Passive Aggressive Tactics - SMACX AI Growth mod version 1.46

[bvanevery]

Details new Headquarters

new Headquarters

MY 2218.  I establish my permanent seat of rule.  It doesn't magically make people any happier though.  I had drone riots in several cities this year, and decided it's time to up my budget and pay for some happiness.  This has quelled most of the rioters, although I still have a few Colonists in production at various unhappy places.  Right now I seem to be able to sustain cities of size 5.  I definitely need to complete the Human Genome Project.  I would very much like to have the Virtual World.  And the Manifold Nexus.  But first I must put a land bridge around Domai.

Details colonization

colonization

I put a new base at the point of my land bridging to Domai's island.  It gains the benefit of the Monolith.  Risk of probe team subversion is minimal at this point, but I move up my Skimship Probe Team just in case.  I attack Whipsaw Base because it is size 1 and will depopulate.  It's in the way of the land bridge I want to make to the Manifold Nexus.  Once I take the Nexus, I will mushroom out along the coast and completely surround Chainlink Break with land.  I will partially surround Tanker's Rest because I don't want to harm the Fossil Field Ridge.  For this same reason, Seawork Caverns will also escape incarceration.  Although, I could turn it all into a lake eventually, with Overtone Song as the gateway.

Who knows how many Formers I'll really produce though, or where they'll really be needed.   At some point I'll need to do something about Roze.  She's got half the world open to her.

Details stop birthing

stop birthing

Now why didn't it depopulate?  It was worth killing the ship though.  I'm annoyed that it's going to grow to size 2.  Someone else could take this over.

Details reroute

reroute

Miriam has started building the Ascetic Virtues.  I send my Skimship Probe Team in her direction.  It's going to take awhile to get there.  It may need an Isle escort by the time it gets there.  Miriam's waters are pretty quiet right now, but she has a nasty habit of patrolling oceans and sinking probe teams.  Pretty sure the AI cheats that way, zeroing in on exactly where you are.  Miriam has been getting some pressure from Roze, so maybe my approach won't be so bad.

I don't take Whipsaw Base.  I would rather beat upon Chainlink Break and eventually destroy that Foil Probe.

[bvanevery]

Details no need to steal

no need to steal

MY 2220.  My Skimship Probe Team returns to base.  I'm a bit surprised that enough factions know this for me to pick it up from the Planetary Datalinks.  How did only the Believers manage to start the Ascetic Virtues?  A message went by that the Cyborgs and Believers have combined forces against the Data Angels.  Well better them than us!

Details start it up

start it up

I believe the Drones have nothing they can shell me with, so I begin raising the land.  40 credits is 10x what I might have expected this to cost, but it's pretty cheap for raising enemy territory.  I wonder how that formula is worked out?  I wonder if their lack of a Headquarters makes this cheaper?

[bvanevery]

Details I want this hole

I want this hole

MY 2221.  I intend to settle the Garland Crater.  However the Spartans have availed themselves of my rail and are trying to reestablish themselves.  They can do that somewhere else!  I've brought in extra Speeder Formers to ensure that I get settled next year.  The Spartans will still be wandering through the fungal river.  They could even stir up a mindworm and get themselves killed.

[bvanevery]

Details a thief's work is never done

a thief's work is never done

MY 2222.  Boy those Cyborgs sure are good at research.  I suppose their foci are Discover Build and this is straight up their research path.  Soon I will have 4 Secret Projects in progress.  I'm not making any money because I've built so many Network Nodes and Biology Labs.  You'd think I'd be more advanced in research for having done all of that.  I'm not getting much money from exploration anymore as 3 of my Isles finished the northern hemisphere, and are now walloping the Drones.  I think once they liquidate that Foil Probe, they're gonna find something else to do.

Details big vibrator

big vibrator

I complete a R-Laser Foil prototype.  The ship might be useful for beating up the Drones, but I suspect the action will be over by the time it gets somewhere.  I suppose I could now harvest Fungal Towers for money.  I'm certainly in need of it.

