The Aviarium Continuum: The Greater Flight of the Bird People - A Mildly Interactive/Democratic AAR

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The voting closes. I've done an initial count and as far as I can tell it's another election which will use the third government formation rule - and whose result depended on every last vote.

I'll do an extra count before playing and post a new chapter - aiming for release this weekend.
 
Curses. I missed the vote. I doubt my vote would have made a difference, but for the sake of interest.


Election bill:

First choice: Dove
Second Choice: Albatross

Permit xeno leadership (yes/no): No. (The Bird People need to remain in command of the government. While we should continue to integrate new species, the time has not yet come for them to become leaders. Give it another 20-40 years.)

The Albatross have some good policies, but I feel they are both too inclusive of the species within our borders and yet at the same time unwilling to maintain the traditional alliances and pacts we have long established.
 
First Choice : Hawk
Second Choice : Dove

Xeno Leadership : No

Time to affirm ourselves as the dominant power we are. A strong push for space infrastructure should bring the colonies in line with the core worlds eventually. Also I'm scared about our fleet now that everybody's boxed in.

I like the new Albatross, even though I'm not voting for them. I feel like they fit better than the old Spiritualist Sparrows, especially in mid-game where we have to make the choice of how we're going to handle all the inevitable non-core populations. Will you be genemodding people to fit our 60% hability worlds ?

PS : I do feel for you on the Bronze Age uplifting, I was hoping the hawks might temper that but the doves just won outright.

Yeah it did feel like I could keep reviving the Sparrows, but it'd be better to introduce something new.

Not to spoil too much, but at the end of this session I am unlocking gene modding... the best use I can think of is to fix that once time I accidentally colonized a planet with an unfit POP >_<.

Primary Choice: Hawk Lobby
Secondary Choice: Dove Lobby
Permit Xeno Leadership: No

The Precursors event chain is really disappointing.

Nono, that event line is a deep commentary on... emptiness...something something Ozymandias... It's a metaphor for...

Okay, it's kind of lacking in the end.

First Choice: Dove
Second Choice: Albatross
Permit Xeno Leadership: Yes

In the name of petite-bourgeois interimperialism I vote for peace and fraternity.
And even suggest to any union of small businesses and other entrepreneurs to threaten with a general boycot of trade to the military authority in case they'll waste our money in another pointless expansionist war (I mean the government runs on our own taxes and our small bussines exploit the frontiers whilst the dastardly haute bourgeoisie chrushes us with their lobbies, monopolies, price-dumping and other honourless tactics and we can't even stop them because nearly all of us were to busy with inovating the economy and delivering 'unpaid' social services to bother with recieving citizenship by invading someone who hasn't even done anything to us. Plus I really like to wave orange flags.)

This is the Aviarium Continuum. There is no peace.

There is "slightly less war" and plenty of fraternity though! :p

First Choice: Dove
Second Choice: Albatross
Permit Xeno Leadership: Yes

I feel like the Murmuration needs a fourth party. Three parties are good and all but a combination of policies from the three different parties to form a fourth party would please me.

Eh, I could do a fourth party in the future. I'm considering it. But if I do, it will not be a 'middle of the road' party. I already feel like it's getting harder to differentiate between the existing ones. Many policies are similar because parties are supposed to stand out more in future plans after each session than in policy.

A moderate party would just have more vague plans, I fear, or come to represent playing the game optimally, which would be the worst thing of all.

Hence, a potential fourth party would likely be extreme. Maybe aim to replace the government with an emergency Junta in the face of a late game crisis, or maybe a pacifist party which aims to stop all wars and convert to a Democratic Utopia instead.

All aboard the Dove-Albatross train!

Election bill:


Party Choice

First choice: Albatross
Second Choice: Dove

Permit xeno leadership: Yes

Don't really mind whether Dove or Albatross leads coalition, but I do want them in one, and A-D looks like a minority compared to D-A or maybe even A-H/H-A which is troubling

Interesting development of strategic voting.

Not that I mind, but in the real world this sort of thinking could be cause for some concern - not that I'd be a supporter of my own voting system in the real world.

First Choice: Dove
Second Choice: Albatross
Permit Xeno Leadership: Yes
We need to build up and upgrade our colonies, and colonize uninhabited planets within our current borders. We should spread and develop in depth, not in breadthways and avoid wars, if possible. Give Aviarium twenty years of internal and external peace and quiet and it will change beyond recognition!

It's hard to notice for people reading the AAR, but playing the game I can see in the resources and research income in this update that the sector AI has been relatively improved!

There appears to be some text missing here.
First Choice: Hawk
Second Choice: Albatross

Permit Xeno Leadership: No


The Bird People can not rest on their laurels!

