Stellaris from the Automata Era

"Notify the Marines to make some preparations. We really need to speed up our pace."

Although the commander wanted to quickly complete the phased occupation of the planet, this goal was not truly out of selfish motives.

At first, she might have been impulsive and wanted to trick 11b into surrendering together to end the dispute.

But after she sorted out her misleading words, she found that things seemed to be just as she said.

The tree people were indeed too calm, almost making people think that they had given up resistance and allowed the fleet to rampage across their land, almost making the commander think that they had turned against their enemies and surrendered with courtesy.

If she didn't know that the tree man still retained his strength, she would have sent the surrender letter now.

Now the commander could only think of the calm before the storm.

I'm afraid the tree people are preparing for some large-scale operation.

However, due to the lack of intelligence, no one knew what changes were happening within the tree people, and it was even less likely that the commander knew what situation he and the fleet would face.

But one thing she was sure of was that in terms of human strategic direction, they would probably have to effectively occupy a planet.

Minerals, energy, and alloys have become real obstacles that hold them back due to the long supply lines.

The humanoid magic reactor requires mass conversion, and the mechanical lifeforms have even removed the semi-perpetual motion core to save materials for production capacity. Their fleet here seems powerful, but as long as they enter a few more high-intensity battles, they will immediately become sticks drifting in the universe.

So now they have only two choices: either return to the capital before exhausting all available resources, or capture the production-producing planet in front of them and establish a new fulcrum for subsequent military operations.

And now what the commander has to do is the latter.

"Continue to notify the fleet to send signal sensors to the surrounding galaxies. I need to know the movements of all possible large fleets. Also notify N2 to let her round head send out a small number of patrols to give early warnings in the outer areas of the galaxy." As soon as she finished speaking, she waved her hand to stop it.

"No, I'll go talk to N2 myself about the latter."

The current fleet does not have any clear hierarchical relationships because it lacks strong human commands.

If you want to get an early warning of the outer periphery of the Round Head Complex Galaxy, you should go and lobby the commander in person.

n2 is not as easy to fool as 11b.

Of course, this is not a scam to be clear about, but rather a way for everyone to share the detailed responsibilities.

"Then everyone, please begin according to the plan. May the glory of mankind last forever."

Chapter 323: Is there a prince who is hundreds of millions of years old?

The commander's judgment was actually very correct. The tree people were definitely reassembling the fleet, relying on the ancient shipyards, as well as the supply from the surrounding galaxies and the pressure from the earth, which was imminent.

The tree people may have burst out with the most efficient efficiency in history. After being unlucky for so long, their luck has turned around. There were no problems in the shipbuilding process.

As time went by, they had gradually made up for the losses caused by the last war. Unfortunately, this was only true relative to their only fully staffed main fleet.

Even if they have recovered a certain combat capability, it is still a big question whether they can drive away the Earth fleet.

"Great, time is on our side. In just a little while, we'll be able to deploy the rest of the fleet as well."

The superiors of the tree people were celebrating as they abandoned the frontier galaxies invaded by Earth, which had become "scorched earth" and fortresses.

Although their enemies seemed to be extremely obsessed with landing on the planet due to some unknown judgment, this did buy the tree people enough time in the front-line star field.

At least the problem of being killed by a single punch due to weakness for various reasons is over.

What the tree man needs to do now is to continue to accumulate his strength in a short period of time.

But this is probably difficult to do.

The superiors' joy did not last long. With the arrival of the latest intelligence and communication, all their laughter and joy came to an abrupt end.

"Earth has launched a new landing operation against the frontier planet. Although we have considered the planet's defense plan before, they have already cleared out enough defensive facilities before the war. I am afraid that we will have to directly confront their army next."

"Earth's army?" All the tree people were silent for a while, and then began to discuss slowly.

The trees were talking incessantly, turning the scene into a noisy kitchen. No one knew how much time had passed before a final conclusion was reached.

"If it were just the Earth Army, we wouldn't need to worry too much. We already knew in the past that their army wasn't as strong as their fleet.

You all should know that what we need now is time. It will take another month or two to restart the shipyard and get it up and running efficiently. But before that, our fleet is still in danger of being completely destroyed. We can only continue to delay."

Yes, the focus of this discussion is not whether to have an army or not, but whether the tree people need to send the newly reorganized fleet to the front line to rescue the besieged galaxy and the people there.

It is true that as the ruling class, they do have the responsibility and obligation to protect the lives and property of their own people.

However, the current dilemma is not the life and death decision of one or two planetary tribesmen, but the survival and pride of the entire tree people group.

The remaining military force in their hands is the last trump card of the Order-Maintaining Clan, and they will not use it easily without sufficient confidence.

The stubborn resistance of the frontline planet also seemed to have allowed the tree people to find another way, using the persistence of Earth to occupy the planet to buy more time for themselves.

