I agree with these fine gentleman, there can be no greater choice than Espionage. I am also feeling indulgent to Coyote and so I shall also throw my support behind Biochemistry. That said, death to the bugs! Also more footage for the movies.

 

Despite an... interesting suggestion from an unknown party, Espionage/Biochemistry has won with an overwhelming... seven votes? One moment.

Okay, it seems that Governor Zombie has sent some sort of poorly-programmed robot in his place. Someone kick it until it stops repeating it's suggestion.

Even removing the duplicate votes, Espionage/Biochemistry is the clear winner. I'll keep you all informed.

---------- Post automerged at 14:00 ---------- Previous post was at 12:43 ----------



Year 78: General Coyote's 5th Penal Legion has engaged the swarm of wolf beetles that teamed up with the drones against the 4th Legion. This time it is expected that casualties will be slightly less total.

On the western front, our rangers are picking off wolf beetles with impunity over a canyon.

Year 79: The 5th Penal Legion has wiped out the swarm on the southern front, and will continue pushing south into unmapped territory. Likewise, the aliens on the western front have pulled back, and we are in pursuit.

Year 80: Our exploration of the western coast has revealed another miasma-ridden patch of xenomass, which we now know to be a ticking time bomb of alien activity - however, no nest is in the area.

Explorer Aekiel has reached the second set of ancient ruins, and excavations will begin shortly.

Year 81: Construction has begun on the Necropolis oil wells. However, due to the marshy terrain of the area, it is expected to take upwards of two decades to complete. A second worker for the Necropolis area would be a great help for the city, and has been added to Necropolis' construction priorities.

Year 83: Our forces pushing south and west have revealed that our projections were incorrect - instead of being the smaller, second half of a continent we shared with ARC, we seem to be on the eastern half of a much vaster continent with a huge inland sea. While this makes geopolitics much more complicated due to sharing a land mass with Franco-Iberia, it also makes Necropolis' canal an even larger strategic advantage, as if this is correct it means we have a stranglehold on the inland sea ARC borders.



This likely also explains ARC's hostility towards us, which began almost immediately after we settled Necropolis on the ruins of BMC.

Year 85: Aekiel's team completed the excavations, and it seems that Aekiel has been infected with another information bomb - this time it seems to be about the construction of super-scale mining operations almost beyond our ability to understand, let alone achieve. Still, our scales recorded everything, including what seems to have been an erotic interpretation of tectonic shift.

(A/n: Planetary Engineering, another late-game tech. Another 500 beakers we can't use for ages, yay I guess?)

Again, Aekiel will be returning home to restock and undergo psychiatric evaluation. Lots of psychiatric evaluation.

While performing a final survey of the coast before heading back, they discovered military forces under the command of the Kavithan Protectorate, which likely tells us much of the shape of their land mass.



While seemingly analagous to our soldiers, their suits and weapons seemed much more suited to combat. They also picked up the signal from another resource pod, which they should be able to beat the KP soldiers to before heading home.



(A/n: military units are upgraded as you advance in affinity levels - the soldier upgrade is received at level 1, which KP has in Purity)

Our Western Guard discovered that the hive in the western forests had re-established itself. In what our military has begun to call the 'Coyote Maneuver' (popular military joke: "you mean go slowly insane as you witness everyone under your command be horribly murdered by aliens multiple times?" "no, the other Coyote Maneuver!") the Western Guard stormed the nest from the sea, destroyed the nest, looted the eggs, and prepared for retaliation.



Year 86: The resource pod held yet another elerium generator. Is anyone surprised by that at this point?

The Western Guard is flushing the aliens out of the forests and into range of the guns of the Rangers, who have become very skilled at doling out long-range death.

(A/n: Both the Rangers and Coyote's Penal Legion have reached level 3, the maximum you can get from killing aliens, granting them a total of +20% strength)

Year 87: Our recyclers have begun churning out industrial-grade goods, some of which are a fit for our exosuits, making the replacement of their equipment much simpler. Combined with the expertise of our people, this has made our workers amazingly efficient at shaping the land to our will.