Fixed the text, thanks! Couldnt figure out how to put what I wanted to into words so I figured I'd do it before posting the update... then I forgot about it and overlooked it in my check of the post before posting.

Party Choice

First choice: Albatross
Second Choice: Hawk

Permit xeno leadership: Yes

As a Bird-Person living in the Othari Sector the xeno peoples that truly believe in the Aviarium want to see it succeed and grow but we colonists need the core-worlds to stop taxing us so highly so that we can build and contribute more.

Either way, the sector would gain more resources, it's more about if the central government should distribute the resources, or if the sector should decide itself.

First Vote: Hawk
Second Vote: Albatross

Xeno Leadership: Yes

The expansion to the new territories has proceeded well under the Dove-government but their policies are unfit for the further progression of the Continuum. The Hawks now need to press a strong fleet but I do not agree with their robot-policy - thats why I support the Albatross party. But the Hawks must stay strong and not allow the sectors to gain power. The Continuum needs to stay centralised under a strong government or else it's overall power will dwindle over time.

The robot policy is an area that's rather interesting in how it splits people.

It's like some of you people want me to start the AI end-game crisis, but that can't possibly be true. ;)

Curses. I missed the vote. I doubt my vote would have made a difference, but for the sake of interest.

Election bill:

First choice: Dove
Second Choice: Albatross

Permit xeno leadership (yes/no): No. (The Bird People need to remain in command of the government. While we should continue to integrate new species, the time has not yet come for them to become leaders. Give it another 20-40 years.)

The Albatross have some good policies, but I feel they are both too inclusive of the species within our borders and yet at the same time unwilling to maintain the traditional alliances and pacts we have long established.

I didn't count it, partially because I played before you voted so it'd be impossible, but also because setting a deadline seems like a good idea for fairness.

The good news is that far as I can tell, the result would be the same.

You may be interested in the demographics at the end of the update, though!

----------

Once again, thank you everyone for voting. I don't know what's best, to see new faces voting, or seeing old ones weighing on!

---------

2280 General Elections

Results are in!

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Yes, the dove lobby switched places with the hawk lobby following the exit of the sparrows, this can also be seen in the last election. Newest parties now take seats to the right.

- With 29% (6/21) of the vote, the Dove Lobby gains 86 mandates, their worst result in recent history!
- With 33% (7/21) of the vote, the Hawk Lobby gains 100 mandates.
- With 38% (8/21) of the vote, the Albatross Alliance gains 114 mandates, become the largest party in the Murmuration in their first election!

With no clear winner, the election moved on to the second government formation step. The Albatross alliance first sought the position as negotiator, however as their voters were equally divided between the dove and hawk coalition as their second vote (4/8 of Albatross voters voting for each), they did not fulfill the requirements to exceed 50% support for a coalition.

While there were some hawk voters (3/7) interested in coalition with the Doves, this was not enough and the love was not returned (0/6).

There were no options but to move unto the third step. Going by the votes, the following coalitions would pass a majority:

- Albatross/Hawk with Albatross always supporting when majority and a small majority (4/7) of Hawks in favor (12/21)
- Albatross/Dove with Albatross always supporting when majority and all Doves (6/6) in favor (14/21)

While the Hawks had the larger party, the Doves had a higher affinity for the Albatross Alliance, had more overall constituents supporting the coalition, and would therefore go on to form an Albatross-led Green-Blue Coalition controlling 200/300 members of the Murmuration.

To satisfy their coalition partner, the Albatross Alliance agreed that:

- Orbital Bombardment is limited to Light.
- First Contact should be peaceful.
- Build space stations to support planets as needed
- For the duration of their coalition, the Republican Force would not be left behind.
- The 'Smugslugs' would be uplifted. Eventually. When the 50-ish year process was done. Their eventual inevitable contribution to Bird People culture meant that spending an insane amount of research, energy and time to uplift them, only to have them join as a rather tame and useless protectorate, making the borders look terrible and which would later cost an investment influence would certainly be worth it. :rolleyes:

Meanwhile, every sector's taxes were limited to 50% immediately. In the short term, this resulted in an energy deficit that had to be compensated for with trade for minerals.

(Note: This is another example of a really close result. Had one more Albatross Alliance member voted Albatross/Hawk, both parties would have >50% affinity for one another, and hence passed the requirements of the second government formation step, and the result would've been Albatross-Hawk instead.

For the sake of clarification: I always fill out the above part of the update before I even play, as it helps me limit policies to reflect the election result in advance. Building extra space stations turned out to be a pointless compromise because the sector AI has been made much better at doing it )


Regarding xeno leadership, a large majority of 76% supported xeno leadership (16/21) and hence it will be official Aviarium policy!

2280-2310: Chapter 5 - The New Century Republic

As outlined in their political plans, the first ever infiltration of a sentient species could begin.

