How to beat SMACX AI Growth mod version 1.42

[bvanevery]

The COVID-19 pandemic has given me more time indoors with wifi than I expected.  I haven't played an After Action Report to completion in quite some time, and arguably, I now have the time.  Version 1.42 of my mod could be the last one I do, barring playtesters finding things that are greatly wrong with it.  Indeed, that's pretty much why there's a 1.42:

One crit however - it feels like missiles are just sort of too good in the mid-late game, especially as it turns out they can capture bases (!!!).

Oops!  Seems that "no fuel" missiles turns them effectively into gravships and able to capture bases.  I think I've fixed that.  This AAR will test that, at some point.

Mostly though, this AAR will be pragmatic, not thematic.  How do you win this game?  What strategic concerns are important, given the way this mod works now?  Well, let's find out!

Details the total destruction of everything

the total destruction of everything

As always, Huge map, 30%..50% land mass, average settings, Transcend difficulty, random opponents.  I draw the Free Drones.  I haven't played them in awhile so that's good.  They are the only faction in my mod that gets an INDUSTRY bonus, and there is no way to get an INDUSTRY bonus in the Social Engineering Table.  I believe they're overpowered, so in my mod they generally can't be had.  This is the specific faction power of the Free Drones, getting to do everything a little bit cheaper.

Their default research foci are Build and Conquer.  Usually when I play, I want to see what the game feels like from the AI's perspective, so I don't change the foci.  But the purpose of this game is to demonstrate to a human player, how to win the game.  So I will change my research to whatever I think will help me at any given time.

The Hive, Morganites, Cyborgs, Data Angels, Believers, and the University are in the game.  No Aliens so that means Diplomatic Victory is an easier option. 

The Believers are not Extremist in my mod, in fact they don't have any social engineering preferences at all.  So, there's no inherent reason for the Hive and the Believers to be enemies, unlike the original game.  Also they can choose Knowledge and cannot choose Cybernetic.  They aren't doomed to conflict with Zhakarov, there's actually no reason for it to happen, other than that the Believers are still Aggressive.  Rather, the Cyborgs are their nemesis.  If they make it to late game, they will come to blows.  And so will the Data Angels, whose compulsion in my mod is Thought Control.  I suspect that I'll beat them all, long before it matters though.

Hmm, in my mod, the Free Drones cannot choose Police State.  After all they're Free Drones.  They threw off the shackles, probably Yang's shackles.  He's not gonna like me!  I can expect early game conflict with the Hive, if we're neighbors.

In my mod, the track record is the University is likely to make tech go pretty fast for everybody.  Unless they get clobbered, in which case tech tends to be at a slower pace.  Not quite tech stagnation, but not that quick.  I played my last game as the Cult of Planet, and I was surprised at how slowly everything went after the University got clobbered.

[bvanevery]

Details gimmie minerals

gimmie minerals

The radar readouts say I'm starting rather near the Garland Crater.  I should be able to grab it and build something minerals heavy there.  Unless I've got unexpectedly close neighbors, or it's covered in fungus and I have to do a lot of work to dig it out.  I won't have to deal with Aliens or the Cult of Planet showing up unexpectedly.  I just need to know what's around me.

Details set tricorders for stun

set tricorders for stun

The long distance radar says I'm on a land mass between a bunch of oceans.  I may not have any immediate neighbors.  We'll see.  I'm definitely not going to be in the middle of a continental free-for-all.  At best, I expect I'll need to wipe only 1 neighbor out.  In typical games I tend to be rather "nice" and not do that.  But in my last game I was too nice, and I think everything took 100 years too long as a result.  I'm not going to do it that way this time.  For instance, if the Hive shows up, they're gonna die right away.

Details get to the point

get to the point

I started on a Flat Rainy square.  I usually like to settle on Flat Moist or Flat Arid squares, to improve their minerals content and not waste the Rainy food.  However piddling with such perfections, doesn't seem like good advice for winning a game quickly.  I've got Nutrients in the water and no fungus next to me, so this isn't a bad place for my capitol.  Maybe I'll pop a Monolith?  The 2nd colonist heads towards the Garland Crater.

