Author Topic: The Boring Island (Read 733 times)

bvanevery · « **on:** December 27, 2017, 03:06:15 AM »

Everybody loves to play an exciting game on a boring island!!!

Free Droning On and On and On again. Huge map, average settings, random opponents. Radar looks like I'm on a small island. Garland Crater on an island substantially southwest of me, Pholus Ridge substantially south of me. Probably too far away to be of any value. I have good rainy land for my starting area though, so I actually take the square I land on. It is flat, rainy, and isn't next to fungus. There's a flat, moist square southwest of me, but it's next to fungus and I figure this is a better defensive position. Also I would lose access to some rolling, rainy squares I think. Good enough, eh, boring but useful. I get started.

I pop a pod on turn 1 with my other colonist, anticipating that mindworm attacks usually do no damage in the first few turns of the game. I get an Artifact. I start exploring the island with the usual raft of scouts, accepting the slight loss of minerals to get a scout immediately, rather than synthmetal 3 turns from now. It is indeed an island, maybe enough to put 8 or 9 cities in. None of the land looks all that great on initial survey. However as I pop more pods, I get some resources and monoliths. The land setup looks fairly decent. This is not a lot of land, but what I've got is good. Some fungus some places that will need to be removed, not too much.

I pop a 2nd artifact up north. I give it an armed escort to my capitol. I decide that 2 artifacts is enough to whip out a secret project. Remembering how non-valuable The Merchant Exchange was to me 2 games ago, I start on The Weather Paradigm. Although I've chosen Explore as my research focus and expect to get off this rock fairly soon, it doesn't hurt to terraform faster. I can also expand my land when I'm done building it up by cheap means.

Yang shows up on a slow transport, somewhat justifying my armed escort. We make peace and he doesn't set foot on my land. A time later, he swears a Pact. But he's a lousy ally and hasn't traded a single technology with me. He remains Obstinate. What a bore. He has a small island to the northwest, and only room for 4 cities. I don't expect to be fighting Yang much this game. He'll be lucky not to end up a completely stunted cripple. Will I summarily demand things from some point, tell him what's what? Well, that's getting ahead of things. Need to see what's out there first.

I complete The Weather Paradigm in due course. I've settled 9 cities. Everyone makes Formers except the 1 base that got a minerals deposit. It makes Hardened Synthmetal Sentinels. My capitol, I waited until I'd built 2 Formers before starting The Merchant Exchange. I don't have a lot of production there and Sister Miriam started on the same thing not long after I did. I hope I beat her to the punch. I'm now 1 turn away from getting my next tech, which is likely to be Doctrine:Flexibility. If so, hopefully I'll pick up either an Artifact or money out of the water in short course.

I could also try to cash in a lot of these Formers I've built, since I surely don't need them all. But presently they are working on tasks. I suppose I would need to finish what they're doing out in the field, then bring them to the capitol to quickly improve it. Then cash 'em in. Alternately, when I get transport tech I could cash 'em to get the transports done faster, and hope I'm that much quicker in sea discovery.

I did gain Social Psych already. I wasn't trying to, and it slowed my exit from the island, but it is useful because I don't have to worry about my bases getting a bit larger. 1 base is already at 3 and will hit 4 soon, due to a nutrient resource and a monolith. I don't want to build any Rec Commons until I've done some exploring though. 2 games ago, I made a big mistake not dealing with a connected land mass earlier, and the Spartans eventually came for me. This time I intend to know my neighborhood before settling down.

Yang is such a prig, I wish he would just die under my withering gaze.

1 turn later... Sunspots set in. That's an unusual beginning, being blocked from new contacts. I do get Doctrine:Flexibility and begin making transports everywhere I can. I realize that cashing scouts is practical since I'm replacing them with hardened synth anyways and don't have any transports to take them off island yet. Some Formers finish their work in some areas and make it to the capitol to be cashed. It takes far fewer cashings to complete The Merchant Exchange than I expected. Note to future self: a "Former cloud" is probably better than starting The Merchant Exchange early in lieu of expanding.

The Datatechs have shown up on my shores with a slow transport and 1 scout. It's gonna be awhile before I know anything else about them.

I'm a little confused about what to do with all these Formers, now that almost all of my bases have the terrain they need to get to size 3. I did have a Sealurk show up and kill 1 of my Green scouts defending a base. I pulled a Former in for defense and rushed another scout. I think the Former did the actual defending; the Sealurk was almost dead anyways. Anyways because of this attack, and the Datatech presence, I built at least 1 Sensor within 2 squares of each city. I suppose for my next trick, I could develop all the terrain necesary to reach size 5. I'm leery of lifting land yet, as I haven't explored the waters around me at all.

