Ten more years! Ten more years!
Claws of Purple, hero or the people! (It's hard to rhyme Purple)
A new life awaits on Purple Nest. Inquire today about relocation packages.
Not it's... smurple!
Remember that the Consul is just there as window dressing, like presidents of nations such as Italy and Germany, real power rests with the legislature and head of government - which you guys decide!
She's some pretty talon-raising window dressing though, am i right?
WOW that is some horrible luck with the Anomalies!
Yeah, after the third time failing a 10-20% risk anomaly I was about to wonder if I should check for known bugs
. It was just a...
statistical anomaly though
.
So was the Gaia world, so I'm not complaining.
Chapter 1 Part 2: 2210-2220 - First Contact(s)
First off: Space garbage!
Surveys on the stars along the southern fringe of the galaxy arm turned up multiple Tundra planets, and large amounts of resources, but right now the political agenda was to colonize the systems already within reach first, which would rationally limit the ability to project into those areas with frontier stations anytime soon.
Speaking of the colonization effort, the second Aviarium colony was established on the first habitable planet discovered, which had been momentarily been pushed back by the discovery of Purple Nest.
The planet was not yet officially named Yellow Nest
In the eastern frontiers, in the Grekil system, Wandering Eye found another type of space station, but this one was unlike anything encountered before.
Answers were immediately sought. The system had a gas giant with no less than three moons, all habitable tundra worlds with vast science output - it was of vital strategic interest to the Aviarium Continuum for future colonization, once the necessary technology was unlocked.
All my feathers for the tech to colonize Tundra worlds. This is insane.
It soon became apparent that the system belonged to another sentient race. At first relations were extremely tense and the hawk lobby argued for a first strike policy to secure the planet, yet the Sparrow Lobby official policy was against it... and that policy had left a mark in the fleet size to conduct such a task. Military force had not been a priority before resources could be gathered to support such, better to wait and make a tactical strike, argued the Sparrow Lobby.
Easing the tension somewhat was the fact that it soon became obvious that there was a certain... kinship between the Aviarium Continuum and this "Obevni United Constituencies".
I love the Blorg reference in the individualist-materialist reply.
This further enhanced the perception that civilized life needed a relatively docile home planet climate in order to evolve. These xenos certainly were civilized too, despite their alien fungi biology, recognizing the superiority of leaving governing to the military and elections to those who know the burden of serving the common good.
An embassy was of course established. The threat that they would become great rivals later, if they managed to colonize the three tundra planets in their domain, was not lost upon the government.
In the system of Xel Madak, directly to the west of Grekil, two things were discovered:
- Signs that the precursors were indeed real.
- A colonizeable planet that might put Grekil into the de-facto sphere of the Aviarium before the Obevnians could colonize it three times over.
If an arid world can be beautiful, and I think that it can, this entire rock was.
A colony ship was already under construction, but a frontier outpost was ordered ahead of time. Suppressing the Obevnians from reaching that system ASAP was vital, friendly or not! Indeed, the frontier outpost functioned so well that the colony ship was directed to the
lackluster strong-spirited planet Frontier Nest instead, so that some of the many mineral deposits in planets nearby may become accessible.
In the system of Calam, further evidence and knowledge of the precursors was found. It was something to investigate later.
The Frontier station did well to push the Grekil in under Aviarium control. For now.
Meanwhile, the precursors in the Calam systems had left even more evidence behind. If there were 12 of them and no signs of them anywhere now, what in the world could manage to wipe them out?
And in Walmoro system, to the west of Pollux, the only interesting discovery was an ancient map.
In the time it took to research this anomaly, every planet could have been mapped anyway.
Despite still having never fulfilled her goal of three orbital research stations in a five-year term, Claws of Purple still managed to convince the citizens of the Aviarium that she was better than the slaver scum alternatives. (Even if they did win, not like the Murmuration would ever permit such a thing).
I really like this parliament photo they use. Nice touch. I need to try playing an oligarchy or autocracy to see if they use a table or throne instead!
All was not well in the new colonies however. Yellow Nest was plagued by seismic earthquakes that seemed random at first, but even geologists (actual geologists, not Mr. "I want to visit miss fellow student's cloaca so I sign up for classes I don't care about, oh and I also like Slaves" Wings of Cyan) could figure out why they happened. They didn't seem to be natural earthquakes due to tectonic movements for sure.
The Hawk Lobby argued for a first strike, but again the majority party Sparrow lobby won through to establish more peaceful relations unless conditions required otherwise.