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Ever seen 'they live'? That's us. Except this time we will keep them supplied with plenty of bubblegum to avoid... incidents.

There weren't many unexplored systems left in Aviarium space, but what little there were, was covered with alien fanfiction.

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Most of the remaining planets were thin pickings or remained uncolonizeable (ocean, tropical and tomb worlds). That said, at the end of the update, there were no planets left that the Aviarium was able to settle.

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Tropical planets just had too much green and ocean planets too much blue. It would likely take the better part of the 2300's to figure out how *anyone* could survive such hellish conditions.

The other members of the Republican force kept bothering the Aviarium leadership with calls for federalization as equals (despite the other members having a third of the fleet and a fifth of the population each). However, for once they proposed something else: A new ally.

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While this new member had... questionable government policies, much to the dismay of the Dove Lobby, the coalition was able to come to an agreement to approve of the addition: The Valdari were in a perfect position to pressure the Photecians and their addition would serve to make the other members of the Republican Force worth sticking with for the time being. To vanguard democratic values, sometimes you must work with the lesser tyrant.

While terminating the terraforming equipment of Craw't, a group of engineers gathered all the disabled equipment and were quickly able to reverse-engineer it.

Many years later this would have some consequences...

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We're talking about 25 in-game years, which I found pretty impressive that they'd make an event that had an effect so far ahead.

Turning off the hallucinogenic atmosphere of one of the outlying planets was hoped to produce similar results, but it just made the inhabitants a little less mellow. Oh well.

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In an effort to stay relevant in a time with no new worlds to discover and no debris to analyze, the Scientist-Captains of the Aviarium made some effort to look up long forgotten projects.

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Oh. Hovering herbivores. And lithovores... That's... neat? I wonder if we can weaponize the latter?

While the fiend scientists found it harder and harder to find stuff to do, the same was not the case for the tenured ones. A technology that had long been awaited finally became available.

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It would take some time to perfect, but soon the many pre-sentients of the Aviarium could join the space community at large!

This of course also meant that another technology had been completed! When the pre-sentients would be able to join the Aviarium Continuum, they would be able to become leaders in their own right, once they had served their duty.

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The infiltration of the Entheri homeworld proceeded with only a slight bubble-gum related bump on the road. They were a little miffed about the whole "we replaced your leaders and made you think you joined willingly" business afterwards, but they'd get over it in time.

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Once they've had enough space bubblegum, they'll wish they had joined sooner.

By 2087 the fleet, which had been steadily built up in this period, was ready. 30 Hale-class plasma corvettes, 30 Halo missile corvettes, 20 Wildfire-class missile destroyers and 10 Inferno-class cruisers took on the automated defenses of the Sanctuary ringworld. It was a success with minimal losses.

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It was noteworthy that the Hale-class corvettes and Inferno-class cruisers had performed beyond expectations in the engagement, meaning that energy weapons had done far more damage than expected. There were some concerns that missiles weapons were becoming a weakness of the Aviarium, but for now these discoveries were only anecdotal.

Meanwhile, scientists back home had finally solved the stairs conundrum of the old automated Bird-bots. They would soon be more advanced than ever before.

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Understanding escalators is the realm of synths, though.

With the clearance of the Sanctuary ringworld, the scientists of the Aviarium suddenly had much work ahead of them. The station itself uncovered first an unknown exotic metal and the debris uncovered advanced weaponry and shields

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The most alarming, however, was this: The species on the station had lived there for so long, that some of them had achieved sapience.

The four habitable sections were already claimed.

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The ringworld was not the unclaimed and ripe jewel as had been expected. The four colony ships with species from every corner of the Aviarium were instead sent to the most distant corners of the Republic to fill out the last unclaimed planets. The colonists were none too happy, instead of a promised paradise, they got the smallest and most bleak planets that were left.

More importantly however, for a few years the politics of the Aviarium ground to a halt, as the Dove Lobby argued that this was the death knell to the plans of transferring control of Cyan and Purple Nest to the Othari sector, and that the species of the Ringworld should be integrated into the Aviarium one by one. No way would the station work as a cosmopolitan capital as once imagined, if there were already a species living there.

While uncertainty reigned on how to handle the new situation, the xenogeneticists of the Aviarium finally had their moment in the sun getting to work with the pre-sentient species within the republic, as the technology behind uplifting was unlocked.

First came the Birnathi, a furry little mammal in the Ustir system. In their first attempt at uplifting the species, they started by induced changes to make it stand up straighter and to neurologically condition it to seek out more social behavior, while advancing its inherent intelligence.

As a rather unfortunate accident the species lost most of its fur and started to sweat all over the place when exposed to heat. Even stranger than that, the process of improving its native intelligence resulted in the species itself cutting its fur at regular intervals (sometimes members, often females, would shave off everything but the head fur), while the male members seemed to just lose most of its top head fur as it aged, but also gain facial fur naturally in time. All in all they seemed obsessed with the colour, style and amount of fur they had!

