I'll probably only build a single Hornet - one NPG cruiser goes a long way when you're top dog in the galaxy - but it'll be good to have, to ensure space superiority. I proceed to steal Improved Industrial Tech 9 from a Silicoid lab at Moro, increasing my miniaturization capabilities, and manage to frame the Psilons, hoping the damage to relations would help the children of Rha to choose correctly in favor of Monch and against the Silicoids. There is an option to frame the Humans instead, but fixing the Psilon alliance seems more important, and I hope the cold war the rocks and monkeys are fighting over the Silicoid world of Kulthos will turn hot anyway when the Human transports arrive.
My scheming doesn't accomplish anything. Kulthos has been taken by the Humans, but they remain at peace with the Coids ... and the Psilons have retained their Sili alliance and gone to war with my buddy Monch! At least he's taking it philosophically; in fact, he's so relaxed, I decide to offer him a Non-Aggression Pact, and he agrees! Well, I certainly can't accept all this from him, and then leave him to fight alone in a two front war into which I led him! I dispatch most of my newly-built Termites as faith-keepers to the Silicoid worlds of Cryslon and Misha, while the remainder head up to Uxmai - a Human world in the nebula with few bases - as emissaries of peace!
Funny thing, my convoluted plans may not be working out, but the straightforward ones are just dandy! It's just a matter of understanding primitive alien psychology.
"Peace, Lasitus? What a wonderful idea! If only I'd thought of it myself and - for instance - proposed it again and again, once every few years, ever since your ambassador came back! (Oh, that's right: I did!) No matter! Let's put our past differences behind us, and enjoy a peaceful galaxy together - the kind of galaxy where I don't bomb your worlds into oblivion!"
Score one for gunboat diplomacy.
Here's hoping the Psilons will see the light as well; when Neptunus gives us contact, their emperor says all the right things - delighted to meet me, desire to work toward our mutual benefit, all that sort of thing - but he's reputed to be as honorable as Lasitus, which is no recommendation. It's one thing to say nice things...
...but it's another to mean them! Zygot the Honorable, welcome aboard the rock-killing team!
He also agrees to exchange 100 BC per year with me, so we're off to a terrific start with the children of Rha! Maybe the light is dawning! The Psilon people know nothing of the galaxy as it was before the plague - even planetfall on Mentar is the merest hint of ancient legend - starting from a group of children forced to fight for their lives when they landed, they unsurprisingly managed to retain little or none of their heritage except what was in their genes - but they started to piece things together at Rha when they first scouted the world, and now they are seeking knowledge of the ancient galaxy as avidly as am I.
Since I have all the Silicoids' technology already, my spies move on to sabotage work. They do take out a couple of missile bases at Rayden, but fail in their true mission, which was to create an opportunity to frame the Humans and draw Lasitus into the war. For this very reason, I elect not to bomb Misha, lest I destroy that Sili colony and break contact between the rocks and apes. My fleets in the region are now all converging on Cryslon and Rayden however, for Extreme Diplomatic Activities. All my fleets, that is, but the all-important Wasp Hive 3s and their toxic colony bases!
It's nice to hear that leaders are already preparing to merge with me, but I somehow suspect that the GNN droid is a better judge of planetary ownership than of alien psychology. My Termites retreating from Uxmai, for instance, probably made Lasitus (and perhaps others) even more unhappy with me than before, as they "attacked" in "violation" of our peace treaty, even though their "attack" consisted only of showing up - they had no choice, being already en route when the treaty was made - and retreating. Still, the harm should be small, and I knew to expect it when I launched my gunboat diplomats in the first place, so on the whole, I'm pleased - all the more so because I've just devised Merculite Missiles for my bases (I'm on the verge of breakthroughs on Zortium and Stabilizer too, with a good chance of finishing each at any moment - between Artemis, the materials supplied by Maalor, and virtually my entire gigantic population performing all-out research, I'm developing technology at an almost ridiculous rate). I decide to go back and research Gatling Lasers just in hopes of one more small success before the Rise of the Triad, as I'm not sure if I'll ever need any further weapons developments - though the merculite design suggested possibilities for a Graviton Beam, Stinger Missiles, or even Fusion Beams - after that date!
The weapons I've got, of course, I need now! The Silicoid Diplomacy Front (not to be confused with a Battle Front!) is about to heat up. I have completed the initial peaceful expansion phase of my development (or I will have as soon as I plant my last colony on the last toxic white star, Incedius, circled below). Here's what I've managed to get:
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Next: Rise of the Triad
