Alpha Centauri 2

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri & Alien Crossfire => After Action Reports => Topic started by: Eadee on July 11, 2015, 11:41:03 PM

Title: AAR: Eco-Terrorism?
Post by: Eadee on July 11, 2015, 11:41:03 PM

Link to the discussion thread (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=16640.0)

This is the first AAR I do, so wish me luck.

I feel the first few turns are quite important for the whole game. Therefore I will start with a pretty detailed AAR on the first years and zoom out a bit as the game goes on.
I use PRACX for some UI-comfort and a better Overview. It doesn't change the games mechanics (as far as I know).

Setup:
Its a random map on a standard sized Planet.
I play on Librarian Difficulty because I'm used to it.
These are the rules that I use:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.01_CustomRules.jpg)
its almost standard rules, I just changed two things:
Look first: I find the location of your first base is extremely important in SMAC so I don't want to start with a to crappy HQ.
Tech Stagnation: Without TechStag things get obsolete before they're even finished. And the list of unbuilt facilities grows awfully long. I really like it better this way.

Factions:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.02_Factions.jpg)
Its a SMACX-game but I use the traditional SMAC Factions. I never got into the new factions SMACX provided.
I'm playing as Deirdre. Mostly because I'm a terraforming junkie and want to improve Tiles asap and she starts with Centauri Ecology.

I called this AAR "Eco-Terrorism" because after playing the first 10 years I got the impression that I might have a good basis to be quite offensive this game. So maybe I'm going for a Gaian green police state, but hey, we'll see.

Title: First mission year
Post by: Eadee on July 12, 2015, 12:13:04 AM

We finally made Planetfall and this is our first view on Planet:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.03_Startposition.jpg)
I really like having two colony-pods and a foil as starting units. This means there will be no boredom the first few turns. Also, the Unity-Pod next to our Base means we have a Chance for special ressources in our HQ. I really hope for Nutrients to kickstart our pop-growth.

Well, we have no reason to waste a turn before building our first colony, so:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.04_Production.jpg)
Did I mention I'm a terraforming-junkie? We want that Former asap so we can optimise our ressource-yield. The tile being worked seems allright, I always value growth more than Minerals in the beginning.

Time to pop that Unity-Pod:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.05_Monolyth.jpg)
Unity-Pod? Nonsense thats a monolith! Okay, thats nice, free promotions/heals for all our units at the HQ and the monolith yields as much as a normal tile can possible yield in the beginning.

Now for our second colonypod:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.06_ColonyFoil.jpg)
It got into the foil because it will move at double speed this way. And speed is relevant since the earlier we settle our second base the better. After the foil moved we see the confirmation that this was a good choice. The colonypod would've taken forever to get to a good place on its own.

Final Adjustments before we end this turn:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.07_ProductionMonolyth.jpg)
We work that monolith instead of the tile previously chosen. Thats one turn less for our former, and 2,5 times as much energy-yield in this base. Awesome!

Before we end the turn we should make sure we check our research priorities.
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.08_ResearchPriorities.jpg)
One of the first things we want is Biogenetics. This way we not only get a ressource boost because of the Recycling Tanks. We also work towards Gene Splicing, wich will lift Nutrient restrictions. Also we get closer to the Secrets of the Human Brain, but honestly, I don't think we stand a chance against Zakharov and/or Lal in this race.

Title: The Second City
Post by: Eadee on July 12, 2015, 12:44:33 AM

Time passes and in the 4th year of our mission we finally find another Unity-Pod while our Foil is looking for distant shores:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.09_Move01.jpg)
We should be glad we didn't move our 2nd pod overland, we seem to be on a pretty tiny island and room to expand is critical.

Time to see whats in this pod:

(click to show/hide)

(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.10_SupplyPod.jpg)
Energy! Well thats a nice boost, especially since its 50 EC AND an energy special ressource tile. Could've been better though.

Our Former finished. We have to change production:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.12_ProdPod.jpg)
Seven turns until growth, ten until colonypod. We even have the money to afford a hurry in the second pod (not that we need to), our third bas will be out in no time!

Finally some Land:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.11_NewIsland.jpg)
Our Foil found another coast. The good thing is: It doesn't seem to be another tiny Island and we got some mineral Ressources right at the coast. So I decided to unload our colonypod and build our second Base.

Terraforming:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.13_ForestScout.jpg)
We start off with a Forest. We have some Tiles that give us 2 Nutrients and Forests on a River yield 1/2/2 so everything besides nutrients at maximum. Also Forests have a chance to spread on their own each turn. So the sooner we plant them, the more "terraformer-time" we save in the end.
Our scout simply does scouty things, nothing special about it.

Setting up Nessus Shining:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.14_FoundingNessus.jpg)
As much as I like to build another former, we need a scout on this land. So production remains unchanged and its the same with the tile being worked.

At the moment it looks like there's almost no fungus or mindworms around, some kinda bad luck when playing Gaian but hey, its allright, we'll find another way.

Title: Discoveries
Post by: Eadee on July 12, 2015, 01:14:56 AM

Our first Tech finished! it is:

(click to show/hide)

(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.15_InformationNetworks.jpg)
Okay, this is not what I wanted, but Network Nodes are nice so I won't complain. And if we get Planetary Networks soon we might get controll of the Virtual World wich would save us a lot of psych-problems. So Discovery remains our only research priority.

Moving on with our Foil:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.16_SeaPod.jpg)
There's a unity-pod in reach and we already delivered our colonypod safely. So lets take a chance!

(click to show/hide)

(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.17_AppliedPhysics.jpg)
What the? Okay, another tech, I like techs... but hey common, we need theese Biogenetics going! Well... its allright its laserguns then.

Shortly after this our Former finished the first forest and begins working on the second while we scout around a little:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.18_PodForestExplore.jpg)
Looks like we found another Unity-Pod. Lets risk this foil again:

(click to show/hide)

(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.19_IndustrialBase.jpg)
How? What?! Why? Uhm... well okay. So we don't only got lasers for free, we also get synthmetal armor for free. Hey if I think about it, thats not bad. That may be the chance to compensate about our lack of mindworms.

Mission Year 2110: This is the first point were I think we could think about the social engineering choices we want to make. I think we will encounter other factions soon, and with the tech advantage we have right now we might be able to stomp a faction that got a less lucky start than we did. Its still open for everything, but I just get the feeling a police state might be the way to go if we look for confrontation.

Title: Expansionism
Post by: Eadee on July 12, 2015, 02:15:41 PM

Now there's another pod next to our Scout. If we get another tech I'm gonna quit my Job and join the University:

(click to show/hide)

(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.20_InstantFormer.jpg)
Hey, an instant former. You know what that means... I can keep my job! Oh well and we throw a party because our terraformer campaign on Kickstarter succeeded.

