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Post by MinnesotaNationalist on Jul 28, 2016 1:51:53 GMT
Agreeing with Rhand, I'm okay with Rocketeer's ideas
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Post by Krall on Jul 28, 2016 17:00:43 GMT
Rocketeer's preferences are fine with me. Agreeing with Rhand, I'm okay with Rocketeer's ideas Ah, awesome! So, we're going with the name "The Absolute Jurisdiction of Sraanik" for our empire, and "Ghuldra" for our species. We need to name our homeworld and star as well. Using Sraanik for our homeworld would make sense, but should we change it to "Object Sraanik", to be consistent with our name list's naming scheme? And I made up the name "Zhalaan" for our star earlier - is everyone alright with that name? We can also add a ship name prefix (like "HMS" or "USS) if we want to, as well as plural and adjective forms of our species' name. If anyone has any ideas for those, let me know, otherwise I'll just leave the ship prefix blank and keep the plural and adjective forms of our species' name as just "Ghuldra".
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Post by MinnesotaNationalist on Jul 28, 2016 20:19:17 GMT
maybe for plural of Ghuldra it can be Ghuldrae, and for adjective it could be Ghuldraen
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Post by Krall on Jul 28, 2016 22:00:38 GMT
maybe for plural of Ghuldra it can be Ghuldrae, and for adjective it could be Ghuldraen Is "ae" here meant to be pronounced to rhyme with "day"? I've been using "ei" to represent that sound elsewhere.
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Post by Krall on Jul 31, 2016 12:55:53 GMT
Sorry for the delay on this. Unless anyone suggests otherwise I'm going to go with "Object Sraanik" for our homeworld, "Zhalaan" for our home star, and keep the plural and adjectival forms of "Ghuldra" as just "Ghuldra". I'll wait a few days to see if there are any other suggestions, but if not then I'll finally be able to start the AAR.
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Post by Krall on Aug 14, 2016 21:49:01 GMT
I haven't forgotten about this, by the way, but I recently bought the Plantoid DLC and - whilst it's mostly pretty good - they only added one crappy, lazy name list for Plantoids in the DLC. They have stated on the Paradox Plaza forums that that was a mistake and that they'll add more in future, so I'm planning to wait for that to happen before I start this AAR - otherwise every Plantoid empire we come across will use the exact same sub-standard name list.
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Post by Krall on Aug 23, 2016 6:45:38 GMT
Well they've added a couple more name lists for Plantoids now. They're all terrible in every conceivable way, but at least there are 3 of them now so I can actually start this AAR! I've never really done an AAR before, so it may take me a while to get into the swing of things, but look out for the first update sometime this week!
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Post by Krall on Sept 12, 2016 20:44:11 GMT
So it's been about three weeks since I said I'd be starting the AAR soon - how time flies when you're disorganised and exhausted - but despite the inactivity I haven't given up on this yet! I've updated the OP to reflect that we've now chosen the specifics of our empire, and to lay out roughly the style and structure of this AAR and how you can interact and participate. I'll repeat most of that right here so you don't have to go back to the first page to check it all: *** Our EmpireWe've finished going through the process of choosing our empire's appearance, genetic traits, ethics, government type, background, and favourite type of tea, resulting in what you see below. We'll be playing as the Absolute Jurisdiction of Sraanik; a despotic hegemony lead by an Intendant Superior, who has absolute power to improve the efficiency of the state and society. Note that we're using a custom name list I wrote myself based on feedback from within the thread. AAR StructureI'm intending for this to be a somewhat narrative driven AAR, but most of it will have a history textbook style with plenty of screenshots and occasional notes to provide gameplay information. I'll try to update once a week, with each update covering a few years of gameplay - though this will probably vary wildly depending on what's going on, and I'll end updates early if we come to a major decision-making point. As for the interactive element, I'll ask one or more questions at the end of each update and will look through people's responses to see what the consensus is on each issue. You may also, at any time, post proposals for plans or objectives and depending on other users' feedback I'll try to adopt those proposals as best I can. When giving feedback on questions and proposals feel free to give as extensive or short of a response as you like - I'll consider all posts equally, regardless of whether one is a full essay and the other is just an "AYE" or "NAY". ModsAs with all Paradox Interactive games Stellaris is very easy to mod, and as with all Paradox Interactive games the vanilla game isn't quite what I wanted - there are some oversights, bugs, and occasional poor design decisions that I'd like to correct. As a result I'll be playing with a few mods. Most of these won't affect the gameplay, those that do will only change things a little to cover some clear oversights. Here's a full list of the mods I'll be using: Purely cosmetic mods:Cat Name Lists - The mod where I put my custom name lists, originally made for a list of ridiculous cat names for ridiculous cat aliens. Complete Colors - Allows you to pick from over 1000 different colours when making flags instead of the normal 16. Randomly generated AI empires will also make use of this, which makes for a surprising mix of abhorrent and beautiful flags. Flags: Emblems & Backgrounds - Adds a number of background patterns and extra emblems to the game. I don't use the extra emblems but the backgrounds are nice, and the AI empires only seem to make use of the added background patterns. Nights on Planets - Just makes the glowing cities on the night side of inhabited planets look nicer. Color Coded Pop Status Icons - Makes the icons that appear on pops different colours to indicate different things, so you can tell at a glance whether a pop is migrating to another planet or being systematically murdered by the state. Downscaled Ships - Makes all spaceships noticably smaller. This is mainly because when military ships are in formation they don't space themselves out differently depending on ship classes, so late game battleship-heavy fleets normally look like a tangled mess, whereas with this mod they're noticeably separate ships. Totalitarian Humans - A mod that alters the human portraits to have modern military uniforms. Some of them look awesome, and there's a chance one of my pre-made empires - a human Military Junta - will appear in our game, so I'm keeping this mod in so they look appropriately militaristic. Unique Resources - Makes the strategic resources different colours so they're easier to discern. Before some of the strategic resources were very similar/identical shades, and thus difficult to pick out. They're still not easy to find with this mod, but it's easier than in vanilla! Minor Gameplay Mods:Economy & Technology Mapmodes - Adds three new mapmodes that let you see roughly how much energy and minerals each empire is making per month, and a rough comparison of your technology levels. Federation Leader Notification Mod - Pops up a message to tell you when you become the President of a Federation you're in. It's unlikely we'll get into a Federation (indeed I advise against it - they're buggy and awful at the moment), but useful just in case. Remove Stranded Foreign Stations - Pops up an event at the end of a war that lets you destroy all foreign space stations in your territory. Normally if you go to war with a wormhole-using empire they'd build wormhole stations in your territory, and if you didn't destroy them before the end of the war they'd just stay there. Xeno Integration Workaround - A quick mod I made to workaround a bug that prevented a certain, very important tech from coming up in the game. The Xeno Integration tech lets aliens in your empire become leaders, and without that option all aliens in your empire will forever be angry that they can't become leaders. *** Aaand I think that's everything! If you have any questions at all don't hesitate to ask, and feel free to jump straight into the interactive bit and post proposals for what our aims/priorities should be from the get-go if you want! I'm going to try and get the first update done tomorrow, in hopes that having a closer deadline will spur me into action.
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Post by Jasen777 on Sept 13, 2016 2:13:03 GMT
Decadent seems like an odd trait for a group focused on efficiency.
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Post by Krall on Sept 13, 2016 11:14:05 GMT
Decadent seems like an odd trait for a group focused on efficiency. I guess we don't know how to be efficient without extensive slave labour. In other words, dominance hierarchies were necessary for pre-behaviourally modern Ghuldra, and the domination of others is so fundamental to Ghuldra psychology that it's difficult for them to function in an economy comprised entirely of equals.
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Post by Krall on Sept 13, 2016 19:44:09 GMT
Update will be delayed by a day due to me being busy/sleeping too much. I've played through the first four years or so and have all the screenshots and notes I should need, but I don't have the time right now to write it up, edit the images, etc.. I also encountered a bug which changed our empire's flag whenever I loaded up a save - it won't be noticeable in the first update, so provided I can get it fixed for the second it shouldn't be a problem. Sorry for the delay!
