The Prikki Endeavour

[CBR JGWRR]

The Prikki have successfully opened their shielded world;
what will they find in a galaxy where everyone is more advanced than they are?​

Game Setup:

Every Default Empire in the game - all twenty two of them - has been copied, set to force-spawn, set to Advanced Start, and then put on Grand Admiral. In Addition, there are five Fallen Empires, and three Marauders. Primitive nations have been set to off.

So, it's going to be a densely packed galaxy. Filled with enemies.

Further, being an Advanced Start that is already underway, Mid-Game Start Year is 2250, while End-Game Start Year is 2325, with a 2375 Victory Year. Crisis is a hard thing to judge, and there's a fair possibility that the Prikki won't make it to the Crisis. Set to 1x.

Story So Far:

How long it was, no one knows. It seems that whoever shielded our world did so with a device that created a time differential between outside the shield and inside it; to the outside world, a thousand of what were our years were as a day. Imprisoned in a time loop, forced to redo our civilisation over and over again. Having freed ourselves, we captured some who had been observing us, learned a little about the galaxy beyond Gish. And what we learned, we hate.

Our enemies shut us away. Maybe other Prikki too, on other worlds suffered the same fate. Imprisoned. Left to burn as our world overheated from being unable to vent heat beyond the shield fully. Maybe they have already burned.

The rest of the galaxy didn't help us. They mocked us - sent their ships to watch us toil.

We are the Prikki.

We freed ourselves.

Yet we must be careful; we are free, but we barely retain even a fraction of the power we had when we were sealed away. The galaxy is fuller now; many more enemies and mockers who stood by.

We must be patient; our enemies are many, and they are advanced. We must advance too.

We must also be cunning; those who sealed us away may not be gone themselves. They might come back. We must be ready.

We roamed the stars before.

We will roam the stars again.

And we will have our Vengeance.


Victory Condition:
The Prikkiki Ti must be the only nation by 2375.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Mod List:

Much like the Iriphubliki run through, however I've continued refining Stellaris to be more my taste; Real Space, Planetary Diversity, Gigastructures, Zenith of the Fallen Empires and an (unused in this run being dominantly default Races, but still present) set of trait mods are the main gameplay affecting mods I use. I've come to the conclusion that there's too many habitable worlds by default, and so I've got a new for this run mod that quarters the habitable worlds. And it was already set to 0.25x. However, there's a Terraforming Candidates mod that makes a lot more Barren and Hothouse worlds into Candidates, so terraforming is far more useful.

This will help the Prikki, as it limits the AI much more than it limits me, but it will take a long time to be able to leverage that advantage.

The big difference to normal is I'm running the version of Real Space's speed adjusting mod that makes propulsion much slower, and therefore the early game is dragged out significantly; the Iriphubliki run had the easy version where it multiplied the vessel speed by the Real Space solar system size increase.

The Game Plan:

Put simply, survive, catch up, take Vengeance.

The AI starts with an immense advantage in terms of basic resources on Grand Admiral; surpluses of hundreds per month, and research at around 300.

The Prikki by contrast, their main buff, and biggest weakness, is being Fanatic Purifier, and having a Human player.

Incidentally, I've never done a Fanatic Purifier run before the test runs for this AAR; pops are the most important resource in Stellaris (unless you've got Gigastructures installed and it's the late-game, then they aren't as important) and wasting them in purges is... Futile.

Survival phase - the most critical factor is the fleet. There's a reason why I'm pushing 2k by 2210, and I'll be aiming to double that again by 2220 - the most significant factor in AI's weighting to go to war is whether they can win. A massive fleet gives a very large "No I can't" answer, and the Prikki will survive the Early Game. This necessarily means only a few Science ships; the more Science ships you have, the more enemies you find. The more enemies you find, the lower the chances of survival.

Catch up phase - this phase is dominated by research. The AI has a huge tech advantage, and to have any chance of catching up, the Prikki must out tech the AI. Were I not limited to Fanatic Xenophobe + Militarist (Prikki fixed governing ethics; they vary the government form though) I would have definitely changed it. Target is Cruisers and Neutron Launchers as quickly as possible; I already know GA AI has them both by 2230, which means the Prikki must achieve that too.

