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

[bvanevery]

Details gurgling mess

gurgling mess

MY 2323.  I've been rushing Pressure Domes in bases I thought were vulnerable.  My cities have held.  1 did get all its defenders killed, but no facilities got destroyed.

Details lotta water

lotta water

Even more locusts are appearing and I'm seriously doubting my ability to hold things off.  Plus I will soon have no ability to reinforce the cities I took from the Gaians.

Details yet more

yet more

Turns out a fair number of my cities didn't even have Command Centers built yet.  I'm not seeing how I survive.  Did I just hand the game to the Peacekeepers?  Is that what chemical warfare amounts to?

Details river of death

river of death

I had 2 Formers on the Rocky river square last year.  I built a road.  Now it and the Formers are gone.  This is one of the worst things about global warming, these death zones on land.  The rivers can also shift around and ruin anything you try to build in the general area.  Trying to repair river damage gets real old real quick.  I've quit games because of this, just unable to keep up.  Not sure I'm promising anything with this game, as it doesn't look all that survivable.

Details gone stuff

gone stuff

I manage to wipe out Memory of Earth, with heavy losses to my X Missile Needlejets due to a Locust that played interceptor.  I never realized they could do that.  I'm not sure I've seen it happen in a game before.  My homefront is weary as usual, so I decide that I need to overpay and rush everything that I can.

[bvanevery]

Details isolation

isolation

MY 2323.  The rising water is getting pretty silly.  I think we're in for 2800 meters.  My continental link is broken.  I've also lost rail connectivity in my homeland, so it will become more difficult to shuffle wounded defenders.  I seemed to do better defending against Locusts this year.  Some of them are flying away from my homeland, I'm not sure to where.  I hope they're not just flying towards my Gaian conquests, as those cities are not really equipped with Trance defense.

Details fighting for Gaia's heart

fighting for Gaia's heart

I'm able to destroy a small Gaian city and all the units in it, but I have no protection from Gaian counterattack.  I try building a rail in front of their mindworms in order to distract them, hoping they'll let my X Missile Speeders escape.  I certainly don't have time to build new offensive units.  I'm also able to bring the Gaia's Landing Perimeter Defense down with the loss of yet more probe teams.  They have a lot of units in there though, and I don't really have any means to take it right now.  It contains Secret Projects so I won't liquidate it.

Details hard to reach

hard to reach

I've been using a few X Missile Needlejets against these cities, but I've broken off my attempts to drive rails to them.  Clearly everything is sinking and I'll lose the few Formers I have left.  These cities could persist if I don't keep hitting them.  Persistent cities are bad once atrocities start, because if you leave them long enough, they build nukes and nuke you.  Once you start down the dark road with a faction, you really have to finish them off.  That's why I've only committed atrocities against the Gaians, so that I only need to wipe out one faction at a time.

[bvanevery]

Details the last starfighter

the last starfighter

MY 2324.  At least my Orbital Defense Pod did some damage against Lal before going down.  I clearly don't have the industrial capacity to worry about duking it out with him right now.  I' :-*m barely making enough Trance units to keep me alive, and soon I'll be worrying about having enough minerals in the water to do anything useful.  I hope he has some trouble with all of this flooding as well.  He's not going to be having any Planet trouble, as even Locusts that veer off, are too far away to get to him.

I may yet kill Deirdre, but this "tactic" is basically cutting my nose to spite my face.  It is only the full knowledge that one is going to write an After Action Report, a sort of morbid curiosity about a train wreck, that justifies the thing.  And how long can my interest last?  My rate of wishing to write this up, has seriously slowed down.  I will probably fight on until Deirdre is vanquished.  Then I'll have to decide whether this is too tedious to continue or not.  In a previous AAR I did finally come out the other side with mindworms abating, but then the Cultists nuked me, so I quit.

Details synch this

synch this

In version 1.42 of my mod I moved Geosynchronous Survey Pods to this tech, because they give a +50% defense bonus.  That would be darned useful right about now.  I've actually survived my onslaught this year with few losses.  Depending on how much my units have healed, this might be a good time to build GSPs at all my bases.  I'm certainly going to need more defense as more and more bases slide into the water.  I hope most of the poundings are done by the time I'm a fully water based society.

Well, building GSPs isn't going to happen everywhere, because you have to have an Aerospace Complex, or the Space Elevator.  My artificial anti- Secret Projects policy ties my hands here.  I could build ACs everywhere though, if I think I have the breathing room.  I certainly get attacked by enough Locusts to justify it.  Similarly, my bases that have slipped into the water, could use Naval Yards pretty soon too.  Lotta Isles of the Deep starting to cast about.

