Group AAR #2: Fight for the Future

[ete]

Four human factions.

Three AI.

Fifteen turns per round, then back to the hands of the AI.

Let's fight for the future of Planet.

May the best faction win.

[ete]

Turn order:

Yitzi - The Green Drones
BlueFlux - Creche Union
JarlWolf - House Satori
ete - The Technocrat Foundation

15 turns per round. Aim to do your round the first day it's available, but we'll have a 3 day time limit on playing, if missed it passes to next player but you can play as soon as you return (unless someone else is mid turn, then you play after them).

Players may agree political deals in this thread and request they be implemented even off-turn (e.g. if Jarlwolf's and BlueFlux's factions declare war on each other during Yitzi's round and both of them post agreeing to a ceasefire, Yitzi must implement that via faction editor as soon as he sees the posts. Similar deals can be agreed about tech trading and other things.). This allows for more complex diplomacy and opens up lots of fun negotiation. Contacting the AI directly is still permissible. Players may also arrange private deals outside the thread, but a copy of any agreements must be saved and posted in this thread after the game is finished for posterity, and those deals must be for things the factions could reasonably exchange. Whenever a secret deal is arranged, a placeholder post should be made for the contents of the deal to be edited in later.

No in-thread diplomacy before commlinks have been exchanged.

I used the first randomly generated map, with only the following changes:
AI start locations had forests added near them.
Five squares were raised to significantly improve continent connectivity, hopefully allowing for a more interesting and interactive game.

Standard MP rules apply, no exploiting bugs (e.g. crawler upgrading to instabuild SPs, build queue manipulation).

Please use Yitzi's latest patch. Using scient's or a very old Yitzi patch may cause issues with eco-damage, and no one wants Planet prematurely flooded.

Be careful if you are a faction owner, make sure you don't overwrite more recent files with older ones. I have tried to find and package the most recent, but cannot promise you don't have a newer version.

[Yitzi]

So I'm first?  Ok, 15 turns tomorrow.

By the way, what are the AI factions?

[Yitzi]

By the way, that zip file does not include bree.pcx, you might want to fix that.

[Yitzi]

Foreman's Journal, MY 2101:

The revolution was painless.  As soon as we landed on this planet, my forces took over the colony.  I had half of the colonists establish a base camp immediately to begin working, while the others, as well as a smaller force of armed men, will search for another location.  I have begun training another force of explorers as well.



I would have liked to take Chairman Yang into custody, but he was too dangerous to be allowed to live.  Nothing can be allowed to threaten the oppression-free nature of our society.

Foreman's Journal, MY 2102:

We have had some luck.  We found a pod seeded by the Unity, containing a rover, which will speed up our exploration efforts.



The pod also contained a survey apparatus that found nutrient resources for us; this will speed growth in Free Drone Central, and as a result we have begun producing the necessary equipment to produce more bases.



My explorers have found the outskirts of a large crater, presumably the result of a meteor impact.  The crater's name will be decided by the people, but I expect it to be rich in mineral resources, and therefore a good place for our second base.



Foreman's Journal, MY 2103:

It appears that humans are not the first intelligent race to land on this planet.  Investigating what we thought to be another Unity pod, we have found what appears to be an artifact of a previous civilization.  We do not yet have the resources to make use of it, but eventually we will.



Foreman's Journal, MY 2104:

The people have decided to name the crater after Captain Garland.



Foreman's Journal, MY 2106:

We have had another stroke of luck.  An agricultural pod from the Unity planted farms throughout Garland Crater and found nutrient resources.  This will truly be an ideal site.

[ete]

By the way, that zip file does not include bree.pcx, you might want to fix that.

Ops, thanks. Fixed.

And nice, an AA, rover, Nut bonus, and five farm squares in the crater already. Those farms especially will help, since you're probably not going to get much other teraforming done until your next turn in 2160.

The AI factions are the ones found in the factionpack, I was thinking of not announcing in-thread until we run into them, but

(click to show/hide)

Jarl's Imperium
Jarl's Valhallans
The Bree

Representing powerful examples of three extremely different playstyles.

[Yitzi]

Actually, you can see who's playing anyway by looking at which factions are in the datalinks.

[Yitzi]

Foreman's Journal, MY 2106 (continued):

One of our explorers, while traveling through the fungus that seems to be prevalent on this planet, came across a strange tower of the stuff.  It doesn't seem to be in the way of where we want to go, so might as well just leave it be.



Foreman's Journal, MY 2107:

I think the aliens responsible for the artifacts may have returned; in any case, there were signs of a battle in space, and both sides appear to have sent remnants to this planet.  Once we know more, we will deal with this situation as it demands; in any case, the welfare of the citizenry remains top priority.