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Post by Jasen777 on Sept 14, 2016 1:47:19 GMT
Decadent seems like an odd trait for a group focused on efficiency. I guess we don't know how to be efficient without extensive slave labour. In other words, dominance hierarchies were necessary for pre-behaviourally modern Ghuldra, and the domination of others is so fundamental to Ghuldra psychology that it's difficult for them to function in an economy comprised entirely of equals. Ok, I was thinking of a bit more hedonistic definition of decadent.
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Post by Krall on Sept 14, 2016 11:15:56 GMT
Ok, I was thinking of a bit more hedonistic definition of decadent. That's what that trait is meant to represent - I'm just interpreting it based on its actual effects (lower resource output without slaves) rather than its supposed meaning.
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Post by Krall on Sept 16, 2016 21:29:43 GMT
Segment I: 2200.01.01 - 2204.08.04
*** A thousand points of light glittered on the screen. Telemetry data displayed around the edge tracked numerous obscure variables as the view passed slowly over a gas giant, and the probe was thrown to the edge of the star system over the course of several days. Suddenly the stars were blurred, their light replaced by a brilliant blue tinted orange and yellow at the edges. The glow faded and the stars returned - one much closer than before. So close that orbiting planets could be seen, slowly drifting around an alien sun. The Intendants took in the presentation silently, their eyes darting around the screen: tracking the data and ignoring the spectacle of the video feed. The video paused, and Intendant Superior Kraw Zhek Zagaan clicked their beak in a rare show of approval. "The data seems conclusive," they stated. "Analysis, Khadet?" "The distance between the Zhalaan system and the Ar'Doqd system is over 8.12 lightyears. The telemetry states that the probe crossed that distance in under a month, thus it achieved a speed of over 100c, exceeding previous estimates." The team of scientists and engineers clustered around the base of the Intendants' dias, awaiting orders - and judgement. "Excellent," said the Indentant Superior after a tense pause. "Citizen Raakh Esh, how soon can we begin production of manned warp-capable craft?" "7 months, Zagaan," Squawked a voice from the front of the crowd. "Provided we have the resources." Kraw Zhek waved a hand, dismissing their concern. "You will have first priority. This project is paramount. The survival of our species depends on it." *** GENESISGALACTIC DATALINK - PUBLIC ACCESS TERMINAL INPUT SEARCH CRITERIA: >>ghuldra historical records after faster-than-light<< SEARCHING... LOADING DATA ON GHULDRA:HISTORY:POST-FTL LOAD COMPLETE. INPUT "Y" WHEN READY. >>y<<Faster-than-light travel was achieved by the Ghuldra through the use of warp fields shortly before 2200 Galactic Dating Standard, heralding a paradigm shift in their society, economy, and government. Ghuldra society on their homeworld of Sraanik was, at the time of the first warp flight, dominated by rigid caste systems and social hierarchies as well as the extensive bureaucracy of their united world government - the Absolute Jurisdiction of Sraanik. Ghuldra culture at the time encouraged and enforced a highly rational and emotionless method of thinking, thus their attempts to achieve FTL travel were not driven by a desire for exploration or expansion, but by a pragmatic attempt at ensuring their survival. To the rulers of the Absolute Jurisdiction life on Sraanik seemed fragile. Conflict, epidemics, and famine had decimated their species' population throughout history, and with the advent of physical sciences they became increasingly aware that a single, cosmic event could end all life on Sraanik in an instant. Achieving FTL travel and colonising other star systems was of utmost importance, so the rulers of the Absolute Jurisdiction - Intendant Superior Kraw Zhek Zagaan and Intendant Inferior Khadet Awk Zhek Zagaan (whose personal ID contains an extra name due to administrative error*) - dedicated the Ghuldra's scientific resources to developing spacecraft capable of carrying the supplies and people required to found a colony on another world. Before interstellar colonisation became feasible, FTL travel was already opening up vast new opportunities for the Ghuldra. Equipped with a warp drive and a crew of expert scientists headed by Sran Tlaan, a dedicated scientific survey craft - ID Yekton-Awk-0738 - was dispatched to assess the planets in the Zhalaan system for potential resource extraction. They found that numerous celestial bodies in the system contained large deposits of rare minerals useful in construction of planetary buildings and spacecraft, and yet more held fuel sources of vast potential. As the Yekton-Awk-0738 reported on these discoveries an automated FTL capable craft followed in its wake, carrying the materials and tools necessary to fabricate resource extraction stations from scratch. The Yekton-Awk-0738 were also able to study phenomena that previously had been viewed only at great distances by short-lived probes. A mountain range on the