Post by: bvanevery on November 25, 2019, 04:44:02 am
the tougher Morganites |
It has been 15 months and 20 releases of my SMACX AI Growth mod (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=20959.0), since I last tried to win the game while committing massive atrocities. Back then, I made the horrific mistake of simultaneously inflicting atrocities on several factions at once. Planet took vengeance, the seas rose, bases became hard to reach, and that kept my enemies from dying. As I struggled to recover, eventually they got around to nuking me. At which point I resigned, situation hopeless.
The moral of that story is, you wipe out one faction at a time.
I've learned other things since then. Like that Aliens can gas anybody and can themselves be gassed without consequences, because they are not part of the Planetary Council. Like that it's fairly easy to legalize chemical warfare. You just need a little luck at a Planetary Council meeting. And that you can nuke everyone without consequences, if you do it in one turn. I've done these things, and I've even written up a nuking (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=21348.0).
But that's not what we're doing here! We're doing it when it's illegal, and when Planet deeply cares about the illegality. In a way they clearly don't care, when the Planetary Council approves. Aren't you impressed that Planet has such "heart" ? And that they're such an important party to the political discussion?
Well, my explanation is they designed the game badly. Planet should always take vengeance, if chemicals and nukes irritate its delicate onion skin so much. We're going to play the game as though it was correct, logical, and consistent. No weasling out of Planet's vengeance!
I've never won that scenario, and I question whether it's winnable at all. It would definitely help to wait as long as possible before triggering the vengeance, to get helpful techs and Secret Projects like the Neural Amplifier.
But we're not going to do that! We're going to play as though Morgan is impatient to get on with executing some enemy of his. He will need to build up some techs to do that, like C3 Applied Physics at a minimum, to make viable X Recon Rovers. Other games have taught me that X Scouts don't do anything, you gotta have at least a strength 2 armament to do substantial nerve gas damage.
And to make things more Morganic, I'm never going to change his research focus. His default is pure Build. In principle, the AI could do what I'm about to do. If it had the brains to do it, which it doesn't.
Furthermore I'm probably going to utilize the relatively new Extremist choice, once he's got the core world ending tech he needs, i.e. an X Recon Rover. This isn't your grandpappy's Morgan, this is a tougher Morgan that has +1 SUPPORT, not -1. Think more Halliburton (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halliburton) than fatcat. Extremist will put him to +3, which could give him some serious hordes if I can get his base sizes high enough. Which admittedly, could be rather difficult on a flooding planet. We shall see!
And we're going to go Capitalist, to do as much eco-damage to Planet as possible. Which admittedly is less in my mod, only -2 PLANET. It's still going to be a horror show.
We're not going to put any Aliens in this game, because it's too easy to gas them without consequences. I've done it dozens of times now. It's not even worth a writeup.
We're going to put the Pirates into the game. Also a pure Build faction, and the most likely to inherit Planet when it floods. My Pirates have potential political compatibility, as they fixate on Wealth. However the Pirates are likely to become scary in such circumstances. If Planet can't kill me, they might. Especially because, if you commit enough atrocities, everyone reviles you and tries to kill you.
In short if I can win this one, I can probably win anything. There's a slight possibility I may not have perfected my Pirate AI tweaks, and that's the real reason I want to include them. Otherwise I'm happy with random human opponents, on a Huge map, that always has plenty of water in my mod. Average settings and Transcend difficulty, of course.
Post by: bvanevery on November 25, 2019, 05:41:08 am
I have a new After Action Report writing tool at my disposal: the Windows 10 "Snip & Sketch" tool. It's way faster at taking cropped screenshots than other methods. You simply set a timer to activate in 3 seconds, switch your context to the fullscreen game, and then wait for it to activate. When it does, you can capture the full screen or just draw a rectangle around whatever you want to snip. The benefit to reader is my screenshots are now the full resolution of the game and have no downfiltering. If I'm cropping. Sometimes I'll still want to show the whole screen.
your starting minigame concern |
I've started inland near the top of the map.
the radar at highest zoom |
I am on a large island-shaped mass. I bet you the Pirates will start in the equatorial southern waters somewhere. They could be close to me or far away from me.
part of the northern supercontinent |
My land mass is part of the northern supercontinent. It is clearly linked by land to the southwest. It may also be linked to the southeast, or there may be a water channel. A supply pod could trigger an earthquake and make a link if there isn't one already. I am certain to have a land enemy coming from the southwest direction. I may have one from the southeast.
perfunctory capitol |
I started on Flat Moist land, and none of the land around me looks particularly wetter or better. I'm next to fungus but I'm not supposed to be afraid of that this game anyways. I just took the square as my base, to get on with it. I send my Colony Pod down river, as if nothing else it'll move faster, provided it isn't a fungus covered river. Mindworms have an awfully high chance of showing up on fungal river squares in my experience. I'll pop the pod once I've got an expendable Scout to throw at it, coming next turn. I do have +1 SUPPORT so can spam Scouts better than other factions can at the beginning.
do like I do |
I crossed one of those nasty fungal river squares without incident. My reasoning was, I had the moves to retreat if need be. My base site is awful but I'm going to take it rather than going back.
I may need to add E3 Ecological Engineering and Fungicidal Tanks to my list of "required" techs for facing these adversities. This makes me realize that I'd prefer Fungicidal Tanks to be part of the Build Tree, not the Explore tree. Recently I changed Ecological Engineering to Explore although it's still heavily weighted in Build as well. It lifts the nutrient restriction rather than the minerals restriction and also provides Aquafarm. The minerals restriction is lifted by B3 Industrial Economics. Well, we'll see if I have any problem getting Ecological Engineering in practice. I may not. That's the real reason for restricting myself to Build only research, to see what kinds of hangups the AI would run into.
it's no Nile |
The supply pod changed the course of the river. Big wow. No helpful Monolith, just ruining my land worse than it was. My 2nd base now has complete garbage around it, near as I can tell. I'll walk this fungus laden river just to be peevish about it.
typical |
Since it's early in the game, I'm going to win. Not that many turns from now, this would be a death sentence. I forget whether the threshold is 10 or 15 turns, or something else.
rockin' resources |
Mission Year 2110. We're about to find out. MY 2111, survived that hit just fine with hardly a scratch.
Post by: bvanevery on November 25, 2019, 06:05:08 am
the first truly helpful supply pop |
MY 2120. I've gotten a fair amount of annoying stuff like fungal pops out of the supply pods. My home territory is fairly resource poor. At least now I've got a boat. In my mod they move a bit faster, and they all have Clean Reactors and Deep Radar on them. Clean Reactors are also available from the beginning of the game, to help the AI out with SUPPORT problems. They are more expensive to build though, so it's not a free lunch. One of my early pod popping tricks, is to switch production to an expensive production like a unit with a Clean Reactor and armor on it, then pop the pod nearest a city, hoping that it will complete the production. So far that trick hasn't worked, so I'm still just toodling along with 7 Scouts. I haven't even produced my 1st Colony Pod yet, and I've not had the food to do it much sooner anyways. I started the game with more money than other factions, but I didn't see a point in rushing to produce Scouts.
joy |
Maybe I make him my 1st victim instead of my last? In fairness I don't know how far away he is. He could have slow boated himself a long ways across the map. The AI is prone to do that. We sign a Treaty. He doesn't want a Pact. I buy Doctrine: Flexibility and Doctrine: Mobility from him for 200 credits. Maybe it won't be so hard to get to my chemical weapons threshold. A little exploration and I might be able to just buy the techs from various people.
My capitol has finally grown to size 2, so I rush the Colony Pod.
crikey |
He really does want to die, doesn't he? Ideally I'd use X Marines for this sort of thing, but that requires 2 Tier 3 Conquer techs. I suppose an X Laser Skimship would work fine. At least he won't get any use of my land.
Post by: bvanevery on November 25, 2019, 06:22:44 am
the purpose of clean units |
This is what having Clean Reactors available at the beginning of the game is good for. This base won't be able to produce another Colony Pod for 21 turns. I'm supporting 3 Scouts and that's the max I can do for free. The Clean Scout is the cheapest unit I can make that doesn't cost support and is useful for something. This sort of thing helps me, and it also helps the AI. The AI has a very bad habit of running itself out of SUPPORT in various cities. Getting it to build Clean Formers, especially, alleviates this. Clean is really not something you need midgame, despite its appearance as some kind of "big reward" in the original game, for having researched a lot of tech. By then, you're getting factories and forests and have built Mines and have a lot of minerals. It's the beginning of the game when a Clean Reactor can do the most good, especially for the AI.
MY 2124. I rush my 2nd colony pod.
a hazard |
MY 2126. I was right about earthquakes going off, but I doubt this bridged any new land.
chicken! |
MY 2128. I found the Ruins, which I suspected was there because I'd walked all around it. However I had to retreat, because I was near death from a previous mindworm encounter. One of those infamous river mindworms.
Post by: bvanevery on November 25, 2019, 06:50:24 am
mobility |
MY 2129. I found my first Unity Rover at sea. This can solve the mindworm problem in the Ruins. I think I'll let my near dead unit stand still and heal, while the Rover does all the work.
introducing the Unity Lifter |
MY 2130. I've found the Hive, and they may have found the Unity crash site. Although, they could have possibly popped a Unity Lifter from a supply pod. This is my replacement for a Unity Scout Chopper in version 1.37 of my mod. It's much faster than a regular chopper. It moves 12 even with a Transport module on it. It has a Range of 2, so it doesn't take damage the 1st time it lands somewhere. However it's the only Copter chassis unit available in the game. You have to pull these things out of supply pods or the Unity crash site. I wanted to prevent anyone using the copter chassis' multi-fire capability, as it is seriously overpowered. This was the only way to make sure that no one could design a unit with a weapon.
divide and conquer |
MY 2131. Mindworms from 1 Isle land in 2 different places next to my base, making it impossible to defend myself. This is unusual, to the point that nobody would ever plan for such a thing this early in the game. What am I to do? I save the game and consider save scumming it. The start of my game was fairly bad and I don't think having 1/3rd of my cities eliminated is fair. I don't think rushing the unit production ever works for a human player. It seems to work for the AI, but I will just spend resources and still have my city wiped out before the new unit comes online.
After seeing the results of an attack, I load the save game and do choose to rush the unit. For some reason although my defender dies, the base doesn't get wiped out along with it. I would have expected a size 1 base to depopulate and die, but it didn't happen. This maneuver costs me 11 credits. Oddly enough, the 2nd time the mindworms don't manage to kill my defender anyways. Well, I'm not really invested in the details of this, as it was basically an unfair move on the part of the game anyways.
Now that I know this can happen in this geographic configuration, I suppose I will just leave that new Clean Scout right where it is, instead of marching it off to garrison a new city as I'd originally intended.
what makes them pirates |
MY 2132. The Pirates sign a Pact. I find out where they came from. Looks like I'm not connected to the supercontinent to the southeast, and the Pirates desired to move up the sea channel there. I'm barely connected to the southwest and I expect Yang is that way.
Post by: bvanevery on November 25, 2019, 07:06:02 am
!###!!!!#! |
MY 2133. I was escorting an Artifact home with a Scout as cover, to keep anyone from stealing it. Then this mindworm came out of nowhere and destroyed them both. I was walking overland because that supply pod was blocking the channel for my Transport. It could have popped an Isle of the Deep, and I don't want to lose my only ship, let alone a Clean Reactor Deep Radar ship. I've had a lot of fungus creating choke points on my land. It's not as bad as some games I've played where the fungus totally overwhelmed my starting position, but this isn't good land. It'll get better eventually but this isn't some accelerated starting position.
more slaughter |
Mindworms up north waylaid me too. Settling my colonist where it is, hasn't felt like the greatest idea, but I'm getting impatient about this game. I don't like getting jerked around this much. I make a precautionary save before founding my base, in case there's yet another one out there. It's 2 AM and I really can't be bothered to tiptoe around this game anymore. It's going to get dangerous enough anyways and I don't need this early junk. Crabbiness and a desire to end a number of nights of sleep deprivation, is imminent. I did at least kill that offending mindworm with that barely alive Scout.
Post by: bvanevery on November 25, 2019, 07:31:26 am
here he is, Mr America! look at him go |
Hi Yang! Haven't seen you since we were snuggling in cryoslumber near a Unity escape pod.
wtf |
This is a bug. I don't know what's causing it, but I've seen it happen in quite a number of my games recently. I wonder if it's stale files in my game directory, old data from previous games somehow? The last time I looked into this bug, I believe it was present from the very beginning of the game. So loading an autosaved game and playing something over, isn't going to fix anything. We have now unscientifically determined my first atrocity victim. The one for whom in his deranged mind, it has already happened! Let us not disappoint him, especially since he'll nuke us if we let him get around to it.
I pass Yang's commlink frequency to Svensgaard. I didn't ask for a war. I was hoping he'd get a map out of Yang, but he didn't.
useful |
I fish Roze's commlink frequency out of a sea supply pod. She tells me all about Yang's lands. We sign a Treaty but she doesn't want a Pact.
very! |
She sells me C2 Applied Physics! I've got the minimum I need to make chemical warfare now. Probe teams would be nice.
not quite the production or logistics |
It's not a lot of targets right now, but they're scattered and not all that near to me. I've only got 4 cities myself and they're all size 1. It isn't time to attack yet, but I know what I have to work towards.
data mining |
I pass Roze's comm frequency to Svensgaard. This time he does come back with a map. Roze is sitting next to the Monsoon Jungle and will surely colonize it.
march of progress |
The land corridor on the way to Yang is long and empty. I need to expand in this direction. Gaining mag tubes would be good.
Time for bed!
Post by: bvanevery on November 25, 2019, 03:31:02 pm
best option when surrounded by fungus |
MY 2139. Svensgaard sells me B2 Industrial Base, which makes Recycling Tanks and Capitalist available. I'd switch to it but funds prevent me. I said I would do it though. None of this weenie Green stuff!
proper money grubber |
MY 2141. I switch to Capitalist. It doesn't actually make me more money right now, but it does speed up my research a bit. It'll start to matter more and more as I get more cities and they grow in size. It's going to be a PITA for mindworms though. Ordinarily this would be a premature decision, but I'm determined to roleplay Morgan properly.
my utter lack of convictions |
MY 2148. I learn B2 Ethical Calculus and go Democratic. I know I talked about Extremist but there's nothing helpful about that at this stage of the game. It was not meant to be a good choice, in fact it was meant to get the AI to stop obsessing about Fundamentalist. I had to take stuff away and make it more useless to get that to happen. It's still good for some factions though, like the Cult of Planet who is immune to its negative effects. It could be useful to me later when I have bigger cities, as +3 SUPPORT would give me free units up to the size of the city. I could try to pump up a single city by adding Colonists to it, but I don't have the food or production for that yet.
Post by: bvanevery on November 25, 2019, 04:14:53 pm
you sank my battleship! |
MY 2152. Yang sinks my Transport. At least I happened to have my Rover off of it at the time, due to fighting a mindworm last turn. I thought I was going to zip backup to that Monolith of his to heal.
security posture |
MY 2159. Now I can have probe teams! Buying my tech from others has been going rather well. The best thing I could get next would be E3 Monopole Magnets. It's cross-listed as a Build tech so I might get it sometime.
diplomatic nonsense |
MY 2163. Svensgaard declares war on Roze. I've gotten far more tech out of her than out of him! That's because she starts the game with what amounts to the Planetary Datalinks already in her pocket. That's a feature of my mod, that the Data Angels don't actually have to infiltrate to get the free techs from other factions. It was way too much to expect the poor hapless AI to get probe teams all the way across the map to infiltrate.
I have to take out Yang first. I don't want to be in a war with Roze, there's no value in it for me at all. So I will try to stop it and keep Svensgaard as an ally.
who am I to believe |
He points the finger at her.
I am a tech pest |
Roze blows me off! I think I bothered her about stuff last year though. Maybe it'll pass soon.
the love between us just isn't there anymore |
MY 2166. Roze finally starts talking again and acquiesces to my desire.
Post by: bvanevery on November 25, 2019, 05:10:13 pm
borgs |
MY 2172. Svensgaard get's Aki Zeta5's phone number off of a bathroom wall, out on some buoy somewhere. Hey it's the 70s. She wants nothing but sweet war between us. She's the most distant faction, according to Yang's map from the Unity crash site. On the graph she's also supposedly the most powerful, with the Data Angels close behind.
interloper |
MY 2173. Not sure how Yang got a Scout all the way up behind me. I suppose he took a boat. I haven't had a ship out that way in a long time. I rush a 2nd Scout to deal with it.
Post by: bvanevery on November 25, 2019, 06:32:05 pm
cyborg island |
MY 2179. Svensgaard got ahold of a Cyborg map. They don't have great land, but they're benefiting from their isolation. I'm pleased that my modding has caused them to make some sea bases.
capitalist problems |
MY 2180. A mindworm spawns from the Ruins and assaults one of my bases. I can move a Unity Rover in there to defend it, which I was trying to use to clear out Yang's scout. Yang retreated deeper into the fungus and rocks, making it harder to get to him. I still don't have Fungicidal Tanks, and I'm still only producing Hardened Scouts from 1 Command Center. Fungal Towers, at least I'll eventually be able to kill with untrained Scouts, but the Ruins is a special difficulty. I've settled all around it, but even then, the Flat terrain squares haven't been totally cooperative for good base sites. I need to remove some fungus to get at the Monoliths in the center. I don't want to just plop a city in the middle, as I've already got some Monoliths in use by other cities. I've planted many Forests to gradually undermine the fungus, and that is gradually working elsewhere, but it hasn't done much against the Ruins yet.
Post by: bvanevery on November 25, 2019, 06:54:50 pm
what happened to our love |
MY 2183. Roze declares war on me. Why did I bother to try to stop this earlier? It didn't matter. She could manage to get some probe teams my way, so I'll have to make a defense. At least there's only 1 city she can reach without an ocean voyage.
