Svensgaard is a douchebag

[bvanevery]

Comments and questions about the strategies I'm using in this game, are expected and encouraged.  Please make them in this thread.

I really couldn't enjoy the last game I played with Cha Dawn.  Even though I had the nominal lead position nearly the whole time, it was a nominal lead and nothing really felt like it was ever working.  Well maybe getting a Battle Ogre in your face early on will do that to you.  Yes I killed it, but it made me feel cautious and reactive for quite a long time.  And then when I eased up... I got a walk-in!  Well I'm going to try harder not to have things screw with my mind this game.

Huge map, average settings, random factions including myself.  I draw Svensgaard.  He's such a douchebag.  I've never liked him, I thought he was this stupid pretty boy not even vaguely credible cartoon cutout thing.  Who dreamed this crap up?  In later years I came to appreciate the Pirate faction as a game mechanical idea, but I've never, ever liked Svensgaard.  Also whoever they got as the voice actor, sorry, never sounded like a pirate.  Sounded like a nice young man wearing a sweater reading old literature, or pretending to.

If I had been thinking about it, and unfortunately I wasn't, I would have renamed this guy "Ragnar Lothbrok".  I'm not sure I can do that afer the starting screen.

The good news is I've played a lot of specifically Pirate games in the past.  It may have been awhile, but I shouldn't forget "how to do Pirates" too badly.  Also Pirates have a natural moat, so it's difficult for other factions to mess with them if I don't want them to.  Finally, a few games I did think about playing the Pirates and drowning everyone.  I'm not sure if that's worth the work, but I may explore it to some degree.  If I can stay interested long enough, which in recent games has been a non-trivial challenge.

I start as usual in the middle of deep ocean nowhere.  Fortunately I'm not an AI so I don't have to stupidly settle my capitol in the most worthless squares ever.  I can see a pod, so I'll pop it with one of my Sea Colonists.  If it's an Isle of the Deep, on the 1st turn it's not gonna kill me.  It may not even scratch me.  Huh, sure enough, an Isle.  With 1 move remaining I attempt to move out of the way.  Maybe it smells fresher meat somewhere on land.

One thing I remember about the Pirates, is it's a really bad idea to settle one's first 2 bases in widely different places.  The base away from the capitol inevitably is inefficient and under-productive.  Better to keep them in roughly the same area.

To the north is the end of the map.  It would be better from a spreadout standpoint to head south.  There are some land masses to the south.  Also to the west, but they are farther away.  To the east is the Isle, not going that way right now.  South it is then, with the other Sea Colonist.  I find a nutrient and a pod.  I can land on either for my 4th move.  I can't settle a base with no moves, and I don't know if that's optimal anyways, so I pop the pod.  It is... another Isle!  Well I guess that one will take a beating.  Fortunately, my ships are far enough apart that they can't get hit by two Isles.  I've never really tested that scenario in the early game before.

I'm left with my Scout ship.  I should probably investigate the nutrient before choosing an exact site for my capitol.  For instance, if the nutrient is actually out at sea, it's better to be next to land.  It's touching a crap piece of fungus covered island, not what I'd call exciting.

[bvanevery]

The touching Isle wounded my colonist, reducing it to 2 movement.  The non-touching Isle found something better to go after.  This is going to have a strange synchronizing effect as my northern colonist heads south and catches up with my southern colonist.  The scout ship finds a bunch of shallows and that might be an acceptable place to nestle the capitol, in reach of the nutrient.  As of turn 2 I still haven't founded my capitol, for lack of movement points.

The scout ship finds some minerals in the water, but they are covered in fungus.  Also a budding fungal stalk on the land mass, which is not at all helpful as it will put fungus in the water until I kill it.  I also see another pod in the water, but I can't reach it now.  I'm thinking that I really need to nestle up against this coast though, that the nutrient is too far out at the border of deep ocean.  Capitols need to be somewhat centralized to be most effective, and putting a capitol next to an ocean that can't support anything, isn't smart.

It's looking like in practice, neither of these resources is actually useful right now.  I'm going to need to accept an imperfect spot on the coast, in the interest of time.  The wounded colonist goes south 2 squares and finds dry, hardscrabble terrain.  That's really not going to work.  I guess there's only 2 ways to go around a coast, which means the wounded colonist shall go west, the unwounded shall go east.  Although, I worry that in practice, this will put my capitol on the drier side of the island.  Er, continent?  It looks pretty damn big.

I think instead, I will send both colonists west.  The full movement one, I'll position to pop yet another pod next turn.  My luck has to change with the Isles, right?

