AAR 6 - Final Doom

[ete]

I'm very curious to see what everyone's empires look like. I have no probe tech which is extremely frustrating, so no infiltration or mapstealing. Locusts give decent scouting, but it's just not as good as infiltration.

Oh, and Jarl, good luck. You're right in the path of the Exterminatus.

And I'm in the path of the Stranded. *crosses fingers that Yitzi can't do extreme damage in 20 turns*

And sorry BlueFlux.. You kinda got the short end of the stick there. I think playing first may have been a disadvantage, unlike what Green1 had planned. You don't have as much you can do to optimize, and with a fairly balanced faction against all of our monsters.. you needed every advantage you could get. Hopefully your last base will live through to next play, but if not maybe you could take over University, or actually..

Why don't you take over the Annihilators, assuming I'm not back in time to play? They should be in an at least decent position, unless Yitzi really crushes into them, or Green1 goes for a massive distance invasion. If you do, just build a ton of bases, and sell almost all defensive units (right click->disband on the base screen) if there are any. Always more bases and SPs as Annihilators, and try really hard to probe everyone if you can get probe tech somehow.

[ete]

And I forgot to say, Jarl, I like your AAR style a lot. Your faction seems to be in a decent position, especially given the tough start. I wish you the best of luck against Green1's hordes. And I guess the Annihilator ones if the AI turns it's attentions on you.

[Yitzi]

I'm very curious to see what everyone's empires look like. I have no probe tech which is extremely frustrating, so no infiltration or mapstealing. Locusts give decent scouting, but it's just not as good as infiltration.

Oh, and Jarl, good luck. You're right in the path of the Exterminatus.

And I'm in the path of the Stranded. *crosses fingers that Yitzi can't do extreme damage in 20 turns*

The Stranded aren't very good at attacking.

And Green, do you want to go next?  If not, I am not going to hold back to make sure you have a turn (though being under assault from the Annihilators I may not be able to do that much)...

[ete]

True, but you have Jungle backing you, and some really big probably full of facilities bases (though they must be totally supply blocked, the garrison you have in some bases is just absurd, though it did save you from the Locusts), and AI tactical ability is near zero. I bet with bombardment you'd be able to trade very efficiently, and at least take the bases to the east. I did actually slow you down a lot, you'd have had at minimum five more bases and much better teraforming if I had not been constantly killing your pods and formers, and doing bombing runs on your teraforming improvements. I slowed the Exterminatus a bit too (4-5 formers, 3 sea formers, a crawler, and three sea bases), but they were much more resilient thanks to that huge psi bonus and further away.

I wonder who going first would be better for me.. You'd be able to defend yourself much better than the AI, but the Annihilators are not in a position to attack right now since all of their bases are brand new. I'd guess you going first gives you a better chance of forcing me back a long way and should almost guarantee you the eastern bases/land, while you going in 20 turns gives you a better chance of weathering the storm when the Annihilators start really pumping units, and gives you more to work with since the AI will have had a chance to redo basic teraforming and build a few more bases which it's been trying to.

[JarlWolf]

If the Exterminatus are in my way, at least I'll have an enemy to fight. The Fascists NEED an enemy or else they suffer stagnation- they need to conquer to expand, they are very much like  in the sense that they need to conquer to progress. Except its less so religious beliefs and skepticism to tech holding them back its the fact their population doesn't grow very well.

Also, am I allowed to play my turn next? Whose turn is it?

[Yitzi]

True, but you have Jungle backing you, and some really big probably full of facilities bases (though they must be totally supply blocked, the garrison you have in some bases is just absurd, though it did save you from the Locusts), and AI tactical ability is near zero. I bet with bombardment you'd be able to trade very efficiently, and at least take the bases to the east. I did actually slow you down a lot, you'd have had at minimum five more bases and much better teraforming if I had not been constantly killing your pods and formers, and doing bombing runs on your teraforming improvements. I slowed the Exterminatus a bit too (4-5 formers, 3 sea formers, a crawler, and three sea bases), but they were much more resilient thanks to that huge psi bonus and further away.

I wonder who going first would be better for me.. You'd be able to defend yourself much better than the AI, but the Annihilators are not in a position to attack right now since all of their bases are brand new. I'd guess you going first gives you a better chance of forcing me back a long way and should almost guarantee you the eastern bases/land, while you going in 20 turns gives you a better chance of weathering the storm when the Annihilators start really pumping units, and gives you more to work with since the AI will have had a chance to redo basic teraforming and build a few more bases which it's been trying to.

I think it's really up to Green whether to change the order and let Exterminatus go first.

And JarlWolf, we're figuring out whether next is Exterminatus or Stranded; after that comes the other ones (if they're still alive), and then Red Unit before we go back to Fascists.  (Warning: For story reasons, the Stranded are not likely to be very friendly to the Fascists.)

