SMACX AI Growth mod

[bvanevery]

Details mid world land war

mid world land war

In my game as the Believers, I'm doing ok but I'm not dominating.  The Caretakers and I are in a temporary stalemate.  That surprises me, but they had enough land and production to get a few SPs done, including the Xenoempathy Dome.  I've chosen not to make new offensive units lately, out of a perceived need to compete with other wealthy factions at a distance, such as the Morganites.  The Caretakers and I have traded a lot of mindworm spam, as I decided to go Democratic Green and have mostly relied on mindworms for my fighting.  I didn't produce Trance units to advance on my front, so it's been mostly attrition.

Meanwhile other factions have done well on other parts of the map.  For instance, the Morganites finished the Planetary Energy Grid.  Even though I stole the tech for it just in time, I did not have enough Artifacts to finish it off.  That's saying a lot because I had 7 Artifacts in reserve, and I'd started a SP in the base awhile ago, and it still wasn't enough.  It costs 500 now, which is hard to come up with in the early midgame.  I took the Maritime Control Center instead, which "only" costs 400.  That has been useful for fishing Artifacts and stealing techs.  I definitely like the new non-slow Unity Foils with Deep Radar, it's a much more civilized way to clear the oceans.

Lal is my neighbor and just decided to ally with me.  Crossing my border, he gifted me 28 units, which would have been very useful if I could have supported them.  I couldn't, so I spent a massive amount of time clicking as they all died.  I got 5 units since my border city wasn't particularly minerals rich.  If I were a binary patching guru, I'd seriously like to change the free unit dumping behavior.

The spread of SPs is surprisingly even in this game.  I think it's a consequence of having raised prices on so many of them.  One can only tend to amass so many Artifacts in the early game as other concerns like defending yourself arise.  The spread:

• Believers (myself) - Maritime Control Center, Ascetic Virtues, Command Nexus.  All from theft of tech.
• Caretakers (my land enemy) - Xenoempathy Dome, Human Genome Project
• Morganites (my sea enemy at a distance) - Weather Paradigm, Planetary Energy Grid, Merchant Exchange
• Cyborgs (far away ally) - Planetary Transit System, Virtual World
• Spartans (Treaty at a distance) - Citizens' Defense Force
• Peackeepers (adjacent ally) - none
• Pirates (Treaty at a distance) - none

The Morganites and the Spartans have both been working on the Hunter-Seeker Algorithm.  It is as expensive as the Planetary Energy Grid, so even if I steal the tech, the odds of me completing the project are not good.  I have found that the new regime of expensive SPs, allows me typically to get 1 or 2 of them, but the others slip through my fingers.  Which is fine, I think that means it's balanced.  If I ever do get ahead in the later midgame though, then there comes a point at which I just sweep the table with the rest.  Although, that can get very boring to pursue because they are so expensive.  I question whether it's worth bothering with, vs. conquering neighbors outright.

[bvanevery]

I'm still playing that same game.  The Morganites seem to be doing equally well at long distance competition, but I'm building an old fashioned land bridge towards them.  Eventually they'll be toast.

Details Locusts vulnerable to ground attack

Locusts vulnerable to ground attack

I got rid of Copters and put Locusts on the Copter chassis a long time ago.  This allows Gravships to have their own higher movement rate.  I have Gravships somewhat earlier in the game and see them as somewhat taking over the role of Copters.  They can't fire multiple times like a Copter, which is pretty much the point in my opinion, as I think that's completely overpowered.  I did have slower Copters for awhile, to reduce the number of attacks available, but I was never satisfied with that.  In the real world I'd never make Copters because they were crippled.

Now I've finally realized that the Copter chassis is vulnerable to ground attack!  It's a lot easier to survive a stack of Locusts than I realized.  I doubt that's a bad thing, as stacks of 32 Locusts are pretty overwhelming.  I haven't verified whether all the Locusts in the stack die or not.  This game hasn't had any flooding yet.

[Geo]

Now I've finally realized that the Copter chassis is vulnerable to ground attack!  It's a lot easier to survive a stack of Locusts than I realized.  I doubt that's a bad thing, as stacks of 32 Locusts are pretty overwhelming.  I haven't verified whether all the Locusts in the stack die or not.  This game hasn't had any flooding yet.

So, this means that Locust stacks spawn at the other end of the map would never reach you?

[bvanevery]

Locusts still fly over water.  I don't think they are taking damage from "landing", but then again when I see the stacks, they spawn close enough to target cities that the point is also moot.  If they were taking damage, then maybe setting them to use no fuel would fix that.  They definitely don't get multiple attacks, the Copter aspect is irrelevant in that respect.  It's almost as though the Locust code is a special case.

