Deirdre vs. Random, 256x128 map, no pods

[bvanevery]

I meditated on "what was unsatisfying" about my previous game with Marr.  I think I spent too much time writing it up, so I will do much less of that this time.  I think making 1 city such as my capitol much more powerful early on, using supply crawlers, may "feel better" than just having my whole empire gradually improving.  I think I worried too much about blocking secret projects.  If someone builds one, that's an opportunity to go invade them.  Although, if they're halfway around the giant world, that's not so easy.  Still, I think I could stand to "relax" about sweeping the board with all the secret projects.  Nothing is special or requires thought if I've got everything.

So, who knows if any of the above proves true.  But I will test the ideas.

SMACX, 256x128 map, average planetary settings, Transcend.  Unity supply pods only at landing sites, as gobbling those things is a total crutch otherwise.  7 random factions including mine, of the 14 standard factions.  I get Deirdre.  Help->Factions shows Caretakers, Usurpers, Peacekeepers, Spartans, Cybernetic Consciousness, and University are in the game.

I'm on what looks like a small island, maybe only comfortable for 6 cities.  I've been given a bucket of supply pods, supporting the small island diagnosis.  I pop all of them before settling a base, as they might yield nutrients or minerals.  I use colony pods to pop supply pods, because my experience is this early in the game, a colony pod can take 1 hit from a mindworm without dying.  I send my scout at a fungus patch on turn 1 to stir up a mindworm.  I am rewarded, and collect my guaranteed 1st captured mindworm.  I know from a zillion games that Planet friendly factions will always get their 1st capture.  In SMACX you are also guaranteed to get your first spore launcher and isle of the deep; you can guaranteed capture 1 of each.

The island already had a minerals deposit on flat ground, but no new resources are yielded.  I get some solar collectors set up by a robot.  I get a monolith.  There's a sea minerals and sea nutrients.  I get the comm frequency for Santiago; I will wait until I actually settle a base before contacting her.  Maybe wait for 1 tech too.

Best of all I get a slow transport to sail off this island.  I definitely welcome that!  Looks like small islands northwest and south.  Might be a large land mass to the west.

I think I will settle both of my colonies here, as I do have decent resources for 2 cities, and it's not good to wander around forever unsettled.  I will send my mindworm to what's hopefully the mainland, to stir up an independent army.  Then colonize it.

Ok, gonna go play the game for awhile.  At some point I'll comment on whether anything important, noteworthy, or interesting happened.

[bvanevery]

2158.  I complete The Weather Paradigm, cashing the artifact I got at the beginning, and a bunch of cash from my gradual slaughter of mindworms.  I have no competition for it, I just want to get it faster so my terraforming will go quicker.  The land mass to the west is huge, and I'm imagining a land bridge to it.  Nobody appears to be on it.  The Ruins are nearby on it, but not close enough to make me drop what I'm doing to get over there.  My island is supporting 8 cities.  I don't really need to do more naval exploration yet, as that slow transport I got at the beginning has covered a lot of water.  I've got 3 mindworms and a spore launcher wandering around.  I'm using the slow transport to move 1 of them to another land mass to the south.

Someone has been working on The Human Genome project.  But per my 1st post, I'm not fixating on that sort of thing.  I think The Weather Paradigm is core to what I need to do.  I want to connect myself to surrounding land masses.  Meanwhile I have a nice moat around me and seemingly no neighbors.  I plan to get The Empath Guild and contact everyone.

2175.  Resources appearing in the water, have messed with my ability to make a proper land bridge that still grants naval passage.  I don't like wiping out resources just to complete a bridge, so when that happens, I re-route.  I accidentally made a bridge 2 squares thick, impassable to ships.  Topologically that would be really tedious as my island is somewhat long, and it just totally rubs my builder sensibilities the wrong way.  So I reloaded the turn and cancelled that last land raise.  One answer to this problem is to complete the bridge from the other side, although that will cost more credits, and also the delay of building a transport.  However as of now I'm delayed and suffering more expense no matter what I do.

2194.  I complete the land bridge to the western continent.  Nobody has shown up on that continent, and it looks like it keeps going.  My desired Centauri Meditation is eluding me.  I've got an "orphaned" secret project in my capitol, which I started in anticipation of getting The Empath Guild sooner.  It is now overproducing past what it costs to build that.  To slow it down, I've been sending plain scouts to be supported there.  I discovered Secrets of the Human Brain so I'm garrisoning with trained Trance Scout Infantry, one of my favorite cheap unit designs.

