The Tlaxcalan Hegemony - SMACX AI Growth mod version 1.46

[bvanevery]

Details the inevitable theft

the inevitable theft

MY 2190.  Can't say I didn't see this coming.  The irony is they probably would have learned it through their own faction ability anyways.  Much as I hate it, I'm not objecting.  I need to build up my infrastructure.

Details performant cyberneticism

performant cyberneticism

MY 2191.  So much for worrying about the "weakest faction" not doing well!

[bvanevery]

Details finally

finally

MY 2195.  A spore launcher quite randomly shows up next to my most productive city.  I think it just emerged from nearby fungus spontaneously.  I capture it.  First time.  I've been Green a very long time.  Sometimes I wonder if you need a certain tech to ease the strain of capturing, or if certain factions have hidden penalties for capturing.  The factions that start with a positive PLANET rating, always get scripted events for their first indigenous life form encounters.  They are guaranteed to capture the 1st one they touch.

Details a creep at sea

a creep at sea

MY 2197.  Oh joy.  This is sure to end in extortion.  I've been saving lots of money to try to rush the Virtual World, if I get it through the Planetary Datalinks.  Can I placate her before she leans on me?  Is that cheaper than getting jacked?  Good grief, she wants 500 credits!  No way.  She's far away and I'd only lose a Transport over this.  That Transport could make some money back being out in the field, but it's not worth 500.  I counter with 250.

Details I didn't say she was a freak

I didn't say she was a freak

My mod is much more polite to Christians.  Well I know who's butt I'm kicking when it's time.  Democratic is gonna remain the thing that makes me money.

Details I had to fish this in her presence

I had to fish this in her presence

Great.  After that shakedown, I find out I've scooped up an Artifact worth protecting.  The Artifact doesn't have any movement points remaining, so I can't dump it onto shore.  Looks like I'm target practice next year.

[bvanevery]

Details defeated

defeated

MY 2199.  Domai's finally gotten the Monsoon Jungle together.  I didn't even think about bribing anyone to hold onto the Governorship, because I just got the plans for the Virtual World through the Planetary Datalinks.  Just in time too, as Cha Dawn is threatening to complete it next year.  I fire up 3 copies of it (it's virtual!) and rush one of them with cash.  The other 2 plod onwards to be "something later".

[bvanevery]

Details blown off again

blown off again

MY 2203.  What a flake!  I'm just about to seal her into my personal lake too.  She really hasn't expanded for some reason.  If it weren't for her probe teams, I'd say she's the primary candidate for vacuolization.

Details I can do it too

I can do it too

MY 2206.  I obtain the plans for the Human Genome Project from the Planetary Datalinks.  It was a good decision, building that earlier.  I rush it with cash.  I now only have 1 Secret Project city left.  Hopefully I'll manage the Planetary Energy Grid with that.

[bvanevery]

Details connecting the tendrils

connecting the tendrils

MY 2207.  Mag tubes come relatively early in my mod.  Now I have a key component needed to smother my enemies.  If only the Data Angels were my allies.  My territory is not contiguous.

Details stop pay troll

stop pay troll

MY 2208.  I've put a large barrier in the ocean!  There's actually a strange little water passage between Free Drone and Cultish territory to the west.  The Believers also have some twisty passage ocean access.  But it will sure cut down on the AI's ability to find a path.

[bvanevery]

Details a gaggle 'o' worms

a gaggle 'o' worms

MY 2209.  I finally capture something more substantial.  2 mindworms and a spore launcher in 1 stack.

Details big business

big business

MY 2211.  Gonna be hard to stop me now.  I have enough cash and Artifacts to rush this.  I'm not really fighting anyone, and nobody cares about Values choices, so I switch to Wealth.  I make even more money.

Details Planet's down with that

Planet's down with that

Global trade will make us rich!  Myself more than them.  I don't think the AI realizes what my income will be next turn.

[bvanevery]

Details dividends

dividends

MY 2215.  I'm making a lot of money.  I complete all of my Network Nodes.  My conventional units are wimps, so I do the "mindworm Wealth" thing.  The Believers came to pester my northeastmost city with a single Rover.  Fortunately my Synthmetal Garrison barely held up.

Details scary money

scary money

MY 2217.  I use my last Artifact and a pile of cash to rush the Command Nexus.

[bvanevery]

Details I have mindworms too you know

I have mindworms too you know

MY 2218.  Cha Dawn decides to get gratuitously uppity with me.  Deirdre wanted a Pact with me, and my Treaty with the Cult was the only thing stopping them.  So this is convenient!

