The Elder

[Pool Boy]

I am starting my own thread to document the existence and the Rise and Fall and Rise and Fall Etc of - The Elder. All within the Cluster Wars of Empyrean Challenge.

I base the existence of the Elder from my current midlife crisis fascination with melodic death metal. Image Finnish Viking-like dudes playing great music with 'angry cookie monster' 'singing' and you get the basis for what I am doing. ALl of the songs seem to be about pain, anguish, loss and more. From this depth, The Elder hope to rise once more and stake their claim on this new horizon.



There were dark times. Times none would want to ever remember, but they will sadly never forget.

Cold. Dark. Pain. Anguish.

In the Halls of Awaiting, The Elder dreamed of a Journey Unknown.....Across the Dark. But what did it mean? At the Gates of Sleep, it was always hard to think, hard to understand. But, he was not one to be Weighed Down with Sorrow any longer. There was a....a...hope, for a New Beginning.

Ruins. Stange objects washed away by rains Where the Last Wave Broke. Was there a Bitter End in The Groves of Death? The was the time that Death Walked the Earth. Men. Women. Old. Young. All wanted to Regain the Fire but did not know how. But they believed. They hoped. They dreamed. In one, The Elder, an Ill-Starred Son, they placed their trust, their dreams and hope.

Time passed. Ages. The Harrowing Years they called them. But in time, there was hope. Into the Woods and Through the Shadows they went in the name of The Elder, and the Daughter of the Moon.

Men became strong. Slowly. Men became many. Men became towns. Men became cities. Men became war. Men fell. Men became hopeless once more. But in The Elder, there was hope. Men listened. Men dreamed. Men grew strong. Men grew....smart. Men became....The Elder.

A proud and fierce people have they become. Always searching, always fighting, always learning, always dreaming, always....remembering. And there was hope. And they were ready.

But were 'they' ready for them? For The Elder?

[Pool Boy]

Long was the wait. Eons passed. The people, spawn of The Elder became known as such. During the Harrowing years, it was dark times. The people, believing in the strength of The Elder, endured...and hoped.

The day that one born under sky of the largest brightest moon in thousands of years would be their leader, their hope, it was said, but still they waited. Until.

THere was a savage storm - a wintery mix, that engulfed the planet. It lasted days, then weeks, then a full month. Many perished, mostly the young and the old. Then, one night, as the day wore on to evening, the storm wavered and then waned and the skies cleared to the clearest they had ever been. The moon rose. It was like no other moon before. Bright. Wide. Clear. Showing a...face? A mother, gave birth that night as all emerged from their homes and looked skyward. The cries of the babe were heard. A girl. The Daughter of The Moon.

The Elder have risen. This was a New Beginning.

=========================================

I played EC back in the 80s for several years and loved it. Even though our planet was a mess and mo orders always screwed up it was a delicious mess. Now, this looks easier now that I am easing my way back in to it. After talking with Ixnay, and reading through the densely laid out tutorial (it could have been much easier to follow with bulletted steps), I made a lot of moves that most everyone is likely to be making.

-Named everything (I picked up here at turn 2 from a dropout!)
-Assembled AUT-3s
-Drafted as many trainees as possible
-Shut down all of my mines (I have plenty of raw materials to last during this outage)
-Assembled many of my labs and farms and factories (could not do them all due to PRO shortages)
-Updated my RSCH to add LAB technology
-Probed the system again and also did a star system probe
-Probed the alien colony
-Doubled the OBC size and sent more raw materials there
-Built 10 more ships, making 12 total - sent 9 to each orbit to survey, sent 3 more out of system to explore

Next turn will be seeing what I do about the alien base, and getting a colony ship ramped up for colonizing the other HAB world in system. Might need to plan out RSCH for the coming turns (LTSU, more AUT, BEamers, etc).

The tool is getting more useful. I hate not having a full printed out PDF of the rules handy. The wiki of the rules is fine but I hate having to switch to read up what I need to know back and forth in windows. The tool is not entirely intuitive, but once you know what you are doing, the orders really do write themselves.