Details gauntlet

gauntlet

Most Cyborg cities that I can steal from are now deeply inland.  I've never built so much as a Speeder Probe Team.  I could, but I'm cheap.  This Cyborg sea base they took from the Drones, maybe I can steal from it.  I have to get past a Drone ship at Stevedore Dock though.  That will require an Isle escort.

Details peninsula is mine

peninsula is mine

The Spartans will be doing quite a bit of backtracking if they want to expand their influence.  Why can't they go bug the Cyborgs?

[bvanevery]

Details mission accomplished

mission accomplished

MY 2223.  I have destroyed the hated Foil Probe.  This frees my toughest Isle to escort my own probe to target.  I've raised one unit of land.  I have a lot more to go.

[bvanevery]

Details sublime research

sublime research

MY 2224.  I learn this on my own.  When did I start on that?  It's just as well, as the Drones managed to conjure a ship and attack my big tough Isle.  It won the fight, but it's half wounded and won't be escorting anything.  The right way to penetrate someone's waters at this point in the game is with a "Firewall" 3-Pulse Foil Probe Team, but I've been way to cheap to make one.

Details cost of doing business

cost of doing business

This tech enables Wealth.  I badly need money, do not want to harm my PLANET rating, and am not in conventional military conflict with anyone.  The choice is obvious.  Wealth quadruples my income, which isn't so totally impressive as it was pretty low.  But it's better to inch towards completing these Secret Projects.  The only downside of Wealth is it'll tick off the University.  But a war with them, is merely an opportunity to bridge to their home continent.  Right now they've got sea bases in the way.

Details piles of choices

piles of choices

I can think of a lot of ways to mess with people with Formers.  The faster my Formers are, the better I can do that.

[bvanevery]

Details bloodletting

bloodletting

MY 2225.  I'm not sure where Domai got the ships from, but he's killed 2 of my Isles.  He lost 1 ship in the process and badly wounded a 2nd.  I try to move up my almost healed Isle to retaliate, but I forget that it only has 4 movement when wounded.  I reload from an autosaved game, and instead just move 3 squares forward onto the fungus with the energy special.  It's not a big deal because the Isles did complete their mission, but it's annoying that I'll have to go capture them again.

Details weeding

weeding

As I don't want Domai sinking my stuff, I attack his base that's trying to produce another ship.  That leaves it empty, and forces him to change production to a defensive Synth Police unit.

Details traditional suicide

traditional suicide

My new R-Laser unit is not strong enough to blow up a Demon Boil Fungal Tower by itself.  I don't feel like making another one; in fact, I want this one to become more and more experienced.  So a Green Scout shall be responsible for doing the initial damage.  Attacking with 3 Scouts has been a traditional way to take things out, the last one usually living through the experience.  And sometimes they perform surprisingly well and kill more than I'd expect.  Also the odds calculator generally displays wrong info about psi combat.  Surprisingly, the Green Scout kills the tower!  Rah rah PLANET rating.

I'm not sure how many credits I made for that.  I forgot to look.  I see I have 541 credits.  I save the game.  Reloading the autosave, I had 441 credits, so this was a 100 credit gig.  Not as much as I hoped or thought, but it's worth doing.  Especially because that tower was in the way of my city's growth.  I reload my saved game.

Knowing I can get this kind of performance out of mere Scouts, forget about R-Lasers, I become much more aggressive about sending them out in the field.  I'm supposing that at my PLANET rating, 2 Hardened Scouts is foolproof.  And if that wasn't enough, I've got a standing reserve of 10 Independent Mindworms.

Details coastal expansion

coastal expansion

I decide I'm going to colonize a fungal spot on the coast, in range of 2 nutrient specials.  I start making a Fungicidal Former to assist with such tasks, when I remember that I'm only 7 years away from B5 Advanced Ecological Engineering.  I will be able to remove fungus faster with newer units, and I won't need to remove fungus to make rails anymore.  I switch to a Tree Farm.