Socially, the new Birnathy had way of communicating complex coded signals by posting images on public forums with small text captions, a communication technique which quickly gained traction among the other Aviarium species.

These were indeed strange creatures.

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They still complain about their back problems.

Their conservative trait gives them +1 leader skill but -25% experience gain speed. They fancy themselves quick and adaptable but really they're just more naturally talented than most aliens (like the Bird people) but have to repeat new things like 10.000 times to get good at them.

Other species were also uplifted, with the same mindset: Make them social, and tell them to like the sharp end of the knife and other species.

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It did not work too well every time. The Rontor became mostly xenophobic, with some xenophiles leaving their home planet quickly. Indeed, the Rontor species was Starborn, which made it more likely to move all over the place and deal with most climates... while also making it a bit grumpy and restless (+25% habitability, -20% minerals, -10% happiness, -60% migration time). Those few who were xenophile got everywhere.

The Mesh'Ben was perhaps a greater success ethically, with most assimilating to a Xenophilic and Materialist point of view, though not all that concerned about war either way. They were talented and industrious, but pretty demanding though can cause problems when they leave their home planet (Earthbound: -25% experience gain, +15% energy, +20% army damage, -5% other species happiness)

After a few years of heavy-handed debate among the Albatross Alliance and the Dove Lobby, the final decision was made. The Ringworld would be conquered, though it would anger many neighbors greatly to take on four native species all at once. Afterwards, calls for immigration would be made by edict. If it became clear that the ringworlds could not function as capitals, the system would be given to the eastcore sector.

Uplifting all four species would simply take too long, and cause friction between them. If there was no immigration, control over Purple and Cyan Nest could simply be taken back.

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The sections fell one by one in a matter of weeks. The intergalactic response was none too positive.

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They weren't even the most offended. Some had a combined total of -200 :eek:. I guess this is why you should use infiltration when possible.

In other words, the Aviarium is unlike to find anyone willing to ally with them outside the Republican Force at this point.

In the ringworld, just two years after the initial invasion, the resulting mass immigration had been beyond anyone's wildest expectations.

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Holy multispecies capital, Avian Batman. That's a lot of mouths... or whatever some of these species have... to feed!

Needless to say, the move to the ringworld was considered a success. Every ringworld section soon looked the same, and multiple robots (soon droids) were produced to help alleviate the need for food, while farms were built.

It would take a lot of time and much effort to bring the ringworld up to modern condition as the shining example of central government planning, but even the Dove and the Hawk Lobby could argue that this new centrally controlled land did not had potential. At first buildings were made to provide sufficient food, then shifted to a mixture of energy and science. The Aviarium aimed to become independent of energy imports.

Space stations were also constructed for each segment, the ringworld would in time become the primary space station for the entire Aviarium Continuum.

More on the status of the ringworld (eventually redubbed "Sanctum") at the end of the update along with information on all the species in the Aviarium.

All of this is not to say that Aetheria itself was ignored by the central government. While the population of Sanctum rose by tens of billions in the first few years, becoming the social hub and industrial center of the Aviarium, Aetheria remained the one Capital Planet, seat of the Murmuration and Lord or Lady Protector. In time it had also become a center of betharian energy production to supply the navy, a research nexus and soon also the most important center of commerce.

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Sometimes individualism reminds you that there's more to it than playing second fiddle to collectivism. Yes my max building levels are pretty low :-/.

A long quiet followed, as Sanctum was built up along with the navy being expanded. To counter the complete reliance on missile weaponry, a plasma-based Destroyer and Cruiser were engineered. Both built to counter mainly mid and large size enemy vessels, as well as the Blizzard could lend anti-missile point defenses of its own. The new Crystal-infused plating were integrated in most ship types.

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A new upgrade to the plasma accelerator, the plasma cannon, was also underway and could be retrofitted as need be. There will also be a primer on the New Navy at the end of the update as a result of lessons learned during this session.

In the western Coreward system, an xenophillic primitive species on a continental planet sought refuge among the Othari settlers.

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Tell us about this "modern sanitation" and "Actual Space Travel" you guys do.

Nothing much seemed to happen outside the Aviarium, and the new century came and went uneventfully. Most wars were far away and of little interest to the leadership, though some took an interest in the Qix'Lufran being beaten soundly by... just about all of their neighbors.

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They're down to 3 planets in 2310.

This was not a bad thing. In the past 25 years research and mineral income had more than doubled, and the energy balance had become equal as the strain of supply all the space stations was gone now that the central government only cared for Aetheria and Sanctum and left the rest to the regions. Meanwhile, the Fleet swelled in size.

