I remember a thread where there was an adventure through the stars. The thrill of seeing what anon would stumble upon next, the engaging writing style, and the fun of shitposting all along the way.
I want to make this thread to summon the original anon of this adventure and to remember the fun with a new game. Stellaris anon, if you are out there, thank you and please come back to us.
Until then, I have set up several mods in hopes to make up for my lack of skill in this game: Ace Combat Music, Additional Traits (adds more positive and negative traits to pick for your species), Astronomical Emblem Pack (adds more items to make the empire flag with), Space German March Collection, Masters of Nature (gives the chance of extra events when clearing land to build on), Utopia Expanded 2.0+ (adds more interesting things to find like Dyson spheres and the like), Pony Mod, Pony Stuff, Pony's Magic Technology (adds unique research for major bonuses that are available for both the player and the AI) Pony OC, Deer Portraits, Ponies: The Music Pack, Ponies: The Voice Pack, Pony Loading Screens, and lastly Equus System (sets up part of the galaxy with more generated planets with names that might be something a pony would name).
With all of that, let's begin. I created the Solar Empire led by Daybreaker. The galaxy will feel the power of the sun! The pony race has a few characteristics to it: Conformists due to their loyalty to the throne and tend to be agreeable with a whole dedicated branch of the monarchy dedicated to find any arguments and resolve them, United for many of the same reasons, Sky Born due to Pegasi building cities in the sky, Slow Breeders due to the extremely long time it takes the fillies we know from the show to age at all, and Prodigal as the economy is run mainly on buying party supplies and apple products.
The monarchy is built on the foundations of Authoritarianism which allows for slavery of species, Militarism which has conditioned the populace to endure longer wars, and Spiritualism which can allow for the building of temples, declaring worlds as holy ground, and boosts our unity.
We also have the Civics of United Pony Monarchy which gives the leader a lifespan increase of an additional 10,000 years to simulate Alicorn lifespans and some boosts to trust gain among other empires and our own happiness, and Cuties Marks that give slight bonuses to gaining energy, materials, and research speed.
I also made some other empires that should make an appearance. It takes away some randomness, but ought to add some guaranteed encounters that will be entertaining as well as challenging.
Our starting situation is a bit peculiar with Equestria's moon being a fully habitable planet. There is also a nearby savannah planet called Lampos and an ocean world called Hippokampoi which is only moderately habitable. Science ship Lux is ready to explore nearby stars and I have set the construction ship Starforge to start building mines for material and energy. I will also try to make this game interactive where I will take the advice of anons that want me to explore a certain direction and colonize certain planets. I might dedicate separate starships to anons later on and we can check in on their own exploration.
I hope you will enjoy this little doomed adventure and may Stellaris anon bless us with his return.
/vx/ - Videogames and Paranormal
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>>67898
The first choice will be which star to visit first. I have highlighted the ones we can go to in different colors. I will wait a little while to see if anons are interested in participating in each decision before picking one. If there are no responses, I will continue the story with what I think would be an ideal move.
The first choice will be which star to visit first. I have highlighted the ones we can go to in different colors. I will wait a little while to see if anons are interested in participating in each decision before picking one. If there are no responses, I will continue the story with what I think would be an ideal move.
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>>67900
Sorry for taking so long to get back to you on that.
The crew of the Lux take off to the star named Equus Beta. While the warp coils charge, the ship is buzzing with ideas of what they will find. Could there be aliens? What if there is an armada ready and waiting for them to fly right into their trap? Others insist there will be nothing but debris of space rock and what few planets there are, they will be devoid of anything of interest. The ship suddenly lurches ahead in previously unimaginable speed to their generations past. They all would soon have their answers.
In but a few short days the ship slows back down in a new solar system. Sighs of relief were heard when the scanners revealed they were the only vessel to be found in the area. Now all that remains is to survey each and every noteworthy object in the system.
After combing over a few outer planets, they navigated though the asteroid belt and found a wonder. The scans confirmed it. A Gaia world, a planet that supports life and in fact has animal life on it! As the crew debate fiercely if they lost the bet and several bits on the discovery, the message is relayed to Equestria. Daybreaker will consider advice from the council on what to do with the planet when we grow stronger and spread our influence to the system.
Leaving Pegasos, they find almost on the opposite side of the star a world that is similar to ours in that it has a moon that is habitable, but in this case, only barely. Flutterus, as the ancient tales describe, was a world the gods would go to determine our fates and the moon Angel would be their guidance to the answer. One pony however notes that there is an explanation to the strange development of the moon around the planet: the moon is in reality a spaceship used by the ancient aliens that inhabited Equestria and eventually determined that ponies were worthy of divine guidance. They traveled to Equestria and bestowed to a certain few individuals the power to become alicorns. The rest of the crew groaned at this and carried on with the mission.
