OKAY WOAH, WHERE ARE WE?
As we've hit a new year, I think it's time for a recap. With pictures. Note that the pictures will be from a tiny bit ahead in the future where my game is currently.
System
The Home system has a binary star configuration, with a sizable central star and a much smaller secondary star. Wrixom, First Stop and Rube orbit the primary, which, in game, is cooling down slightly over time. This is simulated by me adding some anti-greenhouse gasses to the relevant planets every once in a while. New Wrixom is the intended destination for the majority of the Wrix as it orbits the secondary which is not cooling down. So far, none of the other stellar bodies have been exploited as I have been able to obtain sufficient minerals from these four. This will most likely change as soon as production begins in earnest.
Spaceships
The only two non-civilian ships are the Endymion and the Sir Francis Drake. The Endymion is fitted as a geo-survey craft, but also served as a test vessel for the first generation of TN engines. It is under the control of Swarm Hive. The Drake is nothing but a courier vessel with no fitted function under the command of Gamma Hive. It has been retrofitted with the same TN engines used by the Endymion and is actually slightly faster now. Both of these ships have been whiling away the days sitting in spacedock for lack of anything else to do.
The Swarm-owned civilian fleet consists of two small Myrkul II freighters, each with 5k cargo space and three Myrkul IIB freighters refitted to carry living creatures (colonizer ships). Each handles 20k colonists. Neither of these designs have cargo handling equipment, making loading and unloading painfully slow. In addition, one of the colonizers is actually controlled by Gamma and is permanently busy shipping her Hive offworld to First Stop.
Epsilon and her allies in the Epsilon Conglomerate have a total of 4 small freighters, 2 large freighters and 2 colony ships. These are my civilian shipping lines. It should be noted that even the smallest of these freighters is double the size of a Myrkul II. At the moment, I've gotten ahead of the infrastructure curve so the freighters are mostly just sitting idle while the colonizers scramble frantically to get as many drones off Wrixom as possible.
Industry
I am ticking along nicely, with good industrial growth. Wrixom's industry is above. First Stop has 18 mines and a few assorted other structures such as a Genetic Modification Facility salvaged from the ruins I found there. New Wrixom has 4 mines and a construction facility slowly building more construction facilities.
Mines
Mineral-wise I'm doing okay. Nothing is screaming out ABOUT TO RUN OUT and I have decent amounts left to be harvested at at least average availability of everything somewhere. Hmm. That sentence made no sense. Let's just say I'm mining more than I'm using and that doesn't look like it's going to be changing soon.
My GFTF (Ground Forces Training Facility) has been doing nothing but churning out Construction Brigades since each of them provide as much production as a construction factory.
Research
I'm up to six research facilities with a seventh in the pipeline. I am aware that this is quite low, I'm actually hoping to loot one or two from the ruins of Wrixom if I could do that without setting off some cataclysmic Precursor event. It is perhaps a little unclear what researchers I have so here is a little summary of the best in each field.
Biology/Genetics: LA-14-OZF - 35%
Construction/Production: N/A
Defensive Systems: TP-73-VOW - 15%
Energy Weapons: DD-73-QJL - 25%
Logistics / Ground Combat: EK-73-RKM - 10%
Missiles / Kinetics: EF-48-MBJ - 10%
Power / Propulsion: DP-35-PNT - 15%
Sensors / FC: SY-19-ENN - 10%
So I have at least one of everything except for C/P, arguably the most important one. Sometimes I hate the RNG. My plan for the future is to complete research 240 then get Cargo Handling before designing a bigger and better transport. After that I'm not sure. Note that the picture is from a bit ahead in time.
Factions
No image since this is more the RP side of things. I'll give a brief rundown of each of the major factions and what's up with them.
Swarm Hive - These are our main characters, IM, US, PC and so on. I'm actually including Lambda and her hive here at the moment as she has aligned herself with the Swarm, at least for now. With access to Lambda's expertise and assets, security at the hive itself has been significantly improved from 'leaky as an empty hole' to 'leaky as a sieve'. At least they now have safe areas where drones are not allowed to go. US and PC both have a little secret - they are fertile, unlike IM and all of the other queens in Swarm Hive. US was the previous Hive Queen of Delta Hive before she went looking for greener pastures and PC was a leftover queen from Beta Hive when a succession happened. If she had stayed, she would have been killed. It should also be noted that IM is from Lambda Hive and as such is technically a daughter of Lambda. The Wrix aren't big on family connections, though.
Gamma - Gamma Hive is currently the most powerful Hive in the system. I say 'in the system' since a significant part of her hive is currently deployed to First Stop. However, that alone makes her the most powerful Hive; no other hive controls an entire planet. As part of an agreement with the Swarm she has been allowing other hives to expand to First Stop, on the condition that none of them contest her hegemony.
Kappa - Though it used to be the most technologically advanced Hive on Wrixom, the proliferation of Swarm-controlled research facilities have greatly marginalized Kappa Hive's influence, and by extension that of its queen. Kappa was the original founder of the Swarm and discoverer of the cooling-sun phenomenon, but was masterfully out politicked by US (then Delta) some time ago. She has a grudge against IM and the entire Swarm Command for having 'stolen' the Swarm from her, as well as a spiteful and vindictive personality. While she is toeing the line for the moment due to the recent success of the Swarm, she remains a vocal opponent to IM and patiently waits for the day her hive is out of danger and she is free to act. An ally of convenience of Gamma.
Lambda - Lambda is a bit of an oddity. While she has been aiding Swarm Hive for several years now with intelligence and counter-intelligence assets, her motives remain mysterious. She is known as the Spymaster among the Queens and knows much, but rarely interferes.
Epsilon Conglomerate - The EC has assumed its role as the 'civilian' arm of the Swarm. It consists of Epsilon Hive and a few smaller hives that have allied themselves and pooled resources. Even though it is technically a competitor to the Swarm, its members remain members of the Swarm in an extremely convoluted set of allegiances and responsibilities. It helps, of course, that the EC has undertaken the bulk of the evacuation, including shipping more infrastructure to the new colonies as they become required with their fleet of massive freighters. The EC also owns the mining outpost on Rube, though they exchange most of the TN minerals extracted with the Swarm for vast quantities of more common resources.
The Drone Collective - This is the most secretive group to date. Even Lambda appears not to have discovered their existence. They claim to consist solely of drones that have come to realize the fallibility of their queens and as such have begun to take actions without their queens knowledge to ensure the survival of the Wrix. It appears to consist of drones from a variety of different hives working together. If that is the case, it is quite plausible that their numbers have swelled significantly since the different hives have started working together under the Swarm. At the moment, the Drone Collective act as guardians of the ruins secretly found on Wrixom.
Updates are going to be a bit more widely spaced in terms of in-game time from here on and I'm not going to comment on every construction project that starts and finishes. Everything that is happening has basically happened before so it isn't that interesting. Think of it as a research/construction/preperation/exodus montage. I'll still put it in when something interesting happens.