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You've got a [/b] instead of a [/i] early on in the update and most of it is now in italics. E: Crap,  UPDATE ON PREVIOUS PAGE
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Feb 12, 2019 10:52
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Think I might go blind from all the flashing - but yeah, fixed that yesterday. Now everyone can go back a page and wait for the hundreds of images to reload :P Match the Master: 2425, Part II  Just barely, with nothing to spare for industry.    We won't be able to get large numbers of warships out for another year yet, but there'll be spots like this where we can make it happen.        Systems within a few years' travel time of the front can still potentially contribute, but I'm sending their ships further on. I've selected Matrix 149, which is between the Psilon and Meklar fronts. As the ships arrive there, I'll be able to decide where to send them. I probably don't need these either, but I may wish to have a location of ships in that 'gap' so I'll get some moving in that direction right away, for a couple years or so. Also, with Nordia taken and the Mrrshan no longer a concern, I can dispense with some more missile-base maintenance.  The ultra-rich systems were able to complete their industrial tasks in one go, so we'll move directly to getting more ships up.         Here's the first of a number of matrices that didn't have enough production to get the atmospheric terraforming done on their own. Rather than stall population growth on these worlds, this is where the imperial reserve comes in.  I make sure we have enough to get the job done in one year, and keep the system moving forward. Also, you can see the increased reserve here from the scrapped bases adding to it.   The regular Rich systems don't quite get all of the factories up yet, but they were close.  Biting the probably overdue bullet here and getting rid of the bases. We've got enough ships around, including close by now, that I should be able to fend off any unlikely attacks.  Another planet that didn't quite have enough on its own merits.   A full doubling was barely enough here.  
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Feb 13, 2019 03:51
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Match the Master: 2425, Part III     0.2 factories. I do believe that's cutting it rather close. A single BC invested I'm pretty sure.            While not spending a great deal on each individual transfer, the aggregate effect is considerable. I find myself wondering how much of the balance will be left at year's end - though I have no doubt it is worth it.     It's a bit jarring to suddenly run into a standard system that is just merrily going along its terraforming way just as it was before.        
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Feb 13, 2019 21:52
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Match the Master: 2425, Part IV/FINALLY this year is over     Investing in these small ultra-rich systems esp. should pay dividends in the years to come. We need that to happen quickly.       Couldn't complete it this year here even with added funding, but we'll still cut a turn off the process and finish it up next time.          Now joining the shipbuilding queue.   Gonna take a few years to get atmosterra done here.      Growing drones is the only real business here.  Good example of a new shift in planetary policy. I'm now converting matrices over to building ships when they hit 150 BC of production, which is exactly what Trax has. I figure below that they can't produce enough for their contributions to really matter much.    2425 Research efforts were down to less than 2k this year, the lowest they've been in generations. On the other hand we figured to add thousands more to the economy's annual production capacity. We'll have Escalon soon and the initial attack at Primodius went by the numbers - but the Mrrshan annoyingly built another cruiser at Fierias, preventing us once again from deploying any bioweapons there. Nordia was the sight of a weird fake-out, in which the Bulrathi put up a show of fighting, then quickly retreated before either side was in weapons range. I don't remember noticing that behavior before, they usually run right away if that's what they are going to do. And we eliminate all of the incoming troops at Matrix 161 easily. LOTS of planetary notifications as well; most of the empire is now up to standard habitability. I expect shipbuilding numbers to pop back up next year, and have a steady upward trend the rest of the way.
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Feb 14, 2019 21:38
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If the borg had individuality, they would be overjoyed that their planets are no longer trying to kill them.
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Feb 15, 2019 01:11
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Thankfully they are not burdened by such trivial concerns. That would make them weak. Isolated. Detached. Unharmonious. Less perfect. *shudder*
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Feb 16, 2019 01:03
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Match the Master: 2426, Part I Two years until we eliminate the Mrrshan by current plans. Investment there is shut off. Psilon Front  A pair of destroyers incoming, five years out. We'll need a token force to defend, but not yet.  A lone Mrrshan cruiser, three years away. That should be a year longer than they continue drawing breath.  We'll either fight or, more likely just chase away, the main Psilon destroyer task force this year.  Nordia is secure for the moment - there is nothing incoming, the Bulrathi are headed back to Ursa. However we have a bit of a situation at Fierias. The cruiser there needs to be chased away and there isn't time to wait again afterwards before our transports arrive. I need enough ships to defeat them, but hopefully not so many that we destroy the planet in the follow-on bombardment. This group of two dozen is my best guess at that amount. I'm also setting a plan in motion just in case we do destroy the planet.  The rest rally here.  This gives us 15 Rangers, which is enough of our strength concentrated to hit Ursa. It should be downhill after that. Once they arrive, we will move to strike the Bulrathi homeworld.      I think we will narrowly capture Escalon this year; 10M invaders vs. 6M defenders of equal outfitting. If not though, Matrix 150 has no more troops to send at the moment thanks to the increase in capacity there with the atmospheric terraforming, so there would be a delay in acquisition. MeklarFront  With Matrix 161 now secured and no threats there, the focus is here on the incoming Meklar fleet.  In order to minimize casualties, I'm sending everything we have.  The Guavinators will arrive here next year - until then we are just continuing to build up.  Tour of the Matrices  We will be visiting pretty much all the matrices again this year, but the purpose for most of those visits will be to dump most of our production into shipbuilding again.    Many of those that underwent atmospheric terraforming will need another year or more in some cases to catch up on industry.    The new robotics are definitely making themselves felt now with more ships being finished at each system every year than before.     
