Turns 0-10:

Turn 0:

Galaxy Settings.  So it could be said that a picture is worth 1000 words.  Oftentimes it's worth much more than that since few people will actually read 1000 words all at once.  So here's a picture of my Galaxy Settings - much easier than attempting to describe them.  A couple of things to note: I play on "Very Slow" Game and Tech pacing, I feel like this makes the game a bit slower and more thoughtful; "Tech Brokering" is disabled as I like being able to trade techs, but I don't like all of the AI's having all of the techs while I am left out of the club.  Anomalies are turned "off" because, reasons.  But as you'll see the game will still generate a very small amount, just around home planets.  Lastly, I play with "Ascension Crystals" turned "off" simply because I think they're dumb.

Similarly, here are my Faction Traits that I settled upon:

Turn 1:

not too bad a start - at the edge of a sector with two very good feeders immediately visible.  There are no Purple stars in this sector however, so no Prometheon.   And only 2 distant blue stars.  If I'm going to want Kinetic weapons in the mid game, I'll need to bee-line constructors to those Blues..  Lots of Red stars though, Durantium always seems to be in abundance...  Also note, I set the galaxy settings to "no artifacts" but you'll still get a couple near your home system throughout the early game.  They dry up pretty quickly tho.

Turn 3:

An interesting set of affairs at turn 3.  Just out of my initial vision range was a Class 33 planet, "Paradise" type.  Sounds pretty nice, non e vero?  But it's very close to my homeworld, so there definitely would not be enough colony worlds to feed both of them.  I'm strongly considering abandoning my Savvot Homeworld, reducing it to a colony and moving to a biglier Class 33 McMansion.  Savvot is not paradise - it's a crappy desert, in fact.  I've never made an early game jump like this before, but I think I'm going to do it.  What could go wrong?  Also, as the picture implies, -100bc for +6 snuggles - that's a no brainer - even criminals love a good snuggle the Opportunity Ideology is just a bonus..

It's worth noting that I probably could have gotten a better picture of this "Paradise" planet than this "Ice Bridge" event.  I do not feel that most people think "Paradise" and Snugglers trapped in Ice as being synonymous.. Maybe it seems like an Ice Bridge is paradise after having to live in a desert for a while....? But give me a break, this is my first playthrough like this..

As it turns out, Ceridwen cannot be fired, and Savvot cannot be abandoned apparently.  So like most McMansons, it turns out that that Class 33 beaut wasn't such a well-conceived idea after all.  Perhaps I'll consider making this a Core World anyway and attempt to live in two houses at the same time... what could go wrong?

Well, here's that Class 19 planet.  It's never going to be a core world, so trading the pollution for wealth feeding is a no-brainer.. Again the Opportunity Ideology is a bonus - it's an Ideology that suits the Xeloxi well to boot!

Before hitting "End Turn" on Turn 3, I elected to assign my 3rd Leader to the 'Ministry of Colonization' position.  Generally at this point in the game I've assigned someone to be a commander instead, however with Anomalies "off" and no one around to fight, I don't really see the need for a command ship at the moment.  Filling the ministerial positions seems to make more sense to me.  I should also note that I burned almost all of my starting Control Points to get 500bc (this Minister of Colonization +7% Approval will offset the -10% hit I took to get this money), as well as took the -2% permanent approval hit to get a free colony ship on turn 1.  Here's a picture of those three ministerial dorks themselves!

Turn 5:

With SB research complete, I'll be sprinting those construction lame-o's in the direction of those blue stars.  It's only turn 5, so my probe hasn't made it up there yet to see what's what.  On the way only a single Durantium has been uncovered - no compelling need to change any plans for that..

Next research point of order will probably be 'Space Elevators'  I'd do 'Asteroid Mining' instead if it were available, but the RNG didn't comply.  Space elevators are something I'd like to get soonish anyway though.  Primiarily I'd love to build the "Elon's Lift" galactic achievement.  Sometimes I wonder if Stardock will rename this building after Elon Musk is revealed to have been the greatest scam artist of the 21st century? - but I digress... furthermore, I know (because I've peered into the future (actually It'll say this if you mouseover the card description)) that this improvement requires Durantium to build, and I'm not planning on having that soon either - since I'm cookoo for cocoa-puffs ... rabid for Thulium instead...

Actually, I lied... I hate Elon, so I'm going to research "Hyperwave Radio" instead.  The 'Beacon of Babylon' gives some badass Influence push, and the 1 Harmony Crystal it'll take to build the thing is honestly probably more attainable than the 5 Durantium stupid Elon wants to scam me out of.  Actually the hand-to-mouth reason for researching this instead of "Space Elevators" is that I want that +1 Policy Slot.  Everyone thinks that bureaucracy is a bad thing.  But bureaucratic technologies make the world go 'round.  Ever since reading Graeber's "Utopia of Rules" I've decided that I want as many policy slots as possible in all of my videogames in order to keep my citizens busy with "good" jobs...

Turn 8:

Asteroid mining!  Here's my baby... after a few spin-the-wheel turns I've completed Hyperwave Radio.  So throw a new policy in the slot!

As you can see there's a couple of OK clumps of asteroids around my homeworld.  Finishing the tech gives 2 free miners, which would increase the production inputs for Savvot by 0.5 (since there are 5 of them).  Getting production off the ground early is important... Also, notice how beautiful the homeworld star, Kratos is.  The only green star in the game!  If I could choose any color star to live under I think that I'd choose green also.  Perhaps it's good that the McMansion idea didn't pan out after all - it's almost like bigger houses farther away from cool stuff doesn't make your life more enjoyable.  Who'd have thought?