[bvanevery]

Popping the pod gives me a sonar reading.  I have 3 moves remaining, so I will pop the pod that's in reach.  It gives me 100 credits.  The scout ship moves west and finds more hardscrabble, as well as a lot of fungus on the coast.  This is not good land.  I may not be able to do any better than the hardscrabble I already found near my wounded colonist.  If I must settle my capitol next to the fungal stalk, I will at least nestle it deeply towards the river squares.  Another turn lost, but in the long run that's a better place.

[bvanevery]

Scout sails west around some sea fungus, and it's still crap out there.  Well my capitol is going to sit next to a fungal stalk, which I must immediately spend time trying to kill.  First I will found the capitol, then I will pop the pod and hope that I get a Transport completed that way.  Early pod popping to complete stuff, is one of the tricks for getting the Pirates ahead of the game.  Once my colonist has popped the pod, it will settle on the nutrient and make sea colonists.

I got another sonar readout, so I'm going after the pod that was revealed.  That may seem like I'm putting my settlement speed in jeopardy, but my experience is it really is important to get Transports completed instantly.  This gives me a chance to do that.  If I can start putting Scouts on the land mass right way, I get to kill that stalk, and I pop more pods.

I choose Discover, Build focus as I think I want to just sit back and build SPs.

[bvanevery]

When moving my scout ship, I didn't see that the pod I was positioned to pop, was sitting on fungus.  I've got an Isle while sitting on fungus myself.  This is a serious test of how much immunity is granted at the beginning of the game.  Is it too much to hope to not be scratched?  If I survive and am badly dinged up, I still have to backtrack to get healed, or sit in place.  Both lose me time.  If I blow it off and move forwards, I move slowly.  So please, pretty please, don't hurt me.  Probably too much to ask.

Hot damn!  Barely scratched.  Proceeding as normal.

[bvanevery]

I'm sitting next to the island of the Manifold Nexus.  That changes a lot of things.  First I thought I was going to make a Command Center to fight the stalk.  Then since I just got Centauri Ecology, I thought I was going to make a Former.  Now I'm clearly going to build a Colonist and settle this damn island!  And then I need to put scout ships out to sea and actually capture an Isle of the Deep.

I decided that Port Svensgaard will make the land colonist, instead of the sea colonists originally envisoned.  And I'll start scouting with scouts, instead of terraforming.  I can produce them faster and the pods I pop may have value for settlement.  It's just a little confusing being handed so many options at once.

My earlier pod popping wasn't a complete waste.  I made enough cash to rush various things.  Hey why wait 3 turns for a scout?  I'll get one next turn instead.

Ok if I'm going to complete something, I'd like it to be a Command Center.  I dump my scout on that pod next to the Nexus, and it pops a mineral.  Definitely useful.

The scout ship pops an Isle, which I attack and kill.  Didn't take any wound doing that either.  I guess we're still within the first few protective turns.  To be honest I got a little overexcited, I thought "Capture Isles!" when I don't even have the Nexus yet.  Glad it worked out well.

I need to move north with the Transport next turn, then rush the colonist at Port Svensgaard, to maximize my speed of settlement.  Ergo I cannot return to do anything with stuff at Safe Haven for a few turns.  What to build?  Not a scout.  Let's try a Gun Foil.

[bvanevery]

Crap.  I forgot that Port Svensgaard hasn't grown enough to make a Colonist yet.  Change of plans.  Transport goes to fungus next to Safe Haven.  Change production to Command Center hoping for a completion.  Scout pops pod and gets an Artifact.  When I played it before I got a nutrient resource; heck I'll take an Artifact instead!  Although that nutrient would have been awfully handy next to the minerals.  Oh well.  Change production in Safe Haven to scout, rush the scout.  Put the scout already in Safe Haven on the Transport.  That means next turn, I can drop it on the pod to the west.

[bvanevery]

I succeeded in using a pod to complete a Command Center, switching it to that before popping the pod, when otherwise working on scouts.  I also got a nutrient in range of the Nexus and the minerals deposit.  I need to put the colony inland, almost right on top of the Nexus.  I got Zhakarov's comm frequency in another pod, but I'm feeling a bit paranoid about contacting anyone before I take control of the Nexus.  I don't actually have a land claim yet, and what if he's in the interior of this fairly extensive land mass?  I only need to wait 3 more turns for certainty, then I'll contact him.  I won't get a tech on my own for 9 years anyways, so I shouldn't be missing out on anything.

Just realized from the graph that there are no Aliens in this game.

