Completed Let's Play Alien Legacy.

[Cool name]

@ Mrowak: I will spoiler the answer to your post so that I do not need to be careful of the lenght.

Spoiler

The story and the events that unfold are indeed what makes this game and the few like it unique. I would love to see something like them done with modern technology. I do not understand with the modern obsession with "cinematic experiences" and giving everything a plot did not even try to produce something like this.

Moving on I am unable to answer your question. I do know the game has several different endings and that it does react to what you do but I am unable to go into details. At this point I am flying blind. My experience with the game was limited to the early stages.

And for the record I was not trying to set up a narrative. I do actually play games that way. The few times I did try to follow an evil route I did end up hating myself.

@ Crooked Bee: I did not knew the most adorable bee had such a fetish. Naughty.

@ Malakal: The population does grow over time. It is based on the number of habitats in the colony I believe. The growth is quite slow. Slower than the production of robots in most cases. You can check the screenshot of the Calypso's surface on this update. The green number under the number of colonists is the "reproduction" rate over, I believe, a year.

XIII. The Shivan maneuver.​

Spoiler

I want to take a moment to explain that from now on I will not be detailing what I do build and upgrade nor the resources we move between colonies. By now I am sure we all understand how the city building part does work and I will be building little. And to be completely sincere I am a bit tired of trying to remember what did I upgrade and when did I do so. Instead I will be explaining only the changes I do both in the colonies and in the general plan. I believe this may also make the events that will happen on this update and the next easier to follow. I fear too much detail coupled with the names I do choose for the colonies will only make the events hard to follow and would make the next update terribly boring.

Now let us continue with the story. As this thirteenth chapter begins the Captain confers with her advisors. The main topic of interest does seem to be the victory against the H'riak.

We can relax our troops and deactivate our defense systems now that the life forms have quieted down. Those resources can be devoted to expanding our colonies.

The vermin that hitched rides on our spacecraft are no longer as great a nuisance to our crews as they were. They stopped swarming against us when the terrestrial life forms stopped attacking.

I estimate we destroyed ten to the ninth power tons of living matter in our conflict with the native life forms. While the loss of native life forms was great, it would have been much worse if the war had continued.

I am very grateful for you taking measures not to make me feel even worse about it.

I believe we saved the native life forms from extinction by stopping the transmissions from the alien obelisks. Many of the larger species should be put on the endangered list because of the losses they suffer.

I want to keep our troops on red alert status until we are positive that the hostile life forms are really peaceful, sir. This truce could be a ruse while they rebuild their numbers.

To send entire species of innocent creatures to their potential extinction to destory someone who did nothing to you is not sane. In the end this war did reveal the H'riak as precisely that which I did fear the most they would be shown to be. Sociopathic paranoid assholes. The great mystery now is the nature of their enemy.

My plan now is to upgrade and develop my colonies. As a side project I do have the demolition and reconstruction of the Calypso's facilities in order to have them set up in quarters dedicated to each type of installation. A lady's motership must be aesthetically pleasing.

While advancing this plan is that I discover a terrible mistake on my previous ones. Our ships are only able to carry a single missile at a time. This we know. This means we can only move the missiles one by one. And by hand. Pipeline missions are not applicable to missiles.

This completely demolishes our plan of having JongMin as our entire Empire's arms provider. In the end most of my colonies are left with a single missile.

As I am taking care of those projects and problems it does come to happen.

Captain, the Gamma 1 asteroid isn't really an asteroid at all! It's a spacecraft of some kind! Navigator Wu reports that its current trajectory indicates it is heading for Beta Caeli.

The Captain has been part of many galactic adventures and stellar wars not to understand what these news do mean. Her officials and advisors may be surprised and confused but she is not. In her mind there is a single line of thought allowed to exist. Two, actually. "Supernova" and "Black Hole."

I believe it's a some kind of 'sporeship;' similar to our own CALYPSO. I'm concerned about its destination. I strongly suggest that we destroy it as quickly as possible. I knew from the start this thing was trouble!

Am I the only one who does reads the reports from our explorers? This has known this for years. Many years. A century or so to be precise.

We should construct as many missiles as possible and use them to target the spacecraft!

This may be the first time we do share a thought.

A counter did now appear on lower left corner of the map.

We have a thousand turns before the the sporeship colides with Beta Caeli. I send most able spacecraft to do a missile run against the sporeship. For a short while I do try to set a single factory on each colony to build missiles. It does not work. My colonies are too tight on resources to do it so. I leave the factory on Hyomin running the longest but the production is too slow and the disorder it brings to the local economy is too vast. Once the missiles on the colonies run out I send the ships there either to the Calypso or to JongMin. From these two locations the attacks are launched.

It is during this hectic time that the Empiants decide to make another call.

Captain, this is the second message from the Empiant creatures. It is obvious they're trying to communicate, but... well, I just don't like it. I feel that they are not asking for communication, but are ordering us to do something.

It may as well be so. We do know next to nothing about them and their culture. Yet presently we do have a much more pressing matter. Our missile runs are not doing any perceptible damage. The sporeship does not stop.

I've conferred with the other advisors and we are of the opinion that it is far too risky not to take immediate steps to find out how to destroy the sporeship. Captain, I request to be sent on a probe mission to the sporeship immediately. I feel I'm the best qualified advisor to analyze teh structure of the hull and give you an accurate opinion as to whether or not we can even damage this thing.

I decide to check on the advisors myself in case they did manage to reach interesting conclussions about our predicament. They did not.

I can't determine why the alien vessel is heading into Beta Caeli. It keeps making minor adjustments to its flight path. I'm still a bit concerned about its final destination, sir.

I don't think the sporeship will attack us directly, sir. We should concentrate on replacing lost resources and installations we've lost on planetside.

Granted, there is no evidence that the ship attacked the TANTALUS colonies directly, but we've seen that it can destroy robotics with powerful ressonating signals. Lord knows what it will do when it hits Beta Caeli. I believe we are still in great danger, sir.

Whatever we did, we somehow triggered Gamma 1 to commit a suicide run into Beta Caeli! We may want to get all of our people and equipment away from it as quickly as possible. We should not leave sectors that contain possible clues unchecked before it burns out on Beta Caeli!

The alien vessel is on a collision course with Beta Caeli. We know that it was almost impenetrable to our weapons; I wonder if it can resist the forces put out by that star?

This is not the time to ponder such things, Romanov. I send the ship who did carry the muffler back to the Calypso. I also send Antonelli to Gamma 1.

Soon afterwards Patel has something to report to us.

Sir, upon further analysis of the radiation signatures from the Empiants on Cronus, I believe their form of travel leaves a residue when it is used; a footprint, if you will. I used CALYPSO'S scanners to search for these footprints, and a pattern of sorts has emerged. It appears that the Empiants have recently traveled to planets stretching from the Beta Asteroids all the way to Hades and beyond.

This is when it does strike me. Do the still mysterious messages amount to telling us to get of their lawn? They do not seem to care for the inner worlds. Yet with almost all of our military focused on the sporeship we do lack the infrastructure to try an evactuate all of our personel and resources to the inner worlds and dismantle the colonies and starbases on Zeus and Cronus. I try to send a ship to probe Cronus in the hope we may be able to learn something about them or their language but it is not possible at the time.

My scientists do come up with new proposals. One of the proposals may even revolutionize our understanding of the universe.

Yet for the time being I focus on obtaining the scientific resources I still lack to upgrade my spacecrafts' armor. Antonelli reaches Gamma 1.

Captain, we need the crew I requested if we're going to be able to adequately test the sporeship's hull! I specifically requested a team of 10 personnel and 10 robots to help me. Please recall my ship and send me out again with the required team!

I am affraid you did not ask for this. I send her ship to JongMin. I pick one of the ships currently doing missile runs on the sporeship. I recall it to JongMin and then send it to get robots from JR. Shortly afterwards Antonelli is flying to Gamma 1 with the colonists and robots she did need.

In the Calypso I decide to build a force field just in case. On Lizzy I build a pair of laboratories.

Antonelli is about to reach Gamma 1 when a new phone call does come in.

That tears it. These jelly-fish looking things keep forcing their communications onto our secured channels. Sir, I submit my request to strike at these things to show them who's boss! A few quick sorties of missiles would help whip them into shape. That's my recommendation, sir.

I do not move forward with Romanov's plan. I am not going to start a war because they are trying to communicate with us, nor I am going to bully and hurt beings who did nothing wrong to us in order to scare them. To be sincere I was almost expecting the Embiant to be talking about the sporeship by now. They know the H'riak. They know their technology. I thought it could be a warning or maybe instructions. They were not.

As it will soon become apparent they were telling us to screw ourselves.

He is Antonelli's second in command.

Lee, Edward

Rank: Commander, Engineering Staff.

Date of Birth: 2090 (Biological age: 28)

Education: Stanford University.

Previous Positions: Unit Commander, 5th U.N. Engineering Group.

Personality Profile: Ed has always exhibited an unusual talent for making things work, even without the proper materials or equipment. Ed was decorated for his service during the Tokyo Flood of 14, where his quick thinking and unmatched engineering talents saved thousands of lives and millions of dollars in property from the rising flood waters. Ed is a prize addition to the Calypso's crew and his advice should be well heeded.

His stay on the bridge will be a short one. I should mention I did cancel the missile runs before Antonelli made it there. It was obvious we would not get any closer to our objective just by shooting missiles randomly at it. Yet the fleet remains on standby. As soon as Antonelli does find a weak point in the structure we are sending everything in.

I am finally able to send a ship to probe Cronus. I do so. Antonelli does take a while to come up with a report on the sporeship. I upgrade my facilities, send some of my starships back to carry resources between the colonies (for all had been sent to try and destroy Gamma 1), and attend to our research teams. Soon a new tragedy comes to happen: The ore deposits on Geum Mi have been all excavated! The colony will not produce any more ore.

This is not good. The entire point of the mothership being based on Zeus was to have Geum Mi and Ellin tend to its needs. Because of this I decide to follow Dr. Neusch's proposal of a new scanner instead of going for the upgraded armor in the hope the it will serve us to find new deposits. The scanner project is a fairly cheap one. This will not delay our armor for long. I decide to build So Yul's first factory. This was expected to be the beginning of our siphoning station. But the project will soon fall by the wayside.

After examining all the hull data we've gathered about the sporeship, I believe we've found a weak spot. On the 'under-belly' of the ship, there's a small crease in the exterior. If we coordinate missile attacks against the asteroid, I'll be able to direct our pilots to focus their efforts in that sector.
I have indicated my best guess calculation for the number of missiles required to destroy the ship in the space map.

Well done.

Captain, I'm affraid that all of our efforts at destroying the Gamma 1 asteroid with missiles has been ineffective up to this point. I believe, our detonations were only superficial and not very damaging to the interior core of the ship.

Worry not. I stockpile resources on Nana and Jiyeon so that the laboratories there will be able to go on for a while without a ship tending to them from the colonies. Every able ship is sent to attack the Asteroid. As I have a few missiles left on Hyomin the two ships who took care of the orbital stations launch a few sorties from there. All other ships launch from either Calypso or JongMin. According to Lee's calculations we will need eighty five missiles to destroy Gamma 1.

All of a sudden the situation takes a turn for the worse.