I am hoping that the colony and ship #s can become ship names when I pick to write orders, but I doubt it. Every time I write new orders for new ship/colony #s, I will have to go back and see what is what in order to get the order correct. It will only get worse as the turns wear on.

[Pool Boy]

I just uploaded my turn (late). I think I will be OK, but I feel awful for Vern given the news. I cannot even imagine.

Last turn was a late upload as well and I did nothing more than managed my home colony more or less.

This turn is a bit better. I had 7.2M FCT-5 come online and I managed to get them all working. No, not in the OBC yet - no time to figure that out. BEsides, I still have no inventory of food to send up there to support large populations since the home colony is still building out the food stockpile (which is aggravating as hell). I retooled most of the FCT-1 groups to FRM-2 as I expended to get that finally this turn with the protos from the alien colony. I also updated to TPT-5 as per the tutorial. Hauling back AUT-10 and SEN5 for later prototyping. Oh I also upgraded to LTSU-3 and retooled all of the OBC factories to that.

I have half a million LAB-3 coming next turn, plus about the same LAB-4 for the next couple of turns after that. Upping production finally of CNGD and across the board production bumps for almost all of the starting items. I also started a small group to make FRM-1 for use in the other local HAB world as I expect to colonize it in maybe 3 to 4 turns, if only with a small colony.

I have a few scouts out there bopping around, but that is it. I am not paying much attention to them since I need to build up the base and simplify my approach to just the home system. Expand the Alien colony. Colonize the HAB world in system. Maximize the OBC and expand it greatly.

Ah well, more soon.

[Pool Boy]

The past several turns have been maintenance mainly.

Now, this turn, The Elder have focused on simplifying things and consolidating, while attempting to figure out how to transition from stage 1 of existence to the level stage. Namely, how the hell do I smoothly shut down all of these FCT-1 groups and light up a new round of FCT-5 while also simultaneously lighting up 21M LAB-4? GAH!

I have switch all but one of my FCT-1 groups to 'nothing' and will try to pump out what is left inside each queue, but there will be a turn or two of lag where I need to temporarily shut down the FCT-1 groups (or Farms, or MINs, etc) so as to make room for all of the new FCT-5 coming off production as well as a massive LAB-4 infusion each next turn. I have similarly issued 'nothing' orders up in the OBC, which has been expanding nicely each turn. I expect to replace the FCT-1 groups up there with FCT-5 in turn where possible. Main thing will be PRO-unavailability. PROs really are the limiting factor. I have 16M AUT-3 coming offline next turn which means I can effectively get rid of all USK as I turn them on. I have 2.5M LFS-2 coming off production next turn which will go straight in to the OBC. Two or three groups switching production to LFS-3 as well.

I am consolidating my navy significantly. All scouts out in the field are heading home. I am merging a bunch that are still in system, and will use them as small cargo ships, or the basis on which to add on to make a colonization ship to use to drop an OPC on the HAB10 world in system. I find exploring, at this stage, not important. I may regret the decision down the road, but I need to focus on the home front for now. Mainly how to keep POP growing through OBC LFS upgrades and getting a colony on that HAB10 world. I expect to be down to 3 or 4 ships of at least some decent size in 2 turns. That is all I want for now, plus colony ship #1.

Research. This turn I expended some finally, having spent some two turns ago for MIN3. I got LFS-3, LAB-5 and BEAM-2. LFS was obvious since I need to expand life support capabilities of the OBC, but also the alien colony. LAB seemed obvious since research and tech seems the way to get ahead of the curve on things. BEAM-2 made a lot of sense because I expect to transfer expansion stuff to the alien colony and the HAB10 world regularly. Plus it will make getting raw materials back to my home colony and OBC much easier.

I decided to also embark on a PRO expansion track as well. This means getting as many pop as possible in to becoming Trainees. One spot to do this is to replace soldiers with MRB. So I started a small FCT group making these and will eliminate all SLD over time with MRBs. The more trainees I have, the more that become PROs every turn.

Does anyone know how to use ROBOT PROBES? I have no idea how.

SURVEYS, is the only way to Survey a planet to have a ship or colony there with TPT capacity to do so?