It should be noted that Policies are kind of a no-brainer at this point.  It's good to have two slots, but there's probably really only 2 that I'd actually choose to have at the moment anyway.  More policy regimes would actually make the early game more interesting.  Also note, I set my taxes to "low" on turn 1.  I tend to keep them that way unless I really run into serious money problems.  Xeloxi are criminals, they don't like taxes much I'm guessing...

It's looking like this is the part of the game where a lot of turns go by without too much to report.  The first handful of turns involves a lot of decisions regarding which direction you want your empire to embark upon.  After those decisions are made you just kind of "go there."  Political Scientists call this phenomenon "Path Dependence" whereby it's institutionally difficult to change directions once a trajectory is set.  Most 4X games have this path dependent lull in the action at several points in the game.  Oddly enough, the people likely to be running your empire: Politicians, however, do not seem to engage in this behavior themselves.  They will campaign on one thing, but then never do that.  Political Scientists call this phenomenon: "lying."  Many have posited in the literature that the principal currency in democratic politics is "votes" - I would posit that it is actually "lies" instead as political maneuvering seldom involves trading votes, rather than trading lies.  I should note that this doesn't seem to apply solely to politicians.  In fact, I have met several women whose primary social currency seems also to be lies.  

This might seem like it's veering a bit off-topic, but this isn't just about me and my excellent experiences with politicans and women.   It's worth pointing out that Ceridwen is both a politician and a woman.  What would you suppose her modus opperandi is?  Although in her defense, most men I have met do not consistently seem to tell the truth either... But seriously, does this strike you as an honest, reputable and reasonable person?

Turn 9:

My first colony ship is completed!  Apart from the one I used an Executive Order and burned Control Points to get, obviously.  Whenever I have to choose a "volunteer" to: get on a boat, sail into the blackness, and hopefully establish a new colony on some small crappy planet without getting killed - I tend to choose an unhappy citizen unless there's a compelling reason to keep them on planet.   Which citizen do you suppose gets on the boat?  She happens to be my citizen with the higest Intelligence.  Imagine that - someone who's smart that figured out that living on Savvot actually sucks?  Well, Savvot doesn't need insightful people at the moment, it needs WORKERS! - she'll have plenty of time to think about stuff as a colonist by herself for the rest of the game...  Some problems just sort of solve themselves, eh?

Finally, 1st contact! I was just thinking that it was weird as hell that I hadn't met anyone yet.  Just as Fermi's Paradox was vexxing me, I meet these guys, huh.  Large worms, with luminescent blue eyes holding an enormous firearm and wearing body armor- this is normal right?  These dudes are the Onyx obviously.  Remember what I mentioned early on about this sector not having any purple stars?  Well, the Onyx need Promethon to not suck; Prometheon which exists exclusively around purple stars.  Sometimes I wonder if the AI has figured out yet that its life is destined to be terrible? - however I do not think the code that drives these guys is quite that introspective, were they Buddhist they would strive to understand why they are made to suffer.   The poor bastards....  I might feel bad for them now, but in all fairness their ships are pretty pimp.  Not the kind of guys I want to end up fighting with or without Prometheon.

As a follow-on to this there are a couple of managerial outcomes that will now be in-play as these guys have popped up.  First of all I'll need to research "Universal Translator" to talk to these pro-2nd Amendment worm-people.  It's not a bad strat to give this tech away once you get it.  The AI values it highly and it gets your lying ... friendship off on the right foot.  Best foot forward, all that sort of thing.  Additionally, I'm going to want to trade with these guys.  So after "Universal Translator" I'm going to want to research "Trading" or "Freighters" or whatever tech it's called.  The Xeloxi can give them crime via trade routes - assuming I grab the policy for it which may have me revisiting my policies at some point in the next 10 or so turns also.  Crime hurts them, so this is good.  On a similar note, I might actually want those crime-causing command ships now.  But with 117bc, I'm too broke to get that done.  Luckily it's a fiat monetary regime, so at some point I can just use the "Print Money" Executive Order again - although that's a long way off.  It's probably still on cooldown and I don't have anywhere near the 60 Control Points to pay for this usurpation of Central Bank autonomy by the Executive Branch of my government... This problem is circular though, freighters will get me teh cash...

Speak of the devil, I need "Universal Translator" who'd have thought?  In my experience you never have an extra 600bc this early in the game to pay for some rent-seekers to research it for you.  Besides, I can do it myself in less than 10 turns.  Two turns until "Asteroid Mining" is done though... But there really isn't so much of a rush - the Onyx are just large worms with guns, could they really have anything so interesting to say anyway?

Turn 10:

Meanwhile, even though Anomalies are "off", the few that exist are being actively surveyed by my survey starting vessel.  One of these anomalies presents an interesting choice.  Now, firstly I must say that this "Draginol" definitely sounds like a kind of dubious and unsavory folk, definitely not to be trusted...  Having said that though, these religious nut-jobs will apparently colonize a planet for me? - I mean, as long as they just stay on their own planet and don't bother anyone else, then this should be just fine.  This early in the game colony ships are in demand.. Hard to pass on this offer...

TBD...

Very entertaining so far. Good luck on the game!

Thank you both!  PubliusNV, I always enjoy our interactions.  And this is a good opportunity for me to promote an amazing writeup Nightman wrote up on the Xeloxi.  It's an absolute MUST READ for anyone wanting to play or understand this faction.  This writeup was probably 60% of the reason I'd decided to do this playthrough as the Xeloxi - otherwise I may have chosen the Krynn.

