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Thotimx posted:Clearly the only sane explanation. Or it wanted to make your next Silicoid run easier, because that is a crazy amount of hostile planets. Edit: Update at the bottom of the previous page.
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Oct 11, 2017 07:03
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It's always so weird swapping away from Silicoids and suddenly having to pay attention to planetary environments again.
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Oct 11, 2017 12:22
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PurpleXVI posted:It's always so weird swapping away from Silicoids and suddenly having to pay attention to planetary environments again. One reason I barely played anything but Harmony in Endless Space. Being able to colonize anything you drat well feel like from the beginning of the game (with some caveats about what's worth colonizing) is such a nice advantage.
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Oct 11, 2017 13:48
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Episode VI: 2350-2374 Combine our slow start with Meklar production, and you get something like this.  Haven't been putting anything at all into spying yet, but I will soon. Just didn't want to drain even a small bit off the economy until we got up and running a little more. Haven't grown enough to double-up the trade deal yet.  Chased off a Meklar scout here. Fertile Berel is producing 3-4 million colonists extra every year, providing a steady stream to fill up Keeta and eventually move further when we get to Rha. We're doing well on the populating front.  Terraforming comes in, took only a few years but it should have taken less. Bad prototyping luck as we missed at 70% chance. At any rate, we're going for Barren here but will have lots of opportunities for harsher landings. Given what's around us, that's good. We've discovered three Tundra and one Dead world. When the time comes, we'll just go for Dead so we can settle all of them.  The Mrrshan were here, then left. Another Tundra world. Looks like Planetology is going to be absolutely vital; we aren't going to be to keep expanding without it. A few years later, we discover Ursa: the Bulrathi are headquartered right in the galactic centre. Meanwhile we get Barren landings at the first time of asking, 6% chance. That's a nice reversal of fortunes, we will rush more Colonizers out there. It's 2355, so it was a six-year delay. Could have been a lot worse. ** missing display of tech progress to date ** Berel will start putting some effort into getting the two key waste-reduced techs(planetology, construction). A minimal 25 RP is invested once I get it set up. The colony still needs factories, but we need these advances too, so I split the difference. A year later, I realized that it didn't make sense to invest in both categories. Reduced Waste is only a 20% improvement, while the Planetology one will help by 50%. Better to focus on one, and then the other I think at this point, so I switched that up.  Onward. The first of the barren-capable ships was finished the same year. We also bump our trade to 100 BC with the Meklar.  We've run into a Silicoid and a Mrrshan planet out this way, but there are some like this as yet untaken. By 2363, Keeta is terraformed, Exis got there some while ago, and both are over half populated while working on their industry. I think the buildup is going well, and the massive production gap with the Meklar is closing. They still have but three systems; we're at 5 with two more ships en route. Unfortunately, research is still slow. We've also signed a Non-Aggression Pact with the Meklar. It's a bit risky to do so this early, as they can steal systems that we'd like to claim without confronting our Recons. However, we're a diplomatic race after all -- I want to use that and get as many allies as possible. This is the next step forward.  I expected to make contact with another race or two here, and of course our first rich system is important. Hopefully the first of many.  Probably is at this stage, but there's no need to be a jerk about things.  Silicoids 7, Humans 6, Meklar 4. Given the way things began I'll definitely take that at this stage. Looks like they might have a lock on the lower-right here, in which case they will get a lot bigger. Aggressive Technologists. A technology-focused Silicoid empire. Now I've seen it all. They are allied with the Mrrshan. Trade opens at 125 BC. Grabbing up as many of the hostile planets around is absolutely vital with these guys next door. If they take a bunch of those and then expand to the right, they'll be enormous in time; and our initial foothold won't be big enough.  The two red stars here that are unoccupied are Celtsi and Tao. Both Tundra, and the rocks could come for them at any time. We've got one more Colonizer that will be done in a couple of years, and then I'm going to send fighters out here to try and hold them off while we get the ability to land on these.  Improved Eco Restoration is in. Now do we go for the Reduced Waste, or keep going here? I think we've got to keep going on the hostile landings, with Dead, in order to keep expanding.  This is good, but ...  They are still a step ahead of us.  The game wanted to call these 'Courier', which didn't really fit so I changed the name. We've advanced just enough in tech that I could fit a MK. I Computer on these -- a little more expensive but also more effective. Sol will pump out a dozen of these a year for a while here. It will still be almost a decade until any are in position though.  This is Guradas, a radiated system. We had no hope of holding it, but the new information gained here is that the Silicoids have armed their colony ships. They are not escorted yet either. No choice but to retreat.  Too late. We up our trade to 175BC with the Meklar, but lose out here. Fighters were still several years out. Hopefully we can at least hold on to the other one, but the Silicoid virus is spreading ...  Junk on it's own, but gives us a stepping-stone to something better.  They were already the early tech leaders; that edge is now going to be ridiculous. A couple years later the Silicoids take Tao; our failure in securing the border is complete. Just wasn't fast enough. Would have been if we hadn't ran into that stupid Guardian right off the bat -- but we did. 11 for them, 8 and soon to be 9 for us, and we're running out of places to even go. Can't fight back yet even if we wanted to, because we can't land on those planets.
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Oct 13, 2017 03:03
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Maybe start spying on the Silicoids? Seems safer to piss them off than the Meklar.
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Oct 13, 2017 04:02
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This early in the game, I really only spy for the purposes of knowing what tech they are discovering. Aggressive stuff(espionage/sabotage) is too risky until you are more established in my opinion(unless you are Darlok and have a good chance of framing someone else).
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Oct 13, 2017 22:44
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Yeah--you put one sliver in there and let them discover their tech level. Means the difference between "start the invasion now, lol", "OK, I can tank whatever they throw with bases", and "holy crap, keep them happy!!!"