Next turn next Technology:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.21_PlanetaryNetworks.jpg)
Why? just why? I want those recycling tanks so bad. We keep focusing on Discovery I say! However I told you before the Virtual World would be a great secret project and now we have the tech to build it. We just need a base that can afford it :/ .

However we can make our first social engineering decision:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.22_SEPlanned.jpg)
We have a good amount of money and we really need that growth going on because we lack nutrient special ressources. Efficiency won't drop below 0 because we are awesome (and Gaian) and the industry bonus is a nice giveaway.

A little overview:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.23_ExploreAndProduce.jpg)
Besides some exploration we also build another colonypod in Nessus Shining. Our HQ seems to be on a pretty little Island we need to grab the space on the second one.

Did I mention I like expanding a lot?
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.23_NotherPod.jpg)
Our foil is back to load this brand new colonypod, so we can build another one that will finally build another base on our first island.

And this new base shall be right here:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.24_RoadToThird.jpg)
Our Former will work on a road to the designated area, the forests will soon start to spread on their own, at least thats what I hope for. The former to the left will start the forest thing on our second island as well.

As you can see our Scout found another Unity-Pod:

(click to show/hide)

(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.25_EnergyAndNutrientRessources.jpg)
I really don't care about the EC here... we finally got the nutrient special ressource on Land! Now we have a great location for our second base on this Island.

Because of that I want to speed up our colonypod.
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.26_MaxxedMinerals.jpg)
Since we might need our EC for defensive units when we meet Miriam or one of the other guys, I just focus on the tiles with the maximum mineral output without hurrying the production.

Title: Class Reunion
Post by: Eadee on July 12, 2015, 02:41:20 PM

Suddenly! Zakharov!
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.27_SuddenlyZakharov.jpg)
Is he part of the spanish inquisition? I really didn't expect Zakharov right now. And I didn't expect an annoying base of him this close either! Well, his base is defensless. I guess "everything is proceeding as I have foreseen."

So, lets have a look what he has become like since we ditched him at Prom:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.28_BIOGENETICS.jpg)
I ensure you I'm not gay... but this offer makes him SO SEXY right now. Finally! Biogenetics! *dance* No way I'm gonna refuse this offer.

(click to show/hide)

(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.29_Biogenetics.jpg)

The rest of the Diplomacy is in this Spoiler to reduce scrolling time:

(click to show/hide)

(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.30_Maps.jpg) Well, the power of the University is marked as "unsurpassed", ours is "potent" I think its important to get his maps to know if we really can afford to destroy this annoying base.
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.31_NoTreaty.jpg)
Sorry no treaty for now, we still consider smashing you like a bug. :o

Lets have a look at his map:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.32_Overview.jpg)
If we destroy Zvedny Gorodok he still has two cities, both with a nutrient special ressource and one with a mineral special ressource. He might be a real pain.

I just have to do it:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.33_Vendetta.jpg)
This city is really bad for our expansion plans. Also maybe Zakharov won't be unsurpassed any more when we destroy his third City. Its a bit risky, but there's even a chance we can peace out for a tech or two later since I think we indeed are techleader right now.

The new borders:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.34_NewBorders.jpg)
I like it so much better. How about you? I'm gonna keep those EC in Hand in case he sends some troops, but for the Moment we still want that additional colonypod.

Title: Class Reunion pt II
Post by: Eadee on July 12, 2015, 07:41:38 PM

This Post is Diplomacy only, I'm sorry. The next ones will contain more action I assume.

This is Spartaaa!
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.35_ThisIsSparta.jpg)
All our hopes for another island to settle were smashed when Santiago shows up. Dang. It'll take forever to find a spot for this pod. But maybe we can turn Santiago into an ally against Zakharov and his ecology threatening monstrous experiments.

Lets see what she's up to:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.36_MakingFriends.jpg)
So her potence is "feeble", I think we can risk giving her the frequency, we will need that cash to buy defensive units against Dr. Frankenstein.

Next up:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.37_TechTrade.jpg)
Mobility, nice. With laserguns and rovers we might even get into offense against the University of Planet.

(click to show/hide)

(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.38_DoctrineMobility.jpg) We won't have the time to build any command centers, so we gonna focus on those rovers.

She's still asking for more:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.39_TechForMap.jpg)
Well we still want to use that colonypod right? So maybe the spartans can show us a good place to build that next base asap.

That greedy b****:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.40_HellNo.jpg)
You still want our techs?  Well I have no problem trading you tech, but it won't be for free my dear.

Our proposal:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.41_JoinMe.jpg)
Hey, you get your tech if you help me to get rid of Zakharov ok?

Her Answer:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.42_HighPrice.jpg)
Wow... this woman knows what she wants. I'm beginning to believe we ditched Zakharov for her that night. :o To hell, we need an ally to survive in a war against the top faction.

Her Map:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.43_SpartanMap.jpg)
Meh... maybeI should've befriendet Zak and stomped her. It doesn't look like Santiago is going to be any help at all.

An overview at year 2118:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.44_Overview.jpg)
It doesn't look good at all for our next base. However maybe we can settle southeast enough to that Monolith just out of Santiagos Territory so we can push the borders a little without declaring war.
The western Island is going to be a sink for our EC soon. I'd even consider switching back to simple economics, but it doesn't get us any more income at all so it would just waste money instead of making some.

Title: All about that Pod
Post by: Eadee on July 12, 2015, 10:47:31 PM

Expanding, my favorite (and only?) Hobby:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.45_LocationLocationLocation.jpg)
I choose this spot to build our next base because we will get two special ressources that way instead of one, and we can get in Controll of that choky part of the island. Former's working on Forests, I think you got it by now. And hey, can you see that small line? it is OUR might wich is "unsurpassed" now! Take that Z!

Our first Prototype:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.46_ProtoRover.jpg)
The colonypod finished, but we need to defend our base. We're gonna prototype a scout defensive, why? Because it has the same cost as a synthmetal garrison and it can move quickly to our new base.

Managing the Production:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.47_Hurrying.jpg)
We want that Rover fast. Usually I'd work a Tile with two nutrients first since we'd grow after 8 Turns and then we'd finish the Rover in 5 additional turns wich is the same total as we have now when working the two-minerals-tile. However 13 turns is too long, and 170 EC for hurrying is far to expensive. So we take the 2 minerals tile, that way the base can quickly collect the threshhold of minerals at wich hurrying gets way cheaper.

I told you:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.48_DoubleForest.jpg)
The Forests start doing their thing. Not only once, they expand two times in one turn! That terraformer can now easily start working for our third base even before it's founded.

Even more expanding:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.49_ColonyAndTanks.jpg)
Our colonypod at our HQ finished and we can finally build our first recycling tanks. Also the new pod is on its wayand WHAAAAT?! How can Zakharov be that powerfull after this short period? We were at "unsurpassed" might a moment ago!  :mad:

Did you already forget our colonypod on that foil?
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.50_CursedPod.jpg)
Mindworms? Really? Thats it... this pod is cursed... it will NEVER build a base, its just going all around Planet getting trolled from everyone. I... no... I won't speak of this no more... leave me alone.

