Competent Scouts
Fragile Economy
On the next turn we finished researching "Planetary Construction", but "New Earth" is still working on the "Survival Dome" for 4 more turns, so I let that finish out. I chose not to convert to the "Pacifism" civic, simply because we cannot afford it right now. It does provide additional hammers, but the cost is too great with our economy teetering on the brink of ruin. Our choices of technology to research next are, Orbital Engineering (can build a warp lane, build star bases) and Light Craft Manufacturing (can build extraction facilities, enables the Monarchy Civic, can train bomber squadrons, and can construct mining facilities, squadron factories, and squadron defense networks). Building warp lanes will help our economy, but it takes quite a while to build them and we are in a hurry. Luckily, the Monarchy Civic provides +50% hammers and +50% credits in the capital and has low upkeep, so Light Craft Manufacturing is the natural choice. A couple of turns later, one of our scout ships discovered another star system to the east and earned some credits from the nearby space debris! Finally! Our fragile economy can hold out a bit longer, thanks to one of our most experienced scouting crew!
Mag-Lev Network
Meanwhile, "New Earth" had finished constructing the "Survival Dome" and it was time to decide on the next build order. There are many options available to us right now including: Colony Ship, Interplanetary Beacon, Construction Ship, Planetary Defense Ship, Scout, Advocate of Survival (FF version of a priest), and a Mag-Lev Network, but what do we need most of all? Money! So, the obvious choice right now would be the Mag-Lev Network, because it provides +1 credit on the planet it is built as long as it has population assigned to it and that's the key. Just make sure there is population assigned to the planet you put it on. Also, the Mag-Lev Network is required to build Commercial Satellites later on, which will boost the economy even more.
Our First Neighbor
A moment later, one of our scouts discovered another scout ship to add to our exploration efforts. That makes 4! We should be able to get most of the goodies with that many, but I would have preferred some more credits or a Colony Ship. On the very next turn, another scout discovered a new technology, Orbital Engineering! Better still one of the other scouts discovered an abandoned destroyer to add to our military! Not only that, but we met our first rival, Lukus von Reuther. Surprisingly, he was already annoyed with us and I have no idea why, because he still had not adopted a value. If we had time, I think sending a Survival Advocate over to convert him would be in order, but we have not learned the civic that allows the open borders diplomacy option, yet. Regardless, that was an exciting couple of turns!
Three New Star Systems
Another turn later, two of our scouts and our destroyer each found another star system to the south! WOW, that's three to the north, one to the west, and three to the south! We have to get to colonizing fast, or we will be surrounded by rivals! Well, only two rivals ... :)
<Next up, building our military, colonizing a new star system, and building warp lanes>