Some turns later... I pull Biogenetics out of the water. I stop building other stuff and get to work on Recycling Tanks. I start wondering how many Formers I'd have to cash to beat other factions to The Human Genome Project. The Data Angels and the Usurpers have been working on them for some time now, but I have no idea what the quality of their build cities are like. Typically, mine are much better than the AI's, so it's not fair to judge by how long it would take "me" to do it. Maybe I can pull this off, but I think 1st I will complete whatever I'm already in the process of building. I think the city I make my hardened synths with, is the logical candidate for rushing the project. With the minerals, and my tendency to not keep it laden down with Formers and Transports, it probably has the highest production.

To the west is a land mass, which might be connected to The Garland Crater to the southwest. If not, they must be very nearly touching, and could be bridged. It would only take me a few turns to bridge to the western land mass. But I should explore it first, because for all I know, it's the Usurper homeland. 2 games ago, I did not enjoy having powerful Spartans concentrating their entire industrial output onto my land bridge. Which I didn't even make, it was earthquake triggered. I currently have a shortage of units for exploring that land, due to my sudden need to try to build The Human Genome Project. However I do have 1 scout rover that I built, just to have the rover type available, so I will spare that for the cause.

To the east is an inhabited island. Could easily be the Datatechs. This justifies my caution about raising land, as it's only 1 tile away.

I switched to Discover focus, anticipating the need to possibly steal from other factions, long before they grant me the capability in fair trade. I was a few turns late making the switch though, and for my tardiness was rewarded with Progenitor Psych. At least 1 alien is in the game, haven't checked if it's both.

A few turns later... The sunspots end. Seemed like a rather short period for them, but maybe turns fly by faster at the beginning of the game. Not as many units to push around, cities to maintain, etc. Roze is not terribly friendly with me and offers only a Truce. Yang ends his Pact with me.

I succeed at building The Human Genome Project using only spare Formers! I even found an Artifact and didn't need it. I pull more Artifacts out of the water for a total of 3. I also pulled Information Networks out of the water and build some Network Nodes, knowing I'll need to cash Artifacts. I also pull Zhakarov's comm frequency from the water. Nobody wants to trade with me though. I research Polymorphic Software on my own.

I get hammered by a lot of mindworms and spore launchers I've popped from pods, riding on Isles of the Deep. One spore really tears up my western seaboard, as I'm too busy trying to build The Human Genome Project to do anything about it. When that gets done, I get attacked by 2 mindworms that I can't do much about. I survive mainly because I accidentally left my production at Laser Artillery, then popped a pod at sea that completed the project. If I had been thinking, I would have set my production to something more expensive. But for protecting my city, it worked out. I also brought a Former in to take a hit. A really annoying set of delays and I still haven't cleared that spore launcher yet. Just sort of one damn thing after another.

At last I stumble upon the Usurpers, who are the only aliens in the game. They're suprisingly cordial and although they don't sign a Treaty, they do sell me Nonlinear Mathematics for 125 credits. Given that slight tech boost, I cash one of my Artifacts. I was going to anyways that turn, but I wisely waited until other things happened in the turn, "just in case" someone sold me something. Lo and behold, I get Doctrine:Loyalty! What a score. I halt production of my next synth unit and get right to work on The Command Nexus. Yang has that tech, of course, but nobody's started building it yet. And he's so puny, I doubt he will, or could beat me if he tried.

The graph says I'm tied with the Usurpers for power! I think most players must have gotten crap small island starts. They did a bad job spreading, I didn't. This game is looking like I've already got 'em. Who will I choose to destroy first? Yang is probably a pushover, and since he will hate it when I go Democratic, that might be wise. He's near enough that I could do it. The Datatechs are separated by 1 tile so I can invade by land if I think I'm strong enough, but I'll need probe teams for that. The Usurpers are also nearby, but friendly-ish so far. We'll see if that lasts.

Later... I got some more Discover tech. I managed to trade with Zhakarov, which made him more positively disposed towards me. Then he allied with me. He was at war with Yang, so that gave me the excuse I needed to declare war and keep my Nobility. With the tech infusion from Zhakarov, I went Democratic Planned. That made Roze happy, and she traded me some armor techs. She won't ally with me but she likes me well enough. I imagine she'll come around eventually, since I tend to stay Democratic Planned as long as I can get away with it. I loaned money to Zhakarov, and since I'm at war, I figure I'll eventually need to go for Knowledge. Usually also part of my drill, for the efficiency as my conquests increase. Also helps with my dull drone mind lol.