The tree people who supported this theory raised their heads and cast their gazes towards the ruler who was at the highest point in the room and had the power to make decisions.

Before this, the ruler of the tree people did not participate in the discussion, it just listened quietly to the words of all the trees.

When all eyes were on it, it knew it had to make a clear decision.

"Tell the frontline that the fleet is on its way."

The decision, which was clearly against the will of the people, stunned all the Tree People. Then one of them advised: "But..."

However, before it could finish its words, the Treeman Ruler interrupted it. "But our fleet won't actually depart."

No one spoke any more, having learned that the battle on the front line where the fleet came to support would be a life-and-death battle.

I'm afraid the galaxy will be reduced to a true scorched earth.

"If no one objects, let's stop here for today. You can go back now."

Then, as the superior tree people left one by one, the scene began to gradually become quiet, until the tree person ruler watched the last tree person leave.

It then uttered a sound like a sigh. "What do you think?"

"I don't have much of an opinion," a voice echoed, and then a distinctive tree man appeared before it. "But this choice isn't the best."

"It's certainly not the best, but look at those 'elders,' they're like, 'Don't be ungrateful!' Clearly, they've already made up their minds." The ruler stood up and walked, branches and leaves falling from its cap as it moved. "But the young and the old have different opinions. This is their war, their glory and pride."

It said this, then walked up to the tree man. "You probably think the same as me, right?"

"I was born from your branches, I inherit your memories, and I am the continuation of your will."

"Yes, you are the legitimate heir." The ruler nodded, shaking off large leaves as his body swayed. "I'm sorry, child. I have kept your existence a secret from everyone. It's mainly because you are so special."

"I understand." The tree person stared at the fallen objects on the ground, no one knew what she was thinking, perhaps counting leaves. It was unknown how long it took before she finally looked up. "I've tried to contact Earth privately."

"Well, then what?"

The rulers did not reprimand too much. Although they were at war with the Earth, they did not want to continue this war and hatred from the beginning.

If it weren't for the position where its butt was sitting, which determined that it could not make any unnecessary movements, the positions of both the Earth and the Tree People would probably not be so anxious and... restless.

"Obviously, Earth has no intention of talking to me. Maybe I'm being perfunctory?"

"As expected." The ruler snorted softly. "Their monarch is an arrogant man himself. He believes that communication and speech are the rights of the weak. Isn't that what he thinks?"

The shadow of the earth on the tree people is still too deep. In the glorious past, the tree people did not really want to fight the other side to the end.

The decimated fleet, the planet burned into glass, and the extermination order almost sent the former tree people into hell.

That human being did have the capital to be despised, which should have been known long ago during the process of the other fallen ones being defeated one after another, and his methods were even more efficient and cruel, as if he was an iron hoof trampling on the universe.

If it weren't for the unexpected arrival of the enemy and the new breakthrough in technology, I'm afraid we wouldn't even have the capital to escape.

"Let's not talk about him for now, child. You probably haven't gotten to know us yet..." The ruler paused, his face wrinkled as he considered his words. "The history of our lineage, right?"

As it finished speaking, the tree man opposite it showed a strange expression: "Putting aside the idea of ​​whether the rulers had branches, just speaking of history, I think I should have these memories?"

"Then you can just be an old man's whisper."

"Technically speaking, you still have a long life ahead of you." She glanced at the ruler's limbs, which resembled his hands. "Compared to the elders, you're still relatively young."

"..."

As mentioned before, tree people began to be divided into different shapes as early as the reboot era, and their long lifespan can even be traced back to the birth of this universe.

Many people may find this unbelievable, but it is indeed the truth.

The birth of their population is not as complicated as that of other life forms. Instead, they cut off a part of their body and insert it into the soil. Over time, it will naturally grow into a new individual.

Of course, the tree people who have lived for a long time will not actually increase their population on their own initiative. Compared to when they feel they are about to die of old age and take the initiative to cut off branches to feed a successor to their will, more tree people actually come from accidents.

Branches and leaves that are accidentally scattered on the ground when going out. Although it is difficult for tree people born in this way to survive the seedling stage, there is always a chance of survival.

But this is not the most important thing. It was mentioned earlier that the old tree people used flexible and thick vines as substitutes for hands. This is not an accurate statement.

Rather, as early as the late last era, the tree people had already shown signs of growing hands.

Of course, this was initially considered a deformed child with a genetic defect, but as time went on, more and more tree people had hands, and gradually their posture became like a spreading plague.

From that moment on, the tree people understood that this was not a genetic defect, but rather a way for their genes to actively choose to evolve. (Note)

But this process is implicit and slow, and even the tree people don't know what the benefits of this evolution are. After all, the study of genetics has long become a pile of shitty codes with the changes of the times, and each era can come up with something different.