It was a success. For now.
While exploration of the areas west of Pollux had not yet turned up new colonizeable Arid planets, an interesting discovery was made in the Ustir system.
So cute. I just want to cuddle them and mess with their genes and...
The technology to uplift this species does not exist as of yet, but reaching that system may be a worthwhile future goal.
The Undeground Dwellers soon hit upon hard times, and the Aviarium had excess minerals so the Hawk lobby decided that the improved relations was worth it. As a minority partner, the Hawk Lobby was not amused.
In 2017, Xel Madak's frontier station was about to be replaced by the establishment of a new colony. Xel Madak IIa would later be dubbed "Beautiful Nest".
In the nearby Sturli system, a new group of Interstellar beings were identified as crystalline entities.
Did I mention the pulsar? There's a pulsar there.
They were added to the growing list of "Interstellar beings to destroy once we have large enough missiles".
... Wings of Cyan quickly ran away just before his ship was destroyed. The tendency to be blocked in by celestial wildlife is getting quite pronounced lately.
Soon, Deres III would be added to the growing list of colonized planets. Soon it would be rebranded "Cyan Nest". Not because it had anything cyan in particular, but Wings of Cyan wouldn't shut up about not having anything named after him otherwise.
Conflict arose with the Underground Dwellers as they seemed to have no respect for the consequences of their actions above ground.
The Aviarium had shown them nothing but a patient understanding of their ways, but this was pushing it!
The relations further worsened when asylum seekers from the
Underground Dwellers Tendrakkians came to seek refuge. The Aviarium does not turn away those who would be willing to join it!
The first Xeno civilians (some working to become citizen) of the Aviarium. They hated most things about the Bird People except their charm, but at least the Avians weren't trying to kill them.
The newly rebuilt, albeit still very modest, Aviarium fleet was put to a field test against some of the abandoned mining ships in the Coggan system
To the surprise of most of the government, the old metal trash heaps were of actual value.
Politically, the increased number of planets had proved burdensome for the Murmuration and highest state apparatus to govern, and a self-governing sector including the Frontier Nest and Beautiful Nest was soon designated. It went through a number of different titles before settling on "Proxima Sector" lead by a Sector-General.
Appointment pending regeneration of influence after it was all lost while discovering that removing systems from sectors cost influence even before clicking "finished"
In the six last months of 2219, two new xeno factions were encountered. The first the Drull'Perfen Kingdom, directly to the east of the Ovbevni United Constituents. They had a strange sort of dictatorial autocracy, which forced the appearance of global happiness and fairness, while at its core against the very core of equality. At least their homeworld once again confirms suspicions that truly sapient creatures need a planet of a rather diffuse biome and tough climate in order to evolve, least they become engulfed by the chaos of violent flora and fauna.
Then the "iota" aliens sending a singular vessel to the western system of Manboth near Deres.
Space was becoming a busy place.
End of Chapter 1 Part 2.
----------
Aftermath of Chapter 1:
Status of the Aviarium Continuum
By the date 2220, the Aviarium boasts 5 colonies, the most wealthy of which is Purple Nest. Most colonies focus on food, but this is slowly shifting towards minerals.
A frontier station is being built in the Rabinoc system, as there are no viable Arid worlds to colonize and current technology does not permit colonizing other planet types.
The Grekil system, containing 3 tundra planets and a vast amount of research, is under diplomatic border siege by the Obevni United Constituents (OUC from now on, damn), as they have managed to colonized a nearby system.
Evidence points to another space-faring empire to the Northwest. This puts pressure on the Aviarium to explore and secure the Southwest as well as to consider the possibility of making the jump to the neighboring galaxy arm from the Tem system to discover what lies beyond. The need for a secondary science ship is starting to become evident.
Lastly, Aetheria close up:
Yes I know. I swapped the 1 food POP to the science tile ASAP.
Technology
Pictures say more than a thousand words. What do pictures of words say?
Note that the border expansion may delay the Grekil issue. May.
Holy long list, Aetherian Batman, that's the last time I'm doing that for a while.
Technology started out quite slow and only really breached 10+ in each category in the last 5 years.
Political development.
Pressure is mounting on the Sparrow Lobby as the Hawk lobby grows impatient with the slow expansion of the fleet and perceived softness of Sparrow foreign policy, while the Dove Lobby are making open offers to form a counter-coalition in the next election. It's clear that the current coalition cannot survive unless there is a pressure from constituents.
