Well, I can see most of the Conclave didn't get the memo about the soporofic side-effects of the local plantlife. I'll try to keep future decisions more broad.

Year One: We've begun equipping and training the beginning of a self-defence force, lead by the volunteer General Coyote. Research has begun on the composition of the local surrounds, to see what chemical miracles can be achieved. Projections suggest it will be over a decade before either venture has results - our research facilities are extremely limited, though much better than they could have been, and training people to be soldiers while wearing space-suits is an enormous challenge, as is the infrastructure to support them.

To the north, Aekiel's team discovered... uh...



Hovering rocks. Our science team has collectively shat themselves with excitement. I'll let them explain... whatever these things are.

There's also fields of possibly-edible fungus, and significant amounts of basalt.

Year Three: As the majority of our population has recovered from the side-effects of cryosleep and the local plantlife, our effective workforce is now double what it was. Revised projections put the beginning of our military at Year 10.

Our scouting team has found signs of potentially hostile native life.



So far, the exploration team has dubbed them 'wolf beetles', and our science team seems to be encouraging them with the binomial Lupus bruchus. While they don't seem actively hostile to us... yet... their appearance is not encouraging.

Also discovered is significant deposits of oil, a larger deposit of the 'floatstone' substance, and gold. While gold has, of course, lost it's value as a trade medium since there's nobody to trade with, it's uses as a construction material are vast and varied.

Year Five: Our sensors have detected another colony making planetfall, and soon enough we were contacted.

For now they're too far away to make a significant impact on our plans, though the long-term implications of their presence could be huge.



We've identified a new form of alien life, more worrying than the last. With more creativity than before, the exploration team has dubbed them 'manticores'. Sadly, our science team has failed to follow this example, and their binomial has been set to Carabidae peregrinus.

Additional discoveries to the north include a field of hive insects spinning a type of silk with potentially interesting scientific applications, and geothermal vents that could prove very useful in the future.

We've also identified a hazardous, naturally-occurring gas we've dubbed 'miasma'. It causes the rapid growth of caustic fungus on any exposed surface, which is hugely detrimental to our equipment and it can only be assumed to be equally so for human flesh. So far, it does not seem too widespread.

Year Eight: We have come to our first major crossroads.



After the... unfortunate side-effect of the native fruit was discovered, some of our residents were determined not to trust it despite assurances by our science team that the effects could be managed. Their orchards, grown from seeds brought from earth, have started to spread outside their fields, showing a surprising robustness. Should we contain this outbreak, or allow the terraforming of our new planet to begin now?

Author's notes: The affinity system has come into play. Affinity in Beyond Earth is broken up into three camps: Purity, who embrace the heritage of Earth and work to reshape the planet in it's image. Supremacy, who start as pragmatic and eventually embrace cyborg transhumanism. And Harmony, who explore, protect, and try to coexist with the native life of this new planet... though one's definition of 'coexist' can vary wildly. We coexist quite nicely with cows, after all.

X-Com, of course, has elements of all three after the events of Enemy Within. Do we embrace augmentation with Supremacy, genetic modification with Harmony, or reject both with Purity?

Resource-wise, Harmony uses xenomass (the green swampy bit just west of Blackbird Claw, which has three units), Supremacy uses Firaxite (which we've yet to see, but this turn's scouting - which we'll cover after the decision - has uncovered two deposits of three units each) and Purity uses Floatstone (two deposits, one of two and one of eight(!)). However, it's still very early days of scouting and there could be anything over the next hill.

And our choice won't be locked in stone - we can mix-and-match affinities, though once we commit heavily to one it will be more expensive to dabble in the others.

(nota bene: this mission is currently bugged, and it can be impossible to solve depending on what resources your capital has access to. Since we do not have oil, we cannot complete the Supremacy part of this quest)

 

Supremacy would seem to fit best with the scientific focus made in early game, but perhaps events are conspiring against that direction, without a known deposit of firaxite and the lack of oil.

Perhaps, with the interesting different alien lifeforms that have been discovered, Harmony would be the best direction.

(Disclaimer: while I've of course played Civ before, I've never played Civ: Beyond Earth)

 

Latest scouting reports:







First image is zoomed out. The isthmus on the bottom of the second image is the same as the one on the top of the third image.

Yellow glowy spike stuff is Firaxite. Purple glowy floaty stuff is Floatstone. Green glowy swampy stuff is Xenomass.

Edit: With the grid and the resource icons turned on:

 

I would go with Purity. Going Harmony would seem to much like what the Etherals had in plan for humanity - i.e. change them to suit their ever growing army of various alien races. Supremacy would be view in the same light, as capitulating before the planet and admitting that humanity is not good enough to dominate and rule this new planet.

Therfore this new planet must become like Earth.