Title: Join the colonists they said...
Post by: Eadee on July 12, 2015, 11:09:59 PM

The big picture:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.51_TheBigPicture.jpg)
So this is Planet at year 2122. Its scary how small a standard-sized planet turns out to be. I usually play on large or huge but decided to take standard size for the AAR to spice things up a little. I usually wouldn't abuse the map grid in that way, but since our colonypod gets trolled all the time I decided to look where I can see the indication of an island. And if you look closely you can see straight to the west from Sparta Command there seems to be an island. We will go for this one now.

Founding of Fallow Time:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.52_FallowTimeHurry.jpg)
The new base at the border to University's territory is called Fallow Time, you have to believe me here, I put the hurry-window in the wrong spot. However we instant buy recycling tanks so this base will have a nice minerals output to build military units.
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.53_NessusHurry.jpg)
We spend the rest on that scout defense at Nessus Shining. It'll rush to Fallow Time to defend it next turn.

At least that was the plan:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.54_OmgHelp.jpg)
WHAT?! NO!! No don't do it Z. it was all a misunderstanding! I never wanted to ditch you at prom! Santiago forced us to!
A Battle Ogre? Seriously? 6p offense 3p defense... we're screwed... abandon ship!
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.55_CursedWoods.jpg)
Also, those woods I was so excited about, they prevent our scout defense to get to Fallow Time in time. I pull out our scout and move our former back to Nessus Shining. its time for prayers now.
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.56_Inevitable.jpg)
It was inevitable, but I need you as witness, so I post it anyways. How can he dare destroying a undefendet base of pure civilians?! I'd never commit such a crime! *cough*

Title: Re: AAR: Eco-Terrorism?
Post by: Eadee on July 12, 2015, 11:43:45 PM

Back to business:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.57_VirginSoil.jpg)
We found another base, this time its safe from random Battle Ogres... for now. Starting with tanks since we seem to be pretty safe on this island, even without a military unit.

The Wheel of Fortune:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.58_WheelOfFortune.jpg)
Okay pod, you never did ANYTHING helpful. We finally found some land for you, so... just find nutrient ressources on that tiny bit of Land and we are friends again... right?

(click to show/hide)

(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.59_Materials.jpg)
Well... crap. Okay, at least you helped out our HQ with the tanks, that makes you less useless you may live... for now.

Final look at things:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.60_Overview.jpg)
I won't have that much time during weekdays, so probably the next post will take a while. Please, use this overview and if you have any Ideas that can save us from the University's wrath or give us some kinda boost just post in the discussion-thread (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=16640.0).

Open Questions:
What shall be our research priorities?

• Explore? cause this map doesn't seem to contain any land and we'll need Doctrine Flexibility asap to build underwaterbases. And Progenitor-Psych afterwards for Aquafarms?
• Discover? Because Polymorphic Software might save our day with artillery units? (Can't imagine this one to work out, honestly)
• Build? to get Social Psych, Ethical Calculus and finally Gene Splicing for lifted Nutrient restrictions? Or maybe to get Doctrine: Loyality for Policestate and spam units?
• Conquer? Because we will stomp Zakharov as soon as we have Nonlinear Math and High Energy Chemistry for better weapons and armor?

Shall we build a base with our cursed pod? (Its on an energy special ressource that can't be seen on the screenshot) If not, where do we send it to?
How can we defend Nessus Shining?
Shall we go for a secret project soon? We could build the Human Genome Project, the Weather Paradigm, the Merchants Exchange and the Virtual World right now.
Why are Burritos so awesome?

Title: Taking Chances
Post by: Eadee on July 15, 2015, 12:27:23 AM

Research Priorities:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.61_ResearchPrio.jpg)
Sadly noone suggested where to go, so I'm on my own. I decided to get into explore to get Doctrine: Flexibility. If we can't controll much Land, maybe we can make it in the seas.

Settling Plan:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.62_SettlingPlan.jpg)
Our Recyclingtanks just finished and we build another colonypod tol settle soon at the marked tile. Meanwhile our Former finishes up this road.

Finally we get lucky:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.63_SavedByPod.jpg)
I decided to withdraw our cursed pod from that island to find a better place for its base (yes I still got some hope). But then our foil rushed into an unitypod that might save our day! Our Scoutdefense is instantly finished!

So, if we're lucky now...:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.64_ColonypodGambling.jpg)
...lets just send that colonypod to gamble again and hope for another instant defense unit. The chance for mindworms is like zero because there is no land next to that pod. What could possibly go wrong?

(click to show/hide)

(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.65_ByebyeFoil.jpg)
:o okay, I didn't expect THAT. erm... bye foil? We had a good time. Now we will need Doctrine: Flexibility really bad. On the other hand we just "found" an unclaimed piece of land wich might be the most rare ressource in this game.

Title: Sword of Ogre decapitation
Post by: Eadee on July 15, 2015, 01:03:17 AM

Suddenly I realised it was stupid to build defensive units against that Ogre.
Its a 6r/3r unit. We now have a 1/2 unit. If we defend, thats 6r against 2 (equals 3:1) and he gets the attacker bonus. And if we attack its also 3:1 for him, but WE get the attacker bonus. So I just begin to throw our precious defense units against that Ogre.
Scout Patrol:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.66_LostScout.jpg)
20% damage. Not much, but we can't expect more.
Scout Defense #1:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.67_LostScoutDefense.jpg)
Down to 70% !!! Seriously... we might kill that beast! Lets send our last military unit against him. We still got our former to defend.
Scout Defense #2:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.68_LostLastDefense.jpg)
NOOOOOO! 90%! So damn close! (actually the screenshot lies. Its obviously 99,999% damaged.).Okay lets build a Scout patrol, its built in half of the time, and it is as strong as a scout defense when we attack.

Short break for settling plans:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.69_BasePlacement.jpg)
We send the pod this way. This way we get as much land tiles as possible for a coastal AND we get that energy special ressource.

Hurrying that Scout Patrol:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.70_4MineralHurry.jpg)
It would take 16 EC to hurry it all the way, but since the base has a mineral output of 3 we can just expend 4EC and get it done in just one turn anyways.

To late! Our base is under attack!:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.71_FormerOfTheYear.jpg)
YESSSS! Zakharov, I was never so happy you attacked me. This damn Battle Ogre just blew himself up. This is great. I'll award the defending unit the "Former of the Year" (doesn't mean that much if you recall that a turn resembles a full year... I should work on this whole awarding stuff.).

Breaking the Curse:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.72_DreamsOfGreen.jpg)
I din't see that coming, but our cursed pod ACTUALLY did something usefull. Lets celebrate our new base "Dreams of Green". Usually I'd start off with a hurried recycling tank, but we got rid of all our EC in this conflict. So we build a former first to help our new base to grow.