The logistics of trying to get to any of my enemies - Yang, Roze, and Aki - are not convincing right now. And I can count on Deirdre to hate me when I finally meet her. She's quite far across the southern waters.
north pole access |
MY 2186. While doing the "Rover off a Transport" trick to avoid fungal entanglement on a coastal supply pod, I set off an earthquake. This isn't important, it's just a mild geographic curiosity. I've often wondered whether the earthquake play mechanic was implemented exactly to punish me for using this tactic. It happens often enough, that if I'm really serious about preserving my Transport, I'll get to a safe distance before the Rover pops the pod. But that doesn't work when the pod is on fungus.
Post by: bvanevery on November 25, 2019, 07:11:52 pm
pest |
MY 2187. Yang starts shelling me. I suppose I'll have to deal with him. What a bore! I haven't made so much as a Laser in all this time. Everyone's too far away to make war. I suppose an X Laser Skimship would be appropriate. Gotta start committing atrocities sometime. Sunspots sure would be useful, so I could get away with it without repercussions.
Svensgaard offers Deirdre's commlink frequency, but I decline. I know how she's gonna react.
Post by: bvanevery on November 25, 2019, 07:25:06 pm
let's try the redhead |
MY 2190. I deliberately meet Miriam of the Believers. In my mod they don't have any political compulsion at all, i.e. they are not inherently Fundamentalist or Extremist. They could choose Extremist, but they could just as easily choose Democratic or Police State. The good news is that means she won't be automatically enemies with me for being Democratic. The bad news is that she's still Aggressive and there's no way to butter her up by picking her politics! I am hoping that her geopolitical situation with the Gaians, will make her favorably disposed to me. Unfortunately if she's allied with the Gaians, we're probably toast.
We sign a Treaty. She sells me Plasma Armor tech. Pretty productive trip!
Post by: bvanevery on November 26, 2019, 01:47:09 am
rational governance |
MY 2191. Someone calls an election. I'm nominally at war with both candidates, although we haven't had any actual fighting. I am leery of fueling Aki's research, but I will be in a ground war with the Data Angels real soon now. It'll take me forever to get to Aki, so I might as well have my actual opponent be weaker rather than stronger. I'd rather have peace with the Data Angels so I can be left alone to wipe out the Hive, but I'll do what I must.
This split circumstance also makes me realize I should consider my chemical weapons policy. I'm not going to use chemical weapons against multiple factions at the same time. Past experience has taught me that's stupid to the point of being suicidal. That means I do need conventional units, as long as I'm fighting multiple front wars. That could be a hand wavy justification for delaying chemical atrocities. I'd rather not be doing it against some mere sea units of Yang, as I'm going to get sanctions for it. I'd like to save it for when I'm actually obliterating his bases.
And if I could just get some sunspots. Never before have I felt such a need for them.
I'm not currently building new bases. I've completed Recreation Commons everywhere. I have a good number of Rover Formers in the field completing my road networks. I could really use E3 Monopole Magnets. I have a Foil Probe Team slowly making its way south, but distances are vast, and it could easily be killed. I am currently building Biology Labs everywhere. There's no point building a strong military until I have the ability to connect with my enemies.
Post by: bvanevery on November 26, 2019, 02:00:02 am
hope this doesn't hurt |
MY 2192. Yang has brought a Foil Probe Team right next to my southwesternmost base. I don't have any probe team to defend with, nor any ship. I started inland and this is the farthest extent of my empire. There's basically no way I was ever going to get a probe team defense done by now. The good news is that in my mod, the ability of probe teams to mind control enemy bases has been seriously toned down. It's quite expensive, and it's far more typical nowadays for the AI to show up and steal and wreck stuff, than to summarily take over your base. The bad news is that the Hive and Police State are now probe team oriented. He and the Cyborgs have the 2nd best probe teams in the game, after the Data Angels. The irony is it was Data Angel probe teams I was worried about, but I might be in for it with the Hive instead.
It is possible though that the AI doesn't know how to use a sea unit to do a coastal land probe team action. It might just sail right by. If I'd had a sea base out here though, there's no question it would attack. Sea bases are like Foil Probe Team magnets now! It's so bad that you'd better think seriously about making any sea base at all, because they will get probed. If they are sufficiently distant from your capitol, they will be summarily taken over. It might be possible to have a sea extending empire in the immediate vicinity of your capitol, but anything farther afield in the early to midgame, forget it! AI's gonna take it over. You can actually use sea bases as "bait cities" if you want to have something close enough to infiltrate and steal tech from. It's incredibly tedious for a human being to push Foil Probe Teams across Huge maps, but the AI doesn't care. It will gladly sail all the way around Planet just to mess you up.
sailing right along |
MY 2193. It went right by me. It's going off to bother someone else. I'd love it if it would bother the Pirates, as that would bring them into the war without me having to ask anything of them. Bothering the Cyborgs would be fine too, even though they're not adjacent and it wouldn't amount to anything.
Post by: bvanevery on November 26, 2019, 02:23:11 am
hot pursuit |
MY 2196. The Pirates have declared war on the Hive. I think that Hive Foil Probe Team found its mark! The Hive have stopped shelling me and seem like they're heading towards Pirate waters. I predict Svensgaard will slaughter them and end my problem. I'm glad I didn't have to use any chemical weapons to deal with this. I'm just building roads and completing my control of my "island". I still need either Fungicidal Formers or Mag Tubes to move to the next part of the plan. At least my forests are spreading all over the place. I'm also filthy rich by human player standards with a 1032 energy credit reserve. I've started to build some Network Nodes.
Since I have 1 Alien Artifact, I suppose I do have the surplus cash necessary to rush the Merchant Exchange. I never started it because the growth of my empire was an absolutely higher priority. Now, I'm just not that excited about it. I don't really have a good capitol city location with lots of growth. I still haven't conquered the Ruins. I'd frankly rather have something else. Several Secret Projects have already been completed.
Post by: bvanevery on November 26, 2019, 03:26:20 am
I love you too |
MY 2200. Deirdre finally gets around to declaring her true feelings for me. A few turns ago I managed to infiltrate her without comment. She only has 2 ocean accessible bases that I know of. Gaia's Landing appeared on Yang's map and is landlocked.
MY 2206. I learn E3 Ecological Engineering on my own, before I can steal it from my many enemies, and just after Roze completes the Weather Paradigm. I'm currently going through a round of building Children's Creches and am not that interested in building Fungicidal Formers.
Post by: bvanevery on November 26, 2019, 03:44:29 am
Svensgaard slips up |
MY 2208. Svensgaard sells me B4 Environmental Economics, before the Planetary Transit System has been built. I wonder why he was willing to let that one go? I don't particularly want it myself. I'm not sure what I do want. Well, mag tubes! But maybe I should just blow all my money on Tree Farms.
marine targets |
With the purchase of techs from Svensgaard, the Hive no longer has anything to steal. I'm realizing he has 5 bases vulnerable to assault by Marines, and that this doesn't have to be a rails based operation.
Hive back country |
That said, I should probably steal his map. Yang has got a lot of defense in depth. I also don't feel great about going up against Plasma units behind Perimeter Defenses with only X Lasers. It may be doable if they're trained enough, but I don't have Power available to me. Nobody else knows it yet either.
Post by: bvanevery on November 26, 2019, 04:14:25 am
less slack than the competition |
MY 2211. I steal Yang's map from a newly established empty sea base of his. Then I sail into it and wipe it out, achieving the first conquest on Planet. I guess I'm not the only one who feels the distances are vast!
has the bug ended |
Afterwards I contact Yang, wondering whether he's still yabbering about me committing atrocities I never did. He doesn't seem to be. Perhaps I should go after someone else first, like Roze. Or Deirdre. I think I'll pull back and let the Pirates worry about the ocean fighting. I'll stick to defending my coast.
Post by: bvanevery on November 26, 2019, 04:31:31 am
an enabler |
MY 2214. Now I believe I could take someone on. I'm still limited by logistics. I begin the Hunter-Seeker Algorithm, which is very expensive in my mod. It's a 500 minerals project and generally I have to choose which one I'm going to complete. The AI tends to complete whatever I don't choose.
Post by: bvanevery on November 26, 2019, 04:42:00 am
can I strike |
MY 2217. I finally get my sunspots, but I'm not in position to take advantage of them. I only have 2 Command Centers and a nation full of Scouts. No rail network. My cash needs to go to the HSA, not to "mad rush" sunspot projects. I will see how things are after the HSA is built.
Post by: bvanevery on November 26, 2019, 04:59:57 am
above the influence |
MY 2221. I complete the Hunter-Seeker Algorithm. I'm not as rich now, only 170 credits.
changes |
Roze took over the nearby Deadman Tavern. She won't be able to do it to me!
I also finally settled the middle of the Ruins, getting tired of the problem of "missing" various Monoliths in my city radius. At least I've worn down a lot of the surrounding area with forests. I'm now removing fungus the old fashioned way, no fungicide. At least I've pretty much built all the other infrastructure I need, except rails.
Post by: bvanevery on November 26, 2019, 05:38:06 am
others built more |
MY 2229. I learn E4 Bioadaptive Resonance, which in my mod gives the Neural Amplifier. I start building it. Since I've made it this far into the game without really coming into direct contact with my enemies, I'd really like to have it. It's going to be key technology when the world floods. I might even go so far as to say, if someone beats me to it, I'm going to have to conquer them first.
Post by: bvanevery on November 26, 2019, 06:05:26 am
finally some rails |
MY 2232. I steal E3 Monopole Magnets. Now I have the basic means to finish off the Hive and the Data Angels. If I could get C4 Nonlinear Mathematics out of someone, I'd be invincible! Until the mindworms show up.
so much for opportunity |
MY 2237. I was unable to mobilize in time. Heck I've only barely started my rails. Soon I'll see if Yang still thinks I'm evil. Well, he talked, but he also immediately told me he'd execute me and signed off. I didn't get a word in edgewise. That doesn't sound like a belief in atrocities to me though.
a dilemma |
The Planetary Energy Grid is really really valuable, especially to me. Do I built it instead of the Neural Amplifier, and hope to capture the latter from somebody? The Data Angels will complete the Neural Amplifier in 15 turns. I can rush it this turn. Nobody else has B4 Planetary Economics yet, so that pretty much settles it. I'll complete the Neural Amplifier and then hope I stay ahead on the Planetary Energy Grid.
Post by: bvanevery on November 26, 2019, 06:18:16 am
who's the pusilanimous wimp |
MY 2238. I completed the Neural Amplifier. I switch to Wealth as it makes me a bit more money. I'm not really fighting anybody right now, not even mindworms really. They've been surprisingly placid about me dismantling the Ruins.
Post by: bvanevery on November 26, 2019, 06:51:53 am
she is |
MY 2240. Deidre surprisingly offers a Truce. I accept. One less faction to worry about killing right now.
I'm gonna be rich! |
MY 2247. I've got Energy Banks everywhere! I'm garrisoning my cities with Clean Trance 3-Res Sentinels. I've finally started to build Fungicidal Formers to clear out the last of my fungus patches. I've got a partial rail network. If I can just get C4 Nonlinear Mathematics from somewhere, I'll be ready to go on the offensive.
MY 2248. Aki Zeta-5 has sunk all my Foil Probe Teams. Tiring of that exercise, I buy a bunch of techs from Svensgaard. I have 2 land probe teams still poking about.
Post by: bvanevery on November 26, 2019, 07:11:02 am
angels shall provide |
MY 2249. The Data Angels fail to kill my Probe Team standing within their city radius on a river, even though they had a Unity Rover they could have done it with. What a bunch of morons! I'm gonna be deadly now. My Skunkworks completes in 2 turns. The Cyborgs are now the only faction with techs I don't have. Unfortunately it's going to be impossible to get to them from now on. They're the "opposite side of the map" faction from me, the one that's preordained to do the best. They were already sinking my foils, and now they've got Doctrine: Initiative. Looks like they're going to rule the waves.
Unless I start attacking them with chemical weapons...
That's a bold plan! Take out the most long term dangerous faction first. I might do it. They have a lot of poorly defended sea bases. I'd need to eliminate those, then do a land invasion to keep all those juicy Secret Projects they've built.
I rush my Skunkworks.
Post by: bvanevery on November 26, 2019, 07:41:27 am
what for |
MY 2254. I learn how to make Super Formers and Thermal Boreholes and so forth, but I don't see how these things directly help my plans. I already have a large Former fleet and am not inclined to spend time on making more. I suppose that if I get a Secret Project to build, I could disband old Formers to overcome the initial production requirement. Mainly though I'm chucking out X Impact Foils with no armor. They're a lot cheaper and I really just need to whack stuff offensively.
Post by: bvanevery on November 26, 2019, 07:58:53 am
I knew your love was false |
MY 2256. Deirdre decides she hates me after all. She sinks my Transport carrying my last probe team, that was slowly heading towards the Cyborgs. I don't know how it was supposed to survive the approach, but I didn't expect it to get wiped like that! Deirdre could pose a logistical problem for me wiping out the Cyborgs. Should I go after her first? She actually has 3 notable Secret Projects: the Command Nexus, the Citizens' Defense Force, and the Ascetic Virtues.
Meanwhile, the Cyborgs completed the Maritime Control Center. And I see that the Data Angels have Needlejets.
Post by: bvanevery on November 26, 2019, 08:20:38 am
things that cause rage quits |
MY 2261. You know, I had lots of money. I think about 1600 credits. I was trying to spend it. I had also been trying to save it, maybe for buying out a base, since that's really expensive in my mod now. These stupid random events are one of the things I really dislike about the game, and that I'd never put in my own game. The penalties of the negative random events, grossly exceed the benefits of the few positive events. One of the worst events, which I haven't seen for quite awhile, is when an asteroid summarily wipes out one of your cities. I think it tends to happen in the endgame, and it must have something to do with how much better you're doing than everyone else.
I seem to be sticking to my original plan of going after the Cyborgs. After all, they're clearly strongest. Maybe all my little Green ships heading their way will add up to something? The AI might not have a viable defense or understanding of my spam. I haven't chosen Power. There's a huge -2 GROWTH penalty in my mod for that, and I don't want it.
Post by: bvanevery on November 26, 2019, 08:44:02 am
gimmie back my cash |
MY 2263. I had the money to rush the Pholus Mutagen. Jerk game.
the weakest |
The Data Angels have taken the Hive. I could steal from that.
Post by: bvanevery on November 26, 2019, 08:55:13 am
tedious! |
MY 2264. I was just about to commit my 1st atrocity against the Cyborgs, possibly a suicide mission as they'd likely retaliate somehow. When lo and behold, the Gaians white knight the cause and destroy my X unit and my probe team. For the record, they are at war with the Cyborgs. They should have jolly well let me do my job. It's not proving easy to conduct useful chemical operations in this game. It's 4 AM and I'm going to bed in disgust.
Post by: bvanevery on November 27, 2019, 04:55:45 am
design hack |
MY 2272. I stole C5 Doctrine: Air Power from the Hive base that the Data Angels took over. In my mod this makes the Cruiser Probe Team available. I don't want anyone getting instantaneous designs and avoiding prototypes, so my policy has been to make predefined units available 1 tech after the capability is given. I'm in the odd circumstance of not having learned C4 Doctrine: Initiative yet. Thus I'm not supposed to know how to make a Cruiser chassis nor a Deep Radar.
derivative design |
By switching the chassis and the armament, I was able to make a Laser Needlejet. Surprisingly, the prototype for this design was complete. I don't know why and that feels like a bug, or a kind of abuse. I'm not going to worry about it though, because some of the factions are getting a bit ahead of me in tech. I'll think of it as a right of theft!
cannon fodder to the slaughter |
Enemies attacked my Foil Probe Teams with surgical precision, to the point that I think the AI totally cheats about where the units are. My untrained X Impact Foils have performed poorly, especially against trained Cruisers that the Cyborgs are now fielding. I have not made any chemical attacks because I simply can't bring enough forces into a region to prevail. There's no point in permanently pissing off a faction, let alone one that's going to get nukes before you are, just for barely scratching a base. I also learned in the distant past that wiping out a base or two is not forever. The AI will simply rebuild bases. You have to be confident that you're bringing enough force to wipe out the AI entirely, and I'm not confident about that yet. When I was coming by 1s and 2s, I got picked off. I've been trying to flank and encircle, and I've been trying to come en masse.
I completed the Pholus Mutagen. That gives me the ability to use fungus as favorable terrain, as though my units were indigenous life forms. This isn't all that helpful though, because my -2 PLANET tends to stir up actual indigenous life forms. Which kill me, because I'll already have units parked in the region that haven't moved yet and can't get away.
This has basically been a really bad time and I'm questioning the wisdom of going after the most distant and most powerful enemy first. It would be a lot easier to wipe out the Data Angels, because they are land contiguous to me. Nevertheless I haven't quite given up on the original strategy idea. I'm making a new fleet of X Impact Cruisers. They move faster and have radar. I've still made them unarmored, as it costs too much and they can't hold up defensively anyways. I need to bring enough force to the region to start rapidly wiping out sea bases. If the Cyborgs start deploying better armor in the meantime, this is basically not going to work.
I've decided my confidence in the current strategy is low. I will build the X Impact Cruisers I've already committed to building, but otherwise I'm changing coastal city production to Hybrid Forests. My inland cities are already doing that, because I'm well garrisoned and don't need offensive land units right now. The Hybrid Forests will raise my productivity. My long distance chemical spamming strategy might work if I can crank out a lot more units. Fusion Power would be nice too. Nobody's got that yet, but some of my enemies have some of the prereqs.
change of plan |
Shoot, I wasn't kidding that she's researching faster than I am. She's gone nuclear! That's the end of my plan for now. I'm not taking a nuke in the face for a long distance sea battle I'm doing badly at. Glad I didn't pull the chemical weapons trigger on her.
