Group AAR #2: Fight for the Future

[ete]

hm, SFF is not of high importance since I have res lasers already (and hope to steal D:AP from the imperium since atsumi should let me through now we're pacted), so if the AI refuses trade I'll not trade for now. Will see how your war with the Valhallians plays out first, if you start getting into trouble I may send extra tech as assistance.

In general though, you don't need to ask permission here before doing stuff diplomatically. Like, if you'd just gone ahead and made the trade before asking, that would have been fine. It's only stuff a leader has said they'd rather not do that you can't, otherwise the assumption is the AI is in charge.

[Mart]

Ending 2175
Free Drones

Contact with Atsumi from House Satori



Contact with Ron from Creche Union


Central Bank of Creche Union requests a loan of 222 EC, but Free Drones are in no position to spare any.

The Satori announce the seizure of Those Who Earn It.

= = = = = = = = = = = = =
MY 2176



Politics
Mad Dog wants to talk...


We sign a Treaty finally, Mad Dog doeas not want to Pact at this time.

Central Bank of Creche Union requests a loan of 221 EC, but Free Drones are in no position to spare any. Needs of Drone economy are so extensive...

Society
Valuing Power is no longer supported by Free Drone government.

[ete]

"The Satori announce the seizure of Those Who Earn It."
Huh, I'm impressed that Satori managed to take two bases from Sepsu.

[Mart]

MY 2177
Interlude from The Book of Planet


Society
Fundamentalism is no longer supported by Free Drone government. Democracy is the way to go for its efficiency and growth benefits.

MY 2178

Plans
With acquiring of probe ability, important tasks are infiltration of other factions and spying on their technological research.

Contact with House Satori.


Units disbanded to hurry Planetary Energy Grid. Bree is building it too, but Domai must be the first to complete it!

MY 2180

Prototype of R-laser infantry completed.


Synthetic Fossil Fuels breakthrough! An important step towards Air Power.
Meanwhile, advancements are used in a new former design, that will process xenofungus and allow faster removal.

Society
Planned economy is now implemented by Free Drone government. This completes the plan for boosting faction economy.

There is an urgent message from Mad Dog.

A spore launcher, somehow lost in their territory.

MY 2181

[Flux]

Ah well, fair enough.. I guess it's just me who likes it and has time.

The issue isn't time; it's that you're apparently the only one who likes the AI screwing up your empire.

(At some point, I probably should figure out the AI so that I can figure out how to make it not-so-ridiculously-stupid.)

To clarify my sentence: There are not people who both like it and have time other than me. You don't like it, Jarl does not have time, BlueFlux is possibly both.

And it's not that I like the AI screwing me up, I like playing a game that feels like a potential challenge because there's humans out there building too without having to deal with the pace most MP PBEM games seem to go at (multiple months to finish a game, with a high chance of your foe leaving). Undoing the AI's screwups is kinda frustrating (you saw those 45 scouts it tried to attack with?), but at least it's a novel thing to optimize.

Making the AI less stupid is a noble goal. I'll be happy to help with that effort with testing and advise.

I reckon y'all might ought to try a straight succession game - take turns playing the same faction.

No challenge. Human v AI games are either kind of horrible because the AI has a stupid advantage and could crush you at any moment if they brought more than a fraction of their force against you so it feels just really uncomfortable, or basically cakewalks. Taking it in turns to play the same faction would be barely more interesting strategically than playing a normal game, with added delays.

I can take over a faction, if needed. I like this kind of games

That would be cool . I'd suggest the Drones as the most evenly matched faction to take over, but if you'd rather pick someone else you're welcome to. You may take a look around on omniscient before deciding. File's attached to my last AAR post.

Okay, admittedly I had enough time. I mean, not a whole lot but I could have definitely done the AAR.
But then I dusted off an old Dreamcast... I love the games on that system. Especially Sonic Adventure.
Seriously though, it's great. Everyone owes it to themself to pick one up. So I wasted all the time I could have spent AARing playing video games from the decade of the last.

[ete]

Nice, PEG is one of the best early SPs imo. 8 rows worth of minerals saved per base, plus maintenance, and it all goes into a useful facility to have sooner. And the drone's industrial advantage is really shining there, you managed to rush it in six turns, it took me 14 turns to get the VW done despite extensive disbanding and only grabbed CN due to a large loan from Atsumi.

Okay, admittedly I had enough time. I mean, not a whole lot but I could have definitely done the AAR.
But then I dusted off an old Dreamcast... I love the games on that system. Especially Sonic Adventure.
Seriously though, it's great. Everyone owes it to themself to pick one up. So I wasted all the time I could have spent AARing playing video games from the decade of the last.

