Post by: bvanevery on April 12, 2020, 07:43:29 AM
who shall lose to me |
Huge map, average settings, Transcend difficulty, random opponents. I draw the Cyborgs. The Cult of Planet is a natural enemy, as I cannot choose Politics that they'll be happy with. Unless I stayed Frontier, which I won't. The Believers actually aren't a problem, because in my mod they have no social engineering compulsion at all. They are Aggressive however, so they could go to war with me for that reason. Same with the Spartans. Otherwise, no predictions. Enemies will depend on geography. I was awfully nice last game, and I'll probably be a lot less nice this one.
I landed on flat terrain with a rainy patch south of me, so I just accepted it as my capitol. Unfortunately I messed up my screenshot of it. Just see what my land is like in the next post.
expect pirates |
I'm in the middle of a huge ocean. I may be on the southern end of a large continent. So my 2nd colonist heads north.
Post by: bvanevery on April 12, 2020, 08:15:48 AM
dangerous barrier |
I run into a lot of fungus. I will back off and take that flat square, so that mindworms can't come eat me. I've noticed that wandering around looking for the best spot to settle, is a good way to put yourself behind.
Post by: bvanevery on April 12, 2020, 08:46:09 AM
keep your distance |
This is why you don't park the city next to a patch of fungus. Someone seems to be stirring up trouble on that end of things. I also think it's possible that this is the Ruins. It has the right shape for it.
Post by: bvanevery on April 12, 2020, 10:14:18 AM
big barrier |
This a pretty solid looking mass of fungus. I have a Synth Foil sailing around the continent. So far, no evidence of another faction. If there is one, maybe they're just as bound up as I am. That would suggest they're not the Caretakers or the Cult of Planet. Could the mindworm have just been spontaneously spawned from a fungal tower, then headed for the Ruins?
the fungus makes the man, or the woman |
I don't usually change my research foci from the faction defaults, because I'm usually interested in the play balance of a faction, as the AI experiences it. But for writing these AARs, I'm more interested in showing how to win. I've got fungus in my way and I need to Explore it. I also made Fungicidal Tanks more a part of the Explore tree than the Build tree. They come with E3 Ecological Engineering. I've had it as a B3 tech before. I wonder if making it more of an Explore tech was a mistake? Or maybe just having Fungicidal Tanks with it is the mistake. That's not exactly singing kumbaya with the environment. I do prefer it being a Tier 3 tech, as then fungus is a real challenge to overcome at the beginning of the game. But should that be more of an Explore or Build way of dealing with it? Narrative says it should be Build, as I can't see Deidre spraying down the fungus with poison. I mean it's basically a kind of Agent Orange.
I will sleep on it. Tomorrow, my unreleased version 1.42 may be getting a tweak.
After getting my beauty rest, I decided that Fungicidal Tanks are in the right place, but Ecological Engineering should have prereqs in both the Explore and Build trees. It is too intersectional. Especially, later on Advanced Ecological Engineering is a Build tech. Centauri Empathy will remain a prereq, that's logical. But instead of E2 Adaptive Economics as the 2nd prereq, it shall be B2 Industrial Base. A very minor tweak which may set things right.
gimme fungicide |
With the tweak in place, I change my research foci. I think this will maximize my chances of getting Fungicidal Tanks. No factions have this combo of research foci by default anymore. There were periods during my mod development when some factions did have this, but over time, I decided that Explore and Build were mostly separate narrative concerns. They do have a gameplay intersection about terraforming though. So now we'll see how long it takes to get Fungicidal Tanks in practice. Currently it's an unknown.
Post by: bvanevery on April 12, 2020, 09:15:23 PM
top 'o' the world to ya |
MY 2135. I really didn't expect the Pirates to be up here! Well I guess I'd better start popping sea supply pods indiscriminately, as otherwise he'll just get them. We sign a Treaty and trade techs, putting me closer to E3 Ecological Engineering. He also sells me Roze's comm frequency.
in contact |
Roze signs a Treaty but won't trade techs. I don't have enough money to buy any. She sells me Miriam's comm frequency.
northern ally |
Miriam trades techs and then signs a Pact. Interestingly, I had exactly the same arrangement last game. Miriam as my ally, Roze the one I eventually decided to overrun. Will it go the same this time? Last time, Miriam was closest to me, and I do wonder if I should have enslaved her. Since I didn't, she kept providing me free cheap units the whole game. I never made effective use of them though. One needs another enemy to invade, and I was slow to build rails to get to another enemy. Well, I won't make similar mistakes this game, but it's too early to commit to what I'll do. I don't think we'll be struggling over land rights. This continent is reasonably large, and she started all the way at the northern end of it. She has probably also blocked Roze from expanding southwards. So as long as I colonize faster than Miriam, I'll have plenty of room.
Post by: bvanevery on April 12, 2020, 09:28:38 PM
extensive empire |
MY 2143. Miriam obtains a Pirate map. That northern sea base I ran into, was some kind of far flung fluke on their part. Their real center of mass is to the west. Judging by my own western coast, I think we have the Sargasso Sea separating us from any interaction, at least for now. Eventually the pods in the Sargasso Sea will be popped, and that often causes a massive kelp spread.
I've been getting a fair number of facilities Completions, as I pop sea supply pods.
Post by: bvanevery on April 12, 2020, 09:48:19 PM
useless conversations |
MY 2154. Svensgaard has run into the Caretakers. I buy their comm frequency, even though I'm unlikely to be able to speak to them. I've made Progenitor Psych an E3 tech, so the play mechanic is generally that the Aliens make contact with the humans, not the other way around. Declining the offer would be rational, as all a silent Alien ever tends to do, is eventually declare war on you. But I don't think it matters, since nearly half the map has been revealed. I don't expect them to be close to me. And to some extent, I just don't care, as I'm doing fine. I'm making a lot of money from popping supply pods.
cagey |
Svensgaard also had the Cultist commlink frequency. I don't ask them for a Treaty because they act like they won't accept. They wanted me to make war on the Caretakers and that's a little premature. I ask them for Santiago's frequency but they don't have it.
nice digs |
Miriam obtains a map of the Cultists. They're sitting on the Monsoon Jungle and Mount Planet. The location of the Caretakers is not obvious. The Cultists are too far away to be any serious threat. They could become powerful someday, but strategically, it will never matter. I've never seen the Cultists do especially well over the long haul. Even though their RESEARCH can never go below zero, they generally don't get it to go any higher either. That tends to lead to semi-stagnation, even if they may sprawl and build lots of cities. They usually don't do well in the Secret Project races either.
Post by: bvanevery on April 12, 2020, 10:12:32 PM
they get around |
MY 2158. The Caretakers show up with a Scout on their Isle. I hope they're not in a mood to land and interfere with me.
cheeky |
MY 2161. The Cultists have the Spartan comm frequency but won't sell it to me.
they already hate me |
The Pirates sell me B2 Ethical Calculus, enabling me to go Democratic. The Cultists are already Seething at me, and they'd feel the same way about a Police State. I think making money will benefit me more, as I seem to be relatively isolated from enemies. That said, there's a possibility of the Caretakers being immediately to the south. I can't be bothered to make any more ships yet. Too busy with colonization, Recycling Tanks, and Children's Creches. I've made a fair amount of money on only 2 ships so far.
Post by: bvanevery on April 12, 2020, 10:34:50 PM
how did they meet up |
MY 2162. Miriam somehow got ahold of Santiago. The choice for Governor is between Cha Dawn and Svensgaard, and of course that's easy.
progress towards objective |
The research plan seems to be working. I go Green.
scouting the empty continent |
MY 2163. I capture my 1st mindworm. I'm surprised that my first mindworm combat after going Green resulted in a capture. Some factions seem to have a scripted event for this, like the Gaians or the Caretakers, where they always have success on their 1st go. Other factions, I seem to fight a long time before getting my 1st capture. I wonder if it has to do with learning E2 Centauri Empathy? Or maybe it depends on how many mindworms you've already fought, and I have killed a few already.
Belatedly I remember I'm now in contact with Santiago. I sign a Treaty with her.
Ok now that I'm Green, I start making some Laser Skimships. I can use them to capture some Isles.
Post by: bvanevery on April 12, 2020, 10:45:26 PM
harmless |
MY 2166. Miriam obtains the Spartan map. They are on an unimportant island-like mass far away from me. They may be joined to my continent by a band of land in the region of the North Pole. If so, they will surely come into conflict with the Data Angels. Really not my problem. So far, I have no natural enemies. But I have not scouted the waters south of me. The Caretakers could be there.
Post by: bvanevery on April 12, 2020, 10:52:55 PM
penetrating the fungal wall |
MY 2168. I don't have Fungicidal Tanks yet, but E2 Centauri Empathy does give me the ability to build roads through fungus. I'll soon be out of city spots on this side of the barrier, so this is adequate timing. My one Command Center is in the Ruins. I haven't started making proper garrison units yet. I got lots of money from popping pods, so I use it to rush my remaining Children's Creches and Recycling Tanks. Cities are now building Recreation Commons.
Post by: bvanevery on April 12, 2020, 11:01:16 PM
the silent treatment |
MY 2171. At least nobody will be getting upset with me for awhile. Except the Caretakers, who could declare war on me despite this. It definitely comes across as buggy, that they do that, but it happens.
Post by: bvanevery on April 13, 2020, 12:34:15 AM
what is the point |
MY 2181. Famous last words! Roze decides to get uppity because I'm exploring her homelands with a mindworm. I doubt there's much to be done about this, as I don't even have a road connecting to the Believers yet. Nor is their own empire roadworthy yet. Pushing stuff her way by sea would be boring.
The sad thing is, she didn't even manage to kill my mindworm. It was healing from having attacked another mindworm on her land. I almost wonder if she got confused about what to attack. I've suspected the AI is capable of that.
good ally |
Well at least Miriam is making herself useful. I suppose I could try sending up a probe team. Otherwise I'll just run around with my mindworm and see if I can cause more trouble.
Post by: bvanevery on April 13, 2020, 01:06:24 AM
building the navy |
MY 2183. I capture my first Isle.
let's talk about our feelings |
MY 2185. Roze refuses to speak with me. Let the beatings continue!
The Pirates want an alliance against the Cult, whom I am still not at war with. They sell me D2 Information Networks. I'm still trying to learn E3 Ecological Engineering. After that, I'd very much like to have E3 Monopole Magnets. I need to send troops up north.
Post by: bvanevery on April 13, 2020, 01:18:50 AM
beggar |
MY 2188. I'm a bit surprised that she's also learned E3 Monopole Magnets and E3 Progenitor Psych. She won't sell the latter to me.
ugly face |
I try hailing the Caretakers. I didn't think I could talk to them, but perhaps if they have Social Psych and choose to receive me, it works? Whatever. They declare war. They wanted help stomping the Cult.
Post by: bvanevery on April 13, 2020, 01:34:11 AM
soon I'll have rails |
MY 2193. In my mod, you don't typically get a chance to complete all the early Secret Projects. With the fairly strong differentiation of the tech tree, it's quite possible that the AIs will learn things that you don't, and complete things before you have any chance at them. Although in my last game, I had an exceptionally easy start with the Free Drones. I build most of the Secret Projects and conquered the few I wasn't able to build.
unexpected insight |
MY 2194. I wasn't focused on Discover, so this is a bit weird. I did buy D2 Information networks recently. Whatever, I'll take it. It's a Secret Project and I am in the middle of building lots of Network Nodes anyways. Perhaps I'll never need to clear the fungus now?
I could have traded for this |
What a lousy bonus tech. It saves me all of 100 credits, that I was about to hand to Miriam. First chance I had, since she stonewalled me until she finished the Ascetic Virtues.
more to kill |
I run into Santiago. She's at war with the Believers. Of course I don't switch sides. So she declares war on me. Whatever. I wonder if she and Roze are allied? I have no interest in capturing bases all the way up there, because they'll just be theft and mind control liabilities. If I get a rail built and haven't learned the Hunter-Seeker Algorithm by then, I'll try to get atrocities legalized and just make scorched earth of them. I didn't follow through on that last game, because I repealed the U.N. Charter too early, before it could possibly be useful. The smart money is to wait until one actually good deliver the death blows.
MY 2198. I get a message that Roze and Santiago have combined forces against either myself or the Believers, I forget which. Anyways they're allied.
Post by: bvanevery on April 13, 2020, 02:30:50 AM
untrustworthy |
I figure he's about to declare war on me, but surprisingly, he offers a Treaty. I don't care about him, I have 2 land enemies to deal with up north. I buy the tech from him. I ask him to stop warring with the Pirates, so that he won't be more and more poorly disposed towards me. He complies. It may not do much good since he hates my Politics, but there's a chance he might, especially if he gets busy warring against the Caretakers. We do have that common enemy.
I sorta goofed |
MY 2205. Svensgaard catches me off-guard, offering a trade for the Human Genome Project, which hasn't been built yet. I forget that I haven't finished the Virtual World yet either. I will need to step up the pace and finish my SPs! Time to cash some Artifacts. He also signs a Pact with me.
walking off the boat |
I'm not sure if this is working only because we're allied, but I'm able to use an ordinary probe team from a Transport to infiltrate a sea base.
I want my MTV |
I spend 1 Artifact and a lot of money to rush the Virtual World. I move 4 Artifacts towards the base that will complete the Human Genome Project.
Post by: bvanevery on April 13, 2020, 02:57:09 AM
my eugenics program |
MY 2208. I spend 3 Artifacts and some money to rush the Human Genome Project. I move my 1 remaining Artifact towards my capitol, which is building the Merchant Exchange.
Post by: bvanevery on April 13, 2020, 03:19:38 AM
the home fleet |
MY 2212. For some reason I had a large number of captured units homed to Iota Station. With all the extra happiness at my disposal, I've wanted to choose Knowledge and forego the use of police. However that didn't seem wise when I had so many units out to sea. Now that problem is mostly solved, although I probably will get 1 unhappiness from 2 mindworms that are far afield.
I'm quite just |
I could now focus my budget any way I want, but the reality is, I don't have enough money to bother.
mostly home |
It turns out my mindworms weren't all exploring the southern continent. I just happened to bring one home. So, no unhappiness.
Post by: bvanevery on April 13, 2020, 03:27:51 AM
death to the data angels |
MY 2213. This could be a good strategy for trashing the Data Angels. For one thing, they're immune to probe teams. But for now, I'm building Energy Banks.
rich woman |
I spend 1 Artifact and some money to rush the Merchant Exchange. Miriam may be slightly annoyed by that.