I am riven. Should I redirect ships to stop the coming attack or should I focus on the sporeship? After several of our ships launch their payload I check the map. One hundred and fourty turns have already gone by. To be honest I am quite nervous.

The ship I had sent to probe Cronus has been doing so for a while now. Was this what triggered the attack? The ship refuels on Choaya and returns to the Calypso. I redirect a couple of ships from the attack on Gamma 1 to bring resources to the mothership. It is going through the stockpiles at an alarming rate.

I am finally able to upgrade our spacecraft armor.

This brings me joy as there is no longer any doubt we will face the Empiants in battle. Neither is there doubt about what the messages meant. They were telling us to remove ourselves from their territory!

The laboratories on the Calypso are disasembled to make space for new facilities. Four ships are redirected from the attack against Gamma 1 to take care of the aliens on Cronus. Soon afterwards is the Neusch Focalizer proyect finished. It does revive Geum Mi's mines.

It does seem I forgot to screenshot the rest. The missing text is about all of our starships being equiped with it from now on.

On the space map I notice the Empiants are advancing against us. A fleet of four ships is found on Ares' orbit!

An Empiant fleet comprising 4 ships has attacked our colonies at Ares.

As I did suspect they are psychic. I check the damage report.

It takes me several moments to understand what did just happen. They did send four warships to attack a defenseless colony. The civilians and robots fought them back without casualties. All Empiant ships were destroyed.

They are terrible at this.

Soon two more squadrons are taking off from Cronus.

Their base must be somewhere inside the gas giant. I decide to check on my advisors.

Aggressive behavior is typical of the primate species. Unfortunate.

On one hand he is right. We are unable to communicate with each other. It is senseless to fight over a linguistic barrier. And we are trying to save both our colonies and theirs from a berserk sporeship that I suspect is going to try to destroy the entire system to wipe us out along with it. I would expect every single species on the universe to have their own version of "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

On the other hand it is quite amusing to hear this coming from our resident bloodthirsty barbarian.

I do not believe attacking these alies is a good idea, sir! It will be difficult, if not impossible, to convince them that we can coexist in peace.

I want to believe that was but a typo. And they are attacking us. Not the other way around.

The enemy's spacecraft appears to be greatly inferior to ours. I do not understand how they can cross interstellar space with such low-efficiency engines.

What I do not understand how can they be so awful at fighting interplanetary wars when they have an advantage of two billion years on us and somehow did manage to either defeat the H'riak or force them into a stalemate. Humanity's only interstellar war so far did end in near genocide.

We must protect our colonies and supply lines, sir. If we break off the attack and withdraw, perhaps we can convince them that we are not purely aggressive. We don't know how dangerous the enemy is, Captain.

They did attack us. I understand they may have interpreted our colonization of Zeus and the space station we did build in Cronus' orbit to be an attack but there is little we can do about it now.

Now that we've encountered hostilities, we should continue to press our attacks until they surrender. We dare not show them any signs of weakness.

On the other front our attacks against the H'riak sporeship have been progressing prettily.

Patel comes to report a new find to us.

Examining videos of the Empiant ships has given us insights into how they power their spacecraft. We hope to mimic the properties of these unusual diamond-based engines in our spacecraft.

As she leaves we receive a report our ships' armor is being upgraded. I take the chance to check the proposal on the new engines.

With our new ships I feel much more confident about going on the offensive against the Empiants. Up until now the ships I did send to cronus were parked on Choaya more to show our willingness to fight than to actually do so. Shortly afterwards is it that the few missiles stockpiled on Hyomin do run out. From the two ships attacking from there I send one to join the others on JongMin. The remaining one travels to Eunjung to take Hausmann back to the mothership.

Time does pass.

Captain, I believe we only need a few more missiles to destroy the sporeship. Our final sorties should be underway soon. I suggest we move any and all vehicles near the sporeship before the last missile sorties reach it. The resulting explosion will be quite devestating. We can't leave any space stations orbiting the sporeship either! If this works and the sporeship explodes they would go with it!

Dongwan has already been stripped of all personel, robots, resources, and ships. All that remains is a single habitat. I order it dismantled. It order the station itself scuttled afterwards. The order is rejected. We can't destroy space stations without first removing all resources, personel, ships, and installatiosn from it. Dismantling the habitat did generate a single piece of ore. I am not going to delay the remaining attacks to go get it.

I am in the middle of moving my installations around the Calypso when Patel comes with a new report.

Dr.Roderick Humpbert has expressed a wish to investigate some ideas on the properties of electromagnetism. He has proposed some very interesting suggestions about inverting the way we look at magnetic materials. His proposal is detailed in the TECH MANAGER.

I do check it.

I nod. Thrice. I go back to what I was in the middle of doing. I check the sporeship status on the way there.

You may notice a new squadron taking off from Cronus in the image.

Soon afterwards Romanov does come to report.

An Empiant fleet comprising 5 ships has attacked our colonies at Ares. The Empiants were destroyed.

I am starting to feel guilty about this.

I check on my advisors.

Unable to communicate with hostile aliens. Very bad situation, sir.

We need better weapons and spacecraft to battle these aliens, sir. We need more research labs!

We need to build up the defenses at all our colonies, sir. We must protect our people and habitats.

Give me more spacecraft and missiles, sir! We are engaged in a fight for our very existence.

To keep our supply lines open, we need more spacecraft, sir!

Time goes by. The sporeship is on its last leg. An Empiant squadron is detected near one of Zeus' moons. I order the ships on Choaya to blockade Cronus. The ships I was using to collect resources for the Calypso move to engage. Soon I am able to greenlight the Unified Field Theory proposal.

The time comes.

Yoohoo!

I'll make you famous, you filthy xeno scum!

Captain! We've destroyed Gamma 1 with our missiles attacks! Our plan to attack that weak spot worked perfectly! Now we don't have to worry about that -thing's- intentions. I'm quite proud to serve with such an iron-willed leader. Great job, sir.

She does also say something about how the explosion did destroy Dongwan but I do not care. We did it. We did save our colonies. We did save the native life forms. We did save the Empiants. We did just save the whole system. And more importantly, we did save ME. The sad thing about being the highest ranked officer in the human armada is that there is no one to give me a medal and I suspect it would be bad form to give me one myself.

At least I hope we did. We never got the opportunity to discover what was the sporeship trying to do. I did just assume its objective was to destroy the whole system. I do hope I was right.

With this does the present chapter end.

During the next episode the war with the Empiants will escalate and the casualties on both sides will begin to pile up. With Hausmann's teams trying to discover a method that would allow them to communicate with the Empiants the Captain relocates the mothership back to the inner worlds and wages a defensive war in a desperate effort to make the aliens understand this is all but a misunderstanding. But will her peaceful intentions be able to repair the damage done so far?

 

[Whisper]

My friend who played this game in past told that he didnt used missiles but instead used one big bomb to destroy sporeship.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Yay!

@ Crooked Bee: I did not knew the most adorable bee had such a fetish. Naughty.

B-b-but they are pretty cute.

 

[Malakal]

Good going with the sporeship. Its really surprising how those ancient races having a headstart of billions of years on humanity dont really have advanced technology. Well, not THAT advanced.

The only danger is Empiants were supposed to have a huge empire, hopefully this little clash wont provoke a total war with them.

 

[dextermorgan]

I was hoping for a peaceful resolution with the sporeship

Then again, they did massacre a whole lot of our folk.

Serves them right I suppose.

 

[lightbane]

It takes me several moments to understand what did just happen. They did send four warships to attack a defenseless colony. The civilians and robots fought them back without casualties. All Empiant ships were destroyed.

I think I got it: H'riak were extremely sensitive to psychic powers while we humies are not (especially robots). They're more accostumed to melt and enslave minds than to fight physically. Also, they did warn us 3 times before attacking, that's doing much more than what the H'riak did...

 

[Mrowak]

@ Mrowak: I will spoiler the answer to your post so that I do not need to be careful of the lenght.

The story and the events that unfold are indeed what makes this game and the few like it unique. I would love to see something like them done with modern technology. I do not understand with the modern obsession with "cinematic experiences" and giving everything a plot did not even try to produce something like this.

This is what happens what you integrate storytelling and gameplay. Indeed, there's no reason why gameplay shouldn't be used as the main mode of telling a story. It's the most natural way in gaming context. But I guess putting together cutscenes is easier than tinkering with gampley these days.

And for the record I was not trying to set up a narrative. I do actually play games that way. The few times I did try to follow an evil route I did end up hating myself.

I realised that, but your narration (i.e. your own stuff, beyond NPC's monologues and descriptions) is quite compelling.

Anyway it appears it is possible to make peace with Empiants - at least that's what the game tries to telegraph. I wonder whether you attacking them has any impact. I will have to check it myself, I guess. They are suspicously vulnerable for such an advanced race. Maybe they are not trying to attack you?

 

[Cool name]

@ Whisper: It is nice to know there were other ways to solve the sporeship situation. Thank you for telling me. I was wondering what the purpose of the fusion bomb was once I did get it at the end of this update.

@ Crooked Bee: Now that you mention it they are kind of adorable. Yes. Must be those big beady eyes.

@ dextermorgan: It is my hope the ship was indeed 'dead' and there was no one alive to control it. Yet it must be said a species that programs an automated ship in such a way does definitely have some issues.

@ Malakal: I have been wondering the same. It may be understandable in sporeship's case as they did send it almost two billion years ago. Yet the Empiant so far have shown no way to defeat us other than by sending out weak ships faster than we are able to replace our losses.

@ lightbane: A nice theory. I do like it. We are completely ignorant on the H'riak outside of their creations and their sociopathic sporeship. And from what we know of their creation they could indeed be quite susceptible to manipulation.

@ Mrowak: They do not seem to be a warlike species at all. They did escalate the number and strenght of their ships very slowly even when the casualties did began to pile up. Not to mention their 'war' with the H'riak did seem to be more about colonizing all neighboring star systems to stall their expansion than about launching an actual invasion. I just wish they were more communicative. As you will see in the update we are two steps away from massive casualties on both sides simply because I do not know whether or not anything I have done so far about them did actually work.

XIV. The rather small jelly-fish war.​

Spoiler

After the sporeship was destroyed the fleet returns to normal. Every colony is sent a single ship back for its own purposes. Those ships all carry a single missile in case the need arises. The remaining ships are divided between JongMin and the Calypso. Those will be our two military bases for the time being.

I am taking care of this when Romanov does come to me with a report.

Captain, our period of studying the flux-signatures of the Empiant warships has enabled us to add some refinements to our long-distance scanners. We are now picking up a faint source of such energy emanating from Hades, in the vicinity of sector H-16. Sir, if this represents a downed Empiant spacecraft, recovering it could prove to be of inestimable strategic value.

I am currently more interested on a way to communicate with them. This is our best opportunity to obtain one. Yet Hades is the outermost planet in the system. And it has a very eccentric orbit. It will not be easy to get there.

I decide to start by establishing a starbase on Poseidon and one on its moon. Poseidon is the outermost gas giant and it does happen to be near the Calypso's present staging area on Zeus. I send a ship there loaded with 50 energy so that it may explore the moon freely and then move to Hades when the time is right.

I also send a third ship to fight with the Empiants on the moons of Zeus. A battle is soon fought.