The post is here: https://forums.galciv4.com/512124/

Turns 26-30:

Turn 26:

It's worth pointing out that I have accumulated two artifacts at the present juncture.  One to plop down a robotic Yor citizen on a planet somewhere.  And another than can damage any fleet by 25%.  Needless to say, I'm just banking both of these.

Second crime freighter outbound!

Turn 28:

Oh, who are these assholes?  Assholes, I'll bet!.   These guys are, of course, one of the canon baddies of the series, the robotic race known as the Yor.  They hail from the planet "Iconia."  If this name rings a bell, it should, because there are a faction called something quite similar: "the Iconians."   The Iconians hail from "New Iconia."  If this seems slightly confusing, it's because the Iconians made it this way, with help from the Yor.  In the distant past, the Iconians created the Yor as their robotic servants, the Yor eventually decided that this didn't seem like such a great thing for them (I'm sure this took them all of about 0.003 seconds to figure out), and promptly went to war with their former masters and drove them from their homeworld - claiming it for themselves.  I'm meeting them now as a free faction all their own.  As I mentioned before, I'm fairly certain they did not originate from this sector, but rather probably traveled down a 'Subspace Stream' to get here.  I have yet to research the two requisite techs to do this - and a monster ate my only probe anyway.  If those three laser-red eyes staring you down looks severe, it's because they are.  Many of the races in this game have more than 3 eyes, but none are scarier than the Yor.  This dire machine intelligence commands both respect, and the utmost care & consideration.  Their "talking meat" statement is without a doubt a reference to a popular play performed at MIT in the late 90's.  A machine intelligence with humor is a serious contender for the galactic crown...

Turn 29:

"Space Doctrine" research complete.  A few turns earlier than absolutely needed for a policy spot for spreading crime.  But the timing really isn't too bad, honestly.

My next tech will be more trade ships.  It's the best strategy I've got going on this early game.  I will want to be able to traverse 'subspace streams' at some point soon, but this tech did not present itself this time around.  Besides, I won't need those streams until my freighters are actually ready to travel them.  So this research order should be fine.  I do need to keep an eye out for the direction from whence the Yor scout came from - this should be the general proximity of this highway to the next galactic sector.

The Xeloxi aren't afraid of "pirates" because they are pirates themselves.  They don't attack me, and I can't attack them.  Apparently pirates are honor-bound never to attack each other or something?  The lovely truth in the galaxy is that there are always better things to plunder than pirates - so this works for me.  Notice the detail on the Xeloxi freight ship - those solar sails are stylistically awesome - you can almost imagine them catching those green Kratos photons as they drift out of the system... As an aside, a pirate named "Sniper-69" might have some insights on where I might find that "Lust Boy" ideology I was looking for earlier...

The path of my freighters also carry them past a black hole.  A raw singularity representing the zenith of terrible power.  At its periphery you can see the gleam of an Antimatter resource - something critical for building strong missiles and planetary cathedrals of industry, such as the "Antimatter Power Plant."  The event horizon will shear subatomic particles down to their component quarks - it makes sense that this is where Antimatter is to be found.  Respect where respect is due - I turned off the hex grid for this screenshot..

After going on and on about spreading crime via trade with the "Look the other Way" policy.  I'm slotting in "Military Stimulus" for my third policy at this time instead.  My criminals need more time to finish up some paperwork...  Also, I'd like to establish some trade routes before doing this, as it juices my own crime too and my fiscal policy is already dipping into the red.

That's three freighters outbound now - also I'm hopeful that my constructor may eventually be able to grab two Durantium and an Antimatter - I might just need a little more starbase reach, damn...

Indeed, those three resources lie just out of reach.  The game can be both frustrating and tantalizing.

But wait, hold on here...  Remember what I said earlier about banking Ideology points to be a totally legit strategy?  Also recall how my Pentagon TTSA UAP... alien propaganda was good because it increased my Liberty Ideology somehow?  Well here we go!  Just planning even a few turns ahead can get you a long way in GC4.

At the end of turn 29, the galaxy is the Xeloxi's oyster...

But wait... a last minute trade offer from my nematode-like friend.  You know... I might just say "yes" to this one:  It's a tech for a tech;  we both need the Promethion in our Promethionless sector; I have plenty of snugglers; and I don't think the Onyx can actually do much with 3 Thulium.  The 70bc is a bit of a rub since I'm deficit spending - and he's a jerk for asking for it when he clearly has more money than me.  But we'll just roll with the trade as it's presented.  Fairer trade than the 1st time, right?  We're getting there... Trading "Starbase Modules" also reminds me to install 'Mining Drones' at my new Mining Starbase...

It's good to visit the Diplomacy screen periodically to make sure you're representing yourself properly in the Galaxy.  My relations with both the Onyx and the Yor are both governed by the same dynamics - I have better skill at diplomacy than they have and a + from the Onyx for the 'Open Boarders Treaty' I gave them earlier, and likewise a + from the Yor for being outside their traveling range.  It's only turn 29.  I don't want to be pissing too many people off quite yet.  Diplomacy is a VERY powerful tool in this game. 

This is what harvesting Antimatter from a black hole looks like.  It's serious business, and the cut scenes in this game are also seriously awesome.

Turn 30:

My survey ship is poking around the Onyx homeworld, sucking up their precious few anomalies.  That 'Open Borders' treating is getting work done!!  And, behold, it found something.  The story described in this Anomaly sounds like a cross between what happens to Skade's theoretician "friend" in Alistair Reynold's book: "Redemption Arc" and the Conjoiner Exordium Project of the same series.  Nevertheless, this presents a choice between a boring thing and a cool thing.  It's early game, so I'm going to choose the cool thing.  That +50 Research is a big infusion into our production of knowledge.  If my society were older and more mature, the boring choice would likely be better - but for now it's better to accelerate our innovation.  As Skade would testify: "the council has identified a future crisis."  We don't have 50 turns to get that tech...

