Shadow Empire - what say you?

[Huw the Poo]

Now we're cooking with gas! The metal mine has been completed and metals are absolutely pouring in. That's going to make construction of my industrial asset much easier. I thus ordered construction as it will take three turns. I only have two of the three machines needed, but by the next turn I'll have enough rare metal to make the third, and with no plans for machinery after that I can start selling them for some ready cash. That means I will be able to raise salaries to make my cabinet happier.

My population happiness is already at 100% by the way, with worker happiness very closely behind. I was also finally able to generate, and play, a stratagem that boosted my income tax to 30%. The economy is finally starting to come together! The credits I'm investing in public finance has allowed the private sector to develop the private industrial asset a bit more, giving me even more IPs via the service tax.

So, in a couple of turns I will finally be in a position to a) build those admin offices for BPs and thus more stratagems, and b) build a road network. Once the roads are laid I will keep my militia brigade near the city for home defense and give 1st Infantry Brigade orders to move all units outward in pursuit of a whole new zone to conquer. It's getting exciting now!

Note to self: start recruiting colonists to settle a new zone.

I'm coming for you Geek, me old China!

[Martok]

[Undercovergeek]

okayyyyyy coupla more turns in.......

Ive discovered turboprop engine and the jet engine - needless to say im ready for a full blown airforce but Dastactic my go to mentor doesnt rate it at all in his tutorials - i mean im ready for squadrons of Apaches man but we'll see

The metal mine and light industry is built - metal and IPs are good, resources are now been put into expanding the road network - i was building a road to the automoton hex perk but came across some advice in a post on Reddit saying they dont need to be connected by road - just be within my borders - ill check later

To the west near the automoton ive found more baddies, to the east some indigenous species baddies are staring at me from with in a forest hex - dont want to kill them and will try and push them back and to the south ive finally found a body of water - again unsure as to whether this needs a road leading up to it - if so it will be a looooong road

Played two strategem cards this turn one was a critical success granting me 250 extra BP to throw into research or discovery or a new council..... more on that
and i raised the sales tax to 25% - unsure of this, i saw Huw mention some fancy 'investing in public finance' shenanigans and wanted to try that out - dont know if its the same thing

Im also confused by tanks - i can discover side skirts for them which is the big intention, but i have no idea how to discover light tanks - the tech tree says 'you could discover these' but theres nothing in the tree that says 'light tanks' - i was going to berate Huw for setting the game up without tanks in it but then realised i have buggies but there isnt a discover buggies option so i dont know how to get my hands on the tracked lovelies - google has failed me as every answer already assumes youve discovered or researched them - i think it might be something to do with the model council but common sense tells me i cant design a model for a chassis i havent discovered and i dont want to waste the PP setting up the council only to find i cant

ironically ill do more research to find this out

oooo, heres home

[Huw the Poo]

You don't need a road to connect a hex feature to your network, but it's a good idea to have one anyway because if it comes under attack you won't be able to mobilise a defense without one. And don't forget that any unit that isn't yours can claim territory simply by entering it. You definitely don't need a road to the water - as long as it's within your zone it will start to be collected.

Dunno about tanks...I think if the tech tree says they can be discovered, that still means you're waiting for the random discovery via your research council. Just keep making new discoveries and presumably the chassis will come up eventually? I've never made it that far myself so that's all the help I can give you.

The sales tax is just a tax on any sales made by the private economy (so invisible to you except for the revenue on your balance sheet). However I think in the reports tab at the top, if you switch to zones then click on zone news you might see in the detailed log exactly how much stuff is being sold. The investment that I mentioned is something else. I think you access it via the governor and "zone orders" - I can't remember now! But the zone info panel at the bottom of the screen will show you how much investment has accumulated. My understanding is the more it accumulates, the greater the likelihood that private assets will be built (which ultimately means more service and sales taxes for you). So it is, quite literally, an investment. Probably helps pop happiness too.

For myself, I noticed some nonaligned forces to the south claim a bit of my territory. I still don't have a supply network so I have no choice but to just watch for now. I moved a battalion to intercept just in case and reinforced it with some militia artillery - better than nothing. I can't move any other battalions in because they're maintaining my borders.