The blockade does not seem to have made much to pacify the aliens. If we were to fight around Cronus it would be hard to send our forces missiles to restock. The ships in orbit regroup in Choaya. From there both them and the reserves are sent to join the rest of our forces on JongMin.

Hausmann has a new report for me.

Since our colonies are growing so quickly, we need to improve the production of our factories. We have several lines of investigation we are pursuing. I'm betting that Dr. Martin Stinson's team will be the first with the breakthrough.

I will check the proposal later. Presently I keep my attention focused on my colonies and their needs. Before long Wu notifies me the report on Poseidon has been added to the library. I proceed to check it.

The planet has one large moon and a number of tiny moonlets. The ring system is very thin and is invisible except by instrument detection.

Distance from Star: 6.00x10(9) kilometers.
Period of revolution (terran): 220.543 years.
Period of rotation (terran): 15.61 hours.
Equatorial diamter: 54,710 kilometers.
Mass (Terra=1): 21.3.
Density (water=1): 1.8.
Atmosphere: Hydrogen, helium, methane.

Mean temperature (visible surface; Celsius): -215.
Surface gravity (Terra=1): 1.19.
Inclination of axis: 32.30 degrees.
Inclination of orbit to ecliptic: 1.3 degrees.
Eccentricity of orbit: 0.05930.

Gas giants can't be explored. I send the ship to probe Thetis. The report is available almost instantly.

cryo-volcanism. Gravitational stresses have melted the interior, and geysers spew nitrogen snow-ice plumes up to 12 kilometers above the surface.

Distance from Planet: 2.44x10(5) kilometers.
Period of revolution (Terran): 4.93 days.
Period of rotation (Terran): 21.63 days.
Equatorial diameter: 4120 kilometers.
Mass (Terra=1): 0.02.
Density (water=1): 0.9.
Surface gravity (Terra=1): 0.01.
Atmosphere: Nitrogen, methane.

I order the ship to establish an orbital station on the moon and go take care of miscelaneous administrative tasks. Once the station is in place I name it Tiffany and send the ship to Thetis' surface. We explore all anomalies in turn. We only stop for the ship to refuel in orbit. On the surface we do come across a vast amount of energy resources as well.

At a weather station you find a note taped to the front door. 'Hey, Maria, I'm being transferred to our mining colony at Sector D-7 of the Alpha Asteroids to do more tests on that unusual alloy they've been mining. Don't freeze your toes off, darling.'

You unexpectedly trigger a message by a rescue beacon. 'To the CALYPSO crew: For God's sake, find the alien spacecraft hiding in the Beta Asteroids AND DESTROY IT! It can control the flora and fauna of the terrestrial worlds, turning them against you. We lost our colonies on Rhea and Gaea, and now our outposts are dying off one by one...'

We did make a ghost happy today. It is my hope he does find his way to great beyond.

You find a box marked HABERCROMBE INDUSTRIES. Inside are some green crystals that have been shattered by a fall of a truck or shuttle.

The camp is empty. A sign proclaims it once was Habercrombe Industries' manufacturing center for positronic brain filaments.

The sail of an ice boat flutters weakly in the thin, thin methane breeze.

In the assembly plant of the Habercrombe Industries plant, you find the prototype of a new robot brain. Unfortunately, the extreme cold of Thetis has damaged the prototype.

This find does seem to catch our science department's fancy.

The research on robot brains done at Habercrombe Industries on Thetis has piqued the interest of our own robotocists. They hope to reconstruct the materials being developed by TANTALUS colonists.

The nose of a shuttle pokes up through deep snow drifts. Examining the shuttle more closely shows that it is empty.

Half buried under a methane snowdrift is a snowmobile. In the glove compartment is a message. 'I saw the lights in the sky and went MAD! They twisted my mind! They bring death! Don't let them touch your mind or YOU WILL DIE!'

This is but the first find that explicitly states the Empiant were hostile towards the humans on the outer planets. It is a shame but it does seem the Empiant are not as nice as we did hope they would be.

At an abandoned observatory you find notes some astronomer left behind. 'Even though the H'riak sporeship did not move far when its engines started, it moved far enough to determine its probable target - the star Beta Caeli. I don't see why it would try to fly into the sun.'

This does come to reflect the problem I do always have with this kind of game. I establish a few colonies. I develop them as much as I can. I expand in a very conservative way. I discover useful hints only after I need them. It was just good luck I had devoted an entire colony to fabricate nothing but missiles.

It is amusing it was my hope to play in a more dynamic way this one time. The result is to my eyes a mess. I have focused on but a few colonies as I always do. In this way I did negate the benefit of expanding. At the same time those few colonies are all over the place. In this way I did negate the benefit to be gained from being focused on but a few colonies.

I am ashamed of myself.

In a technician's apartment in the Bio-Dome, you find a backup tape of a video letter sent to Hades. The unknown woman says, 'The new research center is at sector G,20. They're investigating the metal that shows biochemical reactions. Can't wait for my transfer there. I hate the cold! See you soon.'

You've located a missile launcher from the TANTALUS colonies! On board you uncover 5 missiles - 1 of which is still useable.

What I am really interested to know is why we do not have our own missile launchers. Neither are we able to research them. By the end of the present episode the Calypso will have so many missiles stockpiled it would make for a terrific support battleship with several of those installed.

Red crystals catch your attention. They turn out to be ice crystals colored by amonia compounds.

A shuttle has crashlanded here. The frozen bodies of the dead crew are still at their stations. The last entry of the captain's log reads: 'H'riak ship still active. Last attempt to land at Rhea caused dormant biota to turn hostile again. Have jury-rigged a few hibernation chambers and will try to reach CALYPSO en route to Beta Caeli.'

These did deserve to survive. The plan was good and they were skilled enough to build hibernation chambers with spare parts and good wishes.

Before leaving the moon I do check a set of coordinates we did find a long time ago. It does not show as an anomaly on the map. We do find many Physics resources and little else. Once in orbit I try to reach Hades but it is currently too far away for our ship to manage the journey.

I take the opportunity to check on the new proposals.

The ship does leave Tiffany for Poseidon. Once there it does build a new space station dubbed Jessica. I check the situation on Cronus and discover the Empiant seem to not have taken the hint and prepare to send tree more squadrons against us. Before long a fourth squadron does emerge from the gas giant's depths. If you check in the distance you will see there is already a fifth squadron moving to attack Ares.

This is the first serious battle we will fight.

I am informed two research projects have been taken to completion. I check the reports.

although we expect the process to be used sometime in the future.

I did expect an anti-matter warhead and all I got was a still unknown potential improvement to our starships. To say I am disappointed would be an understatement.

We did revolutionize human understanding of the universe. All we got out of it was a still unknown potential improvement to our starships. This is not a good day.

I wait for a short while. The final resources the project to study the engines the Empiant use become available before long. I do start the project. Then I send JongMin's starships to Ares. A battle soon follows.

More Empiant ships move to Ares. I send the Calypso's squadron to wait for them. After a short while I send JongMin's squadron to face another enemy taskforce on Hebe. The two battles are soon over. More Empiant ships move to Ares.

I order the ships on JongMin to face them and take care of miscelaneous administrative duties. I am now able to greenlight the superconductor proposal. I do so. I check back on Vehicle 1, the ship currently on Jessica. It is still unable to reach Hades.

Our ships prepare to battle the Empiant on Ares' orbit. The situation is not looking good. Two enemy squadrons are there and we have lost several ships since the conflict began. Should I sacrifice the starships to save the colony or should I sacrifice the colony to save the starships? I do ponder this for a while. In the end I decide to send the ships back to the base. The colony is left to find its own fate. Both Empiant squadrons attack the colony. The colonists and their robots do manage to destroy the ships but the damage is great. The colony is devastated. It would be as hard to rebuild it as to create a new colony elsewhere.

Would they understand if I were to tell them it was a good decision on the strategic level? It was impossible for the remaining ships to reach the colony in time to join the battle. I would have lost the few ships already there. To replace a ship takes seventy turns. We have suffered losses and I am still trying to understand how the combat does work.

I decide to evacuate the survivors and their resources back to the core worlds. As I did explain earlier I did make a great mistake in the begining phase of the game. I did expand. Things do never work well for me on strategy games when I do try to expand. If I had made everything on Rhea and Gaea my life would be easier. If I did want to have offworld colonies I should have used Prometheus. This is what does happen when I listen to my advisors.

But the evacuation will have to wait until the orbital battle is over. I send ships to Ares to intercept a new enemy group moving in. I am informed the proyect to research the Empiant engines is concluded.

I try to send Vehicle 1 to Hades. It is still out of reach. Time does pass. A new Empiant squadron moves to Hera. Calypso's ships do move to engage. By now the Calypso has two factories producing vehicles, one factory producing missiles, and two factories producing robots.

The Empian ships do not attack. Instead they begin to move between the planet and the two moons with my ships in hot pursuit. This does not make me happy. I send a ship from Eunjung loaded with enough resources to start a new colony on Gaea. I establish it on H11. I give it the name Qri. The space station previously known as Qri is now given the name Sunny.

I develop Qri slowly over time. Instead of building several facilities in the beginning I do keep a pair of habitats, a single factory, and a single power plant. I upgrade those facilities all the way before adding any more. Later on I will add a third habitat.

The ships the Calypso's squadron were in hot pursuit of does leave Zeus for Gaea. JongMin's squadron moves to engage. Vehicle 1 is still unable to reach Hades. Yet the planets' position has made possible to reach Hades from the Calypso. I send a different ship there and order Vehicle 1 to return to the mothership. A new squadron moves to Hades. The ships from JongMin move to engage.

Research on the superconductor has been finished.

can be added to older plants.

The battle over Ares is over. The space station over Hades is built. The name given to it is Taeyeon. The ship descends to the surface.

You find the empty building of a research outpost. A message has been spraypainted on the wall: 'Hades Outpost Alpha. We were cold as hell and hot as blazes once the H'riaks woke up!'

You find half a dozen overturned snowmobiles. The bodies of their owners are nearby, frozen into the ammonia ice. Several of them are locked in battle, clutching each other by the throat. It appears they all went mad and killed each other.

The green 'crystaline' growths are most remarkable. Their bio-chemical properties are similar to Terran mushrooms!

We do pick them all.

A weak mayday signal leads you to a woman's body lying on a white snowfield. In her hand is a bag containing red dust, the remains of a crystal of some kind. A label on the bag reads: 'Enjoy the warm brezzes blowing in your hair as you visit our Crystal Paradise in Sector I-26 on Gaea.'

A glacier of frozen ammonia juts up from a frozen lake like a giant blue crystal.

As we leave the sector Hausmann comes to report on the crystaline growths we did find earlier.

CAPTAIN! The crystaline substances we found on Hades are remarkable! Using the bio-chemical crystals with the Shiitake Meat Synthethizer, we can generate a huge number of life support units here on CALYPSO! I hope we can find more of those crystals, sir.[/quote]

In this way we did obtain several thousands of life support resources for the mothership.

A flagpost sticks up out of the ice. An aluminium flag has been attached to the post, and is shaped to look as though it were flapping in the wind. On the flag are the words 'END OF THE LINE.'

Please do insert your own 'end of rine' joke there. No good one occurs to me.

Hades Outpost Gamma was particularly small. The last occupant, who seems to have been a metallurgist, left the door open and a note stapled to a table: 'I want to go to Prometheus! The aliens personally told me that I could find some metal in the B Sector that would make me rich, rich, RICH!!!'