Manifold Nexus settled.  I could have had a scout over there, but I botched my Transport shuffling due to grogginess.

Zhakarov and I traded some tech and signed a Treaty.  He wouldn't ally and I didn't get a chance to ask him about other factions.

[bvanevery]

Well I'm glad I made my land claim.  Look at my new ally, who traded me Planetary Networks, 'cuz she's soft and squishy like that.  Guess I'll be going Democratic eventually.  Svensgaard kinda needs to anyways, to offset his -1 Efficiency.  Not now though.  Bases to settle.  I need a couple more on land to ensure Roze doesn't encroach upon the Nexus someday.

[bvanevery]

I wasn't exactly wrong about delaying contact with Zhakarov.  He was indeed close by on the same continent.  Roze got a map out of him.  Zhakarov wants to trade his Applied Physics for my Doctrine:Flexibility.  However I'm remembering that each new tech greatly increases the expense of further techs.  As it's not a good trade anyways, and I don't need weapons right now, I see no reason to cheapen my shot at Secrets of the Human Brain.  Well except the 27 years it'll take me to get it.  But of course, I am still settling.

Zhakarov's scout came to my territory and I made him leave.  He got uncomfortably close to that Artifact I was walking back unescorted.  I usually escort them, but I figured in Roze's backyard I'd be safe.  Bad assumption on such a large land mass.  Well no harm came of it.

I succeeded in putting 1 city in the way of Roze to prevent immediate encroachment upon the Nexus.  A 2nd city will secure the southwest direction.  A 3rd on the coast will prevent Roze from ever doing anything.  Well, as long as she's friendly that is.  I can see going Democratic Free Market.  I loaned Roze money, so I'd better be nice to her.

[bvanevery]

Roze ended our pact.  That's not so good because she might get ornery with probe teams.  I've had no time to make any.  I really didn't intend to have a land war with someone.  I haven't actually gotten any benefit out of the Nexus yet either.  Just popped an Isle with my scout ship, and had to kill it.

I'm going to refrain from putting another city right next to Data DeCentral.  Given that Roze has so much land to expand into, I don't think she's actually going to push a colony right up on her own border, within 2 squares of her capitol.  That's the sort of thing AIs do when they're really squeezed for space.  Even if she did, it wouldn't immediately give her access to the Nexus.  It probably never would.  I think she'd have to take over 1 of the 3 surrounding cities to do it.  Which if she's going to encroach, is frankly the way to go.

I really hope she isn't about to whap the crap out of me with probe teams.  I have no answer for that.

Time to start making a shell of sea bases.  I'm really not sure where my capitol is going to end up.  Deadman Tavern seems natural, but it's awfully close to Data DeCentral.  Not a good move if we stay at peace.

[bvanevery]

You know?  It's 2 AM and I'm quitting the game.  I don't like it.  Feels like a drag.  Although my position is plenty viable, I think that long delay getting my capitol going at the beginning, may have hurt me.  I also really don't like being squeezed against Roze and I didn't have much choice about that.  Assuming I was going to capture the Nexus, which seemed like a totally rational thing to do.  Why does Roze have to have her capitol right next to that?  I'm also annoyed that I'm not basically being a Pirate.  All this landlubbering!

Likely to be a waste of mouseclicks.  So that was almost another 3 hours out of my life, if the timestamps are correct.

I may also just be burnt out on this today, and uninterested in any game that isn't "good".

[bvanevery]

EPILOGUE:

I blew off this game.  Arguably this could have been an interesting game: a Pirate doing very "un-Pirate-like" things.  But that's the rub: why be a Pirate?  It's like an Existential question.  Safety, or arguably convenience, would dictate staying out of reach offshore.  Why not play that game?  Sure I could play this game, but what kind of Pirate do I want to be anyways?  What exact play style?  Completely off-coast?  Touching coast?  Barely inland?  Way inland, like this game?  Well I found out it's too annoying to have an Erratic next door neighbor.  Roze, we were friends, think of all the great !@#@! we had together!

In previous AARs, I have intoned a potential desire to do more of a Roleplay game with the Pirates, where I find a reason to "drown Planet" again.  I've done it in the past; it is not nearly as satisfying as one might hope, because enemy factions merely degrade in floods.  They are not destroyed, and the fantasy was about destroying everyone with the power of the sea.  Well, I've thought about Roleplaying a phobia of the land instead, although I'm not settled on that character motive.  Anyways I have bigger plans for Pirates than this game.  Call this particular game an unsatisfactory dry run.  Ha ha, dry run, get it??