Stellaris from the Automata Era

"We may need to pause energy infrastructure construction for a while."

If placed in a starry environment, Yan Luo might worry about the energy supply required for the humanoids and round heads that are all mechanical units.

After all, each synthetic citizen requires additional electricity supply. According to the current population of the Earth Union, the number has at least exceeded 100.

Any civilization that has just entered the universe can hardly support such a large population at the beginning. It would be a miracle to have a surplus and not owe energy coins.

However, thanks to the humanoid's black technology that can generate electricity and operate independently by relying on water, and the round head itself has a semi-perpetual energy system, there is no need to worry about energy.

Because only production buildings require energy, but their consumption is insignificant compared to the income.

Even if Yan Luo is more ruthless and connects all the round heads or human figures to the power grid, he will be able to see what it means that the efficiency of human power generation exceeds that of a Dyson sphere, and there will be no need for energy buildings at all!

Of course, the current situation of the Federation of Local Authorities is not yet at the point where citizens need to make sacrifices.

But no matter what, the above text summarizes a problem: energy surplus!

Compared with energy, mineral resources are the real weak link of the earth, not to mention that minerals need to be refined into various metals to cope with the production capacity construction of warships and the like.

If it were the peacetime before, Yan Luo could pour hundreds of units of resources into the construction of production equipment without blinking an eye, and slowly carry out various expansion projects, calling it necessary investment.

However, once a state of war is entered, he must adjust various types of production capacity and give all priorities to warships. He still understands the trade-off between stockpiling food or guns first.

"Why does it feel like the situation now is the same as before? I used to covet the round-headed bodies because they had metal that could be used to build production lines. Now I still covet metal because it's needed as a one-time investment for various production lines."

"That seems to be the case." Yan Luo's words instantly brought the twins back to the days when they started their business in the desert, causing Popola to nod in agreement. "I still remember when we were out collecting materials and encountered a special mechanical lifeform, and all our wealth was lost in an instant."

Diwala also added, "Then the master built a water tank overnight and took us away the next day."

"Why do you have such good memories? And I wasn't running away. I was just trying to prevent that desert machine from coming over here and getting killed. I can't disassemble it if it's that big. I'd be exhausted!"

There is no need to mention the ugly incident in the past. Humans are obviously the type who are more stubborn.

"Anyway, do you think it's possible to build a decomposition machine and have N2 randomly select a group of lucky round heads and jump in?"

"Sir, although I know we are currently short of minerals, you don't have to focus your attention on mechanical life!" Divara said in horror.

She knew long ago that Yan Luo was fantasizing about jumping into the disassembler himself in order to get the few resources for the production line.

I didn't expect that this unrealistic idea would continue to this day.

Of course, with Yan Luo's current dominance over mechanical life, this is not impossible.

But with N2's expansion plan for mechanical life forms, none of their round heads may be redundant, and all of them will be used for the heavy construction of the expansion.

After all, the current n2 has successfully become a capitalist who can choose the style of rope to hang himself. Perhaps the true awakening of the round heads may be seen when they feel like not wanting to work.

"N2 will rebel like this!" Bobo La also tried to persuade her, but it was not that she now agreed with the idea that humanoids and round-headed people should go hand in hand and prosper together.

Even in the interstellar age, the overall strength of humanoids still cannot match them. "Or do you think N2 is already a serious threat?"

"Not really, huh? Those round-headed N2 guys aren't exactly efficient in construction, so they probably wouldn't get all worked up over something like this."

really...

Yan Luo has always been dissatisfied with Yuantou's construction efficiency.

For a long time, he even felt that N2's place of origin should be Germany. At least in terms of the attitude of striving for excellence (slacking off), the two sides acted in unison.

Come to think of it, although the round-headed machine has always been called a war machine, the huge basic short-legged model has nothing to do with war, and it is not even good at infrastructure.

