The Most Serene Republic

[amschnei (OP)]

Chapter 0

Metagame Background:

I've been a follower of the game for some time, but between the waiting for C# to come out, and the frequent updates until now, I haven't actually had a proper campaign started. In truth I'm quite a noob. By the time I've got a proper game started and run into Xenos I've gotten scared, take a break from the game, and by the time I feel like revisiting it there's a new version. So, this time I've decided to lean into it. With this game I've created an alien race to play that will be thrown into the deep end just as surely as the guy here playing them. And to commit myself to it this time, I'm posting the exploits here, for your enjoyment*. I'll almost certainly have my ships torn apart and people enslaved by the first Xenos I see, but, well, hopefully it'll be fun along the way.

_{*Enjoyment not guaranteed.}

Special Rules: Pacifist Society

The Pandomn** were first united several centuries ago under the influence of a nonviolent religious movement which has fully engulfed their society. They fully believe - not just at the government level, but down to every citizen - that any society wise enough to become spacefaring would, like them, also have moved beyond violence. They will persist in this belief until the first time one of their helpless ships is torn apart under a barrage of laser/missile fire. As such, not only will they not build any military, they will not even do any military research until their naivete is shattered.

In Game, Start until suffered damage:
Energy Weapons, Missile & Kinetic Weapons cannot be researched. Any Scientists generated in these fields reassigned.
Defensive Systems research restricted to armor advances.
Ground Combat research restricted to Construction/Survey/Archaelogy & Basic Transports.
No ordnance factories can be built.
No additional academies, ground construction complexes, or naval shipyards beyond the starting ones can be built.
If necessary, dummy ships will be generated via SM mode to satisfy colony "demand for military protection".

After suffering damage for the first time:
The above restrictions lifted.
All non-scientist commanders will be sacked, representing the frantic overhaul of society.
Dummy ships deleted, if any.

_{**The Pandom species name doesn't fit the rest of the theme, which I've set up as Italian, but that's what auto-generated and I kinda like it, so its staying.}

Species Overview:



The Pandomn evolved on the tundras of Veccacopia, a small terrestrial moon of the Gas Giant Madre, 200m km from a remarkably sol-like star, Padre. Veccacopia is very small and cold compared to Earth, limiting the amount of planets available for colonization by this species. That being said, those smaller bodies that are available should be easier to terraform.

As mentioned, the species is united under a pacifistic Church structure. As such, the best and brightest Pandom are not as likely to go into the sciences as most species, decreasing research rate by 25%. On the positive side, tenets of the religion emphasizing industriousness and fertility increase those attributes 10% and 25%, respectively. Standard conventional start otherwise, with 500m inhabitants and 800 conventional industry.

Solar System Overview:





Padre has 7 planets, 5 Gas Giants and 2 Terrestrial worlds. Madre, the gas giant Veccacopia orbits, is the 2nd planet. In addition to 12 unremarkable moons, Fratellino, a Venusian terrestrial, orbits farther out. The other four gas giants, Zio Garibaldi, Vittorio, Romulus, and Remus each have extensive moon systems, and all but Vittorio have Lagrange points, while two terrestrials, Zia Catherine and Matilda also are present. Catherine is another Venusian, good for an automated mining colony at best, while Matilda is more interesting, a vast world with a large frozen ocean, it could be habitable with a little over an atmosphere of Aestusium, and has the potential for 10x the population capacity that tiny Veccacopia can hold. Anything further awaits complete grav- and geo-survey, as usual with conventional starts these have not been completed.

EDIT: Seems I'm not attaching images properly...

[amschnei (OP)]

Chapter 1: Two Decades to the Stars

Odds and Ends:

Probably clear from the setup, but I don't think I mentioned it specifically, so, this is a random stars game. Also, I didn't start with any NPRs already activated, so I don't have to worry about that, but any that generate will generate fairly advanced, given the slow conventional start. Invaders are off, but all the other non-NPRs are on. Also, the start year was Year 1. If I had more of a concept of how the story here works I'd try to link the discovery of Trans-Newtonian elements to some new religious reformation that Pandom society reset their calendar after... but the truth is I just like starting on Jan 01 01 because it's easy to tell the time elapsed.