An unmanned military shuttle sits on an ice sheet. Inside a notice has been tacked to the wall: 'The pilot of this shuttle was executed for fleeing the battle against the H'riak seedship. Sic semper traitor!' The notice is signed by the governor of the Hades Colony.

An Empiant ship has crashlanded in a pile of snow. The ship is still largely intact, but the crew died instantly in the impact. Their remains are splattered across the interior.

As expected does Hausmann come to report as soon as we leave.

Captain, we've found an Empiant probe ship crashed on Hades. The materials we've recovered from the ship are quite intriguing. Most promising of all, we recovered the body of a dead Empiant. We are dissecting it now in the medical lab, and hope to learn what makes them tick. We must invest the necessary science resources as described in the TECH MANAGER to aid in this research.

I leave to check the proposal for later.

Huge chunks of ice and snow in this area have been dug out of the ground. As far as you can tell, these excavations were not made by humans.

This was once Hades Outpost Betta, a mining camp. A welcome banner still hangs in one of the domes. 'Greetings, CALYPSO. By the time you read this message, we of the TANTALUS will all be dead. Just do the opposite of everything we did, and you might survive. Best wishes from the dead.'

A methane ice glacier has carved a groove down to the rock surface. You dig out a glimmering hunk of metal that has been exposed.

Once again does Hausmann come for a visit.

The metal we found on Hades has remarkable properties. It can be as hard as diamond one moment and then as soft as lead the next. We will test the mineral to see what else it can do.

I send the ship back to the Calypso with its cargo bay full of energy resources. I did forgot to probe Hades. I will not get a chance to do so until much later. For now I take the time to check on the new proposals.

I decide to focus our research on the Empiants and configure our laboratories accordingly. Time does pass. It is turn 2536 when Hausmann comes to me with a new proposal.

We need to improve the output of our factories. The situation of the colonies is critical, and we need to become as productive as we can possibly manage. I will assign some engineers to look into systems for improving our factories.

Once again do the aliens try to attack Ares. Once again I send our ships to repel them.

Soon after the battle Hausmann has a new report for us.

Our engineering staff has come up with some ideas on how to stabilize the Rampal Engine so our spacecraft can use it. It's a long shot, but Arnold Feldman, the team leader, assures me it can be done.

I do check the report. Then I tend to my colonies for a while. When I finish we have accumulated enough resources to satisfy the project to better understand the Empiant's reproduction. I greenlight it. It is then that I remember there is another unchecked proposal on the tech manager and proceed to check it.

Shortly afterwards more Empiant ships arrive to Hebe. The Calypso does send its ships to attack them. They leave for Ares. Another Empiant battlegroup is there. JongMin's ships move to engage.

I decide to move the Calypso back to the inner worlds. To Gaea's orbit to be precise. Geum Mi resources did run out for a second time. The colonies on Zeus are not so useful anymore. On Gaea the Calypso will have immediate access to three colonies and rapid access to other three, the two on Rhea and the one on Hermes. All of the Calypso's ships are send to JongMin in preparation for the journey. All of its facilities are turn off so that it may make it to its destination with the stockpiles intact.

My plan is to make the Calypso take care of all military needs. It will build all missiles and ships. All ships will be based on it. It will re-centralize the distribution of resources.

By then one of the enemy battlegroups on Ares did move to Gaea. It is pursued by the ships I had previously sent to Ares.

I greenlight the improved positronic brain proposal. The battle on Gaea's orbit is soon over. The disappeared battlegroup reappears on Ares. The ships move to engage.

A little time does pass. Hausmann comes to report on an unexpected discovery made during the research on the Empiants' reproduction methods. This also means the research has been finished.

An unexpected result of our research into the Inverse Clone Theory is that we have learned ways in which to code and decode alpha brain waves. We intend to pursue this serendipitous discovery in more detail.
Captain, a final upgrade to the Research Labs seems in order. With the amount of knowledge we've gained, we're still starving for more!

I check the report and the new proposal.

At last. From now on this project will be our first priority. Everything else can wait.

The enemy squadron on Ares does leave to one of Zeus' moons. Our ships pursue.

During the journey a project is taken to completion. I check the report. This discovery does make available a proposal to upgrade our factories.

The battle around Zeus is over.

Soon Hausmann does come to me with a new report.

Dr. Li Tien-Shou has posited the idea that organic-based batteries can be even more energy efficient and cost effective than traditional dry cell batteries. Applications for such a battery are currently being investigated.

I check the proposal.

Meanwhile our ships continue to pursue the retreating battlegroup. There is what I believe is a bug with Zeus and its two moons. If you are in Hera and want to move to Hebe you must first move to Zeus and then to Hebe. The same does happen when trying to move from Hebe to Hera. It may sound as a little thing but remember we must give every single ship from our battlegroup the order individually.

I was about to lose my cool. Before long new battlegroups leave for our colonies. I am in the middle sending the ships to engage when Hausmann does come to interrupt me with a new report.

Captain, the last of our on-board crew has been revived.

With this we are now depending entirely on reproduction to obtain new colonists. The enemy squadrons soon begin to reach Zeus' moons. I send my ships but they are too slow to arrive.

My fleet does arrive soon afterward. Both fleets begin the Zeus dance all over again.

That was the first engagement. The second will soon follow.

Around the time of this last battle we come to have enough resources to research the alpha wave decoder. We do so. I do not want the war to continue. Soon new squadrons are coming out from Cronus. One of those goes to Zeus' moons. The ships did not even finish to arrive back at JongMin. I decide to leave the colony be. With this the Empiants do finally obtain a victory. Would it be mean of me to comment on how they were only able to obtain a victory when they did attack a colony we did previously abandon?

An Empiant fleet comprising 5 ships has attacked our colonies at Hebe. The Empiants defeated us.

The Calypso does arrive to Gaea around the same time the alpha wave decoder project is deemed complete. All installations are in the process of being turned back online when Hausmann does bring something to my attention.

Captain, the Alpha Enhancer is complete. It is our first step to truly communicating with this alien race. Let's hope it works.

And before long it does happen.

Captain, you see! They are afraid of us! They want us to run because they can't match us in combat! HAH! We should take them out now. There's NO reason to stall in my mind.

You are a sociopath.

They keep attacking our colonies on Zeus. The colonists do fight back.

Captain, we need to be studying these creatures. They seem to be quite logical and very advanced. We'll need research labs devoted to math, physics, and biology to be at a space station around Cronus. I'll keep you posted as to their status. I'm affraid that we'll need as many ships and any other armaments you can muster at that station for defense against these aliens while we perform our research.

I have to choose whether we will comply with the aliens' demand or we will proceed with Hausmann's petition and put Cronus under siege so that he can study them. The Empiant do seem to be slowly growing into better fighters. To waste time could make the game impossible to win for us. This I ponder.

In the end I decide to give diplomacy an opportunity. Our ships battle the Empiants on Zeus as I study how to best remove our space stations from their territory.

What does follow is a long and boring period of evacuation. We are unable to scuttle our space stations and colonies until the moment in which all has been removed from them. This turns this retreat into a laborious endeavor. There is no response after destroying Choaya. I decide they may have been referring to either all of the gas giants or all of their territory. I decide to proceed. The plan is to remove all space stations and colonies beyond the Beta Asteroids.

As I take care of this we become able to continue research on adapting their engines to our own ships. We proceed. Afterwards we become able to research the strange metal we did find on Hades. We also proceed. They launch a new attack against the colonies on Zeus. They manage to keep getting themselves killed even when fighting against colonies that have been mostly evacuated. I do not mind.

As the massive evacuation proceeds the research projects we did start just now begin to bear fruits. We begin research on the fusion reactor project as we check the reports. The project comes to an end long before the evacuation does.

travel faster and carry more cargo.

This might be the bomb Whisper's friend did mention. We did obtain this proposal during our visit to Gamma 1.

As the evactuation does proceed we send a single ship to Hades. I take the chance to finally probe the planet.

Pluto, it is about 80 percent rock and 20 percent ice.

Distance from Star: 5.81x10(8) to 1.19x10(10) kilometers.
Period of revolution (Terran): 618.534 years.
Period of rotation (Terran): 31.2 hours.
Equatorial diameter: 6,840 kilometers.
Mass (Terra=1): 0.006.
Density (water=1): 0.8.
Atmosphere: Nitrogen.

Mean temperature (visible surface; Celsius): -232.
Surface gravity (Terra=1): 0.17.
Inclination of axis: 53.41 degrees.
Inclination of orbit to ecliptic: 19.6 degrees.
Eccentricity of orbit: 0.40010.

Soon the evacuation is over. The Captain does wait for a message. No message does come. They have not launched an attack recently but this is not going to progress the plot on its own. The Captain does wait some more. No message comes. I do check the mission objective. It is still there. This may be a bug. As I had never built anything on the space station they might not register as evacuated. The Captain is lossing her patience. Still, no message does come. No message does ever come.

The Captain does lose it.

It is decided the human fleet will launch an attack against Cronus. Their objective is to hold the Empiant fleet long enough for Hausmann to find more about them and come across a way to either anihilate them or befriend them. Every single ship they do load on the mothership. Every spare resource they do stockpile on it. The journey will take over three hundred turns. The colonies left behind are set up so that they are able to keep a single starship factory working around the clock. Jongmin is able to keep two. Hyomin, Eunjung, Raina, and Lizzy will also keep a single laboratory each. The mothership will keep four vehicle factories working for the entire journey.

The ship that did scuttle Hades' orbital station will wait for them on Cronus. The very instant the mothership does reach Cronus it will establish an orbital station and get resources from the mothership to build the first habitat. As soon as the first habitat is complete it will bring some colonists in and the laboratories Hausmann need will be built. Every other ship on the mothership will be given a missile and sent to patrol Cronus' orbit. After every battle they will return automatically to reload and go back to the orbit. Every ship the colonies did build during the Calypso's journey will be sent to the mothership with a full load of ore. Once there they will join the battlegroup. Every single ship built afterwards will do the same.

Yet during the journey something strange does happen. The number of Empiant ships sent against the colonies does start to decrease. They had begun to send groups of five or six ships against the humans. Now they rarely send a squadron at all. When they do it is but a group of three. When only two hundred turns stand between the Calypso and Cronus they launch a last attack against the colonies. The target is Ares. They send three ships. The colonists and the robots fight them off without casualties. It is obvious the progression on their combat ability is returning to its original point.

No more ships are sent against the colonies. Every now and then a squadron of three ships does launch from the planet. It does patrol the orbit for a little while and then returns to the gas giant. The Captain's head has had more than enough time to cool off. She does start to think maybe she has been too rash. The evidence does seem to suggest the escalation of the hostilities was not because of the xenos' growing bloodlust but because the orbital station's continual presence on Cronus orbit. With it removed they may calm down.

The fleet is ready to fight but the Captain does now doubt the invasion. Her entire reason to call for the crusade was her fear the Empiant would keep escalating the conflict until such a time in which the colonies would no longer be able to keep up. She is no longer sure such is the case. As far as she understand it there are but three options open to her.

