Continental Consciousness - 256x128 map

[bvanevery]

Details hi lal

hi lal

Look who manages to show up by boat.  I suppose being at the center of the world and surrounded by ocean has some advantages.  I wonder how this is going to go?  He says, "     ".  I say, " ".  He's Solicitous, but won't sign a Treaty, won't trade techs, and wants 375 credits for his rotten Optical Computers.  Pass.  Well that didn't go badly though.  Didn't get a chance to ask him for other comm frequencies.

[Buster's Uncle]

Hey - speaking as just another member, I hate it when you do late post edits w/o marking the additions with "Edit:".  Like, nobody cares if it took you more than the 15 minute grace period I put in for edit notices to nail all typos and phrasing, but the additions can be hard to spot, and it makes me a little crazy when I already read the post before the edit. -Which I always have in the daytime; I live here.

[bvanevery]

Noted for future preparation, but the edit occurred on the same turn that post was made, because I thought to do something in the morning that I didn't think to do that night.  For my own conceptual organization, in those cases I will continue to do the same, not splitting turns between posts.  I do have my own life / sleep issues to contend with.  It is not likely to happen very often, and I wouldn't do an edit of anything really critical, so I would suggest not worrying about it too much.

Details free market

free market

When I was 1 turn away from getting a new tech, I tried to trade techs.  However Lal's price was too high as usual, and H'minee is now Belligerent towards me.  I researched Industrial Economics and have now gone Free Market.  As I'm no longer suffering an Efficiency penalty from a Planned economy, I'm now at +2 Efficiency.  This is needed because I had plenty of extra drones from Bureaucracy, my empire is getting so big.  Now people are happy and I'm only spending 20% on psych, which is better than usual for running an early Free Market.  30% is more typical.

I have so many cities, that my vast horde of Probe Teams doesn't look quite so vast anymore.  The core cities in the Jungle still have plenty of extras, but all other cities only have a garrison of 2 Probe Teams.  Why 2?  Well, they're weak teams, only Disciplined.  I made them in cities that didn't have Command Centers.  I figure 1 isn't good enough, they'll just get killed and not serve any real defensive function.  Since I have so many of them, I'm doubling them up.  Soon I will have my "peninsula" completely covered in cities, and then I won't need any more.

To this day I have only built 1 Command Center.  Cha Dawn has been Seething at me for a long time, but he's weak.  I still have my original Scouts in most cities as there just isn't any military threat.  I build Recon Rovers to make a better defense than Green troops, and I gradually shift the old Scouts around.  Cha Dawn can't perform any kind of meaningful surprise attack, I will see him coming, and there's a vast horde of expendable Formers in his way.  I still have no idea where H'minee is but I suspect "pretty far away", as I haven't seen any of her ships.  Some day I suppose I should beef up my coastal defenses in case she finally does show up with a barge of hostiles.

[Buster's Uncle]

Just be religious about keeping substantial additions/changes at the end and/or putting in the "EDIT:" and I promise not to worry about it.

[bvanevery]

Details caveat emptor

caveat emptor

Belatedly - as in exactly the sort of thing as the last time I saved the game and did something in real life - I realize that since I now have Industrial Economics, Lal might be inclined to trade differently with me.  It's still the same turn, but I rang him up.  He wants my Industrial Economics but he wouldn't trade tech for tech.  He is willing to have me buy Gene Splicing.  200 credits for a useful tech, is definitely a better deal than 300+ for a useless tech, like he wanted for Optical Computers.  So I buy.  Bonus points: he didn't get a tech out of this.  He wasn't real eager to keep trading, he signed off right after that.  His loss.  He's Ambivalent towards me, whatever.  Think he could cut me some slack for not going Police State.

[bvanevery]

Details cha lousy

cha lousy

Well, here it comes.  Cha Dawn has recently gone to war with the Believers.  I'd like to get Miriam's comm frequency for sake of completeness, but I haven't been willing to contact Cha Dawn about that, because I don't expect this to go well.  Noncommittally he says, "  ".  I say, "".  After noncommittally asking for a bunch of other absurd stuff, designed to make backstabbing all the sweeter for him, he declares war on me.  I guess he wants to see a real power in action.

H'minee recently completed The Empath Guild.  She's listed as Noncommittal but I'm not sure I trust that prognosis.  I've noticed it has a nasty way of shifting to some other value when you actually go to talk to someone.  I will not pester her about comm frequencies for now.

Lal might like me better, now that we have Cha Dawn as a common enemy.  He's not answering my hails though.  Give it time, Lal.

Hey at least this will be a relief from tilling the earth!  Free Market aside, I expect summary conquest.  Cha Dawn is still by far the weakest power in the game.