Has anyone built a colony ship yet? I am kind of at a loss. Need to figure that out and quick.

[Darth Pedro]

The past several turns have been maintenance mainly.

Now, this turn, The Elder have focused on simplifying things and consolidating, while attempting to figure out how to transition from stage 1 of existence to the level stage. Namely, how the hell do I smoothly shut down all of these FCT-1 groups and light up a new round of FCT-5 while also simultaneously lighting up 21M LAB-4? GAH!

I have switch all but one of my FCT-1 groups to 'nothing' and will try to pump out what is left inside each queue, but there will be a turn or two of lag where I need to temporarily shut down the FCT-1 groups (or Farms, or MINs, etc) so as to make room for all of the new FCT-5 coming off production as well as a massive LAB-4 infusion each next turn. I have similarly issued 'nothing' orders up in the OBC, which has been expanding nicely each turn. I expect to replace the FCT-1 groups up there with FCT-5 in turn where possible. Main thing will be PRO-unavailability. PROs really are the limiting factor. I have 16M AUT-3 coming offline next turn which means I can effectively get rid of all USK as I turn them on. I have 2.5M LFS-2 coming off production next turn which will go straight in to the OBC. Two or three groups switching production to LFS-3 as well.

I am consolidating my navy significantly. All scouts out in the field are heading home. I am merging a bunch that are still in system, and will use them as small cargo ships, or the basis on which to add on to make a colonization ship to use to drop an OPC on the HAB10 world in system. I find exploring, at this stage, not important. I may regret the decision down the road, but I need to focus on the home front for now. Mainly how to keep POP growing through OBC LFS upgrades and getting a colony on that HAB10 world. I expect to be down to 3 or 4 ships of at least some decent size in 2 turns. That is all I want for now, plus colony ship #1.

Research. This turn I expended some finally, having spent some two turns ago for MIN3. I got LFS-3, LAB-5 and BEAM-2. LFS was obvious since I need to expand life support capabilities of the OBC, but also the alien colony. LAB seemed obvious since research and tech seems the way to get ahead of the curve on things. BEAM-2 made a lot of sense because I expect to transfer expansion stuff to the alien colony and the HAB10 world regularly. Plus it will make getting raw materials back to my home colony and OBC much easier.

I decided to also embark on a PRO expansion track as well. This means getting as many pop as possible in to becoming Trainees. One spot to do this is to replace soldiers with MRB. So I started a small FCT group making these and will eliminate all SLD over time with MRBs. The more trainees I have, the more that become PROs every turn.

Does anyone know how to use ROBOT PROBES? I have no idea how.

SURVEYS, is the only way to Survey a planet to have a ship or colony there with TPT capacity to do so?

Has anyone built a colony ship yet? I am kind of at a loss. Need to figure that out and quick.

You can simply disassemble the FCT-1's and assemble higher TL FCT's to the same group during the same turn, The WIP will remain WIP. If you want to change production to higher TL Items or Item Types, simply do a Build Change order. I always set the TL to 200 on my Factory Groups so that the WIP automatically starts building the higher TL Item when you do the research.

The best way to get more Trainees is to use Automation and Draft as many Unskilled as are not being utilized in your Stats. Be conservative and leave a margin for error. Assembling AUT will reduce the utilized USK because of the Turn Sequence. So if you Assemble 1,000,000 AUT-3 you will replace 9,000,000 USK which can be added to the Draft order, etc.

[Pool Boy]

I always set the TL to 200 on my Factory Groups so that the WIP automatically starts building the higher TL Item when you do the research.

What do you mean by this?

---

I am attempting to upload my turn for the third time. It keeps saying 'Waiting...'.

I have checked internet connectivity and the like and it is all good. Sent a note to Vern to see what else I can do.

Anyway, while I try to figure that mess out, here's an update.

The Elder continue to consolidate the fleet, but not before getting proper surveys of all of the home system planets. That is what I am doing with the currently reduced fleet. Fleet is down to about 60% from a turn ago. Heading to 20% soon.

