Something exciting is happening in the galaxy:

Having just finished with Xeno Factory Construction research, this new development puts the completion time for Enhanced Logistics at a mere 12 weeks.  Of course everyone else is researching faster too, but I suppose it is something of a welcome change from the snail's pace we've been going at.

Rush-building Xeno Factories on those planets most suited for it at just under a thousand bc a time means that the output boosts my ship production straight away:

Here you see that factory output is looking much healthier than before:

Basically, Earth can produce a single Hornet fighter in two weeks.  Which isn't saying much, considering how cheap they are to produce, but I'd rather have the fighters and complain about them than not have them and be harassed for credits all the time.

My spies report back and tell me that the Drengin currently have a logistics rating of 10:

However, by next week they will have completed research on Enhanced Logistics, so I might as well say it's 16.  Since there's nothing further that I want to find out at this point, I recall my spies.

Eventually the moment I have been waiting months for arrives:

Now on the one hand, there's nothing I would love more than to grind the Thalans into space dust for their unprovoked aggression.  However, I am content to stand by and watch the other races do the job for me.  Yes, I graciously accept your terms, Hithesius.  It's too bad that you didn't think about the cost of war before you started shooting.

Finally, perhaps prompted by the numerous wars being fought in this galaxy, there's a disturbing rise in xenophobia:

Obviously this will be bad for tourism, but fortunately I'm not dependent on tourism income just yet.

With the war over, I'm diverting some of my funding back to social production to add some more Trade Centres.  That's not on all planets, so I will still have plenty of fighters being made.

Yet again I am presented with a fascinating ethical dilemma:

When you think about it, 79 bc is not a very steep price to mount a rescue operation.  The survivors may have no home to go to, and in that case they will look to their rescuers for accommodation.  And that's fine by me, as long as they work and pay taxes.  And don't go drilling into any of my moons.

Having completed my earlier research plan, I've decided to improve on my weapons technology:

I've settled on Earth as a location for my Manufacturing Capital.  The central location in my empire and good manufacturing output make it a logical choice.

Oh yeah and intelligence reports indicate that the Drengin have just about perfected their planetary invasion technology.  Next week or so I can expect to see them cranking out some transports.

Another exciting ethical choice awaits:

Ordinarily I would judge that losing 3 million people is too steep a price to pay.  In particular, these are people who will never be able to work again and will need to be cared for until their death.  However, if they're volunteering for the job then I see no reason why they shouldn't do it, not if their families will be compensated.  Who knows, maybe there's a way to reverse the damage that hasn't yet been discovered.

I've finally re-established trade:

The route to Altaria is a bit safer, but not as profitable.  However there's no guarantee that the Trade Federation will always be around to protect freighters, though according to United Planets law, they will be around until 2234.

Meanwhile, hostilities have escalated, with the Iconian Refuge gallantly rising to the defence of the Altarians:

However this gallantry is really dumb.  The Iconians have one of the smallest collection of ships, and they don't exactly pack much of a punch, in fact they have made very few refinements since I purchased light fighters from them a couple of years ago.  They're armed with Scatter Gun Mk IIs instead of Mk Is, that's about it.

In another fascinating development, those pesky archaeologists have dug up a super special awesome Precursor artifact for the Altarians:

Well to be honest, I'm not too worried about being enslaved by the Altarians.  But I'm not so complacent that I won't send in some spies to see just how powerful this artifact is, and whether the Drengin are for once going to be the ones pleading for help.

Meanwhile the lack of influence I have in some sectors is hurting the loyalty of my mining operations, so I've set up a starbase nearby to help solidify my hold:

It has the added bonus of being able to slightly boost production on the nearby colony of Ivey III.

The United Planets convenes to discuss passing an anti-aggression law:

Having been on the receiving end of such aggression, I decide it's in my best interests to support this law.  The vote is overwhelmingly in favour, which is not too surprising.

I finish my research on Stinger II, only to discover that I'm unable to squeeze any more Stinger missiles onto my Hornet-class fighters:

The platform is too large and at present I haven't researched far enough to unlock Miniaturisation technology.  It is possible to fit some light fighters with the improved Stingers, but this will limit their range.  That's worth looking into, since I have some old Iconian light fighters that could use the improved weapons.  In the meantime, I'm going to continue refining these missile weapons.