Vengeance phase - everyone knows that the AI isn't as good as a player is. But, equally, the Mid game events trigger at 2250, and that does not give the Prikki much time to prepare. But, if they survive, and catch up, then I get into my strongest ability as a player. As Cicero said, the sinews of war are infinite money; my methodology is always build an extremely strong economy, and ignore the military until I'm ready to go on the offensive. In the Iriphubliki's case, that meant thirteen Attack Moons by 2340. I'm not sure the Prikki will survive to achieve that, but they are damn well going to try.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Timeline:
Prehistory - The Ancient Prikki-Ti spread through their galactic region, colonising Gish among many of their worlds. For unknown reasons, and by an unknown enemy, Prikki on Gish were sealed away within a Shield, doomed to repeating their civilisation's origin

Years of Koko-Ko: (2200-2220)
Year of Koko-Ko 1 - Prikki on Gish Liberated
Year of Koko-Ko 9 - First Colony Begun
Year of Koko-Ko 11 - Discovery of the Cybrex
Year of Koko-Ko 13 - First Ambition
Year of Koko-Ko 16 - Second Colony Begun

Koko-Ko's era was defined by it's prosperous expansion.

Years of Ozoza: (2220-2240)
Year of Ozoza 2 - Third colony begun
Year of Ozoza 7 - Destroyers developed
Year of Ozoza 8 - First Contact with a Xeno Menace
Year of Ozoza 11 - Prikki politics expands with Factions
Year of Ozoza 20 - Gene Tailoring achieved

Ozoza's era was defined by it's technological progress pushing the Prikki to new heights.

Years of Ippa: (2240-2246)
Year of Ippa 2 - Cybrex Home System Discovered
Year of Ippa 5 - Prikki modified with increased Intelligence and Creativity

Ippa's very short era was an era when the Prikki defined their own standing of what it meant to be Prikki at a genetic level. Unfortunately, she was elected at already above the average age of death for Prikki, and her era was very short.

Years of Krekk: (2246-2280)

Year of Krekk 18 - Cleansing of Great Wound and Alcinda
Year of Krekk 27 - Ambition of Evolutionary Mastery achieved
Year of Krekk 32 - Cleansing of Ix'idar Star Collective Begun
Year of Krekk 38 - Start of the Marauder conflict

Krekk's era was defined by an upheaval to Starbase manufacturing, the transition to Cruisers, and more than a dozen contacts with future enemies, ultimately leading to victory.

Years of Krekk: (2280-2300)

Year of Krekk 3 - Victory over the first Xeno menace
Year of Krekk 7 - Super-Prikki enhancements complete

Years of Aiyo-Ji: (2300-2320)

Year of Aiyo-Ji 6 - Official war with the successor Khanate
Year of Aiyo-Ji 10 - Victory in Khanate war, first Gateway constructed
Year of Aiyo-Ji 16 - Assault-Prikki developed
Year of Aiyo-Ji 19 - Beginning of the Prikki-Glebsig/Chinorr war

Years of Zaha-Ni (2320-)

Year of Zaha-Ni 2 - Glebsig defeated
Year of Zaha-Ni 4 - Hazbuzan defeated
Year of Zaha-Ni 5 - First Awakened Empire
Year of Zaha-Ni 10 - Chinorr defeated

 

[Nikolai]

Wonderful, looking forward to see how this goes!

 

[CBR JGWRR]

2200 - FREEEEEDOOOM!!!!!

Yeah, the flavour text here doesn't suit the Prikki.

The homeworld. Lot's of changes needed here, five pops are working as nearly useless Clerks...

Our initial leaders.

Initial surroundings are excellent - this Nebula will help hide the Prikki while we gather our strength, as well as offer more minerals from our space industry.

Question is, do I stick a Dyson Sphere or a Matrioshka Brain around this thing?

Result of one of the new mods I'm trying out; one mod quarters the number of habitable worlds (which was on 0.25 to begin with) while the other adds lots more Terraforming Candidates. Unfortunately, this planet is in the O-Class star system, so I probably will not colonise it.

Several years later however: (another new mod is one that heavily adjusts ship speeds so that propulsion is more significant; on starting techs, it's almost years to get between solar systems, slowing things down drastically)

With how slow ships are now, a Gateway network will be essential in the future. In the immediate future however, the Atacama world in the same system is more important:

-----------------

Grand Arbiter Kliik Koko-Ko reclined on her throne. Twenty years of her absolute rule. She was chosen by the council for one simple reason; she was cunning. The others all wanted to rush ahead, take Vengeance on the first aliens they meet. But Kliik was wiser; patience was her watch word.

Their old enemies were out there, somewhere - and the possibility that they were stronger than they had ever been before the Shielding had to be considered as fact until proven otherwise.

The Prikki could not rush into a war they could not win, but instead must be careful. Build up, then take Vengeance. Her first priority was to adjust the jobs of various Prikki - they needed Alloys for ships, and Researchers to catch up on the technology deficit. Clerks were irrelevant to the cause, as was food beyond the needs of the Prikki.

