Conniving Multiplayer - Game 3

[Nevill]

NB: Howell wasn't part of the alliance against you. Although sympathetic, he wasn't involved. By the way, what were you planning with that base holding three impact rovers and building an isle of the deep?

Howell sold me some tech in the 20s, on a 'I will owe you a favor' promise. I could only repay him in the 60s with a Resonanse Armor tech I stole from Progenitors. Sparta is not good with research.

Surprisingly, it was Yang who traded me Seafaring for the same tech in 2165. That was what gave me access to the seas and ultimately lead to the demise of the Drones from whom I stole Naval Supremacy after a gratuitous battle and then used it to invade Lal.

As for the base, believe me or not, I was not planning to do anything. Well, I was going to infiltrate him, of course, but for me to attack you have to take action against me, first. So I just sat there, especially since I was aware of his rockets in Shorty's territory, waiting for the other shoe to drop. When I saw he wasn't keen on openly engaging me, I took the rovers and started moving them to Shorty's territory on the other side of the globe, thinking about conquering him. Those rovers were Elite ones, and I wanted the extra movement points to serve some purpose.

If Howell attacked, it could have been a different story, of course.

[Pierce Ji-Yang]

So my overall strategy was to maintain a balance of power in the north between Nevill (Sparta), MercantileInterest (Drones), and Lal. I knew early on in the game that I had nobody to my East and if I was free to expand I could grow quite large while the others fought it out among themselves. See my initial start spot was pretty good and I grew some good size bases there. (I could not get my computer to screen shot so I took photos with my phone).

Early on I was able to restrict Lal's growth East towards me and I always kept Howell (Morgan) from moving South. So my denial strategy was working well. And then things started going down hill. First Nevill beat up the Drones and kicked him off the continent which left him a lot of open land. Second my Eastward expansion was restricted due to there being nothing but sand, rocks, and fungus. I was lucky to see a brown square let alone a green one, and not a nutrient resource to be found. I had to cut my way through fungus and plant forest just to get any resources at all. Bases were alright but I could not get them to grow due to the lack of resources.

At this point in time I saw that the Drones and Lal began population booming and increasing number of cities. I knew they were allied and that they could form a very powerful bloc. I did not want to go to war with them because then that would leave the Spartans unchecked to the North. So I decided to trade naval technology to the Spartans to get them into the sea and create conflict between those three factions.

It worked brilliantly, The Drones and Sparta went to war again with Lal backing the Drones. However, the plan had a fatal flaw. Nevill built the Vitro Fertilization Secret Project and the size of his empire exploded. It became very clear, very quickly that he would overwhelm both Lal and the the Drones. So I decided I needed to attack Neville to restore balance of power in the North. I begin building my armies and marching North. The issue was that Nevill was on the opposite side of the world from me and the logistics of getting there were a pain. I did not want to fight Nevill but at this point I had no choice.

However by 2187 Sparta had all but beaten the Drones and were well on their way to crush Lal. Nevill also had twice my population and number of cities and had the home defense advantage (especially when he conquered the perimeter defense wonder). I realized my attack would come to late and it would be me against Nevill and he would win in the long term fight so I reluctantly agreed with the other players and declared Nevill the victor (applause).

The last two pictures show my forces moving toward Nevill on the last turn of the game. 1st picture shows my Western force. I had recently taken the city in the bottom of the frame from the aliens and had only then built my connection road to it. It was in the corner of my empire and difficult to move large number of troops through. I knew reinforcement would be difficult. The intent was to take as many bases as quickly as possible before Nevill could mount a counterattack and then burn down the furthest bases and fall back into new fortified ones close to my border where I could resupply.

The second photo shows my Eastern forces. Not as many or as modern because the distances were greater and there were even fewer roads. There was a great distance between Nevill and I over there. The intent on this flank was to attack after the West struck and Nevill pulled his forces off in that direction.

I was about 6 turns to slow. If I had been faster I would have struck while Nevill was still engaged in the ocean with the Drones. I was Police State and was about to change to Power so I would have been immune to bribery and Nevill would not have had all the perimeter defenses. I also thought that Nevill would be a lot more likely to make peace with a multi front war going on.

