Trani - Feb 28 22:30 - Tick 189 Cycle 9

 Half way through Cycle 9 

Strategic

• I'm on alert tonight for a potential war with Darrow who is bringing forces (~450 in striking range, 220 already in my territory) to the border. Darrow launched a night attack on Ktoc yesterday so I'm vigilant for the potential of this. I'll discuss specifics in the Tactical section but if Darrow moves any forces toward Chothi I will switch my diplo status to enemies wiping out his Chothi fleet. Reinforcements are already on the way via Visya-Chothi warp gates (~ETA 8 hours since they've not yet reached the other end of the wormhole) I would also coordinate with Inerz on a joint attack on Darrow whilst continuing to press Ktoc. The aim would be to hold Darrow at my current borders until Ktoc falls.
• Built my first worldbuilder tucked away in my original territory. I think Gilgamesz will need Scan 8/9 to see it so it's not getting noticed anytime soon. I have 3 specialist tokens left. Since that figure will be 8 again in a few hours it's all good. 

Diplomatic

• Gilgamesz has been quiet for a few hours but I've sent him two techs and given him a star (that he was owed) so I'd like to think he thinks pretty highly of me at the moment. For the record current Ledger with Gilgamesz is fairly even, I've given him 60 creds more than he's given me but at any point in last few days that would have been +-100 each way.

Tactical

• War north of Visya (Northern Front) is going well. I'm going to lose Achos and Hanni (unfortunately Pathfinder Squid is going to die on Hanni) but unless Darrow comes in from the North I'll grind down these forces and re-take Hanni next cycle. New reinforcements continue to flow in through the Visya wormhole. It feels like +100 every few hours.

• War East against Ktoc (Eastern Front) starting to ramp up the production down here a bit. You can ignore Dust's AI building lots of Industry that I'll later snag (I won't do it until Ktoc is out of scan range or dead, if he tries I'll trade Dust whatever weapons level are needed to wipe out the inbound attack.) Just off screen there's an Infiltrator with 83 ships coming down to Jantoo so this will only briefly be held but I'm pressing. I could probably do with getting another 100 or so ships down here but I will be able to tomorrow morning if Darrow hasn't attacked.

• War North North (Extra Northern Front) this is only the potential of a war and I hope it doesn't happen. If it doesn't happen tonight/tomorrow then it probably won't/can't ever bother me but at the moment Darrow could cause big issues. In response to an attack I'll blow the warp gates on Chothi, destroy the forces there and rally troops to defend the landing points. A new warp gate on Bergelmir (3 hrs transit) is the threat not only to Chothi but to a good nights sleep. I'd pre-emptively blow the Chothi Warp Gate but I'd like to get my own reinforcements across to it. Current plan sees a new carrier with 130 ships pop through Visya wormhole next tick and pick up 30 more rushing across to Chothi. This would land the same tick as the fastest Bergelmir attack fleet assuming warp gate (and waiting for that carrier that's 1 tick away from Bergelmir)