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Oct 14, 2017 15:15
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Episode VI: 2375-2399 The Silicoid fleet is not very large, and we may have no choice but to fight back. That's not our main issue at the moment though.  Two more rich systems will be within our grasp once we get this. Our first two colonies, Exis and Berel, will be able to contribute more research soon. Keeta isn't that far away either.  There we go, last of the current ships that are out there.  Not surprising. We are now completely cut off.  2380, a year or two later than hoped, we get our new Dead landings. This opens up more possibilities, but we've definitely got to snag those two rich systems nearby. As far as our next choice here goes, Enchanced Eco Restoration will cut our waste bill by a further two-thirds. That'll take a while though; time to switch over to the waste-reduction in Construction. One ship will be built at Sol, one at Keeta. The next question is to fight, or not to fight. Silicoids now hold 13 planets; we're at 9, hopefully 11 soon. That's really not quite enough, even with a few rich ones. There's a lot to be said for the idea of trying to strike now; direct diplomacy with the Silicoids is not going to work too well, as they are likely to be our oppositon in the Council if we have enough votes to be nominated. Things are likely to get worse before they get better; they've built up their fleet quite a bit recently and are still expanding. I decide to go the more in-character Human route though. Turn turtle, go defensive, befriend everything that moves. We'll eventually be able to fund research or whatever with the rich systems and planetary reserve, and we've got good chances to get the shielding that bases will need to survive for a while. The hope here is that diplomacy flows our way like in the last game. Eventually the Silicoids will tick someone off. When they do, we'll hope to be able to join in as their advantadges diminish. We up to 275BC with each, and sign Non-Aggression Pacts. Neither is willing to form an Alliance yet either. I need to experiment here with building up a respectable fleet size(even if just crappy fighters) and see if that makes them more amenable, as I expect it will.  Interestingly, we are still favored apparently to be nominees in the first High Council despite the slow start. That would appear to be a nod to the weakness of the competition. I rather suspect that if we were going up against Klackons and Psilons this would not be the case. It's 2384, and the second of the two colony ships are away to the rich planets. There is one more Tundra that hasn't been taken yet in that nebula up by the Meklar. It seems worth getting a out-sized ship going up that way.  Here's the look of the fleet at the moment. 9 years is the estimate on the big one. When it's finished it will kill two birds with one stone, temporarily fooling the game into thinking I have a larger fleet than I really do(since it's based on cost, not combat effectiveness)  Another couple years, and at the last possible moment we get our waste reduction. Duralloy Armor is the only forward option. Two important changes now. Palladia has maxed out factories and will be ready to fund the reserve soon: just need to get a couple of bases up and running. Meanwhile, it's finally also time to switch to more permamentish research ratios.  Not as extreme as the Silicoid balance is, since we are decent in all fields. It's time to begin anew the great chase up the ladder of science. We nab Klystron, the last option except for the big ship being readied for the nebula.  Another year later, 2389. Let's see how the population looks across the galaxy. ** Silicoids -- 8 of 30. I expect that to rise. ** Meklar -- 4. Good to see them vote for us, as they should. ** Bulrathi -- 5, voting for the space rocks. That'll have to be dealt with, but they haven't met us yet and we've had some confrontations in exploration so not too surprising. ** Alkari -- 2(abstain). ** Mrrshan -- 5, also voting Silicoid.  That leaves us. Granid was only two votes from winning outright on the first try, all his support coming from races we have no contact with. That's too close, and it's just over a decade till the next vote. Regardless, we abstain here to maintain relations and the deadlock.  The big Colonizer is finally on it's way now as well. Here we'll go cheap again with the Neutron Pellet Gun for the next tier. Despite our fleet being about two-thirds of the Silicoids', they and the Meklar continue to rebuff our offers of Alliance. I try to butter them up with bribes. I get the Meklar all the way up to Affable, but both still refuse. Argh.  2394. Class II Shields are in, and now these come.  This brings the first century to an end. We got Robotics III for one of the new options, so that was a no-brainer.  New Council, same choices. ** Meklars -- 4, stayed with us. ** Bulrathi -- Still 5, voted Granid. ** Alkari -- Still 2, but instead of abstaining they went Silicoid as well. ** Mrrshan -- 5, and Granid. After we abstain ...  Well that wasn't close or anything. One vote shy of defeat. Some diplomats we are. Many things have gone against us in the first century, but humanity is still alive and kicking ... barely.
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Oct 16, 2017 04:06
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Wayne posted:MOO1 doesn't have very many animations (in particular, the scientist and soldier only have a few frames animating on their gear), but if you can think of any you want, Thot, I can probably get it and put it here On this, how about the GNN robot? He's got multiple graphics, preferably the one with the status/ranking bars on the right. Seemed to fit better as I thought about it than any of the individual races.
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Oct 16, 2017 04:09
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If you have no contact at all with a race, does that affect their willingness to vote for you in the council?
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Oct 16, 2017 08:46
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It makes them neutral. Usually if they haven't met either race they will abstain.
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Oct 16, 2017 12:53
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Yeah, the vote is determined by "Do I know them?" "Do I hate the other guy?" and then "Do I like them enough?" If you've never met the race, they won't vote for you unless they hate the other guy.
