Keeping the Peace---SMACX AI Growth 1.50

[pcangler]

I'll also be away from my computer for an extended period of time beginning on June 27.

For those wondering, this is what happened to me for the past two weeks; I deliberately put the AAR on hold. I guess I should have brought more attention to this. The AAR will continue, starting with today's upcoming installment. I plan to finish this, and am still enjoying it.

[pcangler]

2237: Domai begins going for the Command Nexus. Miriam also wants it, but I doubt she'll get it with H'minee on her hands. I consider going for peace with Domai since his armed forces are knocking my industrial process off track. I had to muster a serious naval defense the last time he launched an attack, and my transport recently ran afoul of another attack off of the southern coast of my Cybernetic acquisitions.

If I want to do that, I'll need Socialist, but that would mean pissing off Morgan and messing up my economy. Considering that he is #1, that would be a problem unless my superior human military planning came out on top, in which case it would be a blessing. Perhaps with Domai's assistance...for now I'll stay with my current SE choices and hold out for an air-powered defense. In my experience with stock AI, it just throws units at your air force.

Speaking about the disadvantages of Socialist, I find myself wondering why it has a +1 SUPPORT bonus. I figure this is because bvanevery (the mod's creator) wanted to have the "aggressive" economics choice akin to Planned in the base game. It succeeds in that regard, but I don't see the logic from a narrative sense. Should socialist economies be geared towards aggression? Why are they better at maintaining armed forces? I don't really see why they should be.

But if one were to remove the +1 SUPPORT, Socialist is bad. I see it then as too situational. And I also don't know how one could make that balanced now. If one were to remove the -1 ECONOMY, it would be both boring and make less narrative sense. +1 INDUSTRY is both narratively difficult to deal with and unbalanced. The only thing I see making narrative sense and seeming balanced is +1 GROWTH because of the expectedly equitably distributed resources including food and healthcare. Certain factions would benefit too hugely from this, though (Miriam)--so keeping the current is the most balanced. But if you could tell me, bvanevery, why do Socialist economies get +1 SUPPORT (narratively)?



2241: I get lucky and defeat two of Domai's naval units with two of mine, and no losses. My navy is still even in size with his, although his units are naturally Disciplined, mine come out Green. The second wave approaches my shores. He's really annoying in that my production switches to naval power at a few bases every ten to twenty turns. Air power better come fast.

Right now, my research into DISCOVER and BUILD paths is almost done, so Doc: Air should be coming soon. On the other hand, Morgan will keep on his BUILD path and likely steal some SPs. With us two as the only technological competitors, Planetary Datalinks is out of the question as helping me here. We'll see what I can get away with.





2248: I spend all of my energy creds trying to beat Aki Zeta-5's half-progress towards the Hunter-Seeker, and get it. Now my energy stores are busted, but it's not like I was going for economic victory.



2250: Ah, the mighty supply crawler. With this, I should be able to start pulling away faster. I have a bad habit of not building enough SCs, i.e., failing to spam them aggressively enough. But now I'm kinda feeling like making SCs a theme, so prepare for a storm of them to harvest every available square and snatch each SP possible.



An attempt to negotiate peace with Domai succeeds at the cost of Environmental Economics. This peace won't last if my SE choices don't catch up, which they won't. I intend this to buy time until my tech advantage eliminates his ability to pester my development. Plus, Keeping the Peace, right? Right.

He lectures me on my reluctance to experiment with socialist economics. Given that I know what the effects will be (a sluggish economy, mainly) on my computer simulation because of the SE table, his words don't really apply. But inside the world of the game, Domai has a serious point: Lal never did anything other than a slight tweaking of Earth's economic systems. In the narrative I've constructed, Lal is sympathetic to Domai's goals and criticisms but thinks that he takes them too far. Therefore, the "basic sense of justice" Domai is referring to exists in Lal's judgment, and he also sees the "crimes" that Domai sees. So why exactly is Lal's system so different from Domai's? This question, I think, is an intriguing one, so I plan to expound on this diplomatic transmission between leaders in tomorrow's narrative installment. Thanks for reading!

[bvanevery]

Good to have you back!

In my experience with stock AI, it just throws units at your air force.

Air frames are substantially more expensive in my mod, so that is less likely to happen.  It is not impossible though, if you let the AIs build up for a very long time.  They'd need to have Fusion Power to cheapen the unit cost, and probably also to have built Genejack Factories.  This never happens in my own games, I've always long since stomped them.  They might get some planes killing some Formers here and there, but they've never mustered an overwhelming air force against me any time recently.  But YMMV, and a noticeable number of players have reported having "big battles" of some kind or another about stuff.  I don't remember if they were air battles, but it was very clear from whatever they said, that the AIs were fielding tons and tons more stuff than I personally ever allow them to.

