after buraucratic rounding errors, the one year delay, and taxation-of-recycled-taxes are considered, to say nothing of fleet maintenance) but on the order of twenty - a number that will only increase as we build more factories! The development of Improved Eco will increase our gross production and therefore tax yield very slightly, but will have a tremendous effect on our net production by reducing the cost of after-taxes cleanup. The effect will be even more important once we contact another species, and our mandated security and espionage costs kick in. At the urging of my fianceé, no longer with even the appearance of a conflict of interest, I order the production of ecology labs across both our worlds, with every ounce of production we can spare - including the scrap metal that once was our original pair of Scouts, costing us a billion credits a year, and now no longer needed since two of the stars we could reach belong to the Ursines, who we certainly don't wish to visit any longer than we must!

The wedding comes on Hinbudjewmas Day, a glorious celebration in the pure, snowy streets of Havana. We hold the traditional ceremony in the grandest manner imaginable, with a Dance of the Many-Headed Serpent coiling throughout the streets of the capital, visiting each of the Three Shrines in turn, and culminating on the palace steps as we temper our joy by commemmorating the sacrifice of the One Transport that traveled beyond Cuban waters in the early days: We shatter a crystal wineglass beneath the foot of a stone statue of an immensely fat, meditating bald man with six sword-wielding arms. Oh, Hinbudjewism the magnificent! Oh, glorious Hydra! How could anyone ever have followed any other faith?
 
Spoiler 2319 :
There are still mutterings within the Party about "fiscal irresponsibility." They refuse to understand that improving our waste cleanup techniques is the most responsible thing we could possibly do. Even their precious taxes will benefit in the long term, as it speeds the overall growth curve of our economy. Of course, I begin to suspect that some in the Party care little for Cuba's future, so long as their taxes, in their lifetimes, increase as much as they can. At all events, we can pacify them for a while now at least. Work finished on four more factories at Cuba this year, and I'm stepping up industrialization even further, maintaining only enough technology spending to take full advantage of our investment in research labs and institutions of higher learning. Of course, that investment and therefore our research spending will continue to increase every year, but I hope people will have more time to grow used to it this way. Certainly these are heady times, with research finally progressing apace, and I hope that will mean hope and joy to come for Greater Cuba - and for my family. There is nothing like a son and daughter to make one think of the future ahead of immediate gain. Whenever I return to the Presidential Hacienda and see little Radia running to greet me, with RJ (Maria calls him CJ) cuddled up safe in his mother's arms, it reminds me more strongly than anything else of my duties to the future of my people, the course I am setting for all of us, much led by the wisdom of my beloved wife. Let Party Leadership complain of the fourth and fifth palaces they each think they should be able to build. I will lead us to a future whose greatness even they will see.

Spoiler 2324 :


Minister Pierro Curio meets us in our home, projecting the latest research diagrams across the dome of the South Observatory for Maria and I to review. I'm somewhat at a loss here, but I can tell from their reactions that we're looking at good news. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Radia peeking in through the half-open door to my private library, seeming to make a more determined effort to understand the diagrams than I, while her little brother watches, more to imitate his sister than for any other reason, I think. Watching them grow and helping to raise them has been my greatest joy these past years. The Party was glad to see me father heirs for the nation - but for me now, the reason to strengthen the nation is for them.

"I don't expect a breakthrough this year," Maria is telling my Minister of Science and Technology. "Your three percent estimate is missing a factor - it's probably more like six percent - but that's still not much of a chance. Still, the fact that we're this close at all is heartening. It won't be long, I think."

Spoiler 2325 :
Party leadership is restless. Maria still regards the reported 9% odds of an ecological breakthrough as half the true odds at worst, but that's little consolation for Party members who live to see their personal tax shares increase. I may be Presidente para la Vida, unassailable in theory, but there is more to our Cuba than theory alone, and I don't like the looks some of these men are giving me. I'll apease them as best I can now that it will help the long-term economy again; starting next year, Cuba will return to full-time factory construction while a few labs on Mañana handle the final stages of ecological research. My dreams of Greater Cuba's future are nearing the first stage of fulfilment, but the politics are killing me.