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Oct 16, 2017 20:45
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Episode VI: 2400-2424 Not too far behind in production at least. Once the next round of research comes in, more diplomacy will be attempted.  Finally arrived. One more world the rocks don't get.    Howdy friends! Or, soon-to-be-friends. This is far more valuable than a decidedly average tundra system. Now we can get to work properly kissing the behinds of these rulers ... and racking in the credits from the trade deals. And, most importantly, convincing them to side with us, and not the rocks, in matters of galactic import. All three are aggressive. We have Bulrathi Diplomats, Alkari Ecologists, and Mrrshan Technologists. That's ... weird. But ok. The Silicoids are allies with all three. That's not ok. We'll need to deal with that closer to the next vote, if it doesn't take care of itself. Max trade deals all around; 250 with the birds, 450 with the others. Just a year later than the previously issued screen, here's a new comparison:  We're not doing too bad if you don't notice the Silicoid size.  Not a whole lot left. So it really comes down to this: we need to break up that compact the rocks have. They're winning the diplomacy game, and that's got to be reversed. Fake smiles on, everyone!! Research is going to be important here, because right now we have nothing any of them want. Also worth noting that there are four unsettled systems we can reach. Three of them are close, an inferno and two radiated. The fourth has a Recon en route.  These will be quite important to our continued viability if things get rough. 2404 -- The Meklar have settled Regulus, the one system we were on our way to scout. Probably just as well. They're out most likely ally, and should make good use of it in time. The Alkari sign a Non-Aggression Pact, and while our relations aren't quite as good we try it with the other two races as well and succeed. We now have NAPs and good trade with all five. No alliances yet, but it's progress.  The pellet gun is in. The Scatter Packs will improve our missile bases, and are the cheapest alternative for moving upwards.  This long list is brought to you by the completion of Enchanced Eco Restoration. Radiated landings will let us grab three more systems -- if nobody gets to them first -- and then we can boost terraforming or whatever after that. Meanwhile there's been a diplomatic shift. Silicoids/Meklar/Bulrathi. The Alkari and Mrrshan are no longer involved. A year later, the cats are back in. Such is the nature of things it seems. 2408 -- The Meklar are definitely frisky right now, and they take Centauri, inferno ultra-rich close to us. They got the tech first and are definitely expanding. So long as we can swing them back to our side, I'm fine with that. It's a weird way to look at things, but so be it.  Here's one down. Had to butter them up with Enhanced Eco Restoration, which we are going to pay for if they come for us later. The point here though is that this probably won't happen. Trade gets a boost as well. The other two we want are the Bulrathi and Mrrshan, definitely the more numerous of the minor races. They both tell us to go fly a kite. It appears relations are the main determiner here -- fleet strength doesn't seem to matter from what I've seen this game. Back to researching more so that I can have more things to bribe them with.  Duralloy is in, and the Battle Suits are by far the cheapest option here. Our waste spending is pretty low now, so we can afford not to spring for that. Nobody wants our armor though, so it doesn't help the bribing game. 15 years to the next vote ...  Interesting thing here. The Meklars had 55 transports en route to Jinga before we signed the Alliance. They arrived ... and apparently disappeared. Self-destructed instead of dishonoring the agreement or something? I thought they'd just land anyway. I didn't really care that much if they took this under the circumstances, but that is interesting. 2414 -- Planetary Shield V and Robotic Controls III, both slightly overdue, came in at the same time. Mk. IV Computer and the Repulsor Beam were up next. We had a solid reserve, 110% of annual production; this was used to accelerate the industrial buildup.  This is the last of the current set of projects, coming in three years later in 2417. Multiple options for the next tier, but Energy Pulsar was the cheapest and seemed the most interesting. It looked to me like pushing the Mrrshan and Bulrathi over the edge to an Alliance would need only one more tech gift. Hand Lasers for the Bears, Duralloy Armor for the Cats got it done quite cheaply.  The main question remaining here is whether the Silicoids are large enough to have a veto bloc. I'm confident the others will join us. Right now they only have one ally, the Meklar; we'll probably need to break that up in order to ensure cybernetic support.  Soon we started building these Corvettes(destroyer-size), quite similar to what we deployed but never used in the last game. Neutron Pellet Guns, Duralloy Armor, Sub-light Drives and a Mk. II Computer. The Mrrshan and Bulrathi have deployed Class V shields, not that I expect to fight them. The Silicoids are the prospective target here. Only Class III shielding and still stuck on Retro engines, so their ships should be fairly vulnerable to this. We'll split efforts between continuing research and shipbuilding, with an eye to getting rid of the fighters that served no useful purpose except perhaps for a minor deterrent.  If it had to be someone other than us, the weakest race is an ok choice. Going into the vote, the Silicoids were allies with three races now; Meklar, Alkari, Mrrshan. We need to break those up in order to have a chance of the vote going our way. We had to give the birdbrains several relatively unimportant techs in order to secure their agreement. The Meklar needed no such bribes, citing our earlier gift of Enhanced Eco Restoration as sufficient motivation. That left only the Mrrshan, who are 'Peaceful', one of the highest states right now. They love us, and stated only that 'The Alliance of the Mrrshan and Silicoids now lies in shreds under our feet'. A pleasure speaking with you. And now to see if all this was worth it ...  Scatter Pack V rockets are in. We'll go back briefly here for an anti-planet weapon; the fusion bomb. Shielding is reaching the point where that could potentially be necessary.  Crap. They have just enough to veto, having gained 4 of the 6 additional votes in this cycle. Meklar(4), Bulrathi(5), Alkari(3), and Mrrshan(5) all come with us. We abstain just to not put ourselves in a corner. 25-13 if we voted for ourselves, one short of victory. Well, that which you can't obtain by speeches you must take by force ... Strategic Sage fucked around with this message at 03:15 on Oct 19, 2017 |
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Oct 19, 2017 03:10
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Time to mobilize the galactic alliance against the Silicoids. Is there any chance any of your allies are going to bail on you? Or does the AI more or less always honour its alliances?
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Oct 19, 2017 08:45
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PurpleXVI posted:Time to mobilize the galactic alliance against the Silicoids. Is there any chance any of your allies are going to bail on you? Or does the AI more or less always honour its alliances? they'll welch if they think they'll get plastered, so the way to generally handle a situation like this is to go to war, then get your most powerful friend to join, and go down the list to the more minor races (since they will consider the overall picture and not just them vs the enemy). this game is loving moo_humans.txt though.
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Oct 19, 2017 19:14
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Thotimx posted:On this, how about the GNN robot? Sure thing, how's this?  The map this game came from gave me (as Meklars) 1 habitable planet in range, and 1 more with Hydrogen cells. By the time I had 4 planets (beelining Controlled Dead and Dotomite, the only expansion options in my tree) the Silicoids had 18. They also somehow got a radiated planet in the corner, despite not having the range or any alliances (not that that would've helped), so they must've had enough tech to fit reserve tanks on a colony ship to do that. It was like playing against you.  Really just another example of how the map itself can make or break a game, regardless of what you do!
