Does Miriam suck?

[Geo]

Yet Another Alien Artifact, so now I need to make 2 cities.  I've got a sea colony pod en route to a destination now.

For linking a network node to your latest AA's?

[bvanevery]

Yes.  Every single one of my existing cities has a Network Node and has been linked to an Artifact.  I am far from discovering The Universal Translator.

I have discovered the Manifold Nexus, near to the northwest.  Remarkable what you don't find when you lack Deep Radar and have lots of other things to do in the region.  As I need to make 2 new cities to pop my Artifacts, one of them will be on the island of the Nexus.  The sea colonist in the picture isn't going there, it's headed to a previously established sea site.  I will make a land colonist next turn.

Some of my cities are doing eco-damage now, so this is good timing.

I just realized that I've never infiltrated Lal, nor stolen his map.  I'll have to amend that.

[bvanevery]

I swear I'm going to get The Xenoempathy Dome, but this will do.  Some of my sea bases, I've raised land all around them instead of working the water.  I've got these monstrous Hybrid Forests that produce piles of minerals, due to the mines in the mix.  I'll have The Cyborg Factory in 10 turns, and The Cloudbase Academy in 7 turns.

If I wanted to seize the Monsoon Jungle, then Copters could certainly make that happen.  But I don't want it.

[bvanevery]

Can you believe this guy?  I destroyed one of his cities, admittedly just a walk-in he'd just founded.  Yet he still wants to get paid.  All of my old units are moving across his southern continent, sweeping out the pods he didn't pop and making trouble for him as he tries to colonize.  I've got a couple of Impact Rovers and Impact Batteries to mess with any actual military units he brings.

On the other side of his continent, I fish Yet Another Artifact out of the water.  So I will need to make a 3rd city.  Fortunately I have just the sea site for it.

This turn a city at the north of the Monsoon Jungle, that the Morganites and Caretakers had struggled bitterly over for quite some time, was denuded.  Can the Caretakers do more damage in the Jungle?  OMG the Planetary Transit System has been destroyed. I had no idea it was in that city.  I just always assumed it would have been built somewhere safer, but maybe things looked safer back when it was built.  What a stupid AI.  Morgan Industries, next door, is vapor locked with No Minerals.  Well if all of Morgan's cities are completely wiped out, that's no loss to me now!  I was just thinking about how I'd have to intervene if the Planetary Transity System was threatened, but the point is moot.

This is a bit of a wakeup call that the same thing could happen to Lal.  He has The Command Nexus and The Citizen's Defense force at UN Commerce City.  It's a weak base in a weak empire.  I'm not sure why Lal hasn't gotten creamed more, as he's been at war with the Caretakers since forever.  Maybe the Caretakers have thrown everything at Morgan.  Ok, now I've got 2 foreign cities to invade.  Those SPs aren't criticical but they are useful, and it would be a shame to see them lost to history.

Next turn, I got a Bureaucracy warning founding the 1st of 3 needed new cities.  Nobody's unhappy yet, but at some point I may need to drop the Planned economics.  I definitely don't need any growth in my core cities as they're all size 16 now.  I won't be going Free Market as I have too many military operations to attend to.  I suppose I could go Green as growth isn't that important anymore.  I could then go Fundamentailst if I don't care too much about Research.  I'm ambivalent about that.

[bvanevery]

I discovered Yet Another Artifact while standing off against Domai.  No further pod popping on the front until I walk away with the goods.  Other units are moving in a broad flank to explore other parts of his continent.  So now I need to found Yet Another City.  Maybe Artifacts will finally push me to be Green.

I've been mindlessly planting fungus on sea resource squares for a very long time.  I really didn't need to work my local waters, because I kept raising land and planting trees instead.  I put one Sea Former up near Morgan, and he finally got around to sinking it.  It did complete its life work though.  Should I put a Landmark there??  Well heck why not.  I bet the last time I did that, I had just started playing the game.  There's no game mechanical value to it, so much like renaming cities, it quickly fell by the wayside.

Oh, it says the landmark has to be in my territory.  I guess the world is going to have to live without "SUPER AMAZING FUNGUS".  Rest In Peace, noble workers.

I'm going to have to be a bit careful with my approaching Cruiser Probe Teams as I head for Lal.  This incident makes me realize that the water route to Lal's SP city is dangerous in that direction.  Going around the globe the other way is pretty tame though, and it's the same distance.  I could also build a massive road over land to get there, but if I did that, then the Caretakers would have a route to come bother me.  For now I prefer my moat.  Yes we're in a Truce but it doesn't have to stay that way.

I'm remembering that my military units are only fission powered, and that I've pursued Wealth.  Yes I've got Gas Missiles but it's not certain they're all that tough for conquest when poorly trained.  They might not be against well trained defenders, so I'll need to check on the enemy's level of training.  The Cyborg Factory will help, but I might want to make some more militaristic choices before cranking out invasion units.  I may delay a decision on that until I pop my Artifacts.  On the other hand my cities may run out of useful things to build, so maybe I'll just drown the enemy with units.