The team gathered a strange reading from the asteroid belt, however, our current tech is not well prepared for this anomaly. Our computer estimated the study will take long years to accomplish. This leaves the crew with a difficult choice.
Do you want to travel back toward the yellow highlighted star to explore more stars around our planet, continue on with the blue highlighted star deeper into the unknown, or study the anomaly (purple) for unknown benefit?
Sorry for taking so long to get back to you on that.
The crew of the Lux take off to the star named Equus Beta. While the warp coils charge, the ship is buzzing with ideas of what they will find. Could there be aliens? What if there is an armada ready and waiting for them to fly right into their trap? Others insist there will be nothing but debris of space rock and what few planets there are, they will be devoid of anything of interest. The ship suddenly lurches ahead in previously unimaginable speed to their generations past. They all would soon have their answers.
In but a few short days the ship slows back down in a new solar system. Sighs of relief were heard when the scanners revealed they were the only vessel to be found in the area. Now all that remains is to survey each and every noteworthy object in the system.
After combing over a few outer planets, they navigated though the asteroid belt and found a wonder. The scans confirmed it. A Gaia world, a planet that supports life and in fact has animal life on it! As the crew debate fiercely if they lost the bet and several bits on the discovery, the message is relayed to Equestria. Daybreaker will consider advice from the council on what to do with the planet when we grow stronger and spread our influence to the system.
Leaving Pegasos, they find almost on the opposite side of the star a world that is similar to ours in that it has a moon that is habitable, but in this case, only barely. Flutterus, as the ancient tales describe, was a world the gods would go to determine our fates and the moon Angel would be their guidance to the answer. One pony however notes that there is an explanation to the strange development of the moon around the planet: the moon is in reality a spaceship used by the ancient aliens that inhabited Equestria and eventually determined that ponies were worthy of divine guidance. They traveled to Equestria and bestowed to a certain few individuals the power to become alicorns. The rest of the crew groaned at this and carried on with the mission.
The team gathered a strange reading from the asteroid belt, however, our current tech is not well prepared for this anomaly. Our computer estimated the study will take long years to accomplish. This leaves the crew with a difficult choice.
Do you want to travel back toward the yellow highlighted star to explore more stars around our planet, continue on with the blue highlighted star deeper into the unknown, or study the anomaly (purple) for unknown benefit?
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>>67902
"Onward to Equus Gamma!" shouted the head science officer, Prism Gem. As they left the system, Prism wandered around the ship, disappointed that they lacked the technology to answer the riddle the anomaly posed to the crew. She walked into the maintenance bay and rummaged around for tools. She had an idea...
After some time, and several loud crashes later, the security forces were called to the bridge. "What in Equestria is going on?" one guard demanded.
"She went into a maintenance shaft and we can't get her out. It sounds like she is going destroy the whole ship!"
One guard squeezed inside and attempted to drag out the scientist, making it less than easy for the poor stallion. Prism desperately tries to finish the project... whatever it is... before being hauled off with one final tug. Prism goes about explaining how she nearly solved how to speed up the anomaly research problem while an engineer pony inspects her work.
"It appears she threw a wrench in the works... literally."
Just then, they arrived to the star system. The guards were about to haul off Prism to the brig , the computer identified an anomaly in a nearby gas giant, and it will take significantly less time to do than normal. In fact, the other anomaly will as well. Nopony understands how she did it, and are not sure Prism knows either, but with her mechanical "tweaks" to the starship, we can have a chance at researching these things before we all grow old. (The ship's head scientist has leveled up and gained a trait of +50% anomaly research speed)
Returning attention to the current situation, the crew makes the rounds across the system. The first planet that can support life is Rarity. Moderate at best as far as conditions for life, but one pony mentions that it would be excellent for practicing law. You don't understand why it would be, but you can't disagree...
The next planet is Athenus, a beautiful world with rings, adding to mineral extraction ventures as well as tourism to see such a wonder no doubt. It is exceptional in habitability.
And finally, Hasbrus, a planet that would be nearly uninhabitable except for it's one saving grace: a flowing river in the valleys. Communities can thrive off of this one river, being a source of healing in such a dark universe. May it never run dry. With the river, the planet is just moderately habitable.
We now receive some updates from Equestria. The heir to the throne, should Empress Daybreaker pass away, has been chosen based on a new tradition of loyalty and dedication to the Church of the Sun. High Priestess Padlock will be guided to alicornhood in the following years and will take the charge of the empire in any unfortunate event. This caused a stir among the populace, thinking Twilight or Cadence would be a sure pick, but Daybreaker assured the ponies that they were needed in the kingdoms to retain stability and aid her in ruling the Solar Empire in positions that must not be disrupted in power transitions. Some are skeptical of this, but what she says goes.
