No Survivors, No Secrets - SMACX AI Growth mod version 1.42

[bvanevery]

Details unimpressive abatement

unimpressive abatement

MY 2272.  That Tree Farm only cut the damage to 31 / 47 = 66%.  This might be the first direct evidence that my illegal chemical attacks and obliterations caused eco-damage.  I might be building more Tree Farms than I thought.  The tech for a Centauri Preserve would be useful too.

[bvanevery]

Details long haul

long haul

MY 2273.  The Peacekeepers brought a Cloaked Recon Rover all the way to me.  At least they're easy to kill.  And a Cloaked Impact Squad was hiding as well.  These have got to be some of the most irritating units I've designed.  But they're awfully effective in AI hands at keeping the human player off-balance and concerned.

[bvanevery]

Details money for minerals

money for minerals

MY 2274.  Belatedly I remember that I can do something with my Clean Formers other than build Sensor Arrays on every forest road.  E3 Ecological Engineering makes Drill To Aquifer available.  It is one of the most obscure commands of the game.  I like to put rivers on top of Mines, so that I get both minerals and money from the same square.  B4 Environmental Economics also made Construct Echelon Mirror available, but those are not typically all that useful.  It's hard to find somewhere that's central to a lot of existing solar arrays, although I suppose I do have 1 fungal patch where it would be appropriate.

That was weird.  My game crashed.  It's not generally prone to instability.  Did Drill To Aquifer cause it?

Details natural energy park

natural energy park

For the replay, I save my game and prepare to Construct Echelon Mirror instead.  This is the only location where it would be worthwhile.  I mostly have piles of forest.

Well shoot, the game is still crashing.  I guess I'm going to have to Activate Scenario Editor to see what the problem is.

I hit Activate Scenario Editor, then I hit "Y" to turn off God Mode.  So, I can only see what my faction usually sees.  I hit Turn Complete.  The game gets through the inter-turn period just fine.  I go through the cycle of base maintenance operations, just hitting "OK" to get through them faster.  I finally get to the point of having control over my units.  The one that moved onto the fungus is active.  So at least when using A.S.E. there is no bug.

I Start A New Game and load my saved game for the end of MY 2274.  I don't have infiltration with the Peacekeepers, but I do have it with the other factions.  Some of them have Needlejets and Penetrators, but I don't see any Interceptor units.  Interceptor bugs have often been the game crashers in the past.  I see that Lal is at war with Santiago and Cha Dawn.  This is a fairly recent development, so I can't rule out that Lal has Interceptors and is causing the crash.

Lal is the Governor and nobody's got the Empath Guild.  If I look at his unit list, I'm in danger of having his minimap come up in the corner of the screen.  However, maybe I can simply put a card over that part of the screen.  BRB.

Finding an opaque card isn't entirely easy.  I find a USB hard drive lying around instead.  I try to tilt my screen flat so I can lay it on top.  My screen doesn't go fully flat though.  While fumbling about, the hard drive slides out of my hands and whacks the Enter key.  My turn advances, and oddly enough doesn't crash.  I'm in MY 2275 and I haven't A.S.E.'d.  Well whatever!  Some kind of transitional glitch.  I'll try to remember to save my game more often for a bit.

I did click on 1 Former that was trying to move onto the fungus, deactivating its queued command.  I wonder if such a trivial input, can work around a bug?

[bvanevery]

Details spydeath

spydeath

MY 2276.  The Spartans are patrolling the coastal waters, and their Impact weapons are enough to blow apart my Cruiser Probe Teams.  That said, it may have been a 3-Res unit, not 3-Pulse.  I've got more coming.  I need to steal C6 Synthetic Fossil Fuels from some faction somewhere, as it gives the Missile Launcher.  Several factions have it, and I was trying to through to Deirdre's next sea base through the water channel.  I didn't expect the Spartans to be patrolling.  I think the number of near ocean targets are now limited, as I've stolen quite a number of things already.  An eventual far mission, is to try to infiltrate the Peacekeepers, but it's definitely not going to happen right now.  Too much near-need to steal and I haven't pulled it off yet.

[bvanevery]

Details stalling

stalling

MY 2278.  I complete an Aerospace Complex and need to start chucking out some planes.  It's a waste to make big weapon planes because I'll have a better weapon imminently.  This is the cheapest Clean Interceptor unit I can make right now.  Even putting a strength 3 R-Laser on it doubles the cost.  Not sure why the math works out that way, but it does.  I suppose a Laser is nearly "for free".  I am wondering if it's good enough to take down enemy planes, with the hefty Air Superiority bonus?  Not that I have any planes coming after me anyways.  But this may be useful when I finally make my move to wipe someone out.  Until then, I still need to steal a better weapon.  I've researched better armor on my own, so maybe the point will be rendered moot, but it still feels like I should steal.