If I had the Xenoempathy Dome, half of my massive road network overland would already exist.  And it would be one way, useful to me only.  Well I haven't changed my research focus in forever, so delays in getting it aren't for lack of trying.  Fusion Power would make it cheaper to build Rover Formers, but I could start with fission engines if my cities really run out of things to do.

[bvanevery]

Domai has developed Impact Penetrators.  He's got 1 Active and 1 in production.  I'm not sure what he plans to do with them, but I'm the only person he's at war with.  My ability to harass his fringe cities may become limited.  I will wait until he actually kills a unit before I start to worry though.  Maybe he'll be completely stupid about killing my 1-2t-1 units.  I'd think he'd be more motivated to pick off my various Rovers, so they'll need to keep their distance.

His air power may affect my invasion plans.  Like, the force composition I take with me.

[bvanevery]

So much for being careful.  I actually scouted forwards with another cruiser probe team.  Must not have been enough.  He must have been at exactly 3 squares distance.  Oh well.  220 credits to bribe that unit, not worth it to me.  I try going around him to west, around that island.

[bvanevery]

The Caretakers conquer Morgan Industries.  Maybe they will wipe out Morgan entirely?

[bvanevery]

I complete The Cloudbase Academy with ordinary production.  I complete The Cyborg Factory using some extra cash.  I pop the 1st of the new inbound Artifacts and obtain Superstring Theory.  Gas Chaos weapons are definitely enough to blow apart anything the enemy has right now, so I won't need to make any militant social choices.  I do still have the issue of my subvertibility.  I might still go back to Fundamentalist for that reason.  Unfortunately I have not obtained the tech for either The Xenoempathy Dome or The Hunter-Seeker Algorithm yet.

My Cruiser Probe Team outmaneuvers Morgan's ship and makes it to Lal's home waters.  It's hiding in a fungus patch ready to infiltrate next turn.

Domai brought up an Impact Rover which seems curiously immune to artillery fire when standing on a rock with a battered garrison unit.  That doesn't seem remotely logical, smells like a bug.  Sometimes I've noticed "doesn't take artillery damage" units in cities.  I think I'll ask in the forums about this.  Anyways I backed my synthmetal garrisons up to rocky terrain.  I'm wondering if the rover will attack my exposed artillery, or if he'll try to pop the pod in front of us.

[Geo]

Yes.  Every single one of my existing cities has a Network Node and has been linked to an Artifact.  I am far from discovering The Universal Translator.

Does the Universal Translator also enables to cash in any number of AA's on your network nodes? I thought that ability was linked to The Network Backbone?

[Buster's Uncle]

No, The Network Backbone gives you a research bonus for every network node on planet.  Universal Translator gives two techs and allows infinite AA cashing in at that base.

[bvanevery]

Alone, no problem.  A single shelling produced the expected result.  He did kill my other exposed artillery.  My 4-1-1 killed him.  Turns out he's got 2 more Impact Rovers coming through the rocks.  Well we'll see how long my expendable Synthmetal Garrisons hold out.

I pop an Artifact and get Biogenineering.  I begin The Longevity Vaccine in my capitol.  I just made some Fungicidal Rover Formers and am now starting on various Silksteel Chaos units, so I don't think I'll be making any clean stuff for awhile.  To be honest I have plenty of minerals, probably more than necessary to produce units in some small integer number of turns.

I infiltrate Lal's datalinks, but I lose the team so I have to build another one to steal his map.

[bvanevery]

My Trance Synthmetal Garrison on rocks survives an Impact Rover attack.

I kill one of Domai's colonists that was heading pretty far to the south.  I haven't seen any of his planes.

Santiago meets me in open water with a wounded ship and declares war on me.

[bvanevery]

The Caretakers conquer Morgan Data Systems.  That was a size 9 city.  They're doing something right.  Maybe they sabotage the city walls.

Domai brought up an artillery unit and killed my artillery.  Surprisingly, my own guys in the stack didn't take splash damage from the artillery unit's death.  Maybe that's a Yitzi patch thing?  In a straight game, my units would be badly damaged.

I've started making 2 Empath R-Laser Speeders to kill fungal stalks and a marauding Spore Launcher.  It's an expensive unit but I have some silly productivity in some of my cities.  One will be done in 2 turns, another in 3 turns.  We don' need no steenkin' Fusion Power!

[bvanevery]

This is handy.  I'm getting ready to invade Free Drone Central to take The Weather Paradigm.  Soon I won't need probe teams to keep it.

I popped an Artifact and got Genejack Factory capability.  I don't really need the production or the unhappiness though.  I will blow it off.

I'm still in a Truce with the Caretakers, so genetic plagues aren't immediately useful to me.