The quiet was not to last. While multi-species had been declared throughout the Aviarium for many years at that point, the election of 2305 came as a surprise to most. Lord Protector Feathers of Aquamarine had been sequentially re-elected up until his death of old age and everyone expected the current Grand Admiral Plume of Cyan or Grand General Eyes of Aquamarine to be elected in his stead.

And those two did fight. The political battle almost got hysterical and the Murmuration had to issue a public demand that they quiet it down and act as Gentlebirds.

But the population had had enough of both those two.

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The new Lady protector was a known separatist sympathizer of all things. She was also warlike (lower ship and army cost), and fond of Space Stations (Home in the Sky makes everything connected to Space Stations 20% cheaper)... The latter made some sense seeing as how just fifteen years ago, she'd been a lieutenant in a society aboard a giant space station, which that had just invented trench warfare.

Her paradoxical political beliefs seemed to stem from her experienced during the three-day long "sky war" which had shattered her home, and yet introduced her to a society that would give her an outlet for her fascination with warfare and tactics.

And now she was the Head of State of hundreds of billions of souls and answered only to the Murmuration.

Her first order was simple. In her first public speech, she publicly reminded the Albatross Alliance of their war promises and asked them to assemble the fleet and prepare for war with the Confederacy of Guma

They were not bound by law to obey her, but had been preparing for the war anyway. The improvements to Sanctum had been competing with the fleet for resources but now the fleet was ready.

And the Republican Force was willing give the Aviarium free reins to rip the Guma a new one.

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The eventual aim was to release the newly gained land as a client republic.

The first Grand flocked was moved into position. Expecting the wormhole-using enemy to run at every chance they got, a confrontation was soon forced by assault upon one of their home planets.

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In a single battle, the Guma had been soundly crushed. Nevertheless, the battle had revealed something: Missile weapons, which made up about 40% of total weapon power of the Aviarium fleet, did almost no damage due to the enemy point defenses. It was perhaps time to retire missiles as anything but an auxiliary weapon.

... Also, being an Aviarium corvette crewman was dangerous work o_O.

The rest of the war wasn't too eventful. The Guma had managed to down every single one of the original 31 landing crafts, which delayed the invasion, yet new armies were soon recruited and employed.

Hell, the Obvenis even made themselves useful as the 1st Grand Flock was split in two to cover more ground.

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They're still using warp 1 engines though.

Soon the battering of their planets and the advancement of the Aviarium fleets was too much and the Guma surrendered before their capital planet fell.

As expected, the fanatical xenophobes were not too fond of their new rulers.

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... But they could not be released. Due to galaxy laws or something (they don't appear in the 'release vassal' view. I screwed up and should have liberated one of the systems and asked it to be a vassal, then given it the other systems).

A massive amount of them are like to erupt in rebellion if a solution is not found. (The solution will not be to give them back. Ever.)

It also became clear that the fleet had overlooked a few frontier stations on the way to end the war swiftly...

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Doh. At least the hyperlanes can still access everything.

This pushed the remaining Gumas to look for protection in a minor alliance with other factions in the north, west of the Combined Valdari Colonies.

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Overall, every faction except the members of the Republican force now find the Aviarium to be such a great threat that they will not deal with it.

A single good piece of news is that the tiny Republic of Kergaros left the alliance and joined the Obevnis as a vassal, meaning they won't demand boons in future wars.

End of Chapter 5. New elections are called, please see Appendix 2 for details on political subjects.


Appendix 1: Primers on selected Aviarium Data

Primer: Status of Sanctum

20 years of development have meant a lot for the four segments, recently redubbed Sanctum Alpha through Gamma.

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Yes, I accidentally switched up gamma(should be left-down) and delta (should be down right), will fix it after the update.

... But there's still much work to be done. Plans are to have a hyper-entertainment in every segment. Even without it, however, most natives have come to accept their place as civilians and some even citizens of the Aviarium, which is seen as a major victory.

Most buildings outside base bonuses specialize towards energy, research or unique buildings as seen in the image above.

The space stations are all level 5, all have a Fleet Academy (+5 chance to evade, +5% evasion, +3 chance to hit), orbital solar panels and hydrophonic farms. Other than they are differently specialized, most notably Sanctum Delta's (the one called Gamma on the map) space station, which is specialized as a docking bay with an engineering bay and crew quarter which both lower fleet costs when docked.

Primer: Demographics and species of the Aviarium Continuum.

