Imperium 19 - Scoring

Base score:

I've no idea what's up with the waste display; obviously, there was actually as much waste on each world as it could contain. Note the base counts too, by the way. Rotan and ultra-rich Reticuli were in a nebula, and I wasn't taking any chances with Orion or my other URs either. Even the Ultra-Poor worlds got in on the action. I didn't feel like dealing with attacks, and if someone did attack me, I wanted to just hit Auto and not worry. Besides, what else was I going to do with the BC? That leftover multi-million BC reserve is not a typo. But hey, 3,000 of it came from a merchant! Anyway...

84 colonies x 50 = 4,200 points
14 worlds with at least 220 population apiece x 25 = 350 points

2 races (Sakkra and Klackons, thanks to last-minute heaping portions of tech gift cheese) at or above Relaxed Relations x 25 = 50 points

(Yes, I'm still pouring over 100,000 RP into tech each turn even with no possibility of actually achieving anything.)

Note that the last tech on each list, not highlighted, is blue, not red. After researching those techs, the first ones to become available after hitting tech level 99 in the field, the game wouldn't give me an option to select another tech in the field. Those techs are complete, and I haven't been able to research anything for something like 150 years. So....

(9 in computers + 10 in construction + 10 in force fields + 10 in planetology + 9 in propulsion + 7 in weapons comes to...) 55 advanced techs x 5 = 275 points

Total base score: 4,200 + 350 + 50 + 275 = 4,875

Scoring multipier:
Qualifying Blood Enemy - the Humans: +0%
No invasions or attacks except against my Blood Enemy, at neutral worlds, and at worlds where I then or previously had a colony - i.e. rightfully MY worlds: -0%
3 rivals left at game's end - Alkari eliminated: -5%
Blood Enemy eliminated: -0%
Conquest Victory in 2800: -0%

Total multiplier: -5%

Total score: 4,875 x 0.95 = 4,631.25


Ways I could have improved my score:
1) The single most important thing would have been to save the Alkari, by some combination of tech gifts and "Hey, it's MY world, I can do what I want here!" cheese at Imra (worst case would be just parking a death fleet in orbit, and killing anything that came into orbit, but never bombing the colony except with the minimum force necessary to take out missile bases on the combat screen). I didn't think of the former in time though, and the latter just wasn't in keeping with the spirit of the rules - when I did attack at Imra, it was a legitimate conquest of a world that had once been mine. If I'd fought off Sakkra fleets over it as an Alkari world without ever bombarding it or sending troops, that would hardly count as conquest of a world that's rightfully my own!
2) I didn't abuse spying nearly as much as I could have; I could have spent massively to spy and frame various targets in hopes of fomenting war and slipping in to snag Imra-style colonies. For that matter, I could have taken advantage of existing wars better, perhaps letting the humans take worlds of mine as stepping stones to other races' (and to make into Gaias) to allow me to conquer more of the galaxy. Also/alternatively, gift range tech to races that might glass each others' worlds for those Imra-style colonies, etc. All told, severe use of these options might have been even more powerful than keeping the Alkari alive, in terms of score.

Anything on the menus from options 1 and 2 would have made the game take longer though (In real time!) apart from donating tech to the birds, which I just didn't think of in time. So, forget those!

3) Get scout blockades out faster. I played a gambit in this huge galaxy, waiting way too long to build a real scout fleet, and lost at least one world to the Sakkra as a result. That's 47.5 points right there.
4) Manage Psilon relations better (or get lucky) so they don't declare war at the last minute and wind up with their diplomat gone by the last turn. I could probably have gotten them up to relaxed or better the way I cheesily did with the other two races, but for less than 24 points ... meh.
5) Less espionage (prefer sabotage from the beginning if I spy at all) and no tech trading except for stuff in my tree. This might have netted me a few points at the end by allowing me to research another level of advanced tech in one or two fields. Like, four and three quarters points times maybe two or three. Maybe.
6) By choosing pop growth for pop-poor Silis (figuring a red star will have a larger planet than a white one) over coreward settling, or by conservatively waiting for scout reports before sending my colony ship, colonize Phantos first instead of Rayden, speeding the growth curve for my entire empire. It'll be interesting to see how others did if they chose such a strategy!