Actually it turns out my current Copters already don't use fuel.  Looks like I lifted the settings from Gravship when I made the change, then adjusted movement accordingly.  When the 3rd number is 0, it means "don't use fuel".

Code: [Select]

Copter,M1,    Chopper,M1,    Rotor,M1,       Lifter,M1,    8, 2, 0, 0, 1, 8, Disable,  Gunship,M1,        Warbird,M1,
Gravship,M1,  Skybase,M1,    Antigrav,M1,    Skyfort,M1,  12, 2, 0, 0, 1, 30, Gravity,  Deathsphere,M1,    Doomwall,M1,

I wonder if the chassis even matters?  Well it must matter some because the Copter chassis made them vulnerable to ground attacks.  I wonder if I can make a fake chassis for them, freeing up Copters for something else?  Not that I really have any use for Copters, but it was disappointing to get rid of the unit artwork.

Well I can't just add another #CHASSIS.  I tried adding a Swarm chassis, and the game barfed.

One thing weird about Locusts is they use icon based artwork, but they don't have an icon number for the artwork.  Actually this is true of Isles as well.  The original SMACX predefined unit entries are:

Code: [Select]

Mind Worms,             Infantry, Psi,          Psi,        1, 5, 0, CentEmp,  3, 00000000000000000000000000
Isle of the Deep,       Foil,     Psi,          Psi,        7, 8, 4, CentMed, -1, 00000000000000000000000000
Locusts of Chiron,      Gravship, Psi,          Psi,        4,10, 0, CentGen, -1, 00000000000000000000100000
I wonder if I could implement a Locust as a Slow Gravship, maybe even with a Transport on it, and give it a capacity of 0?  The problem with using a Slow Needlejet as a chassis, is they consume fuel and a Locust doesn't.  A Gravship doesn't have that problem, but the speed difference is large, 12 vs. 8.  I don't really want Locusts to be as fast as Needlejets.  I think the main limitation of indigenous life forms, is they don't have much range.  That should stay true, or else it would become the obvious uber kill unit of the game.

Oops, the Transport idea doesn't work.  Sure it slows an air unit down a lot, but it also takes the weapon slot.  The Locust wouldn't be able to attack.  Having only -1 movement from Slow isn't enough.

[Vidsek]

    For some reason, this threads recent return to airborne nightmares made me feel sorry for the folks in Sardinia.

[bvanevery]

I think you're supposed to eat them.

I'm starting to question the cost I've assigned to the Needlejet chassis.  I spent almost 400 minerals to make Gas Wave Fusion Chaos Needlejets.  It went up against some modest unit in an enemy city and died.  I could have made 1.33 nukes for that level of manufacturing output.  It took a long time to make too, because I stuck to Explore Conquer focus and never learned how to make factories.  Didn't have to deal with global warming at least, so far.

[Vidsek]

  Human consumption of a species is one of the most effective methods of extermination.  But personally, I find crickets much less "crunchy" than grasshoppers.

[bvanevery]

Details watching paint dry

watching paint dry

I finally finished that game with the Believers.  Manufacturing costs were difficult to get through.  I never built Genejack Factories or Robotic Assembly Plants, for fear of global warming.  There was a small amount anyways, but not anything remotely like the difficulty I've been through in other games.  I spent a lot of time waiting for stuff to complete.  I probably spent way too much time making facilities to make people happy.  My total number of cities was quite large, I'm pretty sure in excess of 60 by the time I was done.  I did not pursue a policy of conquest, but rather, knocking off a city to make enemies sign a Truce.  I couldn't ever get them to sign Treaties though.

I built a land bridge to the Morganites.  My invasion of them was slow, but eventually forced by their repeated Vendettas against me.  I also built a land bridge to the Cybernetic Consciousness.  Once I had taken all of their Secret Projects, nobody could oppose me.  Not that they really had any offensive capability against me anyways.  You could argue that I toyed with them and took a very long time to do so.  I'm not sure what a faster approach would have been.  Maybe next game I'll try to find out.  At the end of the game I completed a land bridge to the Spartans but not a rail into their territory.  I realized the population balance had finally shifted due to having the Cloning Vats running for a long time, and taking over Morganic cities.  I finally had the votes so I brought this to an end.

I almost completed the tech tree.  I was starting on Orbital Power Transmitters, thinking perhaps I'd win economically.  Generally I kept casting around for a production strategy that would speed things along.  I never really found one.  Just the Vats had eventually been running long enough.