Title: Getting back on track
Post by: Eadee on July 15, 2015, 01:28:56 AM

We got sidetracked by this whole Zakharov mess.

But there's a new breakthrough that...:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.73_PolymorphicSoftware.jpg)
...doesn't help us at all. Did any of you ever find a way to use artillery efficiently? I did not.

On the western island:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.74_ScoutAndSensor.jpg)
We need to be warned if Zakharov is coming for us. So lets build a sensor right there, It'll also help us when defending in this area. Our scout patrol we hurried for no real profit does some souting while the former is at work.

Back on our home island:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.75_LilyOfTheValley.jpg)
We set up "Lily of the Valley" sadly we can't hurry the tanks because we spent those EC on the western island.

Our new island:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.76_FarmAndTank.jpg)
The former finished and is going to build a farm. Yes, no forest this time because we need more nutrients to grow and forests don't help on that. Also we change the production to the recycling tanks we couldn't afford before.

On the western island again:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.77_TanksHurry40.jpg)
We spend 40EC to hurry our tanks to improve growth and production in this contested area.

News in the Danger zone:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.78_RiotsAndProduction.jpg)
The bases of University both grow to pop 4 at the same time. And Z gets bitten by the "one drone per 4 citizens" in both bases at once. I really enjoy that view, even if it won't last for long. After the tanks we hurried are built, we change production to another scout defense, that might actually even defend this time (no promises though).

Overview at home:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.79_TanksIntoScoutdefense.jpg)
The tanks in "Virgin Soil" just finished. It will build a scout defense to defend the while island. If the former finishes that road it can move from any of those cities to any other within one turn, quite nice. Oh, and Gaia's landing is still working on a pod because we want to take even the last bit of land. This time on the peninsula in the northwest.

Mission Year 2136:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.80_Year2136.jpg)
Another look at the "whole" map so you can see whats going on. Z still seems to be our only threat. But I can't imagine he has another Battle Ogre at hand, so I think we might regrab that great spot between the minerals and the nutrients soon.

Its the end for today, but maybe I get another part done before the weekend.

Title: Colonypod Staredown
Post by: Eadee on July 16, 2015, 12:23:53 AM

A  few Years later:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.81_VirtualWorldAndForest.jpg)
A Forest expanded. Our colonypod at Gaia's Landing is completed and on its way. And we start the Virtual World secret project. We won't build more colonypods on this island, so the bases will grow and the Virtual World will take care of the drones.

Western Island:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.82_PodAndPosition.jpg)
We start building that pod again while our scout defense saves our spot this time.

Main Island:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.83_RoverNodeAndFormer.jpg)
Our scout defense finished and indeed. It can reach any base on this island in one turn. We work on a network node now, we want the labs bonus but also will it count as a holograph theatre soon :)
The former rushes after our colonypod since the new base will only have crappy tiles to work.

Speaking of crappy tiles:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.84_TanksAndFungus.jpg)
As you can see we build the tanks as usual. But meanwhile the former clears a fungus tile. He could've also levelled the rocky terrain but that would take even longer.

Border conflicts:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.85_NoAttackSince2141.jpg)
In the year 2141 an University 2/2/1-unit appeared at our border. We placed our scout defense right on top of our sensor. If he'd attack he would get the atacker bonus, but we the sensor defense bonus. It seems to be a to big risk for Z. at least he didn't attack for 3 years already.


The Conflict moves on:

(click to show/hide)

(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.86_RaceForColony.jpg)
Our own pod just finishes as a colonypod of the University shows up. now we need to hurry and think this through. At first we need to get offensive, so we build a recon rover.
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.87_CP-Harrasment.jpg)
Lets harras this pod a bit... NOW we finally start with the terrorism part of this AAR.
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.88_Retreated.jpg)
Nice, we scared away his pod.
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.89_BuyPrototype.jpg)
10 Minerals are done by the base, now we buy that prototype at affordable cost.

Then suddenly things change:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.90_MiriamAndDefRover.jpg)
This damn colonypod reappeared. but wait... did Z just loose his second base to Miriam? Man, its the first time EVER I'm happy to see her! Oh and we build another scout defense because we need to defend two bases soon.

Title: Class Reunion pt III
Post by: Eadee on July 16, 2015, 01:02:16 AM

And now for something completely different:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.91_HurryTankAndSparta.jpg)
Our new island got a bit formed in all that time and we just happen to have the money spar to hurry the tanks we want so bad. Also If you look closely you can see that the spartans finally built their second base. Wow... what powerful allies we made.

One turn later:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.92_DefensePodSolar.jpg)
Improving that energy special ressource should've been a priority but I somehow messed up with this so it is done now. Also the tanks are followed by a sout defense. Not really for defensive purposes but to explore that island and collect that remaining unitypod.

Back to the action:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.93_Pressure.jpg)
Meanwhile we build our base "Song of Planet" and start with the tanks as usual. Sadly we cant afford to hurry them right now. However since our recon rover arrived I moved our scout patrol down a tile to put some pressure on that colonypod. I don't think he will kill our scout patrol, since that would weaken his 2/2/1 to much.

Hailing frequencies open:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.94_MiriamAndZRetreats.jpg)
While Zakharovs retreats Miriam wants to have a little chat. I'm honestly happy to see her. Never thought that would ever happen.

Diplomacy stuff:

(click to show/hide)

(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.95_CommFrequency.jpg)
She wants to have a chat with our friend Santiago, why not. We could use that EC.
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.96_TechTrade.jpg)
Social Psych will come in handy soon since our bases will grow soon and we'll need those recreation commons. However I'm not happy giving Miriam Planetary Networks since that'd give her probe teams. Remember, its never a good idea to give probe teams to the believers. So lets give them Information Networks, she sucks at research anyways.

(click to show/hide)

(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.97_SocialPsych.jpg)

She wants those probe teams pretty bad:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.98_NotherTrade.jpg)
But I'd rather give her artillery instead. And some day we will need aquafarms. If we EVER get doctrine flexibility.

(click to show/hide)

(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/00.99_ProgenitorPsych.jpg)

That greedy little..:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.00_GreedyBelievers.jpg)
I'd really like to get this map to estimate the threat she poses, so I'll trade Biogenetics here. NOT Planetary Networks.

All those Emergencies:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.01_NoMeansNo.jpg)
No means no sister. Can you please let it be? We don't [complaint or disagreeable woman] about you on the Planetary Network so no reason to look, really! Trust me!

Finally she stops asking:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.02_BelieversPeace.jpg)
Well okay... we sign that treaty, but you may NEVER ask for Planetary Networks again. You got me?

Title: Class Reunion pt IV
Post by: Eadee on July 16, 2015, 01:21:38 AM

Lets take a look at the believers map:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.03_BelieversMap.jpg)
Hey nice. Yangs escape pod did make it too. He still owes me my lawn mower! Also the University of Planet isn't showed as mightiest AI-Faction anymore. Miriam is, I really hope she has no pact with Yang, otherwise we might get a really hard time soon.