I infiltrated Marr and got him to talk to me once. But he wanted absurdly high prices for his tech, like 300 credits for Industrial Economics. Later he wouldn't talk to me at all. You'd think with a Planned economy he'd be more positively disposed towards me. Then, out of the blue, he surprise attacked one of my empty transports! Oh well, we're at war. Guess I'll be getting techs out of him the old fashioned way, by stealing them!

I met Miriam somewhere along the way, and she wasn't too thrilled about me. Recently she also declared war on me. Eh whatever, I don't even know where she is and I doubt it matters. Probably stillborn on some island somewhere. The last player unacconted for is Santiago. Probably in even worse shape than Miriam.

I've started building a navy to go after Yang. He had the temerity to try to land 1 unit on my shore, carried by an unarmored transport. I was laughing hard when I sunk it with my artillery! What a maroon. The navy will also be useful for going after Marr. I could land bridge to Marr, but a transport and land attack would be faster.

I've started a land bridge to the western land mass. I've been gradually exploring it with that same scout rover. It's a crinkly piece of land, not terribly solid, but The Garland Crater is connected. I only lost the rover last turn, to a big spread of mindworms.

I've switched to Build focus, hoping to get The Planetary Energy Grid. I need to concentrate on stealing from Marr as he's got Industrial Economics. After I get his techs I think it's time to obliterate him, seeing as how Roze gave me High Energy Chemistry. I bet a bunch of X Impact Rovers would do it at this point, he can't be all that tough yet.

I haven't popped any more of my Artifacts or built much in the way of military units yet. I wanted Children's Creshes, Network Nodes, and now Hologram Theaters. Zhakarov is the one who built The Virtual World so I can't go take it just now. Troops will be coming along shortly though. First I need to get some confidence in my control of the oceans, as Marr is definitely prowling. Yang, should be a simple matter of shelling and then maybe taking 1 base. Bet he surrenders, since he's such a wimp.

bvanevery · « **Reply #1 on:** December 27, 2017, 08:44:53 AM »

The Believers turned out to be the powerful one. Unrestricted expansion to the south of me, on a large land mass. If they had a bad start, they've sure made up for it. Couldn't have been that bad! They are the most powerful on the graph, with some margin. I think I'm #2. The Usurpers are #3.

My "I'll just take him out" offensive against Yang didn't work. I didn't cough up enough offensive units because Missile technology was extant, and I wanted to steal it before producing a lot more units. That took a lot longer than I expected. I did get Skimship Probe Teams made and my Impact navy did manage to hold off Marr long enough to steal from him. Also unexpectedly even Miriam had that technology, and her frontier was fairly undefended, so that's how I actually got it. Marr then finally set about wiping out my Impact navy and coming to my shores to shell stuff. I built a lot of Missile artillery and cleared him out. Then Missile Marine ships with no armor, intending to take the ships he was sending at me, but they just ended up destroying stuff.

My sealift is inadequate. I had 4 transports toodling over to Yang, and they couldn't bring enough stuff to make a lasting dent. I'd do damage but then have to bring my wounded back home. I lost like 1 synth in the entire operation, but it did nothing to him. I've been shelling him nonstop with remaining Impact ships, and it's getting a little old doing those mouseclicks every turn for no result.

Consequently I am working on 2 methods of invading Marr. I'm trying to clear the water, as before. I'm also trying to build a land bridge. That's coming along slowly. I built a whole raft of X Missile Rovers that will totally wipe him out, if I can ever get to him.

Roze has allied with me, and I've land bridged to her. My bridge was timely as I was able to repel a minor Usurper invasion of her. I slightly question doing it, because she's building The Planetary Energy Grid and I want it. All of my Build research, has been inadequate to produce Adaptive Economics so far. Feeling a bit desperate about this, I cashed all my Artifacts. I got interesting stuff, particularly Air Power, Chaos guns, and Industrial Automation. Those all help my cause, but I want the Grid. I could still conceivably get it and insta-finish it, if I make a bunch of Supply Crawlers. Roze needs 25 turns to complete her project and it's possible I could obtain it in 16 turns of research. Otherwise... might have to get tough with Roze at some point. I'm just not thrilled about screwing an ally for this though.

We're in the middle of sunspots. It doesn't matter much, but it kept me from buying Advanced Subatomic Theory from Zhakarov. I'm the planetary Governor. Don't know what Santiago is up to, but she's weak so I don't care.

Once The Planetary Energy Grid is resolved one way or another, I will switch to Explore to try to get The Maritime Control Center. Possibly before that, I will wipe out Marr with X Needlejets, deployed from Datatech bases. So, allies are actually worth something.