Overall a fun game. Nevill did a fantastic job and even offered an alliance in the early game. However, I was interested in a single player victory compared to cooperative because I feel alliances of convenience instead of a pact to win the game make for a more interesting game.

Main Improvement: move Vitro Fertilization project farther back in the technology tree. It makes whoever builds it able to increase population at an incredible rate. I think Nevill won the game so fast because of that secret project.

I am interested to hear other players' strategies as well.

- Pierce Ji-Yang

[Nevill]

Right. AAR it is, then.

2101-2110. A fairly slow start. Found some nutrients near Sparta Command, but the location was dry, leaving it an unimpressing 2-1-0 tile. My rover revealed there was a Borehole Cluster not too far off, and found a monolith nearby, so I decided to place my second base right there on a river tile between the nutrient, the monolith, and a borehole.

My borders were closer than they were supposed to be, so naturally I went to scout in that direction.

2115. My third base was founded in the vicinity of three resourse bonuses.


And I had contact with the Drones and the Usurpers. Well, in truth I only saw an alien rover once, and then drove away immediately, but I knew where they were.

  Why hello there. Guess you now know which aliens we've met. Peace? War?
  123, 17. Found the Unity Wreckage. ;-) I'll give you the coordinates for Peacekeeper, Hive and Morganite HQ in exchange for Centauri Agriculture.
  Actually... give me the Unity chopper instead. Drive it to my HQ and select Transfer Unit from the menu. Then I'll give you CentAgr.
  Not worth it. Would rather keep my map private for the time being. And you haven't discovered anything. (Discovered anything on the map, that is. You don't, for example, know where to find the Usurpers? The chopper will be flying out to make contact with another faction.)
  I know pretty well where Usurpers are even though I have not found their bases (don't want to risk my only rover). Suit yourself, though. ;-)

Domai has offered a Pact, and, having no aggressive plans in the making, I accepted.

2120. Slowly learning new techs and building more bases. Yes, I know, this river delta looks very densely populated, but that's because this is the only nutrient bonus around for miles. I can't find another good spot for my new bases, so this is where I settle them.


At about this point the Drones started getting nervous for no discernible reason...

  We request your rover head north immediately. Your intrusion into our territory has raised suspicions at recent Union meetings.
  Due to direct violation of the Worker's Manifesto (Appendix D14: Visiting Hours) Unity Rover has been banished.
  You are aware I can't attack you while pacted, right? I do not appreciate being interrupted during a scouting mission. >:-( 
  The Union doesn't appreciate military grade forces spying upon its assets.

...culminating in the termination of the Pact to deport my rover. Alrighty.

2125 was a year of calm before the storm. I have suffered some setbacks due to a mindworm attack I wrote about in the beginning of the thread. This is why I have several rovers running around. Also, an Usurper scout went right up to my base and stood there for years, unnerving me with its presence, but never actually doing anything. Had to keep a unit there at all times to prevent them from launching a surprise attack.


It was also the golden era of diplomacy. Drones traded my frequencty to everyone, so comms were busy in the following years.

  Not interested in your map but giving us Centauri Seafaring would greatly improve our relations.
  Don't have it. Also, learning the tech on my own, so meh.

It was the 20s when our mutual falling out with the Drones started. They wanted to propose some kind of non-aggression treaty, and I was non-committal. Allowing them to completely ignore the military with their humongous Industry bonus would let them develop far faster than me. Why make life easier for them, I thought, especially after they already broke a Pact with me?

Negotiations were not going well with the rest of the players either.

  Hello Friend, do you want to trade?
  Hi. Depends on where you are. Let's exchange maps and then we'll see. Do you have any military tech?
  Military tech will not help us colonize this planet for the glory of the UN, perhaps you would like some recyling tanks or such?
  Maybe. What about map trade?
  No, maps are classified at the moment.

They traded between themselves, so I was left with no techs to offer them.

  Friend, do you have anything to offer in exchange?
  Depends. What you'd like?
  Fundamental Networks looks good.
  Pact, then?
  Treaty first, then I will consider a PACT later.
...
  I already have Fundamental Networks. Need another tech.
  No techs yet. If you give me one now I'll send you the next I discover.
  I'm the tech king now. It is unlikely that you will get a tech that I don't already have.
  Suit yourself then.

Yang proved similarly uncooperative.