[Buster's Uncle]

I've been enjoying the smilie incorporation.

[bvanevery]

I find it interesting to contemplate the visual symbols that would be needed for diplomatic communication.  It has been done in some games, but I think The Sims is the major exemplar.

Details worldliness

worldliness

I steal Cha Dawn's map, revealing our geographic relationship to the Caretakers.  So far the Caretakers only have The Empath Guild to make them "invasion worthy".  Roze is about to complete The Planetary Energy Grid, a race I never even got to try.  So, the Caretakers may not end up with much in the way of Secret Projects to offer for the trouble of assaulting them.  It might be better to let Cha Dawn persist as a buffer state.  Still, mobilization is in order, because I do have an empire of Scouts.  Need to at least create a front line of tougher stuff.

[bvanevery]

Details Deirdres wall

Deirdres wall

Deirdre builds a wall to keep out illegal immigrants.     The kind that tend to show up with Impact rifles.  In doing so, she knocks a lot of would-be Secret Projects into the dust.  Can I now do some trades and get some of these techs?  Lal is Belligerent and won't trade with me, so no.  Not even gonna try to talk to H'minee, she's Seething.

[bvanevery]

Details no ai integrity

no ai integrity

Why am I getting these things 1 turn after Deirdre completes them?  Smells like cheating.  Why am I getting it anyways?  My research focus is Build.  I'm supposed to be getting Industrial Automation.

[bvanevery]

Details dilberts

dilberts

I've hit the threshold of Bureaucracy on a Giant map for +2 Efficiency.  Fortunately I only have 2 Colony Pods left to put somewhere.  1 of them has an obvious site available.  The other needs fungus removal at 2 candidate sites, and I don't have Formers in the immediate areas.  Well, going Democratic isn't really important until I get Hab Complexes, so I'll hurry up and wait.  It's an additional argument against actually invading Cha Dawn, as he'll just give me more cities with more Bureaucracy and unhappy conquered citizens.  Should I take 1 city and make him sign a Truce?  Or should I stay at war with him indefinitely?  Politically, the latter might help me get along with other factions.

[bvanevery]

Details sea creep

sea creep

I didn't mean to, but I ran into the Caretakers at sea.  Guess how well this is going to go?  "Hey,  .    your  in the  !"  Actually she's  obsessed.  ""  She talks about her missiles (don't ask!) but surprisingly, remains Noncommittal and unthreatening.  Her price for Adaptive Economics is too high, 425 credits.  We're still talking, so I ask for a commlink.  50 credits later, I've got Roze on the line.  That went way better than I could have ever expected, I thought my Skimship Probe Team was dead!  I'm thinking that being at war with Cha Dawn is profitable and I should never stop.

Brring!  Brring!  "Hey  ,  !!"  " " "" " "  Don't really have a Treaty icon, that's about the best I can do for now.  Whoah, Ecological Engineering for 100 credits?  Hell yes!  Think I made a friend.  Why does everyone want absurd amounts of credits for Optical Computers though?  250 is too steep for my blood.  Roze out.

[bvanevery]

Details redheads

redheads

This is a weird woman.  I ran into her at sea, not expecting much, but at least it's her Transport so she can't kill me.  It went much better than I had a right to expect, in that she traded me Centauri Empathy for my Industrial Base.  Then she decides to execute me.  I guess it isn't personal, she's just insane.  Once I get a Biology Lab built, I will name my first mindworm in her honor.  "Red".

I'm not even Democratic yet!  How does she know I'll make the change soon?

[bvanevery]

Details tooth pulling technology

tooth pulling technology

Finally, after years upon years upon years of research, I've finally got something that nobody seems to have yet.  Let's see if I still have enough Probe Teams in the Jungle to insta-build this.  Maybe, but I don't have an appropriately located city to start the project this turn.  My eastern Jungle cities all built Command Centers and are tasked with cranking out Recon Rovers nowadays.  I will have to wait until next turn for my insta-build exercise, if it even works out that way.

Details sloth knowledge

sloth knowledge

I changed to Knowledge, as this alleviated my Bureaucracy problem.  However this turn I settled 1 of my last 2 Colony Pods and got another Bureaucracy warning.  So, +3 Efficiency on a Giant map will support 33 bases, isn't that interesting?  I didn't even have to sit around counting them up.  I don't really have to go Democratic at this rate though.  1 more base and I'm done expanding.  I can wait for Hab Complexes.

[bvanevery]

Details i know everything

i know everything

It took roughly 20 Probe Teams.  My plan worked; it just took forever to put into effect.  I could probably do it 1 more time.

I've infiltrated H'minee and Miriam.  The latter doesn't have any new tech.  Next I'll endeavor to steal her map.