Starting Moves:

January 1, 1 is a momentous day for Pandom society. Trans-Newtonian elements are discovered, materials that bring the promise that the vastness of space may be traversed as easily as the calm, shallow seas at the equator of Veccacopia. As is written, the Pandomn understand their destiny is to go forth into the darkness, multiply and build, and orient society to that end. Shipyards are set up and begun expansion, with the goal of developing one towards ships of scientific discovery and another freighters and transports. The peaceful trading relationships offer an obvious template for the organization of ships, with individual ships being combined into "Caravans" that undertake missions together, caravans with similar goals being overseen by "Entrepots", and Entrepots in turn grouped into Emporiums. This is the natural way of things, with trading companies being the clearest example of hierarchy and order anyone knows*.

_{*See "Naval Org"}

Gualtiero Brivio begins research into the newly discovered Trans-Newtonian elements. As expected, science is a sore point for the republic. Signor Brivio provides a 15% boost to research... quite mediocre, yet he is by far the best researcher available. Others are 5%, or nothing. Thankfully, Sr. Brivio's specialty is in Construction and Production technology, just the field needed to make the jump to the Trans-Newtownian era. All 8 starting labs are given over to him towards that goal, with an expected completion time of early August 03.

The same day, Cammeo Piccio takes over the Dogeship on Veccacopia. With a massive 30% bonus to production and a more modest, but still respectable 15% boost to population growth among her subjects, Signora Piccio is perfectly placed to lead the Pandomn into the spacefaring era of civilization. Her talents combined with the natural Pandom aptitudes should hopefully mean the Republic can paper over any problems due to lagging tech with improved production. To that end, she orders 25 financial centers produced. These should be finished almost at the same time as Trans-Newtonian tech, and will be dearly appreciated as society grows.

The Trans-Newtonian Overhaul:

The Trans-Newtonian elements are fully characterized on August 14, 3. After this, the labs are split up, with 4 labs going towards research into new propulsion technologies, and 1 each to advances in construction rate, larger fuel tanks, lighter hulls, and geological sensors. This is initially undertaken by the rogue's gallery that passes for the Pandomn scientific establishment, but less than a year later, a brilliant graduate of Pandom Tech is hired. Fresh off his thesis "on the Interaction between Sorium and Electromagnetic Radiation", Pasquale D'Amico rates out as a 30% boost, with a specialty in power and propulsion research. An absolute godsend at this point.

August 19, 3, the financial centers are completed. 800 conventional industrial sites are identified for overhaul with use of the new elements. The plan is for a 500/300 split between conversion to Construction factories and Mines, happening concurrently with 66 rate to the former and 34 to the latter. With all the bonuses to production, complete industrial conversion is achieved May 24, 8. Wealth is in the red at this point... but there is another problem. Mercassium and Corbomite are both rare on Veccacopia, with a 0.4 modifier to each. This is a major issue, as Research Labs and Financial Centers are the main focus of industry at this point, and they require those minerals, respectively. Nevertheless, by alternating between orders of one, then the other, the Republic is able to push out those installations without stopping to make more mines, or falling *too* far in the red.

The Galileo Class:

Galileo class Science Vessel      21,978 tons       374 Crew       1,684.7 BP       TCS 440    TH 480    EM 0
1092 km/s    JR 1-25(C)      Armour 1-69       Shields 0-0       HTK 108      Sensors 25/25/3/3      DCR 40      PPV 0
Maint Life 10.64 Years     MSP 1,916    AFR 97%    IFR 1.3%    1YR 31    5YR 464    Max Repair 100 MSP
Commander    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 120 months    Morale Check Required   

Cavallo-Gentili Drive Systems JC22K Commercial Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 22000 tons    Distance 25k km     Squadron Size 1

Bassano-Paolini Aeromarine Commercial Nuclear Pulse Engine  EP160.0 (3)    Power 480.0    Fuel Use 7.07%    Signature 160.0    Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 2,250,000 Litres    Range 260.6 billion km (2762 days at full power)