Spoiler 2328 :


Surely even the most entrenched leaders of the Partido Communista de Cuba cannot complain now about my fiscal policies! Word has come across the stars, in the form of a news report from a golden droid, that the Cuban people are among the most productive races in the galaxy! Only the Meklar factory-beings themselves, together with the Mrrshans - whose rank near the top surprised everybody - can claim a better output than do we. Our efforts have surpassed not only the slow-growing Silicoids and ivory-tower Psilons, who no doubt are bending all their efforts on expansion and research, respectively, but even our Bulrathi neighbors in the near corner of the galaxy!

I bring a recording home, and we watch the droid together, marvelling at its construction - perhaps a still-surviving relic of the ancient people who once lived on Arietis. Radia says, "I don't think it's right. We should be first, shouldn't we?"

"Not yet," I answer, smiling. "But maybe in your lifetime, if we can stick to our progressive policies."

Maria smiles ... but once the children are in bed, she warns me to be careful. There are limits to the tolerance of the PCC, and they might realize how volatile production rankings can be ... or agree with out daughter that we should be ranked first already! I clasp her hand, and tell her that I am not afraid. So long as the children have her, I will pursue the best course for Cuban humanity no matter what the Party has planned for me. For now, that only means recalling five transports from Mañana to contribute to Cuba's future when they arrive five years hence, but soon....

Spoiler 2329 :


Pierro proudly displays the fruits of his research: At a reported 12% chance of success (Maria has pointed out that the cumulative chance of success by this time is actually better than 60%) he and his teams at Mañana have achieved the promised breakthrough in our ecological restoration techniques! Better yet, passing over the fourteen-year-old notion of terraforming (and the option of death spore development, too disgusting even to mention) he introduces plans to start work on thermally-sealed habitats that would amount to a form of Controlled Tundra Environment technology - finally opening the deep-space snowballs we've discovered to colonization! What more can I say? It's time to get back to our ICE-olationist roots!

Now is not the time for political blabbering, nor cow-towing to the Party. Now is the time for action: To prepare our people for their future in the galaxy! I transmit a message to Maria and the children, explaining my plans, and go forth to inform Humanity of our success, and of our future!

I approach my place before the gathered throng in Havana, with holorecorders and transmitters all centered upon me for Holo Rebelde and CubaMersión, the official State-controlled (and therefore the only legal) broadcast stations. Applause rings out all around me. I smile and hold up my hands. "The time has come to seize the future of the galaxy for Greater Cuba! The huge boost in real production brought about by our new technology - over 35 billion credits of disposable resources this year alone, equating to at least 90 factories' worth of production with previous technology - demonstrates the vital role played by our research teams."



"We must move forward now! All our energy must be bent on new biosphere laboratories and institutions of learning to lay the ground for our new Tundra research! Word has been circulating that I am growing old, that it will soon be time for me to lay aside the reins of rule to a successor from the Marshall branch of the Castro line. So it may be - but before I do, I will set our course irreversibly, pouring all our strength, this year at least, into technology, creating a base that it would be madness to abandon, ensuring that our efforts will go in the proper direction. Behold the galaxy as we know it, and see the inestimable value of Tundra bases to our future - to say nothing of the value of advancing the state of the art in planetology!" One of the Cabinet members on the platform nearest me hands me a glass of ice water as the galactic map appears in projection above my head. I take a sip as I study the image along with the multitude below.



Handing the glass to Diego by my side, I continue, "Those icy worlds must be ours, as must the others someday, perhaps once we wrest range technology from the Bulrathi - and I shall ensure that it is so." Steady ... steady.... I've been working hard; feeling dizzy from all this excitement. Have to get through this speech. "As I have steered Greater Cuba so well for the past twenty-nine years, so I..." Hydra! The crowd is spinning! Steady.... "... I will set her course for..." ...steady... "...a glorious futu..." dizzy ... how did ... the water ... the water!

