We are back in the base, and a quest appears. We need to craft 10x shield belts of decent quality. Let me see if I can craft them fast enough. It should cost around 200 plasteel and 500 steel.
And another quest is available, this time we have to assault a pirate base, with no less than 9 soldiers. I will summon the shuttle immediatelly.
The strict requirements mean we are bringing everybody. The pirates are mostly waiting in a central construction, I will try to snipe them and lure them into attacking us.
The plan is simple, attract them to this enclosed space here, then chop them.
These trees provide terrible cover, and the battle is embittered.
A few chops later and they decide to flee
And we reap some honor
And now Comtesse earned the title of Praetor. I need a throne room with more columns or something first though.
The battle cost AgentFrancis several fingers on his right hand, I will try to make a bionic arm for him
And the spoiled lass is making nonsensical demands already.
My shield belt production is moving at fast pace, I will probably make them fast enough.
And everything is ready for the bestowing ceremony. Comtesse will now be a praetor
Ok, I crafted enough belts. Now it is time to send a caravan, and claim our rewards.
I will send just a couple colonists, and some animals to carry the burden.
I changed my mind and sent a doctor also. In other news, I made a monument to please our nobility.
The caravan arrived, and another quest is done. I got some plasteel and a monosword as a reward.
Some mechs landed nearby (again).
The situation isn't good, they have a dynamo, which will effectively shut down all of our electronics in a couple days. They also have a centipede, and these things are nearly unkillable. The mech beacon will bring reinforcement, which makes the whole thing unpredictable.
Meanwhile, the caravan is attacked by tribals. Time to shoot some savages.
They charge bravely...
... and are easily dispatched.
Back in the base, I ordered a mortal shelling of the cluster. My plan is to provoke them, then have the turrets pound the things.
It seems my mortar operators are terrible at aiming, so I will just snipe them instead.
My sniper sucks also, but at least the cluster is awaken. Let us see.
The beacon summons another centipede, ugh. My plan didn't work very well, either, they aren't charging.
After a bit more shelling, they decided to attack, the end is nigh.
We are now struggling against centipedes on the choke point of the defenses.
The first centipede is gone, but the other is charging my animals, I think.
It changed its mind, and decided to be pierced by turrets.
Victory comes, but it is not over yet. I need to kill the dynamo thing now.
Turrets mean I will try to snipe the thing.
With the sniper hitting every tree and rock and wall under the sun, this will take a while.
This was getting silly, so I rushed somebody with a charge rifle.
The caravan has returned, and one turret still stands. I will try to snipe it again
I got tired of it, and just sent some melee to finish the turret. The menace is gone
The installation of the bionic arm on AgentFrancis was a disaster, the arm is lost in the process
And another raid is upon us.
These raids are getting larger, let's see.
(I botched this screenshot)
One of them starts beating my doors, so I will finish him first.
The remaining raiders go through the defenses.
The battle is brutal, but we win.
Another recruit joins, another miner.
I will now harvest a heart from my prisoners.
Well, it turns out heart harvesting has some large mood penalties, -16 in total. Also, 'innocent' prisoner? Really?
I installed the heart in Comtesse, no more prosthetic hearts.
And it is done.
AdvancedHero step in.