In short, even now, there is a certain proportion of vines and two-handed tree people born, so simply using this to distinguish between old and young is an inaccurate concept.

What is certain is that vine-type tree people are more violent and bloodthirsty, while those with two hands are more rational.

The current ruler was born after the restart of the era and is indeed young.

"Instead of lamenting your old age, why not consider how the frontier star field will end? Earth...it seems that the era of round heads is no longer here."

"Indeed, I have always been wondering about one question: have those round heads been replaced? Do you have any idea?" The tree man's memory still remains in the ancient past.

After the arrival of the unexpected enemy, the Earth no longer had any physical contact with the tree people. This was the truth that allowed them to get a respite.

"This time, Earth faces a different enemy than we remember. Humanoids—no, that's not right. They've always been a part of Earth, but they've never held military service," she said. "But I've heard that the Earth Empire has always considered the humanoids their lord's personal guards. I'm not sure if this is symbolic or literal."

"Which period of Earth?" This is very important. The Tree People Ruler must determine the order on the timeline for analysis.

"Whether it was during the Empire or now, they have always been like this. Even Earth's internal affairs humanoids have the vast majority of power. At least when I privately communicate, I receive a clear voice instead of electronic noise."

The ruler did not want to ask why the other party knew more than himself. In fact, he always felt that the personality of the person in front of him was unlike his own.

At least it wouldn't deliberately maintain frequent communication with other degenerates, but she attached importance to this aspect.

It is probably information obtained in exchange with other fallen ones.

"So the method of exchanging land for time might not work?" The appearance of humanoids on the battlefield was not a top secret. The intelligence provided by the curator showed that the 'only' three fleet groups on Earth were mixed with a large number of humanoid units.

At first, the tree people were unfamiliar with these things and were a little afraid, but after gaining the upper hand in the first battle, they celebrated. As long as their ships did not have any problems, they said that they could fight 10 fleets at this level, let alone three.

Unfortunately, intelligence has always been somewhat inaccurate, and a familiar enemy has raided the galaxy with a fleet far exceeding the number of known fleets.

Come to think of it, I indeed forgot to settle accounts with those curators during this period.

The intelligence error caught everyone off guard, and it happened to be stuck at the time when he was going out. It was hard not to suspect that those unscrupulous businessmen provided some assistance to the other party.

No, those curators certainly provided assistance.

Those greedy bastards don't mind turning the information they know into energy coins. The Earth must have disguised a set of information to deceive those people in order to confuse the opponent, just like the tree man himself did so.

If a young civilization bought this information, they might be surprised to find that they could also distinguish the truth from the false.

"Perhaps it will succeed. It depends on how the situation develops and the opponent's strength. There might be some strange twists and turns, just like the hero who led everyone out of the universe, successfully ensured the continuation of the race, and was eventually hailed as the new king."

"What kind of hero is he?" The Treeman ruler thought of his 'predecessor,' a look of mockery, or perhaps... self-mockery, crossed his bark. "He was nothing more than a coward who tried to escape after being beaten. The few with courage died in the early to middle stages of the war. There are still some left, but not many."

After it finished speaking, the scene fell silent. After a long moment, the following words were heard: "Continue doing what you are doing now. We have different choices but the same goal. And prepare to step forward. You are the legitimate heir to the orthodox tradition. It is time for others to know your existence."

"And then wait for hundreds of millions of years? How can there be a prince who lives hundreds of millions of years?"

"Where did you learn this joke from?"

Note: Genes are always numerous and complex, encompassing both ancient inheritance and future evolution. In reality, we still haven't fully understood which genetic sequences within our bodies are truly useful and which might be useful in the future. We recommend avoiding any elimination or screening. After all, it's unclear whether arbitrarily removing such a complex structure will cause a complete collapse, especially in today's technologically reshaped world. Therefore, it's best to simply activate the genes we desire. — By Shuren Researcher's evaluation of gene sequencing.

Chapter 324: What does it mean when military progress is very smooth but the enemy resists fiercely?

Judging from the time, the weather should be getting colder, but unfortunately there is no such thing as a winter offensive in the universe, so the tree people's planetary defense failed to receive protection from natural barriers.

After the expeditionary force decided to continue with large-scale landing, the balance of the battlefield unsurprisingly began to shift towards the Earth.

On the one hand, the tree people's galaxy has lost air superiority and can only passively withstand bombing and slowly watch their defense facilities being destroyed one by one. On the other hand, as the army composed mainly of humanoids launches the invasion, the planets that are not military-oriented themselves really find it difficult to resist.

But even so, the tree people's resistance still exceeded the imagination of the Earth.

Yan Luo, who was far away on Earth, was also confused when he received the report on the attack situation.