Well, except for that Deirdre is also at war with the Data Angels.  I'm not touching that one.

[bvanevery]

Details unneighborliness

unneighborliness

MY 2219.  The Cult squashes a Gaian city pretty near to my own.  I'll have to fight soon.

Details undermined

undermined

MY 2222.  I stuff Domai's production of the Citizens' Defense Force just as he's about to complete it.

[bvanevery]

Details sneaky money

sneaky money

MY 2228.  We're in sunspots.  I rush the Hunter-Seeker Algorithm with cash.  This will make it a lot easier to surround distant cities with my own.

Details buy one get one free

buy one get one free

MY 2229.  Only the Longevity Vaccine remains out of my grasp.

[bvanevery]

Details so violent

so violent

MY 2238.  I've been uneventfully building nothing but Clean Formers.  With these I'm adding Forests everywhere and have been gradually trying to bridge the halves of my empire in a non-violent manner.  Roze decided she wanted to kill one of my mindworms out in the bush though.  We're still in sunspots.  I think it's time to take out Data DeCentral, so that I can have a clear path between the halves of my empire.  I switch unit production accordingly.  Huge piles of mindworms ought to do it, without disrupting my money flow.  I also steal D5 Applied Relativity from them, which for some reason I haven't gotten through the Planetary Datalinks yet.

Details same enemies

same enemies

MY 2243.  Sunspots end.  Roze and Cha Dawn have stuff worth stealing, so I don't try to make peace.  I have not managed to threaten Data DeCentral yet.  I'm skirmishing with the Cult in the north, without really having a good strategy for it.  Finally getting an alliance out of Deirdre, may make that easier.  I'd say my military output is not yet impressive, and I've got a lot of Clean Formers I don't want to put on my front lines yet.

Details bypass

bypass

MY 2247.  I have completed a causeway to the western portion of my empire.  I've made Morgan Construction my capitol, to exert greater happiness in the west.  I've got a wall of troops and spore launchers coming, but they haven't been as fast as my Clean Formers in this theater.  That's saying something because raising land takes twice as long in my mod.  The land remains under my ownership, so I don't need to take over Data DeCentral.  I've stolen Doctrine: Air Power from the Data Angels, so I offer a Truce.  However they're ignoring my transmissions.

Details going long

going long

I will probably need to take a city to get the Data Angels' attention.  I build a rail to Moonshadow, as that will allow me to interfere with the Free Drones.  Next year when my empire wide rail is complete, I can actually assault it.

[bvanevery]

Details different progress

different progress

MY 2254.  I never did attack.  The Free Drones declared war on me a few years ago, and they took over the Data Angel bases between us.  I was finally able to infiltrate them, and they had 1 tech I didn't.

I've been more interested in building new cities around my capitol to form an economic core, than expanding outwards.  It hasn't been exactly clear to me how I'm supposed to implement my "vacuole" strategy, when other empires consolidate their holdings rather than leave pockets.  For instance, the Gaians finally retook their city from the Cultists, with my assistance.  So now I will have no Cultist pocket city in that direction.  I'm thinking I'll have to physically interpose a lot of ground units to "weird out" the AI.  To this end, I've started building Clean AAA 3-Pulse units.  They're Fusion units, but they only come out Disciplined as I'm pursuing Wealth.  So it is not certain that they'll actually hold up in the field.

[bvanevery]

Details cyborg drama queen

cyborg drama queen

MY 2256.  I didn't even realize the Gaians were at war with the Cyborgs.  Nor do I care, as we aren't even in land contact with each other yet.  I could steal at least D6 Digital Sentience from them if I could get near them, but presently, I can't be bothered.  They completed the Network Backbone recently.

[bvanevery]

Details irresolute defense

irresolute defense

MY 2262.  I finally take Moonshadow.  It came to be a target of convenience.  The Free Drones wasted numerous units outside its walls, stopping just short of my ECM 3-Pulse pickets.  I killed so many units that way.  Eventually they only had 1 unit in there, so I just flew a plane up and killed it.  The point is to get Domai's attention to give me a Truce.  It works.  I also tell them to knock it off with the Gaians.

I've settled on the provisional goal of surrounding enemy capitols with my own cities.  These shall form my "Tlascalans".  Data DeCentral is first on my list.

[bvanevery]

Details because you suck

because you suck

MY 2266.  Cha Dawn is getting the snot kicked out of him by the Cyborgs.  Currently there's nothing of him for me to surround, as the Cyborgs have taken his cities closest to me.  I take the opportunity to get him to see reason.