  Hello there. Would you care for a Pact?
  A pact is acceptable.
  Whoa! that's some good start. Sooo... what do you want for Military Infrastructure. Or Industrial Base?
...
  No, really. How much for MilInf?
  Other tech.
  Don't have any. How about I send you next tech I discover?
  I believe fair trade requires payment up front.
  Well, my next tech is MilInf. So either I will owe you something, or I'll just tech up on my own
  ... (radio silence)

It was M.Y. 2126, right after I settled Bunker 118, when the Drones have treacherously struck!

They were armed with Lasers, and I had neither armor nor weapons to defend myself. They have caught me flat-footed.

Of course I have retaliated and killed the offending rover, but I still thought it to be a single act of sabotage and not a full-out war. My bases were still producing Colony Pods as if nothing happened, and I paid for this carelessness dearly as a new rover emerged near Sparta Command.

I had nothing to defend it with. The Drones even had the gall to taunt me about it! 
  You've attacked us. We're absolutely shocked. Why would you do such a thing?

However, it was also this year when I got the Military Infrastructure tech allowing me access to tier-2 weapons... and there was a scouting rover in the middle of the Drones' territory that Domai apparently didn't know about. Lucky break, I guess.

Also, Morgan has finally decided to trade me Reusable Genetics in advance. Small comfort, I guess. I could only repay him 40 years later.
  Okay, you talked me into it. Next tech I don't have or one favor. Hit ACCEPT OFFER and I will follow if those terms are agreeable.

And Lal warned me about the impending invasion... waiting just enough so it was too late to avert it. At that time I didn't know it, but it was him who sold the Drones the tech necessary to attack me.
  Watch out Colonel, the Steel Driving lunatics are making a war party against you!

I have to say, that particular stunt did a lot to determine my standing with the PeaceKeepers until the end of the game.

Year 2128 was an interesting one, as having no choice left after losing my Headquarters, I finally switched my entire production to churning out military units.


The first prototype blew the marauding rover out of the water.

Having several monoliths nearby, I could both heal and strenghten my units, so at least that was in my favor. However, my best bet was the hero guerilla rover, who snuck behind enemy lines and blew up a lone scout patrol while the bulk of the enemy forces marched onwards, leaving their rear unprotected.

Year 2129 had my rover standing ready to capture one of the best Drones' bases.

Seeing this, Domai attempted to offer peace...
  We have three cities with no formers. War distracts both of us from expansion, allowing the others to grow stronger. We humbly request a peace treaty

But of course I was too mad to really go for it. Early wars is something that we avoided in our old community, and for a good reason, since it always ended with the death of one of the players and the crippling of another. Always. The mutual threat of annihilation is what kept players from attacking each other, and that tradition was being kept for years. So there was no way I could accept any other outcome than a complete destruction of either faction.

However, I saw an opportunity to take their money and run with it, so I pretended to go along with the plan, requesting 25 credits in compensation only to attack the Drones anyway the moment they paid. That's what lead to the dispute at the beginning of the thread. It was ruled out as a home rule violation, and I returned the money next turn.

Making peace with the Drones and breaking it also had another effect. Domai was pacted with the rest of the human factions and they all declared war on me for 'bullying' their ally... much to their surprise. 

  Why did you declare war on me?
  You did, automatically, because you were pacted with the Drones. You still are.  
  I offered a pact with you, you did not want it!  I like pacts, more money via trade!
  Yes, money for you. There is nothing for me in it. Who traded the Drones their military tech, anyway?
  I gave them level 2 guns and I got their maps from it, what a steal! 

Okay, that does it! 

My first thought was to turn to Yang and make it my last action to screw the PeaceKeepers over.

  So I'm dead to the Drones aggression. Not a lot of bases left, but they have even less. I am giving you all I have and wish you luck. From my data, you are uniquely positioned to win the game if you rush Morgan.
  This should make you more defensible [sends Central Command Structure, the Hive starting tech]
  Ok. But at this point me and Drones are out of the game. Since you are way ahead, I am interested in you winning. Morgan and Lal are pacted with the Drones, which means I don't like them. Send me your map and I'll see about ruining their day.
...
  Would you trade me a map? I'd like to find where they are so that I could kill them.
  Not quite in the map trading mode. If you have tech I will trade.
  No techs. As I said, I can pledge satellite status.
  ... (radio silence)

Looks like no one wants me as a satellite either. That's just depressing.

