Morgan Biochemical - SMACX AI Growth mod version 1.37

[bvanevery]

Details hope this doesn't hurt

hope this doesn't hurt

MY 2192.  Yang has brought a Foil Probe Team right next to my southwesternmost base.  I don't have any probe team to defend with, nor any ship.  I started inland and this is the farthest extent of my empire.  There's basically no way I was ever going to get a probe team defense done by now.  The good news is that in my mod, the ability of probe teams to mind control enemy bases has been seriously toned down.  It's quite expensive, and it's far more typical nowadays for the AI to show up and steal and wreck stuff, than to summarily take over your base.  The bad news is that the Hive and Police State are now probe team oriented.  He and the Cyborgs have the 2nd best probe teams in the game, after the Data Angels.  The irony is it was Data Angel probe teams I was worried about, but I might be in for it with the Hive instead.

It is possible though that the AI doesn't know how to use a sea unit to do a coastal land probe team action.  It might just sail right by.  If I'd had a sea base out here though, there's no question it would attack.  Sea bases are like Foil Probe Team magnets now!  It's so bad that you'd better think seriously about making any sea base at all, because they will get probed.  If they are sufficiently distant from your capitol, they will be summarily taken over.  It might be possible to have a sea extending empire in the immediate vicinity of your capitol, but anything farther afield in the early to midgame, forget it!  AI's gonna take it over.  You can actually use sea bases as "bait cities" if you want to have something close enough to infiltrate and steal tech from.  It's incredibly tedious for a human being to push Foil Probe Teams across Huge maps, but the AI doesn't care.  It will gladly sail all the way around Planet just to mess you up.

Details sailing right along

sailing right along

MY 2193.  It went right by me.  It's going off to bother someone else.  I'd love it if it would bother the Pirates, as that would bring them into the war without me having to ask anything of them.  Bothering the Cyborgs would be fine too, even though they're not adjacent and it wouldn't amount to anything.

[bvanevery]

Details hot pursuit

hot pursuit

MY 2196.  The Pirates have declared war on the Hive.  I think that Hive Foil Probe Team found its mark!  The Hive have stopped shelling me and seem like they're heading towards Pirate waters.  I predict Svensgaard will slaughter them and end my problem.  I'm glad I didn't have to use any chemical weapons to deal with this.  I'm just building roads and completing my control of my "island".  I still need either Fungicidal Formers or Mag Tubes to move to the next part of the plan.  At least my forests are spreading all over the place.  I'm also filthy rich by human player standards with a 1032 energy credit reserve.  I've started to build some Network Nodes.

Since I have 1 Alien Artifact, I suppose I do have the surplus cash necessary to rush the Merchant Exchange.  I never started it because the growth of my empire was an absolutely higher priority.  Now, I'm just not that excited about it.  I don't really have a good capitol city location with lots of growth.  I still haven't conquered the Ruins.  I'd frankly rather have something else.  Several Secret Projects have already been completed.

[bvanevery]

Details I love you too

I love you too

MY 2200.  Deirdre finally gets around to declaring her true feelings for me.  A few turns ago I managed to infiltrate her without comment.  She only has 2 ocean accessible bases that I know of.  Gaia's Landing appeared on Yang's map and is landlocked.

MY 2206.  I learn E3 Ecological Engineering on my own, before I can steal it from my many enemies, and just after Roze completes the Weather Paradigm.  I'm currently going through a round of building Children's Creches and am not that interested in building Fungicidal Formers.

[bvanevery]

Details Svensgaard slips up

Svensgaard slips up

MY 2208.  Svensgaard sells me B4 Environmental Economics, before the Planetary Transit System has been built.  I wonder why he was willing to let that one go?  I don't particularly want it myself.  I'm not sure what I do want.  Well, mag tubes!  But maybe I should just blow all my money on Tree Farms.

Details marine targets

marine targets

With the purchase of techs from Svensgaard, the Hive no longer has anything to steal.  I'm realizing he has 5 bases vulnerable to assault by Marines, and that this doesn't have to be a rails based operation.

Details Hive back country

Hive back country

That said, I should probably steal his map.  Yang has got a lot of defense in depth.  I also don't feel great about going up against Plasma units behind Perimeter Defenses with only X Lasers.  It may be doable if they're trained enough, but I don't have Power available to me.  Nobody else knows it yet either.

[bvanevery]

Details less slack than the competition

less slack than the competition

MY 2211.  I steal Yang's map from a newly established empty sea base of his.  Then I sail into it and wipe it out, achieving the first conquest on Planet.  I guess I'm not the only one who feels the distances are vast!

Details has the bug ended

has the bug ended

Afterwards I contact Yang, wondering whether he's still yabbering about me committing atrocities I never did.  He doesn't seem to be.  Perhaps I should go after someone else first, like Roze.  Or Deirdre.  I think I'll pull back and let the Pirates worry about the ocean fighting.  I'll stick to defending my coast.

[bvanevery]

Details an enabler

an enabler

MY 2214.  Now I believe I could take someone on.  I'm still limited by logistics.  I begin the Hunter-Seeker Algorithm, which is very expensive in my mod.  It's a 500 minerals project and generally I have to choose which one I'm going to complete.  The AI tends to complete whatever I don't choose.