The prior four terms have been a test of the Sparrow Lobby's ability to govern the Aviarium Continuum and it is now time that they be judged for their performance, and if their future policies are the path forward.
Currently, the Aviarium military fleet only has 6 Corvettes and only one level 1 spaceport over Aetheria (a second one under construction over Purple Nest).
There is little debate that with the current political climate, as well as the annoying high prevalence of interstellar wildlife, a new and stronger fleets needs to be built, however disagreement exists as to how much this should affect other forms of expansion.
Politics on challenges faced - Campaign goals for the next terms
- The ownership of Grekil and the challenge imposed by the OUC:
Dove Lobby: The OUC have recently become willing to join with us in alliance. We should confirm this and make a migration agreement. We don't know the dangers the unknown species across the Galaxy hold, and we should make peace with those who think alike. To hold them off from our most legal claim on Grekil, we should put down a frontier station there to ward them off, while the population of the Proxima Sector grows to sustain our claim, and we can later colonize the tundra planets ourselves when the technology becomes available.
Sparrow Lobby: We overall agree with the Dove plan, but should Grekil fall into their hands, they stand to gain three of their own homeworld type planets. The only solution to this, should it happen, would be war before they grow beyond our means, and before they can contact other factions to turn against us.
Hawk Lobby: The Obevni are without a doubt the most respectable aliens in the galaxy we have yet encountered, and we do not believe that we shall encounter their like again. For this reason it is out belief that the only path forward is by adding their forces to ours - by claiming them as fellows under our united banner. We must conquer them, them conquer with them! Over the next few years our fleet and our military should grow to accomplish this task.
Other special goals
Sparrow Lobby:
- It is vital that we look to the Mass Extinction Events that we have had pinging on our map for a while. We should send a science ship with the sole task of investigating it further, though of course surveying systems on the way.
Hawk Lobby
- The Tendrakkians living underground within our legal territory. It is time that we assemble a ground force to secure them becoming proper civilians of the Aviarium Continuum. Some of them may even eventually serve to become citizens as many of the refugees have.
Dove Lobby:
- We should outfit an expedition not into the southwestern fringe, which we know the other parties support, to secure the pre-sentient mammals of Usir 1b for further study, but also send a science vessel across to the other galaxy arm across from Tem, as soon as the economy permits.
Afterword: What would have been different in the past 20 years with other parties?
I've mentioned this in a reply, but generally it's hard to have a start that is too divergent, because the early game seems to
require minerals. Lots and lots of minerals. For that reason most resources had to be put into building mining stations and colony ships. I have made some extra effort into upgrading Aetheria than I would otherwise to represent the slightly Tall focus of the Sparrows, but otherwise I would have expanded much the same. With the Doves I may have picked more building upgrades, which would likely also have payed off, while with Hawks I would have grabbed even more minerals sooner.
As the game progresses, the diplomatic choices made matter much more, and the selection of parties will decide if wars are started and who our allies might be. Forming a federation, however, is unlikely.
There's a few points where I would have acted differently depending on the dominant party, though - this is if they were the majority party in a coalition too. Effects minority parties have are written after an election, such as the Aviarium permitting full bombardment and free elections because of the Hawk faction.
- With the Hawk Lobby: The Aviarium Continuum would have had a larger fleet and the first contact with the Obevni would have been a first contact war. It's uncertain if this would have been a victory, of course, and fewer colonies would likely have been settled as a result.
- The Hawk Lobby would simply have done a pre-emptive strike on the underground dwellers, or invaded them. The Dove Lobby would not have demanded an apology, but still accepted the refugees.
- The Aviarium would likely have been a bit more ahead in technology as research stations were put on hold compared to minerals until about 2215. I don't think is is necessarily a bad that it went the way it did in the short term, though.
- The only edicts I have used are "Society research grant" Giving 30% research to society but draining the others by 10%. This reflects the society focus of the Sparrows, and the refused to use "encourage free thought (+10% to each for global +15% ethos drift) reflects collectivism. Propaganda edict used on Aetheria because... This is a military republic and it sent all the population there above 80% happiness giving +10% to everything.
Another lesson was this: Future updates will be 10 years or 15 years at most. Covering 20 years at a time is impossible at this level of detail (which already skips a few parts) and it seems like a very time consuming task both to write and to read. I don't want to split up chapters like this if at all possible.
Future plans is to update once a week at least, but this week I would like to do one or two more chapters.
And no, don't worry, not every chapter won't have this sort of long of an aftermath report, I'm just discovering what works for this type of system and what does not
Now check the front page, new elections are called!