_______________

Back to the Front Page

Imperium 19 - Peace of the Mountains

279?: The first of the monsters prophesied by the final oracle is approaching, a space amoeba way off in the east. It will arrive right on schedule, a few years after the 2800 election. It also doesn't impress me. Plus, that oracle said it would wipe out Paranar, but didn't get the chance before it was blasted out of existence by seven thousand, eight hundred something particle beams. (There were three times that many aboard the fighters, plus some missiles for extra giggles, but the fire from first bank was plenty.) I'm starting to think this oracle business is pretty weak in the face of advanced technology. Well, I'm fulfilling the prophecy either way. It's high time these warring idiots (the Psilons just declared on us again last year or something) settled down to the mountains' peace.

2799: Well, everyone's still at war with us, but at least the two with flimsy imitation-rock scales or carapaces are talking to me. I give a few technological gifts to each of them as a taste of what they'll gain under my new republic, and they both agree to peace. So I give them more gifts as rewards. A little cheesy? Maybe, but it makes them happy.

There's no point in their pretending to fight us anyway. Our fleet, scattered around the empire, and no longer needed, thanks to our immense numbers of missile bases, could still wipe out their assault ships by itself, though it presently consists only of our long-outdated dreadnoughts, a cluster of colony ships in destroyer hulls that were waiting around in case other races bombed each other's worlds and opened up something for me to claim, and the Particle 8s I threw together for kicks and to help eliminate Oracle 20.

After all that, the election next year will end in an inevitability.

2800: It's official.

With nearly 90% of the vote in Silicoid hands, I win a 2800 conquest victory.

I guess to technicaly be greeting a new millenium, we should have waited until the election of 3000. It would only be another 200 years. Have I not said that I am the mountain stone?

I can wait.

_______________

Final Score

Imperium 19 - The Patience of the Stone

The long wait is upon us, and many soft-skins will be born, grow old, and die ere the year of the prophecy comes, yet three hundred years away. The years shall go swiftly now, for there is no fear for the rock people of the galaxy.

2501: The golden droid reports that Simius has exhausted its mineral resources and become poor. It is of little importance. I have dozens of worlds more. Now if only the Sakkra had left their Alkari neighbors in peace, I might have been able to let the centuries flow past me.

Already in this five year old map, you can see another Sakkra fleet at Imra, then of the Alkari, and rightfully a Silicoid world. They will not accept the mountains' peace.

2508: The world of Imra, rightfully ours since we placed our colony there in 2473, is conquered for our people once more, taken from the claws of the Sakkra. Our lander completes the job this year, after last year's destruction of the lizard colony by our fleet.

2512: While my spies have been reaping the last vestiges of other races' technology - at least of what we are able to use for ourselves - the Sakkra have sent fleet after fleet to their dooms at Imra, and now our little colony at Rana has experienced an axial shift and vast increase in fertility. If it were a larger world, that might have been welcome news. As it is, it's just more wind among the mountains.

2551: Klaquan appears before me with an offer of peace, an event of historic significance for this reason: She declared war on my empire no less than 120 years ago, and in all that time, we have not spoken, and neither of us visited a single star where the other had a colony or fleet. It was by far the longest phony war in known history.

2558: GNN reports that a computer virus wiped out 32,000 research points on our latest advanced computer tech project, which would have brought our tech level in the field up to the high nineties. I suspect that more than 32,000 were lost in fact - the tech was almost achieved, with a chance of a breakthrough this year - and the golden droid simply can't count any higher. No matter. I live in peace.

2589: The inevitable has happened, sadly.

Perhaps, had I been more attentive, I could have saved the Alkari from their Sakkra enemies. I might have bent over backward to give them more opportunities to reclaim Imra from me, or - as I finally realize now - I could have given them gifts of defensive and ground fighting technology, enough perhaps to ensure the lizards would never have overcome them. Yet the mountains cannot be ever vigilant for the lives of the birds who nest on their peaks. We mourn for the Alkari, but can do no more for them now than to hope that they rest in peace.

2603: Five years ago, our scientists discovered that Kailis was on the verge of a supernoval explosion. This year, they developed a solar rejuvenator to save it. Such is the way of the mountains' long peace.

2648: The Psilons cured a plague this year on their Maretta colony. I feel sorry for the soft-skins, sadly subject to disease.

2664: After stealing freely from all across the galaxy, the rock beings' spies have grown tired of waiting for each race to develop dull new-to-them technologies. A few years ago, they took up new missions as subversive agents, fomenting revolt to cripple the war machines of the alien beings.

Unfortunately, they went too far, accidentally throwing first Kholdan and then Exis into full rebellion. With their empire in a state of internal collapse, the Klackons could not protect their queen, and Klaquan fell to an assassin's blade, leaving her people to unite behind a new queen. The news droid claims our relations with her are neutral, but it is mistaken; neither our war nor the jealousy of the Klackons for our power are erased. I suppose our saboteurs may continue their work, but I ask them to branch out from rabble-rousing. We want no more assassinations in our galaxy.