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Feb 16, 2019 02:00
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Match the Master: 2426, Part II In a few years, these routes will be very busy indeed.   Just in case we destroy Fierias on accident. Now that's a terran system and so is Orion - but there is a non-zero chance we might need to recolonize a hostile planet somewhere in this campaign so I stick with the Toxic-capable version here. If we don't destroy Fierias, this will simply be an early production that will head over to Orion. It'll get used either way.  One of many new ship-producing systems that we'll be seeing. With the main Mrrshan battle fleet chased away, the need for bases here has come to an end.      Not a bad look here for the site of the infamous Industrial Accident.      For some systems like this one, we actually are now below the population midpoint/sweet spot. Still better than being hostile though.         One of the burning questions is how long I keep sending ships from this sector out here, instead of turning them around to Orion? The answer is basically when I'm confident we can crush the Meklar with what's in place. Not quite there yet, but close.     
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Feb 16, 2019 21:27
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Match the Master: 2426, Part III This will get things ready to send another troop convoy to Escalon next year if our fortune in this year's battle is bad enough to require it.   Though I'll keep the strongpoint at Matrix 137 up a while longer, I think we're at the point of being able to use our ships to defend for the most part out here.    It'll be fun to watch these actually grow more over the rest of this, even though they won't reach their full potential for long if at all.   Despite being marked as Minimal, atmospheric terraforming is actually not quite done here.  This is remote enough and has enough production that we can build more bases if any ships ever head here. For the time being though ... more destroyers.  Also still fixing the atmosphere.  A little more funding gets us over the hump here.     I think we're close, but not quite there yet.   I didn't start the atmos process here because ... idontknow. Time to correct that error.          This makes 35 active shipyards now. That'll grow to over half the Empire next year I'm sure with a number of additional systems completing their factory tasks. 2426 Fierias was destroyed, as the Mrrshan cruiser left the system. Our incoming troops will die, but we'll recolonize it. Ahh well. We do seize Escalon. The Psilons retreat again at Mentar. Interestingly, we found out at Gienah that their new Star Streak destroyer is essentially a copy of our Lancer. Two mass drivers, and it appears to very nearly be an even match, same armor, etc. And we nearly double our previous record for Horseman production, smashing the century mark and proceeding well into a second. Bootis is the last system we needed to picket, so we're pretty satisfied with knowing what's going on everywhere now.
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Feb 17, 2019 22:32
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With Fierias, I think you should have noted that while there was still 55 population, the max was down to 10 already. I think that's why the bombardment destroyed the colony.
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Feb 17, 2019 22:56
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Guh … I didn't notice that. Well that is new information. And very weird, since I hadn't attacked it once. A definite mistake, since that means I should have just waited for the transports to show up and take it. Thanks for pointing out that unforced error.
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Feb 18, 2019 05:38
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In the next update, it will be confirmed that bioweapons damage the habitability of an enemy planet merely by being in orbit and not being used. They do not kill population while doing this. I cannot explain this … I only know that it is so and that I am without choice in the matter. It simply happens.
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Feb 18, 2019 11:27
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Thotimx posted:In the next update, it will be confirmed that bioweapons damage the habitability of an enemy planet merely by being in orbit and not being used. They do not kill population while doing this. I cannot explain this … I only know that it is so and that I am without choice in the matter. It simply happens. Do they damage your own planet as well? I've never made Guavaships but I've taken over planets of AIs who load their ships up with bioweapons, and after beating their fleet in their own orbit, I've seen planets with like 60pop/20popmax and thought it was just due to the AI not spending on cleanup? I don't bombard or anything either.
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Feb 18, 2019 14:16
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They do not. I've had lots of them in orbit of my own planets with no ill effects. AIs that are getting hammered will tend to have waste issues sometimes, so that can be a factor also.