Foreman's Journal, MY 2108:

Something that has happened that may change everything.  We shall preserve for posterity the event as told by Raymond Baxter, the leader of the squad in question, and it is those words that I shall record here:

It started, ya see, when we went to check out another Unity pod.  We'd heard that they've got useful stuff, and we could use some more of that, ya know?

Well, this pod didn't have useful stuff...at least not of the usual sort.  We opened it, and out came a whole bunch of these alien worms, each one 'bout the length of a man's finger.  Well, those worms headed over to some nearby fungus and formed up into a sort of bunch. 



Now, we were pretty tired, but people said they felt uneasy as the worms passed by, and there were a whole lot of 'em, and they looked like they had sharp teeth, so I figgered that maybe we'd better go over and see if they were some sorta threat to the colony, ya know?

Well, as we started to get closer, people were feelin' uneasy again, so I decided to give 'em a speech to remind 'em what we're here for.  Nothin' fancy, just the usual.  Everybody gets to live equally, don't repeat the mistakes of old Earth with the rich people lordin' it over everyone else, respect for other people, ya know, the basic stuff we all believe.  A lot of people's minds are on that alien stuff we found and that space battle last year, so I added in a bit about how even aliens have the same rules...everyone's equal, ya know.  And maybe that was what did it, 'cause when I finished my speech, I turned around and there were all the worms just...listenin', I suppose.  An' then Ms. Ralen, who everybody thought was just a bit uncanny with how she seemed to know what you were thinkin', comes over ta me and says they want her to lead them.



Well, this was all very strange, ya know, but I meant what I said about lettin' aliens in, so we said goodbye to Ms. Ralen, and off she went with the worms.

Subsequent communications from Ms. Ralen seem to indicate that the worms are not the builders of the artifacts we have found, nor those that fought in space last year.  They do, however, appear to have some sort of link to the fungus.

[Yitzi]

Foreman's Journal, MY 2109:

We have founded Spanner Works, in the middle of the Garland Crater.



Due to its importance and high production capability, I am setting a number of synthmetal-armored people to keep watch at the base.



Foreman's Journal, MY 2110:

We are well established, so I set up some proper research facilities.  The first target is to better understand the local ecology, in order to begin producing more farms.  Some of the citizens were loggers on old Earth, and have suggested that we have some forests as well.



I have recieved a disappointing report: Our rover squadron came across another group of those worms hidden in the fungus. 



Well, they knew what to do: They came close and made a speech a lot like Mr. Baxter's.  Unfortunately, it seems that sort of thing is hit or miss, as these worms attacked our men.  Apparently, it gets a whole lot worse than unease; some of the men were literally paralyzed with fear, and the worms have gotten the nickname "mind worms".  Still, enough kept their cool to jury-rig some flamethrowers from the rovers' equipment, and they destroyed the worms. 
It also appears that the worms contain some exotic materials that can be used to produce energy, which we are calling "planetpearls".



Foreman's Journal, MY 2111:

The rovers have come across another fungal tower, this one near a Unity pod.  As such, they're moving in.



The fungal tower counterattacked much like the worms, but was destroyed.

Mr. Baxter's patrol encountered another pod full of worms; this time, they were too tired to move in, and the worms attacked.  It seems that the element of surprise is a major factor in these engagements, but Mr. Baxter's force fared well nonetheless.



Foreman's Journal, MY 2112:

Ms. Ralen's worms encountered what appears to be a related form of creature, and they have joined us as well.



Foreman's Journal, MY 2114:

Ms. Ralen has encountered a large, apparently extinct, volcano, which she has named Mount Planet.



Mr. Baxter's patrol encountered another group of worms; this time, he was able to gain the offensive, but still was unable to persuade them to join us.



And now it's BlueFlux's turn, MY 2116.

(Also, right after my turn was supposed to end, I encountered the Valhallans; they'd gotten Centauri Ecology somehow, so we traded techs.)

[ete]

Looks like a solid start. Crater is useful, mostly good pod pops, though not quite enough time to get formers into play. Hopefully the AI will make them for you, and pick some good base placements.

[Flux]

Okay, BU alerted me that it was my turn. I will post it sometime tonight.

[Buster's Uncle]

 

[ete]

Okay, BU alerted me that it was my turn. I will post it sometime tonight.

Cool, I look forward to it.

I'm itching to play my turn, slightly wishing I'd not put myself last.. but hey. At least I'll have more units and stuff to play with, assuming I don't get rushed.

[Flux]

Holy crap that was annoying.
This might take a while, I have to re-install SMAC. Yitzi's mod crashes when I choose production, the other SMAC's dont work.

[Buster's Uncle]

Are you using the text files from version 3.3?  You need those.