Fair enough, you did let us know when you reached your deadline. If you fancy ACing again sometime feel free to hop back into the game.

[Mart]

Nice, PEG is one of the best early SPs imo. 8 rows worth of minerals saved per base, plus maintenance, and it all goes into a useful facility to have sooner.

PEG is somewhat too powerful. And it seems to avoid discussions about overpowering, that Empath Guild and Cloudbase Academy get. Maybe it has to do with these SP application, while EG and CA have military (mostly) benefits, PEG is economic.
 

And the drone's industrial advantage is really shining there, you managed to rush it in six turns, it took me 14 turns to get the VW done despite extensive disbanding and only grabbed CN due to a large loan from Atsumi.

AI was actually building CN in that base and already had like 1/3 or more minerals. Also, it got many 6-row units 5-3r-1, so disbanding one was like a whole 3-row crawler. And this is base in the Garland Crater, so gets a lot of minerals per turn.

===========
Now something technical:

I "enabled" scenario path in the save. It should work as long as the game is not launched again as scenario. Also, interludes should work too.

So we can use the special alphax.txt for this game and other appropriate files (like scenario.txt) if needed, without replacing them in the game folder.
What needs to be done is:

Create in the game folder, and further in scenario folder, folder "FftF" and inside of it place scenario files (alphax.txt, etc.)

What I did to the save file, I launched the game from .SAV file (renamed to .Sc) and then scenario path in a newely saved file SAV changed from absolute path to: ".\scenarios\FftF\" This way the game looks for alphax.txt over there. In case it does not find it, it takes main folder file/s.

Faction files may not work though...

[ete]

Nice, PEG is one of the best early SPs imo. 8 rows worth of minerals saved per base, plus maintenance, and it all goes into a useful facility to have sooner.

PEG is somewhat too powerful. And it seems to avoid discussions about overpowering, that Empath Guild and Cloudbase Academy get. Maybe it has to do with these SP application, while EG and CA have military (mostly) benefits, PEG is economic.

I'd make the argument that economic SPs are more powerful with SMAX's exponential growth trends, but I'm also a fan of just letting a bunch of different overpowered things fight it out, with the real challenge being who can exploit powerful strategies the best.

Though honestly I never got the hype behind EG.. double votes is not a big deal and surely it's cheaper to sneak a transport with a group of probe teams up to a foe's coastal base and force through infiltration than building a whole SP. I guess in games with seven human's it's a bigger deal.. but even then if you're at serious war where you need infiltration with more than one or two players you're probably doing something wrong. Being the central tech trader would be nice though in big games.

And the drone's industrial advantage is really shining there, you managed to rush it in six turns, it took me 14 turns to get the VW done despite extensive disbanding and only grabbed CN due to a large loan from Atsumi.

AI was actually building CN in that base and already had like 1/3 or more minerals. Also, it got many 6-row units 5-3r-1, so disbanding one was like a whole 3-row crawler. And this is base in the Garland Crater, so gets a lot of minerals per turn.

Right, that makes sense. You've got a lot more expensive units with that indust bonus to pour into SPs.

Now something technical:

I "enabled" scenario path in the save. It should work as long as the game is not launched again as scenario. Also, interludes should work too.

So we can use the special alphax.txt for this game and other appropriate files (like scenario.txt) if needed, without replacing them in the game folder.
What needs to be done is:

Create in the game folder, and further in scenario folder, folder "FftF" and inside of it place scenario files (alphax.txt, etc.)

What I did to the save file, I launched the game from .SAV file (renamed to .Sc) and then scenario path in a newely saved file SAV changed from absolute path to: ".\scenarios\FftF\" This way the game looks for alphax.txt over there. In case it does not find it, it takes main folder file/s.

Faction files may not work though...

I'm fine with playing it the way it is, but if you want to switch over then that's okay. It uses a pretty default alphax, just one change to drone rules which probably won't be significant this game since we both have minimal drone problems.