2700: A merchant in formerly-human space decides to contribute some 3,000 BC to our coffers. He lands at our colony on Sol, and makes his contribution in the form of coals, at the site of what was once the human settlement of Newcastle.

27??: I wake from the sleep of the mountains to see the newsdroid before me again, with another unimportant ... wait ... what can this mean? Can such a being truly come out of the deeps of space? It can be no other than the final oracle of our people!

Heed my words, Silicoid people, for I am the last of the oracles of Cryslon, whose coming heralds the doom of the galaxy! When the present century ends, unless RBO-19 rises up to rule over all the stars as one, all shall be destroyed by monsters from the universe's deeps! Heed me, and prepare for doom! The better to prepare you, I shall begin with the destruction of this Paranar colony!

Maybe it didn't notice over 200 Scatter-X/Zeon bases on the planet's surface, or the nearly 4,000 fighters waiting in orbit with attack level 12, teleporters, and six particle beams apiece. The fighters destroy it so quickly, our archivists don't even have time to capture a picture of the attack for posterity.

So passes the final Oracle of Cryslon. I, the last but one, have but one remaining mission.

_______________

Next: Conclusion

Imperium 19 - Aftershock

2464: The Artemis fighters arrive at their destination, along with a single OLander 6.0 - a colony ship with a battle scanner, stabilizer, and all the computers and maneuvering engines that can be stuffed on-board. It has only one mission: To arrive in the system and retreat from combat range before the target of the Artemis fighters can fire on it. It succeeds.

So do the Artemis fighters. The Guardian destroys some 325 while they dodge around its scatters, but the others close, and in two volleys, destroy it in turn. The OLander completes its mission, and Orion is ours.

In addition to death ray and various other junk weapons, a search of its ancient ruins reveals improved industrial technology two levels better than the best we were able to discover on our own, a real gem with more robotic controls yet to come in. With transports already clustered around Orion, ready to be redirected to it via our hyperspace communications (one of many discoveries we made that I deemed too inconsequential to bother mentioning - it came in eight years ago) with the launching planets already regrowing the populations they sent, and with massive resource spending, this beautiful world will soon be a fortress, turning out research in overwhelming quantities.

2465: The human gaeas of Stalaz and Morrig - the latter rightfully ours anyway - are conquered simultaneously.

2468: Two years ago, GNN reported a comet en route to our artifacts world of Ryoun. Fortunately, the bombers that had just rebased from liberating Morrig were in position to start bombing the comet almost immediately.

This year, the job is complete. Supported by a detachment of Artemis fighters sent in through our network of star gates, they reduced the comet to its component atoms, saving the colony.

2469: The bomber fleet that hit Stalaz would have come to help out with Ryoun, but it was farther off, and busy. Supporting an N-Star and transports, it helped to conquer the latest human gaia, in the Vega system.

2472: After two years of working on new factories for our newest robotic controls, we take Klystron from our blood enemy.

2473: Kailis is the latest human world to fall as we learn the secrets of advanced cloning and, for the first time in more than three quarters of a century, construct a new colony.

Imra had probably been an Alkari colony for more than a century and a half when the Sakkra bombed it out of existence, but both those races proved by their war that they are poor caretakers for the world, and so I declare it a Silicoid world, and so our newest colony is built there.

2474: The Alkari are not happy with our claim, and as I have no defensive fleet in orbit when their fleet arrives this year, I suppose they will send transports to take our colony.

Instead, they wipe it out from orbit, leaving the world naked yet again. There will be lots of eager colony ships heading down to look it over for other races, undoubtedly.

2482: The Alkari did manage to colonize Imra again, and though that world is rightfully mine now, I'm in no hurry to reclaim it, least of all from the poor, weak, xenophobic Alkari. In the meantime, I've been concentrating on research, and have finally achieved a breakthrough on Complete Terraforming technology. With room for 60 million more rock beings on each of my dozens of worlds, and the capacity to clone them easily, to say nothing of the hand phasors, personal barrier shield, and neutronium armor we finished in the last three years, taking the final human world will be almost too easy to be worthy of mention.

2494: Research is about to begin on advanced planetology tech, six years after we started on the industrial variety, after several years of unimportant research and spying. Now, with work also complete on class XV shields, scatter X missiles, and a sub space interdictor, our ever-growing stacks of bases will soon be impossible to breach, especially once we finish the project we started last year: Updating our factories to the most advanced robotic controls available in the galaxy.