In other news, the science and faith communities alike are abuzz with the recent findings. Several prominent leaders of each have issued a secondary directive to the science vessels: research planets that have met a terrible fate. Between religious warnings of the end times and scientific worries of what the future holds, the Holy Empress has agreed to allow for the submission of this extra task. During our travels, we need to research at length any planet that appears to have been perfectly fine and habitable, but something put that to an abrupt end. The research may prove useful to set up defenses against such disaster and put pony minds at ease.
The choices are yours and yours alone! Does the crew go for the anomaly research here for 100 days (not long for this game, marked in green)? Do we continue on the current path to chart the stars around the homeworld (yellow)? Perhaps we backtrack to Equus Beta and research that anomaly for now only 2 years, or use it to continue deeper into space (purple)?
"Onward to Equus Gamma!" shouted the head science officer, Prism Gem. As they left the system, Prism wandered around the ship, disappointed that they lacked the technology to answer the riddle the anomaly posed to the crew. She walked into the maintenance bay and rummaged around for tools. She had an idea...
After some time, and several loud crashes later, the security forces were called to the bridge. "What in Equestria is going on?" one guard demanded.
"She went into a maintenance shaft and we can't get her out. It sounds like she is going destroy the whole ship!"
One guard squeezed inside and attempted to drag out the scientist, making it less than easy for the poor stallion. Prism desperately tries to finish the project... whatever it is... before being hauled off with one final tug. Prism goes about explaining how she nearly solved how to speed up the anomaly research problem while an engineer pony inspects her work.
"It appears she threw a wrench in the works... literally."
Just then, they arrived to the star system. The guards were about to haul off Prism to the brig , the computer identified an anomaly in a nearby gas giant, and it will take significantly less time to do than normal. In fact, the other anomaly will as well. Nopony understands how she did it, and are not sure Prism knows either, but with her mechanical "tweaks" to the starship, we can have a chance at researching these things before we all grow old. (The ship's head scientist has leveled up and gained a trait of +50% anomaly research speed)
Returning attention to the current situation, the crew makes the rounds across the system. The first planet that can support life is Rarity. Moderate at best as far as conditions for life, but one pony mentions that it would be excellent for practicing law. You don't understand why it would be, but you can't disagree...
The next planet is Athenus, a beautiful world with rings, adding to mineral extraction ventures as well as tourism to see such a wonder no doubt. It is exceptional in habitability.
And finally, Hasbrus, a planet that would be nearly uninhabitable except for it's one saving grace: a flowing river in the valleys. Communities can thrive off of this one river, being a source of healing in such a dark universe. May it never run dry. With the river, the planet is just moderately habitable.
We now receive some updates from Equestria. The heir to the throne, should Empress Daybreaker pass away, has been chosen based on a new tradition of loyalty and dedication to the Church of the Sun. High Priestess Padlock will be guided to alicornhood in the following years and will take the charge of the empire in any unfortunate event. This caused a stir among the populace, thinking Twilight or Cadence would be a sure pick, but Daybreaker assured the ponies that they were needed in the kingdoms to retain stability and aid her in ruling the Solar Empire in positions that must not be disrupted in power transitions. Some are skeptical of this, but what she says goes.
In other news, the science and faith communities alike are abuzz with the recent findings. Several prominent leaders of each have issued a secondary directive to the science vessels: research planets that have met a terrible fate. Between religious warnings of the end times and scientific worries of what the future holds, the Holy Empress has agreed to allow for the submission of this extra task. During our travels, we need to research at length any planet that appears to have been perfectly fine and habitable, but something put that to an abrupt end. The research may prove useful to set up defenses against such disaster and put pony minds at ease.
The choices are yours and yours alone! Does the crew go for the anomaly research here for 100 days (not long for this game, marked in green)? Do we continue on the current path to chart the stars around the homeworld (yellow)? Perhaps we backtrack to Equus Beta and research that anomaly for now only 2 years, or use it to continue deeper into space (purple)?
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>dat image
>>67903
Backtrack and research that crucial anomaly.
I love how you write this up. After this Stellaris game will you play Distant Worlds: Universe?
Backtrack and research that crucial anomaly.
I love how you write this up. After this Stellaris game will you play Distant Worlds: Universe?
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>>67907
I must apologize for my absence, especially due to how short of an update this turned out to be. I'll look more into the game, but it sits at $60 on steam. I think I will wait a little while to see if there is a sale, and if not, I'll see if I can't convince some of my family to get me a gift card.
And thank you. I am still working on my writing skills, but I hope you have fun along with me.
Eager to test out the new modifications to the ship, Prism Gem ordered the ship to fly back to Equus Beta. "There is something to that place. I could feel it in my gut when we passed by last time."
"Perhaps that's because you insisted on raiding the galley for a mid-survey snack," the pilot remarked.
"Hey! It was only a few... dozen..."
"Keep telling yourself that." The pilot chuckled.
"Just do what we are paying you for!"
"I could use a raise."
Prism strikes a heroic pose "I suppose you all deserve to be paid more in a greater currency than what you normally receive. The currency of science!"