By 2210, ten years in, not only had she quintupled the size of the Navy, but they were armed with shiny new Blue Lasers. Researchers had tripled, a new colony was in progress, and a second colony ship was on it's way. (although it wouldn't arrive for another five years)

 

[Macavity116]

Playing as everyone's favorite little reptilians in a Galaxy gone mad with a rapid countdown to crisis?

This is gonna be fun!

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Playing as everyone's favorite little reptilians in a Galaxy gone mad with a rapid countdown to crisis?

This is gonna be fun!

Or possibly quite short; some of the test runs where I declared war on the first aliens I came into contact with were...

Wonderful, looking forward to see how this goes!

So am I. Sorted out some of the teething issues on test runs, so I have some idea of how this goes, but there's a few extra changes this time around.

 

[Nikolai]

Waiting with Vengance is wise.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

2211 - The First Hint:

Prikki ran wild with speculation - was it the Cybrex who shielded Gish? Were they perhaps still out there, in a different part of the galaxy?

Others seized on the ambition of taking Vengeance. A few lonely voices, quickly shouted into submission, pointed out that there was extreme danger of machines trying the same again. Kliik Koko-Ko however, took it as another evidence that the Prikki should be careful and cunning.

2213 - Ambition 1:

This careful and cunning approach led to the decision to take Technological Ascendancy as one of the Ambitions of the Prikki; through technology they would overtake and surpass the alien menace.


2216 - On Flytraps and Lizards:

The news was disturbing. Predatory plants? What next?

2219 - First Admin World:

In view of the various predatory plants and that the world simply wasn't very Prikki friendly, it was made a dumping ground for office-bound bureaucrats, freeing up admins on Gish to be retrained as Researchers.

2219 - Lines in the Snow, Part 1:

Not much to this event from Gigastructures; it ends with spawning a nearby black hole that usually, although not always, has a Megastructure in the system.

2220 - End of the Years of Koko-Ko:

With Koko-Ko stepping down, it became time to choose a new leader of the Prikki. While there were four Candidates, the selection committee could discount two; Rattisch and Tik-tik were both less suitable for The Plan. But of the two Krikris, while Gish was more ideologically suitable, the breadth of benefits saw Ozoza selected.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

2220 Summary:

The first twenty years have been an exercise in frustration at the slowness of ships; the game pace is shockingly slowed. Normally things look very different by 2220...

Navy - the Prikki have 4.2k fleet power. Unfortunately, the test games showed that aggressive AIs can have double that by this stage. Hopefully it will deter the neighbours.

Research - the Prikki are behind on research. There's no other way to look at it; the ships travelling so slowly has crippled how quickly I can get research starbases up and running because Science ships and constructors take so long to get anywhere.

Economy in general - population growth only being 2%, is limiting economic growth. Put simply, there's not enough Prikki.

How are we doing? We should be safe, and with 3 Desert worlds (as the other guaranteed world has been found and is waiting for a starbase) and one 40% habitability world I can use for Bureaucrats (as Bureaucrat jobs aren't affected by habitability)

I'm very concerned at the prospect of running out of time.

 

[Nikolai]

I'm very concerned at the prospect of running out of time.

Crash and fall can be fun to watch too.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Crash and fall can be fun to watch too.

Perhaps, but it isn't as fun to play...

 

[CBR JGWRR]

2221 - Dimensional Portal:

Such a threat must be studied.

2222 - Third Desert World colonised:

Very behind schedule...

2225 - Cybrex v Cybrex?

2227 - Destroyers:

The pressing need for Alloys meant that they wouldn't be constructed, but the Prikki achieve Destroyers later than planned. Fortunately, the slow travel times mean we are still yet to encounter anyone.

2228 - More Cybrex:

2228 - All Hands to Battlestations!!!!

It was decided not to hijack the alien vessel; too risky.

2231 - Space Amoeba:

On the bright side, they seal off one of the avenues into Prikki territory.

2231 - First Factions:

2231 - Alpha Menace, Part 2:

Again, it was decided not to risk further altercations. Just as well - contact soon followed:

Good. Isolationists. Much less likely to attack.

2233 - More Cybrex:

Revulsion filled the senses of every Prikki to read the report. It was quickly filled away.

2237 - Hatching a Monster:

Prikki evacuation efforts from the system had fortunately already begun; only an abandoned outpost was left to be destroyed by the monster.

The encounter with the monster led to the decision to revamp the Prikki fleet; the need for bigger guns was very obvious. The 40 corvettes would be stripped down and decommissioned, to be replaced with the cruisers now being researched:

2238 - Death of a Grand Arbiter:

Former Grand Arbiter Kliik Koko-Ko's peaceful passing was mourned by Prikki all over Prikki territory.