Who can I victimize? More importantly, why would I bother to? The Hive is getting killed by the Data Angels and no longer a threat. The only other substantial sea civilization is the Pirates and they're my allies. I guess I could sail home and disband these damn ships. What a waste.
switch out |
For some reason, I was allowed to switch all the X Impact Cruisers in progress, to Cruiser Probe Teams, without penalty. Something to do with all the prototypes I came up with this turn, I suppose. My existing X Impact Foils, I suppose I could use as high priced conventional units against something. Not sure what. Well I could screen my Cruiser Probe Team movements until I steal the techs I need. They probably will die in short order, given how badly it went against the Cyborg fleet.
Post by: bvanevery on November 27, 2019, 05:29:16 am
my friend for now |
MY 2273. Someone called an election. The Pirates have been growing and we were able to depose the Cyborgs. This situation is peachy for now, and is going to suck when I finally start with the chemicals. Well I said I was going to play this scenario, didn't I! What have I gotten myself into.
I'm going to harass Deirdre's few sea bases for a bit. They Cyborgs are regularly taking them over, and the Gaians regularly take them back. So I should be able to steal techs from everyone, if I concentrate my screening forces.
surprised I could do it |
Can't remember if I learned or stole D5 Digital Sentience a few turns ago. I thought the Network Backbone had been built already, but it hasn't, so I've started it. The Cyborgs will complete it "soon" so I have to hustle. This might be my excuse to cash in all my old Former units. My money per turn is pretty good, 233 credits, but it's a very expensive project in my mod.
Post by: bvanevery on November 28, 2019, 03:21:48 am
perihelion increased my energy |
MY 2277. Somehow I got a massive energy boost last year. I also did cash in a number of Formers. I completed the Network Backbone rather easily.
rockin' the minerals abuse |
I could now make pretty much any amount of minerals output I want. Of course it does require actually building the Supply Crawlers, and in my mod, Fission Supply Crawlers are terribly expensive. 80 minerals! It's high so that a Fusion Supply Crawler will cost 50 minerals, same as an Artifact. This is to slow down everyone who wants to abuse Supply Crawlers to get minerals, whether human players or someone's AI binary patch. So I guess this is not really instant productivity. It's the start of serious productivity if I want to go that way though.
Now I'll need money for the Nano Factory. Gotta stay ahead of the Joneses.
Post by: bvanevery on November 28, 2019, 04:22:29 am
silly cyborg, Trix are for kids |
MY 2279. I don't know what the Cyborgs were thinking. She doesn't remotely have the allies or the votes.
MY 2282. I steal Bio-Engineering from the Gaians. With Genejack Factories I could certainly pile on the minerals. However I need cash for the Longevity Vaccine.
forgot I could do this |
MY 2284. Belatedly I remember that completion of the Network Backbone removes the penalties for going Cybernetic. Might as well!
Post by: bvanevery on November 28, 2019, 04:37:23 am
babies |
MY 2289. I learn Eudaimonia. I switch to Eudaimonic as I should be able to pop boom in many of my cities. Pop booming is rather difficult in my mod. I took all easy GROWTH bonuses away. You have to have the +2 GROWTH from Eudaimonic, and you need cities to be in a Golden Age. Unless you're the Hive, as they have a +1 GROWTH bonus and could do it without Golden Ages. In many iterations of my mod, everyone could do it without Golden Ages. I decided that was overpowered for the benefit of the human player only, as the AI really didn't know how to do it.
naval nothing |
I can't hope to compete with Cyborg research. They've got Fusion Power, Silksteel Armor, a bunch of stuff. It's very hard to get to them to steal. By rerouting my fleet, I was able to steal some techs from the Gaians, and that helps. But the Cyborg territorial waters are uncannily well defended. I've got one ship left from all that X spam earlier, and they just sunk one of my approaching Cruiser Probe Teams. I suppose I could try to buy one of their ships, but given that Cyborgs in my mod have Polymorphic Encryption on all their units, I bet I can't afford it. It's probably time to sound the retreat!
the power of capital |
By disbanding some Rover Formers, I'm able to barely rush the Empath Guild. I've got Genejack Factories being built in many cities. I may not have the tech, but I can probably outproduce everybody. If I can just lay my hands on some Fusion Power.
Post by: bvanevery on November 28, 2019, 05:04:03 am
allies aren't useless |
MY 2290. I buy Fusion Power from Svensgaard for a reasonable price, ending one of my problems. Although I've completed the Empath Guild, it doesn't quite give me the votes to topple my buddy Svensgaard as Governor.
fairly probe proof |
I thought I was going to steal from the Pirate city the Data Angels took over, but they've stocked it pretty well with probe teams. It's vulnerable to conventional attack but I haven't built any new navy. Maybe the Pirates will do something about that? I think I have to hold my Cruiser Probe Team in port for the time being, lest I lose it. Actually the Pirates did just give me 1 old Impact Needlejet, which might be enough to knock out those defenders.
less lousy fighters |
All sorts of choices will make me about the same amount of money right now. I think it's really difficult to benefit from a +5 ECONOMY without more Treaties. I've been unwilling to suggest a Global Trade Pact because I believe it would accelerate the already fearsome rate of Cyborg research. I think I could put up with -3 POLICE because I don't actually have any combat units out fighting anywhere. Just a home guard now. Heh, just remembered that Knowledge will tick Svensgaard off, but soon I won't care. The minute I start using chemical weapons, the friendlies are over.
Post by: bvanevery on November 28, 2019, 05:29:14 am
minor invasion |
MY 2291. I complete a Fusion Gatling Hovertank. I've known how to make hovertanks for awhile, but I never got around to prototyping one. Unfortunately the Cyborgs are about to land a boatload of 8 units on my shore. You'd think the Pirates could have done a better job of defending the coast. Fortunately they're almost all old units, and none of them have 3-Pulse or ECM, so my new hovertank should make short work of them. I bring up some surplus garrison units that I've had sitting around since forever.
I hit you |
It was a poor time for the Cyborgs to go on the offensive. I blew up the defending probe teams while their great protector was away. Actually if they had been in base, I might have killed everything.
Post by: bvanevery on November 28, 2019, 05:59:05 am
death from above |
MY 2294. I just gained the ability to drop right on Aki's head. Now I think I can take her out. Depending on her air defenses. Yeah, she doesn't have much of a screen. It's doable! She hasn't finished her nuke either. Not even close. Her research is great but her productivity is poor.
Post by: bvanevery on November 28, 2019, 06:19:31 am
lucky! |
MY 2296. Look at all this fighting! Yet I'm going to sail right through them. Better yet, the Cyborgs recently took over 2 nearby Pirate bases. I can steal from them, and with luck I won't get sunk.
I stole it |
MY 2297. Of course Svensgaard liberates his sea base. And of course the Cyborgs sink my approaching Cruiser Probe Team. And yet... a mere Foil Probe Team slips past the Cyborg front line, and finally steals from a sea base where I was getting sunk left, right, and center, not so long ago. Maybe that's because the Gaians and the Cyborgs are allied now. I'm gonna kick some Supply Crawlers out and make me a nuke in short order!
different denominations |
One of my supply crawler tricks is to make different ones that cost 60, 70, and 80 minerals etc. Various bases can take the same number of turns to complete a more expensive unit. In this way I waste less of a base's productive output.
Post by: bvanevery on November 28, 2019, 06:41:29 am
I'm awesome like that |
MY 2298. That was an expensive project. I'm just filthy rich, 740 credits / turn! It's 1:45 AM. I will figure out how to take advantage of this tomorrow. Well unless I'm busy with turkey all day, lol.
Post by: bvanevery on November 29, 2019, 04:04:08 am
annoyance unit |
MY 2299. This is how I'm planning to take out the enemy's Sensor Arrays and prepare for general invasion. I've built 2 of them; we'll see how they hold up. I believe I can drop them onto a Sensor Array directly and immediately pillage it. I should also be able to move onto them from a distance if air defenses are in the way. Also they can slip past any intervening obstacles as though they were a probe team. This is a more expensive version of the basic Fission Drop Scout concept. Those only cost 20 minerals. These cost 40, which is something pretty much all my interior cities can chuck out in 1 turn by now. Might as well use my extra productivity to buy a more expensive unit. I can't make a Fusion unit that cheap though, so it's Fission. It could also pick off Formers and Colony Pods. I could probably also completely pillage someone's empire into oblivion if they didn't understand the need to go after these things.
can it probe immediately |
I'm also building an experimental probe team unit that I hope is effective. Ordinary probe teams are non-combat units and have to end their turn once they drop. But if I add armor to it, does the game think it's a combat unit? There's a good chance that it does, and that I'll be able to move immediately. The other possibility is that probes might be treated as a special case and I won't get to. Thus, I'm only building 1, and it's a bit expensive. We'll see next year if it works.
successful drop |
I was able to drop straight onto a Sensor Array, and I can move. I'm not sure if combat units can usually land within an enemy's zone of control? Maybe this one can because it's cloaked. I could attack, but there's a pretty hefty penalty for attacking just after an orbital insertion. I just checked the odds and actually they say I'd die, 7 to 12. So pillage it is, as per the original mission.
MY 2300. The armored probe team didn't get to move after it dropped. It's better to establish defensible landing zones and then move out to do tech theft. Cloaked units do get to land next to enemy units though, which can be useful.
Post by: bvanevery on November 29, 2019, 06:05:09 am
MY 2302. I've used cheap units to tear up almost all of the Cyborgs' sensor arrays. Sometimes they thought it necessary to attack my units with their own Gun peons in cities. They often died before killing my units, a surprising misjudgment on the part of the AI. I've found that fission infantry probe team units can be made into cheap drop units, so I'm starting to whack them with those. My plan is to keep the cities with Secret Projects in them and eventually liquidate the rest. I think I'll take over all the Secret Project cities belonging to all the various enemy factions first, because it's just too dangerous to do chemical weapons attacks without total commitment. It's 1 AM and time for bed. Happy Thanksgiving!
MY 2303. I stole everything! The AI isn't that bright about defending its home territory. It had the troops to kick me to the curb but didn't use them. The next step is to start a rampage of destroying Perimeter Defenses in bases that I will eventually raze to the ground.
Post by: bvanevery on November 29, 2019, 04:56:53 pm
MY 2304. I complete the Dream Twister, as a result of my tech heists last year. I won't be able to bang out the Theory of Everything quite so quickly. It may take two turns.
[Limit reached]
I rushed a Robotic Assembly Plant in my Skunkworks city last year, so that I can chuck out my prototypes faster. Actually just about every city is working on a Plant now. Seems like I need more expensive units to really stick it to the Cyborgs quickly. I don't remember doing much eco-damage before, and it may even have been 0. Now it jumps to 64??
[Limit reached]
What could she possibly have to say to me? "Stop stealing my stuff" ? "Quit invading me" ? Bet you she's going to demand I spend money to gain peace. Well she had the decency not to demand anything that loony, but why was I supposed to help her with the Believers? Go away Aki, you're high on the liquidation list. Although I'm going to take over everyone's key cities conventionally first. Think of it as a historical trust, preserving the best of humanity.
[Limit reached]
I know how I talked about being a greedy capitalist Planet polluting pig to the bitter end, but it's just not realistic. I don't need a mindworm apocalypse in my backyard right now. I've also got bigger factories coming in every city and there's going to be lots more eco-damage. It's question of scale. The Cyborgs also have lots of mindworm defenders. Cleaning their clocks would be very useful as part of the invasion plan. The balance sheet is clear! We're going Green. I only lose 50 credits / year doing this for some reason, maybe because I don't have enough Treaties, maybe because JUSTICE goes up. Research rate is unchanged, and frankly I don't need any. I just need to stop the Cyborgs from learning new stuff and threatening to build yet another Secret Project.
[Limit reached]
I can handle 16 eco-damage. I'll build Centauri Preserves and deal with a few pops. Maybe I'll get mild flooding.
[Limit reached]
Aki has a poorly defended city in her back acre. Rather than bother with my usual drill of Drop Formers and building an Airbase, I'm just going to take this over. I can Obliterate it later when I've got better digs. Even my measly fission Recon Hovertanks are sufficient to take this place out, and I do have 1 Fusion Missile guy as well.
[Limit reached]
Since I just switched to Green, I don't get my PLANET Rating adjusted for combat just yet. The Dream Twister bonus is immediate though, so I believe I won't have any problem with this conquest.
[Limit reached]
That was rather easy. I've got a landing zone! I don't have real troops, but I did just drop in 4 probe teams. Are the Cyborgs dumb enough to leave this base alone?
Post by: bvanevery on November 29, 2019, 05:30:47 pm
MY 2305. C'mon man, you're my bud, but that doesn't mean I want to scrape your boots!
[Limit reached]
I complete the Theory of Everything. It didn't take any longer than anything else, I just wanted it built in my capitol. Now that my troops are indoors, some of my cities have become happier and are pop booming. The extra JUSTICE probably helps too.
Post by: bvanevery on November 30, 2019, 05:06:01 am
[Limit reached]
MY 2307. The AI shells the crap out of my city. As almost all of my units are quite feeble, they get badly wounded. I tried playing a turn where I counterattack, but they can't actually harm the Fusion Artillery. Their Fission Lasers are just too weak. The 1 Fusion Missile unit can do damage, but I've only got the 1. I'm just sitting here as target practice for artillery, it's not much fun.
[Limit reached]
Rather than just abandon the post, I take to the field to try to confuse the AI and do some harm in field. I'll actually heal in field because I've got the Secret Project for that, but it's not instantaneous.
In my haste to fight all of this, I forgot to steal the bonus tech that the Cyborgs got. I hope I don't get overrun next year. I just don't have anything to reinforce with. All of my production is going into Robotic Assembly Plants, and then Brood Pits to make people happier. All of my money is going into beating the Cyborgs to finishing the Secret Projects that they get. I may have more production, but it isn't enough production to make me a terrifying force yet. My tactics so far were definitely worthwhile from a theft and softening defenses standpoint, as I've destroyed a fair number of Perimeter Defenses. But an effective invasion, so far this is not.
Post by: bvanevery on November 30, 2019, 05:30:02 am
I play my Thanksgiving prerogative. I've had way too much family stuff distracting me from this game, to put up with this. I should be the Governor! I replay the turn before Svensgaard blows off our alliance.
[Limit reached]
And it doesn't matter. He doesn't like being deposed. I replay the turn again because I don't want this going to the Cyborgs. No elections, someone else can worry about that. This sequence of events has been brought to you by THANKSGIVING.
[Limit reached]
I got a fungal pop. I don't worry about that, I've got +70% Psi attack and +50% Psi defense. I worry about floods. I am building the "green buildings" but eh, time.
[Limit reached]
On the replay, Svensgaard blows me off once again.
Post by: bvanevery on November 30, 2019, 05:43:23 am
MY 2309. I got a Punishment Sphere completed. That base may not live another turn.
[Limit reached]
More importantly I got the Manifold Nexus completed.
Post by: bvanevery on November 30, 2019, 06:21:35 am
MY 2310. The Cyborgs liberate their base by brute force. Well the AI isn't completely thick after all. It didn't respond to me wandering around its territory without taking a base though. Noted for future assaults.
[Limit reached]
MY 2311. I didn't want this. I don't think it helps me. It could make the Cyborgs even more of a research terror.
[Limit reached]
I'm just really not getting around to killing anyone, am I? There's always one more gewgaw I think I need before I make a move.
[Limit reached]
I don't think anyone knows how to launch a solar shade.
[Limit reached]
I dropped an anti-mindworm unit. I succeeded in my assault, even with the orbital insertion penalty. But I'm almost dead. It would take piles of such units to matter. The Cyborgs are really good at mindworm spam. Maybe it's not such a dumb defense choice after all.
Post by: bvanevery on December 01, 2019, 06:07:26 am
MY 2312. OMG the game heard that I was getting bored. I am so going to gas the Cyborgs! Nobody's ever gonna know what I did to them. I wonder if Planet gets upset about gassings that happen during sunspots? We're gonna find out.
[Limit reached]
[Limit reached]
MY 2315. The rising oceans aren't a joke to someone. I checked my bases and think I got Pressure Domes up in time. I'm landing mixed units to re-destroy the Sensor Arrays that the Cyborgs built up again.
[Limit reached]
The X R-Laser 3-Res Drop Infantry is the initial unit I'm landing on the Cyborgs. I don't know what I'll be shooting at and they have a lot of mindworms, so they're designed to hopefully deal with everything.
[Limit reached]
I've also landed some X Phase Artillery via a Drop Transport.
[Limit reached]
It's devastating. It's a good trick if there's only conventional artillery in a city. It doesn't work against spore launchers. Naval X units can do this to bases with ships in them, but it has to be a ship to ship artillery duel. A land unit vs. a ship doesn't work.
Note that the AI was producing a Network Node but suddenly changed it to a Perimeter Defense. Hmm maybe it didn't cheat, as I don't know how far along that Node was. You can see that SUPPORT is still a problem for AIs that decide to field a mindworm heavy army. Can't put a Clean Reactor on them.
[Limit reached]
I meant for these R-Laser units to be a field force to fight the mindworms off, but they're also enough to take out weakly defended bases with old fission units in them. The mindworms won't be providing the usual cover.
Post by: bvanevery on December 01, 2019, 06:40:56 am
MY 2316. So Yang never let up on the Fight To The Death stuff. Well now he's gone, and I don't think it's in my interest to free him and make him my puppet. I'm probably going to piss off everybody not long from now.
1:45 AM. Going to bed.