Various cities are size 4 or 5 as I've been democratic for awhile.  I don't have the happiness to support the larger populations, as I didn't get the happy-making secret projects.  The unhappy ones are making colony pods.  I will switch back to Frontier society when the colony pods are about to settle somewhere.  I'm currently at efficiency +4 which is severe overkill for 8 cities on a map this big.  Even my default of +2 is overkill.  I wouldn't mind getting my support back, and the growth isn't helping me.

Happy cities are making Formers as I don't have the tech for much else right now.  Those Formers are extending my core land areas and hoping to raise new resources in the water.  Some will be working towards land bridges to the south and northwest, but those will take awhile.

[bvanevery]

2197.  Odd, on the northeast island I found a supply pod.  There aren't supposed to be any other than at landing sites.  Does the generator think this island counts as part of my landing site?  I get a Battle Ogre from it.

2201.  I complete The Empath Guild.  I'm now a Green Frontier society.

I contact H'minee first, even though she's going to hate me, because maybe someone wants to buy her comm frequency.  And then get in a war with her.    I contact Aki next as her attitude is Noncommital.  She won't sign a treaty, won't trade tech for tech, and wants an exorbitant price for Intellectual Integrity.  Next!  I contact Marr in order to have double the chances of selling frequencies.  Hmm just realized I have the frequencies, I didn't have to talk to them.  Oh well what's done is done.  He hates me too.

Next Zhakarov, who is Cooperative.  Wants to trade a map of Cybernetic territory for my Centauri Empathy.  Uh, no, that's way too good a deal for him.  I don't actually need to know where anyone is, it would just be convenient if offered cheaply.  We trade Centauri Empathy for Intellectual Integrity, a much more reasonable proposition that will actually help me with my unhappy colonists.  He won't sign a treaty, won't trade more techs for tech, and won't sell techs for cash.  End of that.

Lal wants an alien comm frequency!  Ha ha, take it man.  I trade Ethical Calculus for Planetary Networks.  I trade Centauri Ecology for Information Networks... really, you went this long without Formers??  All he's got left is Applied Physics which I'm not trading a level 3 tech for.  We sign a peace treaty.  I buy Applied Physics for 100 credits.  Hey let's see if he'll ally, I would get his map.  He does!  Now I know where Lal and Marr are.

Oh crap, the Consciousness has 81 votes.  Maybe she's sitting on The Monsoon Jungle.  I've got 55 and Lal's got 54.  That probably makes a 3-way election and I won't win.  So, I won't call an election.  I'll dole out comm frequencies for cash for awhile.

Now that I've got more techs, does Aki want to sell or trade Doctrine:Loyalty?  Shan't know, she won't talk now.

Santiago is an idiot.  She seethes at me, yet has the gall to ask for a loan, which I would expect her to break.  I don't give it to her, but clearly she needs cash.  So I offer a win-win, sell me Nonlinear Mathematics.  She spouts and spews about what a horrible human being I am.  Screw you Santiago.

I will make a bunch of colonies now.  Under ordinary conditions, the dry east side of a big continent is not a good place to settle.  But I'm really good with Condensers and know how to turn rolling, arid land into paradises.  For now I'll stay Green, but maybe I'll changed to a Planned Democracy.  Aliens like Planned, and Lal likes Democracy.

[bvanevery]

2207.  I loaned Lal money.  He managed to get some serious map data out of people.  The Cybernetic Consciousness is indeed sitting on a large Monsoon Jungle and is extremely well developed.  Graph shows they're double the strength of other factions, including me.  They are far away though, no reason for me to be alarmed, even if she disliked me which she doesn't presently.  Her continent might almost be touching my continent.  I could eventually establish a path to her over land.  Feasible to move on by mag rail.  Or The Xenoempathy Dome might get a few rovers there.  Or some probe teams.

He has revealed both aliens.  They are near neighbors, so hopefully should be socking it to each other and not bothering anybody else.  Zhakarov is far to the northeast, on a small island like my original one.  Sparta is unknown, but they are weak.  Unlike the last game, strategically I'd say I've got the whole layout now.  It took me 200 years to find my enemy last time!