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Feb 18, 2019 21:11
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Match the Master: 2427, Part I Psilon Front  29M Psilon troop transports arrive in three years. I'll need more ships at Escalon to fight them off, but I plan on moving more out that way anyhow.  This is why there was no kittie-cruiser at Fierias last year to fight us. They haven't figured out that they won't be alive to complete this journey. Or perhaps the Mrrshan have, and they like the void of space more in this direction and have chosen to die there.  Four Bulrathi Warbear class cruisers, three years out. A significant force will need to be sent there. One of the factors at play here is a bunch of newly-standard planets drawing the interest of our rivals.  A single Psilon Star Streak, their newer destroyer that we recently got a close look at. We'll just keep the ships we have in place to deal with it.  Two of them are coming here.  These even will still be a year late. I am doing more relocating - these ships will head to Matrix 113, part of a two-stage journey around a nebula to Orion. A lot of activity here, which may be enough to slightly slow us down. I'm thinking mostly of the Bulrathi there, the rest is just annoyance at best.  We have enough in place to comfortably meet two needs, but not more than that. A sizable minority of our main fleet splits off to stop the attack at Matrix 136.  The rest proceed to strike the heart of the Bulrathi empire. Each group will face a few of their approximately 15 cruisers, so it's another chance to strike a significant blow to their fleet, assuming they choose to fight. Of course the key concern is how our Rangers hold up against their bases, and whether we can distract enough firepower towards our destroyers to get them through with their payload.    More evidence that Death Spores damage a planet's ecology by being in orbit aboard starships, unfired. This planet has long had a 100M maximum. I have three Guavinators in orbit for a year, three more arriving next year. I have not bombarded at all due to other combat ships being with the group. The only question is through what absurd space-magic mechanic this happens. How do you damage the environment without hitting the populations? Do the commanders, regardless of orders approving or contradicting from their emperor, target remote uninhabited locations with a weapon specifically decided to kill citizens? Does the planet literally shrivel in fear of the devastation that never comes? And, from a game point of view, is the damage constant or does it vary like the bombardment damage does?  In any event, we leave to make way for death from above and the Borg drones which will make landfall and estinguish the Mrrshan in a year's time.  Attempting to catch up with the main fleet, though they will be a year late.  To be used elsewhere, most likely in attacks against the Meklar. Meklar Front  We will outnumber the cybernetics here more than 2:1 with superior ships, but their missiles will likely still do some damage if they choose to fight. Four years on the Bulrathi cruiser so that's a question for after this battle.    It's time for a new invasion target out here. There are only a few Psilon ships, and they are all old and slow ones.  This will give our newly-arrived Guavinators something to do before turning back against the Meklar most likely. The idea is that by then we'll have enough ships in place to make that attack. More of these are three years behind on their trek from former Human space, and others will soon head this direction from the Psilon front.  Again it is Matrix 166 playing the role of drone-source. This will give the bioweapons a two-year window to do their work. Zoctan is a fairly undeveloped system with only 21 factories, so I don't anticipate any new ships being produced there. This should be sufficient.  To chase away that lone destroyer bugging us here.  Tour of the Matrices  
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Feb 18, 2019 21:23
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Match the Master: 2427, Part II The first of many new ship-producing matrices this year.  This system, a mere stepping-stone in the early days and a pretty darned crappy one at that, will even get into the act.  Matrix 107 will serve a secondary rally point, for ships that can't go directly to Matrix 114 because it would take them through the nebula. Heading here first means a longer distance, but a shorter time to get in position.     Changed the route here to Nordia from Mentar as a stop-over. It's slightly more direct, though I don't think it will actually save any time.   One of a few more sending their ships to Orion now instead of to more immediate conflicts. We're split roughly 50-50 at this point between the two concerns.    Another new shipbuilding system.      More and more shipyards coming online, though some like this one don't get much funding this time around.        
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Feb 19, 2019 17:47
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Match the Master: 2427, Part III     A rare case now of just needing to catch up on industry. Won't take long.  Lots going on here as the last bit of terraforming wraps up, while a tiny sliver amounting to just 3 BC goes into beginning the first ship to be built at this remote outpost.        Correcting for a miscalculation in the amount of factories needed.   Should only take one year and part of a second to recover the drone numbers here.   Finishing up atmospheric terraforming this year.  Here as well, and with the invasion of Zoctan now proceeding along with the closest Psilon ships leaving the area, I figure we're clear to eliminate the bases also.     Just barely enough population now to hit my threshold for activating the ship facilities.   About two-thirds of the empire, 57 of 82 systems, is now putting some level of investment into the fleet. 2427 Everyone runs away pretty much. The Psilons do have a new missile fighter though, so we'll need to keep an eye on those. It's called the Seeker. The only one they have available is the starting Nuclear Missile so I'm not exactly concerned. While the drones perish at Fierias, we finish the Colonizer that will rectify that situation and our bombardment does just enough damage for us to take Primodious and commit a second act of genocide. It was a pretty low yield at 1M per launcher, but all that really matters is the final result. Three more empires to go.
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Feb 20, 2019 22:33
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Hoorah. No more kitties. They fared quite poorly under your invasion. Hooray for a good tech advantage.
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Feb 21, 2019 02:40
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No more cats and no more humans, RIP the space-internet.