More Diplomacy:

(click to show/hide)

I really need that lawn mower:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.04_YangsFrequency.jpg)
Its worth way more than 25EC anyways.

So now lets talk to Yang:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.05_YangsPosition.jpg)
Nice! That way the Believers and the Hive will keep each other busy. I just don't want to get involved to much, so... you're on your own Yang. However I gave Miriam a bunch of techs, and she is more powerfull than Yang already... so we might want to even the field.

I suggest a tech trade to the Hive:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.06_AskingForTech.jpg)
Man that sounds great. I don't care much for the perimeter defenses as I hope we get the Citizens Force Defense at some point... but being able to run Police State would be awesome. DEAL.

(click to show/hide)

(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.07_DoctrineLoyality.jpg)

Next Trade:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.08_MoreTrading.jpg)
Yeah take that stupid artillery tech. I'd love to get a 3 defense armor.

Final Trade:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.09_GimmeThatMap.jpg)
Okay, know what? Give me that map. I'll even give the Networks to you, I don't think you're stupid enough to give this tech to Miriam, especially if you're at war with her already.

The Hive's Map:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.10_HiveMap.jpg)
Okay, the field seems to be almost evened between Hive and Believers, with a litte advantage for Miriam, but she's at war with Zakharov too, so it should be allright.

The Map of Planet year 2150:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.11_MapOfPlanet.jpg)
I see 5 of 7 factions all on the southern hemisphere of Planet. This should mean that Morgan and Lal have plenty of space to expand. But since the do not show up as powerfull factions I have to believe they're either at war against each other or are cuddling mindworms all the time. I'm curious what its up there and I'm more eager to get Doctrine Flexibility that ever since there should be plenty of free land in the north.

Title: Cleaning up
Post by: Eadee on July 18, 2015, 01:14:24 AM

Finally its reasonable to attack that laser-squad:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.12_FightResult.jpg)
We got Lasers, they got Synthmetal-Armor. But we get the atackerbonus. The odds the game showed were 35:32 or something like that. I still don't know how to read these odds sine a 2:1 is almost a certain win and not a 1/3 chance to loose. So if someone can enlighten me I'd be very happy about that.

Now lets get rid of that colonypod:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.13_DestroyPodAndProbe.jpg)
Killing that pod will hurt him a lot, even though I think Miriam would've done it a turn later if we spared the pod now.

Return to base:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.14_FarmAndSupport.jpg)
While our former improves those nutrient ressources our troops return. I set Song of Planet as their new homebase (ctrl+h) because Nessus Shining is loosing minerals for supporting many units while Song of Planet still has two free support slots.

Title: Governing Industry
Post by: Eadee on July 18, 2015, 01:32:00 AM

Former finished at Lily of the Valley:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.15_FormerSolarAndNode.jpg)
We instantly make use of that energy ressource and continue with a network node since it'll be soon our 2 in 1 Building.

And since we have some spare EC:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.16_HurryTanks.jpg)
We can now hurry those tanks at Song of Planet to boost the base in the contested area.

Oh wait, I have to make a break here, phone call.

Nevermind, its Yang, I'll include that call:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.17_YangCalling.jpg)
I just hope he doesn't want to borrow my spade as well.

(click to show/hide)

So he wants a pact:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.18_PactTechLeader.jpg)
Okay, I don't have a screenshot here, but you have to believe me, I'm pretty sure I saw Yang is tech-leader right now. So if we pact with him, we might get a nice tech or two. I'll accept since 25 EC are nice and there's no way we would prosper in peace with Miriam for long anyways.
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.19_NoTrade.jpg)
Sadly he doesn't want anything we have, I asked he should name a price.
So lets end this conversation. And give him that spade already, he really needs it to burrow Miriams grave.

Scout Patrol is nice:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.20_PlasmaSentinels.jpg)
But if we design a prototype in the workshop...:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.21_Expensive.jpg)
... then we still lack the money to upgrade that scout patrol -.- nevermind.

On the central island:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.22_RoverAndNode.jpg)
Our scout defense finished and we continue with the Network Node for reasons you should know by now.

On our home island:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.23_HurryAndFungus.jpg)
We can now hurry those tanks as well since we got enough bucks from Yang. Meanwhile our former is on fungus-removal-duty to plant another forest and build those roads we need.

Title: A little Remindworm
Post by: Eadee on July 18, 2015, 01:49:52 AM

Next Turn, next Tech:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.24_IndustrialEconomics.jpg)
I don't think we need Free Market or Energy Banks soon. But the bonus money from Pacts might be helpful.

Changes in production:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.25_ProductionProduction.jpg)
Virgin Soil finished its Network Node and builds another Former. The Flowers Preach finished their tanks and will now continue with the node as usual.

Between Turns:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.26_MindwormsAndStats.jpg)
Mindworms appear! Finally after 54 turns of playing Gaians we encounter our first native lifeforms (am I doing it wrong?).
I always like Mindworms, i mean, either you get a free unit or you get free EC, where's the catch?
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.27_MindwormsCaptured.jpg)
Oh, there it is, nevermind then. ;)

Title: Exploration
Post by: Eadee on July 18, 2015, 10:30:15 PM

So there was one Unitypod left at the central island:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.28_EnergyRessources.jpg)
With a lot of EC and an energy ressource on top of it.  ;morgan; would like it. I do too, since we might want to hurry stuff soon.

First Probe Team:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.29_ProbeTeam.jpg)
I forgot to mention it earlier, but there is an image where you can see we were building a probe team. Its supposed to do two things. First of all exploit Zakharovs weakness and steal some tech. Second (and that might be even more important to me on a personal level) to rub Miriam in that she has no probes while we do  ;lol
Well, now its on its way, while the Former finished a farm on the nutrient ressource and Nessus Shining builds its Network Node.

Santiago calling, gotta take that call:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.30_SpartanCall.jpg)
Diplomacy:

(click to show/hide)

She wants to talk to Yang:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.31_YangsFrequency.jpg)
Oh, he still has your hedge trimmer? Sure, here's his number. Good Luck! I'll take these 30 EC to buy me a new lawn mower.

Spartan Pride:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.32_HowImpressive.jpg)
Okay those Rovers are pretty impressive. Do they drive on top of the oceans ground? Then how are they supposed to threat me anyways? I don't see any indication you even got a single foil.

Aggression:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.33_WhySoMad.jpg)
She seems to be really upset right now. Usually I won't give her any tech because she doesn't seem to be a threat at all. But since Polymorphic Software is such a stupid tech (in my oppinion) I just take the chance to soothe her a little with some artillery-tech.

Scouting complete:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.34_ScoutingComplete.jpg)
Now we have a complete map of our central island. Its nice and has place for about two other bases. Remember me to build more colonypods, we should've never stopped expanding anyways!