Nice that I can now see what's going on in almost everyone's bases.

2219.  I'm shocked that Aki, unbidden, traded Cyberethics to me for Gene Splicing.  The Planetary Datalinks has not been built yet.  She's working on it in 5 of her cities, and her nearest completion time is 17 years.  Lal has it too but completion times are ridiculous, like 60 years.  She must have really wanted to ease her food restrictions.

I loaned money to Zhakarov.  Although we don't have a treaty, he's Magnanimous towards me, and I just became Knowledgeable.  I traded Nonlinear Mathematics for Gene Splicing.  A better deal for him than me, especially since he's a research powerhouse, but I want to have all the techs.  Now the only faction that has a tech I don't have, is Marr.  We're at war and he has High Energy Chemistry.  He's really far away though, so I can't be bothered to go steal it.  I have a Pact with Lal, a Truce with everyone else.

I have 5 mindworms, 1 spore launcher, and 3 isles of the deep rolling west by northwest, somewhat towards Aki.  They are making me quite a bit of money.  I guess exploration isn't completely worthless even when you don't have pods.  I'm turning into an international banker.  If Santiago weren't such a !@#$ I could have loaned to her too.  Now if we ever speak again she'll probably declare war on me.  But Zhakarov won't like her either.  Aki is also doing Knowledge, so weakling Santiago is going to have many enemies.

I also have a mindworm going east, a mindworm going south, and an isle of the deep going southeast.  I have land bridges west, east, and south.  I have more available land than you can shake a spore at.  I have a fair number of sea resources available in shallow water also.  Just for kicks, I think I'll connect a small island to the north.  Then I will have 4 points of the compass from Gaia's Landing!

[bvanevery]

2224.  I've pulled ahead of Lal on pop, so I hold an election.  I know Lal will vote for me.  If everyone else abstains, then we have more votes than Aki and I become Governor.  Unfortunately Zhakarov does not abstain, he votes for Aki.  She wins by maybe 20 votes.  In the future maybe I can pull ahead of them, or maybe Zhakarov will sour on her.

2225.  Green scout wins the lottery, takes down a fungal stalk all by itself!  I thought I was retiring the old timers.  I was tempted to do some roleplay earlier, and have these scouts I sent out to die, just summarily run away from the colony.  After all there was no urgency to my "request" that they kill fungal stalks.  They were far away from any settlements, we weren't cash strapped, and we could have come up with better weaponry to do the job.  We're also the Gaians, we need our mindworms to walk on the fungus these things spit out.  Let's say my party of 5 scouts had some guru telling them how great it is to face fungal stalks and see if you die or not.  Why should they buy it?  They shouldn't.  We're an educated, scientific society, not The Believers.

Of my original 5 scouts, 3 have lived to tell the tale, and they've picked up 1 mindworm.  They've taken out 4 stalks.  There are 2 nearby up north that I want gone.  After that, I'm not sure how far they'll be willing to walk, to get to any more.  1 of the scouts is still Green, so after a nice walk, likely to die.

When the original Green scouts are gone, I will probably be ready to send out a wave of trained Trance Scout Infantry.  But I would probably use them differently, because they can survive a mindworm hit.  Maybe send them with empath speeders?  Depends on how many stalks are around to make money off of.

Much earlier, I was annoyed when my Great Boil mindworm died trying to take out a stalk.  I thought by then, this early in the game, that it would be safe.  Nope.  So imagine my surprise when a Green scout achieved what that Great Boil did not!  Go humans.

I have +5 efficiency.  I could be a Police State if Lal wasn't my ally.  Nobody else would mind.  But I want Lal's votes again, and he's been a good ally.  His intel, getting everyone else's maps, was really valuable.  Also I do expect to go Democratic eventually, just not now, because of the support.  None of the factions are anti-Democratic so that's a good long term choice.

[bvanevery]

2232.  Found a Spartan transport and impact infantry some distance north of me.  Also the Manifold Nexus.  She's complaining about my Knowledge, but she's still weak.  Now I know which direction any surprise transports will come from.

Meanwhile the southern land mass is much much larger than I expected.  I could walk all the way to a Usurper sea base.  Could probably raise land and mag tube all the way to conquer him.  Actually at the rate I'm going, a single Former is building a pretty substantial road to get there.  Ironic if this road gets done before I ever discover The Xenoempathy Dome.

