Continental Consciousness - 256x128 map

[bvanevery]

Details she is evil

she is evil

Roze, you lousy person, this is all your fault!  My cities don't emit any eco-damage at all.  I just checked every single one to make sure I'm not in denial.  I never built any Centauri Preserves, that's how forward thinking my civilization is.  I did inherit a few from Deirdre, but who needs them when Tree Farms and Hybrid Forests are standard issue for every city?  I've got a +5 Green rating.  Roze, you're a lousy human being.  Last turn I wiped out all your satellites, and this turn I I might have to kill her a lot more, to halt global disaster.  Meanwhile I'll just have us launch a Solar Shade.

Actually after taking over The Planetary Energy grid, and dropping on a size 1 city to destroy it, I signed a Truce with her.  I've realized that Cloaked units aren't particularly effective at immediate attack.  They'll be better under a Truce to restrict Roze's movements.  I'm surrounding Data DeCentral which contains The Neural Amplifier.  It's not a terribly important Secret Project but if she acts up, it's mine.  I've firmly garrisoned the Grid; the only thing she could do is nuke it.  She won't, so I've sold off all my Energy Banks.  That enabled me to buy another 6 or 7 Hab Domes at typically 300 apiece.

Hrm, if I propose that we Launch a Solar Shade, will that prevent me from proposing Unite Behind Me As Supreme Leader for another 20 years?  Let's see, I've got 2504 votes.  The others have 216 + 383 + 382 + 570 = 1551 votes.  I need a 3/4 majority which means I'd need to roughly double in size.  Since most of my bases are size 16 now, that is indeed on the order of almost 20 years, since they will grow some as well.  I think making a UN motion is an acceptable risk.  And for all I know, maybe a Unite motion won't be restricted by a Solar Shade motion.  We'll see.

Details Roze is lame

Roze is lame

The measure passes easily.  I hope that's enough to stop Roze's eco-damage.  I wonder if carpeting her with fungus would be considered a hostile act?  I think it would take too long to deploy missiles though, as they'd have to come by Carrier.  I don't think I can secure her base fast enough and build it up to make missiles locally.  I could drop Formers on her and plant fungus on her Mines, if that is not considered hostile.  Worth a try. 

[bvanevery]

The good news is that planting fungus on a faction with a Truce does work.  It's not regarded as a combat action, which to be honest is an oversight on the part of the game developers.  Anyone who has studied the history of Israelis bulldozing settlements in the West Bank would know it's a very hostile move.  Well, technically they did make Pillaging a hostile move, which would be the exact analogous thing.  Planting fungus is a grey area where it's usually a detriment to most factions, but could be beneficial to some.  I, for instance, extract all kinds of resources from fungus now, so it's very much beneficial to me.

The bad news is that due to quirks of the UI, dropping Formers from orbit is rather tedious.  There are all sorts of rules about where you may and may not drop.  They are not all obvious, for instance one cannot necessarily see if there's an enemy unit exerting a zone of control.  It's also a bit of a pain to check whether bases have Aerospace Complexes, although this late in the game, many cities can be assumed to have them.  Any time one of the landing rules is violated, the UI scrolls back to the blinking unit whose move it is.  The UI option "don't center on units with orders" doesn't affect this behavior.  So this has all the mouseclicking joy of a tedious Transport loading and unloading campaign.  It's not a fun way to conquer, and encourages me to hurry up and wait to win the game automatically.

Due to lack of getting this far in the game very often, and lack of need, I don't know much about how Psi Gates work.  I am wondering if it's easier to move ordinary Formers through Psi Gates, rather than bother with the drop mechanics.  Also, can ships and missiles be moved through?  I haven't determined if I can detonate a fungal payload without it being a hostile act.