planet they had designated Object Ukrawg was of particular interest, as closer observation indicated that it had not been formed naturally, implying an alien origin. Unfortunately it would be years until the Ghuldra were able to properly study this phenomenon and discover its true origin. After completing its shakedown run of the system, the Yekton-Awk-0738 was dispatched to nearby star systems which astronomic observation indicated may be home to planets suitable for Ghuldra habitation. This mission proved fruitful, as the nearby Ar'Doqd and Banthelgaum systems contained planets with a breathable atmosphere and native life, with similar climates and ecologies to Sraanik. CONTACTWhilst planets were surveyed and mining platforms were constructed offworld, on Sraanik extensive construction was underway in order to make use of the influx of resources and scientific data. Intendant Superior Kraw Zhek Zagaan took personal control of these projects, clearing wastelands created by industrial pollutants in order to construct new science and research laboratories, as well as the facilities to maintain them. Shortly after the development of warp travel the Ghuldra had also developed FTL sensors, which were able to give them clear readings on any object for lightyears around their stations and spacecraft. It was through these sensor readings that the Ghuldra had their first contact with alien life in 2201, when sensors on Sraanik's primary spaceport picked up indications of warp travel in the nearby Hixam system. The Yekton-Awk-0738 on a scientific expedition to Banthelgaum in 2202 achieved the first visual contact with one of these alien ships. Initial speculation was that these were advanced alien spacecraft built or grown using biological processes and tissue. The Intendants on Sraanik placed many projects on hold in order to redirect resources towards study of and communication with these alien beings. These projects concluded that the "biological spacecraft" were in fact single organisms, vast and alien, able to survive the void of space and produce warp fields using biological processes alone. Whilst believed by some to be simple creatures that evolved in the void, others maintained that these creatures could not have evolved independently, and instead were the vessels of alien minds so vastly superior to that of the Ghuldra that they would not (or could not) communicate with them. Regardless of these speculations the extensive study of these creatures, named Tiyanki and Space Amoebas by the Ghuldra, provided knowledge and data with numerous practical applications, most notably in the military. Whilst the administration concerned itself with research and construction, much of the populous on Sraanik were growing discontent. Those who worked in menial castes had lower standing and fewer rights, and were much lower priority for resource rationing. Recent developments had vastly expanded the resources available on Sraanik, yet their rations remained unchanged. Though not so angered as to rebel violently, many dissatisfied menial workers organised strike actions and mass civil disobedience in order to force the government into lightening their load. FOLLYBefore the development of warp drive, indeed before the unification of Sraanik under one government, there had been a project to explore other star systems and hopefully contact alien life using sub-light methods. The project had successfully launch 4 autonomous probes before it was shut down, each carrying a wealth of data on the Ghuldra and Sraanik. However, where once they had been optimistic the Ghuldra were now cautious. Fearing that the information on these probes could be used against them by malevolent alien forces they organised an operation to recover them.** A scientific expedition to the Achemar system was already underway, and so was given additional orders to recover the sub-light probe that was sent there. Upon their arrival the researchers were shocked to find no trace of the sub-light probe save for an ion trail leading out of the system. The Ghuldra's own warp drives left a similar trail in their wake, leading them to fear the worst: that their probe had been intercepted and the information on it decoded by hostile alien beings. Before they returned they discovered yet more evidence of alien intelligence: vast artificial structures were clustered on a small area of Achemar II. Though apprehensive about what they might discover Sran Tlaan, the scientist leading the expedition, was certain that they could determine the structures' purpose and origins given time. Unwilling to abandon the project and curious as to what could have taken their probe, the Intendants of the Absolute Jurisdiction dispatched another expedition to follow the mysterious ion trail. It was here that the Ghuldra had their first contact with aliens with minds and technology similar to their own, and it was not at all what they expected. (* I don't know why Khadet Awk Zhek Zagaan has an extra name; I checked the name list and it looked fine. Seems to be a bug, though hopefully not a reoccuring one.) (** It's not clear from the image, but the orange hexagons note the location of the four sub-light probes.) *** Whew, that took a