ET Phone Home - SMACX AI Growth mod 1.19

[bvanevery]

Details learn to relax

learn to relax

Feeble wound up Miriam just can't stand my Democratic ways any longer.  There's absolutely nothing she can do about it, she's being crushed by the Usurpers.  I guess she's just ensuring the crazy stays part of the human race!

[bvanevery]

Details go rent yourself

go rent yourself

MY 2235.  Coin counting Morgan makes a fool of himself.  He's in 3 wars already, how does he figure this is going to help him?  Thanks for the theft opportunity.

[bvanevery]

Details rich man poor man beggarman thief

rich man poor man beggarman thief

MY 2236.  I complete Doctrine: Initiative, enabling me to get Orbital Spaceflight and nukes first.  But what good will that actually do me?  If I nuke anyone, the mindworms come.  Not to mention that nukes are incredibly expensive to begin with.  Meanwhile my economics are stagnant.  I've also got piles of Secret Projects to build that are not getting done.  Let's try getting some Supply Crawlers.  Version 1.19 returns them to an earlier point in the game, not that 2236 is all that early.  Before they took forever to get though.

Details go climb a tree Morgan

go climb a tree Morgan

I steal Environmental Economics from the Morganites.  Maybe I should pay more attention to how far others are getting on tech.  I become capable of Wealth, which will help a great deal.  It will also make Svensgaard like me, in principle.  With the cheapening of Secret Projects due to Wealth, I'm able to complete the Command Nexus next turn using cash.

[bvanevery]

Details ha ha feel my armor

ha ha feel my armor

MY 2237.  I'm at peace with Roze, but she tried to do something to me with a Foil Probe Team.  My Plasma armored probe team repelled her harmlessly!  Too bad I can't explain to the AI how to do armored probe teams, but it's a good trick for me.  I only recently immunized myself that way and my armored coverage is not total.  I brought back a lot of my Foil Probe Teams because there was nothing to steal from Marr anymore.  Now I should be sending those teams against Morgan.

[bvanevery]

Details competition

competition

MY 2239.  I don't feel like letting Morgan have the Xenoempathy Dome, but I need to assess what he's going to complete otherwise if I stop him.  Surprisingly he doesn't have Industrial Economics and can't build the Merchant Exchange.  I think this is a bit of a misfeature in my tech tree and I'll need to change that.  But not before I build my stuff, har har har!  The rewards of testing. 

[bvanevery]

Details stuffed like a jive turkey

stuffed like a jive turkey

MY 2242.  Using Artifacts, last year I completed the Xenoempathy Dome.  This year I completed the Citizens' Defense Force, completely shutting Morgan out of the Secret Project races.  I am building the Merchant Exchange and the Maritime Control Center unchallenged.  I'm about to steal some more tech from him as well.

[bvanevery]

Details studious ocean ripples

studious ocean ripples

MY 2244.  So Pirates are better than Cyborgs at research, at least in this game.  Poor Aki Zeta-5, she's getting clobbered by Roze!  I will need yet another test game to determine her prowess, as I've made her Erratic far too late to matter.

Details covert Pirates

covert Pirates

I'm a bit surprised to see Svensgaard take a Morganite land base with a probe team.  This game has had a lot of cyber warfare.

Details crawling to victory

crawling to victory

My 1st Supply Crawler comes online.  Only in version 1.19 did I make them available somewhat earlier in the game.  This is 2244, not exactly early.  And to put it in perspective, nobody's built the Merchant Exchange yet.  I'm about to, but consider that the Virtual World was only just discovered.

[bvanevery]

Details to serve Man

to serve Man

MY 2246.  Svensgaard gets snippy!  Doesn't he realize I've got better weapons than he does?  Including Marines?  And a Maritime Control Center about to be completed?  Oh well, if he wants me to build the Virtual World instead of him, I will.  I was happy enough to leave him alone, as my human shield, but now he's my human problem.

