In the previous episode of this short series covering the races of the Centauron sector, we covered the cautious and wary Torians, an unfortunate aquatic race that were once enslaved and turned into a tasty food source by today’s featured Galactic Civilization, the oppressive and malevolent Drengin Empire!
Today, we’re going to take a look at some of the unique tools that the Drengin bring to bear in their attempts to subjugate those around them! As one of the oldest Civilizations in the galaxy, the Drengin have had millennia to perfect their various… resource extraction methods, shall we say, and they make an incredibly fun playthrough for those of you that enjoy bringing the jackboot down on the weaker species around you!
The Drengin are warlike, duplicitous and capable. These three attributes make them an extremely dangerous force in the galaxy, and unlike their maniacal relatives the Korath Clan, they prefer to take prisoners in the wars they wage on civilizations unfortunate enough to lie within striking range.
The Drengin Empire is built on the backs of the poor slaves taken in raids on their neighbors, and from their own people too. Every Drengin Core World will have access to the Prison Labor Camp Improvement, which not only grants a solid Manufacturing adjacency bonus to attached assets, but also provides a further +15% Manufacturing to the Core World for each Prisoner on the planet, at the expense of some added Pollution. The final Manufacturing bonus from a well stocked camp can be very large.
Citizens in the Drengin Empire often suffer substantial Approval penalties, particularly those living on captured worlds, and throwing them into these camps can be a great way to raise the planet’s overall Approval while setting those malcontents to work in your factories too.
The Pain Amplifier is a nasty device that gives your scientists a nasty jolt every time they stop working, which increases the world’s Research output by 25%, in addition to its adjacency bonuses assisting other Research Districts and Improvements.
As with the other Centauron sector civilizations, The Tales of Centauron DLC adds a new homeworld Event that triggers a few turns into a playthrough, and the Drengin Empire’s options here are somewhat different to the Event options available to the other Civilizations.
The first option peppers the planet with three Enforced Labor Camps: individually these offer a small Manufacturing boost of +1 each. +3 Manufacturing goes a long way at the start of the game, especially when modified by all the other percentage bonuses from your various other Districts, Improvements and Citizens. Better still, each of these grants an adjacency bonus to Wealth generating assets, giving the Drengin some options in developing a stronger economy earlier in the game than before.
The second option is a brutally simple one: the Drengin now have access to the Energy Weapons Amplifier ship component, a powerful, long range Beam Attack that requires Durantium and a Frigate to house it on. It is large and somewhat less accurate than other Beam weapons but generally outclasses anything fielded by their rivals until the Neutrino Emitter is researched, allowing the Drengin to rush research Space War Tactics for the Frigate hull component, and win an early war with ease.
Last but not least comes the Terror Surveillance Network, which adds a whopping +2 bonus to Drengi’s Control output, for a total of +3 Control per turn. Used in tandem with the Drengin’s “Singular Purpose” Civilization Policy, the Drengin Control output of +4 per turn allows youto make extensive use of Executive Orders to rapidly push the Drengin Empire in whatever direction you want.
For example, the Impress Citizens Executive Order, at a 50 Control Cost, instantly spawns both a Colony Ship and a Constructor. It has a rapid cooldown of only 6 turns and with the larger Control pool that the Drengin Empire start the game with, can be used to rapidly expand their empire in the early game.
Now add this to the possible +4 Control per turn available with the Terror Surveillance Network and Singular Purpose: this rushed colonial and economic expansion can be repeated every ten turns, and could be a devastatingly strong strategy if the Drengin have plenty of room to expand unimpeded.
Speaking of Executive Orders, the Drengin have some other interesting options available.
Pillage the weak extorts 400 credits from your own cowed populace. The Drengin and other subjugated Citizens are used to such treatment, so the Approval penalty for doing so is relatively small.
So you’re now the proud owner of all these new Core Worlds you’ve rushed out with Impress Citizens? Well, for 30 Control points you can quickly erect essential infrastructure on them with +100 Stored Goods, usually enough to build some Manufacturing infrastructure or other another urgent asset in a single turn. With a fairly rapid Cooldown of 10 turns, this is a great way to convert Control points into industrial and military assets.
The Drengin have a whole host of thematic Civilization Policies to choose from too.
Notably, they can reduce their overall Maintenance or sell off alien slaves for a big profit to increase overall wealth generation, both at the expense of reduced diplomacy. These are powerful bonuses, but the Diplomatic Bonus -1 from each really plays into the idea that the Drengin’s horrific practices are incredibly effective, but make them very unpopular with those around them.
While the Drengin are warlike, they also have the tools to build a mighty industrial empire and reach for some of the non-conquest victory conditions too. Don’t feel pressured into playing them as a map-painting civilization if that ain’t your jam, because although they like slaves, your own population can provide plenty of those and so you’ll be free to pick and choose your wars as you like.
You might even find some friends to trade with… just try not to eat them all first.