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Oct 23, 2017 06:35
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That looks good to me. Wayne posted:By the time I had 4 planets (beelining Controlled Dead and Dotomite, the only expansion options in my tree) the Silicoids had 18. Yikes. That's a rough map, and they can definitely make things downright ... well, impossible. Most are winnable, but some really help and others can just destroy you.
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Oct 24, 2017 02:28
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Episode VI: 2425-2450 We still trail in production and technology but are competitive. The sheer size of the rocks is the only thing keeping us from unifying the galaxy. They must be stopped, and the sooner the better. The top two fleets in the galaxy are allies of ours, though ours is not yet large enough to handle a major conflict.  They like us ... they really like us! The clear path forward is to bring war to the Silicoids with our powerful allies. All three partners, Meklar/Bulrathi/Mrrshan, agree immediately. The first two had no hesitation, while our tribute of Duralloy Armor pushed the kitties over the edge.  Our fleet is growing, but it still sucks. We'll do a significant shift from research to shipbuilding, and rely on our stronger friends to distract the spreaders of toxic filth enough to buy us time. Planetary Shields are up almost everywhere, though we are building more bases in some places. The Silicods do have the fusion bomb, anti-missile rockets, repair systems, and good jammers, so they could be quite effective against our defenses. On the tech front(image missing), even once we reduce investment, we will still be close to some new and vital breakthroughs. Battle Suits will help with any invasions, and a larger ship type with the repulsor beam will probably be built once that comes in. The Silicoids have developed nothing but beam weapons for ship-to-ship combat; the ion cannon and neutron blaster are their latest. Any ship that doesn't have the heavy versions of these would find itself a large paperweight once we can deploy that gear. We also need not concern ourselves overly with their bases; once we get the fusion bomb we will make short work of them, as they have developed not a single missile system above the starting nuclear. Given our strategic advantadge(their fleets are slower than dirt), we can afford to be a little aggressive. Aquilae is a recently-acquired thorn right in the middle of our territory, and the nearby corvettes were mostly sent there as a bit of a test scenario. Non-Aggression Pact was canceled first, which didn't please the rocks. And they just ran away. Disappointing. Basically we're hoping more show up here, and we can get a sense for their capabilities. We can't actually invade yet, since this is a radiated world.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3Xs-gxxAeU Ok, that was rather anticlimactic, if quite pleasing. If those ships as a good example of what the Silicoids can do, they're in trouble. 2440: We've got almost 150 destroyers ready, fleet maintenance is over 10%. It has also been discovered that the nearby Silicoid systems have about 25 missile bases each. I'm confident we can handle their ships, but the bases could prove problematic. At the very least we need radiated landings so that we can take out Aquilae, colonize the one unclaimed world, and shift our attention to these fortified systems. Resources are shifted back into research for that effort. The first thing we got in was not what we wanted, but will still help soon. Battle Suits, with Zortrium Armor up next in the pipeline. Meanwhile Aquilae ceased to be a problem, as the Meklars destroyed it from orbit. That works. The existing ships were redirected elsewhere. The war became official, as the Meklar asked that we make it so and honor our alliance.  And here we go. We can now invade any system we please. Repulsor Beam came as well, though that's not as interesting for the simple reason that most of the ships we've encountered are using long-range beam weapons; they're not particularly impacted. Personal Absorption Shield was the only further option.  Here, this is a massive list but we went with the Atmospheric Terraforming. Transforming hostile planets into standard ones should really boost our population and growth rates. The Meklar already had a colony ship inbound to Aquilae, but I thought we might be able to get there faster. Worth a try at least. After a couple of years we ran into a larger Silicoid fleet around one of their planets, and lost a good portion of our ships before ulimately retreating having done limited damage. Their missiles weren't particularly devastating, but they had a few dozen cruisers. We're going to need significant numbers to crack them. Most of our systems don't have as many bases as they do(around 10-12, a little less than half), but they should be more effective ones if we are attacked. So far the combined forces of the galaxy are keeping them too busy to do that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgAHlRzMZtM 2438 was an eventful year. This is the first time they've attacked one of our colonies. The choice makes sense: it's a nebula systems with no missile bases when they sent the expedition. It's been reinforced since though. It gave us our first chance to get a look at their designs. As ever they are a big fan of the biologicals, but didn't get a chance to use them here.  We also settled the two radiated worlds that year, Maretta here and also Aquilae, the red one to the right if you recall. The Bulrathi actually beat us there with a colony ship -- but it apparently didn't have radiated tech so it didn't do them any good. We have a rich system in between that is still building ships -- it'll divide what it produces between the two until they are ready to get their own bases going. These systems should help us get closer in population to the rocks.  Another thrust a year later, and we didn't have many ships in place. Missile bases did the job, but they aren't overwhelming against them as expected and they got off some death spores. We definitely need to be cautious a bit. Also, the saboteurs have begun to strike, so security is beefed up a bit(the usual +10%, 5% of empire production required). We're more or less in a standoff at the moment. The Silicoids are getting more aggressive, but we'll be able to beat them once we mobilize more I think. Still waiting on the bombs.  The next cycle it came in; 2440. We also got the Energy Pulsar, but as the Silicoids are fielding mostly cruiser-class ships, that's not as exciting and we're going to pass on it. Reajax II Fuel Cells(range 9) were the only forward-moving propulsion tech. In weapons we have the choice between Graviton and Hard Beams. The latter is much better: like the pellet gun it halves enemy shields, but does a lot more damage(8-12 as compared to our current 2-5 each). Graviton is a 'streaming' weapon, which are better against small ships. I decided to wait just a bit longer for our next design, as we still had something important in the prototype phase. I need to increase shipbulding regardless though: larger attacks are coming. A 50-50 split between the two concerns for the moment. A steady stream of enemy ships is en route to Jinga, and I think we are going to temporarily lose the system eventually. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYUTUJg81EI Or right now. What I didn't consider fully is the breaking of contact with the Alkari, Bulrathi, and Mrrshan. That makes retaking it rather more important. Our current ships and bases aren't nearly as effective in a nebula, which didn't help, but I also got a little too secure here. We just lost over a thousand BC a year in trade income because of that miscalculation, and have no way to influence whether or not they decide to terminate hostilities with the rocks. Costly.  