[bvanevery]

Details can I strike

can I strike

MY 2217.  I finally get my sunspots, but I'm not in position to take advantage of them.  I only have 2 Command Centers and a  nation full of Scouts.  No rail network.  My cash needs to go to the HSA, not to "mad rush" sunspot projects.  I will see how things are after the HSA is built.

[bvanevery]

Details above the influence

above the influence

MY 2221.  I complete the Hunter-Seeker Algorithm.  I'm not as rich now, only 170 credits.

Details changes

changes

Roze took over the nearby Deadman Tavern.  She won't be able to do it to me!

I also finally settled the middle of the Ruins, getting tired of the problem of "missing" various Monoliths in my city radius.  At least I've worn down a lot of the surrounding area with forests.  I'm now removing fungus the old fashioned way, no fungicide.  At least I've pretty much built all the other infrastructure I need, except rails.

[bvanevery]

Details others built more

others built more

MY 2229.  I learn E4 Bioadaptive Resonance, which in my mod gives the Neural Amplifier.  I start building it.  Since I've made it this far into the game without really coming into direct contact with my enemies, I'd really like to have it.  It's going to be key technology when the world floods.  I might even go so far as to say, if someone beats me to it, I'm going to have to conquer them first.

[bvanevery]

Details finally some rails

finally some rails

MY 2232.  I steal E3 Monopole Magnets.  Now I have the basic means to finish off the Hive and the Data Angels.  If I could get C4 Nonlinear Mathematics out of someone, I'd be invincible!  Until the mindworms show up.

Details so much for opportunity

so much for opportunity

MY 2237.  I was unable to mobilize in time.  Heck I've only barely started my rails.  Soon I'll see if Yang still thinks I'm evil.  Well, he talked, but he also immediately told me he'd execute me and signed off.  I didn't get a word in edgewise.  That doesn't sound like a belief in atrocities to me though.

Details a dilemma

a dilemma

The Planetary Energy Grid is really really valuable, especially to me.  Do I built it instead of the Neural Amplifier, and hope to capture the latter from somebody?  The Data Angels will complete the Neural Amplifier in 15 turns.  I can rush it this turn.  Nobody else has B4 Planetary Economics yet, so that pretty much settles it.  I'll complete the Neural Amplifier and then hope I stay ahead on the Planetary Energy Grid.

[bvanevery]

Details who's the pusilanimous wimp

who's the pusilanimous wimp

MY 2238.  I completed the Neural Amplifier.  I switch to Wealth as it makes me a bit more money.  I'm not really fighting anybody right now, not even mindworms really.  They've been surprisingly placid about me dismantling the Ruins.

[bvanevery]

Details she is

she is

MY 2240.  Deidre surprisingly offers a Truce.  I accept.  One less faction to worry about killing right now.

Details I'm gonna be rich!

I'm gonna be rich!

MY 2247.  I've got Energy Banks everywhere!  I'm garrisoning my cities with Clean Trance 3-Res Sentinels.  I've finally started to build Fungicidal Formers to clear out the last of my fungus patches.  I've got a partial rail network.  If I can just get C4 Nonlinear Mathematics from somewhere, I'll be ready to go on the offensive.

MY 2248.  Aki Zeta-5 has sunk all my Foil Probe Teams.  Tiring of that exercise, I buy a bunch of techs from Svensgaard.  I have 2 land probe teams still poking about.

[bvanevery]

Details angels shall provide

angels shall provide

MY 2249.  The Data Angels fail to kill my Probe Team standing within their city radius on a river, even though they had a Unity Rover they could have done it with.  What a bunch of morons!  I'm gonna be deadly now.  My Skunkworks completes in 2 turns.  The Cyborgs are now the only faction with techs I don't have.  Unfortunately it's going to be impossible to get to them from now on.  They're the "opposite side of the map" faction from me, the one that's preordained to do the best.  They were already sinking my foils, and now they've got Doctrine: Initiative.  Looks like they're going to rule the waves.

Unless I start attacking them with chemical weapons...

That's a bold plan!  Take out the most long term dangerous faction first.  I might do it.  They have a lot of poorly defended sea bases.  I'd need to eliminate those, then do a land invasion to keep all those juicy Secret Projects they've built.

I rush my Skunkworks.

[bvanevery]

Details what for

what for

MY 2254.  I learn how to make Super Formers and Thermal Boreholes and so forth, but I don't see how these things directly help my plans.  I already have a large Former fleet and am not inclined to spend time on making more.  I suppose that if I get a Secret Project to build, I could disband old Formers to overcome the initial production requirement.  Mainly though I'm chucking out X Impact Foils with no armor.  They're a lot cheaper and I really just need to whack stuff offensively.

[bvanevery]

Details I knew your love was false

I knew your love was false

MY 2256.  Deirdre decides she hates me after all.  She sinks my Transport carrying my last probe team, that was slowly heading towards the Cyborgs.  I don't know how it was supposed to survive the approach, but I didn't expect it to get wiped like that!  Deirdre could pose a logistical problem for me wiping out the Cyborgs.  Should I go after her first?  She actually has 3 notable Secret Projects: the Command Nexus, the Citizens' Defense Force, and the Ascetic Virtues.

Meanwhile, the Cyborgs completed the Maritime Control Center.  And I see that the Data Angels have Needlejets.