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Feb 21, 2019 05:07
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Decoy Badger posted:No more cats and no more humans, RIP the space-internet. Well-played, that didn't even occur to me  .
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Feb 21, 2019 21:05
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Match the Master: 2428, Part I This screen is emptying out. Also, it's been pretty uncommon for us to get spies caught for a while now, we're in the 0-1 per year range. I think I'm going to settle for a single spy instead of two since we're inching towards the finish line. Psilon Front  A couple more Psilon destroyers incoming. Unfortunately for them, that only makes three, arriving at separate times, while we have eight superior ones in place - the newer Horseman.  Three years yet here.  Two here, and I don't think we'll have substantial help from the fleet in place in time. They'll likely be a year late. Our picket at Phyco will be allowed to retreat here, giving us a second destroyer to shoot down some of their transports. Additionally ...  This will put the much-abused population of Matrix 150 down to a little below halfway, but it's better than letting them take the planet, get some lucky tech blueprint, and become more irritating to eradicate. This should give us slightly less than their attacking numbers. Combined with a couple of ships to take out some of them and our defensive advantage, it should be enough to hold the line.  Two years until the Warbears arrive - we'll be a year ahead waiting for them, with some local assistance as the shipyards are ramping up here.  Nobody has made a move yet towards the former Mrrshan homeworld. Joining the impending attack on Ursa gets these moving in roughly the right direction.  Continuing to push towards the outer reaches.  To insure those incoming destroyers pose no threat.  These need to keep going also.  MeklarFront  Three Meklar cruisers, three years out. Ajax class, which they've been using a while. Well, we've been sending ships here for a bit, so I'll just keep doing that to prepare. That's the same time it'll take for our invasion to reach Zoctan.    Identical timeframe here as well, with the Bulrathi cruiser coming in.  The older Pegasus ships should more than suffice as a supplementary defensive force.  Most of our [i]Lancers will remain here, but the rest of the primary 'frontier' fleet heads to Helos. It's time to stop countenancing continued interference from the cybernetics. I'll want a few [i]Rangers to tackle the homeworld, but one should be enough to knock out their missile bases here. Most of their fleet is away - just a single cruiser awaits us right now and we move faster than they do.    Analysis The two fronts are pushing closer together, and increasingly I am confident in cautiously splitting up the starfleet to more and more locations. In a few years, there will no longer be a split. Tour of the Matrices To begin with, it's clear that we no longer need reserve transfers on any significant scale. I want to use our surplus to build more ships. Not all of it - there's always the chance of an emergency crisis popping up. Wouldn't put it past the MOO RNG to hit us again. So I want to keep more than any single planet can produce. Our best matrices are approaching 800 BC, so keeping a thousand in the reserve seems sufficient.  The rest will get sent out to Matrix 117, our top ship-producer. Under normal unaided conditions we get 10 destroyers per turn. I plan on several years of this, until I've gotten down to about that 1k mark remaining in the slush fund.  This is also worth noting. Research has effectively stalled. 2-3 years ago the % for weapons was 19%, and 8-9% for Force Fields which may have actually gone backwards. I think overall we are putting in just enough to very slowly progress. I'm fine with that for now, and expect to continue roughly the same investment level. It'd be nice to get the next few advances in but I continue to not consider it worth taking resources away from the military to do it. Just through sheer dice rolls we should get some of them eventually. We now have over a thousand combat destroyers. I don't think at least twice that many would be excessive, though I'll revisit the calculations at the end of the decade and see where we are then.    
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Feb 21, 2019 21:06
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Match the Master: 2428, Part II  The artifacts systems are starting to wrap up their factory production runs, which will begin the process of boosting research efforts. A little.  The Colonizer is on its way to the ruins of Fierias, and will arrive in two years. The overrun is pumped back into yet more Horseman destroyers.  That's a lot of ships.  Not as many systems will need to use it, but there is another path around/through the nebulas. Further ships built here won't arrive on the frontier much faster than the larger groups pressing in from both directions. Time for a few more shipyards to turn their attentions towards Orion.     The Bulrathi are still stuck at Deuterium Fuel Cells, so with the Mrrshan out of the picture Matrix 127 should be out of range for any hostilities.  The long-time primary staging area for the fleet is now just one of many active shipyards, although a pretty good and improving one. A true Borg of course, is pleased with these developments as they hasten the end of conflict which drains resources from the pursuit of perfection.      Now a key kog in a minor, but important route through the middle of the galaxy.             Overshadowed by the attack on Ursa is the fact that dozens of small systems across the galaxy are able to dramatically increase their funding for new fleet assets this year. Individually insignificant, this should prove to a considerable increase in the aggregate.
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Feb 23, 2019 01:22
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That massive production of Horsemans is the lovely result of terraforming and atmospheric terraforming turning a small hostile planet, into a manufacturing powerhouse. And all the other small systems certainly don't hurt.
