Group AAR #2: Fight for the Future

[ete]

You're currently at war with Sepsu and the Bree, treatied with Atsumi and Mraxis, and Pacted with me and the drones. Sepsu's being pushed back hard though by me+Atsumi, and Bree are not likely to have much ground force yet.

[ete]

Sepsu's revenge is swift, he destroyed two rovers with needlejets and two with a rover he had hidden in the fungus. Still, the bulk of my forces ar intact and ready to push forward to the next base.


Bah, one turn later and I'd have had more votes than Sepsu. I'd have had Atsumi's support too, and got governorship.


I've switched to FM and put 30% in Psych, it's paying off.



With Intellectual Integrity traded with the Drones, my next tech will come immediately. Cyberethics is quite tempting, Knowledge would speed my research significantly, but at the cost of increased tensions with Atsumi who I need to keep pacted so I can move through her territory. Applied Relativity for the Supercollider, which I'll build in a central base. Emphasize my strengths.


This was a very tricky choice. I'd love to get the AV, and Hybrid Forests will come in handy, but.. I want to get to MMI and the two awesome SPs it provides asap. Neural Amp would be handy too, though not as good as AV.







I'm doing more damage than I'm taking. Enough that Sepsu wants peace again. That's not going to last though, I have no intention of holding back my probing activities.



He's got a reasonable air force, let's rush my counter.

[ete]

Ah, Sepsu, you are no match for my basic tactical competence.



I have authorized the relocation of our Headquarters to Geological Institute, a more central location which should reduce inefficiency across the faction. After that we'll start work on the Supercollider at the new HQ, then a Hab Complex. I want to have this all finished before my next cryosleep, no matter how many credits and crawlers it costs.



Worms being a nuisance. I send in the rovers and quickly eliminate them.




Finally infiltration on Sepsu, this will help with planning.






Pushing him back, and godeing him into breaking the truces at times beneficial to me is extremely effective. Apparently his temper is a great weakness.



Let's finish this relocation ASAP.



Perfect, I think that's the last of his air power. Investing a crawler in rushing that prototype was worthwhile.



To be expected, I agreed with Domai not to create this secret project when he provided me with the required tech.




Ron gives me a unit, but Atsumi.. Atsumi gave me an army. Four infantry and a rover, all with Gatling or higher weapons. This will speed up Sepsu's fall.



Work has begun on a great engineering work in our new shining city of science.






Sepsu continues to lose bases, while only inflicting minor damage on my attacking troops. Now even his HQ has fallen, and with it I seize a valuable project: The Weather Paradigm.



My bases have produced a large number of crawlers. I only hope it's enough to keep up with Domai's industry.



Another of Sepsu's bases falls.



Cashing in nine Crawlers really speeds up project completion. I want that research boost immediately, so I can get another tech giving a SP before my next rest.



Nine years in, progress is good. Those crawlers being used on a SP did reduce my productive power, but I think it'll be worthwhile.



The Vikings are getting pushed back, as predicted.




This base now produces more research than the entirety of the Drones faction. We are striding toward a brighter future for humanity.





Sepsu's vision for the future, however, is crumbling at my hands.

And the drones.. the drones are still ahead, for now.

[Buster's Uncle]

 

[ete]

Yet another in an endless series of truces, each of which he breaks at the slightest provocation.



The Xenoempathy Dome is complete. Now my units will move through fungus like they would a road, dramatically improving maneuverability in hostile terrain. This will help me track down Sepsu's last bases.




This time, I see no reason to truce with you Sepsu.

You have nothing to threaten me with.



25 credits? No. I will have your fealty, or I will have your head. If you go quietly I will allow you to keep one base, but the rest of your empire must be surrendered. In return you will receive technological support. I also request you make peace with my allies.








Ah.. I see. For now, eliminating your ability to do battle with him should be sufficient. In the longer term, perhaps peace is possible.





It's 2204, and I must rest soon. Before I do there is just time to set the wheels in motion for another secret project.




Naval power is important, but not core to my strategy. Hybrid Forests and the Ascetic Virtues would be of greater help.



Again, dumping ten crawlers into a project speeds things up.

One last review of statistics and positions, then I must again leave the command of my now glorious nation to the hands of an incompetent tool. I only hope it does not screw things up too badly.


















This was a time of greatness, but the challenges were far from over. The Free Drones, though technologically backwards, have several very important secret projects. The empire was powerful, but it was splintered with the former home of Sepsu occupying a great deal of fertile but poorly developed land, and Atsumi in the middle.

My last action is to rename the new headquarters. From now it shall be known as Singularity's Seed.

[ete]

BlueFlux next. I'll PM diplomacy (will publish after game).

phew, that took a long time.

My empire is getting too big to organize quickly, and I was obsessing about minor optimizations in crawler positions and similar things for ages because I'm pretty scared the next time the Drones get a turn they're going to take an unmatchable lead.

