The game is unfortunately staggering in other ways. Aside from the black hole where the Horizon Signal emerged, the nearest systems are almost uniformly sub-par. I'm running into an energy crunch and there aren't enough energy-rich systems to justify the expense of frontier outposts. At best, I'd be breaking even on each one
without building mining or research stations. Thanks to a quirk in the hyperlanes combined with the game's tendency to generate worlds matching your preference "nearby", I have exactly one colonizable world in close proximity to the home world. The other one is thirteen jumps away. Every other nearby world requires terraforming to be more than marginally useful, unless they're useless tomb worlds.
To top it all off, I have two Fallen Empires very close by and cutting off most of my possible expansion. One's a xenophobic isolationist, the other is a xenophilic observer. Chances are, they'll start fighting eventually and pull me into it.
I just wanted to conquer other sapients and turn them into living blood banks, is that so wrong?
EDIT: Aaaaaaaaand the isolationists declared war because I dared to construct a frontier outpost that
might have given a net energy gain. So much for that.
"Hmm, well there was that other one sent with us. I... don't remember his name if I'm being honest. But maybe you two were sent both because you'll be helpful, but also because it will be good for you. You'll get experience and that sort of thing."
: "Hm. Yes, that does make sense. They say there's nothing like hands-on experience...and if I may be allowed a moment of immodesty I can state with certainty that my magical abilities have grown more on this one trip than they have in the past year. I imagine that's not uncommon when you're actively putting your training to use."