[bvanevery]

Details defaults are fine

defaults are fine

In my mod, to get weapons, armors, or probe team stuff, you must study Conquer.  The different parts of the tech tree are fairly distinct that way.  Unlike the original game, I do not sprinkle "benefits" equally in all parts of the tree.  Build + Conquer is actually a fairly pragmatic choice and fits with what the Free Drones are typically good at.  In my mod, Build is for making money or minerals.  It's not for making people happy.  Happiness, colonization, growth, exploring, and most importantly mindworms, are in the Explore tree.  That said, Build always overlaps happiness techs a little.  More happy workers means more squares worked, which means more money or minerals.  It will be pretty reasonable to stay focused on Build the entire game, unless I find my tech "stuck" for some reason.

The actual choice is how much Conquer I'll need.  If I've got a neighbor, then a lot!  If not, then I can blow it off and be a long distance wimp.  My mod heavily favors early defense, mainly to keep the AIs from getting overrun in the early game.  Clean Reactors are available from the beginning of the game.  Synth units are a Conquer 1 tech and don't require any prototyping to put into service.  The AI will start stacking Clean Synth units as soon as it gets the tech.  You simply cannot rush the AI with a few Recon Rovers, you'll find out that they've got cities piled high with Clean Synth units.  You can overrun an AI with a lot of Recon Rovers, and of course, that's something the Free Drones can whip up!  I'd say once I've got C2 Applied Physics, I've got all I could need.

[bvanevery]

Details the RNG

the RNG

The good news is the supply pods gave me good resources by my capitol.  The bad news is the Garland Crater has a lot of fungus on it.  Settling the middle is the preferred way to claim it, but that would be dangerous.  I'll keep my eye peeled for a safer place.  Sometimes that can result in long wanderings hoping for something "better".  That happened to me a few games ago, so I'm determined not to make the same mistake again.  If I can't get a good spot on the Crater, at least I can claim the land of the Crater and clear it out later.

Details port picky

port picky

Water on the other side of the Crater.  A flat spot.  Hopefully no fungus next to it, but it may have to do.

[bvanevery]

Details when do I kill her

when do I kill her

Mission Year 2109.  Good grief, of all the fanciful predictions.  You'd think that being on a Huge map would cut me some slack from this sort of thing.  But no, this can go down.  How can you argue with the prophets foretelling weird stories of angels and dancing sword?  Know this: you are messing with my land.

She's Quarrelsome.  I'm ticked off too!  I don't even talk to her past the initial pleasantries, I sign off.  I'm not offering a Treaty, I want her out of here.  I will swarm her with Scouts.

Details munch me

munch me

Thankfully, I get to settle first.  I don't get a port, it's not my ideal location, but at least the land is mine and there's no fungus next to me.  That mindworm I disturbed is thankfully too far away from my new base to hurt it.

It's worth noting that neither the Believers nor the Free Drones have any RESEARCH penalty in my mod.  I got rid of all the penalties for all the factions.  I really don't see the point if everyone's got a penalty.  Might as well just zero that out, and it seems to help the AI play better.  For those still responding to the anti-Christian bigotry of the original game, consider that Isaac Newton was devoutly Christian.  The paradigm of his period was God as a perfect clock, ticking ever onwards with Natural Law.  A religious belief doesn't have to be antithetical to science.  It only gets in the way when it actually gets in the way, like not being willing to figure out the dinosaur bones.  Old arguments by the time period of this game.

[bvanevery]

MY 2111.  I got some money from some of the supply pods, so I rush a Clean Colony Pod.  They don't cost any extra in my mod.  This is to assist the AI, when it makes too many of the darned things and fails to settle them.  Early Clean Reactors are a hack that helps the AI more than it helps the human player.  It keeps the AI from running out of SUPPORT.  That's like the worst "bug" of the original game.

MY 2212.  I've learned Centauri Ecology and can make Formers.  However it is so early, that I think it's far more important to Scout, prevent the Believers' movement into my territory, pop supply pods, and settle more immediate cities.  I need to make sure I have enough cities to support enough units to overwhelm the Believers.  I have the production advantage, but in my mod, the Believers have +1 SUPPORT.  Most factions don't have any SUPPORT bonuses, and it's not easy to get from the Social Engineering Table either.  Extremist gives +2 SUPPORT, at the cost of -2 RESEARCH.  It is deliberately not a very good option, to keep the AIs from choosing it and taking the RESEARCH penalty.  They stagnate awfully fast when their RESEARCH is that poor.  The real Politics dynamic of my mod is between Police State and Democratic.  One keeps people under control, the other makes you money.