[Mart]

Time for a 2181 report:

Creche Union
150 EC in reserves, 15 votes
FUNDAMENTALIST, PLANNED, SURVIVAL, NONE
Pact with Drones, Technocrates
Treaty with Satori, Bree
Truce with Valhallan
Vendetta with Imperium

Research, 26 technologies, rate 20/turn, tech every 30 turns, 10 turns to Adaptive Economics
+12 EC/year




Technocrat Foundation
91 EC in reserves, 36 votes
FUNDAMENTALIST, PLANNED, SURVIVAL, NONE
Pact with Drones, Creche, Satori
Treaty with -
Truce with Valhallan
Vendetta with Bree, Imperium

Research, 29 technologies, rate 63/turn, tech every 16 turns, 2 turns to Centauri Meditation
+29 EC/year



Free Drones
394 EC in reserves, 36 votes
DEMOCRATIC, PLANNED, SURVIVAL, NONE
Pact with Creche, Technocrates, Satori
Treaty with Valhallan
Truce with -
Vendetta with Bree, Imperium

Research, 29 technologies, rate 32/turn, tech every 39 turns, 38 turns to Industrial Automation
+33 EC/year

[ete]

Interesting to see them next to each other like that.. we're perfectly tied for population, but you have fewer bases. I have about twice as many non-combat units as you, but only three more formers (others are probes and crawlers mostly). My AI likes the idea of rovers with good weapons, which is not as good as infrastructure.. but vastly better than trance scouts. I'll probably have enough of a decent standing army to start a good war by 2190 when I'll awake again. And I've got twice the research rate despite my AI running fundy.

Looking forward to infiltrating Sepsu and getting a good picture of what he's upto.

[Mart]

... My AI likes the idea of rovers with good weapons, which is not as good as infrastructure.. but vastly better than trance scouts. I'll probably have enough of a decent standing army to start a good war by 2190 when I'll awake again. ...

I can set some AI strategy/personality for Technocrats in scenario editor, if you wish.

[ete]

It's cool, I may edit them at the end of my next turn, but leave them as-is for now. I may be able to take a bunch of Imperium bases with those rovers .

[Mart]

MY 2182

Just leaving Free Drone Central, and there is Bree Sealurk!


And it turns out, that House Satori got Industrial Automation!
Will it trade with Free Drones?

Well, I insist. This technology is of crucial importance to Free Drones.


Society
Wealth! Everyone has a right to get rich!



But Free Drones are not that rich yet...



Foreman Mart: "I have a proposal to make."
Founder Federov: "Very well, what do you desire from me?"
Foreman Mart: "Access to your research."
Founder Federov: "And what do you offer in return?"
Foreman Mart: "Some of my technologies."

[ete]

Ah, so I'm ready to start the Xenoempathy Dome, or already have. Excellent, that's one of my favorite secret projects.

[Mart]

Only Satori is attempting to get PTS.
Technocrats build a lot of military.

MY 2183
Liberty Plant base established.

MY 2184
Anvil of Man base established.
A floating unity pod, what does it contain?

Sonar buoy data, what a disappointment!


The race has begun!
And Free Drone Central alone produces one basic crawler a year. You could keep the Industrial Automation for yourself Madam Atsumi.

MY 2185
The first Free Drone probe team skimship is ready to infiltrate Imperium computer network.



MY 2186
Valhallans computer net.

   = = = = = = = * * * = = = = = = =

House Satori has Air Power. And it turns out, they will trade it!

I have a proposal


MY 2187

Three new bases:
Assembly Hall
Domai Dome
Staples of Life

- Atsumi refuses to talk


TOP SECRET
Deep under Headquarter building in Free Drone Central, in a secret meeting room three people gathered. It was a council as usual. Foreman Domai, Foreman Mart and Spymaster Ronald took their places at the table.
"So... I think we all know, why we are here. Centauri Meditation is in posession of Technocrats and Satori. Madam Atsumi just refused to talk about possible exchange."
"We have no capabilities to infiltrate Satori at this time."
"Then the real last chance is, that she would agree on the transfer in 2188 or 2189. Well, even 2190 would work."
"Possibly Bree has that tech too, but we have no way to find it out in short time."
"Why?"
"Our probe team skimship is in Future's Fulcrum. That is inland sea."
"Wasn't that ship built in this base?"
"It was, but after successfull action in Ares Revenge, all crew got drunk. Next thing they remember was floating in Fulcrum Bay."
"How did they get there? Isn't that impossible? We have no working canal to that sea yet!"
"No-one has any idea."
"Have you tried some alternatives? Hypnosis?"
"These guys are from Spanner Works Foundries elite workforce. They do not yield to any suggestions. Hypnotic including."
"So Atsumi is the only way."
"Yes"
"And in case we succeed? Will we have enough crawlers?"
"We already have output of more than three per year."
"Founder Federov will be mad."
"Maybe"

Social
And just necessary, as population grows, psych alocation brought to 40%, research and economy at 30%.