Mistake made and lesson learned - I should have built all three of the machines I needed for my industrial asset production. The problem is the construction is now eating all of my IPs, so on the next turn when I need to build the third and final machine, I won't have the IP to do so. I now have no choice but to wait for construction to stall, freeing up the required IP. Basically this means the construction will take one turn longer than it should have. Oh well, live and learn.

Thanks to Geek's generous posting of his screenshot, my suspicion is confirmed - I have many times more credits than he does.

[Undercovergeek]

Rapid fire (?) MGs is discovered - i know MGs are strong in game so ill bookmark this to be researched - i have two GR MG units which add some serious punch to an attack

Found the increase investment in public budget options and threw them some dollars

I uncovered a black market, i had the option to shut it down for 900 or leave it and earn 100 a turn off it - ill leave it running

Ive expanded the road east and west a little as thats where im heading - even this small increase has solved some supply issues and ill expand again next turn

Water is pouring into the coffers, from 350 to 4000 - ill not bother with the ice mine and the road to water question is obviously answered

I secure the automoton again for 100 extra military research points and find a crashed spaceship to the east that does the same

The goal now is to bank some IP and metal and build another brigade - that big city i made peace with looks too juicy to ignore

Increased income tax, despite Huws pooh poohing of the banking situation the credits are starting to flow at last 

[Martok]

Great stuff, guys.  I'm really enjoying following along.   

[Huw the Poo]

Great stuff, guys.  I'm really enjoying following along. 

Probably feeling like joining in the next PBEM, eh?

[Huw the Poo]

As predicted, construction of my industrial asset will now halt due to lack of machinery, so since I'm so flush with cash, I shamefully bought a machine from traders in order to complete construction next turn instead of waiting to build up the IPs to make one myself. Hey, that's what the credits are there for, right?

And since I'm so wealthy I also called my secretary and had him raise the salaries of all my cabinet. This isn't entirely altruistic; apparently we're entering a "time of egoism" and my relationship with my leaders will naturally fall, so I'm trying to offset that.

Enemy forces to the northwest continue to kill themselves on my border. When we finally move out I'm going to absolutely sweep them away. We're getting closer to that, now. Next turn the industrial asset will be built which leaves only the admin offices to go, and then finally I will be able to start building roads and moving out. To that end, I called the zone governor and set a recruitment cap for colonists, and bumped up the colonist sign-up bonus. I've just realised I have absolutely no idea what a reasonable number of colonists to start a new zone is; better get reading the manual once again!

The only other thing that happened is my secretary offered to start a new org and I chose the military research council. The only problem is I don't have anyone to lead it, but for now I'm producing so few BPs it hardly matters. Added to the list of short term goals...

[Huw the Poo]

Quick update before work. My industrial asset is finally complete and I immediately started construction of admin offices. Photoglacier city increased admin level and awarded me a fate stratagem pack - one of which is "boom town" which can massively boost population of a city at the cost of a single fate point. This is quite timely since I'm starting to think about creating a second zone; the new city will need an injection of population in short order.

The military research council remains leaderless which is a big problem. When the admin offices are completed and I'm getting a lot more BP, I will temporarily assign the lion's share to the interior council and tell them to focus on HR cards. I really need some stratagems that give me leaders!

The admin offices should complete next turn and I will finally have the IPs to start building out roads.

[Undercovergeek]

I create the Model Research council and give them discoveries as a priority - im looking for that light tank asap to give me the edge over the farmers to the south

I expand the road east and west - im really at the limit of fuel and supply now and theres nothing out there! Ive seen no activity north or east and will bring the forces towards home to resupply, recruit and then head south

im having a problem with the new set of baddies that occupied the automoton ruin and cant get them off - the last battle was 40:1 in my favour and they still made it - i think it might be the lack of supplies - ill rest a few turns - theyre surrounded but i dont know if raiders need supply per se

At home i increase the directors wages and the soldiers, were going through an age of unsettlement and the soldiers are grumbling. The admin offices are in full flow kicking out IP and we point these and the new metal at expanding the bereaucratic offices that should bring in over 200 BP a turn