Details when to build Clean Formers

when to build Clean Formers

Clean Formers cost more than regular Formers.  The time to build them is when you don't have enough food to build a Clean Colony Pod.  My 2nd base isn't blessed with food.  However, Clean Reactors always give a way to invest in your empire, when you don't have the technology to do anything better.  Clean Scouts can be used the same way.  The ones you pay SUPPORT on, are the ones you should be sending off into the hinterlands on suicide missions.

MY 2114.  I popped a Nutrient next to that city, so I switched production to another Clean Colony Pod.

[bvanevery]

Details unhappy landing

unhappy landing

MY 2123.  This is unusual.  Mindworms don't usually split when they land.  I can't kill them both.  Should I just try to take the hits?  Lately my Scouts have been getting totally killed when attacked in the field.  Pretty sure the initial safety period for mindworm attacks is over.  This isn't really something someone can plan for at the beginning, and it's tempting to save scum it.  Actually, even more unusual, I'm also being shelled by a Spore Launcher on the Isle.  3 units attacking at the beginning of the game, in a spread?  Pretty freak occurrence.  Yep I'm at least Saving this game.  I don't feel I owe the RNG that much.

If I attack 1 mindworm, the other will get stronger.  Maybe it's best to take 2 hits from 2 weak mindworms.  The base does give me some inherent defense.  Nothing I rush, would complete before the mindworms attack.

MY 2124.  I miscounted.  I got attacked by 3 mindworms.  That's 2 Isles of the Deep's worth.  That's why they split, they were coming from different Isles.  One of which I presume is 2 squares straight north, on a square I haven't revealed yet.  Remarkably, my Scout lived through all 3 attacks.  I'll need to do something about that stupid Spore Launcher, because my unit will never heal while it's shelling me.  I don't even know E1 Doctrine: Flexibility yet though.  I made it very easy to acquire ships in my mod, so that nobody's getting stuck on islands at start, but it still has to be researched.

Details Completion scumming

Completion scumming

Setting up "Completions" is a bit of an exploit.  When you pop a pod, there's a chance it will complete the production of a unit or facility in the nearest city.  It won't complete a Clean Colony Pod if there's not enough food to do it.  That Scout at the top of the screen on the Minerals deposit, just popped a supply pod.  Just before I did that, I designed the most expensive unit I could at this point in the game: a Clean Synthmetal Rover Former.  And I got it!  I completed a Speeder chassis prototype while I was at it, so now I can make Speeders.  Even if I don't learn C2 Applied Physics for awhile yet, enough Scout Speeders could bring the Believers to their knees.  If they don't start producing Clean Synth Garrisons, which unfortunately happens pretty fast, so maybe I'm kidding myself and thinking old school.  Still, Scout Speeders can run circles around the enemy, disengage, destroy Formers, and tear up roads and Sensor Arrays.  Sensor Arrays give a hefty +50% defense bonus in my mod, not just +25% as in the original game, so it's pretty important to destroy them before attacking.

[bvanevery]

Details how precious of you

how precious of you

MY 2125.  Miriam meets / bothers me in the field and wants to talk.  Awwww.  I wonder if this like the Peanuts comic strip, where the protagonist is being bothered by another character that won't shut up and leave you alone?  I could ignore her, but she'd probably declare war.  That may happen anyways, but I'd sooner forestall the possibility.  Although I can definitely fight her now, I prefer to wait until I'm certain of my infrastructure.

Details pointless preliminaries

pointless preliminaries

I was just talking about how much I need E1 Doctrine: Flexibility to beat off that Spore Launcher.  But this trade isn't gonna happen, because she's Seething.  If she would trade, I would like to trade.  Although Probe Teams become available with C2 Planetary Networks, as well as Police State, there are lots of Conquer techs in the tree.  It's not easy to ensure that one will get any particular Tier 2 tech at any particular time.  So for awhile, I'm not going to be able to just steal what I want.  It's either trade, research it yourself, or pop it from a pod.  I might very well pop it from a pod any minute now, or it could take a long time, you never know.  That said, I don't recall ever getting stuck on E1 Doctrine: Flexibility.  It's usually D1 Biogenetics that's the sticker.