By 2130s the Drones have decided to paradrop to a more hospitable environment, and even sent me their maps and gifted me their artifacts to help send them off.

  You'll need this. I've already traded it to everyone else. Didn't tell them you're receiving it too.
  Come and get me, coppers!
  Wait, how do you know the location of the Hive capital? And other capitals without map exchange? What sorcery is this?
  Take a look at square 109,19 [Unity Wreckage]. The first person to explore that sees the capitals of everyone who was on the Unity. (Not aliens or Planet Cult.) Guess you normally play SMAC. Now you know why I valued my maps so highly. Here, have my artifact too. Now, strike me down!

By that time my army of rovers grew quite substantial. I posted a screenshot of 7 or so of them together earlier in the thread.

And in 2133 I have finally obliged the Drones' request.


Leaving me with 3 support-crippled bases, no headquarters, a lot of military units and - as I thought - no hope of rebuilding. No ships to take the fight to the PeaceKeepers either. What am I to do with all those units? 

...a lone Usurper scout still stands on a cliff, observing the base below...

Hmmm...  I think I may have just got an idea!

[Nevill]

2143. The next 10 years saw me doing mostly 3 things.

Exploring the wasteland to the East:


Marauding Usurper lands to the West:


And expanding while embracing the Police State. I didn't rebuild the HQ, even though I was urged to. All I did was build Colony Pods non-stop. I have managed to trade the tech lifting the mineral restrictions, though, from none other than PeaceKeepers.

  I believe this might be level 2 armour, are you interested in a trade?
  [offer them the only thing I have, the Usurpers' comm frequency]
  I don't want the usurper comm frequency, the caretakers will take my head off if I talk to them! How about 150 credits? And you might want to build an HQ in order to reduce your inefficency.   
  I don't have 150 credits and I won't any time soon. And you might want to watch whom you trade laser tech so I would have HQ.
  I see, how about your maps then?
  That is satisfactory.

Yeah, I was salty. 

I didn't have a lot of formers (about 5, I think), so I placed my bases really close together because I needed them to share the few terraformed squares I had.

2151. However, this could not have lasted for long. Eventually, the Usurpers have caught up with the times and built a lot of armored units - far more than I had rovers. Not even monoliths could allow me to handle the numbers they threw at me. And alien AI spies with Psi armor and Antigrav Struts were a major nuisance. I only avoided them by banding several scout patrols or formers together to force them to go around and fall into prepared ambush spots.


A bit desperate for something to turn the tides, I sent out probes of my own in hopes of stealing their tier-4 weapon, High-Intensity Lasers. I didn't succeed, but this is what I got instead.


Hey, works for me!

Having got the means to actually talk to Progenitors, I initiated contact and we have worked out a truce with Marr in exchange for me 'betraying' Yang, with whom I was pacted the entire time.


This seemed to have caused a bit of confusion among human players.

2152. Next turn, I researched Lasers myself (that was my first tech since 2133)


I used the next few years of truce to rebuild the rover force and upgrade a few Elite units I have managed to acquire in the years of fighting. The war was about to get into its final stage.

Also, note the Unity Transport Foil to the bottom right. I found it in a pod and was intending to come check on PeaceKeepers with a few Elites. However...

2157. It was just not meant to be.


An earthquake caused by one of the pods made a mountain appear out of the ground and the transport ascended with it. RIP conquest plans.

Ah, well, I could always invade Usurpers again. I have amassed a big force in their territory, and would take their first base in 2160, followed by a total conquest in 2170. But that was still in the future.

As an anecdote, a few of my rovers got teleported to... various places. Including one that got dropped right on top of Morgan's HQ.


I had to deliberate whether or not to attack - its garrison was weak - but ultimately decided to maintain the truce we had. That lead to a hilarious miscommunication as when I didn't find it there the next turn I initially thought they bought it and only later realized they have deported it.

Here is the state of Secret Projects by M.Y. 2157:


Some of them were taken, and I didn't have production capabilities to start my own, trying to regain the lost momentum. That was alright. I only really wanted one project anyway.