Cribari-Bertucci Sensor Systems Thermal Sensor TH5-25 (1)     Sensitivity 25     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  39.5m km
Cribari-Bertucci Sensor Systems EM Sensor EM5-25 (1)     Sensitivity 25     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  39.5m km
Geological Survey Sensors (3)   3 Survey Points Per Hour
Gravitational Survey Sensors (3)   3 Survey Points Per Hour

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

A goal is set for the first Republic research ships; they are to be large science vessels, nearly independent, not mere survey boats, and for these to see operation before the 20s. To that end, most new labs are assigned to D'Amico in propulsion, seeing as he needs to research several levels of thrusters to make that goal worthwhile, as well as developing jump theory from scratch. Thankfully, he proves up to the task, although the first generation of engines is less fuel efficient than anyone is comfortable with. Supplemented with a few labs of their own, researchers in Hulls and Fuel Storage also finish their projects on time. Fausta Poletti, in Sensors, proves an endless headache, though. Despite constant work, she never develops her bonus beyond 5%. It was hoped that the first Galileo Class would have a dedicated science department, but 5000 RP is too much of a burden at this point without a talented specialist. It takes more labs than expected just to finish research into gravitational sensors, and even so D'Amico has to moonlight as a sensors researcher to finish basic EM & Thermal sensors to keep the Galileo from flying completely blind. Nevertheless, design of the class is completed May 22, 17, and the first two vessels, Galileo & Fermi start construction. These finish Sept 19, 18, when Marconi & Volta start. With an expected 10 year mission, the world they return to should be vastly different than the one they leave.

The Home System, Surveyed:

With such overpowered science ships, the home system is surveyed in a flash, with Geo Survey finishing June 26, 19 and Grav Survey finishing Sept 24, 20, almost two years to the day after construction finishes. Catherine, Madre 4, Romulus 11, and Remus 5 are all potential mining sites**, with Catherine having a low probability for additional deposits. Matilda, as a good terraforming site, unfortunately has extremely limited deposits, meaning it will probably be ignored, although there is a minimal chance more minerals may be found. The real surprise is Garibaldi - with almost 50m tons of full-accessibility Sorium, the Republic's fuel supply will be set for the foreseeable future once infrastructure to exploit it can be developed and built.

_{**See "Minerals"}

Two interstellar connections are found. The first, transited May 16, 20 reaches a G2-V star remarkably similar to the starting star, Padre, a G1-V. This new star is renamed after our Doge, Cammeo Piccio. Signora Piccio has been hard at work ruling the republic, and has developed additional skills, adding Shipbuilding 10%, Mining 15%, Wealth Creation 5%, and Logistics 10% in addition to her starting Production and Pop Growth bonuses. Her wise leadership has made the honor well deserved. The second world in the system is a potential colony site, with near-habitable temperatures, a frozen ocean covering 76% of the surface, and a thin atmosphere of CO₂/Nitrogen.

The second jump point, transited May 29, 20, reaches a slightly smaller K0-V star, which is renamed after Pasquale D'Amico. Seeing as Signor D'Amico has done the lion's share of Republic research singlehandedly, this honor is also well deserved. Two potential colony sites exist, D'Amico II being slightly too hot with a thin Nitrogen-Methane atmosphere, and D'Amico III being slightly too cold with a very thin Nitrogen-Oxygen atmosphere. Both worlds have sufficient water.

Situation as of Sept 24, 20:

At the conclusion of home system surveying, space assets consist of 4 science vessels, Galileo, Fermi, Volta, and Marconi with Avogadro and Cassini under construction. Science Vessels are divided evenly between the two new systems as of now. Veccacopia is building a large order of construction factories, and the current status of the planet is as follows:

Veccacopia
Population: 886.86m
Naval Shipyard Capacity: 44,000 tons
Commercial Shipyard Capacity: 260,000 tons
Maintenance Capacity: 49,632 tons
Research Facility: 25
Ground Force Construction Complex: 1
Construction Factory: 541
Mine: 400
Fuel Refinery: 50
Maintenance Facility: 50
Financial Centre: 200
Deep Space Tracking Station: 1
Military Academy: 1
Naval Headquarters: 1
Spaceport: 1

Though the Republic is still in the red, and all population remains confined to the homeworld, both those issues should be addressed over the next decade. The future looks bright for the Most Serene Republic.