(A/n: Total of +35% speed for workers, which also applies to Explorers for some bizarre reason. This is a huge deal, as more advanced tile improvements (such as oil rigs) can take more than a decade, especially on difficult terrain.)

Our Biochemistry research is completed, just in time for Necropolis to begun construction of a water refinery, which will be a huge boon for it's growth - this will make the seas around Necropolis about as bountiful as the grasslands around Blackbird Claw, and will make the algae patches the most bountiful regions we've discovered thus far.

Our Intelligence Agency has also finished construction, and we currently have the manpower and support to infiltrate three cities. We will also need a volunteer to head the Intelligence Agency.

Once more, we require the Conclave's input to decide on our direction. The same choices from before are on the table for research - however, the Conclave can also opt to follow the plan set forth earlier by the unknown messenger.

(A/n: for those looking at KP's troops and churning with envy, we will receive an affinity level from the techs Alien Biology (Harmony) and Genetic Mapping (Purity), which will allow us to upgrade our soldiers.)

The construction options are the same as before, with three new options:

1. Growth: construction of a Water Refinery to take advantage of the offshore algae deposits, and a Vivarium to increase food production with a series of greenhouses built within the city itself.

2. Navy: we could build a Navy of two gunboats, to scout the inner and outer oceans and be better able to project force upon ARC, should it come to that - as well as assist in our wars against the aliens with offshore bombardment. We will also require a volunteer for the roll of Admiral, should this plan find traction.

3. Expansion: We could build a new convoy, now that Necropolis is self-sufficient. Here are our best options for expansion thus far:



This area is claimed by Fort Barca, which would need to be removed before settlement - which, as proven by our victory against BMC, would not be an issue. It boasts incredibly abundant floatstone deposits (15 units in total!), a coral reef, a small patch of Firaxite, geothermals, and a significant number more of the dog beetles that gave Engineer Poytin so much trouble. This is also furthest from both of the other powers on this continent, so it is unlikely to cause tensions to rise further. However, it is even more barren than the area around Necropolis, so it will be reliant on imported food until vivariums or water refineries are built there.



The Western Forest has been the death of many of our citizens, but none can deny it's potential worth. With two small patches of xenomass (5 units total), three regions dominated by native fruits, a coral reef, algae patches, edible fungus, geothermals, and what our people are charmingly calling 'giant silk-maggots' within range of a theoretical city, this could become a new breadbasket for our fledgling empire. It's location would also increase our stranglehold on the inland sea. However, Franco-Iberia may take offence to it's founding, but we do not know enough about her region to make an informed guess as to whether her gaze is turned in our direction. This city, too, will require the removal of Fort Barca, as they have claimed the southern end of the Western Forests. Once established, a city here would be able to ensure that no more nests threaten Blackbird Claw.



The original planned location for our third city, this area features gold, copper, silk-maggots, dog beetles, a great deal of floatstone (11 units total), algae and geothermals. However, much of it's area will be dominated by unworkable mountains, infertile tundra, and significant overlap with Necropolis' vicinity. Additionally, it is likely ARC will take offence to it being placed. We would also need to redeploy at the minimum Coyote's Penal Legion, and ideally also the Rangers, to fight back the aliens lurking north of Necropolis.

We will also need a mandate for our Intelligence Agency. Of the five foreign powers on this continent (ARC and Franco-Iberia on our continent, KP, the Slavic Federation, and the Brasilians to the east), we can spy upon the capitals of three - if they have additional cities at this juncture, we are not yet aware of them. We can also assign significant resources to counter-espionage and spy on only two foreign cities, though at this point we are not sure that any other powers possess any intelligence infrastructure - though ARC does have a reputation for fast and effective espionage operations. We will also need to decide whether our intelligence agencies will specialize in the acquirement of energy or research.

Summary:

RESEARCH OPTIONS:

9 Years: Alien Lifeforms, Alien Biology, Genetic Mapping, Defense Grid - please pick two if you want to pick from these

14 Years: Alien Sciences, Genetic Design

24 Years: Artificial Intelligence (Lamora's plan)

CONSTRUCTION OPTIONS, PICK TWO OR MORE:

SCIENCE: Cytonursery, Laboratory, Network - 13 years
MEDICINE: Cytonursery, Pharmalab - 6 years
TRADE: Ultrasonic Fence, Trade Convoy x2 - 8 years
NAVY: Gunboat x2 - 10 years
GROWTH: Vivarium, Water Refinery - 9 years
EXPANSION: Colonist (also pick a location) - 6 years

ESPIONAGE OPTIONS:

Pick three of: ARC, Franco-Iberia, Brasilia, Slavic Federation, Kavithan Protectorate, Counter-Espionage.