The problem with the joke about "succulent minions", is it's not true compared to the rest of the lore of the game.  If it were, then when taking over a human base, its population wouldn't drop to 1.  All us Aliens would grow fat on human flesh!  Should be at least size 2 or 3, or something proportionate to the number of humans available to eat.

Details another wimp

another wimp

What's with the humans getting uptight this year??  All I wanted to do was sail around this Datatech foil probe team near my coast.  She picks a fight, requiring me to shell her.  I don't mind, really I don't!

Details yeah Roze you sink

yeah Roze you sink

I've now placed my strongest armored Probe Teams facing Roze.  It'll take a lot for her to get through my cyber line!

[bvanevery]

Details thought you would see it my way

thought you would see it my way

MY 2252.  After stealing everything Svensgaard had, I take Port Svensgaard, nestled snug upon my coast and highly vulnerable to my Marines.  He acquiesces to my Truce, lest he get further whippings.  My only real challenge is getting a probe team in there.  I need to crank out as many Supply Crawlers as possible for awhile, as I've got the Virtual World and the Planetary Energy Grid under production.  The Maritime Control Center is complete though.  Come to think of it, I don't think I ever built a Cruiser.

[bvanevery]

Details I don wanna get nuked

I don wanna get nuked

MY 2255.  I notice that Marr has obtained Orbital Spaceflight and is seeking nukes.  A problem.  The good news is, this is currently the only one he has in production, and it will take him forever. 

[bvanevery]

Details all my secrets

all my secrets

MY 2261.  I complete the Planetary Energy Grid.  After selling my old Energy Banks, I have piles of money.  I'm going to pursue the Ascetic Virtues as it will reduce my POLICE problem.  I think I need to do a land invasion of Marr and really put him out of the game.  I anticipate that nukes will proliferate, but Marr and Miriam are the only Aggressive factions likely to toss a nuke for the hell of it.

[bvanevery]

Details such a smart Christian

such a smart Christian

MY 2267.  Miriam wisely signs my Truce.  She's almost dead, what the heck else does she have to do with herself?

Details roses are red roses are blue

roses are red roses are blue

I got Roze to sign a Truce while we were at it.  Maybe shooting off a Conventional Missile had something to do with their change of heart.

[Geo]

The problem with the joke about "succulent minions", is it's not true compared to the rest of the lore of the game.  If it were, then when taking over a human base, its population wouldn't drop to 1.  All us Aliens would grow fat on human flesh!  Should be at least size 2 or 3, or something proportionate to the number of humans available to eat.

I reckon the Progenitors simply harvest the part of a human base's population that doesn't manage to flee, not turn it into a farm facility.

[bvanevery]

I reckon the Progenitors simply harvest the part of a human base's population that doesn't manage to flee, not turn it into a farm facility.

Although amusing for us to clown it like this, the lore is actually that they don't eat humans at all.  From interludea.txt:

#INTERLUDE5
#xs 500
#caption Interlude: Flight of the Razorwings
^  It gives you no particular pleasure to kill. You almost wish you could
communicate directly with the humans, explain to them the necessity of the forced
relocation--explain to them the necessity of their deaths.
^  "Reporting, $TITLE0 $NAME1," resonates the Force Commander of the occupation
army. "Human colonists are fleeing now from the base they call '$BASENAME5.'
Those that chose to remain behind
have been assimilated and reconstituted."
^  It gives you no particular pleasure to kill. But it is the way of
the Human and Progenitor mind. They cannot coexist under one government;
they cannot eat each other's food, nor use each other's facilities.
^  It gives you no particular pleasure to kill. But they are the enemy,
and it is the only way.

I think from this though, we learn that they have piss poor bioengineering skills.  And that as colonizers and conquerors go, they don't give a rat's ass about species other than themselves.

[Geo]

They for sure should had piss poor bioengineering skills in roughly the first century after their crashfall.
After that their tech base should've been up to the task.