[Buster's Uncle]

 

[MercantileInterest]

When the mountain erupted under your ship, did the troops inside the transport die?

Could we use the scenario editor to reveal the whole map, just from curiosity?

[Buster's Uncle]

That's where the colony pod in the second pic came from.  Lose a transport that way, and passengers are suddenly just standing there...

[Nevill]

Well, they were outside the transport, collecting the various pods, which was what caused the earthquake in the first place. But even if they were inside I do not believe that would cause them to disband. Land units autodisband when in sea tiles, and vice versa. Land units on a land tile should be perfectly fine.

You can reveal the map, of course, but it'd require all passwords. Speaking of which, mine is 'rovers'. Not very surprising, is it?

Collect all passwords, post them here, and I'll unlock the map in the scenario editor. Though the map we started on might not be the same we finished on, what with the terraforming changes.

Also, remember this?

Our favorite potato farm has dried up. Someone is going to pay dearly for this.

Somewhere between 2144 and 2151 some of my land became arid. I have no idea why. Did one of you guys build condensers or made any other planetary changes?

Edit:

That's where the colony pod in the second pic came from.  Lose a transport that way, and passengers are suddenly just standing there...

Nah, that's a legit Colony Pod that came out to colonize the new territory now that the PeaceKeeper invasion got canned. I don't generally dilly dally with expansion.

[MercantileInterest]

Also, remember this?

Our favorite potato farm has dried up. Someone is going to pay dearly for this.

Somewhere between 2144 and 2151 some of my land became arid. I have no idea why. Did one of you guys build condensers or made any other planetary changes?

The Peacekeepers were fooling around with all sorts of advanced terraforming. Don't know if they built any condensers but sometime around that point in the game, they raised a small land bridge to cut off Yang from the Ocean.

[Nevill]

Okay, so everyone saw the screenshots of M.Y. 2160 when I took my first Progenitor base. But the turn that was more interesting was the one that preceded it.


There are considerable forces brought to bear on Usurper strongholds, but the aliens prove dangerous foes. Their troops on the screenshots are not isolated stray units, but groups of several units banded together. Overall they have about 30 military units, and have lost about 20 by now. Yes, the fighting was fierce.


Even so, my bases were concentrated on expansion more than anything, trusting the existing 9 or 10 rovers to finish the job.


Except for one particular base.


Yes, it was M.Y. 2159 when my own Secret Project was started. For now, it was just Energy Amplifier, formerly knows as Merchant's Exchange - I did not have the tech necessary to build The Vitro Fertilization Centre just yet (and neither did I want to tip the rest of the players off), but the Usurpers did. So it was supposed to be a Secret-Secret Project where I would steal the tech and complete it in the same turn when no one would expect it.

With 10 minerals per turn and the overall cost of 330 minerals, it would take me 33 years to finish it normally, but I had no intention of letting it build at its own pace.

M.Y. 2163. The conquest of Usurpers proceeds swiftly.


My forces are battered and bruised, but as you can see on the screenshot, I tried to remedy it by building Command Centers in captured bases to heal them back quickly. Also, it's on this turn that I decided to come back into the game proper and rebuilt my HQ at Hero's Waypoint.

A few Usurper units broke the encirclement to the west of my bases and tried to wreak havok on my home turf. I had to pull some of my units back to deal with them, and there were a few casualties on my part, but overall the campaign went splendidly.

At this point I was so behind in tech that I might have as well not research anything. Why bother wasting 10 turns worth of energy on a tech when you can build 5 spies and have 5 times that in a similar timeframe? Sadly, Usurpers weren't the sharpest tools in the shed either, and only had about 5 techs I didn't have.

All the while Lal was attempting to befriend me. I think he was getting concerned with the number of rovers I was churning out.

How about a treaty?
How about no?
What is going on with these wars? As a peacekeeper I must insist that peace is the best way forward!
What wars?
You and Hydra () are/were at war with each other. And I see units heading towards Assassin's Redoubt! They might have chased off after some mind worms though...

Okay, so that was my first clue that the Chairman might try something. Good to know. I can't help but think, though, that the players were a bit too eager in trying to play me against each other.

And I had a bout of unsuccessful negotiations with Morgan.