I think I'll be more brave about global warming next time.  And less interested in making people happy.  I definitely don't want to make all those buildings again.

I think I'll have an AI Believers opponent.  I need to see if they're capable of posing a threat as is, or if they need +1 SUPPORT to give them more teeth.  Nobody currently gets a SUPPORT bonus.

[bvanevery]

I played a game as the Hive until MY 2253 when I quit.  I started at one end of a narrow long island, sharing it with the Consciousness.  I got 8-balled behind them and didn't feel like being aggressive.  The Believers started on the Monsoon Jungle with tons of continental land all around them.  They went nuts, proving that they'll do fine if given exceptional resources.  The Caretakers also went nuts on a separate large continental mass.  The Usurpers must have gotten stuck between some things, and got exterminated by the Believers.  When I quit, the Believers were destroying the Peacekeepers.  I was unable to build many of the Secret Projects although I did manage some.

I think this game was mostly determined by my starting position and lack of willingness to be aggressive.  Now I know more about the Hive's potential growth rate.  I did a small naval landing on the other continents and did find Heavy Transport to be a useful early game ability.  I was building a land bridge using the Weather Paradigm when I quit.  I'd like to see a game where the Believers get an ordinary start rather than an exceptional one.

[bvanevery]

I have played a few games as the Spartans, aborting them once it becomes clear I don't know what I'm doing.  I think I've made it farther this game because of my determination to spread at the beginning.  However my position on the map was isolated from other enemies.  It's as though I was England facing off against a supercontinent, and my nearest enemy was Italy.  I didn't even find out they existed until I had navigated quite a bit of the map.

Then I discovered I had built a city within 2 squares of a Believer city!  I've held the city against overwhelming artillery fire.  I started with ships defending it, but they eventually got blown away.  Now it survives mainly because the AI is a bit dense.  It shells and shells and shells but doesn't come to kill it.

Details close to capitol doesn't matter

close to capitol doesn't matter

MY 2226.  Datatech and Believer foil probe teams have been bothering my shores.  I've never had the production time to build defensive probe teams.  My empire is too large, and it was difficult to get what I've got under control.  The Spartans have no special gift for larger empires or productivity.  I'm finding they simply have problems getting anything done on a Huge map, at least when I'm playing them.  Not sure about when the AI plays them.

The Believers take over a sea base that I just built a few turns ago.  It's 3 squares from my capitol and 25 squares from theirs.  I have 543 credits and they have 330 credits after the takeover, so they didn't have a money advantage over me.  They are Fundamentalist so have +1 PROBE.  I am a Socialist Police State.  I have +0 JUSTICE and whatever Bureaucracy penalty I'm suffering.  The +50% mind control cost increase for version 1.31 of my mod is in effect.

I wonder if a lack of JUSTICE makes bases overly vulnerable to probe teams?  Something to watch.  Negative JUSTICE is likely if one chooses Police State and Power.  I did not have any problems with that last game though.  I also had very few sea bases.  Generally speaking my other cities have had time to build Children's Creches, but not this brand new city.

I can now steal tech from this base, but I can't mind control it back.  My Believers are immune!  Oh well, coastal bases is what Marines are for.

Last game I was shocked when the AI actually attacked one of my home sea bases with Marines on a Transport.  I countered by hijacking the Transport with a Marine Foil.

I contemplate giving the Spartans something more than +2 MORALE.  Granted they also have free prototypes, which is a much bigger deal in my mod than in the stock game.  I'd like to give them a combat ability, but I don't think there's anything appropriate left to give anyone.  A defensive bonus would fit their lore of being so good at holding out when faced with superior force.  I've always found that claim to be a bit of a joke in the real world.

Heck, last game I was fighting Conqueror Marr and it was pretty much dead even fights.  Elite vs. Elite.  The difference was they needed to be Fundamentalist to get +4 MORALE, and I could get by with Police State.  Both of us chose Power.

I suppose I could give them IMMUNITY to the negative effects of Power.  Doesn't help me right now though!  Takes awhile to get Advanced Military Algorithms in my mod.

I finally lost motivation in MY 2287.  Almost 6 AM.  I was slightly ahead of everyone on the graph, with only the Data Angels sitting on the Monsoon Jungle as the main contenders.  The Cyborgs managed to build the Hunter-Seeker Algorithm because Secret Projects are so expensive that that sort of thing just happens.  I was building this massive air force that never arrived, because planes are expensive, and I'd keep getting technology upgrades to make them even more expensive.

