Alpha Centauri 2 Forum Community Succession Game

[binTravkin]

Mart mistaked with numbers, the turns you can play now are 2181->2186 (without doing anything in the last turn, as it belongs to next player).

If you want to skip to next cycle, that's fine, we will probably be @ MY 2216 by Monday.

[Geo]

Well Mart, it seems you're on again.

[Mart]

Ok, I'm playing...

Oh, frack. You will have fun here. I did not see that coming... 

[binTravkin]

Building suspense, are we?

[Buster's Uncle]

I'm suspended.

[Geo]

I'm suspended.

Locked out of the cellar?

[Kirov]

I like to think it's something epic, like we're now in a Submission Pact (as junior) to Lal or something. It's too early for nukes, after all.

[Buster's Uncle]

I'm suspended.

Locked out of the cellar?

The closet.

[Mart]

I like to think it's something epic, like we're now in a Submission Pact (as junior) to Lal or something. It's too early for nukes, after all.

It's not that bad yet.
The event I am refering to pertains to U.N. Headquarters. Any guesses?

[Mart]

2181
Strengthened Mindworm Pass with 2 synth garrisons.
Occupied rocky tile towards The Hive.

Gaians sieze U.N. Headquarters! 108 EC diverted from local nets!
Gosh, Lal is rich!!! That is double our energy reserves. Though upgrading scout takes 30 EC.
Lal calls immediately... hmmm, let's see.
So he says he is in our service, though we need to pay him 100 EC.
No, you are in no position to make demands, Lal.
He will ruthlessly crush our faction.

Yang attacks MP, our unit survives with only 10% health remaining.
Buran Prospect builds The Virtual World.
Zakharov starts HGP
Lal mindprobes U.N. Headquarters!
He is rich...

2182
Nothing really interesting.
Made some new designs in workshop. Placed some new units for building. We need to recover from loosing all these units to Lal.

Yang attacks MP, again victory with heavy losses.
There is still one more Hive unit, but it does not attack.

Miriam starts HGP.

2183
Moving mindworms to Lal border, they will be most useful there, as there is a lot of fungus.
Building another foresty post with sensor, this will extend our view on Lal territory.

Lal wants to talk... He salutes us.
We can buy end to vendetta for mere Polymorphic software... Hmmm.
I take it.
Well, Lal is willing to sign Treaty! For Social Psych.
I take it.
I can't believe it! Lal signs Pact with us. Just like that. Apparently these 2 techs milked him enough. Now, we finally can see what's there.
Most interesting. He has treaty with Yang and vendetta with Santiago. Three technologies, that we do not posses:
- Planetary Networks
- Industrial Economics
- Doctrine Flexibility.
How about trade? Lal offers Ind Economy. for Ind Base, but I ask for Planetary Networks. Exchanged.
No further trade...
We take a loan, 43 EC for 66.
And asking for Santiago commlink. For no charge, of course.

2184
Santiago is Belligerent. Being in vendetta with Lal, she asks for renouncing the pact, but I refuse.
She has a rover 4-1-2.
Ok, we know where to obtain impact weapon.
We are told to transfer Polymorphic Software to Spartans, cause we plunder Chiron.
Ok, here you have it. Lal will not be happy, I suppose...
And Santiago is willing to sign Treaty! Yes.
However, we are not worthy any technological progress, cause we are Nature Loony.
She will lend us 31 EC for 48.

I call Lal again. Now, having enough money in the pocket
We buy Industrial Economics for 100 EC.

Bombardment of The Hive brought 6 units there, the last being Alien Artifact. For sure, worth taking.

Hive 1-2-1 near MP attacks base. Desperation? Our synth garrison is damaged, so barely survives.
Morgan starts Weather Paradigm!

2185
Bombardment of The Hive - 5 units. Last two are some rover and AA.
Lal and Santiago politely refuse to talk.
Pact with Lal gives us 5 EC/turn.
Lal switched to Free Market.

Hive 2-2-1 attacks near the isthmus our 1-2-1 on rocky. We win. But this place needs more defensive units.



========
Important notes:
- I set Economy for 100%. Worth keeping for several reasons until:
-- we trade all we can with Lal. Even buying for 100 EC, is cheap, since it is tech every 2 turns, not 7!
-- We have all prerequisites for Industrial Automation, though the bar is red. Unfortunately, so the tech can be:
--- Doc Loyality
--- Field Modulation
--- Nonlinear Math
--- High Energy Chemistry
I guess, the last 2 techs are more desired now, but if they are the first 2, they are not that crucial.
Let us probe Doc Loyality from Yang, and then see what happens, the bar may change, even to Industrial Automation!
-- We can probe Yang for technologies first. All that he has.
- We could go planned economy, but then due to efficiency, we would need to share labs and economy.
- Our formers are making roads in Lal territory. They will be useful later, when diplomacy "goes bad again" You know what I mean. And also, through Lal territory we have better access to Yang's bases for probing. Road in that direction too.

Can you imagine, that Lal can (and maybe will!) "donate" to us. as Pactmate, some of the military units of Gaian origin, that he brainwashed in UNHQ? Ironic? I can see, there are many PK units going to Thorny Vineyard or another base. I hope, this is "donation"...