[of course I'm only speking from role-playing perspective]

 

Pragmatic factors seem to point towards Purity too. As Tehan has noted, a city here would grab both floatstone and a load of other resources besides:



And of course, being guided by pragmatism is well in line with the practices of Earth-That-Was, so our selection of Purity is consistent with itself.

 

Did you not play Enemy Within, by any chance?

 

I say Purity and Supremacy for now because the first level of Purity protects our explorers from aliums.

 

While I would favour the Supremacy route I could also live with the purity route.

 

It seems we have consensus. Update incoming.

 

I'm all for Purity for now and Supremacy later.

 

We've allowed the outbreak to spread unhindered, and now lychees, durians, jackfruit and kiwi fruit are growing wild in the area surrounding Blackbird Claw.



Year 9: General Coyote's force is finally ready for deployment, and they will be patrolling the immediate area around Blackbird Claw. Work has begun on the equipment to truly shape this planet to our desires. Current estimates put their deployment within the decade, but that does not take into account the continuing expansion of our workforce - Blackbird Claw has already expanded to thrice the original effective population, as children that arrived with us come of age and the first of the children born on this planet begin to fill the makeshift schools.



Our scientists have been tracking the evolution of the released plantlife, and have been impressed by how it is adapting. They believe they could cross it's genes with some native life to improve it further, but they will first require a facility to study and process the algae that our long-range sensors have shown lives far off the coast. It will not be recognizeable in the immediate future, but we will keep it in mind moving forward.



Aekiel's exploration team has reached the arctic, and their long-range sensors are showing something truly bizarre. It seems that we are not the first to make planetfall - not only is there some sort of resource pod that seems to have made a controlled landing and been left untouched for an unknown period, there is also the remains of what appeared to have been a settlement. I have taken the liberty to order them to investigate both.

Year 10: The resource pod has been recovered, and a rover is bringing it back to Blackbird Claw for examination. It seems to be a generator of some description, undoubtedly of human design, but if our scans are correct the power source within it is elerium. However it got here, this will be a massive boost to our energy reserves.



Coyote's squad has scouted further down the coast and their sensors have located two additional resource pods. They are moving to investigate now.

Year 11: Coyote's team has recovered the second pod. This one is full of scientific equipment, which will bolster the efforts of the Dr Vahlen Memorial Lab considerably - they are already assuring me that this equipment will shave years off their chemical research project.



Aekiel's team has reached the ruined settlement. It appears to be of human design, which refutes our belief that we were the first to reach this world. Due to the condition of the settlement there are no further answers to be found yet, but the exploration team believe that detailed study could reveal some - they estimate it will take four years to properly exhume and examine the colony. They are also insisting that it would be more correct to refer to them as a 'survey and archaeology' team. Excavations have already begun, and I will keep the Conclave informed of any developments.

Year 12: Coyote's team have recovered the third pod, containing another elerium-powered generator. It too is being sent back here for further study.

Our science team's chemical research is completed. They've investigated samples sent back by our exploration team and concluded that the petrochemical analogue we've discovered can, with some tweaking, be used to fill the same niche that oils did back on Earth. Their cataloging of locally available compounds has opened up two possibilities - an expansion for the Dr Vahlen Memorial Lab that will greatly boost the future efforts of our research team, and a materials reclamation facility that will accelerate future construction as waste is heavily reduced.

They are requesting direction for their future research efforts. Apart from some very distant possibilities that even the most optimistic among them admit would take upwards of a century to bear fruit, the only new possibility is further studies in biochemistry, that will allow us to better utilize oceanic resources and petrochemicals - though this will take even longer than our initial research into chemistry. For those of you that didn't keep your dossiers from past meetings, the other options are:

My personal recommendation is Engineering. There are no good areas for large-scale solar or hydroelectric power generation near us, so our only source of power so far has been the Blackbird Claw's engines. The elerium generators mean this is not an immediate problem, but they are a finite source. Our scientists assure me that with some research they will be able to build a thorium reactor to take advantage of the thorium-rich monazite sands of this planet.

But I will, of course, bow to the will of the Conclave. Should other priorities be pursued, any power shortages can be addressed by instead turning large portions of the area surrounding Blackbird Claw to power generation.

Additionally, we will require a volunteer for the work team. Keep in mind that said volunteer will be able to drive an exosuit that I am assured is very reminiscent of a cross between a tank and, I quote, 'that kick-ass thing Ripley fought the Queen with in Aliens.'

One final note - our exploration team, while still having some time to go on their excavations, say they have uncovered an untouched room that they say we need to see. Their image feed should be coming online any moment now... there.



God damn it.

 

In light of the recent discoveries, I am calling for development of Planetary Engineering Techniques, followed by an investigation of the Ballistics and Physics of the new weaponry we can develop using the new resources available to us.