"I'll just get back to work."
The craft returns to Equus Beta with the sole mission to discover what that strange reading was. It would be no simple task, however. Two years for the computer to determine the source, the cause, and vital scientific knowledge for the Empire. The long wait begins.
Prism watched the loading bar slowly fill. 1%.. 2%... her eyes grew tired and she drifted off to sleep. After dreaming of being recognized as the best science pony and being crowned Princess of Science, Space, and Fixing Spaceships, Prism wakes up with a start to check on the progress. The monitor read 99% complete! Had she fallen asleep in some kind of sugar comma and skipped the wait of 2 years of boring, mind numbing, tedious...
Just then, the display read step one complete, preparing scan. The bar then reset and read over top of it 1 out of so many items that the number cut off! Prism groaned aloud. "I'm going to fix this stupid thing!" she yells as she raises a wrench over her head.
Half of the bridge crew jump at her and attempt to restrain the irritated scientist. They call for the guards, which slowly back away. "We will be right back. We are going to need better restrain system."
I am out of ideas on how to make waiting for two years exciting, so I will just summarize what happened. During the research, Equestria sent the Starforge to build starbases in the two explored systems. This claims them as part of our empire and we can start building mines and colonizing planets in them. The research turned out to be a gravitational generator that had it's polarity reversed, sending things away. Proof that there are aliens out there indeed. It appears to have provided artificial gravity for a bigger asteroid it was once part of, but it looks like it was smashed by this very generator. We can't use it in this condition, but we were able to use it for science. We gained research points to our current tech we are attempting to discover, taking off about 2 years for our physics tech and a year and a half for our engineering tech. Not really exciting, but useful.
From our position we can go to all of those stars we haven't been to, or Equus Gamma to research that anomaly, which is much easier to do, but probably less important (green).
I must apologize for my absence, especially due to how short of an update this turned out to be. I'll look more into the game, but it sits at $60 on steam. I think I will wait a little while to see if there is a sale, and if not, I'll see if I can't convince some of my family to get me a gift card.
And thank you. I am still working on my writing skills, but I hope you have fun along with me.
Eager to test out the new modifications to the ship, Prism Gem ordered the ship to fly back to Equus Beta. "There is something to that place. I could feel it in my gut when we passed by last time."
"Perhaps that's because you insisted on raiding the galley for a mid-survey snack," the pilot remarked.
"Hey! It was only a few... dozen..."
"Keep telling yourself that." The pilot chuckled.
"Just do what we are paying you for!"
"I could use a raise."
Prism strikes a heroic pose "I suppose you all deserve to be paid more in a greater currency than what you normally receive. The currency of science!"
"I'll just get back to work."
The craft returns to Equus Beta with the sole mission to discover what that strange reading was. It would be no simple task, however. Two years for the computer to determine the source, the cause, and vital scientific knowledge for the Empire. The long wait begins.
Prism watched the loading bar slowly fill. 1%.. 2%... her eyes grew tired and she drifted off to sleep. After dreaming of being recognized as the best science pony and being crowned Princess of Science, Space, and Fixing Spaceships, Prism wakes up with a start to check on the progress. The monitor read 99% complete! Had she fallen asleep in some kind of sugar comma and skipped the wait of 2 years of boring, mind numbing, tedious...
Just then, the display read step one complete, preparing scan. The bar then reset and read over top of it 1 out of so many items that the number cut off! Prism groaned aloud. "I'm going to fix this stupid thing!" she yells as she raises a wrench over her head.
Half of the bridge crew jump at her and attempt to restrain the irritated scientist. They call for the guards, which slowly back away. "We will be right back. We are going to need better restrain system."
I am out of ideas on how to make waiting for two years exciting, so I will just summarize what happened. During the research, Equestria sent the Starforge to build starbases in the two explored systems. This claims them as part of our empire and we can start building mines and colonizing planets in them. The research turned out to be a gravitational generator that had it's polarity reversed, sending things away. Proof that there are aliens out there indeed. It appears to have provided artificial gravity for a bigger asteroid it was once part of, but it looks like it was smashed by this very generator. We can't use it in this condition, but we were able to use it for science. We gained research points to our current tech we are attempting to discover, taking off about 2 years for our physics tech and a year and a half for our engineering tech. Not really exciting, but useful.
From our position we can go to all of those stars we haven't been to, or Equus Gamma to research that anomaly, which is much easier to do, but probably less important (green).
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>>67911
The crew waited in anticipation over the computer screen. Nothing could make them more joyous than when the little text box opened saying the scans were complete and be done with these torturous years. The whole ship echoed with the cheers of everypony aboard. "Calm down, calm down. I'm sure we will all get medals for scientific achievement for this," Prism proclaimed.
The pilot scoffed, "Sure. The scientific community is dying to hand out an award to the discovery of a gravitational device that can't be used."