Title: Probe action
Post by: Eadee on July 18, 2015, 10:46:13 PM

Third Former finished:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.35_FormerToParadigm.jpg)
That may be sufficient for this small island (usually I build one former per base, no matter what). Virgin Soil now will work on the Weather Paradigm. The terraforming rate isn't as important. But we really want the ability to build Condensers and Echolon-mirrors as well as Boreholes asap. And on this map the "raise terrain" terraforming action might be a real jackpott. The weather paradigm will grant us all of those possibilities so here we go!

Just when our Probe wanted to have some fun:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.36_CallAgent.jpg)
He does look like a call agent, right? Tell me its not only me. So lets take that call and then send our Agent.
Diplomacy:

(click to show/hide)

(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.37_FunnyZak.jpg)
Well, if you had been that funny at our prom I'd've never ditched you in the first place Z. Seriously  ;lol

Probe Team! Do your thing!
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.38_StealingTech.jpg)
We steal tech because the chances that Z has a lot of EC lying around is quite bad, and since we won't attack soon we won't need any sabotage yet.
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.39_Success.jpg)
Success! And our Probe Team even survived.

Here's what we got:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.40_FieldModulation.jpg)
Thats uhm.... something. meh... the resonance armor would be nice against psi-attacks, but since there seems almost no native life on this map we could just go with our Plasma Steel. Well, it gets us further up in the tech tree... thats something.

Overview of Gaian Territory in Year 2160
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.41_Planet2160.jpg)
I get the feeling Miriam is getting a bit out of hand. We should do something about her hair. Erm... I mean about her, but both is a priotity in the end. Maybe we should take these EC and switch to police state now so we can spam troops at her while we expand at the central island. If she gets Flexibility before us and teams up with Santiago that might be scary.
I'm curious what will happen.

Title: Espionage
Post by: Eadee on July 21, 2015, 10:15:15 PM

Network Node finished:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.42_SentinelAndFormer.jpg)
Since we'll need more than one unit to defend four bases in the long run, we start on the Plasma-Sentinel prototype. Meanwhile our Former gets rid of that Fungus, we can't risk spawning mindworms on such a small island.

Hey Zakharov...:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.43_SecondProbe.jpg)
...our Probe Team left something in your labs when they visited last time. Would you mind if they stop by and get it?

Lets see:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.44_NoTech.jpg)
Well, thats sad, we probably should leave him alone for a while. Maybe he comes up with a new burger-recipe we can steal soon. :o
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.45_UniversityMap.jpg)
Yupp, he doesn't even have a second base, I almost feel bad for him. But he seems to control the manifold Nexus, what means he could capture mindworms any turn since this Landmark grants +1PLANET in social engineering.

But there's even more to see:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.46_BasesUniScouting.jpg)
Looks like the University scoutet for us where we could put our next base. We'll move our Scout Patrol there to guard the tile we want to settle on.
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.47_PodFinally.jpg)
Don't forget to build that Colonypod, otherwise our scout will wait forever. Man, expanding feels good, should've never stopped this (is it me or do I sound like an addict?).

Lots of things happening:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.48_SpiesAndProductions.jpg)
While we move to the Believers base because the University isn't that fast on burger-recipes, the University seems to send a Probe-Team to OUR base. And I have the feeling they won't just stop by to say hello. Nessus Shining begins to work on another defensive Unit since Miriam is getting dangerous. and Dreams of Green is working on our second colonypod so we can claim the whole central island as our own.

Things are getting serious:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.49_BelieverTech.jpg)
Can't believe I'm doing this, but she IS the most dominant AI, so it's reasonable to assume she might have a tech we do not.
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.50_DoctrineFlexibility.jpg)
YES! I mean NO! I mean BOTH!
Its great we get Doctrine Flexibility, we really need it. But this means Miriam already has it, she might already load her first ships to attack our bad defended home island. But its not very likely she built a navy since she has enough land borders with enemies, so no need to worry too much.
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.51_ProbeLost.jpg)
Well, they did their best. Infiltrating the Believers is never fun, but they did it. They had success and maybe saved us all from an impending naval invasion. Good work, you will be remembered.

But I also remember another Probe Team:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.52_StopProbe.jpg)
The risk of leaving our base one turn undefended is much smaller then what the University might do to our base. So we commence the attack and whipe out those filthy spies.

Title: Expansion and Defense
Post by: Eadee on July 21, 2015, 10:32:18 PM

Year 2168:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.53_ProductionsAndStats.jpg)
Nessus Shining finished its Plasmasteel Sentinel and builds another colonypod. Song of Planet finished its pod a second ago and builds Recreation Commons. Since it grows faster than most of our cities it'll have to cope with more drones so we need the commons even though we're close to the border.
Meanwhile Miriam is almost as powerfull as we are. I'm afraid things are getting ugly soon.

Moooore Bases:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.54_MoreBasesMooooore.jpg)
Annother Colonypod finished, what do we build next? Correct! Another one. Its impressive what our once cursed pod accomplished so far. The spot shown will be our next base because it gets all three special ressources, what I find is pretty neat.

The Forests expanded:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.55_TerraformingAndSkimship.jpg)
So our Formers move on and build that last road towards The Flowers Preach. Wich is THE base where we build our first Laser Skimship. I honestly can't wait to get my hands on some more unity-pods!

Greenhouse Gate:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.56_GreenhouseGate.jpg)
As usual we immediatly buy the Recycling Tanks to give this base a nice boost. You can also see the Former working on a mine for Song of Planet.

Finished Plasmasteel Sentinels:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.57_SkimprobeSpartaBelievers.jpg)
And we go for a Skimship Probe. Either we use it to spy against Sparta or against this Believer-threat. They're as powerfull as we are now. :/

We have to stop this now:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.58_BattlePlans.jpg)
This is the enemy, and we will go to war soon. As soon as Nessus Shining builds its colonypod we'd better focus on Military units. We might need better weapons though. But I see a chance to coast-bombard / coast-probe their HQ wich might be helpful.

Title: War Preparations pt I
Post by: Eadee on July 29, 2015, 01:20:57 PM

Shiny Happy People:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.59_DroneRiots.jpg)
Our first Drone Riots! it took a while but sadly the Weather Paradigm suffers from these Riots so we have to end them now, no time to wait for the Virtual World to take care of this.
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.60_DealWithDrone.jpg)
Since we don't want this Base to grow even more until wie managed our drone problem, we take a worker off of the food production. This way the base won't grow anytime soon and all citizens are happy for now.

War Preparations:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.61_ProdForTerCol.jpg)
Song of Planet just finished its recreation commons. If we had better weapons we would build military units now. But our lasers won't impress Miriam in any ways, so we go for a probe team for now. Nessus Shining finished its colonypod and builds its commons. Our Former finished the road at the mine (if you have no road at a tile with a mine you mine one mineral less) and continues with a farm to max out the tile for now. The colonypod is on its way through the woods wich just happened to expand on their own again.