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Feb 23, 2019 07:00
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Match the Master: 2428, Part III  Perhaps after this things can finally get back to normalish around here at Matrix 150. Or, perhaps not. Being this close to the Bulrathi worlds is always a bit tenuous.        Another shipyard powers up for the first time.     A temporary return to research efforts while it grows large enough to be useful.   Entering a stretch of terraforming now, just a bit this year.   A sliver of ship investment so small, it is literally beyond measure.  The only place in the galaxy that still has 'beneficial waste allotment'.  The atmosphere here is about to change.    The first system we took from the Psilons, Rigel has just about peaked here.    2428 In the main event, we managed to get the bases at Ursa to fire once at our bioweapon ships, but then they honed in on the bombers correctly. We lost four, but overall held up a little better than I feared. We should still have enough to clean up the rest of galactic resistance. This battle has been decades in the preparation, and I can't argue with these results. A whole lot of fleeing continues elsewhere, and Merculite Missiles finally stop resisting the odds and come in. Also, the 'bioweapons in orbit' thing is a variable impact on the environment as well. Went from 110M max to 56M max in the same end-turn update, so at least I know now when it happens (between scouting and bombardment phases). It seems to follow the same '1-4 multiples of 0.5M per launcher) rule as the population casualties do when you attack. I.e., 0.5/1.0/1.5/2.0 per, depending on a dice roll I assume. 1.5 this time, with 9 ships/36 launchers in orbit. And at the end ... that's a lot of destroyers. I remember when it took years, a decade or more, to build that many. We could probably take on a combined force of the fleets of the other three empires with just what we built last year.
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Feb 23, 2019 21:56
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So a thing happened around these parts IRL. They're calling it a 'cyclone bomb', one of those hilariously overstated terms for 'somewhat bad weather'. This one was a good old-fashioned windstorm, sustained 45 kph and gusts of 80+ for nearly a 24-hour period, real white-out conditions, and the like. Knocked out our power for a little over a day - so that was fun. Although it wasn't that tramautic, the next year in the story of the Borg has some unpleasant, unexpected happenings eventually as well: Match the Master: 2429, Part I  Another spy is captured, by the Meklar this time, but we are still fine without more funding for now. Psilon Front  This situation will resolve itself this year. I expect a close victory.  This one as well. Close to 90 destroyers await the quartet of attacking cruisers.  I expect the Psilons will simply flee here once again.  Two years here, but we are similarly prepared.  Ursa is naturally our next takeover target.  Our Colonizer heads to the system formerly known as Fierias. We'll need to fend off a Warbear which is en route there as well, but it won't arrive for a few years yet.  The last of the Guavinators from the human front have arrived, but by now we don't need them so they'll be sent on further.   For the most part, our largest fleet splits in half - some stays to defend Ursa against incoming Bulrathi ships, the rest heads to Phyco to finish them off.  These Rangers won't be needed there though, so they head off to probably take place in an eventual attack on Meklon. Meklar Front  Two years till the Meklar arrive. And I also think its time to get the atmospheric terraforming done.   A token effort goes towards that here as well while we await the Bulrathi, but I don't think it is worth a larger investment just yet.   Building up at Helos to prepare for a Meklar counterattack seems prudent.  Assuming the Psilons don't belch out another ship, we'll be able to deploy death spores at Zoctan this year.    I want to target Crius for invasion soon, and it's time to stop this nonsense with the Psilon missile fighters. They might do some damage, but not very much; even if they had the space, they have crap for battle computer tech so their nuclear missiles are mostly going to hit nothing but the vacuum of space.   Tour of the Matrices   The flow of ships heading towards Orion is now considerable - and will only increase.  
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Feb 26, 2019 08:37
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Match the Master: 2429, Part II  One of the newly maxed-out matrices this year.        In my considered guesstimation, by the time ships from here reach Matrix 137, a three-year journey, they will no longer really be needed there. I might be pulling the plug a bit early, or a bit late, but it's the best call I can come up with. That means more hardware heading to our growing HQ/rally point at Matrix 114.   Almost the whole convoy will be replaced in a single year.       I think it's time for this fortress to go away. This is half our remaining missile bases by itself - which is why we're spending less than 0.2% in maintaining htem. The Meklar have only one cruiser at their planets right now, and by the time the others return/they build more, I think it'll be too late for them to even think about attacking. They aren't going to be alive long enough at their slow speeds.        
Strategic Sage fucked around with this message at 22:30 on Feb 26, 2019 |
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Feb 26, 2019 22:20
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That map is looking like a laser show! Is it possible to edit the save file to change the captured planets to proper Matrix 1xx numbers?
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Feb 26, 2019 22:52
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None that I know of, but I've never tried. I personally stay away from save-file editing. I do know it can't be done via any in-game method.