"But it is undeniable evidence of intelligent life. We are going to find aliens soon and we are going to be famous! My whole life I dreamed-"
"You do seem to do your share of dreaming when it is your shift for ship cleaning duty."
"What? I have cleaning duty?"
"We have been reminding you of that for two years now!"
"And none of us will have to clean up again once Equestria calls us back for our recognition."
"A message came in from Equestria!" shouted a young trainee.
The whole bridge goes silent to hear what the leaders back home, somewhere they haven't seen in what felt like forever, had to say.
"They say 'Interesting. Please continue your exploration.'"
"And? What else does it say? There has to be more!" Prism blurts out.
"That's all there is."
"Where is my wrench?"
The guard steps forward. "Last I recall, it was in your cell... in the brig."
"Could you go fetch it for me?"
The guard almost growled at her, "Sorry. We don't offer bellhop service. It's bad enough that we are your new motel experience."
"You guards are no fun. Once we find those aliens for real, then they can't refuse to give us honors like you wouldn't believe. Maybe you could have a shot at being the new captain of the guard."
"Just go back to gazing at the stars."
The ship arrives in the Equus Delta system. Immediately the computer picks up another anomaly which would take four years to completely study. The crew nearly has a riot. They skip it for now, making a note however that they see a spaceship wreck among the space debris. It may indeed be worth the wait to get whatever that thing may hold in store.
Traversing the system, the Lux discovers three more habitable planets. First, Monoceros, another Gaia planet. Nothing too outstanding about it, besides the obvious perfect living conditions and excellent beaches. Perhaps another planet to declare sacred if we want. We will decide when we get around to colonizing, which will be soon.
Next up is Caballo, a highly unusual planet. It is frigid and has extreme weather shifts. However, there is a single continent that the geologists call the Pinkie continent. It has two huge volcanoes that manage to heat the whole landmass and provide natural protection from the elements, making the planet extremely habitable, though it seems building structures on the surface would be an issue. The tectonic plates shift so often that only extreme planning and reinforcing will be able to withstand the forces.
And finally, Paethon, a planet with perhaps the best conditions for farming on any planet you have seen. This could be an important colony to support our expanding empire's population cross the galaxy.
So many stars, so little time. We also have the option to stay behind and research (purple and green).
The crew waited in anticipation over the computer screen. Nothing could make them more joyous than when the little text box opened saying the scans were complete and be done with these torturous years. The whole ship echoed with the cheers of everypony aboard. "Calm down, calm down. I'm sure we will all get medals for scientific achievement for this," Prism proclaimed.
The pilot scoffed, "Sure. The scientific community is dying to hand out an award to the discovery of a gravitational device that can't be used."
"But it is undeniable evidence of intelligent life. We are going to find aliens soon and we are going to be famous! My whole life I dreamed-"
"You do seem to do your share of dreaming when it is your shift for ship cleaning duty."
"What? I have cleaning duty?"
"We have been reminding you of that for two years now!"
"And none of us will have to clean up again once Equestria calls us back for our recognition."
"A message came in from Equestria!" shouted a young trainee.
The whole bridge goes silent to hear what the leaders back home, somewhere they haven't seen in what felt like forever, had to say.
"They say 'Interesting. Please continue your exploration.'"
"And? What else does it say? There has to be more!" Prism blurts out.
"That's all there is."
"Where is my wrench?"
The guard steps forward. "Last I recall, it was in your cell... in the brig."
"Could you go fetch it for me?"
The guard almost growled at her, "Sorry. We don't offer bellhop service. It's bad enough that we are your new motel experience."
"You guards are no fun. Once we find those aliens for real, then they can't refuse to give us honors like you wouldn't believe. Maybe you could have a shot at being the new captain of the guard."
"Just go back to gazing at the stars."
The ship arrives in the Equus Delta system. Immediately the computer picks up another anomaly which would take four years to completely study. The crew nearly has a riot. They skip it for now, making a note however that they see a spaceship wreck among the space debris. It may indeed be worth the wait to get whatever that thing may hold in store.
Traversing the system, the Lux discovers three more habitable planets. First, Monoceros, another Gaia planet. Nothing too outstanding about it, besides the obvious perfect living conditions and excellent beaches. Perhaps another planet to declare sacred if we want. We will decide when we get around to colonizing, which will be soon.
Next up is Caballo, a highly unusual planet. It is frigid and has extreme weather shifts. However, there is a single continent that the geologists call the Pinkie continent. It has two huge volcanoes that manage to heat the whole landmass and provide natural protection from the elements, making the planet extremely habitable, though it seems building structures on the surface would be an issue. The tectonic plates shift so often that only extreme planning and reinforcing will be able to withstand the forces.
And finally, Paethon, a planet with perhaps the best conditions for farming on any planet you have seen. This could be an important colony to support our expanding empire's population cross the galaxy.