2496: Vox is ours, moments after it becomes a Gaia.

Our blood enemy is no more. We have no rival worthy the name in the galaxy.

_______________

Next: The Long "Peace"

Imperium 19 - Eruption!

2438: Not long ago, I learned via my advanced scanners that the human world of Cygni had become a Gaia. Of course I sent cloned ground troopers in transports and my main invasion support fleet.

All the technology we took from the ruins was thoroughly obsolete, except for a fusion beam - the terraforming techniques we discovered had just become so, thanks to our scientists, this very year. The planet itself is a jewel however - one less in dishonorable Bladrov's misbegotten crown. This will be standard practice for the remainder of the war: As soon as a human planet's advanced terraforming completes, we send a sea of transports - usually due in just a year, or two at most, thanks to our advanced engines - and the bombers with a dreadnought for support.

2443: The huge new human Dreadnoughts each carry ten heavy blast cannons and 22 anti-matter bombs apiece, plus an energy pulsar that can instantly wipe out my fighter fleets. Two, with hundreds of fighters and three cruisers for support, arrive at Dunatis, only to find I had missile bases stacked high and a dreadnought of my own, the Interdict 4, with auto repair and a repulsor beam. Some of their fighters survived long enough to flee. This dance, of course, will also be repeated, with variations, until the humans are removed from the galaxy. At the same time, my attack fleet handled the Dreadnought at now-Gaian Argus, and our troops moved in, taking the world and yet more technology.

Star Gates will make logistics much simpler, especially around the nebulas peppered around the galaxy, and we learned to build a very useful battle computer (and various junk, such as atmospheric terraforming) simultaneously.

2445: At some point, the dishonorable humans managed to make enemies of everyone else they had met as well as me. This is not surprising, considering Bladrov's personality. The result is, thanks to my destruction of their forces and conquest of their worlds, I can start a NAP with the Sakkra again, and was able to open trade with the Alkari last year, to the tune of 200 BC.

This is the first time they would agree even to trade with us, more than fifty years after we met them, but that is why it is wise to take the long view of the stone. We also traded them ECM for a fusion bomb design, as this will improve our options for a small bomber in case the humans build better shields eventually. This is also the year we develop more advanced robotic controls at last, and get to work implementing them throughout our empire, even as we capture Neptunus, another immense gaian world.

2448: Following human Toranor's fall last year, I of course accept the Psilons' offer of peace when it comes, but Farseer calls just four years after our trade deal was made to replace it with a war against me. This merry-go-round will quickly cease to amuse me; I'll accept any further requests for peace from non-blood enemies, but take little further notice of declared war or peace. All my planets are slowly preparing defenses anyway, to be ready in case someone eventually discovers thorium fuel, and they will defend themselves, no matter from whom.

2450: The galactic council meets again.

More human stars have fallen - last year, Beta Ceti; this year, Sol - and the rock beings now have more than enough votes to name me emperor of the galaxy. Instead, we take the long view, and prepare to merge the galaxy as one in the year of the prophecy: 2800, when the doom foretold in the beginning and heralded by the 20th oracle shall begin to approach, but not yet arrive.

2458: The powered armor we developed three years ago makes the invasion of Zhardan last year even simpler than usual. The same goes for Seidon this year, rightfully our own colony even were it not necessary to purge the galaxy of the bloody humans, and the only world we have taken from the humans without waiting for it to become a Gaia. Seidon in human hands is just too much of a defensive logistical liability.

2461: Arietis fell last year as we developed our first planetary shields - class 15s. When these are finished everywhere, it will be a great relief, especially as the launchers they protect will be firing pulson missiles, just developed this very year. The humans begged for peace at the close of each of the past two years, but we have learned how far we can trust such vile beings. They are a threat no longer, and will never be one again so long as we do not let up on them. We shall not, but right now, we have another priority.

The Artemis 6.0 fighter has a single mission. To accomplish it, over 2,000 will be built next year.

_______________

Next: ...to End All War

Imperium 19 - The First Temblor

The lizard I knew as Tyranid has passed on, but I find that Tyranid is in fact a title only, a word meaning something like "Mighty Ruler" to Sakkra minds - from the same root as "Tyrant," naturally. I find the same is true of the Alkari, who imagine their ruler does and must see far, not knowing what it is to see deeply into time. The xenophobic birds are proud, and see not as I see that two planets may be too few to survive. The greatest challenge I will face, and the one I most may fail, is to preserve the poor Alkari from destruction.

2397: New fusion drives speed our transports and open up new ship designs as Paranar brings the age of expansion to a close.

