The Void - Tick 180 Cycle 8

 As one war ends, another begins?

With C++ destroyed I'm now preparing for war with both Ikit Claw and GeneralKenobi. In a silo I would go to war with Ikit Claw next as I have better relations with Kenobi and we'll share a front line binary that I'll want to build a buffer around. However, Kenobi believes he will start taking stars from Holy Roman Empire within a cycle or two and I can't allow that to happen. My plan then is to focus the bulk of my forces down towards Ikit Claw whilst tipping the scales against Kenobi.

I'm now within striking distance of the super binary but so is Ikit Claw. We are both racing reinforcements to the area and there will be a bit of a dance over who gets the star. I'm very willing to go to war over it and whilst my waypoint error means I have around 100 ships less at the front lines than I should have at this stage those ships are on the way. 

I have 4 tokens so options I have available are

• Smash in with my Infiltrator when reinforcements arrive then deploy a Colonel if Ikit Claw uses a Siege breaker. This gets me the +80 economy rewards of capturing the star.
• Depending on where Ikit Claw launches from at the star (this only works if he launches from further away), hit the star same tick with a Siege Breaker sized smaller than his attack fleet to obliterate it.
• Let Ikit destroy C++'s fleet on the star and hit him the turn after. I need to be careful with this plan as it's a 7-tick jump to the star. I don't want him to reinforce and consolidate on it.
• I could just ask/say to him that it's my star but I'd prefer to keep him uncertain what I'll do. The problem with asking is it could forewarn him of a potential conflict.

I get Terraforming 3 next tick so I'll wait until next turn to buy infrastructure upgrades. I'll probably pick up an additional 9-10 industry and 2-3 science next turn. I'll also likely add another 3 or 4 carriers to improve logistics flow, though my ratio of 58 stars to 23 carriers isn't as bad as it seems because of the way I've set up my logistics in lines. Eventually though, this ratio will get to 1:1.

I've also decided I'm going to do Terraforming 4, then Manufacturing 4 then Banking 5. Then I might go for higher weapons and a hyperspace level or two. We're definitely approaching the stage where people will be thinking about researching Weapons 4 but I think it's still a bit early yet to make that leap. 

I also think there will be a bit of panic whenever someone reaches Weapons 4 and I don't want to draw attention. I'd rather build up ships and science that people can't see as easily and be able to race to Weapons 4 as needed. Right now my 'breakout time' for Weapons 4 would be 75 ticks, but that will drop a lot over the coming cycles.