So many stars, so little time. We also have the option to stay behind and research (purple and green).
>>67912
Explore red.
Also, this has probably been >rigged but you're extremely lucky to discover all these really good planets. They'll enable an extremely populous core that will practically explode your population despite slow breeding.
Explore red.
Also, this has probably been >rigged but you're extremely lucky to discover all these really good planets. They'll enable an extremely populous core that will practically explode your population despite slow breeding.
>>67913
Yeah, that's what the Equus system mod does. It gives you access to a ton of planets around your homeworld, as hinted at with the strange and unique world traits, such as Pinkie's continent. It is very much cheating, but I will need these advantages because I am anything but good at this game. I hope you can still enjoy it even with it tweaked in my favor. Now, on to typing up the next scene...
Yeah, that's what the Equus system mod does. It gives you access to a ton of planets around your homeworld, as hinted at with the strange and unique world traits, such as Pinkie's continent. It is very much cheating, but I will need these advantages because I am anything but good at this game. I hope you can still enjoy it even with it tweaked in my favor. Now, on to typing up the next scene...
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Flying into the next system, Equus Iota, the ship suddenly lurched and yellow lights started to flash in the bridge. "Radiation alert. Everypony into your hazmat suits," Prism commanded over the comms. They had arrived next to a neutron star, which is blasting radiation out at a steady pace. After checking their systems and adjusting the shields, the radiation levels inside returned to normal. Not to anypony's surprise, life is going to be impossible here.
But before they could call it a day and move on, the familiar tone rang out. Two more anomalies have been found. Just as Prism was about to rant about not finding aliens, she noticed that the initial scans are showing unique signs on the barren wastelands of the planet below. Architecture! And above the nearby planet, ship debris. Lots of it. The makings of space combat! "We found them! At least where they were. We will be famous yet!"
The ship estimates 180 days to learn about the structures on the surface, and 300 to learn about the conflict.
"Quick, ensign! Message home about what we found! It's sure to be the top-"
"News from Equestria just came in. They made a successful colony on the moon."
"They... they did what?"
"The moon colony looks promising and serves as an important test run of future colonies across space. They have named it Lunaria after Daybreaker's sister that went missing during the first attempts to go to the moon."
"I still don't get why Daybreaker worded the mission like she did. 'I'm sending you back to the moon' isn't the best encouragement for a critical mission. But that's besides the point! Our thunder is stolen again!"
"On the plus side... we found a better fertilizer on Sulfrus. It will increase farm yields by huge margins."
Prism groans and returns to the computer.
What will be the next course of action? Lots of research to go around. We could build another ship now to handle those while Lux travels to new stars. It's all up to you.
But before they could call it a day and move on, the familiar tone rang out. Two more anomalies have been found. Just as Prism was about to rant about not finding aliens, she noticed that the initial scans are showing unique signs on the barren wastelands of the planet below. Architecture! And above the nearby planet, ship debris. Lots of it. The makings of space combat! "We found them! At least where they were. We will be famous yet!"
The ship estimates 180 days to learn about the structures on the surface, and 300 to learn about the conflict.
"Quick, ensign! Message home about what we found! It's sure to be the top-"
"News from Equestria just came in. They made a successful colony on the moon."
"They... they did what?"
"The moon colony looks promising and serves as an important test run of future colonies across space. They have named it Lunaria after Daybreaker's sister that went missing during the first attempts to go to the moon."
"I still don't get why Daybreaker worded the mission like she did. 'I'm sending you back to the moon' isn't the best encouragement for a critical mission. But that's besides the point! Our thunder is stolen again!"
"On the plus side... we found a better fertilizer on Sulfrus. It will increase farm yields by huge margins."
Prism groans and returns to the computer.
What will be the next course of action? Lots of research to go around. We could build another ship now to handle those while Lux travels to new stars. It's all up to you.
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>>67916
Heading into the Equus Kappa-Epsilon system, Prism started to feel worried. The scans revealed that there was nothing at all in the way of life here, and nothing can support it. "Make a note that this is the boring system. Maybe we can head back to Iota and learn about those aliens. Turn this ship around."
As the crew returns to their previous location and start scanning the alien battle debris, major news stories flash nearly simultaneously, the most notable being a pirate rebellion has formed, declaring war on the Holy Empress! "This is horrible!" Shouts the ensign.
"I know... look at all the news coverage they are stealing from-"
"Knock it off Prism! It looks like the pirates are stationed... in.. Equus Kappa-Epsilon"
"That's the one we just came from, isn't it?"
The crew freezes in their tracks as they hear a message alert. "High priority message from the National Exoplanetary Intelligence Gathering and Handling of Space and Aviation" rang out throughout the bridge. Prism quickly answered the transmission.
