Ecology

Push back the aliens - We're X-COM. That's what we do for a living.

Industry - money and energy are always good.

 

Two votes science, one vote each for prosperity and industry, and one vote for prosperity and industry combined - plus a single lonely vote for might. Next one breaks the tie.

 

Science! Always Science.

 

It was an energetic debate, but the virtue of Knowledge won out in the end. I've passed along the orders to our sociologists and we should start seeing the fruits before long.

Year 15: As per orders, General Coyote advanced into the forests to engage with the alien threat. However, their long-range sensors have picked up something disturbing.



It appears to be a super-scale nest, which our scientists theorize would hold a large colony of the wolf beetles. Debate continues among them whether the nest houses a colony or a hive.

Our exploration team has reported that they have exhausted their excavation materials. As such they will be returning to Blackbird Claw to restock, stopping en route to pick up another resource pod we detected on the northern shores of the as-yet-unnamed lake north of the isthmus. They are estimating they will return home in a decade.

Year 16: General Coyote's squad has penetrated deep into the woods, approaching the resource pod. Considering the numerous swarms he's picked up in the area, he's been ordered not to engage unless the numbers seem favorable - if the aliens remain nonconfrontational, we may be able to scout the nest without incident.



Year 17: The squad reached the resource pod before everything went to hell. Apparently the creatures became extremely agitated when our squad entered the region adjacent to the nest, and we lost contact with the squad shortly after. We may need a new volunteer to lead our military forces.

Year 18: Good news and bad news. The good news is, the General is alive, and he's recovered the contents of the resource pod. The bad news is, he's the only one that got out of there alive, dragging yet another elerium generator behind him.

He reports that they were assaulted by some sort of biological artillery shortly before the wolf beetles charged from two different directions. It was only when they fell back from the nest that the assault abated.

He also reports that he has sighted a new type of alien creature, one resembling a giant, chitinous wasp. Showing a continued lack of creativity, our science team has named them Magnum vesparum.



General Coyote has been ordered to fall back to Blackbird Claw to await reinforcements. After what happened to the first team, it could take years to fill those ranks - but on the bright side, General Coyote's hard-won experience can be passed on to the new recruits.

Year 19: Another colony ship has landed. It appears to have come down on a land mass not far to the east from us.

Our new head engineer Poytin has embarked in the first prototype of the Mark 1 'Ripley' Exosuit. He has been dispatched to till the soil and prepare buildings for a full-scale farming of the silk-beetles that live in the trees of that region.



The final known resource pod had been recovered. Inside was yet another elerium generator. The vast amount of power we have garnered has lead our diplomatic team to an interesting suggestion.

Before we left Earth, all parties attempting colonization agreed on energy as a universal means of exchange. We now have enough to outright purchase from the Russians part of their colonization gear and repurpose it. Should we do this, and if so, what should we buy? We currently have 295 Standard Energy Units. Please consult the image below for what our options are.



Whether we take this option or not, what should we begin constructing next, and what after that?

 

Buy: Clinic
Build: Soldier
Second Build: Thorium Reactor or Trade Depot

We have an alien nest just to the west of us. While they're not really a threat to our military without a serious advantage in numbers, they are a major threat to our civilian workers. I propose we heal General Coyote's unit up to full health and train a new unit of soldiers to reinforce him as he goes back to deal with the alien menace.

If we put Coyote back in the city he'll heal 30hp per turn (rather than 20hp within our territory and 10hp outside of it) so they'll finish up near enough at the same time. After that, we go pick off some aliens piecemeal and get our soldiers some much needed experience.

On a future note, we're going to need to get some affinity points soon. It doesn't matter what in (so Supremacy can be a go), but as soon as we get our next affinity point we get to upgrade all of our Soldiers to Marines. I think the options are +15% when attacking and a bonus to health regen when next to other units. Naturally we want to kill all of the things. Once we get that we can park a Marine on a hill near an alien nest and just watch him rake in the XP for us.

We'd still need 2/3 units to take out the nest though. Assuming we don't spot a Siege Worm that is.

As for what to build after that... I'd go with the Thorium Reactor we'll be unlocking with Engineering. Money is always useful and we're going to want a nice big stockpile by the time we start building our second city. If a potential trade route opens up between now and then though, I'd say Trade Depot. Thorium Reactors are awesome, but trade is infinitely better for money/science.

 

The second one is +5 HP heal.

 

Buy: Clinic
Build: Explorer
Next build: Trade depot

With our military units stuck on guard duty for the foreseeable future another explorer unit could be useful for picking up all those shinies before others get to them.

 

Buy: Clinic
Build: Soldier
Next build: Trade depot

Heling, more military power and more energy - evrything that X-COM needs all the time

Also, Slavic Federation - pure luck that they are to the east of our position

 

Buy: Whiskey.
Build: A bigger gun.
Next build: A throne from their fucking skulls.

It was not a good day for me.

 

Clinic/Soldier/Depot seems to be the consensus. Update incoming.

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General Kozlov of the Slavic Federation may have a reputation as a supporter of the People, but it seems he has enough ruthlessness in him to sell off the medical supplies and equipment they could have used. Nevertheless, our population currently stands at four times that of his just-landed colony, so we have much greater need of it. The equipment made it safely across the ocean, and is even now being established into a permanent medical clinic. This will not only allow us to take better care of our population, but to better study the effects this planet will have on them.

Year 21: Oh god no.



I have no comments to make that is fit for permanent recording in the Conclave Meeting Logs.

It also seems fate was not content with merely inflicting Elodie upon us.