Now, while the # of ships is declining, the size of ships is increasing. This is to help bulk up capabilities to shuttle people and gear to new colonies. I bulked up two ships this turn. Added ship capacity to hold on to two colony efforts - one to expand the alien colony in the home system, and the other to colonize the home system HAB10 world. I am probably doing it wrong since I know there are things like cargo holds which I have not read up on, so I am fdoing it old school. This is my big adventure for this turn - bigger ships and colony prep.

I expended for two new technologies this turn. Power Plant 2 and MIN 4. This marks a minor achievement since part of my research was developed in my OBC.

I drafted all remaining USK to be TRN this turn since I have HUGE amounts of AUT-3 now. Woot. Grow the PRO forces! I also must have goofed last turn - I have no MRB FCT groups. NExt turn I will have some in 1/4 production. This will also help PRO production - although I noticed MRB cannot replace SLD in *ALL* cases. Tread carefully!

I have also started reducing my early tech gear. This is but the first wave of this I am sure, but it is necessary and I can sure use the raw materials. I am using up raw materials, already, at a breathtaking pace. I drastically need to expand my mining capabilities and soon. I am disassembling my FCT-1 from each group as each prod run winds down, to free up space for the new high tech factories. I know Darth says I can do it one other way, but that affects my sensibilities and seems less orderly. LOL.

More soon!

[Darth Pedro]

I always set the TL to 200 on my Factory Groups so that the WIP automatically starts building the higher TL Item when you do the research.

What do you mean by this?

---

I am attempting to upload my turn for the third time. It keeps saying 'Waiting...'.

I have checked internet connectivity and the like and it is all good. Sent a note to Vern to see what else I can do.

Anyway, while I try to figure that mess out, here's an update.

The Elder continue to consolidate the fleet, but not before getting proper surveys of all of the home system planets. That is what I am doing with the currently reduced fleet. Fleet is down to about 60% from a turn ago. Heading to 20% soon.

Now, while the # of ships is declining, the size of ships is increasing. This is to help bulk up capabilities to shuttle people and gear to new colonies. I bulked up two ships this turn. Added ship capacity to hold on to two colony efforts - one to expand the alien colony in the home system, and the other to colonize the home system HAB10 world. I am probably doing it wrong since I know there are things like cargo holds which I have not read up on, so I am fdoing it old school. This is my big adventure for this turn - bigger ships and colony prep.

I expended for two new technologies this turn. Power Plant 2 and MIN 4. This marks a minor achievement since part of my research was developed in my OBC.

I drafted all remaining USK to be TRN this turn since I have HUGE amounts of AUT-3 now. Woot. Grow the PRO forces! I also must have goofed last turn - I have no MRB FCT groups. NExt turn I will have some in 1/4 production. This will also help PRO production - although I noticed MRB cannot replace SLD in *ALL* cases. Tread carefully!

I have also started reducing my early tech gear. This is but the first wave of this I am sure, but it is necessary and I can sure use the raw materials. I am using up raw materials, already, at a breathtaking pace. I drastically need to expand my mining capabilities and soon. I am disassembling my FCT-1 from each group as each prod run winds down, to free up space for the new high tech factories. I know Darth says I can do it one other way, but that affects my sensibilities and seems less orderly. LOL.

More soon!

When you assemble a factory group OR build change to a different item on an existing factory group, you will need to choose what item AND Tech Level. Set the TL to 200.

[Pool Boy]

As I await the new turn......I poke around the CenComm app.

I discovered the Recon function and Diplomacy function. I have apparently experienced shipping drive-bys in systems that my scouts have been present in. OY! I also discovered that I already have survey data for the whole home system and that the Alien colony has really, really excellent, but shallow deposits. Interesting.

[Pool Boy]

New turns are back!

---

The bad news

--The colony ship I was prepping for shipping out this turn did not allow a lot of my transfers/addons because I did not have enough lift, which I think is HEN related. Can I just say how stupid this is? Shouldn't it tell me I am doing something wrong and give me the opportunity to correct the orders? <sigh>
--A few other ship addons failed for the same reason but were not strategically important.
--I had a bunch of FCT-5s supposed to come on line and this failed due to not having enough construction workers available. Again - why won't it tell me?! There should be commercial robots, too, that can replace construction workers.
--Raw material supplies are dwindling -- FAST. I need my MIN-3s and MIN-4s to start rolling off the line. That and I need to scrap obsolete gear ASAP.