This is what I was waiting on, doubling our current battle computer level. The Silicoids are still better at VI, but this closes the gap. Much as I would have liked to go for some jamming tech finally, Robotics IV popped up so that was the choice. Nothing else is even halfway finished right now. It's definitely time to do a couple of new designs and close the fleet-size gap, with relatively minimal research effort for a while here. Defending what we have is goal #1; retaking the Jinga system #2.  Here's our latest fleet specs, having finally gotten rid of the Recons that are no longer serving any purpose, and added a cruiser-sized bomber ship. We have no ECM to give it, which is a significant flaw, but thankfully the lack of advanced missile tech by the rocks makes that relatively ok. I took a look at our anti-ship designs as well. It seems the cruiser size is a bit more cost-effective, though it's close(slightly less firepower but slightly more survivability given the same amount of BC invested). More importantly, they'll allow us to put battle scanners on without taking up too much room, improving our accuracy. I leave the quite unoriginal name Escort there, but they wanted to use 'Warship' for the bombers. That was a bit too generic for my taste. I've left those without shielding simply because we don't have any that are good enough to make a significant difference against the heavy ion cannons the enemy is packing. Better to just have more weapons and blow them up before they can do the same to us. I did shield the bombers though; I always give them every ounce of protection available given their mission. Those will come later though. We got to kick the Silicoids out of Jinga before going back on the attack, so the Escorts are top priority. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW6uEXMKJ5Q This short combat at Helos is a good example of what's been happening in this period. Our bases are not impregnable, but they are holding the line. Attrition is keeping us from making a whole lot of progress in building up the fleet though. It's coming, but it's slow.  We've got our first hit in a sabotage campaign. We haven't been struck ourselves in a while, and are hopeful of hitting back this way. Took out only three bases here. It's something.  The next Council vote, and the rocks gain 2 of 4 votes. Once again they have just enough for a veto. Meklar(4), Bulrathi(5), Alkari(5), and Mrrshan(6) all come our way. For the second straight Council, we fall just short(we get 8 votes here).  One vote shy. Again. If I lose this game I am going to be quite upset.
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Oct 24, 2017 03:05
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Episode VI: 2450-2475 Still competitive but not even in technology. Our fleet is increasing but not much faster that the rocks' is. I think we are improving the situation ... but I'm honestly not sure. Still just shy of where they are in production. The planet edge was bigger though; they've lost a couple, we've gained a couple.  It looks like Jinga will return to the fold thanks to the Meklar, who bombed it out from orbit. That's the white one in the nebula, center-left. We have a Colonizer en route, but the cybernetics could still get there first. Very chaotic map but it looks like the rocks are losing a little more than they are winning overall. I switch to Espionage in our spying campaign. That's generally more effective, and might be able to make up for the fact that we aren't researching much right now.  The absorption shields will help with the ground troops that we haven't been able to use yet. Nothing else soon though. If we could just get over the hump and take a couple of their systems, we'd be able to beat them both diplomatically(in the Council) and militarily(with the increase in salvaged tech and economic production). We're just not 'quite' there though, and it's not at all certain that we're going to get there anytime soon.  We re-colonize Jinga in 2453. Although our top-line agreements remain intact, trade had to be re-established. All are max agreements, including a re-up from the previous 475BC level with the Meklar. This will gradually boost our economy and make us a little more competitive on that front. I also note that we've dropped into last on the tech front now. That's not good. Fleet as well. There isn't a huge difference anymore between the races overall; rocks still a strong #1 because of their size only. I definitely want to overprotect Jinga for a while. I'll send as many ships there as I dare; the Silicoid attacks are not as frequent now, but it looks like it's already too late. They are inbound with another fleet.  The next year. Right back where we were. Until we get a critical mass of ships up there, this is not going to be resolved.  The rocks are getting desperate. This bribe was a plea to break our Alliance with the Mrrshan. Not going to happen, no matter what you offer. The next year the Alkari settle Jinga. We'll retreat our ships and see if they are able to hold it. I have my doubts.  Our first look at the human spy. As crappy as this is, it's our first ECM. So that's something.  The Silicoids attack here and at Aquilae in 2457. We win this one easily ...  But not here without the support of missile bases. Our few remaining corvettes are scrapped. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDsjarLf9es A couple years later we destroy what's left of that fleet and resettle, but the damage is already done. This is a good example of an even combat numbers-wise; we've got the better ships and we win. The problem is that this is about half of our fleet right now. We just can't match them numerically, and are falling further behind in tech during this war. 2460: The Alkari have lost Jinga, and contact is broken there again.  Meanwhile both us and the rocks are sending a lot of ships(everything we've got, in our case) to Aquilae. If we ever get the darned thing up and running, it would be a 4th rich system to supplement our economy. A couple more small attacks are repulsed. We are definitely giving a lot better than we get in terms of ships lost, but the biggest one is still coming. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkToX7sFhjs That first alpha strike hurts, but we still take out more than we lose here.  Tough choice here. Ulimately though the shields will help more -- the decider for me was basically the fact that they will make our bases tougher. The Silicoids try to bribe us out of the Mrrshan alliance again, and are refused again. Virtually nothing is incoming. I've got a ship headed to Jinga to scout out the situation there. We're at 14% expenses on ships, which is a little over halfway to the max. I want to hit with bases also at 11%. I switch back to 50-50 research and shipbuilding, as we've got about 70% or so of the Silicoid fleet strength now. We might be wearing them down ... or they might have just scrapped a bunch of ships to make room for more. Likely the latter, as one class of ships disappeared from that last attack wave when it was almost here. Either way, we can't afford to fall too far behind in research. They've upgraded their computing and have Merculite missiles now. So much for the bases being easy pickings. We could run into some beefier ships soon, and need to improve our capabilities to match.  Argh. We're starting over on our Reajax II project. It's only a range increase, but still aggravating. Decades probably lost here, not years. Then the report comes in from Jinga; unoccupied, only a handful of Silicoid cruisers there. Half the fleet will head up to retake it. We need the trade income that we can only get by having that vital link with the other three races. The Meklar are nice enough to show up and clear out the enemy fleet first. Thankfully not bringing a colony ship with them. The Alkari settle it first, however. Doggone it you stupid bird-brains. With our fleet nearing max, it's time to shift more into research then.  Another High Council. Same story, different verse. This time the rocks are 1 pop over the minimum they need. Bulrathi and Mrrshan are up to 8 votes each, while we have 9 ... we might not even be the second nominee soon. Silcoid outnumber us, their closest rival, more than 2:1. 34-19 is the final count, two votes shy this time. What an aggravating game.