So that research infusion finished our current research project: "Interstellar Trade."  Now that I'm acquiring some Durantium, I might bite the bullet and research "Space Elevators" despite the fact that Elon is still trying to scam me, I feel like... Getting pulled into the Elon trade at the end of turn 30 smells like a market top to me...

If you look closely, even my Bono-Science Advisor looks apoplectic about this research priority decision.  She's not like Bono - she knows what's up... I think she hates Elon too...

TBD... thanks for reading...

Turns 41-50.

Turn 44:

Another alien to put into the Rolodex.  Don't let appearances deceive, this woman is NOT your friend and she never will be.  Fair to say that the emerald-skinned women and the sapphire-skinned women will likely not be getting along.  Of course when you come across any humanoids with blue skin in the Galactic Civilizations universe, you're talking about an Altarian.  The biggest issue with the Altarians is that they think they're better than you.  Actually, scratch that - they know they're better than you.  And not just you, really, they know that they're better than everybody else.  Now that I'm thinking about it, this isn't the "biggest" issue with them, it's actually the second biggest.  The biggest issue when dealing with them is that this isn't true - they're not actually better than anyone.  Deep down they know this to be true and it bothers them immensely.  Just look at her, it pains her.  It's too obvious.  That all being said though, you need to be careful around this lady, because she seems to do a fairly decent job of convincing others that she is both better than everyone else, and is also an important friend.  Others have a habit of attacking you, should your relations with the Altarians run afoul.  Sociopathy really is magical, and here's the proof...

She's already into it, and I'm already tired of her cheap perfume - I swear I can smell the saccharineness of those artificial intoxicants through the Diplomacy viewing screen.  ugh... Just look at that trade offer.  pfft.  There's a historical allegory about some of the first European sailors and their experiences on the Aleutian islands.  They came across vast fields of lounging walruses.  They discovered that they could take an entire walrus, boil the poor creature down and render it into merely a couple of jars of oil.  This oil was then brought back to Europe to do really useful things like burn in lamps so that the illiterate people there could wander around in the dark longer.  This really tells you about all you need to know about the Europeans of that era... Fast forward several centuries and I find myself hoping that the Yor do the same thing to the Altarians and use their remnants as lubricating oil or something... I'm offering her an Open Borders treaty for 50bc instead.  She must really think I want the "Subspace Streaming" tech bad, which I do - but definitely not from her!  Shove it Akari Malara!...

The Altarian probe gives away the location of the Subspace Stream however.  This will probably be the only good thing that comes of having to meet them. They think that they are sneaky, but they are not...

Turn 46:

Alien race number four!.  This is the familiar face of Jenna Casey.  Unlike Akari Malara of the Altarians she is not a sociopath, however she is from a race known as "the Humans" which functionally is the same thing.  One of the two Human factions in the game Jenna leads the "Terran Resistance" - it's unclear what specifically they are resisting at the current juncture, but like all Humans, her faction tends to be flexible and generally easy to work with.  Often viewed as being weak or underwelming, the Resistance can hold its own.  I'll bet her first trade proposal won't be nearly as self-serving as that of the Altarians...

We're on a roll, throw the Arcean into the melting pot too.  Those green eyes project a vague claim of übermensch - but on the other hand, those nose-snorkles probably disqualifies them from that claim.  Their skin also suggests some hepatocirrosis as it has a vaguely jaundiced hue, but that's neither here nor there.  It could be said that the only thing more manly that these guy's pectoral muscles are their ships - they build and they fly - potentially making them dangerous enemies...

It's possible that I was wrong about that Altarian vessel revealing a Subspace Stream location.  No matter what, you cannot trust them!  I did however manage to uncover one at the nine o' clock sector position..

Turn 47:

So this will be my building plan for the next handful of turns I think.  I need more amputated midget war-toad ships, and I want the Supply Ships to get my Savvot buildings off the ground faster.  In related news I ACTUALLY GOT ELON'S LIFT@!!!@!  Wth right?  I'm sure there's a catch later, but if not, all that worrying for nothing - I'm so depressed...

There was a stream here after all....

What was I saying earlier about probes lacking any sense of self-preservation?  Well, it's not just probes.  I'm guessing this survey vessel won't be around come turn 48...

Turn 48:

OK, damn, this 10% tax regime just isn't working, there's so much crime that I need to bump taxes up a notch.  I swear, this is like reverse-Robinhood or something where only the people who aren't criminals are getting the tax hit.  Definitely one of those "unintended consequences" or "adverse selection" they mumble about in Econ 101... No wait, that's not "reverse Robinhood," I'm pretty sure that's how "regular Robinhood" worked...

Turn 49:

This is a Human, this is what Humans look like!  The Universe sure is full of very strange aliens!.  In all seriousness, I like Jenna much better, she didn't want to get together and talk about my parents the first time we met.  What's up with this guy? - seriously creepy.  That all being said, like their Terran Resistance counterparts, the Terran Alliance is both pragmatic and flexible.  I'm sure I can redirect him from wanting to know about my issues with my parents.  It'll be fine, perhaps I can trick him into attacking the Altarians later by telling him that  Akari Malara's parents were Euro-trash walrus murderers or something...