It is said that a major accident occurred because the basic model jumped during construction and the equipment was smashed due to an error in the equipment's grip. These examples have become one of the vast number of individual cases.

That is to say, their huge base can support a lot of construction progress at the same time, which is why they develop much faster than humanoids.

Therefore, N2 is also a staunch supporter of the theory of human power. It is no joke that mechanical life forms have no spare manpower.

"How about you, sir, give us a few more decades, and we humanoids will be the pioneers then."

"..."

After thinking it over again and again, Gemini still felt that Yan Luo regarded mechanical life as his biggest enemy, and he had long seen that the two N2s whose attributes conflicted with his own had rebellious intentions.

It's time to help adults solve their problems.

"Alright, stop overthinking it." Seeing the conversation about to escalate into a conflict, Yan Luo quickly ended it and changed the subject. "Anyway, where should we go to find more minerals?"

"How about... killing the slime next door?"

Slime is indeed good at mining, and the most important thing is that its minerals are relatively cheap. To be honest, Yan Luo is really envious.

It would be a waste to kill them all at once.

Next, Yan Luo needs a long-term and stable supply of minerals to face the urgent war situation.

The slime can be killed but not now. Otherwise, not to mention whether the supply will be stable later, the expeditionary force may even scatter the slime before leaving.

Yan Luo is not a Crusaders. There is a tradition of extorting money from countries along the way as travel expenses before attacking the Holy Land.

Just when he was feeling gloomy, a new communication opened up the situation for him.

That is a race that calls themselves curators.

"Curator? You've arrived at the perfect time."

Yan Luo had heard of the curator's famous name. After all, when trading among the stars, it might make a lot of money, but you will never lose money.

Chapter 308: Are you on Earth so brave?

I will not go into detail about the curator’s past here.

After just a few minutes of thinking, Yan Luo asked the humanoid to receive the curator's communication, and then a creature in the shape of a large bird appeared on the screen.

"Bird-like creature?"

Yan Luo was not surprised by the other party's appearance.

The diversity of cosmic civilizations is itself a special feature that must be tried. Compared with the various races and civilizations in appearance, what really surprised Yan Luo was that the forms of these cosmic races seemed to always have corresponding samples found on Earth.

For example, the one in front of Yan Luo now, if I am not mistaken, should it be an eagle or a vulture?

Let’s use the former to describe it first.

The other party must have conducted a survey of the earth in advance. The moment Yan Luo's image appeared in front of it, it slightly lowered its head with a bird's beak.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, ruler of the Great Earth Alliance." It complimented him flatteringly, then raised its head noticeably. "Thank you for taking the time to listen to our request."

This attitude...isn't it too humble?

Suddenly, Yan Luo felt as if he saw the embarrassing Zhiguan from before, but he was not quite the same as them.

At least on the faces of these eagles... well...

Although he didn't know why, Yan Luo could still see the emotions of these birds from their down-covered heads.

Anyway, unlike Zhiguan, they are not fearful, but more cunning.

Maybe...this is Yan Luo's illusion?

"Curator, please tell me your purpose first."

To some extent, there is not much difference between curators and cosmic profiteers, except that they are the ones with conscience, at least on the surface.

"Well, it's like this. We've learned from some special channels that your civilization may be short of minerals. We can provide you with some high-quality minerals, and they can be delivered to your warehouse at any time as long as the price is right."

"If that's all, I believe our friends at the next door should be able to provide us with good quality and affordable services. What advantages do you have?"

It’s no big secret that the Earth is short of minerals.

In fact, if you just go to the Golem Ooze and take a look at the transaction volume between the two sides, you will find that the amount of mineral transactions far exceeds the amount they need to build their homes.

Any healthy and developed civilization cannot fail to see this, and the slimes themselves actually know it, but they just don't mention it much.

“Because...we can provide more minerals in larger quantities and at a more affordable price...”

That's why I said there's some slime nearby that's too much of an eyesore. Okay, I'll figure out how to deal with it after this is over.