We stop talking.  It was pointless.  At least I got through that without a war.

[bvanevery]

Details my land and empire

my land and empire

MY 2134.  I've totally outclassed the Believers at colonization.  They never settled that 2nd colony pod I saw wandering around at the beginning.  They certainly had the big fungal barrier in the Garland Crater in their way, same as I did.  There were mindworms wandering around so they may have been killed.  Or they may just be milling about uselessly.  It doesn't matter, as I've completely cut off New Jerusalem and I don't see any other land settlements.  It seems they expanded to sea via He Walked On Water.  All I really need to do now is connect my empire with roads, then build proper garrison units.  I doubt I'll ever need to conquer the Believers, unless they prove to be in the way of something.  When a faction gets this bound up behind another faction, I call it being "8-Balled".

The one serious mistake I've made in this situation, is not to keep scouting radially in all directions.  You never know what else is coming.  Especially if someone pops a whole horde of mindworms at you.

[bvanevery]

Details let's make a deal

let's make a deal

My 2137.  What a stroke of luck!  I won't have to worry about having Probe Teams.  I got Doctrine: Flexibility too.  That Spore Launcher begged off, but I still need to explore the extensive bodies of water around us.

Details unlucky Miriam

unlucky Miriam

Now I see why Miriam was runted.  She had Zhakarov on the other side of her.  Caught in a pickle!  She can go north now, but there's not enough land to develop a meaningful empire.  My prediction that I wouldn't be in some tight continental struggle, was totally wrong.  Fortunately I've already won the colonization war.  Holding onto what I've got, I'll eventually be able to plow through both of them easily, if I want to.  Near neighbors are pretty much cakewalks, they're too close for the AI to ever do anything meaningful about it.  I deliberately made my maps larger and with more land to give the AI a better chance to dig in and grow a reasonable defense, but this is too close.

The goal in the future, will to be find out where everyone else is, and go deal with them.  Typically, the faction on the opposite side of the map from oneself, farthest way, grows to be the most powerful.  And anyone sitting on the Monsoon Jungle becomes powerful.

[bvanevery]

Details southern exploration

southern exploration

MY 2153.  I got a free Unity Transport from popping a coastal supply pod.  They have Deep Radar, making them more valuable for early exploration.  Foils in my mod move 5 squares, not 4.  This means Transports move 4, not 3.  This makes it easier to pop supply pods at sea and evade an Isle of the Deep if one surfaces.  Although in the original game it's quite possible to veer 1 square out of the way to safety, now you've got 2 squares leeway to work with, assuming you start your turn next to the pod.  Which you should.  This is a great way to get Artifacts.  You can't get Artifacts at sea if you're not using a Transport.

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Details makin' money

makin' money

MY 2158.  I finally get my first Social Engineering choice.  I did learn Police State earlier when I traded with Zhakarov for C2 Planetary Networks, but I'm not allowed to choose it.  It really isn't difficult to get Politics or Economics choices as they all come at Tier 2.  However there's an awful lot of stuff in Tier 2, so getting any specific thing can take longer than one might expect. 

Democratic is pretty much a slam dunk for anyone who's allowed to have it.  It makes money and the -1 POLICE penalty isn't enough to stop you from using units as police.  I made it easy and palatable for the benefit of the AI, especially so they could use Non-Lethal Methods.  I predefined some units with that so that the AI would make use of them.

Details is it clever

is it clever

I've heard of settling right on top of a Thermal Borehole to get a bunch of benefits, but I've never seen the AI do it.  I'll have to check on whether this helped them, once I've got infiltration.

I could be trading with Zhakarov for stuff, but I really don't see the need.  I've built massive amounts of various kinds of Formers, and I've got so much productivity that I can just make more expensive things like Clean Rover Formers.  My people are happy because I'm the Free Drones and get that 1 drone bonus.  I can steal stuff eventually if I wish.  My only critical need is finding out what's around me, and that's solely a matter of my productive output and unit pushing.  I don't need Zhakarov's help with that.