Every star that harbors a world has a colony now - most often one of ours - except for the one where the Guardian resides.

So the age of concentrated attention must end at last. If a rumbling rolls in the mountains with every moment, it will not be long ere the peace is broken with explosive power. I must again be calm within the deep peace of the mountains, and let time and the galaxy come my way.

2401: Disappointment, but no surprise. The Psilons attacked rich Incedius with a fleet of sixteen cruisers, and the world was still too small to defend itself. My Silicoids traded for a few defensive technologies, and assembled a few fighters and a missile base at the world, but it wasn't nearly enough. They bombed the world, eliminating the few dozen factories we'd finished along with any chance of stealing our technology, but had they not, enough of our people might have survived to repel their invasion this year, and our fleets from the east and the south might have had time to arrive and end the threat once and for all.

Instead, we lose the world - but we shall return here, for Incedius is rightfully ours. There was a vote last year as well, or so I am told. We hold a veto over the proceedings which we shall not relinquish until the end of time.

2406: A large Alkari fleet arrives at ultra-poor Aquilae, but one of our new NPG/auto-repair Neutron Star dreadnoughts is present, the N-Star 4.0, and the enemy quickly flees. Every one of the soft-skins responds in quick succession to complain that we're too strong for them - except of course for our blood enemy, who expresses the same feeling by breaking our non-aggression pact, just a dozen years after it was formed.

2407: Still must they trouble me? Shortly after learning from GNN that the world of Vulcan has rebelled, denying the Prophecy of Cryslon and rejecting my oracle words, the present incarnation of Bladrov II goes from breach of NAP to all-out war. Vulcan will be retaken immediately, but population is what we can least afford to lose, and this will cost us millions. The humans' actions, of course, surprise nobody.

2415: Over the past several years, critical combat technologies have been developed, and work began on the study of cloning rock beings, while our dreadnoughts and missile bases repelled human and Alkari fleets. At last, this year, we achieve a breakthrough of our own against our blood enemy.

Our spies bring us our first space scanner, finally giving us intelligence beyond a three-parsec range of our colonies. We can only hope an advanced scanner will someday be ours as well.

2417: Trying to return to the long peace, I missed a human attack on poor Talos until it arrived. There was never any doubt about who is merely a misguided soft-skin and who is our blood enemy, and the humans make it clear again by bombing the poor little world from orbit and erradicating the colony. An empty victory for mankind: The colony will be rebuilt soon enough, and better defended.

2428: Tyranid becomes the third emperor to break a non-aggression pact with us this decade - Klaquan was the first, in 2420 - including Tachaon the dishonorable Psilon, who discarded his pact two years ago after asking us to make it just seven years before. The rock beings now have more than half the vote in the galactic council, thanks in part to the development of cloning in 2420. It led the way toward advanced soil enrichment, which we cannot use ourselves, but in the long term, my long term, may be of very great value. Our spies too have been continuing their good work, following up more computer thefts from bugs and humans by stealing designs for an inertial stabilizer from Altair and for a mass driver from Mentar. Tachaon reacted at once, the year after breaking our NAP, with a declaration of war.

As the power graphs from that year suggest, this was not a wise move on his part, but he is young, after all, only ninety. His predecessor died in 2418, and like all soft-skins as it seems, passed his name on to his successor.

2430: The time has come. Our spies continue their thefts, and our scientists add to their recent successes with two of the most critical breakthroughs in our long, long history: An advanced space scanner, and advanced soil enrichment. The first will give me warning of all incoming fleets, and explore the farthest reaches of the galaxy for me. The second is unusable by Silicoids, so I make peace with the humans and trade it to them for Class V deflector shields. After this, it will just be a matter of waiting for them to enlarge all their worlds for me. As for their fellow dishonorable soft-skins, we are done with waiting. We will not invade the Psilons' worlds, but Incedius is not theirs by right, but ours; they merely took it by force after we had declared the humans our blood enemy. An invasion is launched, supported by hundreds of bombers and fighters and an N-Star 4.1, coordinated to arrive in three years - three mere moments for me.

2433: The Klackons declared war two years ago, but do not worry me; more technology thefts were outclassed by my scientists' work: Anti-matter bombs for the future, and a personal absorption shield ready to be fitted on the andrium exoskeletons of troops already en route to Incedius, plus Ion drives to speed our conquest of our blood enemy.