Post by: bvanevery on April 13, 2020, 03:38:28 AM
false hope |
MY 2216. Someone called an election, I think Cha Dawn. He won easily. I'm surprised I was on the ballot instead of Svensgaard. Usually the Pirates grow well. I see 8 Sea Formers in his unit list, so I don't know what his problem is. It's not like I have big cities.
Post by: bvanevery on April 13, 2020, 03:47:28 AM
I have the mindworms boy |
MY 2217. Cultists are so irrational!
Svensgaard, that git ally of mine, has Ecological Engineering.
Post by: Buster's Uncle on April 13, 2020, 03:53:48 AM
Subject to SE modifiers and whether you're Lal, your 50 votes and Sven's 37 should reflect your cumulative total populations. You're surely on the ballot because 50 is the second highest population...
MY 2216. Someone called an election, I think Cha Dawn. He won easily. I'm surprised I was on the ballot instead of Svensgaard. Usually the Pirates grow well. I see 8 Sea Formers in his unit list, so I don't know what his problem is. It's not like I have big cities.
Post by: bvanevery on April 13, 2020, 04:27:37 AM
a strange resolution |
MY 2223. So I spend all this time to try to get Ecological Engineering. Then Svensgaard just ups and gives it to me? The Weather Paradigm has not been built yet. Heck, not even started yet. Maybe he's deluding himself into thinking he'll build the Maritime Control Center, just like everyone else.
grr! |
And of course I have to research it, right as I was about to steal it.
cyborg brainpower |
The game read my mind. YES I'd like to change my research focus. Enough of that other guff! Time to get back to what Cyborgs are more supposed to do. The moral of this story is it took 123 years to figure out Fungicidal Tanks, and I'm not the one who figured it out. Just not worth the bother. Better to accept that fungus will be a barrier for quite some time, all through the early game in my mod. Whereas, building roads through fungus can be done fairly quickly, due to Centauri Empathy only being a Tier 2 tech. There's a huge time lag between Tier 2 and Tier 3 in my mod. And even Tier 2 has gotten pretty big over time.
wassup loser |
Santiago ignored me, so I proceeded with my original plan to trash her sea base. That was how I was going to steal the MCC, since I'm Borg like that. Well, now that she's about to get trashed, she deigns to talk to me. Is she going to say something ridiculous? She and Roze aren't friends anymore, they're fighting. Well that was weird, I didn't even get a chance to speak. She just told me to take a good last look at my empire. Ok Santiago! Nobody likes you, and the only reason Svensgaard has a Treaty with you, is I'm too soft to ask him to trash you. I'll just do it myself!
going down like a ton of bricks |
This reminds me, where the heck is the Mainfold Nexus? I could use another PLANET bonus.
take that! |
Oh good grief, my Isle died. The odds said they were in my favor, usual cakewalk. Hard to know what to believe. This doesn't look promising, but I'm attacking because I'm mad. And because I pay SUPPORT on that ship.
Ugh. They died too, leaving the enemy barely alive. Ok, the odds calculator is not to be trusted in such circumstances. I wonder what the basic nature of the lie was? My nearest Isle unfortunately tangled with a Cultist recently and needs to heal up. There's no one else out this way to fight. Not that I really needed to anyways.
I check everybody's tech, and nobody's got anything. My original mission was to go infiltrate the Caretakers, but I diverted to steal the MCC. And then I researched it myself anyways. So now I send my transport with the probe team back home, to head the other direction.
pest |
And a Data Angel shows up to bother me. I've got 2 Isles right there, how can I lose? My cities are still all defended with Scouts. Isolation and a reasonable navy has kept me safe so far. I really am doing the Discover researcher fortress thing, even though I was pursuing Explore Build for so long. My bases that are "done" now build mindworms. I suppose to send them north to bother the Data Angels, for whatever fat good that will do.
ongoing secret project races |
So which is better, the Maritime Control Center or the Weather Paradigm? I'm sitting in the middle of a huge body of water, so both are potentially useful. Well, I don't have the resources to complete either right now, so I defer that decision until later. I think I might rather have the MCC and go Marine stomping, but I have my doubts I'll finish it first. I think most of these projects have been worked on for awhile.
Post by: bvanevery on April 13, 2020, 04:44:06 AM
well that answers that |
MY 2223. The Weather Paradigm it is. At least my ally is getting the MCC. I won't have to fight faster ships.
Post by: bvanevery on April 13, 2020, 05:21:04 AM
researchy |
MY 2232. This tech is a bit lame now as it doesn't give any permanent benefit, only the Secret Project. But there aren't enough gewgaws related to pure research to spread them over the Discover tree. I switch my less complete SP to the Universal Translator. I don't rush it because Santiago has researched C4 Nonlinear Mathematics. Need to steal it first.
what to build |
By the end of my turn I have enough money to rush the Weather Paradigm.
Post by: bvanevery on April 13, 2020, 05:32:04 AM
stupid front line |
MY 2234. Well I clearly don't know what I'm doing with the few excess mindworms. They're gonna get killed. Now I have all my cities producing Clean Formers, because driving rails to enemies actually works. The Believers already have a partial rail system done.
Otherwise, I'm killing fungal towers with excess untrained Scouts. It's a tradition.
Post by: bvanevery on April 13, 2020, 05:55:32 AM
know nuthin' |
MY 2337. Svensgaard blows off our alliance. I think only last year, I had to tell Miriam not to fight him. Well, it will be different next time!
too ugly to hit that face |
MY 2238. The Caretakers see reason, talking to my mindworm as it tromps across the South Pole.
Post by: bvanevery on April 13, 2020, 06:09:33 AM
flog my researchers |
MY 2240. Once again, I research something I was about to steal. I wasn't focused on Conquer at all, and this is a pure Conquer tech. It's not a prereq for the Hunter-Seeker Algorithm, so I really don't get why I learned this. Whatever.
the last secret project |
Nobody's got better tech than I do, so I rush the Universal Translator.
Post by: bvanevery on April 13, 2020, 06:54:09 AM
expected yield |
MY 2241. I think I'm on the full Hunter-Seeker Algorithm cheating program. If one researches Discover and not Conquer, one gets a 4X bonus weight towards prereqs of the HSA.
affirmative |
Odd, I don't remember researching a 2nd prereq. Ah, right, D4 Intellectual Intergrity. Otherwise fairly useless.
Post by: bvanevery on April 13, 2020, 07:03:39 AM
cheaper secret project |
MY 2252. I rush the Command Nexus, which I originally researched myself.
Post by: bvanevery on April 13, 2020, 10:38:25 AM
what a ninny |
MY 2254. Svensgaard shows up with a Sea Colony Pod to make me quake in terror. I start building rails and roads to his nearest coastal cities. I'll make some Marines and crush him. He has reached B4 Environmental Economics, which I'll steal by conquering one of his bases.
Post by: bvanevery on April 13, 2020, 11:00:46 AM
inconvenient |
MY 2255. The Caretakers rescind their Truce, just as I was bringing a feeble Transport with a land probe team on it to infiltrate them. They did not actually kill my Transport though. I rendezvoused with my Isle and jumped off. Maybe I can still complete the mission.
lines of death |
MY 2257. I've completed rails to the nearest 2 Pirate cities. I'm working on completing the Believers' rail through their empire to the Data Angels. The Hunter-Seeker Algorithm is far from done yet, because I elected to complete the cheaper Command Nexus instead. Svensgaard has also learned C4 Single-Sided Surfaces, so I need to steal 2 techs from him. He may accept a Truce after only 1 city is conquered, so I will use a probe team to steal the first tech, then conquer for the 2nd tech.
Post by: bvanevery on April 13, 2020, 11:13:51 AM
cheap trick |
MY 2258. I used my empty Transport as a decoy. The Caretaker ship went after it, missing my Isle that was actually carrying the probe team. It was able to infiltrate the sea base. Then I killed the ship. My Isle is badly damaged and if they have a followup ship, it will surely die. But, mission accomplished! As expected, they don't have any tech to steal.
Post by: bvanevery on April 13, 2020, 11:33:36 AM
large vulnerable base |
MY 2259. I successfully steal from the sea base that hasn't built a Perimeter Defense. I switch from the Hunter-Seeker Algorithm to the Planetary Transit System because it's cheaper, and because I don't think anyone else can build the HSA yet. I don't have the money to rush it.
pop blocker |
MY 2261. I use my last Artifact and some money to rush the Planetary Transit System.
Post by: bvanevery on April 13, 2020, 11:41:02 AM
choo choo choo on you |
MY 2262. I'm about to build rail lines straight into 2 of Roze's cities, with the Believers providing infantry cover no less. Roze suddenly wants a Truce. Well forget you! I'd crush her myself if Svensgaard wasn't spamming me so hard with stupid little ships. I keep having to make Impact Artillery pieces and I can't get around to making any Marines to take over his sea base. Well, eventually I'll wound him enough that I'll have my chance.
Post by: bvanevery on April 13, 2020, 12:09:12 PM
static |
MY 2266. The Data Angels are getting destroyed by the Spartans. Unfortunately I'm not going to be able to get them to surrender. Nor will I get the Pirates to beg off. So, I'll need to go steal the other tech. I activate the Plasma Cruiser Probe Team I've held in reserve.
Post by: bvanevery on April 13, 2020, 12:40:53 PM
Spartan progress |
MY 2270. The Spartans have emptied a city that I built a rail to. We'll be fighting soon.
overkill |
I steal C4 Single-Sided Surfaces from the Pirates. My Plasma Cruiser Probe Team survives the mission!
Post by: bvanevery on April 13, 2020, 08:39:33 PM
egging them on |
MY 2276. Miriam gives me another unit. I already wanted to wreck the Data Angels' sensor array, to make it easier to wail on them. I decided to blow up some Spartans while I was at it, to ensure more safety for my units while performing the operation. And for good measure, I killed a weakened unit inside Roze's city, without taking it over. I'm just stirring up havoc, mayhem, and chaos! What I'd actually like to get out of the deal, is the Citizens' Defense Force, which is sitting in that size 6 city to the lower left. There are currently a bunch of Spartans in the way though.
Post by: bvanevery on April 13, 2020, 09:02:37 PM
the walled road |
MY 2277. There is actually an open railway straight to the Citizens' Defense Force. It's only defended by 2 units and I can take it, as long as a bunch of Spartan spam doesn't show up in my way again. This year I had to heal up my units from the sensor array takedown last year.
soft target |
Checking the city itself, I see there's a sensor array I couldn't previously see. I bring up a spare Recon Rover to kill a Former that's in the way and get rid of the sensor array.
Post by: bvanevery on April 13, 2020, 09:26:33 PM
super whack job |
MY 2278. A Demon Boil and a Great Boil made short work of the defenders. I'm going to have to hold this place with probe teams though, because the Hunter-Seeker Algorithm isn't done yet. I could also use mindworms, spore launchers, and doubled up units to deny routes of penetration.
defensive arrangement |
I'm not going to sell off my Perimeter Defenses just yet. The situation is not stable. It would be best for the sunspots to lift, and to get Roze's surrender.
nearly safe |
Good news, I'm very close to completing the Hunter-Seeker Algorithm! Then I can just trash whatever I want.
Post by: bvanevery on April 13, 2020, 09:44:29 PM
lack of defense |
MY 2279. The "surround with indigenous life" idea didn't work. The Spartans thought those were things to shoot at. If they had enough probe teams, they could have broken down my defenses. Or left an opening for the Data Angels. I will simply fight back and hope I get the HSA done fast enough. Since the Spartans didn't attempt espionage, and Roze is under a lot of pressure, that seems likely.
quite miserable captives |
This base doesn't have any food. It's about to riot. I can't switch anyone to a Medic without people starving. I can't rush the Punishment Sphere cost effectively with only 8 minerals into it. I can't nerve staple them as my POLICE rating is -3. Answer: bring in a Scout, disband it, then rush.
torture costs money |
Unfortunately that cost enough to keep me from completing the HSA. Punishment Spheres are cheap and readily available in my mod, costing no more to build and maintain than a Recreation Commons. This is historically accurate, as torturing people is not an economic investment in their future. But you still have to pay goons to, you know, wipe the blood out of the sphere when the screaming stops, and haul away the bodies.
Post by: bvanevery on April 13, 2020, 10:15:50 PM
Hooray! Now surrender |
MY 2280. Is Roze going to see sense??
the beatings shall continue |
She was like this last game too. I'm not toying with her this time. I've got other enemies to fight.
Svensgaard hasn't amassed any new tech, so fighting him isn't important to me. I see if he want's a Truce, but he doesn't even want to talk to me. I'll have to continue with Plan A, seizing his coastal bases. I'm finally getting my Tree Farms done and have started making Impact Marines.
lick my boots |
Cha Dawn, the Extremist, is more reasonable. After all, we don't have any shared land to fight over. The only thing he's got that I might want, is the Manifold Nexus. It's remote and it would be awhile before I could reach it, let alone reinforce it. He barely has control of it himself.
a shocking development |
I really didn't expect a Treaty. Is this going to be another one of those 'surprise' attack things? I just have trouble believing that they won't work themselves into a snit eventually. But hey, if they want to sacrifice their reputation, they can do so. Treaty works fine for me, I'll send my mindworms another direction. Planet is almost empty of supply pods now, as I've been diligent.
you're so cute |
My ally seems happy enough. My Formers that require SUPPORT, are mostly tromping around on her land building forests and sensor arrays. Gotta fortify against the Spartans, and it's good to spread forests. Who knows, if she ever gets uppity with me, I might need to take her over. But the pattern last game was, once you get past a certain point with them, they stick by you. The Believers are unique in my mod, in that they have no social engineering compulsions. Christians can go any direction, they have total free will. So if they would just be smart enough to walk into open cities I give them... unfortunately they weren't smart enough to do that last game. I suppose I could just gift cities. I tend to forget about that possibility.
leverage |
One of Roze's cities has been emptied. Perhaps if I take it, she'll surrender? It should depopulate to size 1 and then if the Spartans kill me, that's fine. I hope they don't think to steal from it, as I'm not going to waste probe teams on this.
what a dweeb! |
How does she figure she's going to get out of this alive? She's got 2 land cities and 4 sea bases. Maybe she thinks Svensgaard will protect her.
closing the loopholes |
Taking that city might have been worth a little money. I now have more than enough to complete the HSA. So, any theft anyone's gonna do, has to happen now. Have at it!