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Feb 27, 2019 02:11
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Match the Master: 2429, Part III Done with standard, on-the-ground terraforming, and more bases bite the dust.        I think we're about to max out terraforming here.  Definitely will here.  And just wrapped up the process at Matrix 159. Quite a year for cleaning out a lot of the remaining minority when it comes to that.        Fresh off atmospheric terraforming and fully ready to pull its own weight and then some in sending out more combat ships.      The recently-captured territories are waiting for growth. Slowly.  2429 Houston, we have a problem. The attack on Helos failed, as the Meklar bases are mysteriously much more resistant to our bombs than anticipated. The Psilons foolishly fled at Zoctan, allowing us to attack ... and do very little damage. We need to do better next year. Meanwhile the battle at Escalon was pure hogwash. Some very bad luck allowed the eggheads to retake that system. They stole Hyper-X missiles, which would be quite concerning if they had any significant amount of bases left anywhere. Helos is the biggest problem. We won't have a problem handling it after building more Rangers ... but Meklon will definitely be an issue as it will be more fortified. I think we're going to need more of them. The Meklar have Class III deflectors, reducing our bombs to 0-9 damage per drop ... we must have been missing more than I expected given how many we have on each ship. That's enough shielding to basically make our mass drivers totally ineffective against the planet, so they are the only choice. I'm going to need to take a closer look at the battle damage reports to see how many we need in order to effectively proceed. The Borg do not take kindly to being poked in the eye. We are not amused.
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Feb 27, 2019 20:38
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Another epic-long year here, probably the last but I still need to be careful about making absolute claims of that. The biggest reason is that, contrary to previous thoughts, I decided to deploy a new combat design for the final stretch and thus had to change all the shipyards over to it. Match the Master: 2430, Part I  My favorite thing about this screen is that only the Psilons even have a visible population bar.  A single spy is caught for the third year in a row. I decide to reverse my earlier policy change, since I do want to make sure I always know if they get any new tech (unlikely at this point, but still).  The sea of green reaches into every corner of the Orion Galaxy. ** Psilons - 6, -- ** Meklar - 2, -- ** Bulrathi - 2, -- ** Mrrshan - extinct, -2 ** Humans - extinct  We'll probably get the latest deflectors sooner, but the Advanced Space Scanner will be more important. Also notable is that research investment levels have recovered somewhat, due to some of the artifacts matrices maxing out.  We are now in a whole different category when it comes to being Guardian-ready. The costs here have been helped by continued miniaturization; each Horseman is now 19% cheaper than the original 120 BC price. As far as absorbing that initial 'alpha strike' of Scatter Pack X is concerned, we can now do so with ease. Um, sort of. We're approaching twice the required ships to do so; 171%, or double what we had five years ago. That's great ... but they aren't in place yet. Matrix 114 boasts just 83 destroyers, a very small fraction of our total. As things get closer, I'll need to work out exactly how many I need to make the assault. The Guardian does have other weapons as well, and there is the matter of how much damage the remaining ships can inflict given that much of it will be absorbed by the defense and shielding capabilities. For the moment though, the primary matter is logistics - getting more ships to Orion and finishing up the campaign on the other side of the galaxy so that those task groups can 'steam' their way in that direction. Naturally the Meklar have made this task a bit more difficult and complicated.  Nearing 30k production and 10% maintenance for ships. That's a significant number, but we can reasonably go much higher - and we will. It's increasing by about 1.1% or so per year with the number of active shipyards. Collective Data, GY 2430 ** Matrices - 83 of 94(+2) ** Operational Drones - 5.478 billion (+689 M) ** Production - 29,822 BC (+6568) ** Projected Completion Year - GY 2448 (+2) I was a little suprised at how high the population numbers were; total drones smashed by the 5-billion plateau with ease and increased by another 12%. Economic growth was strong as expected, with much of the 28% there owing itself to wrapping up the robotics push. Our projected end date corrected itself a bit, but at this point I honestly expect to beat it. I'd say mid-2440s if there are no more setbacks, or roughly a month from now IRL - April 1 or thereabouts. We're close to wiping out the Bulrathi, the remaining Psilon systems should go down fairly easily, and while the Meklar will be more of a pain than expected I think that adjustment won't take too much either. Hostile Action Report I'm discontinuing this as I think it's served whatever usefulness it had, particularly since we're killing a lot of population these days by the passive act of simply leaving bioweapons in orbit. That's a bit annoying and imprecise to try and track anyway. The main issue this cycle was the loss of a quarter of our Ranger bomber-cruisers. Most of them expected losses to the Bulrathi, but not so much the last one at Helos. The Meklar Annoyance  The main problem here was not that they are able to do some damage - I expected that with their Hyper-X Missiles. The issue was the surprising resilience to our bombing runs. They have the same armor and only one higher level of shielding (III vs. II) compared to the Psilons. In reviewing the battle footage, I found something strange. I think there may have been just more bad luck involved. Each