Miriam makes me shiver

[bvanevery]

Comments and questions about the strategies I'm using in this game, are expected and encouraged.  Please make them in this thread.  As my AARs become longer and longer, I think that's the only way to keep this readable.  Don't worry about "interrupting".  I guarantee I can reestablish the flow with a massive wall of text and 5 screenshots if need be.

I'm trying the Yitzi patch again.  I think it may silence the background music though, so I'm a little annoyed with that.  Even disabling PRACX, the music is not playing.

I'm Aki again.  Huge map, average settings, random opponents.  Some Aliens are in this game, not sure which.  I start on dry land that doesn't look good.  However it seems like it might be attached to a substantial land mass to the south.  That would be a welcome change from the usual "crap island" starts I've been getting lately.  I don't like having to spend all my early research on Explore just to get off a tiny starting island.  It puts me behind.

I pop a pod and get a Rover and a nutrient.  I get another nutrient to the south, and a mineral, so this starting position is beginning to look quite a bit better than the initial dry scraggle would suggest.  I should be able to crank out Secret Projects well enough.

Obligatory early exploration and guess who's south of me?  I realized I might have to fight someone for this land mass, but I didn't expect it so soon.  Not long ago, I was in exactly the same situation with the Believers.  I made the mistake of signing a Treaty and thinking I could out-maneuver them while colonizing.  I can't.  They have support, I have a growth penalty, they colonize faster than I do.  Long story short, I experimented with heroic stands for awhile and then quit.  A Treaty is clearly the wrong decision with Believers at close quarters.

I was previously doing Discover, Build focus to get SPs to build.  Now I've switched to Explore, Conquer focus to get speeders to wipe Miriam out.  I don't care about getting rid of her permanently, she can respawn somewhere else on Planet for all I care.  But she's getting off my rock, however big this rock is.

[bvanevery]

I have discovered Biogenetics.  That is not that helpful against the Believers at this time.  I already spent my excess cash to rush Formers and Colonists.  I have them approaching their 1st target city location now, an energy bonus.  Miriam has a Scout right next to that spot, indeed I've boxed it in there, and that could trigger the war.  She also has a Battle Ogre in the southwest.  That means I cannot delay creating a Laser unit prototype, no time to wait for Doctrine:Mobility.  I've taken out Battle Ogres with cannon fodder before, at least I do have advanced warning and can track its progress.  Maybe she'll foolishly use it to explore, and get it killed on a mindworm.

[bvanevery]

I try to give the Scout a forced way to leave, but Miriam doesn't take the bait.  She settles Blessed Savior just before I was going to settle my own city, blocking me from southern access.  This is a problem with Miriam: she spawns quickly.  I will have to backtrack to the coast a few squares north.  My Laser Squad prototype costs 28 to rush, so I'm doing it.  Next turn I get a new tech.  I hope it's Doctrine:Mobility as then I'll be able to build a Command Center and work on a Recon Rover prototype elsewhere.  If not, I will build Recycling Tanks at Tau Collective, the city which is mining the minerals deposit.  If I've got a Command Center on the minerals deposit, and a Recon Rover completed, then I'm definitely ready for war.  At that time I'll tell Miriam she's violated my territory and see if she gives me a war, so that I can keep my Noble diplomatic rating.

I'm noticing from the graph that the Caretakers, Usurpers, and Pirates are in the game.  Joy.  All are doing better than other human players.

[bvanevery]

All is in readiness.  I researched Nonlinear Mathematics.  I built the needed unit prototypes, a Recycling Center, and a Command Center.  I'm working on a Recreation Commons in my big minerals city.  Other cities are working on Colony Pods.  I've got a 4-1-1 in the city with the scout next to it, and a 2-1-2 and 1-1-2 outside of Blessed Savior.  It's time to threaten Miriam.  Do I tell her she's violated my territory?  Or do I demand she cede Blessed Savoir to me?  If she doesn't knuckle under, do I start the war or do I penetrate to her innards?

After careful consideration, I'm going to try "You have violated my Territory!  Leave at once!"  I'd like that to trigger a war.  Wiping out Blessed Savior will be easy.  Then I can recolonize there with citizens who don't resent me.  Whereas, if she cedes Blessed Savior, it may not actually open up expansion all that much.  This land mass may not be all that much bigger than I'm seeing.  There's a prominence to the southwest that could be Mt. Planet, but otherwise, I can't tell if it touches additional land.