MY 2160.  I bump into Miriam in the water and she wants to try.  Why not, she's no threat.  We sign a Treaty, formalizing my pwning of this continent.  She sells me the comm frequency of the Cyborgs.  I trade a little with them but don't get a Treaty.  After all of this I go bother Zhakarov, why not share the love.  He turns out to be useless.

Details mo' money

mo' money

I now have my 2nd Social Engineering choice available.  I renamed Free Market and Planned to Capitalist and Socialist.  That's what they are, if you pay attention to the faction dialogue details.  I just made it more explicit.  Although, my version of Socialist isn't the Communist planned economy kind of thing.  It's more like what you'd see in Sweden.  At this point in the modding, it doesn't actually do much.  I didn't want the AI getting too excited about it, because they tend to obsess about anything that offers GROWTH.  The real contrast in the game is between Capitalist and Green.  I want to make money, and this is going to cause me some grief as I run into mindworms.  But I really don't care.  My initial Scout garrisons are on suicide duty, as they're being replaced with Synth Police.

MY 2164.  In my 1st battle with a Spore Launcher in my home territory, I forgot to win.

Then I did it again with a badly wounded Isle of the Deep.  Rah rah Capitalism!  At least it's not as harsh as the original game.  None of that -5 POLICE stuff, what crack were they smoking?  I think they got confused about Democratic vs. Capitalist, plus they wanted to have that high GROWTH mechanic for Democratic.  I didn't want that, so that freed me to split the ways of making money, and farm out the ECONOMY bonuses.

[bvanevery]

My 2169.  I meet the Data Angels and trade a lot of low level techs with them.  Secret Projects don't start until Tier 3 in my mod, so lots of trading of early techs is to be expected.  If a tech has a Secret Project, the AI will usually not trade it until after it's completed.

It's almost 5 AM and that's enough for tonight!  After the initial shock of Miriam's encroachment wore off, this turned out to be one of the easiest starts I've had.  The Free Drones seriously benefit from all the cheap Clean Formers available.  Some people think that my Clean Reactors are too cheap.  Maybe they're right.  I'll suspend judgment until I see who's winning the game.  So far, the graph says it's me!

Details what to build

what to build

Ok, I've got a strong start.  How do I leverage that to really pull ahead?  Oddly enough, I'm not terribly clear on that myself.  With 4.5 hours of sleep on the problem, and some coffee, you can see what I'm actually doing right now.  Just filling out my cities with better facilities.  It's a reasonable step to take, there's nothing basically wrong with it.  However I suspect it's not remarkable or especially productive, as far as pulling ahead.

I could be colonizing more.  However, I find it gets to be a drag pretty quickly.  I'm happy enough with pushing my Formers around for now.

I could rush my build orders.  However a major tactic in my mod, is making a lot of money with a high ECONOMY, to pay for Secret Projects all at once.  I'm not rushing the puny buildings, because I could be working on the Merchant Exchange right now.  I've got the tech, I just haven't decided whether Free Drone Central is really where I want my permanent capitol.  It's not radially the best place, in my current empire.  I like perfectly radial, perfectly efficient civilizations with respect to distance, bureaucracy, corruption, and waste.  Oceans get in the way of that, because there's nothing valuable in deep ocean at all.  So I probably should decide, where do I want my capitol?

Another odd problem of sea settlement, is that the AI absolutely fixates on hurling Foil Probe Teams at sea bases.  Especially with the Data Angels near my territorial waters, I can reasonably expect this to be an issue.  It would be prudent to not make any sea bases and stick to land, until I've got the excess production to afford a bunch of defensive Probe Team units.  It's lame that I have to worry about such things, but the AI will literally travel the entire length of any size map, just to bug me!  This can be useful if you want to leave out "bait" cities to infiltrate and steal techs from them in retaliation, but for settling economically productive cities, it sucks.

I don't have an ideal clump of radial land.  It ain't gonna happen.  If I had thought hard about it, I might have realized that when I looked at the long distance radar scans on Turn 1.  Unproductive massive oceans to the north and south.  I need to accept that this is an east-west empire, even if it rubs me the wrong way.

It would be reasonable to make my permanent capitol at Living Standard, as it commands 6 of the Garland Crater minerals special spots.  Combining minerals and money is as good a Builder idea as any other I have right now.  Sounds like a plan.  I will force myself to build more cities to the west, to round out my empire.