A stern looking pony appears on the monitor. "What in the name of the Most Holy are you idiots doing? I was hoping that you were captured, or even joining the heretics so I could have something decent to report back to my superiors once in a while, but all I see is a bunch of nerds sitting around watching their computers load and goof off when the security of Equestria is in jeopardy! You were supposed to have scanned the system THOROUGHLY! You just so happen to miss a makeshift space station! Are you trying to get us all killed?"
"We are terribly sorry sir."
"Sorry doesn't even begin to cut it. You all have been slacking. We recently send out a new scientist to help you catch up on some work, those anomalies you keep leaving behind. Turns out the one in Equus Gamma was the fact you didn't scan hard enough. The scanners reflected off a thin, seasonal gas storm, giving you false readings about the planet. It is uninhabitable, but not a gas planet like you reported. Our head scientists say that in the future, any planet that has a solid surface might be turned to a habitable planet. You are getting sloppy!"
"Sorry sir. I-it won't happen again."
"I'll be honest with you Prism Gem, I didn't want to give you a second chance, but we need scientists willing to do this job, and the Empress herself requested we not fire you. But you best bring results or we will send a replacement. Is that understood?"
"Yes sir."
Sirens and lights start going off in the background of the call. "What the? They are entering Equestrian space! End transmissio-"
The crew look at each other and tune into the news.
Several pirate vessels drop out of warp and head toward the mining facilities. The small defense fleet for Equestria is scrambled and intercepts the horde head on. Spiraling around each other, hoping to get the edge, our ships have but one advantage to the enemy, a new admiral. Marble Sparkle (no relation to purple) has trained in commanding a fleet for years. Nopony has ever been able to match the sheer efficiency she can produce in a fleet for maximum firepower and speed. She leads her ponies to sweet victory with absolutely no losses. A second wave of traitors begin their approach.
Meanwhile, Prism has been researching who is their new scientific competition. "I think I got it! He is... Swanky Sparkle. What kind of name is that?"
"That name sounds familiar. Wasn't there a Sparkle that got promoted to admiral a little while ago?"
"So that's their game. Ensign, don't you see? This is a political maneuver to get rid of us! Swanky's position is protected by a figure head, and a hero at that! We can't touch him and he has all of the power."
"Just relax. He won't be a problem if we-"
"If we what? It's over. This has been a disaster. Not only is our only chance at fame taken from us, but our hard work will be for nothing. We will come back as failures."
"I don't understand why this is such a problem for you. So what if we aren't famous?"
"Because it's my last chance to make of myself. I was an inventor before. I made several contraptions that used refracted light to encode several instructions. I know I was on to something, but it just never worked... I wasn't smart enough. I wasn't skilled enough. Then Fiber Twist came in and stole my thunder, using cables to transmit encoded light messages to make things run programs." Prism sighs. "I'm not going to let the Sparkles outshine me."
The news flashes that Marble Sparkle has taken the second wave by surprise with a incredible rally of the fleet, with several more additions constructed in light of the attack. She carried the fight all the way to the pirate base and razed it to space dust. Daybreaker ordered the construction of more bases to make sure the stars will never house threats to the empire. These events also formed a coalition to promote authoritarian values in our society. As we do what they want, we increase our influence.
Several things happened in this update and I will try to wrap up a summary in the next post.
Heading into the Equus Kappa-Epsilon system, Prism started to feel worried. The scans revealed that there was nothing at all in the way of life here, and nothing can support it. "Make a note that this is the boring system. Maybe we can head back to Iota and learn about those aliens. Turn this ship around."
As the crew returns to their previous location and start scanning the alien battle debris, major news stories flash nearly simultaneously, the most notable being a pirate rebellion has formed, declaring war on the Holy Empress! "This is horrible!" Shouts the ensign.
"I know... look at all the news coverage they are stealing from-"
"Knock it off Prism! It looks like the pirates are stationed... in.. Equus Kappa-Epsilon"
"That's the one we just came from, isn't it?"
The crew freezes in their tracks as they hear a message alert. "High priority message from the National Exoplanetary Intelligence Gathering and Handling of Space and Aviation" rang out throughout the bridge. Prism quickly answered the transmission.
A stern looking pony appears on the monitor. "What in the name of the Most Holy are you idiots doing? I was hoping that you were captured, or even joining the heretics so I could have something decent to report back to my superiors once in a while, but all I see is a bunch of nerds sitting around watching their computers load and goof off when the security of Equestria is in jeopardy! You were supposed to have scanned the system THOROUGHLY! You just so happen to miss a makeshift space station! Are you trying to get us all killed?"
"We are terribly sorry sir."
"Sorry doesn't even begin to cut it. You all have been slacking. We recently send out a new scientist to help you catch up on some work, those anomalies you keep leaving behind. Turns out the one in Equus Gamma was the fact you didn't scan hard enough. The scanners reflected off a thin, seasonal gas storm, giving you false readings about the planet. It is uninhabitable, but not a gas planet like you reported. Our head scientists say that in the future, any planet that has a solid surface might be turned to a habitable planet. You are getting sloppy!"
