#imagine this: strange otherworldly beasts are running down your homeworld

[im-a-goat-in-disguise]

Images of despair [stellaris version]

#when you're fighting the scourge and making 700+ alloys a month but you NEED MORE #genuinely so glad I invested into a dyson sphere early on to suck the market 100% dry of alloys #pumping out ships because my life depends on it #just imagine. you're a space trader and you heard there's some invasion of bugs somewhere in the galaxy #then the strongest military you've ever seen rolls up and offers you 'any price you name' for spare metal on your ship #you laugh and say '600 energy credits and I'll give you four metal pipes!' #the military says 'deal' and immediately deposits 900 energy credits [the market price of alloys is already increasing] #anyway I'm now sitting here with a military over five times larger than my naval cap #and over four times the population I had before the war #reason: people evacuated the planets the scourge bombed #thousands of pops have settled straight into my empire even in the most dire planets #every square inch of living space is now taken up and every single job is full #every single planet has unemployment [i have an overabundance of consumer goods so I'm just giving them all free stuff] #oh and since I'm gearing the economy now towards 'well. they gotta work SOMEWHERE' [building as many commercial districts as possible] #I am spending hundreds of special resources I do not produce to keep massive company complexes running #imagine this: strange otherworldly beasts are running down your homeworld #you escape into space in a small cargo ship stuffed with people #it's barely enough to be considered a transport but it gets you far enough away to feel safe #as you are running you see the largest collection of ships in your life warp into the system #they unleash hellfire on the aliens and then neuron sweep the planet [the very ground of which got infected] #you shed a tear and look away from the window #three days later you're told you've arrived #you touch down in an extremely busy landing area #there are hundreds of thousands of people everywhere. the mood is joyous #there are screens set up in the square broadcasting the eradication of the aliens #you see people in the crowd you've never seen before. people speak in tongues you've never heard #a guide calls over to you and all the other new arrivals #apparently you weren't the first to run. you won't be the last either #this planet has more than quintoupled its population and is still recieving many people every day #luckily the government has declared they are going to be constructing massive projects to introduce new jobs