GNN Evening News Roundup said:
Chairman RefAcero Castro, Presidente para la Vida of Greater Cuba, is reported in stable condition at the Havana Medical Center on the Human homeworld. Official state media reports that he collapsed due to the stress of his duties acting upon age-related infirmity, but GNN's sources show no prior indication of such an infirmity in the Chairman, still in the latter part of middle age by Human standards.
Click to expand...
Maria is holding my hand, and I'm going to recover ... my strength, and my health, but never again my power. It will not be a lie when I say that I am retiring to spend more time with my family. There is that within me that says to fight the Party, to turn my power to the betterment of all Cuba in spite of its parasites ... but there is a fine line between courage and ruinous folly. It would only lead to destructive infighting, and doom our people as surely as it would doom me: Next time they strike, I'm convinced, there will be no recovery. A nurse comes in to inform me that Minister Curio and Secretary Velázquez have come to see me, and I nod. Diego will have the paperwork, and Pierro has every right to see me.

GNN Special Report said:
In his first official speech since his public collapse, RefAcero announced this morning that he is stepping down from the position as Chairman of Cuba's ruling party, fully a year early. This early abdication forestalls his plans for further early planetological development among other things - no investment has yet been made in his new pet "Tundra" project - and removes from power a Chairman who was becoming increasingly indpendent of his Party, though he continued to follow all their primary platform policies. Nevertheless, whether the Party gained anything by these events remains to be seen: By Cuba's arcane succession law, the next Castro in line to take the vacant seat of power is a member of the Marshall branch - one whose piloting skills are legendary at the Cuban Military Academy, but whose history of insubordination and independence has earned him the nickname "Maniac" - a name that he has taken as his call sign. Stay tuned for further developments as they transpire.
Click to expand...
I squeeze Maria's hand again, and smile at Radia and RefAcero Junior. I'll have many more opportunities now of sharing my days with them. As the cabinet members leave the room, I hear Pierro insist to the Colonial Secretary, "He was drugged - it was deliberate! All the signs are there. This must be investigated with all the resources at our disposal! The implications..."

I can see Diego shake his head. "Mañana," he answers, smiling complacently.
 
Right. We warned you we were writing a serial novel here, didn't we? (Or maybe a series of novels at this rate!)

Okay, okay. For those who prefer the style of report favored by our predecessors - you know, where we actually describe what we did and why without mixing in love interests and internal political turmoil and things - we'll be including normal(ish) turn-logs too - partly so that each of us knows for sure what the other actually did! [EDIT: I've added links to the turn report's pictures at appropriate points in the text.] Let me know what you think!

Spoiler Full Out-of-Character Turn Report :
2300: First: We start in a nebula! That means shields are useless at our homeworld (and maybe some of the stars nearby), plus transports slowed to a crawl, and unreliable ETAs. I haven't even started, and already this looks like it's going to be a crazy game!

All right, first things first: Tax rate is set to the maximum! I have to readjust Cuba's sliders immediately just to keep the colony clean. We now have only 1.2 factories due next turn, with nothing else under construction. (Plus 5 BC in reserves-to-be.) I send the Colony Ship to the coreward yellow star, and the Scouts to the other two stars in colony range.

2301: I pour all our reserves (5 entire BC!) right back into Cuba. I plan to do this every turn until we found our second colony.

2302: Two years at all-out factories and we've barely finished three!

2303: We discover Steppe 80 Uxmai at the northwest yellow star, Tundra 20 Kronos (can you say ICE?) at the blue star to the northeast, and at the coreward yellow star ... INFERNO 15 Rhilus! Can't land on that thing until at least tier three in our planetology tree - which means we've got to turn around! Our colony will be delayed five more turns, and we'll be paying around 20% of our budget just on maintenance for the ship (that's on top of our taxes!) the whole time, slowing our growth curve significantly. Well, those are the breaks; I'm not letting a little setback like this slow me down: Just get ready; we're in for a wild ride!

For now, I design a new Scout 1.0 and start building them at Cuba as fast as I can.

2304: A pair of redesigned Scout 1.0s are completed at Cuba and dispatched. I'm scouting outside-in from now on, hoping to get scouting reports in for the most distant stars we can reach by the earliest possible date. This should make it easier to make research decisions and the like. Knowledge is power. Ignorance is bliss...ful slumber in a bombed-out tomb!