I have built up a force of twenty-five Hornet fighters near Quendor II, just in case the Thalans ever decide that the war is back on.  I don't suppose that they will, but since this place is almost seven weeks travel from Earth, it's not a bad idea to have some forces close at hand regardless of the state of military affairs.

The Yor fleet passing by is made up of some fairly sturdy heavy fighters:

This heavy fighter is more than a match for Iconian light fighters, and five of them would have an edge over five of my Hornet-class fighters.

Predictably, with the rise in Drengin military might, they have decided that I'm a prime target for extortion:

Although I am loath to hand over the credits, especially when they can just call up and ask for more, or just declare war anyway, it's not a good idea to butt heads with the Drengin right now.  They have way more ships than I do, a shocking lead in research, and they're at war with the Thalans anyway so the way I see it, this is hurting Hithesius without actually needing to be at war with the Thalans. I'm not overly happy about it, but I can't win by suicide.

Besides, I now have other concerns:

This intelligence report on the Altarians shows that the artifact that I reported on earlier has already had a significant effect on their development.  They are still behind the curve as far as weapons are concerned, requiring 37 more weeks to perfect Technology Progression I and then start on Space Weapons research, but if their abilities continue to grow and the Drengin don't get round to invading them soon, there's a very real possibility that they could overtake everyone.

I'm steadily creating more trade routes:

This one goes to a an Iconian world populated by 14 billion on the other side of the galaxy, but it's still a fairly safe route.

A new minor race arises in the galaxy:

That brings the total to three, although I still haven't made contact with the Scottlingas.

With costs increasingly becoming a concern, particularly ship maintenance, it has been necessary to raise taxes:

I am also halting production of fighters for the moment.  I have well over a hundred Hornets, and although I still can't come up with a new design which allows me to fit two Stinger launchers on one fighter, it's just a matter of time.  So keeping some cash in reserve will allow me to upgrade them all later on.

The phase of xenophobia passes:

If only there was a renewed interest in not shooting at each other.

Yet another minor race is discovered:

You would think what with all the major races making war on everyone, they would try and keep themselves hidden.

Meanwhile, the Iconians have decided that they can't beat the Drengin, and have signed a peace treaty:

I think it's possible that they conceded one of their planets to make it happen, since they're now down to eight.  But I guess they could also have squirrelled away some credits for an occasion such as this.

I thought I had a big surplus of credits, but the Torians by far have the largest:

That's easily a hundred thousand credits, just sitting there!

Yet another ethical choice:

I'm not willing to sacrifice my people needlessly.  It will cost a lot of credits to cure this disease, but losing them will also cost me credits that they would have paid in taxes over the course of their lives.

Finally, the Drengin have a bizarre announcement they wish to make:

Hey, I hate diet soda too.  The taste of saccharin isn't pleasant.  Please don't kill us.

Oh, he hung up.

Guess we're going to be enemies then.

Fortunately, I'm just able to achieve my objective:

Now unfortunately this fighter is going to lack for range, but that's all right.  I just need to fend off the waves of Drengin fighters, I don't need to take the fight to them.  Not yet anyway.

I also don't know how I will safely upgrade all my fighters with Drengin squadrons buzzing about.  As it turns out, I would need more credits to do that all in one go anyway, so what I'm going to do is upgrade them piecemeal.  I'm also setting my spending to 83M:17R to crank out as many of these new ships as I can.  I'm going to research Impulse Drive so that I'm not going to be outmanoeuvred so easily, but with such a small budget it will take almost five months.

Initial engagements have centred around the economy starbase that was constructed near Ivey III:

The starbase is damaged but still operational.  If I send a constructor out to repair it, I should be able to keep it that way.

Unfortunately I still have some serious problems staying on top of my spending.  Ship maintenance has climbed because I have spent a fair amount of credits upgrading my ships.

Therefore I sign an economic treaty with the guys who hate the Drengin almost as much as I do:

They're even willing to throw in some credits up front to seal the deal, how nice of them.

That puts me in a more reasonable financial situation, with 222bc surplus per week.  It's not great, but it will have to do.

The UP meets again, this time to crack down on the evil races:

I don't suppose this will hurt the Drengin much, since they don't rely on trade, but it's worth a shot.