My Elite troops were not that effective against the Data Angels troops, which were also peppered with Elite units.  They were Fundamentalist Socialist Power, which gives them +3 MORALE.  It would only take a bit of combat experience or a Monolith upgrade to make their units Elite.

I did Democratic Capitalist Power, which gave me +4 MORALE.  However I can't do that at the start of the game.  Without any Build oriented abilities, it takes me much longer to get my core empire developed.  Overall I don't think I really have an advantage.  Now, maybe I should just be doing Elite 4-1-1 units and forget about the fancy planes and armored units.  Still, the Spartans feel weak.

I could give them a free Command Center in every base...

[bvanevery]

I played the Spartans yet again.  I've decided I don't want to give them free Command Centers, as I don't think they really need them, nor would it help their early game growth.  I don't want to give them ROBUST for JUSTICE, as I think the social engineering tradeoffs are just fine.  Ideally I'd give them a defensive combat bonus, to fit the lore of them being so tough in the face of adversity, but I don't know any way to do that.

I got 8-balled behind the Free Drones.  I didn't make war on them, partly because it takes forever to get any weapons.  Then they declared war on me, and I did a defensive elimination of anything they sent my way.  This went on for a long time and eventually we made peace.  Meanwhile I got chemical weapons legalized.  I wiped out the Usurpers and the Cult of Planet using those.  The Believers also got wiped out meanwhile.  They were strong for a time, but the Hive was way strong and steamrollered them.  I allied with the Gaians.  I was a Police State with the Ascetic Virtues and allied with the Hive for a very long time, but then they turned on me.  I allied with the Free Drones and completed a rail to Hive territory, built mostly from Domai's previous invasion route into the Usurpers.

The tech needed to raise land took forever to get with my Explore, Conquer focus, but eventually I did get it.  Genejack Factories and Subsea Trunklines took even longer to get.  I'm only starting to build those now, and I've gutted the core of the Hive empire.  I've taken all his Secret Projects.  I eliminated all but 1 Planet Buster and I've got a strong Orbital Defense Pod screen, so now I'm making genetic war on the Hive.  I've had the capability for a long time, but I held off until I was certain I had his PBs under control.

Now it's genetic mopping up.  The Hive empire is massive, the AI has sprawled everywhere.  But, the best cities were in the core, sitting on the Monsoon Jungle, and those are all mine.  They've all got Punishment Spheres on them.  I've developed quite enough cities thank you very much, it's time to dispose of the rest!

[ChaDawnFanatic]

Here's a music video I thought you might find interesting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7osbICghaM

[bvanevery]

The music didn't do much for me, as I didn't understand the language it was in.  The bonobo behavior was interesting though.  It might be useful to kick people as easily as reaching out to touch them.  I got a kick out of them playing with the little one.  Unfortunately none of this helps with Spartans or general extermination.  Maybe a Planet of the Apes faction?

[Buster's Uncle]

Ooh!

[bvanevery]

I finally quit my Spartan game in MY 2149, after it became clear that Conquest Victory was imminent.  I had the Hive down to some coastal sea bases, but hadn't made or deployed enough Marine units to deal with the remaining cities.  I figured I could "upgrade" my recent raft of unarmored Drop X Tachyon Infantry to be Marines instead, once they were done destroying the far away land based stuff.  I had more money than God as I didn't need it for anything anymore.  10 years tops and that's pretty conservative, could probably do it in 5.

This was a pretty sloppy game from a developmental standpoint.  I had a rather small peninsula enclave to begin with, which I surrounded with sea bases.  I did achieve tech dominance that way, even having no advantages in that regard.  Vertical rather than horizontal development.  It was a weird way to do things and invasion of the Free Drones to seize the land would have been more rational.

Another weird thing I did is stick to Explore, Conquer as the AI would have done.  This is definitely not optimal when gaining factories is such a major boost midgame.  I eventually got those factories built as the game ended.

I was also kind of a chicken for awhile about the atrocities I legalized.  I didn't want to take on the Hive because he had nukes.  But I probably could have deployed Orbital Defense Pods more quickly than I did.

I came to realize that X units and genetic warfare are not necessary for wiping out cities.  I forgot that you can just oBliterate them.  I did that a lot at the end of the game, when I had all those Hive cities to clean out.  Genetic warfare is mostly good for weakening defending units.  It's quicker than artillery.

I still feel dissatisfied with the Spartans, but I'm still not sure what I'd do about it.  I feel like trying again, and trying to remember to adopt a more sane opening strategy.