Post by: bvanevery on April 14, 2020, 12:58:00 AM
something to steal |
MY 2281. Good reason to whack on the Pirate bases. I might just send out the Cruiser Probe Team to get this underway though. I should make some Isles, as they'll probably do a good job clearing out Svensgaard's ships and bases. Probably better than Impact Marines will do.
a captured artifact |
Interesting. I don't remember capturing an Artifact, and I certainly didn't move one to here. They show up in the weirdest places. There's no basic logic to where they jump to. Wat... there are 2 Artifacts there. Really don't remember doing that. Maybe they walked by my units when they shouldn't have? Well hey, 2 free Artifacts. Not complaining. Can't tell if this is buggy or not.
Post by: bvanevery on April 14, 2020, 01:20:06 AM
dangerous for them |
MY 2285. I don't really know why I'm learning Conquer techs. It's never been my focus this entire game. Currently my focus is Discover.
random research |
Ok I think I've seen the University AI go through this pattern as well. I don't have the prereqs for the next Discover tech. B4 Planetary Economics is Build with maybe a tiny bit of Explore in it, I forget. So in the absence of a viable Discover tech, I get random techs. And for some reason, the random techs tend to be Conquer techs. That could be because there are more of them, or because it's first in the list of categories of possible techs to get. I don't know, and it would take binary disassembly to know. I just know that, when the University AI can't get another Discover tech, it tends to get a pile of Conquer techs. That's not necessarily a bad thing as I do need to fight right now, but I'd like more control over this. Since I'm about to steal B4 Planetary Economics from the Pirates, I will not change my research focus.
Post by: bvanevery on April 14, 2020, 01:34:46 AM
easy peasy |
MY 2286. Svensgaard has a lot of theft targets, and his waters are not well patrolled. I went up north to get this, because as Sea Former was in the way of a closer land city. I'm making Isles of the Deep to clear my waters and assault his sea bases. They currently pack more punch than my Impact Marines. I guess E4 Centauri Meditation actually is good for something, even though I don't let it give Empaths or the Xenoempathy Dome anymore.
Roze's last stand |
I'm shelling the Data Angels' city. The Spartans are doing the actual assaults. It's buckling. I'd like to take it when it's easy and get that Artifact.
Post by: bvanevery on April 14, 2020, 01:54:39 AM
and there it is |
MY 2287. This is the best case! I'm going to take it with a Disciplined Scout. I wonder if there's any pattern to the Artifact getting killed or not? Part of me thinks it has to do with how much overwhelming force you hit it with. Kind of like when capturing a vessel with Marine Detachment, but I don't really know.
it worked! |
Really well too. Kids, remember to send in your Independent Disciplined Scout. Now I just have to keep it safe from all the Spartan mayhem for 1 turn.
[Limit reached]
What is her major malfunction?? My Isles hereby have dual purpose. Once I get a Truce out of the Pirates, I'm bringing them to Roze's last few sea bases.
[Limit reached]
I don't actually have any decent defensive units, because it was never my intent to hold cities up here. They've just been targets of opportunity, and they're mostly garrisoned with Scouts. I put my last Scout in the way on some forest, hoping the Spartans don't think to go after the Artifact. I'm ok with everyone else dying.
Post by: bvanevery on April 14, 2020, 02:21:10 AM
[Limit reached]
MY 2289. Hmm, at this rate I may not have to. They also lost their last city on land. She's still talking tough to me and wants her butt whipped more.
Post by: bvanevery on April 14, 2020, 02:31:32 AM
MY 2291. I just stomped one of those Trance units he's trying to make, so this won't take long.
MY 2292. His Cruiser held up pretty well in the ocean though. Maybe it's free Naval Yards vs. land units being untrained. Yeah, that Trance unit he just minted is Green.
Post by: bvanevery on April 14, 2020, 02:58:49 AM
MY 2293. I lost a Demon Boil attacking this thing. I think it's merely a Boil. Musta been a RNG special, that one.
[Limit reached]
Santiago's got more tech than I've been paying attention to. I steal a tech, but she's still got Superconductor. The other land bases she conquered have High Security Interlocks from too much previous theft. I fire up the Cruiser Probe Team again and head towards some sea bases out east.
[Limit reached]
MY 2294. Unfortunately I can't put Drop Pods on an Isle. Where was my mind?
Post by: bvanevery on April 14, 2020, 03:08:13 AM
MY 2295. Are they ready to knock it off now?
[Limit reached]
I have the choice of 1 technology to steal. I suppose it saves me a trip to the Spartans.
[Limit reached]
He thinks I owe him money. He needs his next sea base taken away.
Post by: bvanevery on April 14, 2020, 04:03:12 AM
MY 2298. I never expected the Treaty to last. He can't help himself. You'd think we could both wander around this huge, empty continent just picking off the occasional mindworm, but nooooo. Well I was never able to bring my units home, too busy, waters too dangerous. So meeting up like this was inevitable. I'll start marching towards the Manifold Nexus. Maybe by the time I get there, I can take it?
[Limit reached]
MY 2299. It would be convenient if the Pirates would stop pestering me now. These are the only 2 bases close enough to me to be of any value. Unfortunately he's still being a jerk.
[Limit reached]
I'm a bit short for completing the Planetary Energy Grid. I know a trick to come up with the money though.
[Limit reached]
Lately I haven't expected to complete the Planetary Energy Grid, so I've been making my own Energy Banks beforehand. That was the right call at the time, in this game. I never researched the needed tech myself, I stole it, and it took awhile for the Pirates to come up with it. Now if I get rid of those Energy Banks, it's a lot of money in the bank!
[Limit reached]
I shall be rich!
Post by: bvanevery on April 14, 2020, 04:42:28 AM
MY 2307. Is Svensgaard done yet? If it takes him the rest of these bases up here, that's fine by me.
[Limit reached]
He's at war with Cha Dawn again. Maybe he'd rather go do that. Maybe he just doesn't like my Gatling Needlejets. They're good for local defense but I think I will stop making them, because they do cause me unhappiness. My fleet of Isles is going to be unhappy enough, when I send them to clean up Roze.
Post by: bvanevery on April 14, 2020, 05:32:22 AM
MY 2309. I decide to ensure that I get the Supercollider. I spend 1 Artifact and cash to rush it.
[Limit reached]
MY 2310. The Cultists were about to have a major breakthrough, but I finish the Supercollider first. I finally learn D6 Digital Sentience. I go Cybernetic, as there's no penalty for me. I wonder if that's just in time for Roze to hate me to the bitter end?
Post by: bvanevery on April 14, 2020, 05:49:42 AM
MY 2314. My Isles finally arrive at the last sea bases of the Data Angels.
[Limit reached]
Who would have thought they'd have the time for such a remarkable improvement? I mean, I haven't figured it out yet. I see that Santiago's got it.
I'm a little worried about who's going to figure out C6 Orbital Spaceflight as well, since there are 3 Aggressive factions in the game. Experience shows they like to toss nukes!
Post by: bvanevery on April 14, 2020, 06:01:28 AM
MY 2315. I got so distracted by Fusion Power suddenly being in play, that I forgot to ask Roze to surrender. She didn't, so I take another base. And she still won't! She's got 2 bases left.
Post by: bvanevery on April 14, 2020, 06:11:00 AM
MY 2316. Sorta forgot about C6 Fusion Power being a prereq for this. I designed it that way. Well I guess it pays to have some ruthless Conquerors in the game!
Post by: bvanevery on April 14, 2020, 06:32:32 AM
MY 2317. Well I wasn't able to pull that one off. The Cultists are somewhat tough. At least, they're remote, and I can't do anything about them right now.
[Limit reached]
MY 2318. Miriam just provided me with 2 sweet, modern Fusion powered garrison units. I think I can now expand my perimeter at the Spartans' expense!
[Limit reached]
She left such a nice disposable package for me. Totally vulnerable to a Fusion Missile Rover I happen to have in reserve. She never rebuilt any Sensor Arrays or Perimeter Defenses either. This is going to be cake! I take her base. She still wants to be beaten up afterwards.
Post by: bvanevery on April 14, 2020, 06:47:51 AM
MY 2319. Sadly, only 1 of those nifty units was AAA. I put it in the right place, the base with the Citizens' Defense Force that has built an Aerospace Complex. But Santiago had more planes and shot the other unit to pieces. I don't have an answer for that right now. My home bases are busy building super-economic stuff, like Hybrid Forests. This is just a border skirmish, there's nothing precious up here except the Citizens' Defense Force. I actually haven't had an air war with an opponent in a long time. They don't tend to get that far along.
[Limit reached]
1 city left. Why such a prig?
[Limit reached]
I just don't get it.
Post by: bvanevery on April 14, 2020, 07:22:06 AM
[Limit reached]
Now she finally begs off.
[Limit reached]
Really didn't expect this. But if she wants to trash her reputation sometime in the future, fine, she can.
[Limit reached]
I tell her to quit bothering Miriam. Go find someone else to spam. I've got labs to build.
[Limit reached]
She's got 1 city left in the middle of this, Data DeCentral. It is stacked pretty high with units.
Post by: bvanevery on April 14, 2020, 07:44:26 AM
MY 2322. Should I legalize atrocities and wipe out the Cult of Planet? Not ready to commit to that.
[Limit reached]
MY 2323. Or the Pirates? It would be a lot of work. I can probably make him beg off by taking a few more cities.
Post by: bvanevery on April 14, 2020, 08:15:54 AM
MY 2324. I took a base, but at enormous cost. Svensgaard's current boats hold up rather well in Psi combat. He may kill my wounded Isles and take over these bases. Losing them wouldn't be so bad, as the point was to wipe out Roze. But I'm really annoyed that he has prevented me from doing that.
Post by: bvanevery on April 14, 2020, 08:52:05 AM
MY 2325. I took another base but he's still fighting. I don't have the garrison units needed to fend off all these planes. I'm really rather surprised at the number of planes in this game. Did I "fix" something? Have I overestimated how well I was doing earlier?
Post by: bvanevery on April 14, 2020, 09:40:13 AM
MY 2330. Cha Dawn recently killed my last Demon Boil tromping around his continent. He had enough units milling about here and there, just random places, that every once in awhile he'd get the element of surprise and kill me. Meanwhile, my Isles simply don't work on offense against Svensgaard. So I'm giving up on the Psi combat approach to all of this. I need to make money to finish my Secret Projects. This more than doubles my income. I've got a fair number of Hybrid Forests built, and I've refrained from building Genejack Factories in my core empire, so I'm not likely to do much eco-damage.
It's 4:40 AM and I've had enough for the night.
Post by: bvanevery on April 15, 2020, 01:33:21 AM
Why can't I just discover some more Discover stuff? And I'm not so sure I'm thrilled about this being a prereq for C6 Organic Superlubricant. I remember in a previous game, it took forever to get hovertanks. I kjnow I decided on this for narrative reasons, but I'm not sure that the gameplay reasons are sound. A hovertank is a tool of Conquest; should that be beholden to someone fixating on mindworms?
Well, I'll see how it goes. It's too early for a strong opinion on it, because I don't have a land enemy that needs hovertanks thrown at it. Santiago is still honoring the Treaty for now.
[Limit reached]
What I learned is kinda sorta a distant prereq to something actually in Discover. And it seems I designed it that way. A Nanohospital is an advanced facility that I didn't intend anyone to have easily. I'm just feeling weirded out by having Corporate Labs available so early. Sort of a fluke, I don't think a pure Discover researcher would get them so fast. Instead I was assisted by other research economies in the game.
I've got a growing number of AAA ECM Silksteel garrison units. I can't reinforce those distant sea bases, but my core empire and conquests up north, I feel much safer. I start making Missile Interceptors to deal with all the Pirate planes buzzing around me.
Post by: bvanevery on April 15, 2020, 02:28:12 AM
MY 2333. I have AAA ECM Silksteel garrisons nearly everywhere now. I feel confident that nobody can take the Citizens' Defense Force from me now. I was pretty close to having the money to rush the Network Backbone, and this will ensure it. I start making Missile Marines to take nearby Pirate bases with.
[Limit reached]
I just realized, my slave cities can't get uppity about my military units. They can serve a useful, if evil function in my empire. Can you say Abu Gharib boys and girls? I knew you could. Extraordinary rendition. I used to do this all the time in Freeciv, using the Shakespeare's Theater, but I've never really thought about it in SMAC. Gonna spam the Pirates with slave ships.
[Limit reached]
If the AI had any brains, it would take this base. It might not! I'm scrapping the Covert Ops Center I inherited from the Data Angels. If the base does get left alone, I won't need it, and no sense letting the enemy have it. Drat, couldn't scrap it, because of all the Perimeter Defenses scrapped earlier.
[Limit reached]
Sure I've got supply crawlers now, but this is more convenient.
[Limit reached]
I am reminded that Cha Dawn is working on the Empath Guild. I should steal the tech. I didn't previously have the money to think about it too hard. It would be better to build this at a Covert Ops Center, but I only have so many of those, taken from the Data Angels. This at least has a Naval Yard taken from the Pirates. Hope it holds up long enough to get to target! The Cultists actually have very few sea ports or sea bases.
Post by: bvanevery on April 15, 2020, 03:11:49 AM
MY 2334. I don't care about the base. The point was to destroy Roze. The Pirates are the only ones who can turn this deep water into something of economic value anyways. I'm just afraid that, with Svensgaard taking one of my bases, he'll now think he's entitled to money. Which he's never gonna get! I don't care if I'm rich, I never pay anyone a dime. I might do it to buy votes at the very end of the game, but I've never actually had it work out that way.
[Limit reached]
I mean, that's a Hybrid Forest! I'm building those for me, not you.
[Limit reached]
I built a new city on the tip of this peninsula, to claim land so that the captured Meergard sea base will actually have some squares to work.
[Limit reached]
Newly claimed land is on the eastern side of the base.
[Limit reached]
This will make a good industrial slave port, once I turn those Rocky squares into Mines. I have to admit, slavery design is not something I've done much of before. Usually by the time I'm dropping Punishment Spheres on cities, I'm overrunning everybody. Not this game. The Pirates and the Cultists are both viable competition still. I think the Spartans are toast though, even if they look strong on paper. They're in land contact with me, and nobody's gonna beat my industry on land.
Post by: bvanevery on April 15, 2020, 04:27:18 AM
MY 2335. In my mod, I've made the Xenoempathy Dome and the Neural Amplifier come later and be more expensive. My playtesting has shown that they're quite powerful, in the hands of a human player at least. This tech isn't exactly easy to get. But I guess I really am the research powerhouse of the game. It has the downside of making me feel like I need to build all these Secret Projects, instead of other things I could be doing. I suppose that's a balancing act and I'm doing fine, despite the fact that the Pirates are annoying me.