2238 - The Great Wound:

The Prikki realised immediately that they would need to monitor this system.

2239 - Hieroglyphics Finished:

2240 - First Year of Ippa G'Rrib Gnash:

While Ozoza had been merely the least worst candidate, Ippa was much more promising - A Starbase Fortifier, with an Agenda of Fleet Expansion. First target? Even bigger ships than Destroyers!!

2240 - Towards Superior Prikki:

The decision was made to make Prikki that were more intelligent firstly, adding the Intelligent and Creative traits for a combined 12.5% boost to research. Later, Prikki who were specialised to other tasks would be made, but technological progress came first.

More Cybrex Discoveries:

2240 - First Cruisers Enter Development:

The new cruisers were intended for two types of role - one to carry big guns, and the other to ward off smaller ships.

Later that year, another round of Cybrex discoveries confirmed the need for new ships:

2240 - Spies and Hackers!!

Another despicable inferior. Good thing they are far away.


2242 - Cybrex Monitor:

This last discovery led to something even more special:

2243 - One Big Ship!!

Prikki eyes went even wider at the thought of securing and rebuilding such a powerful warship. Unfortunately, it was quite far.

 

[Nikolai]

Lots happening here. I am not the one to use mods much, as I write a lot of AARs and I find mods break my games way too often, but I dived into the huge Stellaris: reborn 3 mod last night, inspired by your game altering mods. Not the same mods, but still. Only played for half an hour so far, but I am sure I will see much changes going forward.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Lots happening, but it taking so long to get anywhere makes it feel like it's not.

I'm realising the Prikki must go on the offensive soon; played through to the 2260s, and it feels like the Prikki have probably caught up close enough to start the process of taking Vengeance; I'm hoping that I get Climate Restoration tech soon, I've been waiting for it since the 2250s. Once it comes up I can start terraforming and get the Prikki to really catch up, but at the rate it's going if the Prikki don't go on the offensive soon it will be into the Crisis.

Probably going to reduce the numbers of screenshots from now on; it's only now I'm realising that I completely missed the transition to Ippa, and that's kind of a big thing...

 

[CBR JGWRR]

2244 - Another Alien Menace:

2245 - Even more Alien Menaces:

2245 - Cybrex Alpha:

2245 - Engineered Evolution:

Leaving aside that engineered evolution is a self-contradictory term, the new generations of Prikki would now be Rapid Breeders.

2246 - Passing of Ippa:

Krekk wasn't a perfect candidate, but he was the best of the available choices, with his agenda of Fleet Expansion.

2246 - New Contacts:
Krekk's time as Grand Arbiter would see the Prikki making contact with the majority of the galaxy. Not that they cared about these creatures.

By 2276, this was the galaxy as the Prikki understood it:

Filled with enemies. And worse than these was yet to come.

2250 - Enigmatic Cache:

The Prikki opted to just leave it alone and hoped it would go away.

2264 - First Battles:
Many years of prosperity followed, including rapid population growth as Clone Vats began to be rolled out.

Krekk began testing the Cruiser fleets, sending fifteen Cruisers into the Great Wound:

And subsequent action in the Aclinda system against strange crystals:

2273 - Evolutionary Mastery:

Krekk's Ambitions about Super-Prikki would take a huge leap forward in the 2270s.

And it wasn't the only leap either:

The new asteroid platforms were very expensive, but even these field-usable prototypes were able to hold off fleets.

More examples of why they were needed soon followed:

2278 - Drums in the dark:

The news of some far off Marauders uniting was very disturbing for the Prikki. Fortunately, they didn't know where they were. (they would have been horrified if they did)

Eventually, they did find out: Less than two star systems away. Really close. Horribly close.

The news of the Marauders pushed the Prikki into testing their strength against one of their weaker neighbours; a Hive Mind, guaranteed by a Crime Syndicate. (and one that was separated by one of their rivals; the Prikki would only face the weaker power)

To prevent their new enemies from crossing the border into Prikki space, the first Asteroid Artillery was begun: (although the war would show it was unnecessary)

It did not take the Prikki long to be making huge gains, and soon the ground army - nine Gene Warrior Divisions and one Cybrex Warform - seized the first conquest.

While the battle was ongoing, Krekk stood down from the position of Grand Arbiter. The Selection Committee had an extremely long debate over this election:

You may think Luppi is the obvious choice; however, she is also a three traited Admiral, and the Selection Committee argued for months about whether it was the right decision to reassign her from the front. In the final heated debate Noosh Krekk - a Righteous Governor who had only just been scheduled to oversee the purges of... whoever it is the Prikki were at war with from their core worlds - was selected during the final vote.