[bvanevery]

Details Santiago the rationalist

Santiago the rationalist

MY 2325.  Santiago comes all the way up north to talk to me.

Details fringe benefits

fringe benefits

I bet the Cultists would sign a Truce too, if our units ever came into contact with each other.

Details Spartan planning

Spartan planning

Having a base display -1 population ever so briefly is mildly interesting.

Details Planet's assistance

Planet's assistance

Wild locusts actually wiped out a Gaian base that I emptied of defenders last year.  However I won't be getting any more air strikes in that region, as the airspace is now swarmed with locusts.  I lost a plane on the ground at an Airbase.  My few Formers wandrering around will try to make more roads, but between shifting rivers and locusts, they'll soon be dead.

Details breakage

breakage

My homeland has split into 2 physical pieces, and it's effectively 3 logistical pieces due to disconnected rails.  Fortunately the rate of attacks seems to be slowing down.  Many of my X Missile units have died, so I'm not making a lot of new chemical attacks.

Details treading water

treading water

With 6 remaining Super Formers, I'm able to raise a little bit of land.  That takes 2 turns, so I doubt I'll be able to pull it off much longer.

Details Santiago is a weenie

Santiago is a weenie

My Truce with Santiago lasts all of 5 seconds, as I can't very well stop killing the Gaians while I'm still able to.  I'm able to reduce the Gaian sea base to size 1 and empty it of defenders, but I can't quite destroy it.

Details who really likes to swim

who really likes to swim

This is the 1st year that I've been able to propose this.  I'm surprised anyone opposed, but we sane ones sorted it out.  It's a drop in the bucket though, because we were previously due for an almost 4000 meter rise.

[bvanevery]

Details well drat

well drat

MY 2326.  I didn't realize that Geosynchronous Survey Pods are an attackable satellite.  How many am I going to lose?  1 for now.  Next year I'm rushing a pile of Orbital Defense Pods, so he shouldn't be pulling this again.

[bvanevery]

Details spores

spores

MY 2327.  Land and air attacks are slowing down, but I'm being shelled a lot.

Details does it work

does it work

I design what I hope is a good defensive artillery piece.  I know that for offense, this is not the ideal anti-mindworm design.  You actually just want the biggest caliber gun you can get.  And if you want to blow away stacks of Locusts, you want to make it with Air Superiority.

Details I programmed them

I programmed them

Small blessings!  I think the Locusts wiped out another Gaian city.  Well this the wrong framing.  I think the actual city that's gone, was a little farther east.

Details disruption

disruption

I've lost some Formers to the Gaians, but at least it drew some of their units into the open where I can destroy them.

Details screening Lal

screening Lal

I hope Lal doesn't figure out how to make any more Orbital Defense Pods anytime soon.  I hate it when the AI starts obsessing about that.

[bvanevery]

Details whittled down

whittled down

MY 2328.  Lal declared war on Deirdre.  I think he wiped out a sea base north of Garden of Fishes that I'd previously weakened.  She's only got 1 sea base left in this region.  Hope Lal finishes her off!

Details land control

land control

The Trance R-Laser Artillery I designed last year was very successful on offense against stacks with spore launchers in them.  I can make a big stack of those die at a distance of 2 squares and get all the money.  I've refrained from designing an anti-air unit because the Locust hordes are almost gone now.  Also they don't tend to wait 2 squares from a base, and I can't risk putting my units outside of bases right now.  Instead I've designed some cheap hovertanks to wipe out what remains of the mindworms.  I finally completed a hovertank prototype last year.

[bvanevery]

Details weakening

weakening

MY 2329.  By going after my Formers, the Gaians are losing a battle of attrition.  They're losing units and I'm not.  Pretty soon I'll have enough units healed up to take Gaia's Landing.

Details strengthening

strengthening

I have nearly cleared the mindworms from my land.  I am no longer bothering to make military units.  Instead I'm making Trance 3-Res Cruiser Transports to move existing units around when everything inevitably sinks.  My westernmost bases are making Trance 3-Res Cruiser Formers to start working on sea minerals.  Fortunately I'm getting 1 mineral from fungus squares, so I'm not likely to become desperate.  My 3 landlocked bases are making Flechette Defense Systems, for lack of anything better to do.  As much as I might like to improve my factories, I'm not done doing eco-damage yet.