[offers Secrets of the Human Brain] For your map, perhaps?
Centauri Seafaring, and you got a deal
Certain unnamed factions would be very displeased with me if I traded that tech. Since you aren't a fan of Secrets of the Human Brain then how about Centauri Ecology?
Seafaring is what I need. Ecology is what I don't need. Looks pretty straightforward to me.
I guess this means Greenpeace won't be expecting a donation from the Spartan faction!

'Certain unnamed factions', uh-huh. As if I can't see the PeaceKeeper handprints all over this agreement. 

[I send Resonance Armor I stole from the Usurpers] I think I owed you a tech. Consider the favor repaid. Also, seriously, would you send me Seafaring? I mean, you are way behind Yang, it's not like you can do anything if there's an invasion. A cooperation might be to our mutual benefit.
Yang is not a problem now; he is in full colony expansion mode in your direction. Minimum military build-up. If I give you Seafaring, you would be tempted to finish off the Steel Driving Men. Right now, they have trapped High Lord Shorty into a small territory box. Your actions could spring Shorty into a large territorial expansion.

But looks like there was someone unconcerned with the possibility of conflict between me and the Steel Drones... 

M.Y. 2165

[I offer Resonance Armor] What would you trade me for this tech?
  I believe you were looking for this earlier [offers Seafaring]
Indeed. Thank you!

At this point Usurpers were on their last legs. The Elite rovers packed a punch that their armor couldn't protect them from, and killed several units in one go.


At this point I knew I would be building my Project in 2172 at the latest, so I was starting to get cocky and write about how something interesting might happen in 6 turns.

Do you want to form an economic treaty to increase wealth in both our societies?
No. Your gain is more than mine.
Indeed, but we both still gain, which is a win/win for both of us! Plus you will be able to see into my bases, which I can already do, so it would be a tie!
Bases are only seen on pacts, not treaties. And I doubt it would be of any use to me unless I want to invade you.
Well a pact it is then!
Give me a tech to sweeten the deal and it might happen.
Sorry, I only deal with absolutes.

Congradulations on being the third most powerfull, after a slow start!
Thanks. Funny you say that, though....
Well, I heard that you were saying that you were doomed and you seem to have recovered nicely!

Here's the core of the Glorious Spartan Federation as of 2165:

I also pulled most of my military but the most dedicated Elites back home. I had one final use for them.

As an amusing aside, my wandering rover continued its voyage across Chiron through dimensional gates.

It managed to jump half the map again, right in the Moonson Jungle... which seemed to be occupied by Morgan. Interesting.

I could see some of what the Drones were doing, but I still didn't have their comm frequency ever since I exiled them to some remote island.

You could see the patch of land where their Unity chopper made its way to find other factions. The curious part is that a Caretaker base is occupied by Lal's forces. Looks like others didn't waste their time and purged their own xenos.

M.Y. 2167. We made contact with the Drones this year.

We meet once more. Much has changed. Shall we live together in peace? [offers Treaty]
Possible. Where did you make contact with me and what techs do you have?

That's good, I suppose. What's less good is that I don't know where and how he contacted me. Could be a ship, could be a probe. It probably was Courage: To Question, and I think I will need to fortify my coastal bases with probes from now on. Speaking of coastal bases, I could stand to have more of those. Many more.

M.Y. 2168. Expansion continues in all directions in preparations to the Project initiation.


Also, see the congregation of units near Fort Survivalist? That was my plan in absense of crawler tech - get the oversized military to shrink now that I have all but defeated the Usurpers, and hurry the crucial construction at the same time. I counted it down to a mineral, and it looked like I'd be building the VFC (formerly PTS) by 2170.

Not only does it start new cities at size 3, but it also grows all existing cities to size 3 if they are smaller. Which means that any Colony Pods I produce before that are basically free as far as population growth is concerned. Almost every base of size 2 is producing one.

I am not relenting the assault on the Usurpers either.

I need to conquer all of their land bases by 2170 so that they, too, could benefit from the Project.

I also became increasingly paranoid about someone beating me to it or invading me and burning it to the ground, so I thought a bit and decided to acquiesce to Lal's demands of a Pact, much to his bewilderment. I needed the Infiltration that comes with it.

Alright. I'll accept your Pact.
Are you serious???
Should I not? Would you prefer to keep the current status?
No, I am simply surprised that you would want to form an economic pact after your delays earlier?
Well, there was a reason. There still might be. But I am not too hung on it.
Well then an economic pact it is!