OMG OMG OMG, IT'S HIM!!! The wrinkly man with four nipples!  "Ferenghi" meant "Foreigner" in ancient Persian - guess what sorts of activities those foreigners did during the Great Game and before?  The name seems apt really... Take a long and hard look.  This is what a man looks like when he has no real shortage of money - he just looks stupid right?  I'm not sure if it's the very bad clothing aesthetic or the extra set of cow-eyes, but he definitely looks like he does not have the same sorts of problems that you and I have.  I both envy and loathe him - this is what happens when you secretly wonder what it's like to have four nipples, but it seems too weird to ask...  In all seriousness tho - what I said a couple of dozen turns ago is completely true - the Iridium Corporates are a powerful faction, not to be trifled with and never to be underestimated.  Since they like money so much, trade goes a long way with them.  One of my idling freighters now has their system plotted into its nav computer.  As soon as those Subspace Streams open up for me, there's business to be had with this lot...

I close the prior message with the Iridum Corporates and they've already queued up another one.  These guys know how to be up front about what they want.  It's good to know that they already hate at least half the Humans in the galaxy - by turn 49 they're already going behind their back and plotting their destruction.  This is the curse of money folks...  There's no way I can take them up on this offer - they'll just have to find someone else to do their dirty work.  Plenty of races in the galaxy will sign up for this type of thing...

Before closing out the turn it makes sense to take a look at the Diplo screen to make sure we're not in any sort of immediate trouble.  ALWAYS keep an eye on diplomacy unless you just want to be at war all game (which is perfectly viable in some instances).  Everything is looking green.  Smooth sailing, it's nice to see...

Turn 50:

Were making decent progress on the research front.  Subspace Streaming is incoming at this point.  Even Ms. Bono approves..

To be Continued, thanks for reading...

Turns 49-60.

note: so there's a bunch of post overlap here for some reason. I must not've saved it at the end of turn 50 last playthrough? I'm usually better about this. Anyway, I must've queued up the next tech at turn 50 last time too, but I haven't been reporting every one as some have been just fillers.. It was several days ago that I last played this game. Anyway, no big deal, we'll just play it out...

Turn 49:

Jenna Casey, No!. It seems like the Arceans are already on the hate-train also. This is slightly odd because neither the Arceans nor the Iridium Corporates are really known as either haters or sneaky plotters. In fact, I haven't even come across the more malevolent flavors of races that I know are out there yet - not including myself, obviously. So it almost seems like all of these nice aliens aren't just going to "get along" after all. It goes without saying that I'm going to "decline" this offer. Apart from the issue of me being completely unwilling to declare war on my Human BFF, they're offering me "planetology" to do it - PLANETOLOGY.... c'mon - having that tech will strike fear into the hearts of your enemies like no other, I'm sure... Get real übermensch-except-for-nose-snorkles man...

"We must decline this offer. We are currently focused on other endeavors at this time." Yea, like not attacking Jenna Casey...

Turn 50:

With all of this hate being tossed around the galaxy, it might be wise to start thinking about some precautions. Basically I'm going to be putting out a cabinet briefing telling my people to be extra cognizant of aliens attempting to poison their drinks. Although they're all criminals, so they're probably pretty good at doing the poisoning themselves instead, but still a memo couldn't hurt. From an imperial perspective though, the next order of research business will be "Defensive Studies" - this will allow my people to harden some of our farther-flung assets and also give a little defense to our amputated midget-toad ships. Speaking of ships, the tech that was just completed was "Orbital Manufacturing" which will allow us to construct slightly larger ships that might not even look like hand-less toads. The next order of business will be to double-check with the engineers on our options here. The freighters are still waiting for "Subspace Streaming" but perhaps next go-around. I'm trusting my washed up musician Science Advisor to actually keep track of all of this. hmmmm.

Again, what did I say about ship pilots having a date with suicide? It's worth noting that this is the same survey ship that did this before. For some inexplicable reason those orange ships never attacked it. It's the type of thing that one would just assumed that I'd save-scummed to fix, but I did not, and the ship survived. It's deeply puzzling - perhaps the Orangies like me? We'll see if Cmdr Deathwish makes it onto the front page of the newspaper this time around...

Checking in at the shipyard. The engineers there were all pretty excited about the current order-book of ampu-toads and Supply Ships - so their Union Reps and management agreed to just let the existing orders dry up before going gung-ho on the new design. Speaking of the new design... It does not look like an amphibian with no hands, but rather some sort of elaborate jock strap??? We'll go with it...

I lied. Those workers think they have a good union, but they do not. As soon as management left the room, I had them cancel the toad ships. The Union won't do anything about it; I know this, the Union knows this, management knows this - problem solved! Everyone just wants to see the new jock strap ship up-close-and-personal so damn bad, so this works well really....

Turn 51:

Oof... Second time not so lucky. I mean, jeez - what the hell did he think was going to happen? Deserved really... The Orange guys do not love me after all...

Have I ever mentioned that I do not like these people? Like, at all? But I need to be on their good side because my crap handless toad ships aren't going to be getting me out of any diplomatic jams. Some day I'll see her fed to a Festron! Some day... Hopefully one of my criminal citizens murders their search party in their sleep...

Turn 55:

Oi Frogs!... I mean, "Torian." To be frank these are pretty decent folk, although clearly traumatized. The backstory obviously being that they were enslaved by the Drengin at one point in time. I'm not sure on the specifics, but I'd imagine they suffered some abuses of their civil liberties, as the Drengin were actually eating them. Their faction representative, Tlas Kzientha's blind eye is a nice touch. Reminiscent of the old civil rights leaders on Robbin Island whose eyes were damaged from spending too much time breaking rocks in the sun - alas their plights were similar. Obviously this is just a videogame, but I still feel for poor Tlas Kzientha..