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Nov 4, 2017 00:20
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It's so interesting how you're simultaneously teetering on the edge of winning diplomatically and losing militarily at the same time. This is a sight to behold.
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Nov 4, 2017 00:39
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Thotimx posted:
 Come on
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Nov 4, 2017 00:59
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Something I stumbled upon replaying this game thanks to your thread, is during space combat right-clicking with the mouse counts as if pressing "done". Makes things faster when you have a colonizer or scouts in the fleet.
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Nov 4, 2017 06:08
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If enemy ships can move 2 squares in a move, and have a weapon range of 2 squares, maaaaaaaaaybe stop ending your turn 4 squares away from them? You're killing me here (and your own ships needlessly).
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Nov 4, 2017 06:44
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GuavaMoment posted:If enemy ships can move 2 squares in a move, and have a weapon range of 2 squares, maaaaaaaaaybe stop ending your turn 4 squares away from them? You're killing me here (and your own ships needlessly). Ships get an attack of opportunity if they have long range weapons and you fly into their weapon's range. So I think it doesn't really matter. It's only when the enemy has range 1 weapons when you can get an advantage by initiating combat.
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Nov 4, 2017 08:41
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Rappaport posted:
Yesssssssssssssssss
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Nov 4, 2017 13:02
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Rappaport posted:Come on You're not suggesting that a game using names such as 'Vulcan' for it's star systems drew inspiration from popular culture, are you?? General Revil posted:Ships get an attack of opportunity if they have long range weapons and you fly into their weapon's range. So I think it doesn't really matter. Yep, that's the way I look at it. StarFyter posted:during space combat right-clicking with the mouse counts as if pressing "done". Makes things faster when you have a colonizer or scouts in the fleet. I'll have to try that -- thanks for the tip!
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Nov 4, 2017 16:56
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Thotimx posted:You're not suggesting that a game using names such as 'Vulcan' for it's star systems drew inspiration from popular culture, are you?? hey, vulcan as a planet name pre-dates star trek by quite a bit, it was the proposed name for a planet people thought might exist inside the orbit of mercury (yes okay they 100% took it from star trek)
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Nov 4, 2017 19:18
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Episode VI: 2475-2500 You can see our economy is falling behind, and so is our research. This is not good. The space rocks just might be big enough to defy the galaxy indefinitely ... and eventually win. Although we're not there yet, we may have to eventually make a play for Orion. 2477: contact lost with the Alkari again. The Meklar have taken Jinga this time -- and they are tough enough to hold it I think. At least it won't fall back into the hands of the rocks. That avenue is closed to us though. The cybernetics and birds are now at war. It's a bad time to be Alkari, and any expansion by our best ally at their expense should be good for us.  It'd be nice to get something better, but we pilfer another tech. Also, Aquilae has it's planetary shield up. Very good odds we hold it this time. Marietta, the other radiated world, is now in the research business. We've consolidated those gains at least.  Seems like forever ago that we picked this, and it's finally done. +50M Terraforming is next; that would be a 40M per-planet boost. As it is, half our planets will be able to grow more with the atmospheric tech, including all of the rich ones. Zortrium Armor came in the next year. More survivable ships would be nice, but I want to wait for a new weapon as well. We'll finally get some reduced factory costs next(industrial tech 5, a 50% reduction), but it may well not matter all that much anymore by the time it's here.  Starting to rack up the stolen jammer tech. May not research another one myself all game. Unfortunately, Helos, one of our best rich worlds, was destroyed by Silicoid death spores the same year. We took out their attack force, but not before the damage was done. We will soon re-establish it, but it will take some time to rebuild.  This is the Silicoids' new toy. The main thing here is that it's just as fast as ours. We've got to be more careful in anticipating their movements now. Defensive capabilities are much higher, and they continue their commitment to biologicals and heavy beam weapons. Shielding ... not so much. After chasing it away we resettled Helos, but the long work of cleaning up the toxic sludge will take some time. We still have the factories in place though, so it shouldn't be too bad. 2487: the Meklar and Mrrshan are at war now. The galactic unity is splintering, and since I have no contact with most of them I can't do anything about it .  Another couple years. The Hard Beam is in and we can update our designs. The next choice is not easy though. I wanted another missile here but didn't get it. Ion Stream Projectors are good at weakening enemy ships so another weapon can finish them off. Megabolt cannon gets a massive +30% accuracy ... it's a 'wide beam' weapon. I like that better, but I'm still going with cheap over better to get the next tier.  The latest toy here doesn't have nearly as many weapons, but can take more punishment with the improved armor and even improved shielding won't protect against it. In enough numbers, we could do some damage to the Guardian with this ... Next cycle, Class VII deflectors arrived. Zyro Shield was an option ... but not as tempting as Class XV Planetary's. We previously had just Class II Shields, so this is a big step.  Finally time for our next speed step; Ion Drives will follow our just-completed fuel cell advance. I would not realize a quite important side effect of the range boost until a few years later: it put us back in contact with the other races, even without Jinga.  We have a few of the new cruisers, but more will have to wait for us to upgrade our industry again. Before that happens though, a brief detour to crash cheaper factory costs.  A couple years later, they snuck enough biologicals through to kill another planet: Paladia. I think I could have researched one of the antidote techs, and didn't.  Just when things were starting to get going again. Sigh. Good news is we have our factory discount in, and can start that expansion. A lot of other things seem to be crumbling though. There isn't much left of the fleet, and our bases aren't as effective against the latest generation of Silicoid attackers.  Another century ends, and nothing has changed here in the Council. The Bulrathi had signed an alliance with the rocks, but we were able to convince them to break it. ** Meklar(5) ** Bulrathi(8) ** Alkari(5) ** Mrrshan(7) ** Humans(9) 34-19, same count as last time. Two votes short. We've got some things to clean up, and need the next 25 years to go better than the last 25.