Post by: bvanevery on December 01, 2019, 05:37:15 pm
MY 2317. I gassed another Cyborg city. Due to mindworm defenders I also took one other. Rather than Obliterate it, I will use it as a landing pad for now. I think the Cyborgs are going to have a lot of trouble with their previous strategy of spamming me with mindworms, because now all my troops are resistant to that. Still, they can wear me down, but in a battle of attrition I will probably prevail now. My general policy is to only build units that my cities can complete in 1 turn, but it has been interrupted by my desire to build Temples of Planet. I need my pollution under control because it's only going to get worse. The Cyborgs are also working on the Cloudbase Academy. I've dropped in 2 probe teams to steal next year.
[Limit reached]
My poorly trained but gaseous navy is effective against Cyborg ships and sealurks. I will likely spam their sea bases into oblivion. It just takes time to get there. My mod does allow Drop Ships, but I need a coastal base to make any real use of that. Dropping straight onto coastal land without a city, just kills your ship next turn.
Post by: bvanevery on December 01, 2019, 08:30:12 pm
MY 2318. This is what I get for taking time out from my busy conquest to build Temples of Planet?? This is pretty baloney unless the AI actually is counting my chemical attacks as eco-damage. But I have not seen any eco-damage numbers rising in my cities, so I don't think that is happening. I don't quite know for sure though.
[Limit reached]
Boy those Cyborg researchers just don't let up do they! This will be their undoing. I see more probe teams in my future. Even mindworms can't stand up to plagues.
[Limit reached]
Due to the Dream Twister, the enemy won't select mindworms when defending against R-Laser units. With chemicals added, they're still tough enough to win against old fission units. This causes cities to depopulate, leaving stacks of only mindworms! Which can then be wiped out by a non-chemical Cloaked R-Laser unit. I just killed 6 units at once.
Post by: bvanevery on December 02, 2019, 12:57:52 am
MY 2020. I complete the Cloudbase Academy and destroy another Cyborg city. Meanwhile on the oceanic front, my feeble ship is not quite enough to pick off a badly wounded Cyborg transport sitting in port. I die. That's ok, more are coming right behind it.
[Limit reached]
MY 2021. All of my cities have built the facilities they need, so I shift my budget. I decrease LABS slightly as I don't need more research to win the game. I increase PSYCH to 30%, hoping to get more serious pop booming. I only really need money for Secret Projects now. Wow, just checked the Cyborg tech and they're still producing stuff I don't have. They sure have a lot of redundancy in their cities, to have lost several core ones and not feel it. Maybe those big sea bases are putting out a lot of tech. I tried to give them a plague this year, but they had a Nanohospital and it didn't do much damage. I haven't quite figured out my force mix for the next stage of operations but I think it needs to be conventional Marines, to take a Secret Project city intact.
Post by: bvanevery on December 02, 2019, 05:19:11 am
MY 2323. One of my Cruiser Probe Teams finally gets into the fight.
[Limit reached]
The depopulation wasn't so bad for them, but they sure aren't healthy.
[Limit reached]
I never bothered to train my units and I got wounded by a Sealurk between turns. The defender is Elite and they have Naval Yard, so I actually have to fight for this. I barely live through it. 95% wounded and the base drops to size 5. I lose a ship but then drop the base to 2.
[Limit reached]
Cheap, highly mobile R-Laser Skybases swoop in and pose for the kill. The base won't live long next turn.
[Limit reached]
I had a 3rd Skybase that I didn't realize was in range. They move really fast, 18 squares with a Fusion reactor. I wonder if that's overpowered? Fusion Needlejets move 14 so I'm not inclined to worry about it. They're also more expensive than a Needlejet. There's a reason I'm flying around with only a R-Laser armament. Gravships are properly a Quantum reactor platform.
[Limit reached]
Meanwhile my conventional forces aren't all that tough or well placed. I thought I'd be taking on 2 cities but realized I only have the force for 1. I'm only at parity with the Fusion defender, which means I'll lose that battle. However the other defenders are only Fission so I should be able to get through them fine. I've taken time out from unit production to put Flechette Defenses in all my cities. When the sunspots lift, I won't be surprised if Svensgaard declares war on me, because he's Seething now.
Post by: bvanevery on December 02, 2019, 06:07:03 am
MY 2324. Now I have +3 SUPPORT, giving me free unit support up to the size of the base. With such large bases I will probably not need a Clean Reactor again. I've also taken the Virtual World and the Supercollider from the Cyborgs. Previously I got the Human Genome Project and the Universal Translator. I only need to capture 2 more sea bases conventionally and then I'll have everything worth having from the Cyborgs.
[Limit reached]
My land bridge to the Data Angels has been severed. At least they won't pester me with the occasional unit anymore. It's 1:20 AM and I'm going to bed.
Post by: bvanevery on December 02, 2019, 04:16:31 pm
MY 2325. Confirming that I do use the low tech approaches to slaughter.
[Limit reached]
I have more money than I need now, so I shift some more of my budget into PSYCH. My last budget change didn't result in much pop booming.
[Limit reached]
These Cyborgs are like the cockroaches of the research world! Even having taken over their capitol, they're still pumping out new tech like C7 Mind/Machine Interface. Can't very well let them build the Cyborg Factory, not that they have the remotest chance of ever finishing the thing. Of course I neglected to steal from them because I didn't believe they could cough anything new out. I guess they can and always will, until they are dead. Nobody else is coughing out any new tech, they're all sad.
I don't have any land access to unraided Cyborg cities anymore. I need a boat. In my mod you can have flying boats, but I haven't built one. I've been building an Orbital Defense Pod screen for paranoia. Next turn they'll all be done though.
Post by: bvanevery on December 02, 2019, 05:24:57 pm
MY 2326. The Cyborgs foolishly complete a raising of Tau Collective from the water. That was my next conventional target and it was much harder to get to in the water. Maybe there are benefits to ignoring enemy Formers for awhile? I make my assault. They are well defended and although I weaken them, they hold and my attackers die.
[Limit reached]
I go looking for other units in theater that I can attack with. It doesn't look like I can get there overland, but that is actually an illusion! That seemingly blank square west of Pi Complex, actually has a mag tube in it. I can actually bring 2 Speeders and a Hovertank to the fight. I'm not sure if they're going to do any good, because the remaining defender is a Comm Jammer unit, but I'll try.
[Limit reached]
This is a lot like my previous assault. Have to sacrifice a few units to wear them down. I don't actually have any more land targets to go after with chemical weapons, so this isn't much of a loss. My production is higher nowadays and I can crank out unarmored Drop Phase Marines in 1 turn. My bigger bases can make a Drop Tachyon Marine in 1 turn. Next turn, they're coming!
[Limit reached]
My 1st assault goes pretty well. I might actually take the base this year. Another reason to blow off the land assault units, is the land is going away. I'm not doing any eco-damage anymore, but that doesn't mean the planet is done flooding.
[Limit reached]
My 2nd speeder dies as well, but it wounds the ECM unit badly enough that my Hovertank doesn't have to deal with it.
[Limit reached]
My Hovertank blows his opponent away, doesn't take many wounds, and promotes to Elite. I have enough moves and health remaining to make another attack. It kills the hated ECM unit!
[Limit reached]
R-Lasers mop up the stragglers and take the base, proving that sometimes, you just gotta sacrifice to meet your goals. I find in many games, AIs aren't particularly good at figuring that out.
[Limit reached]
I'm rich beyond any possible need, and my cities still aren't celebrating as much as I'd like. I have +4 JUSTICE, so I shift my economy into more PSYCH without taking any penalty. Only thing lacking this year is I didn't manage to steal C7 Mind / Machine Interface. Flying boats next year. Theft the year after that.
Post by: bvanevery on December 02, 2019, 07:12:54 pm
MY 2327. The AI usually builds Pressure Domes to keep this from happening to it, but not always.
[Limit reached]
Gosh, Quantum reactors? That's going to make dealing with the humans pretty much cake.
[Limit reached]
Since I clearly don't need any more tech, I shift a ridiculous amount to PSYCH. I thought perhaps I could also go Police State since I don't need my ECONOMY to be any higher than +2. However I do need +4 JUSTICE to skew this budget without any penalty.
I've designed new Quantum units and will start terrorizing with them "soon". I'm not going to worry about producing units in 1 turn anymore.
Post by: bvanevery on December 02, 2019, 08:29:32 pm
MY 2328. I take the last Cyborg Secret project with a pile of Drop Phase Marines. I begin the Cyborg Factory. My existing navy is sailing around eXterminating the Cyborgs and I've got a number of X Drop Probability Missile Cruisers in production. They cost 100 minerals. I thought that was the best armor and weapon combination with a Quantum reactor. They don't have R-Lasers so they might not do well against mindworm defenders.
[Limit reached]
Most of my people are not in a Golden Age despite the massive amount of money I'm putting into PSYCH. I'm not sure why that is. It's not unhappiness due to military units, as I put a Brood Pit in every city to raise the POLICE rating.
[Limit reached]
I lock up dissidents and take a few people down dark staircases to be shot in the back of the head. I forego the lopsided budget, which doesn't really matter because it wasn't working. Maybe next year, with enough beatings, the morale will improve?
[Limit reached]
Wow, people like it! Today we learned that this game is based on BDSM. The Brood Pits have caused the effective POLICE rating in my home cities to rise to +2. This overcomes a few holdouts.
Post by: bvanevery on December 03, 2019, 02:34:48 am
MY 2329. I have to look before I inflict plagues, because the Cyborgs have allies. I don't want them hating me yet! Previous debacles taught me a very strict discipline of taking out one faction with atrocities at a time. Do otherwise and you get a nuke in the face. Granted, I do have an ODP screen now, but one solar flare can end that. When the mindworms start rolling in, I don't know that I'll have time to build new ones either.
[Limit reached]
My first "inexpensive" flying Quantum X boats enter service. They're only armed with Missile Launchers. The good news is they can take on some Fusion units. The bad news is some Fusion units can stand up to them. I will go find an easier target. I do have probe teams that can deliver plagues to soften up places like this, but I don't have them right here.
[Limit reached]
A nearby sea base doesn't have a Perimeter Defense. I could still die though. I'm pleased that an Isle wasn't selected as a defender though. I'm thinking my Quantum ships are strong enough that mindworms and Isles won't be a preferred defense against them anymore. The combat goes way better than those odds would have you believe. I only take 26% damage and drop the base to size 4. That's really good considering I also did an orbital insertion this turn.
[Limit reached]
For more punch, I design an unarmored flying boat with as big a gun as I can put on it. It costs 140 minerals. A few of my bases can produce it in 2 turns. It will be used to blow up the stalwart defenders, leaving my lesser units to mop up. I find that even my old X Fusion R-Laser Needlejets are deadly once the main defenders are eliminated. It doesn't matter how big or small a gun the nerve gas is delivered with, the base depopulates all the same.
Post by: bvanevery on December 03, 2019, 03:33:36 am
MY 2330. I complete the Cyborg Factory.
[Limit reached]
Did I space out and plague this city? I don't remember doing that. But I've also been interrupted quite a number of times this evening. That's the problem with chemical weapons, it's hard to avoid using them once you've got them. Well, worst case I might have to change plans and make the Gaians next on the list!
Post by: bvanevery on December 03, 2019, 07:34:19 am
MY 2331. She never stops researching! How?? She's got no Headquarters and I've knocked many of her cities silly. Of course I neglected to steal from her, not thinking she could do this. Next year, next year.
[Limit reached]
MY 2332. And now the moment of truth. I've had a great head start on my reign of chemical terror, but now I will have to begin suffering the consequences of my actions. First question is, did I accidentally gas the Gaians?
[Limit reached]
I meet her units holed up in the Cyborg city. She doesn't seem to think I've committed any atrocities against her.
[Limit reached]
But is it going to matter? I've lost count of how many atrocities I've committed this turn, as well as how many years of sanctions have been imposed upon me. I'm sure longer than the end of the game. The Pirates have had enough! I suspect the others will follow.
[Limit reached]
This can't possibly do them any good. They're almost dead at Gaian hands.
Others were already at war with me. Can any be placated? The usual drill is to seize a city and see if they'll accept a Truce. This will require some conventional units. I don't really want to gas the Pirates just yet. I've recalled all the conventional Drop Marines to my homeland, as they are of no use to my extermination campaign against the Cyborgs anyways.
[Limit reached]
Should I have elected myself Governor before gassing everyone this turn? I guess so. They still have enough votes to keep me out of office. Well at least I'm still making money! 676 credits / turn.
Post by: bvanevery on December 04, 2019, 02:07:25 am
MY 2333. I took the precaution of putting Trance and 3-Res armor on my latest sea formers. I've observed that the Pirates and other factions seriously favor Sealurks and Isles as naval attack units. Well they pretty much bounced.
[Limit reached]
I'm now Infamous. Only took 1 year to trash my Reputation. Despite this, I haven't seen any mindworm pops or flooding. Could it be that Planet's violent response to chemical attacks, only occurs during normal gameplay? And that by initiating the devastation during sunspots, I've somehow avoided Planet's ire? We shall see.
[Limit reached]
Umm some more time spent gassing the Cyborgs, and now I notice really serious eco-damage in a city that never had it before. This is a light manufacturing city by my current standards. I guess next year is going to be awful! I will shift some production around accordingly.
[Limit reached]
122 eco-damage. Really. Well at least I've got all kinds of late game advantages for dealing with this. If I can't handle it now, I'll never be able to. I suppose R-12 lasers and armor would be useful, but I'm not going to change my research strategy. I think completing the Voice of Planet stops mindworms from attacking you. But if you're going to do that, heck, the game's over. Taking over the Manifold Nexus would bump me to +3 PLANET, which might slightly slow this train down. Not much though.
I remember in my previous attempt, I had to stop using chemical weapons. The consequences were just too dire. I'm determined to at least finish the extermination of the Cyborgs though. Well, we'll see how determined I am shortly! Even knowing this was coming, there's not actually a lot of warning for what comes next. It's not like I've stockpiled hordes of anti-mindworm defenders, I've actually got pretty modest home defenses. Every city that wasn't in the middle of something, is now making some kind of Trance 3-Res unit.
Post by: bvanevery on December 04, 2019, 04:47:19 am
It's still MY 2333, the year before Doom. Or so I expect. I just remembered something bad from my last attempt at this. If the Manifold Nexus is submerged, it will stop working. If I ever want it, I need to intervene now.
[Limit reached]
This isn't the battle I expected my conventional Drop Marines to be fighting, but it's what they've been called out to do. Conquest of the base next to the Manifold Nexus is fairly easy. I suppose I can thank the flood waters for that. Any Sensor Arrays they had have probably been washed away. This also used to be a Believer base before the Gaians took it, so perhaps war has fried a lot of Sensor Arrays around here. Other Gaian territory will not be so easy to overcome. Last year I landed a Quantum Drop Neutronium unit to see how invulnerable it might be, and it is not. Got picked off by several mindworms.
[Limit reached]
Taking Deirdre's base brings a response from her. She's obviously not been beaten up enough yet to sign a Truce. I didn't want peace anyways. I need enough of a perimeter around the Nexus to get some Formers in there to raise it up.
[Limit reached]
The next city up has surprisingly little defending it. I only see the one Sensor Array. No air defenses, so I think I can just drop on it. Same thing with the other cities in the area. I'm definitely not going to have trouble establishing my perimeter. Who and where does Deirdre think she's fighting? Definitely not here. Looking at the AI's unit mix, she doesn't have any unhealthy obsessions. She's got 54 mindworms and perhaps they're wandering around in the field.
[Limit reached]
Ridding myself of the Sensor Array is pretty easy. I'm having to strip units from my captured Cyborg cities to do it though. I'm a little nervous about leaving them less defended, but this is important. At least I've completed some factories down there and have new units being produced locally.
[Limit reached]
She's more tractable after another loss, but I still need more land.
[Limit reached]
Just realized I could have dropped at Virgin Soil and ridden the rails, thereby avoiding the 20% damage from dropping. Oh well. I won't make that mistake again. I might be able to take Gaia's Landing. It's got her 3 Secret Projects in it. It's not as poorly defended as this other stuff, but it's not exactly stiff and secure. Only 1 Fusion unit.
[Limit reached]
I'm running out of Drop units, and I've fumbled trying to remove the Sensor Array from behind Gaia's Landing. Mindworms backed by a Sensor Array actually put up a pretty good defense, and I lost a Missile Speeder that way. I made the mistake of trying to come down rails and roads when I should have dropped to destroy the Sensor Array. I couldn't move there because of the zones of control of other units I hadn't seen. I haven't moved any probe teams, cloaked units, or air cover into this theater.
[Limit reached]
In an effort to free up more units, I will scrape some money together and try to upgrade some units in my captured Cyborg cities. That would free me to send the old Drop units elsewhere. I don't have much money this year because I'm rushing the Nethack Terminus. I captured the Virtual World from the Cyborgs a number of turns ago, but I held off on liquidating my stuff, lest the base change hands again. It isn't going to now, as everything in the region is gone.
[Limit reached]
Drat, it seems that artillery has to stay artillery. No point upgrading it. I can't take Gaia's Landing this year. At least for lack of units, and possibly for lack of firepower after an orbital insertion.
[Limit reached]
My toughest unit, a Quantum Tachyon Marine, won't actually do all that well right now. I'm surprised as 3-Res isn't exactly a lot of armor. I save those 2 units for next year, in cities where they are safe. I also did something a bit dumb, I re-homed these units to these conquered cities. Some of them don't have Children's Creches, but I suppose that's a defensive bonus anyways, so ok maybe it isn't really a mistake. It would be if I expected to defend them.
Post by: bvanevery on December 04, 2019, 05:25:48 am
MY 2334. Plenty of ineffectual Pirate attacks against my Sea Formers. Some Gaian counterattacks against my units in field. No fungal pops and no notice of any new, profound flodding levels. This is just the same-old same-old? I hope there isn't some bug where I'm not going to be warned about how high it's going to rise! What if my building of the Manifold Harmonics has made me safer from Planet? Or controlling the Manifold Nexus?