I've bridged the western land mass and am starting to colonize it. Zhakarov seems to be inbound to The Garland Crater with a colony pod though. Nothing I can do about that seeing as how he's an ally. I will eventually meet him down there. There's loads of fungus between myself and the Crater, so even if he wasn't coming, it would take me a long time to get down there. I was right that the Crater was too far away to be useful.

Later... I thought it would be clever to use 2 cheap planes to shield my convoy, since I figure Marr didn't have anything to shoot them down with. Decent idea but I neglected that I was 1 square out of range on my final approach. It didn't end up mattering because Marr didn't actually have any ships on his western seaboard. So that was the real resolution of the ocean crossing problem, Marr getting slack. I brought 4 X Missile Speeders on boats and wiped out 2 of his cities. I also captured 2 units that he was trying to send my way, using my Marine Missile Skimships. I haven't done that sort of tactic much, and it's nicely cheap and effective compared to buying stuff with probe teams. Those units did helpful things like pillage Sensor Arrays to make my assaults more effective, and I remembered to Obliterate one of his bases. I've often forgotten about that too, since it's another atrocity that one generally doesn't wish to perform against humans. With aliens everything short of a nuke is ok though!

I'm now bringing the rest of my X Missile Speeders over to keep up the pressure. I'm also making X Chaos Speeders to finish him off. Those will surely go through him like sliced butter. His civilization is really too far out of range to X Needlejet it to death. What's left of my navy is wiping out his sea bases, remembering the Obliterate trick. I could get more money if I dragged out the obliterations, selling off his assets and so forth, but they're not worth that much and I think it's better to just get the job done. No chance of liberating a base that's gone.

My land bridge is going very slowly. I pulled up a mineral and a nutrient that blocked my eastward path, so I had to turn slightly south to go around those. 'Cuz I just hate wiping out resources.

I've completed The Planetary Transit System. I have a city making a duplicate copy, hoping that I get the tech for The Planetary Energy Grid in a few turns. I've got enough supply crawlers and money to finish it immediately. My bases all have hab complexes now. That was actually my 1st priority after the last writeup. They took some time but nobody really did anything to me meanwhile, so I'd say I got away with that delay. I've been rebalancing my support as some of the larger cities have yielded a lot of minerals.

Zhakarov has started on The Hunter Seeker Algorithm. Annoying but I don't have it in my heart to stick it to him. He's also far away even if I wanted to. He will remain my ally for now. If I really wanted to dick someone, it would be Roze, who I'm adjacent to. And I'm inclined to let her live long and prosper as well. It's actually a pity that aliens are so... alien, because I am Planned after all, the sort of thing they're supposed to like.

Later... I've gotten annoyed with this game. I made a crapload of Formers because my strategy of putting speeders on the Usurper mainland didn't work all that well. I really didn't want to produce a lot of them because of all the infrastructure jobs I had to do, and so the ones I did put there, eventually got picked off. They can't simply manage to attack cities, as Marr had spammy units wandering around and getting in the way. I'd feel obliged to kill them, then my speeders would be wounded, then they'd need to come back to my shores... it wasn't a good plan. I ended up making two "near" land bridges to his continent, because I had so many Formers and they were where they were. I really didn't know what I was doing. Neither one of them made it, because of my perfectionism about resources getting in the way.

It took a very long time for me to get The Maritime Control Center. Waaaay long and I was doing Explore the whole time. At some point Miriam started working on it, so I mobilized my completely unused Foil Probe Teams to go steal it. By the time I got there, I must have either researched it anyways, or acquired it from The Planetary Datalinks. I threw my Missile Marine ships her way, hoping to nab some convoys or something, but they were summarily picked off by her air force. I didn't need those ships, I had them to burn, but it made me feel again like I'm a stupid non-planner. This whole game has been about overproducing stuff and not really having a good direction to go in.

Yang finally got ships, and finally shot my 2 Impact Foils, that had been shelling him the entire game. Another pointless waste of time I embarked upon. Either do a proper invasion or don't do it at all. The slightly warming planet also set off a volcano that doubled the size of his tiny home island. He only ever made 5 cities, and I never managed to do anything to them. At one point I sent a huge number of excess Fungicidal Sea Formers his way, thinking I'd sink his coastal cities until he surrendered. But it was going to cost way more money than it was worth to do that, or that I had in the bank frankly. So yet another complete waste of time.

This game has made me itch in so many ways that I'm quitting! I did great at the opening, and then my invasion plans were completely stupid. I guess I really don't like pushing "movement 3" transports around, as I went to great lengths to avoid doing that. I don't know what I'll do next time around, but "not this".

Cleaning out Miriam's sprawling southern empire wasn't going to be a picnic either. Yes I had all the needed tech advantages but her land was so large. Just as soon skip that chore and start a new game.