I'm also noticing that the game forgets that I made certain unit designs, i.e. nukes, tectnoic, and fungal missiles.  This happens when design slots are running out, a new kind of engine is discovered, and I don't have an active unit with the previous engine design.  The game recycles the design slot and now suddenly I don't know how to make some kind of missile.  That's an annoying wart; wish we could bugfix these sorts of things.  A workaround would be to turn off automatic unit design, but that creates other mouseclicking burdens.

Details impatient for war

impatient for war

Lal, you fool, I was just about to go Democratic!  I just finished the Telepathic Matrix.  My people can't revolt anymore, so running a Police State is obsolete.  I was going to offer everyone the same deal: Treaty or fungal carpeting.  I feel truly sorry for you Lal.  It's going to be a little more brutal this way.

[Buster's Uncle]

The psi gate answer is yes.  Select the unit in a base with a gate, hit "I" I think it is, and a list of bases w/ gates appear.  One teleport a turn FROM a gate, unlimited TO, IIRC.  You can port ships into landlocked bases when fixed artillery is needed, or just because you're stupid and want a landlocked boat - it does work the same as a garrison unit that can't move to sally, but can shell the base radius...

[bvanevery]

Details shoestring

shoestring

Well !@#$! looks like I just verified the from part of a psi gate.  That makes 1 gate completely useless for moving a lot of troops from my home territory to an invasion destination.  I'd need to build lots of gates to do that.  I doubt I'll have the cash for that in the next few turns.  I've got all these Behemoths coming that aren't going to be useful.  Well at least I'm on an automatic timer to win the game anyways.  Currently I've got 3230 votes.

Details until next time

until next time

Taking one of Lal's cities reminded him who's boss.  I couldn't get The Weather Paradigm.  I took a city next to it.  I will get the Psi Gate thing sorted out and move in all kinds of troops in force.  Meanwhile I'll continue to starve his cities by planting fungus on his best cropland.  I'm also insta-completing The Singularity Inductor this turn.

[bvanevery]

Details siege warfare

siege warfare

I'm realizing that under a Truce, I can still starve cities out, using any units I like.  That could have been useful earlier in the game, although I really wouldn't have thought of it until after I defeated the Caretakers.  Everyone was pretty busy doing actual fighting.  Now it's useful for depopulating Roze and Lal, who don't want to sign Treaties with me.  Maybe I'll send the Behemoths after Miriam?  Thing is, I conquer 1 city and then they're happy to have a Truce.

I'm thinking if I took a Singularity Cruiser Transport full of 16 units through a Psi Gate, I could deliver units a lot faster.  As it is though, I'm making massive amounts of money and will have a whole pile of Psi Gates completed next turn.  Talk about overbuilt!  Good thing the game is ending soon.

[Buster's Uncle]

I suppose you've discovered the "Release Worm into the wild" feature.  Great as a trick for waging war w/o vendetta.  Maybe an exploit, but what did they intend the feature for if you couldn't use it to discretely inconvenience someone you don't want a vendetta with?  Great for getting rid of that unit that's been standing on a bonus resource inside a radius forever.  Takes too many to take out that base crowding inside your base's radius unless it's completely undefended, but I waste a lot of time doing that anyway...

[bvanevery]

Releasing worms into the wild does sound like a good idea at this point, because I have so many of them.  Although, I am still bottlenecked by a limited number of Psi Gates in Gaian conquered territory.  None of this matters anymore this game anyways, as I'm at 3548 votes.

Details yeah you better stop fighting

yeah you better stop fighting

Unbidden, Miriam offers to talk, and then signs a Truce.  Perhaps she's rightfully intimidated by my superior weaponry.  Perhaps she's just going to surprise attack next turn, like the idiot she often is.  Doesn't matter either way, she's not relevant.  I'll be happy to have some peace and quiet, and I'm going to make her lay off poor Cha Dawn while she's at it.  There's this beautiful supercontinent completely devoid of Caretakers, and the irony is I don't even need the rail network anymore.  Stupid for people to be fighting.  I will see how many wars I can get her to call off.  Only Cha Dawn; that will have to do.