The Aviarium is now home many species, both numerous and few in number. Specific species:

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(breathe in)

- Bird people: You should know of these by now! Worth noting that they are now a plurality at 42% of the population! (On a side note, Bird People live in many parts of the galaxy now, thanks to prior immigration agreements)
- Othari: The high starting population + being adapted to continental planets meant that these guys make up 14% of the entire population.
- Bhenn'Thell: Same as above, except the entire population in the Aviarium (also 14%) originated from the initial immigrants in Purple Nest, now spread across Arctic and Tundra planets across the Aviarium!
- Droids: There are quite a few by now (6% of population!). Due to a massive recent energy surplus, heavy investment was made in depopulated sector planets.
- Hathgumm: The lovely new addition to the Aviarium. They're (mostly) xenophobic jerks.
- Drull'Perfen: A relatively high number of these are found throughout the Aviarium. Unlike the Othari and Bhenn'Thell, no effort was ever made to use them as colonists, so this is mostly caused by the Republic of Kergaros sending their surplus over.
- Rontor: A very successful recently uplifted species! Their starborn trait is showing and they've tripled in population over the course of just 20-ish years. Xenophillic offshots are found especially in Sanctum and Gaia worlds where they like hanging out with the locals, while xenophobic ones stayed at home.
- Birnathi: Other than the newly-renamed Birnathia, these almost-bald mammals have been used as colonists for a few arctic world. Rather than compete with and hate the Bhenn'Thell which prefer the same climate, they tend to congregate with them in cold climate and keep each another warm and xenophile-happy. :oops:
- Entheri: About half are found in their homeworld where they hang out with a few newly settled Bird People and Rontor. The other half has spread, which is quite welcome as they are both Charismatic and Industrious.
- Mesh'Ben: Other than their homeworld, quite a few have come to the Sanctum segments to hang out with their benefactors... Where they cause some irritation due to their earthbound trait.
- Obevni: Despite multiple immigration treaties, few have moved over. I suspect this is due to the Aviarium having similar ethics as the OUT where they came from, while Bhen'Thell immigration was high as the Aviarium absorbed non-pacifist emigrants.
- Zum: Natives of the Sanctum Beta segment and the species which our new Lady Protector belongs to. Despite most being fanatically collectivist, they're some of the better adjusted of the native Sanctumites. Strong... well, I guess appearance can be deceiving.
- Wacegi: The other smugslugs. The ones which are xenophobic jerks. Most of them hate the people now living in Sanctum Delta. They're naturally Very Strong.... I guess those fins are more dangerous than they seem?
- Kammerian: Natives of Sanctum Gamma. Most of them are fanatically spiritualist and many are also pacifist. Despite this most are okay-ish with living with the new settlers and being part of the Aviarium Continuum.
- Syldaean: Natives of Sanctum Alpha. Quite torn between being pacifist (and hateing the warmongering government) and being xenophile (and loving all of the aliens, even the Bird People). They're extremely adaptable, I have no idea how that works for native ringworlders...?
- Fevarian: Recent additions from native Stone Age people of the Green Oasis colony in Coreward sector.
- Andigonj: Pre-sentients native to an arid world. Saw no reason to uplift them just yet.
- Reyubb: ...??? They're living in the Sanctum segments. I've no idea how they came to the Aviarium, but they're native to (but not primary species of) the United Ess'Jaggon Empire, just NW of the Guma. Likely settlers who lived in Guma lands then moved to Sanctum once they became part of the AViarium. Enduring, charismatic, individualist, materialist and has the coolest capes. If they stick around they're natural settlers of Ocean planets.
- Tendrakkian: The original POP moved away, so now one is left, stuck hardly growing. The Aviarium isn't a nice place for spiritualists it seems.

(breathe out)

Primer: The New Navy

Missile ships have been abandoned due to their terrible performance in the Guma war. Current setup is more or less locked, though components are of course updated as they are discovered:

NfdkOPY.jpg


- The Hale-class corvette is the only remaining corvette. Specialized in getting close, trying not to die, and opening the plasma cannons and distracting the enemy crafts. Pilots of these ships are very admired for their bravery, given the high losses in large engagements. If anyone survives long enough they're clearly qualified enough to pilot cruisers...
- The Blizzard-class Destroyer have somewhat longer range and larger (though fewer) guns than the new Wildfire class (see below). It relies more on its shields and is produced to take down enemy destroyers while providing protection against missiles.
- The Wildfire-class Destroyer has been re-purposed from being a missile destroyer to being the only kinetic ship in the fleet. It's made to be a more durable version of the Hale corvettes (check that HP!), getting close and wailing its railguns at enemy screens. There are some who say that the new wildfire class should replace the Hale ships, but for now both are used.
- The Halestorm-class Crusier is ironically more of an overgrown Wildfire class using the same medium sized plasma cannons as the Blizzard class. Designed to stay at medium range and provide the main supportive fire of the fleets.
- The Inferno-class Cruiser has had its missiles removed in exchange for another large plasma cannon. Build to take down enemy capital ships and long-range support, debate persists if this ship will be kept in production once Battleships are put into production.