The first one is to proceed as she did plan. Put Cronus under siege. Protect the scientists as they research the Empiant and hope this may teach us enough about them to befriend them. Or to kill them off. She does doubt an invasion will be conductive to a good resolution of the situation. We will have to put up with the losses until Hausmann does finish his research. The situation will begin to escalate once again. With every passing attack we will suffer more losses.

The second one is to call off the attack. Retreat back to Gaea. Research all available technologies. Develop the colonies. Wait for them to try to contact us. Search for the new anomalies recent finds and events maybe did spawn. If peace does not come once all technologies have been researched or if the aliens do resume their attacks launch a invasion using the very same battle plan.

The third one is to call off the attack and retreat back to Gaea but to fabricate starships and weapons. Build more colonies with no other point than being shipyards. Do not turn the main colonies back into research stations until we have at least as many colonies exclusively dedicated to starship construction. If peace does not come or the aliens do attack launch a new invasion and throw everything at them.

Yet there are other two things she does fear.

In the first place the Zeus' colonies did show the ore available to colonies might be limited. Or it may not be so in all cases. If it is she feels the need to finish this off before the ore on the core colonies does run out. Having to rebuild her entire empire elsewhere with no plot progression to keep things interesting would probably be the end of her. A link does also exist between this fear and the next one.

In the second place she did deal with the biota and the H'riak sporeship. Events and finds might have spawned points of interest that remain unexplored but we did find most of what was there to find. She feels that the end of the game is near. And she fears the game might have some kind of time limit she does not know about. How long does she have to solve the Empiant situation?

She did not come this far to find herself out of time. At the same time she did not save the Biota and fought a defensive war so far just to kill the Empiant without a good reason. She has until the ship arrives to Cronus to decide. The Calypso does count as a colony. As soon as it is in orbit it will probably count as an space station and resume the hostilities. It is possible leaving will not be enough to calm them down again. She can't count on more than one try to attack the Empiants and finish this off one way or another.

 

[lightbane]

Aww, how cute, they think they're scaring us. I say you let them live and focus on research, at the rate new technologies are being discovered, I won't be surprised if someone finds out a way to wipe out an entire galaxy several times. That would be more than enough to deal with the Emphians if necessary.

 

[Whisper]

Do backup save before making choice!


p.s. They dont make games now that gives choices like that.

 

[Malakal]

Try going with the scientific quest. If Empiants will respond like before you will have enough time to research before war escalates back to dangerous levels.

But it is dangerous. Over 1k dead, thats what, one third of all humanity left? Not good, you cant win war of attrition.

 

[Crooked Bee]

This is very risky since we're playing the game blind and have no idea whether there's a time limit at all or what the Empiants still have in store for us, but I'd say focus on research for now. This seems like the more interesting way to proceed, at least.

 

[CappenVarra]

'Greetings, CALYPSO. By the time you read this message, we of the TANTALUS will all be dead. Just do the opposite of everything we did, and you might survive. Best wishes from the dead.'

So impending doom does improve self-awareness after all... I'd say, proceed with the orbital research station project and see where will it lead. Turtling never won any games, even if I do love doing it...

 

[Cool name]

​

​

​

XV. Peace through power.​

Spoiler

Final approach has begun, Captain. T-minus five turns and counting.

More than three hundred turns have gone by. The Empiant did not launch a new attack. The Calypso did not change course. Soon the invasion will begin. The entire human fleet will take part of it. Thirty spacecraft on the Calypso. More await at the colonies. And even more will be built. The Captain is almost hysterical. She is sure she did forget something. What is it? What could it be?

T-minus four turns.

The Empiant are scared. She is certain of this. Why else would they try to lead her astray by controlling the voices in her head? Pah! Did they really expect her to believe Inquisitor Lightbane did want peace and scientific progress instead of a chance to annoint the spacecraft with sacred oils and wander the hangar bays as he does murmur litanies, amonish heresy, burst out in catechism, and wave his incense burner around as the pilots take off to fight the xenos? Madness. Only a floating jelly-fish can get him so wrong.

T-minus three turns.

She is not free to back down. She did lose more than three hundred turns of scientific research and colonial development preparing the invasion. What is she ever going to need so many ships for other than war? Everything does point to ore being subject to an absolute limit. The resources spent will not come back. To have this many spacecraft and not go to war would be tantamount to throw away the resources she did invest. The shadow of a time limit that could exist does hover about her. If there is one she did waste three hundred turns preparing this. She might as well go through with it.

T-minus two turns.

Onboard facilities back online.

She has gone out of her way to make sure her plan is perfectly clear. All there is to do is to execute it. The number of spacecraft she will have to launch will for certain introduce more than a little lag on the proceedings. The Empiant will have more than enough time to get ready for them.

T-minus one turn.

Vehicle Seven reports New Ellin has been established in orbit to Cronus.

All corvettes report...

Corvettes? When did we get this pretentious?

But they are corvettes, are they not?

You mean like the car?

I mean like a starship clearly bigger than a fighter yet smaller than a frigate.

You have been playing too much Homeworld.

Not during workhours I hope.

It does count as training for us bridge operators, does it not?

But do corvettes not need to have an actual crew? Our ships do require but a pilot.

According to I-War 2 a corvette can have but a single pilot and act similar to a fighter in combat.

Which of course will make anyone familiar with actual corvettes pop a vein.

Ahem.

Anyway. All CORVETTES report as ready to launch, Captain.

We will enter Cronus orbit... now.

Great. Let's listen to our favorite song.

All channels open. Transmission ongoing.

At least we got proper Idols to do this with.

I hear you. With that Minmei gal I did always suspect the Zentradi got overtaken by the suckitude instead of the emotion.

Though we should have gone with some A-Class ones instead.

How much do I love to send people to the reeducation camps.

Oh, sh... OMG! Look! It's Crayon Pop! WOW! This is so awesome! I never get tired of them. Heh. I should get an appointment to have my ears checked by a doctor. For a moment back there I did believe we were going to transmit SNSD or something.

Much better, Citizen.

Words are unable to convey how did to launch more than thirty ships to do a missile patrol mission on Cronus' orbit one at a time did feel. They are however able to convey how long did it take. Too long. My plan to begin construction of the orbital laboratories as soon as we did arrive was unrealistic to say the least. Several turns did pass before all ships were out there. Yet once the construction did begin everything went according to plan. With the Calypso but one turn away and Vehicle 7 dedicated to nothing but to ferry resources from the Calypso to the orbital station the installations were done in an instant.

The Empiant response is to send a squadron of six warships to fight against the blockade.

As the enemy does prepare to engage I focus my attention on the colonies. All the ships there are sent to the Calypso loaded with ore. It is now that another flaw on my plan does become apparent. With our core colonies set up to mass produce starships they are have not a big enough surplus to actually send much to the Calypso. Other than JongMin and maybe Qri no colony will be able to send resources along their ships after the first wave. Their stockpiles will grow very slowly while the invasion proceeds. It remains to be seen if the massive stockpiles the Calypso did build before leaving for Cronus will be enough to maintain the siege until Hausmann is done.

The first engagement comes to an end.

It must be said I do not enjoy Alien Legacy combat. It does never go beyond massing as many ships as possible. Their combat level is decided by all the starship technologies we did research previously. To have them loaded with missiles does make them fairly more powerful. This is all you can do for them. It is almost impossible to fight an engagement without at least one casualty regardless of how many ships do you have. The amount is there to keep the siege in place and avoid to enter a situation where we start to suffer more casualties because we did lack enough ships to shoot them all down fast enough not to.

The starships sent from the colonies soon begin to reach Cronus. All the ships are sent out as soon as they unload their cargo. Our blockade does keep growing. The Empiant do not send more squadrons against us. Time does pass.

Hausmann comes to me with a report from our laboratories in New Ellin.

Captain, in order to understand the Empiants' thought-patterns we still need more research in Biology and Physics at our Cronus colony.

I order two more laboratories to be built on New Ellin and set them up accordingly. The Empiant are still reticent to send more ships against us. As I send the reinforcements from the colonies to the blockade I do find something I had not seen before. They have a 'Fusion Reactor' mission that can be given either the planet they are currently in orbit of or the Beta Caeli star as a target. This must be to use the powerful bomb we did discover during the previous episode. The one whose function was to destroy the H'riak sporeship. I must confess I am tempted to try it but I do not want to hurt the Empiant. I decide to try it later on a random asteroid instead.

A long time does pass. One day we do finally detect an Empiant fleet. Sixteen warships divided in two squadrons of eight warships each. It did finally begin.

As our ships face the Empiants' Hausmann does come to present a new report on the research's progress.

Sir, the research at Cronus is going well. we must keep our installations up and running long enough to get what we need. I'll keep you abreast of the situation as the need arises.

Before long the engagement is over.

Only one of the enemy squadrons did present battle. The other has still to engage. Instead it does return to the gas giant without a shot being fired. I do not understand. Hausmann does return with a new report.

Captain, in order to understand the Empiants' thought-patterns we still need more research in Biology at our Cronus colony.

I order a sixth laboratory built on New Ellin. Time does pass. The Empiant do not launch a new attack. Eventually our chief scientist does come again. Yet for once his report is not a generic one about unspecified progress nor is it a petition of more installations. What he did come to tell me does put everything that did happen so far on perspective.

The Alpha Enhancer has allowed us to code and decode brain waves, and now we want to create a mechanism that will block thought waves as well. It we succeed, we will then be able to interact directly with the Empiants without harming one another.

This does bring back the words the Empiant did say to us once we did become able to translate their messages. 'Move away from us. Cease your angry thoughts from injuring us. Our punishment from intrusion upon our society is quite severe.' They did not attack us. They did try to defend themselves from us. Human thought patterns may just be as harmful to them as the Empiants' own are to humans!

This discovery does result on a new proposal.

This do not make me happy. I will have to reconfigure our core colonies back to research. We will be have fewer ships to reinforce our blockade. To make things worse the Empiant finally decide to get serious. From now on they will be sending squadrons to fight us on a regular manner.

As if I had not enough to worry about Hausmann does come to visit me.

Captain, I highly recommend we invent the Theta Wave Scrambler as quickly as possible. Without the aid of this device, we may never be able to withstand the aliens' thought waves, let alone try to communicate with them meaningfully.

I'm on it.

Is it now that I do notice what I did forget about previously. Missiles! We did got through half of our stockpile already even with several factories building them. I set all of the Calypso's factories to replenish our missile stockpile but it is not enough. At this rate sooner or later we will run out of missiles. This would be bad.

They did also start to fight with more skill. Now they kill twice as many ships with every attack when not more. I do finally have enough scientific resources to start research on the Theta Wave Scrambler. I do so.

At the rate the attacks come we will be Almost out of missiles by the time the project is done.

Even with all of the Calypso's factories we have only twenty one missiles left when Romanov does come to report research is complete. As it is usual with him he does come through as an asshole.

Sir, now that we have the Theta Wave Scrambler, we should use it. Scientist Hausmann maintains it will let us live in peace with these Empiants. I hope it will decrease their will to resist so we can more easily smite them!

Had I the power I would enjoy nothing more than to turn your brain into modern art like graffity on my office's wall.

In any case, you need only to send a ship to Cronus on the Theta Wave mission. We'll be sure and fit the Scrambler to drop into the thickest atmospheric layer when the time is right.

I review the report.

Without further delay I send a ship to deliver it to Cronus.

