Thinker mod military capability, attempt 2

[bvanevery]

Details February development build

February development build

I've been testing Thinker mod when combined with my own SMACX AI Growth mod.  I play on Huge maps with lots of land for AIs to grow in, which should very much help the AI.  In my 1st attempt I played the Data Angels.  I determined that any immediate neighbor, is pretty much helpless.  I kicked the living snot out of both the Believers and the Hive.  In the early game I think the AI spends too much time building forests and roads, and not enough on military conquest.  Also the terrain that the AI produces by terraforming, is easy to invade because it has a road on every single square.

My unresolved question was whether I could overcome a distant AI faction.  Morgan went pretty nuts in that game, sitting on the Monsoon Jungle.  He had all these enormous cities.  Despite that, his tech really didn't get that much farther ahead of mine.  A similar story with the University.  My ally the Free Drones was between them and fighting both of them.  He was getting beaten on, but still holding in there.  The later game was looking like it would be a 3 way struggle between us.  I was building a long rail to reinforce the Free Drones and bring the fight directly to the Morganites and the University.

I quit that game because I felt like I'd made a bad decision to stay with Power when I wasn't actually fighting Yang anymore.  I think it let the AI factions grow unnecessarily.  I won't make that mistake this game.  I believe I could have won that last game, but I think I had made it unnecessarily tedious for me to do, which is why I quit.  If I'm going to mop up a bunch of cities, I'd rather do it on a clean slate, with a few fewer to mop up.

Details my Free Drones

my Free Drones

Huge map, 30%..50% land mass.  My world generator settings ensure no pathologies like 1x1 island starts.  It will be large continents and large oceans.  Average settings, Transcend difficulty, default cost_factor for Thinker mod.  Random factions.  I draw the Free Drones.  Caretakers, Usurpers, Morganites, Pirates, Hive, and Cyborgs are also in the game.

My Free Drones are a bit different from the stock game as well.  Instead of being prohibited from using Green, they're prohibited from using Police State.  My mod has renamed EFFICIENCY to JUSTICE, and the Free Drones have the highest starting JUSTICE of the game, +2.  They only get +1 INDUSTRY.  No other faction gets an INDUSTRY bonus at all.

Compared to last game, I will not get free techs that are known to 3 factions.  It will be interesting to see if it's any harder without that boost.  I will have inevitable political conflict with the Hive, but last game showed they were pretty easy to destroy, at least if you start near them.  I expect the Morganites and the Pirates to have scary economies, don't know about their militaries.  The Alien factions have been rather random as to how well they do.  I've seen them dominate, I've seen them do poorly.  They also tend to peter out on research compared to other factions, as they love to choose Fundamentalist warmongering.  Cyborgs can do well or not so well.  I believe this game will be determined by how I deal with the Morganites and the Pirates.

[bvanevery]

Details unregistered hovertank

unregistered hovertank

WTH?  I've got a Hovertank instead of the usual Scout.  It isn't a starting unit for anyone in my mod, nor do I have it as a predefined unit in alphax.txt.  Also, the units that are in the square with the cursor on it, aren't listed at the bottom of the display.  Saving this game for diagnosis.  I'll need to restart.

Details Empath Scout Rover for Cyborgs

Empath Scout Rover for Cyborgs

I quit the game entirely.  I restart SMAC.  I load the saved game.  I crank up the Scenario Editor to see what's going on with other factions.  The Alien factions haven't been placed yet.  The Pirates have normal units, but the other factions do not.  Even weirder is they have different units than I do.

Details Empath Scout Tank for Hive and Morganites

Empath Scout Tank for Hive and Morganites

I use the Scenario Editor's "Eliminate Faction..." menu to determine the order of the factions.  I will duplicate these factions and this order in a new game, and see if I get the same problem.

Details faction order as given by Eliminate Faction

faction order as given by Eliminate Faction

[bvanevery]

Details factions and order identical

factions and order identical

I quit the game entirely.  I cold start the game.  I set up my usual kind of game with factions in the specified order: Drones, Consciousness, Morganites, Caretakers, Usurpers, Hive, Pirates.

Details no weirdness this time

no weirdness this time

Normal starting units.  One thing I notice differently this time, is the "escape pod landing on Planet" animation plays correctly.  In the buggy game, it got skipped.

Well, maybe it was a fluke.  If it ever happens again, I'll duly report it.

[bvanevery]

MY 2102.  In my mod, the Free Drones' default research foci are Explore, Build.  I decide to stick with that for now.  If I encounter a nearby enemy I'll switch to Conquer.  I've popped a pile of minerals, with which I'll be able to make a lot of Scouts.