 

Nice.

I propose Ecology for our next tech. It's a nice little tech that lets us build the Miasmic Repulsor (a satellite that gets rid of miasma in a large area), the Vivarium (extra food) and the Ultrasonic Fence.

I go for this tech next mostly because of the Ultrasonic Fence. It's a good building that prevents aliens from approaching within two tiles of a city. Better than that though is the quest that pops up a few turns later, which is extremely useful.

Spoiler

Once you've built your first Ultrasonic Fence you'll get a one shot quest to choose between Fence range being upped to +3 or to protect your trade units from aliens. The latter is the one I go for. Not having to protect your trade lines from aliums is one hell of a good way to make money reliably.

We'll be getting some trading partners soon, either Sponsors or Stations, so I'd prefer we get ourselves ready to trade early. Getting a reliable trade network up will alleviate our energy concerns. Energy is vital for founding new cities because Health relies almost entirely on buildings; buy the buildings when your city is founded and you don't have to worry about Health as much.

 

I vote that we go for Engineering. I'll also volunteer for the Work team.

 

Engineering it is for now. Future tech depends on future votes, so get them in now - right now it's tied at one vote each on Physics and Ecology.

In this vein, feel free to suggest future paths for us to take, as Aek did with trade. If there's enough of a consensus built up ahead of time I'll skip any votes that have already been covered.

---------- Post automerged at 05:09 ---------- Previous post was at 04:48 ----------

Well, that was short.



Year 15: Coyote's squad has pushed deeper inland, and has discovered another resource pod, as well as another group of the wolf beetles. It is extremely concerning to see dangerous alien life this close to our home and some of our citizens are calling for our forces to be deployed against them, but at the same time, it may be a wiser path to avoid provoking them. A decision must be made - do we push back the aliens, or leave well enough alone?.



Additionally, our excavation of what we now know to be a failed Exalt colony has revealed a great wealth of information on their efforts to survive on this planet, though any information regarding their purpose here or when or how they arrived died with the colony. We can use this information to shape our society, but our sociologists need direction on which direction to take. Should we focus on Might: martial strength and versatility, Prospertiy: growth and expansion, Knowledge: scientific and cultural pursuits, or Industry: productivity and our fledgling economy?

The short-term benefits of these four choices are as follows:

Choosing Might would allow us to emphasize adaptability and flexibility in our military recruiting efforts, causing our military to gain in skill faster and be better prepared for war against the aliens.

Choosing Prosperity would allow us to increase our population faster, as well as be on track to having our first secondary colony within as little as a decade.

Choosing Science would, of course, allow us to better shape our society as it grows, as well as more swiftly unlock the secrets of this world.

Choosing Industry would allow us to emphasize our control of the industry and economy of our fledgling capital, speeding up construction efforts and solving our potentially-looming energy crisis by more than doubling the surplus energy we'd be banking.

Of course, the limited political capital means we can only choose one of these, but we can always change course later on as our capital replenishes - though specialization would likely yield stronger benefits in the long run..

 

Ecology, if only because Aekiel's reasoning was well done. Besides, it wouldn't be X-COM if we weren't horribly outgunned at the outbreak of hostilities.


Edit - Science. Always Science.

 

I'm a fan of going Prosperity first for the free worker and colony, and then moving into Industry because it's hilariously awesome. Also, we should probably do something about those aliens what with them being right next to us and in position to be kinda annoyed as such, I vote we Kill Them Dead.

 

Despite my reputation for stirring up shit everywhere I go, I'm going to vote for leaving well enough alone for now and coming back with more guns in a bit. Of course, if the Conclave bids me to attack, I'll happily do so.

I'm also going to argue that we should shape our society around scientific progress in order to more quickly develop advanced weaponry and logistics capabilities.

 

Prosperity
I love the chance of an early expansion since second city would allow us to make use of the found resources and establish an internal trade network.

And for the alien: Kill it, we don´t need hostile lifeforms so near our fragile base.

 

Research: I'm keeping my vote in Ecology for now. Engineering is nifty and Combat Rovers have their place, but we don't actually have to worry about the aliens for now and the other Sponsors are years away from being able to threaten us. They're not like barbarians and we can just ignore them for the most part.

Virtue: Well, since we went for Engineering early we'll be getting hold of Combat Rovers fairly quickly. In that case I suggest taking a hard-line anti-alien stance (GO X-COM!) and going for Might. The first virtue in the second Might group gives us science equal to the strength value of every alien we kill, so a group of Combat Rovers would be an excellent way to farm the science we'd otherwise miss out on by lack of population.

As a side note, this is the first Civ game I've played where the military route is actually viable, mostly because the tech web doesn't penalise against going that route.

Aliums: Kill them all. Except if they have friends, then run away.