Turn 57:

And here are the Festron, a new breed of baddies on the galactic stage. An aquatic race, they thrive in a perpetual state of war and are hideously disgusting to boot. That's about all you really need to know about these guys. Oh, wait - there is one other very small peculiarity associated with the Festron... This very small thing almost slipped my mind it's so inconsequential. Anyway, if a Festron ever invites you on a bike ride, or to visit a State Park, or just go hang out at your place and have a few cold ones, it's best to just respectfully decline. The reason I say this is that they possess the "Ravenous" ability and every time you spend time with them there's a small chance that they will eat you, lay their eggs in your flesh, or otherwise transform you into one of them. The other organism that immediately comes to mind as exhibiting this behavior are many solitary wasps - and you'd never have a wasp over for beer, right? What I thought. On the flip side, since these guys (gals? usually they've got the eggs) really want to do their thing in the galaxy, they may be amenable to killing off.... interacting with another faction at our behest like, ... say... I dunno - the Altarians perhaps...

In fact, I'm going to give a tech to my new BFF's, since we like each other so much and everything. Not as much as I like Jenna Casey, obviously, but... you know... Take note of these guy's trade screen. It should be emphasized that this screen is the BEST way of gathering intel on what's going on with the other factions you come across. There's a reason this screen becomes unavailable once you go to war with someone. A couple of notes: they're already bristling with weaponry - just look at that ship list; similarly they really went down a narrow war-centric research path not only having "Planetary Invasion" already but also "Stellar Marines" to boot, these guys are ready for their reproductive genocide - yikes! It makes sense that they have almost no strategic resources as they do not even have the "Starbases" tech. It's a cheap tech and I'm giving it to them. Maybe they'll decide to put up some starbases and territorial concerns will cause some friction with their neighbors. This would be good for us, because we definitely want these guys attacking someone else... Someone like the Altarians would be great...

It's Jenna! She's calling me!!!! OMG. On Mother's Day too, this is so amazing! I knew she must've been thinking of me!!! This isn't unique to our BFF Jenna, but the lore pop-ups from the other factions really add a lot of flavor to the game. I was mentioning very early on with my interaction with the Onyx how I really do feel that GC4 is a game of moments. Like when you read a really terrific passage in a good book and you stop reading for a moment and just reflect upon what you just read. Most of the off-handed lore that I've been mentioning here and there largely come from these types of dialogues. If you want to get a feel for why each faction behaves the way it does, why each views the galaxy in their own faction-specific context, and how you might fit into this evolving story - then these moments are for you. Here you get a haunting sense of both sorrow and resolve. To be kept from one's home while the sky falls is amongst the saddest recurring history of the Human race, as is facing the unspeakable in order to survive. It's both what makes Humans human, but simultaneously their least human moments, and darkest secrets. It's clearly an aspect of humanity that won't change in the space age. Having said that, this is the second time we've seen this reference to this "Draginol" ... and the first time we've seen a reference to his "Orb"? Perhaps we'll have our new jock-strap ships investigate later if we can spare the crew. But Draginol sounds more and more villainous as time goes on.

DAMNIT, my stupid Science Advisor had a stroke or something and accidentally researched "Planetology." Usually I keep a close eye on research, but I didn't look for a couple of months and now this happens... This is what a hard life of Sex, Drugs & Rock n' Roll will do to you folks. Just say "no." Well, no bother, we were bound to research that at some point anyway. I think it put us back three months which doesn't pull us too far off schedule. I'd attempted to direct our next research project toward engineering techs and paying 10% more for it because we really want "Subspace Streaming" but the proper avenue for researching this seems to be eluding the scientists. We'll do "Hyperdrive Optimization" instead, when those freighters can finally get through to the adjacent sectors, they'll be able to hustle a bit faster..

Turn 58:

So these are the Navigators. I'm actually not too sure what to make of them yet. In my past experiences they seem to be a particularly unsuccessful race despite having some very strong innate abilities. Clearly their conversation is lacking, just judging by their opening message. Who knows, they clearly have as much potential as any race - perhaps in this game they'll rise to the occasion... As an aside, the way they blink their 8 eyes sequentially makes me want to pet their heads. If I could get one for my office, I probably would.

Say what you will about the Altarians, they are ancient and have a deep history with the galaxy. They could be a wise and sage-like race if their high-mindedness didn't get in the way.. Is it just me or is it weird that she specifically brings up the Humans? Either she knows something that no one else does, or she's insecure. It is a uniquely Altarian paradox..

Ooh, my first jock-strap ship, it looks ... READY!

The Onyx appear to be investing in Kinetic weapons, and they're also building shields. This is useful information to know. Armor (which counters Kinetic Weapons) may be something I should consider researching in the future. Shields counter Beam weapons, but I'm building Missiles, so this works well for me. The Onyx building Shields might indicate that they view a Beam-wielding AI faction as potentially threatening. This would be good - the more wars other races are involved in fighting the safer the galaxy is for me... We'll take this information into consideration.. But the Onyx shields might just be a coincidence, the the result of their Science Advisor drinking on the job too...

exceeded image count, TBD in Next Post

Turn 59:

Similarly, it's useful to see what war tech the Altarians are investing in also.

It's nice to know that my own fleet of a single ampu-toad and single jock-strap ship isn't really outmatched by the Altarians. All of these types of information may possibly be useful as the turns roll onward - because this type of intel can inform your diplomatic decisions or make-or-break a war... Since I have so many enemy fleets in my space, this reminds me to potentially negotiate some Open Borders treaties when I revisit my Diplomacy screen next turn..