Title: War Preparations pt II
Post by: Eadee on July 29, 2015, 01:30:42 PM

That was close:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.62_ZakEscape.jpg)
So Miriam didn't manage to capture Zakharov, that is good news (I think). However I had no idea this still happens so "late" in the game.

Social Engineering I:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.63_PoliceState.jpg)
You can see a Sealurk that appeared near our base. Sadly those DO attack coastal cities. However it reminds me that we need a stronger military, so we're switching to Police State now to be able to handle 4 Units per base. We will switch from Planned to Simple to avoid inefficiency, but we will wait another turn before we do that because switching two SE-choices in one turn is far more expensive than switching them one by one.

Foil finished:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.64_LurkCaptured.jpg)
Now I really didn't think about it, but YES! Thats the reason to play Gaian. Free military units!

Founding of Autumn Grove:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.65_AutumnGrove.jpg)
The usual Insta-Tanks, nothing to see here.

Another popup:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.66_MorganHumanGenome.jpg)
To bad, I think we might want to build the HGP as well since it gives Protection from the prometeus-virus. But other projects have priority, Morgan is still weak, so we might catch up to him on this.

Title: A lot of Lurking
Post by: Eadee on July 29, 2015, 01:37:25 PM

Here's the awesome thing:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.67_LurkPod.jpg)
Usually I won't open a unity-pod with the last movement of a naval unit, since Isles of deep are pretty damn often in those things. BUT if I remember correctly, all native lifeforms do not attack other native lifeforms, even if they belong to a faction. So if our lurk triggers an isle of deep, the isle won't attack so we can be the agressor next turn wich gives a huge bonus in PSI-combat.

Lets see whats in there:

(click to show/hide)

(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.68_DoubleLurk.jpg)
Man, as I foretold another native lifeform xD . Man we really got lucky here!

Lurking around we find another one:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.69_DoublePod.jpg)
Lets open that next unitypod as well:

(click to show/hide)

(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.70_FreeEC.jpg)
Thats quite nice, this pod just payed for our changes in Social Engineering. Not the best outcome, but MUCH better than lets say... sonar data.

Title: War Preparations pt III
Post by: Eadee on July 29, 2015, 01:46:28 PM

Social Engineering:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.71_Simple.jpg)
Now we switch back to simple economics, we just want the money and the research more than the growth at the moment.

Before I end this part I want to see if we could get some better weapons from Yang, we really need them against Miriam, and since Yang is our Pactbrother he probably will give us a tech if he has one.
Diplomacy:

(click to show/hide)

(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.72_TechsYang.jpg)
Hey, he just offered it by himself! Nice, no reason to ask myself. Deal!
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.74_TheMoneys.jpg)
Okay, usually I don't tend to lend money to other factions, since they ALWAYS betray you before you get any profit out of it. But in this case, every EC I give to Yang will work against Miriam, what is what I really want. So deal.
And, since you intend to return those EC... how about that lawn mower?

(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.73_NonlinearMathematics.jpg)
Now we have the Tech to start an offensive:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.75_Overview2176.jpg)
Song of Planet immediatly changes production to Impact Rover. Autumn Grove works on a Former. Our Probes prepare the attack. And our Navy is on its way south to spread terror in new Jerusalem!

Title: Strange things happening
Post by: Eadee on August 06, 2015, 11:06:42 PM

Incoming Transmission:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.76_ShutUp.jpg)
Okay, I'm tired of  ;miriam; tell her I'll call back... sometime... maybe.
Diplomacy:

(click to show/hide)

I said NO!  :mad:

Newsflash:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.77_HiveLoosesHQ.jpg)
Okay, she seems mad I didn't answer her call, maybe she's trying to get my loan mower back for me, so we can be friends?
Well I doubt it, so we still need to do something against her.

Get her units:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.78_OhProbe.jpg)
Well, we lack the EC to do that. So, nevermind, we'll find another target.

SUDDENLY! AN ARTIFACT:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.79_SuddenlyArtifact.jpg)
Now I'm seriously confused. Where the... where does this come from? Is the save corrupted? Did I forget about an Artifact since the last play? PLEASE, IF SOMEBODY HAS AN IDEA WHERE THIS ARTIFACT COMES FROM... TELL ME!

Enough yellin I'll just use it... there's surely an explanation:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.80_LinkIt.jpg)
And we get:

(click to show/hide)

(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.81_OpticalComputers.jpg)
Wow... it gave us... well... nothing but a blurb text. I thought I would feel bad in the case this artifact indeed appeared because of a corrupted savegame... now I think "meh".

Next I'm gonna open these two Unity-Pods:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.82_TwoPods.jpg)
And here's what we got:

(click to show/hide)

(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.83_FarmsGreat.jpg)
OMG FARMS!!! WE WON THE GAME! KELP FARMS ARE OP! WEEE! </irony> I think I have to repeat myself: "meh"
Next one:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.84_IsleOfDeep.jpg)
Uh okay, good we didn't get this one with our Foil, otherwise we would be attacked by this Isle of deep.

(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.85_Noooooes.jpg)
Wait what? :o why did it attack? native lifeforms do not attack other native lifeforms... do they? I'm confused again... does this rule only apply to mindworms? Or have I been just a really lucky guy that they never attacked my Mindworms? Man, if someone can help me out here that'd be awesome.

They're injured, so its time to strike back:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.86_Yeeeeees.jpg)
Nice! I didn't think It'd work but here we have an isle of deep and two mindworm boils under our control.

Title: Secrets
Post by: Eadee on August 06, 2015, 11:26:13 PM

Back at home:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.87_ProdFormStats.jpg)
Laser Skimship completed. Changing to Impact-Skimship prototype. Meanwhile the Road to The Flowers Preach is almost done and Miriam has become the most powerful person on Planet. We only top her in tech and Morgan in wealth. God I hate mondays... its monday, don't listen to the others.

At the Front:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.88_NavySpiesFormer.jpg)
The Navy is on its way as well as our spies. Our Former builds another Forest, not only for the ressources, also to slow down Believer-Rovers (thats the reason why we won't be building a road here).

Discovery:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.89_SecretsOfTheHumanBrain.jpg)
Well, Hypnotic trance is a nice ability for our Police-units. But we won't go Fundamentalism so Secrets of the Human Brain is just....
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.90_WaitWhat.jpg)
omg... really? How? This must be a joke.  8) Okay we just discovered Secrets of the Human Brain as the first faction of all... and we didn't even try! I never thought this would work but... lets see what our free tech is:

(click to show/hide)

(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.91_EthicalCalculus.jpg)
Ethical Calculus is just awesome. We get closer to Gene Splicing (wich will allow us to get 3+ Nutrients per square) and it gives us children's Chreches. So we can improve our growth again without going Planned (wich would hurt our energy income). Democracy is just no option, we need the free minerals in new bases and we really want four supported units per base if we go to war Democracy would not only have a -2 penalty on Support itself, it would also force us to abandon Police-state wich gives us a +2 bonus to Support. That would lead to only one Unit per base supported (meaning we lose minerals if we "just" want to have one defensive unit and one former per base) AND we wouldn't get any free minerals in new bases, which would make insta-tanks impossible to pay for.