Because I didn't have a squadron of fighters covering it, the Drengin take out my mining starbase near Ivey III:

This reduces my tax income and thus my weekly surplus.  I'm pretty sure my other mining starbase will get hit next, so I will get it covered right away.

My victories against the Drengin are hard-fought and costly:

Even with better firepower, my fighters simply aren't built to take much abuse, while Drengin heavy fighters can easily have twice the hitpoints.  I'm not even going up against those, these are lightly-armed fighters and corvettes!

The Altarians have been busy.  They've leaped ahead since last I checked on them, and have now started working on Enhanced Rail Guns.  They're months away from becoming any sort of real threat, but at least they aren't going to be defenceless.

The Drengin focus their attacks on the mining starbase near Quendor II, and on the planet Vizzard II, but I am able to repel their attacks, and with fresh ships close at hand I should be able to continue wearing them down.  However, if they choose to attack a different target, it'll only be luck if I manage to see them before they strike.

So after I've finished with Impulse Drive, I will be looking into Sensors, in the hopes of putting together a better early-warning system.

Loving this so far mate!!!
+2 for all your effort! (the image posting alone..oy vey)

Just how many people are the Drengin at war with, now?

The Drengin also add Ivey III to their attack list:

Although they didn't wipe out all the ships in orbit, they did take out the reinforcement fleet which was just nearby.  It'll take at least a month for more reinforcements to arrive.

And I have problems over at the Quendor system, too:

I'm pretty sure that with my squadrons here almost depleted by the last wave, these corvettes will almost certainly finish the job.  No seriously, there are 21 full squadrons of them, there's no defence I can mount against that sort of firepower.

The best thing to do here is to pull my ships out, let them take out the starbase, and then rebuild it once the swarm has moved on.

Unfortunately, as sometimes happens when starbases become the target of aggression, a third party sneaks a constructor in and swipes it:

You can see that my approval is really low with the high taxes and the lack of a morale resource.

Since I could really use a bit of help, I decided to look up the LMT Corporate.  They agreed to make war on the Drengin for a small fee:

They have built up a military, but I'm not sure what good it will be against the Drengin.

So anyway, while I was running from the horde of corvettes and occasionally getting nipped in the bum, I had an idea.  Well actually I sort of stole the idea from Lord Kona.

You see it's simple, corvettes cost nothing to make because they're created by the Super Dominator ability, but they are (thanks to the mod) a very inefficient way of moving firepower around the galaxy in terms of logistics.  So if I were to create my own horde of fighters for the corvettes to run into, they would be torn apart.  The thing is, I have to manufacture my ships, so it's not much of an idea until I have a lot more missiles to bring to the fight than this.

Just when I finally put together enough firepower, I managed to lose the Drengin squadrons. They apparently diverged to attack other targets.

However I have learned a few things.  First of all, just because a fleet has the icon for a dominator corvette, doesn't mean I should assume that they are all corvettes.  I did get hit a few times by squadrons that were a mixture of corvettes and tough-as-nails heavy fighters, so I should always check the combat strength for all incoming hostiles.  Second of all, losing hostiles in the fog is silly, and Sensors are a vital piece of technology.  Finally, it's never good idea to park reinforcements too close to the planet they're supposed to reinforce.

Having finished Sensors Mk II, I have put together a sensor boat design:

Now of course it doesn't have a lot of sensor capability, but when you add on the +1 from Sensors and +1 from Technologists, it's not too shabby.  I don't need a lot of them, just enough to keep those Drengin from disappearing when they make a sharp right turn.

The military graph for the past 20 weeks shows that despite the losses on my part, the strategy of wearing the Drengin down, luring them into a strong concentration of my forces, even just allowing them to attack my ships in orbit where I have a defensive advantage, seems to be paying off:

It's either that or they're being eaten by some invisible space monster.

Taking a look at the manufacturing graph for the same period shows however that the Drengin suffered some kind of economic crisis around about seven week ago, and had to dial back on production.  So it's not that I'm tearing through their ships at a phenomenal rate, just that for a little while there they weren't replacing them as quickly as they were losing them.

The obvious implication here is that I shouldn't get complacent just because the Drengin military power graph shows a decline to the pre-war military might.

The Drengin have conquered the Paridians:

Unfortunately it seems that my luck has run out:

I just learned that it's in a fleet heading for Ivey III:

While I am actually in the enviable position of having great firepower on the defensive, you can see here that the Drengin are able to put together fleets that are fairly hard to kill and have average firepower.  And they can manufacture more of these ships, if they have the credits to support them.