[bvanevery]

Details depressing ending

depressing ending

Well, I could win the game now.  However I really hate the Transcendence ending.  It's like all individuals die.  Diplomatic Victory is imminent, and Economic Victory looks possible as well, as I'm building nonstop Orbital Power Transmitters now.  I'm just annoyed that I have to respecify "yes, build an Orbital Power Transmitter" every time one completes.  Lotta wasted mouseclicks.  I suppose I could just stockpile energy.  I can definitely end up with more Satellites than I can utilize before I win the game anyways, so stockpiling would be rational and more convenient.

[bvanevery]

Details wimp

wimp

What does this guy want?  Maybe just to let me know our Truce is expiring.  Actually, to claim that he'll annihilate my units when he won't and the Truce was renewed.  Fine, I will keep choking his cities to death.

I've jacked my budget to 70-20-10.  I'm currently Democratic Green Wealth Cybernetic.  Strangely, switching to Eudaimonic would only net me another 80 credits per turn.  Since I'm currently making 11,110 credits per turn, there's no point in that.  I'm wondering if it's the loss of Efficiency in distant cities, or a decrease in Planet friendliness, or some kind of saturation of square output, that is responsible for the meager difference?

Details swiss navy

swiss navy

My intervention with a Solar Shade was more than sufficient.  Now I've got a landlocked ship.  It had nothing to complete anyways.  The other ships to the east, finished their tasks and are now useless.  There's not even anything to disband for, as cities are stockpiling energy now.  18,154 credits saved.  4008 votes.  I would currently need 4800 votes to win.  Let's see what it takes to corner the energy market.  Uuuuh 124k credits needed.  So, 10 more turns of saving energy, or however many votes are needed meanwhile.

I don't think my fungal planting tactics are having any decisive effect on enemy cities.  It's useful for laying a gradual path through enemy lands during times of Truce, assuming one has the Xenoempathy Dome.  I'm going to see if Fungal Missiles are a hostile gesture or not.  The other concern is, does Planet dislike them being detonated?  It doesn't like nukes or Tectonic missiles.  I think logically speaking, Planet should love fungus, but I don't know what the game designers actually decided.

[Fibonacci]

Releasing mind worms into the wild in someone else's territory is a feature. What did you think the "Secret War"  keeps going on about in quotes was?

[Buster's Uncle]

Good point.

The game considers Fungal and Tectonic acts of war inside someone's territory, and I should think the game logic scans that they both upset Planet.  Now, I always build Voice of Planet before I run out the clock for a last turn transcendence, because the eco-damage fungal pops yield no worms afterward.  I'm always playing a green/red faction, so I want more fungus -and I've toyed with Fungal and Tectonic to speed that up, but while the missiles are pretty toxic early-game, the effect that late seems slight.

[bvanevery]

Details kelp farmer

kelp farmer

Belatedly I've realized I didn't finish some oceans next to a couple of conquered cities.  I could have gated my inactive Gaian fleet awhile ago.  Now I can only bring 1 ship per turn because that's the only Psi Gate port that I've got in Gaian conquered lands.  4 ships I've decided to sail the old fashioned way to a destination, as I've got 9 ships total and in 6..9 turns, they could arrive at a target anyways.  Although I expect by then the game is won, so the point is moot.

I'm removing military units from Truce territories as I've realized I don't actually need them to plant fungus.  At first they seemed like they were helpful for capturing bunkers and holding off the enemy.  However, Probe Teams can occupy bunkers without having to stop their movement, and they allow ordinary units to slip past the enemy.  If I were to actually plan a fungal campaign instead of improvise one, I would make Cloaked Formers so that they can ignore zones of control.  I also belatedly realized that I've been moving my Cloaked Drop units around Roze's territory as though they have to respect zones of control, and they do not.  It is much easier to withdraw troops when I simply walk around the obstacles.