[ete]

Yea, but the Exterminatus is.. really not someone you want to go up against as a remotely balanced faction. They took one of MY bases, and they're halfway across Planet. Though to be fair it was just me pushing my luck with zero defense bases that let them take it.. but anyway. You could win, but Green1's taking a turn before you, and it'll be tough to survive that in the position you're in currently if he goes all out. If you do get eliminated, you're also welcome to take my turns while I'm away.

It's either Green1's or Yitzi's, then the other one of them, then BlueFlux (if he's sticking with Red Unit, and if Red Unit survives), then you.

[JarlWolf]

The fascists are pretty strong militarily- they got gatling lazer and plasma steel stuff, and nerve gas stuff to boot with artillery. Its just economically... gaaaaah.

They just need an enemy then their training and everything else can get them going.

[ete]

You actually have three enemies you could fight, if you survive to your next turn. You could attack the Annihilators or Stranded via that fungus infested passage, though fighting the Annihilators in fungus is possibly an even worse idea than fighting the Exterminatus since you'd lose your weapon advantage entirely vs psi, and you currently have a treaty. I blocked that passage off with three bases to be safe :p.

The Stranded.. could be hard to fight, depending on what Yitzi does in his turn. Right now it's five really huge packed bases, and almost nothing else. I imagine it'll grow massively, and their free tacheon+singularity reactors will make them hard to battle, but very much worth probing.



The Exterminatus area I've not fully explored, but seems to be very well connected to you, and pushing them back just one base would give you the Manifold Nexus for +1 Planet. It'd even be possible to take some transports and go kill the University, they have a lot of tech and a SP worth plundering (Command Nexus), and would put up much less of a fight than anyone else.

[JarlWolf]

Definitely things to consider... though I am acting on Warrick's knowledge, so I'll have to "discover it" as I go ingame.

[ete]

I think you can consider this.. trading map data, as part of our treaty :p. I've seen yours, due to your part of the AAR, and now you see mine.

Though I guess the transmissions must be very poorly encrypted, because everyone else also sees them.

[JarlWolf]

There is a significant portion of playing upon the honour system with this... we are expected to act on our ingame knowledge.

I'll at least stick to that because honour is very important to me as a person... on that note though, I might do a map trade... it'd make sense that Warrick would try and get map info. I just wish the AI wasn't so blatantly stupid, trading for credits. That frustrates me a lot, the Fascists don't need heaps of credits they need enemies and advantages with them...

[Buster's Uncle]

There's an insight about fascists in general - they need enemies to work, by the nature of the thing.

[JarlWolf]

Yup... its very accurate and to be frank I portray all factions as to what they are.

Even my CC's are not exempt from this- I can't give too many spoilers but the whole violent proletarian revolt that the CC's represent is well, violent. And when you have a class struggle, its directly that- it doesn't matter about how good of a person either side is, they are going to clash. And lives, families, and societies will be ruined from it as people try to shift the balance and level the playing field, but that's the cost of their revolt and reaching a new paradigm of society...

And that's something even as a diehard communist I want to portray... speaking of which.... I must do something.

[Flux]

And sorry BlueFlux.. You kinda got the short end of the stick there. I think playing first may have been a disadvantage, unlike what Green1 had planned. You don't have as much you can do to optimize, and with a fairly balanced faction against all of our monsters.. you needed every advantage you could get. Hopefully your last base will live through to next play, but if not maybe you could take over University, or actually..

Why don't you take over the Annihilators, assuming I'm not back in time to play? They should be in an at least decent position, unless Yitzi really crushes into them, or Green1 goes for a massive distance invasion. If you do, just build a ton of bases, and sell almost all defensive units (right click->disband on the base screen) if there are any. Always more bases and SPs as Annihilators, and try really hard to probe everyone if you can get probe tech somehow.

Yeah, I'll stick with my trusty RUnit. Honestly, what I'm most worried about is the AI losing my last base. I mean, Ivana ignored your transmission (which I hope with what you said afterwards was for peace) so that means your still in a great position to go and attack what remains of us. My allies aren't helping either, from what I can tell. I probably did get the short end of the stick, but better me than someone else, right? I'm for the RUnit if it miraculously survives Final Doom. Otherwise I'm probably going for the Stranded. I feel bad for them, stuck in a worthless rock. Hopefully they get strong and defend themselves from the Exterminatus.  It looks like your annihilators may be stuck in a see-saw battle between the Exteriminatus, with the Stranded going either way and the Fascists waiting out the storm.  But that is pure speculation.
I hope that Green1 and Yitzi have a little sympathy for me if they come upon my lone base.

Also, nice AAring comapared to me! I can't wait to see how this plays out.