Post by: bvanevery on April 15, 2020, 04:54:49 AM
MY 2336. Svensgaard has been a busy beaver. He's learned B6 Eudaimonia and C6 Orbital Spaceflight. I don't have to sail all the way to the Cultists, I can steal right from my front door. Now I can get the Empath Guild started. Heck, it's better than the Nano Factory, so I switch my production. I don't have enough money to rush it, but if I disbanded all these Plasma Garrisons sitting around, I bet I'd have it.
[Limit reached]
It's time to end these Pirate air incursions.
[Limit reached]
Is this a little overpowered? I know it's supposed to model the difference between a fighter and a bomber, but c'mon.
[Limit reached]
Not sure this is gonna get me elected though. I think Cha Dawn votes for Svensgaard. Santiago might vote for me, or just might not vote.
Post by: bvanevery on April 15, 2020, 05:37:16 AM
MY 2337. Roze decides to talk to me, thinking she's going to run an op. Why doesn't the AI check that I have the Hunter-Seeker Algorithm? I don't really mind watching all their goons die, but it feels like a bit of an exploit. Anyways she doesn't surrender. Actually she was passing by me.
[Limit reached]
I knock off a Pirate base at the north pole, clearing them from that part of the map. They still want to keep fighting.
[Limit reached]
I notice that what used to be a spindly island, is now attached to the Spartan land mass. And that Penzance contains an Artifact. I wouldn't mind taking it from them. A few Marines and a Unity Rover riding in an Isle ought to do it.
[Limit reached]
I just noticed I've got the bug where many units have Fungicidal Tanks. Even ones that shouldn't. I wonder what causes that? Every so often when playing, I get flashed a message that now that you've discovered such-and-such tech, you all get Fungicidal Tanks! It might have happened this game, or the last game I played, I'm not sure. Not sure if the bug sets in after that either.
Post by: bvanevery on April 15, 2020, 05:55:30 AM
MY 2338. If the AIs manage to get cranking like they have in this game, then it's not easy to finish every Secret Project. I preferred the Empath Guild. That reminds me that I forgot to think about being Governor last year. I'm tired and think this will be my last turn for the night.
[Limit reached]
Well I don't feel too bad about that Artifact slipping away. I only just noticed it and started planning the operation. I'll do something else.
Post by: bvanevery on April 15, 2020, 09:11:53 PM
MY 2339. This has been worked on mostly with supply crawlers. I've stopped production of those now, as nobody's going to be able to compete with me for the Neural Amplifier. I'm making some more garrison units in anticipation of a few more colonies and local conquests.
[Limit reached]
I anticipate that Hab Domes are not far into my future. I can win this game by Diplomatic Victory, as I'm so far ahead on tech, that rivals will never catch up.
[Limit reached]
I also anticipate completion of the Manifold Harmonics. This would make control of the Manifold Nexus valuable to me. With that and Green Knowledge, I'd have +3 PLANET. That gives the max resource bonus with the Harmonics.
[Limit reached]
Whether by the Space Elevator or by Graviton Theory, soon I'll be orbital insertion capable. That will make it pretty easy to take over the Manifold Nexus if I haven't already. I don't have to go through heroics to get there.
[Limit reached]
None of my enemies have built Secret Projects that matter. My ally built 2 useful ones, but I like Miriam just fine as is.
[Limit reached]
I easily took over a nearby Pirate sea base with my Missile Marines. Svensgaard has no answer for it. He still wants to fight. Fighting the Pirates is not actually important. He's shown that he can't harm me. Even my mere Fission Impact Artillery is holding all of his ships at bay, that come to shell my cities. I guess the Perimeter Defenses and Sensor Arrays are sufficient defense. I could upgrade them to better stuff, but so far there's been no need. By the time there is any need, he'll have to be traveling farther and farther to reach my shores, and I will have cleared him out in a greater and greater radius from my capitol. I don't need to spend much on fighting him. In fact, to the degree that I leave him alone for now, his cities in deep ocean get worked by his Formers, a capability only he has. So they become more worth taking over, the longer I wait on them.
[Limit reached]
Nukes are the only thing that can threaten me. Absent my intervention, they will complete this and launch. The Spartans are Aggressive like that! However we have a Treaty, and they have the Pirates, the Cultists, and the Data Angels as enemies. I predict they'll hit the Pirates. All I really have to do is maintain our Treaty. If they get uppity, there's 1 surrounded city I can take easily from them. After that if it came to a land war, I would surely win. They only have 1 nuke and the AI is probably not bright enough to target one of my best cities, despite having the range to do so.
[Limit reached]
The Cultists are also working on a nuke, and they are Aggressive, so they could hurl it at me. However they are unlikely to complete it, and this base would be easy to disrupt. I also think they hate the Caretakers far more than they hate me. They've had lots of fighting with them, almost none with me, and they actually keep battling over some bases.
Post by: bvanevery on April 15, 2020, 09:44:43 PM
MY 2340. Who can stop me now? Some people think Capitalist and Wealth in my mod are anemic, not providing enough juicy benefits for players who want to feel the glory or something. But a +1 ECONOMY bonus is extremely powerful in my opinion. Get 2 of them, and IMO it's a license to print money. Especially since in my mod you don't get to have supply crawlers for half the game, you need money.
Post by: bvanevery on April 16, 2020, 10:08:06 PM
[Limit reached]
MY 2343. I take another Pirate base. He's still fighting. I've started making sea colony pods to pad out my home territorial waters. They are close enough to my capitol to be economically useful, and they should grow quickly with some kelp planted.
Post by: bvanevery on April 16, 2020, 10:09:19 PM
MY 2345. I've started settling unoccupied fungus land near my capitol, in anticipation of great resource benefits from fungus. But I am not orbital insertion capable yet. In an effort to overcome this, I cash my 2 Artifacts. This does get me C7 Advanced Spaceflight, so I will start making an Orbital Defense Pod screen shortly.
Post by: bvanevery on April 16, 2020, 10:13:04 PM
[Limit reached]
MY 2347. The Pirates have been hammered hard by the Spartans. I have a spare Plasma Gunboat at Calypso Base, so I retake the base the Pirates kicked me out of awhile back. This counts as a liberation! The Punishment Sphere is still intact, so I'll leave people enslaved until I can get something happier and more defensible over there.
[Limit reached]
The Pirates finally, at long last, accept a Truce. Now I can get on with winning the game, without being pestered. I will send my navy over to Roze, for vengeance. I tell Svensgaard to knock it off with Miriam, so I won't get sucked into anything. He signs a Treaty with her.
[Limit reached]
Svensgaard got into a war with Cha Dawn last year, so this is a moment of opportunity. Lacking support, I easily stomp him in an election.
[Limit reached]
I won't be winning the game in under 10 years, nor are enough people at peace with me for a Global Trade Pact to be a good idea, so I vote for everyone to get a little money! It will help my infrastructure and Secret Projects along.
Post by: bvanevery on April 16, 2020, 10:15:03 PM
MY 2348. I don't feel like these 3 Secret Projects are of equal value. But, maybe I shouldn't be so quick to judge. The Cyborg Factory is more valuable to someone on the warpath. The Pholus Mutagen to someone doing a lot of eco-damage, which isn't me right now. And the Manifold Harmonics only helps those with a commitment to a high PLANET rating. Well I do have a fungal growth plan in mind, so I switch. They're very expensive projects and no one's going to get any of them any time soon.
Post by: bvanevery on April 16, 2020, 10:16:32 PM
MY 2350. I have a nominal anti-nuke capability. I rush the Manifold Harmonics. I have only 25 credits left over, so I can't switch from Capitalist to Green.
Post by: bvanevery on April 16, 2020, 10:20:49 PM
MY 2351. I complete the Manifold Harmonics. By failing to reach the highest tier, fortunately I'm only missing a +1 energy bonus.
[Limit reached]
I notice that Meergard and Privateer Quay were captured long enough ago, that they are no longer regarded as captured bases. I start working on happiness facilities, with the eventual goal of removing the Punishment Spheres. By then I believe my navy and marines will be occupying my sea bases out west, that I took from the Data Angels. 3 of my northernmost bases are also fully mine now.
[Limit reached]
I switch to Green. It cuts my income in half. However it has a remarkable effect on my fungal squares.
[Limit reached]
I go through all my bases and change what squares I'm working. Now suddenly it is good to plant fungus. Is there a reason to do anything else? I'm thinking not, although it's hard to shake my bias for trees. I suppose trees are good for lessening eco-damage, but I don't have any. Nor am I likely to, since I haven't even built the Pholus Mutagen yet.
[Limit reached]
8 Missile Marines arrive at the sea base I recently liberated from the Pirates. I couldn't quite bring my Transport into base, so technically Roze could fly down her 1 plane and blow up my Transport. However she's probably too dumb to do that. I think about whether I can use my Isle garrisons to forward the Marines this turn, but they don't have enough movement to do the handoffs.
Post by: bvanevery on April 18, 2020, 02:39:56 AM
[Limit reached]
MY 2352. The Aggressive factions are going to do a nuclear exchange! Good thing I got that Orbital Defense Pod up, but as I guessed, I'm not a primary target anyways. The blast takes out the Planetary Datalinks.
[Limit reached]
Using a convoying technique, I'm able to bring 4 Marines and an Isle against the Data Angels' final stronghold. They still won't surrender, so the attack proceeds!
[Limit reached]
Don't know why they're so stubborn in all these games I've played against them.
Post by: bvanevery on April 18, 2020, 02:44:58 AM
MY 2353. Exchange it is! Took out Mt. Planet and the Longevity Vaccine. Oh no, we're never going to have the cure for COVID-19!
[Limit reached]
Extracting one of the last remaining supply pods on the planet, I get an Artifact. Next year I'll cash it.
Post by: bvanevery on April 18, 2020, 02:49:14 AM
MY 2356. I start making Conventional Missiles in anticipation of taking over the Manifold Nexus. I also design a Drop Trance 3-Res unit. Cha Dawn will surely have some mindworms, and it's cheaper than the Probability units I've been making latley. I switch my Secret Project production to the Cloudbase Academy, as having Aerospace Complexes everywhere and Sky Hydroponics Labs will make an empire grow like crazy.
[Limit reached]
Here you see the radial pattern of settlement I've been undertaking in the oceans. Alpha Prime is my capitol, in the center of the southern part. The current spread actually looks more like a semicircle. Captured Pirate bases would have more or less completed the circle if they hadn't have signed a Truce.
[Limit reached]
Unfortunately I can't claim Diplomatic Victory as long as the Caretakers are in the game. There are no penalties for committing atrocities against Aliens, so I will use a combination of plagues and chemical weapons on them.
[Limit reached]
I still haven't managed to learn the other prereq for Super Tensile Solids / Habitation Domes. I've learned a lot of Conquer techs that I wasn't even studying for. Could it be that the game decided the University's pure Discover research strategy was too anemic, so they hardwired some Conquer weights into it? The way the game cheats to get a Discover faction to the Hunter-Seeker Algorithm is well understood at this point.
[Limit reached]
Scient discovered that the Dream Twister also has hardwired cheat weights placed on it, similar to the HSA. I moved it all the way up the tree to E10 Sentient Resonance to try to get rid of the influence for most of the game. But I am such a prolific research faction, that it could actually be affecting me. If it's like the HSA, it could affect prereqs 3 tiers beforehand, all the way down to Tier 7.
[Limit reached]
This could explain how I learned C7 Mind/Machine Interface, B7 Sentient Econometrics, and C8 Self-Aware Machines without focusing on Build or Conquer at all.
[Limit reached]
To try to pick up the techs I'm missing, I switch to an Explore Build focus. I'm not going to build the Robotic Assembly Plants when I get them. My industrial output is fine, and my rivals are tossing nukes. They contribute to global warming, and I've seen the AI starting to build some Pressure Domes. I don't want any flooding, I just want to grow my population and win the game.
Post by: bvanevery on April 18, 2020, 02:52:53 AM
MY 2357. That's good timing. I don't need those things aimed at me.
[Limit reached]
I've decided that Brood Pits are way too cheap for what they do. They give a lifecycle bonus, they make indigenous life units super cheap to build, and they give +2 POLICE in their city. It's a Mary Sue of facilities. I don't actually want these things in the game at all, but I don't typically remove stuff unless they're super egregiously overepowered, like the Copter chassis. Instead I push them farther up the tree to get them out of the game, and make them more expensive. It's already as far up the tree as it should go, I just have really good research. So let's jack the price up.
Post by: bvanevery on April 18, 2020, 02:54:45 AM
MY 2358. Won't be getting the Cloudbase Academy yet. Gotta block this. Rushed.
[Limit reached]
It's time to stop making sea colony pods, and time to start making Cruiser Probe Teams to inflict plagues upon the Caretakers. I've designed an X Chaos Gravship and an X AAA Chaos Probability Cruiser as well, but they are expensive and I'm not keen on making many of them.
Post by: bvanevery on April 18, 2020, 02:56:09 AM
MY 2359. Well at least they're not subtle!
Post by: bvanevery on April 18, 2020, 03:02:06 AM
MY 2360. Hab Domes coming soon! I switch my research focus to Explore only.
[Limit reached]
I've made enough Trance Drop troops, but I've neglected to make enough Conventional Missiles to take the Manifold Nexus. I'm also slightly out of range for hitting it the same turn. That's not a big deal because I can stay aloft for 4 turns, but in principle the CMs could be shot down. In practice, I doubt the AI even knows how to do it.
[Limit reached]
Belatedly I realize I don't actually need to take a city to control the Nexus. Cha Dawn's cities aren't particularly near it. We're at war and I can drop my own city right on top of it. I design an appropriate unit. I'm sure that my Drop Trance cannon fodder will be just fine for protecting the colonists for 1 turn. I'm not going to get nuked, not until I've settled at least. Even then, I expect it to be a low value target.
While uploading some of these posts, I was reminded that I haven't put any proposals in front of the Planetary Council in 20 years. Back then, a Global Trade Pact seemed pointless because various factions were allied with each other, but only had Truces with me. I wouldn't make any money, and they'd probably make all the money with each other. But this has probably changed! I think all these factions hate each other to death, because of the nukes they've tossed. The only faction anyone is really capable of liking is myself or possibly the Believers, because we haven't nuked anybody. And we do at least have each other. So let's see if the AI is dumb enough to swallow my guff!