2305: Three more Scout 1.0s sent on their way.

2306: Yet three more Scout 1.0s wing their way into the night.

2307: Yet another further trio of Scout 1.0s depart Cuba for the stars. I dial back ship spending in favor of more factories again.

2308: Our first colony, finally! Uxmai is renamed Mañana (well, Manana since Orion doesn't recognize the eñe) in reference to our Cuban people's Spanish-speaking heritage and the fact it took so long to snag the place! From here, I'll keep Mañana's economy doubled with reserve spending at least until the transports arrive (25 being sent from Cuba in one batch, in honor of Charis and his growth formulas!) with the rest of our reserves still pouring back into Cuba. Meanwhile, our last Scout 1.0 is completed and sent on its way. That's all for the scouts - for now, anyway. Now for more factories! Oh, and our scanners at Mañana reveal a Bulrathi Scout apparently approaching the white star in the west. It looks to be one or two turns away, and we have a Scout 1.0 heading there ourselves, 2 turns out. Will it be in time? We'll see....

2309: That would be a no. The Bulrathi Scout arrives just as we scout Desert 40 Tauri to the southwest. If the white star's an artifacts world, I'll really regret waiting so long to send a ship there - they'll have snagged a free tech that we could have gotten ourselves!

2310: We ... have ... snow! Tundra 35 Mobas at the green star in the north and Tundra 50(!) Zhardan at the red star in the northeast, all on top of the already-discovered tundra at Kronos! I am loving this! No, we can't land on any of those planets yet, but just look at those shiny, frosty plains: Cuban ICE-olationists ride again!

Also, fortunately, losing the race to that white star didn't matter: It's just the Guradas asteroid field. Far more important is Misha, a Terran 85 at the green star to our southwest!

2311: The green star in the east proves to be Vulcan, a Minimal 35; the yellow star to the south is Whynil, a Terran 100(!), and the second yellow star west of Cuba is Tyr, an Ocean 65 near the heart of the galaxy. There should be no way we can claim it ... but what a coup if we could....

2313: Our Scout reaches Ursa, the northernmost of the northwestern yellow stars. A pair of Tooth cruisers prevent me from scouting the place properly. Meanwhile, our transports have finally arrived at our colony ("3 turns" = 5 through the Cuban Nebula).

2314: And the yellow star south of Ursa is Arietis, another Bulrathi colony ... and a Minimal ARTIFACTS 40! So they did get a free tech (no way to know what yet, except that it isn't range) but I can rest easy: There was no way for us to get here before them. Just one more star to scout, and it's too far off to change my plans no matter what it is - I'll need range 6+, Controlled Tundra, or Reserve Tanks to reach it, and none of that's going to happen before our first planetology tech is in anyway. I therefore invest 2 BC into Planetology research from Mañana.

2315: Okay, we chase a Bularthi Scout from the white star beyond the northern nebula, which turns out to be Tau Cygni, a Radiated 25. The Bear Scout that beat us to the Guradas Asteroids also arrives at Kronos this turn, and is sent packing by our local Scout 1.0. That brings us to technology!

Options are Improved Terraforming +10 and Improved Eco Restoration. I take the latter because it's massively helpful in light of our variant - even more so than usual, since its primary benefit to the economy isn't taxed! (We should open construction at some point too, since both first-tier techs have this advantage, but they just aren't valuable enough to justify early spending like this.) I basically pour our entire economy into starting up research in this technology - including the scrap from our old pair of Scout ships (leaving only our dozen Scout 1.0s). Two Bulrathi colonies mean we have two scouts too many, and they're the difference between 1 and 2 BC ship maintenance a year - plus we get 5 BC in extra reserves right away! All our reserves are going to Cuba each turn at this point, since either both planets or neither will be building factories, and our homeworld will be spending more on factories than the colony on any given turn.

2318: After three turns on nearly all-out research, I slow down a little, but I'm still pouring over 30 BC into our new tech-to-be. The rest goes into factories at Cuba.

