[Brian Swartz]

After the war is concluded, I will put up a new star map. Decisions will need to be made about colonization, sectors, possibly changed(or not) priorities, and so on. Also, with Cruisers finally being finished, the Admiral -- assuming he survives, but that seems very likely -- will have some choices regarding the new ships. In a month's time we'll have enough minerals to start the necessary upgrade at Humboldt Spaceport, and Bakangi will commence before the end of the year. The plan of saving up minerals met a little bit of a hitch when it was necessary to continue building more ships to support the navy in the war, but that seems to have been a worthy payoff. Also, a couple of factions have gained a bit of support but not much. I'll do a review of those internal politics with the after-conflict update as well.

New research directives are needed soon, however.

Research Director's Briefing: Dr. David Corperial

** Quicksand Basin Removal(New Worlds, 16 mo.) -- Quicksand Basins are quite common on dry worlds, such as the Arid or Desert environments preferred by the Shantari. Micaw itself has several of them.
** Centralized Command(Military Theory, 10 mo.) -- Army Upkeep is reduced by 10%. The Military Academy building is also unlocked. Any armies recruited on a planet that has one are produced 25% faster, and have a 10% damage increase.
** Neural Implants(Statecraft, 24 mo.) -- We've had this option before, but I think it's been a while. Slave Armies are allowed, and the Slave Processing Facility increases slave production of food and minerals by 15% on any planet where it is built.
** Amoeba Flagella(Biology, 26/72 mo.) -- Same as before. It should be noted that the new Cruisers can make limited use of strike craft in certain configurations, so we do now have a way to deploy these should we acquire them.

Dr. David Corperial, you are on the clock.


Research Director's Briefing: Dr. Coffee Warlord

Done with the second round of MAKE THE SHIPS BIGGER!!!, there are now other things to consider.

** Supersolid Materials(Engineering, 39 mo.) -- Unlocks Engineering Facility II, improving our research labs dedicated to Engineering advancement.
** Standardized Cruiser Patterns(Voidcraft, 78 mo.) -- Unlocks the module Cruiser Assembly Yards. As with the versions for the smaller ship sizes, build time is sped up by 25%, cost reduced by 10%.
** Deep Space Outposts(Voidcraft, 11 mo.) -- Once again arises the gateway option for building static orbital defenses.
** Crystal-Infused Plating(Materials, 13/52 mo.) -- These sections, added to reinforce the hull from the inside, improve survivability not by reducing damage as with armor or absorbing it as with shields, but by simply making the hull stronger(direct increase in hitpoints). We are still using first-generation armor and shields, while we are on second-gen of most other things, and the Cruisers are the third-gen in ship classes. Having said that, this plating is almost twice as effective as our shields and several times that of using armor for the same space. Even better, it doesn't require power like shields do. It is quite a bit more expensive, but that is to be expected.
** Crystal-Forged Plating(Materials, 71/123 mo.) -- Infused Plating on drugs basically. 50% more protection, with a cost two-thirds higher. Liberal application of these would make our ships a fair bit more expensive -- but they would be(rough ballpark here) close to twice as hard to destroy. A major advance in ship survivability, and a Rare technology so it's nice to have it as a reverse-engineer option. I should note that with both of these, we are anticipating taking out the next two systems with elite crystals in them after the war. We may very well get these plating advances for free when we analyze the debris if all goes as planned. Waiting could be the best option here, if we have the patience for it.

Dr. Coffee Warlord, you are on the clock as well.