[Limit reached]
Can I get Miriam on board with this? Measure passes if I do. It would have been nice to have Roze as my puppet for this sort of thing, but she wasn't willing to be that. Died with her boots on... well actually, we took them off before we loaded her into the Punishment Sphere, to keep them clean.
[Limit reached]
This is expensive, and I don't even know if the investment is worth it. But I really want to see if it will pay off! Also she's been a good ally and I don't mind her having the money.
[Limit reached]
My net income is now 816 credits/year. I think that's higher! Lemme check what last year was. 603 credits/year. Well, it's a difference. I don't think I built anything else that would account for a 200 credit increase. One might argue that a 33% increase ain't too shabby. And the Pirates have *no* friends. Only wars, except a Truce with me. I don't feel like poking at them right now, but maybe they're gullible enough to sign a Treaty someday. Maybe I actually would bribe them to do that for a change. If I ended up with an excess of money, and still hadn't won yet.
Post by: bvanevery on April 18, 2020, 03:05:15 AM
MY 2362. That should be enough of a garrision to fend off some stuff. Although, my original plan was counting on takeover to trigger a Truce. Well I am making more Conventional Missiles, but I may need to make more stuff to reinforce. I could take over the base with the Nano Factory in it, but it's on the east end of the Monsoon Jungle. If they don't call a Truce, it might be subjected to heavy counterattack.
Post by: bvanevery on April 18, 2020, 03:08:04 AM
MY 2363. Now I don't strictly need any more tech! However, the Cloning Vats would be useful.
[Limit reached]
I switch to Eudaimonic. I won't change my PSYCH until I've got a lot of Hab Domes finished.
[Limit reached]
I didn't think about the Cultists having a viable air force. They usually don't have one. They aren't usually sitting on a continent all by themselves with the Monsoon Jungle either. Fortuantely they only attacked with 1 plane and killed one guy, but they could keep doing that and end this exercise real quick. I'll have to come up with something.
[Limit reached]
I wanted to do the Nethack Terminus and get Algorithmic Enhancement on my probe teams, because I'm about to start using them on the Caretakers. But an Aerospace Complex would help fight off attacks.
Post by: bvanevery on April 18, 2020, 03:27:54 AM
MY 2364. The Caretakers are partroling the waters between the major halves of their sea empire. They notice my probe team approaching and open communication. I don't really want to lose my team as I'm busy making other stuff right now, and it's a pain to push units across the map. I'm also, strictly speaking, not ready to win the game, so it's not imperative that they die right this second. I wouldn't mind getting the Nethack Terminus done before letting them have it. I've also got X Chaos Gravships in progress, that I'd like to fly down and use for great purposes.
[Limit reached]
Treaties with Aliens aren't worth any money because they don't participate in the human Commerce system. They have their own networks of economics within their own bases. The more bases, the more money. I'm now in a moral quandry about needing to commit xenicide in order to win. By diplomatic means at least. I'm morally opposed to Transcending, I personally think it's anathema to sentience. Conquering everyone would probably be way more work than I want to put into this game.
Well, what about Economic Victory? I'd need B9 Global Energy Theory to do it, so I'd have to change my research focus. And I'd have to wait 20 years, after I even got the money, which would take even longer. But if I wanted to spare the poor wretched Caretakers and have a kumbaya ending to all of this, I could do it.
Let's postpone these sentiments until I've got some votes.
[Limit reached]
I completely picked the wrong kind of troops for this operation. Founding a city created a high priority target, which they deftly dealt with. I have nothing to follow up with. At least if they do take it over, I'll be able to liberate it. Maybe the AI is too dumb to do so? I've been amazed at how long the AI will let some things sit, completely open.
[Limit reached]
I don't have the heart to murder the Caretakers. They're pathetic, harmless, and cute in an ugly sort of way. I send my Cruiser Probe Teams back to sea bases. I accidentally bump into Svensgaard doing so. I could refuse to speak to him, but that usually results in war, which is not what I want. So on the chance I can turn this into something else, I take the call.
[Limit reached]
I didn't offer him free tech like he wanted. I never do. Even the present circumstances, don't change my view on that much. As much as I might be tempted to try to persuade someone, I don't think other factions are reliably peaceful unless they already want it to some degree. And he wants to kill me for my Knowledge. Unfortunately we're going to remain natural enemies. Anyways after refusing him, he didn't even give me a chance to speak before declaring war. So war it is. I'll find some weapons to use on him shortly. I just finished garrisoning everything way out west. That's where all those Marines and heavy navy are. I can instantly attack out there and maybe that's the best course. I could also use probe teams here, but I bet it's prohibitively expensive.
[Limit reached]
That is so cheap, I almost wonder if I've created a bug somehow. In my mod, mind control costs double what it does in the stock game. One of my faction powers is I only pay 75% of that doubled cost. The Hive and the Data Angels get the same deal, we're the probe team factions. Well after I take this base, let's see if there's a rational explanation for this. His capitol could be very far away, and he might have some abysmal kind of government.
[Limit reached]
He signs my Truce. He won't sign a Treaty. He claims Miriam is the one who wants war with him. He's not wrong, because he tossed a nuke at someone and she's mad that he did it. Well at least I seem to have a way to handle him.
[Limit reached]
Here is Safe Haven, quite far from what I just took. His government is Democratic Socialist Wealth Eudaimonic, for a respectable +3 JUSTICE. Still that can't control an entire planet. I shouldn't be so surprised that this was cheap and easy.
[Limit reached]
I had some X Chaos Gravships in progress but hadn't finished one. I "upgraded" the design to a Drop Chaos Gravship. I won't be going after the Caretakers. I'll find another way. Maybe these won't complete in time to save my Nexus city, but they'll be good for liberation.
[Limit reached]
I just remembered that nothing stops me from flying my boats around. Armor is cheap on boats, and they can all stand to be upgraded anyways. A flying boat can land on a landlocked base. The main disadvantage of flying boats, is if you leave from a sea base, you can't come back. The game has an irrational restriction against units dropping into the ocean, even when there's a base to drop into. Be that as it may, this gambit will work for my current reinforcement purposes.
[Limit reached]
500 credits later, I've got 5 flying boats in various places, including the sea base I just mind controlled. Even better, they haven't moved yet! It's a bit of an exploit, but if you upgrade an entire class of unit to something else, it doesn't use up their moves for the turn. I'm ready to rumble!
[Limit reached]
Well now I know what was going to happen next year. The hidden garrison unit was going to walk right in. Wouldn't it be hilarious if they attacked with mindworms, now that all my Trance units are dead? Fortunately I do have the Neural Amplifier. My prospects are good.
[Limit reached]
I brought in a boat with every scrap Speeder I had lying around. They were only on guard duty for mindworms and fungal pops, but I don't have any. I've got a minuscule reserve of Unity Rovers in a pinch anyways. Remarkably, only 1 Spore Launcher survived the previous combat era. No mindworms at all. Pretty odd now that I'm a +3 PLANET faction. Might have to do something about that, after growing.
[Limit reached]
I move my 3 Conventional Missiles forwards to the newly rechristened Dumb Pirate, in honor of my buddy Svensgaard's ideas about his cosmic importance. I can probably move them to the newly rechristened East Berlin in 1 turn, if I feel the need.
[Limit reached]
I'd dearly love to blast those planes that attacked me to smithereens. This is the cheapest Drop Interceptor I can come up with, that has a good gun on it. I can't upgrade my Missile Interceptors all at once as I don't have enough money for that. I do have a few other old planes sitting around. Let's see if Air Superiority restricts my upgrade choices or not. Oops, it does. Also I can't upgrade old Missile units to a Gatling design, even if I had the money. This is a good unit idea, but it'll have to wait.
[Limit reached]
I may not be able to shoot down the planes that offended me, but I can cause an equal amount of havoc somewhere else. 100 credits later, I've got 2 planes ready to go! I make a similar Drop Missile Needlejet design, to upgrade a plane that Miriam gave me. 60 credits later, I have another instrument of terror.
[Limit reached]
Now, what can I mess up? Scanning the cities, I see lots of AAA units, but no Air Superiority units. I have free reign to kill anything weak.
Post by: bvanevery on April 18, 2020, 03:33:53 AM
MY 2365. I have more money this year. For 640 credits I upgrade my 8 Missile Interceptors to Drop. They wipe out several planes and a bunch of Formers. Cha Dawn really shouldn't have made me think hard about "who can do what to whom". I'm going to bleed out his air force, then I'm going to take the Nano Factory. If it doesn't get nuked first. It's about to produce a nuke actually. Doesn't matter if it's aimed at me, I'll shoot it down.
Post by: bvanevery on April 18, 2020, 03:37:14 AM
MY 2366. Cha Dawn starts the Space Elevator. Maybe I'm not as far ahead in tech as I thought.
[Limit reached]
No flooding yet, but this usually presages it. In 5 more years I could propose to Launch Solar Shade.
[Limit reached]
Raising large amounts of land could be useful for improving my sea bases. Except that detonating a Tectonic Missile apparently does the equivalent eco-damage of a nuke. I'd like Planet to sleep!
[Limit reached]
This is where the Nano Factory lives. I could take it over this turn, but I'm going to wait for that nuke to launch. It's probably not aimed at me.
Post by: bvanevery on April 18, 2020, 03:44:50 AM
MY 2367. Yes an once of prevention is... not worth the glory of denying someone else's mushroom cloud.
[Limit reached]
Ok, hold on. This would happen again in 7 turns? *My* nukes don't churn out that fast, I don't think. I thought they cost a flat 300 minerals. Yep, that's what I'm paying on them. I'm having trouble adding up squares that are so small, but it looks like he's paying roughly 200 minerals for his. Well, maybe that's just the standard Transcend INDUSTRY goosing. But I see why the planet is warming up, at this frequency.
[Limit reached]
My missiles are within range, but I have to be careful walking them up, lest I hit something inadvertently. Missiles are a pain that way. Would be better if they were ballistic and just dropped out of space onto what you wanted to hit. Planetary animation optional.
[Limit reached]
Damn Spore Launcher took out my 1st missile. I forgot how easy and seemingly unintentional it is to defend with those from air attacks. Seems like a really cheap hack. My 2nd missile did a better job of obliviating an AAA defender. Huh, just noticed that missiles actually have training. I have both a Green missile and some Hardened missiles, depending on whether I built them in an Aerospace Complex or not. I fire the Green and it still does its job. 4th missile takes out the last AAA. Drop Gatling flies up from the Nexus to finish off the Spore Launcher.
[Limit reached]
Look at that, a Drop Missile Interceptor can take over a base! Handy.
[Limit reached]
And here's a odder, juicier thing. Landing right next to an enemy Former, *didn't* trigger dialogue with Cha Dawn. I could land my entire air corps, destroy stuff, *then* negotiate his Truce. If I was confident that he'd give it. Which I'm not. So I destroy the Former and then ring him up. But this is really good to know, for times when I *don't* want to talk.
[Limit reached]
I drop in a ship with 2 old AAA units. I will upgrade these to modern units. The point of seizing the Nano Factory is to make my upgrades cheaper. 120 credits later, I have 2 AAA ECM Probability garrisons. I do this with a few other old unit types.
[Limit reached]
Cha Dawn is good with the Truce. I am glad. I'm feeling rather lazy about military action. Guess my 2 new Drop Chaos Gravships will stay put. Will fly in some Interceptors and call it a day. He won't sign a Treaty. There's no point in talking about other factions and peace, as Cha Dawn has nuked everyone but me, I think.
[Limit reached]
I rush the Space Elevator, blocking Cha Dawn. I still have 915 credits left.
[Limit reached]
I also have enough to rush the Nethack Terminus. With all this probe power coming to me, what if I just buy the Caretakers instead of exterminating them? That's a lot cheaper than buying the whole planet. I don't need to buy everyone else, they'll unite under my banner eventually.
I'd be ok with overruning their capitol, for the sake of the rest of their population. Actually they don't have a captiol. Decision: Manifold got overrun multiple times. Every base is vulnerable to buyout.
Now the problem is, I bet a buyout still depopulates the base, and results in little Caretaker sea colony pods fleeing everywhere. Which will make new bases, requiring me to buy them all over again. Unless they get killed, which ethically is not any better than committing xenicide to begin with.
I could "herd" all these colonists, if I had enough ships to block them from going anywhere when they sprout. It would take a lot of ships! I believe I can even stop air attacks on them, if they're completely cut off from moving anywhere. I could herd them into their own sea bases, which I could then buy out, converting the colonists into *my* colonists. Maybe that's technically still xenicide. But, it *is* cool, and it doesn't result in loss of life! And finally, I've never done any such thing before.
Hmm. If we're in a Truce and they're in my territorial waters, they can't settle a new sea base. However their old sea bases will exert a larger than 1 square distance. They can settle anywhere within that perimeter, and the AI often *does* just march bases through the water, in a completely silly way. So I can't ever actually herd the colonists into a sea base and take them all over. I might be able to take over subsequent bases and snare a few colonists within the sea base's radius, if they're packed rather tightly.
I could also just mind control the colonists. Probably at great expense.
This really isn't letting them keep their cultural diversity though. Destruction of a culture is still genocide according to U.N. definitions.
It's 1 AM. I think I'll sleep on their fate.
Post by: bvanevery on April 18, 2020, 04:38:08 AM
[Limit reached]
MY 2368. Ain't making loads of money great? 1450 credits/turn and I haven't even learned how to make Orbital Power Transmitters yet. I've thought about the Caretakers, and Economic Victory is the only civilized way to keep them on Planet. Diplomatic Victory is just too brutal when Aliens are involved, it's not basically pacifist. I may not be pacifist but I do believe in pacification. I make war to stop other factions bothering me. And I'd like them to stop throwing nukes around, as they're ruining Planet. I may have to do covert ops on bases producing nukes. But I'm not ready to start bothering everyone with that, because my military position is not impregnable. It's really only all the factions' willingness to make war with each other, that's keeping them off of me. I'm the one and only faction they're not fixated about.
Post by: bvanevery on April 18, 2020, 05:00:31 AM
MY 2369. Other factions are really in trouble now! Soon to witness my super-growth.
[Limit reached]
I switch my research focus to Build, to try to reach B9 Global Energy Theory. That makes Economic Victory possible in my mod. The reason it's so late in the game, is because the Morganite AI was trying to corner the energy market with trivial amounts of money much earlier in the game. 1000 credits to buy Planet, don't think so! Can't remember if that's still a problem now, and not that motivated to look through my design notes to muck with it. It's probably going to be absurdly expensive anyways, not something one could accomplish without Orbital Power Transmitters.
