Decommissioning facilties

Many thanks for that one Prankowski.
Current progress on this game has reached a very intersting stage:

The Megrath Ortoxy are a rock-oxygen based life form. They own all 9 colonizable rock-oxygen planets in the 21 systems so far discovered. It is game turn 2412.4 and the Megrath Ortoxy have just researched Ice planet colonization. As a consequences a further 10 planets have now become available to colonize.

Mineral production has just reached crisis point; of the colonized planets 4 have been exhausted of mineral resources and a further 2 of will be exhausted within the next 4 game turns. Hobson's choice had been looming ie of accelerating mining in the remaining 3 colonies to prevent everything grinding to a halt.
The bolt of heavenly knowledge from a parallel SEV universe has alleviated matters greatly.

The Megrath Ortoxy can now progress with renewed confidence into the bleak and forbidding sector which it proposes to colonize and dominate.

A crisis point has been passed. It was touch and go for the Megrath Autoxy from 2412.0 to 2415.0. Some hard decisions had to be made to balance sceintific progress with growth. The game turn has now progressed to 2416.5. They now have colonized 19 planets from 24 systems. 5 of those planets are currently producing minerals. OTBE these planets will be exhausted of minerals at game turns 2417.5, 2419.3, 2419.6, 2419.8, 2424.4. Another 5 planets are in reserve and will commence mineral production as required; a further 3 planets could be colonized of which 2 have mineral deposits. All superfluous facilities have been paired back. The Megrath Autoxy run their empire on:
- 4 space ports
- 2 space yards
- 1 resupply depot
- 5 mineral miners
- 33 research centres (on 3 planets)
- 2 intelligence centres
- 1 organics farm
- 2 frigates
Most of the Researgh points (19,890 per turn) are put into Gas Giant Colonization, which will be discovered on game turn 2416.8. This will make a further 11 planets available to colonize.

There are 10 races in this sector. The Megrath Ortoxy have made contact with the following races:
- Achujov Consortium (with which they have a treaty)
- Cue Cappa Commonwealth
- Amon'krie Continuum
- Jraenur Imperium
The latter two races issue statements and threats but appear to lack the where-with-all
to follow this up.

The limiting factor is mineral resources. Based on the known mineral reserves it seems likely that the Megrath Autoxy will remain a spacefaring species until around game turn 2430.0. Given that 5 of 10 races are known it follows that around 50% of the available planetary resources have been discovered. There may be other affordable technologies which will permit utilisation of additional resources to be found in asteroid belts, and on non oxygen atmosphere planets. Perhaps the technology tree needs a little further study, or if some force from a parallel SEV universe were to unexpectedly describe a technology path and research points required the Megrath Autoxy would be greatly appreciative .

...garbled transmission as follows...
... are biped humanoid Oxygen-Nitrogen breathers. They reproduce sexually and their life cycle processes revolve around the care and protection of their young within a family group setting. They live active lives over the equivalent of a human century, in which they may spend 20% raising their young. Similarities in their physiological build would make them appear highly attractive to humans. Their biology is not substantially different however the only result of any pairings would be epidermal irritation and swelling.
... culture relies upon the model of implied cultural norms made explicit through artistic expression. The means of expression is a "folly" and in accordance with the overt method of artistic creation, involves the catharsis of a "meme" by means of whatever artistic method is at hand. Their eternal quest for expression, artistic pleasure and knowledge has brought them to the stars.
... do not have records that show their origin. They believe that sometime after a major climate change they began to develop literacy. It was only then that they began to record their history. After millenia of suffering and progress they came to embrace their destiny amongst the stars
... may see fit to laud the unseen hand of the Nilith Imperium for ages to come (or at least the next 30 game turns!)

Had a bit of a dig on the Technology Tree to follow up some of the responses. It looks to me that there are three areas of research to try. These are:
- Chemistry leading to Resource Converter ...requiring a further 480k research points
- Planetary Engineering leading to Value Improvement ......requiring a further 1,260k research points
- Minerals Extraction leading to Robo Miners Component ...requiring a further 2,210k research points
The research points are inflated because of the game setting where technologies end up needing double the stated amount of research points.
The Megrath Autoxy are producing 20k research points per turn; OTBE the options are to discover:
- Resource Converter by game turn 2422.6
- Value Improvement by game turn 2426.5
- Robo Miners Component by game turn 2431.2
ATM the above technologies can't all be researched at the same time. The resource Converter seems to be the least risk path, which could increase the available mineral resources by up to x 2 (hopefully).
Current mineral resources come to 6,265 Kt; are being consumed at circa 30 Kt per turn and so will be exhausted by around game turn 2440.0. Not all of the satr systems in the sector have been surveyed; I am hopeful of discovering a further 6,000 Kt that can be extracted at the current levels of technology. If any or all of the above advancements bear fruit the eternal quest for more resources to feed the ambitions of the Megrath Autoxy can be turned towards preparations for planetary assaults and invasions on all those poor AI's who have ground pretty much to a halt.
MUAHAHAHAHAHA!

Interesting comment about the Crystalline Solar Generators, however the Megrath Autoxy do not appear to possess the racial trait required. NM.

Came up across a rather perplexing point. Star systems connected by warp points cover about 60% of the minimap. There are no more unexplored warp connections visible on the minimap. The Megrath Autoxy appear to have discovered all stellar systems connected by warp points... or have they? When the game turn updates the AI counts up to 10 races. I am thinking five discovered plus one (for the race being played) = six so what are the other four?

Can there be a hermetically sealed set of star systems on the remaining 40% of the minimap just waiting for the right technology or other circumstances before they become accessible?

Thoughts anyone?

The AI turns are all very brief, that is a fraction of a second. All of the AI races encountered have been on one or two planets. Very early on I had a couple of hostile frigate encounters but since then nothing. Their space faring ambitions appear to have ground to a halt as every one of their planets has zero minerals. It would be possible for them to become space faring again (however briefly) by scrapping most of their redundant facilities, thus reclaiming some scrap value. The alien races are still there - they issue threats but nothing else, so I presume they have nothing to carry them out with.

On the subject of winning the criteria are:
- Massive Expansion
- Highest Technology
- Sole Survivor
As the game setup was colonizing only on planets with breathable atmospheres, hydrogen and methane are out so Massive Expansion could be hard to meet.
My technology is far and away the highest - at tech level 74 (LOL) but I presume that won't kick in until game turn 2440.0 or maybe 2480 (don't know where to look for this)
On sole survivor I am practising "let well alone" as long as possible, leaving me as the master of known space for the indefinite future. MUAHAHAHAHAHA!
or at least until the Technology criteria kicks in

AI note

I presume that the AI construction philosophy is based on infinite resources. Their planets show that many mineral miners were constructed, which given the limited resources must surely lead to their early demise - a point for AI choices in limited resource games. I make the Megrath Ortoxy scrap redundant facilities as soon as possible .

PS I guess the other four alien races are extinct, and no I didn't do it, honest guv!
Ha! just checked victory conditions in game setup:
Technology = 80% of technology tree - impossible to achieve on limited resources
Sole Survivor = last man standing - there are still 5 other alien races in existence... for now!
Expansion = 50% of systems - there are 38 systems visible of which I have colonised 22. On the face of it I have met the condition for 50% however 5 of these systems contain other races that I haven't bothered to eliminate. Therefore either I need to go on a Xenocidal spree or there must be additional systems that I can't see. If the latter, there must be at least 7 unconnected systems to push my race under 50%.