First, of course, we take back what is ours from the Psilon interlopers, claiming Incedius easily. Psilon fleets are due to arrive again, but the fighters I'm leaving behind, together with the bases soon to be built at this rich world with 106 intact factories, its population already high and soon to be maximized from off-world, with maximum reserve spending, mean there shall be no repetition of the planet's conquest. The disappointment of finding no technology among so many factories is more short-lived than even a soft-skin, thanks to our spies' efficiency. As for the rest of the fleet that took the world, they are on the move. They will soon be needed elsewhere in the galaxy.

_______________

Next: The Great War

Imperium 19 - Rumbling

The passing of old Bladrov I, the human emperor's father, reveals a young tradition of that soft-skinned people, a tradition that by their childish accounting is called old. The present emperor retires and takes the name of Bladrov I himself, and his son, formerly Bladrov III, takes the throne, and with it, the ruling name, Bladrov II. It hardly matters, for the deep stars sing of treachery in every human heart, and they sing true as ever they have from the deepest wells of time. The peace of the mountains of Cryslon is long, and the time of the treacherous humans is short indeed. The years for me are as moments, and since the humans came to play in our galaxy, nearly every moment has been filled with riot and with earth-shaking events. I am the mountains, patient as stone, but havoc like this can not be abided.

2381: The human transports arrive. The moment of truth has come.

Seidon is conquered. By the magma of our stony hearts, by the blood that runs in their veins, that blood shall run, for these Humans are our Blood Enemies!

Yet I am the mountains. I am the stone. I bide my time, and live in peace, for time is ever on my side.

2383: Our metal ships that cross the stars now partly share in the life of our rocky people, and can repair such harm as is done to them in battle. So the time has come again to improve the rate at which we build our industry, and as I am the mountains, I take the long view, and reach for the greatest improvement we can make.

2384: Our colony at Selia, the fifth since the infamous attack on the pearl-domed harbor cities of Seidon, carries us across the threshold of galactic domination.

The golden droid speaks partial truth: Some leaders are preparing to merge, but the vile new Bladrov II is only preparing another attack on our rock beings, with another armed colony ship assaulting the fertile steppe world of Morrig.

2385: Incedius - and possibly Tao, another of the four stars we're colonizing this year - is near enough to Psilon space to bring us contact with their soft-skinned leader, Tachaon. Since the expansionist calls himself honorable, dishonor runs deep in his veins, but his five stars are not impressive, and though he will likely be as treacherous as wretched Bladrov, we will not be tempted to break the peace so far as to declare a second enemy. To this end, I propose a trade of 275 BC, and Tachaon agrees.

2387: With 64 fighters gathered at Morrig, easily doing away with the human colony ship in its sky, I supposed there should be no difficulty in dealing with the incoming human transports - less than twenty, with only duralloy armor and sublight drives.

Apparently, it takes eight of our swift laser fighters to take out a single human transport. With our tiny population at the young Morrig colony, the Humans steal a second world that was rightfully ours. It doesn't matter; in due course, it shall be ours once more.

2388: Perhaps our new neutron pellet guns will fare better against transports if we're forced to fire on them again. As neither ion rifles nor mass drivers are of much use for any purpose, and our bases will need deterrent power when they are finally built, work begins on merculite missiles, always taking the long view.

2389: Fiery Misha, brought into the fold at the same time as Regulus in the far north, is near enough to Alkari space to at last give us contact with their Farseer. He is known as a xenophobic industrialist, and lives up to his title, refusing to accept a trade package, with each of his two worlds filled with factories.

2391: The short-lived soft-skins are curious beings.

It appears that, unlike the humans, the Psilons speak their minds. If our scout ships arriving at Psilon worlds lead to war, they will do so just as Tachaon says: As a mere excuse for what that people already desires. For our part, we have no wish for battle, hard at work on the infrastructure of our gigantic empire. With our terraforming abilities tripled last year, we are putting the program aside for a while in favor of better assuring the peace with a bio toxin antidote, while this year sees our robotic controls lead toward still-greater battle computer power.

2393: The Alkari still refuse to trade merchant goods of any kind, but agree to a massively lopsided trade of their ancient ECM jammer for our best completed industrial construction technology. As we have no ECM at all and the tech should help our spies, and as the tiny avian empire is rather non-threatening, we agree.

Our transports continue to cross the stars in every direction, carrying the Silicoid rock beings to eventually fill our countless but barely-populated stars. This is an era of densely-packed years, too much time in every moment, and I fear it will be some time ere its end.

2394: With every contested world taken - the burning worlds of Moro and Omicron just this year - I propose a non-aggression pact with Tyranid, and even with our blood enemy, though that can be only a temporary truce, for Bladrov is sure to break his word before long and betray us again.

2395: Our industrial technology improves once more, and work will begin on armored exoskeletons for the warriors who must reclaim our worlds from the grip of human fingernails.