[Limit reached]
The Cloning Vats are expensive. I switch my Pholus Mutagen city to this and begin it again somewhere else. They're not that much more expensive than other SPs I've recently paid for though. Maybe they should be? I'm not sure it's possible to make anything have a sting this late in the game though. The truth is I have more money than God. And I haven't even started on Godlike money yet.
[Limit reached]
I cannot rush a SP this year, so I think about using my money to improve my safety. Unfortunately I designed the old Silksteel units with a Laser, because that didn't cost me extra. The same is not true of subsequent unit designs. This version with a Laser costs 120, and with only hand weapons it would cost 90. The real world value is exactly the same, as I'm never going to attack anyone with these things, and half of them are sitting in the water unable to do anything anyways. Yet, for defense, this is what I'd have to upgrade to right now. I could wait until Quantum Power to do the upgrades and then I wouldn't have this problem, but that will be awhile, and the point is to increase my security now. So what will it run me?
[Limit reached]
That's on par with the cost of the Pholus Mutagen. It ain't happening, at least not yet. I will try a cheaper unit.
[Limit reached]
This is almost half the price.
[Limit reached]
I sign the paperwork. My sea bases, especially, are a bit safer than they were.
Post by: bvanevery on April 18, 2020, 05:38:28 AM
MY 2371. Actually that nuke did not go off. Various factions have been building Orbital Defense Pods and I presume it was shot down. Maybe I won't have to be the world's covert ops do-gooder after all.
[Limit reached]
Will I switch to Thought Control? It would be great for probe stuff, but I don't really have anything I need to do that way.
Post by: bvanevery on April 18, 2020, 05:53:10 AM
MY 2372. Just in case I totally change my mind about how to end this game. I forward position it at Dumb Pirate.
Post by: bvanevery on April 18, 2020, 06:08:43 AM
MY 2373. Well this one certainly went off. The Pirates and Spartans are developing good Orbital Defense Pod screens, but the Cultists aren't keeping up.
[Limit reached]
It put a big hole in the Monsoon Jungle. In terms of natural landmarks that's rather insensitive, but it actually improves my base squares! Now I'm competing with one less city for resources.
[Limit reached]
I am an eco-kitten.
Post by: bvanevery on April 18, 2020, 06:33:47 AM
MY 2174. Unfortunately I think the game is ignoring my research focus and beelining me to the Dream Twister. Scient discovered that this is hardcoded. It depends on some research focus choices, although I'm not sure if it works the same way as with the Hunter-Seeker Algorithm. I thought that by moving the Dream Twister very far up the tech tree, I'd stop the problem of it interfering with research. However this is not the case, as the game can actually go on this long if you're not doing outright conquest. This is actually blocking me from getting on with Economic Victory, although at least the disruption will soon be over. I predict that my next tech will be C10 Sentient Resonance, where I put the Dream Twister. I'm not sure where else I'd put it, as there aren't that many mindworm oriented techs this late in the game. Well, back to the drawing board. I'll go back to Scient's information and see if I can understand exactly what research choices make this happen.
Post by: Geo on April 18, 2020, 07:59:37 AM
[Limit reached]I'd dearly love to blast those planes that attacked me to smithereens. This is the cheapest Drop Interceptor I can come up with, that has a good gun on it. I can't upgrade my Missile Interceptors all at once as I don't have enough money for that. I do have a few other old planes sitting around. Let's see if Air Superiority restricts my upgrade choices or not. Oops, it does. Also I can't upgrade old Missile units to a Gatling design, even if I had the money. This is a good unit idea, but it'll have to wait.
[Limit reached]
I may not be able to shoot down the planes that offended me, but I can cause an equal amount of havoc somewhere else. 100 credits later, I've got 2 planes ready to go! I make a similar Drop Missile Needlejet design, to upgrade a plane that Miriam gave me. 60 credits later, I have another instrument of terror.
IIRC, a dropped unit can attack with 50% less offensive power in the same turn, right? Can those drop needlejets do the same if they're dropped?
Post by: bvanevery on April 18, 2020, 08:55:56 AM
[Limit reached]
MY 2376. Well it's remarkable that it actually took this long to happen. At least the flooding is mild. Does make me wonder if I should wipe out the Cultist polluters as an irrational, undesirable element. They don't have the benefit of being cute or cuddly in a gross way. They're just evil.
[Limit reached]
The game isn't beelining me to the Dream Twister after all. Don't understand why I was getting all Conquery there for awhile. I haven't researched that since the stone ages.
[Limit reached]
Santiago and Svensgaard signed a Treaty this year. I thought they had nuked each other, but perhaps not. This may have emboldened Santiago. While moving my units around, she decided to bother me. After we got through the preliminaries of the usual things a faction tries to shake me down for, she declared war. Well, there's been that isolated city in the middle of my other cities for quite some time. Should be trivial to mind control.
[Limit reached]
I have 2 fission speeder probe teams from the stone ages. I use the unit type upgrade trick, modernizing them before they've even moved. They have to be on a speeder chassis, so I make a good a version of that as I can. With the Nethack Terminus any fusion probe team is algorithmically enhanced, and that's the real point of this exercise. I'm supposed to be a PROBE faction, so let's see what they can do.
[Limit reached]
It's only a size 5 base, quite far from Sparta Command. Sadly I lose my fancy probe team in the exercise. This makes me think Algorithmic Enhancement and the Nethack Terminus are a load of hooey.
I wish I could have gotten a screenshot of the seriously baffling BS "commemoration" interlude I just read, but the minute I hit a key to start my usual screenshotting process, it disappeared. Why was I talking about "Caretaker" and "exploit the Nexus" or whatever? I think the game accidentally read the wrong .txt file, as these are the first few entries of the Caretaker faction file. Possibly it gets scrambled when a base changes hands a few times. I'm pretty sure this was supposed to be the conclusion of the "first mindworm commander dying" story. Maybe it got scrambled because the Data Angels are out of the game and this is Data DeCentral, so the next faction was used instead.
[Limit reached]
What cads! Don't you think I lost that officer rather a long time ago?? Wouldn't you think I'd rather celebrate the final conquest of an annoying faction?
[Limit reached]
Roze was always too messy. And we'll forget that this was the basis of peace with the Spartans for so so long. A Treaty this whole time. Most remarkable! Well Santiago still wants to fight. Where's next?
[Limit reached]
I've got all kinds of troops over there that can overrun this 1 unit. It would clean Santiago out of these waters, and I can eat that fungus just fine.
[Limit reached]
I thought 2 Missile Marines would be enough to take this guy out, but I was wrong. Instead I have to kill it with the Isle they rode in on. Pity I can't drop air units into the sea, they don't get any kind of special deference. I sail in a wimp ship, the original Plasma Gunboat. And still Santiago wants to keep fighting.
[Limit reached]
I still have Marines in the area. Moonshadow is vulnerable. I just have a hard time believing that this Transport can withstand a Chaos Gun. I don't really want to lose it finding out the odds calculator is non-buggy though. Instead I shell it, which only does 5% damage. Maybe they're for real, and these boats are actually tough.
[Limit reached]
I bring up an Isle instead. Pretty sure this odds display is wrong, as reactor size doesn't matter in Psi combat. It might be an even fight with me having a slight advantage though. I'm remembering I had trouble earlier against the Pirates, and that these aren't super duper indigenous life forms. Nevertheless I'm going for it, as I have to break this ship somehow. I'm too cheap to spend for upgrades or fly in stuff, yet.
[Limit reached]
As I suspected would actually happen, I took wounds but readily defeated the mere Transport. The odds calculator definitely exaggerates when it comes to Psi combat, it's basically wrong all the time.
[Limit reached]
Oh shoot. I screwed up. I needed that Isle to move the Marines for the assault on Moonshadow. I was worrying about ship and base transfers, and though having that Isle out of the way as my Transport came up, would be an advantage. I miscalculated. I'm in position to attack next year, but by then it probably won't matter. I bring up a ship to cover my wounded Isle and shell the Sensor Array, forgetting that there's a battery in the city to keep me from doing that. Oops. I'm out of sealift now. Need the rest of my boats and Isles for base defense.
[Limit reached]
In my mod the jump in expense from Missile Launchers to Chaos Guns is quite large. It's commensurate with the cheapening of units from Fission to Fusion reactors. The idea is that if you realistically want to use Chaos weapons, you need Fusion reactors. My older boats can stand to be tougher on defense, so I upgrade them all to this.
Well it's about 4 AM. I'm too tired to continue this unexpected war. I'll resume tomorrow. Probably I need to hit this base with my drop air units. It doesn't actually have any AAA defenders. Unfortunately my drop air units will be attacking at reduced strength after a drop, so perhaps I need to upgrade their weapons. I did learn Tachyon weapons recently, and for some inexplicable reason, they're already prototyped. This has been true in my mod for a long time, and I don't know what the problem is.
[Limit reached]
Except one more thing. Must vote for Launch Solar Shade before I forget.
Post by: bvanevery on April 18, 2020, 06:31:33 PM
By design, Soporific Gas Pods are extremely expensive in my mod. But if you're rich, and fighting the highly trained Spartans, they could have their uses. Just how much would it break the bank to have some of these on hand? Is it cheaper to upgrade existing units than build these things outright? Let's find out.
[Limit reached]
It's like buying a Hab Dome. Certainly within my wealth, but I'm also trying to save to win the game. I don't think I'd want a lot of these things. Let's see if it works as a drop shock troop against a non-AAA unit.
[Limit reached]
I don't feel like losing this gold plated unit for this rubbish. Guess I'm taking out the Sensor Array with a lesser plane. Hmm, that defender really is only a Veteran though. The odds calculator isn't showing the effect of the gas. Still not taking any chances with this, especially since there's no value in upgrading Interceptors. They can kill any air unit just fine with what they've got.
[Limit reached]
With the Sensor Array gone, the apparent odds are improved, but not particularly good. This is without AAA, a Perimeter Defense, or an Aerospace Complex being involved. I just don't believe it! I attack, and I take 75% wounds. They weren't kidding, although I think my victory was certain and they were failing to take the gas into account. This is no Secret Wonder Weapon of the Luftwaffe.
[Limit reached]
I don't really want to spend a real plane on a wimp that's supposed to die readily. I don't trust the odds calculator and think it's lying about my chances. We're about to find out if Air Superiority attacking a ground unit is a big problem or not. Yes, it's a bit of a problem. I took 90% wounds.
[Limit reached]
I drop a Drop Missile Interceptor on the base. Then I ring up Santiago. She's finally ready to call it quits. For sake of form I propose a Treaty, but she doesn't bite. I was surprised she went for that all those eons ago. I'm going to get my Formers out of the way of her ships at sea, because I suspect a 'surprise' attack.
[Limit reached]
I bring in some garrison and support units, and a Chaos Gravship, just in case Santiago gets "ideas". If she acts up again, there aren't going to be any more orbital drop penalties.
Post by: bvanevery on April 18, 2020, 06:55:10 PM
MY 2377. Life is so unfair to the faithful. Well I guess God came to get them. If only they had been Extremist, they might have gotten along with Cha Dawn! I wouldn't say these turned out to be nicer Christians though. They're Police State Socialist Power Thought Control, which sounds about right. I wonder if they ever use that +3 PROBE for anything important? Sea bases maybe, but I don't remember anything changing hands. They clearly didn't take over Santiago's base despite many years of war. I had to do that.
Post by: Geo on April 18, 2020, 07:16:06 PM
[Limit reached]
It's like buying a Hab Dome. Certainly within my wealth, but I'm also trying to save to win the game. I don't think I'd want a lot of these things. Let's see if it works as a drop shock troop against a non-AAA unit.
What's up with the Fungicidal part of the abilities? Is it a third hidden upgrade for all Consciousness units in your mod?
Post by: bvanevery on April 18, 2020, 07:37:34 PM
I've seen a Fungicidal Tanks bug way back in the stone ages though, I think before I even started modding. So I'm not convinced I should accept any blame. I do think something about my mod, causes it to manifest more frequently though.
[Limit reached]
MY 2378. I guess the good news is Cha Dawn's eco-damage is self-limiting. Spend too much time making factories after you've ticked everyone off, your cities get vaporized. Svensgaard and Santiago both have the more practical idea of building an Orbital Defense Pod screen. They probably dwarf mine at this point, but we're not in an orbital war. I believe firmly in punishing people on the ground, because the AI gets downright obsessive about winning ODP races.
[Limit reached]
I've wondered at how Svensgaard and Santiago managed their recent amicability. Although AI factions are required to declare vendettas because of nukes, it must not last. Maybe it's 20 turns until softening up? I'm not sure. But here we go again. Well I certainly don't mind the other factions squabbling. It will keep them busy while I win the game.
[Limit reached]
I could commit a total genocide during these sunspots and nobody would ever know I did it. However, that wouldn't help me win the game. In fact it would make everything take longer, pushing so many units around. Might be nice to have Cha Dawn gone though.
[Limit reached]
Fortunately for him, I've got bigger fish to fry. I push the dark thoughts from my mind. Who knew that moneygrubbing would be so peaceful? There's no other way to maintain species diversity.
When I select Corner The Energy Market, the results are not easy to take a screenshot of. I need roughly 160k credits to win. And then I'll have to wait 20 turns. Ho hum!
[Limit reached]
The people regard me as so fair and just, that they will let me make any budgetary decision for their wellbeing. I jack up the ECONOMY. I don't need to know anything new anymore. My few bases that are "done" and merely making Clean Cruiser Formers, I switch to Orbital Power Transmitters. These generally take 2 turns to build because I have the Space Elevator. I only get bonuses up to the size of a base, and my biggest bases have population 22. I've never bothered to build many Sky Hydroponics Labs, been too busy. It doesn't matter as even my Hab Domes aren't done everywhere yet.
[Limit reached]
I finally remember to finish the Living Refinery. It's totally unimportant at this point in the game, with all the minerals about. The problem with making it earlier is the lore. The video for it shows off-world asteroid mining. I don't really want to butcher the lore, just to have it somewhere more game mechanically appropriate, like midgame.
Post by: bvanevery on April 18, 2020, 10:31:03 PM
MY 2381. Cha Dawn really should work on a nuke screen.