M.Y. 2169. Usurpers are out of tech for me to steal, and that allows me access to their map. That gives me a bit of an insight as to where the other players might be.


Here's the state of the Empire.

The Project has 130 minerals to go, but after pouring all the rovers into it will be finishing next turn. Most of my bases are size 1, having used their last ounces of production on Colony Pods.

M.Y. 2169. Glorious Spartan Empire; Population: 32.  (Yang: 43; Lal: 27; Morgan: 23; Domai: 18)
Fast-forward 17 years.
M.Y. 2186. Glorious Spartan Empire; Population: 168.  (Yang: 72; Lal: 71; Morgan: 37; Domai: 31)


And that is all I will say about the VFC and game balance.

M.Y. 2170. The year that marked the beginning of the endgame. New techs.


New projects.


State of the Empire. Population: 69. That's how I know I have 23 bases.

But of course that's just a beginning. There are 7 Colony Pods in that screenshot alone. There are more. Sadly, I only had 17 formers to service them all. I will need to concentrate on making more formers in the next decade.

And that's how (formerly) Usurper's side of the globe looks like.


I thought it would be the right time for Spartans to take to the seas and check on the others. I was a bit worried about my technological state now that both production and population were secured, and it were now my attempts at allying with others that were met with non-committal answers.

Hm. What would you say about joining my side for good? As in, a 2 vs 3 alliance?
Hmmmm...

[MercantileInterest]

We made contact through a probe boat landing at Olympus Academy. I couldn't see Courage: To Question and desperately hoped the Usurpers had not built any coastal bases on my ocean. Your alliance would have been an interesting offer if I hadn't already pledged myself to the Peacekeepers.

[Nevill]

Whoa, it's a long trip to Olympus Academy. And half of it is covered in fungus. By the way, what happened to the boat? Did it die in the attempt?

Yes, I suspected you were with the PeaceKeepers, but what I am wondering is why you remained loyal to them, which in your case meant going down with them.

Also, only now when I was reviewing the turns one by one I realized that you never had cruiser transports and it was your PeaceKeeper ally who sent troops to reinforce your HQ the turn before I planned to capture it. He almost succeeded, too. You would have held it if he sent just one more unit, even a scout would do.

[MercantileInterest]

Indeed the poor little probe boat died in the attempt but maintained its cover the whole time. Far as the Spartan Federation knew, they were just motley smugglers idiotically attempting to stash contraband in the data centers. Fun fact, it was the same probe boat which infiltrated the Hive earlier.

Remained loyal to Lal because it made for a more interesting game. He and I formed one power block, you formed a second and the Hive formed a third, with Howell as a floater. Of course, you unbalanced everything by quadrupling your population.

I meant to build cruiser transports to raid your coasts but I kept having to build new cruisers to sink the ones you had bribed. I planned to seize your coastal bases and then transfer them to Usurper control, so as to prevent the loss of energy and technology to your counterattack.

[Nevill]

The next 5 years are not particularly interesting.

2171. We do some exploration,open some pods, one of which creates 8 native lifeforms, and then harves them with our elite rovers.

Did you know that if you kill a wild unit next to another, the units around the destroyed one will grow bigger? And the bigger the unit, the bigger the pay-off. This could be utilized to maximize gains from harvesting worms.

And we have a few quips with Morgan in-between discussing Treaties as a part of cultural exchange.
  Are you finally interested in trade now?
  Maybe. Throw in a tech and we'll see.
  What is this about your faction being unmasked as Smith-ites?
  Sister Miriam had some weird ideas when she got out of solitary confinement.
  I didn't know Spartan Correctional Industries offered a statue making program.
  They do, as a death penalty for particularly troublesome individuals.

2172. We build our first naval unit. It's in the Pearl Sea, which is inhabited by Steel Drones.

I also encounter Morgan this turn...

2173. ...who seems to have been collecting Unity Pods in my territory. Now, that's just won't do.

  Oh, hi there. I would appreciate it if you left.
  Sorry, I didn't notice the brown dotted line in the sand.

And as luck would have it, we have finished the production of an armored spy boat in Courage: To Question and sent it out to see the world.