Setup our new base:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.92_LastRoseOfSummer.jpg)
Last Rose of Summer gets founded. Insta-Tanks as always and you can see our former, working on a mine for The Flowers Preach. This base is going to build a lot of ships now, so more minerals come in handy.

Title: First offensive
Post by: Eadee on August 06, 2015, 11:41:20 PM

Our Probe is ready:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.93_ProbeMiriam.jpg)
I know we are tech leader, and Miriam is probably not having any tech we want. Also Morgan is Wealth leader, I think Miriam wastes all her money on military units, so stealing tech or money would probably be a waste. This base doesn't even have a perimeter defense (we can tell that from the base-graphics) so sabotage wouldn't help much either.
So I choose to do something I rarely do. Infiltrate their Datalinks to see if they have any allies I have to deal with.

Probe-Report:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.94_Infiltration.jpg)
Okay, she does have some money... maybe we should've stolen some EC instead. However, we see that Santiago is her PACT SISTER! Omg we have to change that somehow. She doesn't seem to know anyone besides Yang, Santiago and Us, so I think no other faction should interfere on her side. Also the List of Techs tells us that it was a good idea not to steal any research data, we would've gotten a pretty crappy map-update.

PSI-Bombardment:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.95_PSIBombardment.jpg)
I bombarded once with the laser-skimship, but it did NOTHING. Now its time to find out how awesome Sealurks are:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.96_CloseWin.jpg)
That'd be pretty awesome. The lurk almost died, but it got a Lifecycle upgrade and it defeated the last defender in that base. To bad that there's another one just one move away.

Before ending the turn we change our priorities to build:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.97_ProdPodResearch.jpg)
This way we get a better chance for getting Gene Splicing soon. Also our Colonypod on the central island finished, its now on his way to build the last base here and Dreams of Green is going for a Childrens Creche so it can grow faster.
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.97_ProdPodResearch.jpg)

Title: Re: AAR: Eco-Terrorism?
Post by: Eadee on February 18, 2016, 09:34:59 PM

So lets go on... must've napped for a few minutes there, but now I'm back on track!
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.99_2179.jpg)
This is the status at end of year 2179. War going on on the coast, war preparations on Land. A colonypod looking for a place to settle down (in a region that only contains rocky squares and fungus... I haven't thought that thru... I blame our colony-pod-curse!).

Lets see what year 2180 brings:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/01.98_VirtualWorld.jpg)
The Virtual World. Perfect. Now we will have no drone problems for a few decades AND we won't have to pay extra upkeep for those holo-theatres either.
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/02.00_MirWeather.jpg)
well, I think we work on that porject already for some time, so we won't have to be afraid of Miriam there, I "believe".

Production-Spoiler:

(click to show/hide)

Gaias Landing:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/02.01_GLprod.jpg)
Finished the Virtual World. Now it needs a Network Node to actually profit from its bonus.


Song of Planet:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/02.03_SoPprod.jpg)
Finished our Impact-Rover Prototype! We can now build them much faster. However we need a defensive unit in our attacker-stack, unless we want our troops to become toast. Therefore we start on a Plasma Defense.


Nessus Shining:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/02.02_NSprod.jpg)
just finished Recreation commons we won't need any more for now. But we won't recycle them now, since we would have to build them again later.


Last Rose of Summer:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/02.04_LRoSprod.jpg)
Finished the Recycling Tanks and continues with a Former, we need to improve some tiles out here.


Lily of the Valley:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/02.05_LotVprod.jpg)
Produced a Skimship Probe and goes on with a Childrens Creche. We can use that growth, 33 turns to grow to size 4 is just inacceptable.

Now we just have to move some units:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/02.06_2180.jpg)
Probes on their way, Ships on their way. Former and Colonypod get into position. Not much to say about it.
Oh, I forgot to mark the movement here but our two mind-worms just made a move onto that monolith north of Social Artery and got an upgrade in Lifecycle.

Title: Re: AAR: Eco-Terrorism?
Post by: Eadee on February 18, 2016, 11:48:32 PM

Moving on to MY 2181!
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/02.07_MirAt.jpg)
Miriam attacks us but our mindworms survive the assault heavily damaged.

Now its time to strike!
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/02.08_MinAt.jpg)
I failed to capture the combat itself -.- but after our Laser Skimship weakened their defenses, the unharmed mindworm boil was able to defeat their city-defenses. We will use the weakened boil to capture Social Artery, this way the boil will get a full heal. We could also investigate the monolith for the full heal, but that'd mean we had to pass on capturing that base. So...
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/02.09_SoArCon.jpg)
Social Artery has a monolith in range and a 2nutrients1mineral tile that miriam prepared for us. Sometimes she isn't as bad as you might think. Ha! Joking :D
However its important to get defenses up in this base since Miriam could attack from north and from south as well.

Meanwhile on the central island there's the cursed pod dilemma again:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/02.10_CPDilemma.jpg)
This view can be toggled if you have installed PRACX. It doesn't change gameplay so its no cheating, but its really helping to see the problem:
The plan was to settle to the West of this island. Sadly there's only one non-rocky non-fungal tile left. And this one tile is the best tile to work on for a early base since it gives two nutrients to allow fast grow, but also gives some minerals. So, we don't want to "loose" that tile by settling there... do we?

That leads to the question what to do with the Colony Pod:
a) Embark pod and ship it to a new island! Worked out the last time.
b) Flatten Terrain to get a base on the 1mineral tile west of the pod.
c) Remove fungus to the northwest of the pod to settle there.
d) Settle on the good tile anyways, we can easily make the tile south of the pod into a 2n1m in even less time than we need to remove fungus or flatten terrain, and while we are on it the base can already start to grow a little.

If someone has an even better idea I'd be glad if it would be shared in the comments thread.
For now I'll move the colonypod into safety in Dreams of Green until we have decided what to do.


End of MY 2181:
(http://www.mypnp.de/SMAC/02.11_2181.jpg)
Our Impact Rover and Probe Team in the north advance.
The injured Isle of deep seeks refuge in Nessus Shining
The Attacks on Social Artery were already covered in the section above, while our Sealurk chills in fungus to heal up.
Meanwhile our Former on the eastern Island moves into position to complete our road-network and our probe skimship advances to prepare infiltration of Sparta Command.

Title: Re: AAR: Eco-Terrorism?
Post by: Eadee on March 18, 2016, 10:36:29 PM

As I announced on the comment-thread, this AAR is now offically on a hiatus.

You'll find the first and the latest sav-file as an attachment to this post if you want to play this game on your own.