Post by: bvanevery on April 19, 2020, 02:32:53 AM
MY 2383. I haven't built that many Orbital Power Transmitters yet, only 10. I'm feeling a little paranoid and so am building Geosynchronous Survey Pods everywhere. I spend a lot of money every turn improving infrastructure at all of my bases, so my savings really aren't moving forwards. I'm stuck around 10k at the moment, even though I'm making about 5k/turn. Hopefully this will at some point pop like a cork and I'll be rich!
[Limit reached]
One of my distractions is wanting to make some Cruiser Formers to make my oceans more productive. I found myself thinking, if only I had a way to get a lot of fungus going, without having to manually work every single square. Then I realized, I actually have that tech! I don't usually think of Fungal Missiles as being useful for anything, but they could be useful now. Then I realized, the fungus probably won't be permanent unless it explodes in ocean shelf squares. I think in deeper water, it sinks. Most of my sea bases are limited by ocean shelf space. I've got some ones that are starving, and it's because they're in deep water. No food would be available for awhile no matter what I do.
[Limit reached]
With only a fusion warhead, I only got 3 new fungal patches out of that. 2 of them aren't within my base's perimeter. The deep ocean waters seem to be unaffected. When I thought about sinking, I suppose I was thinking of the indigenous life forms sinking. That mindworm should be gone next turn. I can't even eat the fungus until it sinks.
Post by: bvanevery on April 19, 2020, 03:49:45 AM
MY 2385. The Caretakers might be completely wiped out by the Pirates. If so, I win the game. My fungus also just became crunchier.
Post by: bvanevery on April 19, 2020, 04:50:39 AM
MY 2386. The Pirates don't actually have an awesome Orbital Defense Pod screen. I believe they've been in a continuous state of orbital war with the Spartans, so the skies are actually pretty empty.
[Limit reached]
This is probably the most nukes I've seen the AI toss in a game. Sort of a "sustainable nuking" steady state.
[Limit reached]
I could stand to make more ODPs myself. It's odd to actually be ahead of everybody in that, only by virtue of having stayed out of trouble. Well, and decisive ground punishment whenever anyone gives me a problem.
[Limit reached]
The land dropped a noticeable amount in a number of places this year. Some trees went with it. A couple of cities are hungry as a result, so I've started Sky Hydroponics Labs in them. My Formers will probably repair the damage before there's any real problem.
[Limit reached]
Having things all dried up isn't 100% bad. What will pop so late in the game?
[Limit reached]
Yippie! Maybe I'll finally get Quantum Power.
[Limit reached]
I think I forgot about this last year, due to a real life interruption. Well, maybe it didn't have 40 minerals in it yet.
[Limit reached]
I'm going to try to grab what I can around the globe.
[Limit reached]
That captured mindworm has waited so many years to do something!
[Limit reached]
A few pods are in remote areas. This is how I will get them. I have an Elite Recon Rover from the beginning of the game. Time to upgrade!
[Limit reached]
Having the odds calculator always on is a bit of an exploit. It will allow me to try to capture every one of these life forms without committing to a battle. If I actually do capture one of them, then maybe I can move away and survive this.
[Limit reached]
Now I just need to get the heck out of the way.
[Limit reached]
Gatling because I have 1 sitting around.
[Limit reached]
I grab a little money before Cha Dawn has the chance to move in on it. I actually land right next to her unit, which you can just barely see on the right side of the dialog box. I thought I wasn't able to do that.
[Limit reached]
Again based on a single old fission unit. The unit to be upgraded is only Disciplined, so it won't live if attacked. So I don't bother putting Trance on it, as that will just make it cost more. Actually it captured a single popped mindworm.
Post by: bvanevery on April 19, 2020, 02:07:01 PM
[Limit reached]
My poor mindworm has nothing to do again. It must be really troublesome, existing as a wriggling jiggling mass of mental do-nothing. One of the pods way up north got popped too.
Post by: bvanevery on April 19, 2020, 02:48:40 PM
MY 2388. I just looked at my tech progress last year. I wasn't due for a tech yet. I thought I had 3 years to go. It's possible I had 2 years to go, I can't be sure. I am guessing the free tech from Secrets of Creation had a delayed effect. The other possibility is the game doesn't count tech research correctly, and 2 years became 1 year. It's flawed either way.
[Limit reached]
The stupid auto unit designer forgot that I knew how to make fungal missiles, because I shot my 1 off. Whereas, I've kept my 1 Planet Buster, my 1 Tectonic Missile, and a few Conventional Missiles. So I'll have to prototype it again at my Skunkworks. Or I could just ignore it, as I probably won't need it, but this annoys me.
[Limit reached]
I finally upgrade all those Laser garrisons to something better. A Laser still costs more with a Quantum unit, but a Missile Launcher costs the same as a Laser. I don't know if I'm invulnerable now, but I've got Neutronium armor, Tachyon fields, and a Quantum reactor at every base. Also I've got Geosynchronous Survey Pods spying on any units approaching, and a decent Orbital Defense Pod screen. I don't think any of the other factions are going to be able to do anything to me.
[Limit reached]
I've finally started making Corporate Labs everywhere. They're expensive but they give a 50% ECONOMY bonus. I had a lot of other infrastructure priorities that were cheaper. It really is quite a bit too tedious to make all this stuff in the endgame, for so many cities. I'm really nice to the Caretakers. Pretty sure killing them would have been a lot quicker.
Post by: bvanevery on April 20, 2020, 02:07:12 AM
MY 2389. The Pirates are particularly well disposed to the planet flooding. I wonder if the Pirate AI is set up to explicitly take advantage of that?
[Limit reached]
I wonder if it's less Pirate industry, and more Pirate nukes, that are the problem.
Post by: bvanevery on April 20, 2020, 02:30:59 AM
MY 2390. I'm not worried yet, but I do wonder at the possibility, of there not being any planet let, to corner the energy market on.
[Limit reached]
Is there going to be any difference between cornering the energy market and transcending? Sure there's an aesthetic difference, but at this rate, I'm not sure there's a game mechanical one. Maybe I need to move Economic Victory somewhere earlier in the tech tree. I'm not even trying to do research, and it looks like I'll end up finishing the tree.
Post by: bvanevery on April 20, 2020, 03:47:47 AM
MY 2392. That came really close to wiping out the Manifold Nexus. It's now coastal. On the positive side, there are no more bases in the area for that to happen again. On the negative side, it's at 110 meters. If it sinks, it's gone. Highly motivated to launch another solar shade.
[Limit reached]
I know this is a game mechanic, but at this point it is merely introducing tedium. I had 25+ Orbital Power Transmitters. This means in the real world, Economic Victory will take an absurdly long time. I've got 38k saved up, and it will take 138k just to start the countdown. Then wait 20 years? A bit absurd for the expense involved. I may have to mod that to sooner, like 5 years. You get a chance to strike at the enemy's capitol and that's it. I don't think I should have to de facto finish the tech tree, sitting around waiting to win.
Post by: bvanevery on April 20, 2020, 05:00:35 PM
MY 2394. Care to guess who will declare war on me? I wonder if I've barely got any Orbital Defense Pods up yet. A few. Many more to come.
[Limit reached]
Nothing I could do about this. He's milling around one of my cities and my Formers were right next to his units. Just clicking on them triggered dialogue.
[Limit reached]
Randomly ran into an unseen boat while moving a Former around at sea. It didn't have a radar on it.
[Limit reached]
I deliberately triggered this one. I didn't feel like faffing around with my Former avoiding stuff. My units are already prepositioned for an assault on her.
[Limit reached]
This would have been pricier in the Fusion era. 960 credits later I own 6 of them, ready to move. Eons ago I took the last city in the Spartan rail connected empire, so this is going to be a cakewalk.
[Limit reached]
I'm surprised the defense is supposedly this strong. The odds calculator is not taking the effect of Soporific Gas Pods into account, so it's going to be easier than it says.
However I never realized that a Geosynchronous Survey Pod provides its own unique defense bonus. I thought it was just a Sensor Array that you didn't have to build, instead of an all new defensive installation. That's what the description says, that it "acts as a Sensor Array", and that's wrong. It does use the same modifier as for Sensor Arrays, so it's got my +50% tweak in it. This is a really powerful defense! I don't want anyone having this as early as C6 Orbital Spaceflight, I'll need to move this farther up the tree. I thought it was just a glorified spy satellite that didn't add much in the way of new capability.
[Limit reached]
Knocking off the 1st city, Santiago wants to still keep fighting. I knock out her ground troops easily with the Tachyon units, leaving only an air unit to defend. I have plenty of spare Interceptors that aren't good for anything else, so I upgrade them. Knocking off the 2nd city, she still wants to keep fighting. I'm now a little worried about her persistence, as she's got troops tromping around in my upper home territory that can inconveniently bother me. I don't really want to repair pillaged terrain, and it would take more units than I've got to suppress her and fend off the Cultists. I need to settle the Pirates and the Cultists first before continuing this exercise.
[Limit reached]
This Fusion unit shouldn't exist. I don't have any design for it, and I upgraded all of my AAA units to quantum reactors quite awhile ago. It must have something to do with having mind controlled this base. Like it utilizes a Pirate unit design instead of one of mine.
[Limit reached]
Pirates 49 was recently settled and is poaching my kelp. I'm hoping an attack would eliminate it. I update my 2 Gravships and it's pricey, 400 credits each. One of them is in flying range and I don't have to drop.
[Limit reached]
The attack didn't destroy the base. I'll have to bring in something else to do that. I don't have any actual warships in the area, only probe teams. I don't really want to add drop capability to my fleet out west, because they're being used as garrison units. My 2nd gravship is all the way up at the Spartans. I drop it in my nearest home base and fly it down to take Pirates 49. That doesn't stop its movement because the base is destroyed. I contact the Pirates.
[Limit reached]
2/3rds of my net worth, not bloody likely!
[Limit reached]
He was pulling my pegleg. The one I was going to rip off his body, and poke his other eye out with. With this matter resolved, I upgrade the strange unit from earlier.
[Limit reached]
Onwards to the Cultists. There are more units surrounding my city than I want to spend units eliminating. The garrison there is not large because over the years I've shifted forces to deal with threats from other factions. It would be better to find an easier means to political compliance.
[Limit reached]
Xi Sector is guarded by an air unit. I can easily fly down to kill it. If that's not enough arm twisting, I could upgrade my rover in the rough with Amphibious Pods. It's been trying to make its way back to base ever since I dropped and popped a supply pod all those years ago. Many Cultist units have been getting in the way.
[Limit reached]
For some reason my simple air assault wipes the base. Maybe it's a land vs. sea thing, as to why the base gets wiped or not. Cha Dawn ignores my transmission afterwards, so I'll need to proceed with Plan B. I refrain from overspending on High Morale or whatever. In recent versions of my mod, weapons are expensive, and adding abilities on top of weapons is expensive. Even that upgrade wasn't cheap, 360 credits. I wonder if I could have bought the base for that?
[Limit reached]
Despite doing some scouting with my Interceptor, a previously unseen unit blocks my way. I'm going to need an air escort. Sanctity Dome is guarded by a AAA unit, so I don't really want to hit it with a Needlejet. Can a Conventional Missile from Dumb Pirate hit this base? Yes, but it can't walk the Speeder in, it's too far out of range. That's not a dealbreaker and it's good to use up a missile. I'm fearing that my 360 credit unit would become a glorified suicide squad anyway. Hmm, what's going to take this base though, if I don't have any gravships? Will my Citizens' Defense Force keep the base from dying as I take it? I bet not, and I don't want the base anyways. What if an amphibious assault from land simply wipes out the base? That would be best. Ok, I'll escort with another Interceptor.
[Limit reached]
Now I know how to do that job. This place sure is crawling with Cultist units. What is with the Cultists still ignoring my hails? I don't think I'd trust the Cultists at this point even if they declared a Truce, so I leave my Interceptor above my Rover to protect it. After all, none of the factions have any Reputation to lose anymore. They've surely all got to be Infamous by now. Hmm I'm not seeing any easy way to check on that though.
[Limit reached]
Looks like I'm taking Invictus. Dumb Pirate missiles can hit it. The 1st missile only wounds the AAA defender. The 2nd takes out a runty Spore Launcher. God I hate those things! I'm out of missiles. In fact I'm in danger of forgetting how to make them, when I get my net tech. Need to get another one started meanwhile, so I change over the production of an Orbital Defense Pod I started this turn. I've weakened the defenders though, so this should be enough to easily take the base, once I do yet more air upgrades.
[Limit reached]
The performance of drop units after an orbital insertion has been underwhelming. With main armaments so expensive now, I'd prefer to just use fixed forces. These upgrades still cost 360 credits apiece.
[Limit reached]
It makes one wonder, why use anything but indigenous life forms? I think the only answer is that they're slow. You can't orbital insert them, although you could load a drop boat full of mindworms and dump them on land somewhere. Well it'll take me writing a new commercial game to solve this problem. The whole "you don't have to do the usual weapons and armor" schtick is pretty wack.
[Limit reached]
Bases often have unarmored defenders at the end of an assault. I'm not happy attacking those with Interceptors because the ground attack penalty is actually pretty bad. I still need a final drop cleanup option, so here it is. Another 390 credits. My tank drops into Chiron Stigmata, slides under the Needlejet that already attacked, trivially wipes out the 2 defenders despite the orbital insertion penalty, and takes the base. Now Cha Dawn starts talking, but he still wants to keep fighting!
Sheesh this is like the longest turn ever. Can you see why I don't want to wait 20 years after finally cornering the energy market? I need to go do something else with my life for a bit. Maybe walk the dog. Maybe watch TV. Anything but more compliance and beatings for Santiago and Cha Dawn. I'm running low on offensive units.
Post by: bvanevery on April 21, 2020, 08:39:11 PM
I decide that pacifying more cities is unrealistic given my paucity of units. Instead I opt for killing the various Spartan and Cultist units milling around my bases. I'm able to do this in good defensive form in Spartan territory, although I lack a proper garrison for the size 2 city I just took. Maybe the AI is too dumb to do anything about it next year. The Cultists, on the other hand, have a number of units milling about Chiron Stigmata and Invictus, which I need to dispose of. The old Speeder reinforcements are sitting at the Manifold Nexus where there are no threats, due to intervening fungus and mindworm guard, so I need to move them. I upgrade 2 old Missile Speeders and we're off to the races. As usual the upgrades are not cheap, running at sub-400 credits. They do a surprisingly effective job of eliminating the interlopers immediately next to my bases. It was a good investment.