I do have Graviton Theory, and thus orbital insertion capability.  I don't feel ready for a long distance battle with Lal though.  My homefront is not secure.

Details glurbling burble

glurbling burble

Sadly, the Manifold Nexus will soon be wiped out.  It's only 205 meters above water, and raising land near it will actually destroy it.  I consider that rather a misfeature of the game and not terribly science fictiony.

I start to let my factories do the work instead of rushing stuff.  I have 13k credits saved.  I'd need 99k to corner the energy market.  Not sure if raising my ECONOMY rating would help that.

[bvanevery]

Details waterworld

waterworld

MY 2330.  No fungal pops this year.  Only a few straggling spore launchers, mindworms, and fungal towers left.  Only 1 city doing 7 eco-damage, another doing 2, all others 0.  The blight has passed.  I need to build kelp and minerals in the rapidly rising waters.

Details reckoning

reckoning

The Gaians are extremely weak.  I'm almost healed.  I've dispatched my 1 ship to try to sail into Lily of the Valley.  If they are foolish, they will let me in.  I killed a spore launcher and a Former that were in the open.  I've left a wounded Battle Ogre out as bait, hopefully for the mindworm in Gaia's Landing.  I don't have any manufacturing capacity for new units, but if I wait a bit, the Gaians will surely fall to my old ones.

[bvanevery]

Details level up

level up

MY 2331.  I do not need to be particularly PLANET friendly at the moment.  Perhaps I can get my conquered bases to grow to size 14.  I will need Socialist to do that, which means I need a higher ECONOMY to offset the penalty.  I have plenty of money saved, but I'm concerned that a Market Crash could wipe it all out.  I'm not able to make large amounts of money unless I have mindworm hordes attacking.  I imagine that with more chemical attacks, that will happen in due course.  I could win either by wiping out a lot of bases, or by surviving enough mindworms for long enough, that I corner the energy market as a byproduct.  Either could take quite awhile.  It would be best if I take the Hunter-Seeker Algorithm from Lal, and then steal all his tech.

[bvanevery]

Details hippie priorities

hippie priorities

MY 2332.  The Gaians blocked up my secondary target, using a wounded Isle.

Details taking care of business

taking care of business

I decide I want that base gone, no more fooling around.  I fly over a plane to kill the Isle, then I sail into the base and Obliterate it.  I don't think obliterating a size 1 base is any worse than a chemical attack, but I do think the severity is proportional to the population.  I've been trying not to make a habit of it.

Details playing the sucker

playing the sucker

I sail into the base with moves remaining.  My plane revealed a wounded sealurk, so my ship kills it.  I've now got the Planetary Datalinks.  I don't think that will do me any good, as Lal is probably ahead of everyone in Build tech.  I actually don't have any infiltration with him, but he did just complete the Nano Factory.  Disturbingly, it seemed to take him 1 turn.

Details futzing with defenders

futzing with defenders

I have 3 healed X Missile Speeders and 1 badly wounded Battle Ogre that I could hit Gaia's Landing with.  Unfortunately I had to use my planes to mop up sea units.  It's not enough force to take the city conventionally, and I think it's too weak to use plagues or chemicals.  I could upgrade my Speeders, and indeed, at the rate the water is rising I'd probably better get this over with.  2 of the defenders however are indigenous units, so I'm not sure my upgraded weapons would do any better against them.  Perhaps if I attack to clear them first?  Let's see what my odds are.

Details selective defense

selective defense

My Commando unit would hit their best conventional defender, and lose.  Yet if I upgrade, I have a feeling it will only hit a mindworm.  I suppose I could make it an Empath unit.  Let's see what the costs are.

Details kinda cheap

kinda cheap

Empath Song only changes the cost from 90 minerals to 110.  Maybe it's underpriced.  However I never use this ability in ordinary games, preferring the mere sacrificial Scout on rails to take out mindworms, so I don't have a strong opinion on this.  I already survived a horror show, so really anything I do now, doesn't seem all that important to me from a game balance perspective.  I'll leave it to future players to tell me whether this needs adjustment.

Details don't you love spending

don't you love spending

It's to take Gaia's Landing.  It has the Human Genome Project, the Weather Paradigm, the Planetary Energy Grid, and the Xenoempathy Dome.  Not like I can mind control it either.

Details odds got better

odds got better

The first defender vaporizes.  With this audio mod I've been using forever, it even makes a nice puffy vaporizing sound.  25% damage to me.