2282 - Artistry in wreckage:

The power to destroy a world. The Prikki expended much precious water salivating at the prospect.

2283 - Final months of the war:

While the enemy fleets had all been wiped out, in the southern territories of their enemy, the Marauders raged:

The Prikki Admiralty were charged with figuring out how to stop the threat.

Thankfully, the war was over - the enemy were down to their last planet.

There could be no other end.

Extent of the Prikkiki Ti, 2283:

The Arbiterships of Ippa, Krekk and Krekk would be defined by the horrifying monsters among the Xeno threats, and Prikki solutions to those threats.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Overall, the Prikki have caught up, but slower than planned. The presence of a united Marauder empire so close presents the biggest danger to the Prikki, however, it is within the capabilities of a fully dedicated Prikkiki Ti to beat that Marauder empire's 128k fleet, if the battle was to take place in the right asteroid field and if the Prikki were to bankrupt themselves building a navy.

The technological base of the Prikki still isn't enough, and I've now been waiting on Climate Restoration technology so that I can add more planets for more than thirty ingame years; if the Prikki do lose, missing out on seven planets (plus whatever ones are in the newly Prikki territories) is most likely the cause; between normal pop growth and cloning that represents almost half a pop per month less than I could have had, and pop are the key resource for Alloys and Research...

 

[HistoryDude]

The Prikki have a first taste of war against aliens.

Their reason for wanting vengeance is understandable, although kind of weird - how do they know that whoever shielded them is still existent? And why take out their anger on all alien life?

 

[CBR JGWRR]

You're presuming rational behaviour - Fanatic Purifiers are inherently irrational. You do not win by exterminating all others; that just makes you a rabid monster that deserves to be put down, and invites your own destruction. True victory is when you stand among equals and they follow not because of fear, but because of love, and your enemies join you willingly setting aside old hatreds because they realise they were wrong to ever oppose you.

The Prikki are incapable of that kind of victory.

What passes for their thinking in this is:

1st. they aren't stupid; they know that once a civilisation progresses beyond the first star system no natural disaster can destroy that civilisation. Given this the Prikki therefore assume that, until proven otherwise. their shielders are still out there. I don't know if they are; I deduce that the shielder was a Pacifist Fallen Empire that opted to imprison the Prikki over destroying them with the intent to release them once they had grown beyond their xenophobia.

2nd. we know that the shield was not a 100% block to the transmission of information, and therefore the Prikki could see out, just as we can see in. Their entire civilisation passes under the watch of people beyond Gish looking down thanks to the time difference between inside the shield and outside it. If the Prikki did not know time passes differently (how could they, being on the inside?) they would be left with the knowledge that the watchers studied them for thousands of years and did nothing to help the Prikki.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

2285 - Rivals:

The Prikki cared little for the rivalries of lesser nations, and the Glebsig qualified for that, ranking only Inferior.

2287 - Super-Prikki Complete!

The finishing of the three types of Super-Prikki that suited the three types of planet currently in Prikki territory was a process lasting many years.

2287 - We are the Blorg:

Prikki all over the Prikkiki TI hissed at these extra-horrific monsters.

Three Fallen Empires discovered...


2288 - Cybrex Studied:

The Cybrex had always been a strange connection for the Prikki. They were exterminators, and some Prikki wanted to copy their methods, while others took a different, heretical view. It would be forced to wait:

2289 - Enemy at the gates!

Thankfully, it was only a 58k fleet - the enemy wielded at least 128k fleet power - but even that was beyond the present military of the Prikki. Solution? New Battleships would enter service, with the cruisers being expected to be vanquished.

It was almost as if the alien menaces knew the Prikki were afraid.

But while they were afraid of the enemy fleet, they weren't going to give up. The enemy ships were very slow, and the Prikki had time to start a second batch of battleships:

These were expected to replace the casualties, as four Prikki fleets between 14k and 19k fleet power engaged the enemy:

The fate of the Prikki hung in the balance. Twelve battleships and twenty seven cruisers challenged the much smaller but far more powerful Marauder fleet; if they lost, the Prikki navy would be crippled to being too weak to defend the Prikkiki Ti for over a year. But were they strong enough?

A victory, but many thousands of Prikki were killed as their ships were wrecked before the Marauders retreated, with not one enemy loss.

There could only be one solution. It was time to abandon research, and focus on Alloys; only then could the Prikki make up in numbers what they lacked in quality. Plans were drawn up for an armada of heavy artillery battleships, while jobs and buildings revamps were also planned to switch to a total war economy.