Turn 60:

The build out on Savvot has been going well. That handful of Supply Ships the shipyard cranked out really accelerated the building. Somewhere along the line my stupid Science Advisor never managed to research the tech to build "Research Districts," which is annoying because there are three obvious spots for them right now. Instead I'm going take this opportunity to put a couple of Entertainment Districts down instead, along with cleaning up an artifact hex and also start harvesting Artocarpus Viriles - which is some type of scrumptious and nutritious fruit I believe? Research Districts will be the next priority as tech allows.  I should point out that I did manage to complete the "Eyes of the Universe" galactic achievement also. One very nice side-effect of this is that it gives me another Culture Point. I'm banking it and still thinking about the Compassion Ideology "Charity" which is one of the few avenues that I have for reducing my crime..

I still want to pet their cute little heads! Aside from that though, this offer is pretty terrible. I was just mentioning that it would make sense to start giving away Open Borders treaties. I think I'll just re-frame this trade offer to give them that. Also, obviously I'm using this opportunity to take stock of how the Navigators are doing. Not very focused on their endeavors - Planetary Invasion but not many warships, that's not going to work out very well for them. Also notice on the left all of the techs that I could trade them - these are techs that they do not have. "Asteroid Mining" is one of them. One of their faction abilities provides them with huge bonuses for mining asteroids. They're doomed. But they're still sooo cute!

Navigators cannot make treaties I guess, so I'll just send them home with something else. Actually... you know what? I'm going to do them a solid and give them Asteroid Mining. Maybe they'll make something of themselves this game... Plus I'm going to get Research Districts. These Navigators will make up for that boner of a Science Advisor that I have...

Closing out turn #60 the Diplomacy Screen is looking solid green. No diplomatic interventions appear to be necessary. Our galactic roster is also filling out nicely - it'll be a full house before too long...

To be continued, thanks for reading...

Really solid stuff this AAR tidi. Definitely going to be sharing on our socials this week.

Note: I have added some tags for screenshots and canonical play. Feel free to change them if they're inaccurate.

Turns 60-65:

Turn 60:

Before continuing on with this relationship, we should have a serious discussion about money. It was bound to come up sooner or later, but when our population is an endless sea of criminals who are prone to stealing... borrowing things it really makes our relationship with money fought. It should be clarified that the Xeloxi are a criminal faction and running a Xeloxi empire is like being some sort of king-pin of the underworld. This is the kind of organization that RICO exists for (although who's going to file an indictment against us? - the Terrans? hahahha). I'd say it's like being a mob-boss, except none of the people under your command seem to follow instructions very well, like my Bono-esque Science Advisor who gets drunk on the job and researches the wrong stuff - oh, and unlike your favorite mafia flavor, your people all steal from you. Which is a problem. Hence, why I'm bringing up finances...

Here's our P&L. Notice how we're on Turn #60 and we still haven't even really managed to scrounge up enough credits to hire another Leader, despite an obvious use for another survey vessel to replace the one that that idiot captain lost a few turns back, as well as some crime ships. We could also use some more diplomats as we have a lot more "friends" that we need to gaslight than we did a couple of dozen turns ago also. The gist of the problem seems to be that it's obviously more lucrative (and fun?) to be a freelance criminal than to work for our vaguely inept criminal government.

The principle mechanic for criminals stealing our money in GC4 is "crime" I brushed past this in my prior overview of the state of our uninspiring desert homeworld of Savvot, but it's actually a "thing." If you look carefully I wouldn't blame you for being perplexed as to how 27.5 "Wealth Input" can turn into only 6.4 "income." The answer my friends is: "crime." Speaking of crime - there is now an 83% crime rate on Savvot. I assume that this means that 83% of the economy is in the black market - this is what running a criminal enterprise looks like - I'm surprised that Ceridwen can get anything done at all, and completely unsurprised that I haven't had any money all game. It's almost like criminals don't pay many taxes or something...

Indeed, the crime is ultimately reducing our income by 83%. Even though we're a criminal organization, crime is a serious problem for us...

If you recall from our P&L above, "Trade" factored heavily into us running in the black. In fact our balance of payments is uber-positive. Remember how we went balls-to-the-walls earlier on to build up a trading base? Where instead of a real navy we got ampu-toads and jock-strap ships? Well, honestly, trade is the only thing keeping our empire afloat at the current juncture. Never underestimate the benefits of selling useless crap to stupid Onyx consumers...

In fact, now that I'm sitting here thinking about it, we're going to embrace the "Free Trade" policy and ditch "Military Stimulus." We need a stronger balance sheet...

But behold, eXcalabur! We have a Culture Point from our 'Eyes of the Universe' Galactic Achievement, but we do not have the requisite three Compassion Ideology just yet. It's a dream, isn't it?

One last bit of useful advice before closing out turn 60. These are your advisors. One of them also looks like Bono, the other two look like some sort of Amish zombie goblin twins or something. Anyway, never listen to these guys. Idiots, all of them...

Turn 61:

A new turn brings a new problem. Notice these two blue Terran Alliance fleets in my territory. First we'll note that they seem to be hawt on beam weapons - this might be useful to know at some point in the future. But more pressingly, both of these fleets are tasked with surveying anomalies. Several of which are in my space and are MINE! Their presence leaves no doubt as to their intentions - they're clearly bent on drinking my milkshake. My BFF, Jenna Casey would never do such a thing to me - I'm positive on this point. No wonder the Iridium representative with four nipples was already irked by the Terran Alliance - I'll bet they drank his milkshake too! Yuck. Those dirty Terrans, sneaking across that old man's lawn in the middle of the night, straws in hand, slurping up his anomalies - makes me cringe...