[Limit reached]
Or what if I need to click another button before writing this stuff up? I'll admit, I wanted to believe I'd circumvented this. Not likely!
[Limit reached]
This means Planet is getting really hot, but it's completely illogical. Global Warming is a surface and atmospheric process, not a core process.
[Limit reached]
I don't like pops near my sea bases, because it becomes really hard to even see the Isles coming. Let alone defend against them when there are no terrain obstructions.
[Limit reached]
I suppose I should keep taking screenshots of this, but it could get old. Maybe I'll only snip the city affected.
[Limit reached]
Actually I think every single one of my cities is going to get hit. We'll just look at some of the map at the end of it all.
[Limit reached]
Well now I know what we're starting with. It's going to get worse. For comparison, I think we've done 600 meters already this whole game.
[Limit reached]
Too bad mindworms are immune to probe teams! The map is looking a little scary.
[Limit reached]
I can handle this year. The problem is when it keeps happening, and when the land keeps sinking. Once you're in the water, it's really hard to stay alive. Isles and Locusts just converge on you too fast.
[Limit reached]
If there are stacks in the water, I can't even see them. At least I have Skybases in the region. Their high movement rate will be useful for rooting out any lurking horrors.
[Limit reached]
Without further ado, I propose that we Launch a Solar Shade to cool off our world and prevent the seas from rising any further. Most of the other factions will have none of it! Nobody likes me, so it's not worth talking to anyone to try to bribe them. Svensgaard would veto it anyways.
Now I've seen 3000 meter rises before, so I'm not worried yet. But I'm not planning on stopping my use of chemical weapons until either the Cyborgs are dead, or I simply cannot continue to do it. I'm definitely not building any new chemical weapons. The old inventory should be enough, and if it isn't, so beit! There's always just Obliterating a base. Maybe Planet would like that better.
If anyone really needs more detail on what I'm facing, I've attached a save of the game, just before I start dealing with any of this stuff. Don't forget, you'll need my SMACX AI Growth mod version 1.37 (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=21354.0) to make sense of it.
Post by: bvanevery on December 04, 2019, 09:10:53 pm
Still MY 2334. I've killed most of the mindworms in my homeland, and all the big fungal tower stacks are gone at least. I did not have enough Scouts from the beginning of the game and had to call out my Clean Police units. I lack high mobility units, as my home defense has been almost all infantry. I have appropriate Hovertanks in production but they're not done yet. I can extend my reach somewhat by building more rails, but I don't have that many Formers to do it with. Some land units got isolated in sunken cities without boats, so I shifted a few boats around as best I could to alleviate that. It's important to remember that Locusts of Chiron actually land on the ground or water between turns, and can be attacked by land units or ships.
[Limit reached]
Green Police are not effective against these big mindworms when they don't have full movement. Whatever my rails touch, they can hit, but no more.
[Limit reached]
R-Laser infantry is capable of stepping 1 square off the rail. I don't like using these units for offensive mindworm killing duty though. They're supposed to be defense in my cities. I'm nervous about what's going to attack me that I haven't seen yet.
[Limit reached]
I eliminate all but this 1 Locust. I actually did attack it with an old foil, but it died. It may get to munch on something. If I have Drop R-Laser Needlejets to spare from the fight with the Cyborgs, I'll use them, but I need to fight those battles first and see what I have left over.
Post by: bvanevery on December 04, 2019, 10:52:35 pm
Still MY 2334. Needlejets that had to return to base, have identified some units hidden in sea fungus. This gets really hard to deal with.
[Limit reached]
I find that a wounded R-Laser Needlejet can't take out a Locust. I suppose they do all have Air Superiority. I also forgot about the stack of Isles sitting underneath them. I seem to remember the answer is to shell those stacks.
[Limit reached]
A 2nd barrage eliminates all but 1 of the Isles. The 3 Locusts remain and I doubt I can do anything but take the hits next year.
[Limit reached]
I throw 6 plagues at the last large Cyborg city in the region, because those probe teams couldn't move very far and had no other target. Due to the Research Hospital I believe the defenders can only be knocked down to 50%. However each plague dropped the city's population by 1. At that rate, next turn I could reduce the city to size 1. It then becomes fairly easy to drown most of the defenders.
[Limit reached]
It takes a lot of boats to bring down the other big stack of Isles in the region. My planes haven't found anything else. I can't quite kill them all, but the ones that remain shouldn't do much damage. Again it's the Locusts that are the real threat. Maybe R-Lasers on water can take them out, but I haven't made many of those yet.
[Limit reached]
This base has an Artifact in it, so I've been sparing it. However my wounded ships have nowhere practical to attack anymore. I knock it down to size 1, but I don't think there's any reliable method for ensuring an Artifact survives a base attack, let alone at sea. Consequently, I decide to take it over. Depopulating it probably did make it cheaper at least.
[Limit reached]
The captured Isle can leave immediately, and it can transport its precious cargo to a Network Node. However it is small and can only take 1 other passenger. Do I take the Colonist or the Garrison unit? I don't think colonizing a base has any value to me, but there's something about leaving what is now nominally "my own" colonist to die that bothers me. If it had Cyborg markings I'd feel differently, but it doesn't, it's been "laundered" by my takeover. I guess that's like ripping all their cybernetic implants out. :D
Am I going to Obliterate the base? It could draw off some Isle attacks and get destroyed anyways... or its mere existence could create an attack. Notice the 48 eco-damage just from having taken it over. Any base I own is a liability now.
[Limit reached]
In a massive subterfuge of last minute duplicity, I swap the troops for the colonists and leave the latter to their fate. The way Planet is thinking about me, I think every base generates an attack. The troops can be upgraded to a better Trance 3-Res defender.
[Limit reached]
I wonder if Planet is as ornery about Obliterations as it is about chemical attacks. Or plagues for that matter. I've done 6 this year and I'm not done yet.
[Limit reached]
I had a Cruiser Probe Team with nothing else in range. I thought I might get lucky and take out the Perimeter Defense, but this is good too. Next year, plagues will reduce these defenders to a feeble shadow of their former selves.
[Limit reached]
All I needed was a Network Node. I completely forgot that the Universal Translator lives here. My captured bases just look like feeble depots in the sea. Each one of them is actually guarding a fairly valuable Secret Project.
[Limit reached]
Wonder what I'll get? Sentient Resonance would be useful right about now. Could use me some 12-Res Lasers. Not sure if 12-Res armor is any more valuable than 3-Res armor against mindworms. It's just useful against everyone else, which isn't my problem right now.
[Limit reached]
I'm down with the Cloning Vats. I could go all Thought Control instead of Police State. I just have to find a place that's sorta safe to build it.
[Limit reached]
I almost forgot to mention the 5 additional Locusts I discovered on land. They were hiding in a patch of fungus. I plan to do unit upgrades at the end of my turn, but I'm lacking quantity of units. Defenses should be pretty good this year, but when they just keep coming, it's a problem.
Post by: bvanevery on December 05, 2019, 12:53:37 am
I didn't feel good about taking Gaia's Landing this year, as my units were all wounded. They probably could have done it anyways, but instead I put them back in my captured bases to heal. I'm sending my 3 Drop Transports home, to bring up 6 Formers next year. I'm not sure if I'm going to be in time, but it's all I can do.
[Limit reached]
The titular Morgan Biochemical is as safe as place as any to build the Cloning Vats. It's "only" taking 95 eco-damage. My lowest bases are in the 80s. I'm clearly going to get exactly the same abuse next year. I could rush the Cloning Vats now if I wanted to disband a unit, such as one of my missiles. However at this point in the game, unit designs have a nasty tendency of disappearing if you don't have a live unit of that type. I don't want to figure out how to build Planet Busters all over again, as I might decide to build and use them. Especially with a Quantum warhead, why fool around with 10 chemical attacks when I could end multiple cities with 1 super nuke? Planet might not think a nuke is any worse than a chemical attack for all I know. I should probably ask on the forums and search the wiki to find out for sure.
[Limit reached]
Killing all those mindworms has made me filthy rich. After completing a few needed facilities, I still have 9444 credits. Holding onto such a vast pile of cash makes me worry about an energy market crash, so it would be best to find a way to spend it.
[Limit reached]
The only practical activity that can absorb that much cash is completing the Cloning Vats. In my mod it's an exceedingly expensive late game project, 1000 minerals. I'm a little unclear on just how many minerals I have to dump into that project to overcome the "insufficiently complete" penalty when rushing it. I save the game and fool around in order to determine the needed threshold.
[Limit reached]
Turns out the threshold is a mere 40 minerals. It isn't proportional to the expense of the project! I achieve it by disbanding old Police units, then I gladly pay up the rest. I'm still filthy rich. Time to do some unit upgrades.
[Limit reached]
I think my old Fusion Drop X R-Laser Infantry units are where I need them to be. I don't need Drop capability as much as I need mindworm defense. The best deal is to arm them with R-Lasers and make them Hovertanks, but when upgrading I can't switch the chassis type like that. I design a new AAA Phase unit with the biggest gun on it for the cheapest price. It won't help with attacking mindworms, but I don't plan to do that anyways. Whereas I might eventually attack someone's base with them.
[Limit reached]
I don't actually know that Quantum units defend any better against mindworms than Fusion units. But I do need to spend money, and it also removes the potential of accidentally using the chemical weapons.
[Limit reached]
I have a vague memory that combining Heavy Artillery and Air Superiority actually works against stacks of air units, such as Locusts. I also have some idle artillery pieces stuck on an island, with no other use, that I could test this idea with.
[Limit reached]
It doesn't do a lot of damage, but the principle is sound.
[Limit reached]
Will a Tachyon Bolt do more damage than an R-Laser?
[Limit reached]
I killed one of them! As for the wounds, it's hard to say who's responsible because a 2nd R-Laser piece shelled them before the Tachyon Bolt did. But there's no question these Air Superiority Artillery units helped. Only 1 of the original 5 Locusts is a threat now.
Post by: bvanevery on December 05, 2019, 06:06:30 am
Still MY 2334. I've spent a lot of money upgrading units. Consequently, I have many more armored units in Gaian territory now. I can afford to take over Gaia's Landing. I'm surprised that my AAA Phase unit will select for a conventional defender, but my Tachyon Marines will select for a mindworm. It could be that the former has Trance 3-Res and the latter has plain Plasma armor. I'm confused about whether the Trance and 3-Res matter only for defense, or whether Psi combat is an exchange of attacks. The game is selecting the defender as though it were the latter. Perhaps if I simply put 3-Res armor on my offensive units, they would be able to bypass mindworm defenders? That would be extremely handy for chemical attacks.
[Limit reached]
[Limit reached]
[Limit reached]
Gaia's Landing is quite a prize.
[Limit reached]
She's got nothing else I need... until it's time to gas her. First I must finish the Cyborgs.
Post by: bvanevery on December 05, 2019, 06:08:33 am
MY 2335. Deirdre isn't true to her word. Of course her attack is ineffective.
[Limit reached]
I survive the straggler Locust attacks just fine, including some from a previously unnoticed fungal tower. The flooding, on the other hand, will be a problem.
[Limit reached]
Every 6 fungal pops, the water level goes up.
[Limit reached]
Do you see why I hid my actions behind the sunspots? If I hadn't had that head start, I might not even be able to kill off one faction. I wonder how much trouble it's going to be as it is. Chemical weapons are like hit yourself in the head weapons. Would I be any worse off nuking everyone?
[Limit reached]
In my mod, this tech is required to win an Economic Victory. It also doesn't appear in the original game. The art assets are there, but they've been turned off. I reactivated them, and gave it an appropriate benefit. In this game however I'm sworn to gas everyone. This Morgan is a little obsessive that way.
[Limit reached]
The fungal pops look worse than last year. I have fewer unwounded units to deal with them, but at least I did complete some appropriate Hovertanks. I've decided that this year, everyone who doesn't have a Pressure Dome yet, needs to build one. It's clearly not going to be long before there's no land left.
It's 1 AM. Tomorrow I'll figure out what to do about this. Now I'm going to bed.
Post by: bvanevery on December 05, 2019, 03:56:57 pm
Still MY 2335. While moving my few wounded units in the Cyborg waters, I notice that Plasma Sentinel I mind controlled last year, is Fungicidal! Go figure. Certainly not something I designed, and not among my workshop designs. This unit didn't get upgraded to AAA Phase last year, and this oddity would be why I missed it. There was no white marked Obsolete design for it. I'm attaching a saved game to peruse at a later time.
Post by: bvanevery on December 05, 2019, 07:15:08 pm
Still MY 2335. I got halfway through my turn before remembering that I don't need the GROWTH from Eudaimonic anymore. In the future I won't have a MORALE penalty; I don't think the change sets in immediately. I abandon the Police State because I need to keep my ECONOMY at +2. I need my PLANET rating as high as possible, so I'm stuck with Green and Knowledge.
[Limit reached]
I'm able to clear the land interlopers, but I don't have enough units to deal with sea or air attacks. I'm able to weaken big stacks of Isles using naval artillery, but I didn't have enough ships to wipe them out. Fortunately Locusts are only showing up around my homeland one at at time so far.
[Limit reached]
The same is not true of captured Cyborg bases. I was able to weaken or destroy some stacks of Locusts with the very effective Tachyon Anti-Air Artillery, but I don't have those units everywhere. It would be best to put these anti-air capabilities on ships. However this year I'm being spammed with floods and must build Pressure Domes.
[Limit reached]
I've decided that almost everyone who isn't building a Pressure Dome, is going to build a Tachyon Field. I'm not a big fan of them, since I never need them when fighting the AI factions, but fighting continuous mindworm spam is another story. I change the production of 3 ships in captured Cyborg cities to make Tachyon Fields instead. Unfortunately I think the rules on "when production completes" are not in my favor. Probably my shields get built after I've been attacked. I can't tell if they have enough force to damage one of my bases. We'll see next year.
[Limit reached]
I pay double price on some items because I'm filthy rich and need to get stuff done. I made almost 15k credits killing mindworms this year. After expenditures I still have 9.6k, far more than I can use. If I intended conventional conquest, I could buy enemy bases. I might even yet do that in the case of the nearest Pirate bases. However, I believe bases are simply a defense liability for me right now. I need to eXterminate the Cyborgs and then wait for Planet to calm down, before picking my next victim.
[Limit reached]
Since I have so much money, I make more upgrades. Now I own a Quantum Planet Buster! The R-Laser anti-air artillery is now Tachyon, since it's clearly more effective. All the AAA Phase units are now Quantum AAA Tachyon. That seemed excessively expensive, but whatever. I still have 6k credits left.
[Limit reached]
My +3 JUSTICE allows me more budgetary flexibility than I had, but some of the combos it allows are lopsided and weird, like 10% PSYCH spending. I need 20% to keep people happy, and I get a penalty for anything other than a 40-20-40 split.
Post by: bvanevery on December 06, 2019, 03:00:45 am
MY 2336. I tend to forget about the Pirates' piracy ability, especially when they fixate on Isles and Sealurks and don't use conventional ships to attack. So now they could make expensive mindworm resistant Sea Formers, goody for them. If they were a human player, they could cheat (?) and make any Quantum unit design out of this. The AI won't do that though.
[Limit reached]
I've survived the Isle and Locust hits up north, but one of my bases got pretty badly beat upon and needs reinforcements.
[Limit reached]
Some of my bases did complete Tachyon Fields before any Isles or Locusts attacked. I haven't seen them frying against a Tachyon Field just yet. I'm just watching fungus pop and water rise.
[Limit reached]
My lands are covered in a carpet of Locusts. The good news is they do land on the ground between turns, so they can be attacked between turns. The real problem is when they're out to sea.
[Limit reached]
I've designed what might be a good anti-Locust ship. It's the minimum cost variant at any rate. The problem is, I think all Quantum units cost at least 90 minerals no matter what they are. My factories can't produce that in 1 turn. I'm so swamped that I think I probably have to have units that I can chuck out in 1 turn. I'm not certain if they'll be produced before attacks come again, but given that some of the Tachyon Fields did finish before attacks, there's a chance. Hm, I'm not sure any Locusts ever did attack a Tachyon Field. Did they just fly away? Or is the turn resolution order not what I thought?
[Limit reached]
I can put a slightly bigger gun on it for the same minerals, if I cut the speed. It still takes everyone at least 2 turns to produce though. In principle I could just buy units outright, but I have a feeling they'll be cost prohibitive. It also underutilizes all this industrial infrastructure I've built up.
[Limit reached]
I can't really abide all those Quantum designs that take 2 or more turns to complete. I design a number of Fusion units to get done more quickly. I even design a Fission unit for seriously impoverished bases. I don't feel any kind of security at all right now. If I ever feel safer, I'll worry about more expensive units, or about building some Nessus Mining Stations to boost my mineral output. But that will increase my eco-damage so I'm not keen on it.
Post by: bvanevery on December 06, 2019, 04:43:56 am
Still MY 2336. I just attacked a stack of Locusts with a 20% wounded Scout inside my base. It is a Commando. The good news is it killed a Locust on the ground. The bad news is it didn't kill anything else in the stack with it. That's serious trouble! I can't possibly kill these units on offense, if they don't die in stacks. I've also found that unlike the mindworms, wounded Scouts can't harm the Locusts. They will have to pull inside a base and hope for the best.
[Limit reached]
I can't destroy any of these Locust stacks. My Scouts and R-Laser Hovertanks, I attacked them from inside the cities, figuring those units would do better on offense. Other units I've left unused on defense. I pulled land and sea Formers into bases to help with defense, as they've all got Trance 3-Res armor. The distribution of forces in my cities is uneven, because the Locusts cut off my rails and I've divested myself of Drop units. I'm simply going to have to take the hits next year and hope for the best.