Details a good start

a good start

MY 2103.  I even got some nutrients to go with them.

Details suspicious forest

suspicious forest

MY 2127.  I've had a lot of fungal barriers around me, limiting my city sites.  Fortunately I can go to size 3 before people become unhappy.  It's still better to spread though, so I'm making some sea colonies.  Out west is a cluster of 3 nutrients.  2 of them I popped myself, but not the southwest most one.  I wonder if I have a neighbor.  I'm worried enough about it, that I will stop exploring that way, lest I establish a border prematurely.

[bvanevery]

Details I do not love you

I do not love you

MY 2129.  Well I've got a neighbor, although I don't know which direction he came from.  I switch to Discover, Conquer focus as that should get me Information Networks the fastest.  In my mod, that's what gives you the probe module.

Details go away

go away

MY 2138.  The Usurper ominously waited around on the forest north of my city for a long time.  I eventually stocked it with Scouts from Free Drone Central.  Now it has decided to move off.  Those extra Scout units are escorting him off the property.

[bvanevery]

MY 2141.  Information Networks comes right on schedule.  I switch to Conquer only focus.

Details the fungus is crawling with them

the fungus is crawling with them

MY 2142.  When I try to move my Colony Pod west, a Usurper unit is revealed 2 squares distant.  That means some other invisible unit is right next to me.  I retreat.  In my mod the Aliens start the game with Cloak technology and make Cloaked Scouts at the beginning, so that's probably what it is.  I start making a lot more Scouts as it's all I've got.

[bvanevery]

Details friend for now

friend for now

MY 2143.  I find the Hive to the south, separated by a Gulf that will delay adjacency for a bit.  We sign a Treaty and I buy Monopole Magnets and High Energy Chemistry from him.  Synthmetal Armor will be very helpful dealing with these Usurper Scout interlopers.  Prototypes cost 3X in my mod, so getting a Synthmetal prototype done is no small matter.  I could pop an Artifact, but it would be better if I learned Speeders and made a Synthmetal Skirmisher, getting 2 needs done with 1 unit.  I change all my Scout production to Formers so that I can build a rail.  I think I have enough Scouts as is to fend off the Usurpers if they make a move.

[bvanevery]

MY 2150.  The Pirates show up in a Transport.  They want tribute and I refuse.  They declare war on me.  I also learn Doctrine: Mobility.  I design a Rover with Synthmetal Armor and cash an Artifact to complete the prototype immediately.  Finally, I sign a Pact with the Hive.

Details nothing if not predictable

nothing if not predictable

MY 2151.  He makes his move.  My losses aren't too bad, a Scout and a Former.  I kill one of his wounded Scouts.  My newly minted Scout Skirmisher moves forwards to protect my big pile of minerals.  I can now see his border and he's got at least 2 cities close to mine.  I guess Thinker mod's starting placement algorithm is a bit different, as this isn't the 1st time I've gotten a fairly close start to someone on a Huge map.  Well, I wanted a military test, and I've got it!  We'll see if no free techs and an enemy with +1 MORALE who can do directed research, really equals cakewalk.

[bvanevery]

MY 2154.  I lose a Former and a Scout to another one of those Cloaked Scouts.  But most of my cities are defended by a Synthmetal unit now, and I've completed 3 Command Centers.  My Scouts sit on top of critical infrastructure to protect it.

MY 2155.  I gain the commlink frequency for the Cyborgs.  We sign a Treaty and I gain Polymorphic Software.  This provides the rover based Probe Team as a predefined unit, so now I don't have to prototype any probe teams.  I start making a bunch.

Details Usurper city spam

Usurper city spam

Yang obtained a map of Usurper territory.  I am facing... 18 Usurper cities.  I've seen the same thing in several test games.  The Aliens will have 18 cities when other factions have 12, indicating a strict correspondence to starting with 3 colonists instead of 2.  Getting that full spread must be contingent upon having land good enough to do so.  In this case, they got it, and I definitely didn't.  I have 4 cities adjacent on land, 2 on water, and 1 on land separated by a water channel.  That's what happens when you're 8-balled behind other factions and fungus is in your way.

Maybe these cities will turn out to be weak and I'll just kill them.

By comparison, Yang has only got 5 cities.  I wonder what his problem was.  Maybe he got 1 of his 2 original colonists killed.

[bvanevery]

Details Pirates rule the waves

Pirates rule the waves

MY 2159.  Someone calls an election, probably Svensgaard, and he gains the Governorship.  Now I get to see what's up with Morgan.  We sign a Treaty, I get a map, and I buy some techs.  I get more techs from the Cyborgs.  I get a Morganic map from the Hive.  It won't shock me if I'm now at tech parity with the Usurpers.  We'll see next turn, provided he doesn't have a unit lurking on some fungus to kill my probe team.