_______________

Next: The Mountain Wakes

Imperium 19 - The Avalanche Begins

A time of intense action appears to lie ahead. The vastness of Human space has opened up before us in the northeast, not nearly so vast as our own, but already spanning eleven worlds, with more sure to come.

Already our northeastern battle fleet is in motion, ensuring we will have a northeast passage to the galactic north, for we know the humans will not settle for peaceful expansion. Bladrov's treachery is written in the stars.

2370: Already four worlds ultra-rich in neutronium have come under Silicoid sway, with Dunatis the latest, claimed just two years ago. A warp-one long-range Farlander just completed by another, Tau Cygni, thanks to last year's sublight engines that led the way toward fusion drives, will now be scrapped however, as warp one is too slow even for me. Death spores have taught us now to work toward more advanced terraforming, and a new Farlander can be built at Tau Cygni, ready to approach Artifacts Ryoun at warp three. Phantos spreads reserves throughout our empire, the life-magma of the Silicoids, so the rich and ultra-rich worlds nearer the edge of our expansion, like Kronos in the west, can concentrate on colony ship construction.

2371: With desert Seidon and poor Talos joining the enlightened rock beings' worlds, we are running away with twenty-eight stars, and the golden droid returns to sing our praises.

There shall be more praises sung, as more landers still roll on toward the edges of Silicoid space.

2372: Our battle computers, just improved, can be advanced still more, but the peace of the mountains guides our research toward factory-growing robotic controls.

2374: Ion Cannons are far for a stone to roll with only lasers to protect it, and the growth of the mountains, slow but sure, will not soon support missile bases at contested stars, all with small, new colonies. So hand lasers open the way toward NPGs, to stengthen our defensive fleets, as our first Farlanders claim artifacts Ryoun and the fertile jungle of Gienah, home of our Klackon-deterring southeast combat fleet, and the short-range landers likewise continue their good works.

2375: Among this year's new colonies, fiery Keeta stands tall as a rocky spire, for it brings the Klackons' four stars into view in the far southeast corner of the galaxy.

Ruthless militarist though she claims to be, Klaquan proves open to friendship with a trade of 300 BC.

2376: Our new deflector shields protect our worlds, but rather than growing stronger still, soon they will protect the rock beings themselves, as personal deflectors for every rock.

2377: Reticuli, by the nebula in the far northwest, is now our fifth ultra-rich world, and with it and Rha this year and the many other stars that came before, the golden droid is prompted to return. We span 41 systems, and if not contained, our word of peace wll soon control the galaxy.

2378: Human colony ships arrive to challenge our northern and northwest defense fleets at Ryoun and the little desert world Seidon. Our artifacts world is defended easily, but our Seidon ships are ordered to retreat. They can handle the humans without danger, but the humans of whose treachery the stars sing their deep music must be given their one opportunity to prove the honor their emperor claims. Their colony ship is permitted to hold the planet's orbit and look down upon its sandships and their rocky crews, moored in desert harbor among silvery domes like pearls.

Klaquan greets us with a request as well this year, and ruthless militarist though she claims to be, we know by this that she means no harm to us in her insectoid heart, within her frail, unrocklike carapace. It is not wise to accept a non-aggression pact just yet - we should wait two more years to be safe - but in trust, perhaps in error, I agree.

2379: With no less than four stars added to our empire this year, we at last have a quorum for the galaxy's most ancient ruling body. The rock beings have more than a fourth of the votes themselves, and these are given to Bladrov II as a sign of peace. If he attacks us now, there can be no pretense; it can only be an act of treachery. We are far from blind to the possibility. Our people are evacuating the pearl-domed harbor cities of Seidon even now, anticipating that very treachery.

2380: One of our scout ships has managed to locate Orion.

A memorial statue will be erected at nearby Reticuli. Kulthos joins the empire as well, in the southeast corner of the galaxy, and no Klackon ships are incoming. The truth of Klaquan's insect heart shines clear.

The treachery of Bladrov's heart shows as plainly, dark as coal. Thirty one troop transports will arrive next year at Seidon. A fleet is in position to intercept, but will not do so. No assumption of guilt shall provoke us, though the evidence seems abundantly clear. Only when the humans put their evil desires into action shall we declare them our blood enemy for all eternity.

_______________

Next: The Crunch Continues

Imperium 19 - Pax Crystallica

The Prophecy of Cryslon:

Twenty are the oracles that rise up from the stone, one for every age of the galaxy. The first begins our people. All bring guidance from on high. The last but one rules all the stars lest when the last comes, all things die.