[bvanevery]

Details somewhat effective

somewhat effective

MY 2280.  I'm building more Tree Farms everywhere as a precaution, but this hasn't stopped some mild fungal popping.  My cheap Tactical actually did take out a Locust.  Can a cheap Penetrator do the same?  Yes, although it took more wounds.  60% vs. 50%, not that big a difference.  Looks worse because one's red and the other's yellow though.

[bvanevery]

Details little extra

little extra

MY 2281.  For having bothered to spend 18 turns of work on an Echelon Mirror, it doesn't give much improvement.  I suppose it will ultimately give +5 extra energy in 5 squares, since 2 are forest and I won't change those.  The square itself gives pathetic output, 2-0-1.  Once a Tree Farm is complete, it will probably be more profitable to plant a forest over it, which means I really shouldn't have bothered with this to begin with.  I think they're just not useful on squares worked by cities.  They make more sense if one's empire isn't entirely dense, and they're getting put between cities where squares are not worked.  Maybe I have a few of those.  This is also reminding me that fungus is not valuable, and now that I have Tree Farms, I should get rid of all of it and make more trees.

[bvanevery]

Details little river park

little river park

MY 2282.  Here I've Drilled To Aquifer on top of a Rocky Mine.  It is not automatically being worked by clicking on the Mine, as I don't have enough food yet for that to be an obvious decision to the game.  I'm thinking of replacing it with an Echelon Mirror.  I suppose I'll get 0-1-2 out of that square, and +4 energy from other squares.  Or I could leave it alone and have 0-4-1 eventually when it gets worked.  If minerals and energy were valued the same, it's 7 vs. 5.  Not an exciting gain.  Maybe I'll just go drill more aquifers.

Details fungal error

fungal error

I was wondering why my Formers kept stopping their movement in my city.  Well I've got one of those annoying fungal tower bugs.

Details seeing double

seeing double

I can't just attack it with a Scout.  I'll it my own guys!  This is really freaking me out, it's like science fiction or something.  I'll have to move my Formers off first.

Details may the odds be ever in your favor

may the odds be ever in your favor

Now it no longer benefits from a Sensor Array.  Still, I think I'll attack with a fresh Scout from somewhere else.

Details green is good

green is good

I didn't even know I had any Green Scouts left.  I thought I had either suicided them all or trained them up to Hardened ages ago.  I attack and it dies.  The previous wounded Scout finishes off the Tower.

Details grudge match

grudge match

I've maneuvered 2 probe teams into the water channel leading to Deirdre's sea bases, so I'll have my tech shortly.  This team was "spare" so I was sending him towards the Peacekeepers on a very long haul.  The AI is all about the long haul to bother me, so it has sent up this unit.  Unlike the Spartans it is merely Hardened and 20% wounded.  I'm daring it to attack my 3-Pulse probe team.

I looked at Deirdre's readout and see that she's got C6 Synthetic Fossil Fuels, D4 Intellectual Integrity, and C6 Orbital Spaceflight.  I clearly can't keep up with other factions' research.  What's the point of cashing Artifacts if other factions are going to research so quickly?  Well maybe I'll get my logistics forwards and then be ready to jump.  I haven't forgotten how long it took me to actually bring X Recon Rovers to bear.

[bvanevery]

Details armor not good enough

armor not good enough

MY 2283.  Well now I know that Commando 3-Pulse units will not make the long haul.

Details diligent

diligent

The Spartan navy may be lax, but unfortunately they made up for it with their air force.  I steal C6 Synthetic Fossil Fuels from the Gaians.

Details hard shell

hard shell

I design a probe ship that I hope holds up a bit better.  Surprisingly, it only costs 10 minerals more than the 3-Pulse model.  I can't put AAA on these, as I specifically disallowed that in my mod for Probe units.  Ditto Trance or ECM.  It might be more survivable, but all the enemy really has to do is wound my unit, to thwart my mission.  I don't know how easily I'm going to be able to buy any units anymore either.  This might simply be attrition, whether I produce more Probe units than they produce things to kill them with.  I could bring non-probe AAA units along and try to command the seas, but I really get tired of getting stuck with long distance unit pushing over the oceans.