The good news

--FCT-1s are going offline and being replaced by FCT-5s. But FCT-5s have voracious raw material appetites!
--I have basically a neverending supply of AUT-3 so needing USK is not needed.
--LAB-4s are online in record numbers, old LABs being decommissioned and scrapped
--RSCH production is extraordinarily high. I cannot wait to figure out what to spend this all on.
--I discovered my home system survey data - FUN!

What I need to do --

-Draft a crap ton of Construction workers
-Continue to disassemble old FCT and MIN quickly
-scrap all of this old gear to use for raw materials
-assemble more higher tech LABs and FCTs and especially MINs
-COntinue the OBC upgrade - especially all of the old FCT-1s, throw more LAB and LFS up there to keep POP growing down below without capping
-SERIOUSLY figure out the ADDON orders to the colony ships and get the stuff loaded (or figure out CARGO) and get that dame OPC set up on the in system HAB-10 world
-Get a ship over to the ESC and add on some key gear, start producing locally and target there for initial mining outside of the home planet
-Think carefully what to upgrade on tech...there is still SEN5 and AUT-10 to prototype, but military is begging for upgrades. Considering a lot but Missles, Anti-missles, Energy Shields, Power Plants, Farms, light structure and assault weapons are all possibilities. Add a little to a lot, or focus on two to four of these and do 2 or 3 level upgrades?

[Darth Pedro]

New turns are back!

---

The bad news

--The colony ship I was prepping for shipping out this turn did not allow a lot of my transfers/addons because I did not have enough lift, which I think is HEN related. Can I just say how stupid this is? Shouldn't it tell me I am doing something wrong and give me the opportunity to correct the orders? <sigh>
--A few other ship addons failed for the same reason but were not strategically important.
--I had a bunch of FCT-5s supposed to come on line and this failed due to not having enough construction workers available. Again - why won't it tell me?! There should be commercial robots, too, that can replace construction workers.
--Raw material supplies are dwindling -- FAST. I need my MIN-3s and MIN-4s to start rolling off the line. That and I need to scrap obsolete gear ASAP.

The good news

--FCT-1s are going offline and being replaced by FCT-5s. But FCT-5s have voracious raw material appetites!
--I have basically a neverending supply of AUT-3 so needing USK is not needed.
--LAB-4s are online in record numbers, old LABs being decommissioned and scrapped
--RSCH production is extraordinarily high. I cannot wait to figure out what to spend this all on.
--I discovered my home system survey data - FUN!

What I need to do --

-Draft a crap ton of Construction workers
-Continue to disassemble old FCT and MIN quickly
-scrap all of this old gear to use for raw materials
-assemble more higher tech LABs and FCTs and especially MINs
-COntinue the OBC upgrade - especially all of the old FCT-1s, throw more LAB and LFS up there to keep POP growing down below without capping
-SERIOUSLY figure out the ADDON orders to the colony ships and get the stuff loaded (or figure out CARGO) and get that dame OPC set up on the in system HAB-10 world
-Get a ship over to the ESC and add on some key gear, start producing locally and target there for initial mining outside of the home planet
-Think carefully what to upgrade on tech...there is still SEN5 and AUT-10 to prototype, but military is begging for upgrades. Considering a lot but Missles, Anti-missles, Energy Shields, Power Plants, Farms, light structure and assault weapons are all possibilities. Add a little to a lot, or focus on two to four of these and do 2 or 3 level upgrades?

You should maintain a complement of at least a few million Construction Workers in the home Colony and then some more in the OBC. As you migrate infrastructure to the OBC, you can shift the majority to the OBC. Eventually you should have everything except Mines, Farm-1's, Power Plants and your Population Incubator in the OBC. New Ships should eventually be built by the OBC. That way all you need do is haul or beam METS & NMTS to the OBC. LTSU and Free SOLAR POWER are the main reasons for this.