Details no contest

no contest

The spore launcher vaporizes.  I take 10% damage.  This kinda makes me wonder why I've been fiddling around with PLANET bonuses.   Ok, to make my eco-damage go down, but I've often worried about it for combat.  Having Empath Song is equivalent to the Dream Twister, +50% Psi attack.  Hmmmmm.  Well, I'm going to let that sit in the backburner of my brain for awhile.  I wouldn't call it a pressing concern, it's not going to force me to do a 1.43 release.

Details Deirdre you suck

Deirdre you suck

You think she could have more money waiting for me?  It cost a reasonable amount to do that.  But man, what performance!  I'll definitely keep Empath Song in mind if I have a mixed force enemy.  I've been worrying about R-Bolts way too long, it seems.

Details the harbinger of doom

the harbinger of doom

If I can get a task force consisting of my last 2 X Missile Needlejets down to the last Gaian city, and a probe team to inflict a plague, then I can end this.  No particularly new units required, although I might end up doing some upgrades.  I dispatch what I've got.  Who kjnows what use a Laser Skimship might be?

Details forced breeding program

forced breeding program

I bump my GROWTH to +4.  It causes me a slightly loss of money, -9 credits/turn.  That may stabilize once I get the conquered Gaian cities happy.

Details every little bit helps

every little bit helps

Plus I've got the Planetary Energy Grid now, and I don't think anyone can take it away from me.

[bvanevery]

Details a cheap death

a cheap death

MY 2333.  One of my landlocked cities finishes a Flechette Defense System.  How much havoc can a relatively inexpensive drop ship cause to Lal?  I intend to find out.  Experience in previous games has been that ground units require loads of reinforcement to survive in enemy territory, especially if the AI gets mindworm happy.  Maybe the AI isn't bright enough to go after Gravships.  I have seen it send Locusts against them, so it will depend on how many they're producing.  I don't know about regular Interceptors.  The AI has seemed kind of dumb that way.

[bvanevery]

Details you are my son

you are my son

MY 2334.  Why hasn't he figured out that he's the product of my love tryst with Deirdre?  Just because I threw him in the recycling tank afterwards, doesn't mean he should dodge his destiny!

[bvanevery]

Details elevated

elevated

MY 2336.  I've created an artificial island.  Unfortunately I haven't coordinated especially well with the Sea Former near Gaia's Landing.

Details scouting after insertion

scouting after insertion

I drop my first gravship near UN Information Agency, which contains the Hunter-Seeker Algorithm.  Strictly speaking I could destroy it, but I'd rather own it.  Perhaps I can wipe out everything around it, to make it easier to hold.  I have no idea what kind of defensive forces Lal has.  I hope he's got a ton of Synthmetal Sentinels.

Details mixed forces

mixed forces

If this is typical, then I'm going to have to change my tactics.  The AAA and the indigenous life forms will both chew up my gravship.

Details somewhat better

somewhat better

If I had Empath Song, then I could toast this base.  But I can't do that and be a X and a Drop ship.

Details a nuke

a nuke

This would be a good one to get rid of.

Details expensive funeral

expensive funeral

This is the toughest I can make to destroy stuff.  Would take awhile to build though.

Details self propelled coffin

self propelled coffin

This is the cheapest anti-mindworm unit that can do X damage.  I don't think it's enough to overcome Probability defenders though, and I've seen a lot of those.

Details tubular undertaker

tubular undertaker

This is the best bang for the buck.  It might be enough to take out non-AAA units, or it might not be.  We'll see!

[bvanevery]

Details my last plague for her

my last plague for her

MY 2338.  In the time it took me to get here, Deirdre lost a defender to someone else.  I lose my armored Cruiser Probe Team inflicting a plague, but it does so much damage, I don't even need any further atrocities to take the base.  That said, I think a chemical attack and an obliteration is probably a better idea than just an obliteration.  Or, I could even let the Spartans take the base I suppose.  Maybe that's the best policy!

Details let it end

let it end

Actually, I just find myself wanting this to be all over with.  If she's my prisoner, she can't make further trouble for me.

Details hefty harm

hefty harm

I don't want some runt base out here in enemy territory.  Did that cause any eco-damage?  Didn't seem to.  All bases are at 0.

Details interloper

interloper

I'm not sure if the AI is smart enough to disembark a probe team from a Transport to probe my sea base.  It's not a threat I really thought about.  I never really thought the enemy could get probe teams this far up, with all the stuff that's been going on.  I did manage to shell the Transport with a low powered artillery piece designed for defense against Spore Launchers.  I shall see next turn if I suffer from my mistake.