[Mart]

...
To be expected, I agreed with Domai not to create this secret project when he provided me with the required tech.
...

It looks like a serious conversation with  is in order...

For that case, it might be edited out of the project in scenario editor. Only it's increasing micromanagement.
That is the downside of this kind of playing - you just do not control AI that well.

I will take a look into the Drones from the save. I might adjust orders and make diplomacy accordingly.

[ete]

I meant I agreed not to build it, so was expecting him to get it. Nothing needs editing.

And feel free to edit the AI behavior settings, but don't do diplomacy with other factions or make any other changes. If you just meant tell blueflux your standing orders, that's fine and a good idea.

Also, if you want to play in the next one of these the signups are here: http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=13970.0

[Mart]

Ah, I understand.

That's ok, no need to make changes on my part. Although AI was using settings not quite the way I expected, but overall it is better than I thought AI would behave. My settings might be viewed as conflicting, so maybe that is the result.
Positively, I am surprised, that it was growing in power that well, even running Fundy, Planned, Power again.

[ete]

I just made a few changes to my faction personality and strategy then reuploaded the save.

And yea, Power should have slowed you down a lot at least. But I guess not, the AI loves massive support ratings.

Edit2: Uploaded two saves, BlueFlux can play from either depending on whether he accepts my proposal.

BlueFlux: If you accept or not, I'd suggest role playing the meeting it in a top secret spoiler thing.

Edit3: Also, everyone get PRAX http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=14308.0 it'll make AARing waaay easier.

[ete]

I'm not quite sure has the better set of five of SPs between us Mart, what do you think?

Economically PEG is by far the best and though TME's not amazing it can work wonders with the numbers of crawlers you can produce, I'd say those two are comfortably above my economic SPs: WP and Supercollider. On the other hand VW beats HGP soundly, and PTS is not worth much imo.

That leaves me with two relatively offensive SPs, CC and Xenoempathy, matching up against your CDF.

If it was not for PEG I'd think I was considerably ahead, but PEG is good enough that I'm not sure.


It's going to be an interesting dynamic with you able to build SPs vastly quicker than me but lacking the tech to do so, and me trying to keep enough industry to actually produce the SPs as I research them. I think you'll crush the vikings pretty soon, the powergraph imbalance is silly. That'll give you Mt Planet and some fairly nice territory.

[Flux]

M.Y 2505
And so it begins...
I find myself in a rather frustrating position with mismanaged soldiers and riots everywhere.


"Use a physical datachip for this. Incredibly primitive data storage, but this meeting cannot be heard by anyone else."

[ete]

*pokes blueflux*

[Flux]

*pokes blueflux*

Yeah, yeah, I'm playing.
I just got scared up there and quit.
The situation is bad.

[Flux]

Do not open this if you're playing in FFTF
Alright. Set it to record.

(click to show/hide)

ETE: I'm willing to exchange Monad Institute and Divine Rule, plus the two formers closest to Monad Institute, all units contained in both bases, and access to the top secret file for:

1. You calling an election by 2215, and making sure I win. You may have to convince Atsumi, but I suspect she'll side with me over the drones since they threatened her.
2. Refusing anything which would give the drones tech (trades, selling, threats), indefinitely. If they can match us in technology, they will win. Perhaps their long term intentions are peaceful, but I would prefer to not gamble the future of Planet on that.
3. You continuing to focus your research on areas I don't have tech and exchanging techs I need when you have them.

I'm open to negotiation. You may trade techs off me via the AI, but not buy them without agreeing a price with me.
If you take the offer, I'll be willing to gift you any technology you would otherwise be able to trade off Atsumi, so long as I have the tech. She's a trader and will swap with the drones, play the situation to her advantage. If she gets a tech and you want it, take it for free from me via scenario editor rather than swapping with her. You'll want to infiltrate her to keep an eye on her tech.
I've set our diplomacy to permanent pact. You can break it if you like, but this way my AI won't.
Me: "Agreed"

Ugh. To be honest I haven't been in the mood to RP for a while, but I'm trying my best.

"Federov continues to impress."

Oh my, Drone Riots!

"We have to cut costs... We can't afford to support these"

In other news, Sunny Mesa was re-dedicated as "Mount Sega" after the Earth VMU found there.

The Head-Designer hyperventilated for a few seconds...

"oh man! What has happened to us? We need to get back at peace and re-stabilize ourselves!"

"So much for stablizing, eh?" And then he said "This Sucks." as only a kid between the ages of 10-15 could.

"Well, okay."

"Let's take a quick look at the north."

Let us keep our end of the bargain...

Oh no! But... I spent a lot of credits convincing people.

Ron took an early end to his stressful record-keeping session.

Hmm... If my faction dies, I want a chance to roleplay the final moments of it. Or maybe just the moments of being dragged off to a drone prison
Also, I don't think I mentioned but rather than starting a war with the Imperium I lost a pact with the Drones.
Sorry this isn't very fleshed-out.