2319: And that's all for our starting investment. I'm now "trickle-researching," spending almost exactly 7.5% of our prior total investment on Imp Eco each turn, to take full advantage of MoO's research investment system. This will be paid from Mañana as much as possible, with Cuba adding on when it becomes necessary, with everything not spent on research going into factories.

2324: Planetology research now shows a 3% chance of a breakthrough (actually 6% - the display screen shows half the real chances)...

2325: ...Now up to 9% (meaning 18)...

2326: ...And we've reached the point of diminishing returns. Cuba goes back to all-out factories, and Mañana gets back to factory constructon too while feeding the minimum research necessary to keep the project going - now at "10%".

2327: 11%. These look like terrible odds, but spending huge numbers of BC just to increase our odds from ~1/5 to ~1/4 would be a waste. The value of eco restoration is in its cumulative effect over time. Nabbing it a turn or two sooner won't save us as much as it would cost to improve the odds. Now, jumping from ~1/30 to ~1/6 was worth the price, absolutely. But at this point, I'll just happily roll the dice each year. I'll get a winning roll soon enough; you'll see!

2328: Breaking news from GNN! We're actually ranked third(!) in empire-wide production! How is that possible? With our tax- and early-maintenance-crippled economy, the other races' Hard bonuses, and all the resources I spent on research, I'm surprised we aren't last! But no, we trail only the Meklars (no suprise) and Mrrshans (Wha ... uh-oh! Cats with a strong economy could be scary! ... But I'll believe it when I see it.) and come in ahead of our ursine neighbors to the north as well as the Psilons (next to last; thank goodness) and the Silicoids (no surprise; they tend to be last in everything but expansion!) ... I wouldn't read too much into all this though. I've found the production ratings (perhaps because of reserve spending and transports) are volatile at best ... and it's very early days yet.

Five transports sent to Cuba, to top off its population; ETA is "2331," but they should actually arrive in 2333 (although with the nebula, you never know for sure....)

2329: And Eco hits at 12%! This will be a huge boost to our economy! Our options going forward? Expensive, vile Death Spores, going back to tier 1 for terraforming, or ... Controlled Tundra Environment!!! Yyyyes! ICE-olationism it is!

(Hard to believe, but it's true: I just went with the first map the game spit out for me, and we wound up with THREE Tundra worlds on our doorstep, and Controlled Tundra as the only non-death-spore way forward through second-tier planetology! ICE-olationist Cuba just seems to come together for these games!)

All right, I was going to play to turn 30, but with that tech coming in, we've got a major decision to make: Do we open up any other fields (as well or instead)? Go back to full industrialization? Start work on a Colony Ship? (No - where would we send it?) Or start investing in Tundra bases? Well, if it were up to me, I'd spend at least one full turn of production "seeding" Controlled Tundra, planning for my first colony ship to be an ice lander for Kronos, and plan from there on the basis of what happens in the meantime (like discovering what's in the third tier of our plantetology tree, or the bears establishing contact).

Normally, I would have opened Propulsion research by this stage of the game, pursuing Range 4 unless Range 5 either turned out to be the only option or looked like it would be especially helpful for the map I rolled. This time though, I'm not sure I want to research either one! We're Isolationists, and with good reason! The moment we encounter another race - and any range tech at all will put us in touch with the Bulrathi - our economy will go into the tank! 20% of gross Imperial production, after Reserve spending, on top of taxes, is no joke.

Now, eventually, someone's going to contact us. As soon as the Bulrathi get Range Anything, for instance. But if we want to gamble, we could wait for that to happen, then set security to 10% and Espionage to 10% (the full bar!) against them, aiming to steal whatever propulsion tech they brought in, and open our own propulsion research only after stealing whichever tech it is, hoping for Nuclear Engines (or maybe Stabilizer if necessary). That might be a serious gamble, with serious risks (until we get Inferno or better bases and open up our west, only Kronos is in range 3) ... but luckily, whether we take it or not isn't my decision to make! I'm handing the game over now, so as not to hog the strategy: Maniac can choose his own priorities!


Roster:

RefSteel: First set complete!
Todd "Maniac" Marshall: UP!
RefSteel: On Deck again already! Gotta love the two person SG!
 