POSITIONS VACANT:

Intelligence Overseer

 

I vote we get Genetic Mapping and Defense Grid researched. Then we should build Medical facilities.

Considering how close they are I think we should spy on ARC and Franco-Iberia. I'm indifferent on the 3rd option.

 

Research: Genetic Mapping, Alien Biology (Aekiel has already been stuffed full of alien nonsense, what's a little more?)
Construction: Trade, then Expansion to the Fort Barca region. That much floatstone is perfect for a purity focus that probably fits X-COM best, the first point of which we will get from Genetic Mapping
Espionage: ARC, Franco-Iberia, Counter-Espionage


As far as I can tell, Director L is perfect for running Intelligence if he has already been running it since before we had one and without us knowing it!

 

I know that I am but a rank and file miner within the second regiment of the Mining Corps under Aekiel, but the writings and mumblings of the illusive figure known to us only as Director L has us intrigued.

He knows things about our operations he shouldn't, can't possibly be able to know. I recommend an "interview" to see how he knows, why he thinks he should know, and if he would "share" what else he might know. Maybe an official position within Intelligence would be a suitable carrot, if stick proves... difficult.

As it stands, conversations with my fellows lead towards:

Research: Artificial Intelligence
Construction: Gunboats (we have been neglecting the ocean analogues. We want more understanding, but will settle for Might) , then Expansion to Fort Barca.
Espionage: ARC + Counter-Espionage + Franco-Iberia

 

RESEARCH:
Genetic Mapping, Alien Lifeforms

The second alien war isn't over. Ignoring the low-intensity attacks and incidents we've had to deal with, we're gonna wander out into the wilderness and spark another one, mark my words. I fully intend to win it.

CONSTRUCTION OPTIONS:
Medicine + Gunboat x1 + Colonist (Western forest)

While I wholeheartedly support the taming of the western forests, spacing out the development of a colonial party would allow us to shore up our naval defences in the face of possible ARC hostilities.

ESPIONAGE:
ARC + Counter-Espionage + Franco-Iberia

At the moment, it seems that the reasonable course to take is a policy of containment towards ARC and F-I. For the moment, we should focus on the acquisition of research.

 

Hello! I heard there was an open position. Allow me to forward my credentials. You'll find that I come highly recommended.



Lamora will do. Now, onto business.

On the subject of Espionage, the position I am currently interviewing for: Research is a must. We must bring home those technologies, gentlemen. The amount of energy we'll receive from fledgling cities and rookie agents is trivial. But technology is relevant at every level, if only as a building block to technology we actually desire.

Forget counter-intelligence for now - no one else has even the workings of a spy network at the moment besides us, and there'll be other measures we can take in the future to limit the amount of influence they can levy in our cities, without the waste of a perfectly good agent.

Where was I? Of course, technology. The only concern with that, of course, is that we can't control the technology our agents bring back. No free technology is bad technology, of course, but some technologies may introduce troubling Harmonic notions. But there's equal chance, of course, of bringing back Supremacy point and Purity. And we're not going to be hugging the xenos and singing kumbaya any time soon, are we, boys?



To minimize that chance, I suggest we send our agents to factions with similar notions to ours, and have them Establish Networks. That only takes a few years, and it'll be good experience for them - almost certainly enough to knock them up to Agent status, as well as increase their chances of success for future missions in that city. My personal recommendations are the Kavithan Protectorate and Slavs - they've been here the longest besides us, and are the most likely to have things we'd want.

Unless the Culper Cell has some suggestions, of course. They've got quite the reputation in the business. If we're looking for someone to get in bed with, they've got connections with legs that don't quit.

That's it for my brief. Though it may be premature, may I say, I look forward to serving as your Overseer. Hopefully the intelligence part will come with it, eh?