If we're going to head off these milkshake-stealing Terrans, we'll need a command ship, in order to get a command ship we'll need a leader... Looking over the leader recruitment screen there's one promising candidate, Wynaa Chenko - which sounds like some sort of perpetually losing Nihon-jinn Pachinko player... She's cheap as hell - which is naturally something I usually "go for." Aside from this she has very good stats. Plus she's an "embezzler" - she would make an excellent diplomat. But her stats actually make her pretty good at damn well anything she pleases. Her cheapness seems misplaced - but perhaps she has Pachinko debts to the Yakuza or something... Anyway, we don't ask too many questions of new recruits in our legit criminal enterprise come empire, so she's getting on a boat to out-survey those pesky Terrans.

It's beautiful isn't it? Can't argue with a good deal!  Her ship also does not look like a jock-strap, rather some sort of elaborate kitchen appliance.

And another culture point, I probably should have seen this coming. I might also use this opportunity to raise taxes for 10 turns also. Never let a good celebration go to waste!

Turn 62:

I think I'm just going to say "yes" to this offer. I was just complaining about not having enough surveying capability, and an "Exploration Treaty" gives me access to all of the Yor's situational awareness on the map. Considering I haven't even been able to get to this sector yet, it will be valuable information at this point in the game. In return I'm not really giving up much, unless heaven forbid I go to war with these murder-bots, which I'm definitely going to attempt to avoid for the foreseeable future. Recall also that Bolana Art (the non-artist) is our diplomat to the Yor. His "negotiator" trait may have made this favorable trade possible in the first place. It's difficult to quantify the likelihood as, well... who knows how robots think... On another note, the "Survey Ships" tech also gives me a free survey ship - hopefully will not be as dumb as that other survey vessel that suicided himself. But it's another anomaly being knocked-down this turn...

Turn 63:

Oh, here we go, the revered Krynn. It's long been my contention that the only religion that will survive the space age, would be Buddhism. It's not a theology, rather it is fundamentally a philosophy. And that philosophy involves non-interventionism. The history of Buddhist success lies in the fact that monks were consistently trying to get away from everyone else to simply be left alone to do their own thing. It's an example of a fundamentally expansionist ideology without the friction of a bunch of weirdos showing up and wanting you to believe their dumb ideas. If a bunch of people want to just live in the mountains, be self sufficient, and be left alone - well, it's difficult to have much of a problem with that really. The Krynn follow the path of "The Way." It's never entirely clear what the Way actually entails, but its sway is undeniable. How universally expansive yet non-interventionist is perhaps left to the eye of the beholder. But we did have those colonists who embraced the Way, and they certainly have not caused us any problems. Needless to say, the Krynn are one of the more interesting, if underrated, factions in the Galactic Civilizations universe. I'm sure I'll have more to say about them as the game rolls on. They also have six eyes, twice as many as the Yor, but somehow less scary...

Turn 64:

Zooming out and taking advantage of the Exploration Treaty we attained from the Yor is informative. Honestly, I'm not sure where the knowledge of all of the home planets came from - but it must've had something to do with those cute Navigator guys, when we wanted to pet their little heads. uh... anyway.... the take-aways from this tantalizing information.

I think we got fairly lucky starting in the hinterlands sector that we did, "taking care of" these stupid worm guys should be an easier task than our starting location could have dictated.

The Terran Alliance is in trouble - it looks like they're already getting themselves into a confrontation with the Yor. The Yor aren't that terrific early-game, and I expect them to have a lot of difficulty in their sector, but I would not want to be at war with them either. All and all that sector is hella-DANGEROUS: the Altarians who cannot be attacked without those sociopathic blue-skinned princesses convincing others' to come to their aid; the Yor who are actually murder-bots, who will hard-carry the game if they are allowed to go late; the guys with four nipples and their magic money; the Terran Alliance who project seriously toxic vibes with their desire to know about your daddy issues within the first second of meeting you; and lastly, if you look closely the Festron have already infiltrated this sector - they have trouble eating the Yor but those other guys? - I'd go for the guys with four nipples first, if I ate people...

Jenna Casey seems ok, and she looks like she has a lot of room to gallop. "Wild hearts can't be broken", all that kind of thing... The Krynn and the Festron may have an interesting interaction. The Festron go to war, but the Krynn will influence push them. The Krynn are paper tigers as it were though, I do expect them to lose to the Festron if push comes to shove. It's difficult to know how the Arcean will interact with this sector. The Krynn would do well to convince the Festron and Arcean to go to war with each other in order to head off a bad situation for themselves. Hopefully Jenna is ignored in the ensuing chaos...

I'm not sure what to make of this sector. I'm glad that I gave the Navigators the Asteroid Mining tech as they'll have their work cut out for them against both the Drath and Torian who will be pushing them pretty hard. This sector also seems to have most of the minor races although some of them appear to be duplicates, which boggles the mind. (this is actually a known bug with v1.01).

Another observation, since I seem to be privy to all of the home planets is that there appears to be a couple of missing races. The Drengin, Mimot, and Iconians all seem to be missing. Perhaps they're in a sector that the Yor have not yet traveled to. We'll see...  This all makes for an interesting game - and we're slowly crawling our way out of the early game...

To be continued, thanks for reading.  Of note, I will not be updating this thread for at least a week, as real-life dictates.  GG all!

Quoting Tatiora,

reply 18

Incredible playthrough so far, thanks for all the details and for sharing! Enjoy your real-life break.

thank you for the kind words Tatiora.

-tid242