[amschnei (OP)]

Chapter 2: Slow and Steady

The third decade of trans-newtonian society has been a relatively uninteresting one for the Pandomn and their Republic. Without a lot of interesting milestones to cover, I think its probably better to talk about where things stand at pause on April 20, 0030 and work backwards to explain how we got there.

A New Colony:

The Pandomn are now an interstellar species, as half a million souls have settled on Pasquale D'Amico II. Unforeseen difficulties* have delayed settlement until less than a year ago, but the colony is promising. There are large deposits of all 11 minerals, although minerals other than Duranium (high), Tritanium (high, but not needed), and Mercassium (medium, but desperately needed) are low accessibility. Still, with the Duranium and Mercassium, Pasquale D'Amico II is expected to be a useful mining site. Neither of the other two colony sites (Pasquale D'Amico III, Cammeo Piccio II) have any minerals at all, although Cammeo Piccio II does have a ruined alien outpost, though the Republic doesn't have the technology to investigate that.

Environmentally, Pasquale D'Amico II is a mountainous world, fairly hot for Pandom colonists at 30.6^oC, well above their tolerance of -2.5^oC. With a diameter of 6,400km, its a good bit larger than our home-moon, although still fairly fast to terraform. Methane needs to be removed from the atmosphere, which should help with the heat, followed by 0.1 atm oxygen and then a mix of Nitrogen and Frigusium to round things out and the world should be perfectly habitable. Terresina Caccini, a competent administrator, has been assigned as governor. Her 25% boost to terraforming should be quite useful once that process starts.

_{*Chiefly the fact that I both forgot to research Jump Point Stabilization tech and forgot to build an extra shipyard capable of building a stabilization ship until midway through the decade.}

The Stuation At Home:

The Republic has been expectedly diligent in building up its industrial base, and the situation there is as follows:

Veccacopia
Population: 1058.86m
Naval Shipyard Capacity: 44,000 tons
Commercial Shipyard Capacity: 659,800 tons
Maintenance Capacity: 100,000 tons
Research Facility: 36
Ground Force Construction Complex: 1
Construction Factory: 800
Mine: 600
Fuel Refinery: 200
Maintenance Facility: 100
Financial Centre: 300
Deep Space Tracking Station: 1
Military Academy: 1
Naval Headquarters: 1
Sector Command: 1
Spaceport: 1
Infrastructure: 4,480

Primary concern now is finding enough minerals to feed the factories. Neutronium, Corbomite, Mercassium, Sorium, and Uridium are all running out on Veccacopia. Thankfully, corundium to build mines to fix the problem is still plentiful. A number of suitable mining sites exist, the difficulty now is in setting up the necessary mining networks while continuing to develop interstellar colonies. A civilian conglomerate, Pazedo Interstellar Services does exist, but is in its infancy. Most of the heavy lifting will be done by the state, with the crown jewel of this effort being the massive Bertinelli Industries shipyard, larger than the rest of our shipyard capacity combined with 6 slipways of 65,800 tons each. Technically outfitted towards Tiber-Class Colony Ships, it can also build, and indeed will spend most time building, Apennine-Class Freighters.

Tiber class Colony Ship      65,800 tons       340 Crew       2,593.2 BP       TCS 1,316    TH 1,000    EM 0
759 km/s      Armour 1-145       Shields 0-0       HTK 69      Sensors 0/0/0/0      DCR 1      PPV 0
MSP 24    Max Repair 100 MSP
Cryogenic Berths 200,000    Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 5   
Lieutenant Commander    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months   

Bassano-Paolini Aeromarine Commercial Ion Drive  EP200.00 (5)    Power 1000    Fuel Use 3.54%    Signature 200    Explosion 4%
Fuel Capacity 1,500,000 Litres    Range 115.7 billion km (1764 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes

Apennine class Freighter      65,527 tons       150 Crew       638.8 BP       TCS 1,311    TH 1,000    EM 0
763 km/s      Armour 1-144       Shields 0-0       HTK 46      Sensors 0/0/0/0      DCR 1      PPV 0
MSP 6    Max Repair 50 MSP
Cargo 50,000    Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 5   
Lieutenant Commander    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months   

Bassano-Paolini Aeromarine Commercial Ion Drive  EP200.00 (5)    Power 1000    Fuel Use 3.54%    Signature 200    Explosion 4%
Fuel Capacity 1,500,000 Litres    Range 116.3 billion km (1764 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes

The Republic is actually at Magneto-Plasma tech, but with the current focus being on our home system and the systems directly connected to it, upgrading the our shipping is not a huge priority.