Details distant approach to the Pirates

distant approach to the Pirates

Details Morganites near by water

Morganites near by water

[bvanevery]

MY 2160.  Bloody hell, that jerk was hiding on a rock with another Cloaked Scout.  Those things are annoying!  Good thing the AI gets tired of making Scouts eventually.  I also come across an enemy Probe Team, indicating I'll need some defensive ones.  I may have to take a longish sea route to infiltrate the Usurpers.

MY 2161.  Surprisingly, the Usurper probe team does not try to subvert any of my Scouts.  Maybe they're poor.  I kill it.  I sent my own 2 probe teams towards a fungus bound rock within 2 squares of a Usurper city.  I have a Scout sitting on that rock already, so they should all be able to stage from there safely.  I gain a Unity Jet and a Battle Ogre from sea pods.  The Unity Jet will be particularly useful in pushing a war forwards.

MY 2162.  I research Applied Physics.  This gives me Lasers, which in my mod are strength 3.  I now have the means to wreck the Usurpers, if only I can get the stuff produced.  The Usurper Cloaked Scout pillages the forest it was sitting on, leaving it vulnerable to the 2 Scouts I had next to it.  I kill it.

MY 2163.  I infiltrate the Usurpers.  They also have Lasers but no new techs.  They're starting to build Perimeter Defenses but it's taking them a long time.  They don't presently have any defense, just Scouts everywhere.  If I can hit them quickly with Laser Speeders it may devastate them.  I cash my 2nd Artifact to get the prototype done immediately.

MY 2166.  I destroy the 1st Usurper city.

MY 2167.  Using my Unity Jet I walk 2 Scouts around a Usurper city and destroy both Sensor Arrays protecting it.  I have 3 fresh Laser Speeders coming, and 2 Scouts standing next to the threatened city as is.  I might be able to take it even without the Speeders.  It occurs to me that High Energy Chemistry made me Nerve Gas capable, but I actually need more cities, even if the conquered people complain a lot.  As long as I'm only executing Scout defenders, I'll keep the plain Lasers coming.  If his defenses strengthen up, I'll pull out the nerve gas.  I've rarely seen the Aliens surrender anyways.

I've also infiltrated the Morganites, and signed a Pact with them.  My trade with my allies the Cyborgs has me in pretty good shape technologically, much better than the Usurpers.  I'm not really missing the Data Angels' ability to get techs that 3 factions already have.

[bvanevery]

MY 2168.  I lose 2 Scouts attacking the Usurper city, but the 3rd does kill the Scout defender.  The city is working on a Perimeter Defense and the AI does not choose to rush a defensive unit instead.  I find that odd compared to the stock binary, but it suits me fine.  I cover my badly wounded Scout with my Unity Jet so that it can walk in next turn.   2 Speeders move in range of a 3rd city.  It has a Sensor Array, but only a Scout for defense, so it should die easily.

Details Caretaker Nexus

Caretaker Nexus

MY 2169.  The 2nd and 3rd Usurper cities are destroyed.  I discover that the Caretakers are in possession of the Manifold Nexus.

MY 2170.  The Pirates meet my Foil Probe Team at sea with a Synthmetal Skimship.  They open communications.  If we stay at war, I'll lose that team, which I'd rather use to infiltrate the Pirates.  Fighting the Pirates is currently of no strategic value to me, so we sign a Treaty.  I get to keep my team.  A Pirate Scout wandering around in my home territory, starts to wander off towards the Usurpers I hope.

Yang terminates our Pact.  I decide to move westwards rather than southwards against the Usurpers.  The southwards cities are closer to the Hive.  They might prevent Yang's expansion that way, and Yang might get in a war with them.

MY 2171.  Marr finally decides to put up a defense with a couple of armored Laser Speeders.  I might have to go after more isolated cities instead of the straight westward thrust.  I retreat my forces from his strong point.  Overrunning stuff to the south is better than losing units.

[bvanevery]

MY 2172.  I infiltrate the Pirates.  5 Laser Speeders and a Probe Team cross a patch of fungus into the southern territory, escorted by my Unity Jet over the fungus.  On the western front I hang back, using 2 Scouts as pickets.  I hope that Marr will advance forwards with those armored units so that I can destroy them on open ground.