Now, if you'll indulge me a few inputs on the other matters -

In terms of Constructions, I may not be a doctor, but I know a thing or two about paranoia, and that's all the Ultrasonic Fence is good for. We have city-based missile batteries for a reason. I personally hope those aliens drift within a square or two - it'll give us a chance to personally hit them with the fist of God, and spare the good General a few soldiers.

What will benefit us is a healthy economy. and a healthy people. Pharmalab and Trade Convoys are the way we want to go, gentlemen. Those trade route slots aren't doing anything if we don't use them.

Finally, Research: I'm not in the habit of believing just anything I hear from strange men. You can rest assured that if you appoint me as your Overseer that I'll put serious resources into finding out more about this so-called 'Director L'.

However, in this case, I'd say-



-he has some fairly interesting ideas.

 

On Ultrasonic Fences

Spoiler

It isn't about defending the city itself, so much as the ability to render our trade convoys/vessels immune to alien attack. Extremely useful, especially for overseas trading.

 

I tried to hint at it without breaking kayfabe here:

While we've yet to see any aquatic aliens, let's not assume that the oceans are an entirely peaceful realm of coral reefs and delicious algae. While a quick jaunt up the coast to Necropolis, and through the inland sea to Central, are reasonably safe, and our recent successes in brutal alien murder has cleared the path to Fort Barca, a convoy to Palatine is almost certainly a fantastic way to feed our traders to aliens. And so far there's nobody else we've blazed a trail to, though our explorers will be doing their best to reach the Franco-Iberian lands in the coming years.

Lamora, I like your moxie. Consider yourself our new Intelligence Overseer, and I wish you all the best in your hunt for this 'L' character.

The Culper Cell seems pleased by our establishment of the spy agency, and has hinted that the price of admission to their metaphorical bed is as-yet-undisclosed tasks within the ARC capital of Central. I'll go ahead and assume that your third vote will be that, then.

 

I support the plan of L, although once we're done with the convoy's we should get that colony set up to the west.

 

The votes are in, and I thank you all for your input. Our current mandate:

Research: Genetic Mapping, then 'The L Manifesto'.
Construction: Medical, Trade, Expansion (West) - we will need a name for this settlement
Espionage: ARC, Franco-Iberia, Counter-Espionage

As our current research path is very Wonder-heavy, I will be attempting to achieve the same goals with constructions in Necropolis once the results of the research start coming in.

---------- Post automerged at 18:08 ---------- Previous post was at 17:12 ----------



Year 88: As our long-term plans include the settling of the western forest, our war against the creatures there has redoubled. Our rangers are also moving into position to begin the siege against Fort Barca, soon to be supported by Coyote's 5th and Aekiel's archeology team.

Year 90: The Pharmalab is completed, and soon high-quality pharmaceuticals will be available to our ailing citizenry.

Year 91: Aekiel has returned home, and our psychiatrists are greatly disturbed by his newfound lust for tectonics. Nevertheless, they were eventually persuaded to give him a clean bill of health, and he has been sent to map the southern end of the continent, with the intention that he be close at hand when Fort Barca falls.

Lamora reports that his agents have arrived at their respective destinations, and a network of informants are being recruited at Central and Le Coeur.

Year 92: Our secondary scout team has reached Le Coeur, and corroborate preliminary reports from our agent there:



They are having, to put it lightly, extreme difficulties.

From a glance, it seems they are having extreme difficulties expanding. Hemmed in by terrain on three directions and aliens in a fourth, they seem to be unable or unwilling to build up enough of a military to break through. While this is great news for us, considering it means they are much less likely to pose an obstacle, it could mean if they've turned their eye east they could take offence at our settling of a city there. But then, their demonstrated weakness makes their potential offence seem fairly trivial.

As far as we can tell, the western forests have been wiped clean of any concentration of hostile alien life. Under the protection of our Western Guard, Poytin has been sent in to begin clearing the region where our city will be built.