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Nov 7, 2017 02:25
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I'm torn. On the one hand, I hope you win. On the other, I hope you lose so you can play again as Ender (and there better be bugs in that game).
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Nov 7, 2017 08:05
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Episode VI: 2500-2525 So the fleet sucks, but the recent tech push has gotten us back into third barely and regained some of the lost ground. Really not that far behind there; the issue is that our economy(production basically tied for 5th with Alkari) isn't good enough to keep pace on both fronts so we are kind of continually hopping from one foot to the next to keep from getting overrun one way or another. With our missile bases less effective against the latest Silicoid ships(although the recent shield improvements help), things seem to be slipping away just a bit. Otherwhise it's a real stalemate here. The other races are growing though, and if the Meklar could take a few systems from the rocks it could tip things in our direction. Not too many though, because then we wouldn't be up for the vote in the Council. It's really a tightrope in multiple directions here.  Everyone loves us except the Silcoids, who hate us. And vice versa.  Not surprising to see them having better Computer tech than us. They've also got both of the ship auto-repair techs, but thankfully no robotics yet(keeping their economy from stomping us). More terraforming, they've got second-tier biologicals now and first-tier protection. Propulsion is virtually the same and somewhat better weaponry for them also. Shielding is virtually identical to ours also. It's still the size that keeps them on top.  We're crashing planetology as mentioned to get Terraforming +50M(40M better than we have) and then go for whatever the best antidote is almost certainly after that. That'll both grow the economy and give us better protection against their biggest threat right now -- killing all our people before we can destroy their ships. The Guava strategy ... and I'm seriously considering using it against them. It would seem to be poetic justice, and avoid the problem of getting through their bases. First though we need to upgrade with the new robotic controls, a process that is just begun. Somehow we need to hold them off while that happens, while recolonizing Palladia(ship on the way) and building up Helos(after curing the plague that's been hampering that colony the last couple of years). It's not all bad news as we did get a couple radiated worlds, Aquilae and Maretta, taking the former from their control over the past quarter-century. If we can hold on a little while longer, the next wave of research, though it will take some time, will enable us to make some sort of offensive play either against the rocks directly or against Orion.  We were never able to build the bombers from the last generation of ships, and as you can see here we don't have much. The ship maintenance bill is just over 7% -- I don't know if we have enough to keep them going. With enough range to maintain permanent contact, we should see a significant boost to our trade income(currently at just a third of the maximum, 1.3k per year). It's ridiculous how much we could potentially have; calculates at 3.9k max while our total production is 3.78k. We could potentially have as much coming in from trade as we do from industry! There are still considerable long-term hopes here -- but we need to survive the short-term without losing and having to fight for/resettle more worlds. It remains to be seen whether we will get out of this rut. Right away we have another diplomatic problem: the Bulrathi demand that we stop our alliance with the Mrrshan. We refuse, but now our agreement with them is on thin ice. The Alkari sign an alliance with us, but we may have to go to war with the bears soon as well. They have made peace with the Silicoids, and that's exactly the kind of thing that could be trouble for us -- the rocks don't need any help, but right they have a de facto ally if not yet on paper.  That's the weirdest thing I've ever seen with regards to the Bulrathi. We're allies, yet they hate us.  Meanwhile the Mrrshans have taken Paladia. It may become the new Jinga -- battleground between species. It was a nice rich system, and while the cats are a good ally it would be better as part of our empire than theirs. After just three years, most of the industry buildup has been finished as well. The next year, the colony is destroyed by the Silicoids. Yep, it's the new Jinga all right. We'll need to keep as many ships as possible in that direction to prevent them from establishing a permanent presence. If possible.  And thus the unity of the galaxy against the vile space rocks is torn asunder. We cannot maintain an Alliance with two empires at war. The Mrrshan are stronger. They further demand that we declare war on the Bulrathi. I don't like it -- but I like the alternative less. In order to keep things from getting any worse ...  The alliance now includes Humans, Alkari, Mrrshan, and Meklar. Both sides are now in conflict with de facto allies Bulrathi and Silicoids. I suppose it was too much to ask for the warlike races to stay friends with each other indefinitely ... It's just 2503. An eventful start to the century. With no incoming ships, the last of them having been defeated at Rigel just recently, the entire fleet, such as it is, is headed for Paladia. If we mass our ships we may just be able to retake it. The very next year, the Meklar are at war with the Alkari and Mrrshan. Freaking great. We are siding with the Meklar, but this could go south in a hurry.  Just one more year. The Bulrathi also captured Paladia ... and we incinerated that infestation.  Sure, why not. 0https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lrosNztK7A Well that sucked. Only was able to defend it because I saw it coming a couple years out and shipped everything there I could.  Meanwhile it looks like we are the ones who get to deal with this latest invader. The systems close by were considered safe from attack; now they are building shields and bases as fast as they can.  2508, and the next phase of our current strategy finally presents itself(about two years late). In terms of biologicals, we can research the Doom Virus(second of the three weapons) and the Bio-Toxin Antidote(first of two protections). We go for the antidote, naturally. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nlplJJWD1E We survived with significant loss of life at the same time on Rigel, but we lose Helos. Again. We really need that antidote, as in yesterday. In 2512 we recolonize Helos ... but lose Exis. And contact with the Mrrshan and Alkari. Pretty obvious this is turning against us, quickly. We just don't have the resources to do everything we need to do, in the time we have to do it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0PlTclXn0g Then, the space amoeba strikes at Morrig. We'd built up a few bases, but I didn't expect to defeat it. Splendid. Freaking splendid. That was one of our better systems. The next year Rigel is destroyed by more Doom Virus, despite our fleet being there(and being crushed). Right afterwards, we get bio-toxin antidote, which would have saved it. With enough firepower we could quickly rebuild, but we may never get a chance to do that again. Protecting what we have by increasing our base defenses is next on the priority list.  