Appendix 2: Policies for the coming election period.

Next war target

Hawk Lobby: The Bhen'Thell have shown themselves for the fairweather friends that they are. First they cause a stir about integrating pre-space civilizations quickly (a move we heartily approve of by the way), then they feel 'threatened' when we liberate the Hathgum from their oppressive plutocratic government, even though it had lied to them about how horrible the rest of the galaxy was. It is time we face off with them and their alliance, not to mention liberating our avian bretheren still trapped behind their lines..

This would also make us able to explore the last area of unknown space. There may be another empire there, there may be vast riches, there may be nothing - but we should make it there to find out!

Dove Lobby: We must finish our obligations to the Republican force and finally wipe the Drull'Perfen Kingdom and Othari "Commonwealth" from the map. The continued existence of these autocratic rump states are a mark of shame upon the galaxy. An added bonus would be that wiping out the Drull'Perfen Kingdom would shorten the distance between Aetheria and Sanctum.

Albatross Alliance: We should prepare for war with the Photecians. They are the greatest singular threat to our autonomy, most of the rest are empires that have fallen and can't get up or alliances of lesser nations. They control lands which, once taken, would greatly boost the territory of the Eastcore sector. The Combined Valdari Colonies are already poised to help us with this war!

At the same time, should the Guma alliance show signs of weakness, we should switch priorities and make an attack to allow us to make them a vassal state before civil war breaks the entire sector.

Map of proposed wars, colour coded for your convenience (dotted is alternate, white is possible peaceful expansion):

GpF0ExD.jpg


Dealing with the new Hathgum Republic Sector

Hawk Lobby: Since we cannot release them as vassals, and we don't believe that we should do that to begin with, as they are now civillians of the Aviarium, we will take any rebellion as they come. Worst case we will defeat those most opposed to our way of life the hard way. In the meantime we should plant some of these 'bots in as many of their worlds as possible as they'll remain loyal regardless, and then also move our armies into their planets to be ready for trouble.

Dove Lobby: We should strive to put resources into integrating as many as we can using media and campaigns, before they rebel. In time, many of them will be able to adapt to our ways... We should probably also keeps our troops close.

Albatross Alliance: We should do everything possible to make the region able to be released as a vassal (seriously I don't know why I can't, because I don't have the "capital" (Guma)? That said, we could agree to the Hawk robot plan, though we believe that the lack of true sentience in robots is something we should work to improve.

Other

To deal with the growing population and fair representation, there has been discussion to increase the seats of the Murmuration. At first a number based on the number of sectors was proposed, but due to the differing size of sectors and disinterest in encouraging specific 'sector parties' this was abandoned.

It remains unquestioned that 300 seats isn't enough when you've got almost 100 planets with some electing only one or two members of parliament (and hence functioning as de-facto first past the post elections).

The following have been proposed:

1: Increase the size of the Murmuration to 1000 and guarantee that each planet gets at least 3 mandates to elect.
2: Make the size of the Murmuration dynamic in each election, with the number of seats being 10X the number of planets, and each planet elect a number of members of the Murmuration adjusted for population (but at least 3).

----------

Election bill:

Party Choice


First choice:
Second Choice:

How to increase the size of the Murmuration:

Set to 1000 seats: [ ]

OR

Set number of seats to dynamically 10X inhabited planets: [ ]
 
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I have an exam on Monday the week after next, so the next chapter may not come next week, but the week after that.

Even so, the deadline for voting is Thursday 16:00 on the 9th as usual, unless I officially extend.
 
Party Choice

First choice: Albatross
Second Choice: Hawk

How to increase the size of the Murmuration:

Set to 1000 seats: [X]

OR

Set number of seats to dynamically 10X inhabited planets: [ ]
 
First choice: Hawk
Second Choice: Dove
How to increase the size of the Murmuration: Abstain

I don't really get the Murmuration size adjustment deal.
 
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First choice: Hawk
Second Choice: None
How to increase the size of the Murmuration: Abstain

I don't really get the Murmuration size adjustment deal.

It's mostly a flavor thing. In my head the elections to the Murmuration takes place on a planetary scale (most small-medium sized planets) with a few very large planets having 2-3 constituencies.

Even when trying to stay relatively compact, 300 seats isn't enough when the number of habituated planets approach 100, as the largest planets would have about 5-6 seats the Murmuration, while the smallest planets would have one seat - meaning the smallest planets would be First Past the Post.

And I can't stand the idea of First Past the Post elections.

To maintain a system close to the backstory where proportional representation is actually achieved in planetary elections, even the smallest planets should be able to have 3-4 seats and that requires an increase at this point.
 
