The Reticuleans

General

Time Gate

Since Reticulean Crew are enslaved enemy races, they do not 'breed' new Colonists. Their Troops do not 'breed' new crew, as they are enslaved Native or Enemy Races. Their HighGuard 'breed' new Colonists.

Reticulean Bases do not Riot or lose happiness if their Troops and Crew are held as prisoners of other races.

Reticulean Colonists and HighGuard are immune to Assimiation and the effects of Insectoid Nests.

Reticuleans do not recover colonists from Ground Combat victories against the Cyborg.

Prisoners in Reticulean Labor Camps will not Riot or die if 1 kt of Med is present and consumed per 5 Labor Camps (or part thereof) in the base.

Reticulean Bases have a low signature if 1 HighGuard is present per 10,000 combined colonists, crew, and troops.

Reticulean HighGuard can Dominate the minds of enemy boarding parties of all races except Cyborg and Robot. For each Reticulean HighGuard on board, (10-(SQRT((Dark Powers + Light Powers + PSI)/10))) Troops that board the Reticulean vessel are forced to fight for the Defenders in the boarding action, as well as x10 this number in Crew and x100 this number in Colonists.

Reticulean Colonists grow at 3% while onboard the Stronghold class starship.

0.01% of all Reticulean Colonists onboard a Stonghold class starship are converted to HighGuard each turn.

Base Structures

Interrogation Center

Planet Tech: 5
Cost: 500 mc & 100 Supplies
Max per Planet: 10

By psionic interrogation of captured enemy personnel, the Reticuleans can divulge much useful information about their foes. For every 100 Prisoners interrogated in this way, 1 Spy Mana is generated. Unfortunately for the poor souls 'questioned', there are seldom any survivors. Each Interrogation Center has the capacity to process 1000 prisoners each turn, but Cyborg and Robot prisoners are immune.

Indoctrination Center

Planet Tech: 7
Cost: 5000 mc & 200 Supplies
Max per Planet: 1

These buildings introduce the native races to all of the wonderful benifits of unquestioning loyalty and devotion to the Reticulean cause. For every 10 natives indoctrinated, 1 Troop is created... no one ever said service to the Reticuleans was easy. For every 1000 troops (or part thereof) generated in this way, 1kt of Handguns and 1kt of Grecken Blood Wine need to be present on the base. This contraband is consumed in the process. Each Indoctrination Center can process 100,000 Natives each turn if the required Contraband is present.

Reticulean Broadcasting Tower

Planet Tech: 9
Cost: 10000 mc & 1000 Supplies
Max per Planet: 1

This nasty little structure broadcasts a constant, unrelenting series of subliminal messages to all nearby population centers. Each turn, ((300 - Base Happiness)/100)% of all enemy colonists within 300ly dicide that 'There is a better way' and answer their new one true calling in life. These 'New Believers' leave their home and form a new base on their planet as Troops dedicated to the Reticulean cause. Cyborg and Robot colonists are immune to the effects of this structure.

Special Devices

Reticulean Submission Ray

Surrender to the inevitable. This device burns 100 Fuel each turn it is active. An enemy ship set as the kill target of the ship using this device may fail to move if it begins it's move within 50ly of the device bearing ship. If it enters a combat VCR with the device bearing ship, it may not fire PD at incoming weapon fire. The chance of these effects is (100 - (Crew Happiness/3))%. Cyborg and Robot owned ships are immune to this effect.

Reticulean Scanner

If the ship with this device sets it's speed to 0 and Escorts a target ship, it will receive all information gained by the target ship's scanners during the turn. The target ship will receive a message in the ship log about a crewmember discovered sending scan data to an enemy ship. Cyborg and Robot owned ships are immune.

Reticulean Time Gate

This device will send starships into the future. While 'out of time' starships are immune to any and all effects in the game. Colonists on board do not pay taxes or grow. No ship device has any effect. This device uses 100 fuel for each round it gates into the future. The number of rounds projected into the future is set by command code Gxx, where xx is any number from 01 to 99. Other ships and fighter wings may accompany the ship with this device by setting the device bearing ship as it's escort target and matching it's Friendly Code.

Biochemical Cloud

Each ground unit in combat with this ability kills 1% of all flesh based personnel involved in the combat, including your own. Robots, Crystals, and Solorians are immune to this effect, as are fighters, ground units, and high guard rangers.

Sabotage Structure

Units with this ability allow the targeted destruction of strctures on enemy bases by setting the Command Code of the Base contining the units to Sxx, where xx is the structure number you wish to destroy from 01 to 30. Up to 1 structure will be destroyed for each ground unit of this type present. For planets containing multiple enemy bases, the target base can be chosen by setting the Base Friendly Code to Txx, where xx is the target race number from 01 to 30. If no target is chosen, the base sabotaged will be random.

Subjugation Device

This device turns enemy colonists on bases under the fighter wing into troops at the rate of 100 for each fighter each round. These Troops form a new Reticulean base on the planet under the fighter wing. Cyborg and Robot colonists are immune to this effect.

Interstellar Strike

Each group of 10 fighters with this capability which end their move over a planet will act as the device Ground Quake Trigger if the wing Command Code is set to GQT. The effects are cumulative, so that if there are 20 fighters present in the wing, then the effects are of two Ground Quakes. The effect is only produced for full groups of 10 fighters, so having 19 in the wing is no better than having 10 with respect to this ability.

High Altitude Attack

Fighters with this capability can only be destroyed by Base AAA and enemy fighters during Ground Combat.

Concept

A combination of factors led to this race ending up where it currently is...
Most every race, no matter how different they seem, all end up destroying their enemies the same way... through combat. We wanted another race like the Privateers who would harass and annoy an enemy and slowly destroy them through another means. To this end we came up with the corruption of enemy colonists and spy mana enchacements. I noticed that there was a ship device that existed (Reticulean Med Lab), but was not used. This led to the addition of Natives as their main source of income and minerals, along with the Race name. Reading back through some of TIM's earliest notes concerning VGAP4, there was mention of the possibility of Time Travel in VGAP4... this had yet to rear is head, so I figured I'd just include that too. A small shiplist, many specialized fighters and Mech units, and a few ground structures to cause some more mischief and the Reticuleans were born.

The Cephelopod idea... well, that's a whole other story that I would not do justice to explaining here, so I will not bother.

The Odd max speeds on the 2 ships with Grav Accelaertors, HYP class of ships vs: HYP distances vs: fuel tanks, a ship that cannot fully cloak, and only 1 ship with more than 4 Large weapons is all purpusfully set as so. Though the Type I fighters may seem overpowered, it is the only real weapon that the Reticuleans can bring to bear against an opponent in space combat. Without a Stronghold class starship, the Reticuleans will inevitably perish as they will lose all access to minerals. In a low native game they will be a difficult race to play, but in a high native game they will be strong. The Cyborg and Robots will crush them with little effort as they are immune to almost every special ability the Reticuleans have.