lot longer to put together than expected, but it's finally done! I may have to take a couple of weeks to get the next one up, though. Anyway, this is an interactive AAR, so let's interact! The big question is: How do we deal with the scavengers? The two options are to buy our probe back, or demand they return it. The latter may lead to a fight, but our starting fleet is a bit stronger than theirs, even though I haven't upgraded it at all. We do have enough Energy Credits to pay them off though and 100 Energy isn't much, even at this early stage in the game, since you rarely spend Energy on anything and instead just need your monthly production to be larger than your monthly expenses. Aside from the scavengers, what do you think our empire's priority should be? At this point our priority is mainly going to affect our tech choices, and our tech choices fall roughly into three categories: Improving resource production, improving our military, and improving our research output. I've been mainly focusing on improving our research output, since our ethics and traits choices were so science-focused and because it will help with any other tech priority later, but any of these priorities are viable options. Please do propose other directions or changes for our empire if you have any ideas, and if you're new to Stellaris feel free to ask about anything you're unsure of!
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Post by Jasen777 on Sept 17, 2016 1:14:05 GMT
Well if energy is that cheap it seems easier to pay them off? Though I don't know the consequences of combat on the game...
Focusing on research output works for me, let's be efficient about being efficient. Presumably this can lead to tech advantages later in the game?
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Post by MinnesotaNationalist on Sept 17, 2016 1:17:05 GMT
I think when it comes to the scavengers, we should attack them. The risk isn't too high if we attack them, but I don't know the exact fleet powers compared to each other. Besides that, what if we give them the credits and they take the probe? That's not a risk I want to take (or at least a risk I don't think the Ghuldra wouldn't be willing to take). (I don't know the exact event path, so maybe there's no path of them taking it anyways)
On our empire's priority, research output seems for the best right now.
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Post by Krall on Sept 17, 2016 2:21:10 GMT
I think when it comes to the scavengers, we should attack them. The risk isn't too high if we attack them, but I don't know the exact fleet powers compared to each other. Besides that, what if we give them the credits and they take the probe? That's not a risk I want to take (or at least a risk I don't think the Ghuldra wouldn't be willing to take). (I don't know the exact event path, so maybe there's no path of them taking it anyways) Ah, I guess I never showed off the ships we start off with. In addition to the one science ship and one construction ship we have 3 corvettes, each equipped with 3 small nuclear missile launchers. The scavenger's fleet consists of 3 corvettes equipped with 1 medium and 1 small red laser - however they don't appear to have engine or scanner modules like normal corvettes, so I guess they're slower, worse at evading, and worse at aiming than our corvettes. Not that our corvettes need to aim, because missiles have a 100% chance to hit and cannot be evaded. In terms of fleet power the scavenger fleet has 68 military strength, as you can see in the screenshot, whereas ours has 72. However, I think our ships are better equipped to take on other corvettes, since their weapons eliminate corvettes' main advantage (evasion), whilst the scavengers have anti-armour lasers which are better against larger ships as they have more armour. Plus we can always wait a while and build a couple of extra corvettes just to make sure. Well if energy is that cheap it seems easier to pay them off? Though I don't know the consequences of combat on the game... Well, the scavengers turning hostile wouldn't be like a full war with another empire - it'd basically just amount to a small, hostile fleet in that system, meaning they'd destroy anything we built in that system and attack any ships we send in. I don't think the scavengers would actively attack us, and if they did they'd be easily destroyed by the spaceport around Sraanik. On our empire's priority, research output seems for the best right now. Focusing on research output works for me, let's be efficient about being efficient. Presumably this can lead to tech advantages later in the game? Sounds like focusing our research on more research is a popular option! And yes, focusing on research output will lead to tech advantages later on - there are lots of useful techs that allow us to build bigger ships, more powerful weapons, upgrade our mineral and energy production buildings, colonise different types of worlds, make other worlds more habitable to us, let us genetically engineer ourselves, build military defence platforms, control people's minds with orbital lasers, even uplift non-sapient species! Getting any of that before other empires would definitely give us an advantage.