I got the super secret save via email. (Translation: You lurkers do not have party clearance! :lol: )

I'll post more thorough comments in the next 48 hours.

I've not had time to thoroughly digest everything yet, though I'm considering a crazy idea...

I'm poking around the save now, checking out ranges from planet to planet, trying to decide how to procede. The only thing I've decided so far is that I'm not planning on researching a range tech. I *AM* considering opening construction however...

What, do you think, would be our chances of getting all three tundra planets without ever researching a range tech? Keep in mind that sillicoids and psilons are present, and Keep in mind that range 4 would be "needed" for two of them...
 
ToddMarshall said:
I got the super secret save via email. (Translation: You lurkers do not have party clearance! :lol: )
Click to expand...
Yeah, I figured we'd imitate Sirian and Sullla here, and post all the saves together at the end. Until then, only the Castros may see them! [/Isolationist Paranoia]

I'm considering a crazy idea...
Click to expand...
Because clearly a 20% tax slider plus eventual 20%+ espionage/security spending for Cuban IsICEolationists in a nebula isn't crazy enough as it is! I'm for it!

The only thing I've decided so far is that I'm not planning on researching a range tech.
Click to expand...
Isolationism at its best! In case it wasn't obvious, I fully support this plan!

What, do you think, would be our chances of getting all three tundra planets without ever researching a range tech?
Click to expand...
Wow ... bear in mind that far and away the best of these tundra worlds (the size 50) is the one that's furthest away, and closest to the main cluster of yellow stars in the galaxy. For all we know, the Psilons or Silicoids may have scouted it and left before our Scout 1.0 arrived (which wasn't until 2310 - so far the only ships we've met were the Bulrathi ones I mentioned). If all the breaks go our way, we might be able to get there by sometime in my next turn set, but can we risk that they will, and that the chance will still be there well into the 2350s? (Especially with that ocean world waiting...)
 
Thanks, vmxa!

I'm noticing that my computer seems to strain itself loading all the images and so forth even when they're in spoiler tags (though it makes scrolling through the thread a million times easier) so I'm going to blatantly increase the post count here to try and force future pictures onto page 2!

Given the idea of sticking pictures in spoiler tags though, would it make sense to just link to the images (at least in certain places) rather than embedding them in the report? I feel like it would make the whole less attractive, but might have some advantages.

I'll go ahead and edit links to pictures into my OOC turn report anyway, as surely they'll be better than no pictures there at all! (It's just the same set of pictures as in the In-Character story, but in a different context, obviously.)
 
You can't go by me as I have 15mb connection. It is much nicer to read with then pix inline to the text.
 
So, are you saying the pictures behind spoilers doesn't help at all? If so, I won't be doing that. I also don't want to post them as links, so I'll just lag your connection to hell I'm afraid :(

I've made my decision about what approach I'm taking for my turns; we are "chasing the hydra". (What could that be in MoO? You'll just have to wait to find out!) Although the odds would appear slim that we can pull it off, I've decided trying is less risky than I originally thought.

It might be a few days before my turns are posted, as I am sponsoring the next Imperia, and have to get a start for it ready, and, I also woke up sick this morning, so it looks like I will be sleeping a lot this weekend.

Oh, and before I forget:

@sargon0 - Yes, being the darloks puts spying and possibly fomenting revolts to our strenght, however, as the darloks are almost universally disliked, it virtually ensures an early war. Early war with this variant = :suicide:
 
ToddMarshall said:
So, are you saying the pictures behind spoilers doesn't help at all? If so, I won't be doing that.
Click to expand...
Yeah, don't worry about spoiler tags unless you're posting images large enough that people will have to scroll the text side-to-side. (If anyone would like me to do so, I'll also remove the tags around the sections of my report - I just use them to cut down on scrolling) and definitely don't just post links! As vmxa says, pictures and text together makes the report a lot more fun to read. If my ten-year-old computer completely melts down trying to deal with all the screenies, I do have other options for accessing the site; it might just take me a little longer to read and reply to the thread - not the end of the world!

And I'm looking forward to our pursuit of the Hydra, even if reading about it does give my machine an epipleptic fit!
 
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