Again. Meanwhile the Amoeba is on the move again, having sated itself on whatever it was looking for in Morrig. A couple years later, it eliminates Phyco, our smallest and most useless system. We have but seven worlds remaining, and in a few years the Council will reconvene ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MgOMTi5jFg Our most fortified world, Aquilae, easily beats back the Silicoid threat with the aid of the Antidote. Nearly 20 million lives were still lost though, and the rocks' ships seem un-ending ...  We meet for a 7th time. I am astonished to still be the #2 race in population, doubtless due to the recent terraforming, but still. Also, Granid's total has not improved, though there are two less votes overall. The others ... ** Meklar(6) -- votes for us as our one remaining reliable ally. ** Bulrathi(8) -- votes Granid. They have been doing well on the other side of the galaxy, leveraging their strength to expand. ** Alkari(5) -- Stays with us. ** Mrrshan(5) -- Does as well. We have eight as well, narrowly keeping the #2 spot over the Bulrathi. They'll be nominated next time for sure at this rate. 27 for Granid, 16 for us as we abstain, and the Council is deadlocked once more.
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Nov 11, 2017 15:18
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I'm sure it's a pain to play, but this teetering-on-the-edge sure is interesting to read/watch!
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Nov 11, 2017 16:20
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I don’t see how you win this one without an amazing diplomatic coup. Maybe try to get out of all your wars then throw everything into research and building up your economy, while hoping the other races stalemate each other?
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Nov 11, 2017 18:22
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Oh poo poo, I was thinking this was gonna be an amazing curbstomp when the five-race alliance turned on the Silicoids... but did the other races really do MUCH? It felt like they kinda hung back and let you take all the punches.
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Nov 11, 2017 18:29
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Did the Bulrathi completely swing from one end of the scale to the other over that refusal?  Good grief. Yeah, when things go right playing as the Humans it's an easy win, but it does leave you up to the vicissitudes of the "1 day war" AI nonsense.  I was thinking a fun gimmick for MOO2 Humans would be the Federation idea, where you have to try to keep alliances and prop up your friends instead of just becoming a mega-empire on your own, but good luck keeping your allies from killing each other!Looking at the tech chart, the Silicoids didn't leave you too many openings this time. A lot of the time an AI will be missing at least 1 of: guns, engines, shields, or missiles, and that determines your design choices; but I guess 200 turns with their economy let the Silicoids cover their bases. In that situation I usually end up going all-in to beeline something to restore a tech advantage, but sometimes your tech RNG doesn't cooperate! And once they get a Robotic Controls, you're really in trouble. Interesting game! 
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Nov 11, 2017 18:38
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Wayne posted:
I second that sentiment.
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Nov 11, 2017 19:21
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Amazing to watch so far!
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Nov 12, 2017 06:33
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BurningStone posted:I don’t see how you win this one without an amazing diplomatic coup. Maybe try to get out of all your wars then throw everything into research and building up your economy, while hoping the other races stalemate each other? At this point I was preparing my last rites and thinking 'Well, at least I can play as Ender next time'. The above idea though was rejected due to the fact that I didn't want to jettison my alliance with the Meklar, my one ally that can be counted on. Maybe not to do all that much, but still counted on. PurpleXVI posted:did the other races really do MUCH? It felt like they kinda hung back and let you take all the punches. That's pretty much the size of it. Partly due to the where we were in the tech race; as the game goes on and offensive operations become more effective, allies become so also. You can argue that I jumped the gun in going to war with the Silicoids, but I don't really think it mattered much. There weren't better options available necessarily. Wayne posted:good luck keeping your allies from killing each other! Thanks, gonna need it. Aesclepia posted:this teetering-on-the-edge sure is interesting to read/watch! wedgekree posted:Amazing to watch so far! I was thinking the same thing as I went through this -- it really was an interesting game. What stuck out to me at this point is how there are still, 200 years in, no doormat/eliminated empires. Last council vote all of us except for the rocks were in the 5-8 vote range; everybody's got at least a handful of systems and therefore can play a role in galactic politics. Really rare for that to happen for this long, and it made for some interesting relations between the factions.
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Nov 12, 2017 18:22
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Is it possible to go all-in on subterfuge with the Bulrathi and try to frame the Silicoids for it (or vice versa) to sabotage their alliance?
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Nov 12, 2017 20:25
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You can spy on other races and then blame another race. I can't remember if you pick the race to blame when you are the one with wildly successful spying. That being said this is something like the 90-100 result of a 100 sided die with a modifier from comparing computer technology modifiers so don't count on it.
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Nov 12, 2017 22:24
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Angry Diplomat posted:Is it possible to go all-in on subterfuge with the Bulrathi and try to frame the Silicoids for it (or vice versa) to sabotage their alliance? Probably not worth trying for non-Darloks, especially at this difficulty level.
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Nov 13, 2017 00:06
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