[Limit reached]
The Manifold Nexus has sunk. It's 367 meters underwater and my PLANET rating has been reduced to +2. My Formers are ready to raise land this turn, but my previous experience is it's too late. Once sunk, it's gone. Well, I don't know if lowering the oceans for the entire planet, such as with many Solar Shades, would bring it back. But raising land didn't bring it back in another game I played. It's just not possible to rescue things like this on short notice. Once Planet gets angry, everything sinks really fast. Good grief the last prediction was 2400 meters in 20 years. If I had anticipated this and wrested it from the Gaians a long time ago, I could have had it, but I didn't.
[Limit reached]
I don't see much point working any land in Gaian territory, because pretty soon it's all going to be underwater. I drop the units in my home cities to bolster defenses. All of them are Trance 3-Res as I did expect to be facing a lot of mindworms.
[Limit reached]
Things don't look as bad in former Cyborg territory, but I have fewer units down there. I found what I could find, and shelled what I could shell.
[Limit reached]
Things are pretty quiet in Gaian territory. I wiped out a couple of mindworms that had wandered in from a nearby fungal tower I've yet to deal with.
[Limit reached]
I'm viciously eXterminating the Cyborgs in the waters to the west. There's a final pocket of them to the east that I haven't dealt with much. I use chemicals and plagues with impunity, perhaps excessively so. But if they give any kind of advantage, I use them. For all I know this could have Planet completely upset and out of sorts with me, but I'm not compromising. It's difficult to see it getting any worse than it's going to be next year. Can the game double the number of Locusts it throws at me? I don't know and I really don't care. I'm staying true to form: this Morgan is obsessed with chemical eradication, and he's not going to stop unless he absolutely has to. So far, he doesn't have to.
After rushing more Tachyon Fields, I finish the year with 5.5k credits. There's nothing to upgrade. How my units do on defense next year, is going to say a lot about my viability. There are things I could have done before if I wanted to plan more in advance, like complete Pressure Domes and Tachyon Fields early, instead of when it's clear they're needed. Much depends on whether one wishes to game this or roleplay this. Morgan certainly wouldn't have known to do these things in advance of the floods. Yet, I have implicitly played the game with foreknowledge of what happens during a flood, so I'm not pure.
Post by: bvanevery on December 06, 2019, 04:01:33 pm
MY 2337. I thought I was doing ok, as I had only lost maybe 10 units here and there. Half of them were probably mere Scouts. Then the Locusts changed direction and didn't just attack their nearest city. They beelined for a weakened coastal city and almost wiped it off the map. It's now size 2 and vacant. To add insult to injury, the Pirates landed there, so I have 2 enemies to fight off.
[Limit reached]
At least this round is mostly land based mindworms, instead of solid Locusts as far as the eye can see. Ordinarily I'd be optimistic about dealing with this, but most of my units are badly wounded and unable to do anything.
[Limit reached]
The Dream Twister is at risk. Losing it would be a serious blow to my fighting capability. This base has sunken so I cannot drop land units in there. They managed to destroy the Tachyon Field while they were at it.
[Limit reached]
The only base that can reinforce Morgan Robotics is Morgan Energy Monopoly. Assuming I don't run into an unseen wall of enemy units. Fortunately it is a land base, so I could empty it, then drop my few remaining drop units in to reinforce it. Typically those are Drop X ships, so I will upgrade them after the drops. Morgan Energy Monopoly does not contain a Secret Project, so if something has to be defended less, it's a candidate.
[Limit reached]
I realize now that I do not in fact have enough techs to do well at this. Quantum reactors are actually not helpful against mindworms, as they simply ignore the reactor when they attack. So they just take longer to produce and my factories can't whip them out in 1 turn. I would need bigger factories or breathing room to build Nessus Mining Stations to overcome this problem, and it doesn't really help against the mindworms anyways. Resonance Bolts would be really useful against the mindworms. I've always thought Tectonic Missiles were a bit hokey, but I sure could use them now to raise some land!
By going Cybernetic, I gain +4 JUSTICE. This allows me to shift my economy to whatever I want. I clearly don't need money.
[Limit reached]
I'm able to kill all the fungal towers. I try to put mindworms on the fungus squares next to my bases to block enemy attacks. That's another problem with being in the water, this tactic doesn't work with Isles. They just attack anyways. I didn't have to bring any ships back to my emptied base as some Drop Transports were sufficient reinforcement. My tempo of chemical attacks is slowing because the Cyborg cities are farther away. However I've probably ticked off Planet sufficiently to be in for more. I have 10k credits after rushing things like Hab Domes for my conquered Cyborg cities.
Post by: bvanevery on December 06, 2019, 06:02:31 pm
MY 2338. This year doesn't seem to be as bad. It's mostly ground based mindworms, and most of my units are healed.
[Limit reached]
This was an easy year, as I had almost all of my units to work with. The only problem is sometimes a fungal tower or stack of Isles appears somewhere without showing up on any Sensor Array. Then if I discover it by scouting manually, units have already been committed elsewhere, and I have to scramble to figure out how to kill it. I think I handled it this year though, mainly in conquered Cyborg waters. I finish the year with 17k credits. Nothing to spend it on.
Post by: bvanevery on December 07, 2019, 04:29:06 am
MY 2339. Flooding continues but it was pretty easy in the north. Maybe I have a critical mass of units. It's hard to tell what I can really handle without another massive Locust attack though. I keep building the appropriate anti-air artillery pieces out of paranoia.
[Limit reached]
The western extent of the Cyborgs is almost gone. I probably didn't need chemical attacks to deal with any of it. Obliterations would have sufficed. I still haven't bothered to find out if Planet is better disposed towards one or the other.
[Limit reached]
The eastern extent of the Cyborgs is all they've got left. When they're gone, I will have achieved my 1st objective: to completely gas a faction, without committing any atrocities to any other faction. Then I will start working on the Pirates. I'm not sure how many bases I'll take over or gas.
I finish the year with 26.5k credits. Cornering the Energy Market would take 214k credits. I'm not sure if that's high compared to the unmodded game. I did make mind control more costly in my mod, because probe teams are seriously overpowered in the stock game. I wonder if that raises the cost of Economic Victory? It usually seems unattainable, unless I want to engage in the very boring act of building lots of Orbital Power Transmitters. I hadn't considered the possibility of getting rich by harvesting infinite numbers of Planet Pearls. I might consider that victory condition instead, as it's thematically appropriate. However it still takes 20 years to secure an Economic Victory, so it's not exactly a quick finish. At 10k..15k per year, it could take me 20 years just to get there. Gassing my enemies might actually be faster. Or lighting them up with nukes; I haven't ruled that out.
If it were simply about winning the game, I could have done that by now. Gassings are most certainly counterpoductive to winning. Look how long it has taken to complete the annihilation of merely 1 faction! If I had done it conventionally, with Quantum reactors I'm sure the Cyborgs would be dead already. Or I could have just taken over a radial swath around my homeland and declared myself Supreme Leader. I could still do that... which is why stated obsessions about chemical destruction are important.
Post by: bvanevery on December 07, 2019, 06:24:48 am
MY 2340. Pretty sure that's a Fusion unit. It would be amusing if they started building a lot of these X units. I haven't committed any atrocities against the Pirates, so they shouldn't have cause to attack me with them. Unless having an Infamous reputation makes you open season as far as everyone's morality is concerned. They'd still get sanctions for such actions at least. Pirates are annoying! They don't have much presence out here, but they managed to slip a unit out here somehow.
[Limit reached]
Maybe they caught some rad waves before going under. It's too bad these super floods aren't more devastating to other factions. The AI mostly just tends to build Pressure Domes to deal with them. It does degrade their infrastructure though. Except the Pirates. Who are next to me and most easily conquered. This game might be different if they were on the opposite side of Planet from me, like the Cyborgs were.
[Limit reached]
[Limit reached]
Defense up north is still easy. I don't think I need any new defensive units to defend up there. The main thing to start thinking about, is what it's all going to be like when it's underwater. It's easy now because I've still got a rail network and Scouts that can move back and forth whacking fungal towers as they pop up. Once everything is in the water, it becomes more a game of hide and seek. Maybe building lots of Sea Formers with Trance 3-Res defenses would help. I can also build Nessus Mining Stations to boost my minerals output, but I don't want to do that until the eco-damage stops. I bet that's not going to happen until I'm done wiping out the Cyborgs. I haven't been paying attention to how much new damage I do, after chemical attacks. It's not that relevant because I need to get done, what I need to get done.
[Limit reached]
The Cyborgs will last 2 more turns at most.
Planning and budgetary considerations tomorrow. It's 1:30 AM and I'm going to bed.
Post by: bvanevery on December 07, 2019, 04:11:50 pm
Still MY 2340. I don't want to get rid of these Fusion unit designs. Far from being obsolete, they're the only things my factories can chuck out in 1 turn. However I could upgrade them manually to Quantum designs, by hitting CTRL-U for each one individually. That's tedious but effective. I don't think it helps in the case of mere armor upgrades. I suspect that a Trace 3-Res defense does exactly the same thing when a mindworm attacks it, no matter what the reactor size. But anti-air artillery is another matter! Bigger guns are clearly better, and I think the reactor power does matter to the damage done. So all of those, I should upgrade.
[Limit reached]
Unfortunately my plan is not compatible with continuous mindworm spam. To the extent that I have to use all my units to defend myself, I can't upgrade them. There's an answer for that: build yet more anti-air artillery and forget about other stuff. Eventually I'll have enough to rotate the upgrades and be happy.
[Limit reached]
It may be a bit of an exploit, but if one upgrades the entire design to something "better", one doesn't face the turn limit problem. I have, for instance, done this fairly regularly with Drop units I don't need anymore, sometimes in the same turn. I could do this to Pirate bases. My main worry about them, has been not having enough defenders when Planet attacks. Actually for defensive units, I don't need the exploit, I could just CTRL-U the unmoved units individually. It's really only a question of whether I think I've got enough defenders to weather Planet's attacks.
[Limit reached]
I decide that I don't trust the rage of Planet. I think the Pirate cities would still be a liability. If I had a strong occupying fleet, it would be different. Consequently, every base that can build SAM Tachyon Destroyers starts to do so. Every base that can't, and isn't otherwise disposed, builds Sky Hydroponics Labs because I do have people starting to starve.
[Limit reached]
I get rid of various intermediate designs that were cost based, such as this one. It just doesn't have enough punch to do anything to the Locusts. Bigger guns are better for that! I upgrade a few unused Fusion anti-air artillery to Quantum. I find some lesser unused Cruisers and make them into SAM Tachyon Destroyers. I finish with 31k credits.
It suddenly occurs to me that if Planet's attacks don't abate, I could buy Quantum Planet Busters every turn, and destroy a substantial portion of Planet's surface with them. This would require me to reach a steady state of defense, i.e. the Locust hordes not getting worse. I think Planet might be relaxing more than aggrieving now, so I will hold this plan in reserve.
Post by: bvanevery on December 07, 2019, 06:39:26 pm
MY 2341. An unseen swarm of Locusts killed a unit in Cyborg territory. That's not a super tragedy, but it shows the risks of being surrounded by water. It's hard to scout everything, and Sensor Arrays don't seem to reveal anything. Maybe I should build Geosynchronous Survey Pods? I never do, but maybe they'll be of some use.
[Limit reached]
With my change in policy I finally get some new research. This one doesn't do much, but I do get more energy from fungus squares.
[Limit reached]
My bonus tech is more useful. I've been growing votes for awhile now, and I could win an election if other factions don't put up a united front. With another 2X votes it becomes a certainty. I don't really need the extra money, and I don't think I'm collecting any COMMERCE income anyways with the hundreds of years of Sanctions imposed upon me. Plus all the vendettas. It does let me propose stuff in the Planetary Council every 10 years instead of every 20, and nobody can veto me. I wonder how long it's been since I suggested we Launch a Solar Shade? Would they be more likely to see sense?
[Limit reached]
It occurs to me that Planet does better terraforming than I'm ever going to be able to do. I really wanted a Tectonic Missile though.
[Limit reached]
I've completed a rail on high ground, with each portion in excess of 500 meters. It should last a few more turns until the eastern tip of my empire is underwater. The Scout On Rails system is very effective for wiping out fungal buttons. Fission Trance Empath Scouts are particularly effective and cheap at only 20 minerals, but I don't plan to make any more right now. I can handle the mindworm based fungal pops on land, I've reached a steady state. It's the possibility of a pure Locust assault that still worries me, but my upgrades of anti-air artillery and ships proceed apace.
[Limit reached]
I believe I've lost the use of Monoliths to heal my units. The one linked by rail is down to 44 meters. I think if I left units on it this turn, they would drown next turn. The other land Monolith that is not linked by rail is down to 202 meters. I might be able to use it for a few more turns, but the healing is only useful for a Scout if they can immediately move and strike once healed. It would take too long to build a rail to it, and all of that land will soon be underwater. Thus I focused my rail building efforts elsewhere, where I will get more benefit for longer.
I'm taking a break, my dog needs a walk.
Post by: bvanevery on December 08, 2019, 03:56:11 am
Still MY 2341. For some reason my Gaian holdings are being attacked by pure Locust stacks. I don't know why they should get this special treatment. I haven't built any anti-air artillery there at all. In fact I've been building Temples to try to mitigate eco-damage, so it's quite annoying that the worst forces have shown up here. I do have a complement of AAA Trance 3-Res defensive units, but they've taken beatings from previous indigenous and Gaian hordes. I've moved the nearly dead units to Blackroot Palace, my one city that for some reason does no eco-damage. I still have enough of a rotation to possibly hold off these stacks, but I might also get fried. The irony is that with the sinking of the Manifold Nexus, only Gaia's Landing is valuable to hold.
Since I can't kill stacks, attacking any unit only makes them stronger. I wait on defense, hoping they will spend themselves. In the future I will concern myself with building appropriate anti-air artillery. I can't design a self-contained anti-air drop artillery, as that's too many abilities. I could design a self-contained drop ship. I think I can deploy those to an inland city. I could also bring in artillery with my 3 existing Drop Transports. That seems like a prudent course, as the Drop Transports themselves have defensive value, and I currently seem to have more in my home territory than I need.
[Limit reached]
Unfortunately my 3 Drop Transports were in a city that has since detached from the mainland. I wasn't going to be able to bring and fire artillery until next turn anyways, but now it'll have to be 2 turns as I redeploy. I'll send 1 to Gaia's Landing for immediate defensive reinforcement. 2 to the mainland in different places to pick up artillery, hopefully.
[Limit reached]
In the south I'm beset by Isle stacks topped by a single Locust. These are easier to deal with, although it's not entirely trivial because I haven't been building any units down here. I'm still trying to add facility improvements. Whether that's ultimately purposeful, I don't know. I can't reinforce this area with drop ships as all the bases have sunk into the water. I could land Drop Transports on the land next to the bases, but most of this land is not going to be left for much longer.
[Limit reached]
I'm building a fair number of Geosynchronous Survey Pods this year. Next year I'll see if they do me any good spotting swarms. I finish the year with absurd money as usual, 38.5k. I do not rush Clinical Immortality as I'm being cheap. I haven't produced the 40 minerals necessary to lower the price. Nobody else is going to get it and it doesn't give me any major advantage, so I put it in one of my most pathetic cities to be worked on. The main advantage of that particular city is it doesn't have a Secret Project yet. This reduces my risk of losing a Secret Project if super hordes of indigenous life forms ever show up.
Post by: bvanevery on December 08, 2019, 04:39:11 am
MY 2342. My Gaian cities held, barely. I've reinforced with 2 hovertanks and 2 Formers. I'm counting on not getting big Locust stacks again back to back, since I don't see anything in the area this turn. Up north was the easiest it's been. Hardly anything to mop up. The south doesn't have much either. The last thing to do is finally slay the hated Cyborgs! Yippie!
[Limit reached]
Isle and Spore defenders drag it out one more year. I just didn't quite have the ships. I finish the year with 40k credits, indicating that I must not have killed that many mindworms. One thing I forgot to do last year that I make sure to do this year, is go back over all my cities and click to maximize the number of squares worked. I wish the game didn't make me babysit that. And no, I never use Governors, because they are so stupid.
Post by: bvanevery on December 08, 2019, 06:04:22 am
[Limit reached]
MY 2343. A light year for mindworms! Marred only by a Locust threat to one of my Gaian bases. Maybe it's a programmed phase that all cities go through, the "Locust hit".
[Limit reached]
I reinforce with a Drop Transport and 2 anti-air artillery pieces. They won't get to fire, but they will get to end the interference of a Gaian Spore Launcher that's been bothering me forever.
[Limit reached]
Finally they're gone! I didn't make a single chemical attack this turn, although I did Obliterate that last base. My last few X ships shall return to port to be refitted with anti-Locust cannons. That leaves only a handful of X Drop Needlejets to make mistakes with.
I finish the year with 38.5k credits, which includes rushing Clinical Immortality. Once Planet calms down, I'll see how much of the Pirates I can take over by spending money. I've also begun to build some Quantum Planet Busters. My next round of destruction is likely to be most unkind.
It's 1 AM and I'm resting on my laurels for the night. I've made a milestone: 1 faction gassed!
Post by: bvanevery on December 08, 2019, 03:52:02 pm
[Limit reached]
[Limit reached]
MY 2344. My only real spot of trouble this year is Gaia's Landing. I reinforced with a Drop Transport and 2 anti-air artillery.
[Limit reached]
[Limit reached]
They present a united front, but Clinical Immortality overwhelms them. It appears I could have done without it anyways, just barely.
[Limit reached]
This is why I didn't care that much about getting elected Governor.
Post by: bvanevery on December 08, 2019, 05:37:30 pm
MY 2345. I'm getting really bored and I want this game over. It'll liven up once my nukes are ready, but that'll be a few turns of the usual drill of cleaning out mindworms. God Knows I've done enough of that already! The one thing that could provide relief would be a new tech, such as Tectonic Missiles. I'm not going to allow this poorly designed game to randomly deprive me of that, 1 turn before I was going to get a new tech!