Captain, the Theta Wave Scrambler is being delivered to Cronus. We have the visual being uploaded at present...

If it is not too much to ask for I would like someone to explain this to me. I did always believe gas giants were not solid but actually a thick orb of different gases around a planetary core. Yet the Theta Wave Scrambler did just land on Cronus. One of its fins did even cut a small trench as it did land. Was I wrong? What does a gas giant actually is?

The Empiant then open a channel to hail us.

Hail to our brothers, the clever Smartmonkeys! We thank you for nullifying the hurtful thought-waves. You are welcome to share this solar system with us. We ask only that you remove all military craft from our skies and that you never suck the gasses from our Motherworld, which you call 'Cronus.'

Not by choice if I might add.

May the friendship between the Empiants and the Smartmonkeys be long and prosperous!

D'aww.

That they were cute, this I did buzz. Told you so. Bzz, bzz.

And thus the war is over.

Peace with the Empiants has come. The price was much smaller than the Captain did expect. Now she does have a fleet of somewhere among fifty to sixty ships and nothing to do with it but to have them looking mean on the Calypso's hangar bays while their robotic pilots pose around in army shades, act all cocky, paint naked robot girls to the sides of their starships...

Their corvettes.

... get themselves cheesy callsigns, and begin using phrases such as 'DIVE! DIVE! DIVE! HIT THE BURNERS PILOT!' in daily conversation.

Yet this is not the end. Far from it. While they did manage to befriend both xeno threats and the sporeship is long gone a new and terrible danger looms on the horizon. Heresy does never rest. As the Calypso prepares to undertake a project of unprecedented magnitude along the Captain's new friends an enemy within decides this is the proper time to strike. Will the Calypso's crew be able to hunt this new foe before their alliance with the Empiant is endangered?

 

[Azira]

 

[Crooked Bee]

Well, that was... not what I expected.

Great update, looking forward to seeing what new threats the game has in store.

 

[CappenVarra]

May the friendship between the Empiants and the Smartmonkeys be long and prosperous!

prosperous but not Prosperous, one hopes...

 

[lightbane]

The Empiant are scared. She is certain of this. Why else would they try to lead her astray by controlling the voices in her head? Pah! Did they really expect her to believe Inquisitor Lightbane did want peace and scientific progress instead of a chance to annoint the spacecraft with sacred oils and wander the hangar bays as he does murmur litanies, amonish heresy, burst out in catechism, and wave his incense burner around as the pilots take off to fight the xenos? Madness. Only a floating jelly-fish can get him so wrong.

Okay you got me I just wanted to see if there would some of this:



Jokes aside, congrats for a peaceful resolution.

 

[Bloodshifter]

Smart monkeys now isn't that surprisingly new guess the Emphaint are not our genetic forefathers

Good resolution to battle too bad we couldn't 'test' the bomb on a moon to 'show' our less then friendly neighbors the true meaning of 'hurtful' thought waves

 

[Malakal]

Test the bomb on the sun. Nothing bad can come out of that.

A rather boring solution to the Empiant issue but whatever, as long as it works. They inhabit all gas giants or only Cronus? Because if they are on all then in the long term conflict is inevitable - you will need fuel for your starships from the gas. But I guess thats not in game.

That leaves us with Centaurians as last potential enemies. Hopefully you wont have problems with genociding those assholes.

 

[Hirato]

Loved the Corvette commentary at the start.

If it is not too much to ask for I would like someone to explain this to me. I did always believe gas giants were not solid but actually a thick orb of different gases around a planetary core. Yet the Theta Wave Scrambler did just land on Cronus. One of its fins did even cut a small trench as it did land. Was I wrong? What does a gas giant actually is?

You're exactly right, there is a planetary core, typically an asteroid, surrounded by thousands of metric tonnes of gas, easily a million times larger in volume than the asteroid.
The dialogue does speak of "diving into the deepest layer of the atmosphere" - I'm certain gravity would effectively kill you in such circumstances - so they probably dropped the scrambler on the asteroid itself.

 

[Bloodshifter]

Ehh what I just thought of wtf happened when that ship flew into the sun? I mean the hiveship survived along with the empiath so what exactly did it kill? And how is it related to the sudden loss os comms to any inner colonies by the outer it is noticable that the colonies past Cronus survived until the Emp decided to troll so what did the sun do to the system to cause widespread comm loss and a reset of any lifeforms on the two planets... *for the previous pioneers*

Also that green crystal you found a while ago? Spreads via spores and had roots not to mention fast growing?
Its Tib ain't nothing like Tib in the universe *C&C Tiberium* so you turned the parasite that fooled the Humies and was hellbent on eating earth into goopy paste? Why just why.

 

[Cool name]

@ Hirato: I am grateful for the explanation. Thank you very much for taking the time to dispel my little doubt.

@ Bloodshifter: The sporeship did not fly into the sun back when it did face the Tantalus' colonists. It began to do so when the Tantalus' fleet did attack it but it did stop once both the fleet and the colonies on Gaea and Rhea were no more. It does seem to fly into the sun was its contigency plan.

@ Malakal: I am curious about what could happen if I were to throw the bomb on Beta Caeli. I will try to remember to try it during the next update. On the other topic the terms of our agreement refer only to Cronus. We are free to syphon from the two remaining gas giants as we please.
And to be honest I would feel bad to genocide the Centaurians. I do believe they were either being controlled by a sporeship like the Beta Caelians or were programed at a genetic level to hate everything the H'riak did not create. It is not their fault to be assholes. But I do not think the Centaurians will come for us. We would be unable to do much against an actual military fleet.

@ Crooked Bee: It was slightly anticlimatic, yes. The rebellion in the present episode is also a bit anticlimatic. I do believe the game should have left the Sporeship racing to the sun for the end. It is hard to raise the stakes higher than that. One moment we have the flora and fauna of our core worlds become hostile and an ancient starship trying to destroy the system and the next we are fighting a one sided war against a peaceful alien species and stomping a senile old woman.

XVI. Bitchhunt.​

Spoiler

After the Captain did befriend the Empiant everything did go back to normal. The monotony of administrative tasks does soon dispel the trepidation of war. When Hausmann comes to my office to present yet another scientifical report to me there is something lost. A few turns before we were in a race to understand the aliens before our missiles did run out and the siege did become a bloodbath. Now we are back at scientific progress and technobabble. The captain does let out a soft sigh.

An unexpected benefit of developing the Unified Field Theory is that we can apply the same methodologies to analyzing telepathic wave activity. In effect, we would then be able to incorporate telepathy as the fifth fundamental force of nature.

Alright. I will check the proposal later on. I order my forces to dismantle New Ellin before asking Hausmann if there is something else I need to take care of.

Sir, I must admit I made a mistake earlier while I was scanning Gaea's surface. One of my subordinates found a malfunction in the radio telescope we use to track frequency 'noise.'

I am sorry but I do not follow you.

We re-scanned Gaea and located a very weak, oscillating signal that is originating near the equator at about parallels 26 and 27. We may want to investigate there as quickly as possible.

Have I said lately I am surrounded by incompetence? With New Ellin dismantled I order every single ship back to the Calypso by hand. Ship by ship. This does not amuse me. Once the fleet is back in the mothership I order a course set for Gaea. There is no point in remaining here and I do not want to bother the Empiants more than I did already. As we journey back home I do check the new proposal.

I send some ships from the fleet back to the colonies. From JongMin I also send some robots to the colonies so that they may grow. Before long Hausmann does come to me with a new report. He does really like to do this.

Our recent alliance with the Empiants has bred new trust in our relationship. The Empiants are willing to form a scientific allegiance, whereby our research expertise is combined with their ancient knowledge. They claim we can develop technology to propel a ship faster than the speed of light.

What do we need to do?

The Empiants request a station orbiting their home planet Cronus stocked with at least 6 of our best research labs. They are also asking for 20 vehicles with which to experiment. I'll put details in your PDA.

A station with six laboratories on it. Just like the one I did dismantle a few turns ago you mean? You have brough a small joy to your captain, Hausmann.

My advice is that we don't doubt their intentions at this time. Evidence is pointing towards the inability of this solar system to sustain us indefinitely, and ore resources are already dwindling at some colonies. This Empiant endeavor could help us escape to a better system.

I do order the mothership to set a course back to Cronus and send one of the ships to stablish a new space station there. I decide to check on my advisors in the meantime.

Fascinating new data. Very difficult to interpret. Very beautiful.

Peace seems to have been restored, sir. Perhaps we can get on with our normal lives now. We do have a few other concerns to keep us busy.

The Empiants are able to carve diamond lenses out of the cores of the gas giants with mental energy only! Think of the power their minds project.

We should keep plenty of our human crews close to the Empiant ships. We need to outnumber them so that if they even think of removing the Theta Wave Scramblers, their brains will be fried by our greater number.

We should do everything we can to maintain the peace, sir. We should let the Empiants know everything we know about this system and the H'riak ship we found.

We must grant the Empiants every concession they request to keep them friendly, sir. Their continued assistance is vital for us surviving the remaining dangers we face.

I believe that by combining Empiant technology with ours we can build a new type of engine, Captain. It may be possible to create an engine that will propel a ship at faster-than-light speeds.

I would love to study the Empiant spaceship design close up, if you catch my drift, sir.

We must wear special suits to withstand the pressure of the Empiant atmosphere if we wish to enter their ships. They are accustomed to living on a gas giant, after all.

I strongly recommend not sending any of our senior officers aboard an Empiant ship until we are positive that they will no longer attack us.

As usual Romanov is the odd one out. When the ship I did send to Gaea does arrive on the planet I send it straight to the coordinates Hausmann did give me.

You've located an emergency distress beacon. The emergency signal is very weak and oscillating in frequency. Within the sealed compartment you find the standard 'Last Dispatch of Capt. Louisa Johannson.'

Sir, we found an emergency beacon on Gaea bearing the U.N.S. TANTALUS'S insignia. The storage compartment held a recording from Captain Johannson! The Robot is currently processing the recording via the computer station. I hope it can recover the recording intact. The Robot will inform you when it's done.

I send resources to the reestablished New Ellin. I clean my PDA of all those old reports regarding the H'riak sporeship and the last days of the Tantalus' colonies. They clutter the list. There is no longer a point to keep them.

I go back to administrative tasks. It does seem Nana did lose a laboratory during an Empiant attack. I rebuild it. I do reconstruct New Ellin. I do return the colonial economy back to normal. Soon I am able to establish a constant supply line to carry ore from Qri to Calypso. I do try several configurations until I do decide to have two ships ferrying full loads of ore to the Calypso in a continuous manner.

Hausmann does come with a new report.

I have completed my processing of Captain Johansson's recording that was retrieved from Gaea. Unfortunately, the recording was badly damaged and corroded. I have salvaged what I could, but it is not the entire message. The total text recovered has been added to the ship's library.

Yet was not the robot the one to inform me of this? He must be looking for excuses to visit the Captain. That does explain how much does he nag us.

I read the text we did recover.

Our predecesors were morons. This much we did knew. And they did start the hostilities with the H'riak sporeship themselves. I wonder about how much did the high command back on earth think this project through. About a screening process that does let pass the kind of redneck whose first reaction upon discovery of an alien pylon is to try to destroy it one can say nothing good.

Soon afterwards I do greenlight one of the proposals we did have in wait.

