The Planet Rising - May2014 GotM scenario for the Pirates

[Vishniac]

Locusts seem to be attackable with non-Air Superiority units, and it may be easier to weaken them with defense so that you can kill them with a non-empath unit.  (Or even kill them outright on defense, if they're sufficiently incautious.)  I suspect that the fact that a 3-res trance foil costs only 20 minerals will be a key part of a winning strategy.

Locusts attackable without interceptors? 
That would help me, I already have empath penetrators.

As for defense...I still haven't researched/stolen 3-res armor! 
More later, I now resume the game...

(and else: still nobody completed the game in any version?)

[Vishniac]

But I'm not that worried and I think the worst is over - unless he goes for nukes, that is...

2262: Cha Dawn just nuked a University base!!!
Beware, Man!

[Yitzi]

Locusts seem to be attackable with non-Air Superiority units, and it may be easier to weaken them with defense so that you can kill them with a non-empath unit.  (Or even kill them outright on defense, if they're sufficiently incautious.)  I suspect that the fact that a 3-res trance foil costs only 20 minerals will be a key part of a winning strategy.

Locusts attackable without interceptors? 
That would help me, I already have empath penetrators.

As for defense...I still haven't researched/stolen 3-res armor! 

If you can build aquafarms, it should be only 1 more tech.

[Vishniac]

A few turns later he nuked Port Svensgaard with my HQ and the Virtual World.
Then his air force began killing all my base defenders and invaders followed...
This game is over!

EDIT: and AAA-3-rres sentinels were useless against shard penetrators*2 

[Kirov]

Remember also that resonance weapons for some reason don't work against Locusts and that Locusts can scramble like Interceptors.

Right now I keep working from my "good" save (2187 with HSA) and go from there to improve my fighting tactics. I don't want to start from the scratch as I can't compete anyway, but I definitely want to develop a proper strategy for this scenario.

I did quite fine with his native life this time, 7 Locusts down to my 2-2-4 Empaths. Also 74 mind worms went to their worm hell, land invasions were no longer a threat. Everything was going fine, but then his shard penetrators*2 came and wiped my bases clean... He's got 89 of them as of 2212. I have enough techs but struggle with the industry (at only 8 bases this time). I hope I can go back a bunch of turns and deter him from attacking my bases by putting 1-8-1*2 AAA. I'm also seriously considering Power probably for the first or second time in my life.

Everybody else is dead except for 2-3 meagre Zak's marine bases, and you really start to feel that pivot when Cha Dawn deals with other factions and starts to come for you with all he's got. For a long while you're safe indoors as he rarely attacks bases with 3 garrison units, even all 1-1-1 Trance, but when he starts to do precisely that for reals, the game is essentially over. So it turns out this scenario really is a race against time.

No nukes flying in my game (yet), although I noticed he's got 7 fusion nukes produced and lost. 

Also a bug to report - sometimes mind worms stay afloat even if you destroy the IoD underneath them. Happened twice to me, got saves, will post them later.

[Yitzi]

Remember also that resonance weapons for some reason don't work against Locusts and that Locusts can scramble like Interceptors.

I just experimented and it seems that resonance weapons do work vs. locusts.  And indeed they can scramble, and attack air for that matter.

I did quite fine with his native life this time, 7 Locusts down to my 2-2-4 Empaths.

Aren't they more expensive than if you'd done 1-3-4?

Everything was going fine, but then his shard penetrators*2 came and wiped my bases clean... He's got 89 of them as of 2212. I have enough techs but struggle with the industry (at only 8 bases this time). I hope I can go back a bunch of turns and deter him from attacking my bases by putting 1-8-1*2 AAA. I'm also seriously considering Power probably for the first or second time in my life.

I think this map is one where Power is definitely desirable...and AAA (plus maybe aerospace complexes) are likely the answer to his air.

[Kirov]

I just experimented and it seems that resonance weapons do work vs. locusts.  And indeed they can scramble, and attack air for that matter.

See attached image.

Aren't they more expensive than if you'd done 1-3-4?

No, although I just noticed 2-3-4 is at the same price, too. In this scenario it really doesn't matter, you successfully attack his IoD and then die from literally everything else.

Also another useful reminder - native life is prone to artillery. The Battleship you start with can wipe out a demon IoD (use bombing instead of normal combat), so you may want to keep it alive. Even huge stack of mind worms can be easily dealt with when softened up with one artillery barrage and 1-2 Empath units.

[Kirov]

And the image.

[Yitzi]

I just experimented and it seems that resonance weapons do work vs. locusts.  And indeed they can scramble, and attack air for that matter.

See attached image.

Ok, I experimented a bit more, and apparently they don't work in air vs. air fights, but do work when attacking with a land or sea unit.

No, although I just noticed 2-3-4 is at the same price, too. In this scenario it really doesn't matter, you successfully attack his IoD and then die from literally everything else.

What does he have other than IoDs that can capture sea bases?

[Kirov]

What does he have other than IoDs that can capture sea bases?

LoCs can and I'm quite sure Sealurks can as well. Apart from that he produced some regular units like 5-3-4 and the like, but it's weird - I've always been convinced that all your unit designs go to the F7 screen and stay there until the end, but in my current game, F7 doesn't show naval units I'm sure I was killing.

And another thing, I believe it's common knowledge but just to make sure - the reactor doesn't count in psi combat, so you don't need to put Fusion on your 2-3-4 Empath units or similar cheap anti-native agents (I'm saying this as IIRC the 'combat odds' screen displays it wrong when you use a Fusion unit against NL - 1-1-4*2 is at 1:1 against an IoD, but the screen says 2:1; I'm not 100% sure of this, but my experience confirms that something is definitely off with the odds then, besides you can see in the battle resolution how Fusion hit points go down by 2 always).

[Yitzi]

LoCs can

Locusts can capture bases?  A bit surprising (as that would make them different than every other air unit), but ok.

and I'm quite sure Sealurks can as well. Apart from that he produced some regular units like 5-3-4 and the like

Those are common enough to be an issue?

[Geo]

LoCs can

Locusts can capture bases?  A bit surprising (as that would make them different than every other air unit), but ok.

Technically, they're a gravship. Can't those capture bases?

[Yitzi]

LoCs can

Locusts can capture bases?  A bit surprising (as that would make them different than every other air unit), but ok.

Technically, they're a gravship. Can't those capture bases?

So they can, I never realized that.

[Yitzi]

Well, I've been playing the hard version some, and it doesn't seem that bad; there's a strong element of luck (about half the time  will show up with most or all of his locusts in the first 10 turns, and then there's really nothing to do but restart), but I got a fairly decent game, and seem to be doing ok so far.  Admittedly, he's got air power and I've only just gotten my fourth base (which will hopefully survive this time, since I've actually got decent defensive units), but I just met  (he restarted near me after being knocked out by  ), and he pacted me and gave me Planetary Networks, so soon I should be able to start probing away  's tech advantage, and maybe get crawlers, naval yards, and lift the resource caps.  I also got a map of  's territory from  (who declared vendetta later over my pact with  , but too bad), and have been freely sharing and trading techs with my pact siblings in hopes of keeping them alive longer and having them research things I don't have (which I can then get from them.)

Admittedly, it hasn't reached the " got rid of everybody else" point, at which point I'd better be ready, but if I can get Doctrine:Initiative and Advanced Military Algorithms before then, I think I've got a good chance of holding until I'm ready to push back.

[Yitzi]

I did have to save-scum once, not counting restarting:  built a base on Mount Planet Island, which put many of my best squares in his territory (hence unworkable for me); I couldn't get to it before he built a defender, so I had to load the autosave.