Details herding the Usurpers

herding the Usurpers

MY 2173.  Marr is coming with more armored units than I thought.  2 are threatening my western flank.  I block them with my Unit Jet, hoping to drive them into that fungal tower.  My Scout picket is probably a goner, can't be helped.  A probe team is advancing with that armored unit.  I've got 3 Speeders ready to counterstrike, which might be enough, although against armor maybe I'll take a loss.  They definitely won't get through.

Details southern offensive

southern offensive

I vaporize 2 armored Speeders and a probe team.  I forgot that one of my Speeders was only a Scout and I lose it.  Another Speeder dies attacking the rock fungal emplaced armored speeders.  At least one of those is now badly wounded.  The other can make trouble for me on my rail.  I block its movement with my own armored skirmisher.  His nearest southern city should fall trivially next turn, defended only by a Scout.  I will also steal a tech.

I buy Synthetic Fossil Fuels from Svensgaard for 150 credits.  It gives Fungicidal Tanks and Capitalist economy.  I switch to Capitalist as in my mod it gives +1 ECONOMY, +1 INDUSTRY, and -3 PLANET.  It will help my war effort as long as I don't run afoul of mindworms.

Details my military industrial complex

my military industrial complex

MY 2175.  I steal Doctrine: Loyalty from the Usurpers.  It gives Fundamentalist.  In my mod that has some advantages.  Also by choosing that, I get rid of the -1 GROWTH penalty from Frontier society.  I'll play catch-up with techs later.  Right now it's time to put Marr down.

I take the base trivially.  In the north I wipe out all of Marr's units that were threatening me.  He has a badly wounded armored unit limping away.

[bvanevery]

Details Marr's reduced empire

Marr's reduced empire

MY 2186.  I laid waste to several of Marr's cities in the south.  I find myself unwilling to advance further.  His resistance to the west is stiff, and 1 plane is not enough to safely walk around units to remove Sensor Arrays.  Several counterattacks there destroyed my units.  It is more profitable to simply let him come to me in that direction, so that I can eliminate him in the open.

In the south, I nosed forwards with Speeders but they were counterattacked.  I find myself holding my forces in reserve.  My southernmost city tends to get probe teams coming towards it, but they end their movement badly and get killed.  I do have an armored probe team defending the base but it never actually gets attacked.

I need armor to advance further.  I actually have Plasma armor, but it's not prototyped yet.  I even have Impact weapons, but I haven't prototyped those yet either, and I lack productivity to really bang them out in any case.  I've been going through a round of Children's Creches and Recycling Tanks, not new units.  I hope that raises my productivity enough that I can make more effective war.

I have reduced Marr's apparent city count to 16.  I presumed he's spawned more cities since I first got his map.  I believe I've destroyed about 6 cities and captured 1.  Myself, I only have 5 cities on adjacent land, with a rail to my southernmost captured city about to be completed.  I have 6 sea bases and 1 disconnected land base, for a total of 12 cities.  And geographically, I'm in a pretty comfortable position for destroying the Usurpers.

[bvanevery]

MY 2817.  A sea pod completes a Plasma armored probe team prototype I had set up.  I had a Plasma Hoverboat in progress anyways, but this speeds it up by a few turns.  I change that design to an Impact Skimship.  Maybe I'll get lucky with pods again somehow.

MY 2189.  Morgan asks for war with Yang.  I comply.  This causes Svensgaard to delcare war on me!  I ask Morgan to declare war on Svensgaard.  He complies.  Well, let's see if the 2 economic superpowers of the game will cancel each other out or not.  There's a lot of water in the way, so they may not.

Details not a good position

not a good position

Marr has decided to focus units on my southernmost city that I took from him.  Whenever I attack, he has favorable terrain and I lose a unit.  I will try letting him attack me instead.  I need to build another Sensor Array, as he's standing on the existing one and I don't expect it to last.  If he pillages the forest in that square, it will become much easier to kill him.  I move 3 Synthmetal Skirmishers into this city for defense.

MY 2190.  I am quite surprised when a Hardened probe team destroys my Synthmetal armored Hardened probe team.  Fortunately he left his 2 teams standing by themselves.  The 1st I destroy from my base.  The 2nd I use an Elite Speeder to pop in and out of my base.  He pillaged the Sensor Array but not the forest in front of my base, so I do not attack.  I've built a new Sensor Array behind my base.  I hope no more probe teams are inbound as I don't have a defense against them.  I do have a Children's Creche which will make the base more expensive to take over.  He has 124 credits in reserve, and I have 136, so he doesn't have any advantage over me for that part of the subversion formula.

I don't feel secure with 3 enemies surrounding me.  I call up the Cyborgs for the fight.  They're already at war with Yang.  I need them at war with the Pirates too, as I don't want Svensgaard focusing on me.  They agree to the war.