Details more sneaky

more sneaky

Perhaps an amphibious approach over land will work better against that last Gaian sea base.  Or perhaps the Spartans will see it and shoot it down anyways.  Or the Gaians.  But I will try, at least once.  Otherwise, I think I need to bring an armored Transport near the landlocked Morgan Industries and steal from there.

[bvanevery]

Details sinking feeling

sinking feeling

MY 2285.  The Laser Tacticals don't do very well against the real threat, which is various Transports arriving to annoy me.  I only saw this one because I was sending a Cruiser Probe Team another direction.  I haven't been putting Tacticals out in positions of good deployment, because I'm lazy.  Thus I lost a wounded Tactical trying to take out this Transport.  I am at least able to block the wounded Transport from making contact with my land.

I've realized the Spartans have nothing to steal, so no point in an armored Transport.  Meanwhile the Cultists have C6 Orbital Spaceflight and B5 Advanced Ecological Engineering.  The latter is particularly useful as I could connect to the mainland, then drive rails into all my enemies.  I don't know if the Cultists are good researchers, good thieves, or good allies.  I'm thinking it can't be the latter nowadays, as they're in a Pact with the Spartans and at war with everyone else.

Details it's the little things

it's the little things

This is the cheapest clean plane.  It might be useful for patrols, sinking unarmored Transports and Sea Formers, covering units to give them safety, and intervening in the occasional mindworm scuffle.

[bvanevery]

Details Lal is a silly silly man

Lal is a silly silly man

MY 2287.  Nobody wants to hear what he has to say.

I'm not so sure my moratorium on Secret Projects was a good idea.  The Artifacts are still not doing me any good.  But, at least I'm learning how usable the Hive probe teams are.

[bvanevery]

Details I fake you out

I fake you out

MY 2287.  Nobody noticed my approaching Amphibious Probe Team.  I steal B5 Advanced Ecological Engineering, which I didn't even know the Gaians had.  Now I can connect to the mainland!  Also I can build Soil Enrichers, although I don't think food is my problem.

Details so they think it's my fault

so they think it's my fault

MY 2288.  Just because I have a lot of Genejack Factories... not like I don't have Tree Farms too... just because I committed some atrocities awhile ago... whatever.  I mean, I'm +1 PLANET.  I'm being robbed.  I'll build Hybrid Forests. 

Details and I learn it myself

and I learn it myself

Just goes to show you how slow it is to get probe teams to enemy territory on a Huge map.

[bvanevery]

Details no money for honey

no money for honey

MY 2289.  Deidre wanted to make bank.  Most of us said, screw dat.

Details shellshocked

shellshocked

The Gaians have the temerity to shell my stack of Formers, without the decency to be intercepted by nearby ships.  Maybe they just need to be closer.  I am too frugal to bother making an artillery piece to keep the Formers safe.  I have Hybrid Forests to spit out.

[bvanevery]

Details gas time!

gas time!

MY 2291.  Can I wipe out the Gaians under cover of sunspots?

Details unprotected

unprotected

These ship positions don't defend the land.  I'm giving up my land raising operation.  I'll leave 1 behind to keep the enemy ship busy.

Details crazy fast research

crazy fast research

The rate at which the Gaians are learning new techs, is making me a bit nuts.

Details pop boom

pop boom

Now for some reason I have a money problem.  It doesn't seem to have affected me much in practice, as somehow I still have 541 credits.  But in principle, I'm taking a substantial loss per turn.  I also have the unique ability among all factions, of being able to get enough GROWTH together to pop boom without my citizens being in a Golden Age.  I shift my budget to +10% PSYCH to get my Tree Farms providing a benefit and try to keep people slightly happy.  Even though my double strength police units are pretty neat, I don't think they can quell size 14 bases.  I may be forced to change from Knowledge to Wealth, to keep my balance sheet steady and my people happy.

This makes me feel less than bullish about actually making death progress during sunspots.  I bet I just struggle to balloon out.

[bvanevery]

Details fiddling

fiddling

MY 2293.  I briefly had my cash flow stabilized at slightly positive.  Then my population growth gave me drones.  So now I've got them happy, but I'm doing cash loss again.  Maybe Hybrid Forests will fix that.

Details patrolled

patrolled

My last Cruiser Probe Team got blown away in Deirdre's home waters.  I'm surprised it took her as long to react as it did.  They still have D4 Intellectual Integrity.  I have land probe teams I could try to use against her.  Of course I just sent my Transports off to dump Scouts on supply pods at the north pole.  If we weren't in sunspots, I could buy the tech from the University.  Not that I really want to spend any money right now.