[bvanevery]

Details get it done

get it done

MY 2227.  I cash my 1 Artifact and spend a lot of cash to get the Human Genome Project done.  With all the competition for Secret Projects right now, I have no doubt that I'd have to do it at some point anyways.  I've got some unhappy cities and I want this one locked in.  It provides a unique capability that you can't get any other way, it's not just a free facility replacement.

[bvanevery]

Details like I was saying

like I was saying

MY 2228.  Not sure why I didn't get a "2 turns to completion" warning about this, but it proves my point.  Since we're not in sunspots, it would seem to indicate that the Believers rushed it with cash.  I'm not sure if I've seen the AI do that before, or recently.  Rushing with a Supply Crawler is far more typical, and I don't think the AI uses Artifacts for the job at all.  This was to be my 2nd priority project.  I switch my copy to the Planetary Energy Grid instead.

Details you and what air force

you and what air force

Roze tells me all about her new Gatling Needlejets, and thinks she's going to shake me down about it.  Given the distance between us, I'm hardly scared.  She could start doing air raids over the (previously) Free Drone island though.  I happened to have stationed my 1 Skimship Probe Team on its southern coast, just a stone's throw from a Datatech city.  She happened to fail to defend it, so I steal C4 Neural Grafting.  That's the end of my foil probe.

Details navigational assistance

navigational assistance

En route, Zhakarov's Transport demands to have a word.  He sells me a map, then chastizes me about my Greed.  Fine Zhak, shut up already.  The Believers have good spread over their continent, but very low population cities and no railways.  They won't be a problem for a long time.

Details new digs

new digs

With the Human Genome Project completed and many Tree Farms on the way, this may be my last new city for awhile.

Details brazen

brazen

The Cyborgs settle a new city near me, right next to the Spartan probe team that never went anywhere.  I guess they don't care about theft or takeover!  I start moving my own probe team towards the river, but then I realize they have nothing to steal.

[bvanevery]

Details no talkie talkie

no talkie talkie

MY 2230.  We will be silent awhile.  It makes no difference to my current agendas.

Details you should think better

you should think better

I tag a Drone Foil Probe that spent too much time lollygagging in front of my cities.  It tried to run away, but if you're going to do that, you really should retreat to one of your own bases.  You're not exactly safe in open water. 

This year I have completed an encasement of my borders with infantry probe teams, so nobody's just going to sail up to anything.  I start making some Rover Probe Teams to go after the Data Angels.  I haven't seen any naval presence or air force, so I think I can sail up with an Isle to deploy.

[bvanevery]

Details pushing the border

pushing the border

MY 2232.  In the north part of the Free Drone island, I've pushed the land far enough that it's no longer part of my territory.  That means that it will be more expensive to raise, and it provides Domai an opportunity to get production minerals.  I didn't anticipate this difficulty and will need to decide somewhere new to settle.  Meanwhile the Data Angels have started shelling my southern shore.  I've shifted to a western connector project, and I will also put a spur towards the Data Angels to the south.  I'm using old Former units as I have now learned Advanced Ecological Engineering.  If the old ones eventually get hit by Needlejets, it is of no consequence.  So far I have not seen any planes in the skies though.

[bvanevery]

Details resistance

resistance

MY 2233.  The Free Drones attack with an annoying landing of Recon Rovers.  They kill my Hatchling Spore Launcher.  I suppose I could stand to make a bigger one, to keep ships from messing with me.  Id rather be making Super Formers but whatever.  I kill the interlopers with Scouts, losing 2 in the process, because I have no respect for anything.

[bvanevery]

Details closeness

closeness

MY 2239.  I could invade the Data Angels if I wanted to.  I don't though.  That wouldn't be passive aggressive, just aggressive.  Meanwhile Domai hasn't stopped colonizing.  I can still surround him, but he's feeling like a chore.

[bvanevery]

Details intervention

intervention

MY 2240.  Roze finally started strafing my Formers.  Hope she doesn't fly farther inland, or I'll have to change my plans.

[bvanevery]

Details getting rich

getting rich

MY 2241.  With my 1 Artifact, I finally have enough money to complete the Planetary Energy Grid.