drop involves similar amounts (6-7 bombs each). Yet three drops accounted for over 30 points of damage ... and three others for less than 10. Overall, we did 2.9 per launcher when I would have expected more like 4. Regardless, I think prudence indicates that this average of just under 3 should be the new baseline. We did knock Helos down to just two remaining bases. Even if they build another one before we get there, we shouldn't need more than a couple ships to finish the job. The main concern is Meklon, which has a dozen, the standard Average AI Homeworld Missile Base Complement (tm). Based on the results at Helos, that's enough to kill 1.2 cruisers per salvo, so we're going to lose a few just going in. Once in range, each ship is going to be able to take out roughly a single base per combat round - the results/projection based on Helos are pretty much exactly one on this point. I don't want that fight to go beyond 2-3 rounds to avoid significant further losses and the possibility of a costly defeat. All of that together means I need 12-15 Rangers for Meklon. Well, we have 15 ... but getting them there is another story. Several are on their way to Meklar space, and the group at Phyco is about to leave, and five years out on a direct path to Meklon. I think that's soon enough - Gorra is the only other planet with missile defenses to oppose us, and that's another three years away for a total time of eight to eliminate all such threats. I don't see us being ready to end things before then. All of this then is to say we have sufficient ships remaining - but no more than that. It's imperative that this not be screwed up, but I shouldn't have to divert any more production into building more cruisers if I handle it properly. The drones who crew these ships and give their lives in the service of the Empire will be honored with their own dedicated server in the Borg's collective memory banks. Hotspots I think it's time also to unify the conflict into one rundown, there seeming now to be no further purpose in splitting up into different operational theatres.  Here, a Warbear is three years out.  Terraforming will wrap up this year, and a small incoming Psilon force will assuredly be chased away.  I think this is amusing. Eight Seeker fighters are in orbit ... but they can't do a thing. Literally. Their missiles aren't strong enough to get through our shields. Nowhere nearby has enough population to successfully invade ... so I can literally ignore this 'blockading fleet'. Almost all of the Psilon destroyers, except for a single one at Gorra, are in transit here or there. Combined they have nearly fifty of them, so I do need to be wary of where they are going and what they might be doing. I'd like to arrange a fight to whittle down their numbers, but they keep running from overwhelming force and I don't want to engage with less than that and risk losses. It's a cat-and-mouse game for certain.  The Meklar noticed we eliminated our missile defenses - but they are sending a single cruiser to a fleet rally point. That won't end well for them.  Atmospheric terraforming finishes here, and we'll be greeting another few Meklar cruisers 'appropriately'.  Similar goings-on here. Now that we're ready to invest more effort into it, a transfer will aid the ATMOS initiative. The long-arriving Bulrathi cruiser will be sent away.   Previously-sent ships continue to trickle into Matrix 128. These will head to defend against the Bulrathi ...  Others continuing their tour of the galaxy, heading to the next rally point and eventually on to Orion.  I needed to decide if we need these ships in the current combat zone or not, with the Bulrathi cruisers all re-routing elsewhere. I decided that I don't, so they will begin the journey to Orion as well.  Most of the fleets at Ursa and Phyco needs to stay in order to fend off the several cruisers flitting about in both directions. Most, but not all. These Guavinators will head out to lower-left corner of the galaxy to prepare for invasions of Gienah and Bootis.  The Guavinators have another year or so of work to do here, but the Rangers head to the crucial attack on Meklon. They'll be joined by others there as appropriate.    There's more on the way here, but these should be sufficient to handle Helos.  I wasn't sure here as to the proper amount, but three head to Crius and three will stick around to aid against the Meklar.  We don't need these as mentioned, but I'd still like to have a deterrent in place in case they decide to escalate.   We haven't reduced the population enough at Zoctan yet; these are headed there to make sure the job gets done if the initial wave fails.  We need to retake Escalon, so this convoy will do that.  I also want to start getting some long-range transports going to take the more remote Psilon systems. The timing of these are a bit touchy, but here I'm leaving several years between the arrival of the Guavinators and the time the transports get there. I can add supplements from closer systems, adjust fleet deployments, etc. later on if I need to, but this will get the ball rolling and give me a framework. It also throws a bunch of production into deep space wasted, but I don't think that matters a great deal anymore.  To finish off the Bulrathi.  This covers everything but Bootis (I'll send drones from Matrix 150 at a later date), Gorra (being saved for last), and the Meklar worlds. As a rough timeline, this sets us up to wrap up the conquest at around the end of the decade or shortly afterwards, so long as I handle the business end of things properly. I figure it'll take at least that long to be ready to tackle the Guardian anyway.  It's also time to start moving on ships from the rally points on either side of the nebula to Matrix 114.  It gets interesting to click on the planet destination and not any of the umpteen small fleets surrounding it.
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Feb 28, 2019 21:26
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Man that's a lot of fleet vectors.