The Drengin are willing to call off their attack if I transfer a large number of credits.  Analysis of the intelligence data on the Drengin shows that they have more expenses than they have income, in part due to the cost of maintaining their huge fleet, and because they're spending almost as much as that on... wait is this right... spies?

I've had to stop spending on espionage because I just can't spare the credits, but the Drengin are blowing well over 1300bc a week recruiting new spies.  If they really needed the credits, they could dial this back.

Even if I did sign a peace treaty with them, I can be sure that they would be asking for more credits or declaring war whenever they feel like it.  Unless I actually managed to reach a state of technological superiority.  Right now that is not looking all that likely.

If I just consider that frigates are essential to continue fighting the Drengin then, in order to unlock the Medium Hull Building tech I first have to research Technology Progression II, then Invention Matrix:

Even at 100% research spending, I'm looking at nearly 55 weeks.

What I will need to do is dial back my military spending, not so far that I can't maintain the strength of my squadrons, but not so little that I'm going to just finish research on Medium Hull Building when the Drengin are rolling out their first battleships.  And I can't just leave spending as it is and hope for the best, I will need to adjust it according to the strength of the forces the Drengin are sending my way and what I need to hold them off.  I'm going to start at 51M:49R and see how it goes.

The defences at Ivey III hold off the Drengin:

Just barely anyway.  It's just as well I have reinforcements on the way.

Thanks to the new Sentinel Mk II, I'm able to spot Drengin ships from much further away:

Of course it'll only give about two weeks warning of incoming hostiles, but it's better than no warning at all.

You can see here that the Drengin are building up their forces so that they can either strike with massive force, or fend off waves of attackers:

I decide that waiting for the Drengin to gather those squadrons together is a bad idea.  So I send four squadrons of my Hornet II fighters from my staging point near Vizzard II to take them out:

Of course, it will take three weeks to get them into position to make an attack run.

As it turns out, those Drengin squadrons fly off for some other target.  But that's all right.  I've picked up some of their other forces closing on my position:

These heavy fighters are generally quite well-armed, but they lack the HP modules of earlier models, so they aren't as sturdy.  However, HP modules are fairly costly to add to each ship, and guns are cheap.

They're also making a move on my friends:

I have two squadrons ready to smash the Drengin to bits here, but I won't be able to stop them attacking Aegeus IV first.  I sorta hope that the leader of the LMT Corporate will be all right with that.

What I didn't know, but probably should have expected, was that there would be a second squadron lying in wait:

So, there goes that plan.

Luckily, when I send my fleets back to take up defensive positions at Vesta I, only one of them gives chase and is decimated, the other picks a new target far far away.  Cowards.

The United Planets convenes to discuss starbase module limits:

On the one hand, having a module limit means that if you toast an enemy starbase, they can't build it back up to its former greatness.  However, the mod does not really make starbases very defensible anyway, so I'd rather be able to enjoy an unlimited number of modules on my starbases while they're still around.

The Yor have destroyed the Vegans:

The incoming Drengin squadrons are about to get cut to pieces:

I'm thinking that the Drengin have a lot to keep them busy, or they wouldn't be sending their squadrons at less than full strength.

Noticed something odd when checking out the espionage report on the Drengin:

Apparently I get a single + for Military Strength.  Don't know why, I'm still well below their strength.  Maybe it's because we're at war and I keep destroying lots of his ships.

Wow, that's a lot of Drengin.

From the looks of the military chart at the bottom, you've actually got the third-largest military. Any hope of bringing in the Yor?

The Arceans look to have gotten pasted. Sigh.

No, unfortunately the Yor are entrenched in the Drengin's ba- er, they have a treaty an alliance with them and won't betray the Drengin.  I suppose it's a good thing that they haven't declared war on me for being at war with the Drengin (totally not my fault).

The Arceans are down to their last two colonies.  They won't be able to put up much of a fight now, even though they've managed to get frigates before even I have.  I will miss them when they're gone.

Cultural influence increases dramatically resulting in some changes in borders:

But there's more to come:

The good news is that when the loss of tax revenue is netted off against the increase in tourism revenue, I'm still in the green by about 90 credits a week.