These random events are some of the worst, laziest "game design" that someone could do. Like I really should have my entire research infrastructure disrupted because a far flung base under a Punishment Sphere had a network hiccup. Get real! Nobody's gonna build a Network Node there, the Sphere gives it a -50% research penalty and it's too far away to contribute anything anyways. This is like CERN failing because some kid in Pensacola plugged a coffee pot into the wrong outlet. In this part of the game, the designers were clearly just a bunch of jerks who didn't think this through. Or they did playtest it and said ha ha ha, lolz. Jerks!!!
So yes, I'm save scumming this turn. Actually, I already had to reload it because I forgot to rush my facilities after taking my dog for a walk. And I've seen this message twice now. I'm determined to suppress it somehow. I'm not sure what incantations influence the Random Number Generator, but I think sometimes changing the game events will "distract" it. Or maybe it's just luck and the luck finally goes my way. Who knows, but I'm having to terminate this with Task Manager each time and it's boring.
[Limit reached]
The game is being bafflingly persistent about having this random event, given that it didn't happen the 1st time I started my turn. The difference is I rushed a lot of facilities in a lot of cities. Am I being penalized for rushing a Robotic Assembly Plant at Gaia's Landing? I'm changing my workers who can't work a square to Thinkers, hoping a science increase might help me. Well dammit, that didn't help! Squashing the game with Task Manager yet again.
[Limit reached]
This better darned well do the trick.
[Limit reached]
What more can I do? Why is it hung up on this? It's not like I've never built a Network Node anywhere. If I can't think of some in-game way to make it go away, I may have to resort to the Scenario Editor and be declared a Cheater. Maybe I can turn random events off.
What about rebooting my laptop to change the RNG. Lol! Well it didn't work.
[Limit reached]
I gotta get on with this game. I don't like being accused of cheating when I'm just working selecting an option I jolly well could have started the game with in the 1st place. Granted, if there were no sunspots, I wouldn't have gotten a 20-odd year head start on gassing the Cyborgs. But these random events totally suck! I'm bored! I want this game to move on! I've been tortured for days! Yes, by choice, but still! I mean, this is complete garbage.
[Limit reached]
I wonder if I can diff the game .sav and determine what bit in the binary controls this rule? Then I could turn it on and off without activating the Scenario Editor. The other thing that's changed, is I activated the Scenario Editor. Well, cranking up WinMerge, I realize that a line oriented diff tool isn't enough for poking through a binary file.
Post by: bvanevery on December 08, 2019, 07:13:27 pm
I update to the latest greatest WinMerge, hoping it has options my older version didn't.
[Limit reached]
There's an option for looking for diffs within a line, that I didn't notice or pay attention to before. However it's not really helping me narrow things down. Feels like a needle in a haystack problem. Maybe if I research better tools, and whatever people know about .sav files, I could find a way to get control of this, but it's not really worth it for purposes of finishing this game. Moving right along!
Post by: bvanevery on December 08, 2019, 08:46:00 pm
Still MY 2345. I find it hard to resist building Secret Projects. In typical games I don't bother with the Bulk Matter Transmitter though, because all it does is massively push up my minerals production and hence eco-damage. In this game though, I can't imagine it making things any worse than they already are, so I'm doing it!
[Limit reached]
I'm having trouble understanding how this is supposed to work. I've stopped using chemical weapons, but the attacks keep coming. Arguably, they're getting worse, since Locusts are harder to deal with. Will it ever end? Is it even going to slow down? Is this all keyed to me being Infamous and there's no going back?
[Limit reached]
I use the Scenario Editor to turn random events back on. Maybe the thing with Gaia's Landing was a one time annoyance. If it becomes a pattern, I'll turn them off permanently.
Ridding my lands of the Locusts didn't turn out to be that difficult. Eliminating a Locust stack is difficult, it takes preparation. But a single Locust on land is not much tougher than a mindworm. I end the year with 39k credits. I'm mostly building Sea Formers now. I have 1 Quantum Planet Buster and 5 in production. I will refrain from atrocities until those are completed, to see if Planet is capable of calming down. Then I'm lighting someone up!
Post by: bvanevery on December 09, 2019, 04:39:10 am
MY 2346. Eerie silence! This is about all the popping I've got. I might actually be able to get some work done for a change.
[Limit reached]
I buy Parrot Landing. I was waiting for Planet to calm down, so that new cities wouldn't be liabilities. I doubt the Merchant Exchange is going to make me any money, but I like saving our great works.
[Limit reached]
I drop one of my 2 remaining ancient Fission Frog Probe Teams on a spit of land next to Cutlass Cay, home of the Xenoempathy Dome. The AI may be stupid enough to leave my probe team alone. Svensgaard gives me a tongue lashing though. I guess taking over one of his cities didn't impress him, and likely never will.
[Limit reached]
I drop the 2nd probe team in some fungus near Roze Function, home of the Weather Paradigm. Its ability to move around will improve quite a bit if I nab the Xenoempathy Dome. I wanted to get closer but kept getting told that enemy units were in the way. With my luck those will be mindworms. Come to think of it, Roze is probably unsubvertable anyways and I've just wasted my time. Yep, she's gone Thought Control. I'll have to use ground troops on her if I want the base.
I finish the year with 29k. It's 2 more years to my next tech. I notice that none of the other factions have any nukes. When I set off mine, I wonder how angry Planet will get?
Post by: bvanevery on December 09, 2019, 05:28:21 am
MY 2347. The way this project counts minerals is odd. It's like minerals before any bonuses are applied, so it ends up becoming a lot more minerals and eco-damage in practice. I've now got some bases producing 100 minerals. They can chuck out a Quantum Planet Buster in 3 turns!
[Limit reached]
In fairness, they're Pirates and aren't prone to occupying land. This makes land adjacent to Pirate sea bases, a pretty good place to launch covert operations from.
[Limit reached]
It ain't cheap, but I've got loads of cash and it's convenient. The Xenoempathy Dome is mine. I still finish the year with 21.5k.
Post by: bvanevery on December 09, 2019, 06:48:33 am
MY 2348. Never touched the guy. Considering that Yang thought I'd done something to him when I never had, I just don't believe the game's BS on this stuff. I suppose there's a chance that he had a unit in a city I gassed, but I do remember checking the cities before razing them. Maybe it's not possible to remember every detail in such a long game. The idea of unforgivable gassing is odd and purely game mechanical. How do the modern day Japanese feel about the modern day USA? Heck, what does everyone think of Germany, or countless other countries that have committed atrocities in their history?
[Limit reached]
Fungal pops have been light. Presumably that's due to the Bulk Matter Transmitter goosing my minerals. Now I will finally be able to repair the land! Oddly enough, dropping a Tectonic Missile counts as a Major Atrocity, same as a nuke. Go figure. So fixing the land is not going to slow down the mindworm fun for the home audience.
[Limit reached]
I think I'll spare her. She's going to start hating me when I light up Deirdre with the nukes though.
[Limit reached]
Well if Miriam believes it, it's more than a faction specific bug. Lord Knows how I managed to gas Svensgaard.
[Limit reached]
I swear I meant to plant a tree here. CTRL-F, SHIFT-F, who's counting? The fungus is actually worth more than a forest anyways. It's just the principle of the thing. My Earth bias.
[Limit reached]
I just had this great idea for how to use my drop probe team! Land it next to a low population base. Buy the base. Convert the conventional units to some kind of useful Drop unit. Next turn, fly those away. Leave 1 unit behind to Obliterate the base. What a great plan! I don't know how economically efficient it is compared to anything else, but I need the Pirate capitol destroyed for it to work best.
[Limit reached]
The pirate seas are thick with units, presenting ideal targets for taking out multiple cities at a time. It's a bit like miniature golf! I think the blast radius on a Quantum warhead is 3. Fission is 1, i.e. the squares surrounding the impact. Singularity warheads have truly spectacular impact.
[Limit reached]
I could only take out 4 cities at once. Since I had a choice of epicenters to do that, I tried to take out as little of the shallows as possible. Planet does such a good job of sinking the land anyways. I'd like to keep whatever I can, as a sort of Global Park Service.
[Limit reached]
Of course Miriam's response is so predictably boring. At least it gives me the excuse to wipe out that Spore Launcher she put on my land. That I bet she was going to 'surprise' attack me with anyways. She's prone to that sort of thing, even without my lousy rep. Reputation in this game is pretty one dimensional though. I've been pretty conscientious about who my enemies are! Not like I gassed everybody.
[Limit reached]
Pretty sure I'm going to wipe out 5 cities with this shot. Keep those Isles and Clean Transports coming, Svensgaard.
[Limit reached]
Wow my territorial waters look so much better after this. This is a really good plan. If Planet doesn't kill me.
[Limit reached]
This one the cities themselves had a good grouping. No bank shot needed.
[Limit reached]
The radiation lapped at the edge of my city's waters, but we still stood.
[Limit reached]
I love the pretty blue flash. It's like a fire log, changing colors.
[Limit reached]
I just noticed something interesting. Terrain improvements in the ocean, do not get destroyed by the blast. That's some crazy selective fire mode! Well I'll take it. I've suffered under the Pirate encroachment yoke for long enough, and so have countless other factions in other games of SMAC. Don't feel sorry for them! Don't even feel sorry for them if you're playing them. You're a horrible, mean, horrible Pirate you!
It's 1:45 AM and I've exhausted my present nuclear arsenal. 1 new nuke and Planet vengeance funzies next year. I'm going to bed. In the morning I'll figure out how to use my probe teams to commit further mayhem.
Post by: bvanevery on December 09, 2019, 05:27:33 pm
Still MY 2348. Taking over bases is likely to use a lot of money, so I want to know what competing options cost. Rushing a Quantum Planet Buster is ridiculously expensive! Guess I need to look up the unit completion penalty rules somewhere, to see if this is typical of units or not. No way I'm paying 10 credits for 1 mineral. I didn't get rich by being stupid!
[Limit reached]
I've had 2 Fusion Cruiser Probe Teams imprisoned in my capitol since the stone ages. They were trying to get past Pirate waters and got interrogated and returned to me, I think. Pretty dumb to send ships to a landlocked capitol; how did the Pirates manage that, exactly? I never disbanded them as I figured someday, they'd float again!
[Limit reached]
The best use of my probe teams is to take out small "scrap" cities that got missed by my nukes. When I hit Provision Point, it will take out the cities near it, but Kappa Sector will be left isolated. Thus I will take it over and Obliterate it now. My naval probe teams weren't close enough to do it, but I have an Isle that can carry a frog to target.
[Limit reached]
This is much more expensive than I was expecting a size 2 city to be, with no capitol. I did destroy their capitol this year; maybe its loss isn't computed until next year. I know I deliberately cranked up the mind control costs in my mod, because probe teams are grossly overpowered in the stock game. Still this seems a bit much. I've also noticed a late game phenomenon of bases being crazy expensive to take over, and I'm not sure why that is. I will go through with it this time, mainly because the sea is crawling with enemies and I don't want my one Isle to be wasted. But if this level of expense keeps up, I'll find something else to do with my money.
[Limit reached]
All Pirate bases have a Naval Yard once they get Doctrine: Initiative. Since I have the Maritime Control Center, that makes them excellent things to sell. I get 40 credits, ever so slightly offsetting my takeover expenses. I captured an Isle and 2 Transports. I upgrade the Transports to something more durable, and use the Isle to Obliterate the base.
[Limit reached]
That cost me 1/20th of a credit per colonist. I've gotta get my accountants on this. It's no way to win a war.
[Limit reached]
At Landlubber Inn I can perform a similar maneuver. It's just a bigger city.
[Limit reached]
No, this isn't worth 5k to me. The base is poorly defended by 2 Isles, and well within the attack range of my home guard. I take it conventionally and scrap the Naval Yard. To be cute, I sail my Transport in and put my probe team into orbit, since it hasn't actually moved yet. Then I Obliterate the base. I could have saved myself the trouble by probing with a naval unit earlier, but I wasn't thinking about this base before I repositioned my naval probe teams.
[Limit reached]
This whole probe team approach is starting to look a lot less useful than I originally thought. I'm seeing small cities next to land, that I can hit with Quantum bank shots as part of larger clusters of death anyways. I send my frog to Gaia's Landing, having nothing better to do with it at present. Maybe I'll start gassing Gaians sometime?
I finish the year with 21.5k credits. Bring it on, Planet!
Post by: bvanevery on December 09, 2019, 08:11:58 pm
MY 2349. I've got 8 Locust pops, but that's not any worse than what I've already dealt with. I do have the troops and ships to deal with it. I am not dissuaded from my campaign of Quantum terror! Those are good weapons.
[Limit reached]
The Geosynchronous Survey Pods do seem to do a better job of revealing enemy positions than Sensor Arrays do. That neatly and conveniently solves a major problem with defending against Planet. Granted I can also do it by flying a Needlejet over every fungal square, but that's tedious and error prone. I've also used a Conventional Missile for that, since in my mod they have high movement and can stay aloft indefinitely if I want. In fact I dredge one up just to check on the spotting, and yep, WYSIWYG. No hidden horrors detected in 38 squares of movement. Truth is, a lot of my cities aren't doing any eco-damage anymore, despite the nukes.
[Limit reached]
I do have the prereqs for Matter Transmission. 3 years until my next tech.
[Limit reached]
No I'm not paying 3.5k to get rid of this. I'll do something else dastardly eventually. Maybe just leave it completely alone until the very end? I think my strict rule about only committing atrocities to one faction at a time, doesn't matter anymore. It seems I will survive all floods and Planet attacks, and nobody's got the productivity to make a nuke anyways. Even if they did, I've got an Orbital Defense Pod screen. Even if those got wiped out by Solar Flares, I've got Flechette Missile Defenses which could stop a nuke. And they're not going to be able to build anything, without me being able to see it first and intervening.
I finish the year with 24k, reasonably confident that Planet won't be doing anything horrible to me. My Tectonic Missile prototype will be done in 3 turns.
Post by: bvanevery on December 09, 2019, 09:48:42 pm
MY 2350. I pick off some mindworms without difficulty. I'm starting to shift some production to Tectonic Missiles in anticipation of finishing my prototype. The Gaians want a Truce. The last time I agreed to one, they attacked immediately. I go through the motions, but it's not going to matter because I still have a nuke to dispense this year. They'll declare war yet again.
[Limit reached]
After the blast, Deirdre declares war and won't talk to me. I don't bother moving a unit up to her, to see if she'll change her mind. It doesn't matter. When she wants a Truce, she'll talk about a Truce. You'd think a faction would be brighter about making peace with, or capitulating to, a superior foe. I finish the year with 28k credits.
Post by: bvanevery on December 09, 2019, 10:31:10 pm
MY 2351. Had a few mindworms but dealt with them easily. I've clearly weathered the worst that Planet has to give me. All of my remaining bases are shifting over to Quantum Planet Buster production now. I will keep dropping them until I win. I produced a few Tachyon Skybases in my Gaian territory, which have been modestly making their way to Roze Function. It's quite a bit more beat up than the last time I saw it, with only Scouts for most of its defenders. It will take a few turns to capture the city, as I don't have many Skyforts around it right now. More are coming, and I'll occupy with a few Drop troops I have and am making.
[Limit reached]
I don't like clipping the Datatech island, but I prefer knocking out 2 cities rather than other measures. I was hoping for a unit to be between the cluster of cities to the south. Perhaps another year.
[Limit reached]
[Limit reached]
[Limit reached]
In principle, someone could shoot down my nuke. In practice, I don't think the AI knows how to do it. In the stock game, nukes can't hover. Mindworms are making me wealthy. I finish the year with 31k credits.
Post by: bvanevery on December 10, 2019, 04:52:49 am
MY 2352. Upgrading all Tachyon artillery and ships to the R-Bolt is a slam dunk. Upgrading armor is not so certain. I need to look up whether 12-Res armor does any better than 3-Res armor against mindworms. I suspect it does not. It probably just provides better cover against conventional troops. With my enemies rapidly fading into nuclear oblivion, that's simply not my problem. To the extent that they do attack, the Pirates and Gaians are using Isles and Sealurks.
[Limit reached]
This is for my one Speeder based unit.
[Limit reached]
This is for the Infantry chassis units.
[Limit reached]
Boy I have a lot of these things! No wonder I'm safe from Locusts.
[Limit reached]
I officially don't believe that nerve gas has anything to do with our future. Quantum annihilation is more efficient, for the same or less harm to Planet.
[Limit reached]
Sometimes I've needed to fight Gaian mindworms with these things, although not recently. I perform more arguably pointless upgrades and obtain a highly uniform army as a result! After the year's few facility improvements, I have 10k credits left.
[Limit reached]
I complete my Quantum Tectonic Missile prototype. I have 7 more in production. Truth is in the meantime, my homeland has adapted to life at sea. It's pretty easy to defend with all my fast moving ships, and I don't really see much advantage to be gained from a rail network and land defense anymore. It's not easy to find a spot where a huge new chunk of land will fit, without ruining something, or closing off a port that I actually prefer to have open.
[Limit reached]
Still, there is the Earth bias of preferring dry land. And the threat of Planet sinking even more. My terrain is less developed in my Gaian territory, so I set one off here first. The Gaians get to have a little bit of land back. I'm generous that way.
[Limit reached]
I don't think I'll soon be blessed with a perfect shot at all 4 cities, so I take out 3 of them. If I want to hit multiple targets with my nukes, I'm going to have to find another victim. The Pirates are down to isolated scrap. I try hailing the other factions on my commlink, but none are answering. I have 12 QPBs in production.
[Limit reached]
I don't think there's much benefit to extending rails anymore, as I've built what I can on high ground, and everything will sink eventually if I don't intervene. I gather my 8 mainland Formers and start raising land next to one of my cities. I need to build more Formers if I want to do a good job of this. Taking the Weather Paradigm would help too.