Year 93: Our scout has reported on dramatic events at Le Coeur - the heavily damaged colony-tank didn't make it through the miasmic fields surrounding Le Coeur. Evidently the power core, built to empower an entire fledgling colony, suffered critical overload and secondary explosions ripped the entire colony-tank apart. Tens of thousands of Franco-Iberian settlers died in an instant.

Footage of Franco-Iberian civilians reacting to the news, sent back to us by our spy network in Le Coeur, have become a massive hit on movie night. I sometimes wonder what kind of society we have built, and then I think of inevitably having to populate Coyote's Sixth Penal Legion and write it off as a necessary evil.

Lamora reports that we will soon have eyes in every corner of La Coeur, so I will be able to report on future events there as they develop.

The cytonursery has come online in Blackbird Claw, supplying our pharmalab and science team with a dazzling array of useful chemicals grown from cloned plantlife.

We have lost contact with Palatine. Whether they went broke and were absorbed by ARC, or were destroyed by aliens or ARC, is unknown to us, and immaterial. As we are currently seeking the destruction of Fort Barca, and scouts have revealed no miasma-free land route to Franco-Iberian lands exists, I have taken the liberty of ordering the construction of a military vessel able to scout the waters of this land to seek sea-based trade routes.

We will require an Admiral to lead our fledgling military forces - until one becomes available, they will be under the de facto command of Commander Jibril of the Merchant Navy.

Year 94: We have rebased the merchant vessel making runs between Blackbird Claw and Necropolis to Necropolis, in anticipation of foreign trade routes from our capital.

A debate has been raging among our citizens, and it has reached the point where we can no longer remain aloof. While the Second Alien War is fresh in all our minds, some are arguing that this represents a short-term war for survival, rather than a set-in-stone policy for dealing with alien life. Others are saying we should continue the offensive and set out on a war of eradication against hostile life-forms on this planet.



As our research and construction goals still have decades left to complete, I come to you with a single question: How should we proceed?

(A/n: This is an affinity decision. Eradication is the path of purity that we are already on, due to our research plan and earlier quest. Domestication later splits into Harmony or Supremacy paths.)

Also attached is a map of our continent as we know it.




Edit:

Further author's notes:

I've eyed the map for strategic resources, as that's a big part of the affinity decision.

Currently, our cities (current and planned) have access to 8 Xenomass, 2 Floatstone. Our northern and southern proposed colony sites have eleven and fifteen Floatstone, respectively. This makes Purity extremely viable, and Harmony fairly viable.

If we want to go Supremacy, here's what we can do: the western site, if moved away from the xenomass site that gave us so much trouble in the 2nd Alien Wars, could get us two Firaxite, and if our northern settlement was placed on the lake instead of the eastern coast, it could get us six at the cost of the city being inland instead of on the coast (making trade reliant on convoys instead of the more efficient vessels) and losing access - for good - to the patch of eight Floatstone to the east of Necropolis. These steps would make Supremacy just as viable as Harmony.

 

Eradicate. Purity all the way.

 

Exterminate the filthy xeno scum.

 

Domesticate

Because who wouldn´t like some nice alien pets?

 

Just to be clear, if you vote Domesticate, please indicate whether you want them as pets (Harmony) or beasts of burden (Supremacy), as Erandil did.

 

I'd love for us to go the route of Supremacy, although the game seems to not like us going this route.

 

Exterminate.

Gentlemen, I've heard rumbling of domesticating these animals. After all, we call some of them "wolf beetles", and wolves were so easy to tame that our ancestors did it accidentally, right?

Fuck you. Just because we can doesn't mean we should. Wolf beetles can hammer down walls with the fucking forehead horn things. Wolf beetles burrow. Wolf beetles also spray skunkshit out of some kind of horrible beetle cloaca thing. And wolf beetles don't die of cancer, apparently. Why the fuck would you want one as a pet?

No. No, I have a better question. How the fuck do you propose to make that happen?

(Though as a side note, bleach... Well, enough of it does in fact get the job done. Got bored with the experiment I had going on.)

 

As the person who'd probably be tasked with trying to train the goddamn beetles... I'd like to point out that I hate them and would kill them anyway. I vote we eradicate them.

 

I hereby declare the opening of hostilities of the Third Alien Wars. May they end only with the complete eradication of hostile alien life on this planet.