I have a ferocious isle of the deep navy now.  7 so far and I keep getting more of them.  My mindworms on land make me lots of money.  Much as I might like to win the Governorship, my Green economy is working really well right now, with all the captured and dead mindworms.

2243.  Zhakarov and I sign a peace treaty, have a massive amount of tech trade, and he becomes my ally.  He's at war with the Caretakers, but didn't require a war from me.  Lal and I have traditionally been at war with the Usurpers.  The Caretakers will not respond to my hails, so that situation stands.  Zhakarov used to be allied with Aki but now merely has a treaty.  I try contacting her to see if she'll finally sign a treaty.  She won't sign, nor will she trade techs.  Understandable since she has The Planetary Datalinks.  She'll sell me Optical Computers for 400 credits.  Uh, no thanks.

With my allies, I now have the votes to displace Aki as Governor.  I have to wait 1 more year to propose an election.

2244.  Gained Ecological Engineering!  My foresight to start mining my rocky areas has been rewarded.  None of my cities want to work the mines though.  Guess I need some supply crawlers.  Time to add Build to my research priorities.

I trounce Aki in the election, 225 to 164.  Santiago sides with Aki.  Zhakarov and Lal are my allies.

[bvanevery]

2259.  Aki declares war on me.  I get Lal and Zhakarov to declare war on her.  Aki's nuts, she's working on 10 copies of The Hunter-Seeker Algorithm!  Looks like the earliest will take 14 turns to complete.   She has 4 techs worth stealing.  I'm working on The Xenoempathy Dome and need 26 turns to complete.  Not sure I can probe her in time.  She has 3-res garrisons in her sea bases, and perimeter defenses, so my isles aren't going to be affecting her bases.  Her shipping may be vulnerable though.  My home defenses are weak, I need to shore them up.  Lots of police scout units.

2270.  I complete The Planetary Energy Grid instead of The Xenoempathy Dome.  I use the trick of selling all my energy banks to generate the last of the cash for it.  Aki has long since completed The Hunter-Seeker Algorithm.  I didn't even try to do anything about it.  I concluded that all I could do, was keep right on going with the development trajectory I was already on.  I could use some supply crawlers.

We're in a weird situation where Zhakarov is allied with Marr, I'm at war with Marr, Marr is allied with Aki, and Zhakarov is at war with Aki.  Er.  I tried to get Zhakarov to go to war with Marr, but he wouldn't do it.  So I guess we'll be staring at each other's world maps for awhile.

[bvanevery]

4:30 AM.  Suddenly I just don't care about this game anymore and quit.  Fatigue trigger.  When really tired, it becomes clear: is this game really interesting?  Nope.

I think the biggest problem with this game, is the amount of time I spent pushing around mindworms and isles of the deep.  Yes I got cash.  But I really didn't get a viable fighting force out of it.  I'd gain isles, then I'd lose 'em, then gain 'em, then lose 'em.  They're always scattered all over the map, because I'm walking the edge of big continents.  They aren't a concentrated fighting force.  My mindworms were more concentrated, but they got stuck on islands because I sent my isles elsewhere.  Eventually this started feeling nonproductive, plus I had done a ton of mindworm pushing.  Experience on Huge maps says that it does get old, even when getting pods and artifacts.

I was ok with not being in 1st place.  I was definitely 2nd place.  My research diverged from what the others were doing.  I'm annoyed that I didn't have the resources to complete The Xenoempathy Dome.  Aki declaring war puts pressure on me, even if she's far away.  Gotta make sure my empire isn't a house of cards.  Lotsa trance scouts and police scouts earlier on, so even a single impact rover could have really terrorized me.

My land bridging was excessive.   I only needed the 1st one.  The other 2 were artistic expression.  Fine, but it slows down the game.  Then the artist gets bored and wants to fall asleep at 4:30 AM!  Gaia's Landing didn't have to be my capitol.  I could have shifted it onto the mainland.  Before I quit, I was thinking about all this annoying water around me, that didn't make for very compact cities.  In contrast I did pretty well with Condensers on the arid eastern part of the mainland.  I had the right idea doing a Weather Paradigm based game.  The problem is I unnecessarily bored myself with it.

I don't know that building super long roads forever is worth anything either.  Seems to be another way to get bored.