[Limit reached]
I fly up some planes to blow away weak artillery and spore launchers, to lessen the number of terrain improvements that will get shelled. I use them to cover my Formers and build a Sensor Array.
[Limit reached]
I have more garrison forces at the Manifold Nexus than I will need, so I drop in a boat to pull them out next year. Oddly enough that boat got landlocked anyways due to receding coastlines.
[Limit reached]
I have a lot of Impact Artillery that has not seen action since the stone ages. They could interdict the damage that the Cultists might like to do to my lands. Doubt I needed this many, but eh, that's how it goes if you want to use the type upgrade exploit. 6 of them I leave home to weaken the Spartan units on my territory. 6 go to the Cultist front, and 2 to the Spartan front.
[Limit reached]
I have a couple of unused Interceptors on the Spartan front, so I use them to block the rails and reinforce the weak base. It won't get taken by ground. It could be taken by air, but I doubt the Spartan AI will think it through.
[Limit reached]
I found a spare garrison unit in my home territory, so I flyboat it into the lead Spartan city I was trying to block up. I'm quite surprised to see a Spartan interceptor in a fungal patch as I land. I had a plane fly up right next to that earlier, and I flew a plane into the base itself earlier. It could have shot this down, but instead it has lost the rest of its movement. I probably hit spacebar upon landing, because if you don't, sometimes you get a bug where your fuel doesn't get replenished and your plane crashes afterwards. The Spartan interceptor does not say it's equipped with a cloaking field, so I'm calling this a bug.
[Limit reached]
I've run out of units to upgrade and make use of. I had an expensive Drop Gas Tachyon Needlejet, which I upped to a simpler Shard model. It assaults the next base on the rail line, blocking reinforcement by rail. Damage will be more than desired because of the AAA defense, but I'm overwhelmingly stronger than the unit defending.
[Limit reached]
Almost forgot to rush the Bulk Matter Transmitter. That was an expensive turn; I've got 50k left. Now there's nothing more to do, except see how the AI responds to my defensive emplacements.
Post by: bvanevery on April 22, 2020, 07:14:21 AM
MY 2395. The Caretakers just ring me up. Then they declare war on me. Do I feel sorry enough for them, to spare their miserable lives? The Pirates are doing a pretty good job of wiping them out. I've been wondering if failing to intervene, is tantamount to allowing genocide. I had thought that perhaps I'd achieve Economic Victory before the last Caretaker is wiped out. But I've certainly left them to fend for themselves, as far as maintaining their own cultural identity and empire existence. And this is the thanks I get: empty threats.
[Limit reached]
The Cultists attacked my interceptors with their own. They did terribly at it, losing a fair number. I'll just heal up my wounds in safety, unruffled. They also lost various artillery pieces trying to shell me. Total bounce. I did lose 1 Former, whoopie.
[Limit reached]
The Spartans lose their next base down the rail and give up fighting.
[Limit reached]
One of my Shard Gravships gets pretty chewed up killing a non-AAA defender, proving that they ain't all that. However it does reduce a size 2 city to size 1. I drop a drop interceptor on it to destroy it, then fly back towards the Manifold Nexus. Since an interceptor doesn't trigger diplomatic contact, I ring Cha Dawn up. He signs a Truce.
[Limit reached]
I've got enough Orbital Defense Pods now, given that the Pirates and the Spartans still seem to engage in orbital warfare. I've got many Orbital Power Transmitters in progress. I shuffle some spare garrisons and flyboats around, in case of 'surprise' attacks.
Post by: bvanevery on April 22, 2020, 03:14:12 PM
MY 2397. Svensgaard calls an election. Of course it doesn't matter. I would have long since declared Diplomatic Victory if it weren't for the Caretakers. Even if I didn't have any voting bonuses, I'd be pretty close to being able to do it.
[Limit reached]
If he'd just blow up the right cities, I'd have more land.
Post by: bvanevery on April 22, 2020, 07:28:43 PM
MY 2398. I haven't seen any dire flood warnings. Maybe on the balance, Svensgaard has done us all a favor? Getting rid of Cultist heavy industry.
[Limit reached]
I really wish the AI would aim better. I didn't want to intervene in this. I'm not usually flying by, I was just trying to get a unit home through all the Cultist nonsense.
[Limit reached]
Maybe they could go nuke some Spartans instead. I'd hardly mind.
[Limit reached]
She could have picked a bigger target. Another AI shortcoming.
[Limit reached]
Somehow I think Miriam will live it down.
[Limit reached]
The Manifold Nexus doesn't need any more improvements, and I'm tired of Cultist units wandering around my territory. It's time to escort them off the property. If the game goes on long enough, I could also use these to smother cities. After all we're in a state of PermaTruce, and I don't have to feel sorry for factions that won't sign Treaties.
[Limit reached]
This one Pirate land base is in the way of joining the Spartan front with the rest of my empire. Somehow the Spartans haven't managed to crack the base. Probably because they're wandering all the way across my lands to fight the Believers. I'm going to block them from doing that. And I'm going to constrict this Pirate base. They can actually eat fungus so I can't starve them out, but I can decrease their minerals to nearly nothing.
[Limit reached]
You'd think we could come up with some standards for how many pollutants a nuke is allowed to release.
Post by: bvanevery on April 22, 2020, 08:03:34 PM
MY 2399. It's a good thing there are still plenty of bases for the Pirates to target. Otherwise I'd be worried about them knocking down my defense screen and throwing nukes at me.
[Limit reached]
I've put the Dream Twister pretty late in the game so that it can't affect much of anything meaningfully. Granted, if I had kept going with fullblown research I would have long since had it.
[Limit reached]
Bases can only benefit from satellites up to the size of the base. My biggest city is size 40 and the largest tier of cities is around size 35, so I can't benefit much from more Orbital Power Transmitters. I start making more Sky Hydroponics Labs to jack up my bases even bigger. Flopping back and forth between the two will be the drill until I win. I also have bases making lotsa sea formers to raise the ocean floor, for lack of anything better to do.
[Limit reached]
I'm the darker green bits. I've cracked 100k credits! Income is 14k/turn. 141k needed to corner the market.
Post by: Geo on April 22, 2020, 10:07:08 PM
[Limit reached]
If he'd just blow up the right cities, I'd have more land.
Judgments Seal was a Believer base, right?
If so, I feel a game mechanic were pact brothers/sisters extend their ODP shield to each other would be good.
Post by: bvanevery on April 22, 2020, 11:58:32 PM
And what if your Pact ally is basically irresponsible? One thing that's bugging me about the diplomacy of this game, is that factions "morally outraged by the tossing of nukes", soon enough commit the offense themselves in retaliation. So maybe they shouldn't have freaked out so hard in the 1st place.
If I had to choose whether my satellites would intervene, and my ally got wind that I was letting it happen, well mightn't they declare war on me? So maybe I shouldn't have to be made responsible for that to begin with.
I definitely think there's plenty of room for rethinking the diplomatic model of a game like this. One thing I would like, is not to have repeat mouseclicks about trivial matters that won't be dealt with. Like whether factions have comm frequencies to offer or not. Game mechanically I just want to get on with it. I realize that streamlining the game mechanical UI, may cut the narrative stuff short. I'd rather just have different, separate opportunities for narrative portrayal, than deal with these stock lines of communication over and over again. I don't believe in the stock lines. They turn the factions into cookie cutters of each other more than not.
This has also turned into a darned tedious finish. I'm pretty bored. Coming up with this much money probably just takes forever. I could improve my COMMERCE rating by selecting more ECONOMY, at the expense of being able to eat and mine my fungus and get all the energy from it. I'm skeptical that it would make much difference, and too close to the end to bother to find out.
Post by: bvanevery on April 23, 2020, 02:52:00 AM
[Limit reached]
With a round of Sky Hydroponics Labs completed, I doubt I need any more economic production in this game. I'm about to slide into home plate, then see how the AI reacts to that. I'm feeling a little paranoid about what the AI may try to do, so I start building defensive garrison units. I haven't previously made anything in particular to stop mindworm attacks, since I have the Neural Amplifier. I make them Clean so that I'm not watering down my productivity, should I need it. It probably doesn't matter now though.
[Limit reached]
I also make a Missile Hovertank version of such things, as some of my bases are putting out enough minerals to do these in 2 turns. Might as well not waste the productivity. With a quantum reactor powering them, missiles are adequate for taking out many fusion units, and missiles are the cutoff threshold of cheap in my mod.
[Limit reached]
Similarly I make a kind of defensive ship. Most of my sea bases were settled after I had any productivity issue, just to cover up nearby oceanic space and contribute to my economy. Most don't have access to good onshore resources, and they generally don't produce a lot of minerals. I didn't want to increase any global warming potential.
[Limit reached]
A sea base that produces 50-ish minerals, is a good candidate for a 100 mineral garrison ship. However a sea base that only produces 40-ish minerals, ironically needs a more expensive ship design, to make use of the 3 turns of production that are going to be required anyways.
Rushed the Dream Twister. 110k credits saved.
Post by: bvanevery on April 23, 2020, 04:02:28 AM
MY 2401. I wanted this base to change hands, because it divides my Spartan front from the rest of my empire. Using force on the Spartans has been the best way to make them behave. Whereas buying a Pirate base, has been the best way to make them behave, and those are way cheaper on the other side of the planet.
I saw a message go by about committing an atrocity against the Pirates. 10 years of sanctions got imposed on someone. I don't see that any faction has X units, so I wonder what the atrocity was. The obliteration of a base? Obliterations are actually way worse than chemical attacks AFAICT. Chemical attacks seem to get penalized per attack, whereas obliterations seem to be penalized per citizen dead. Last I checked / remember. It's all written up in one of my other AARs somewhere.
124k saved. 144k needed.
Post by: bvanevery on April 23, 2020, 04:31:22 AM
MY 2402. This one was shot down. 138k saved.
[Limit reached]
For reasons I do not understand, the price of cornering the energy market is slightly cheaper than previously reported. I begin! My land cities are in no danger, their garrisons are very thorough. My sea cities could be vulnerable if someone actually had some forces to concentrate, but I don't think anyone does. Also I have many sea formers to distract any invaders.
[Limit reached]
Under my new 1.42 rules, I only have to hold on for 5 years. Given the expense levels involved, the hugely long ramp up time, I think that's more than enough to give the AI its chance. It's time for this game to be won.
Post by: bvanevery on April 23, 2020, 04:55:17 AM
MY 2403. I honestly don't see any need for Psi Gates at this point, fun as it might be to build them. Although I have played some games in the past where I did build them, nowadays I question whether I'd ever get to this in rational play. Even with my LABS budget at 10% for as long as its been, none of the other factions have discovered Quantum Power or Graviton Theory. They're helpless. Nobody did anything aggressive.
Even waiting 4 more years is super, duper dull. Gonna find something else to do for awhile.
Post by: Geo on April 23, 2020, 08:11:22 AM
Unless you're frenemies. :D
And what if your Pact ally is basically irresponsible? One thing that's bugging me about the diplomacy of this game, is that factions "morally outraged by the tossing of nukes", soon enough commit the offense themselves in retaliation. So maybe they shouldn't have freaked out so hard in the 1st place.
If I had to choose whether my satellites would intervene, and my ally got wind that I was letting it happen, well mightn't they declare war on me? So maybe I shouldn't have to be made responsible for that to begin with.
Pacts can be cancelled if you can't stomach your allies' decisions.
Post by: bvanevery on April 23, 2020, 09:33:51 AM
God this endgame is the dullest thing I've done in awhile. I can't recommend trying to win the game this way at all. At least not how I did it. Version 1.42 will have Economic Victory available with C6 Fusion Power. I hope that helps but at this time, I have no idea.
Post by: bvanevery on April 23, 2020, 09:49:53 PM
MY 2406. These last few turns are nothing more than watching paint dry. Perhaps I should take an old school screenshot that requires some hand eye coordination, to improve the production values for the very end. Unfortunately, something went wrong with my PrntScrn capture and I didn't paste it right.
[Limit reached]
This time I've got glorious Paint 3D open already, and I'll refrain from fiddling with Snip & Sketch, which is what caused the problem last time.
[Limit reached]
Not my best timing, but it'll have to do. I've done AARs full of Planet Buster Porn before, if anyone really cares. Every phase of annihilation.
[Limit reached]
Even not trying, I'm close to finishing the tech tree. I moved Dissociative Wave late enough in the game to be irrelevant. It's also very expensive, 100% cost increase. I call that "soft retirement" of a game feature. You can have it if you want to sandbox, but if you're rationally interested in winning the game in the shortest amount of time, there's no reason to care about it.
I have 70k credits. I guess that means my economy really is cool. Next year should be the victory!
[Limit reached]
I had to make sure the Datalinks haven't been gaslighting me about victory conditions all these years. Yep, this really was the price of keeping the Caretakers in the game. They have 5 bases left now. 1 of which is empty, presumably due to ongoing Pirate assaults. I really never went to bat for them, so I'm not sure if that makes me a Humanitarian or not. They will survive with enough population to make a small ghetto.
Post by: bvanevery on April 23, 2020, 10:18:25 PM
MY 2407. Thanks to my modding of the victory conditions, it's finally over. I think total conquest of every base, might have been fewer mouseclicks. Or building a pile of Planet Busters and eliminating everyone in 1 turn. Granted, that wasn't my temperament. If I had been violent, I could have simply eliminated the Caretakers and declared Diplomatic Victory eons ago. What a peacenik.
[Limit reached]
Snip & Sketch was incapable of capturing my planetwide banner screenshot. Just feel free to imagine it. I don't usually play to maximize my score. This is one of the highest population games I remember playing, with some bases getting through about 50% of their dynamic range I think. I'm assuming 99 is the cutoff but I could be wrong. Of course I got Stairway to Transcendence for my book, and of course Snip & Sketch messed up again.
[Limit reached]
Yeah, compared to previous recorded games this population is quite large. Almost 3X. I'm not sure how long I've left my installation directory undisturbed.
[Limit reached]
Snip & Sketch once again was inadequate for capturing the map conquest summary. It didn't show the Pirate control of the oceans, nor my own ocean control. But in the scheme of things, I didn't occupy the planet to any special degree. The Pirates and the Cultists had roughly equal spread. The Spartans were smaller than us, having picked on the wrong power. The Believers were roughly equal with them, pretty much my Nature Park with the occasional mushroom cloud going off.
[Limit reached]
I wonder if Economic Victory is much easier with the Morganites? With no hangups about benefiting from the Manifold Harmonics. And starting on the project with C6 Fusion Power.