A private research company that hitched a ride with Elodie landed in their own separate module and has claimed and fortified the isthmus. Overtures to them for crossing rights have been partially successful, but they will only allow trade convoys to pass - and this leaves Aekiel's expeditionary force stranded on the northern side of the isthmus.

While my immediate reaction was outrage at this invasion, I must very reluctantly concede that the Banu Musa Corporation could be a great aid to our scientific endeavors, especially once established, and that it is possible to work around them. Instead of building on the isthmus itself, we could build to the north of it and effectively engulf the Banu Musa Corporation in our sphere of influence, though this would require us to research the ability to cross bodies of water in this alien land. Our researchers say that even in their fledgling state, the BMC's assistance could reduce research times by more than one third - and that is after taking into account the boost to our research the clinic will be providing.

Alternately, if the Conclave desires their removal, I have taken the liberty to prepare the following three-point plan:

1. Putting our Engineering research on hold in favour of research into Physics, to construct man-portable seige weaponry.

2. Upon completion of said research, placing our construction of the trade depot on hold in favour of the recruitment, equipping, and training of a team of artillerymen.

3. The declaration of war against the Banu Musa Corporation, and the subsequent destruction thereof using the combined force of Coyote's squad, the currently-in-recruitment squad, and the artillerymen.

If such measures are taken, I predict that the BMC will be wiped from the face of this planet within twenty years.

Please check your dossiers for topographical data of the land around and north of the BMC facilities.



As you may be able to observe, a colony location that works around the BMC would have access to much of the same resources, while also being able to access geothermal deposits further north.

Are the BMC a potentially valuable partner, or a claim-jumper to be ruthlessly exterminated?

Author's note: You cannot settle within three tiles of a station. That's why BMC is a cockblock. However, a canal-city where BMC currently is would not give us access to the deposit of floatstone on the coast (max radius is three tiles), which is the biggest we've seen yet - however, a future city further up the coast is a very viable option, as it would have access to gold, copper, and geothermal energy as well as getting us that floatstone - albeit at the cost of settling on tundra, which is low-value real estate.

We could settle where BMC is now, which will allow us to move ocean vessels across the isthmus. However, this city location is sub-optimal compared to the one directly above it, which does not give us the canal.

So the options, basically, are these:

1) A great city spot
2) A hugely strategically important city spot and a pretty good city spot
3) A very good city spot and a science buddy

Honestly, there are no wrong answers to this one - just different priorities.

 

I'm going to acknowledge right off the bat that others are far more qualified to speak on matters of economics and state. I'm going to concede any points others make on that front for this, and simply say the following:

Building a city on their bones would give us an unrivaled strategic advantage in controlling the region, and I am prepared to begin operations the moment the rest of the Conclave gives the all clear. My vote is cast for option (2).

 

Ally with the new-comer and make the exploration of the alien waters the next science priority.

Spending so many resources on military units this early results in a serious setback on any other project which means that in my eyes it is not worth it. We are still able to get the resources and getting that science boost could prove useful in the future.

 

Settle on Banu Musa's ashes AND on that Tundra tile above the resilin. Most cities don't get large enough in population(especially in Beyond Earth) to fully utilize their expansion, so a little overlap(while generally better avoided) isn't so bad. Make your own town and generate more science than Banu Musa before too long, with the Colonist bonus, Clinic, Laboratory and more.

Controlling that crossing point might prove quite useful in the future.

In other news, I vote for picking up Computing relatively soon, for a Spy Agency and related tech rewards. I mean, you get a whole quest line for the Culper Cell out of it. You practically have to do it, considering the context of the mission.

 

While I did mention that long-term plans would be taken into account, and I appreciate you putting in the effort, I was thinking more 'rough goals and ideas for our fictional colony to strive towards' and less 'a step-by-step walkthrough for min-maxing our way to the endgame, complete with quest spoilers'. Trust me to take sufficiently optimal steps in line with the Conclave's directives, and think less like a backseat player and more like a member of the ruling council.

So far, we're evenly split between allying with BMC and building Neo Panama.

 

There is an alternate approach. If we just ignore the Station for the time being it will eventually fail due to lack of funds. At that point we can go settle our city in the ruins and reap the rewards without risking any of our soldiers. I don't know exactly how long it will take for them to fail, but it's not that long. Early game stations don't last very long if you don't have a convoy up.

That way my exploration crew can do their thing and Blackbird Claw can continue with its planned eradication of the aliens.

Also, looking at it strategically, without being able to ship our units to the far side of the isthmus we won't be able to achieve local superiority in forces. We can launch close range attacks from the area immediately to the south and long range from the south-west, but not anywhere else. The hill that we'd be attacking from also prevents us from launching ranged attacks from the floatstones deposit.

Not a good plan for an immediate assault. My vote is to ignore them for now and focus on killing some aliums as we had previously agreed.

Second city-wise we've still got a ways to go before we get there so we have plenty of time to find an ideal location. If it comes to pass that Banu Musa is still around at that point, we can happily launch some missiles at them and settle on their ashes.

 

I agree with Aek on this, I'm not usually the "wait and see" kind of guy in these things but I think we should murder the local wildlife first.

 

I suggest that we go with Aekiel's plan and work on quick Culture boosts to our citizens as much as possible. With our people enthralled at our relics then we could boost our science for each bug we kill. Our soldiers would be additional scientists.

Between this and putting a city in a place with a science boost is my recommendation. Better food or resources does not make for a better city if no science can result my Lord.

{{Done in Civ2 advisor style}}

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Oh and murder BMC. They get in the way of our science.

 

I vote we wait for the colony to die off at this juncture.