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Party Choice

First choice: Albatross
Second Choice: Dove

How to increase the size of the Murmuration

Set to 1000 seats: [ ]

Set number of seats to dynamically 10X inhabited planets: [X ]
 
It's mostly a flavor thing. In my head the elections to the Murmuration takes place on a planetary scale (most small-medium sized planets) with a few very large planets having 2-3 constituencies.

Even when trying to stay relatively compact, 300 seats isn't enough when the number of habituated planets approach 100, as the largest planets would have about 5-6 seats the Murmuration, while the smallest planets would have one seat - meaning the smallest planets would be First Past the Post.

And I can't stand the idea of First Past the Post elections.

To maintain a system close to the backstory where proportional representation is actually achieved in planetary elections, even the smallest planets should be able to have 3-4 seats and that requires an increase at this point.


For what it's worth, I find your PR government formation system works quite well. First past the post can bury all but one party.
 
Party Choice

First choice: Hawk
Second Choice: Dove

How to increase the size of the Murmuration:

Set to 1000 seats: [ X ]

OR

Set number of seats to dynamically 10X inhabited planets: [ ]
 
First choice: Albatross
Second Choice: Dove


How to increase the size of the Murmuration:

Set to 1000 seats: [ ]

OR

Set number of seats to dynamically 10X inhabited planets: [X]
 
Party Choice

First Choice: Dove
Second Choice: Albatross

How to increase the size of the Murmuration:

Set to 1000 seats: [ X]

OR

Set number of seats to dynamically 10X inhabited planets: [ ]
 
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Party Choice

First choice: Albatross
Second Choice: Dove

How to increase the size of the Murmuration:

Neither of the options - both systems don't represent the inhabitants of the Aviarium Continuum properly - better would be a system that represents primarily the pops and not the planets. Although giving every planet a minimum amount of seats is a good idea.
 
Party Choice

First choice: Albatross
Second Choice: Dove

How to increase the size of the Murmuration:

Neither of the options - both systems don't represent the inhabitants of the Aviarium Continuum properly - better would be a system that represents primarily the pops and not the planets. Although giving every planet a minimum amount of seats is a good idea.

I like leaving answers mostly in the following chapter (as I suspect future readers are likely to ignore comments and I want ones making contents on the actual update to be seen) but since the chapter will likely be delayed a week and it pertains to the vote:

POPs would, in terms of the story itself, matter as the number of seats afforded in the Murmuration will always depend on the population living on the planet.

I felt more that a change was needed as the number of seats came close to only 3X the number of planets, meaning that some planets would logically only elect one member each if they had a low population.

Which is bad (in my view) as @Nuada Airgetlám points out, such systems encourage either a dominant party, a two party system or regionalist parties.

The solutions are more: Should the increase in seats (which would allow large planets as much as 15-20 seats and guarantee small ones at least about 3) fluctuate with the growing expansion, or be locked high enough that it should work until a point where more than half the galaxy has been conquered?

If you mean seats should increase with pure population... That's interesting, but I don't agree. I find it more important that each planet has enough seats that proportional representation remains (if 20% of the Aviarium vote for a party, there should be enough seats pr planet that it gets 20% of the seats, which wouldn't be the case with single member constituencies)

Regarding the delayed chapter: Yeh, I'm likely to delay the vote until Monday the week after. Would also deprive me of an excuse to pay until after the exam :p.
 
Party Choice

First choice: Hawk
Second Choice: Albatross

How to increase the size of the Murmuration:

Set to 1000 seats: [X]

OR

Set number of seats to dynamically 10X inhabited planets: [ ]
 
Party Choice

First Choice: Dove
Second Choice: Albatross

How to increase the size of the Murmuration:

Set to 1000 seats: [ X]

OR

Set number of seats to dynamically 10X inhabited planets: [ ]

Hello, this is the first time i comment on this mod, as well in the paradox site, very fun, dynamic and interesting mod so far. I personally hope you add a pacifist party as the extremist party you were thinking about to add, so to differentiate one party radically and completely from the hawks(who may perhaps be made more extreme maybe aiming for a military dictatorship) However, i look forward to the Aviarium Continuum controlling half of the galaxy(a goal which looks not so far now) :)
 
First choice: Dove
Second choice: Hawk
Set to 1000 seats (I don't think it would be a good idea to change the number of seats whenever we colonize a new planet).

I have no qualms about liberating the people of the backward aristocratic regimes we surround.
But I just can't stand the idea of attacking the Bhen'Thell they are neither a treat nor have they done anything against us, if we do it we'd only end up looking like a scary-named evil empire in one of those crappy Fex'Klangan space operas (like trek wars craft star).

(Also, you need to be individualist to build Stock Exchanges? the plutocratic collectivists of the Othari Commonwealth (read Commonpoor) must be turning hard enough in their graves to power a spacestation (except those which aren't dead of course).)