I was reminded of the negative consequences of military troops by the occasional communiques of unhappy factions telling me they'll destroy them.  I know they won't, but they're Seething at me, even though we're all Democracies.  Politically I made the right choice as far as keeping them from going to war with me, but I am not extracting full advantage from that, so long as I gratuitously irritate them.  Military troops should be used for sieges on implacable enemies, and I don't have any of consequence anymore.  Miriam will be a Fundie until the end, but I've never cared about taking anything from her, as she never built any Secret Projects.

I'm at 4466 votes.  Enemies have 227 + 416 + 406 + 528 = 1577 votes.  Maybe 2 more turns.  56,219 cash so Diplomatic Victory is still closer than Economic Victory.  Technically I suppose I could bribe the crap out of other factions for Diplomatic Victory, but I'm not going to.  Prefers to keeps my money!

[bvanevery]

Details Mu Sector in fungus

Mu Sector in fungus

Here's a weird forest display bug.  Notice the UN city Mu Sector.  (No Lal didn't take it from me, he named it that, presumably using name rosters from other factions.  Many cities on the map have a Cybernetic style name but I didn't build them.)  The city is surrounded by fungus.  Now look at the city production blowup:

Details city forest display bug

city forest display bug

Observe the 3 patches of forest that are actually fungus on the map.  2 of them might have been forest at the beginning of the turn.  The southeast patch was definitely fungus before though.  So there you have it, I've played this entire game just so I could discover this 1 bug at the very end!

[Buster's Uncle]

The in-city display does inaccuracy a lot about anything but what squares are being worked for how much.

-On the worm-releasing tactic?  PERFECT for doing something about that (non enemy but not yours) colony pod sniffing around your border if you can get there in time; a wild worm will only rarely pass up an opportunity to attack a completely unarmed unit, and if the pod isn't destroyed, it will still almost always flee whether it's taken damage or not.

[bvanevery]

I could have used that against one of Miriam's late sea bases near me.  Instead I just signed a Truce and blew her off.

Details Elect Me Your King

Elect Me Your King

It is time.  I have the votes.

Details I am Lord

I am Lord

Nobody likes me.  Whee!!!

Details yes bow down to me

yes bow down to me

So ends the most epic After Action Report I've ever written.  Possibly, that I may ever write.  I can think of play tactics I'd do differently, but I'm not sure I'd take quite so much time to write about them.  I began this game eight days ago and I've been playing more than full time.  As in, I could have collected 2 paychecks producing this AAR, not calculating overtime pay.  Consider that!  If you made it this far reading the thing, hopefully you will realize why you're not likely to see something this long again.  It's the AAR equivalent of playing Space Invaders until you drop dead.

Details mah screenz r purdy

mah screenz r purdy

First thing I'm gonna do in my new Global Office is execute the Art / Propaganda Director and put something in the middle of that banner that actually looks cool.  Who dreams of teal?

Details you know the score

you know the score

4159 points.  I wasn't playing for points, and I don't even know if that's good.  It seems the majority came from my gigantic population. 

Details actually I have time

actually I have time

The game gave me a funny book, but it won't be my last.  I deliberately avoided Transcending as I'm morally opposed to it.  Lots of individuals will be writing lots more books in lots of libraries.  None of this hive mind stuff for me!

Details I rate highly

I rate highly

389% sounds impressive, but I don't know who I'm being compared to.

Details it is all death and darkness

it is all death and darkness

I got a completely black screen for my replay.  The years ticked by, and the ticking got slower and slower as the years progressed.  Maybe this is due to my video settings, as I have Secret Project movies turned off.

Details bugger off

bugger off

Is it over??  Is it over??  Do the nightmares cease now!??

Watch as I toss this carefully constructed hand-crafted world into the toilet.  I've never been in the habit of saving old games.  I think that's an artifact of random world generation.  Aren't I just going to generate another?  I wonder what kind of game would be worth saving the world afterwards?  What kind of game design would make it worth reexamining from time to time, as opposed to just starting afresh?  Well, consider this the last act of an angry God.  BTW Miriam, you suck.