I do also send twenty of my ships to New Ellin.

Now that we have provided the necessary vehicles, we need to boost up the amount of research being done at Cronus. I suggest raising the level of research labs or adding more if possible.

Presently my plan is to research all the proposals we do have pending as I do stockpile scientific resources to do so and continue to rebuild New Ellin. I am not in a hurry. I take my time. After a short while I do decide to establish a new colony on Gaea.

I give it Areum for a name and start to build the habitats right away. With Areum I will follow the same development plan I did follow with Qri. Its main purpose is to provide the Calypso with a second constant stream of ore. As time goes by I do also develop, upgrade, and expand the core colonies. Things are going well. The Captain is quite relaxed.

Then she does receive a call.

We have offered to help you to reach lands more habitable, yet you keep us from proceeding. I urge you to help us while we are willing.

Scratch that. They will not allow me to rest and take things calmly. Immediately afterwards I do receive notice the Tri-Warp Engine project is complete. Did one hundred and twenty turns go by already? Time does really fly when you are content.

and speed of our freighters.

Our corvettes.

Yes. Thank you.

As the Empiants did decide to stop me from liking them I have to jump into action and focus. I develop New Ellin in a blink. Before long our laboratories have gone from level one to be all level six or in the process to be so. It was a stressful period.

The Empiants wish to report that they are able to progress with their research, thanks to our providing a balanced research effort in the fields they desire. I will inform you of any changes in this attitude.

I did also stockpile enough to greenlight the proposal Hausmann did earlier bring for me to review. I do also greenlight the old plague proposal in case the number of technologies we did research do influence our score.

Time does pass. Little of interest does happen.

ability to utilize this technology... yet.

Before long Antonelli does bring a new report on the Empiant's research progress.

Our research continues to progress very well on the Cronus site. The Empiants assure us that our balanced research efforts have made their work easier. They claim the more balanced research availble, the sooner they will finish.

The Empiants did ask of us to research three different scientific fields for them. I believe they were Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy. Of the six laboratories I did set two for each.

A few turns later the plague project is complete.

do not know if the plague will affect us.

We are not going to use them. More time does pass before I am able to greenlight yet another pending project.

Then I do establish a new colony on Gaea. The name is Soyeon.

My plan for this colony is to become as Qri and Areum are for ore but for energy. I did completely forget about syphoning stations when I did come up with the idea. Antonelli then does come with a new report that is but a word for word copy of the previous one. Soon afterwards I do receive a call from the Empiants themselves.

We have devised a way in which you may propel your ship fast enough to leave this system. The research you provided gave us a chance to study your vehicles for a range of possible solutions. It appears that your best chance is to help us build a superstructure between the Beta asteroids and Zeus. I might add that our belief is you haven't forever to remain in this system given its lack of perpetual resources.

Why is it all of a sudden I do feel like the Empiants' do give all the hard work to me while they do try to scare me into obeying them? I decide to check on my advisors.

The Empiant military commander and I have communicated. We both are suspicious of the other. I think I like him... her... it.

Not even Romanov is himself any longer.

Well sir, the flying jelly-fish are making us jump through more hoops! I assume you're going to pleasantly roll us onto our backs and play nice doggy cause it suits us to do so this year? Pah! I'll be maintaining a watchful eye on every single unit of material they steal from us.

You do not need to play with me, Romanov. We do both know you will instead keep a watchful eye on his... her... its sexy little tentacles instead. But do go on. I do not mind. Kirk did it. Shepard did it. It is a great tradition you are upholding. But do leave some tentacles for the rest of us.

I am astonished at the information we have gained from the Empiants. They, in turn, are quite thankful for the information we could give them about their early history and their war with the H'riaks.

Two billion years is a long time indeed.

The Empiant science is very different from ours. Our mutual ignorance in varying fields is astounding. In their eyes humans are morons because we know almost nothing about telepathic abilities.

Whatever the Empiants are planning is going to be huge! The amount of resources they are requesting is quite substantial. Hell, it's downright outrageous! The quantities they deem necessary are more than what we started colonizing this entire system with.

Three thousand ore. Three thousand energy. Three hundred robots.

They are insane.

The communications channels are very active. Some of our Governors have reported that the Empiants are making inquiries of our people about anything and everything! I have no basis to judge the meaning of these reports, sir.

I'm still on the fence about their true intentions, but I'm forced to agree with Scientist Hausmann. I feel we must trust our instincts, not our raw training from decades ago.

I hope to study the habitats the Empiants have created for themselves. Building structures to withstand the pressures and storms inside a gas giant is quite an engineering feat.

I think we can devise a ship that will allow both our races to serve on the same crew, sir. Indeed, if we can use the Empiant ability to warp space telepathically, we may be able to travel faster than the speed of light.

These Empiants creatures are quite structurally adept. Living in a gas giant atmosphere, I wouldn't expect them to have such knowledge of construction. They really do 'pick-up' on things quickly; no doubt a benefit of their telekinetic powers.

I do believe you did mean to say their 'telepathic' powers this once.

I keep my focus on administrative tasks. The laboratories at New Ellin are no longer in need yet to have six level six laboratories and not to use them would be foolish. I need to keep the Calypso well provided so that it may provide for the laboratories as well as itself. I also need to collect the resources the Empiant desire.

And before long a new petition does come in.

Our friends the Smartmonkeys, we need help from you to create four new towers at the special floating sky palace we built using the elements you provided us.

I have yet to provide you with them.

We send knowledge of towers to Navigator Wu. Your race must invent what we cannot and then build four of these towers at the sky palace that floats between what you call 'Zeus' and the outmost asteroid ring.

I have yet to assimilate this when a new call does come in.

Our friends the 'Huu...muns,' your floating home is not strong enough to make the travel we propose. We need to create a new kind of vessel so that both races may co-exist in one craft. A new type of power source is necessary for this new ship. We have no ability to make the engine but we have knowledge that will help you. Navigator Wu will be told our proposal. She can help with the new invention.

The Empiants need us to invest our science resources into a new fusion-based engine prototype. I've named the device the SPECTER ENGINE. The proposal is listed in the TECH MANAGER for you approval. I'm quite excited to see the outcome of these new technologies, but I'm unsure what they plan to do with the engine. We won't be able to adapt it to the CALYPSO. Perhaps, a new vessel may need to be constructed?

I did forget to screenshot the proposals the first time around. The following screenshots do come from the time at the end of the present update. The amounts of research resources I do have in them do not reflect what I did have at the time.

I did decide to try and hunt for scientific resources. To wait to produce them would stress me as I do not know how long do we have to collect them. I send a ship to Gaea's surface, scan for scientific anomalies, and begin to collect them. It is a slow and not very exciting job. Before long I did start to miss the good old days of space adventure. To save the colonies from rampaging giant monsters, to face a berserk sporeship bent on our destruction, to blockade Cronus and race to find a way to stop the war as missiles did fly and ships did explode. That was the life.

Romanov does come for a visit. He has a report for me. The report does make me happy.

Captain, I have urgent news requiring your immediate attention. One of our most distinguished colonists, Governor Reynolds, seems to have gone off the deep end. She has been building up quite a following of rebellious fanatics by denouncing our alliance with the Empiants. She is urging her fellow colonists to join her rebellion and establish their own sovereignty.
She has somehow commandeered nearly a dozen vehicles. The vehicles are being used to plunder our colony sites and to shuttle new converts to some unknown location. Their activity is being updated in the Space Map, but we're not quite sure what they're up to just yet.
Governor Reynolds was last seen in the vicinity of Sector G30 on Gaea. I'm afraid we should divert our attention to dealing with this matter immediately.

Now this is what I did want to hear. Thank you, Romanov.

!!! PROCEED WITH CAUTION !!! !!! She is extremely dangerous !!!

Worry not. I have this under control. I do check the system map. We can see the rebel ships as yellow dots. They do nothing but fly around. I try to send my ships to attack them but there is no way to do so. Instead I send a ship to the coordinates Romanov did just give me.

Bonfires and propaganda pamphlets litter the area here. There must have been some type of public meeting held at this spot. The pamphlets are terse and simply state: The Time is Nigh -- Follow Me Out of the Darkness and Into the Glory.

You find a partially burned piece of paper bearing a message: 'Please, I don't want to be indentured to the Children of Light. I know Hermes, E-4 is where they...' the rest of the note is unreadable.

We do leave the sector and prepare to follow this lead when...

exonerate me in the eyes of any U.N. Council. These things are no more than bloated jellyfish of evil, yet you willingly throw away resources and risk every human life in this system for your own personal gain!

I wonder if you've told all your 'LOYAL' shipmates just how much diamond the Empiants are carving from their planet's core for your personal 'experiments,' hmmm??

There is no more U.N. There is only me.

And I am sorry to inform you will have to learn proper use of question marks and teach your followers proper capitalization before I am able to see you as a worthy foe. Not to mention your stylist does suck almost as much as your fashion sense does. I have met transexuals more feminine than you.

I send a ship from my colony on Hermes to the next set of coordinates.

The ruins of a habitat are evident here. It appears that this may purposely destroyed and salvaged. A small crate bearing some tools lies under part of the wreckage. On the top, a shipping label reads: 'Send to I-20 on Ares for construction teams.'

She does seem intent on taking us on a system wide hunt. Just in case I do send a ship with a cargo of fuel to every planet on which we do not have a working colony. Soon a new transmission does reach us. It does seem to be an open message to the population.

My beloved friends, the time is nigh for us to seek a brighter, safer future. Your leader's plans to work with the Empiant race is foolish and dangerous! What guarantee do we have that these beings are in fact our allies? They continually demand more and more of our precious resources yet refuse to communicate their purpose. If we follow the current plans our fate will be that of the U.N.S. TANTALUS and its crew. EXTINCTION! Come! Join me and save yourselves from this folly!

In the subject it does state 'Governor Reynolds formerly of Hades.'

Did it hurt to be the governor of an empty space station no one did ever care about? Did you enjoy it when I did order it demolished and took even that away from you?

I do believe we know where she is. We only need to find the proper coordinates to her hideout. Moriarty she is not.

The ship I did send to Ares does reach the coordinates we did previously find.

'All who follow the path, converge on Hera at I-21. We are nearing our culmination time.'

Someone obviously left you this sign. It appears to be the leader of these fanatics taunting you: 'Blind, mindless fools! You follow the flagship of a supreme idiocy into the aliens' den. Come to us on Hermes, B-8, to combat these horrors.

Two different sets of coordinates. I do send the ship on JongMin to the new coordinates on Hermes. I do also begin to write the coordinates down. The latest find does make it possible she is trying to hide the true coordinates among several false leads. If we keep a record of all sectors we do visit we should be able to avoid being led in circles.

The moment Reynolds did decide to force me to take notes was the moment she did become the proud owner of a grizzly and capital fate.

'Gather near, O Children of Light. Meet at Ares, sector F-12, for together we will crush the vile abominations that rule the sky of night.'

As we leave the sector...

What an imbecile you are, Captain!. Even a blind fool could have seen that I deliberately sent you on a wild goose chase! While you've been busy barking up the wrong tree, I've been sending repeated broadcasts throughout the system for your people to come join my rebellion. We hereby officially denounce you as our leader. Vengeance is mine!

Please forgive me but you do not get to gloat when you did just place a period right after an exclamation mark.