So here goes.  Gonna think of some clever 733t speak for dialing her up.  7734209!  On a calculator upside down that becomes GO2hELL.  Now sing it to the old song, "MIRI[am] I've got your number, I'M gonna make you MINE!  MIRI[am] don't change your number, 7734209."

After a lot of small talk about techs I'm not going to trade her, and bribes I'm not going to accept from her for a Treaty, I pop the question.  She says, "How about you remove YOUR forces?"  Um, didn't plan for that one.  I said let's keep them in place.  Then she hung up on me.  But her Scout is gone and my Scout Rover is still there!  What gives?  That seems bugged.  I'm playing this turn over.

Ring!  Ring!  7734209.  Dance, Lal, dance!     You !#!@#, you're not even in this game.  "MIRI[am] I'VE GOT YOUR NUMBER..."  You know what?  That ended the same way, just with a different message.  Women.  Er, I guess I'm a woman too in this game, forgot about that.  Still, "IIIII'M gonna make you MIIINE!"  And I'm replaying this turn, because this isn't enough.

Ring!  Ring!  7734209.  Dance, Lal, dance!    !#!@#.

"Is that a threat?"  Um, yeah... but she hung up on me.  If I want war then I've gotta trash my reputation.

So I guess I'm gonna take a tour of her empire.  Perhaps she'll enjoy Scouts camping on her resources and starving her out.

[bvanevery]

I got Santiago's comm frequency out of a pod.  That wasn't useful.  She's Obstinate, didn't have any techs, didn't have a comm frequency to offer when I started poking at those, and hung up on me.

Can sitting in front of a Battle Ogre provoke a war?  Oh I sure hope so.  Meanwhile, Miriam's Scout seems to have left on its own accord.  I hope she isn't sneaking around in that fungus in front of my base.  I am going to move my own Scout in such a way as to detect that.

[bvanevery]

Yep, there she is.  Is it a she?  Does that make her a Girl Scout?  I just ate some Girl Scout cookies, so it's on my mind.  I put my own Boy Scout on "my" fungus.  She's leaving home, bye bye.

Dance, Lal, Dance!     !@#$!@#$ !@#!@, you're not even in this game.

[bvanevery]

Well I got Doctrine:Flexibility.  I wasn't trying.  It gives me something to do other than bother poor pathetic Miriam.

[bvanevery]

She's moved her Battle Ogre around to "her" fungal square.  It was next to my Scout Rover just 2 turns ago.  Hope she doesn't have 2 Ogres, but I can handle it if she does.  The Ogre doesn't show on the regular map, but it does in my city blowup window for some reason.  I guess because it's adjacent to my Scout.  Well if this is her great "sneak attack" idea, my Scout is doing the most noble job of bringing me exactly what I want, at no cost to myself.  My 4-1-1 will destroy anything that steps forwards.  I've got a 2-1-2 and two 4-1-2's as reserve forces.  I'm just sitting around building death units while Miriam doesn't do much of anything.

I've got a Transport ready to go, and 1 Colony Pod to put on it, but no clear destination as of yet.  I will probably pop some pods in the water before committing to making a new base somewhere else.

[bvanevery]

Mriam built The Weather Paradigm.  The Caretakers built The Human Genome Project.  I've started on The Merchant Exchange in my capitol and currently have no competition.  I just researched High Energy Chemistry, which really puts the thumbscrews on Miriam's predicament.  Nevertheless we have no war and she just sits there.  I've built some Sensor Arrays to explicitly reveal her position and bolster mine.

I've got this colony about to make camp to the far southwest.  The $64 question: is this land attached to Miriam's or not?  I'm thinking maybe it is not.  In which case, I will colonize it and absorb Miriam later.  Like when I finally get probe teams.  Since I'm still doing a Conquer only focus, that could be awhile.

This turn I signed a Treaty with Santiago.  She doesn't claim to have commlinks for the 2 other human factions.  I wasn't interested in talking to Alien factions.

[bvanevery]

Yep it's a separate land mass.  It is also now reasonable to conclude that I've outclassed Miriam with 7 cities to 5, and better tech.  I've got Plasma garrisons in my front line cities and Impact Rovers in all my mainland cities.  I will send the 1 Recon Rover unit off to the new lands to pop pods.