[Mart]

In short:
We take UNHQ.
Lal mindprobes it back! We loose tonnes of troops.
Then Lal is willing to finally sign Pact.
Obtained from him techs: Planetary Networks, Industrial Economics.
Unfortunatelly, the bar on F2 screen is red. Could be something we can probe from Yang - Doc Loyalty
Lal has Doc Flexibility, I think he will sell it for 100 EC. That's 2 turns of income. Cheap.
Ah, and we have contact with Santiago. She has impact weapons.

[binTravkin]

1. On tech bar being red. It's "no tech set" due to 0 investment. We need to add investment (10% labs is sufficient as we need energy) and end turn for it to be set again and then see and perhaps put the investment back to 0% if it's not yellow.

2. On buying techs from Lal - we don't need D:Flex at the moment and can steal it later. I'd say we need to see what the tech bar's color is after allocating 10% and hitting enter and only if it's green, get D:Flex, as it's the only Explore tech we can research at the moment.

3. I would speculate that the massive reset in relations with Lal comes from the fact, he is now 4th in power, behind us and we're not 1st. AI "cooperate to kill first" mode enabled. As soon as we become first or he overtakes us, the stance may change.
His units roaming our territory do not seem that peaceful

4. On SPs. We can try rushing WP by disbanding probe teams unto it.
Back on Poly this was a strategy we used as Gaians to grab WP. I think probe team contributes 50% of its value upon disbanding.
I remember it being said probe teams are most efficient after crawlers. This would mean we need <10 probe teams and all bases except the one building SP should try to switch to probe teams ASAP.
At the moment only 3 bases are not building probe teams anyway.
We will also need to continue allocating max economy for credits to rush those probes.
Resplendent Oak seems the best base currently to start a SP in - high mineral output and size 4 in 7 turns.

5. We have enough units to take Hive. We have 2 artilleries, 2 mind worms and 5x 2-1-2 rovers. Mindworms in Hive territory should be backed up by 1 or 2 synthmetal units as mindworms are poor on defensive. Perhaps one or two of those 3 1-2-2 defensive rovers.
All those units use massive amount of minerals in support, so if we don't use them as aggressively as possible, we're handicapping ourselves.

[Kirov]

Good work, guys!  Almost too good - like, it's soon going to be boring probably. Damn you, SMAC.

2. On buying techs from Lal - we don't need D:Flex at the moment and can steal it later. I'd say we need to see what the tech bar's color is after allocating 10% and hitting enter and only if it's green, get D:Flex, as it's the only Explore tech we can research at the moment.

The shortest path to IA? Can't quarrel with that.

3. I would speculate that the massive reset in relations with Lal comes from the fact, he is now 4th in power, behind us and we're not 1st. AI "cooperate to kill first" mode enabled. As soon as we become first or he overtakes us, the stance may change.
His units roaming our territory do not seem that peaceful

He can't sneak attack (pact ending leads to withdrawal of units), but one thing I agree with - although sometimes it's worthwile to seize a opportunity to make peace, the next time he has a problem with something, we should beat him down into a pact of submission.

4. On SPs. We can try rushing WP by disbanding probe teams unto it.
Back on Poly this was a strategy we used as Gaians to grab WP. I think probe team contributes 50% of its value upon disbanding.
I remember it being said probe teams are most efficient after crawlers. This would mean we need <10 probe teams and all bases except the one building SP should try to switch to probe teams ASAP.
At the moment only 3 bases are not building probe teams anyway.
We will also need to continue allocating max economy for credits to rush those probes.
Resplendent Oak seems the best base currently to start a SP in - high mineral output and size 4 in 7 turns.

Probes are as efficient as any other non-crawler units, they all give 50%. If there is no direct need for that, I'd rather pass. WP is good, but not at double the price. If I saw my opponent cashing probes towards a project in an MP game, I'd think he's making a mistake.

5. We have enough units to take Hive. We have 2 artilleries, 2 mind worms and 5x 2-1-2 rovers. Mindworms in Hive territory should be backed up by 1 or 2 synthmetal units as mindworms are poor on defensive. Perhaps one or two of those 3 1-2-2 defensive rovers.
All those units use massive amount of minerals in support, so if we don't use them as aggressively as possible, we're handicapping ourselves.

Let's beat him. It's my habit to keep AI as pets, but here it's up to the one who gets to deliver (or not) the final blow.

[Mart]

1. On tech bar being red. It's "no tech set" due to 0 investment. We need to add investment (10% labs is sufficient as we need energy) and end turn for it to be set again and then see and perhaps put the investment back to 0% if it's not yellow.

We can try it multiple times before that 10% reaches next tech.
But getting Doc Loyalty by probing Yang is a valid switch to another tech, similar like buying Doc Flex from Lal.
We are only small number of turns from IA now, so getting more techs does not matter that much. Our own research may soon become minor way of technology acquisition. We can probe, buy or exchange technologies.

[binTravkin]

Yes, but I think currently the red bar does not mean it's either of the Conquer techs, so we don't need to get Doc:Loy from Yang.
That comes from assumption that you had switched to 0% labs before you traded tech with Lal.
Since your investment was 0%, game didn't bother to set a new tech.

Also, if we are not planning to use probes for rushing a SP, we probably don't need 7 of them.