The ship on Ares is sent to check the new set of coordinates there.

'The time of culmination is nigh; but for now, return to the roots of your trek. Go back to Ares, I-20 and await my signal.'

We visit the new coordinates.

You almost flew right by this small sign. Its message seems quite deliberate: 'HAH! Dare to challenge my teachings? All those who would challenge me may face my fury and feel my wrath on Hermes at J-18.'

On the surface below, you uncover a MAX-9000 PDA. One of the only entries lists a brief order: 'Come to me on Hades at D-10. I shall be awaiting our time to grow together.'

Within a demolished vehicle you recover a digital voice recorder. The last message the pilot barked into the black box was: '...will do. I'm off to Ares, D-22, can't wait to see how good ole...'

Ares D22 is the next stop in our search.

The small colony below is desolate. The only noticeable marker is a sign firmly impaled in what may have been a town square: 'ALL FOLLOWERS -- Please consider this a forwarding address: Hera, sector L-3.'

The tent poles and 'porta-dome' tops are indications that more 'converts' were once here. They left a message on a sign post: 'To whoever sees this -- Come ye to the end of the dark tunnel and step into enlightenment on Hades, sector I-16.'

I move to Hera. The ship I did send there is waiting in orbit. I order it to the surface to check on L3.

A very primitive colony of tents and canvas has been abandoned here. Among the remnants, you uncover a pamphlet that has bold lettering across the top: 'Come to me on Hera at I-21. I shall be awaiting our time to grow together.'

You can't compete with me you simpleton! You've exchanged charisma for cowardice when you took my role as Captain of the CALYPSO! Your sheep are dropping into my flock as quickly as you would have sent them to their deaths at the slimy tentacles of the floating jellyfish. You've lost, admit it; you can't compete with me, ex-Captain.

It is not my intention to share the slimy tentacles.

I send the ship on Hermes to J18.

Within the ruins of a 'convert colony' you find a message scrawled by a colonist: 'My friends, when you return here we will have left for Hera, F-18. Join us as quickly as you can.'

Feeling warmer, Captain? Around the neck that is!

You do gloat in a most quaint manner.

The ship on Hera's orbit is sent to check F18.

A small posted bulletin appears to have been purposedly planted in the planet's soil here. The short message reads: 'Revive your spirit and take hold of your future! Come to Ares sector I-20 for more enlightenment.'

We did already visit I-20. Her plan is indeed to hide her trail among several false leads and make us run in circles until the time is right for her to make her move. I do not consider worthwhile to check the remaining sets of coordinates. I am sure she is on Hades. All the false leads she did leave do point us to the inner worlds. Hades is the odd one out. On Hades we do have several sets of coordinates to check. I can always check the remaining coordinates on the inner worlds if we do not find anything in there.

In the meantime I do decide to send a ship with provisions to JR. I did never got to rebuild the colony after the Empiant war. A single factory stands where once one of my two main production centers was. It is a good time to rebuild it.

A short time does pass before the ship sent to Hades back when the hunt did begin does reach the planet. I am sure she is here. I just need to find out where. I do establish a starbase in orbit. I give it New Way as a name. Then I begin the search on D10.

There's a stripped-down bunker here, as though someone purposefully destroyed the structure. You are able to piece together a few fragments of a magnetic poster: 'Hades shall be on the way to the True Path. Follow ye unto the One's wisdom, and knowledge everlasting is yours at H-12.'

Inside a destroyed, make-shift colony, you find a smashed computer console. The light storage media is still intact! After re-playing the slightly damaged recorder you can just make out a voice: 'All followers of the True Path, gather ye unto Hermes at sector J-18.'

Sector H12 is it. They did actually try to hide that lead. As to confirm this she does send a new transmission. She does finally establish her demands. She does try to threaten us too.

My beloved followers have constructed a colony on Hermes which I have named 'Persephone'. It is to become our new home where we can be free of your idiotic leadership! I'm sure it will be more comfortable than this bunker... Ooops! I mean this stronghold we now command.

How nice of you to save us the bother of digging you a grave.

I demand that you build enough habitats at the colony to house at least 1000 people! If my demands are not met within a relatively short amount of time, I plan to launch an offensive missile strike at those nasty Empiants! Heed my words!

Captain, the bunker which the fanatic has established is probably well armored. However, any converts that are still residents there would undoubtedly be killed in an all out air strike on such an installation.

They are traitors and terrorists. I do not have a huge fleet to negotiate with an ugly hag and the tasteless few that did choose her over me. The treatment of non uniformed combatants is not suposed to be considerate and gentle.

I'm affraid, their safety must be our primary concern. We can't be slaughtering innocents and justifying it due to one radical. We must be sure the bunker is empty before we can destroy it. I urge you to fulfill the requested ultimatum, at least for now...

Up until now I did believe you a real man, Romanov. A foolish, shallow, violent, loyal and hard as nails bully. What else can a girl ask from a tough guy? You insult them. You get angry at them. You call them simple minded morons. You keep them in a short leash. Yet you know they have your back when you need them. You disappoint me greatly.

I order resources and robots sent from JongMin to Persephone. In the meantime I send the ship on Hades to do a reconnaissance flight on H12. As I did suspect the enemy bunker is there.

Under some camouflaged netting, you discover a surface-to-air rocket launcher. The launcher's targeting and acquisitioning hardware has not yet been installed.

A large, unmanned gun turret is in the process of being affixed to the surface here. Its weaponry and tracking systems are not yet operational.

A large electronic display adorns this fortified bunker. It reads: '400 Members And Counting!'

Even my enemies are terminally incompetent. They are all but defenseless.

I've killed women and children. I've killed just about everything that walks or crawled at one time or another. Except for idols, ya know? The bossy missy will have me scrapped the moment ole me as much as looks at pretty people with mischief on my circuits. Anyway, now I'm here to kill you, little bitch, for making the missy take notes!

Do not engage, Commander Zod! I repeat. Do not engage!

But them be sittin' ducks, girly! I'll finish this off and be back before supper, you'll see. Just like the good ol' days.

We are not in Alpha Centauri anymore, Commander.

Much to our chagrin, Citizen.

Yes. Those were the days.

You tell 'em pal.

No rules. No regulations. Just us and the locals against heresy and villany.

I am affraid it was closer to us, the locals, and an elite force of gene-terrorists against mostly defenseless civilian populations.

Evil civilian populations, citizen.

They did not mind the enviroment and brought great damage to the local ecosystem.

And we did use chemical weapons as standard issue in all of our forces.

Ah, ladies! You bringin' a tear to an ole robot's sensors!

It was a brilliant long term strategic decision. The less of them there were the less damage their industries were able do to the enviroment.

Our decisive actions did probably save millions of innocent mindwords.

Back on topic I would like to say that while we are not allowed to destroy the bunker it would be a good idea to destroy the gun emplacements before they can be put online.

Could be worse I guess.

Very well. But please be sure not to 'miss.'

Nothin' to worry about, girly. Goin' in.

We do completely destroy their defenses just in case. On the way out I do decide to check the last set of coordinates on Hades for completion's sake.

You discover a headstone cemented into the planet's surface. The inscription reads: 'I lay my family here to rest. I'm off to Ares to join the best. At sector D-22 I'll make my claim. Our leader knows the true path, though none know its name.'

My 'nemesis' does decide to call me over the phone and gloat. This does not help me keep the frustration in check. I would enjoy nothing more than to return to H12 and bomb her and all of her followers to oblivion.

Useless leader! Can't even save your loyal crew from one opponent? Hmmm? HAH! Now you see your ineptitude, and so do they! They can discern a true leader when they've been shown the way! Down snake, down on your knees! You too shall worship at my feet... or die trying to stop me!

But I must be patient. I send more resources to Persephone. I build ten level one habitats in total. This is enough to satisfy Reynold's demands for the time being.

All of Governor Reynold's renegade vehicles are currently on course toward Hades. You can view their activity in the Space Map if you wish. It appears as if they intend to rendezvous there. It is my guess that they are going to attempt a massive exodus of all people and resources to the new colony we have constructed for them. I hope for their sake they know what they're doing!

To be sincere I could not care less about their lives and wellbeing. I do begin to rebuild JR in the meantime. The rebel spacecraft continue to move towards Hades. Slowly. Very slowly. I keep them under watch. Sooner or later the chance will present itself for me to attack. I will not let it slip through my fingers.

We have to wait for a while. It is not until all the rebel spacecraft are in Hades' orbit that it does happen. Once again our foe's incompetence does work to our advantage.

Captain, I've intercepted a transmission from Governor Reynolds to her followers...

My trusted followers, please help me! The engine of my vessel has betrayed me! I am unable to join you under my own power. Please send one of your fastest ships to escort me to our new home. We must be swift and silent to avoid the floating debris your bumbling ex-Captain calls a fleet.

HA! We have Governor Reynolds now! While she's alone at the bunker, we can safely demolish it, entombing that crazy fanatic within it! We must act quickly, sir. Send a squad to Hades immediately, locate the bunker, and bomb the living daylights out of everything in sight!

I do already have a ship in Hades, Romanov. Her pathetic little rebellion is as good as over.

Now all I gotta do is pull the trigger missy!

Beautiful. Hausmann does come to me to report the good news.

The 'Fanatic's' threat is now over, Captain. Congratulations on a job well done! Governor Reynold's ex-followers will be de-programmed at the newly built colony on Hermes. They will be available immediately for your use. All of the stolen supplies are being returned to that location as well. We should continue the project with the Empiants immediately.

I do not know whether or not did they actually manage to steal something from us. No attack was ever reported. I did not notice any trouble due to lack of colonists. Their ships were not really taken from my fleet. In the end we will probably win a dozen ships, a thousand colonists, a few resources, and a colony. Plus the pleasure I did obtain from clicking the plasma bomb icon.

And so this episode does come to an end. The Captain did stop a very pathetic rebellion and did save her alliance with the Empiants. In the meantime she did continue to stockpile scientific resources to eventually be able to tackle the projects the Empiants did ask her for. She did manage to expand the colonial infrastructure as well. With a little bit of luck she will be able to focus on the project from now on.

Meanwhile, in the soon to be renamed Persephone...

Spoiler

*deafening scream*

De-programmed.

*begs incoherently*

I does have a nice ring to it.

*gorgles on blood*

Indeed. That egghead does have a way with words.

I am presently troubled by personal matters. The next update will probably be slow to come. Please forgive me for this.

 

[Mrowak]

The 'Fanatic's' threat is now over, Captain. Congratulations on a job well done! Governor Reynold's ex-followers will be de-programmed...

Spoiler

*deafening scream*

De-programmed.

*begs incoherently*

I does have a nice ring to it.

*gorgles on blood*

Indeed. That egghead does have a way with words.

Damn shame you are not allowed a more radical approach, although this solution does make up for it, at least slightly. A paranoiac in me would suspect that it was Empiants who saw discord among us with their telepathic powers by doing something to that governor... or to our captain. That would actually be a nice twist.

I am presently troubled by personal matters. The next update will probably be slow to come. Please forgive me for this.

No worries. We ain't going anywhere.

 

[Malakal]

How anticlimactic but I guess pointless rebellions are so very human too. Even on the brink of extinction.

So the end will be your people leaving for another system? Hmm not exactly what I expected. Wonder what other endings are.