One of the Aliens tried to start The Merchant Exchange.  I rushed it with 2 Artifacts and money to completely shut down any SP building programs they have in mind.  Don't want them to have time to switch to a different SP.  Nobody's building anything now, so Mission Accomplished.

I just realized that if I go Police State, it will likely trigger war.  Perfect!  If I can only get Doctrine:Loyalty.

Next turn, Miriam offers to trade me Field Modulation for Nonlinear Mathematics.  Of course I won't do that, but I could counter-offer with Doctrine:Flexibility.  I decide "no" because keeping her bottled up is to my advantage.  So what if she has better defensive units in time?  My Impact Rovers will still destroy them.  It is better for me to increase my city count, for the day of final reckoning.

Then I get Doctrine:Loyalty that same turn, justifying my attitude.  I switch to Police State immediately.  The countdown to war has begun!  I begin The Command Nexus next turn in my "big minerals" city.  Meanwhile my capitol is free to make Transports, having nothing better to do.  I switch to Discover focus as I've got what I wanted for conquest.  Now I would like some probe teams, a Planned economy, or Secrets of the Human Brain.

[bvanevery]

An earthquake dramatically raised an island near me, but it didn't touch my land.  My Transport survived because I had moved it away the previous turn.  I often do that, but not always.  It depends on the speed at which I want to get things done.  The pod in question was 1 square inland, so it was sensible to move the Transport away and come back.  In case just this very thing happens.

I've rushed The Command Nexus with money.  I'll have it next turn.  Perhaps I'll build some Impact Infantry to destroy Miriam with.  Or maybe I won't, and will just build more Transports?  I dunno.  Miriam bores me.

[bvanevery]

Miriam has figured out Doctrine:Flexibility.

I screwed up and moved a wounded Scout before moving the Artifact with it.  The Scout got killed.  I hope that mindworm doesn't come after the Artifact, or only wounds it.  If it destroys it, then I will replay this turn.  I don't think I should lose an Artifact from a stupid mistake borne of tiredness.

[bvanevery]

I found the Ruins.  My Recon Rover survived an earlier mindworm attack by disengaging.  Luckily the mindworm didn't come after it, so I was eventually able to get to a Monolith and heal.

The Artifact on another island, didn't get chased by the mindworm that killed my Scout.  Instead it went after my city.  I am trying to bring a Transport around to pick it up, but I've discovered the Sargasso Sea south of Miriam.  I'm bringing a 2nd Transport from a different direction in case the 1st doesn't make it.  I hope Miriam doesn't make landfall and seize my Artifact.

I have made a wave of 4-3-1 in every mainland city.  Still no war with Miriam.  She pisses and moans about my Scout Rover that's in her backyard, but she never actually does anything about it.  I think she's intimidated, as well she should be.

[bvanevery]

I've discovered the Geothermal Shallows.

I'm making some Sea Colony Pods to surround my capitol with.  Because it has The Merchant Exchange, I won't be relocating it.  The cities making the colonists, have a very poor food outlook and otherwise wouldn't grow anytime soon.  I'm also no longer in need of military units.  I have enough to deal with Miriam no matter what happens.

[bvanevery]

I disconnected a road that Miriam built between us, and put forest in our way.  Miriam cannot use a speeder on land to get into any of my cities.  I'm doubting that she'll think of assaulting by sea from a Transport.  I think the new barriers must have changed the status quo for her, because she removed her Battle Ogre from the front line.

I have nearly circumnavigated the globe, heading eastwards along my latitude.  Note the revealed area in the minimap.  For a long time I seemed to be following the edge of a supercontinent.  I may still be, but fungus has interrupted my movement here and there.  I have not encountered any other factions in this time.  If indeed there's a supercontinental barrier between us, it would explain a lot.  All the other factions could be fighting over the southern half of the map.  In particular, maybe it is rather difficult for the Pirates to reach me.

I'm getting close to completing The Virtual World.  I have no competition.  I have switched to Build focus because getting Secrets of the Human Brain doesn't seem urgent.

I have built 2 sea bases around my capitol and am about to build a 3rd.  That would take care of centralized economics, as there aren't any other good resources in the vicinity of my capitol.  Just a lot of ocean.  I would need land raising capability to improve it - such as The Weather Paradigm that the Believers completed.  I'm running out of excuses not to invade them.  However I could settle the big western island.