Also note the founding of the Core Sector. Sector Governor Alfredo Perti, with 10% Mining Boost and 20% Terraforming Boost isn't the greatest administrator the Republic has produced, but his skills are at least in important fields.

The Known Universe:

The six Galileo-Class Science Vessels mentioned in the previous update remain the complete Republic science fleet. More could be built, but exploration already far, far, outpaces exploitation, so more have not been ordered. All ships, however, have completed a full tour, and been upgraded to the improved Galileo Mk2-Class, below.

Galileo Mk2 class Science Vessel      21,922 tons       372 Crew       1,766.2 BP       TCS 438    TH 768    EM 0
1751 km/s    JR 1-25(C)      Armour 1-69       Shields 0-0       HTK 109      Sensors 25/25/3/3      DCR 40      PPV 0
Maint Life 10.41 Years     MSP 2,014    AFR 96%    IFR 1.3%    1YR 34    5YR 507    Max Repair 100 MSP
Commander    Control Rating 2   BRG   SCI   
Intended Deployment Time: 120 months    Morale Check Required   

Cavallo-Gentili Drive Systems JC22K Commercial Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 22000 tons    Distance 25k km     Squadron Size 1

Bassano-Paolini Aeromarine Commercial Magneto-plasma Drive  EP256.0 (3)    Power 768    Fuel Use 3.54%    Signature 256    Explosion 4%
Fuel Capacity 2,250,000 Litres    Range 521.4 billion km (3446 days at full power)

Cribari-Bertucci Sensor Systems Thermal Sensor TH5-25 (1)     Sensitivity 25     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  39.5m km
Cribari-Bertucci Sensor Systems EM Sensor EM5-25 (1)     Sensitivity 25     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  39.5m km
Geological Survey Sensors (3)   3 Survey Points Per Hour
Gravitational Survey Sensors (3)   3 Survey Points Per Hour

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

The main improvement with the upgrade is to the engines. Improvements to both underlying tech and efficiency have nearly doubled both range and speed, while maintaining the 10-year life of the ship. Also important is the dedicated Science Department. Despite being basically a room with some spectrometers in it, this was no small feat for world-renowned nincompoop Fausta Poletti, who still sports a mere 5% boost to sensors despite being nearly continuously employed in the field for 3 decades. Even the ground research person has a 20% boost despite sitting around unemployed for most of that time. But I digress...

Systems continue to be named after important personages in the Republic, mainly researchers and ship captains. Beyond newly settled Pasquale D'Amico lies Stefano Della, a Trinary with Stefano Della-A I being a good colony prospect, with seven elements at decent accessibility, and good potential for ground survey to reveal more. On the other hand, the planet is tide-locked and barren.

Beyond Stefano Della is an empty star system, without even any comets. It was immediately named after Ms. Poletti. This in turn connects to Mantovano, currently uninteresting**, and empty system Alessandro, which is important in that a dormant jump point linked it with the home star of Padre, creating a shortcut down the arm. Another connection links to Spinola, a Blue Giant binary currently being explored, with several colony sites. With the new connection to the home system, this is only two jumps from the homeworld.

The other arm from the home system, past Cammeo Piccio, is less explored, with numerous untransited jump connections. All systems explored in this direction so far are cold and inhospitable, with no potential colony sites to be found***. Still, we do intent to expand that way; the Republic will need mining systems, and there's no telling what lies beyond the next jump point.

<sub>**Pandom scientists are mystified that Mantovano IV, at 644m out from the primary, is 20^oC colder than Mantovano V, at 1,109m from the primary. While both have thin atmospheres, the main difference appears to be that the former is extremely reflective, while the latter is extremely absorptive.

***The habitable range world in the Russo system is in fact merely a particularly large asteroid.</sub>