Post by: bvanevery on December 10, 2019, 05:49:58 am
MY 2353. No fungal pops this year. That makes me think all the stuff about a Tectonic Missile doing the same eco-damage as a nuke, is a lie.
[Limit reached]
My Skybases complete their work. The city is sitting on a 1x1 island so I'm able to drop units into it to permanently reinforce.
[Limit reached]
Roze sees a nuke heading for a grouping of Pirate and Datatech bases, and offers to have a little chat. She demands an absurd amount of money, and then says she's going to kill me. Yeah right! She's working on a nuke but she'll never get there.
[Limit reached]
Pity I couldn't hit the 4th base.
[Limit reached]
I commit my 1st Gaian atrocity. My targeting pattern is simply radial. Whatever I can hit immediately, from wherever my QPBs are produced.
[Limit reached]
I think it would be cute to put Cutlass Cay on dry land. It'll take 2 QTMs to do it.
[Limit reached]
Will I have time to terraform before the game ends?
[Limit reached]
I complete a Fungal Missile prototype, but I'm not trying to pave anyone under with fungus. That's a much less aggressive strategy than nukes. I just park it. I finish the year with 9k credits.
Post by: bvanevery on December 10, 2019, 06:50:21 am
MY 2354. A few fungal pops, not a big deal. I think this grouping used to be the Monsoon Jungle, before changing sea levels dried it out.
[Limit reached]
This is the year I can finally propose to Launch a Solar Shade! They're not into it. Maybe it's like two party politics: must do the opposite of whatever I want.
[Limit reached]
Everything within immediate striking distance of me is scrap now.
[Limit reached]
QTMs aren't that useful to me now, which is why I stopped making them. I could have used them much earlier in the game. There's a pocket of deep ocean west of Alpha Basin that I'm trying to get rid of. I have 1 QTM in flight that will arrive next turn. Again, I think the AI is too stupid to shoot it down. I finish the year with 9k credits.
Post by: bvanevery on December 10, 2019, 07:57:33 am
MY 2355. I used my Skybases to take this base conventionally last year. Problem is, the "B" command for air units is taken by Bomb, and you can't Obliterate with them. To work around this, in a case of pure bastardism I built 1 Police Scout. Its sole purpose is to Obliterate the base this year, drowning in the process! I am too lazy to push ships over here to do this without suicide, and I decommissioned my drop ships a long time ago. I can't be bothered to make new ones.
[Limit reached]
[Limit reached]
If the game weren't going to end relatively soon, this might be a fun place to colonize.
[Limit reached]
This is the only supply pod on the whole map! I may have created it by raising land. Or I may have overlooked it for a couple hundred years.
[Limit reached]
I drop an old unit on it and... I get to die. I take 50 credits in Planet Pearls with me.
[Limit reached]
[Limit reached]
This game is in essence over. I'm just mopping up. I finish the year with 11k credits. It's 3 AM and I'm going to bed.
Post by: Geo on December 10, 2019, 02:12:33 pm
[Limit reached]
I buy Parrot Landing. I was waiting for Planet to calm down, so that new cities wouldn't be liabilities. I doubt the Merchant Exchange is going to make me any money, but I like saving our great works.
Do you know the difference between "Attempt Total Thought Control" and the "Mind Control Probe" options? Is it just a lower chance of succes, but if succesfull the exact same result?
Post by: bvanevery on December 10, 2019, 05:20:08 pm
[Limit reached]
MY 2356. We're not doing this. It's not the money, it's the principle of the thing. How would anyone ever amass the roughly 200k credits currently needed for Economic Victory, if events like these are spawned for 11k credits, knocking it down to 20% of wealth? Well ok, I haven't built the most massive number of Orbital Power Transmitters ever, to know just how silly the level of wealth could get. But if one were trying to farm mindworms, one would never get there. Anyways I hate this about SMAC, I'm already marked as a Cheater, and I'm simply trying to finish an all-but-won game at this point. It probably doesn't even matter for that agenda, but it is the amount of money for a couple of very expensive Secret Projects, I figure.
[Limit reached]
Restarting the .sav didn't stop the event, so I've used the Scenario Editor again.
[Limit reached]
Psi Gates might be amusing to play with in other circumstances, but QPBs move pretty fast. There's really no need. I can hit half of planet instantly, and all of planet after a 1 turn delay.
[Limit reached]
[Limit reached]
I make some land for the Weather Paradigm. I timed the production of QTMs about right. There's really nowhere worth bothering to raise land, unless I made large quantities of them, to march all the way across oceans. That production should go towards QPBs to end the game, or this is only sandboxing. I turn random events back on, and I finish the year with 16k credits.
Post by: bvanevery on December 10, 2019, 06:25:55 pm
[Limit reached]
[Limit reached]
[Limit reached]
MY 2357. Uneventful. In many places I've finished working on all the ocean shelf squares I can. I'm assigning individual Sea Formers to raise ocean squares, in essence "parking" them so that I don't have to deal with moving them anymore. I have 22 QPBs in production, but my output per turn doesn't seem to be that high. I finish the year with 17k credits.
Post by: bvanevery on December 10, 2019, 07:04:17 pm
[Limit reached]
MY 2358. I'm experiencing technical difficulty. I had to replay my turn and have become cautious with frequent saves. I'm having trouble ending my turn without the game freezing up. I am in the middle of archiving a Yahoo! Groups forum, before that site's content is wiped out on Dec. 14th. That could have something to do with it. The production scrolling menu is one of several things that seemed to cause a freeze, so I used city popup menus to rush my few facilities instead. I finish the year with 20k credits.
Post by: bvanevery on December 10, 2019, 08:10:43 pm
MY 2359. How is it that I have come into possession of 2 Datatech units on dry land in my home territory? Even with the land raising I've been doing in the area, I know they didn't exist here last year. I seem to be able to move the units, although I haven't tried it yet. I'm attaching a saved game if anyone wants to dissect this later.
The proximity of the newly spawned indigenous life forms, would seem to indicate that these Datatech units have also been spawned, errantly.
[Limit reached]
Ok, I can't move the Datatech units. They were blinking because I have many Formers in the stack with them, invisible. I'm able to move them, I just have to wait for the game to tell me when it's time to move a unit.
[Limit reached]
[Limit reached]
While watching TV, I pushed my arrow keys too fast and ran into an Isle. Well that's one of the most annihilated Isles of the game! And I haven't captured this frame of the explosion animation before, so not a complete loss.
[Limit reached]
I've saved the slaying of the Datatech interlopers for the end of the turn. They do die when attacked, but they also seem to pop up more units. I don't know if that's because they were there but invisible, or if a bug is summoning more units to the location. It's as though the contents of a fairly large city have been relocated here. I save the game every so often to hopefully make forward progress on eliminating them.
[Limit reached]
I threw more units at it, but I'm running out of nearby units to move. I even dropped a Quantum Conventional Missile on it to see what would happen. I think that wiped out one Datatech Isle. Then I shelled a Datatech Spore Launcher with several warships, until it died. Then a Gaian Sealurk appeared! Bizarre!
[Limit reached]
I fight 2 more rounds of Gaian units. Then my own Formers are finally revealed. Maybe that's the end of it. I saved the game. I hope this long game doesn't go belly up and become unplayable. If it does, apologies in advance. At any rate, obviously I've won and it's only a matter of time. I finish the year with 25k credits.
It's 5 PM. I need to archive a large Yahoo! Group now. I'm going to refrain from multitasking the game for the duration, in case the archiving tool / resource constraint is the source of the instability.
Post by: bvanevery on December 11, 2019, 04:02:55 am
[Limit reached]
MY 2360. The bug has marched 1 square south, into my base! I believe the mindworm pops are to blame somehow. Now I've got Pirates showing up. I believe the display of those units, is obscuring my own units, but that they're still there. I'll work around this and try not to crash the game yet again. Save attached again.
[Limit reached]
The square north of my base had the bug last year. It seems to contain a stack of Formers. When I select 1 of those Formers, my view is moved to Gaian territory! Are my units existing in 2 places at once?
[Limit reached]
When I mouse over these 6 units, they have the same home bases as the units up north. The last unit is from Gaia's Landing, so there's no way it could be up north. I think the northern display is some kind of echo. I will try moving the southern units, hoping the situation resolves. Heh, maybe my Quantum units are quantum entangled!
[Limit reached]
I'm definitely getting weird mirroring and teleportation effects. When I moved a Former onto the previous turn's bugged square, I could swear it reappeared in my Gaian lands. Now I notice Former mysteriously in the middle of the ocean, seemingly riding a Pirate Isle. Whatever! I will try not to move onto the bugged square anymore.
[Limit reached]
Units that I put into my base, are getting dumped here! This is not good. The base that is giving me the buggy behavior, is home of the Manifold Harmonics. I don't want to lose it.
[Limit reached]
[Limit reached]
I send a Transport into the buggy city, hoping that will keep my units from drowning. Looks like it worked, the units all loaded up. But now I have to get them to safety, and I think nothing is guarding my buggy city! Well, Pirates are "guarding" it.
[Limit reached]
Well at least I'll have safe passage after this!
[Limit reached]
[Limit reached]
[Limit reached]
[Limit reached]
[Limit reached]
I sure set off a lot of nukes this year! I finish with 33k credits.
Post by: bvanevery on December 11, 2019, 06:19:29 am
MY 2361. I can't even veto them! They're really determined. I can't remember who proposed this either.
[Limit reached]
Previously a bit under 4500 meters was the going rate. I don't know if Planet can reach a maximum water height, or this has wrapped around with a bug, or the messages are just wrong, or what is going on. It doesn't really matter, I'll just keep doing what I'm doing. Minus the bugs.
Clicking on my bugged city froze the game. I had to kill the process and load an autosave.
[Limit reached]
Haven't done that in a long time! I think I just took over a Locust and 32 Isles of the Deep. Recently I figured out that my SAM R-Bolt ships can attack a Locust topped Isle stack directly, surely killing them all in 1 shot, at the cost of wounds. My defensive needs haven't been very intense, so I'm putting my ships through a workout.
Oh no. I foolishly accepted a prompt to move a unit in my bugged city. The game froze again, forcing me to replay the turn. I hadn't saved that glorious capture. But! As luck would have it, I reloaded the autosave and made the move against that very stack as my 1st move. Got the capture again. Go figure. This time I saved it. But will I be able to get through this turn?
[Limit reached]
[Limit reached]
I Obliterate a base, and the offending Scout walks on water. Maybe it's not a bug, but a Grace period. I've seen mindworms carrying Isles do the same sort of thing at times, with the cargo hovering for the remainder of the turn after the Isle sank for some reason.
[Limit reached]
[Limit reached]
[Limit reached]
[Limit reached]
[Limit reached]
[Limit reached]
I make it to the end of my turn and finish the year with 43k. I click on my buggy base to see what will happen. It's now filled - seemingly! - with Former units and I'm able to allocate workers to squares. I bet that's not the end of it though.
Post by: bvanevery on December 11, 2019, 04:05:20 pm
MY 2362. I started my game and between turns, it froze. I figured I'd better look at my buggy city to see what might be causing it, even if that risked freezing the game. OMG, there's a fungal tower growing in my city! I don't even know how I'd get rid of that. Is it the end of the line for my game? Ok... I guess I could try to use the Scenario Editor to repair the damage, if I can't find any in-game way past this. I've saved a game once again for this weird bug.
[Limit reached]
After I ended my turn, the game immediately locked up again. I saw no choice but to use the Scenario Editor. I used the "Eliminate Units" function. That seems to have eliminated the tower, and surprisingly, reveals a bunch of my own units inside the base. I hope that stabilizes things. I've saved a post-edited game in case I've succeeded.
Unfortunately it is not working. I'll need to use the Scenario Editor to see if I can find any more anomalies.
I can't even load the edited save. It freezes the game. I'll have to go back to the "Fungal Tower bug" save.
I tried owning and then disbanding the Fungal Tower to get rid of it. The game still freezes afterwards. There could be more than 1 bug, so I'll need to stare at the map in the Scenario Editor more.
I haven't been able to find another anomaly. I tried creating another fungal tower on top of the existing one, hoping that might somehow suppress or fix the bugs in the existing tower. That caused the game to freeze immediately.
I tried taking ownership of the fungal tower and then playing on. After my turn ended, the game locked up as usual.
I tried Activating the Scenario Editor, leaving it turned on, and making no other changes. After my turn ended, the game locked up as usual. I'm running out of things to try.
I tried lowering the base into the ocean, hoping to drown the Fungal Tower next year. I saved that edit and was able to load it. However once I ended my turn, same result, game freezes.
[Limit reached]
Starting again, I get rid of the Fungal Tower using Eliminate Units. Once I do that, 6 units are apparently displayed in my buggy city. Clicking on any of them, recenters my view to 6 units inside a conquered Gaian city way down south. I suppose the locations of these units are incorrectly linked or displayed somehow. Perhaps if I relocate them, the problem will abate?
I create 2 Transports and move units out of 2 sea bases in Gaian territory. Unfortunately my buggy city still displays the units even though I moved them out of base. After ending my turn, the game still freezes.
[Limit reached]
I go back to the original saved game with the bug. I eliminate the Fungal Tower, then I eliminate the 6 ghost units in the city. This causes 8 ghost Formers to become apparent. The actual units exist on land to the west, and were used this turn to raise some terrain out of the water. Eliminating the previous 6 ghost units, also caused the captured Gaian city of Virgin Soil to be completely empty. I will continue to try to delete units to stabilize this. However it's possible I might have to delete all my units, in this curious "ghost queue" faction, for this to stabilize. If so, there won't be much reason to keep playing, as I do not really feel like doing the work of reconstructing my entire inventory of units.
Eliminating the 6 units doesn't cure it, indicating that I'll have to keep deleting. I was able to load a save of that, and it worked briefly upon loading, but within 10 seconds of scrolling it locked up. That's better than locking up when loaded, so maybe deletions do help. It seems I'll have to hit some kind of "bottom" to free things up, if it's possible at all.
[Limit reached]
I Eliminate some more units, until I get to one I can't. I haven't lost lots of units, although I wasn't paying good attention.
It worked! I am able to begin my next turn without lockup. I'm attaching a save. In the course of my turn I'll decide whether I feel it necessary to give myself units to replace what I lost.
Well, sorting that out took all morning. It's now 1:30 PM. I'm worn out from this. This game will have to wait. I almost regret being able to save this, as it's godawful tedious just dropping more QPBs slowly until victory finally comes. If the game was hopelessly bugged, it would be a good excuse to quit! But at least now I know how to get past this kind of bug if it ever happens again.
Post by: bvanevery on December 11, 2019, 08:40:16 pm
Disappointed that only 1 person has had any comment on anything I've written. That's not exactly encouragement to keep going, or to believe that there's an audience for the vast amount of work that a writeup like this takes. Supply and demand, eh? I definitely have other things I could be doing with Life. Even if SMAC oriented, I'd sooner play and write up a new game with lessons learned, or try to tweak the AI's play yet again.
I'm at least pleased with how version 1.37 of my mod is holding up. The tech progression is what I want it to be, I don't see any flaws in the long game. I did notice that the Pirates obsess about producing Clean Transports. I think they produced a couple hundred of those. They did stop doing it eventually, and at least they weren't paying SUPPORT costs, but that's an awful lot of production that could have gone to something more useful. I will try a game without the Clean Transport as a predefined unit and see how the Pirates do with that. Maybe they'll build some other Clean unit instead.
Based on previous experience, I fully expected to die in this game. But it turns out there's One True Enabling Technology: Air Superiority. With that, you can knock out stacks of 32 Locusts, and probably sustain yourself in the face of any adversity. Without it, you're dead.
So, any future game of this type, will be partially determined by when I acquire C5 Doctrine: Air Power. I could make a bunch of chemical attacks before then, but once Planet goes into "stomp you" mode, I'd have to cease and desist until I've got that tech.
I'm not clear on whether Planet hates Obliterations. That would be a good thing to test in the early game. Can I get away with more of those than chemical attacks? If so, then going after weakly defended bases with conventional units would be a good strategy.
I'm also made to realize that the number of "eco-friendly" facilities built isn't going to matter. Nor probably the ultimate mineral output of my factories, at least once I've got the forces to defend myself. Can't pull the Lion's tail until I'm ready, but I was too timid in this game about it. The consequence is in the endgame, I was waiting a long time for a sufficient number of QPBs to be produced, when I probably didn't need to.
I had no idea how to use all the money I got, and I probably still don't. I probably shouldn't be afraid of using it to make more technological progress, such as spending on research facilities. For a long time I was more worried about having sufficient forces to withstand mindworms, but I actually passed that threshold without much problem. Taking over bases with money still seems obnoxiously expensive though. The inefficiency of my money, bugs me about this game. It's one of the big itches that makes me want to start over.
Flooding is a bear. Producing Super Formers won't solve it either. I can use them to reconnect rail networks and make Scouts available to kill mindworms, but for propping up receding shores, they basically don't work. At least, they can't maintain a static boundary that preserves ocean shelf terrain improvements. They'd have to exceed those limits, because the floods are going to beat back the shores so quickly. It seriously gets old trying to maintain shores every year, only to find that they're about to sink again.
Tectonic Missiles didn't seem so useful in the face of the flooding, because the land that is raised, has to be terraformed all anew to be worth anything. Ocean improvements are preferable as once built, they don't go away. However, ocean shelf does sink to ocean and then deep ocean, preventing terrain improvements until it is raised. It is important to get ocean shelf developed quickly, or else build a large fleet of sea formers to raise what couldn't be gotten to.
The Pirates have the ability to terraform ocean and deep ocean squares, once they learn Advanced Ecological Engineering. However I've never seen the AI do it. I just checked a Pirate game to be sure they really have the ability, and they do. A human player could take full advantage of that.