Having made up his mind, Eagle spoke in a more benevolent tone. "About 5000 energy coins or 2 minerals."

It’s really...very cheap.

This is almost an exchange rate of 1 to 4.

In fact, the upstream production of minerals such as sludge may be cheaper than the curator's quote, but the overall quantity is not as shocking as this one-time amount.

Not to mention that this is the critical period for Yan Luo to demand resources. Taking in this batch will not only provide the resources for the fleet, but it will not even affect the infrastructure plan.

Moreover, Yan Luo also wanted to expand the market to more sellers. After all, with the development of bilateral transactions, the slime has been tending to continuously raise its prices.

It is obvious that their rising price graph is also their declining life graph. When the price reaches a level that Yan Luo cannot accept, their death will be decided.

Also the curator came just in time as a replacement.

"Deal, but I have another question. I heard you've collected the secrets of the entire universe?" Yan Luo skipped the boring bargaining part; it wasn't his style. "How much do you know about corruption?"

If curators act merely as middlemen, it would be a waste of their talents.

Curators are a once glorious civilization. It is no exaggeration to say that they are on par with decadence, or are decadent themselves.

Their true value lies in their sufficient understanding of the Fallen or Ether Dragon, these galactic behemoths, and even their weaknesses.

The Earth, which is actively preparing for war with the ancients, is currently in need of such talents.

"I understand. We know most of the secrets of the universe and want to share them with you, but our space station needs..."

"Skip it. You only need to tell me the Fallen's weakness and give me a price."

Yan Luo interrupted it and tapped the table impatiently with his fingers. Anyone with a basic understanding of Stellaris would probably know what he said next.

Directly save the flow, which means that the information can be given but it requires money.

"The weakness of corruption?" The curator jumped up in surprise. He felt that the humanoid creature opposite him was a little unaware of the value of corruption.

Putting aside the fact, if you simply want to understand the Fall, it can still tell you. After all, every race is curious about these ancient civilizations.

But if it's a weakness...

The curators are not unaware of this, and they can even provide accurate information.

But since the game started out so big, it's hard not to wonder if it will be retaliated by the corrupt afterwards.

"With all due respect, the Fallen are an ancient civilization, more powerful than any current one." The curator wanted nothing more than to quickly clear the matter up. "For the sake of your civilization, I cannot disclose this at this time."

"I can add money."

"..."

This is not a question of whether to pay extra or not. It looks like this guy is going to do it in one go.

This kind of civilization is actually quite common. When you first encounter a decadent young civilization, there will always be some who will stubbornly come and find trouble.

Especially those civilizations that expanded their territory through force, they wrote the words "I am super brave" on their faces, and then most of them sent it.

However, they did not die at the hands of the corrupt, but were instead taken care of by other civilizations that coveted them after they had given away their main forces.

Only a few lucky ones can survive the difficulties.

As for this humanoid creature in front of him, the curator really wants to ask, do those corrupted people know that you are so brave?

But the customer is God, so you'd better find a way to cheat him and then leave, so as to avoid being affected by his corruption when you deal with him.

The bird curator quickly came up with an idea.

"If you really want to know, then tell me where they came from."

"Ignore that. I'm very familiar with the origins of the corruption. Please tell me the key points. There's someone nearby who has declared himself my enemy, and I'm about to go over and take care of him."

"So that's really brave!" the curator couldn't help but exclaim.

The decadent never communicates with the young civilization, where did you come from, old antique! ?

Chapter 309: This time the intelligence officer is really from the Allies

For most civilizations, the boundary of depravity is actually very vague, and there is no unified standard.

In fact, in addition to the antiques left over from the last era, they also regard some special civilizations as decadent.

For example, the Ancient Guardian located near a black hole in Pegasus.

After all, the universe is 26.7 billion years old. It is impossible that a civilization as brilliant as fireworks could not be born in the early days.