The Chronicle of the Nineteenth Oracle of the Rock Beings - RBO-19:

I am the mountain. I am the stone. Years pass me like moments, centuries like days. I mark their passage but reck them not, the crystal in the watch's heart that makes its time tell true. Waves may crash upon me and winds roar through my sky, but though they wear me down, it shall be eons ere I die. I am Cryslon. I am Silicoid. The peace of the mountains is long.

2303: My people of the rock still work upon the soil, to make our worlds more our own. Millions are crossing space already from Cryslon to arid Rayden, the nearest star to ours, toward the galaxy's core, and slow news percolates back to us from a place dull red and large, the other star nearby. The worlds of such a star are likely good for soft-skins' life, but poor, and we care not what short-lived soft-skins think of living at our stars. Remember this moment, people of the stone: What is likely is not always so.

Ultra-rich Phantos is the key to our rule over the stars. All the efforts of my rock beings are now bent toward taking it for ourselves.

2312: Only Hydrogen Fuel Cells can extend our range now, but we look to a farther future and know that in the end, all will be well.

2316: Larger than Rayden, richer than any other possible star, the icy world of Phantos at last joins the Silicoid fold.

2320: Our first lessons in terraforming lead not to more, but only to the making of deadly spores. These do not serve the peace of the deep mountains, but we must learn to tame them ere we can learn more.

2324: Long is our stony vision, but slow is our outward flow. With hydrogen ready to fuel our ships, we seek no quick, jerky stabilizers, but nuclear engines for long, sustained power once we begin to roll.

2328: Sometimes the hasty soft-skins steal a march on long and slow.

I knew better than to leave Guradas unguarded, but my attention slipped to the flow of Cryslon's fiery mantle and the ice sheets of Phantos laden with their neutronium crystals, and only now does my returning ship find that the Sakkra arrived in my absence and made the wide jungle world their own.

2330: As our industry improves, we see the way to improve it more, but a stony sigh goes out for duralloy which would have helped our colony ships reach farther. The sigh is soft; our vision is long, and time is ours.

2335: It has begun. Whynil and Volantis are the first worlds claimed, both at once, by Landers launched from the frozen plains of Phantos. There shall be many, many more to come.

2340: Like a tumbling stone, our study of nuclear engines is going on toward sub-light drives, and now the first products of our engine research gleam like jewels in the night sky: Twink 2.0 long-range destroyers will stand like walls of stone between the soft-skins and the worlds they would steal from our rightful rule. The timing is auspicious, for even as we claim Endoria, we meet the first soft-skin leader, Tyranid the Sakkra, who tries to hide his skin beneath the flimsy hardness of green scales.

Does he seek to emulate the rock beings with his scales? Does his pacifistic bent speak of trusting the long peace of the mountains? He has wisdom enough to grant us 75 BC in trade, but will forever differ from us, an ecologist whose six life-choked worlds will never know the beauty of barren wasteland, empty of all but the stones themselves, to we who ourselves are the stone.

2351: A golden droid, millenia old, speaks from its stores of knowledge, and in keeping with its words, we find neutronium deep beneath the surface of Whynil. In the same breath, the droid adds, "Also in the news..." and tells us that with Spica far to our north and the Sakkra's east, the rock beings are first to thirteen worlds.

It is time to broaden our research into all possible fields, for the rock of knowledge is the strength of the Silicoids throughout the galaxy.

2358: Endless is the course of our colonization, like the lava flow that emerges from the mantle to flood the surface of a living isle. As our research into battle computers, shields, and hand lasers proceeds, passing over only ECM for now, another improvement to our industrial technology completes, and a rumble of pleasure rises as we see how it can lead to more, but make our way instead toward automated ship repairs.

2362: A song of mourning rings through the caverns of the worlds, for a fracture appears in the peace of the galaxy, between we of the peace of the mountains and Tyranid the pacifist. In the skies above our young Draconis colony, our northwestern fleet met its first true skirmish, with a Sakkra colony ship attempting to take the planet.

Our swift-moving Twink destroyers are victorious, and peace reigns again, but for how long? Precious little time, I fear. For in this very year, as rock beings soak for the first time in the gentle oceans of Trax, contact is made with Bladrov II, called an honorable diplomat, and a mighty soft-skin emperor. The peace of the mountains is not broken yet; the humans agree to trade 325 BC per year, and as yet have made no hostile move - but there is no longer room for doubt: There must and shall be an eruption, and I believe the volcanic force must strike against the soft-skins Bladrov rules.

_______________

Next: High Density