"Sorry sir. I-it won't happen again."
"I'll be honest with you Prism Gem, I didn't want to give you a second chance, but we need scientists willing to do this job, and the Empress herself requested we not fire you. But you best bring results or we will send a replacement. Is that understood?"
"Yes sir."
Sirens and lights start going off in the background of the call. "What the? They are entering Equestrian space! End transmissio-"
The crew look at each other and tune into the news.
Several pirate vessels drop out of warp and head toward the mining facilities. The small defense fleet for Equestria is scrambled and intercepts the horde head on. Spiraling around each other, hoping to get the edge, our ships have but one advantage to the enemy, a new admiral. Marble Sparkle (no relation to purple) has trained in commanding a fleet for years. Nopony has ever been able to match the sheer efficiency she can produce in a fleet for maximum firepower and speed. She leads her ponies to sweet victory with absolutely no losses. A second wave of traitors begin their approach.
Meanwhile, Prism has been researching who is their new scientific competition. "I think I got it! He is... Swanky Sparkle. What kind of name is that?"
"That name sounds familiar. Wasn't there a Sparkle that got promoted to admiral a little while ago?"
"So that's their game. Ensign, don't you see? This is a political maneuver to get rid of us! Swanky's position is protected by a figure head, and a hero at that! We can't touch him and he has all of the power."
"Just relax. He won't be a problem if we-"
"If we what? It's over. This has been a disaster. Not only is our only chance at fame taken from us, but our hard work will be for nothing. We will come back as failures."
"I don't understand why this is such a problem for you. So what if we aren't famous?"
"Because it's my last chance to make of myself. I was an inventor before. I made several contraptions that used refracted light to encode several instructions. I know I was on to something, but it just never worked... I wasn't smart enough. I wasn't skilled enough. Then Fiber Twist came in and stole my thunder, using cables to transmit encoded light messages to make things run programs." Prism sighs. "I'm not going to let the Sparkles outshine me."
The news flashes that Marble Sparkle has taken the second wave by surprise with a incredible rally of the fleet, with several more additions constructed in light of the attack. She carried the fight all the way to the pirate base and razed it to space dust. Daybreaker ordered the construction of more bases to make sure the stars will never house threats to the empire. These events also formed a coalition to promote authoritarian values in our society. As we do what they want, we increase our influence.
Several things happened in this update and I will try to wrap up a summary in the next post.
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>>67919
So, with all of the fighting, and waiting to build more ships to combat the pirate heretics, I was able to make a second science ship to help out with the workload. The new scientist, Swanky, is over in Equus Delta doing the research that takes 4 years or so to finish. Meanwhile, all the stars we have explored have starbases now, which should reduce the pirate raids. I accidently moved Swanky into the next star (yellow) as I tried to get him over to Delta. Nothing was discovered but the name of the star. I will try harder to not let that happen again.
The fleet has been named Solar Fleet #1 for the time being, but I would love to hear what you think it should be named. It now contains 7 corvettes and we have suffered no losses.
The colony has fully developed on the moon and we are now getting resources from them, as well as more population growth. We need to make more colonies, but for now our energy income is not good enough to sustain another one.
Other than all of that craziness, I think we are ready to head back out to your choice of star. Hopefully the adventure will continue to be exciting, but not take up so much time that the update seems to overwhelm with new information.
So, with all of the fighting, and waiting to build more ships to combat the pirate heretics, I was able to make a second science ship to help out with the workload. The new scientist, Swanky, is over in Equus Delta doing the research that takes 4 years or so to finish. Meanwhile, all the stars we have explored have starbases now, which should reduce the pirate raids. I accidently moved Swanky into the next star (yellow) as I tried to get him over to Delta. Nothing was discovered but the name of the star. I will try harder to not let that happen again.
The fleet has been named Solar Fleet #1 for the time being, but I would love to hear what you think it should be named. It now contains 7 corvettes and we have suffered no losses.
The colony has fully developed on the moon and we are now getting resources from them, as well as more population growth. We need to make more colonies, but for now our energy income is not good enough to sustain another one.
Other than all of that craziness, I think we are ready to head back out to your choice of star. Hopefully the adventure will continue to be exciting, but not take up so much time that the update seems to overwhelm with new information.
>>67907
So... after like a year, I got Distant Worlds Universe. Only played a few hours, but I have discovered it is very easily modded. So, I plan to make a basic skin mod basically and do a little fun playthrough with anons that are interested. I could use the practice in writing again as well as forcing me to do more for the board again. I have been away for far too long.
So... after like a year, I got Distant Worlds Universe. Only played a few hours, but I have discovered it is very easily modded. So, I plan to make a basic skin mod basically and do a little fun playthrough with anons that are interested. I could use the practice in writing again as well as forcing me to do more for the board again. I have been away for far too long.