Am I better at my own mod than other people?  Probably.  Although with any given substantial release, even I have a period of rude adjustment, where I don't know how to play my own mod!  Then I adapt and I'm stomping again.  I might be quitting a few games saying "Oh good grief, that didn't go well" before then though.

Speaking about the disadvantages of Socialist, I find myself wondering why it has a +1 SUPPORT bonus. I figure this is because bvanevery (the mod's creator) wanted to have the "aggressive" economics choice akin to Planned in the base game. It succeeds in that regard, but I don't see the logic from a narrative sense. Should socialist economies be geared towards aggression? Why are they better at maintaining armed forces? I don't really see why they should be.

SUPPORT doesn't mean aggression.  Sorry if the original game brainwashed you into believing that.    

SUPPORT means the ability to have more units, particularly in the early game, without having to pay 1 mineral apiece on 'em.  You could be supporting a bunch of Formers.  Indeed, Miriam was always an excellent Builder faction, because of her massive SUPPORT.  Sitting all by your lonesome on a big map somewhere, nobody to buy techs from?  Just learn Centauri Ecology, start the Weather Paradigm, and grow your island any direction you need to!  You didn't even need ships.  Just Formers Formers Formers, until you were totally sick of it all.

Now, why should SUPPORT be particularly Socialist?  Truth is, there are only so many game mechanics available.  After 3 years of juggling the SE table around, this is what was left to do something with.

Like many things, you could pretend it goes one way or the other.  You could pretend that workers contribute to the greater good, so there are more farming combines and tanks available for everyone's use.  Or you could pretend that workers resent supporting extra stuff and give them a SUPPORT penalty.

I mean why did Democratic reduce SUPPORT in the original game?  It didn't make any basic sense.  Free Market being a bunch of cheapskates on SUPPORT, that I could very much see.  But that's not actually what the original game did.  It conflated many things about Democratic and Free Market.  Like why the hell be anti-police?  You think Morgan has a problem arresting people and putting them into Research Hospitals?  Heck, do you think the USA has a problem arresting people?

The design problem of "does it mean more, or does it mean less?" shows up for other ideologies as well.  I used to get in arguments with vonbach about this sort of thing all the time.  One of the reasons I changed EFFIC to JUSTICE is because EFFIC is just this bs idea.  Efficient at what?  Am I efficient at counting beans, withholding paychecks, putting people in gas chambers, mobilizing slave labor?  What exactly? 

+1 INDUSTRY is both narratively difficult to deal with and unbalanced.

INDUSTRY bonuses will never be put back into my SE table, ever.  I have 3+ years playtesting experience informing my decision on this matter.  Only Domai gets an INDUSTRY bonus, that's it.  I just played a whole bunch of The Will To Power mod, which has plenty of flexibility as to how much INDUSTRY you can have.  It reaffirms my opinion that INDUSTRY is overpowered and terrible to have in a game.  Whether it works out in WTP or not, my jury's out on that.  It's a different system that even has seriously different AI behavior.  But I know I'd never put INDUSTRY back in my mod.

The only thing I see making narrative sense and seeming balanced is +1 GROWTH because of the expectedly equitably distributed resources including food and healthcare.

Why should a Socialist country engage in unrestricted population growth?  Doesn't sound like a good overall social policy to me.

Theocratic God fearing Christians, yes, they will "be fruitful and multiply".  That's why they have that mechanic, and it shows vonbach's influence.  It took a long time to arrive at that too.  GROWTH used to get divvied up all kinds of different ways before, although it was on a strict diet for much of the history of my mod.  In the endgame of juggling the SE table around, GROWTH was available as a mechanic to give to the Theocrats.  Which had lost other mechanics present in the original game, because I really don't see why religious people are better at PROBE.  Nor did I want anyone having an easy MORALE bonus at the beginning of the game.  It's too powerful to just hand out for free.

The final consideration, that players often have a hard time understanding at first, is that the original game binary has various bugs and obsessions that have to be worked around.  If you put GROWTH into a SE choice, the AI beelines for it.  You can't just sprinkle GROWTH around, the AI won't choose anything else.  The values I've got in my table, are partly arrived at by sheer trial and error about what faction AIs will and won't do.

There could still problems now for all I know, although I like to think I'm on top of a lot of the playtesting about this.  But if Deidre isn't going Green, or Svensgaard isn't pursuing Wealth, it's a bug.  I don't want that.