Details support burdens

support burdens

With that in mind, I rush the Recycling Tanks at Living Standard.  I already have a Recreation Commons, not that I really needed it yet anyways, so I will begin the Merchant Exchange next year.  Since the city is actually high minerals, I have thrown a lot of units on it for SUPPORT.  I need to reassign those units to other cities, to get my SUPPORT burden on the city down to zero.  That is not totally possible because some of those units are Scouts popping pods to the west.  They will eventually all die in mindworm debacles, but until then, I'm supporting them.  I can at least increase my minerals well beyond the measly +4 minerals I currently have.

Hmm.  It turns out, all those Formers are Clean.  So's the Transport, I popped it from a supply pod.  All of those "freely given" units in my mod are Clean, because it's super duper annoying to be given the "benefit" of a free unit you have to pay more SUPPORT on.  Anyways the only unit I can reassign, is my Synth Police unit.  And I'll need a garrison unit to relieve it first.  I march my original Independent Scout from Liberty Plant to the north.  It's been through a lot of mindworm shenanigans, it's a Commando now.

One of the Living Standard Scout units in the field, got nearly killed and needs to return to civilization to heal.  So I'll be able to reassign that one too.

MY 2170.  I found the 2nd Living Standard Scout unit was up north, still in civilization, on its way to cross a pile of fungus to pop a supply pod.  I brought it to Domai Dome and "rehomed" it there.

MY 2171.  Living Standard is now free of SUPPORT burdens.

[bvanevery]

Details this gal

this gal

MY 2176.  Miriam wants to sell me the Morganite comm frequency.  If I ally with her, I can get it for free.  She might as well be my satellite, since that's what she is anyways.  If I ever want to invade the University or steal from them, now I have a land route to them.

I got some techs from Morgan, and it cost me some money.  It will take longer to finish the Merchant Exchange now.  However, D1 Biogenetics is useful as it gives the Biology Lab.  In my mod it's the appropriate "starter" lab tech as it gives a constant +2 LABS per base.  It's not dependent on base size for its bonus, so it is best for the smallest bases.  I actually skipped ahead to Network Nodes since Zhakarov traded me those earlier, without ever getting around to the earliest tech.  He can be cagey.

[bvanevery]

Details the complete cast of characters

the complete cast of characters

MY 2177.  I contact the Cyborgs as we only have a Truce.  It's been awhile and maybe they've eased up.  Nope, but they do sell me the Hive comm frequency.  Surprisingly, they sign a Treaty despite my Democratic society.  Maybe because they're Feeble and I'm Unsurpassed, but it never seems to be that predictable.

I sell a lot of comm frequencies this year.  I don't think I've quite sold them all, but factions don't want to talk to me now.  I believe I have enough votes to win the election, and that factions will freeze me out for several more turns.  The money gained from becoming Governor probably is more than what I'd gain waiting to sell more comm frequencies, so I call the election.

Details margin of victory

margin of victory

Now I can see everyone's tech.  Roze, Zhakarov, and Aki-Zeta5 each have 1 tech I don't.  Due to all the exchanges, I've got maps of where everyone is.  I'm doing well enough to feel completely unthreatened by anyone.  Gosh, what's my next goal going to be?  Wait for someone to get uppity with me, perhaps?

This game has been rather easy compared to other starts I've had.  It almost makes me wonder if the Free Drones have become overpowered, because they can leverage Clean Reactors better than other factions.  I suppose the test for that, would be playing in the same opening style with another faction and seeing what happens.  It's probably too early to consider readjusting the Free Drones.

I suppose one objective should be to keep the Governorship.  I anticipate that the Hive will eventually have to be pacified.

Details jungle across the channel

jungle across the channel

The Monsoon Jungle turns out to be near me.  I'm guessing that patch that's been revealed, is due to the Hive having been teleported through a Dimensional Rift, and subsequently killed by a mindworm.  I don't think it's especially important for me to colonize the Jungle, but it is worth denying access to the Hive.  They are a superior PROBE faction in my mod, so I'll need probe defenses.  Yes, I'm thinking that fighting over the Jungle is in my future.