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Post by Jasen777 on Sept 18, 2016 0:58:41 GMT
Well, the scavengers turning hostile wouldn't be like a full war with another empire - it'd basically just amount to a small, hostile fleet in that system, meaning they'd destroy anything we built in that system and attack any ships we send in. I don't think the scavengers would actively attack us, and if they did they'd be easily destroyed by the spaceport around Sraanik. Well I meant like if you get experience or some other reward, or if there'd be damage you have to repair, etc.
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Post by Krall on Sept 18, 2016 4:18:01 GMT
Well I meant like if you get experience or some other reward, or if there'd be damage you have to repair, etc. Ah, well if we recruit an Admiral and put them in charge of our fleet they'll gain experience from the battle, and there would be damage to our ships we'd have to repair using some of our Minerals. We'd probably lose one or two Corvettes in the battle too, so we may have to rebuild those as well. I'm not sure about the scavengers, but after most battles some debris is dropped which you can scan with a science ship to unlock some of the technology used on the enemy ships you defeated in that battle. The only tech that these scavenger ships are using that we don't have is the first level of laser weapons, which we definitely want to get at some point as there are a couple of specialised laser weapons later down that tech line that are essentially the best weapons in the game. I realise I haven't explained how the tech system works in Stellaris, so I'll try to go over it quickly now. There are three categories of technology - Physics, Society, and Engineering - and you can research one tech in each field at any given time. Instead of technologies being placed in a tech tree, the game gives you a number of different tech options randomly selected from among the various technologies currently available to you. The exact criteria for which technologies are available is a bit complicated, but the most important bit is that some techs require you to have another tech before you can research them - so if you want the 3rd level of laser weapons you need to research the 2nd level of laser weapons first. Think of techs as like playing cards, with the deck consisting of all the techs we have all the requirements for. The game deals us 3 of these cards (certain government types and one technology increase that number) which we can choose from every time we go to research a new tech. This "hand" of 3 cards is discarded, the deck reshuffled, and then the hand re-dealt every time we research a tech. However, we can get cards into our hand in addition to the ones the game deals us which can't be discarded, don't count towards the hand size limit, and will remain in our hand until they are researched. We actually have one of these permanently available techs already - you may have seen that the event where we studied the Tiyanki (the weird space octopus things) gave us access to the "Frequency Tuning" tech. This tech gives us the weapon the Tiyanki use when researched, and is currently sitting in our Society tech hand. It's not really worth researching, unfortunately, but if we destroy the scavengers and scan the wreckage there's a chance that the tech for the 1st level of laser weapons will be locked into our Physics tech hand in the same way - allowing us to research it whenever we want instead of waiting for the game to deal it to us. It may give us some progress towards researching it too (between 5 to 30%, I believe), which can be a big bonus. Sorry, that was a bit of an infodump - I'm not the greatest at explaining things I'm afraid. The short version is that defeating the scavengers may give us access to a tech we'd otherwise have to wait for and may give us a headstart on said tech. I'll try to show off the technology system in a bit more detail in the next update to make things a bit clearer.
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Post by Jasen777 on Sept 18, 2016 4:22:21 GMT
Sorry, that was a bit of an infodump - I'm not the greatest at explaining things I'm afraid. The short version is that defeating the scavengers may give us access to a tech we'd otherwise have to wait for and may give us a headstart on said tech. I'll try to show off the technology system in a bit more detail in the next update to make things a bit clearer. Ok, I'm on board with attacking then.
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