I play a few strategy cards - we boost the BP again, double economic output, and i play a hidden treasure card using up 2 fate points that nets me 200 rare metals, 400 metal and lots of oil

I check the raise formation options and can raise a lot of independent brigades - right now im ready to expand peacefully the only limit is my supply network

[Huw the Poo]

Bit annoyed. The admin building wasn't completed even though the zone and my SHQ between them had enough IPs, and during the normal course of a turn they will send "items" between each other. There must be something in the way turns are processed that prevented me using both supplies of IP. Oh well....next turn, then, it will be up and running and I can finally start building my roads.

As luck would have it I generated a stratagem this turn that gave me another blank slate leader, so I was able to get the military research council staffed. Maybe I'll have something slightly better than sticks and stones by the time I clash with Geek! My economic research council discovered the barracks tech but I haven't looked into it; I'm producing so few BPs at the moment that research will probably be painfully slow.

I'm going away for a long weekend so maybe we'll get another turn or two in before then, but then there'll be no more updates until Monday at the earliest unfortunately.

[Undercovergeek]

Busy couple of turns.......

I sent the sentinels out west to scout further and they bumped into some indigenous species and were destroyed

I finally kill off the raiders in the west and send the troops back towards the capital to regain replacements and supplies

Everyone pulls away from the north and east and heads south to scout the eastern edges of aurora - the farmers to the south

The design council discovers light tanks - we throw all our research into this project and put our new high velocity guns on the top, a medium diesel engine and 25mm armour - the high vel gun will be good for killing vehicles ill design some with mortars that kill infantry too

We send spies into aurora to see their strength

I build 2 brigades of buggies to scoot around the borders some more

The admin building upgrades to level 2 quickly and ill wait a while to upgrade to 3 - we have a fair amount of BP right now

[Huw the Poo]

Yeah I've finally got busy too. Now that I'm finally not building anything I've been able to construct some roads. Just dirt roads for now but they're quite sufficient to keep 1st Inf Brigade well stocked. I've expanded the road to the southeast a fair bit; I decided the zone in that direction will be the first I colonise, not least because it contains that hex I failed to hold last week which has the derelict automaton. I'm going to need all the military research bonuses I can get in order to catch up with His Esteemed Geekness.

In contrast to his military geniuses, the best my military council has come up with so far is the ingenious idea of maybe padding the envirosuits. Yeah, that'll show 'em....

I played a fate card and got my own squad of AI sentinels. Aside from being hard as nails, they don't need any supply either, so off a-scoutin' they go. Meanwhile I ramped up colonist recruitment to 500 per turn and now I have more than 2,000 of the eager buggers. Along with that pop-boosting stratagem I have in reserve, I can easily get a new city up and running. All I need is a few more turns to scope out the area and then I need to build it. Having said that, I am rather greedily eyeing up an upgrade to Photoglacier's industrial asset to bring in even more IPs...

So many decisions!

[Huw the Poo]

I actually tried to build my new city this turn. On the construction screen you simply toggle the "found new city" flag while choosing what to construct. I almost went for a high command bunker but the final screen warned me this will always be in your capital, so god knows what would've happened if I'd gone through with it. I changed my mind to another industrial asset. However I got a message about not having a logistical connection, so with a weary sigh, I built out some more roads in that direction. Next turn I think I'll be able to start. So exciting!

The commander of 1st Inf is not happy with me at all. The problem is he never liked me that much to begin with, and he belongs to a relatively unpopular political faction against whom I keep making decisions, exacerbating the situation. I might have to start looking for a way to have him replaced...

It's been a long time since I saw any nonaligned forces and I continue to slowly push my borders out. However 1st Inf is getting spread awfully thin now, and it's becoming very apparent I need to raise a new formation. I still have no idea how to do it (competently) so I'd better get reading. I don't know if my new city will form its own militia or not, and militia suck anyway, so I will need at the very least one new brigade just to defend the new zone.

[Undercovergeek]

I had a similar problem with a poor advisor - he was promoted to commanding first infantry and after a few turns of raider bashing he errrr ceased to be