2174. Which did not go well with the Drones who saw a lone non-combat unit and decided to take advantage of it.

  So much for my attempt to sink your probe boat.  Expected you to be at -50% non-combatant status. War or Peace?
  Now where did I hear that before?

Unfortunately for the Drones, they weren't aware that non-combat penalties only apply to unarmored units.

Pretty ironic that my first words to them ended up the same as their last ones to me.

The boat survived, albeit sustaining some damage that negatively affected its movement.


The number of spots saying 'Base' on the map (that's how I mark future base locations) has doubled around Pearl Sea since the last turn. I will need all the naval units.



At the same time, I started pumping out a lot of shore bases back home to get myself ready for a long naval warfare, because the Drones were way ahead of me in ship quality, what with the cruiser technology, better weapons and armor, and a movement range further enhanced by Maritime Secret Project. Quality would not protect me, but quantity well might.

Drones tried to seek peace with me, and I said I was bearing them no ill will, but that I'll be taking all of their techs since I need them. If they sent them to me, there would be no incentive for me to fight them whatsoever. Unfortunately, they have declined this totally reasonable offer. 

I also did quite a dumb thing, and started another Secret Project at Fort Survavalist. Two projects on two of my most productive bases, actually.

I wanted to grab the Perimeter Defence project, because I felt like my Empire was vulnerable, what with simple scout patrols constituting most of its defences. But if I got that, I could very well defend from aggression and stage invasions of my own from a much more advantageous position.

I planned to build a lot of units, like last time, and disband them all, finishing the Project in record times. If I had crawler tech, it would have been trivial what to do, but without it I thought that using the base's own production would be most efficient. So I did that, and until the end of the game my best two bases didn't produce anything as the project got snatched by the Drones, and I was out of tech to build anything elde. Derp.

2175 has seen me finally infiltrating the Drones.


They were doing... surprisingly alright. They had a lot of tech (including Industrial Automation) that their PeaceKeeper allies fed them - which was excellent news to me.


They were 7 turns away from finishing the Ploymorphic Defence Project. I will have to move things up the schedule!


And... is that a heavy 6-3-7 cruiser? Oh my, that's a bit better than my 2-2r-5 boats, now is it?


This might be a tough war to win.

2176. Tensions are rising on the Morganite/Spartan border.

  Look who is on the wrong side of the dotted line now.
  Papers, please, papers. If you are going to claim asylum, you will have to stack your weapons over there. The other choice is to voluntarily board the rail gun launchers for a return journey.

Oh really? Two can play this game!

  Indeed. Look who is talking. May I suggest you take a look at the border one more time?

And Lal gets increasingly more twitchy, too. Might have something to do with port cities sprawling all over the coast and a transport with a few probes heading in his direction.

Oh, lookie here, a landmark.

  Number 1 on the power graph!  Just a heads up, I have extracted pledges of assistance from every other person on the planet if I am attacked.  Keep your boats of doom away from me!
  Did anyone tell you guys that you are paranoid?
  Very paranoid, politics in this game run deep!
  I wouldn't know, almost no one talks to me.
  I try and talk, but I am met with scorn!!!

Well, it could have been different, were it not for your constant agreements with other players to undermine me somehow.

Anyway, looks like he has been anticipating my expansion and has been defending his coastal bases pretty heavily. Alright then. I can always go look for softer targets first.

The first of my own coastal bases in Pearl Sea got founded that year.

I will need more probe boats to get to all that tech.

Apparently, the Drones have founded their bases on lone island squares in the middle of the ocean, which made them impossible to capture from the sea or probe them with land-based probes. That only left probe foils for spy warfare, and those things are expensive, especially with my Industry penalty.

I could only hope to steal Naval Supremacy quickly and start depriving the enemy of these outposts that I can't otherwise do anything about.

(Spoiler alert: I didn't succeed - those bases were still there in 2187. Oh well)

[MercantileInterest]

After Planetfall, a quick scan of the topography showed us we had landed quite close to the Unity Wreckage. My scout patrol marched north at once. All those goodies can be exceptionally valuable. I chose to send my starting colony pod west in an attempt to follow the rainfall patterns. Unfortunately, this led to a dead end. There was no way for my second base to build more colony pods without backtracking through the first.