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Feb 28, 2019 21:50
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It sure is. Decoy's comment about it being a laser show was pretty much on … one of these years I'm going to have about 10 seconds or so of the juncture at Matrix 114 at the beginning of the video. The in-motion effect with that many coming into one system is practically hypnotic.
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Mar 1, 2019 08:00
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Match the Master: 2430, Part II We've been able to build mass-driver fighters for a few years now. This is the best and latest version. But the question is: should we? I don't think it is an easy question - I spend quite a bit of time pondering it. It makes sense from a defensive standpoint: Defense is only -1 compared to the Horseman, and it's a fraction of the price. 6-7 of these could be built for the same cost. It would only absorb one missile compared to 2-3, but the larger weapons like plasma torpedoes, stellar converters, etc. would still only kill one of them. Offensively though, it's worth noting that we've got a third of the payload with just a single weapon. Worse, we can only afford a Mk I Battle Computer. That means we're going to miss a lot more: 90% of the time compared to 50-50. When we do hit, damage will be minimal, further reducing the value. Without the computer though, we'd actually hit the 'accuracy floor' ... everything has at least a 5% chance to hit no matter the attack-defense gap. Which usually isn't something worth considering, but this isn't the usual game. Still, the economics of just building an epic crapton of these at low cost cannot be ignored. I'd like to wait a bit longer and maybe cram a Mk II Computer on - but we're at the point now where there's no more time to wait. I did strip off the armor and go with Titanium, because armor on a fighter-sized ship, esp. in this situation, is totally pointless.  In order to make room for this, I'll scrap the Colonizer. I'll need at least one more later for Orion, but the idea is I'll be done with the Ranger by the time I need them. Also, this will give me a fourth group of ships for the Guardian to shoot at. That should be an additional point in favor. Tour of the Matrices  Now I must do something I have never done before, and will certainly never do again: switch an entire galaxy-spanning empire over to building nothing but fighters. I'm guessing something on the order of 1500 of them per year. This is going to get super-silly.       Maxed industry here last year.        Imperial assistance continues, and we'll get a new fighter almost every other day here.   Factories finished up here as well.  Replacing all of the drones that are leaving in a single year.   Matrix 123 has also completed its industry run.  
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Mar 1, 2019 22:26
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Zerg rush the guardian.
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Mar 2, 2019 00:49
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Match the Master: 2430, Part III Given the proximity to Psilon territory, I think I want to keep building up the local 'garrison' here.  A few million drones short of a full replacement.         No longer needing ships to defend itself, at least for now, Matrix 136 will send on Daggers for the long trek across the galaxy.             Matrix 149 continues to serve as a vital 'in-between' hub for various purposes. That mostly explains the amusing chaos in which you can't even fully distinguish each fleet from one another on the main view.  Why this RELOC direction? Well, I decided I want more ships insurance out here in the extreme lower-left, for the purpose of securing Gienah and Bootis. Directing them from anywhere else would take a while, so I'll just start out with a trickle of local production.
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Mar 2, 2019 18:25
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Match the Master: 2430, Part IV/Conclusion      Wrapping up terraforming and pumping out ships.  That first part is now finished here.    The staging area for my new initiative to keep these two Psilon systems under wraps. Five of their seven destroyers can be seen heading off on a multi-year journey, and we may well have enough already in place. I can't afford to assume that and be wrong though, it would mean a significant delay.   Despite increased caution in these matters, I am still surprised on rare occasions by a growth spurt.  The population yo-yo continues.    Finally embarking on the regular terraforming journey at this late hour.   Still grinding out those last shreds of production, just for the principle of the matter.        2430 It's becoming more and more obvious how the game is slowing down during the 'Next Turn' phase. I may try turning up the cycles. In any case, the bombardment went much better at Zoctan and the planet was subdued. A whole bunch of retreating going on, and there's so many planets we're dealing with right now that I have to think a bit and recall what the right course of action is at each location. The Dagger prediction was pretty close - we're now flooding the space lanes with those.
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Mar 3, 2019 20:20
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Do the eggheads have any techs remaining that you don't have?
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Mar 4, 2019 08:37
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No, and they haven't researched anything new for quite a while. Probably because we took all of their industrial worlds so they've had to try and develop new ones, although Gienah is still artifacts. Stuff out there that we don't have yet: ** Scatter Pack V Rockets (Bulrathi) ** Hyper V Rockets, Anti-Missile Rockets(Meklar) That's all. Three weapons techs that I frankly couldn't care less about - the other five fields we are missing nothing that anyone else has discovered.
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Mar 4, 2019 10:25
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I'm excited to see the Guardian take on tens of thousands of these Daggers. It'll be like playing a reverse shmup!
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Mar 4, 2019 16:34
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Decoy Badger posted:I'm excited to see the Guardian take on tens of thousands of these Daggers. It'll be like playing a reverse shmup! It'll be like those reverse tower defense games.
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Mar 4, 2019 19:49
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